mouser.log Unfinished templates since 1994 http://www.mouser.org/log/ mouser http://mouser.org/ mouser@mouser.org Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Movable Type http://www.mouser.org/favicon.ico http://www.niallkennedy.com/alive.gif 2008-07-03T22:28:56Z Sneffeluffagus In lieu of actual mountain climbing this weekend... I uploaded photos from two weeks ago to my gallery. Click the image below to get to the gallery.... In lieu of actual mountain climbing this weekend... I uploaded photos from two weeks ago to my gallery. Click the image below to get to the gallery.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/07/001338.html 2008-07-03T22:18:56Z 2008-07-03T22:28:56Z Have giant ankle, will not travel. Plans to summit Capitol Peak this weekend have been scrapped following a pretty serious roll of my ankle last night in handball. I took a bunch of ibuprofen right after it happened and kept it on ice, but when I... Plans to summit Capitol Peak this weekend have been scrapped following a pretty serious roll of my ankle last night in handball. I took a bunch of ibuprofen right after it happened and kept it on ice, but when I went to sleep the anti-inflammatories wore off and now it is swollen up like a balloon. So instead of mountain climbing, I get to spend my four day weekend sitting around the house with my ankle in a brace. Sweet.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/07/001337.html 2008-07-02T14:30:49Z 2008-07-02T14:33:49Z Viva la HTPC After the HTPC's media partition took a dump last fall and I failed to fix it, the box just sort of sat there while I went about other things. I finally sat down on Wednesday evening to try and fix... After the HTPC's media partition took a dump last fall and I failed to fix it, the box just sort of sat there while I went about other things. I finally sat down on Wednesday evening to try and fix it again... and got it working in about 3 minutes. All it really took was

yum -y install jfsutils
fsck.jfs -p /dev/sda5

Yeah, ok so that was really straightforward... I'm not sure how I wasn't able to figure that one out last year.

Anyway since the time of the partition bork, when Fedora Core 6 was the distro of choice... we now have Fedora 9. So I upgraded the OS last night, only to find that... when I turn on third party repositories, the network stops coming up on boot. Wha?

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/06/001336.html 2008-06-27T15:24:50Z 2008-06-27T16:01:38Z Bring forth yonder Higgs boson. This is the best response ever to the people who suggest applying the Precautionary Principle to the use of the Large Hadron Collider. Be sure to read the comments (particularly #2 and #4), wherein the author of an article supporting... This is the best response ever to the people who suggest applying the Precautionary Principle to the use of the Large Hadron Collider. Be sure to read the comments (particularly #2 and #4), wherein the author of an article supporting the precautionary approach defends himself and Scott replies.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/06/001335.html 2008-06-23T22:13:01Z 2008-06-23T22:27:19Z I guess I don't have to worry about any weather instabilities... Andy and I are climbing humorously-named Mount Sneffels tomorrow. I checked weather.gov for a point forecast on the peak and got the image above, with a correspondingly useless but very detailed writeup of how nothing would be changing. The...

Andy and I are climbing humorously-named Mount Sneffels tomorrow. I checked weather.gov for a point forecast on the peak and got the image above, with a correspondingly useless but very detailed writeup of how nothing would be changing.

The weather appears to have been frozen in carbonite. It should be quite safe.

Nina informs me that Mt. Sneffels is actually named after a peak in Iceland, the very same peak which contains the entrance to the cave system that leads to the center of the Earth.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/06/001334.html 2008-06-19T15:09:31Z 2008-06-19T15:17:11Z RIP Ulysses After 17 years, the Ulysses mission is coming to an end. The LANL-produced radio-thermal generators on board the spacecraft, featuring a little bit of cracklin' hot 238Pu, have decayed to the point that there is no longer enough electrical power... After 17 years, the Ulysses mission is coming to an end. The LANL-produced radio-thermal generators on board the spacecraft, featuring a little bit of cracklin' hot 238Pu, have decayed to the point that there is no longer enough electrical power on board to keep the hydrazine fuel from freezing in the pipes. Attitude control will be lost sometime in the very near future, and with it the ability to keep the antenna pointed back towards Earth.

Ulysses falls into a rare category for spacecraft—those that exceed their predicted mission lifetimes several times over. Ulysses was launched from the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery, back in October of 1990 with an expected mission duration of five years. I had just started high school. In February of 1992, it successfully performed a gravity slingshot around Jupiter to propel it up above the ecliptic and give it a polar orbit of the Sun-Jupiter system. Its unique vantage point has led to an abundance of data on the magnetic environment at high latitudes near the Sun, and a greater understanding of the heliosphere in general.

I am fascinated by long-mission spacecraft that go beyond low Earth orbit because of the demand for creative usage of limited resources. Once it is launched, there are no resupplies, no repairs, and no hardware upgrades. When things break, the system must be reconfigured to make the best of the remaining hardware. The US space program is replete with examples of mission teams overcoming seemingly insurmountable problems with launched hardware. Probably my favorite example is when Galileo's main antenna failed to deploy, reducing the data bandwidth from 134,000 bps to 16 bps. To combat this bottleneck in communications, mission engineers uploaded image compression algorithms that didn't exist at the time of Galileo's design, essentially causing Galileo to transmit JPEGs instead of bitmaps. This fix saved the mission, which turned out to be one of the most successful planetary science missions ever.

The Mars Exploration Rovers are certainly the most recent example of spacecraft who operate beyond their expected lifetimes. They were launched in 2003 and expected to have a 90 day operational lifetime once they arrived at Mars. After four and a half years on the surface (1584 days for Spirit), they're still cruisin' around.

But all things come to an end, and the end is very predictable for spacecraft powered by RTGs. Ulysses, though its technology is somewhat antiquated by today's standards, is still a triumph of modern science. It's achievements should be celebrated as we turn our focus to the long-mission spacecraft still out there and the upcoming missions soon to be launched.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/06/001333.html 2008-06-17T14:58:18Z 2008-06-17T15:41:31Z My Inner Battle So I'm hosting a summer student at my house from now until the middle of August, and he arrived this weekend. With him came his Xbox 360, a stack of games, and a full Rock Band kit. Awhile back I... So I'm hosting a summer student at my house from now until the middle of August, and he arrived this weekend. With him came his Xbox 360, a stack of games, and a full Rock Band kit. Awhile back I came across a Wii in a Walmart and bought that (along with a couple games). So now I currently have all three current-generation gaming consoles in my house along with a boat-load of games. At first glance, it would seem that I might never leave my living room again.

On the other hand... today is the first game of the ultimate season (that I'm in town for; it started in earnest last week), it's rapidly becoming the summer mountaineering season, and the weather has been awesome here ever since that freak hail/tornado event a couple weeks ago. Between handball and ultimate, all of my weekday after-work time is spoken for. And mountaineering is likely to eat into my weekends. So when am I going to play all these games? I may have to just quit my job.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/06/001332.html 2008-06-09T21:49:03Z 2008-06-09T22:00:44Z Yee haw Greetings from Amarillo, Tx. I had a Texas-shaped waffle for breakfast. It was 39°C (104°F) when I got off the plane. The morning radio show here is sort of like a "comedy" version of Fox News. American Airlines blows. My... Greetings from Amarillo, Tx. I had a Texas-shaped waffle for breakfast. It was 39°C (104°F) when I got off the plane. The morning radio show here is sort of like a "comedy" version of Fox News.

American Airlines blows. My flight ABQ-DAL was 1.5 hours late leaving Albuquerque and no explanation as to why was given. The next flight to Dallas left just before ours. Missed my connection, was put on the next flight to Amarillo which involved a 3 hour layover in Dallas. On that flight, they gave me the same seat assignment as another guy, even though the plane was mostly empty. Why didn't lab travel just give me Southwest, which has a ABQ-AMA direct?

OK, no more bitching. I promise.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/06/001331.html 2008-06-03T11:26:11Z 2008-06-03T11:32:08Z Essential Knowledge. Mouser: bit to the left of midway between straight and hooker.... Mouser: bit to the left of midway between straight and hooker.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/06/001330.html 2008-06-01T15:34:45Z 2008-06-01T15:36:09Z Wait, I'm seriously not in Kansas anymore... There's a tornado watch for Los Alamos County right now, with the center of concern being right over my house. Buh? I live in the mountains. I haven't seen a tornado watch out here ever. Weird. I'll be fine, given... There's a tornado watch for Los Alamos County right now, with the center of concern being right over my house. Buh? I live in the mountains. I haven't seen a tornado watch out here ever. Weird.

I'll be fine, given that the watch ends in 15 minutes and I'm still at work—four stories underground. Hope my house is still there when I go home, though...

Update: They upgraded it to a tornado warning, though I never saw anything that looked like a funnel. We did have some 3cm hail and pretty furious wind/rain. When it was all over, the ground was about an 5cm deep in hailstones. We had an impromptu hailball fight out behind my building and looked at the rainbow as the storm retreated off to the northeast. House is fine. Weirdest weather I've seen here in a long long time. This is usually our drought season, and there's never tornado warnings here.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/05/001329.html 2008-05-28T22:12:01Z 2008-05-29T05:06:55Z Preferably, one that flies from Montgomery. USER := $(shell whoami) ifeq ($(USER), root) MESSAGE = "Okay." else MESSAGE = "What? Make it yourself." endif NOECHO = @ me :: - $(NOECHO) echo $(MESSAGE) a :: - $(NOECHO) echo sandwich :: - $(NOECHO) echo... USER := $(shell whoami)

ifeq ($(USER), root)
MESSAGE = "Okay."
else
MESSAGE = "What? Make it yourself."
endif

NOECHO = @

me ::
- $(NOECHO) echo $(MESSAGE)

a ::
- $(NOECHO) echo

sandwich ::
- $(NOECHO) echo

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/05/001328.html 2008-05-21T13:55:48Z 2008-05-21T13:56:23Z Seriously, I wrote some of that. Give me credit. A couple colleagues at work and I have been working on a chapter for a textbook about nuclear material safeguards for some time now. We just learned from the editor that, not only is the publisher insisting that each chapter... A couple colleagues at work and I have been working on a chapter for a textbook about nuclear material safeguards for some time now. We just learned from the editor that, not only is the publisher insisting that each chapter have only one author, but that they won't accept "LANL Safeguards Team" or something similar as an option. So the chapter is credited to Mike and I get no mention in the book at all.

I just reviewed the proofs that will be used to actually print the book, and the really annoying bit is that there's this huge white space right below Mike's name where Bob and I would fit in nicely.

I feel bad for Mike, who doesn't seem to have any choice here and looks like a douche... and I'm getting a feel for the totalitarian world of big-company book publishing. Don't much care for it. Guess this publication doesn't get to go onto my resume...

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/05/001327.html 2008-05-19T22:04:03Z 2008-05-19T22:08:55Z List 'o movies Jason posted a link to a list of 1001 movies everyone should see. I watch a lot movies, so I thought I'd see what I was missing. Quite a bit, apparently. I've seen 273 of the recommended movies. The ones... Jason posted a link to a list of 1001 movies everyone should see. I watch a lot movies, so I thought I'd see what I was missing. Quite a bit, apparently.

I've seen 273 of the recommended movies. The ones I've seen are heavily loaded towards the more recent end (I've only seen 8 of the first 100 movies listed, whereas I've seen 50 of the most recent 100).

The list goes back to 1902... I haven't seen anything on the list older than the Phantom of the Opera silent film (1925), though I think I should get extra points for seeing it in a theater with the rare black-and-red masquerade scene and with a live Wurlitzer accompaniment.

You have to go back to 1958 to find a year during which I haven't seen any of the movies. Perhaps I should go put one of the ten 1958 entries on my Netflix queue (Man of the West, Touch of Evil, Cairo Station, Gigi, The Defiant Ones, Vertigo, Ashes and Diamonds, Horror of Dracula, My Uncle, or The Music Room—any recommendations from you film people out there?).

Speaking of my queue, it has gotten a little slim lately. Perhaps I'll start filling it in with the movies that I'm missing from this list. For the record, here's the ones I've seen (entries in italics I own):

26. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
27. The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
30. Metropolis (1927)
55. Dracula (1931)
56. Frankenstein (1931)
59. M (1931)
78. King Kong (1933)
92. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
114. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
123. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
134. Fantasia (1940)
136. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
138. Pinocchio (1940)
141. Citizen Kane (1941)
144. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
170. Henry V (1944)
225. Rashomon (1950)
241. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
274. Rear Window (1954)
278. The Seven Samurai (1954)
302. Forbidden Planet (1956)
307. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
310. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
315. 12 Angry Men (1957)
316. The Seventh Seal (1957)
323. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
324. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
349. Ben-Hur (1959)
351. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
363. Psycho (1960)
367. Spartacus (1960)
372. Lola (1961)
373. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
380. The Hustler (1961)
381. West Side Story (1961)
388. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
389. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
390. Lolita (1962)
396. The Birds (1963)
397. The Nutty Professor (1963)
406. The Great Escape (1963)
415. Goldfinger (1964)
421. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
433. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
437. The Sound of Music (1965)
449. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
452. Seconds (1966)
459. The Graduate (1967)
467. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
479. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
480. Planet of the Apes (1968)
488. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
491. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
495. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
496. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
500. Easy Rider (1969)
517. M*A*S*H (1970)
525. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
527. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
535. Shaft (1971)
536. Dirty Harry (1971)
538. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)
542. The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
546. High Plains Drifter (1972)
548. Deliverance (1972)
549. Solaris (1972)
550. The Godfather (1972)
557. Superfly (1972)
558. The Sting (1973)
561. American Graffiti (1973)
563. Enter the Dragon (1973)
571. The Exorcist (1973)
574. Fantastic Planet (1973)
579. The Conversation (1974)
580. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
583. Young Frankenstein (1974)
586. Blazing Saddles (1974)
587. The Godfather Part II (1974)
591. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
593. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
594. The Wall (1975)
595. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
596. Barry Lyndon (1975)
605. Jaws (1975)
607. Carrie (1976)
609. All the President’s Men (1976)
610. Rocky (1976)
611. Taxi Driver (1976)
617. Star Wars (1977)
618. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
620. Annie Hall (1977)
624. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
626. Eraserhead (1977)
635. The Deer Hunter (1978)
636. Grease (1978)
638. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
639. Shaolin Master Killer (1978)
641. Halloween (1978)
646. Alien (1979)
650. Being There (1979)
652. Life of Brian (1979)
653. Apocalypse Now (1979)
654. The Jerk (1979)
655. The Muppet Movie (1979)
657. Mad Max (1979)
658. Nosferatu: Phantom Of The Night (1979)
662. The Shining (1980)
663. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
667. Airplane! (1980)
668. Raging Bull (1980)
669. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
670. The Boat (1981)
672. Chariots of Fire (1981)
673. Body Heat (1981)
675. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
680. E.T.: The Extra-Terestrial (1982)
681. The Thing (1982)
682. Poltergeist (1982)
683. Blade Runner (1982)
684. The Evil Dead (1982)
685. Tootsie (1982)
693. A Christmas Story (1983)
696. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
702. Terms of Endearment (1983)
705. The Right Stuff (1983)
706. Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
707. Once Upon a Time in America (1983)
708. Scarface (1983)
710. Amadeus (1984)
711. The Terminator (1984)
713. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
714. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
715. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
716. Ghostbusters (1984)
717. A Passage to India (1984)
719. The Killing Fields (1984)
720. The Natural (1984)
721. The Breakfast Club (1985)
722. Ran (1985)
725. Out of Africa (1985)
727. Back to the Future (1985)
729. Brazil (1985)
736. The Color Purple (1985)
738. Stand By Me (1986)
739. Blue Velvet (1986)
743. The Fly (1986)
744. Aliens (1986)
745. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
749. Platoon (1986)
754. Top Gun (1986)
759. Project A, Part II (1987)
761. Raising Arizona (1987)
762. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
764. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
768. The Princess Bride (1987)
769. Moonstruck (1987)
770. The Untouchables (1987)
773. Fatal Attraction (1987)
777. Bull Durham (1988)
779. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
780. Akira (1988)
783. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
784. The Naked Gun (1988)
785. Big (1988)
786. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
790. Die Hard (1988)
792. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
793. Rain Man (1988)
797. Batman (1989)
798. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
800. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)
803. The Killer (1989)
804. Do the Right Thing (1989)
805. Roger & Me (1989)
806. Glory (1989)
808. Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)
809. Say Anything (1989)
814. Goodfellas (1990)
815. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
817. Dances with Wolves (1990)
819. Pretty Woman (1990)
820. Archangel (1990)
823. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
825. Total Recall (1990)
826. Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
827. Boyz ‘n the Hood (1991)
828. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
834. My Own Private Idaho (1991)
835. Thelma & Louise (1991)
836. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
837. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
838. JFK (1991)
839. Slacker (1991)
844. The Player (1992)
845. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
848. Unforgiven (1992)
849. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
853. The Crying Game (1992)
856. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
858. Groundhog Day (1993)
859. Short Cuts (1993)
860. Philadelphia (1993)
861. Jurassic Park (1993)
864. Schindler’s List (1993)
865. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
866. The Piano (1993)
869. Three Colors: Red (1994)
871. Forrest Gump (1994)
872. Clerks (1994)
873. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
874. The Lion King (1994)
876. Natural Born Killers (1994)
878. Pulp Fiction (1994)
879. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
883. Heavenly Creatures (1994)
887. Casino (1995)
890. Toy Story (1995)
891. Strange Days (1995)
892. Braveheart (1995)
893. Safe (1995)
894. Clueless (1995)
895. Heat (1995)
897. Seven (1995)
904. The Usual Suspects (1995)
905. The Pillow Book (1996)
907. Fargo (1996)
908. Independence Day (1996)
911. The English Patient (1996)
914. Trainspotting (1996)
915. Scream (1996)
916. Deconstructing Harry (1997)
917. L.A. Confidential (1997)
919. Princess Mononoke (1997)
920. Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control (1997)
922. The Ice Storm (1997)
923. Boogie Nights (1997)
930. Titanic (1997)
933. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
935. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
936. Run Lola Run (1998)
937. Rushmore (1998)
938. Pi (1998)
939. Happiness (1998)
940. The Thin Red Line (1998)
943. Ring (1998)
944. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
945. Magnolia (1999)
951. Three Kings (1999)
955. Fight Club (1999)
956. Being John Malkovich (1999)
957. American Beauty (1999)
959. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
960. The Sixth Sense (1999)
961. The Matrix (1999)
966. Gladiator (2000)
969. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
971. Meet the Parents (2000)
973. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
974. Traffic (2000)
976. Memento (2000)
978. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
979. Amelie (2001)
981. And Your Mother Too (2001)
983. Spirited Away (2001)
987. Moulin Rouge (2001)
990. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
991. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
992. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
993. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
994. Gangs of New York (2002)
995. The Pianist (2002)
999. Chicago (2002)
1001. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/05/001326.html 2008-05-13T21:55:35Z 2008-05-13T22:43:51Z Bad Coding Kills. Actually, I can't decide if this is an example of bad coding, or of the limitations of doing fast target tracking using a system that has huge time granularity in its clock. Granted, the technology is old... so it's probably... Actually, I can't decide if this is an example of bad coding, or of the limitations of doing fast target tracking using a system that has huge time granularity in its clock. Granted, the technology is old... so it's probably got less power than my wristwatch... but 0.1s is not a good tick width if you're trying to intercept something that can move 168 meters during that time.

It is unclear from this writeup whether this is a limitation born of hardware, or in software. Regardless, the 24bit truncation on casting to real was a pretty egregious software error. If your time resolution is both mission critical and crippled in hardware, then don't perform software operations that further limit it.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/05/001325.html 2008-05-12T16:08:03Z 2008-05-12T16:16:04Z When Jerry Bruckheimer Choreographs Safari Home Videos This is a little slow at the beginning, but it gets more exciting as things progress. Now that I think about it, if this was really a Hollywood production, the crocs would win in the end.... This is a little slow at the beginning, but it gets more exciting as things progress. Now that I think about it, if this was really a Hollywood production, the crocs would win in the end.

]]> http://www.mouser.org/log/archives/2008/05/001324.html 2008-05-12T15:17:18Z 2008-05-12T15:19:25Z