The short-form week of 28 Dec 2009–3 Jan 2010

04 Jan 2010; last modified 13 Mar 2011

The week in review, 140 characters at a time. This week, 52 messages in 50 conversations. (With 2 favorites.)

This document was created automatically from my archive of my Twitter stream. Due to limitations in the Twitter API and occasional glitches in my archiving system, it may not be 100% complete.

Monday at 04:56am

How numbers help stop buzz ♺@ndw♺@timbray The odds of airborne terror: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/12/odds-of-airborne-terror.html—@innovimax

In a conversation that started on Monday at 08:15am

I can haz poster? http://xkcd.com/681/ #xkcd—@ndw

@ndw Wantz it 2!—@SheltieJim

@ndw Yes, it's so brilliant, isn't it!—@abcoates

Monday at 08:51am

RT @ndw: I can haz poster? http://xkcd.com/681/ #xkcd—@DALDEI

Monday at 09:34am

Wow - that's really a nice illustration (a la Tufte): http://xkcd.com/681/ (via @abcoates and @ndw)—@frumioj

In a conversation that started on Monday at 09:35am

So it seems that the main benefit of having two iPods is that the children have one each to play on.—@JeniT

@JeniT Poor Bill. Are you going to make him wait another year for his iPod?—@ndw

@ndw Maybe we'll get a family iSlate (or whatever it turns out to be) to fight over instead.—@JeniT

@JeniT I think someone needs to start a savings account specifically for Apple product addicts.—@tommorris

In a conversation that started on Monday at 10:10am

Happy Anniversary ... to me !—@DALDEI

@DALDEI Happy Anniversary!—@ndw

Tuesday at 01:20pm

Saw Angels and Demons last night. Hands up everyone who's first thought was "binary search!" when they started turning lights on and off.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 09:42pm

Short D3S first reaction: It's awesome It seems ~> +1 stop ISO on noise. Noise is also better formed. No banding when pushed. I'm keeping it—@duncan

@duncan color me jealous.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 08:02am

I haven't found any value in twitter lists, but seeing the lists other people have put me in is ... interesting.—@ndw

@ndw yeah, the biggest value is in finding out "they think I'm what!?!"—@jtauber

Wednesday at 11:30am

Hmm. ImageCapture can use the scanner but VueScan can't. What's up with that?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 11:53am

Will installing the HP drivers from apple.com work? Will I regret it? Let's find out!—@ndw

. @ndw Watching the installer grind along "updating resources" and "running package scripts" does not bode well.—@ndw

@ndw I installed on my Mac the HP software that came with the printer/scanner. That certainly has worked well so far.—@abcoates

@abcoates Hey, those plastic circular things in that plastic bag in the bottom of the box. There's an idea!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 11:54am

Is there anything Snow Leopard desktop can do that SL Server cannot? If I fork over $$$ for server, can I happily run SL in a VMWare box?—@ndw

@ndw I'm told you can run SL server in a VMware session *running on a Mac*. Less clear if it's allowed running VMware on something else.—@abcoates

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 01:02pm

A whole technical web page in ComicSans. Unsee! Unsee!—@ndw

@ndw To "unsee", try the "zap style sheets" bookmarklet. https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html—@ebruchez

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 03:18pm

I'm not sure, but I think Missouri just seceded from the Union http://bit.ly/2INtaF—@shelleypowers

@shelleypowers Good grief.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 03:58pm

RT @BreakingNews Fox to disappear from Time Warner cable, News Corp. president says: http://bit.ly/6wCPJF—@bsletten

@bsletten Almost makes me wish I had Time Warner Cable.—@ndw

@ndw I know, right? My buddy writes for Fringe but we can get that elsewhere. Other than that? No big loss.—@bsletten

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 04:25pm

I should probably mention that every 3-4 months, I look at this massive stack of Mac CD-ROMs, want to add it to cd.textfiles.com, and fail.—@textfiles

@textfiles I think a modern Linux box can read them. Well, that's true of Mac formatted USB drives, but I'm not sure about CDs. Worth a try?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 04:29pm

The shame of this no-mac-cds-on-cd.textfiles.com becomes greater, as I am literally up into the hundreds of MAC cd-roms now.—@textfiles

@textfiles Yeah, mount -t hfsplus worked fine on a recent MacWorld CD.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 07:01am

@JeniT I'll have a G&T especially for you :)—@ldodds

@ldodds I hate you—@JeniT

@JeniT ok no g&t then!—@ldodds

@ldodds There's seriously little gin in the house, but a trip to USVI is in the near future. Decisions, decisions. Buy now or buy cheap?—@ndw

@ndw a gin in the hand is worth...—@ldodds

Thursday at 07:32am

Poking at knx.to. Interesting, but kind of an odd UI. I don't see how knx.to identifies you since there's no login for it.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 09:27am

More time wasted trying to make Windows Vista share files with Snow Leopard. It's just one PC and one Mac. How hard could it be? :-(—@elharo

@elharo Put a printer on that Vista box and try to get the Mac to print to it. Better yet, try to get an XP box to print to it. #timewasted—@ndw

@ndw @elharo #timewasted why are you guys still playing with vista? I solved my vista prob by giving that box to my daughter 3000 mi away.—@fiberartisan

@fiberartisan Because there's no decent voice recognition software for the Mac :-(—@elharo

@elharo Have you seen Jon Morrow's post? He mentions MacSpeech Dictate - supposedly that licensed the Dragon code? http://is.gd/5K8U0—@fiberartisan

@fiberartisan MacSpeech Dictate omits crucial correction functionality available in Dragon. Not a comparable product I'm sorry to say. :-(—@elharo

@elharo Damn. I was tempted to give it a try. Wish Dragon would come out with a mac version.—@fiberartisan

@fiberartisan My wife's business machine still runs it for various complicated reasons.—@ndw

@ndw Give her my sympathies. Win7 seems to be a huge improvement, but upgrading always seems to cause something to no longer work :(—@fiberartisan

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 10:06am

Note to the web: if your analytics gathering javascript goo hangs up your page loading, I don't read your pages. Just sayin'—@ndw

@ndw This is a known Firefox status bar bug. Google Analytics is not hanging the page. The next thing that's loading is. http://bit.ly/p708B—@elharo

@elharo This wasn't google analytics, it was some other place, but I guess it's the same bug. Good to know, I guess.—@ndw

Thursday at 11:24am

Bah humbug. Wacom drivers won't install and Wacom is closed for the holidays.—@ndw

Thursday at 11:40am

The text summary of what Readability does is...wait for it, an immutable image. #irony—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 01:01pm

Neato. Tonight is a "blue moon". Suppose that means I should break out the really serious resolutions. http://is.gd/5HT4z—@xmlgrrl

@xmlgrrl You could resolve not to be drawn into superstitious twaddle :-P—@ndw

@ndw Actually, I don't even do resolutions :-), but it's nice to have an extra full moon on a special night! Wish I could see it, though...—@xmlgrrl

@xmlgrrl I hear you there. Not seeing the moon tonight, not through the snow."—@ndw

@ndw @xmlgrrl - nice and sunny in Fl. Will look @ blue moon tonight. Tomorrow back to snow & yuckiness.—@harveybetty

Thursday at 01:35pm

Got two insurance cards. With two different numbers. Called insurance company. Read agent both numbers. Agent says "uh oh". #scarythings—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 02:44pm

For all you beer-drinking men out there, happy news: http://bit.ly/8HR3LL—@JeniT

@JeniT nice!—@ldodds

@ldodds @ndw We can all do with a little extra help on occasion ;)—@JeniT

@JeniT Gee, thanks.—@ndw

Thursday at 04:44pm

PTO Smash: 1 dark rum, 1 coconut rum, 4 pineapple juice, 1/2 PTO, & a splash of lemon juice. Yum! http://www.paulastexasorange.com/—@ndw

Thursday at 11:10pm

Stars Died For You #atheism http://bit.ly/8ruW65—@denyreligion

Friday at 07:29am

Wacom says inst prob is the OSX installer, not, uhm, their installer. Reinst 10.6.2 combo didn't help. 2010 waited 7 hours b/4 screwing me.—@ndw

Friday at 07:30am

No tablet for me, or reinstall OS from scratch. I thought this annual reinstall dance was a Windows thing. #grumpy—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 10:56am

Media companies suck. The Blackadder DVD starts with a commercial followed by an anti-piracy lecture. Neither of which you can skip.—@ndw

@ndw Thanks for the warning. I will avoid purchasing or renting black Adder DVDs.—@elharo

@ndw ever thought you need a better DVD player?—@laurendw

@laurendw Heh. Yes. "Can be cracked" is on my must have list for the next one. I wonder if there are any such bluray players around.—@ndw

@ndw we have a perfectly legal region-free DVD player that also happens to let you skip most of that stuff for every DVD I've tried in it—@laurendw

@ndw haven't looked seriously for region-free blue-ray yet—@laurendw

Friday at 10:56am

I have never felt so motivated to crack a DVD in my life.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 12:39pm

If vapor is by far the biggest greenhouse gas, the idea of hydrogen-powered cars (that produce vapor) may not be such a great idea after all—@vojtechtoman

@vojtechtoman "Vapor is by far the biggest greenhouse gas"... you're not talking about water vapor, are you?—@avernet

@avernet Yes, I was referring to water vapor.—@vojtechtoman

@vojtechtoman Stunningly true! Which shows that, despite all the environmental talk, some us (me included!) know very little on the subject.—@avernet

@avernet Sorry, but how is water vapor a problem?—@ndw

@ndw @avernet It contributes about 2/3 to the total greenhouse effect. Plus if it gets warmer, more water turns into vapor, which in turn...—@vojtechtoman

In a conversation that started on Friday at 01:31pm

In my e-mail: "Jesus Christ is now following you on Twitter".—@tommorris

@tommorris He tweets you when you're sleeping, he tweets you when, no, wait, that's not the right imaginary guy with a beard, is it?—@ndw

Friday at 02:37pm

How appropriate that I should feel particularly fucked by DRM today: http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 04:32pm

*Every* year is the end of one decade...and the start of another...and in the middle of a bunch of others. That is all.—@xmlgrrl

@xmlgrrl But because we have a base ten numbering system, the start of a year that is a multiple of ten is more meaningful.—@bobdc

@bobdc No, not really. We just notice it more.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 04:45pm

just typed the date in a post update and love that it's 01.01.10—@violetblue

@violetblue Just wait for 01/11/10 or 01/02/2010—@ndw

Friday at 04:55pm

To d/l MP3 media from B&N.com, I need "the Media Console"? What was that word I used earlier today, it began with an "f", followed by "you"—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 05:37pm

Good start to the year. No disasters so far. @Stephenfry, could you put the baby in his cot & the ham in the freezer?—@MrsStephenFry

@MrsStephenFry You can see the baby going in the freezer and the ham in the cot just like the rest of us, right, dear?—@ndw

Friday at 09:05pm

"In 2009, we again saw why Adam Smith's invisible hand often appeared invisible: it is not there." http://bit.ly/7fnDYy—@webmink

Saturday at 09:16am

♺@jenit Good to see James Clark blogging again: http://blog.jclark.com/2010/01/xml-namespaces.html—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Saturday at 11:53am

Ah, first license violation of the year. Mac OS X, almost running on VMWare. (Runs in single user mode, crashes loading login screen)—@gcarothers

@gcarothers If you make more progress, please let me know!—@ndw

@ndw Full report on Mac OS X on VMWare might get written tomorrow... if not remind me.—@gcarothers

Saturday at 09:44pm

RT @bphogan @secretGeek: There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors.—@ndw

Sunday at 03:32am

RT @ndw: RT @bphogan @secretGeek: There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors.—@mhausenblas

Sunday at 07:09am

Wondering if @randallmunroe (@xkcd ?) has read _The Man Who Folded Himself_. For the "making out with yourself" plotlines. Yes, plural.—@ndw

Sunday at 10:33am

WTF, indeed. INTERPOL can operate in the US w/full diplomatic immunity? WTF?! http://bit.ly/5FdZi4 /via @dhmspector—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 12:09pm

I guess I should scratch Ireland off the list of 'places to move' because of their ludicrous new anti-blasphemy law. !@#%@ them—@wmperry

@wmperry I'm not even sure I wanna visit. It's the twenty-first century, folks; the secret is to bang the rocks together. Or something.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 01:14pm

Watch Now: Season 5 'Doctor Who' Trailer w/ new Doctor! http://is.gd/5KLyP [ via @eveofdoom ]—@peteaven

@peteaven I wish that trailer had left me feeling more optimistic.—@ndw

@ndw trailer left me hopeful. pics & press on the 11th hadn't really impressed me but this made it look like he might work. hope so.—@peteaven

Sunday at 01:27pm

RT @ndw @bphogan @secretGeek: There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors.—@CaptSolo

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 02:03pm

1951 Five Shilling piece from the Festival of Britain #thingsifoundinmydesk—@ndw

@ndw [1951 crown] Estimates of current value are remarkably variable: http://bit.ly/4LjFyP—@michaelhkay

@michaelhkay Hadn't thought of selling it. No idea which one it is though, except that it has writing on the edge. Uncirc & in a little box.—@ndw