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A NOLA Insider's Slideshow
brian on 2005.09.10 at 06:12 pm
A pretty fascinating slideshow from Alvaro, a New Orleans resident who stay through the storm… and then found a few days past that it was time to get out of town.
A real insider’s view.
(I had this open in a tab, and have since forgotten its origins…)
Posted in: Recent Events
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Donate to help Katrina Victims
brian on 2005.09.01 at 05:51 pm
Please give what you can to help those in the path of Hurricane Katrina.
Last night I gave to the American Red Cross. I had to decide between them and AmeriCares Domestic Relief Fund. I gave to the Red Cross in the end, hoping that perhaps my company might start a matching drive, and in the past they have given to the Red Cross. Today, I found that my friends at 37 Signals were matching their blog reader’s contributions up to $5,000. All you have to do is email your donation confirmation to Jason Fried. Maybe my donation will be matched several times.
The web is mobilizing in response to the catastrophe. The always first-class Craigslist is doing what they do best… they sprung into action with new sites for cities hit the hardest. They are a great resource for people trying to find each other, help, and housing.
Additionally, the people behind MoveOn.org have set up a housing website, for people who have space to let someone without a home settle in until things start to improve.
In addition to my donation, I’m hoping our good site’s stance with Google will help spread these links…
Update— Apple has put up a donation link via the iTunes Music Store.
Posted in: Web · Recent Events · Weather
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Big Storm Brewing
brian on 2005.08.28 at 08:11 pm
Should I get excited about a category five Hurricane with its sites on the mainland? Well, I certainly fell sorry for those who will face destruction, but I get excited even when weather catastrophes are baring down on me directly.
Usually, I get to enjoy blizzards, but we’ve had our share of hurricanes in New England, as well. I think the worst was a Cat. Four, Bob, I believe. That was back when I was Connecticut native. And I vaguely remember Gloria, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper.
Well, I am happy to see the Weather Channel has gone to all-Hurricane coverage, since I’m such a geek who likes to see reporters get soaked and blown around.
I’m looking for some good webcams to checkout, since the main landfall should be both on a city and during the middle of the day.
The downfall of my plan is the certain power loss when the storm gets good. I was thinking, if a municipality had solar powered WiFi antennae on their street lights, they could form an ad-hoc network through out a city, allowing city state and federal authorities to broadcast lots of information with their constituents and receive equally useful info.
I realize this is a bit of a pipe dream, but imagine what could happen if this network were in place. Let’s just talk about the emergency usage. First off, officials would have a very fast connection to emergency bunkers that wasn’t dependent on wires that can be blown down. Wireless mesh networks that can patch themselves (like the internet itself) if intermediary nodes go down, would allow excellent connections for emergency personal. Real time images and maps.
For citizenry, you could receive evacuation routes and much more specific and up-to-date info that you could listening to a radio broadcast. You could get the whole story regardless of when you tuned in. Of course, you’d have to have energy efficient portable and good wireless reception. iBook, anyone?
It would very impressive if you could co-op private WiFi routers as nodes for the emergency, but of course, this brings up the power issue again. Perhaps a car battery plus a 12v-120v power converter… but now we’re in serious geek/hacker category. But with a volunteer geek corp, you could get some really useful webcams, uploads of still and video images. Useful for neighbors to know what’s going on, micro-casting of local news, really; and useful to emergency personnel who would have so many more eyes and ears.
MIT has a rooftop network experiment for community networking that could serve as a model for the networking. Add WiFi routing / access points powered the way those highway call boxes are, with the little solar panels. With the close nature of housing in the northern suburbs of Boston, reception would be easy. It would be great.
Who’s in?
Tangentially related: NOAA Podcasts
Posted in: Recent Events · Weather
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Homeownership
brian on 2005.07.29 at 08:27 am
Yesterday Amanda and I signed approximately 3702 pieces of paper and we are now officially homeowners in the city of Medford, Massachusetts. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Medford is a northern suburb in the Boston Metro area. If you’ve ever heard of Tufts University, we’re about two blocks from that.
It’s exciting and scary. Homes are so expensive (and we only bought a condo) around here that there’s naturally some trepidation in regards to the financial burden you’ve just put yourself under. I mean, wow, if we’re not firing on all cylinders, how will we pay the mortgage? They wouldn’t have OKed me for this loan if I couldn’t pay for it, right? And like many people in this housing market, we’re afraid we paid too much. I heard an interview on the radio the other day with an area real estate rep and she stated the Boston market still could not supply enough first time home owners with housing within their price range… in other words the market isn’t going down anytime soon. Other people say the bubble will burst. Based on our experience buying, I’d have to agree with the former… but then again, to part with the money we just did… wouldn’t we have to buy into that?
Read on for much more on our first time home buying experience thus far
Posted in: Recent Events
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To Serve Man
jake on 2005.05.31 at 12:44 pm
Let’s try this again shall we? The post last night for Revenge of the Sith posted but ecto spit back some errors I couldn’t work out before having to get some sleep.
To Serve Man
There is an episode of The Twilight Zone —based on a short story—where aliens come to Earth and trick us into trusting them. Coincidentaly it was released on March 2nd, which happens to be my birthday. Not the same year of course.
Mr. Chambers! Don’t get on that ship! The rest of the book, “To Serve Man”, it’s… it’s a cookbook!
I’m not sure if it’s just a coincidense but that is what the Billboard Liberation Front put on their protest of McDonald’s corporation.
From: Boing Boing
Posted in: Television · Recent Events
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Breaking News: Auto Accident at Beacon and St.Paul St.
brian on 2005.05.24 at 08:53 pm
Brookline Citizen Journalism Experiment
We interrupt your regularly scheduled weblog with…
Two car accident at the intersection of Beacon and St. paul Streets in Brookline at about 8:30pm Tuesday evening
St. Paul Street traveling south is being rerouted via Parkman to Powel, which intersects Beacon one block further east, and via Pleasant which intesects Beacon two blocks further West (just east of Coolidge Corner)
More info and pictures coming. Watch this space for updates.
UPDATE 1: Two pictures, both facing south on St. Paul, Beacon crossing left to right. Green Line train at the St. Paul T-Stop, heading inbound to Boston. Apologies for the poor night time photography, and iPhoto doesn’t quite have Photoshop’s abilities yet. Maybe I’ll adjust levels in PShop later, speed is important in the breaking news business.
Update 2: The car closest in the picture had major damage to it’s passenger side read door. It’s a compact, I believe a Toyota Corolla. It was struck by a larger sedan, I believe a Toyota Camry, which struck the Corolla with its passenger side headlight, which you can see better in the 2nd picture, but crumpled the hood pretty good. The weather very well could have been a factor, seeing that it was pouring thanks to the nor’easter.
As I walked up the street to get to the scene, an ambulance was just leaving the scene. I saw no occupants of either car still on scene. Several police officers, their cruisers and the flat-bed wrecker truck, all of which had the scene cleaned up by about 9:15pm
Update 3: Backstory: I was watching some science show in my living room when the fire trucks pulled by. No big shocker, it happens all the time, we live on one of their favorite routes. They passed, I un-paused the TiVo. But minutes later I hear loudspeakers and seeing flashing blue lights. I determine out our bay window that Brookline Police had blocked off St. Paul one block north of Beacon and were barking directions attempting to redirect traffic.
I suit up in my rain gear and boots grab the camera and walk down the block. Then I hustled back to upload the pictures. If I could find my damn USB cable… and that leads to now, in which I now wait to see when/if this report’s been picked up by Universal Hub the Boston area’s citizen journalism hub and general place to read blog rants.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Texas School bans opposite sex day
jake on 2004.11.17 at 04:46 pm
A school in Spurger, Texas switched one of the days of spirit week because a dim witted parent complained and got The Liberty Legal Institute to back her. So much for liberty.
Here we have a common gross generalization that gay individuals dress like the opposite sex being used to push the fight against the "homosexual agenda." What the hell is the "homosexual agenda?" As far as I can tell it's, "Hey! We want equal rights!"
According to the tradition, boys and girls reverse social roles for one day during homecoming week. It lets the older girls invite boys on dates, open doors and pay for sodas. It also calls for guys to dress like girls -- and girls like guys.
That doesn't sound anything like acting gay, it sounds more like gender reversal. Oh wait, that's what it is... This is pretty much like powder puff football games where the football team cheers from the sidelines and the cheerleaders play football. It's all in good fun.
And the wonderful thing it was replaced with was "Camo-day," where you look like you hsould be carrying a gun. "I'm sorry sir, you can't wear that skirt, but here, put on these symbols of war."
I'd go to school in pink camo if I lived there.
From: MeFi
Update: Retuers has an article about this with some details about the actual day. It also included a quote from the mom who started the whole thing.
"It might be fun today to dress up like a little girl -- kids think it's cute and things like that. And you start playing around with it and, like drugs, you do a little here and there (and) eventually it gets you," Davies told reporters.
Apparently Delana Davies thinks that by dressing up and acting like the opposite sex for fun will lead to the students doing it all the time, like a drug. I think Davies is on drugs. That is the most ludicrous thing I have heard in recent memory. Kinda one of those Lewis Black things.
At least some of the kids are as rebelious as me.
Despite the change from TWIRP Day, Hunt said some of the students stuck to the old tradition and wore clothes of the opposite sex.
"I understand from the superintendent that some of the boys dressed in pink shorts anyway," he said.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Jake's first robbery
jake on 2004.10.07 at 01:30 pm
The story
Well I received my first criminal act last night. Just like Brian's it was not too terrible. It could have been a lot worse.
I came home from work a little after 5:00 and noticed my back door was unlocked. The outer door was still locked so I assumed I just forgot to lock it when I left. I entered and went about my daily routine. Opened up Peanut Butter and went out front to get the mail.
A few minutes later I went into the bathroom to put something away. As I was leaving the latrine I noticed glass all on the floor under the kitchen window.
Now I started to panic, what's going on, why is the window smashed through? I start to think, wait, PB was there, and my TV and stuff. What's going on?
Looking around the apartment there doesn't seem to be anything missing. Computers, check. TV, DVD player, PS2, hey wait, where the heck is my GameCube?!? It's gone!
So are almost all my games, including the PS2 ones. Well that's pretty f*cked up. How come they just took the GameCube? I looked around again, still nothing else seemed to be missing. That's bizarre.
I called the cops and relayed the info to them. I called my parents (my mom works for my insurance agency so it was a double whammy.) Thank God I have insurance. And I called my band mates, as I was supposed to go to rehearsal.
The aftermath
So now I have a report and if the thieves try to pawn it I know the GameCube's serial number, etc. What a pain in the ass though.
I also notice they took all the money out of my change jar. I'm not sure how much, but last time I emptied it I got almost $50 after the machine at the grocery store took it's "commission" (yes I'm too lazy to roll it myself.) And they took all my collected coins, nothing significant, just nostalgic things I got from relatives or my own personal travels. They missed the only coin I'm confident is worth anything.
So it really wasn't something like they cleaned me out and now I have to worry about losing work, and re-buying things like crazy. But it's still unsettling to know a couple of losers broke into my living space and made off with stuff. Even if I don't get to play video games as much as I used to. Now I don't even have the memory cards with all the saved data on them. I get to start from scratch on everything.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Freak accident, cousin hit by boat
jake on 2004.08.30 at 12:12 pm
I just got a call from my mom with an update to her cousin's condition. (my second cousin? I never remember how that stuff works) Some background, on Saturday evening around 6:30 my cousin was swimming in Rogers Lake in Old Lyme, CT and was struck by a power boat. He was pulled out and Lifestarred to Hartford Hospital. The problem was not being struck by the boat, it was being unconscious under water for over five minutes.
After family members resisting the doctor's idea to pull the plug yesterday morning he opened his eyes yesterday and responded to simple commands like, "move your hand." So while he's not totally ok, hopefully it'll just be a matter of rehabilitation and he'll pull through.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Happy Birthday Donald
jake on 2004.06.10 at 11:16 pm
Donald Duck hits 70 in style From: Boing Boing
Posted in: Recent Events
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Where have I been?
jake on 2004.06.10 at 04:26 pm
I figure I’ll try and post some actual things tonight after work, but since I’ve been dormant lately here’s some wacky things from Reuters.
- Human Time Capsule – A Japanese man was found dead, in what seems to be a squatters apartment, after 20 years. I just wanna know if, besides the “pajama-clad skeleton,” someone documented the findings. No one had been in there for 20 years, it’d be interesting.
- Players’ Wives Give Team Lucky Strip – Some significant others of the Russian soccer team posed naked to perk up the team for Euro 2004™.
- Update: No Sex Before Games, Please, Says Germany Doctor – Poor Germans, while the Russians will be “getting a boost” from their wives and girlfriends, they have to go cold turkey.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Man claims he told FBI about 9/11
jake on 2004.06.04 at 09:18 am
A man is claiming that he was involved in the 9/11 plot.
A congressional report on the Sept. 11 attacks confirmed that in April 2000 an unnamed "walk-in" source told FBI agents in Newark, New Jersey, that he "was to meet five or six persons," some of them pilots, who would take over a plane and fly to Afghanistan, or blow up the plane, NBC said.
Posted in: Recent Events
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11 Most Endangered Historic Places
brian on 2004.05.25 at 10:39 am
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2004.
Included on the list is the State of Vermont, under siege again by the Wal-Mart Corporation.
Also, Nine Mile Canyon, called "the world's longest art gallery" for its 10,000 Native American rock-art images, is threatened by the Bush Administration's plans for extensive oil and gas exploration. Nine Mile Canyon is located in a remote part of east central Utah. The canyon is said to contain the highest concentration of monochromatic prehistoric rock art in North America. Nine Mile Canyon is also an area with many diverse historic sites from the days of pioneer settlement, such as stagecoach stops, ranch buildings and settler’s cabins.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Gay donation banning
jake on 2004.05.23 at 10:45 pm
Tom makes a good point in reference to banning of sperm donations. He brings up the ban on blood donations too. I find it very discriminatory. The ban started in 1985 during the HIV scare. Considering that little thing I like to call knowledge this ban should have been lifted years ago. It's kinda like using the "sanctity of marriage" when discussing stopping homosexuals from marrying while the divorce rate is so high. Argh... I have to go to bed before I break something.
Posted in: Recent Events
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T Riders to be stopped for ID?
brian on 2004.05.22 at 10:19 pm
According to this Globe article and numerous TV news reports, the MBTA apparently plans to start asking passengers for ID, and inquiring about their travel plans. Sounds like the East Germans asking for your papers, eh?Don't get me wrong, I'm all for rail safety and realize the state of world, and its anger against the our brilliant American leadership. But damn, if America has to give up the whole "Don't Tread On Me" platform we were founded on, what have we left to secure?
Posted in: Recent Events
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Brian's First Mugging
brian on 2004.05.10 at 11:22 pm
Basically it went down like so. I was walking around the Lechmere Canal, about half way from the mall to the train. I saw two black teens, probably no older than 15 loitering in the darkest section of the wide brick walkway. The walk way isn't terribly dark, honestly. I wasn't too far behind some other woman, but there was apparently no one behind me.
They started towards my walking trajectory. One faster than the other, as to get on either side of my path. My instincts at that point sounded the alarm. That's not right. My liberal side kicked in "Don't stop walking because they're black. They're dressed cleanly, although very urban, that doesn't mean they're going to do anything. Lots of people mindlessly walk into people's path."
At this point they were on either side of me.
"Yo. Give me your wallet"
"Hey now, come on. Stop it." I say as I try to push by.
"No, man, wallet, give it up." He restates. It feels more like they're just going to try to bully me. I don't see any weapons. Maybe I can just walk through them.
"Knock it off." At this point I'm paraphrasing everything, cause I don't remember the words, just the motions and images.
"Give it up, man. I'm serious." At this point, I see the glimmering blade of a buck-style pocket knife, about three inches in length being held into my gut with light pressure. "Give me your wallet."
"Alright, alright. There's no need for any of this. Can I just give you the cash, keep my license and stuff?" I attempt to reason with teenage assailants with a knife.
"Yeah, yeah." Go figure.
I whip out the cash and hand it over.
"What else you got in there?" Referencing my bag. Shit, I think.
"Nothing, I don't have anything else." I try to say as exasperated and pathetic as possible.
One guy reaches in and see my phone, pulls it from the bag.
"Oh, come on." I say. "Give that back, what do you want that for."
"He's going to call the cops if we give it back." One says to the other.
"Why bother?" I reason. "They'll never catch you anyway. I'm not going to call them. No point."
"OK, give it to him." The fat one with the knife, the ring leader, says. Skinny one gives it back. Go figure.
"What else you got?"
"Nothing."
"OK, don't be calling the cops now."
I get out of there promptly. Honestly surprised. Not so bad for being "violated." Is this the feeling of violation? Why did they do this? They didn't look like typical thieves. They were dressed cleanly. They probably wore those clothes to school. They weren't thorough, and almost polite. I must have been lucky with a couple of rookies. Their whole life of crime ahead of them. They were probably a little scared, too. But as the street would teach, they hid it well. You never show weakness.
I walk quickly to the train, and get on with little delay. I didn't call the cops, rather back to the store so they could alert mall security. I wasn't concerned too much with the police, as I was with preventing this from happening again that night to someone else. Security could do that. Their presence alone deters. People, attention deters. But, the cops would likely not catch them, unless they were really stupid and hung around there.
When I got home, there was a message from the store that the police responded to their call instead of Mall Security. The cops usually have a presence in the mall. They want me to call them directly a file a report, because despite my description has passed along by the store, they can't file a report with anything less than a first hand description. I haven't called yet. I'm debating as to whether its even worth it.
Mugging seems like such a nice word. Armed robbery with a deadly weapon is pretty fearsome. It turns out that this is one of the most common offenses in this area of Cambridge, in fact the biggest other than vandalism. But the analysis doesn't make me feel any better, because I and some many others have to walk that path twice daily.
What an odd last month: get an awesome new job, treat yourself to a cool new bike for commuting. Have a great time in California training for two weeks, come back, next day find out my Grandfather has unexpectedly passed away. Work my first few days at the fun new job until driving 600+ miles in two days for the services. Hurt your back in at the service carrying stuff. Come back to work, can't ride the new bike thanks to the back injury, enjoy another few days of work, and then get mugged on the way to the backup transportation. Whenever you get a high point, there's life looking to knock you back down.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Prison writing class stopped; compositions ordered to be destroyed
jake on 2004.04.21 at 11:48 am
This is just crazy, and it happened in "my backyard." Well, at least in my state. Inmates taking a writing class at the York Correctional Facility in East Lyme had their hard work thrown out after one of the class won PEN American Center prize.
"It flies in the face of the First Amendment," Lamb said.
Department of Correction Commissioner Theresa Lantz halted the writing program March 29 after learning that inmate Barbara Parsons Lane had won a $25,000 PEN American Center prize for her work on the 2003 book "Couldn't Keep It To Myself: Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters."
From Boing Boing
Update: A follow up post from Boing Boing links to two NYTimes articles declaring the prize money will be given. Too bad they wanted to destroy the work, that's still unacceptible.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Current Events Spam
brian on 2003.12.14 at 12:06 pm
Found in the junk-inbox just now:
"Sender: News Service, Subject: Saddam Captured.. Get it first with Dish, Sent 11:34:47 AM EST"
The body of the email was mainly images (purposely blocked by Mail.app's anti-spam utilities, thanks) but the text at the bottom was actually just a news blurb, no selling nor porn. I'm not curious enough to load the pics, and give away my existence. Instead, I'll bounce it back to them, as I do about a hundred times a day, spamming the spammers.
Posted in: Web · Recent Events
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Snow, snow, snow
brian on 2003.12.08 at 12:26 am
If you're in the US, then you likely heard about the mammoth snow drop this weekend.
If you're curious how it hit my abode, check out the web gallery I have put together on how my neighborhood fared under enormous snowfall.
Posted in: Recent Events
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Awesome Blackout Links
brian on 2003.08.15 at 10:10 pm
Cam Barrett has an awesome piece up on the blackout, linking to fellow NYC blogger's stories and pictures of the Great Blackout of 2003. For the record, even though Massachusetts was shown all the maps as being effected, only a very few, Western Mass. areas were affected. New England has its own grid that interfaces with the one that went down, but ours protected itself a little better from the domino effect than others, apparently. The Boston area didn't even flinch, luckily.
How I found out about the blackout: I was speaking with a father and son who were inquiring about a 12" PowerBook. He pulled out his RIM Blackberry Phone which has a news headline "Four States and Canada Lose Power." "Sounds like that could be terrorism, hey?" He said, almost nonchalantly.
Posted in: Recent Events
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