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Microbial Art

  • Nov. 28th, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Following a link from a google search based on a link from [info]rocza I found a web page devoted to art produced using microbes & fungi.

images follow )

Nov. 28th, 2009

  • 3:46 AM




The statistics plotted above are of my friends public posts from 20020101 until an hour or two ago. LiveJournal makes collecting this information incredibly tedious. In the end I had to resort to walking a bunch of pages and screen scraping. For that reason the data isn't ideal. I've come up with a better-rubbish way to collect the data. Maybe I'll work on that tomorrow.

For now the data's good enough to say it isn't looking for LJ.

The critical mass either has or is moving. Too bad Facebook/Twitter suck as a LJ alternative.

Blipbox status

  • Nov. 28th, 2009 at 1:16 AM
I like Blipbox better than VBox, and it goes along with Bliplace. So that'll be the name for now. :)

At this point all the main systems are designed on paper, most have test circuits designed and laid out and test parts purchased, a few have been prototyped (signal generator, power supplies) or have had pre-made prototype modules purchased (fpga, microcontroller, usb interface).


Current very rough feature list is -

Two 1 Ghz bandwidth scope input stages with preamp (ADA4817-based), switchable as 1x/10x passive attenuation (before the preamp), AC/DC coupling, 1x/10x gain, (likely physical switches for first version, maybe relays later). Input impedance is 1MOhm || ~15 pF, compatible with standard 10x probes. Voltage at the preamp will be clamped to +/-5v, so with 10x probes and 10x attenuation it should be able to handle +/-(a few hundred) volts. I've put together a couple SPICE simulations and everything seems to check out - with proper calibration the frequency response should be darn flat.

Two 150 mhz variable gain amplifier stages (AD8330), software-controlled with gain/bias adjust. That part has a crazy wide gain range - maximum scope sensitivity will be limited by the noise floor.

Two 200-msample ADCs with ~1 meg of buffer per channel (DRAM is cheap, but I might end up limited by the complexity of FPGA DRAM controller - if I go with a tiny FPGA I'll use ~64k SRAM buffers instead).

Two ~100 msample DACs driven by the FPGA for arbitrary waveform synthesis (I've got dedicated waveform generator modules up and running already for testing, but don't really need them for the final box)

One or two clock generators (current parts I'm using are up to 133 mhz in 10 khz increments).

Analog crossbar switch - current chip I've got is a 8 x 16 array, bidirectional, bipolar (up to +/-7.5v) 300 mhz bandwidth - route any IO source to any IO sink however you like. Really neat little part, can't wait to see what people do with it.

16x general-purpose IO pins (standard 0.1" dual-row header), 8 of them routed to the analog switch matrix and 8 to the FPGA

Spartan-3 FPGA, somewhere in the 50k to 250k equivalent gate range.

At least one, possibly two adjustable bipolar switching-mode power supplies (one for the analog input stage, maybe one for external use) - current chip I'm using is software adjustable via I2C and can do ~300 mA at +/-12v.

At least two, possibly more linear power supplies (500 mA @ 1v to 5v, something like that), switchable between constant-current and constant-voltage mode.

The "bring-your-own-amps" miniature bench power supply feature (circuit in box, but only runs off external power) is probably nixed for the moment due to already excessive feature & power creep (was hoping for something that could match my current 30v @ 1 amp bench supply, thinking about doing external I2C-controlled module that can use the box for UI). Needs more research anyhow.

Color touchscreen (I've got a PSP screen which is gorgeous but expensive, will probably end up with 320x240), LED backlight, li-ion battery, high-speed USB interface for scope sample grabbing & firmware, etc (20+ meg/second courtesy of a really nifty new FTDI chip), Arduino-compatible bootloader, other goodies.

Other feature possibilities include some sort of video input/output (greyscale composite video generation is surprisingly easy and only needs 1 pin), some sort of audio input/output (moderate power amplified audio DACs are cheapcheap), whatever other fun shiny bits happen to intrigue me.

For open-source projects, it always seems better to build a platform than a product. :)

This is a year-long project at least, and I'm only a few months into it - some of the above will no doubt be cut, but I very much like the idea of having a suite of undedicated IO and amp and filter modules, a crosspoint switch to allow on-the-fly rewiring of them, and enough ADC/DAC and FPGA horsepower to be able to digitize high-speed signals, manipulate them via a soft-DSP, and spit them back out again.

We shall see if I succeed. :)

-tanjent
You're mugged by a man with a patch over one eye. You describe him and his distinctive appearance to the police. They locate a one-eyed suspect and present him to you in a video line-up with five innocent "foils". If this suspect is the only person in the line-up with one eye, prior research shows you're highly likely to pick him out even if, in all other respects, he actually bears little resemblance to your mugger. So the challenge is: How to make police line-ups fairer for suspects who have an unusual distinguishing feature?

Police in the USA and UK currently use two strategies - one is to conceal the suspect's distinguishing feature (and tell the witness they've done so); the other is to use make-up, theatrical props or Photoshop to adorn the other members of the line-up with the same distinctive feature. Now Theodora Zarkadi and her colleagues have compared both approaches and found the fairer method is to replicate the unusual feature.

Zarkadi's team presented 110 undergrads with 32 photos of real-life inmates taken from the Florida Department of Corrections website. Photoshop was used to apply distinctive features including tattoos and piercings. Six of these distinctive "suspect" offenders were then embedded, one each, in six picture line-ups alongside five previously unseen "innocent" offenders. The participants' task was to pick out the suspect in each line-up.

The key finding is that the students made significantly more correct identifications when the innocents had been given an identical distinguishing feature compared with when the suspects' unusual feature had been hidden (approx 58 per cent accuracy vs. about 39 per cent).

This advantage was replicated in a second experiment in which the suspect was sometimes absent from the line-ups (akin to what can happen in real life). In this case, when the suspect was present, identification was again more accurate when the innocents also appeared with the same distinguishing feature (approx 50 per cent vs. 30 per cent). When the suspect was missing from the line-up (i.e. six innocents appeared), the students made false identifications on about 60 per cent of occasions, but this figure wasn't affected by whether the suspect, when present, had his unusual feature hidden, or if instead his feature was replicated in the innocents.

"Police officers should be aware of this ... empirical result when constructing line-ups for suspects with distinctive features and should replicate rather than conceal these features," the researchers said.
_________________________________

ResearchBlogging.orgZarkadi T, Wade KA, & Stewart N (2009). Creating Fair Lineups for Suspects With Distinctive Features. Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS PMID: 19883492


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OMGBESTDAYEVER

  • Nov. 27th, 2009 at 10:34 PM
Today in a nutshell:
  • Drove to Boulder. Wow is it easy to drive fast on the highways here! Speed limit is 75, which means the default speed is 80, which means I didn't even notice when I was going 85 or even 90.
  • Shopped at the CU Bookstore.
  • Hung out near the stadium before the game. We saw the marching band process in and sang along with the fight song. I also got a buffalo hug from Chip, the guy in the mascot suit, and got a photo with Ralphie, the actual mascot. She's small! And cute.
  • Had pizza for lunch at The Sink. It was the first time I'd eaten there since being an undergrad, and it was soooooo yummy. Dipping my crusts into honey... oh yum.
  • Walked down to Pearl Street. Enjoyed the beautiful weather.
  • Saw New Moon. It was not a great movie, but I totally enjoyed it. Laughed a lot. Enjoyed the hot shirtless guys.
  • SANG WITH A QUARTET OF DICKENSIAN CAROLERS! They were caroling at the shopping area and told Heather and me to sing with them, so we all did "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World" together. It was awesome. That's the first time I've sung Christmas carols since college; I was impressed I remembered all alto harmonies.
  • Heard "Feliz Navidad" and "Sleighride" on the drive home.
Dude. Awesome day. I heard the Buffs lost, but oh well. I'm used to it by now. Glad we didn't bother buying tickets to the game.

Tomorrow dad and I are going to work on the Airstream until it's time for me to leave for the airport. Too bad I haven't done any grading. I guess I know what I'll be doing on the flight. BLAH!

Thankful

  • Nov. 27th, 2009 at 9:24 PM

Yesterday I was thankful for having a fun, low-key Thanksgiving at the house of our friends Chad & Camille, with Susan and Subrata also attending. Plus we had one toddler (S&S’s), two infants (C&C’s), and two dogs (also C&C’s), and the obligatory plenty of food, supplied by all of us. (Well, Debbi took care of our contributions.)

In the evening Debbi and I watched Up on DVD. I liked it quite a bit when I saw it in the theatre, and I liked it just as much this time. The more I think about it, the more I think it is Pixar’s best film. Its ridiculous premises are inventive and audacious, but more importantly they’re surprising; the film heads in unexpected directions and yet holds together. It works because it sticks to its emotional center, that of Carl finding meaning in his life after leaving everything he’s known behind him. It’s certainly the most emotionally resonant film in Pixar’s catalog.

Today I’m thankful for my cat Jefferson, who went to the vet for dental surgery, and who fortunately had ‘only’ an infected tooth that needed to be pulled, and nothing worse (like a tumor). He’s home now, a little groggy, has been wolfing down soft cat food and drinking lots of water, blinking at the bright lights, and slowly getting back to normal. The other cats were perplexed by his absence, and have been mostly leaving him alone since he returned.

But for a 15-year-old cat, he’s doing pretty good. He’ll be on soft food and taking antibiotics for a while, but hopefully a good night’s sleep will get his personality back to normal.

And then I’ll really be thankful.

(Crossposted from Fascination Place)

Yo Seattle peeps

  • Nov. 27th, 2009 at 7:48 PM
I am having a migrainey evening and am not really up for going clubbing - does anyone want to go show my little sister (yes, she is legal drinking age) around Pike/Pine?

-tanjent

tweetledee or tweetledum?

  • Nov. 27th, 2009 at 8:03 PM
  • 00:22 I am off to India! my internet will be sporadic i'm sure... so be patient! #
Automatically posted by LoudTwitter
I have long said that the differences between PT and BR Portuguese are very analogous to UK vs US English. Sometimes I reconsider this. For example, if you're a Wikipedian, there's some annoying differences between the Portuguese spoken in Portugal and Brazil. I now have slightly more sympathy for those who proposed to separate the BR and PT Wikipedias, while still strongly disagreeing with it.

Some examples from different word categories.

Read more... )

Adventures in Thanksgiving cooking

  • Nov. 27th, 2009 at 5:33 PM

Pies

It has been a few years since I made homemade pie crusts. No, that's not true: I keep *trying* but failing. I think it's something about this new house, and the countertops in the kitchen. I never had much trouble at our condo, and I've never had a lick of trouble back in Fairbanks. But I've had miserable failures since we moved in our current home! This year and last year, I even bought backup store-bought pie crusts; I feel it's like sneaking into two different churches on a Sunday.

I almost tried a vodka crust this year, except all I've got in the cupboard are gin and whiskey. (hmmmmm...) So instead, I tossed together the dough as usual --- then let it sit half an hour before balling it up and rolling it, just to let the flour re-hydrate. IT WORKED, IT'S ALIIIIIIVE, HAHAHAHAHA!! No, that's not true: it's eaten. The pumpkin turned out perfectly, and the pecan was only a bit off (more a bucket of pralines than a soft-candy pudding).

Turkey

Jen really wanted to try a Trader Joe's brined turkey. No rush --- we were going over to a friend's house for Thanksgiving, we'll just roast another for the long holiday weekend --- so she went shopping on Wednesday evening. The smallest remaining bird was 20+ pounds. We are still eating leftovers from a 7lb bird I roasted last weekend; unless I feed it to dogs, I have no idea what we're going to do with 20lb of turkey. Freeze most of it, I suppose.

And I don't have a roasting pan that size! I sorta realized this after I'd manhandled the turkey into the sink, rinsed it, dried it, mayonnaise'd it, and was looking for somewhere to stash it so I could wash my hands. To the rescue: "the cuisine of New England". No-no-no, not donuts --- New England boiled dinner! (How exactly is it "cuisine" to toss everything in a pot and boil til all in all it's the same color? I don't understand.) The turkey is currently roasting vertically in the giant enameled pot I use to boil lobsters. It seems to be coming along fine, I hope it turns out.

Brioche and dulce de leche

Ah, irony: to receive a book on artisan breads for my birthday, yet I've been trying to lose weight for months. (If only I could just give my excess to Elida.) But this is Thanksgiving weekend, so bugger all I'm going to make bread! And dulce de leche, just to droooozle across the warm oven-fresh slices. Droooooozle. Drooooooooooozzzzle. I've never made dulce de leche by any means or mechanism, thank goodness for teh interwebs or I'd probably have it dripping from my ceiling at this very moment! Wish me luck :-)

Bad Romance

  • Nov. 27th, 2009 at 12:49 PM
So after mis-singing the Lady Gaga lyrics for two weeks, I got some weird looks and finally had to google . I bet you are much disappointed to learn she is not screaming "Au Jus bad romance!" towards the end there after the French part, because I know I was. Also, because I would argue: Nothing better describes that icky-in-love feeling than if it came with a side of its own sauce
Not as cool as I thought you were, Lady Gaga. Oh well.

NYT reviews Glen Park

  • Nov. 27th, 2009 at 11:18 AM
The New York Times wrote a travel article about the little-known neighborhood in San Francisco where I used to live. It's kind of funny seeing a national publication writing about my secluded local independent market, coffee shop, and park.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/travel/escapes/27Bernal.html

Christmas delivery from the xkcd store

  • Nov. 26th, 2009 at 5:00 AM
Hey! A note to anyone interested in buying Christmas gifts from the xkcd store: the deadline for Christmas delivery of domestic orders is December 14th. We'll continue to ship after that, but won't guarantee by-Christmas delivery. (If you haven't been to the xkcd store lately, you might want to check it out. I've got some some new stuff there!)

xkcd store items

Chap-hop

  • Nov. 26th, 2009 at 11:19 PM
Wow, it's like reactionary nerdcore!

Or as the SF Tweed post said: "Oh my! What dapper rapping! We must bring to your attention the amazing MC skills of Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer… Thirty years of hip-hop history. In five minutes. On the banjolele."



Also don't miss the "teacore" rap song.

Recipe Link Dump

  • Nov. 26th, 2009 at 10:53 PM
Yesterday, I ended up at the Whole Foods in Venice and spotted Oregon Truffles for 19.00 dollars a clamshell in arborio rice. My original plan was to take them home and polish the slices off with a slice of brie and honey, but people were hungry after a day of mourning and not eating so I made risotto instead.

I made a variation on this Guilty Kitchen Recipe here: http://guiltykitchen.com/?p=449 and then shaved some truffles on top. The risotto took a while to prep and put together but it was worth the time and effort.

The next day, I had to make some items for "Franksgiving." Since my grandfather was named Frank and was at every family dinner, it seemed like a fitting commemorative name.

With the leftover risotto I made fried risotto balls:
http://www.kitchenexperiments.net/2009/09/what-to-do-with-leftover-risotto.html
They were yummy, but I like the idea of baking instead of frying since some of them fell apart in the deep fryer


I also made:
David Lebovitz Flourless Chocolate Cake with a raspberry liqueur reduction: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/01/shf_27_chocolat_1.html
Candied sweet potatoes: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/candied-sweet-potatoes-5/detail.aspx
And pumpkin souffle that needs to be tweaked a little before I share the recipe.

The sadness has not compromised my cooking at all, but the weirdness of not having my grandfather at the table with the shot of vodka and newer role of myself as an adult helping put together dinner do feel incredibly strange. It is going to be a while before I can convince myself that he is really gone, but that too shall pass.

Bicycle Stolen

  • Nov. 26th, 2009 at 10:38 PM
It's been four days since, and I'm still bummed out about my electric bicycle being stolen. I was almost ready to start commuting to work with it once again.

I had stopped riding it after the time I got doored while cycling night. That night I'd nearly broken my arm, but more importantly, I'd been traumatized about cycling at night. So even though I'd prefer to commute to work by bike, I haven't since work usually keeps me out late.

Eventually, I convinced myself that for night time cycling, I needed more light at chest and head level to be safe. (The woman who doored me says she didn't see me because she'd just had her windows tinted.) This was the genesis of...

The EL Wire Visibility Vest.


And it was good.

It's taken quite a long time to sew up the 30 feet of EL wire by hand (I wouldn't make it the same way again) but it is nearly done. It's just too bad it didn't get to live up to its intended purpose.

The electric bike was stolen from my apartment's gated garage about a week ago. I'd been fixing it up in preparation for returning to the bicycle commute.

Lenses and Food

  • Nov. 26th, 2009 at 11:06 PM
I'm super thankful for this website, which I just spent over an hour reading: http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html

I'll probably be buying my first DSLR soon, so I've been learning about lenses. It's... a lot of numbers and technical information for my humanities-based brain to process and retain. In fact, I've been online reading about lenses and looking at specific lenses for about an hour and forty-five minutes now, and I'm feeling really worn out.

Thank goodness I have a belly full of good food to keep me going! The white meat was exceptionally juicy this year, the chipotle yams are growing on me, and the blackberry/raspberry pie was pretty much the best I've ever had.

Tomorrow I head to Boulder to hang out with Heather, shop at the CU Bookstore for new Buffs swag, go to a tailgate party or two, and have pizza at The Sink. I've been craving Sink pizza for about eight months now, so it ought to hit the spot.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I hardly read any Twilight today, but I did get to rivet a plate onto the Airstream with my dad. I'm getting excited about living in it next summer!

The rest of this entry is really just for me to keep all my lens reading and research from tonight in one place. Skip it.

(Lens stuff so I don't forget) )

Oh, but one more thing. I'm thankful for:
  • Hot showers
  • Home cooking
  • How the sun feels on my naked skin
  • The Internet
  • My friends who are able to express how they're feeling, especially gratitude at having me in their life
  • Seeing so much thankfulness expressed on Facebook status updates today
I hope everybody had a really really nice Thanksgiving.

Cook your turkeys, cook your data

  • Nov. 26th, 2009 at 9:48 PM
Is this a smoking gun for climate fraud, or something that just happens to look like one?
From the CRU code file osborn-tree6/briffa_sep98_d.pro , used to prepare a graph purported to be of Northern Hemisphere temperatures and reconstructions.

;
; Apply a VERY ARTIFICAL correction for decline!!
;
yrloc=[1400,findgen(19)*5.+1904]
valadj=[0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,-0.1,-0.25,-0.3,0.,- 0.1,0.3,0.8,1.2,1.7,2.5,2.6,2.6,$
2.6,2.6,2.6]*0.75 ; fudge factor
if n_elements(yrloc) ne n_elements(valadj) then message,’Oooops!’
;
yearlyadj=interpol(valadj,yrloc,timey)
Because it sure looks bad.

In other Climategate news, Declan McCullagh covers the controversy, the original FOIA requester says it's about transparency, not infighting, and Eric Crampton gives the economist's view on global warming.

bah

  • Nov. 26th, 2009 at 9:38 PM
I don't want to take my goddamned vitamins today.
There is nothing more daunting when nauseous than the thought of keeping a bunch of vitamins down.

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