Epistolary http://epistolary.org/rob/ interrelationships en-us June 29, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6952.html Two books, which I've mentioned in the last few entries, have been guiding many of the actions in my days recently. The newest one, It's hard to make a difference when you can't find your keys by Marilyn Paul explains many of the organizational principles I've felt were missing from David Allen's Getting Things Done.

Paul espouses some pretty simple and common-sense (some would say old, others might say time-tested) principles of organization of space like "A place for everything and everything in it's place." It sounds pretty trite sitting there all by itself out of the context of a larger organizational system, but she explains those too and ties it all together.

Over the last week and change I've reviewed my physical environment. I realized that in my eagerness to be prepared for anything and everything with the proper equipment I have not given the proper respect to the few essentials. Once I was able to grasp concept of keeping things in the proper space and the proper time, their usefulness doubled.

My kitchen cabinets and shelves were so cluttered with all the things that I could use for cooking that they crowded out and hid the things that I would use, if only I could find them when it was time to cook. In theory I had medications for all sorts of ailments and injuries in my medicine cabinet, but when I really needed something for relief, a trip to the CVS for a new one was easier then rummaging through an pile of miscellaneous medications and bandages.

There is a long way for me to go in organizing spaces, but the time savings and refreshing energy that comes from my office, bedroom, closets, and kitchen is so invigorating that my thoughts begin to turn back to how to best focus this energy in the right direction. It comes back, not surprisingly, to the GTD method and Allen's book.

This long weekend I will be happy to relax at home and highlight things I really want to do and their order of importance with as little sentimentality as possible. This itself is going to take a bit of planning. I intend to stock up on food and snacks and caffeine enough to create a workable set of lists in a form that I can keep with me.

The end result, I hope, will be a solid understanding of my path forward and the steps to get there. It won't be an inflexible plan, but will provide me with a way to bounce new ideas and demands on my time and energy off a solid visualization of my responsibilities, priorities, pleasures, and passions.


#6952 ]]> 2009-06-29T23:46:43-04:00 June 28, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6951.html Technically right now I am violating my self-imposed Internet embargo for today, an exercise in self-restraint that I've been calling "Internet Free Sundays." But if a weekend in the future is as productive and rewarding as this one has been, I would gladly do it again.

Elissa and I were busy little social bees this weekend. A got a late start to the day and spent a few hours blissfully relaxing in the hammock in between cleaning the kitchen and my bedroom and doing laundry. I have many obvious mosquito bites on my leg from those hammock forays but due to a constant influx of loratadine, I feel no pain. In between I managed to sneak in 3 successful (out of 11 attempts) Field Day contacts from my home station.

After a morning at our respective houses, Elissa and I met up at mine and headed out to the first of two evening parties: Melissa's going away party. We arrived before anyone at the scheduled start time of 7pm and were entertained by the host with a viewing of Dark City, nacho dip and offers of beers and soda. Sometime around 8:30 the guest of honor finally arrived (with an excellent excuse and to friendly jeers of "Melissa time" anyway) and after we got a chance to hang out in the lovely weather on the back porch with her, Elissa and I made our way back up to Parkville for the PDF Decom BBQ at Mike and Joanna's place.

This morning in lieu of sitting on the Internet and being boring, we went out to the Shambala Center in Charles Village for morning meditations, followed by brunch at Tambers (an old custom for Elissa, a fairly new one for me). We were going to head directly over to Phil and Rebecca's place for Phil's 32nd birthday, but had scheduled it a little early in our calendars.

With some time to kill before the party we did some essential shopping for pet supplies and new shoes. Now my kittens have yet another 40 pound supply of cat litter, a water bowl with a stand-up reservoir and a less tippable cat food bowl. Elissa's sister's dog Roger now has a new dog bed and tennis balls. I have a lovely new pair of work-casual shoes to replace the white sneakers I've been wearing for the last few weeks since I threw out my last neglected pair of shoes.

Phil's party was lots of fun and featured a series of 80's movies including Labyrinth and Dark Crystal. We had an excellent time but I was still exhausted from the night before, the meditation this morning, and a series of somewhat sleepless nights lately. We left after a few hours and proceeded to descend on the messes in my house in a fury.

I inspired Elissa to an energetic state by sweeping up my office/bedroom and putting all my books and reference stuff back into place. As I headed down to finish laundry, she was attacking the bathroom with a vengance. I've been pretty good about keeping up on things so there was only the usual cleaning and disinfecting for her to do. Meanwhile I loaded up the dishwasher, turned over the compost in the backyard, and washed the sheets and the week's (small load of) collected laundry.

Now I'm laying back in a clean room, with only a few soaking dishes from my delicious chicken breast, rice and vegetables dinner in the sink, every article of clothing I own except for the clothes I wore today clean and waiting to be sorted, a tidy backyard, happy cats, and a spotless bathroom.


#6951 ]]> 2009-06-29T09:20:12-04:00 Ignite Baltimore #3 http://epistolary.org/6946.html Take-aways in 140 characters or less:

  • Session 1: Roy may like goat porn (somebody does). He's definitely having fun.
  • Session 2: Baltimore Dorkbot is a lot of pretty pictures of electronics, and linguistic engineers.
  • Session 3: Steve says if you live in Maryland you should quit your job and start a new company.
  • Session 4: J.M. says Gutter the only local magazine at the MICA Intern Fair.
  • Session 5: Eavesdropping Debra found "the elevator...useful only for weather reports."
  • Session 6: Sergey, Patti can fix Google for you. She says so.
  • Session 7: If Baltimore was a forest, we could have never filmed The Wire here.
  • Session 8: Tea bags are filled with dust. Eschew them. Steep in a teapot.
  • Session 9: BarCamp-branded sport-car demographic served. Serve freedom fighters, kids, puppies, aged.
  • Session 10: Crowd sourced and designed financial risk calculator hosted apps exist.
  • Session 11: Your Twitter feed should be real. Your passion is you.
  • Session 12: Utility curves unite fields of study. Generalists save the planet.
  • Session 13: Stack some dots and write algorithms like a cookie recipe, that's multi-spectral imaging.
  • Session 14: Life is now. Stop moving and you might find your head on a wall.
  • Session 15: Life is making babies on a motorbike. Life is meta.
  • Session 16: Government and Communism don't work to solve problems, but enlightened capitalism may.

More:


#6946 ]]> 2009-06-26T16:45:13-04:00 June 19, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6944.html On radio:

The ARRL reports "On June 19, 1934, 75 years ago today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) -- replacing the Federal Radio Commission -- by signing Public Law 73-416, the Communications Act of 1934."

Not many people realize that the amateur radio callsign of the Amateur Radio Association at the University of Maryland, W3EAX is actually older than the Federal Communications Commission. According to their site, the callsign 3EAX (also predating the W/K notation) was assigned "no later than early 1934," implying that the license would have been issued by the FRC.

Wikipedia notes that prior to 1927, radio in the United States was regulated by the United States Department of Commerce. Some folks may remember in the past when I've told this story I thought they were the ones to issue the license, but that doesn't appear to fit the timeline.

(Nearly) free association:

Rob Sama points out via Adam Shostack that today is Juneteenth which is a celebration of the end of slavery in Texas in 1865 and also a portmanteau. Gerrymander is also a portmanteau (Elbridge Gerry and a salamander) and reminds me of the time in 2009 that 11 state senators ran to Albuquerque to keep Rick Perry from redistricting under Tom DeLay's plan.


#6944 ]]> 2009-06-19T15:58:44-04:00 Enoch Pratt Free Library to reduce hours http://epistolary.org/6942.html The Baltimore Business Journal reports that the Enoch Pratt Free Library will reduce hours as part of a $2 million budget cut on July 1, 2009. Hat tip to Robert A. Oszakiewski via Artmobile.

Follow link to Enoch Pratt Free Library to reduce hours
#6942 ]]> 2009-06-18T14:18:29-04:00 Deeper Understanding of Martin Luther http://epistolary.org/6940.html A few days ago Elissa and I went to see Wittenberg performed by the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. The play by David Davalos is an intersection of the lives of the fictional Hamlet, Faust, and a fictional portrayal of Martin Luther. The play is too complicated and interwoven for me to pretend to have understood completely. What I was able to take away came from the juxtaposition of a religious and deep-thinking Luther against a rational and sardonic Faust. As the Luther character is challeged about his objections to the practices of the church and forced to defend them, I was better able to understand the internal difficulty he must have faced between his belief in both the bible and his investment in the institution of the church.

This evening on All Things Considered, Melissa Block interviewed Joseph Sisto on the private collection of manuscripts, some of them illegal, that his father John Sisto had amassed over his lifetime. The interview on NPR is fascinating in its entirety, but more so the end where Sisto tells Block about the contents of the collection as it concerns Martin Luther. "No doubt the historians are going to find things that will be revealed to the public that will be pretty interesting," he says, "For example The Reformation by Martin Luther is documented in some of those manuscripts, and some of the papal decrees, and so forth. The persecution of the Jews in Europe is documented in some of those manuscripts. And the sale of indulgences that Luther was against is documented and actually signed and sealed by the popes. So finally proof that it actually happened and not just a dispute between Luther and the pope of the time."

Follow link to Deeper Understanding of Martin Luther
#6940 ]]> 2009-06-11T10:42:08-04:00 February 7, 1986 http://epistolary.org/6938.html Over the last week or so I've been reading more than usual. I'm almost on par with how many pages I turned in my teenage years. Between occasional bouts with the feed reader and making my way slowly through the bookshelf of "must read" books over my desk, my mind's been awash in new information.

I noticed it particularly this evening while reading Diana Block's book Arm the Spirit. On page 40, Block and her compatriots are in Minneapolis and trying to settle into their new lifestyle. There on February 7, 1986 she is following the overthrow of Jean-Claude Duvalier with some enthusiasm.

Duvalier's unique nickname, "Baby Doc," rang a bell and after a few minutes of thought I realized I had read about him only a few days earlier in the story of "Learjet repo man" Nick Popovich. According to Salon, on the day of the coup, Popovich had been sitting in a Haitian prison for seven days for trying to seize a Boeing 707.

Nearly as Duvalier was flying to the U.S. in an Air Force jet, Popovich was flying home in that 707. And on June 9, 2009, more than 23 years later, a book and an online article have connected those three people with me and with each other.


#6938 ]]> 2009-06-09T22:42:09-04:00 June 7, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6935.html Housecleaning for me is a series of room reclamations. This weekend was good because I was able to reclaim both the kitchen and the bedroom. The question of how long they will stay this tidy is another question, but I tend to have a pretty good ability to keep things tidy so long as they don't cross over a certain invisible threshold into excessive disarray.

For now an empty sink and clean counters mean that cooking a meal is only minutes away, and a clean desk and work table mean that all I need to descend on a project is to open the folder and process all the necessary tasks. Both rooms are a very precarious state -- if I need anything in any of the dozen cardboard storage boxes piled on the shelves, nearly every one of them wind up on the floor, and I found myself casually dropping dirty laundry on the floor just a few minutes ago.

The rule of thumb seems to be that 20 days in a row is enough to set a new habit, and if I can use and clean the sink every day for the rest of this month, and keep my bedroom floor free of anything out of place, I should be able to maintain better habits going forward.


#6935 ]]> 2009-06-08T00:11:37-04:00 Burners at Art-O-Matic 2009 http://epistolary.org/6918.html A list of burners at Art-O-Matic this year, compiled by Sherri Sosslau:

BURNER EXHIBITORS:

BURNER EVENTS:

FIRE PERFORMANCES:

  • Fri, May 29th 6:30 and 10:30 "Ben Drexler"
  • Sat May 30th 9:30pm-11:30pm PDF Fire Conclave, Ian Kreer
  • Fri June 5th, from 9:30pm to 11:30pm, Surprise! Hoops
  • Sat June 6th, From 8:00pm to 10:00 pm, Surprise! Hoops
  • Fri June 12th 9:30pm-11:30pm "Ben Drexler"
  • Sat June 13th
  • Fri June 19th 9:30pm-11:30pm PDF Fire Conclave
  • Sat June 20th 9:30pm-11:30pm PDF Fire Conclave
  • Fri June 26th 9:30pm-11:30pm PDF Fire Conclave
  • Sat June 27th 9:30pm-11:30pm PDF Fire Conclave, Ian Kreer
  • Fri July 3rd
  • Sat July 4th

Reposted here with permission, annotations are mine.


#6918 ]]> 2009-06-05T12:41:54-04:00 June 1, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6931.html Back to work after the long weekend. Today was pretty boring, except for having my business cards ordered at work and enjoying a ham sandwich and Pepsi to the sounds of roots reggae while programming Quickbooks SDK functions. I admit for most people that would qualify as "still pretty boring."

For those not in the rapid news feed world of Twitter and Facebook, I've been divorced since May 19, 2009. The paperwork came through on Friday and with everything going on I was just happy to show it off to a few people and revel in the weekend.

Watched (and hated) the rest of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and read another chapter of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister before bed.


#6931 ]]> 2009-06-04T16:19:06-04:00 Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence http://epistolary.org/6932.html I watched Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence last night and kept waiting and hoping for the payoff at the end, but it never happened. It would be one thing if the movie was bad enough that I just stopped watching it early on and sent it back. I paused the movie at several times because I couldn't deal with it all in one sitting. Usually that would be the point where I would eject it and be done, but the movie had just enough potential and empty visual calories that I thought I would be rewarded for my persistence. Having watched and enjoyed the first movie in the series made a reward seem even more likely. Unfortunately the wrap-up was just as empty and self-serving as every other part of the movie, and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Follow link to Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
#6932 ]]> 2009-06-02T09:44:49-04:00 May 2009 Net Worth Update http://epistolary.org/6925.html First, a hat tip to Mapgirl for writing her May 2009 Net Worth Update and reminding me that mine was overdue. While I keep daily track of all my accounts, my analysis is often separated by a few months.

I am within a half a percentage point of returning to the net worth I had when I started keeping careful track in September 2008. The graph line in the meantime looks like a big jagged smiley face, even though the numbers produce something more like a frown.

The shorter term numbers are great: up 7.68% in the last 3 months, and 4.74% in the last six months. The turn of fortune is primarily due to the market upswing, but also from regular payment of debts: mostly mortgage debt, but also keeping credit card spending and payments low.

My liquid and retirement assets are down 5% in the nine month term, but offset by a 1.4% increase in my fixed assets including house and car. The latter is entirely a result of decreased mortgage principal.

The end result is that while my bank balances haven't shown significant change over the last nine months, my outstanding secured debt has declined and brought up my estimated net asset worth.

It's a sobering counter-point to the strength of my financial situation: this is largely only a benefit I'll see on selling my house for something close to the state assessed value. A sale at a lower price or reassessment could easily reduce my paper worth by 60% and leave me essentially with only the money in the bank and retirement funds.


#6925 ]]> 2009-06-01T13:50:45-04:00 May 31, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6922.html Cool things that happened today:

Less cool things:

  • Leaving the propane tank open for the last eight days caused the plastic screw on the grill regulator to crack and burst off. Now I have to decide whether to fix the regulator assembly on a old rusty grill or set aside a few hundred dollars for a new one


#6922 ]]> 2009-06-01T11:44:01-04:00 Life at Wal-Mart http://epistolary.org/6923.html Wired senior writer Charles Platt takes on some of the assumptions Barbara Ehrenreich makes in Nickel and Dimed by also working at Wal-Mart.

Follow link to Life at Wal-Mart
#6923 ]]> 2009-06-01T11:28:34-04:00 May 30, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6921.html Cool things that happened today:


#6921 ]]> 2009-06-01T11:20:20-04:00 Working Class http://epistolary.org/6917.html Brett McCabe of the Baltimore City Paper covers the Free School Project in this article.

Follow link to Working Class
#6917 ]]> 2009-05-27T10:15:24-04:00 Free School Planning Meeting 6/4/09 7pm http://epistolary.org/6914.html By way of John Duda:

It looks like we're more or less on target to make the money we'll need to cover the rent for the Free School space (but we're not there yet, so please keep donating/encouraging others to donate), so we thought we'd kick off the process of putting this school together with a first ever Free School General Assembly!

We're holding it at 2640 (2640 St. Paul St.), on Thursday June 4th, from 7-9PM. We want to talk with everyone excited about the project about what we've got in mind for the organizational structure of the school, brainstorm classes to be taught, throw around ideas, figure out where people can plug in to help run the school and publicize its events, and perhaps even come up with a real name for the project.....and we hope to see all of you there!


#6914 ]]> 2009-05-26T15:54:24-04:00 May 18, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6913.html Until the day I remove the clutter from my physical space, I never realize how much of a negative impact it has on my psyche. I feel like every few months I write the same thing in this space. It almost seems like it would be helpful to write how good a simple space and well-paced life can feel, perhaps on a poster over my mirror or a tattoo on the inside of my wrists. Even then I would probably rationalize away the benefits, assuring myself that I was totally capable of keeping the entropy in my life externalized from what was really important. That is, until the clutter displaces the important things in a hip-check of quiet anxiety and the question becomes moot anyway.

But that's another day. Today, I have the freedom of space in my living room and on some (not all) of my active to-do lists. That sort of seemingly insignificant control is empowering and inspiring. If only the last few weeks of trudging through piles of physical and mental blocks hadn't left me with half of my usual energy, I might actually feel excited.


#6913 ]]> 2009-05-19T10:45:36-04:00 Sara Neufeld volunteers for Sun layoff http://epistolary.org/6911.html Sara Neufeld volunteered to be laid off from the Baltimore Sun and writes about it in her InsideEd blog. Her story is at the link.

Follow link to Sara Neufeld volunteers for Sun layoff
#6911 ]]> 2009-05-15T14:06:52-04:00 May 13, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6907.html Last night after a long day of work and not enough sleep the night before, Elissa, Ben, Adrienne and I ventured down to the H Street NE neighborhood in DC to celebrate Ben's 30th birthday. Even with the regular (bordering on incessant) D.C. burner activity that occurs at Palace of Wonders and the Rock and Roll Hotel, I had never made my way there before and all of the sights were knew to me.

The neighborhood is also apparently also known as "Atlas" after the Atlas Theatre and has a storied history that Kevin Diaz details in his article "The Merchants of H Street" in the Washington CityPaper.

On the way up the street to Sticky Rice we passed the R. L. Christian Library and our first thought was that it was a Christian religion focused library instead of just another branch in the District of Columbia Public Library system. After a filling meal of sushi and sake with Jamie we headed next door to Palace of Wonders and enjoyed some drinks and burlesque before heading back home. It was a long night (for me) for a Wednesday and I still have green ink on my hand, but I enjoyed every minute out.


#6907 ]]> 2009-05-14T15:55:33-04:00 Sweepercam http://epistolary.org/6905.html Sweepercams are coming to Washington, DC.

From the DC DPW Sweepercam FAQ on their web site (Hat tip to the PSA102 Neighborhood Safety Meetings blog and DCist):

"Sweepercam" is a photo enforcement system, which uses License Plate Recognition System technology to increase the effectiveness of DPW's street sweeping program. A street sweeper will be equipped with a state-of-the-art camera system to capture the image of vehicles parked in the sweeping lane during restricted hours.

And it's not just going to be for sweeping lanes for long. The last question on the PDF is answered:

At present DPW is using the License Plate Recognition System to assist with booting operations and Registration of Out-of-State Automobiles (ROSA). Cameras will be used in the very near future for Residential Permit Parking and time limit zone enforcement.

Follow link to Sweepercam
#6905 ]]> 2009-05-14T11:57:24-04:00 Robert L. Christian Community Library http://epistolary.org/6904.html The Robert L. Christian Community Library is located at 1300 H Street, NE in Washington, DC, is part of the District of Columbia Public Library system and named after community activist Robert L. Christian.

Follow link to Robert L. Christian Community Library
#6904 ]]> 2009-05-14T11:29:41-04:00 Robert L. Christian http://epistolary.org/6902.html According to the District of Columbia Public Library web site, "Robert L. Christian (1921-1969), a former resident of the community and long-time civic activist. Christian was remembered for his term as a Model Cities Ward Council member and for his charitable activities focussed on the Northeast Neighborhood House."

The Robert L. Christian Community Library is named after him.

Follow link to Robert L. Christian
#6902 ]]> 2009-05-14T11:29:33-04:00 Playa del Fuego 41 found tickets being sold on 5/16 12pm http://epistolary.org/6903.html Via Ben Sarsgard, 41 found tickets for Playa del Fuego's Spring 2009 event will go on sale on the web site May 16, 2009. See the link for more information.

Follow link to Playa del Fuego 41 found tickets being sold on 5/16 12pm
#6903 ]]> 2009-05-14T11:23:48-04:00 Announcing the Red Emma's Free School Project http://epistolary.org/6901.html We've always been firm believers about the necessity for collective, horizontal, and accessible education down here at Red Emma's --- from the books we carry to the free internet access we offer, from the events we host at the storefront and at 2640 to the conferences and gatherings like the City From Below that we help organize, a large part of our mission has been about organizing for a better world through radical education and the distribution of information.

Now we want to take this mission to the next level, with a permanent space dedicated to free education. We're envisioning courses on a wide range of subjects -- from learning a second language to fighting the prison industrial complex, from pattern making and print design to the history of surrealism and political economy -- and all offered absolutely free of charge to anyone interested. Because we know that many people might not have the time to teach or take a semester or year long course, we're anticipating a wide range of course formats, with full-length courses, weekly drop-in classes, short seminars, one-time lectures, and anything else an instructor thinks might work. We're hoping to make the course scheduling process as simple as possible --- essentially, go to a website and claim an empty time slot for a course you'd like to offer, and you're ready to go. We want a highly visible, thriving center for radical education that demonstrates the power of sharing knowledge freely instead of commodifying it.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

We've got our eyes on a space, one right next to Red Emma's, which would be perfect for the project --- it's big enough to hold 25-30 people, cheap, with tons of natural light, and the proximity to Red Emma's drastically simplifies the amount of labor that would need to go into administrating the space. But offering 100% free education isn't going to pay the rent, so we're hoping to find people willing to help support the project with a small monthly contribution --- as low as $10 per month. If we can enough people to commit to collectively pay $500 per month total, we could be open as early as mid-summer. If we can't, this project isn't going to happen. So if you're able to help, head over to the website and click on the donation you'd like to make --- paypal will automatically charge your card each month. If we can't come up with the committment to reach $500, we will of course refund any money that's been collected.

$500 a month just isn't that much money; for instance, this is 20 people willing to commit only $25 a month. So if you want to see this project happen, the most important thing to do is make a committment to donate monthly today.

We're also going to need teachers and students --- although our initial impressions are that we'll have no shortage of either. If you'd like to offer a course, or would like to be put on the mailing list to keep up with courses being offered, let us know at freeschool@redemmas.org.

We also anticipate that some parts of the day won't be terribly popular with learners and teachers, and it may be possible to use the space for small meetings -- while an exact fee schedule hasn't been decided upon yet, we imagine meetings might cost somewhere in the $10-20 range during off-peak hours. If your organization might be interested in supporting the new space by paying to use it for a weekly or monthly meeting, let us know at freeschool@redemmas.org what days/times you'd be interested in and what your budget looks like.

We figure we'll also need the help of web designers and programmers, people willing to spruce up the space with a coat of paint, to design a new sign to hang over the door, to help us track down some cheap or free folding chairs and a blackboard -- but none of this work can really get started until we've got a committment from the community to support the space financially. So if you can afford it, make a committment to donate monthly today! If you can't please forward this message widely to people who might!

Yours for a free education,

The Red Emma's Free School Committee

freeschool@redemmas.org

This comes via the The Red Emma's Free School Committee, reposted here with permission. Annotations and links are mine.

Follow link to Announcing the Red Emma's Free School Project
#6901 ]]> 2009-05-13T16:08:37-04:00 Drinking Liberally 5/13/09 7pm http://epistolary.org/6898.html Drinking Liberally is meeting on May 13, 2009 at Joe Squared on or around 7pm. If you're looking for an evening of hanging out with cool liberal-minded folks, this is where you want to be.


#6898 ]]> 2009-05-12T17:35:37-04:00 May 12, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6897.html This morning I drove under Park Heights Avenue and saw a school bus and a fire engine on the overpass. Turns out eight people were hurt in the crash.


#6897 ]]> 2009-05-12T12:05:18-04:00 May 4, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6895.html Rumor has it it's going to rain all week. It's only been a few days of this and already lots of people I talk to sound like they are ready to snap. I suppose Marylanders do not do so well in the climate of Seattle. That's probably why we're all here.

I have a bunch of things I need to finish up tonight but my brainpower is all used up. Hopefully my morning energy will present itself tomorrow like the last few days and I'll be able to get an early start on things.

The weekend was great. Spent a ton of time with my family and even made it up by a half an hour after midnight on Saturday morning. Lots of quality time with mom and dad and dinner with grandparents and a ton of folks I haven't seen in a while.

One of my cats is being my own personal foot-warmer and the other is eyeing him cautiously from the corner of the bed. I can't tell whether the fighting is getting better or worse. Whichever way it's going, it's certainly well-balanced.

The next few weeks are so cluttered with stuff I wonder if I will have any time to catch up on chores and hobbies. I enjoy being out and about but its so hard to find the time and energy for things outside of work these days.

My plan sometime this month is to make the bike ride all the way from my house in Parkville to the Owings Mills mall. According to the Google driving directions, it's 16.2 miles, which is something I can do easily on a good day.

And lest I forget, Happy Jedi Day.


#6895 ]]> 2009-05-04T23:31:04-04:00 Triggur on fart humor http://epistolary.org/6893.html Triggur writes several hundred words about how fart humor is not slapstick, but a subtle, sandwich-like combination of enjoyment, revulsion, and Stockholm Syndrome.

Follow link to Triggur on fart humor
#6893 ]]> 2009-05-04T09:11:31-04:00 Intertribal Pow Wow 2009 http://epistolary.org/6864.html The Annual Intertribal Pow Wow for 2009 is Sunday May 3, 2009 at Ferry Bar Park behind the Port Covington Walmart from 1pm on.

The rain date for Pow Wow is May 10, 2009. (HT: Robin Gunkel)


#6864 ]]> 2009-05-03T15:47:55-04:00 Dr. Bazelon testifies at taser task force http://epistolary.org/6890.html Dr. Coleman Bazelon, an ACLU of Maryland board member, testified at the Attorney General's Task Force on Electronic Weapons hearing about civil liberties issues raised by current police taser training and policies. (HT: ACLU of Maryland)


#6890 ]]> 2009-05-02T18:17:22-04:00 Steve Luxenberg at Red Canoe 5/9/09 4pm http://epistolary.org/6887.html By way of Nicole Selhorst: On Saturday, May 9th at 4 pm, Red Canoe will be hosting local author and Washington Post writer Steve Luxenberg whose new non-fiction book, Annie's Ghosts, is already receiving awards and recognition in the publishing world. Join us for a wine and cheese reception, a chance to meet the author, and a fine afternoon!


#6887 ]]> 2009-05-02T16:08:01-04:00 Free Music Archive http://epistolary.org/6883.html The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. The Free Music Archive is being directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America. (HT: Clayton Conn)

Follow link to Free Music Archive
#6883 ]]> 2009-05-02T15:10:32-04:00 City Rights http://epistolary.org/6882.html Martin L. Johnson of the City Paper writes about the (first annual) 2009 City from Below conference at 2640. (HT: Clayton Conn)

Follow link to City Rights
#6882 ]]> 2009-05-02T15:06:39-04:00 Former American Home Mortgage executives charged by SEC http://epistolary.org/6876.html Zachary A. Goldfarb reports on the accounting fraud charges by the SEC against former officials of American Home Mortgage:

The SEC alleged that American Home Mortgage chairman and chief executive Michael Strauss and chief financial officer Stephen Hozie told investors the company had made a profit in the first quarter of 2007, when it in fact had turned a loss.

Nice to know that my (former) mortgage company played a part in the meltdown.

Follow link to Former American Home Mortgage executives charged by SEC
#6876 ]]> 2009-05-01T15:42:53-04:00 Analysis of Scalia's position on his own privacy http://epistolary.org/6875.html Great follow-up to Joel Reidenberg class-stalking of Antonin Scalia by "JohnJohn" on Bruce Schneier's blog:

Scalia's position is simple: He would like his own privacy, but that doesn't mean it would be illegal for me to invade it. I don't want all of my friends to call me names, but it wouldn't be illegal if they did. Should every undesirable action be outlawed?

Follow link to Analysis of Scalia's position on his own privacy
#6875 ]]> 2009-05-01T15:21:36-04:00 April 23, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6847.html Doctor thinks I'm in great health and there's no need to see me for a regular visit for a year. He said to keep up the exercise, lay off the soda, and stay in good shape.

In the morning visit we also took a few minutes to chat about the challenges his office is facing in implementing electronic patient records and some of the interesting things he's discovered about the process by attending seminars and classes on how electronic records will be used by Medicare.

There's a whole other side of PHR that you don't hear until you talk to a doctor or folks who work in the office. This morning they also scanned my drivers license and photo into my medical records, which I learned later is a fraud prevention thing. I can't imagine impersonating someone else to make a doctor visit, but then I have health insurance. I'm sure it would be mighty tempting for someone who doesn't to drop in and skim off of a friend's co-pay for an urgent need.

The day was mostly uneventful, and I did the first batch of spring lawn repair with a bag of patch kit and a rake in the front yard. I was tempted by some flowers and other fun stuff while walking around Home Depot. I quickly convinced myself to stick to getting my lawn nicely kept before embarking on things like victory gardens and high-maintenance flower beds. Considering that the patching will probably take me a few more hours to complete, I'm just glad to have enough time for that.


#6847 ]]> 2009-05-01T14:12:35-04:00 People's Energy Summit 5/2/09 at 2640 http://epistolary.org/6873.html The Maryland Coalition for BGE Reregulation is inviting people to join the at the People's Energy Summit on May 2, 2009 from 11am to 4pm at 2640 St. Paul St.

At the summit you will learn how to:

  • Take direct action against BGE and make your voice heard by our elected officials
  • Get financial help to pay your bills and learn how to dispute your bills
  • Lower your home's energy costs and read your meter.


#6873 ]]> 2009-05-01T13:11:56-04:00 Improving Elections in the 2009 Legislative Session http://epistolary.org/6872.html Neil Didriksen interviews Kevin Zeese of TrueVoteMD on electronic voting changes in 2009.

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#6872 ]]> 2009-05-01T13:06:37-04:00 Compost Bin Sale Sets New Record http://epistolary.org/6868.html According to Baltimore County, the compost bin truck sale on April 18 and 19 was a new record, with 2,084 bins sold.

Mine continues to work great, although it's still shiny and new so I tend to it every few days like I'm supposed to and keep everything watered and turned over regularly.

Follow link to Compost Bin Sale Sets New Record
#6868 ]]> 2009-05-01T12:44:48-04:00 Scalia doesn't like personal information collected (his, at least) http://epistolary.org/6862.html In this article by Martha Neil, we find that Antonin Scalia was the subject of Joel Reidenberg's Fordham University law class project on privacy. Scalia calls the project "abominably poor judgment." (HT Paul Levy)

Follow link to Scalia doesn't like personal information collected (his, at least)
#6862 ]]> 2009-05-01T11:27:14-04:00 Tale of three fake identifications http://epistolary.org/6861.html An amusing tidbit from the Johns Hopkins University police blotter by way of Salem Reiner:

Possession of Alcohol (CITATION) - 100 blk. of 32nd Street - On May 1st at 3:35AM, Baltimore City Police observed an undergraduate affiliate carrying a keg of beer. The officer asked for identification and was shown two fake driver's licenses and a third was recovered from the student's wallet. The student was issued three citations for fake driver's licenses and a criminal citation for minor in possession of alcohol.

Really? If you already got busted for the first fake ID, why would you show the officer the other one you're carrying so he gets suspicious enough to lock you up for both of those and the third?


#6861 ]]> 2009-05-01T10:55:54-04:00 Sears could replace Souter http://epistolary.org/6859.html Jackie Sauter thinks Leah Ward Sears might be considered to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court.

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#6859 ]]> 2009-05-01T10:40:24-04:00 Baltimore County seeks grand theft suspect http://epistolary.org/6858.html Baltimore County is searching for a white female in her 20s, thin build, with blond and brown hair. She has her lower lip pierced, and has the tattoo of the Greek "Alpha and Omega" symbol on her right wrist who withdrew $6,000 with a stolen ATM card along Reisterstown Road.

Follow link to Baltimore County seeks grand theft suspect
#6858 ]]> 2009-05-01T10:37:11-04:00 NetFlix History Analyzer http://epistolary.org/6841.html NetFlix History Analyzer

Analyze your Netflix DVD rental history and determine how much you've been paying per DVD, compare it to what you would have paid somewhere else, and compute your savings.

Your results

  • You've rented 98 DVDs over 11 months from May 19, 2008 to March 19, 2009.
  • Your plan costs $17.99/month so you've paid $197.89 total.
  • Your average price per rental was approximately $2.02 each.
  • Average rental costs elsewhere are $3.75 each (not including late fees).
  • You've saved approximately $169.61 over that time period or $15.42 per month.

Here's some more about your renting habits...

  • You kept each rental for around 7 days on average.
  • The longest you kept a single DVD was 38 days: .
  • You rented about 9 DVDs each month.
  • You're not taking full advantage of your current plan. You could be renting 19 DVDs each month.

Follow link to NetFlix History Analyzer
#6841 ]]> 2009-05-01T10:23:42-04:00 May 1, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6856.html Happy May Day!

Students for an Orwellian Society are celebrating Loyalty Day in their own way.

You may notice some changes to the site and how things work. I made some long-overdue changes last night, and I'm working out the bugs this morning as I get complaints. Thanks for your patience.


#6856 ]]> 2009-05-01T10:13:25-04:00 Two sides of too much information http://epistolary.org/6842.html Since starting on Google Reader a few weeks ago I've racked up 502 items that I thought were interesting enough to add a "star" to. Unfortunately it's not as easy to categorize posts and links in the reader as it is to share them when I find them on Delicious or Reddit, and the "Share It" function needs a few extra features before I'm going to find it practical to use. This is one of the side-effects of the information fire-hose. Even if you're managing to take reasonable sips, even the drops off the stream leave a pretty big puddle behind. Managing this glut of interesting and potentially useful information is almost a full time job. Unfortunately I've already got one of those.

My research abilities were quite useful today when I got assigned a project to clean up some problems with a page rendering in IE6. I'm not sure what to think if anyone who is still using that miserable excuse for a web browser with all the subsequent versions and alternative browsers, but in this case I was not being paid to judge end users. In the world of electronic commerce, it's tough enough to make a solid sale without telling folks to go away or providing a haphazard presentation of your products because they've got an old browser. Tasked with fixing "the layout errors" in a few hours, I decided to spend the first sharpening my metaphorical axe by researching IE6 layout issues in general on Delicious.

After collecting a dozen of the most valuable resources on the web, I worked my way through the site and determined which part of the template held the CSS files and headers (in order to make the fixes). I had found a site that would take in a template and output a file to append on an IE6 condition, so I just fed all my CSS through it. Within a few minutes I had resolved all the problems without even having to identify individual layout issue and by adding 3 lines to the main header. Taking the time to find the folks who already solved the same problem I had saved me hours of repetitive work and CSS whack-a-mole.


#6842 ]]> 2009-05-01T10:08:40-04:00 Google knows I like librarians http://epistolary.org/6845.html Google put together the fact that I have been searching for information about the ALA Conference in Chicago this year (so I can make more detailed transportation plans) and suggested a half dozen amazing library and information science blogs for my feed reader list that I never would have found otherwise. Or maybe it just thinks I'm the other Rob Carlson who actually works at ALA.

It's still slightly creepy, but I'm starting to warm up to the concept of Google being able to hook me up with information sources I didn't even realize I wanted. Does that make me a bad privacy activist?


#6845 ]]> 2009-05-01T09:50:24-04:00 Congruent Media http://epistolary.org/6852.html Congruent Media is a programming firm located in Baltimore.

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#6852 ]]> 2009-05-01T09:28:20-04:00 Boh's Eye http://epistolary.org/6853.html Boh's Eye is the weblog of Congruent Media.

Follow link to Boh's Eye
#6853 ]]> 2009-04-30T23:13:36-04:00 Does anyone have an extra ticket? http://epistolary.org/6843.html (Sycophantic greeting),

Due to (insert lack of attention described in amusing yet heartwarming anecdote), (I/good friends/camp organizer/long-time burner) was unable to get the tickets required during the (dismissive adjective for short) purchase window. As many of you know, (aforementioned ticket-less victim) has done (list of unverifiable good deeds) and provided (grandiose description of contributions to the last event). Without this person we will go without (essential gear) because they will abandon everyone to go to (other wiccan-focused burner event) instead. Although I understand that Ben is a God worthy of (listing of sexual favors) and (top shelf alcohol), I feel your ticket process is flawed because (reasons rehashed and ultimately dismissed over the last forty meetings not attended by the author). If the (saccharine adjective) organization can offer additional tickets, we will do (exaggerated claims of volunteerism) for (a period of time exceeding daylight hours over the weekend). If not, we just assume you have all sold out as badly as (Indy band nobody has heard of) and you'll just have do without our camp and the (descriptive fellatio) beats of (some local "DJ" you've never heard of, ever). I just hope you will all know (anecdote of how the event will be nothing but wailing and gnashing of teeth) without us.

(Egotistical yet sickeningly trendy signoff),
Awanna B. Burner


#6843 ]]> 2009-04-30T23:05:34-04:00 This week in yard composting http://epistolary.org/6846.html In spite of my almost comical failure in vermicomposting last year, I set off this weekend to purchase a backyard composting container from a truck sale in White Marsh sponsored by Baltimore County. At the sale there was a master composter from the University of Maryland who stood and answered questions from anyone who walked by. She explained the process of mixing levels of both green (nitrogen-rich grass clippings and vegetable matter) and brown (carbon-rich leaf mulch and shred newspaper) and keeping the pile adequately watered, turned, and aerated.

Next fall, she told a collected crowd of new bin owners in the IKEA parking lot, it would be a good idea to keep around a few bags of leaf matter from raking and just toss it into the compost bin when the ratio of green to brown got too high. Alternately, she often runs over a pile of newspapers with her lawn mower or drops a weed eater into the bin and just lets it tear up a big pile of leaves into tiny chunks in order to create her brown. We also learned that adding green or brown food waste of any sort is against Baltimore County regulations, with a wink and a nod at each mention.

I had been keeping a random pile of grass clippings in the back corner of the yard since about mid-fall instead of shipping them out to Eastern Landfill with the biweekly yard waste recycling, but over the winter nothing really tends to compost so the pile was pretty much as I had left it. I set up the new bin in the place where the pile was and immediately learned that I was going to need more than one of these huge bins to keep up with the amount of grass that my lawn produced just in the first few weeks of April. The gal from Maryland had joked that we would all fill up our bin within the first few hours in a frenzy of yard work and everyone had laughed. For me it turned out to be true.

Luckily I also found that due to the temperature dropping rapidly towards the end of the fall before the leaves fell off the trees, there was a ton of leaf matter on the ground that I had never had a chance to rake up before the first snows and ground freezing. As I worked my way around the yard I was able to pick up almost as much leaf and twig matter as I was mowing up in grass and drop it into the bin. In anticipation of not having as much available in the future, I also tried to run over a few torn up newspapers with the lawn mower. I discovered that this does not work at all.

Overall I think this will be a good experiment. I have a idealist goal of making my house as much of a closed system as possible. While cat litter alone makes this already a losing proposition, I feel like as much as I can turn my lawn clippings and food into compost, redirect my junk mail almost directly into recycling, and keep my food packing down to a minimum (through fresh produce and vermicomposting my slop) I'm doing a small part to have less of an impact.


#6846 ]]> 2009-04-30T22:32:20-04:00 Daniel Solove http://epistolary.org/6851.html Daniel J. Solove is a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School.

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#6851 ]]> 2009-04-30T22:27:18-04:00 April 27, 2009 http://epistolary.org/6848.html Scala class was canceled so instead I had a delightful evening after work cooking up a meal of chicken drumsticks, stir fried fresh carrots and green beans, Basmati rice and hot dogs. One beer and an hour on the hammock reading Something in the Air and I was so relaxed I could have melted into the ground. Some days it's more important to just sit back and relax than to tackle the chores list.


#6848 ]]> 2009-04-30T19:43:13-04:00 Ubuntu 9.04 released and torrenting http://epistolary.org/6844.html Ubuntu 9.04 was released today and I am seeding the torrents for ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso, ubuntu-9.04-desktop-powerpc.iso, and ubuntu-9.04-dvd-i386 from the basement. It's fun to move 5.6 gigabytes of legal data just for the hell of it, even if I can only push 138 megabytes per hour of it back into the cloud.


#6844 ]]> 2009-04-23T11:59:58-04:00