Posts

Posted on

g-speak Spacial Operating System

I’ve written about developments in this area before, but you’ll want to see the video below to find out what Oblong Industries is up to.


g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

Some of the SOE’s core ideas are already familiar from the film Minority Report, whose characters performed forensic analysis using massive, gesturally driven displays. The similarity is no coincidence: one of Oblong’s founders served as science advisor to Minority Report and based the design of those scenes directly on his earlier work at MIT.

Posted on

FIRST LEGO League: We Won!

Since the school year began, I’ve been teaching Lego Robotics two morning’s a week at Isaac’s new school, the Academy for Science and Design Chartered Public School, in Merrimack New Hampshire.

Many of you know I’ve been teaching Lego Robotics twice a week at the Academy for Science and Design, in Merrimack, N.H. As a function of the class, we had two teams competing in the FIRST LEGO League branch of the FIRST Robotics program, founded by Dean Kaman. (See http://www.usfirst.org/community/fll/ .) The ASD is a chartered public school, now in its second year of operation.

At the “MindStorms Madness” qualifying tournament in Merrimack, N.H., on Saturday, the two teams from the ASD came away with three trophies:

The team I officially coach, Robotic Revolution, won first place in the Technical category (Robot design and programming), and will go on to compete at the state competition on December 6 at Nashua South High School.

The other team I taught (but did not officially coach) won 2nd place in Technical, and got the top score during the seeding matches. (Sadly, they were eliminated in the finals.)

The photos from the slide show above are available here on PicasaWeb.

I’ll update this post with more details about the team and the event sometime in the next day or two.

Posted on

The Geek Is Strong in Her


Actually, that’s my propeller beanie.

Growing up in our household, it isn’t likely that Naomi would be able to escape the culture of Geekdom that pervades it. Still, she has proven herself to be independently minded in a number of ways. For example, she has developed, without our influence, her own belief in Santa Claus, which none of the boys did. (We chose not to foist the Santa myth on the children, but she’s picked it up on her own, from television and other media, and adheres stubbornly to his existence.) She is crazy about ballet and girl clothes, and can even dance beautifully while using a hula hoop, both activities being entirely self-taught.

Still, she plays World of WarCraft (we joke that she has a level 5 Piercing Shriek) and Halo, loves Star Wars, Lego, and “Dr. Who” (although we had to cut back on the last one, as it was giving her nightmares), and reads MegaTokyo. So, here are a few of the more interesting ways she makes us smile, as we rub our hands together and laugh maniacally:

When I saw them go on sale at ThinkGeek, Nichelle insisted that I buy a Flux Capacitor replica. So, one Sunday, when I was bringing the Flux Capacitor to church to show off (we have a Geeky church), Naomi exclaimed, “Dad! We forgot to bring a second lot of plutonium!” Then, she ordered, “Mom! Get it up to 88 miles per hour!” and started chanting, “Do it! Do it! Do it!” (Back to the Future has always one of Naomi’s favorite films. It’s also where she learned to swear … and then of course not to swear.)

The other day she casually remarked, “The Mach 5 rules; the Mach 6 drools.” (Yes, we are Speed Racer fans as well.)

A few weeks ago, we went out for go-carts and putt-putt golf, and in the lot was a small, shed-like (TARDIS-like) building with double-doors on the front. NaNi called out, “Look, Dad, a time travel machine!”

And she likes science as well, including begging to go places like the Museum of Science. We were talking about the moon, and I asked her, “Where does the moon gets its light?” She responded, “From the sun.” I was thrilled, impressed that she understood reflectivity as it applies to moonlight at four years of age. Then she said, “Yeah, the sun turns into the moon at night.” We’ll keep trying …


NaNi mocks Isaac in the time-honored manner: “Look, I’m Isaac … Duuuuuuh.”

Posted on

Amazing Worldwide (Web) Updates

In a typical day, I come across many fascinating things that aren’t exactly well known. This is a list of things which interest me, and probably does not reflect interest in the general population. Of course, thinking about that alone is of interest to me, so … (Ah, recursion!)

Cyborgs Are Real
Way cool neuroscience.

Gizmodo Goes to Lego
Far more here than I could summarize, including a video tour of the Lego factory.

Star Wars is Nearer than You Think
Actually, Star Wars weapons fire charges of ionized Tibanna gas, but you’ll get the idea.

Microsoft 3D Modeler
And you thought everything from Microsoft was evil.

The Large Hadron Collider Rap
Almost as good as “White and Nerdy.”

ShapeWays 3D modeling
These aren’t quite replicators, but affordable 3D “printing” is now at our disposal.

Marketing and Stop Signs
What happens when the marketing department designs a stop sign? (Software and graphics design often go this way.)

The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer
Gamers will understand the reference. Others may learn something.

Keeper of the Star Wars Canon
Imagine having to hold the continuity of a universe together single-handedly. (Well, it helps to have some database skills.)

The Mythbusters Weren’t Allowed to Bust This.
What “the man” doesn’t want you to know about RFID.

I have Joined the Dharma Initiative.

I Have Decided to Become President

What do you think of, “Grow up, you babies!” as a campaign slogan?

Posted on

Shiver Me Timbers! Talk Like a Pirate Day Be on the Morrow!

‘Twas A grand, glorious day when I awoke. “Wench!” demanded I, “Where be me mornin’ grog?”

But then I learned a right powerful lesson: Be not calling a fair lass a “wench,” if’n she be stronger than thee. Painfully quick the lesson was, and quickly painful.

Posted on

Chemotherapy (Cancer Optional)

The reactive arthritis—if that is what it is (see below)—continues. Some days are better than others, and it’s much easier than it was a number of weeks ago, but it really isn’t going away. Last night I was able to do some ab[dominal] crunches (something I expect to do daily now), and I also spent a short time on the exercise bike, but couldn’t use my left arm or either leg, only my right arm, because of the joint pain in my knees and shoulder. My prayer is that my legs, fingers, and shoulder will improve enough for me to exercise the way Nichelle wants me to the way I want to. (It also means I’m not likely to be doing any real hiking or bicycling during this glorious summer, which is more than a bit disappointing.)

Of course, there’s a possibility that this isn’t poststreptococcal reactive arthritis—it might be psoriatic arthritis. On the other hand, it might have started as one thing, but be developing into any one of another inflammatory arthritic condition. (I do also have what appears to be psoriasis on my scalp—which Nichelle gets credit for noticing and making sure I discussed it with my doctors as possibly related.) Or perhaps I’m just faking this to get out of Nichelle’s “new and improved” workouts … or maybe it’s Munchausen syndrome … or maybe even Nichelle is secretly causing this, making it Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

I should add that my follow-up echocardiogram and EKG were both fine, so we have now officially ruled out rheumatic fever.

According to Dr. Eranki, I have an atypical presentation, which means that my symptoms don’t exactly match one particular flavor of arthritis, making diagnosis even more difficult than usual. In other words, I am just weird.

I start on methotrexate today. Methotrexate is officially a chemotherapy drug, but is also used to treat psoriasis and arthritis and other rheumatic conditions. For those of you who want to sound smarter than your peers, you can tell them it’s a DMARD (disease-modifying antirheumatic drug), which decreases the pain and swelling of arthritis and reduces both the damage to joints and the risk of long-term disability.

Discussion of the drug prompted a surprisingly emotional reaction. Having a new medication introduced as a chemotherapy drug … knowing the side effects of many chemotherapy drugs, I was leery of trying it. I also realized for the first time that the medication “reduces the risk of long-term disability”—dragging me into the understanding that the near-constant joint pain and swelling isn’t merely an inconvenience, it could make the rest of my life more difficult as well.

At any rate, I spent the past few days reading up on the medication, carefully observing that the arthritis isn’t going away, and a while yesterday peppering the Dr. Eranki with questions, before deciding to go ahead with this phase of treatment. Even with this, it will be at least 6 weeks before the methotrexate has any noticeable positive effect.

However, I am grateful that the fevers finally seem to be mostly gone, and that I am able to work and do many other things normally or with minor restrictions. These blessings have not always been available to me throughout this illness, and I thank the Lord daily for them.

Onward …

Posted on

Why Is Programming Fun?

A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition), after leaving it sitting on my dresser for ages. The book is a collection of essays about software design, the most famous of which became the book’s title—expressing the fundamental idea that adding personnel does not necessarily allow a project to be completed faster, just as nine women cannot produce a single baby in one month.

That particular essay, and probably several others, is worthy of a separate discussion; but one Frederick Brooks eloquently expresses has been on my mind for several years.

To be honest, I love my job. (Now, this isn’t to say I wouldn’t rather be paid to travel the world, build with Lego, or quest in World of WarCraft.) I can’t think of anything I’d rather do as a career than be a programmer, except maybe astronaut or Supreme Dictator of the Western Hemisphere. I had been mulling over exactly why this is for a very long time. Frederick P. Brooks has expressed what I feel far more eloquently than I believe I am able:

The Joys of the Craft

Why is programming fun? What delights may its practitioner expect as his reward?

First is the sheer joy of making things. As the child delights in his mud pie, so the adult enjoys building things, especially things of his own design. I think this delight must be an image of God’s delight in making things, a delight shown in the distinctness and newness of each leaf and each snowflake.

Second is the pleasure of making things that are useful to other people. Deep within, we want others to use our work and to find it helpful. In this respect the programming system is not essentially different from the child’s first clay pencil holder “for Daddy’s office.”

Third is the fascination of fashioning complex puzzle-like objects of interlocking moving parts and watching them work in subtle cycles, playing out the consequences of principles built in from the beginning. The programmed computer has all the fascination of the pinball machine or the jukebox mechanism, carried to the ultimate.

Fourth is the joy of always learning, which springs from the nonrepearing nature of the task. In one way or another the problem is ever new, and its solver learns something: sometimes practical, sometimes theoretical, and sometimes both.

Finally, there is the delight of working in such a tractable medium. The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination. Few media of creation are so flexible, so easy to polish and rework, so readily capable of realizing grand conceptual structures. (As we shall see later, this very tractability has its own problems.)

Yet the program construct, unlike the poet’s words, is real in the sense that it moves and works, producing visible outputs separate from the construct itself. It prints results, draws pictures, produces sounds, moves arms. The magic of myth and legend has come true in our time. One types the correct incantation on a keyboard, and a display screen comes to life, showing things that never were nor could be.

Programming then is fun because it gratifies creative longings built deep within us and delights sensibilities we have in common with all men.

I also loved the way Brooks closes his preface: “Soli Deo gloria—To God alone be glory.” This isn’t a perspective one generally finds in books about software.

(Excerpt from Frederick P. Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition), © 1995, Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc., p. 7.)

Posted on

Cute Faces … Dorky Glasses (Why Fashion is Irrational)

It isn’t often that you’ll find me writing about the world of fashion, but I feel it’s time for me to stand up to a modern gullibility of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” proportions.

To be frank, those “cool,” often expensive, glasses frames that many women (and men) wear, look just plain dorky. They looked horrible in the 1950s, and they still look horrible today. Just because it’s old, doesn’t mean it’s better. The thick-framed glassed of the 1950s and ’60s were popular because materials science and manufacturing expense required they be made primarily from plastic, and to get plastic to be strong enough (especially at the time), they had to be big, thick, and ugly. People ca n also check out ICU Eyewear for men if they need the best looking glasses or eyewear.

Modern materials give us a host of inexpensive and classy glasses designs. So why do these horrors persist?


You have a cute (if somewhat pale) face, honey … great color for the glasses, but … dang …


Jeepers, Uncle Ian, what were you thinking?


Dorky in 1950 … dorkier still if you think these are cool.


Yes, even the uber-cool companies are not exempt from marketing trash for your face. Be smarter!

Now, I’m going to prove my point by borrowing one of the world’s most beautiful faces, normally belonging to Catherine Zeta Jones.


Let’s see how dorky glasses ruin even Catherine Zeta. Here she is before a trip to the local optician nee fashionista.


And … here’s Catherine with her super-cool fashion-statement spectacles.


We hope Catherine Zeta Jones has better fashion sense than this, but many people with beautiful faces do not.


See how bad it can get?


Do you believe me now?

So … don’t be tempted to look like a dork just because all the cool people are doing it! Just like wearing your breeches half falling off your butt, tramp stamps, and bell-bottoms (and virtually anything from the 1970s), just because it is or was popular, trendy, faddish, or in some way nifty, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Spend your hard earned dollars on something useful, like foreign missions, books by John Piper, or World of WarCraft.


And the cooler they pretend to be, the worse it gets.

Note: Virtual glasses are from a cool-if-slightly-pokey (showing the dangers of not-careful-enough AJAX development) service called FrameFinder, courtesy of FramesDirect.com .

Posted on

Today, I Could Put on My Shoes!

Throughout this illness, which appears to be Poststreptococcal Reactive Arthritis (although it could be something else), my health has been quite varied. (Also as suggested by the Long Island personal injury law firm, I have filled in some medical detail after the symptoms descriptions; mostly to clarify what PSRA is, and how and why my treatment is progressing the way it is.)


No, these aren’t my shoes, but … dang … [Enunciate the last bit the way Will Smith recommends Beatrice (Edgar’s wife) hire an internal decorator in Men in Black.]

For example, here’s how the past few days have gone:

Thursday: Ibuprofen taken at night allowed me to move fairly well in the morning. As soon as I woke up, I took my prednisone, and within a couple of hours, was able to hobble about without much pain. I had a doctor’s appointment mid-day, but worked at the office and from home around the appointment, and felt very good. By late afternoon, I had a fever, and needed to take a short nap. Still, I managed to get to and lead our small group Bible study, with Nichelle driving. I felt good, and didn’t take any extra medication at bedtime, when the prednisone was definitely beginning to wear off.

Friday: Not taking the ibuprofen seems to have been a big mistake. I awoke at about 5:00 a.m. with serious pain and movement issues. I could barely move my legs, and couldn’t use either hand. I waited until 6:00 to take the increased dose of prednisone Dr. Eranki prescribed, but it took hours to have a noticeable effect. I did go to work, but didn’t make it into the office until 11:30 a.m. Due to the pain and swelling in my left middle finger, typing on my left hand was reduced to 1-finger. Still, in the evening I felt very good. Nichelle and I were able to attend “Run for Your Wife,” a TCAN Players [hilarious] comedy play featuring co-worker Laura Crook.

Saturday: I felt good for a few hours in the morning, but spent most of the day fighting the low fever, playing some games with the kids and hanging out in Azeroth, spending an inordinate amount of time trying to beat a seasonal instance.

Sunday: Good in the morning. I was able to drive to church early for my Geek work (A/V), and even ran a couple of quick errands in Nashua after the service (pharmacy; gas for the mower). By mid afternoon, the fever was back, and I spent a couple of hours starting at supper time just sleeping. Afterward, I felt pretty good.

Today: Today I was able to move my legs well enough to put on shoes and socks for the first time in several weeks! (After taking prednisone a few hours earlier.) The biggest problem today is my left hand. I do have a low fever, but it’s only about 1/2 a degree above normal, which to me is starting to feel normal.

By this evening, my movement ability had dropped a bit, but not much, but I became febrile again enough to notice. Oh, well, today was better than usual.

PSRA Details / Symptoms / Concepts

Tomorrow will mark my fourth week since the onset of obvious symptoms, and I had noticed some minor symptoms before that. Wow!

Poststreptococcal Reactive Arthritis is only a probable diagnosis. I will have an echocardiogram in a few weeks, as well as another Lyme disease titer, to rule out Rheumatic Fever and Lyme disease, respectively.

However, PSRA does seem to fit the symptoms. Neither PSRA nor rheumatic fever are testable conditions; they are syndromes—collections of symptoms—and the symptoms must be weighed carefully to figure out what the overall diagnosis should be.

The biggest meaningful symptoms or test results have been a positive blood test for a recent strep infection, the swelling and joint pain in my legs, hands, and shoulders, the fever, and vast number of negative tests for heart problems, liver function problems, active infections, etc.

Note that arthritis essentially means joint pain, so the reactive arthritis (assuming that it what I have), is not the type of arthritis that we all tend to develop as we age. (There is some x-ray evidence of that happening in my back, which is completely normal for this point in my life, and has not affected me in any way.)

I have a few days to go on my antibiotic treatment, and have already started tapering down the prednisone. Today has been my best freedom-of-movement day so far, and I hope that trend will continue. The guys in my at-work Bible study laid hands on me and prayed for my recovery today, which was very moving.