Welcome to the Wilcox Family weB LOG, your source for the latest Wilcox news, anecdotes, and rants; and, as Jack Benny quipped on his first radio show (March 29, 1932), “There will be a slight pause while you say, ‘Who cares?’â€â€
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1, ESV)
; "Colliding Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/NGC 4039)")
A sample: colliding Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/NGC 4039)
Check out the 2008 Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar; a new HST image will be posted each day through tomorrow.
; "Naomi in her angel costume and makeup from Gate City Ballet's Nutcracker")
Naomi in her angel costume and makeup from Gate City Ballet's Nutcracker.
Both NaNi and Nichelle were in a production of “The Nutcracker,” put on yesterday by Gate City Ballet. NaNi got the part of an angel, and Nichelle was one of the dancers at the party in the beginning.
;)
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The performance was originally scheduled for last Friday and Saturday, but had to be postponed because of the ice storm. Another snowstorm arrived on Friday, so two performances were set up on Saturday.
; "Nichelle, onstage, during the party scene.")
Nichelle, onstage, during the party scene.
I’d actually never seen “The Nutcracker,” although, like most, I was familiar with the music. I was very impressed with both the overall quality of the production for a relatively small ballet company, and the skills of the dancers, especially the children. Later I learned that GCB is quite well known in this area for doing such excellent productions.
; "Nichelle at the end of her scene in The Nutcracker, by Gate City Ballet")
Nichelle at the end of her scene.
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.
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.
Wishing you and your elect a most joyous Reformation Day.
Door of the Schlosskirche (castle church) to which Luther is said to have nailed his 95 Theses, sparking the Reformation.
; "Naomi, our Geek Girl")
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.")
NaNi mocks Isaac in the time-honored manner: “Look, I’m Isaac … Duuuuuuh.”
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.
; "http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/")
I Have Decided to Become President
What do you think of, “Grow up, you babies!” as a campaign slogan?
‘Twas A grand, glorious day when I awoke. “Wench!†demanded I, “Where be me mornin’ grog?â€
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.
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 …
A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition)
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)