Shack Assassin

Sniper targets a dangerous... building. Shot as a proof-of-concept video.

Tunnel

Downtown LA Skyline

A skyline in downtown Los Angeles.

First Writing

Just found the letter of agreement I had for the first time I was paid to write. It's been a while, and I think I may want to write more. And soon.

Spanish Soap

Randomly found this hotel soap from a trip to Europe many years ago. Amazing what you come across while organizing.

To Use a CDN for JavaScript or Not

If we use Google’s JavaScript Library CDN, we are asking the majority of our website visitors (who don’t have jQuery already cached) to take a 1/3 of a second penalty (the time to connection to Google’s CDN) to potentially save a minority of our website visitors (those who do have a cached copy of jQuery) 1/3 of a second (the length of time to download jQuery 1.3.2 over a 768kps connection). That does not make sense

(from Should You Use JavaScript Library CDNs?).

Panorama Above the Hollywood Sign

Easter view in 360 degrees (click it for larger view).

Lyrids Meteor Shower

It peaks tonight (April 21 into April 22). They rise in the East and have about 5 to 20 meteors an hour, if it is not too cloudy. The best viewing is probably the hour before dawn (6:14am dawn in Los Angeles). When the moon rises at tonight it may make seeing falling stars harder once it is up (the moon rises at 11:53pm in LA tonight).

Funnest Drink Prep Evar

The OK Plateau

Came across this post while trying to find out who authored this quote (which seems to be unknown):

Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary. Persistence is necessary for excellence. And persistence is a decision.

The Mountain by Terje Sorgjerd

Beautiful photography. Landscape photographer Terje Sorgjerd (previously) scaled Pico del Teide, Spain's highest elevation, to capture footage of the Milky Way atop "one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars."

White Flower

Animatronics

John Nolan's animatronics show reel.

SF to Paris in Two Minutes

Nate Bolt's airplane time-lapse from San Francisco to Paris and the ...photos during take-off and landing are all computer models and totally rendered because I would never use an electronic device during times when the FAA prohibits them.

SIGNS

Sometimes a dreary existence needs Signs.

Lions with Kevin Richardson

Animal behaviorist and the animals he's befriended.

Bird of Prey

Calculator

I wrote many programs on this old calculator. I wrote a chess program, and a race-car game. I wrote a maze game that used data compression to fit many levels in the small memory, and another that made infinite random but still solvable mazes. For chemistry class, I wrote a program that could "roll" virtual dice, instead of the real ones, for an experiment on nuclear decay. After seeing a tv show about the enigma code the Germans used in World War Two, I wrote an encryption program that was based on it, but more powerful (many decades of technology made it much easier for me to do than it would have been for them).

On my way to visit my then girlfriend in Europe, I wrote a game program for her that had a hidden, and encrypted, love note built into it. I put the program on her calculator and later, an ocean away, I surprised her with how to get it to ask her for the secret code and to read it. A few of my math grades may have reflected the attention I gave this device, instead of my school work. But I had a lot of fun, and still use much of what it taught me.

My First Cell Phone

It was small, this is it with the battery installed and all, but it was mighty. Had a small keyboard that could plug into the bottom, got great reception and could email, txt and make phone calls. Kind of miss using it.

nom nom

There once was a man from Nantucket

Who kept all his gold in a bucket.
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

(Princeton Tiger, 1902)

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

1930 newsreel footage showing how Helen Keller, unable to see or hear, learned to talk.

Quadrocopter Ball Juggling

Ball juggling experiments with quadrotors.