Thane Plambeck

Back in Palo Alto for Halloween

Cookies for Integers Conference

Carrollton, GA

0) I flew to Atlanta this morning for this math conference that starts tomorrow, in Carrollton, at the University of West Georgia, 50 miles west of Atlanta.

1) Western Georgia has lots of churches with pointy steeples.

2) Dinner at the Maple Street Mansion, not far from the University campus. Chipotle chicken sandwich.

3) Pulled over by two local police cruisers—they thought my brake lights were out. In fact, my headlights weren't even on. I was in the midst of bafflement with the mysterious transmission on the Suburu Outback that Hertz rented to me. It's not manual transmission, yet seems the stick shift seems to require nudging to shift into a higher gear. Is this what "tiptronic" means?

Streamlining the 419 scam

In the Spam Inbox:

My name is David Taylor, I work in a bank, I need your assistance in moving the sum of Four Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars {$4.5million} into your country. Funds are ready in account managed by me. On our agreement I will make you next of kin beneficiary of funds and action cash delivery to you. Kindly reply via below email address for further instruction on how to proceed.

That's it? No story about the tragic plane crash, the imprisoned treasury minister, the upheaval in central Africa?

Nothing? All he wants is my "further instruction?"

The 419 scam just isn't so much fun without the apologetic "It may seem to you odd that I am writing to you, but I am Mr. Abad Semeer Ochoa, previously adviser to his excellency..."

Misc

1) In Poker Academy Pro, I outlasted 490 robots from a field of 500, made it to the "Final Table" and then immediately lost to an inside straight draw. I immediately received a congratulatory popup: "You finished in the money with a profit of $39,000!" Not much consolation in that, especially since it's not real money.

2) I've noticed several people blogging about the outer automorphism of S_6. Why? Someone famous mention it or something?

3) Finished Peter Gay's My German Question. Very nice book. Why can't more memoir writers stick to the interesting stuff and skip everything else? It's nothing compared to the Klemperer diaries, but an enjoyable read from front to back.

4) Sirius Satellite radio doesn't work so well in leafy Palo Alto. Driving past the Jobs house it always cuts out. Is it jamming or just big trees? "They should clearcut that street," suggested John. The "channels" on Sirius radio have names "CoffeeHouse", "HardAttack", "Left of Center", etc. Must be fun to make those names up.

iPod Halloween costume

From the "Zeitung fuer Damen and Andere Frauenzimmer", Graz, 18 January 1792

A few months before his death Mozart received a letter without a signature, requesting him to write a Requiem, and to ask for it what he wanted. As this task did not appeal to him at all, he thought, "I will ask so much that the amateur will be sure to give it up." On the next day a servant came to collect an answer. Mozart wrote to the unknown man that he could not write it for fewer than 60 ducats, and then not for 2 or 3 months. The servant returned, brought 30 ducats at once, said he would call again in 3 months, and if the Mass were ready, would hand over the other half of the money directly. So Mozart had to write, which he often did with tears in his eyes, constantly saying: "I fear I am writing my own Requiem"; he completed it a few days before his death. When his death was known, the servant called again and brought the remaining 30 ducats, did not ask for the Requiem, and since then there has been no further request for it. It will in fact be performed in St Michael's Church in his memory when it has been copied.

from the excellent "documentary bibliography" by Otto Erich Deutsch that I blogged before (who knows when, exactly)...O.E.D. writes "This early report on the Requiem does not in detail accord with fact, but it is of historical interest."

Moose steps in front of Mt St Helens web cam

webcam

Jazz MP3 wrested from the clutches of the iTunes MP4 format

iTunes saves music as MP4, but the Audi SD card interface wanted MP3's.

So, how to convert those iTunes files from MP4 to MP3, export them from iTunes, and get them onto an SD card?

Fry's had a USB SD card reader/writer for less than $20.

[[ "Aisle two, right-hand side," a Fry's guy told me, after he recovered from the following long and painful interaction with another customer, who wanted a "USB to WiFi cable":

"You want a WiFi card with a USB interface?" the Fry's guy asked.

"No, I've got the WiFi already, I just need the cable."

"You want a cable for a wireless access point?"

"No, I need the cable for WiFi! I want USB at one end, and WiFi at the other!"

As I pondered what it could possibly mean to have WiFi at the 'end of a cable,' the Fry's guy spoke up decisively: "I don't know what that is."

"WELL—CANT ANYONE HERE HELP ME?" the man complained in a loud voice. "DOESN'T ANYONE HERE KNOW ANYTHING?" he asked bitterly, even louder.

I really wanted to jump in and whisper to him, you know this WiFi thing, the great thing is, you don't need cables, but I was smart enough to say nothing. ]]

Anyway, I couldn't figure out a way to coax iTunes into converting "Purchased Music" from MP4 to MP3, but it did let me convert the many jazz CDs that I'd brought into iTunes from CDs. It wasn't easy, though.

Success!

Reminder to self: continue shredding

Walking the dog, I found someone's Visa card statement. It was probably a single stream blue bin escapee.

I picked it up. Only $75 in charges last month? No—that's just last month's payment. The balance due is $4925.

The credit limit? $5000.

Next month's minimum payment? $73.

I hope he mailed the check.

Vertu

A Nokia subsidiary that makes diamond-studded cellphones.

Websidestory and hitbox cookie opt-out

here. Seems to work.

It's no longer like herding cats

It's like shoveling frogs into a wheelbarrow, instead.

[ Looks like Jim Hightower has the current Google mindshare for this phrase, which gets only 72 hits. By constrast, herding cats gets over 250 thousand. ]

One opt-out that works and is worth it

This page offers a two-click "opt-out" from 2o7.net's browser cookie dispensers (which seem to be installed at a huge number of web sites).

Lava dome with smoke rising

Two days of fog over Mt St Helens—now that we've gone home, it all clears up.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005 9:10 a.m. PDT (1610 UTC)

MOUNT ST. HELENS UPDATE

Current status is Volcano Advisory (Alert Level 2); aviation color code ORANGE: Growth of the new lava dome inside the crater of Mount St. Helens continues, accompanied by low rates of seismicity, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of ash. During such eruptions, changes in the level of activity can occur over days to months. The eruption could intensify suddenly or with little warning and produce explosions that cause hazardous conditions within several miles of the crater and farther downwind. Small lahars could suddenly descend the Toutle River if triggered by heavy rain or by interaction of hot rocks with snow and ice. These lahars pose a negligible hazard below the Sediment Retention Structure (SRS) but could pose a hazard along the river channel upstream.

Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds that rise above the crater rim today would drift eastward to east-northeastward early in the day and northward later.

Potential ash hazards to aviation: Under current eruptive conditions, small, short-lived explosions may produce ash clouds that exceed 30,000 feet in altitude. Ash from such events can travel 100 miles or more downwind.

Recent observations: Clouds and wind cancelled yesterday’s field work, but crews are out today to repair several instruments in the crater, measure gas flux from the volcano, collect rock samples, and obtain several hours of high-resolution time-lapse photographs of the vent area. The latest digital elevation model of the new lava dome, which was created from aerial photographs taken on August 10, shows that the volume had grown to 62 million cubic meters (81 million cubic yards). The average rate of growth during late July and early August was about 2 cubic meters per second, a rate that has typified most of 2005.

cascade range update page / webcam

Searching for the right word

Any difference between a fop and a dandy?

define:fop
define:dandy

Well-dressed adjectives:

define:natty
define:spruce

Bonus discovery:

bespoke [ I realized I've read this many times without realizing what is meant ]

Postcard-quality Space Needle photo

Onion Man, Seattle

The Onion Man's assistant was handing out free samples of Eclipse Mints.

"Not so spicy," Cole and Owen agreed.

Caramel- & chocolate-covered marshmallows on a stick

Seattle Pi