Would you execute this man? Jonah Goldberg makes an excellent point in his recent column about how the media always exploits shooting sprees to push for gun control but seldom asks --- what should we do with mass murders? To my right-wingy, death-beasty, vengeance-seeking, cowboy mind James Holmes, the Colorado Dark Knight Rises cinema shooter, … Continue reading Executioners should be selected like jurors
Category: Observations
Writing Portable J addons
On July 24, 2012 I gave a short talk, Writing Portable J addons, at the 2012 J Conference in Toronto Ontario. I try to avoid “death by PowerPoint” with my presentations. Take a peek at the following and see if I succeeded. Click for Portable addons
Playing the Blog hit game
On June 5th 2012 my little blog set an all time hit record: 198 robots, spammers and readers incremented my counters. 198 hits would be embarrassing for a major blog like Instapundit but for Analyze the Data not the Drivel it was a “hitnotic” day. I always attribute my triumphs to my utter manly awesomeness … Continue reading Playing the Blog hit game
Mac JOD
JOD now runs on the Mac The J addon JOD now runs on Macs. You can update JOD, or install it for the first time, with JAL. JOD now runs on all the major J hosts: Windows, Linux and the Mac. To keep track of host specific features I have started a series of version … Continue reading Mac JOD
Controlling Cell Phones the new IT Frontier
Personal cell phones are on the IT hit list. It won’t be long before your employer starts jamming or confiscating your personal cell phone. Wait a minute isn’t that a tad hyperbolic? Wouldn’t that trigger an avalanche of “freedom of speech” lawsuits? Wouldn’t people yell “fornicate elsewhere” and quit? Ahh, if only it were so. … Continue reading Controlling Cell Phones the new IT Frontier
Venus puts a period on our Time
I left work early yesterday to scoot down to Forest Park, one of St. Louis’s best city parks, and take in the transit of Venus. The St. Louis Astronomical Society conducted a public outreach event on the grounds of the World’s Fair Pavilion. The pavilion sits atop a small hill with a good view of … Continue reading Venus puts a period on our Time
RAW development rubs me Raw
I'm exhausted. For the last four nights I've been up late Lightroom'ing the pictures I took on my little Arizona annular eclipse trip. I’m a new Lightroom user and I’m not entirely impressed with the program. It’s a first class general RAW developer but I don’t think it's as good as Capture NX when working with Nikon NEF … Continue reading RAW development rubs me Raw
The Wahweap Wow
Glen Canyon dam Last weekend I was in Page Arizona to visit my parents and catch the May 20th 2012 annular solar eclipse. Page is a little town that owes its existence to the construction of the Glen Canyon dam in the early 1960’s. The reservoir behind the dam, Lake Powell, has appeared in so many … Continue reading The Wahweap Wow
GPX from Google Maps KML J Script
In preparation for my Arizona jaunt to watch the May 20th annular eclipse I spent a few hours on Google Maps selecting locations to visit. Here are my prime targets. After selecting targets the next step is to load them onto my “GPS device.” Currently my GPS device is the MotionX GPS iPhone app. MotionX … Continue reading GPX from Google Maps KML J Script
2012 Venus Transit and Annular Eclipse
I’m gearing up for two big eminent celestial events. On May 20th I’ll be near Page Arizona observing an annular eclipse of the Sun and on June 5th, weather permitting, I’ll be in St. Louis watching Venus creep on the disc of the Sun for the last time in my lifetime. Eclipses and transits are spectacular … Continue reading 2012 Venus Transit and Annular Eclipse
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 