It would be great if Google Maps and TomTom could cooperate:

* A TomTom device does not cooperate with Google Maps by itself.
* I wanted the possibility to point out my routes and some points of interest at home with my computer.
* If you buy a TomTom device, you can use the TomTom HOME software, but the possibilities of this application to plot a route are not really great.
* I did not want to push my finger onto the touch screen of my TomTom device every time: to add one waypoint to an itinerary, I had to crawl about three or four TomTom screens each time...

I own a tomtom OneXL and tyre is the single program that makes that device useful. It integrates w/ either google earth or google maps and allows you to plan our routes and itineraries quite nicely.

I just planned a road trip to boston w/ eight tasty places to eat along the way. Not just that but I get to use the tappan zee bridge! and hopefully avoid all the crap.

If this works out I'll be posting routes + maps of places to eat RSN.

--timball

Tyre

We present a prototype system that can be used to capture longitudinal socialising processes by recording people's encounters in space. We argue that such a system can usefully be deployed in prisons and other detention facilities in order help intelligence analysts assess the behaviour or terrorist and organised crime groups, and their potential relationships. Here we present the results of a longitudinal study, carried out with civilians, which demonstrates the capabilities of our system.

Frighteningly bad science.

The idea was that these two physicists wanted to help figure out a way to track prisoners who might be up to no-goodery. Ideally they'd put RFID's into every prisoner's ass and then watch and track the no-gooders. Then after some statistical modeling magic they'd be able to know that prisoner A spends a lot of time humping prisoner B.

That's all fine and dandy, but the PoC implemented about wasn't tested in prisons. It was tested on the the people who live in and around the town of Bath, UK using the resident's bluetooth devices. They have plots and models in their paper showing off some awfully frightening ideas.

So their original idea has nothing to do w/ the implemented idea except for all the spying.

--timball

[0804.3064] Intelligence gathering by capturing the social processes within prisons

The British Players performed Bernard Slade's play An Act of the Imagination: a mystery in two acts. Someone let me run the sound board for the play so I took shots from my little perch.

Here's a link to one of the reviews: http://www.showbizradio.net/2008/04/11/review-bp-an-act-of-the-imagination/

--timball

An Act of the Imagination: a mystery in two acts

--timball

bbq NC -> ATL

This event was to commemorate that on 1/20/09 President G.W. Bush makes like a tree and falls out of the white house.

Shelby from the band frodus did the razzle dazzle.

The evening was tres cool.

--timball

end of an era 1/20/08

co-worker said "I'm in a band come see the gig." I did. they rocked out.

--timball

bottles and cans -- r&r hotel 2/21/08

Which brings us back to the “why bother” question and how we might better answer it. The reasons not to bother are many and compelling, at least to the cheap-energy mind. But let me offer a few admittedly tentative reasons that we might put on the other side of the scale:

If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things might become cooler than having them. And those who did change the way they live would acquire the moral standing to demand changes in behavior from others — from other people, other corporations, even other countries.

All of this could, theoretically, happen. What I’m describing (imagining would probably be more accurate) is a process of viral social change, and change of this kind, which is nonlinear, is never something anyone can plan or predict or count on. Who knows, maybe the virus will reach all the way to Chongqing and infect my Chinese evil twin. Or not. Maybe going green will prove a passing fad and will lose steam after a few years, just as it did in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan took down Jimmy Carter’s solar panels from the roof of the White House.

An idealistic though thought-provoking take on "going green." Be more proactive -- consume less and plant a garden.

-janelane, sign me up

The Green Issue - Climate Change - Environment - Energy Efficiency - Consumption - New York Times

I gave a talk at roots camp DC on the following things:

nginx. The nginx wiki

varnish

memcached. The memecached wiki

pound

stunnel

Billy's Book

DBpedia

The title of the talk was "Speed Kills: How to make your webpage load in 500ms or less, ask me how!"

The talk consisted of seven yellow note cards and one physical copy of Ajax Security.

--timball

RootsCamp wiki - The password has been reset.

Here are some electronic circuits that I have designed and published. I have attempted to include a number of fairly unusual circuits, with an emphasis on useful applications instead of simple toy circuits. The majority of the circuits can be built with readily available discrete components. Only a few of the circuits rely on microprocessors. Micros can greatly enhance the power of a small circuit, but the specialized development tools can put the project out of reach of many hobbyists.

Other web pages have numerous circuits for LED blinkers, timers, miniature FM bugs and such, follow the links at the bottom of this page for examples.

Most of the circuits on this site have been drawn with an open-source circuit drawing program called xcircuit, xcircuit runs under both the Linux operating system and Windows. See below for links to the Xcircuit page and a review of the software.

Forrest Cook has some really neat circuit doodles on his webpage as well as awesome explanations of circuit implications and usages.

--timball

FC s Electronic Circuits

We primarily use data reported via the World Meteorological Organization's Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) program to provide a snapshot of current weather conditions at sea, worldwide. This data can also be used to track the progress of ships at sea. Many ships do not report their weather observations to WMO, or report only sporadically; these ships will not have records in our database. Additional information comes from the YOTREPS network of cruising yachts; YOTREPS positions are updated only once per day.

This site tracks all (friendly) ships at sea... including freight liners.

--timball

Weather observations and positions of ships at sea