James P. Howard, II's Blog

It was the Maryland Science Center

2012-05-14T06:47:02-07:00

This morning, ChaseKBH asked me about the bugs at the center. “Not the Kennedy Center, but the other center.” At this point, I thought if there are only two, I am obviously not taking him to enough centers. This after he used his play phone to call the Kennedy Center to page his stuffed bear in the audience the day before.

Kick Starting a Baby

2012-05-04T05:54:25-07:00

Before ChaseKBH was born, I was reading an article in the New York Times Magazine about Freeman Dyson and when I relayed part to Nina, we discovered ChaseKBH would kick every time I said “Freeman Dyson.” He kicked if she said his name. And this worked for a few months until he was born.

With BeaABH, we discovered a similar kickphrase. Every time I mentioned the Bank of England, she’d fire.

We don’t know what this means.

The most important thing to learn in statistics is there are no yes/no answers. Only maybes, to...

2011-07-26T09:41:16-07:00

The most important thing to learn in statistics is there are no yes/no answers. Only maybes, to some degree.

A RESTful interface for MD5 hashes

2011-07-21T15:56:01-07:00

Or not quite. I had a need to generate MD5 hashes inside a Google Spreadsheet, but Google does not include an MD5 function (and neither does OpenOffice.org). Google does, however, support a function to get XML data and process it with Xpath. So assuming someone had created an MD5 generator on the web that was accessible via XML, I set to work. It turns out, nobody has ever needed this before. But that’s okay, I am a Real Programmer.

I installed Ruby on Rails and created a very simple controller for hashes:

class HashController < ApplicationController
    def md5
    result = { }
    result['data'] = params[:id]
    result['md5'] = Digest::MD5.hexdigest(params[:id])

    respond_to do |format|
        format.json { render :json => result }
        format.xml { render :xml => result }
    end
end

Which is now accessible via http://api.jameshoward.us/hash/md5/foo.json or foo.xml as appropriate. In addition, there is an sha1 method available. It’s all running on a minimal instance with Heroku, so please use it to your heart’s content.

The MacOS X open(1) Command

2011-03-22T18:23:12-07:00

MacOS X provides a commnad line tool to open applications and files. MacOS X applications are actually collections of files residing within one directory with a name ending in .app. I usually use open at the command line to start most applications, leaving the Dock clear of applications not running:

howardjp@thermopylae:~$ open /Applications/Safari.app

is enough to start Safari and if the browser is already running, it will open a new window.

The open command also works on individual files and will open the file in its associated application. For instance, running open on a PDF will open the file in Preview. And running open on a normal directory (as opposed to an application package) will open the directory in Finder.

The open command provides a number of useful options. The option t treats the file, regardless of type, as a text file and opens it in the default text editor. A related option, e simplifies the process and opens the file in TextEdit, the native text editor provided with MacOS X. Also related is f, which reads from the standard input and passes the input to the default text editor.

It is also possible to override the default application with other types of files using the option a. But it is important to remember the full path to the application must be given:

open -a /Applications/Adobe\ Reader\ 9/Adobe\ Reader.app/ foo.pdf

This form is quite cumbersome, but it may be appropriate in some circumstances. One last option worth mentioning is R which find the references file in Finder, instead of opening the file itself. Of course, open supports other options as well and reveiwing the man page is advised.

Finally, the open supports URLs:

open http://www.jameshoward.us

will open my website directly in the default browser.

NYT Paywall Plans

2011-03-21T13:14:07-07:00

John Gruber:

If you want to pay the New York Times to read the news using both their iPhone and iPad apps, in theory, you should be their ideal customer — you’re willing to pay, and you’re looking forward, technology-wise. But you’ll save money by getting several pounds of paper that you don’t want delivered to your doorstep every week.

Put a vacation stop on the order and donate the papers to a school.

Is this really an excuse to use an interrobang‽

2011-03-19T13:05:46-07:00

ChaseKBH: Moon...BOOM!
Me: Moon boom‽ What are you, some kind of Bond villain‽

MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN…...

2011-03-17T11:52:00-07:00

MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN… MATHMAN…

pbcopy and pbpaste

2011-03-16T13:40:08-07:00

The Unix command line has historically interacted poorly with the numerous graphical interfaces that have been stacked upon it. One key area lacking support is the clipboard. MacOS X brings two utilities to close that gap, pbcopy and pbpaste. These commands together provide complete access to the MacOS X clipboard (which Apple calls the pasteboard, explaining the names of these two commands).

The first of the two, pbcopy, takes its input from the standard input and adds it to the system clipboard. The command only accepts one option, -pboard, which accepts one of four suboptions, “general”, “ruler”, “find”, and “font”, all of which are different system clipboards available on MacOS X. The general pasteboard is the main system clipboard and the others are for special use.

The pbpaste pulls data from the clipboard and prints it to the standard output. Like pbcopy, pbpaste accepts the option -pboard to determine which pastebaord to acquire data from. The pbpaste command adds a second option, -Prefer which takes three possible options “txt”, “rtf”, and “ps”. These options direct \cmd{pbpaste} looks for a certain type of formated information on the pbasteboard. The “txt” flag suggests standard text data. The “rtf” and “ps” suggest Rich Text Format and PostScript, respectively. Despite this option, it is not possible to direct the exact output pbpaste prints. This option only tells pbpaste what type of information to return first.

These two commands offer the MacOS X command line warrior a simple and fairly complete set of tools for working with and manipulating the MacOS X pasteboards.

Sick Day for ChaseKBH: Lunch Time

2011-03-11T11:03:01-08:00

Me: Lunch!
ChaseKBH: Yeah!
Me: With lemon!
ChaseKBH: Yeah!
Me: And pepper!
ChaseKBH: Yeah!
Me: And garlic!
ChaseKBH: Yeah!
Me: And pasta!
ChaseKBH: Yeah!
Me: And shrimp!
ChaseKBH: No, no, no!

Math Prof Clobbers Mascot

2011-03-11T06:23:16-08:00

Math Prof Clobbers Mascot:

According to a witness quoted on the Web sites of The Minnesota Daily and Chicago Breaking Sports, Douglas P. Dokken, a math professor at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minn., was watching a gymnastics competition when Goldy tapped him on the shoulder and mussed his hair. Mr. Dokken, who got his Ph.D. at Minnesota, apparently tried to ignore the attention, but the oversized rodent persisted, and the professor ended up losing his temper and thumping the mascot.

OPM DC Operating Status via Twitter

2011-02-23T05:08:53-08:00

OPM DC Operating Status via Twitter:

A few months ago, I created a Twitter to automatically announce the DC operating status maintained by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This status announces whether or not the Federal government is open or restricted during an emergency. It is most often used to announce snow-related closings and some non-governmental employers rely on this for notifying their employees of weather-related emergencies.. This provides an advantage over other delivery methods provided by OPM in that Twitter can deliverer selected user’s tweets via a text message.

After testing for a few emergencies with (now) 15 followers, I am ready to announce @opmdcstatus publicly. If anyone at OPM wants to discuss making this more effective and efficient, please contact me.

"[T]unnels are not photogenic; they strike no heroic silhouette against the sky, despite whatever..."

2011-02-15T05:09:00-08:00

“[T]unnels are not photogenic; they strike no heroic silhouette against the sky, despite whatever ingenius engineering might have gone into their construction. A bridge, on the other hand, is a proud and soaring thing that makes for great publicity shots and tourist brochures. It is a rare mayor or city official who can turn down such eye candy…”

- Thomas J. Campanella, The Concrete Dragon: China’s Urban Revolutions and What it Means for the World, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008), 77.

CALUG Talk on Systems Management with Git

2011-01-10T19:46:24-08:00

If you find yourself in the Columbia, MD area looking for something to do from 6:30-9pm (January 12th) join the Columbia Area Linux Users Group for a great talk from James P. Howard II and Peter M. Van Buren. They will be presenting their talk “Using DVCS Frameworks for Homogeneous Systems Management” to us.

OpenPGP Bot on Twitter

2010-12-01T15:47:05-08:00

openpgpblog:

For reasons I cannot entirely justify, I created a new Twitter account, @OpenPGPBot, that automatically retweets anything posted involving PGP, GnuPGP, or OpenPGP. Please follow if it’s your thing.

Don't Irritate the Talent

2010-11-16T15:44:06-08:00

I get something like 7-12 contacts from recruiters every week and about half of those are cold calls direct to my cell phone. I spend a lot of time responding to job inquiries. I welcome the opportunity to discuss a new option, but most recruiters seem to go out of their way to turn me off to their services. Here’s some advice:

If you found my profile on Monster, CareerBuilder, or some other job board, you might note I said no relocation from the the Baltimore-Washington area. So please don’t contact me about a job in East Liverpool, Idaho. If I wanted to move to Idaho, I’d say so.
If you have my profile in front of you, it does say I am currently employed in a regular position. So don’t call me about a 2-month contract. Don’t call me about a contract-to-hire position. Call me about actual jobs.
When you call me about the 2-month contract, make sure it pays more than one-third of what I am currently making.
Make sure you actually know what my specialty areas are before you call me.
When you call me, don’t ask why I am interested in leaving my current position. You called me. That’s why we are having the discussion.
When you call me about a specific position, make sure you actually know the following:
1. Who the position is with;
2. What the position is;
3. When the position needs to be filled;
4. Where the position is; and
5. Why the position exists.
Don’t contact me to ask me to fill out a form on your website. It’s a scam. We both know it.
Don’t ask for my resume in Word format. Actually, let’s go into detail here:
1. You already have a copy of my resume you got from who knows where. It should explain that I am math and computer science geek. When you see this, you should assume my resume is stored in two cross-referenced databases and automatically generated from a stack of build scripts that create a LaTeX source and generate a hyperlinked PDF.
2. I know you just want a Word document to take the information, rewrite it, and slap your own branding on it, but it is unethical to present me in any way to a client without my prior review. And I’d be an idiot to let you.
3. Given this, if you can’t figure out how to get the information out of a PDF, how did you manage to dial the phone?
If you’ve contacted me for more information, and I provided it, call me back at some point and let me know what’s going on. Disappearing into the aether gives you, your employer, and your client a really bad reputation. I do spread it.

Even in a down economy, you don’t piss off the talent. They are, after all, your product.

Culture and Transportation

2010-10-26T18:26:27-07:00

Tonight, Dave Bittner hosted “Conversation on Art and Culture in Downtown Columbia” for the Columbia Cultural Plan Advisory Committee. The event was a large-scale coordinated focus group to ask what cultural resources Columbians need and want.

A prevailing theme that came out of each discussion was the need for good transportation to and from the cultural attractions. Seniors were interested in transportation options, likely mass transit, for easy access. Those outside of Town Center were interested in better parking throughout downtown for cultural attractions. Everyone was worried about the traffic brought by events at Merriweather. This topic and related genres came up again and again, completely independently as each working group appears to have revisited the issue.

I am not an urban planner, but this seems important.

Irresponsible Fearmongering

2010-10-17T18:43:43-07:00

There’s been some irresponsible fearmongering on the opinion pages of the FT where Stephen Lange Ranzini wrote:

According to credible news reports, the large blackout in 2003 that shut down the north east and midwest of the US as far as Michigan was caused by a cyber hack.

In response, I’ve written the following to the editor of the FT:

Sir, it is astounding the FT would print as ill-considered and ill-researched letter as Stephen Ranzini’s. Mr Ranzini says “credible news reports” pinned the August 2003 US blackout on cyberhackers. No credible news report printed anything this irresponsible and no responsible party ever suggested something so foolish. The joint US-Canada task force on the outage considered this matter and dismissed it out of hand. The universally acknowledged cause were untrimmed trees in the midwest. But in recent years, we’ve learned the security establishment isn’t the only one that cries wolf. We’ve learned bankers do, too.

FreeGrep Now Standard in Minix

2010-06-23T11:29:20-07:00

I received an email today saying FreeGrep is now standard in Minix 3!

FreeGrep v1.1

2010-06-08T19:03:07-07:00

Proving no good deed goes unpunished, I left a small bug in FreeGrep v1.0. It has been fixed and updated to 1.1 and also submitted for update in the FreeBSD Ports Tree.