Dr. Robot Nerd School

I was here today: Obama Rally in Tampa

Pictures on flickr to folow.

List of 100 books every man should read. I recognize a good number from high school english class, but I have some catching up to do in the “quintessential American Novel of the 50s-60s” and the “classics from Antiquity” categories. Saving the list for use over the summer.

Here is the blurb:

There are the books you read, and then there are the books that change your life. We can all look back on the books that have shaped our perspective on politics, religion, money, and love. Some will even become a source of inspiration for the rest of your life. From a seemingly infinite list of books of anecdotal or literal merit, we have narrowed down the top 100 books that have shaped the lives of individual men while also helping define broader cultural ideas of what it means to be a man.

Whether it be a book on adventure, war, or manners, there is so much to learn about life’s great questions from these gems. Let us know in the comments which of these you loved, hated, and the books that meant a lot to you and should have made the list (you can even get really indignant about your favorite book). And without further ado, this is our list.

And here is the link: 100 Must read books

Apparently I’m not the only one that was rather under-whelmed by the new address bar behavior.

From Tim Trueman from Richard Crowley:

Firefox 3 more better

1. Go to about:config.
2. Set browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped to true.
3. Profit!

This will cause Firefox to almost revert its address-bar behavior to the familiar Firefox 2 style where it matches the beginning of URLs instead of attempting some hairbrained search. If I’d wanted to search, I would have hit Apple+K.

“Get that job at Google.” http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-that-job-at-google.html

You: Should I work at Google? Is it all they say it is, and more? Will I be serenely happy there? Should I apply immediately?

Me: Yes.

You: To which ques… wait, what do you mean by “Yes?” I didn’t even say who I am!

Me: Dude, the answer is Yes. (You may be a woman, but I’m still calling you Dude.)

And so forth…..

Preprint of my Autonomous Robots journal article based on our UAV work following Hurricane Katrina.

Title: CONOPS and Autonomy Recommendations for VTOL MAVs Based on Observations of Hurricane Katrina UAV Operations

PDF: UAVs at Hurricane Katrina journal preprint

Abstract:

This field study examines VTOL UAV operations conducted as part of an 8 day structural inspection task following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. From the observations of the 32 lights spread over 12 missions, four key findings are identified for CONOPS and the next level of artificial intelligence for rotary-wing UAVs operating in cluttered urban environments. These findings are 1) the minimum useful standoff distance from inspected structures is 2-5m, 2) omni-directional sensor capabilities are needed for obstacle avoidance, 3) GPS waypoint navigation is unnecessary, and 4) that these operations require three operators for one MAV. Based on the findings and other observations, a crewing organization and flight operations protocol for UAVs are proposed. Needed directions in research and development are also discussed. These recommendations are expected to contribute to the design of platforms, sensors, and artificial intelligence as well as facilitate the acceptance of UAVs into the workplace.

BibTeX:
I’ll add this in once it gets published. It should be in Autonomous Robots eventually.

I’m assembling a big report for MSHA in LaTeX and using the book document class, which normally justifies just splendidly. So when it stopped justifying paragraphs correctly and was giving ragged right edges, that was a problem.

Long story short: I copied some different environments (description, etc) from the web and brought in a \flushleft, which I thought would just apply to that element. Wrong. It changed the setting from then on. Removed all the \flushlefts, and it sets the paragraphs correctly.

And hurray for science and methodical debugging…..”Well the first section is right, and the beginning of section two, and then it goes to shit after this list here. Hey, what’s this \flushleft doing here?”

From Jason Rennie’s LaTeX Tips and Tricks:

2-Column Images
When in 2-column mode (using either \twocolumn or the multicols environment (package multicol)), use \begin{figure*} and \begin{table*} to create figures and tables that span the entire width of the page. \begin{figure} and \begin{table} span only one column.

Background: BoingBoing just put up a post that was ‘Sponsored by Windows Mobile’. Not surprisingly there was a lot of blowback and discussion in the comments about having ‘Sponsored’ posts instead of just separate ad blocks on the site, and notably what this said for transparency and honesty in these posts.

I left for about two hours and came back to follow the discussion further and see what else people had said. The discussion was totally gone, without even so much as an “Update: The discussion got out of hand we moved/suspended/did something else with it”.

BOOOOOOO.

Here is the letter I sent in:

Frauenfelder I’m calling you out.

An hour and a half ago there were 58 comments on this story. I’ve reloaded the story several times and switched browsers in disbelief, but now there no comments on the Win Mobile story. In fact, you went so far as to nuke the ‘discuss’ link from the story. There’s not even an “Update: We’re moving the discussion somewhere else” note.

Tell me I’m wrong and you didn’t stoop this low.

For the entirety of it’s existence bb has been the paragon of well reasoned civlib discussion, a beacon for transparency and frank discussion. If this is what it looks like this beacon just burnt down, fell over, and sank into the swamp.

We all understand, you’ve gotta pay the bills, the sidebar/header ads are completely reasonable, even the Honda thing no big deal, but mixing ads and content crosses a line. You should have expected some discussion on that. But to kill the discussion and hide it’s corpse blows right past that line and sails straight into the land of ‘lost’ emails, “No Comment”, and retroactive immunity we’ve come to know and loathe.

So Mark, Xeni, Cory, any of you…. please tell me this is a bad dream.

–Kevin

And here is the link to the story: Hamster’s Lunch at Coco’s in Los Angeles

UPDATE: *Mostly* a bad dream.  Frauenfelder posted a rebuttal, and comments are to exist again at some point.  But, um, order of operations here people?  Don’t demolish the bridge before you put up the detour signs……….just sayin.

In the interest of finishing the repost, here is part two of the grilling tips article, Vegetables.

Again, original from robertkbrown.com, this copy obtained from The Wayback Machine:

More Grilling Tips

Time for some updates. After re-reading Everything You Thought You Knew About Grilling Is Wrong, I realized that I’d left out quite a few things that will help raise the bar on your grilling efforts. That particular essay was all I needed to move from never buying steak as an adult (for fear that I’d have to be the one to cook it) to grilling it at least once a month — sometimes much more — during the summer.

But what about the grill temperature? you ask. What if I want to grill some potatoes, or other vegetables? How long can I expect the food to take?

Okay, okay. I just finished cooking up a truckload of steak and veggies for the family, and noticed a few things I’d left out, so here are a few more helpful grilling hints.

Too Hot Is Bad (also see: Flames Are Bad)
I have a gas grill, so I’m able to more accurately regulate temperature. I typically keep the flame as low as my grill will allow. The only exception to this is when I feel like grilling in October or December and the external temp is maybe forty or fifty degrees. But in the heat of the summer, keep it dialed down as low as possible. For charcoal, you don’t want any open flames. Coals are the best. Be forewarned, that even with the lowest heat, you’re likely to get some flames shooting upward, charring the meat. If you’re tending the grill, this might be mitigated somewhat, because you’ll see a lot more smoke coming out than normal. More often than not, this will happen when you’re cooking a lot of chicken — especially thighs — and the juices drip out. Flip early flip often to manage this. Otherwise — as I had to do earlier today — just stick ‘em up on a higher rack in the grill. Flames will mess with the schedule, blackening the outside and leaving the inside raw.

Cook Potatoes Longer
Whenever I add potatoes to the grill, I throw them on a full ten minutes before anything else. And I forget about them. The flip, flip, flip rule does not apply to potatoes. They take longer to warm up for one, and I like at least one side to appear a little browned. Constant flipping will certainly cook them, but they won’t necessarily be as aesthetically pleasing as if you let them cook on one side for fifteen or twenty minutes before flipping.

Simple Potato Recipe #1: cut some baking potatoes in half (lengthwise, so the halves are shallow). Create a criss-cross pattern with your knife across the tops, cutting about a quarter of an inch deep. To do this, do one set of parallel lines, then rotate the potato slightly and repeat. Smear butter across the top, then salt and pepper. Wrap tightly in foil — you do this tightly so the potatoes get grilled, not steamed. I tear off a big sheet of foil, then fold it back on itself so it doesn’t accidentally get punctured while I’m moving it around the grill.

Simple Potato Recipe #2: quarter a bunch of baby new potatoes. Dice half an onion or so. Highly specific measurements, I know. Dump both into a large Reynolds Foil Pouch, along with a bunch of butter and salt and pepper.

Give yourself half an hour for the potatoes, either variety.

Truth be told, pretty much any combination of vegetables in a foil pouch with salt, pepper, and butter, works out well. Just mix and match. Green beans by themself are fine, but you might want to add fresh dill. Diced tomatoes and onions with sliced summer squash is also nice and the optional quartered mushrooms are good too.

Slice Steak Before Serving
You’ll rarely have leftovers if you do this, plus you’ll be able to serve steak without steak knives. You’re the cook, right? You prepared the marinade. You carefully tended the hot grill, making sure to flip the steak early and often. And now you’re just supposed to throw a slab on somebody’s plate so they can say “whoa, too much,” or “darn, not enough?”Get a nice serving plate. Cut the steak for everybody, in nice, thin, diagonal stripes, across the grain, similar to how you might cut a flank steak. Instead of worrying about “eating an entire steak” your guests are free to select one or more strips. They won’t need the steak knife because you’ve already done the work for them. If they’re selective about how done the meat is, your nice strip will clearly show varying stages of pink. When they’re done, believe me, they’ll go back for “just one more.” The only time I’ve ever had left-overs was when I over estimated the amount of steak I’d need by about a pound and a half.

Originally from: robertkbrown.com but the site seems down (permanently maybe….) so I’m reposting the version I got from the Wayback Machine

Personally I tend to use the bonus marinade recipe at the bottom a lot, hence the repost.

The short version:

1. Flip early flip often
2. Rotate multiple items around the grill
3. The squishiness test for doneness
4. And don’t put barbecue sauce on right at the start, it’ll burn
5. + 2 marinades

Original after the break….

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