Pinhead's Progress

27 July 2006

Breaking: train derails near Klamath Falls

A freight train derailed near Klamath Falls, with 38 cars into the water, according to an Amtrak employee. I am not sure if this is a freight train or a passenger train, but according to sources, FEMA is involved and is not allowing rail traffic through for at least 12 hrs.

Amtrak is turning its Coast Starlight train (#11) back at Salem, OR to return to Portland for the night.

Update: the Klamath Falls Herald and News just found out and has more detail. The paper learned about the accident when an Amtrak passenger called them at 9:30pm, hours after the incident!

Here's the article: UP freight derails 38 cars: A 38-car train derailment Thursday evening 15 miles north of Klamath Falls blocked a main line, delaying rail traffic, including Amtrak service, for an undetermined time.

According to Amtrak sources, the line will be closed for 24-48 hours.

Here's more on how the paper learned about the accident: Attempts to reach an Amtrak spokesperson Thursday night were unsuccessful. But an Amtrak passenger used her cell phone to call the Herald and News at 9:45 p.m. reporting that the Coast Starlight 14 passenger train was terminating service. The train was headed north from just outside of Paso Robles, Calif.

I'm on Amtrak #11, and I broke the story. A passenger on Amtrak #14 was the source for the paper. In this connected age, it's the passengers and not the authorities who tell the world what's going on.

(posting from Amtrak Coast Starlight #11 near Salem, OR)

Robert Kaye of MusicBrainz

Robert Kaye of MusicBrainz
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

Robert Kaye of MusicBrainz at OSCON.

Damian Conway reads The Davinci Codebase

Damian Conway reading "The Davinci Codebase"
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

Damian Conway presented "The Davinci Codebase," an open source murder mystery / comedy, one night at OSCON, complete with illustrations, audio clips, and really, really bad anagrams.

"Golf Ruts: eet iz an anagram!"

A subtle skew in the population

A subtle skew in the population
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

This is the "where are you from" map at OSCON. Who would have guessed that half the adult population of Pitcairn was attending?

26 July 2006

Anil goatses OSCON

Anil (that's uh-neel) Dash goatses OSCON
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

Anil (that's uh-neel) Dash goatses OSCON. Gnat tallied six goatse references in a single keynote presentation, making this a new record.

25 July 2006

Jim Buckmaster at OSCON

Tim O'Reilly interviews Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

At OSCON, Tim O'Reilly interviews Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist CEO. Some highlights: Craigslist only charges for job listings in three markets, and for apartment listings in NYC. Why? Not to make money, but to cut down on the spam and so improve the quality of the listings. The suggestion to charge came from the Craigstlist community.

They felt that these categories were out of control, and that a small fee would bring some rationality to the listings. Tim pointed out that Craigslist makes money because they decided to deal with spam. I wonder if that's a first?

Tim asked Jim if they had any open source lessons to share. Jim's main, simple point is to focus on the things that matter to your users, and block out everything else.

On the issue of Craigslist taking money from the traditional news media (Craigslist is killing classified ads, a traditional cash cow for newspapers), John pointed out that newspapers still have profit margins twice as great as the average business, and what's happening is that shareholders expect high and growing margins. So while the papers aren't hurting for money, they are cutting staff to meet these shareholder expectations. It's either that or get taken over by someone who will.

My new fighting technique ...

My new fighting technique ...
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

Capt. Jack Aubrey of Master and Commander has a plan for dealing with the French.

OSCON 2006 sign

OSCON 2006 sign
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

I'm at OSCON in Portland this week. I'll be blogging here about the Executive Briefing and some of the key sessions.

12 July 2006

A typical bike ride at 144.6 mph

A typical bike ride at 144.6 mph
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

My bike computer tells me my maximum bike speed was 144.6 mph.

This is what happens when you put a device that measures the rate of electrical pulses into a pocket full of coins.

07 July 2006

it's a party airplane

The Wall Street Journal: Mr. Schmidt stepped in to resolve that by saying, "Sergey, you can have whatever bed you want in your room; Larry, you
can have whatever kind of bed you want in your bedroom. Let's move on."
Mr. Jennings says Mr. Schmidt at another point told him, "It's a party
airplane."

30 June 2006

Air Force discovers blogs

Kyle Spector of ForeignPolicy's FP Passport found this gem:US Air Force discovers blogs: "In an effort to fight the war on terror, the Air Force is putting up $450,000 for a three year study of...blogs. One scientist involved in the project is already proving, with this revelation, that he is worth the money:Blog entries have a different structure,' Ulicny said. 'They are typically short and are about something external to the blog posting itself, such as a news event. It's not uncommon for a blogger to simply state, 'I can't believe this happened,' and then link to a news story.'

Spector and I are in strong agreement: we can't believe this happened.

28 June 2006

A Møøse once bit my sister

Tenser, said the Tensor: Norwegian Meteorite: "I found this clause orthographically entertaining:

...Norway's best known astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard told Aftenposten.no.

I think it could be improved, though. How about:

...Nørway's best knøwn astrønømer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard tøld Aftenpøsten.nø.

Yeah...that's more like it."

27 June 2006

WindizUpdate: Windows Update for Firefox users

I switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox years ago, partly because IE had stagnated, but moreso because Firefox had fewer exploited security vulnerabilities.

I'm on Windows XP, which uses IE by default for everything. I configured XP to make Firefox my default browser, but there was still one place where I was required to use IE: Microsoft's Windows Update.

Windows Update is the source of security patches and critical updates for Microsoft's products. Given the popularity of Windows XP, and the frequency of new critical vulnerabilities, I visit this site regularly to keep my machine patched. But it doesn't work well with Firefox.

Now there's a solution: WindizUpdate. This site works with Firefox and provides a clean interface to the latest Microsoft patches. Just like in IE, you can scan for vulnerabilities and apply the needed patches fairly easily.

WindizUpdate

25 June 2006

Before they were stars

A nice compilation of pre-fame appearances: Kurt Russel, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Aniston, Martin Sheen, all in cheesy horror movies, summer camp productions, aftershave ads, and cornflake commercials.

The best? Jean Claude Van Damme's debut as an extra in the 1984 movie Breakdance (3:54 in).

16 June 2006

The Emperor gets a new job

Via: VideoSift

15 June 2006

Car GPS on an airplane

Do GPS devices work on airplanes?
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

Does a GPS unit designed for drivers work in a plane?

"Speed: 380 m/h."

Yes it does.

Green House's FingerMouse

I went to User's Side in San Jose (see below for address and hours) on Wednesday and got my new favorite mouse. It's made by Japanese company Green House and is the width of a finger. The mouse has a unique "two buttons in one" rocker switch - forward is right click, back is left click. It even has a tiny but usable scroll wheel on the side. I can operate all of the controls with my index finger.

I've had this mouse for two days, and I'm very happy with it. More details here:

Green House: FingerMouse (フィンガーマウス).

User's Side
San Jose, CA USA
Address 665 Saratoga Ave.
San Jose, CA 95129 USA
(408)777-7422
sjstore@users-side.com
Directions
Store Hours 11:00 - 19:00 (Tuesday - Saturday)
12:00 - 18:00 (Sunday)
Closed Monday

Skype WiFi phone

I've been waiting for two years for someone to make a Skype WiFi phone. Until now, you needed an always-on PC to make Skype a real phone replacement. Now, with Netgear's Skype WiFi phone, you can make calls anywhere you can get a WiFi signal.

No details yet on what operating system the phone is running, but so far, Netgear says it will not have a web browser. You can pre-order it on Amazon for $250, with units shipping June 30.

More product info from Netgear: NETGEAR Skype WiFi Phone

> traceroute thepiratebay.org

Best. Traceroute. Ever.

A few weeks ago, torrent indexing site The Pirate Bay's servers were confiscated by Swedish police, presumably as a result of MPAA and APB (Swedish anti-piracy group) pressure.

The Pirate Bay opened up shop in another country a few days later, and this traceroute to their address shows the name of their new network gateway: hey.mpaa.and.apb.bite.my.shiny.metal.ass.thepiratebay.org

read more | tracert_thepiratebay.org">digg story

Nat and Brady

Nat and Brady
Originally uploaded by ptufts.

Nat Torkington and Brady Forrest closed out the Where 2.0 conference. Nat was the conference chair this year, and he's on site at every O'Reilly conference that I can remember. Brady will be conference chair next year.