hwork.org

For my Pa’s 95th Birthday, he sent out this note:

It was a glorious birthday

The boys were here
You sent us cheer

And I was ninety-five

So I thank you so
And on we go

For I am still alive

It’s cool to know smart dudes. Mark has a really good post up about building a better blackboard in a very Getting Real way. It’s eerily similar to Ted’s post about doing better Google UI which subsequently landed him a job at Google.

Anyways, props to smart Bowdoin dudes.

back home, originally uploaded by sea_bass.

My Dad is now five times older than he was when he was eleven.

Here are some cool photos of Dad from the last couple of years:

Peace – This is Dad hanging out in the New Zealand rainforest.
Dad Goes Nuts – This is Dad dancing in our living room. He had clearly gone nuts that night.
Fiji Dad – This is Dad in Fiji. He looks happy.
Dad’s Dream – This is Dad skippering a New Zealand boat.
M&D – This is Dad and Mom romantically walking down a romantic beach. Romantic, huh?
Blurry Dad – This is Dad–Blurry.
Dad and Henry – This is me and Dad at Bowdoin last fall. Yup.
Not Dad – This is me trying to be Dad. And doing an amazing job, I think!
Travelling Dad – This is quintessential Dad. He likes traveling and then writing about it at the same time.

Here’s to more birthdays and more trips, Dad. Happy Birthday–you’ve earned it.

Billions Later, Plan to Remake the Coast Guard Fleet Stumbles [NYTimes.com].

Billions wasted, Years Delayed, Nothing to show.

Cracked Boats, Special Interests, Stumbling Bureaucracy, Shady Politicians, Complete Vendor Control, and as usual, the smart people (this case the Coast Guard and Navy Engineers) weren’t listened to. This story has got it all.

From Tucker:

Hey guys,

Just to let everyone know. Brimstone, the computer which hosts the both the Robocup server and the WBOR webcast, is experiencing some network issues and is temporarily unreachable. I discovered the problem a couple of minutes ago and I am in the process of fixing it.

-Tucker

Hopefully it’ll be up soon.

UDPATE:: Over 12 hours later, it’s still down. Wonder what’s up. RoboCup project (save me, really) is on hold. Good example of how we need a backup.

UPDATE:: Came up Mid-Friday, December 8th.

royal guard, originally uploaded by sea_bass.

Now:

Democracy ordered out of Fiji [NZ Herald]
Aid suspended, sport contacts now banned with Fiji [NZ Herald]
Fiji Government Statements [Fiji Gov Portal]
Fiji coup leader consolidates power, warns against resistance [Boston Globe]

Press Release. From the article:

Exclusive music featured on iTunes includes tracks from New Zealand artists Fat Freddy’s Drop, Brooke Fraser, Tim Finn, The Datsuns and Bic Runga as well as extensive catalogues from New Zealand greats including Shihad, Crowded House, The Black Seeds, Breaks Co-Op, Elemeno P and Dei Hamo.

Of all these, i’ve only of ‘The Black Seeds’. I believe they are of the rock variety.

So thanks to Seth (a new member), we set up a Wii in the Lab today. I promptly lost to Chown at Wii Bowling. I am considering exiting my job in disgrace.

Now that Frisbee mostly over, friends (students) are busy, and I’m doing more RoboCup work than ever, I’ve made it to the old squash courts quite a bit recently to juggle (three times in the last week). Good to know that the skills haven’t abandoned me yet. Working hard on three club backcross singles (i think doubles may be easier, but singles are what I want to accomplish). A bit on three-ball pirouettes (work a lot better with shoes). (i’ve used a lot of parentheses in this post (i really have)). Doing the typicaly work on 3-ball then 4-ball 5-6-7 then 3-clubs/4-clubs. Tricky stuff.

Go to the RoboCup blog. That’s where I spend most of my time recently.