Seattle Snowmageddon 2007 Part Deux : The Re-Freezening

It snowed yet again in the wee hours of the morning. That's the third time this winter. Scottland is working from home again and we look forward to tales of 8 hour commutes to work from our friends.

West Seattle Winter Wonderland

Complete with cars spinning their tires as they attempt to climb the supremely icey road immediately south of our house. Not as many people are trying it this time around, so I'm guessing a lot of people have learned their lesson from the storm in late November. Apparently west seattle got the brunt of the "Great Blizzard of 2007", as they're predictably calling it on the evening news.

Caught Comet McNaught

As promised, I have managed to take a picture of the comet this evening as the weather was cooperating quite nicely. Nothing like a nice mass of freezing cold arctic air to suck the clouds from the sky. It's amazing what you can do with just a digital camera and a railing to set it on while you take a longer exposure.

Comet McNaught!!!

You'll have to take my word for it, but the very faint smudge just a little below the center is my very own photo of Comet McNaught. This morning while perusing APOD I learned that this comet (which I'd read a bit about on APOD at an earlier date) had brightened significantly in the last few days and was now visible to the naked eye. I ran over to a good vantage point this morning to try and see it, but couldn't. Later that day I used "Your Sky" to figure out where and when I'd have to look to see the comet. I figured I would have to wait until Thursday (When a mass of bitterly cold polar air is forecast to rid the sky of clouds for two days) to get another chance. I was wrong. The sky miraculously cleared about half an our before sunset this evening (Jan 10th) and stayed clear long enough for me to watch the comet for about 20 minutes. It was awesome. I haven't seen a comet with my own two eyes since Hale-Bopp in 1997.

This House Is Clean

I have just finished reinstalling my operating system and all other files on my laptop. My computer is squeaky clean.

Oh, and by the way, I was in Disney World for the last week.

Pineapple Express

It's rained a lot the last few days here in Seattle. That's what happens when moist air blows up from the Southeast. I think this picture sums it up quite nicely.

Shuffling Cards Is Hard Work

It's always weird when my Chemical Engineering background shows its ugly face in unexpected places.

I've been working on a collectible card game for the last couple of months and have just completed the second major revision of my game concept. One of the more annoying hassles with these revisions is that I have to print out, cut and then shuffle the revised deck. It always bothers me that putting the new deck together takes almost as much time as the re-design does.

I've managed to reduce the printing and the cutting to about as efficient a process as they can be without investing in new tools. There's definitely more fat to trim, but I need to wait until I know exactly what the base deck is going to look like.

Until recently, shuffling was the real beast and wildly inefficient in that I could spend a significant amount of time shuffling with a mechanical card shuffler and still come away with a deck that I just KNEW wasn't as random as it should be. The deck is currently quite large (I'll shrink it once I have a stable mechanic and can use play testing to figure out what the minimum optimal size is) so it's difficult to get all the cards spread out through the deck.

Usually what I do is split the cards (which start off as a highly ordered stack where numerous cards of the same type are all right next to one another) into a number of smaller decks that can be processed through the mechanical shuffler. I then split each of these smaller sub-decks in half, combine halves from different sub-decks and then run each recombined sub-deck through the shuffler a number of times. I then split each subdeck in half again and repeat the process. If I'm methodical I can get a decent amount of randomization across the deck, but I have to shuffle a number of different sub-decks that is, at minimum, equal to the square of the initial number of sub-decks. Even after all that, the amount of randomization is sub-optimal.

Shuffling is annoying and I hate doing it. So, having printed and cut the most recent revision, I decided to take a shower and vote before getting down to the business.

Oddly enough, showers seem to be where I've had most of my (hopefully) good ideas regarding my card game, and today was no different. My mind was wandering haphazardly around the topic of card shuffling, when I suddenly thought about, of all things, molecular diffusion.

Imagine if you will, a large tank filled with salt water. Then imagine that I very carefully and slowly add another volume of water, this time with no salt dissolved in it, such that the layer of fresh water essentially sits on top of the salt water. The dissolved salt will immediately begin to diffuse via brownian motion into the fresh water. The water will also diffuse from the fresh water layer into the salt water layer, though probably at a slower mass rate.

Diffusive mixing of liquids is an exceedingly slow process. I remember reading in one of my mass transfer texts that after a year the diffusing molecules described in the system above would only have managed to penetrate a few centimeters into the other layer. This why you stir when you want to mix two things together rapidly. Adding convection into the mix greatly increases the rate of mixing.

And that's the mental leap. Shuffling cards in the previously described manner is essentially a macro version of diffusive mixing. No matter what I do, it's going to take a long time to randomize the molecules, err I mean cards. The only way to increase the rate of mixing is to add in convection. So that's what I did.

I grabbed two large plastic tubs from the basement closet under the stairs and dumped the entire revised deck into one of the tubs. I then transferred those cards into the other tub by letting them fall into it over a distance of a couple of feet. Within about five minutes, the deck was entirely random. Now all I have to do is go through all the cards, repack them into a proper deck and flip half of them around. That will still take far less time than it would have to properly randomize the deck via diffusive mixing.

Sir! Please Put The Christmas Wreath Down!

My partner sent out this email about something that happened last night. I'm just going to paste it here for posterity.

Happy Halloween!

You'll never believe the hilarious end that Aaron and I had to our Halloween night.

We go all out for Halloween with ghosts, ghouls, gravestones, dead bodies, cauldrons, mannequins - the works - and thus we've plunked quite a bit of money into decorations. In past years, teenagers have decided to steal some of the decorations out of our yard late on Halloween night and so we've begun the habit of moving all decorations into the garage after the last trick or treater to avoid theft.

By about 9:00 p.m. Halloween night, the trick or treaters had peetered out and Aaron and I, along with our friend, Suzanne, began to remove our Halloween deocrations from the front garden. This took only approximately 20 minutes (setting up takes 2 days!). Suzanne then took her leave and Aaron and I began to take care of the mannequins and pumpkins that were inside the house. By 9:30 p.m., I was standing on a stool on the back balcony removing a hanging ghoul. I noticed a group of late trick or treaters walking across the street. I quickly jumped down and shouted to Aaron to turn off the lights and close the blinds (as this is what you do when you don't want anymore trick or treaters). I ran inside and helped blow out candles and the like until the inside of the house was completely dark and all Halloween decorations had been removed.

Aaron sat down to work at his computer in the dark kitchen while I ran downstairs to fetch the Fall wreath to put on the front door. When I returned to the main floor, I noticed a light flash across our side windows. I didn't think much of it until I looked through the window adjacent to our front door and saw two people moving around in our front yard with flashlights. I moved closer to the door and noticed two police cars outside and recognized that the people in the front yard were police officers.

"Aaron?" I called into the kitchen, "Why are their police officers on our front lawn?"

Assuming the officers were looking for a thief who had escaped into our neighborhood I opened the front door, the fall wreath still clutched in my hand, and walked out onto our porch. The porch was pitch black as we had turned off all outside lights in addition to those inside. Suddenly, flashlights were pointed at me and a voice shouted at me from the yard (our porch has a half flight of stairs down to the yard).

"Sir! Please step down here! Quickly, Sir!" The voice boomed from behind the flashlight.

I descended our front stairs assuming that I was in danger as there was a "bad guy" using our backyard to hide from the police and the officers were attempting to protect me. I came face to face with one of the officers, a stocky, somewhat attractive white male, and he looked at me very seriously and continued to speak in his firm tone.

"What do you have in your hand? Do you live here, Sir!? Who are you?"

For a fleeting moment, I thought my friends had gotten me a stripper and this was all a joke. But then I noticed a third police car pull up to the house and before I knew it, six police officers were surrounding me. They continued to ask me who I was and if I lived in this duplex. I kept explaining that my partner and I lived in the house and that it was a single-family dwelling, not a duplex. I also explained that it was just a Fall wreath in my hand and I slowly set it down on the front steps.

By now, Aaron had descended the stairs and joined me on the front lawn. The officers continued to pummel us with questions and we kept explaining that we lived at this residence and that there was no one else in the house. They didn't seem to believe us and they kept asking the same questions over and over.

One of the officers checked Aaron's car in the driveway and asked if one of us was Aaron Cooke. Aaron, of course, raised his hand in response.

The head officer finally explained that a burglary had been reported at our house and they needed to confirm that we were not the burglars! The lightbulb went off in my head and I told the officers that we had quickly removed our extensive Halloween decorations and it may have looked as if we were robbing the house - especially when I was high on a stool on the balcony removing a hanging ghoul.

Two of the officers then asked if they could come inside with us and examine our ID's. We continued to explain that the fast removal of our decorations most likely looked suspicious to a neighbor who had not yet met us. When the officers entered the house, they saw the back balcony and it became clear to them that the neighbor assumed that the back balcony was the entrance to the second-half of our supposed "duplex" and my actions to remove the ghoul very much could look as if I was breaking and entering.

The officers examined our ID's and clearly saw that we did indeed live in the house. By then, the officers had calmed down and began laughing with us over the circumstances. At that point, a fourth police car pulled into our driveway! The officers explained that they take burglary calls very seriously and had responded within minutes (no lie!) to the 911 call from our neighbors.

As the officers apologized and thanked us for our cooperation on their way out the door, I asked them if they'd be willing to take a picture with us as our friends would never believe what happened.

Five officers posed with us on our front stairs - the sixth officer took the picture and the other two remained in their car.

As they departed, I jokingly told the lead officer that I thought, at first, he might be a stripper. This caused all of his colleagues to burst into laugther. He looked up at me sheepishly and told me that I had just given his fellow officers teasing ammunition for weeks to come. I apologized, but he then grinned at me. I think I gave him a bit of an ego boost that night!

So...if you live in West Seattle and your report a burglary, know that four police cars and eight officers will come to your rescue!

Enjoy the pic of Aaron and I with Seattle's finest! We're considering using it as this year's Christmas picture!

Happy Halloween!!

Scottland & Aaron

A Bio-luminescent Future

Saturday was the annual Halloween Party at the HOF. Pictures will be forthcoming. My main contribution to the party (besides general help setting it up) was in the lighting department. In particular, I contrived to generate mason jars full of a murky liquid that radiated an eerie glow in a variety of colors. Most party goers seemed to be pretty impressed by them. I know I was.

At one point in the evening, I spoke to Elyse about a concept I have that's related to my science fiction novel. In the novel, a small group of people have access to some pretty far out bio-engineering technology. One of the many non-reproductive artificial life-forms they've created is a type of tree/bush that constantly produces small fruit-like organs. These fruit-like bodies produce luciferin during the day and luciferase at night. The enzyme (luciferase) and the substrate (luciferin) combine after dark to generate a soft green (or whatever color you want I suppose) glow and are used as a means of lighting public spaces (and private ones as well, I suppose.)

Anyhow, the point that I'm getting to is that said organisms already exist!

Gay Book Signings Are Not Different From Straight Books Signings!!!

'Twon and I were chatting on the phone this morning. After a while we got off track and started wandering through a discussion of what makes a twink a twink. We bumped into Lance Bass, who kindly offered himself up as a proto-typical (though rapidly aging) twinkbot. Naturally, he was followed (at a respectable distance so as not to get any twink on his smooth, worked out chest) by Reichen.

Distracted by all things Reichen (Did you know that his original name was Richard and that he's not actually a German citizen?) I sent 'Twon on his merry way. Perusing through Reichen's personal website I discovered that he's just written a book on being closeted and in the Air Force Academy.

He wants you (the potential book purchaser) to know that you DO NOT need an invitation (it's at the bottom of the book tour schedule) to attend a book signing. For some reason, I find this amusing. If I ever manage to get something published, I hope I don't have to make this clarification to my potential readers.

Oh, and by the way, in case you were lucky enough to be invited, the appropriate dress for a Book Party at the Broadway Bar and Grill is business casual, not a fishnet thong.

I Have Seen It

My prediction for future episodes of BSG.

Baltar will be put in some sort of position of power over the Cylons as a counter to the loss of consensus that the Cylons appear to be experiencing. This jives pretty well with the original series.

I'm still waiting for the Space Nazi's and the Glowing Angels.

Inflatable Klingon War-Birds

In Robert Jordan's blog, a recent entry talks about how a writer friend had died. One of the works of this fellow that Jordan mentions is "How Much For Just The Planet?" Jordan considers this to be the only Star Trek comedy ever written.

The little gears in my brain start spinning and I think to myself, "I've read what can only be described as a Star Trek comedy. I wonder if it's the same book?" I pop over to Amazon and look the title up. Sure enough, it IS the novel in question, one of only two I've ever consumed.

I'm not sure I would consider it "good" but it does contain a number of hilarious descriptive scenes that to this day occasionally pop into mind when my brain starts wandering. Just to get a sense of what this literary masterpiece contains, here's a short list of things I remember.

• Di-lithium cookies sheets.
• A partially inflated Klingon War-Bird.
• A Pie fight between the crew of the Enterprise and a number of Klingon diplomats.
• A replicator that uncontrollably spits peppermint milkshake all over the inside of a cramped escaped pod.
• An avian-based humanoid star fleet officer that eats what looks like a bird seed ice cream cone.

Good times.

My Mom Is Famous

Here is the article.

That Would Ennh Oh

Normally, when I read about something vaguely politics/goverment related in the press I have a "on the one hand, but on the other" reaction. In the case of the recent article in the New York Times on loosening regulations to allow more biomedical testing on prisoners, my reaction is an unequivocal "absolutely not, never, maybe when the sun bloats up and boils away the oceans."

To me, the potential for abuse when you combine a profit motive with prisoners that don't live in a free enviroment and that likely won't understand what it is that they're being asked to do is just so ridiculously high that I think it's absurd that people would even consider it. But then again, a lot of people don't seem to think that prisoners are really people so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

My What A Big Back Log You Have There

A lot has been accomplished and/or experienced since my last BLOG UPDATE. Here's a quick list:

Went to Sunriver for the week long Bi-Annual Jacobson family reunion.
Rafted the North Upqua.
Visited many exciting volcanic features.
Made much progress on the refurbishment of the yardscape.
Saw Thievery Corporation in concert.
Saw the musical version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Finished the 1st iteration of my capitalism themed CCG.
Watched much of the one and only season of Firefly.
Took many photos of my cat in various compromising positions.

Needless to say, assuming I ever post again, the next few posts will be about the above topics.

The Joys of Owning A Laser Printer

I attempted to print some stuff out on heavy weight paper 216 g/m^2 using the color laser printer that Scottland won last year. It didn't go so well. For some reason, the toner wasn't melting to the paper like it should. Instead, it was falling off and smearing all over the paper. I took a look at the Owners Manual and saw that it contained hardly any useful information. Basically, it told me how to set the printer up and install new paper and toner.

I talked to Rob (Amy's boyfriend) and he suggested that I try using a more glossy type of paper. He also suggested that I go to Paperzone, which is located in SODO, right across the street from the really fancy two level Krispy Kreme. At Paperzone, I had a frustrating conversation with one of their employees. Basically, she told me that guessing the type of paper that would work in a laser printer was a roll of dice. She helpfully pointed out the free samples of paper that you could take to test your printer on. I grabbed a few of those and went home.

My hunch all along had been that I simply didn't have the printer set-up correctly to handle heavy paper like this. After I got home, I ran the samples of paper and had the same problem, though I noticed that the lightest weight paper I grabbed had the least problems. I went through the Owner's Manual more carefully and noticed some references to a "User's Guide." I went through the pile of stuff that came with the printer and found no User's Guide. Then I went to the Dell website and searched through the online technical documentation. After a while, I found the Users guide. It pretty clearly wasn't something that would have been packaged with the printer, as it was more like an interactive help file for your computer than a publishable document.

So, I downloaded the User's Guide and went through. I quickly figured out how to change the weight of paper the printer was expecting to encounter and ran through a couple of print jobs to see if the changes to the printer settings had any effect. Everything printed just fine. And now, I can print onto card stock.

Exciting, no?

Hear My Prayer, Lord of Destruction

Some interesting visuals for your persual.

Magic Mushrooms Are Scientifically Groovy

From the Seattle Times ne Washington Post.

Psilocybin, the active ingredient of "magic mushrooms," expands the mind. After a thousand years of use, that's now scientifically official.

What I'm more curious about is why some people have positive experiences while others have negative experiences.

The Office

This is my office. I just love me some of that bright yellow paint. It's a very warm and inviting room and I don't like leaving it.

Scary Scary

I was perusing LGM and other blogs they link to, and eventually happened onto a comment that led to this blog entry.

She sums the whole thing up nicely and without all the bloviating clap-trap you see on most right and left blogs these days. All I have to add is, "what in the nine hells is wrong with people these days?"

It seems like the internet makes people more comfortable with busting out the type of stuff that you'd usually only hear the crazy haired guy wearing the 'JEEBUS IS COMING!!!!!!!!!' sandwhich board standing on the street corner say.