Author: deadprogrammer

Posted on

Brooklyn College Research

The research at my soon to be Alma Mater is on the cutting edge.

From “The Straight Dope”:
“Alexander Graham Bell suggested “ahoy!” as the standard telephone greeting, but it didn’t catch on–for obvious reasons, you may think. Don’t be so sure. Brooklyn College professor Allen Koenigsberg, author of The Patent History of the Phonograph, argues that the word that did catch on, “hello,” was previously unknown and may have been invented by the man who proposed it, Thomas Edison.”

As I always said, one year at Brooklyn College is like 2 at MIT. And this fall it’s going to be my 7th year there.

Interesting trivia about my college education: I’ve had a Pulitzer prize winning professor.

Posted on

Subway Good, Bus – Bad

I am composing this entry on my blackberry device wile riding the D train. The conductor of this particular train is pretty distinctive – he announces all station with the intonations of a professional announcer. He especially likes to say “Loooooong Iiiiiiisland rrrrrailroad”. He’s been doing that for years. Sometimes he wishes everyone “happy Monday”.

This reminds me how many years ago, in my hometown of Odessa, Ukraine, all the buses, trams and trolleys got this little tape player that would announce the stops with pre-recorded messages. It was always weird to see the same regular tram operator, but hear a professional doctor’s voice announcing stops. I think that originated in Moscow during the Olympics because the drivers could not learn how to announce stops in all those foreign languages.

In Brooklyn bus drivers don’t announce stops at all. I should check if this is required by their rule book. They are extremely strict about picking up passengers outside of bus stops – they won’t open the doors even if they are stuck in traffic. I think I should make it a habit to write MTA supervisor to commend good bus drivers and to report various assholery perpetrated by bad ones.

For instance, once I was locked in a bus by the driver for 15 minutes, while he went to discuss something with another bus driver. That was 2 blocks away from my stop. That’s when I realized that I don’t remember which lever releases the bus door. Gotta look that up…

Posted on

Marilyn Maye

You know what provides perfect music for coding? Sirius satellite radio. Just click on “play now” – and bam – 100 commercial free streaming radio stations. The “Pure Jazz” station is awesome! It’s all free for now and Sirius seems to have financial difficulties.. I hope they survive. I am even considering subscribing.

Just heard an absolutely amazing singer I didn’t know about, Marilyn Maye. Just for the song “Washington Square” I am going to buy a whole cd of her music, “Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye”. Mmmm.

By the way, at least two of my coworkers did not know what “Sirius” meant and why their logo is a dog. Strange..

Ok, break over, back to coding.

Posted on

Righty -Tighty, Lefty -Loosey

Reading a book about NYC subway.

Interesting fact: old subway cars used regular light bulbs for normal lighting and special left-handed screw threaded bulbs in emergency lighting. The regular bulbs were always on, and because of that nobody could steal them easily (they were too hot). The emergency lights were threaded incorrectly, so the potential thieves would have to figure out how to unscrew them first, and even if they succeeded, they would not be able to use the bulb at home. This is kind of like special coat hangers and non-standard linens in hotels. Hmm, I can’t remember any other uses of non-standard equipment for theft prevention.

Posted on

Computer Desk Manifesto

I need new computer desks. Two of them. I’ve spent enough time working with computers, and here is my computer desk manifesto:

1) All desks created specifically as computer workstations suck.
2) Keyboard drawers are evil. You don’t need them.
3) Telescoping keyboard platforms are evil as well.
4) You don’t need a section in a desk to hold the computer case. It will make it hard to get to the computer, plug in devices, change video cards. You computer will overheat.
5) Little shelves and enclosures on top of the desk suck. They will fill in with worthless junk, like old disquettes and cds, paperclips and other garbage. You won’t be able to fit in a large monitor, and the monitor will overheat.
6) There is no need for a special monitor stand.
7) There is no need for a printer stand under the desk. In fact, you don’t need anything under the desk except space for your legs, computer case and the cat.

So what an ideal computer desk is like?

1) It’s a regular sturdy table. 4 legs and a tabletop. Very sturdy.
2) Height should be easily adjustable.
3) It should be fairly large.
4) If there are rollers on the legs, you should be able to lock them.
That’s it!

I like Overkill Design’s Jack Kidney table. They make other stuff as well. One thing I’ll say for themBlue Jesus is cool. (sung to JCS music)