stevengharms

During the Ice Storm week I learned the basics of LaTeX.

LaTeX is a document preparation system. By writing a type of markup you can pass it through the LaTeX formatting engine, which, in turn, utilizes Knuth’s TeX language, and it will format it and you can output it to a variety of formats, like PDF.

Update: I’ve created a LaTeX reference page.

Check it out:

\title{A LaTeX Demonstration} \begin{document} \maketitle When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. \vskip 1 cm $\frac{(x+2)^2\cdot(x-2)^{-3\rho_larry}}{x^2+3b+c}$ \vskip 1 cm We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. \end{document}

… and it comes out like this …

I thought that maybe I would try typesetting my math homework, because that’s what LaTeX really excels at, and it seemed like a good project to learn the technology.

I wrote this in TextMate with its LaTeX bundle. It was very handy; yet another thing LaTeX does well!

At a farewell reception at Blair House for the retiring chief of protocol, Don Ensenat, who was President Bush’s Yale roommate, the president shook hands with Washington Life Magazine’s Soroush Shehabi. “I’m the grandson of one of the late Shah’s ministers,” said Soroush, “and I simply want to say one U.S. bomb on Iran and the regime we all despise will remain in power for another 20 or 30 years and 70 million Iranians will become radicalized.”

“I know,” President Bush answered.

“But does Vice President Cheney know?” asked Soroush.

President Bush chuckled and walked away.

Source: TPM

I arrived in Atlanta but a few minutes ago after a fairly uneventful, and surprisingly brief, flight from Houston.

I left Austin early this morning, arrived in Houston and had a quick bite at the 59 Diner with my Dad before I headed to Intercontinental Airport. For some reason, last night’s activities caught up with me suddenly, mid-flight. I found myself doing the “forehead-against-the-seat-in-front-of-you-quasi-narcoleptic-nap” thing most of the flight.

Atlanta’s airport is gorgeous, new, nice, and clean. I was very impressed. Navigating its large size is assisted by a tramway and moving sidewalks. It just goes to show that the US’ dumpiest airport is Mineta in San Jose. Just think, the airport of the “capital of the Silicon Valley” has its traffic flow designed such that in busy mornings you have to queue up for security check in the bloody garage.

But I digress, horribly. So as I sat down awaiting the arrival of my conveyance, and I thought I’d check out the WiFi capacities and instead of the near ubiquitous sign on of T-mobile, I found Boingo.

Now Boingo wronged me on two accounts, in short order, on a day that I really didn’t have much to give. Owing to this cavalier treatment I decided to to not purchase a WiFi access pass.

Item the first: Misleading UI designed to empty my purse and line their coffers.

I sat down and I had three varying options for service

• today-only
• all month
• subscribership

I picked the ‘today-only’ link and it forwarded me to a page with two options:

• monthly subscription
• today-only

with monthly subscription selected

This is the proverbial bait-and-switch, it’s abusing people anxious to get online’s tendency to not pay the closest of attention to the layout and then proceed to screw them for not doing so.

It’s so unrepentantly sharky. [1]

I can just see the grubbing spec writers planning out this little gem of UI:

Hey they picked one day, let’s reset the CGI parameter to “monthlong” and we can totally fool some busy and distracted sap into handing over 6 times more cash than he thought he was handing over.

Wow. That really got on my bad side.

Item the second: No, you don’t need to know my blood-type for me to get an IP address.

Feeling a bit aggrieved, I was mandated to create a user account.

userid: f*ckboingo pass: f*uckboingo

This was denied for being either taken ( not surprised by that sentiment ) or being an unacceptable pattern ( oh, probably that one ).

I then altered the ‘fu*k’ to be ‘fuq’ and that worked, but then I was taken to yet another page of questions about who I am and what my business was: Name, Surdame, Address, Phone number, E-mail all required.

No guys, the only thing you needed of mine was my credit card information.

At that point I thought: Will I contribute to their material welfare by ordering service and signing over my personal information?

The answer: Command-w

Footnote:

1. It actually gets even sharkier than that. If you select one day, but then forget to check the “i accept the terms and conditions”, it conveniently re-sets you to the month worth of service. That’s not very chummy, is it? ( Yeah, that’s a groaner)

Last night Lauren and I celebrated Valentine’s Day ( cue the OutKast, Mice ) by going to the hometown favorite Romeo’s for an excellent (her) Pasta Florentine and (me) Pasta Arrabbiatta ( in retrospect, that might not have been such a keen idea the day bofre a flight ).

Actually, I had planned on taking us to Vespaio. Regrettably the line was 2.5 hours and they were only going to be open 2 more hours. It was a lot of wait for Italian food that, admittedly, is quite good, but not worth that long of a wait.

We turned back to Barton Springs road and stopped by the “most romantic restaurant in town:” Romeo’s.

And we were not disappointed at all. The food was excellent, the wait 15 minutes ( which was filled by a great G&T and a Rum and Coke ), an owner stopped to talk with us, and we finished off dinner with a “Messy Sundae”.

All said, it was an excellent dinner, Lauren looked staggeringly beautiful, and we had a great night.

I love you, baby.

I still subscribe to the Bay Area TicketMaster email to make sure i’m up on whose touring. Regrettably their search for Austin fixes on San Antonio and as Austin lacks an Amphitheatre-type venue ( thanks be to the FSM, PBUH ), it’s easier to say “oh, The Decemberists are on tour, where are they playing here?”.

In any case, in my latest update I saw….

Omigod It’s the Pre-Broadway Premiere of Legally Blonde The Musical

Wow. That really hurts. Gilbert and Sullivan must be rolling over in their Penzance laden coffins.

vi - input + XCode

I write so much in vi, even when I use XCode I find myself using vi escape+something combos. This drives me nuts, now I can stick in vi-mode when I come home.

1. I’ll be there!
2. Khoi Vinh, a talented typographer, designer, and the man in change of the NYTimes’ digital layout will be holding a masters class about gridded design.
3. Rodrigo y Gabriela will be bringing their Meh-ee-cano Meh-Tal Acoustico magnifico sound.

I’ve not had a chance to post properly about the amazing work that RodGab do, but the music is powerful, driving, thrumming, passionate and exiciting: pretty much everything that the current moribund state of heavy metal is not. On the album they do a cover of my and The Social Bobcat’s favorite (once-mighty) Met instrumental “Orion”.

Check out this amazing performance on Letterman.

The icing on the cake is that they learned their English in Ireland which means that their hesitant English is colored with some Irish-as-Yeats words of vocabulary like : “fookin’”. I guess they must practice that one a lot.

In effort to contribute something to the internet community more substantial than my musings on music, people in the environment, and a laundry list of “what I did today”, I have decided to undertake ( perhaps ) a series of writings about living with the technology-minded partner. Today I will write on what I have come to call “twitch mode”: what it is, how it affects relationships, and how you and your partner can handle its presence.

Your guy can’t focus on you, your attention is distracted after a day hard at work, everything feels too slow, after juggling chainsaws all day you feel like you’re can’t be involved at home? This entry may help you.

Note: This was originally drafted in early January 2007, but is only now surfacing here.

(more…)

IMG_7256.JPG
Originally uploaded by sgharms.

This Sunday Lauren and I headed down to the Greenbelt. Recently we had been making a habit of “doing something active” during the weekend versus just studying and working the day away.

After this we went to La Feria on South Lamar and then home. After a shower and cleaning up we headed over to The League’s to visit and catch the puppy bowl.

Once was a time I absolutely hated Will Ferrell ( mostly, the 90’s when he was on a particularly un-interesting incarnation of the SNL cast ). I cursed the name “Anchorman” when it came out, but a bit over a year ago I was convinced to watch that movie and I absolutely died laughing. From that day my fatwa against Will Ferrell was removed as I recognized the Judd Apatow + Will Ferrell union is holy, good, and riotously funny.

So, last night, we visited the DVD dispensing kiosk at the local grocery store ( stuff it, Blockbuster ) and picked up this movie to end a day hard spend studying. While I didn’t think it was as funny as “Anchorman” it was still hilarious, especially with its loving teasing about The South and Southern Culture. As with all of Apatow’s work, it really hinges on the subtle points.

I was really surprised with how well John C. Reilly acquitted himself comedically. I know he’s a talented dramatic actor, but he really put me in mind to remember his humorous deliveries in “Boogie Nights”.

I was a bit disappointed by Sasha Baron Cohen’s (AKA Borat) performance. As a Brit he surely could have done a better fake ridiculous French accent { although his reading L’Étranger whilst driving was a Gallic ribbing worthy of the script}. Nevertheless as a very European and cosmopolitan foil to the tradition of “love it or leave it, W, and my buckshot rifle” culture associated with NASCAR, it was particularly effective (“Is that a catchphrase or epilepsy?”).

The out-take clips are hilarious as well, as you can see the writers having given the poor actors some absurd lines to have to deliver with a straight face. One of the best lines that stayed in the movie was:

Cal Naughton, Jr.: (During the saying of Grace) I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T-Shirt because it says I want to be formal, but I’m here to party.

I think that one of the best things any performer can do is to realize that they don’t have to try so bloody hard to be funny. I think Will Ferrell has really brought that into fine focus. From the “I’m very badly burned” Mustafa is Austin Powers to the clip of him impersonating GW Bush, to “Ron Burgundy”, and now “Ricky Bobby”, Will is a brilliant straight-man.

Susan: It’s because it’s what you love, Ricky. It is who you were born to be. And here you sit. Thinking. Well, Ricky Bobby is not a thinker. Ricky Bobby is a driver. He is a doer, and that’s what you need to do. You don’t need to think. You need to drive. You need speed. You need to go out there, and you need to rev your engine. You need to fire it up. You need to grab ahold of that line between speed and chaos, and you need to wrestle it to the ground like a demon cobra. And then, when the fear rises up in your belly, you use it. And you know that fear is powerful, because it has been there for billions of years. And it is good. And you use it. And you ride it; you ride it like a skeleton horse through the gates of hell, and then you win, Ricky. You WIN! And you don’t win for anybody else. You win for you, you know why? Because a man takes what he wants. He takes it all. And you’re a man, aren’t you? Aren’t you?

Ricky Bobby: Susan, I’ve never heard you talk like that… Are we about to get it on? Because I’m as hard as a diamond in an ice storm right now.

So, Ricky Bobby, you have my approval.