4:00AM - Porn For Women

http://xkcd.com/714/

7:26PM - Speaking of this job: Know anyone looking for a Linux sysadmin job?

I’ve been meaning to post this for ages.

So, as I have mentioned, I will be moving to MIT towards the end of this month.

That means my group has an open Unix/Linux sysadmin position. Want one?

( More information. )

If this sounds interesting to you (or to someone you know), ping me, and I’ll put you in touch with my boss.

5:49PM - Wow, I’ve been at this job a long time!

I’m at the office clearing out some rarely-used cabinets. I found a package of instant coffee that expired in 1999.

5:12PM - Property Management Company for Somerville single family?

Hello, I'll be going abroad next year, at least for one year. I would like to rent my Somerville single family while I am away. Since it is always tricky to rely on friends etc (mixing business and friendship can be trouble), I would like to use a property management company for this. Does anyone have any experience with any such companies in Somerville/Boston? Any other ideas? Thanks for any tips.

LK

4:11PM - Office Furniture For Sale

I'm selling off some office furniture to make way for a baby room.

1. Elfa Desk and Storage system which we used for our 2 laptops, printer, and ample office storage. It's Elfa so you can find just about any use for it. http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/fuo/1643895594.html

2. Two-drawer wooden filing cabinet from staples: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/fuo/1643904825.html

3. Two office chairs: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/fuo/1643912368.html

All pricing is open to negotiation.

1:34PM

A Light Switch For The Brain [Forbes]
"We can now digitally turn off regions of the brain. "We can alter the information in the brain in a strategically useful way."

11:28PM

Dear Internets:

I am addicted to you. I think we should spend some time apart. But...that requires will power. Fuck.

farwing


I went to a Dropkick Murphys concert last night with doma and it was fun. We had gone to a bar with twitch124 beforehand but we only had one drink each. Unlike everyone else on the green line last night. It was Public Transportation Theatre indeed. It went something like this:

Very Cheerful Very Drunk Guy to the entire train: "Are you having fun?"
farwing: "Of course! What's to prevent us?"
VCVDG: "Let me give you a high five for that answer!"
farwing: "Sure!"

VCVDG: "I'm from New Hampshire! We hang from subway polls like this!"
farwing: "Do you have different gravity in New Hampshire?"
VCVDG: "Yes! Because we don't have taxes!"
farwing: "Oh, is that what holds us down here?!"

VCVDG: "Are you really going to the Dropkick Murphys concert too?"
farwing: "Yes. Really."

His much more sober friend was all "yeah, he's kind of more sober than usual right now." which was...worrying. But at least he had a friend along.

The Dropkick Murphys concert was where all the drunks in Boston were headed last night, dontchaknow. And then we sold our extra tickets to drunk people outside the venue. One guy to whom we sold a ticket insisted I call him my Cousin Brian. Although I am half Irish, I do not actually have a cousin Brian. In fact....I don't think I am related to anyone named Brian.

Not My Cousin Brian: "Can I buy you a drink?"
farwing: "No, thank you. We are as un-sober as we wish to be."

Also: I am not used to being the tall one in my concert-going group. There were some assholes who insisted on sexydancing (with lots of elbows and a plastic cup of beer) right in our space. I had to glare holes at them a lot. doma was very good at sticking her elbows out defensively. There was also a guy behind us who was doing his fair share of glaring at them as well, which was nice.

Coming home from the T last night was...wet. Umbrellas are pretty much useless in Boston, but a nice long trench coat would be quite helpful, I think.


Yargh it is my sister Lou's birthday on Wednesday (yes, St. Patrick's Day) and I should really get a birthday package ready for her. Also remember to call her on the day. I'm probably not the worst sister ever, right? Just the flakiest.

11:16AM - Go for a short (wet) walk today and get a free pie on Pi Day!

From Petsi Pies:

Pi Day 2010
March 14th (3/14) is Pi Day! 1:59 PM on March 14th is the Pi Minute! To celebrate, we will be distributing free 'minute' pies at 1:59 PM on March 14th.

Also throughout the day we will be issuing a pi challenge. If you can recite 314 digits of the famed mathematical constant you will be awarded a free Pie-Per-Season certificate (that's 4 large pies), and a Petsi Pies t-shirt.

Start practicing:

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078
16406286208998628034825 342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582
231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428
810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454
3266482133936072602491412737245870066063

Looks like this is only valid in their Somerville store, though they don't say. The Somerville location is at: 285 Beacon St next to the little Star Market, and near the pedestrian underpass between Somerville Ave and Beacon. (Phone: 617.661.7437)

Happy Pi Day (and minute) everyone!

10:45AM - Got a spare garbage can lid?

Do you have a round garbage can lid (perhaps from a garbage can blown away in this or the previous storm) that you don't need? The lid to my EarthMachine is missing. Perhaps some troll wanted it for a hat.

4:38PM - Moving Sale

Hi everyone. Its been a long time since I've been here or posted anything, mainly because my wife and I moved from Davis to Spring Hill (betw Davis and Union). But we still feel part of Davis!

We are moving to Cambridge next month, and we're selling a ton of stuff. Check out the list of stuff for sale here on my website. If you're interested in anything, feel free get in touch.

Stay dry this weekend!

-- Ben

2:46PM - Daylight Savings

Don't forget to turn your clocks forward tonight. Tonight we lose an hour of sleep, but tomorrow, the days get an hour longer!

12:44PM

So tomorrow is Pi day. I'm thoroughly impressed by these, especially the book one.

Tonight is also apparently turn the clocks forward night. I learned that from someone's post on FB about Pi day and things to do to celebrate, like, um, this breaks down here - turning the clock forward two pi.

Much as I like the idea of it being light later so that I can go outside with Mom after work I've also been kinda talking about Rocky Horror tonight at E St. Landmark. I don't think it's all that long a show so the 3a Metro close shouldn't impact folk but . . . .also tired.

One particularly cool thing about pi day is that Jonathan Coulton chose to sing Mandelbrot Set instead of Still Alive. I do like Still Alive, but Mandelbrot was the first song of his I'd ever heard so this made me very happy. And this video is marvy chalk animation and explains the math a bit. Others explain it more. But heck, there's Wikipedia. And go look up Mandelbulbs. (Coolest thing seen this morning (since I've seen Mandelbrot images before) was a pic of Benoit Mandelbrot posing with a lady and the JoCo lyrics he'd just autographed.)


So how was the concert last night? Awesome. I owe it to rhe Rocky Horror Purim Spiel, actually - I'd completely forgotten about it after asking anigma_i for details a month or so earlier (and she got there early enough last night for Amazing Awesomeness, the youtube of which I'm looking forward to), but then I'd called nminusone to tell him about the spiel and he was going that day to pick up tickets, and Oh Yes Could You Pick Up Some For Me? The concert hall was all filled with happy geeks, which was a marvelous thing. Happy geeks with food and beer. I'd known nothing of Paul and Storm, and they were hilarious. Didn't recognize all thta many of JoCo's songs (except of course Brains) but enjoyed muchly. And good company as well. Of course bunches of other people I knew beyond the folk at my table, not all of whom I knew were going. Ended up hanging out with folk in the lobby long enough that the autograph line died down and so since I was there I had a chance to tell the artists how much I enjoyed the show. (That Paul & Storm had been DaVinci's Notebook was information new to me last night. I'd never gotten a chance to see DVN.)


Here, the lyrics from Paul & Storm's Mother's Day Song, which was put in mind by thikning of going outside with Mom.
(The other holiday songs were even more amusing. Especially The Easter Song. (There's a Play link at the top of the page.)


Aiee. Most of 1. Nap is still really tempting.

12:24PM - Film Awards

Sunday March 21 - 16th Annual Chlotrudis Awards ceremony, 5pm, Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge MA. Public is invited to celebrate with Chlotrudis members, friends and notables of Boston’s film community to honor the best of 2009 indie, doc and international film. Also in attendance will be actress Beth Grant (DONNIE DARKO, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), who will receive the Career So Far Award.Previous honorees Ellen Page, Kerry Washington & Philip Seymour Hoffman have all discovered the fun of Boston’s night of alternative Oscars! Tickets $20, available online for purchase at www.brattlefilm. org.

For a list of the film nominations and categories, visit:
http://chlotrudis. org/awards/ current/index. html

A press release is here:
http://www.chlotrud is.org/content/ tickets-sale- 16th-annual- chlotrudis- awards

Take a look around the site!

11:42AM

51 Senators would vote for public option in reconciliation if the House goes first [PCCC's Adam Green on MSNBC]

7:16AM - Saturday, March 13, 2010

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uclick/redmeat/~3/VFWOltWoSIU/498005

Red Meat for Saturday, March 13, 2010

5:14PM - Haiti: What Now? a sprout spaghetti dinner

You're invited to

Haiti: What Now?

a sprout spaghetti dinner

sprout spaghetti dinners is a dinner theater series seeking to bring people from the Somerville and Cambridge communities together around good food, good music, and good performance. Each month, we'll find an eclectic group of performers to explore the month's theme through different lenses. In the tradition of dinners hosted by NYC-based theater company Great Small Works, we want to cast new light on common ideas from artistic, musical, and scientific perspectives. You can find information about past dinners at our blog.

The theme for this month's dinner is Haiti: What Now? We want to ask: what should happen next in the rebuilding of Haiti, and how can we best support the reconstruction? It will happen just outside of Davis Square at sprout (339R Summer St.) on Wednesday March 17 with dinner at 7:30pm and performances beginning at 8. A $10 suggested donation will be donated to the Matenwa Community School on La Gonave.

Our performers will include ::

- Michel DeGraff is a linguist focusing on Creole and an Associate Professor at MIT. He will talking about political interests vying for influence in the reconstruction of Haiti; and present images from his recent trip there.

- The History of the Haitian Revolution is a toy theater performance written and directed by John Bell and performed by Trudi Cohen, Shaunalynn Duffy, Brooke Jarrett, Adam Schutzman, and Michael Romanyshyn. Originally performed as a part of Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees: A Living Newspaper on Haiti, this toy theater spectacle chronicles the history of the Haitian Revolution in miniature (battles, politics, and all), as a conflict of Enlightenment principles and 19th-century globalization.

- Cherie Miot Abbanat is a lecturer in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She will be talking about reconstruction efforts through the lens of an urban planner, exploring the politics of construction and rebuilding processes.

Please send any questions to spaghetti@thesprouts.org or call 617.575.9219.

hope to see you on the 17th!
-shaunalynn duffy and john bell

4:36PM - Life is better when you snog

Life is better when you snog
Originally uploaded by mzrowan

4:00PM - Songs about Somerville?

Winter Hill Reborn started this and then Wicked Local Somerville picked it up, so let's bring it here, too.

What songs do you know that mention Somerville or any particular places in Somerville? Here are three we've found so far:

Somerville, by David Misch, 1973 (lyrics)

Wintertime in Somerville, by Local Radio

( Somerville, by the Pernice Brothers )

(the last time we had this discussion, over three years ago)

2:07PM - happy birthday to her

Sylvana came into the world four years ago today - at 5:12, actually, when the light begins to go out of the sky. It was a long, long, hideous day, but at the end of it was her. Strong and solid, a mohawk of dark hair, a single cry before staring in amazement around her.

Today, she is gallivanting in the Rocky Mountains with her daddy. She is still strong, clambering her way loudly through the universe. She still, when hurt, cries for just a moment; then she is more interested in whether her wound merits a Hello Kitty bandaid or her personal ice pack. She is sweet and generous, clever and articulate, expressive and loving, curious and amazingly observant. She understands stuff that I didn't until my early twenties. She plays and sings with such wonderful creativity and abandon. She demands and deserves from me such patience, flexibility, and commitment to my own growth.

It is a commonplace miracle that she is here, but a miracle nonetheless.

Happy birthday, my child.

2:02PM - Urgh.

I could do with a sweater.
And more sleep.
And hotter coffee.
And maybe food.
And a whole lot of cope.

And a foot I trust.
And a lack of allergy to tape. Or something.

JoCo tonight. That'll be good. Maybe I'll take home the computer to work on workstuff the weekend.

Rest of the weekend somewhat in flux. Not sure what I'll manage during the day/evening tomorrow given need to get some work done and being exhausted; Rocky Horror is at E Street Landmark @ Midnight tomorrow night; probably will visit with Mom Sunday and then possibly to dance night, depending on, well, cope.

( momstuff )

Obligatory thing-to-make-the-post-worthwhile: I Like Monkeys. They were fifty cents. - via ulios