tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74591455985704476822024-03-05T22:28:30.399-07:00Random GorpNo theme here. Just random things I happen to be thinking about or doing.Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-58991446075799781242016-12-02T16:20:00.000-07:002016-12-13T14:22:44.459-07:00Acquiring a Staff
UPDATE 12/12/16 - changed info on finding hardwood dowel, added staff URLs.
I’m using this post to distribute some information to folks who
are going to start learning a Tai Chi Staff form from me in January. I’d have
done it with an Acrobat file on Dropbox, but that turns out to be painful if recipients aren't already on Dropbox. I've discovered that you don't really have to join, but it's a Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0Broomfield, CO, USA39.9205411 -105.086650439.7258256 -105.40937389999999 40.1152566 -104.7639269tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-84585953399196251742015-11-12T16:11:00.001-07:002015-11-12T16:11:28.625-07:00History In a Muddle. And a Planner, and a Conniver, and even a Dali
Jason Self Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 3:35 PM
To: greg.pfister@gmail.com
Hello, are you the Greg Pfister that worked on Muddle
(MDL) back in the
day? Here's hoping you are and that this email address
works when I
click on Send... :)
Greg Pfister Wed, Nov 11,
2015 at 7:05 PM
To: Jason Self
Yes, that's me.
However, I didn't really work on the language or its
implementation; rather, I Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-88094658325721717552015-06-28T13:42:00.002-06:002015-06-28T13:59:40.493-06:00The Dinner Install: An Exercise in FrustrationHopefully this will be funny to a number of folks out there of a semi-geeky/techie nature. Many have probably been in similar situations. My apologies if it embarasses anybody else. All quotes are approximate, and names have been avoided where possible. Everything recounted below actually happened, of course. It was just so surreal I had to write it down.
* * * * *
On arrival at Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-12625037786619725902014-03-06T20:08:00.000-07:002014-03-07T17:08:57.126-07:00Nexus 7 Notes and Impressions
I’ve been using a Nexus 7 for a week or two now, and have
decided to write down some of my impressions. Here it is:
The display is simply beautiful.
The processor is swift; launching apps is really fast,
and games play smoothly.
After viewing a tutorial or two, I now know my way around
Android sufficient for my purposes – personal use, not development. It wasn’t
hard, but Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-85773581476956921942012-04-06T00:24:00.000-06:002012-04-06T00:24:41.566-06:00CSU Futurevisions AgendaCSU's biennial Futurevisions conference is on Thursday, April 12, 2012 at the Lory Student Center at Colorado State University. They have a number of interesting speakers and sessions this year, including David Pogue of the New York Times, and David Ferrucci of IBM's "Watson" (Jeopardy! champion).
Since I couldn't find a schedule anywhere online, here it is, at least as of March 28.
Note: ThereGreg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-73923799709585338682012-02-17T17:22:00.000-07:002012-03-19T13:23:18.647-06:00Lenovo Y470p Initial ImpressionsI made some updates on 3/19. They're all in this color.
After looking around for several months for a laptop to
replace my ailing Vaio, I finally ordered a Lenovo Y470p. I almost got an HP
Envy 14, but just when I was about to pull the switch, HP split the Envy 14
into two machines: One without the fairly heavy (for a laptop) gaming graphics
I wanted, and one with a big red “b” for Beats Audio Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-90512276691568420382011-11-20T20:02:00.001-07:002011-11-20T20:16:35.566-07:00Dead Man's ChiliYesterday, as this was written (11/5/11), I ate Dead Man’s
Chili at a funeral, for the first time.
I’ve had it many times before. Serving it is a Christmas
tradition on my wife’s side of the family, always accompanied with an
explanation of the name: It’s the chili traditionally served at funerals.
Dead Man’s Chili is seriously good eating. It’s a red
chili, made with shredded beef, the Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-74778261797894187942011-01-12T16:01:00.000-07:002011-01-12T16:01:35.370-07:00Finding a Good Bit in Amy Chua’s “Tiger Mother” EssayAmy Chua wrote a rather extreme essay, Why Chinese Mothers are Superior, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal (of all places). In it she claimed strictness bordering on child abuse was (a) the norm for Chinese mothers (fathers apparently are irrelevant); and (b) produced superior children. Examples: no sleepovers, or, apparently, any other peer interaction other than competition; literally Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-56056307665746439212010-10-29T22:08:00.000-06:002010-10-29T22:08:06.601-06:00Snow is on the mountains West of Denver again
Taken from my back porch yesterday.
The first ski areas are opening, too. It's sort of like seeing the first motorcycles of Spring.
Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-16874668753304220552010-10-15T22:15:00.001-06:002010-10-15T22:49:24.537-06:00RIP, Benoit Mandelbrot, father of fractal geometryIt's not in the news as I write this, but reliable sources are reporting that Benoit Mandelbrot has passed away.
Benoit was the father of fractal geometry. That's the geometry of objects that do not have integer dimensions, such as most natural objects, like the seashore, most plants and trees, etc. It's also the geometry of the border of the famous Mandelbrot set whose depiction has worn many aGreg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-63497357050529210722010-10-01T11:20:00.000-06:002010-10-01T11:20:53.518-06:00Web Pages I Recently ReadI’m just wondering whether anybody anywhere is conceivably interested in such a set of links. Probably not.These are in addition, always, to Questionable Content, XKCD, and Templar, AZLow Cost/Power HPCAtom Servers Can Succeed, Microsoft Paper Proves (no, it doesn’t)iSGTWTilera details 100-core processorIntel's Sandy Bridge MicroarchitectureTim Sweeney and Andrew Richards talk about the future ofGreg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-74651545401225740042010-09-27T19:20:00.000-06:002010-09-27T19:20:39.327-06:00The Batter Up GameAt a really good Rockies’ game last night (see-saw lead, tied 9-9 in 9th, Rockies won in bottom of the 10th. Go Rockies!) (but dang, they’re probably out of it now) I learned a side-betting game that proved to be fun. I wasn’t told a name, so I made one up for the title of this blog.
This is a side-betting game played among a group of people watching the game.
Initially, everybody antes up someGreg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-27767959139315981432010-07-25T15:20:00.000-06:002010-07-25T15:20:20.207-06:00Blogger Stats, StatCounter, Google Analytics DifferencesThe Blogger guys have added really simple-to-use statistics gathering in their "Blogger in Draft" beta page, so I've been trying it, comparing it to StatCounter and Google Analytics, both of which I've embedded in Perils of Parallel.
Using Blogger's statistics are truly simple: You just click on "Stats" in the dashboard page, after doing absolutely nothing to your blog. StatCounter and Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-65627158498015236052010-07-20T17:04:00.000-06:002010-07-20T17:04:15.295-06:00Google, WiFi, and Signs in the Front YardI find myself shaking my head in astonishment at the fuss being made about Google's capture of some data transmitted on unsecured WiFi.
Having a WiFi router you have not secured, and then complaining that somebody read what you transmitted, is like putting a sign up in your front yard and then complaining that somebody read it.
It's unprotected, for crying out loud! Anybody can read it!Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-63105002946410269182010-05-04T11:38:00.000-06:002010-05-04T11:38:59.936-06:00Blue Eggs and ExplanationsI am bothered by the type of explanation exemplified by the NY Times article Why So Blue?, which purports to answer the question “Why do ‘Martha Stewart’ chickens produce blue and green eggs?”, “Martha Stewart chickens” are the Arucana breed she favors. Why does she favor them? Not mentioned.
It says that the breed produces “a pigment called oocyanin, a byproduct of bile production,” which Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-13580847436209215552010-02-10T18:17:00.002-07:002010-02-10T18:19:23.437-07:00Writing Habits: The Dark SideSo, this friend of mine tweeted a link to someone’s prescriptions of how to write more: A Chapter a Day… I responded “Gregor advice - not my cup of tea. Especially the mornings part.” And one thing lead to another, and since I’ve written a book, what do I have to say about it? So here we are.
First, I’ve got nothing against what Gregor has written. He made an honorable new year’s resolution, and Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-57239880414740402852010-02-05T10:28:00.000-07:002010-02-05T10:28:04.963-07:00Starting Tai Chi AgainWell, it looks like I'm connecting to a Tai Chi (taijichuan) class and group again.
I went for the first time to a class run at the Broomfield Rec center by Paul and Elizabeth (don't know their last names yet). Thanks to Kaiser, it's free for me -- not the major consideration, but a nice thing.
They also teach the same style I've been doing -- Chen Man Ching's short form. Their lineage Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-54420216569217319572010-01-24T23:03:00.000-07:002010-01-24T23:03:38.056-07:00Political Event Sponsorship and Free SpeechI'm of two minds about the recent Supreme Court decision to eliminate all current and historical constraints on corporate and union funding of political campaigns.
On the one hand, legislating against it has never really been fully successful; ways around the prohibitions have always been found. I think there's an analogy here to the outlawing of any behavior perceived as bad, like owning guns, Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-57054859937055328492010-01-22T21:41:00.001-07:002010-01-22T21:52:40.701-07:00CFL BluesI've been furnishing the office in my new house, and one thing I wanted to do was provide an adequate level of lighting (read: bright!), while not roasting the roof or using more electrons than necessary. Hence: compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).
A neat thing about CFLs is that you can get a light fixture that is officially rated as only taking, say, a 50W bulb; and stuff it with "100W" CFLs, Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-50125642441296239562010-01-17T15:19:00.000-07:002010-01-17T15:19:02.702-07:00Cow vs. Beef, Calf vs. Veal, and so onThere are in English several situations where the words for animals differ from the words for their meat: Cow vs. beef, calf vs. veal, and so on. I've heard, repeatedly, that this came from the Normal Conquest: The Anglo-Saxon serfs raised the animals, calling them by more Germanic words; but their Norman French lords ate the meat, and used the French words for what they ate. People seem to like Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-46666418814393584022010-01-17T12:41:00.001-07:002010-01-17T12:41:22.961-07:00Testing whether posts by SMS work. And what blogger does with them.Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-33883330816986819962010-01-17T11:35:00.000-07:002010-01-17T11:41:38.833-07:00Pizza Crust CardboardSo apparently Slate has picked up on the Domino's ad where they quote allegedly real customer comments slamming their pizza, like "Domino's pizza crust to me is like cardboard" and "The sauce tastes like ketchup."A shame nobody mentioned that Domino's pizza really does have crust like cardboard, sauce like ketchup, and, unmentioned, little hamburger balls like soft marbles.Ugh. Horrible stuff. Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459145598570447682.post-84952101542978799582010-01-17T11:30:00.000-07:002010-01-17T11:35:14.056-07:00IntroductionI found myself wanting to post things longer than a tweet or a FB entry, but not within the professional confines of my other blog, The Perils of Parallel (which is a really good technical blog about multicore, clouds, accelerators, virtual worlds, and similar stuff that, if you're into such stuff, you really should look at).Hence this blog.My family, at least, will recognize the reference to "Greg Pfisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12651996181651540140noreply@blogger.com0