Skype with the sister.

Skype with the sister.
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Renae's computer has a built in camera so we can video chat with Jennette.

All the cool kids are doing it, so here's my personality mosaic:



1. Castle Ruins - St Andrews Scotland, 2. Lunch, 3. ic0452.JPG, 4. oh... the blues, 5. Danica McKellar at Microsoft, 6. cup of coffee, 7. Istanbul Train Station, 8. pie ala mode on laptop on irc channel #sf-raves - dscf0334, 9. Covering Third, 10. HAVING FUN BEING A KID AGAIN !!!, 11. Uncertain Future, 12. at The Beat Museum, San Francisco: Hunky Jim Morrison of the DOORS band

Now you go get one!!

A. wins 377-372

A. wins 377-372
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Late Friday night game. We each got a bingo (R. with 'camions' and I had 'goodies') but R. let me win tonight.

Sync an ipod with iTunes on a linux computer!

Back in March there was some excitement when one of the WINE developers got an ipod to be recognized by iTunes running on linux with WINE. He posted his patch, but it has yet to migrate to the binary releases. So, unless you fancy patching and compiling WINE on your own, iTunes with WINE is not a great option.

I learned about VirtualBox about the same time, and it occurred to me that I could have a small Windows XP guest OS running on top of my Ubuntu install.

I installed the PUEL (non-free) version from Sun and followed the standard installation procedure. After applying a ton of XP patches, so that I could get to the point where I could use the guest XP install, I was able to download and install iTunes. I followed the instructions on the ubuntu site to get USB to work so the ipod was recognized. Here's a screenshot:


I wanted the ability to share folders between the guest and host OS and after a bit of struggling was able to get that to work (see note below). The bonus of getting the folder sharing to work was that I had to enable mouse sharing, which allowed for the "windowed" mode that you see in the screenshot.

I know that this is not the "free as in speech" way to use an ipod, but I also have a Nike+ that I would like to sync with the runnerplus website on a more regular basis. It was starting to be a pain booting into Windows to sync the ipod to have my stats saved to the website. Also, I have yet to find a linux tool that handles smart playlists of podcasts correctly. So far, this option seems to be the closest to what I've been looking for. And, I haven't seen anyone else do this in linux, that I know of. :)

Some notes:

1. USB permissions are not persistent after reboot. Further, you need to set the permissions AFTER plugging in the ipod.
2. The linux host can grab control of the sound card making the XP guest unable to play music. One way to fix this is to shutdown the program in linux that grabbed control of the sound card (if you don't need to use it) and restart the XP guest.
3. Installing Guest Additions seems to be critical for folder sharing! (Some people have posted that it is optional.) In my case, I had to install it TWICE to get the folder sharing to work. (There are other people who report similar behavior.
   

A. wins 341-307

A. wins 341-307
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

We each got a bingo tonight: R. with 'favorite' and I had 'joisted'. Quiet night at Fusion Brew, but I got to try the mango jelly texture for the first time.

R. wins 457-312

R. wins 457-312
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Another huge game for R. She had 2 bingos today: 'spitters' and 'hoagies'. I had one: 'quacked'. This may have been our first 3 bingo game.

R. wins 393-252

R. wins 393-252
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. destroys me tonight with her 'z', 'x' and 'j' tiles. She gets play of the game with 'exam' and 'zax' for 97 points.

0514081749.jpg

0514081749.jpg
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Paul's a drunk. But a drunk with a free shirt.

A. wins 346-292

A. wins 346-292
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

I had all the 'S' tiles tonight. The only bingo was mine as well: 'GuESTED'. I also got to play a word with no vowels: 'CWMS'.

A. wins 336-264 (timed game)

A. wins 336-264 (timed game)
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

At Fusion Brew for a quick game. Both of us pulled strange tiles tonight.

In one of my current scrabulous games, I had in my rack one high scoring tile (J) and six 1-point tiles (AELINS). My opponent had just laid "ZED" for 24 points, and I was down by the same score.


I played around with my tiles for awhile. I came up with "SALINE" but I missed "ALIEN" or "ALIENS". Had I played "ALIENS" and "RICES" I could have gotten 25 points (I think), but I would have spent my "S" tile on a non-bingo, which is something I try to avoid. I was really trying to come up with a 5-letter word that ends with "A" so that I could play it on the triple-word space and make "ZA". But, I couldn't find any such words ending in "A" (and I still don't think there are) so I kept looking. I've been holding the "S" for a few rounds and if I get desperate, I can make "QIS" and "SEX" but I'm really hoping for something better, plus I want that bingo.

So, I went defensive and played "LAZED" (16). I guess that's not a great defensive move, in retrospect. Actually, it's pretty bad. There are a couple of great hooks to play on the front, but at least they won't cross the triple-word-score square. I'll have to cross my fingers and hope my opponent doesn't have a "G" or "B" to lay on it and get another 10 points out of the "Z".

A. wins 329-251

A. wins 329-251
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Not our finet game today, but the coffee was great at Coffee Nation. I even bought a bag of decaf beans.

R. wins 391-285

R. wins 391-285
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. killed tonight and got the only bingo: nailers.

Job Search Woes #3

So this afternoon (yesterday, really)  I got a voice mail that I had been somewhat expecting for the last few weeks.  Back when I first found out that I would not be a candidate for job in my current department I applied at a school near Renae's job.  I found the opening on the school's webpage.  A week after submitting my application materials, I called their HR department to find out if they had received a complete application package. (They had.)  So, I waited to hear whether I would get a call from their search committee. After not hearing from them after 6 weeks, I called and asked about the status of the search.  The HR rep called me back and said that they had re-evaluated their needs for next year and would probably not be hiring anyone.  Today's voice mail confirmed that the decision had been finalized.

Here are some things I know:

1.  I should be applying to more places.
2.  I'm not entitled to an interview from ANY place to which I apply.

But, here's something else I know:

IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE A SEARCH, YOU SHOULD NOT PLACE AN AD ON YOUR WEBSITE.

Thank you.  That is all.

A. wins 334-298 (timed)

A. wins 334-298 (timed)
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

I got the only bingo this time on my first move: injurer.

What happens when I send a picture to flickr as a twitter?

What happens when I send a picture to flickr as a twitter?
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

At the Coffeehound for a round of grading.

R. wins 395-310 (timed game)

R. wins 395-310 (timed game)
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. killed tonight. She had three 's' tiles, the 'j', 'x' and 'q' tiles. She got the only bingo of the game: retrains. (But, she needed a little help on it.) I had one good play: za for 61 points.

Job hunt woes #2 (but should be #23 or greater)

It's been a long six months (minus one day) since I submitted an application for a permanent job.  The application that I submitted was to the university that I am currently at, so I was essentially applying to keep my own job.  (That's an oversimplification, I realize, but it's not the point of this post.)

It has been a long, long, long six months. In December I had two phone interviews with the search committee (who are my colleagues). Then I waited.  And waited.  And waited some more. Back in March, when I couldn't wait any more, I finally asked the chair how the search was going.  I was told to wait a couple more days any he would be able to tell me more.  So I waited a few days, and nothing.  After one week had passed, I decided to ask again.  It was a Friday afternoon at 2:30 pm, before my 3:00 class when I was able to track the chair down and ask if there was an update.  I was told there was an update and that it wasn't good news for me: the search committee had decided NOT to bring me on as a candidate for the position.  What then followed was about 20 minutes of administrative double-speak that did nothing to explain why I had not been given an interview.

Had I not asked on that Friday, I would not have learned about not being a candidate until Monday morning, when the poster announcing the first candidate was posted in the division office.

Slowly but surely the three candidates came to campus.  The first candidate came and it seemed that his schedule was purposely arranged so that I would not have any contact with him.  I was not even introduced to him when we passed in the hall.  It was a little surreal.

Then a week or more passed before the next two candidates came to campus.  I think Spring break was mixed in there as well.  The second candidate was coming on a Monday, and the poster announcing his talks was posted the week before.  When I saw the name on the poster, it looked vaguely familiar.  I went to my email and checked that, sure enough, I had met this candidate before: when he was on campus last May as a candidate for a visiting position that he ultimately did not get offered.  Talk about insulting.  The department thinks a person is not qualified to be a visiting professor, yet he can have an interview for a tenure-line job?  Meanwhile, the visitor that is going on THREE YEARS in the department is not worthy of even being considered?  So when that candidate was on campus, we bumped into each other in the hallway and he remembered me and was kind enough to say hi and ask how things were going.

The third and final candidate came immediately after the second candidate left.  I ran into him while he was being shown my lab.  No one offered to introduce him to me, so he made the initiative to introduce himself.

Meanwhile, while the interviews had been going on, my students were starting to figure out the situation. The campus is small and there are very few secrets kept in the community.  More than one of my students, without my prior knowledge, contacted the department on my behalf and voiced their support of me.  It was nice, but ultimately meaningless.

Also, somewhere along this time, my chair and one of my other colleagues were having trouble looking me in eye or even acknowledging my presence in the department.  One of my other colleagues, who was not involved with the search even commented how the department seemed a little unfriendly or at least not at ease.

Through the grapevine I heard that an offer had been extended to the first candidate.  Then, on April 17th, the colleague who was not involved in the search pointed out that the minutes of the faculty meeting announced that the physics search had been successfully completed.  So the news went public before I was informed.  I suppose it could be argued that I had no right to be told, but it was pretty unprofessional the way the situation was handled.

I was really hoping that the search would ultimately fail, or that for other reasons I would be granted a fourth year as a visitor (which I had been told was not out of the realm of possibility) but today in the afternoon campus mail I received a memo from the registrar and provost explaining procedures for departing faculty.  This was news to me, since I had been expecting to be verbally told one way or the other whether I would be back next year.   Anyway, at least now I know.

I'm trying to look at the big picture and not get too down on myself.  It's really hard though, because I feel like I spent the last three years building up a research project out of next to nothing that I brought to the cusp of where I think I could squeeze out three papers from the data we took this year.  My plan for the summer was to write that all up.  I do suppose I can still work on it this summer, but it will not be as easy if I have to split my time between that and looking for jobs/place to live come August.  I just don't want to see the last three years as being wasted, which I know they were not, but it's hard to put my finger on what it was about my time here that I have to show future search committees.

I thought I had learned that I was right for a liberal arts school and that a liberal arts school was right for me.  Now I have to consider other options in the short term.  I never thought that I was entitled to the position that I applied for.  I guess I made the mistake of believing that I had earned the respect of getting an interview for it.  I know that these sorts of decisions happen all the time at colleges and universities around the country, but that doesn't make it any easier on me.

The last visitor that we had in our department warned me before he left to not trust anyone in the department.  I did not believe him, because I thought that he was just saying that because he left on not-so-good terms with a few of the people in the department.  I now see that you can get along with people you work with and still not trust them.  So I have some advice for the visitor(s) that come after me at this institution: don't trust anyone in the department if you are a visitor.  And, anyone that you find that is not in the department that you CAN trust, will ultimately not be able to help you.

MediaPlayerConnectivity :: Firefox Add-ons

Do you subscribe to Ubuntu Forums about some hacks for getting the streaming audio and video to work, but yesterday someone posted that the streaming was now working with no strange workarounds needed.

I installed the MediaPlayerConnectivity Firefox Add-ons in my browser of choice, which is currently Flock I logged onto MLB.com and chose the Cubs/Rockies game and seconds later was listening to the sweet play-by-play of Pat and Ron.

Go Cubs!

What does $200 get you these days?

This May our department is offering two sections of the "Sound, Music, and Hearing" class, which fill a general education requirement for Physical Science Labs for non-science majors.  It's a fun class to teach because we get to play with a lot of fun toys and do a lot of neat experiments that we don't often have time to cover in the general physics labs.

The professor teaching the other section and I decided that we wanted some new resonance tubes with the water reservoir attached to a stand for looking at standing waves in a closed-open tube.  The CENCO (or is it Sargent-Welch?) catalog had the best deals, but they also had the largest variety of resonance tube experiments to order.  Our budget is only a few thousand dollars, and as much as we'd like to have 4 resonance tubes for the class, we decided to order one of the low cost models (the Student Resonance Apparatus) and one of the mid-range models (the CENCO Resonance Apparatus).  I placed the order a week ago and recently some boxes appeared in the main office.

I opened the box and removed all the packing material.  The kit was nicely packaged.  All the clamps and the reservoir and rubber tube was all in a ziplock bag. The aluminum rod was taped to the cardboard tube which contained the acrylic tube. I pulled the instructions out of the bag and worked on assembling the apparatus.

Assembly was straightforward. The rod screws into the base, then the clamps are attached and the tube is slid into place. My only complaints were that the rod was not perpendicular to the base (it must have been tapped a little crookedly) and that the instructions kept referring to the "tripod".  I don't know about you, but when I see the word "tripod," I instinctively think of something with three legs and not a flat base.



Here's a photo of the assembled resonance apparatus. The tube is quite long, meaning we should be able to get lots of standing waves in the tube for a large variety of tuning forks. I cheated a little bit with the photo by choosing an angle that does not draw attention to the lean of the rod.  One of the features that was kind of nice about this apparatus is that the bottom of the tube has a peg which fits into a small hole in the base to keep the tube well positioned. Also, this apparatus includes a clamp for holding a tuning fork above the resonance tube. The clamp is just a right angle clamp, which was a little disappointing that it wasn't anything more specialized, but it will be interesting to see if the  clamp works well to hold the tuning fork while the fork is vibrating.


After setting up the mid-range model, I unpacked the economy model.  The contents of the shipping box are shown in the following photo.

It may be hard to tell from the photo, but there was an excessive amount of packaging for this kit. All of the pictured components were in a single box stuffed with packing paper. The base and the tube/rod came in separate boxes.  And the bag with all of the clamps and reservoir were in a plastic bag, which was so tightly taped shut that I had to destroy the bag just to free its contents. (On Earth Day, of all days...)


After I made it through all of the layers of packaging, assembly of the economy model was as easy as the mid-range model. The tube is held to the rod by a test tube clamp and there is no clamp for the tuning fork.

The economy model uses what is essentially a large plastic cup (complete with the SOLO logo on the bottom) for the water reservoir. One wonders how much abuse the reservoir will be able to stand. I suppose that if it is damaged, replacement would not be too difficult or costly.

The economy model does not have a peg on the bottom to help keep the tube in place on the base. like the mid-range model does.

Also, the economy model is significantly (~50%) shorter.

Here is a photo of the two models side-by-side for comparison:


You can easily see the difference in the height of the two.  Also, the lean of the longer tube is more apparent when comparing the two.

The real question is how do the two compare in terms of using them to do experiments.  I haven't had a chance to try them out yet, but I have made some observations from putting them together.  The real question is: What do you get by spending the extra $200 to go from the economy model to the mid-range model?

From what I have seen you get the following benefits:

• Longer tube, meaning a wider range of frequencies to work with.
• Sturdier water reservoir.
• Peg in the base to better hold the tube in the apparatus
• Clamp to hold the tuning fork on the rod
• The machining of the hose connections is clearly of a higher quality. (Need closeup photo to show.)

There are some advantages to the economy model, for instance:

• Shorter tube means experiments could potentially be done on the lab table, instead of on floor.
• Less expensive components means lower costs for maintenance.
• The smaller size may be easier to store.

I'm going to have some fun playing around with both models in the next few days as we continue to get ready for May Term.

R. wins 334-298

R. wins 334-298
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

We played with the travel version today at Starbucks. There was a guy talking to himself for the first part of the game

In my Saturday morning browsing, I stumbled onto a great summary of why Twitter is actually useful and worth signing up for. I've been twittering for a week now, and I have to admit that I quickly got addicted to it. I doubt that I will be getting or sending twitters that drag me into a bar for drinks anytime in the near future, but there may be other situations where I make connections with people I would otherwise have missed.

A. wins 348-298

A. wins 348-298
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

No bingos tonight at Fusion Brew

The John Wesley Powell Research Conference was today on campus. Three of my students showed off their stuff. All in all, everything was pretty good. There were fewer entries this year, which was kind of good, I think. Last year it was way too crowded at the poster sessions and there were too many oral presentations to choose from.

R. wins: 343-328

R. wins: 343-328
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

We each got a bingo tonight. I had 'joshing' and R. had 'duckier'.

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R. wins 383-281

R. wins 383-281
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

This game was played the weekend before Easter. Renae wom big time.

R. wins 342-330

R. wins 342-330
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. won this game because she had the 'q', 'x', 'z', 'j', three 's' tiles and a little help from a friend. Two bingos: broiLeD and festers.

A. wins 273-264

A. wins 273-264
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Timed game.

R. wins 331-249

R. wins 331-249
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R wins big time today.

A. wins 374-296

A. wins 374-296
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

One bingo: braider.

R. wins: 355-299

R. wins: 355-299
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

For this game we split the tiles into two piles of equivalent values and frequency distribution. R. got a bingo: bladeRs.

A. wins 350-335

A. wins 350-335
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

One bingo: sausage.

A. wins 365-332

A. wins 365-332
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. was leading nearly the whole game, but = came back with a bingo: hOrsing.

A. wins 349-345

A. wins 349-345
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

One bingo: losingS.

A. wins 325-289

A. wins 325-289
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

After a light lunch at Fusion Brew we played a not so quick game. Only bingo was 'staTion'.

Pretty picture of the day

I was poking around on the homepage for the Cassini mission and noticed they had posted a new image today. It's a shot of the rings plus four moon, but I had to go to the full-res view in order to see the smallest moon in the photo, Pandora. On the front page of the mission site, there is a countdown to the next flyby of Titan, which is 25 days from now.

R. wins 291-284

R. wins 291-284
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Today at Fusion Brew

A. wins 298-282 (timed game)

A. wins 298-282 (timed game)
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Last night at Coffee Hound in Normal.

A. wins 303-280

A. wins 303-280
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Back at Kane's in Peoria today. This was a quick timed game.

R. wins 326-274

R. wins 326-274
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Another timed game tonight. I had a bingo: pillinG, but ended up losing.

A. wins 278-271

A. wins 278-271
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

Close game this time around. R. had play of the game with sexy, qis, ate and shy.

R. wins 319-273

R. wins 319-273
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. wins our first timed game of 2008. She had a bingo: hornIer and was holding quizZes at the end of the game, but could not play it.

A. wins 334-244

A. wins 334-244
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. had pretty poor tiles this game.

A. wins 345-281

A. wins 345-281
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

I won tonight, but the real story is th 20 minute fire alarm at Fusion Brew.

A. wins 385-318

A. wins 385-318
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

This game was closer than the score shows. I laid a bingo (uNaireD) to go out and R. had 5 tiles left in her rack. Until that point, she had been leading.

Star Power: the Washington Post interviews Neil Tyson

I got to see Neil Tyson give a talk at the American Association of Physics Teachers Summer meeting in Greensboro last year.  He was really entertaining.  He packed a room with over six hundred seats so there was standing room only and people hanging in the hallway trying to listen. He was really funny, even if some of his joke were unoriginal. (How intelligent is a design that puts a sewage treatment facility next to an entertainment system??  Ha ha...ha........ah.) 

What was great, however, was that his whole talk was about how science educators have a responsibility to reach the public and bring science to them.  I'll never forget when he asked the audience how many of them did not have a TV or how many of them only used their TV to watch DVDs.  Somewhere between 15-20% of the people in the crowd raised a hand, many of them proudly.  Tyson then said "Oh, so those of you that raised your hand have no idea who I am, then!"  The person sitting to my right looked at me and said, "Yeah, I have no idea who this guy is and why AAPT is giving him an award."  I could hear murmuring around me that indicated she was not alone in her opinion.  Tyson pointed that he went on to TV shows like Conan O'brien and The Daily Show not to stroke his ego, but because that's where he can reach the widest audience. He then gave the example of watching the Superbowl, not because he particularly enjoys football, but that he wants to be able to relate to people around him the next day.  His point was that if we, as science educators, want to reach out to the public and have a scientifically literate society, then the scientist should be culturally literate and be aware of what the public is tuned into and turned on by (e.g. Conan and The Daily Show.)  I saw the light bulbs go on all around me as he explained this.

Anyway, I was thinking about this because one of the other stories that Tyson told during that talk he also told to a Washington Post reporter in a really good article.  It's a little long, but well worth the read.  The story Tyson told was about an interaction he had with movie director James Cameron.

Star Power  (Washington Post)

R. wins 381-342

R. wins 381-342
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

R. wins with the help of the only bingo in the game: oneness. I spilled my drink before we started playing

A wins 456-328

A wins 456-328
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

I started off this game with a bingo: cabinEd and had a second one later: misspend. The second one was my first ever double-double, good for 102 points. This game was my highest score yet.

After the Estimation game.

After the Estimation game.
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

We played a game of Estimation after afternoon dessert at the Houck Christmas. Jon won.

Vicious kitty.

Vicious kitty.
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

At the UHACC party.

A. wins 338-269

A. wins 338-269
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

I started the game with a bingo (oKaying) but didn't really have anything great after that.

A. wins 417-257

A. wins 417-257
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.

I hit 400+ points for the first time ever with the help of two bingos: roadies and training. Also had a four word combo with some, moss, lids and ones. That was only worth 21 points, but it was fun.

I finally found a great use for the function keys! Using xbindkeys and xbindkeys-config, I was able to easily map the F2, F3, and F4 keys to go directly to the post page for some of my blogs. I'll have to send the .xbindkeysrc file to myself so that I can load this on all the computers that I post from. I don't know if it will help me post more frequently, but it certainly can't hurt.