2014: 509 posts.
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Getter Poseidon: reconstituted
Getter Poseidon: reconstituted by Joe Crawford (artlung) Toy frippery! I bought one off eBay some months ago but it was not all there, and my efforts to repaint were not fruitful. Then at Robo Toy Fest I found a very broken one for $2 (cheap!). Now I’ve combined parts of both to make a good…
- 28-Jan-2014The IRS Slog: All But Over
In 2009 Leah and I came to terms with an ugly truth: we owed the IRS and California a combined $27k for tax year 2008, and did not have the money. We knuckled down, and got on a payment plan. Meanwhile, we noticed that we’d failed to file in 2004 and 2005. Combining those we…
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The Robots Collection of ArtLung
The Robots Collection of ArtLung by Joe Crawford (artlung) Frippery is the right of anyone. I’d say something like “I can’t afford a little sportscar so I collect robots” but I think even if I could afford a sportscar what I’d probably do is collect more expensive (as opposed to these cheap) robots. Actually I…
- 19-Feb-2014Lucky Thirteen! (13 years blogging)
As of TODAY I’ve been blogging more or less sporadically for thirteen years. The first post? It occurs to me… was from when I was still on blogger.com, back when they were not owned by Google. If you’re curious about what’s actually worth revisiting and reading, you might check out the Popular Stuff Most Commented…
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The Bot Collection
When I started this post, back in January, the intent was for it to be a comprehensive discourse on toy robots. I was starting to collect them and thought I could sum it up succinctly. So much for brevity, it’s meandering. Bear with me. Here’s the collection from then. My fascination with robots probably began…
- 02-Mar-2014Freedom and the rule of law: fragile and precious
From Our Comrade The Electron by Maciej Ceglowski: Bad people are using the global surveillance system we built to do something mean! Holy crap! Who could have imagined this? Or when we learn that the American government is reading the email that you send unencrypted to the ad-supported mail service in another country where it…
- 03-Mar-2014Stupid HTTP Status Jokes
Questionable humor value. And yet, there I go. Giddy Up 409: Beach Boys Conflict #HttpResponseCodeCulture — Joe Crawford (@artlung) March 3, 2014 501 Jeans: Not Implemented #HttpResponseCodeCulture — Joe Crawford (@artlung) March 3, 2014 418 I'm a little teapot short and stout #HttpResponseCodeCulture — Joe Crawford (@artlung) March 3, 2014 400 Blows: Bad Request #HttpResponseCodeCulture…
- 03-Mar-2014Quotes of the Day
“Monsieur, azonnal kövessen engem bitte.” –Gaff “Lófaszt, nehogy már. Te vagy a Blade.” –Gaff “That gibberish he talked was city speak, gutter talk. A mishmash of Japanese, Spanish, German, what have you. I didn’t really need a translator, I knew the lingo, every good cop did. But I wasn’t going to make it easier for…
- 04-Mar-2014Debt and Education / Chomsky / Shirky
From Chomsky: How America’s Great University System Is Getting Destroyed Well how do you indoctrinate the young? There are a number of ways. One way is to burden them with hopelessly heavy tuition debt. Debt is a trap, especially student debt, which is enormous, far larger than credit card debt. It’s a trap for the…
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Am I still a Respiratory Therapist?
I am not licensed in California. That expired 10 years ago. My CV is way out of date. I kept paying for the license until 2004 even though I last practiced in 1997. I received Certificate Number 1555 for Respiratory Care Practitioner in Virginia in November 1993, but those expired long ago. In 1998 Virginia…
- 05-Mar-2014Tab Sweep Time
I started writing this post back in November of 2013 and failed to finish it. Ah well. Oh golly, I don’t blog all that much. So, time to sweep some of the things I’ve been reading and watching in the past few weeks. And comment randomly. It’s scary to change careers a short inspirational comic…
- 10-Mar-2014Excellent Co-workers are Excellent.
Last Friday some code I wrote finally got battle tested and was found wanting (read: it was not very good). And because of deployment processes I needed a co-worker to deploy it. Each time a new build of the software deployed my co-worker used an exclamation that it was complete that was colorful. (5:49:10 PM)…
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Robot Inventory, Current Edition
Ultraman Cosmos (red) Father of Ultra (horns) Ultraman Neos (blue) Getter Robo (axes) The Big Guy Rusty The Boy Robot Getter Dragon Hexbug Ant Kikkerland Le Pinch Transformers Dreadwing (1) Transformers Dreadwing (2) Schylling Tin Bot X-306 Space Robot Wind-Up Party Favor Getter 1 Gaiking Analyzer Unit 09 Getter Robo (Superdeformed) Gundam Converge 12 RX-79[G]…
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AngularJS on jsfiddle.
It’s pretty astonishingly easy to play with AngularJS with jsfiddle. Last night I went to the North County AngularJS Discussion Group / sandiegojs group at WalmartLabs here in San Diego. Smallish but impressive space.
- 15-Oct-2014Pants: Shoplifting
Pants that are too big are good for holding a sealed beverage. Useful for my cold green tea. Shoplifting also somewhat more feasible. Though I’ve not shoplifted since I was 11 and living in New Orleans. Two times: both from a drugstore on my way to Christ the King Catholic School. First time: Baby Ruth…
- 04-Dec-2014Clearly.
I write code for a living now. I was trained as a Respiratory Therapist and worked in hospitals for many years. I was trained to care for people. When I graduated from RT school we were obliged to take a professional oath. “Do no harm” a concept from the ancients. I have avoided the videos…
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Hide All From Terrible Site
How I stay sane on Facebook:
- 15-Dec-2014The Blight of Guantanamo
Guantanamo continues to be a blight on the reputation of the US and a corrupter of our professional military. If it does not operate according to the laws and ethical codes of the United States, then what, exactly does it stand for? Nursing group urges military not to punish Guantánamo nurse who refused to force-feed…
- 15-Dec-2014Glucose Update!
Back in 2012 I posted about my health and glucose level. The news was all bad. Last month, I got re-tested. I posted to the-facebook: My fasting glucose in 2012: 104 mg/dl. Pre-diabetic. Bad. Worry. My fasting glucose this morning: 99 mg/dl. Normal. Continuous quality improvement. Vigilance. Onward And so goes the improvement kids. Also,…
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Comic-Con 2013
I went to Comic-Con this year! It was great. Things I did: Things I wanted to do but couldn’t. GOOD LORD. I started this as a draft and NEVER wrote about my experiences at Comic-Con 2013. PLUSWHICH I didn’t write about my experiences at 2014 Comic-Con. Will I write about my 2015 Comic-Con experiences? Only…
- 15-Dec-2014TabSweep.txt PART 1
I’ve been keeping a text file with links. Some of which I have read and listened to, some of which, not. It’s sort of my “todo” list of links. And it’s unwieldy but it’s time to catch up with them all! And so, I present to you, TabSweep.txt. I’ll be doing these in chunks of…
- 16-Dec-2014TabSweep.txt PART 2
Hey look kids, more links! Links are fun. Links are the essential currency of the net. Or maybe it’s apps. Apps are the essential currency and nobody is reading this. But when the apps die, the links will live on. Maybe. (Bonus: read about webiness) It Don’t Gitmo Better Than This, journalism by Molly Crabapple…
- 17-Dec-2014TabSweep.txt PART 3
The link disbursement continues! Another 25 or thereabouts links for your enjoyment. “Mira la loca!” by Suebob. Also, Just A Minute, Buddy, advising dudes on the inadvisablity of trying to mask objectifying women with humor. It’s ungentlemanly. Google’s Material Design for Bootstrap The myth of the fall by Eric S. Raymond (open source was only…
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Clash of Clans X-Mas Tree
I’ve been playing Clash of Clans since the Summer. I play it to keep in touch with my Godson Zac, though I think he’s playing it less than me these days. Today I removed a little Christmas Cheer, an “X-Mas Tree” which is an Obstacle in the game. Obstacles can be removed for a cost,…
- 18-Dec-2014TabSweep.txt PART 4
The TabSweep.txt continueth! What Every Frontend Developer Should Know About Webpage Rendering by Alexander Skutin The Case for Reparations: An Intellectual Autopsy “Four years ago, I opposed reparations. Here’s the story of how my thinking has evolved since then.” by Ta-Nehisi Coates Leaflet — an open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps Mega Engineering–Process and…
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TO APPEAL TO GIRLS WITH LEGOS
I have to check out this webcomic: SEASONAL DEPRESSION
- 18-Dec-2014WORKING AS DESIGNED
The smartest take on The Interview debacle I’ve read is in “America didn’t cave. Hollywood didn’t cave. Capitalism caved.” by David Atkins. This is the free market everyone says solves everything. Well, it does, but it doesn’t solve things in ways that have anything to do with “freedom of speech.”: “But in truth, neither “America”…
- 19-Dec-2014TabSweep.txt PART 5
More linky links, linktastic linkies! ASTOUNDING HAWKGIRL COSPLAY Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away by Clay Shirky Seeing Spaces by Bret Victor The Other Side of Diversity JavaScript Memory Management Masterclass by Addy Osmani Skadi is a great comic about a barbarian girl who quests with her sidekick Diseaseoid to…
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GetGlue → tvtag → /dev/null
Formerly GetGlue, tvtag is shutting down on January 1, 2015. You can get your data out.
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Aniversary: 10th
10 YEARS MARRIED TO Leah as of December 21st this year. Here’s what we sounded like a bit after we got married: http://files.artlung.com/audioblogger.com/www-audioblogger-com-media-25807-126148.mp3 Because of this, we know where we actually got married: The Stained Glass Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Then: Now: Hey, Onward.
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Christmas Cheer.
Sometimes I think I’ve made more cool stuff than I actually have. In particular I thought I made more headers that were Christmas themed. Turns out there’s only one. Still, there are a few cool Christmasy things in my archives: I’ve improved the display of search on my site, still not perfect, but improving. Christmas…
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Reflecting on myself, August 2014.
Back in August I made this image of myself from different eras. It was fun to put it together. It showcases my various haircuts and facial hair. Top Left A driver’s license photo from the mid 1990s. I arrived in California to try to get into movies. I cultivated long hair and a bushy beard….
- 28-Dec-2014“a climate-ravaged corporatist dystopia of inequality that mirrors feudalism”
The phrase “a climate-ravaged corporatist dystopia of inequality that mirrors feudalism” is quite pithy, no? Obviously, if you’re looking for bad news you can find it everywhere. It’s entirely possible we’re headed for a climate-ravaged corporatist dystopia of inequality that mirrors feudalism. But signs of a new moral awakening are also out there—not the least…
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Have a robotic new year!
It’s been a while since I’ve given the bots any attention. Welcoming Baymax to the fold. There are more coming this year including the Kickstarter-funded Project: Vulkira. I probably will move to replace the Mazinger Z and Aphrodite A bots. The gashapon size and poseability is just way too low. I’m looking forward to a…