I need to sort out my "Books Read" list.  Sucks that goodreads succumbed to The Nothing, and is now essentially useless.

I at least need to sort through the Perilous Pile of Publications.  I wanted to build an actual office, with a small attached library this holiday season, but I also didn't want to measure and figure out dimensions and such.  Ugh.

Let's update monthly from now on.

Sunday: I didn't know what I wanted for lunch.

So I went through the food label until everything I had in my head came up, and then went with the next thing I saw.

Mexican was the answer.

• Dogs are bad with gravity as well.
• Ha ha.

I apparently posted this ten minutes too early.  Last Man on Earth added two new characters, the main character became even more of a horrible person, so I'm done with it.

Saturday: I'm on a plane. Vroom!

You don't have to be a jerk, bear.  Gravity is like your natural enemy to start with.

:(

Bumper bunnies.

• Squirrel!
• Timeline of the far future.
• Rilakkuma pancakes.
• Team Rocket should get more airtime.
• Polar bear sled.

Saturday: And I thought I wouldn't have anything to post today

Piikoi and Davenport.

I was eating dinner when I heard the tires squealing and then a horrible crunching sound.  I got to the lanai in time to see someone in a white pickup truck with a cap backing up slowly from this car that they had slammed into.  Since no one got out of the car, I assume it had been parallel parked with Captain Crashy smashed into it.  My first thought was, "huh, this guy is going to run," based on the fact that he never put on hazard lights, or got out of the car, or anything of the sort.  And, as you can tell by the lack of white pickup truck in this picture, he totally ran, despite the shouts of "hey!" from various people nearby.

So that was kind of exciting.

No.

"Oh fuck!"

• Botswana.
• I guess it makes sense that showers weren't always a common thing.  Still, the idea of a booklet called "Once-Used Water" is a bit silly.  I also like the creepy stalker "would you mind mentioning your plumber's name?"
• I guess I have something in common with Mitt Romney.  We both like Boston Market.

Saturday: I've done nothing productive today

Well, I've made fun of people buying Twinkies on the internet.  That's nearly productive.  I really don't understand why people would pay a 10x markup on something that will be off the market for maybe a year at most.  The Twinkie brand is far too valuable for it to disappear completely.  Alternate idea: just buy Little Debbie's version.  Here.  Fifty cents a piece.  Done.  Or, you could get the Oatmeal Creme Pies or Nutty Bars.  Those are actually tastier things.

And now I want excessively processed snack foods.

Also: blah blah private equity firms destroying everything they touch, etc.  I've covered that before.

"ZZZZ...."

Gravity. Cats' enemy too.

I realized this today while flipping through the TV channels:  Hoarders: people who collect things obsessively because they're terrified of some vague unreasonable fear.  Extreme Couponers: people who collect things obsessively because they're terrified of some financial state that would deny them 99 bottles of shampoo and 400 packs of gum.  Doomsday Preppers: people who collect things obsessively because they're terrified of some precise unreasonable fear and are totally willing to shoot you in the head if they think you're trying to steal their can of corn.

• More playing cards need math and engineering on them.  Plus: Parrallel-Lograms.
• Oglaf is the definition of NSFW.  But this one has "Magical Talking Bear Prostitutes." (This one is actually safe for work.  Unless your work is a jerk.)
• There is no third link today.

Wednesday: Back to work

Random caterpillar pancakes.  Probably made in a frying pan.  Totally random.  Totally unrelated to anything.

"You mean the party is on that other mountain?  WTF? I asked you two hours ago if you had the right address, and now you fucking tell me?  Next time, I've leaving your no-party-finding ass at home and getting a sherpa."

Well.  That's a brilliant idea.

Without this video, the owner of the car would have never known.

Hopefully last political image macro for a while.  Unless something is really funny.

Because now we live in a world where cats and dogs live together in harmony.  

• These people are fundamentally incompetent at their jobs.
• NO! PIKACHU! NO!
• It makes more sense if you read the caption first.  It's funny either way.
• He's come a long way from Pewter City.
• Pug Bantha.
• Canada looks so sad in that picture.  It's ok, Canada.  We still like you.
• "Pancake, You're so Pancake."
• BBC admin: fundamentally incompetent as well.
• See what the Bizarro universe Romney campaign transition pages would have looked like.  Note that if you apply in the Bizarro universe, you may need to make disclosures about your finances, likely involving your tax returns.

Monday: Voting guide

Ok, time to break out the LWV candidate guide, and figure out who I'm voting for.

• President: Obama. Duh.
• US Senator: Lingle didn't respond, which would have pissed me off if I didn't already not like her. Hirono.
• US Representative: Hanabusa.  Charles Djou is a smug bastard.
• State Senator 11: Taniguchi.  His comments sound less like a request for volunteers.
• State Representative 24: Neither of them responded?  Crap.  Well, Sabey is apparently anti-gay marriage, so he can go fuck himself.  Belatti, apparently, although she needs to have a real webpage in the future, and not just a stupid facebook page.
• Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii: Incumbant, crazy eyes, sleepy eyes.  Incumbant, I guess. Lindsey.
• Hawaiian Affairs Kauai: That one guy's nicknamed Radar, but he has no statement.  Kagawa Fu?
• Hawaiian Affairs Molokai: Machado.  One candidate, easy choice.
• Hawaiian Affairs At Large: Apoliona.  If she can fight off this swarm of leis, she's good enough for another term.
• Hawaiian Affairs Maui: I don't care anymore. Kain.  He seems reasonable.  I assume people who do care will vote for the correct choice and everyone else will split equally.
• Mayor: Caldwell.  The rail project isn't perfect, but abandoning it would be stupid.
• Prosecutor: Kaneshiro seems to be more obvious pro-puppy, so since I otherwise don't care, he gets the vote.
• Councilmember V: Wow. Neither of those is useful.  I don't care who you're married to.  Give me some policy specifics.  I guess Hayes?  He actually lists issues on his webpage, and they seem reasonable.  I'm not particularly sure city council members actually have much power anyway.
• Councilmember VI: 16 candidates? If I ever meet you, Tulsi Gabbard, I'm going to complain that you resigning to run for Congress made me wade through a pile of lunatics who want your old job.  Ok, let's click on their webpages (candidates without webpages aren't real candidates).  You're out because of autoplaying videos, you have no actual comment on issues, you look crazy (and are, it seems)...  Yoshimura?  I guess that works.
• Dam Amendment: Yes.  When the opposition is "not only small people, but big people can benefit," that's not terribly strong.
• Retired Judge Amendment: Old judges are usually depicted as cranky jerks, but I'm not sure this is something that's really a big deal. Yes.
• Grant Amendment: Supports organizations previously funded through HUD. Yes.
• Fund Amendment: So we have funds now, but this would make possibly other new funds to fund things that need to be funded, but currently have no funding funds funded.  "According to the Council, adoption of this amendment would enhance the transparency of the City's finances."  This seems important. Yes.

Who else is glad that election time only comes once every four years?

Bookshelves.

Puppy.

Red pandas.  Nature's hilarious clowns.

• Insightful commentary on ebooks.  I like amazon, but I don't want to be locked into their drm and reader.  That's why I still buy regular books.  If they had some sort of clearinghouse where I could get ebook copies of things I have hard copies for, that would convince me to switch to ebooks.  Making me rebuy everything I already own at $10 each means I need to drop another $20k on books.  Books I already own.
• Even the robots are OCD now.
• If Clone Wars moves to Disney XD, I won't be able to see the last episodes, since I don't get that channel.  It seems like this isn't that great of a strategy outside of the cross promotional stuff.
• Crab lord.
• Squirrel!
• Grover and Cookie are my favorite monsters.  This makes them even better.

Sunday: 2-1-1-3-3

This week is going to be weird.  Monday is a regular day, but Tuesday is election day, and that's a holiday in Hawaii.  This is of course how it should be everywhere, because then everyone has a chance to go out and vote without having to worry about work.  Doesn't Australia do it this way?  Seems like the best way to improve voter turnout.  You know, if you're actually into the whole "democracy" thing.  I wonder if we get the day off so we can watch voter returns on the East coast before going out to vote.  According to this map, Indiana is going to be finishing first at 6pm EST, which is like...um...5 hours ahead, so that'll be 1pm my time.  Since Ohio is going to be the swing, that means that by 2:30ish my time, we should know who's going to win the thing.

This is just another reason that living in the middle of the Pacific is weird.

And then back to work on Wednesday for the rest of the week, until the weekend, which is a three-day-weekend, due to Veteran's day next Monday.  Huh.  Thanksgiving is the week after.  So, November is actually: 2-2-1-1-3-3-4-2-3-4-5, where red days are work days, and blue days are weekends and days off.

I will again blame this on living in the Pacific.  Yay, Pacific!

I think we can all agree that this is the greatest waffle-vention ever.

Bunnies!

Hug sloth!

Huggy kitty!

Basket of puppies!

Puff, puff. Jigglypuff.

• Things that make you liberal: "Slavish adherence to the ideals of liberal parents," "Unthinking rebellion against conservative parents."  Things that make you a conservative based on this page: "Doing what you're told when you're told by someone who's conservative, and fighting against these same people when they say something not conservative."  This is a far more proactive philosophy than I would have expected, and seems to by definition violate Wheaton's Law.
• I guess it's good to see that the NYTimes kept their editorial supporting over-reach of copyright law short.  Still, they're fundamentally wrong, and prove it in their statement that "and to make easier the kind of market segmentation by geography and price that Mr. Kirtsaeng’s resales subverted. With segmentation, book publishers can offer cheaper editions of their works in less-developed countries, without concern that those copies will be resold in the United States and unfairly undercut sales here." What part of this statement is based on the powers of Congress to "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;" and "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."  I see no mention in those clauses that the government should allow the use of copyright law to protect market segmentation that benefits a small number of publishers.
• I only use Red Pandas as my bookies.  Because if you can't pay, you can at least look at something super cute while they attempt to break your knees with their tiny cute paws.
• A kitty and a bunny.
• Clive Gardiner, Motor Manufacturing (1930).
• I was going to rant here about the concept of welfare, the availability of jobs, the conservative claim that welfare should be replaced with "giving to society," and their hatred of a WPA style government project that would achieve the conservative end goal via a government sponsored fiscal stimulus.  Let's just leave that proto-rant for personal extrapolation.  Everyone can figure out what I'd say. Let's not waste any more time.

Saturday: 1000 posts

At least according to the blogger post count.  I guess that's a good thing about posting everyday?  I thought about doing a "best of" post, but decided instead to just link to some of my favorite labels.

Here's a bunch of pictures:

"Mushroom!"

"Puppies!"

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

WTF, snake?

Yeah, you tell it, Velma.

Puppy vs. uneven ground.

Now I want mac and cheese.

Cats. Weak vs. gravity.

Pikachu used Quick Attack!

• Bunny!
• Ross Douthat: still an idiot.  Let's just do a quick list of how he's wrong: 1) government spending largely increased after 2009 due to safety net spending.  The alternative is to let people starve. 2) In what Bizarro world would Romney allow taxes to rise?  How would a Republican congress let him do that? 3) ACA should decrease health care spending.  Try to keep up with reality, Ross. 4) Larger government probably doesn't decrease private sector job growth.  Crowding out isn't real, either, especially with such a high unemployment rate. 5) Because we don't have the same demographics as the 1960s, we should abandon SS/Medicare/etc.? This isn't a Ponzi scheme, at least as long as things are properly funded (i.e., you don't cut taxes to zero). 6) Weaker economies of Europe are trapped by being tied to the Euro, denying them the ability to properly use debt. 7) Don't talk about contraception, Ross. You're never going to not look like a moron. 8) Because the Republicans in Congress won't be sane, we shouldn't vote for Obama?  You're a fucking moron, Ross Douthat.
• I read the linked article, and couldn't figure out WTF the author was talking about.  At what point did people stop trusting statistics?  It's fucking math.  You math it.  It maths data.  Math math math math.
• I was going to post this with yesterday's post, but forgot.  "I glubbed up!"

Wednesday: sigh

I spent pretty much all day working on a talk.  And running a simulation. Twice, it turns out, because I had a typo in it the first time.  Plus I finally got a stupid program I've been working on for two weeks to complete without segfaulting or having to be kicked seven times.

And now I have a headache.  I'm beginning to think I hate days that end in y.

"Hey! This is my tree!"

Pandas.  Still fighting their perpetual nemesis, gravity.

I like you, Ice King.

• You're an idiot, Cupid.
• You're an idiot, Tagg Romney. Tagg?  Your name is Tagg?  Really?  Who the fuck comes up with these shitty names?
• That's a big sushi.

Or I could use wired internet in the room

More later, but first:

"Oh, no, you can't get a cab. It's only a 5-10 minute walk!"

Ok, you're a jerk, dude.  That's 5-10 minute walk if you're like, totally in shape.  Otherwise, it's a grueling slog up four fucking hills.  Plus, I'm doing it in clothes that aren't exactly designed for exertion.

In summary, I wanted a fucking cab, you wouldn't get me one, you're a jerk.

EDIT: Even google says it's 17 minutes.  And google's in shape, jerk.

Tuesday: Pretty much all day smelled like dog buns

Of the six things I tried to accomplish today, all six turned out to be harder/more complicated/fundamentally broken/whatever than I expected.  Other than the experience of failing at six things in one day, I should have just stayed in bed.

Basically this was my day. In this analogy, I'm the bunny, and all of existence is the snow.

Yep.

I believe this guy is the King of the Lions.

Have I posted this bear? Whatever. It's a bear.  I like bears.

This is a baby red panda.  I'm unclear as to the shape of the function cute(t) for red pandas. Constant?

No links today. Too much time bashing my head against things.  Or the internet sucked today.  Anyway, let's listen to FDR piling on the snark while discussing a political constant.  It's a minute long, so it's not like it's going to eat up a lot of your day.

Saturday: I can't tell

I either won at Saturday, or failed at Saturday this week.  Woke up, thought about getting groceries, sat on couch all day.  Woo.  I discovered a mistake in the stuff I did yesterday, though, so that sucked as well.

You will never learn, will you, pandas.

What are you doing bear?  That couch is in a dump. Get off it!

• I spent about an hour this afternoon reading about dinosaurs on wikipedia.  Then I found this picture. "What the fuck is this thing?" Stop doing drugs, Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis.
• That sounds tasty.  I should really come up with a menu plan for this week.
• Well that's depressing.
• Let's have lamb!

Thursday: Really? 111?

1. Work problem 1: resolved, I had a problem with a config file.
2. Work problem 2: re-re-re-running.  One day it'll work out.
3. Algebra and calibration issue preventing paper completion: correct? Ish? Except for the random calibration factor of 1/(1 - (s * eta)/111). That's...unexpected, I guess.

WHY 111?

"It's ok, just call it a calibration factor due to the approximation you're using. Even without that, over the range of real parameter space it's only like 1% off.  Just relax."

Thanks, Approximation Bear. You always know how to put things into perspective.

This makes me think of E&M.

Pokemon can do slides just fine.

Pandas, not so much.

Apparently it was animated gif day.

• I'm glad this will end up being vetoed.
• Kind of a mixed review.  It sounds interesting, but "not the best seafood in the world" isn't what you want to hear for a seafood place.
• Squirrels!
• I am apparently ethical and professionally sound.
• Hey, cool, animated gif version of this effect I talked about last week.
• Well that seems obvious now that I've heard it.
• Have people heard of this? She's doing like Julie/Julia with a Guy Fieri cookbook. 

Fireworks!

Despite what Piers Morgan seems to think (and seriously, who even cares what he thinks), I like taking pictures of fireworks.  It gives me a chance to fuck with the settings on the manual mode that I don't understand, and see what comes out.

Since Oahu is just "Abnormally Dry" and not "Shit's a Fucking Tinderbox" like a lot of the mainland, we had a pretty nice fireworks show at Ala Moana, conveniently located so I can watch from my lanai.

Also, there's an ocean they shoot out over, so that helps cut down on the fire hazard somewhat.  You'd have to have an epic fireworks display to set the ocean on fire.

Anyway, fireworks pictures of varying quality.

I really like these smiley face ones.

This isn't the right one, but I noticed that they only had one set of "buzzy bees" style ones.  I really like those too, and not just because they look like globular clusters.

Now to go to sleep so I can get up and do two more days of work this week.  We should move the 4th of July so we can have a four-day weekend.  Then, we can celebrate the Four of July. See, it'd be similar, but with more days off so you don't get that Sunday-vibe on a fricking Wednesday.