The Life Unwired

Geekiest T-Shirt Ever

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:24:50 GMT

While cleaning out stuff at home in preparation for the move to NYC, I found this t-shirt that I'd made in college. The iron-on part has discolored over the years. This is probably the geekiest shirt I ever made and ever wore.

The blue text refers to a VT100 terminal control code. Back before mice and graphics, people talked to big computers using terminals, usually a CRT and a keyboard that connected to the computer and acted as a remote interface. They sent characters back and forth, and usually, the characters sent to the terminal would be directly displayed to the user. However, the VT100 (and its compatible successors) could interpret some sequences of characters as special commands. A common one is Ctrl-H which would ring a bell on the terminal. The one in blue is the code to move the cursor back to the top left of the screen, or the "home" position.

Add that to the riff on the "if you lived here, you'd be home by now" signs that show up on apartment complexes, and you've got one of the geekiest things that you could possibly wear. Also in the running is the C programmer's reference shirt I once had which had all the text printed upside down so you could look down and read it while you were coding, and the KMFMS shirt that parodies the art style of the industrial music group KMFDM while also taking on Bill Gates.

My Round Rock Express Experience

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:56:24 GMT

I'm not much of a sports fan. The last time I went to a professional sporting event was probably when I was in college and attended an Atlanta Braves game with my dad and sister. I remember reading a copy of "The Psychology of Computer Programming" in the stands for one of my CS classes, but I have no no idea who the Braves were playing or what the final score was. Earlier then that, I'd occasionally go with my dad to Atlanta to watch Georgia Tech football; the thing I remember most isn't the game, but the electronic scoreboard with the primitive animations to rile up the crowd or get them to go to various local restaurants.

So, with that background, it was odd to find myself and Annelies at a baseball stadium last night watching the Round Rock Express play the Albuquerque Isotopes. I got free tickets from my financial advisor, and I knew that Annelies liked baseball, so we went. It was actually nice; they had rented a suite where there were free refreshments, and our seats were near first base. The heat wasn't too bad with an occasional breeze. There were even moments of tension as we watched foul balls soar over our heads to land in the stands nearby.

In the end, the Express won 7 to 4, with most of the action occurring in the middle innings. I got to enjoy a state-of-the-art scoreboard with video feeds and lots of animations. We even got free water bottles as part of a promotion for the Click to Empower project. I probably won't go back before the end of the summer, but I don't think I'll mind an occasional outing to see the Brooklyn Cyclones once we get moved into our new residence in September.

Games Ben's Playing, June 2008 Edition

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:47:05 GMT

Here's what's taking up my occasional gaming time these days:

Geometry Wars Galaxies (Nintendo DS) - Robotron-style stylized shooter with great controls and lots of variety. I got this last week and it's quickly become my "got five minutes" game.
Rock Band (XBox 360) - Annelies has been helping me with this, playing the drums and occasionally singing in our online band "The Pizza Dragons". I'm enjoying the downloadable tracks for The Police and Weezer too.
The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360) - I started this while Annelies was in Africa, and I picked it up again tonight to try to find more secrets on the early levels. I really like the game's use of humor, original animation, and the series voice actors.
Guitar Hero III (Xbox 360) - I found a good deal on this and a wireless guitar, so I figured I'd get an extra guitar to allow both guitar and bass in Rock Band. I finally booted this today, and it's OK, although I don't like the classic rock emphasis in the track selection so far. Buying the No Doubt pack for this helps.
World of Solitaire (web browser) - this is a full set of well-implemented solitare games that runs entirely in Javascript in your web browser. I'm very impressed with the technical skill shown here, and since I'm spending a lot of time in Javascript these days learning more about AJAX development, it's really neat to see these techniques applied here.
Six Differences (Flash) - a really nice "spot what's different" game that you can play in your browser. The pictures have nice animations, and I love how the designer includes the "remaining items" count in the scene.

I'm hoping to dig into the Wlliams Pinball Hall of Fame collection for the PS2 soon. I love good video game recreations of pinball tables, and people say this disc is one of the best. The Wii version is supposed to be even more fun, but I'm resisting getting another console anytime soon with the pending move to New York and resulting space downsizing.

Unclogging NewsGator

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:24:58 GMT

This was annoying. I'd noticed some feeds that I read weren't showing up as updated in NewsGator Online. I checked the "My Feeds" page in my account settings, and I found a fairly large number of them marked as "error at source" or "not authenticating", with the system indicating that it hadn't checked them since mid-to-late May. Fortunately, there's a "ping" button that lets you make the system go and check the feed again. In some cases, I found that the feed location had changed without a redirect being provided. In other cases, the system must have hit a server error and decided that the feed was stale. I ended up deleting a few feeds, fixing the address of another ten feeds, and just refreshing the rest. I hope the system's unclogged now.

If you use NewsGator or FeedDemon, you might want to check things too just to see if it's all OK.

Another Year Older...

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:05:07 GMT

Most of my 34th birthday shenanigans are done now, and it's been a lot of fun, mostly thanks to my dear fiancee Annelies.

We started with a bang on Saturday with a segway tour of downtown Austin, taking our friend Kirk along with us. The tour company we chose is SegCity; they had us out for over two hours running around the city hall and capital area. The segways are a lot of fun to glide around in; you indicate your forward/backward motion based on how you shift your weight on your feet, and you turn using a handle twist on the left side. It was easy to do 360 degree turns, and getting around the ramp-filled downtown sidewalks was rarely a problem. The top speed on the units we had was 8MPH, so you were never going dangerously fast.

After that, we attempted to get people to mini-golf at Peter Pan's, but it was just too hot. Annelies showed off her ironing skill by making a "Happy Birthday Unwired Ben" t-shirt since she wasn't able to get my name on the sign outside. So, we went early to Hula Hut and had delicious Polynesian/Tex-Mex food under air conditioning. Then a few of us went to the Dart Bowl for a game where we all proved that we're not the world's best bowlers. I didn't break 100 (so sad).

My last big birthday activity was last night when Annelies took me to Wink Restaurant, downtown on Lamar. They improvised a delicious vegetarian tasting menu using lots of local produce, including some great potato gnocchi and a pleasingly contrasty cheese plate.

There are a few pictures of Sunday's fun on the Flickr set linked to the photo.

Zebras Fighting

Wed, 28 May 2008 07:42:25 GMT

I've just finished uploading pictures to the Africa - Serengeti set, although I've got a few more videos that are being processed right now. There's still one day of safari pictures left to sort through from our visit to the Ngorongoro Crater, plus pictures of Zanzibar. It's a good thing I've got some downtime on this trip to Palm HQ. I really like this video that I captures of two zebras fighting while we were driving through the big migration. The creatures were really beautiful, but they can be brutal.

Videos from Africa

Thu, 15 May 2008 14:37:47 GMT

I've just updated the first set on Flickr with a few videos that didn't originally upload. We've got a secretary bird stomping around, some guinea hens moving through the trees, a herd of zebra grazing, and a herd of wildebeest running in front of our vehicle. Enjoy!

Cheap Firesign Theater!

Tue, 13 May 2008 22:56:17 GMT

Due to the uniform nature of audio track pricing, you can get quite a bargain on a couple of classic Firesign Theater recordings from Amazon. 1969's "Don't Crush that Dwarf, Hand Me Those Pliers" and 1970's "I Think We're All Bozos On This Bus" are both showing up for under $2 each. Why? The albums originally were LPs, and since Firesign's audio-collage style really doesn't divide up nicely into tracks, they end up having only one track per side.

Also worth getting from their catalog is the 28-minute long The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger from their Shoes for Industry compilation, cheap at 99 cents.

First photos from Africa

Sun, 11 May 2008 06:23:11 GMT

We're back in the US and recovering from the trip. Annelies is still having a little bit of lag, and I got a weird allergic reaction blister on my neck from an unknown cause, but with some prescribed steroid cream, it's healing nicely.

I've started going through all 1500+ pictures from the trip, and I've put the first set on Flickr. This covers my arrival in Tanzania and the first 24 hours of our safari. This is the travel from Arusha to the Ndutu Lodge in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We had a great driver for the safari named Jojo, and on this first day, we passed by a number of Masai villages before heading off the main road. We saw many, many zebra, wildebeest, and gazelles that day, but the real fun was at dinner when we got to watch the lodge's resident genets hang out on rafters above the lounge area. The next morning, we went on a drive around the lake near there, watching a few sleeping lions, a hard-to-track cheetah, a snake-kicking secretary bird, and some more herd animals. We returned to the lodge for lunch, then headed out to the Serengeti (more on that in the next picture dump).

Big News from Africa

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:49:02 GMT

I'm got a brief moment of Internet connectivity here from the ICTR, so I wanted to post a quick note about the trip to Africa. So far, it's been really wonderful. Safari was great, with us seeing all of the "big 5" animals: lions, leopard, buffalo, rhinos, and elephants. We also saw a huge zebra and wildebeest migration where you were surrounded by these creatures as far as the eye can see. The pictures will be amazing.

However, there is other news. On the third night of the safari, while looking down on the Ngorongoro Crater from our room at the lodge, I asked my girlfriend, Annelies, to marry me. She immediately said yes! We're both very excited. At this time, we know NOTHING about the actual wedding; there will be time to plan all of that out after we move to New York.*

I hope you all are doing well back in the US. Today, we're in downtown Arusha, and tomorrow we fly to Zanzibar. I miss you all, but I'm also having a great and relaxing and romantic time out here.

*Annelies says: sorry to tell you all about this via internet instead of in person- but we're super excited and couldn't wait a week until we're back in telephone-land to let you know!!! (and also the ring is beautiful!!!!!)

Getting Ready to Go

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:42:57 GMT

Unlike Costa Rica, I'm not planning on blogging about the trip to Africa while it's happening. In part, this is due to there being even less technology there, but also because I really want this to be a vacation. I'll have plenty to say about it when we get back.

You might want to catch up on Annelies' travel blog about her stay in Tanzania so far; it's at http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/afrikanya/1/tpod.html. She just wrote about me visiting; apparently, the corn tortillas I'm bringing are going to be put to use in a "taco party". Exciting.

I would have been in the air already if not for KLM canceling their Friday flight to Kilimanjaro from Amsterdam. I learned about this when I was checking my itinerary online yesterday; they didn't send any sort of notification to me, and the first rep I talked to on the phone thought the original flight still existed. They've rerouted me through Minneapolis, London and Nairobi, Kenya now, leaving this afternoon. I get into Kilimanjaro Airport about 15 hours later than originally planned. Fortunately, the safari leaves Sunday morning, so we didn't have to make adjustments for that. After Safari is a day in Arusha then a few days in Zanzibar. I'm very excited.

We're coming back on May 6th. I'm going to take tons of pictures, and I look forward to seeing y'all when I return.

As No Longer Seen on Twitter

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:31:58 GMT

I've decided to suspend my LoudTweet re-postings of my unwiredben Twitters here. I heard back from one fan who was annoyed by them because they always had the same subject line, and it's pretty easy to follow them separately. You can subscribe to them by following either my public feed or the deluxe Ben Combee and Friends feed.

Things About Flying Through Amsterdam

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:25:49 GMT

I was looking at the Schiphol (Amsterdam) Airport website trying to see what I can do during my four hour layover on the way to Tanzania later this week, and I found this passage very illuminating:

"Allow yourself to be surprised by one of the many surprising toilets at Schiphol. You will feel as though you are in the heart of Amsterdam or are being surrounded by Dutch tulips. Location: G-pier and Lounge 2."

Somehow, I never think of toilets as something I want surprising me, but that might just be my cultural insensitivity talking.

Also, in describing the Back to Life Aquamassage at the airport, they say you "can leave your clothes on", which seems to imply that you could also take them off. If that's the case, I'm not sure I want to get into the aquamassage chamber.

Finally, in the "fun for kids" section, they talk about the Grand Café Plaza, which serves "genuine clown pancakes". I never thought clowns would make good pancakes; they might taste funny.

As Seen on Twitter

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:02:12 GMT

20:59 The line for tonight's Negativland concert looks like my kind of crowd: intellectual property reappropriation geeks. #
21:01 I could buy a replacement "Copyright infringement is your best entertainment value" t-shirt from their stand. #
23:14 Intermission time: Negativland handed out blindfolds so you could experience the program like a radio show. Very interesting sound collage! #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

Refreshing Feeds in Google Photos Screensaver

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:08:09 GMT

If you're using the Google Photos Screensaver on Windows to view photos from an RSS feed, you may notice that it doesn't seem to update those feeds so you're always stuck with that's there when you first added it. There's no "Update" button in the settings either.

I found you can get it to refresh by deleting the screensaver's cache directory. This may be hidden from view in Windows Explorer if you don't have the "Show Hidden Files and Folders" option turned on. You can find it by looking in

C:\Documents and Settings\{Your User Name}\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\GBScreensaver

There's a folder called rsscache here. Just delete everything in that folder, and the next time the screen saver activates, it will download fresh content.

As Seen on Twitter

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:03:15 GMT

16:16 Off to Cali again! This week, I work on hooking up <redacted> to <deleted> and making sure <censored> is good before I ... #
17:00 "Thanks" to the readers of Engadget for kicking us in the teeth after six months of quiet, re: Worst 2007 Gadget @ tinyurl.com/6h7w7r #
21:50 Wow. I land in san Jose and the first email I see is from Northwest, announcing their merger with Delta. I think its a good move. #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

As Seen on Twitter

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:02:38 GMT

19:32 Just got seated at the Kids in the Hall show at the Paramount. My seat has a slightly obstructed view due to the balconies on the side. #

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As Seen on Twitter

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:01:35 GMT

10:18 Just got my second round of vaccinations for Tanzania. Health insurance doesn't cover travel shots. Boo! #
20:03 Dusk combined with low grey clouds makes the world appear monochrome tonight. Glad its not the yellow tint of tornado weather. #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

As Seen on Twitter

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 07:02:01 GMT

09:22 I'm at the expo center and credentialed. There were huge lines behind us for parking, but the checkin went quickly once we found our window. #
09:34 They just extended credentialling "indefinitely". They will set cut-off time based on seeing things clear up. #
10:15 Sean Astin (Rudy, LOTR) just gave a two minute speech. He was booed on endorsing Hillary, but cheered on a unity message. #
10:38 Something weird is happening. Most of our Hillary delegates are in a RV in the parking lot, not here in the Pct. 259 section in the stands. #
11:02 Rep Lloyd Doggett speaking: "W stands for worst ever." Sounds like another unity speech. #
11:10 Doggett just endorsed Obama, room exploded with cheers. You definitely get a feel for the room in Travis County. #
11:53 Kirk Watson and Larry Joe "Texas Justice TV Show" Dougherty just gave speeches. Henry for Railroad Commissioner up now. #
12:40 Rep. Mark Strama: "Mayor of Austin is on short list for Barak's VP; ticket would be Obama Will Wynn!" #
13:48 We were about to do our caucus vote, then a guy with a bandana stopped and told us to stop. People have been sent to investigate. Fishy? #
14:03 Yep, we have to wait more... The convention has to adopt the permenent roll which includes the elevated alternates before we vote. #
16:56 Finally ready to leave the Expo Center. As expected, precinct 259 will send 1 Clinton and 2 Obama delegates to State in June. #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

As Seen on Twitter

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:09:08 GMT

16:52 Just got called by "Robobama" reminding me about the Texas county conventions tomorrow... oh I know all about them. I got "trained" on Wed. #
21:57 Warning: I'll probably be doing a lot of pro-Obama convention Twittering tomorrow. Off to bed soon, got to get up for a 7:30AM carpool. #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

As Seen on Twitter

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:04:34 GMT

02:44 Every time I see a Stephen Hawking audiobook on eMusic, I just imagine listening to his robotic voice for eight hours and I shiver & laugh. #
21:21 There's a new cable distribution box on my block; in the evening, its shadow & red glowing light always makes me think it's a Cylon. Chills. #

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As Seen on Twitter

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:03:35 GMT

14:35 Never sit outside at Chuy's in a spot not visible from the server shed; you'll have to fight for attention for refills and checks. #
15:24 Just spotted my first Texas Bluebonnets. Spring has really arrived here in Austin. #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

As Seen on Twitter

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 07:06:19 GMT

21:22 Local HEB grocery store is a mess. Looks like day before Easter is a big day for food shopping. I'm cooking tomorrow, making veggie soup! #
22:54 What if grocery stores could cross-ref your items with ingredient lists to help veg*ns or people w/ allergies avoid buying problem foods #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

As Seen on Twitter

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:06:34 GMT

16:42 Far more people that look like they're in a band than usual at Austin's airport today. The post-SXSW exodus continues. #

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As Seen on Twitter

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:04:15 GMT

02:50 I retract my "yummy". UCB show took forever to start, showed clips that we used on The Show With No Name, and failed to be funny w/ skits. #

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