Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:35 PM

Weekend All Things Considered is talking about April Fools' Jokes!

Not any of this year's pranks, but one I pulled back at Lotus when I tried to register Boopsie as my domestic partner.

Audio will be available about 7 pm Eastern time.

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:55 PM

Tales of the Cocktail is an annual conference for bartenders and cocktail historians, taking place this July in New Orleans.

Registration information went online this week, but (much to my disappointment) the conference schedule is listed alphabetically by day, rather than offering a more utilitarian chronological arrangment.

So, I reorganized it for usability.

Having done so for my own use, it wasn't that much more effort to post it for everyone's benefit.

So, without further ado, may I present the

Tales of the Cocktail 2008 Schedule

Next up, figuring out whether we attend. [It sounds fascinating and I want to go, but at $175 for day passes or $625 for the full conference... we're considering it.]

PS: If you find this helpful, let me know in the comments, to help me decide whether to post this kind of thing in the future.

Posted by Lis Riba at 2:30 PM

In Why we eat what we eat: how the encounter between the New World and the Old changed the way everyone on the planet eats, Raymond Sokolov begins with the first landfalls of Christopher Columbus, quoting his log:

[Columbus sighted] what must have been an iguana, “a serpent” about six feet long, which “we killed with lances” and presumably ate, since he attests that “the meat is white and tastes like chicken.”

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:58 AM

Skiffy blog IO9 dug up a 1955 Disney clip on the hazards of cocktails in zero-gravity.

One commenter replied with:

Dear lord! I hadn't really thought about it, but there are quite a few mixed drinks that require gravity for them to set right. How the hell do you get a proper Black & Tan?

I showed that to Ian, who provided an immediate reply:

In concentric spheres.

Though, he also added that

he still hasn't figured out what the Guinness carbonation would do. It must be experimentally determined!!!!

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:56 AM

LolGrues!

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:11 AM

AAUGH!
I think I rickrolled myself.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:45 AM

Although we didn't do this for April Fools' Day, we did pull another prank recently that I haven't yet blogged.

A month or two ago, I found a vintage sign for sale with the message:

So, Ian and I decided to buy one and secretly hang it on his parents' front door.

To understand what makes this a particularly appropriate prank, you ought to know that:

• My in-laws never use their front door; everybody uses the back door.
• My in-laws were authentic hippies since the 1960s. [They've been heard to dispute this, but they're wrong.]
• The arrow on the sign points the correct direction from their front door to their back door.

It took a little doing until we found a time we could be certain they'd be away from home.

In order to put up the sign, we actually had to relocate a Post-It note pointing visitors to the back door.

And then we sat back and kept our mouths shut while we waited for them to discover it.

[We did tell Ian's sister, and took bets over when that might happen.]

None of us expected them to spot the sign as quickly as they did.

One week later, on my mother-in-law's birthday, she saw an arriving car through the living room window. Deciding to shorten her friend's walk, they opened the front door.

And saw the sign.

Mind you, given that the house was full of guests, they immediately pinned the blame on one of their friends who was there -- not realizing the sign had been up for over a week.

We 'fessed up, to get that friend off the hook.

And my in-laws like the sign so much, they've decided to keep it.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:48 AM

I'll confess, when I heard yesterday's unseasonably warm weather forecast on the morning radio, I had to double- and triple-check to make sure I wasn't being hoaxed.

Wikipedia has a decent roundup of various happenings yesterday.

Rickrolling was popular this year. So were surprise redirects.
Google released multiple pranks, with separate stunts by different regional and products divisions.

A few others that caught my eye:

• This advert for Guinness
• US to scrap dollar and join the euro?
• Doctorow releases Self under Creative Commons License
• Livejournal Announces New Policy: Electric Shocks to Be Administered to All Non-Ad-Viewing Users

And while Google Book Search - Scratch-and-sniff was amusing, I think they really should've taken the extra step and organized something to coordinate with the International Edible Book Festival. Maybe next year...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:40 AM

Also, ran out of time last night to post this:

As far as I'm concerned, it's beyond rude to mess with somebody else's computer configuration without permission.

So here are some pranks I won't be playing on April Fools' Day -- this or any year.

Consider these inspiration or warning signs:

• I will not install a Blue Screen of Death screensaver -- especially not on machines used by developers or QA.

  Bluescreen cycles between different Blue Screens and simulated boots ... Virtually all the information shown on Bluescreen's BSOD and system start screen is obtained from your system configuration - its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers.

• I will not take a screenshot of somebody's desktop or window and use it to mislead the user into thinking it's real and somehow nonfunctional
• I will not remap anybody's mouse buttons (or computer keyboard). [Though, unplugging either -- which is more easily detectable -- does seem somewhat tempting.]
• I will not change their language settings or add tyops to their speelchecker

You get the idea.

While writing up this list, I came upon a bevy of downloadable prank applets @ ComputerPranks.com and RJL Software.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:48 PM

We secretly replaced random items from around my workplace with Folgers Crystals to see whether anybody would notice the difference.

By the copiers:	Outside somebody's office:
In the ladies' restroom:	And on whiteboards:

We also replaced a speaker-phone in one of the conference rooms, somebody's cubicle chotchke, and a fellow employee (we left the coffee and sign on her chair).

Had a lot of fun perpetrating it, and -- though coworkers seemed puzzled by matters of who, when, and how -- everybody generally seemed amused by it.

But wait! That's not all!

I also hacked the network printers in the building, changing the standard Ready message to something a bit more whimsical:

For those who are wondering how I did it, here's where I learned it from:

• INSERT COIN
• Using Perl with Windows
• Undoing INSERT COIN and Related Ideas
• Get the Weather on your HP 4200
• Redeeming Social Value

I reverted the messages at the end of the day.

PS: My deepest thanks to Ian, for his support.

Not only did he come up with the Folgers idea, make the purchases while I was at work, and help me with implementation...

...but I will never forget what he said when I left for work this morning.

Me: Worst case scenario, they ask me to pack up my desk and leave.

Ian: No, you could be arrested.

Thanks, love.

At any rate, I think I fairly successfully diverted suspicion from myself.

I'm curious to see which of my coworkers notice this confession and how it spreads around the office...

I just realized that my quarterly review is tomorrow.

I don't suppose this counts as the kind of accomplishment to mention before my manager...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:40 AM

April first is The International Edible Book Festival. No fooling!

This is the first time in quite a while that the event doesn't conflict with Passover.

Still, it's become my tradition on this day to blog a photo of our wedding cake.

Being SF fans, bibliophiles, geeks and punsters, not only did we use actual titles for every layer, but each one had significance. From the bottom it provided a concise history of our relationship. Although there are multiple layers of meaning, here's the short story:

Foundation by Isaac Asimov:

Everything lasting -- relationships and cakes -- ought to be built upon a solid foundation.

Neuromancer by William Gibson:

After being friends for a while, our relationship changed as we began our new romance.

Ringworld by Larry Niven:

How better to describe the wedding ceremony with its jewelry exchange?

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett:

And finally, it's considered lucky to save the top layer of the cake for the one year anniversary (which we did; it was delicious).

PS: For our tenth anniversary, I'm thinking we'll reprise this style of dessert, but maybe with smaller cakes so we can spotlight more titles:

• Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
• Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
• Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
• The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
• Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

Anybody hungry?

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:21 AM

REQUEST FOR URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL ASSISTANCE

Dear General Kenobi

First, I must Solicit your Strictest Confidence in This Transaction. This is by Virtue of Its Nature as being Utterly Confidential And 'TOP SECRET'. I am sure and have Confidence of your Ability and Reliability to Prosecute A Transaction of this Great Magnitude Involving a Pending Transaction Requiring Maximum Confidence.

I am Miss Leia Organa the Only Daughter of His Serene Highness, Prince Bail Prestor Organa, First Chairman and Viceroy of Alderaan, former Imperial Senator and Hero in the Clone Wars.

Now he Begs you to Help Him in his Struggle against the Empire. I Regret that I am Unable to Present my Father's Request to you In Person, but my Ship has Fallen Under Attack.

Our Bank Accounts both Here and Abroad are being Frozen by the Imperial Senate. Furthermore, we are Under Threat of Detention by the Grand Moff for Interrogation about my Father's Assets and some Vital Documents.

By Virtue of our Position as Civil Servants and Members of the Royal House of Alderaan, we Cannot Regain this Money Under our own Names.

I have therefore been Delegated to look for an Overseas Partner into whose Account we would Transfer the sum of Twenty-Six Million, Four Hundred Thousand Galactic Standard Credits (26,400,000.00) for Safekeeping. Hence we are Sending you this Message in the Memory Systems of This R2 Unit.

One Wonders really the Present Administration cannot allow the House of Organa to rest. Everyday, it is Organa this and Organa that, one thing that Marvels the Reasoning Mind is that some of these Drones are still serving in Palpatine's Govt ... People are Realizing that Chancellor Valorum is not really the Evil Genius but these men were.

Be Rest Assured that This Transaction is 100% Risk Free as all Modalities have been put in place for a Smooth and Successful Conclusion. Should you be Intrested in Assisting Us, I will Not Hesistate to Furnish you with the Access Code of the Secret Account.

My Father will Know how to Retrieve it. You Must see This Droid safely Delivered to him in Alderaan. This is our Most Desperate Hour.

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my Only Hope.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:40 PM

One of the reasons things have been so hectic at work is that we've been shortstaffed. May seem hard to believe in the current economic climate, but we are hiring.

Not only that, but there are so many openings, we're holding a Career Fair and Open House: Thursday, April 10 from 4 - 8 pm

And it's not just technical positions; we also need writers, editors, and abstractors, managers and administrative assistants.

Though, if you are a techie, we have plenty of openings.

The company is located in the outer 'burbs of Boston, right next to a commuter rail stop. It's a great place to work, and business is booming.

Follow this link to the job listings

If you have further questions about the company or positions, leave me a comment and I'll answer what I can.
[I make it a point not to blog identifiably about my employer, but we can take things to email.]

Note: If the company hires somebody I refer and that person stays at the job for six (6) months, I can earn a bonus. If you see any positions that interest you, please drop me a note so I can write you a referral and get the credit.

Thanks, and good luck.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:23 PM

Couple links for things which came up in conversation yesterday:

 Sight: A Rose by any other name

Here's an experiment: Ask thousands of people to identify color swatches and then plot them in a color wheel.

Dolores Labs did this and created an Interactive Color Explorer.

Ever wonder at the difference between between lavender and lilac? How about taupe vs. ecru?

They've also posted their dataset for others to play with. Martin Wattenberg of IBM Research created a tag cloud, though it appears to be a static image and not interactive. Jeff Clark created a 3D explorer

First seen on Boing Boing, where commenters mentioned the Pantone naming scheme and a similar study conducted at HP which has been compiled into a color thesaurus and color zeitgeist.

 Sound: Ringing in your ears

Ultrasonic-Ringtones.com offers a hearing test of ultrasonic ringtones and turned it into a meme.

Stopping at the highest pitch which actually sounds like a tone, I'm normal for my age group:

You are a thirtysomething

You're a little frustrated that you can't hear all the tones that the young 'uns can but will be more than happy if it means you don't have to listen to their damn ringtones on the bus anymore. The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 14.9kHz

Find out which ultrasonic ringtones you can hear!

However, I can still hear many of the higher pitched sounds, though the audio merely registers as a static hiss.

Judging purely by audibility, I score much higher:

You aren't even a teenager yet!

Your hearing rules! You're either quite young or you've looked after your ears. The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 19.9kHz

Find out which ultrasonic ringtones you can hear!

And everything above that is silent.

 Taste of the past

The books I mentioned over lunch were:

• Pickled, potted, and canned: how the art and science of food preserving changed the world by Sue Shephard
• Goldberger's war: the life and work of a public health crusader by Alan M. Kraut, about pellagra and the discovery of niacin

Also, two MIT OpenCourseWare classes:

• Kitchen Chemistry and
• Advanced Kitchen Chemistry

 PS: Final note

One other quote about the Caltech basketball team that I liked, but didn't fit in my previous entry.

From a 2006 L.A. Times story:

During the handshake line after one loss a couple of years ago, the opponents were dismissively greeting the Beavers with, "Great game, now go find a cure for cancer."

One of the players on that team, Gustavo Olm, finally fired back.

"When I do find a cure for cancer," he said, "I ain't giving it to you."

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:40 PM

Great day yesterday: hung out with good friends, had some good converation, good meal and good drinks, good books, and saw a good movie.

Quantum Hoops, which I blogged last week, is largely a history of NCAA basketball at Caltech, centered around the 2006 team's efforts to break their 21-year 240-game losing streak.

But, as coach Roy Dow pointed out in the post-film Q&A, “these are not lovable losers. They're incredibly competitive.”

This time of year (during March Madness), we often hear stories about the dismal graduation rates for players on the top-ranked teams. The Caltech students shown in the film are all taking a full classload in addition to their sports. Which, director Rick Greenwald pointed out, is probably true for most college athletes. Unfortunately, those teams aren't the ones which attract the press coverage.

[The film is dedicated to Division III student-athletes -- students who receive no financial aid related to their athletic skills playing for athletic departments that are staffed and funded like any other department in the university.]

Coach Roy Dow has a tough job -- and it was his persistence that first attracted Greenwald to the story.

And if Roy Dow ever writes an advice book on coaching and managing, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. You get to hear some of his pep-talks during the film, and he's quite inspirational. They're not online, but here are a few quotes I've managed to dig up:

PS: Both MIT and CalTech have NCAA Division III sports teams. Why aren't they competing against one another? Given their existing rivalries, one would think this would be a natural -- an event like the Harvard/Yale or Army/Navy games.