It doesn't get more fundamental than that. We could be a CRT.

However, I'm sure that soon, son #1 will get promoted to #800080 shortly, so we'll have to switch over to CMYK. ]]> http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/06/suitably_geeky_rgb_karate_fami.html http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/06/suitably_geeky_rgb_karate_fami.html Martial Arts Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:09:47 -0500 nmap, the ultra-handy network scanning program, has the same problem that Microsoft has with estimating time-to-completion: it's a moving target.

It seems that nmap has 30 seconds to go for 5 minutes.

(That particular scan, by the way, took over 30 minutes to complete.)]]> http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/06/nmap_uses_microsoft_time.html http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/06/nmap_uses_microsoft_time.html Tech Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:16:25 -0500 Tora Dojo Martial Arts earlier this evening that I felt it better to just put up some photos.

On 2010 June 7 at 1800, I, along with my co-student Moshe-Chaim Silverstein, were examined for the rank of 1^st degree Black Belt in TDMA by our instructor, Arkady Dudko, and the head of the system, Prof. Harvey Sober. Only 209 "sho-dan" degrees have been given: I was #208.

In our system, exams are cumulative, beginning with the very basics:

and moving on with "kata" (pre-arranged forms):

onto self-defense "one-steps" or "make-ups" (yes, I really did contact my partner's head here):

and so on. I've left out quite a bit--a lot went by in a blur of memory and some of it could have used more polish (so I won't put up those videos/pictures). At the end, there is a symbolic presentation of new clothes, a new black belt is tied on by my instructor:

It is traditional in our system, since our founder was trained in a traditional Chinese fashion, for each new Black Belt to receive a new name in Chinese, representing his lineage. Mine is "强鑚心" (qiang zuan xin), the first part being a family name (qiang), for my teacher's teacher (it means "robust, vigorous"), the second two having the idiomatic meaning of "one who studies studiously to get to the heart of the matter" (study + heart).

I was also blessed to have my family able to attend;

my 3 older sons already participate:

and my youngest just can't wait to get started.

It is a misconception to think that Black Belt is somehow a terminal grading; there are grades above Black Belt (5-10 depending on the formation of the system), and a considerable body of knowledge to obtain in other martial arts. (In my system, one begins with a version of Shotokan karate and progresses on to the Chinese arts after black belt.) This is just a new beginning in training. ]]> http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/06/black_belt.html http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/06/black_belt.html Martial Arts Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:59:59 -0500

...UNTIL the fateful day when my dearest wife Elana found a craigslist posting for a free chinchilla late last week. She "applied" for it, and on Tuesday, got a call from the pet's owner that the chinchilla could, indeed, be ours.

So off to Flushing dearest wife traveled with son #2 to fetch the newest member of the household, Snoopy the chinchilla:

Chinchillas, as you may or may not know, are somewhat crepuscular (not nocturnal)--so Snoopy tends to sleep a lot during the day, almost as if she were narcoleptic, so the most often way I find her is either snoozing

or running around in her exercise wheel.

I'm reasonably certain we're not sure what we're getting into, as chinchillas are not the low-maintenance pets we're used to.

Our aformentioned rabbit is curious about the new family member, but was quite nonplussed this morning when we opened Snoopy's cage door, and she scampered out, ran circles across the hardwood floor (Shafan is skittish about the hardwood floor because he can't get a good grip on it) and under and into our sofa, prompting Elana and me to spend 20 minutes literally shaking the sofa up and down to extract Snoopy, all while son #4 was trying to be helpful by directing Snoopy away from the loud noises Son #4 was making. (At least we got some exercise.)

A chinchilla's expected lifespan is a little longer than a typical rabbit's lifespan (which is longer by a few years than we originally thought, and longer still than the lifespan of a guinea pig), and given that Snoopy is 2 and Shafan is at least 4 (we got him before the birth of Son #4), we're definitely in this for the long haul.

And we're looking forward to it. ]]> http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/06/altzman_family_animal_philanth.html http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/06/altzman_family_animal_philanth.html Family & Friends Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:45:32 -0500

The water superheats, boils immediately, and the steam carries the flaming oil into the air, giving you a rising plume of fire. That's what she got upstairs; the ceiling is now covered in soot.

She is ok; she is only mentally scarred, not physically scarred.

For a vivid demonstration, watch the following (UK) 30 second public service announcment: ]]> http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/04/important_safety_tip_--_do_not.html http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2010/04/important_safety_tip_--_do_not.html Misc. Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:05:54 -0500 PHP's PEAR library of packages has a nice configuration file parsing tool called, aptly enough, Config.php. (It appears to not be well updated--it hasn't been reported touched since 2007.) For most uses, it's pretty convenient and quick to use, especially if you are using and maintaining different types of configuration files, like Windows INI files, for your applications. I seem to have found an interesting quirk in how it processes lines with commas in the text. I have a configuration file with a stanza like:

[files]
fileroot="."
filetypes="Type1,Type 2,Type3,Type4"

What I would like to have happen is that I parse that using regular INIFile rules:

$configRoot =& $config->parseConfig($configFile,"IniFile");
$filesConfig =& $configRoot->getItem("section","files");
$fileRoot=$filesConfig->getItem("directive","fileroot")->getContent();
$fileTypes=$filesConfig->getItem("directive","filetypes")->getContent();

Type1,Type 2,Type3,Type4

filetypes="Type1,○Type2,Type3,Type4"

Type 2,Type3,Type4

filetypes="Type1○,Type 2,Type3,Type4"

Type1○,Type 2,Type3,Type4

var_dump(split(",",$fileTypes))

array
  0 => string 'Type1' (length=5)

  1 => string 'Type 2' (length=6)
  2 => string 'Type3' (length=5)

  3 => string 'Type4' (length=5)

array
  0 => string 'Type 2' (length=6)

  1 => string 'Type3' (length=5)
  2 => string 'Type4' (length=5)

array
  0 => string 'Type1 ' (length=6)

  1 => string 'Type 2' (length=6)
  2 => string 'Type3' (length=5)

  3 => string 'Type4' (length=5)

And so now we start a fresh new decade. It seems to be an American tradition to come up with resolutions for the New Year to do things (we Jews have been doing this for our New Year celebrations, which tend to be much more sober affairs than secular New Years, for generations.), and so as not to break with this tradition, I offer mine own insights and hopes for the new year, both personal and professional.

Personally, I'm hoping to achieve a number of things, including finishing off the last 20 lbs or so of weight loss I've been working on (I'm about halfway there -- ideally I'd like to be under 200 lbs, which is a place I've not been since I was about 17 years old) and I have incentives this year in that I'm hoping to test for Black Belt in my karate organization (which does not officially require me to lose the weight, but sure, it has held be back and continues to hold me back.) I'm reasonably confident that I'll be able to do it "this year for sure", since coming into 2009 I had no idea that I'd ever be able to run 5 kilometers, and I managed to hit that a few times before I damaged my achilles tendon during the summer...

Professionally, I've got a number of goals, among them:

1. Updating my company's website 3 Phase Computing -- that link points to the old site, not the new one
2. I, personally, have never really been into marketing, but this has to change now, as 3 Phase has to grow, so I've decided to begin marketing in a truly geek fashion: by writing papers and software to establish a name, rather than make vague promises backed up by smoke and mirrors. So this part is to actually write papers/blog entries (not here) and post them to the corporate website. I'm also counting on the abilities of my talented co-workers as well.
3. I have a Ph.D. already, so in some cases having a long string of professional certifications in addition may label me as more of a "test-taker" than a "do-er". Nonetheless, just for my own edification, so I know that I know some material, I'm sitting a few of these exams. If it turns out that presenting these additional certifications helps with marketing, then all the better, but I'm not counting on it.
4. Finally, although I don't spend much of my time writing code any more, my resolution in this regard is to write better code so I don't need to purchase offsets for my ... code. Luckily, this is a relatively easy resolution to keep, because I have so many other hands who are looking at my code and complaining to me about it.
5. There is a long list of new technologies that I've not sufficiently explored or played with:
   • ZFS and Solaris Containers, and upgrading my develoment environment to FreeBSD 8.
   • While I've used VMWare quite a bit in the past, trying some of the new, fancy features in the enterprise suite are things that I need to definitely get my hands on more frequently,
   • Some other smaller projects, like network shell
   • Larger, new programming areas, like Python 3
   • And of course, there is the whole new NoSQL/Document database burgeoning movement that has captured so much mindshare and intellectual energy recently.

I just received a call from an "IT recruiter" (I don't remember who, and it doesn't matter who, really), who started off the conversation by breathlessly exclaiming:

"I need to speak to someone about a network problem."

Um, who is this?

"Is this the IT department? I need to speak to the IT manager."

Um, that would be me. Who are you trying to reach? Who are you?

"I'm so-and-so, this is the number that they forwarded me to."

Um, there is no "they", we have an auto-attendant. Who is this again?

"I got your number from J. Random Otherperson."
I don't know them, but OK. Who are you?

"I'm so-and-so, and I'm with an IT recruiting firm, and I wanted to know if blah blah you had any projects blah blah" (Yeah, I figured this out by now, but I wanted to let it play out.)

Hi, well, why did you give me this whole story instead of just coming out and saying it? I don't like being told stories to. To tell you the truth, we're not inclined to want to work with people who lie to us. I certainly don't like being told a whole cock-and-bull story to get my attention. Thank you very much. Good-bye. <click>

I certainly would have listened and been polite and told the recruiter at the outset that no, we're not interested in talking to recruiters right now (and I know it's a very tough market for them, I really do not belittle their pain) but sleazy sales tactics in a field where success is defined a whole lot by trust just doesn't seem like a good plan--I suppose if you're using the "spammer" mentality of "try 100,000 and if 0.01% gets through, that's 10 sales" it might work, if you only had a short-term goal. But the good recruiters I've dealt with (and I've dealt with quite a few) spent time to cultivate a relationship of trust with clients, both on the buy and sell sides (i.e. employers and potential employees).

I hope it's not the same way in every sales arena.

The whole climate change stuff has really split the physics community. Behold the following letter I just received.

(I add my own commentary at the bottom.)

Dear fellow member of the American Physical Society:

This is a matter of great importance to the integrity of the Society. It is being sent to a random fraction of the membership, so we hope you will pass it on.

By now everyone has heard of what has come to be known as ClimateGate, which was and is an international scientific fraud, the worst any of us have seen in our cumulative 223 years of APS membership. For those who have missed the news we recommend the excellent summary article by Richard Lindzen in the November 30 edition of the Wall Street journal, entitled "The Climate Science isn't Settled," for a balanced account of the situation. It was written by a scientist of unquestioned authority and integrity. A copy can be found among the items at http://tinyurl.com/lg266u, and a visit to http://www.ClimateDepot.com can fill in the details of the scandal, while adding spice.

What has this to do with APS? In 2007 the APS Council adopted a Statement on global warming (also reproduced at the tinyurl site mentioned above) that was based largely on the scientific work that is now revealed to have been corrupted. (The principals in this escapade have not denied what they did, but have sought to dismiss it by saying that it is normal practice among scientists. You know and we know that that is simply untrue. Physicists are not expected to cheat.)

We have asked the APS management to put the 2007 Statement on ice until the extent to which it is tainted can be determined, but that has not been done. We have also asked that the membership be consulted on this point, but that too has not been done.

None of us would use corrupted science in our own work, nor would we sign off on a thesis by a student who did so. This is not only a matter of science, it is a matter of integrity, and the integrity of the APS is now at stake. That is why we are taking the unusual step of communicating directly with at least a fraction of the membership.

If you believe that the APS should withdraw a Policy Statement that is based on admittedly corrupted science, and should then undertake to clarify the real state of the art in the best tradition of a learned society, please send a note to the incoming President of the APS ccallan@princeton.edu, with the single word YES in the subject line. That will make it easier for him to count.

Bob Austin, Professor of Physics, Princeton
Hal Lewis, emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Will Happer, Professor of Physics, Princeton
Larry Gould, Professor of Physics, Hartford
Roger Cohen, former Manager, Strategic Planning, ExxonMobil

By the way, the folks signing this, they're not nobodies--they're major players in the world of physics, and widely respected.

The whole climate change problem is FAR from over, the major scientific societies are at each others' throats over this whole mess.

This whole tempest is over what constitutes legitimate "massaging" of data, and whether or not the climate scientists whose email was released did so. (There are many things one does with the raw data to normalize it in order to make sure you are comparing apples to apples, etc.) I have not spent enough time looking into what exactly these scientists did to their data, but none of them (as has been mentioned) is denying what they did.

One of the major tenets of scientific research is to be skeptical about all theories and data, requiring falsifiability for theories and independent repeatability for experiments. Unfortunately, climatology does not readily admit to either one--we can't well set up a controlled environment comparable to Earth, nor can we repeat long-term measurements. (Make no bones about it, too: there is much hemming and hawing about the validity and accuracy of the raw data, which contributes in large part to the statistical massaging that MUST be done in order for the data to be sensibly used in any climate model!) There are clear indications that something is going on--recent data on polar ice sheets are indisputable, but like everything else in science, without a model, one cannot know why the ice sheets are melting.

Unlike the other instances of scientific misconduct coming out recently (think the Bell Labs debacle of a few years back), this particular instance *begs* one to ask: cui bono? If there's something wrong going on, why is it going on? Who stands to benefit from all this?

Practically speaking, all this doesn't mean we shouldn't personally still reduce consumption and output of hydrocarbons, nor should we renege on our commitment to find alternative energy sources (without energy growth, our economy will come crashing to a halt, and the whole "Peak <X>" problem [for <X> in "natural gas","oil","water"] is a statement of mathematics, as indisputable as any other part of math--and the diminishing ability to produce more energy is certainly an issue) However, whether one should support, for example, "cap&trade" for emissions, or other new public policies that are based on science that is now cast into doubt, and come with extremely wide-ranging consequences, is something that you should very much reconsider. If anthropogenic climate change really is occurring, we do need to take active steps; if not, or if the effects are of equivalent order of magnitude to other naturally occurring events, one can still engage in them, but certainly you should not justify these policies with cries about impending climate doom--especially when sooner than climate doom we are facing major energy growth problems. ]]> http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2009/12/climate_change_scientific_misb.html http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2009/12/climate_change_scientific_misb.html Random Rants Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:03:10 -0500 Heads up 1&1 users:

If you use IMAP to access your email at 1and1.com, you'll need to subscribe to a new folder called "Sent Items" to replace your "Sent" folder, and a new "Spam" folder in addition to a "Junk" folder (if you had it).

If you use Thunderbird, you should get the FolderFlags extension and use it to set the flag on your "Sent Messages" folder to "sent"

You may also need to check to see if you're subscribed to the new folders (if it doesn't appear automatically for you) and you may also want to set the 'Junk' flag on the 'Spam' folder. You'll also want to make sure that you configure Thunderbird to save your messages automatically in the new folder under Tools | Account settings:

If you use Outlook, you have to make substantially similar changes...

Of course, the email from 1&1 doesn't mention anything (read on)...and don't get me started about the whole "2.0" nomenclature (tagging along with "Web 2.0 Expo" that I just attended...that's a subject for a Random Rant)]]> http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2009/11/changes_11_imap_folders_etc.html http://www.jbaltz.com/weblog/2009/11/changes_11_imap_folders_etc.html Tech Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:52:02 -0500