Download ntob.tgz

$ ./ntob  -h
ntob, version 1.01

usage: ./ntob -o <output base> -n <input value> [-i <input base>] [-h]

N to Base: Convert a number from one base to another. Bases can be anything from 2 to 36.
Input base defaults to 10. Bases beyond 16 use the alphabet as you'd expect.

Examples:

$ ntob -o 2 -n 10             # convert 10 to binary
1010

$ ntob -o 10 -n 1010 -i 2     # and back
10

$ ntob -o 8 -n 10             # convert 10 to octal
12

$ ntob -o 16 -n 10            # base 16 A is equal to decimal 10
A

$ ntob -o 36 -n 35            # base 36 Z is equal to decimal 35
Z

$ ntob -o 36 -n  1767707668033969
HELLOWORLD

Data from http://www.lcra.org/water/conditions/historical.html

Levels from 1940 to Updated 2010/03/08.

Obviously this has been a cold winter for we Austinites. My propane bill in my new house has been shockingly high. So, I did a little noodling to see just how true that is.

I found the requisite data here http://www.wunderground.com/

I chose to look at the average temperatures for Dec, Jan and Feb of last winter and this one. I found that the average temperature for last winter (08/09) was 56 degrees. And the average temperature for this Dec,Jan,Feb was 48 degrees.

90 days of temperatures from Dec 1 to March 31; Click on the image to open a new window with just the chart.

During single-minded work time, people are ideally in a state that psychologists call flow. Flow is a condition of deep, nearly meditative involvement. In this state, there is a gentle sense of euphoria, and one is largely unaware of the passage of time: “I began to work. I looked up and three hours had passed.” There is no consciousness of effort; the work just seems to, well, flow. You’ve been in this state often, so we don’t have to describe it to you.

Not all work roles require that you attain a state of flow in order to be productive, but for anyone involved in engineering, design, development, writing, or like tasks, flow is a must. These are high-momentum tasks. It’s only when you’re in flow that the work goes well.

Unfortunately, you can’t turn on flow like a switch. It takes a slow descent into the subject, requiring fifteen minutes or more of concentration before the state is locked in. During this immersion period, you are particularly sensitive to noise and interruption. A disruptive environment can make it difficult or impossible to attain flow.

Once locked in, the state can be broken by an interruption that is focused on you (your phone, for instance) or by insistent noise (”Attention! Paging Paul Portulaca. Will Paul Portulaca please call extension…”). Each time you’re interrupted, you require an additional immersion period to get back into flow. During this immersion, you’re not really doing work.

-Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, “Brain Time Versus Body Time”, Peopleware

If you own a GSM phone then there are several codes that can be entered to tell the network how to handle incoming calls and more. These codes are not really considered secrets, but they are poorly documented by service providers.
(more…)

“easy but time consuming… makes you want to eat a bullet” - supervette describing his MIS final, but thinking it was said about him!

LSMs: I will maintain the calendar here until such time that the LSM website can be updated.

2009 Programs Calendar:

May 5: SOS Alliance Execuive Director Bill Bunch
“…protecting the Edwards Aquifer, its springs and contributing streams, and the natural and cultural heritage of the Hill Country region and its watersheds, with special emphasis on Barton Springs”

June 2: LCRA Senior Engineer Ron Anderson
An overview of LCRA with particular emphasis on water supply issues. So you have a high IQ, so what? How’s your Water IQ?

July 7: Mensan Linda Edelstein, an Enrolled Agent and retired IRS
revenue agent, will give a presentation on important changes in the tax
code. Learn what actions you can take before the end of the year to take
advantage of some of the latest benefits.

August 4: Mensan Phil Ryals with the Goodwill
Computer Museum will provide a presentation on the museum.
http://www.austincomputerworks.org/museum/index.html

September 1 Dr. Clare Wuellner, Executive Director of the Center for Inquiry Austin. http://www.centerforinquiry.net/austin The Center for Inquiry Austin offers an opportunity to join other rationalists to work for positive change in society. In addition, the Austin Center sponsors social events for freethinkers as well as intellectual programming, and assists with campus outreach. It is critical that rationalists and freethinkers join together to protect civil liberties, defend reason, and work toward increasing scientific literacy. Come find out how CFI Austin is working to make our corner of the world a more reasoned place.

October 6 2009 Ricardo Guerrero of Stwittergy.com will give a presentation on Twitter.

http://www.mikesofamerica.com

I heard a guy today say that his two year old can operate his iPhone.

Everyone knows that an iPhone is easy to use. But I hadn’t actually heard of a two year old using one. This illustrates the fact that it is in fact designed to such a low common denominator that, apparently, one need only have the IQ of a two year old to operate it, even if only to some limited degree.

This observation begs a few questions; if a device is designed for the average two year old brain what are the implications for the adult user? Does that mean the device will necessarily be limited? Or does it mean that it could possibly have some ill effect(s) on the adult, i.e. by treating an adult like a two year old do they start to behave like one, even if in only subtle limited ways?

Is it in some way insulting to the adult psyche for him/her to know that this device which they think is so cool and useful, and which they may well think of themselves as technically savvy for owning and using one, is actually designed for the 2 year old IQ? Lets find out.

Everytime you see someone wearing their iPhone as a badge of honor ask them if they know that it was designed for a two year old IQ?

Then ask them if there are other devices, toys designed for two year olds that they use and enjoy?