During tonight’s review lecture on the exploratory uses of GIS and mapping, the instructor referred to the “diarrhea maps” in London. He corrected himself right away, having meant John Snow’s maps of cholera in London, but I couldn’t help but think of Jackson Pollock and what diarrhea maps might look like.
Red-Eye reduction for pets
Dear Apple,
The red-eye reduction tool in iPhoto is great, but how about adding yellow/green-eye reduction for dogs and cats?
Thai Roundup
Michelle and I finally finished trying the thai restaurants on Alberta
last week with some take-out from Monsoon. Each of the four places
some variations but there was a common set of items at each. Of the
four (Siam Society, Thai Noon, Monsoon, and Halo), we’ve only had
multiple visits to Thai Noon, so the opinion we’ve formed is subject
to change. In fact, we hope to increase our sampling over time. Here’s
how things stand so far – in chronological order by our sampling.
Thai Noon
This place fills the neighborhood with wonderful smells and seems to
draw a faithful crowd most nights. Most of the dishes seem somewhat
mediocre but have become a modern comfort food. Like mashed potatoes
or mac and cheese. There are some highlights so far, like their
pumpkin curry, tempura pumpkin, and Michelle thinks they make a great
veggie fried rice. The pad thai (litmus test 1) is average and without
spice. The staff have always been great, and you can get a cheap beer
with dinner and enjoy it with your dog outside. They’ve recently
started some expansion, which seems to be part of a gustatory arms
race taking place on Alberta St.
Halo Thai
The day we placed a bid on the house, we came back in the evening to
walk the neighborhood. We met a few people who thought Halo was the
better of the two (at the time). We tried it shortly thereafter with
my Grandparents and found this to have been correct. The pad thai was
spicy and unique and all the dishes were better than average. Each
place lists catfish on their special menu but Halo’s is the best we’ve
had so far. Dishes here seem to be crispier and drier.
Siam Society
This place is upscale compared to the rest. Definitely a San Francisco
or New York experience compared to the rest. It was the only place I
even gave a moments consideration to my dress. This place is elegant
and modern and everything from the decoration to the service to the
food fits a fancier niche. Still, it’s not exclusive, and the waiter
was cordial and the chef actually came to see how we liked our meal.
The meal, by the way, was fantastic. The pad thai was tart and sweet
and spicy and delicious. The eggplant stir fry easily popped in to my
top five list for eggplant dishes. Even the tea here was great. This
of course comes at a slight premium. Dishes may cost $1-3 more here,
but considering the quality, it is worth it to splurge on occasion.
Monsoon
We almost missed when this changed from E-Zs grill to Monsoon. The
small space barely fits a kitchen so there’s precious little dining
room, but it seems to be full on many nights. We got takeout, which
seems to be roughly half of the business. The pad thai was on the
moister side but the tofu quite tasty. The prah rahm a slight
variation on the dish and with more vegetables and less sauce than
most, but still quite good. Not really much make an opinion with, but
enough to know we can try it again.
Overall, I think we need a larger sampling before passing a final
judgment, but Siam Society and Halo seem to have a leg up on taste so
far.
Voicemail of the day
I got this voicemail when calling an instructor. Made my day.
’til the juice runs down my sleeve
I picked up an apple on the way out the door this morning and regretted the move after my first bite. It was a wet apple that dripped after every bite. The worst of the damage was from a large trickle that dropped from the apple down my shirt sleeve. It ran all the way down to my elbow. Sticky.
meat v. pixels
Managing meat is so much more challenging than pixels.
Bike challenge 2005 roundup
Yesterday was my 49th bike commute to work. I got a flat tire on the ride and had to catch a bus the rest of the way. I’m going to count it since I did get 6 miles in and I feel like I kept the spirit of the goal. Still – I was one ride short for the year so I’m extending the goal into next year. I have to ride to work 50 times in the coming year.
Now – to figure out how to change a road tire. They’re so small.
simpsons triva calendar 2005
Talk about stink. I only got 54% of this year’s trivia calendar right. Ewww.
WWII Cloth Maps
Over christmas my mother gave me some maps/charts that my Grandma had. They’re charts of the Pacific ocean with currents and political boundaries printed on some sort of fabric. This site suggests that the maps are printed on rayon, though others say silk. Apparently the idea came out of MI9, a sub-unit of British Intelligence as a means to provide compact, foldable maps that could be used for troops to escape capture and return safely. I’m not sure what the exact intent of these maps was, or what my great-uncle used them for, but they’re pretty damn cool.
The two I got (well, three – but two are duplicates) are an Army-Air Force series of Japan and the South China Sea (No. C-52) and a Naval Air Combat Intelligence-Hydrographic Office map of the Western Pacific with two sides for different currents during different seasons (NACI-HO No. S-12). The idea for the maps is pretty dark but really quite functional and they have definitely stood up well over time. I wonder how one goes about printing on silk with an ink-jet?
This one has the Bikini Atoll on it, which is one of those places you really hope you didn’t find yourself during WWII. Imagine looking for landmarks and seeing a mushroom cloud. That’d really inspire you to keep trying to find your way back to civilization.
We’re trying to think of something cool to do with the maps but it’s hard to decide because both sides have something. I’d feel guilty about making some boxers out of it, and well, scarfs just aren’t my thing.
First Gallery with SD550
I’ve posted the first set of photos taken with the SD550. I really like the Color Accent feature, which you’ll notice in several pictures. The camera lets you select a color (like the photoshop eyedropper) and it then highlights that and changes the rest to grayscale.
I also use the stitch assist last night but the picture itself isn’t that good. More to come though.
Lastly – I’ve changed the image resolution to 800×600, so the images will be a little bigger from now on. What’s the point of hosting at home if you can’t overuse disk space?