the right tool for the right job
Jan 27, 2012
Jan 17, 2012
waiting can be fun
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Jan 14, 2012
the last two weeks: highlights
write
library run
write
need another book
library run
write
discard writing
coffee
drink 30 year-old two buck chuck
coffee
soup
coffee
fruitcake
write
"this is the wrong book."
library
revise
scotch
kale
revise
"let's talk about the semantics of this metabolic pathway"
torta from mike and patty's (exc)
nap
initiate transfer of domains to namecheap
godaddy representative: "i am sorry but i cannot explain why this harebrained godaddy policy exists [in contravention of ICANN's policies]" (i paraphrase liberally)
become infuriated by godaddy
beer
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Jan 10, 2012
Jan 8, 2012
Jan 6, 2012
the type itself
The type—almost the only type in existence from the original Caslon foundry—survived almost unused at Oxford because the opportunities for printing Etruscan were naturally so limited as to be virtually non-existent.typefoundry writes infrequent articles on typographic history that are well worth reading.
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Labels: care, design, execution success, history, technology, type, type craft
Jan 5, 2012
Jan 4, 2012
learning to eat
the child learns quickly how to convert the measurable chemical and physical stimuli reaching it from the exterior into an esthetic estimate of quality—the transfiguration of mathematics into emotion. It discovers what it likes and what it does not like within the ecology of which it is a part—the biological ecology (the plants and animals it eats because they occupy the same habitat) and the social ecology (the eating habits of the society in which it lives). Once learned, these judgments harden into prejudices. That is why it takes so long for an unfamiliar food to be accepted in regions uneducated to appreciate it.
waverley root, food, p394
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Jan 1, 2012
the occasional annual ramble
home for three weeks in january for a wedding in the family, i discovered the beginnings of a coffee culture in singapore, one that gets the coffee right and the space too (here and here). reports from the field suggest that third (or even fourth) wave cafes are proliferating with astounding speed. i also discovered that food in singapore, once effortlessly and inexpensively tasty and full of heart, is now depressingly pricey and mediocre. i stopped in tokyo on the way back to cambridge. i'm glad to have seen japan again before the tsunami and fukushima devastated the country. it remains one of the few places where things are done right. we had a remarkable and understated dinner at tsuru ni tachibana that remains high on my incomplete list of nearly perfect meals (also see these frustrating updates from our field correspondent, who lives close by).
spring came, damply. i went to dc several times to visit a field site. my respect for their operation grows and grows. each visit was the occasion for some informative drinking with the person behind the quite fine selections at ledroit. some long negotiations bore fruit, opening the way to a summer in denmark and the uk. meanwhile, the landlord at 32 chatham st, finally realising the value of his property, raised the rent by 25%. it was a nice apartment—but not that nice. i disposed variously of 50% of my stuff, in preparation for moving.
the fall was brilliant: warm and dry. a good growing season in the northeast, so the markets overflowed (the apples were particularly good this year, if difficult to identify). it was not perfect weather for making kimchi, but the process seemed to work anyway. late in the season, various individuals converged on stockbridge, MA; some of us made a return visit to nudel, in lenox. we hope this will be an annual event.
now, we are in the depths of winter, but fall hasn't really left us. other than several hours of wet slush during a visit from some detroit food entrepreneurs and a few isolated flakes on christmas morning, we have had no snow. this winter has been unseasonably warm, in contrast with last winter which was brutal and involved many days of wintry mix and glassy frozen sidewalks. to celebrate, i freed myself from the tyranny of AT&T and apple.
i'm grateful for small things and big things too.
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Labels: agriculture, cambridge, charlottesville, cities, club sandwich, coffee, copenhagen, denmark, drink, execution success, food, maps, norway, nyc, oslo, planting thoughts, san francisco, singapore, sociology, work
the ottoman empire
the people of cambridge prefer their meat from the butcher's case. lucky for the two turkeys that roam our part of town. they favour the front yard of the neighbours across the street and can often be seen there pecking placidly for hours, watched wistfully by firmly leashed dogs.
the carcase of a poorly carved roast turkey, simmered for several hours, produces a pale cloudy stock that cools to a firm gel. warm a few lumps of this jelly in a few cups of water, add some napa cabbage, garlic, a handful of cilantro, some green onions—a soup that restores and purifies.
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gnu beer
yesterday, there was a run on black-eyed peas, which are a traditional food for some people on new year's day. a few specimens rattled about in the appropriate bin in the bulk dry goods section, and there was a conspicuous gap on the shelf where the canned ones would have been. "we normally stock lots, but this year people just clean wiped us out." oh well.
fortunately, we got our fix anyway. hoppin' john, cranachan, long noodles, citrus fruit, chestnut dumplings, and effervescent beverages as the year turned.
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Dec 27, 2011
gwoan
Q: what are pie-weights?
A: they woam the seas in search of pwunder.
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Dec 23, 2011
the ice cream business
I couldn't tell them much other that it is as important to be lucky as it is to be good. And it is also important to love what you do. I think that over the years one of the most important things I've observed in the ice cream industry is that it is filled with people who love what they do. There is something to be said for being involved in an industry that makes people happy.
howard waxman
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time
you, or at least i, would imagine that a library would stay open regular hours instead of closing at noon the day before it shuts down for a whole week.
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Dec 12, 2011
pattern
A pattern has an integrity independent of the medium by virtue of which you have received the information that it exists. Each of the chemical elements is a pattern integrity. Each individual is a pattern integrity. The pattern integrity of the human individual is evolutionary and not static.r. buckminster fuller, synergetics: explorations in the geometry of thinking (505.201).
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Labels: instruction, scalefree, technology, theory, translation
Dec 11, 2011
Dec 10, 2011
Dec 3, 2011
Nov 28, 2011
limitation
a discussion in the car during a long drive back from new hampshire brought this back to top of mind, where it should really always be.
One tires of living in the country, one moves to the city; one is tired of one's native land, one travels abroad; one is europamüde, one goes to America, and so on; finally one dreams of traveling endlessly from star to star. Or the movement is different but the same. One tires of porcelain dishes, one dines off silver; one tires of that, one dines off gold; one burns half of Rome to get an idea of the conflagration at Troy. This method defeats itself: it is the bad infinite. What did Nero achieve? Antonine was wiser; he says, "It is in your power to review your life, to look at things you saw before, from another point of view."also relevant: renunciation, words from a totem animal, hugh of st. victor, the inner chapters, little gidding, and ithaka. below, the original german:
The method I propose consists not in changing the soil but, as in the real rotation of crops, in changing the method of cultivation and type of grain. Here, immediately, we have the principle of limitation, which is the only saving one in the world. The more you limit yourself, the more resourceful you become. A prisoner in solitary confinement for life is most resourceful, a spider can cause him much amusement.
søren kierkegaard, either/or
Diese Wechselwirtschaft ist die vulgäre, die unkünstlerische, und hat ihren Grund in einer Illusion. Man mag nicht mehr auf dem Lande leben, und reist deshalb in die Residenz; man mag nicht mehr in seinem Vaterlande leben, man reist ins Ausland; man ist »europamüde« und reist nach Amerika u.s.w.; man schwelgt in der schwärmerischen Hoffnung einer unendlichen Reise von einem Stern zum andern. Oder die Bewegung nimmt eine andre, wenn auch noch extensivere Richtung. Man mag nicht mehr von Porzellan essen, man ißt von Silber oder von Gold; man brennt das halbe Rom ab, um den Brand Trojas zu sehen. Diese Methode hebt sich selber auf. Denn was erreichte Nero? Nein, da war Kaiser Antonio klüger, er sagt: anabiônai soi exestin; ide palin ta pragmata, hôs heôras; en toutô gar to anabiônai.
Die Methode, die ich vorschlage, liegt nicht darin, daß man immer neues Land nimmt; man würde dann auch bald am Ende sein. Die wahre Wechselwirtschaft besteht darin, daß man bald diese, bald jene Methode wählt und mit der Saat wechselt. Und da haben wir auch gleich das Prinzip der Beschränkung, das einzige, welches uns retten kann. Je mehr man sich selber beschränkt, um so erfinderischer wird nun. Ein Gefangener, der sein ganzes Leben in einsamer Zelle zubringen muß, von allen andern Gefangenen abgeschlossen, ist sehr erfinderisch; eine Spinne kann ihm die größte Unterhaltung sein. Hier haben wir das Prinzip, das durch seine Intensität, nicht durch seine Extensität Befriedigung sucht.
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Labels: art, books, craft, epistemology, execution success, instruction, intransigence, intuition, moral fibre, process, sustainability, theory, work
Nov 27, 2011
Nov 15, 2011
a step forward
Going back to a simpler life is not a step backward.on this, also see the old days.
yvon chouinard [thx josh]
[The Tarahumara] know that every step forward, every convenience acquired through the mastery of a purely physical civilization, also implies a loss, a regression.
antonin artaud
Preparing things simply is deceptively difficult, since there is no way to cover up our mistakes.
edward espe brown
Understanding evolves through three phases: simplistic, complex, and profoundly simple.
william schutz
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Labels: complexity, epistemology, execution success, intuition, moral fibre, sociology, sustainability, theory
Nov 13, 2011
a marvellous stage
From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the forms of things. By the time I was fifty I had published an infinity of designs, but all I produced before the age of seventy is not worth taking into account. At seventy-five I have learned a little about the real structure of nature—of animals, plants and trees, birds, fishes, and insects. In consequence when I am eighty I shall have made still more progress. At ninety I shall penetrate the mystery of things; at a hundred I shall certainly have reached a marvellous stage; and when I am a hundred and ten, everything I do—be it but a line or dot—will be alive.on this, also see the true names of things, wheatcakes, and a certain atlas.
katsushika hokusai
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Labels: art, complexity, epistemology, execution failure, execution success, intransigence, intuition, scalefree, transient
Nov 9, 2011
freedom, and how you can achieve it
you, like me, could soon be free of the iphone's tyranny and AT&T's colossal rip-off cellular service (so bad it would be laughable if it weren't also tear-inducingly frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive).
update: t-mobile unlocked the phone after 60 days of active service.
update: grooveip works fine. it is a bit buggy but i use voice sufficiently infrequently that it doesn't matter to me. (last month, my total talk time was 33 minutes using both the t-mobile network and grooveip). jacob h-a has been fooling around with a combo of sipdroid and pbxes.org that he says is working out well for him. no doubt he'll send an update once he's figured it out completely.
- i will save about $53/month ($1250 over 2 years) in service costs compared to renewing my 2-year AT&T contract. my total startup cost was $252.37, my monthly payments will be no more than $30.
- i don't have to tell everyone and their dog what my new number is—they call the old numbers, my new phone rings. all my voicemails and text messages can go to email if i desire it.
- i can travel easily with my phone without extortionate roaming fees.
- once i unlock the phone, i can discontinue service at any time and resume it with t-mobile or any other provider with almost no disruption in how people call me or send me text messages.
there is much conflicting information on the interwebs about setting up this brand new wal-mart t-mobile plan. there are hundreds of phones, most of which suck for one or more reasons (on which, see below). consequently, setting up the phone and related services took 4 hours of research instead of 15 minutes. finding the phone took weeks of research.
we stand upon the shoulders of those who go before us (or, more precisely, those who stand underneath us). below, i provide excruciatingly precise detail on what to buy, where to buy it, and how to do everything you need to do to replicate my current situation of cellular bliss—all in the interest of human progress and freedom from digital tyrannies. and because i care about you.
- use data intensively and send text messages all the time
- barely use voice calling
- are off contract with your current cell service provider
- have a google voice account
- don't really need domestic data roaming
- a final caveat: you may face a termination fee if you port your phone while your contract is still in force. google voice's porting process may get fubar-ed (horror stories abound). in the grand scheme, these are minor annoyances for which i claim no responsibility.
- get a phone: purchase an off-contract prepaid-service t-mobile samsung exhibit ii 4g at wal-mart or online (see below for why it is the best compromise phone available today). amazon has the cheapest handsets and fastest fulfilment too. if you want to be nice to me, buy it through this link. important note: you cannot purchase your phone or activate it in a t-mobile physical store location if you want the $30 unlimited data plan described above. while the plan is marketed through wal-mart, it appears to be one of the t-mobile monthly4G plans and is available on any newly activated monthly4G SIM card, as long as activation happens on t-mobile.com.
- switch the phone on: when your phone arrives, insert the SIM and battery and begin to charge the phone.
- activate cell service with t-mobile: have the ugly pink box handy and go to t-mobile's prepaid service activation page. enter the activation code (on a card inside the box) and the IMEI and SIM serial number (both listed on a sticker on the box), choose the $30/month prepaid plan with unlimited data, and complete your activation process but skip step 5 (funding your account). write down the new phone number which t-mobile assigns to you.
- fund your account: buy your account minutes from callingmart instead, which often has standard discounts on t-mobile prepaid service, in addition to a host of coupons (like these). again, if you want to be nice to me, please use this link to buy your minutes from callingmart.
- forward google voice to your new t-mobile number: go to this page and click on the link to "add a new phone"
- port your current cellphone number to google voice: if you are with AT&T, find your AT&T account number and PIN number ready, as well as the exact address and telephone number AT&T has on file for you (you should sign into your account at AT&T to check all this). then, go to this page, click on the link to port or change your number, and follow the quite clear instructions. if, despite entering the exactly correct account number and other details, the google voice workflow tells you to "Please fill out all of the required fields," be persistent and check for extra spaces and that you have the correct case. once you get to google checkout, pay the $20 port fee and confirm the port request. (you will note that there is no field to enter your AT&T PIN.)
- wait for the porting error message and fix it: eventually, google voice will send you an email titled "Oops! Issue with your Google Voice Number Porting Request." click on the link in the email and enter your AT&T PIN number.
- make your current google voice permanent: when the port is completed, you'll get an email titled "Google Voice Number Porting is Complete!" rejoice, then go to google voice again, click on the link to "make permanent," follow instructions and pay another $20.
- unlock your phone: if you purchased your phone for full price, you can request that it be unlocked immediately. full details here.
- bask.
THE STORY
- it's locked to AT&T forever. i took a second phone with me whenever i was out of the country, so i would not be subject to AT&T's ludicrous roaming prices.*
- the silent-mode toggle switch is broken, but works unpredictably. this is always awkward in meetings.
- there is no way to shut off the shutter sound on the iphone camera without resorting to jailbreaking and doing other silly workarounds.*
- the battery life seriously blows.
- dropped calls all the time. all. the. time.
- i regularly used a small fraction of the hundreds of minutes i paid for on even the least expensive AT&T iphone plan.
- screen too big = device is enormous (bigger than iphone)
- screen too crappy
- looks like a sex aid
- way too expensive (>$200)
- CDMA-only
- not 4G-compatible in the US
- not world GSM-compatible
- processor slower than molasses
- obnoxious colour
- no front-facing camera
- not warrantied in the US
- battery cannot be replaced by user
- lousy battery life
- soon-to-be obsolete operating system
- locked to one carrier
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Labels: enough, execution failure, execution success, intransigence, iphone, process, technology
Nov 8, 2011
a mystery apple
this time of year, there is nothing more wonderful to eat than late-ripening, fresh-picked, crisp, crunchy apples. the early apples are still decent but are growing mealy after over a month of storage.
the apple of this very moment is either a brock or a northern spy—so say the labels on the apple bins at the kimball farm stand at which i have been buying these apples. the problem is: most variegated red apples look the same to my untutored eye (apple nerds, please withhold judgment).
the apple itself is about the size of a softball, a little flattened, with shallowish floral and stem depressions where there is some russeting (but not much). a little bit of ribbing, but inconsistent across the four specimens so far. it's yellow-green with zones of transparent red (the two i have here are speckled all over with little bits of russeting), the flesh is bright white with green tints close to the skin. the peel is tight and snappy under your teeth, the flesh crunches, the juice is abundant, there is sugar, there is much acidity, there is a bit of sap and quite a lot of mouth-clearing tannin, there is the flavour of a good oolong tea. it's winey, the way a winesap is.
update 1 (11.7.2011): happened on another of these incredible mystery apples in the back of the high-humidity zone of the refrigerator. the red zones on this one are so transparent they look almost orange. the apple is of medium-large size, and have little russet flecks all over that i have since learned are lenticels. it tastes just as described above, and the acidity and tannins dry my mouth out just enough that i want to eat these all year. this apple looks just like a brock, inside and out. thinking that i'd stumbled upon the answer, i took a known brock and sliced it open. you can imagine my disappointment when the two apples that looked alike tasted nothing like each other. the one i know to be a brock is insipid and has a crunch filled with initial conviction but lacking, unfortunately, in stamina. could it be a macoun, at the height of its season, a revelatory apple? the search continues. i must find a pomologist.
update 2 (11.7.2011): mystery apple photos!
update 3 (11.8.2011): though it was painful to do so, i left a slice of yesterday's mystery apple uneaten, to see how quickly it would oxidise and to what extent. the result: very little browning after 30 minutes, no additional browning even after 24h.
update 4 (11.8.2011): another of the mystery apples! perhaps, anyway. this one is labeled king luscious, but has the same flavour profile as the other mystery apples (see above). trouble is, it is not massive, and the red portions of the peel are more orange than the blue-cast red of the king luscious. i begin to suspect that the labels on the bins at the market are part of the problem.
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Labels: apples, execution success, food, fruit
Nov 7, 2011
convergence
it's great when your ethics and your hedonism converge.
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Labels: decisions, epistemology, execution success, food
Nov 4, 2011
Oct 31, 2011
monday morning

barismo el bosque, melitta/193F; royal copenhagen blue fluted remix.
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Labels: coffee






