To Future Possible Readers

I should go ahead and get this done.
I live in a digital age, one which I embrace fully. Others of my academic peers may not quite have the understanding of the digital world that I do - I've grown up here, so it is hard for me to understand how you see the world much in the same way fish cannot understand frogs.

I make this post by way of an explanation to any students of mine, or any student which I have contact with in an academic setting, or any current and future colleague or peer of mine within an academic context. Upon finding this blog you may be confused, concerned, or really only curious. Read this first - but know it has been written well after the establishment of this blog, my online presence, and my life.

I am a human being, like you. I have emotions, attachments, interests, and these all change and grow over time. And this blog has been with me for quite some time. Since I was an undergraduate. In a way, it has been with me for much longer.

Outside of a professional setting, beyond our relation as or within any of the previously mentioned situations, I make no effort to hide who I am, what I am, or what sort of person I am. I will not bring these into the classroom beyond the way that they are a part of myself and my personality when I teach. I hope that you, as my peers or students, will regard this in a similar way. I will not go out of my way to search out the lives of those I interact with unless they open that up to me. I expect the same respect from you. We are here, individuals living in the digital, and by choice we place parts of our lives online at the scrutiny of others. I do so without shame - others may not be quite so open to the idea.

If you and I face each other across that gulf that exists in the classroom, I will treat you as my student, and I expect to be treated as your Instructor. If we engage in any other professional interactions, I will abide by the norms of those interactions. But I am a person, never forget. And this is my blog, and my story, and many other things. And I will always extend the same to you - you are a person, before all else.

Update

For those of you not following my twitter feed, here is an update on me.

1) I leave my current job on the 8th.
2) I start my new job on the 18th.
3) I'm teaching 5 days a week, 4 classes. 240 students. Fuck.
4) My fiance has reactivated mono.
5) I caught mono.
6) I feel fantastic.
7) I cant sleep for longer than 4 hours at a go.
8) wtf

I'm Drinking

Seo sláinte an tséitéara, an ghadaí, an trodaí, agus an óltóra!
Má dhéanann tu séitéireacht, go ndéana tú séitéireacht ar an mbás,
Má ghoideann tú, go ngoide tú croí mná;
Má throideann tú, go dtroide tú i leith do bhráthar,
Agus má ólann tú, go n-óla tú liom féin.

Is fear rith maith ná drochsheasamh!

This Makes Me Happy

Spy vs Spy - Defection

If you've been reading my twitter feed, you know why.

Eeeexxxcelent....

Soon, our plan to take over the world as butterflies by using chaos theory to destroy the world's weather systems will be completed!

BME Scares me Again

Fish Piercing? Shannon Laratt of BMEzine.com interviewed a professional body piercer named William who gave his goldfish a lip ring.

Piercing a pet fish. It sounds sick, doesn’t it? Some kind of animal abuse?
Maybe it is, but as humans we have always modified our pets with everything from identification tattoos and brands, to cosmetic surgery such as ear cropping, tail docking, and toe amputation (ie. the honest name for “declawing”). Many modern animal enthusiasts decry the traditions as barbaric, while advocates insist it allows them to maintain a closer bond with their pet and thus the pet lives a longer and happier life.

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this. It would be a useful technique for implanting microchips in smaller fish, where internal ones would be potentially harmful. On the other hand... WHY THE FUCK DID THIS WEIRDO THINK OF THIS....

Are you the Key Master?

Cultural Artifacts For Sale

There's something so appropriately surreal and disarming about seeing a literary cultural artifact like the autographed typewriter Douglas Adams used to write The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on a book reseller website and sitting right next to a huge red "Add to Basket" button. But there it is, the original Babelfish that translated Adams' own genius-madness into transmissionable form!
N.V. Books in Great Wolford, Warwickshire is selling Adams' vintage Hermes Standard 8 typewriter for a cool $25,257.94. Or, rather, they are selling a first-edition copy of Hitchhiker's Guide in "fine" condition and generously throwing in the typewriter as extra.

The Hitch Hiker's Typewriter - for sale

EPIC NOM

If You Give An Octopus a Rubks Cube...

Why is it that I'm suddenly pondering increasing the amount of tako in my diet. From the Telegraph

It may be an infuriating puzzle which has baffled and defeated countless children and their parents over more than two decades, but this octopus appears determined to solve the Rubik's Cube.
The three-dimensional puzzle, which became a huge success in the early 1980s, is among toys being given to the intelligent sea creatures to determine whether they favour a particular tentacle, or if they are octidextrous.
Experts believe octopuses use a preferred arm for feeding and touching objects and will test the theory with a month-long observation project in Sea Life Centre attractions across Europe.

The idea of limb preference is interesting in of itself. Humans of course have a dominant hand, foot, and eye. Cats have dominant paws. Chimps have dominant hands. Horses have a dominant side as well. So of course it makes some degree of sense that we can look at multi limbed animals and ask - are they side or limb dominant, and to what percentage.

My Childhood is Showing

Insert Bee Joke Here

A truck transporting 12 million bees has overturned on a road in Canada, causing problems for motorists.

Watch the Video Here

Oh fuck it.... "IM COVERED IN BEEEEEES"

Bored Geeks: Dangerous

Man tattoos self with laser etcher meant for metal. Verdict: geeks are nuts.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Via Boingboing, of all places

Metropolis: Rebuilt

Key scenes from Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” have been rediscovered - After not having been seen complete since 1927, and even after massive restoration in 2000, over 90 minutes of the film were believed lost for good. Now, more key pieces of the film have been found, Buenos Aires of all places.

My Answer to Rawls

Distributed Justice can bite it - Redistributed violence is the new hotness.

Stolen from Scans_daily

The Uncanny Valley: Robot Tool Use

So, if you have read this blog for any length of time, you know how I feel about robots - about the same way I feel about giant insects: fascinated, but horrified at the same way. Today, I bring you another edition of this: UMass Mobile Manipulator, a robot that taught itself how to use tools.

UMan uses a regular webcam to look down at a table from above. By analyzing differences between adjacent pixels, it guesses where an object's edges might be found. Then it prods the object and, on the basis of how it moves, revises its estimate of the object's shape (see video below). It continues shoving the object around, observing how its parts move in relation to each other. UMan will push the object backward and forward along its width and length and at a 45-degree angle to both, if necessary, until it's satisfied that it understands how the object moves. Wherever the movement is restricted, the robot concludes that there's a joint. UMan then uses that information to figure out the best way to manipulate the object. It can also tell if there are multiple joints, and how those relate to each other.

Video of this sin against nature in action

The Uncanny Valley: Cat Version

Look at Junior The Cat - Watch more free videos

Yeah, having one of those days.