Out of Culture

We have arrived in Santa Fe today to find that the central library lacks wifi!  I thought… I thought all libraries were supposed to have wireless internet access.  My grandmother volunteers there, so I have an in on seeing what I can do to fix that problem.  And it looks like there are chores for me to do, and Stacey might come down to see me, or we might go up to Durango, and I should actually start doing spanish studying now, and we are definitely further south than when we started.

Megan found out that having one’s window manager on one’s computer switched can be a frustrating surprise, especially after 30 hours in a car with not enough sleep.

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19, August: Hi.  Me and a friend are planning on a road trip to California.  We could pick you up in Chapel Hill on the morning of the 24th and drop you off in Santa Fe.  It will be great!

20, August: Hey, so, my friend said she would rather drive the more northern route.  If you can meet us in DC we can still take you to Santa Fe.  It will be great!

21, August: Hey, so, now that you’ve arranged to come up to DC, and put down a non-refundable deposit on a campsite outside the city.  Well, my friend doesn’t really want to go through Santa Fe.  Will it be ok with you if we just leave you in Denver?  That’s really close!  Plus the Democratic National Convention will be there.  It will be great!

22, August: Hey, so, um.  I actually never asked my friend if she was okay with having other people come along on this trip.  And, well, now that I’ve asked her about it she said no.  So, well.  Good luck.  I hope you can find someone else.  It will be…

Graaaar.

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Some thoughts from a bar conversation:

• Is it possible to build a computer that would exactly simulate our universe?  Such a simulation would necessarily have to describe a computer on which the entire universe is being simulated, that is, itself.  Would every particle need to be specified if full detail?  Are there shortcuts to cut back the details in most cases and save on storage and computation?  Is quantum entanglement an example of this?
• Nick Bostrom suggests we are more likely than not living inside a simulation.
• As a category of problems to explore, getting out of a simulation should be pursued.  Build a simple simulated world, populate it with intelligences seeded with a desire to get out of the simulation, and then observe them with the eventual goal of applying their more successful strategies to our own universe.  This is admittedly a difficult task, especially if the intelligences are to be generated from consistently enforced fundamental rules (as it seems this universe is).  Also, no segfaulting allowed (well, not without it being likely someone will restart things afterwards).
• If the simulation uses shortcuts to skip computationally expensive processes, could you exploit this to overload things?  Would having to do too much quantum mechanics at a time overflow any buffers?
• If you assume that the simulation is effectively unbreakable, can you attempt to exploit presumed outside observer programs?  So long as you can make a copy of yourself in an environment that is not the one you’re starting in, you have effectively escaped the system.  What assumptions can we make about these observers?
• If you did manage to get out as a copy, how would you tell yourself (the one inside the simulation)?  What if this is a read-only universe, or just really secure?  Well, presumably you got out through an exploit in the aforementioned third-party observers, not the universe simulation itself.  How would cracking the simulation be different from the outside?  Would you need to send encoded messages in the thousandth of digits of pi or the charge of an electron?

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While we were in Rhode Island we stopped by a nice little gallery where I fell in love with some of the art.  There were a small paired set of drawings by Robert Malinowski that I sat in front of for several minutes.  I’m thinking that when I have walls again I will contact him and see if I can commission something similar.

The gallery was also serving as a sales point for an artist making custom art postcards.  You fill out a little form and then the artist will create 1-3 postcards from your answers and send them to you.  While I didn’t buy any art cards for myself, it did remind me of how much I used to enjoy making postcards, so I bought some poster board and will hopefully soon be sending out some custom postcards of my own.

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Catching rides through craigslist seems to be much easier when you’re starting from a transportation hub.  That, and the one ride we did find having disappeared, mean Luke and Rose get to continue putting us up.  Their cats decided we’re part of their family, with the gift of most of another bunny this morning.

I wish craigslist would let you play with their data more.  What we’re doing by hand to look for rides, by looking for multiple-transfer routes that go through big cities near us, would be greatly assisted by a multi-craigslist search tool, especially one that knew a little geography and could determine a path between two points.  Additional improvement would then be gained by having ride-share posts tie into consistent, mappable locations when listing themselves.  Oh, you silly, closed-source, API-less community tools.

In other news, Megs has a +6cm and I have a +9cm wingspan advantage over height, an attribute apparently associated with good swimmers.

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While my indoor chores have been great, I finally found the outside this weekend. We checked out bikes and went on a bike ride. It was great, despite the summer trying to convince me to stay in the shade and not move. I went back to the Bolin Creek part of the ride with a camera and documented some kudzu trying to soak up all the sunlight.

Yesterday evening, we caught a bug and watched it turn into a different bug:

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As some of you may know:  I am obsessed with the Olympics.  Every  two years I clear my calendar of any non-essential events and camp out in front of the TV.

This year I bought a TV tuner and Martin and Luke put in many many hours of computer time to make it work with Linux.  In addition, Luke put in some new wiring to connect to the antennae that the previous owner left in the attic.  I am a lucky lucky lady to have a partner and friends that kindly support this weird habit I have.

I have been putting a lot of energy into trying to figure out how to get around NBCs terrible coverage.  They are constantly boasting about the thousands of hours of additional footage that are available online.   What they fail to mention is that it is only available to people with newer Windows and Mac computers, who can download Microsoft Silverlight.  Both the CBC and BBC are also streaming live video on the web, but it is limited only to people in those countries.  I have been trying to go through proxy servers, but haven’t yet gotten it to work.  I need to figure out if it is a speed problem, or if there is something else going wrong as I try to access the channels.  I have had the most luck so far in peer to peer streaming, and was able to watch some live handball coverage last night through (I think) a Dutch channel.  So far this list has been the most helpful for me in looking for internet coverage of the Olympics.

This weekend there were a couple of worthy events that pulled me away from the TV.  First was an amazing puppet show put on by Paperhand Puppet Intervention.  It was performed in a beautiful amphitheater so we were able to enjoy some snacks and drinks in addition to the show.  There were some cute moments (ant wars, dung beetles), some awkward moments (when they put garbage bags over their heads; it was a cool cocoon effect, but not the best choice for a kids show), and the most stunning shadow puppetry I’ve ever seen.  The next night we drove over to Raleigh for a tango practica and class.  The teacher was very good, and gave me a few new things to think about.  It was an enjoyable night of dance with plenty of dancing with Martin, Luke and Rose, and also some good dances with the other people at the practica.

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• Number of super tasty popsicles eaten: 2 each, so far. The cherry-hibiscus, and Moroccan (almond, ginger, rosewater) are the winners so far.
• Number of mosquito bites: Megan: 70? 80? There was one evening that resulted in 19 new bites on just my right arm (I gave up on counting after that). I have developed a system of rotating cortisone cream, topical lidocaine, and ibuprofen that has been working pretty well. Obviously I need to get better at applying bug spray before I leave the house. Martin: 3? I am jealous of his lack of mosquito tastiness.
• Letters written: 11
• Letters sent: 4
• Knitting projects finished: 0, though I did stumble across an exciting new variation on a basic sock pattern that I am trying out.
• Yarn bought: 4 balls, for an amazing bargain price at a yarn store that was moving. They were literally sweeping all of the non-sale yarn off the shelves into bags, and loading up the truck while we were there.
• Delicious sushi dinners: 1. Ohhhhhh so good.
• Books read: 1, The Raw Shark Texts, Steven Hall.  I read this book in one sitting.  So good.
• Breakfasts accompanied by great live music, followed by dancing: 1. The local natural food grocery store/deli (Weaver Street Market) features a breakfast bar every Sunday morning. It is a hugely popular community event, and I can see why. The store has a large front lawn with plenty of shady spaces for relaxing, and a nice open area for dancing. A while ago the people who owned the property (who are much more conservative than the folks who hang out at Weaver St) tried to make a ‘no dancing’ rule. There was one man in particular who just kept on dancing, in spite of the rule, and eventually it was revoked. Bruce is now a sort of minor local hero, and is still a devoted Sunday morning dancer.

• Amount of time spent in the pool at Luke and Rose’s complex: a couple of hours all together?

Update on Martin’s finger: It has scabbed over nicely and he has rigged up a typing prosthesis out of hairpins and tape.

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Saturday, August 2, was the Really Really Free Market, which occurs monthly in Carrboro. Rose and I set up a henna painting booth (blanket on the ground).

Once the first couple of people stepped up, a boy of about 5 who wanted a tiger and his mother who wanted something pretty on her hand, we had a constant line for a solid hour or so. I think we painted 15-20 people total and had a wonderful time doing it.

There were some juggling lessons, and talking to people (well, one person) about Linux.

There was delicious sweet tea, fried potatoes, watermelon, bread and salad.  There were piles of clothes and other things.  I found some super cute shoes that I am going to wear for as long as I’m here and then Rose will take them to the next Really Really Free Market.  I also brought home a small mountain of zines, which I intend to read and pass on.

There were people playing music.

I was even brave enough to borrow a uke from a nice boy wearing bright yellow socks and play a couple of the songs I know.  We sang several other songs as well, even ones than non of us knew the chords to play along.

Portland people:  We need to have one of these in Portland.  If you all wanted to start one up so it’s all ready for me to hang out at when I get back that would be cool.  Thanks.

The other really really free thing here is the public transportation.  I rode the bus into work with Rose a couple of days ago and it was really neat to see public transit treated as an actual public resource.

Later in the evening Luke and Rose had a going away party to attend, so Martin and I relaxed around the house.  I was reading on the couch and Martin was cooking in the kitchen (big surprise, I know) when I heard

“Ouch.”

Turns out he cut off part of the tip of his left ring finger.  For those not of weak stomach, this link will take you to a picture of the bit that came off, with a penny for scale.  It’s not enough to require any kind of professional attention, but still shook up our evening pretty well.

The soup is quite tasty, though Martin is not wholly satisfied with the spicing.

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Yesterday’s chores started at midnight with a trip to the lab to test a snippet of python with a particular data acquisition (DAQ) device, with the end result being to modify Luke’s neuron-watching program to be able to tell which neurons (which are all fluorescing every time they fire) have synapses with the neuron being probed by the electrode that is measuring post-synaptic electrical signals (little ones, not full firings).

Next there was sleeping.  Some other sorts of chores were worked on in the morning, but I don’t really remember them.

Then, at a coffee shop, I helped him put all his code under revision control, extracted some library functions from the camera driver wrapper for use in the DAQ driver wrapper, and then started in on writing that.

I like these kinds of chores.

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