Linear Stanley

Linear Stanley

by Chris Carrillo

The next night, the bulletin board fell on Stanley Lambchop for the second time.

"Hey! Come and look!" cried Arthur, Stanley's brother.

"Heavens!" said Mrs. Lambchop. "Yesterday Stanley was flat. Today he has become one-dimensional!"

"Let's take him to the doctor!" said Mr. Lambchop.

"How do you feel?" Doctor Dan asked.

Stanley didn't say anything.

Doctor Dan told the nurse to take Stanley's measurement.

"What is wrong with these people?" asked the nurse.

The End

Coming tomorrow:  "Singularity Stanley"

Panoramas from "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971)

I'm a big fan of the movie "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971).  Everything about this film is gorgeous--the music is beautiful and memorable, the story is touching, and the characters have been dear to me for my whole life.

I recently re-appreciated the cinematography in the film, noticing several establishing shots included long camera pans.  I have taken some of these pans and used them to create wide-format panoramic images which I am presenting here.

I hope other fans of the film will enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them.

_________________

Panorama of the village of Anatevka in the pre-dawn light at the opening of the film:

Original Clip

At 1:17:25, there is pan across a cornfield right before the scene in which Chava is harassed by Russian farm workers:

Original Clip

At the very beginning of the scene where Motel and Tzeitel run through the woods ecstatic about having been given permission to marry, and Motel sings "Miracle of Miracles", there is a long pan down a birch tree. It's interesting that a film whose frames have a wide aspect ratio can be the source of such a tall vertical panorama:

Original Clip
































This is from the sequence in which Tevye recalls his "dream" to Golde in order to convince her that Motel should be Tzeitel's groom.  The camera pans right to left across the faces of their deceased relatives:

Original Clip

The scene where Perchik is giving a lesson to the two youngest daughters begins with a closeup of the river and then pans left and out, which makes possible this unusual composite image:

Original Clip

Just after the intermission, the film reopens with a pan across a cornfield during harvest:

Original Clip

Near the end of the film, after the townspeople are forced to leave their village, there is a very long slow pan across the deserted village of Anatevka, ending on the stoic face of the Constable:

Original clip

For your listening pleasure, here's a link to the full "Miracle of Miracles" scene:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvVeJJ-TnK4

Please Stop "Space Saving" Parking Spots in Boston

The practice of parking spot "space saving" in Boston by placing objects in public parking spots is illogical and dangerous. It has been banned in some neighborhoods and should be banned city-wide.

These are public streets. Everyone has to shovel their cars out. Just because you shoveled out a spot like everyone else doesn't give you the right to hold an empty space all day long while you are at work.

Worse still, the perceived entitlement to "your" spot creates the real danger of violence and vandalism . Surely in an educated city like Boston we can let logic prevail over emotion and think of a better way to manage a scarce shared resource.

Smart parking-spot-time-sharing app, anyone?

This morning, within the 3 blocks I walked to work from my riskily-parked car, I saw no less than 35 "saved" public parking spaces, spots that are left open all day while the locals are away, yet no one is allowed to park in these open spots.

Boston people, you are absolutely nuts.

I couldn't hold it in.  I had to tweet about this, too.

Update:  Concerned citizen posted this:

How to get WiFi Tethering back on Galaxy Note 3 after AT&T Android Kitkat 4.4.2 Update N900AUCUCNC2

If you were one of the many people who lost the ability to WiFi tether using your Galaxy Note 3 after AT&T's N900AUCUCNC2 Kitkat update, here's a way to get tethering back.  You do not have to be very technical to follow these steps, but you need to be intimate with the settings of your phone and the settings within apps, know how to download and install apps using APK files, and be adventurous.

This is the procedure I followed that worked well for me on my Note 3.  It will probably work for other phones as well.  Disclaimer:  in rooting your phone, you accept and assume the risk of bricking.  If you want root, it's probably worth it, but before you start you should Google "recover from softbrick" and read several articles to make sure you are familiar with the contingencies, and you should make a full backup of your phone--all your apps and files--before starting.


Get your tethering back:

1.  First, you have to root your phone.  Note 3 on N900AUCUCNC2 is rootable using TowelRoot.  Go to http://towelroot.com, download the APK file, install, and root.

2.  Optional step: you can now get tethering back partially (in a way that will work for PC and Mac laptop clients and iOS device clients), by using a tethering app like Barnacle Wifi Tether.  The Play Store will report that the app is not available for your carrier, so you have to go to http://szym.net/barnacle and download the APK file directly to install it.  The Wifi network Barnacle creates is an "ad-hoc" wifi network, so unfortunately Android phones and tablets will not be able to join it.  But it works well for iPads and laptops.

3. To restore full wifi tether functionality, get the XPosed Installer. Download and install the apk file from the website, then run the app and use the "Framework" option to install.  This will install the XPosed Framework.  Reboot.  After XPosed is installed and you have rebooted, run the Xposed app again.  Use the "Download" option to search for and download the "X Tether" module.  After you have installed the "X Tether" module, reboot again.

4.  Voilà, you are done!  Native tethering works again on your AT&T Note 3.



Bonus 1:

Do you hate the "Volume Warning" message that you get every time you try to turn the sound up on your Note?  Solution:  Use the XPosed app (above) to download the install the "NoSafeVolumeWarning" module.  No more annoying warning!

Bonus 2:

Did your apps lose the ability to write to the external SD card after the Kitkat update?  Now that you have root, you can fix this issue using the SDFix KitKat Writable MicroSD app. Do it.


Enjoy your newly restored WiFi tether and drop me a comment if this helped you.



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Transit of Venus

The transit of Venus was June 5th, 2012. I went out and bought some filters so I could watch it. I was psyched. 

Unfortunately the weather in Boston was terrible that day; there was complete cloud cover.  So I could see nothing.  So disappointing!


I ended up watching a live webcast of the transit while I drove home.

It is going to be another 105 years until this happens again, so crashing my car would have been worth it, right?  Safety note: the transit of Venus looks a lot like a red street light, so stop if you see it.


I didn't crash.  I made it home and found that Venus had traveled farther than I had.

Then I made a startling discovery.  I found the missing piece.  It was up here all along!!!

I guess the day turned out OK in the end.  I'm going to win a Nobel prize for this.

Memolane

Making Timpano

Ever since I saw the movie "Big Night" I've wanted to try Il Timpano.

Here are pictures from my Timpano making adventure.

  

Carbs

I like making bagels and pretzels.  This stuff makes you fat, right?  It may be worth it.

Bagel boiling:


Pretzel boiling:

Making Pasta

Wednesday is spaghetti making day!

Here are some pictures from my pasta endeavor.

https://plus.google.com/photos/100444203488619289184/albums/5636816994691475969

Sand Sculptures at Revere Beach

Sand sculptures at Revere Beach, July 15, 2011.

Pictures here: https://plus.google.com/photos/100444203488619289184/albums/5629960035083384817

Japanese Lantern Festival in JP

Japanese Lantern Festival Pictures!

https://plus.google.com/photos/100444203488619289184/albums/5630470156939808801

This took place at the Forest Hills Cemetery on July 14th

Trip to Washington, July 2011

I went hiking in North Cascades National Park and Mt Rainier National Park in early July, 2011.

Here are some pictures:

https://plus.google.com/photos/100444203488619289184/albums/5625376323516329969

Sculpture at MIT

Me inside "Alchemist", a sculpture by Jaume Plensa. http://j.mp/lLe76R

Tea Balls

I love these little tea balls :)

Hiking Gap Mountain

Gap Mountain is in Troy, NH. It's a short hike to the top, about an hour. It's worth it; when you get there, there are wild blueberry bushes!

When I went in late June, the blueberries weren't ripe yet.

Here are some pictures:

https://plus.google.com/photos/100444203488619289184/albums/5619950103660702241

Son of Man

My Halloween costume this year was an homage to Rene Magritte. The apple is a piece of paper taped to the brim of the bowler hat. Several French people in Salem recognized the painting ("les fils de l'homme").

I love the song "Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War", and I love bowler hats.

Happy Halloween!

(Here are a bunch more photos if you're interested :)

The Scale of the Universe

This is me figuring out the scale of everything at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. You should go. It will blow your mind.

Bagel Day!

Today I decided to make my own bagels.

For a while it has been bothering me that you can easily buy a poppy seed bagel, and you can easily buy an egg bagel, but it is impossible to find an egg bagel with poppy seeds. So you need to make one yourself.

I made some plain and some with poppy seeds.

Here are some pictures (click to enlarge):

Here is the recipe I used:

Egg Bagels

Bagel ingredients:

4 eggs

2 packets of yeast

8 cups flour

2 cups warm water

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

Glaze ingredients:

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons water

Optional ingredients:

Poppy seeds or sesame seeds or whatever.

Instructions:

Mix together all dry bagel ingredients well. Stir in all wet bagel ingredients. Knead for 10 minutes.

Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover and allow to rise in warm place for twenty minutes.

Punch down the dough and divide into 30 pieces. (I did this rather unevenly so some of the bagels turned out big and some small. It doesn't really matter.)

Roll into nice balls. Punch a hole through the center of each ball and then spin it around a chopstick to make the hole bigger. The chopstick thing is my own idea and probably a crazy one.

Put them on trays and allow to rise for fifteen more minutes.

While they are rising, make the glaze by mixing 2 egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of water in a bowl.

Cooking:

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Use the chopstick to drop bagels in boiling water 5 inches deep and boil for about three minutes; turn each bagel once. I did 4 bagels at once.

Place on greased sheet and brush on egg yolk glaze. Sprinkle on poppy seeds or sesame seeds or nothing or whatever you want.

Bake at 450°F for 18-20 minutes.

Don't burn yourself. Eat with honey or cream cheese.

Origami Convention!

I went to an origami convention in New York City. It was amazing. Click here to see pictures!

Slideshow:

New Hampshire

Hiked up to the top of Mt Monadnock today. I just had my cellphone camera but I was able to get some pretty good shots with it. The haze off in the distance is a thunderstorm coming!

Listen to how windy it was at the top:

Super Mario Cupcakes!

Melted white + colored chocolate in squirt bottles, plus black and
white icing for the eyes. Inspired by New Super Mario Bros. for Wii

Princess Tiara Cupcakes

Iced the cupcakes with pink icing, smoothed the icing, then put white sugar sprinkles. The sugar looks like diamonds maybe?

After these were in the cupcake holder I thought they needed some fairy magic wands, so it was back to the melted chocolate on wax paper. If you trail the ends to a point you can spike them right into the cupcakes.

Next time I think I will make the magic stars a bit pointier.

White Chocolate Tiaras

Next up in the princess cupcake series--I started these by drawing with sharpie on paper wrapped around glasses. Then I taped wax paper over the templates, melted some white chocolate, and followed the the pattern with the squirt bottle.

These set in 1 minute in the freezer. Don't forget to add the little pink pearl sprinkles while the chocolate is still liquid!

Making Cupcakes

I seem to be developing a specialty in decorating cupcakes for girls' birthday parties. Not sure why that theme in particular.

These are "princess crown" cupcakes. I made the crowns out of marshmallows--cut out the center with a coke can tube, then dyed them in yellow food coloring and let them dry overnight.

It was lots of fun!

Dark City

Shout out for the movie "Dark City".  Jennifer Connelly is beautiful.  Sorry about Kiefer Sutherland.

Terrace

Rearranging the deck chairs on the second floor of the student center
at Northeastern University

A Personal Message from Scott Brown to Me

... not!

Who Who

Giant owl on the Jacksonville Library building in downtown Jacksonville, FL

Cookies!

I made cookies. I'm officially my Mom now!

Origami Tree

Christmas tree in New York City covered with lovely origami (picture
from Tiffany).