The times, they are a' changin'

The time has come. The torch has been passed. Now more than ever, a new generation must take over from the old, bring new hope and carry on the work and struggles of their forebears. Much has been done, but there is still more to do.

And the Boston Globe is there to report on the dramatic generational changes as a new guard takes the helm...in the civil rights moment and the New England mafia.

Wait, what?

Yes, it's true. The Globe ran two front page stories today on generational change, in the civil rights movement and among the local members of La Cosa Nostra. Right next to each other.

Does this strike anyone else as an odd editorial choice?

(And in case you were wondering, the civil rights movement is doing a little better than the mob these days.)

Photoshopping the Olympics

Because it's just damn funny.

Full gallery on Gizmodo.

DIY particle accelerators - not for the faint of heart

DIY house projects are one thing. DIY particle physics is something else entirely. The Journal of Instrumentation recently made available nearly full plans for the Large Hadron Collider -- a gigantic particle-smashing accelerator that will soon go online in Europe and which some people fear might be powerful enough to create miniature, Earth-annihilating black holes -- allowing anyone with "€6 billion, enough real estate to hold your 17-mile-long ring, [and] a staff of international geniuses" to build their very own 7 TeV accelerator. I suspect you might need some additional electrical work, too.

Of course, I can only imagine how this would go in my house:

[me, in the basement] "Drats."
[Brenda, upstairs] "Hon, what was that?"
[me] "Uh, nothing...I think I might have just triggered a black hole next to the washing machine."
[Owen, at the top of the stairs] "Daddy, I want to see!"
[me] "Um, that might not be such a good idea, kiddo."
[Brenda] "Owen, please stay up here with me; I don't want you getting sucked into extradimensional space."

Hit Gizmodo for more. Want to feel some truly geeky pain? Watch the RAP VIDEO that scientists at CERN (the research agency building the LHC) put together to explain what the collider does.

The connected home project - pt. 1

I'm a gadget freak. I love shiny things with buttons that go beep. For some time, I've thought it would be cool to wire (or unwire) up the house so that all of our music - maybe even photos and movies, too - lives on one computer in such a way that I can stream it around the house.

A couple of weeks ago, Lifehacker (one of my favorites geekery blogs) posted instructions on how to use an iPhone or iPod Touch as a multi-room music remote. Great post, but I don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch (but God, I want one!). But what I do have is a Macbook, a WiFi network, and a smartphone funning a program called Salling Clicker, which lets a phone act like - you guessed it - a WiFi remote control. All I was missing was an Airport Express.

Until yesterday, when the one I bought on eBay showed up. I haven't gotten everything hooked up yet, but once I do, I should be able to stream the music from my computer to my stereo, or even better, to the radio in my bedroom. If all works well, I may even get a couple more Airport Express units to hook up a couple of other rooms, and maybe even set up a wireless print server. I'll post an update later....

Anyone still wondering whether I'm a geek?

Update: It works!

DIY home, ah, "improvement."

First, a disclaimer: I have never been what one would call "handy." Hammers and I mix well, not so much saws and power tools.

But it looked like such a simple project.

It all started a couple of weeks ago with a ceiling light that went out on our second floor. Replacing the light bulbs didn't fix it, so my guess is the transformer went kaput. Then the light in our front hall went out. Again, new light bulb, no fix. So these lights are two of four pretty much identical ones that had been installed by the previous owner of our condo. So I figure I'll just replace all four.

Now, the guy we bought from fancied himself a do-it-yourselfer. He did the condo conversion himself (our condo is in what used to be a single family house), and did a lot of work on our unit before putting it on the market. We've been here 3 years, and it's becoming ever more evident that he didn't do a particularly good job. In fact, he half-assed just about everything he touched, but in ways that wouldn't raise red flags with a house inspector.

So, back to the lights.

This past weekend I went ahead and got 4 ceiling lights. I start with the front hall. Take off the glass, start unscrewing, and realize that I'm faced with another example of our previous owners handiwork. Once I take down the light, all I see is a couple of holes in the ceiling and a wire...no outlet box, not even a proper hole for an outlet box. The guy had just screwed the base of the light directly into the ceiling rafters, punched a hole in the ceiling, and threaded the wires through.

Okay, so I can't get the light back on now ('cause I can't see what precisely the screws are supposed to screw into), so I set the old light aside, make a mental note to call an electrician, and start on the light in the stairs...which isn't kaput, but is one of the four I want to swap out. I take off the glass, and same deal, only this time he just screwed the base of the light into the ceiling with a bunch of wood screws. Alright, I'm not touching this....time to put the glass cover back on and head upstairs.

Luckily, things are looking a little bit more up to code upstairs. I swap the lights out no problem, and all the parts that should be there in the ceiling are actually there. But the outlet boxes feel kinda loose. So I'm still going to call an electrician, this time to check every ceiling light in the house

The take-home message, gentle readers, is this: If you're going to do some home "improvements," do it right. If you can't, find a professional who can. Because half-assing it can be a real pain for the next person.

Kids really do and say the darndest things

What better place to start than with my kids? You can never quite tell what is going to come out of the mouth of Owen (age 4, at time of writing). We've started keeping a book of his better comments; here are some of the better ones:

[sitting at the dinner table, opposite his little brother] "I'm at the head of the table, and Zach is at the penis of the table!"

[listening to Peter and the Wolf, after the Wolf eats the Duck] "Was the duck tasty?" [That's when we knew we didn't have a vegetarian on our hands!]

"I have a volcano in my pocket, but it doesn't need any batteries!"

[Owen] "Daddy, I love you." [Me] "I love you too, Owen. Do you love mommy?" [Owen] "Yes. I like trucks. Cherry pickers are my favorites."

[Brenda, trying to get Owen to eat some mac & cheez] "Here comes the train into the station!" [Owen] I have a belly full of passengers!"

I could go on for days.

Zach (10 months old right now) is quite at the funny comment stage yet, since he can't talk...or stand...or walk...or eat anything requiring teeth. But he's got personality in spades. You can tell when he starts rolling/crawling across the floor with an impish grin on his face, making straight for Owen's toys.