We've open sourced the project formerly known as Google Body.



The 3D viewer code is now generic, and available at open-3d-viewer.googlecode.com

This doesn't include the human anatomy, but does include the cow anatomy we first showed at last year's April Fool's.

Zygote, the company that originally created the human anatomy data, has put up a version of the open source viewer code (with some UI tweaks), with the human male and female model.

Check out http://zygotebody.com

Also, Google blog post on the topic.

Saffy: I'm learning that man-rocket isn't a good term to use.
Me: ...

Unrelated: I forgot how much hassle a ten-week puppy is. Probably not dogsitting again till Nochka is toilet-trained.

Unrelated: Yom Kippur ended today at sundown. Notes to come, no doubt.

<8 hours into the drive back.>

Saffy: <wistfully> A drive-through porta-potty would be a wonderful thing.

True story.

At a previous job, I did a lot of interviews. We asked candidates to write mostly-syntactically-correct code on the white board to solve simple problems. This was a way of weeding out people who couldn't code. It was important to us.

There was once a candidate who did extremely well on his phone interview. He seemed like he'd be an easy hire. Let's call him John (not his real name). John was scheduled for 4 one-hour technical interviews back-to-back (this is normal). I was first.

This is a phone conversation. I do not know this at the start, but Saffy is referring to a movie I saw once, around four months ago.

Saffy: Hey, what was that funny movie you saw?
Me: ... I'm not sure?
Saffy: The one with Eskimo pussy.
Me: . . .
Saffy: You know: <sings> I don't know but I've been told--
Me: ... Full Metal Jacket.

Took Dante to PetSmart to get him groomed before his birthday. (His first time being professionally groomed.)

They called and said they couldn't get the tangles out of some of his neck and could only shave it out - and asked if I agreed. Stupidly, I said yes.

Came in to find him completely without his mane. The best and fluffiest fur, shaved to the skin. Looks like a nightmare - huge fluffy head floating on a pencil neck.

Yes, I agreed to it, but I wouldn't if they'd said "Look, if we do this, he's going to look horrible. Are you really, really sure?"

Saffy said she had been working on those tangles and getting them out. Slow work, but she was making progress. She wasn't there when they called...

I can't outright fault them, since they did ask. But I brought in a beautiful dog, and got back a disfigured one that looks like it's had major surgery.

This really, really sucks. Looking at him physically hurts.

And the worst bitch of it is - the breeder warned us about this exact thing happening if we took him to a groomer. I completely forgot about that till after.

Why the hell did I say yes?

Fuck.

Happy first birthday, mutt. :/

We just launched the biggest thing in bovine anatomical exploration since the first fistulated cows of 1833.

http://goo.gl/BeMye



If you can't get it to run on your computer, try to enjoy this YouTube video.

Just launched v2 of Google Body.

You'll probably need Chrome 10+ and a comparatively recent OS to get it to run. Other options supporting WebGL are here, with FF4 the next best choice, but you may have to force WebGL in about:config.

Spine
Brain interior
Female reproductive
Male reproductive



Is LJ always this unstable these days?

Clear room
Spackle holes
Wait
Wipe Down
Tape walls
Primer walls
Wait
Primer (touch up)
Wait
Tape west
Paint west (yellow)
Untape
Wait
Tape north east south
Paint north east south (blue)
Untape
Wait
Fill trim cracks
Wait
Paint trim
Primer door
Primer closet
Wait
Paint closet trim
Paint door
Wait
Paint closet
Wait
Clean up

[always more steps than you'd think]

I got a puppy
Fur white, ears up, tail curly
He doesn't yet obey

I work for Google
I'm an evil engineer
They seem to like that

I live with three girls
Some of them are Indian
All wear skimpy clothes

http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com/

You'll need the free, publicly available beta version of Chrome. It also works in the dev versions of Firefox and Safari. More info on your choices here.

Saffy: Can you send me a link to the puppies?
Me: ... I posted it on LiveJournal, Facebook and Twitter.
Saffy: . . .
Me: >_<

Dante's on TV. Thus far, it hasn't gone to his head.

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/dogs-101-samoyed.html

0:42, 2:04 and briefly elsewhere

You can tell him apart from his sister because his ears are up and hers aren't.

Me: There's one at 11.
Usha: Yes, that's the one! Is it in 3D?
Me: No, but it's IMAX.
Usha: <disgusted> Oh.
Me: ... '-_-

It was sold out, anyway, so it didn't matter in the end.

We got a dog about four months ago.

There's something profoundly satisfying about interacting with him, even beyond my basic love for animals. I think the puppy kindergarten instructor said it clearest -- dogs do what works.

Teach him that a certain behavior will get him food/attention, and he'll do it. Teaching is hard, and takes a lot of patience and work, but it's brilliant in its simplicity.

I have a bad feeling that kids won't be as straightforward.

Yom Kippur was a week ago. Not a particularly potent fast. I may have to extend it as I get older.


One of Yom Kippur's customs is forgiving others for trespasses against you. I've tried to maintain that rite.

There's a flip side to the custom - asking others to forgive you.

Years ago, I thought that asking for forgiveness was hubris -- who was I to demand such a thing?

Later in life, I thought that not asking for forgiveness was hubris -- who was I to forgive and act as though I didn't need it?

Now, I think that thinking about it is hubris -- who am I to question the wisdom of those who built the tradition? But I'm not going to stop thinking. I can't not question everything and everyone. I don't even want to.

But that means I can't get away from hubris, ever. I need to remember that.

...

Anyway, it's a week late, but I needed the time to think.

I forgive you, and I ask that you forgive me.

That is all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkeQcAGBO4o

Saffy requested I post a non-confusing version of this.

11:30pm.
As I fall asleep, I feel something weird and groggily open my eyes.
Saffy's face is six inches away from mine, staring intently.

Me: Gah.
Saffy: <crossly> What?
Me: ... what are you doing?
Saffy: I was checking on you.
Me: From that close?
Saffy: I don't have my glasses.
Me: <grumble> Freaking me out...
Saffy: You're freaking me out!
Me: ?!
Saffy: You're being bald!
Me: ...
Saffy: Ask any of your friends, they'll back me up.
Me: :/

Usha: Guys? <points>
Me: Um. The fire is outside the fireplace!

Phone call with U-Haul:

Me: You have me scheduled to have the truck from 3pm to 2am. Those times are difficult - I can't get help then. I need the truck in the morning and early afternoon.
U-Haul lady: That's okay, you can return it as late as 7am.
Me: ...
Me: <very calmly> I can't get help between 2am and 7am.

I kid you not.

There are roughly 15 areas of the house to be considered: ( Unrealistic plans beneath cut... )

We own a house now.

Technically, as of tomorrow morning (when papers arrive at City Hall or wherever they're headed), but close enough. Pics / floorplan / etc coming soon.

We got out of the car and found a frog on the roof. It must've been riding for a while. It was huddled with its paws tucked under, and not moving. I thumped the roof of the car - no reaction.

It looked dry, so I took a bottle of water from the trunk and dumped a bunch on it. It slid a bit, then hopped across the roof, and then off the car. Then it jumped onto the side of the car next to ours.

Strange to consider, from a human perspective. It'd never again see where it had lived. It had brought nothing with it. Novels are written about such extreme experiences. But to the frog, it's all meaningless. It just keeps doing whatever it was doing. The change of scenery is incidental.


Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be like the frog. It's not strong or stoic, it just is. Obliviousness is not the same as courage.

But I'm starting to understand the Buddhist ideas I maligned in a paper in high school once upon a time.

(A- because I didn't include references)

A friend recently linked to an article on metacognition. The article argues that the crucial quality for resisting temptation is not willpower, but metacognitive skills. For example, children tempted by candy resisted better when taught to pretend the candy was a picture.

Extrapolation: given an understanding of how your mind works, you can manipulate yourself to surpass the limitations of your willpower.

This has been bouncing around in my head, not always in a pleasant (or coherent, much to saebel's irritation) way.


The first thing that troubles me is that I've failed to figure this out on my own, on a conscious/rigorous level. I sometimes use such techniques, but reflexively, not as part of a deliberate life strategy. I've focused on willpower, and when that failed, I've generally left things to be revisited later. I can think of several ways in which this other trickery approach could help me. But that's fine - now that I've grokked it, I can use it.


More bothersome is that this notion fits poorly with my broader philosophy.

Roughly, I believe that 'happiness' is defined as the thing you want, and 'want' is defined as the thing that impels you to action. So it doesn't make sense to say "I want to quit smoking" without doing it, because wanting is defined as the thing that makes you do it.

I suppose this is a redefinition of want as the aggregate of your (frequently conflicting) desires. In this case, you may desire to quit, but your desire to smoke wins over it, so your overall want is not to quit.

But, as saebel is fond of pointing out, this ignores capability. Just because you want something doesn't mean you can achieve it. This is made more clear by the notion of trickery. A nicotine patch can assist in quitting. Here, willpower alone is insufficient, so a tool is used to achieve a desired goal. The problem for me is, now "I want to quit smoking," is not a lie, even though nothing internal about the person has changed.

This makes it difficult to cleanly define want in terms of action. Capacity doesn't have a good home in that definition, but if it's ignored, then the same person can want the same thing with different consequences. That doesn't make sense.

So I may have to rethink my philosophy.

<ponder>

Troubling, but not a bad way to start a new decade.

I'm not much given to bouts of nostalgia. Never really felt much of a tie to places. (People are a different story.)

But it was with some interest that I drove around our old California haunts earlier today.

At first, I found it fascinating how little had changed. Same geography, same businesses, same signs. The idea that my life is changing more rapidly than the word around me was quite comforting.

Then we found that Mervyn's, Grain D'Or, and others of our preferred stores at the local mall were out of business. So is (apparently) Saffy's old workplace. So it seems that things are changing after all... for the worse.

I suppose that should be even more comforting, but it's not.

Saffy's not quite done with one of her costumes. Is anyone bringing a sewing machine to Fanime she'd be able to use for 2-3 hours? (Her schedule is pretty open for when.)

Masha: <looks me over> Saffy dresses you, huh?
Me: ...

Okay, it's not a birthday cake... but it's perfect anyway.

Happy birthday, kitty!

Finished Bioshock yesterday. I find myself troubled by the two ending options.

The game is set in Rapture, a 1960's underwater city. Rapture is run according to the philosophy of Ayn Rand, so it doesn't end well. That's not what bothers me. The plot is actually quite decent, with compelling characters.

But the two endings...
( The two endings in 24 words, with a minimum of spoilers... )

I find that profoundly unsatisfying. Is that all power is good for?

I think I could've done better.

Then again, the certainty in (b) is not to be trusted.

There's probably a connection between this post and (a), if one were to read into it.

a) My brain has been jumbled lately.

b) I'm pretty sure I know the causes.

c) Due to (a), the certainty in (b) is not to be trusted.

I like it when my car slips just beyond static friction. It's a far better allegory for life that way.

- analytics
- adsense
- quiz design
- products
- result image gen
- logo / text
- share functionality
- explain page
- website skeleton

I'm looking for evil websites for a small project. Suggestions?

I can think of two basic categories - sites/companies that are evil by their nature (http://www.microsoft.com) and sites visiting which implies the visitor has issues (http://www.choppingblock.org/). Other category suggestions also welcome.

( Current candidates... )

Saffy: So, what do you guys want to do?
Usha: Potato skins!!
Me: The ones at the Hard Rock Cafe?
Usha: <nodnodnod>
Saffy: Mmm.. they don't have food for me I'd like. You guys go for lunch, then come back and we'll continue.
Usha: Um... well... <uncomfortable look>
Saffy: What?
Usha: ...
Me: ... She's worried people will think we're on a date.
Usha: <guilty look>
Me: Brat.

Saffy: Take my ibuprofen.
Me: No.
Saffy: ... Do you want to be able to have sex?
Me: ...
Saffy: I wonder what's more important... sex, or your moral high ground?
Me: ... :(

Usha: <breaks open fortune cookie, reads> "A small gift can bring joy to the whole family."
...
Usha: <nods> I'm small.

My phone: Bzzt!
Me: Hey, I think that means it's my turn in Bug Cafe. Gimme your laptop.
Saffy: You know, for all you complaining about my ponies, you waste just as much time on Bug Cafe.
Me: Do not.
Saffy: If Bug Cafe was a woman, you'd masturbate to it and forget all about me!
Me: ...

Tech Support: Well, I checked in two ways, and your modem has been on steady as a rock for the past week, at least. So I think it's your router.
Me: ... Was it on when I rebooted it, and had a signal sent to reset it, too?
Tech Support: ...

Yeah... I think I'll call back.