It'll Never Be Done

Six years ago today I was working on eThreads. What am I doing six years later? Working on eThreads. Today I merged some changes from my CGI tree into the mod_perl mainline and wrote a plugin to add an http:// when people forget to include it in the URL they give with their comments. Someday soon I really do need to get around to polishing this stuff up and doing some sort of a release. The eThreads site is a little bare right now.

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Write Write Right

It's funny to me how sometimes I'm really good at writing papers, and sometimes I'm, well, not. I'm up now working on a paper that I've been "working" on all day. But it's 1am and it's really not close to being done. It's not even a hard paper; I'm just having a hard time getting words down onto the page.

I've gotten a couple pages written in the last hour or so, but it would really help me out if all of a sudden a few more would just appear out of nowhere. It's not like I haven't written papers quickly before.

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The Politics of Freeway Cameras

It's interesting to note the reaction to the recent freeway shootings that have taken place around LA. The Long Beach Press Telegram has an article today calling for Caltrans to record the freeway cameras so that law enforcement can use them as evidence to help in solving freeway crimes.

A veteran California Highway Patrol supervisor with an extensive background in freeway shooting investigations said the CHP and other agencies have repeatedly asked Caltrans to hook up the cameras to recording devices.

"They basically say they don't care about being in the crime- fighting business and claim poverty ... even though ... every 7-Eleven has a system. They are prevalent in Europe and at intersections throughout the United States. They are universally successful,' said the officer, while noting Caltrans' multimillion-dollar spending on its new 14-story office building in downtown Los Angeles.

A couple weeks ago my class went to visit the ATSAC center under City Hall East. That's where all of the LADOT traffic cameras pipe to. This was before the freeway shootings, but this was a topic that came up. Like Caltrans, LADOT doesn't really want to get involved in law enforcement. They don't want people seeing their cameras and viewing them as evidence that needs to be "taken care of." I would imagine that while officially Caltrans may say things about funding and such, they really just don't want to get the big brother stigma attached to their cameras.

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Connectivity is Against Me

USC's wireless would pick today to be acting up on me. It seems to me that it's just one access point, really. When I'm connected to 00:01:F4:ED:1B:6C I get 70% packet loss and 4000ms ping times. When it's 00:01:F4:EE:84:D4 I get no loss and 40ms pings. Yikes.

So right now I'm up on my bluetooth -> EDGE connection. It's not too fast, but at least it lets me browse the news and such while sitting here in class.

I finished a 20-page paper today (well, mine's 17 pages, but it feels done) only to find that I actually could wait to turn it in Friday. Oops. I guess I should read my emails more carefully.

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One With the Bike

I've mentioned in the last few posts that over the past few days I bought pedals (the SL-CR's) and shoes for my bike. Last night I very unsuccessfully tried getting my old pedals off to put the new ones on. Having failed at that, this morning I tried calling the LA County Bike Coalition (whose offices happen to be across the street, so it's not as random) to see if by chance they might have a pedal wrench lying around the office. They didn't, but they pointed me to a bike shop on 8th & Main, just three blocks from my apartment. A couple minutes and $3 later, I had new pedals on.

Tonight I finally got a chance to try them out. I'll admit it: I was a little scared. Even though I knew it was the way to go, I still wasn't sure about this whole thing of having both feet attached to the pedals. I practiced first in my apartment, holding myself up against the wall and then rolling from hallway to bedroom doorframe and working on unclipping a foot. Then, very cautiously, I headed outside.

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