jc blog - tales of a modern-day nomadic hunter-gatherer

Follow jcomeau_ictx on Twitter This is the weblog of Intrepid Wanderer. You never know what you might find here; graphic descriptions of bodily functions, computer programming secrets, proselytizing for the antichrist, miscellaneous ranting and kvetching, valuable information on living off the land... if you don't share my rather weird interests you may want to try slashdot instead.

You can consider my Del.icio.us links an extension to my blog, as are my LifeTango goals and my other to-do items. My to-buy list is also public, but only for sharing any useful ideas that might be there; I'm not requesting charity, neither do I offer it.

You can find me easily in google searches, as jcomeau, jcomeau_ictx, or jcomeauictx. There are lots of other jcomeaus, but AFAIK I'm the only jcomeau_ictx out there so far.

If you want to comment on anything you see here, try the new Facebook comments, reachable by clicking the "[comment]" link at the end of each post. If for some reason that isn't working, go ahead and email me, jc.unternet.net. You know what to do with the first dot. Make the 'subject' line something reasonably intelligent-looking or it goes plunk! into the spambasket unread.

This RSS feed may or may not work. Haven't fiddled with it in forever. RSS Feed


2014-06-27-2209Z

enjoying my 2nd bottle of Boont amber ale in celebration of the new moon. no Internet here at Blue Lakes Resort until tomorrow, so no need to stay sober. [comment]

2014-06-27-1750Z

thanks to Kevin Boone's Kbox, I now have a working vi and ssh on my Android tablet. can get work done while on the road. had to fix the broken installer though. [comment]

2014-06-24-2030Z

so here's one of the ideas I have for Ethereum, but I have no idea if it fits the paradigm or not: divvy up free-range animal meats. farmers who raise healthy animals the old-fashioned way offer meat, and people who want those products pre-pay using Bitcoin into a blockchain-embedded escrow account. let's say Joe wants 2 pounds of pork shoulder. Farmer Jones has his prize pig Ellie listed, who he pledges has only been fed organic vegetables from Andy's Supermarket wastebin. Farmers Smith and Blake also have Ethan and Abner, respectively, listed. Joe chooses Ellie, Abner, and Ethan in that order. when enough orders have been submitted for Jones to consider it a good deal to slaughter Ellie, he submits a hold on the first-choice bids, and a message goes out to the bidders, each encrypted with the bidders' public keys, with the time and date for pickup of their orders. at pickup, each bidder submits a release of their funds from escrow, and Jones is paid in full at the end of the day without any funds changing hands at the time. [comment]

2014-06-24-2026Z

Starbucks by OSH held my $30 iPod charger for me for the whole week I was gone. just picked it up now. I don't usually leave a tip but felt $5 was appropriate this time. [comment]

2014-06-23-1843Z

those pills mentioned by Vonnegut in Sirens of Titan would be useful in many situations; would be worth investigating. [comment]

2014-06-17-2245Z

my diet ended as of this morning, and I saw no point in continuing it because there was no marked improvement in my postnasal drip. on my third pint already: Anchor Steam at Washoe House, Death and Taxes at Redwood Cafe, and Prohibition Ale at Twin Oaks Tavern. that last is a dark, malty but hoppy, delight from Speakeasy. hope I don't get pulled over for a DUI. I've already had a rough enough day, two motorists having come close to maiming or killing me. riding a bike in traffic is always a challenge. [comment]

2014-06-17-1236Z

caught up! Argentum block height is 480933 and counting. thanks to the guys at bitcointalk.org for the fix! [comment]

2014-06-17-0648Z

okay, so went back a few pages as the post mentioned and found the fix. applied it, and am waiting for the blockchain to download. yet again. [comment]

2014-06-17-0635Z

so someone else finally reported the error I mentioned a while back, and says he "fixed" it. how the hell? I can't post on that forum to ask him how. but anyway another guy says he's working on the code. just did a git pull, though, and there's nothing new yet. [comment]

2014-06-17-0600Z

made some "grass boots" today out of the legs off an old ripped pair of pants. 3 snap fasteners at the toes, one at the top to keep it from riding down over my calf muscles. it's so I can walk through fields without getting my socks full of stickers. the snap fasteners sure beat sewing, especially for a nomad who can't carry a machine (not that I know how to use one anyway). [comment]

2014-06-15-2346Z

according to this website, I'd need at least 12 balloons to take 100 pounds off my weight so I could do superhuman jumps, and/or do some lower-risk wingsuit experiments. all probably totally illegal.

>>> import math
>>> (4/3) * math.pi * (3.5 ** 3)
134.6957850226624
>>> _ * 28.2
3798.4211376390795
>>> _ / 448
8.478618610801517
>>> 100.0 / _
11.794374129837951
[comment]

2014-06-14-0824Z

finally producing ketones at somewhere between 20 to 30 mg/dL, with only about 80 hours left to go of the Neanderthin diet.

eating beets gives you a good indication of how well you're eliminating wastes. took me until Thursday night to finish getting rid of the beets I ate Monday night, and I mean I was pissing red until then, and had loose red stool the whole time too. that soaproot I ate yesterday made the diarrhea even worse. [comment]

2014-06-12-1808Z

discovered a new nut to go with coffee: raw pecans. chew some pecans, take a sip of French roast with the pecans still in your mouth. instant bliss: the flavors blend and a vanilla sweetness emerges. [comment]

2014-06-12-0111Z

the exquisite taste of these raw almonds from Green String reminds me that as a teenager I identified by smell some common aldehyde, I believe it was of almond or vanilla, in the bark and roots of boxelder bush. many scents and flavors associated with a particular plant can probably be found in other, completely unrelated, species. [comment]

2014-06-12-0013Z

good news from Caltrans/DOT:

Mr. Comeau

Barring any unforeseen circumstances the frontage roads should be open to the public sometime in July 2014.

The bike path will be completed shortly thereafter and will be connected to the frontage roads and will be opened no later than 12/31/14.

The bike path and the frontage road cannot be opened simultaneously because of staging related issues.

The existing Olompali off-ramp needs to be closed off in order to place box culverts across the bike path.

The K-rail on the mainline was first placed on 4/23/13 and the shoulders have been closed to the public since then.

Steve Williams

Public Information Officer

[comment]

2014-06-12-0002Z

roof repairs gave me an business idea: hurricane roofs. make custom strong, rubberized white tarps that can be thrown over a roof and tied down with aircraft cable to anchor points in reinforced concrete at various points around the outside of the house. it can be temporary to semi-permanent. would be great for Burning Man as well. [comment]

2014-06-11-1840Z

eating real raw almonds with my morning coffee, something I've only been able to do a very few times since about 2007, when California's sterilization law went into effect. found a source in Petaluma, the same place that has the best veggies and grass-fed beef. [comment]

2014-06-09-1937Z

yesterday, walking back from my jog, I saw 3 crows harrying a redtail. many lessons to be learned from nature on how to attack a much larger and more powerful enemy. [comment]

2014-06-07-1710Z

got into an argument today at Starbucks. politics got into the discussion, and the guy knew he didn't like libertarianism but needed to see a list in front of him to remember why. I told him that all libertarians can really agree on is that people should be free to live their lives as they see fit, so long as they don't interfere with other people's right to do the same.

he said that's all well and good, but libertarians don't believe in safety nets.

I said sure we do, we just don't think that's the business of government.

he said government has to do it because nobody else will. then he said "they lock poor people up. did you know that?"

I said "yes, that's what government does".

then he started backtracking, saying how he's a New Deal progressive, that Roosevelt was elected 4 times, blah, blah. then he launches into a diatribe about war. again I say "that's the government doing that", and he says no, it's the Pentagon.

the guy was really deep in the river. when I got up, I said "sorry about bringing up politics. have a nice day", and he wouldn't even look at me. [comment]

2014-06-07-1601Z

sugar rush, banana with my coffee. it might take me out of my mild ketosis, but I need the potassium. legs have been cramping.

back is about 98% back to normal. only rarely do I get a twinge of pain now. [comment]

2014-06-05-1613Z

starting day 10 of the paleodiet and still producing only about 15 mg/dL ketones. guess it could be the coffee and/or cocoa, but I'm drinking both unsweetened.

tried drinking creek water through my Lifestraw yesterday, no ill effects though it tasted a bit brackish.

tweaker down by the riverfront got spooked as I was jogging, got up with a frown and started making karate moves. I smiled, said "good morning!" loudly, gave him a thumbs-up, and jogged on past without incident. [comment]

2014-06-02-2359Z

missed my 1.5 mile jog yesterday so attempted a 2.5-er along La Cresta Ridge to downtown. gave up at Fair West and walked the rest of the way; too hot and sweaty.

day 7 of neanderthin. had a couple of mistakes which kept my ketone level sub-optimal, around 15 mg/dL: coffee which apparently was spiked with sugar, and the sauce on my camarones a la diabla at La Tapatia yesterday. otherwise, it's going well, with my post-nasal drip seeming to improve somewhat. still, I feel hungry almost all the time.

got to find a way to start treating every day as if it were my last. I keep making Carlos Castaneda's mistake: "you think you have plenty of time". [comment]

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