dsandler.org

Original text: You’re reading this via my feed, aren’t you? Well, you can’t do that, at least, not today. Go visit dsandler.org, stat.

Update:

I now present, for archival purposes, the long-awaited Dan = Doogie page.

Amar recalls:

Five years ago I was living with Angi in the Inner Richmond. I think she woke me up, I can’t remember for sure. We watched the towers collapse on TV. It was like watching a movie. Sapient called and told us not to come in.

The last sentence reminds me of the contrasting reaction I experienced at the office.

There was a big product group meeting scheduled later that day (or was it the next day?) that was very sparsely attended. I was there, the junior PM was there, and the Big-Shot VP in charge of the team, in addition to maybe one or two other engineers.

(Aside: The Big-Shot VP used to be very friendly with the engineering team, back in 2000 when he started as a Much More Reasonably-Sized Shot Project Manager. A year later, things were not going so well for Be; our big project had just imploded, our stock was in the toilet, and—although there was at least a chance of continued employment for the surviving employees—the office laser printers were seen to spit out résumés more and more frequently. Thus our VP wasn’t quite as empowering as he used to be.)

Right. So, we’re at the meeting.

Big-Shot VP: Where the hell is everybody?

[Silence.]

BSVP: Well?

Dan: I … um, I think people are probably a little freaked out and, you know, maybe they’re just staying home today.

BSVP: That’s ridiculous. I don’t see any airplanes sticking out of this building.

[Shocked silence.]

Classy!

Amar writes: “Settlers is OURS now. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.” (IGN: EA Acquires SpellForce Creator, also owner of the Settlers of Catan franchise)

At MacWorld San Francisco, you can hear about Aperture from one of the guys who designed it!

I’ll be in Vancouver all next week for USENIX Security. No, I don’t have a paper or a demo; the first Electronic Voting Technology workshop is contiguous and co-located, so my advisor and I are attending the whole week. The ACCURATE group will also be getting together to share ideas and WIP.

Of course, you gentle readers won’t really notice, since my writing here has been so erratic and sparse of late. Even E has been better about updating over the last few weeks.

I don’t think I’ll bring a proper camera (as my advisor will most certainly have his vastly superior photographic equipment on hand), but I’ll have my phone, so you may see some photos appear over here from time to time.

I’ll leave you with this excellent little exchange from last night, as Glenn and I discuss the prospect of catching a midnight screening of The Wrath of Khan at the Drafthouse.

And now, a plug for some seriously slick software by another ex-Be, Chris Liscio.

What a crazy 9 months it has been. FuzzMeasure Pro 2.0 is now ready for human consumption.

FuzzMeasure will perform frequency and phase analysis on your audio hardware so you can see exactly how sound is reproduced. It’s perfect for comparing speakers or headsets to see which one has the frequency response you’re looking for; professionals can use it to fine-tune custom cabinet designs. For actual data collection, FuzzMeasure works just as well with fancy impedance-measuring equipment as it does the built-in mic on your MacBook. The new version is the result of a lot of hard work streamlining the interface and tinkering deep mathy stuff I don’t understand; it’s the best (and cheapest, even if you buy the Pro license) tool out there for this kind of acoustinerdiness.

Blair: “I will join the Georgetown University School of Medicine, class of 2010.”