| Ask LJ: freeware data tools |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|03:16 pm] |
I have a large set of numerical data is a comma-separated values text file that I want to a) plot, b) find maxima and minimum of, c) apply functions to every point of. This is the kind of thing that I used to use Matlab for, but I don't have access to Matlab anymore and it isn't cheap. Excel or OpenOffice Calc can do these tasks, but I don't have Excel and OpenOffice is very slow at them. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good freeware or open-source program for this type of data analysis. |
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| It could have been me |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|05:20 pm] |
So the news, such as there is, from Iran has hit me really hard. I said some of this before in a comment, but I got hit by it again and wanted to say it here.
( strong, including unpleasant, emotions )
It's taken me a long time to realize just how safe I am, and it saddens me greatly that so many, even some close to me, don't share that freedom. And I'd like to give everyone more of the good that I have, but often I don't know how. And that's just where I am right now. |
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| Concertino |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|08:13 pm] |
So this past weekend, I was at the local filk con, Concertino. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fiddledragon and I ran con-suite. I'm still a bit brain dead from the con, but so if this may be a bit disorganized as a report.
This was the first con where I had official organization duties for, and that went pretty well. Con suite succeeding in providing food, drinks, and space to the con goers, so yay! fiddledragon was a pleasure to work with, and all of our volunteers were great! Thank you!
I didn't get to a lot of open filking, but did manage to get to at least part of several awesome concerts, include hsifyppah's. I also got to enjoy dead dog.
My band, Don't Fret the Small Stuff, had our first real performance in circle on Saturday, and that went very well. We also did both of our songs at dead dog.
I enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new folks. I got new CDs. I learned some more sign language. I worked on my crochet project. There were hugs and music and puns, and much niftyness. |
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| Why do people kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong? |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|10:34 am] |
I don't have a lot of principles that I stand by and won't be talked down from but "compassion is more important than ideology" is one of them. If you're moral code ever tells you that hurting someone is the right thing to do, something is wrong. Now I believe that sometimes hurting someone is the less wrong thing to do. If someone try to hurt me, I'll fight back without compunction, but afterwords my thoughts will be "I wish I hadn't had to do that" and not "I showed him not to mess around with me" or something equally righteous.
( This got long. )
Lastly, I'm sorry that this is probably an indictment of some of the people who read my LJ. I don't want to hurt you, but I'm not willing to be silent on this topic. |
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| What is filk: in-group and out-group defintions |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|11:30 am] |
The title of my roommate's recent post "Does this count as filk? I hope not." and one of the comments about it, have brought to my mind some very interesting questions about the definition of filk.
I think what filkers call filk and what non-filker sci-fi fans call filk are not always the same. If londo had posted his parody on a filk list, it's extremely unlikely that anyone would have said "that isn't good enough to be filk". In fact, if anyone did say that, they would be scolded by the rest of the community. It's almost inconceivable that anyone would claim that the parody in question, being written about The Eye of Argon, would be not considered filk based on it's content.
Moreover, this isn't the first time I've heard someone describe their stuff as "not good enough for filk". On the other hand, I've also heard a number of sci-fi fans who enjoy geeky music say that they don't like filk because "it isn't good quality". Fandom values both technical competence and inclusion. Filkers generally seem to think that a fannish music community should support anyone who wants to perform, even the incompetent. (Which isn't to say that filker don't encourage people to improve their musical skills.) Other fans prefer to get their geek music fix from professional musicians. However, even those fans who listen to individual filk artists typically won't show up a filk con for the concerts. Why? I wonder.
Aside from the quality vs inclusion issues, self-identified filkers tend to define filk by the community, where as non-filker fans seem to think of it more a genre and define it by content. Some of the definitions of filk I hear a lot from filkers are: "the music of science fiction fandom" and "what filkers play and/or write" (which seems to reflect a focus on community). Non-filkers seem much more likely to say that filk is "parodies" or "music about science fiction and fantasy" (about a topic rather than of a community).
Relatedly, in the discussions surrounding filk programming at general conventions, I've noticed an increasing amount of geeky music (nerdcore, video game bands, etc) made by people who don't consider themselves filkers. There have always been some musicians who write stuff that fits the content of filk without being involved with the community (Tom Lehrer, Weird Al), but the number seems to be expanding rapidly. I think this is just one reflection of the increasing diversity of culture that the internet has been enabling.
However, it is unclear to me why few of the new geek musicians are involved with the filk community. Do they not know about it? Are they judging it to be for amateurs? Do they not feel included, perhaps based on musical style, or not directly sci-fi content or some other factor? Do they not want to share performance space? Is there some other cultural factor that creates a divide?
Also, given that there is a division between filkers and musically oriented sci-fi fans, should we try to change that? I think it'd would be better to have a cohesive, inclusive community, but maybe others disagree.
I've been putting so much thought into this, because lately, I've been volunteering to organize filk programming at general sci-fi conventions. I'd like to do that in a why that provides value for both sides of border around "filk community" and brings fans together. I'd really like hear all of your input, especially those of you who are musicians in sci-fi fandom, but don't identify as filkers. What do you think of as the defining and non-defining characteristics of filk? Why are you involved or not in the community? Also, should I cross post this to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) filk? |
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| Life is good |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|09:57 am] |
My life is going really well at the moment. I have a shiny new boyfriend, prospects for employment and lots of good friends. I'm in good health and it's spring time. I have enough to do to keep me busy, but not so much that I am overwhelmed. Yeah, life is good. |
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| Tie Dye Party 2009 |
[Apr. 15th, 2009|09:06 am] |
I'd like to invite you all to my second annual tie-dye parties. Given the potential for rain and people varied schedules, I'm going to be repeating last year's two-parties-a-week-apart. This means there will be tie-dye parties on both May 3rd and May 9th. The party will start at 2pm and go until roughly sundown. In the event of rain, there will *not* be tie-dying but people are still welcome to come over and hang out. The party will be in, and out in front of, my apartment. Please email me if you would like to attend and don't know where I live.
This is a chance to make slightly stained white clothing usable again, to get a case of identically feeling socks that all look different, or just make a nifty T-shirt and hang out with folks. I will be supplying the tie dye equipment, but you'll need to bring your own dye-ables. Items to dye should be natural fibers, preferably cotton, for best results. Also, bringing food or drinks to share would be appreciated.
RSVP are highly appreciated but not required. This is an open invite, so feel free to share this invitation. I do ask that you let me know if you are bringing someone I have not met before. |
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| Festival report |
[Apr. 6th, 2009|06:53 pm] |
So this past weekend I was at Festival of LARPs at Brandeis. I helped run three games and played in two, and was very busy.
Friday during the day I was pretty much continually running around getting together props, character sheets, and costume components, as well as writing back up characters for Chateau Ennui. Friday evening, I helped run Clarence: A Light Entertainment for Six to Twelve Gay Couples with natbudin. Running the game was the most relaxing part of the day, in large part because Clarence is probably the easiest LARP to run ever. The game is a meta game, with the only mechanics being handled by the in-game GMs. Resultantly, the GM needs to assemble all the props and get the copies of the game printed out, but at run time, I got to basically sit back and watch. This made me happy.
Saturday, I started out running Marin County New-Age Society Cocktail Party with nyren. This started out a bit rough since when I showed up five minutes before game start, only two players were there and my co-GM was not. Thankfully, people did show up and aside from getting started rather late, the game seemed to run pretty well. Also, thanks to doompuppy, who agreed to get pulled in halfway through for a character I would otherwise have had to NPC, and did a great job with it.
I skipped lunch to scurry over to playing in The Final Voyage of the Mary Celeste, which I had lot of fun with. I got to play the wonky observer character, which I always enjoy.
After that, I went to dinner with a bunch of cool people and there was interesting conversation mostly about larp. Go figure. Dinner took longer than intended so I got back to Brandeis just in time to run Chateau Ennui.
Chateau Ennui is pezzonovante's Film Noir game which I helped write. Somewhere in the writing process I got attached to it and started thinking of it as mine. This was a bit awkward because it put me in the uncomfortable position of feeling responsible for something that I didn't have control over.
Fortunately, the game went pretty well. There were definitely some issues which will need to be fixed in re-write, but most were small omissions that did not cause too much trouble. There were definitely some cool moments to watch. So as londo says "I wrote a game and it didn't suck!" Also, with the end of Chateau, my life became a lot more relaxing.
Sunday, I slept in and then headed to the con, where I went some folk headed to Lizzy's for ice cream. I got back in time to play A Midsummer's Night and the Livin' is Easy, which I had been hearing a lot about. The character I played, Suzy Sunshine, was much more mundane that the character's I usually like, but I really enjoyed the role. Perhaps, playing an ordinary human in a Faerie game still counts as playing the strange one.
After that was dead dog, which I don't remember a lot of details but there were people and it was cool. Most of the people who were still at dead dog when it ended came over to my place where we hung out until 5am. Much fun was had, and interesting conversations.
Throughout the weekend, there a lot of seeing and talking to cool people. |
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| Random thoughts |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|06:01 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | introspection | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  complex | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Echo's Children - Part of Who We Are | ] |
I've been stuck sick in bed for a few days now (but I am getting better now!) and so all the thoughts that normally I might find someone to comment to about, and so clarify the notion and move on, are filling up my head and copulating with each other. Mix in a bit of sickness-induced fuzzy-headedness and this is what comes out. This gets a bit meta-(sensitive-topics), so if you're easily hurt by others' opinions you may want to skip it.
( Read more... ) |
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| Roomming situation resolved |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|02:13 pm] |
I'll be remaining in my current place next year, and being joined by dvtune. Thanks to everyone who offered help in finding me a living situation. |
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| Roomate needed! |
[Mar. 22nd, 2009|01:42 pm] |
I've just run out of possible options for people to move into my current 3-bedroom apartment in Waltham to replace my current roommates. I was really hoping not to move, and I like my current place, but I can't reasonably stay there by myself. All the people who I've asked about it have had good reasons for not wanting to move in, most commonly "I want to live in Cambridge/Somerville".
The way I see I have three options, all of which have potential problems. Some of these are problems you might be able to help me out with.
1) Find people I don't currently know, or at least haven't asked, to move in. I'm disinclined to live with people I don't know unless they are recommended by someone who knows both of us. Any introductions on this front would be much appreciated, but I figure this is unlikely to work out.
2) Move into a place by myself in the same area as my current place. This makes moving less of a hassle, and I don't have to get used to a new neighborhood. There are some really cool people who are planning to live in my current neighborhood, but whom it really bad idea for me to live with (like my exes), and it would be nice to be near them. On the downside, I hate living alone. When I've done it in the past, I basically only sleep at my place, and spent all my time at friends places, which is probably not a good idea.
3) I could find roommates in the Cambridge/Somerville area. This is seeming like the best options, if it's possible. I have a lot of friends in that area. The main problem here is that need to locate roommates. Please, please, if you're looking for roommates in that area and would be willing to live with me, let me know.
The pressure is alas rather on in this front, because my lease expires May 31, and so I need to tell the complex if I'm renewing by the lease by the end of March, which is really soon. I have some flexibility on when I move, since I do have a pair of people who I could live with for the summer and then move around the start of September.
Things to know about rooming with me specifically: I have a nice dining room table and couch. I'm allergic to cats and dogs, but only mildly, so I could live with one, if the cleaning is good and the animal is kept out of my room. I like company a lot and will randomly bring over people who I think are cool, and will often be out. I have a car, that I'm likely to keep, and so need some where to put it. I have a good bit of flexibility on budget. I'm rather insistent on having a dishwasher and AC. I believe it is bad idea for me to live with anyone with whom my relationship status is anything more than "unlikely to ever happen" but less than "long-term committed". |
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| Software that works and easy to use! |
[Dec. 4th, 2008|05:03 pm] |
Earlier today I was working on getting the game ready for release and decided that I ought to have a windows installer. I'd never made one of these before and was concerned that this would be another learning curve to scramble up.
Enter NSIS, as scripting system and HM NIS Edit, for editing the scripts. I open up the editor, find script wizard, and enter the relevant information about software. Half an hour later, I have a professional looking fully functional installer. I didn't even need to use a tutorial. This is hands-down the easiest to use development tool I have ever used.
So now if you find yourself wanting to make a windows installer, hopefully you'll know where to start. |
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| Part of what was on my mind |
[Dec. 4th, 2008|04:02 pm] |
So I started this entry on Sunday night, and haven't managed to finish it yet. Now I have other things to post about so please forgive the disorganization.
I had Thanksgiving with my family on Saturday this year. The big (we had 25 people there, counting the baby) extended family things are a mixed experience. On one hand, it's good to see my family and catch up with them. They are really caring people. There were 5 kids between the ages of 2 and 5 there, and I enjoyed playing with them. On the other hand, it is very clear that I live in a different culture that my family. This makes it harder to converse with them, and I wind up feel isolated, which is kind of draining.
I want to study statistics again. The topic keeps coming up in conversation. Traditionally, statistics has been the one branch of mathematics that I don't like, but now I'm wondering if that might just be due to how I was taught it.
Things I have learned recently: Putting up an "online" status message on IM makes people much more likely to message me. |
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| qwertup[\sfhjklzxcvbn,./ |
[Jul. 2nd, 2008|03:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Cape Cod | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  frustrated | ] |
Those are the only keys working on my laptop right now. This is unfortunate. also, backspace doesn't work. Help! |
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| Looking for game testers |
[Jun. 13th, 2008|12:25 pm] |
Most of you know that I've been working on casual puzzle game. Well, I've got a playable demo, with a bunch of levels that I'm trying to get feedback on. If you're interested in play testing the game, please let me know.
Edit: The current demo only runs under Windows, and may have issues on version other than XP. |
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| Looking for social tonight |
[Jun. 6th, 2008|02:26 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Waltham, MA | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
So it's Friday, and I don't have any plans tonight. I'd like to see people and get out of my house. Anyone have any suggestions or know about anything interesting happening? |
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