http://jfulton.org/rss.php John Fulton's Personal Website Blog en http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=30 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=30 <h2>Birthday</h2> <a href="http://jfulton.org/images/avery_john_guitar.JPG"><img src="http://jfulton.org/images/avery_john_guitar_thumb.JPG" alt="Avery and John playing guitar" /></a> <p /> It's around that time of year that I celebrate my birthday. I got my <a href="http://jfulton.org/?page=Software&file=iron.php">Iron Key</a> working, hung out with my friend Craig, brought my drums home, saw <a href="http://www.cyniconline.com/">Cynic</a> with my wife and played some guitar with my daughter. Mon, 11 May 2009 12:57:41 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=29 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=29 <h2>Avery</h2> <img src="http://jfulton.org/gallery/avery/avery-Thumbnails/1.jpg" alt="Erin, Avery and John" /> <p /> My daughter was born a few days ago: <a href="http://jfulton.org/gallery/avery/">pictures</a>. Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:55:32 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=28 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=28 <h2>Oregon</h2> <img src="http://jfulton.org/images/oregon_tn.jpg" alt="Erin and John at the coast" /> <p /> Erin and I are back from a trip to Oregon. The picture above is from <a href="http://www.google.com/maps?q=Cannon+Beach,+OR">Cannon Beach</a> which is a 1.5 hour drive from <a href="http://www.google.com/maps?q=Portland,+OR">Portland</a>. I was there for a <a href="http://www.liberalarts.org/">conference</a> hosted at <a href="http://www.reed.edu/">Reed College</a>. Last week I was in <a href="http://www.google.com/maps?q=Austin,+TX">Austin, Texas</a> visiting Dell. Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:04:02 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=27 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=27 <h2>New Life</h2> <img src="http://jfulton.org/images/pardee.jpg" width="378" height="284" alt="Pardee Hall, where I work" /> <p /> I've changed a lot of things in my life. <a href="http://erinfulton.blogspot.com/">Erin</a> and I bought an old house in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easton,_Pennsylvania">Easton PA</a> and I'm now working as a System Administrator at <a href="http://www.lafayette.edu/">Lafayette</a>. Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:10:58 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=26 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=26 <h2>England Prevails!</h2> <p /> <img height="378" width="284" src="http://jfulton.org/gallery/england/Sites-Images/66.jpg" alt="John and Erin in front of Big Ben"/> <p /> I am back from two weeks in England. <a href="http://jfulton.org/england/">Read all about it</a>. Sun, 27 Aug 2006 16:33:04 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=25 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=25 <h2>Lisp in Mexico</h2> <p /> <img height="225" width="300" alt="Lisp Book in Mexico" src="http://jfulton.org/images/lisp_mex_thumb.jpg" /> <p /> I'm back from <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;hl=en&amp;q=Cabo+San+Lucas,+MX&amp;btnG=Search&amp;t= k">Cabo San Lucas</a>. While there I enjoyed <a href="http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/">Practical Common Lisp</a> and other vacation activities (beach, boats, beer, ...) Sun, 08 Jan 2006 22:55:14 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=24 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=24 <h2>ruQueue</h2> <p /> In two weeks I&#039;ll be going to <a href="http://www.educause.edu/E05/Program/5085?PRODUCT_CODE=E05/SESS004"> Educause</a> to present <a href="http://jfulton.org/?page=Software&amp;file=ruQueue.php">ruQueue</a>. <p /> I&#039;ll be giving out many <a href="http://lamppix.tinowagner.com/">LAMPPIX</a>-based demo CDs. <p /> I&#039;m happy that something I designed at work is being released as <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">Free Software</a>. Thu, 29 Sep 2005 21:08:04 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=23 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=23 <h2>Long Time, No Posts</h2> <p /> It's not that I haven't been busy (and would have nothing to post) it's that I've been so busy that I every time I think of posting I put it off. Now summer is here and my top five posts contain <em>Summer Vacation</em> from last year... not any more. <p /> Recent news: <ul> <li>I taught the second half of an Intro to Programming course in <a href="http://www.python.org/doc/Summary.html">Python</a> at <a href="http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/courses/listing.jsp?SN=04&amp;DN=547"> SCILS</a>.</li> <li>I have a new laptop and I found lots of handy guides on how to set it up (<a href="http://www.chronox.de/x40_linux/linux_on_x40.html">install</a> <a href="http://m.ash.to/@/@/Linux/DebianOnThinkpadX40">install</a> <a href="http://www.marlow.dk/site.php/tech/madwifi">wifi</a> <a href="http://www.digriz.org.uk/t40p-linux/#xorg">X</a> <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/tpb/">buttons</a> <a href="http://kb.mozillazine.org/Emacs_Keybindings_(Firefox)#The_Keybindings">firefox keys</a>)</li> <li>I'm moving from Edison to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Helmetta,+NJ&amp;ll=40.383041,-74.413784&amp;spn=0.005493,0.007896&amp;t=k&amp;hl=en">Helmetta</a>.</li> </ul> Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:46:26 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=22 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=22 <h2>Free Software Foundation Meeting</h2> <p /> I attended the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/associate/meetings/2005">FSF 2005 Associate Member Meeting</a> this weekend. <p /> This meeting was more exciting than the 2003 and 2004 meetings and it also left me feeling more optimistic about <em>the movement</em>. Unfortunately, I was rather tired and didn't take as good notes as I would prefer. However, some of the people that I attended it with have posted some information on it (<a href="http://progn.net/blog/html/2005032701-fsfmeeting2005.html">Richard</a> and <a href="http://blog.loxosceles.org/posts/1111849499.shtml">Beth</a>). <p /> Here are some <a href="http://jfulton.org/gallery/fsf2005/">pictures</a>. Mon, 28 Mar 2005 10:38:10 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=21 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=21 <h2>Music Notation</h2> <p /> Here is the notation (with tablature) to <em>The Mullet Burden</em>: <ul> <li><a href="http://jfulton.org/lilypond/the_mullet_burden/the_mullet_burden.pdf">PDF</a></li> <li><a href="http://jfulton.org/lilypond/the_mullet_burden/the_mullet_burden.ps">Postscript</a></li> <li><a href="http://jfulton.org/lilypond/the_mullet_burden/the_mullet_burden.ly">LilyPond Source</a></li> </ul> <p /> I've posted this because: <ul> <li>I found some Dillinger tab on the net, so I see that people are interested in this kind of thing.</li> <li>I thought that typesetting this song would be a good way for me to learn <a href="http://lilypond.org/web/">LilyPond</a>.</li> </ul> <p /> I'll probably typeset more songs in the future and <a href="http://jfulton.org/?page=Music&amp;file=typeset_music.php">archive them</a> in the <em>Music</em> section of this site. Thu, 25 Nov 2004 13:16:15 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=20 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=20 <h2>All Hallow's Eve</h2> <p /> Not much to say. Just enjoying the season (<a href="http://jfulton.org/gallery/october2004/">pictures</a>). Sun, 31 Oct 2004 15:11:20 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=19 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=19 <h2>Recording with Free Software</h2> <p /> I'm interested in recording music again. <a href="http://www.agnula.org/">AGNULA</a>, a <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> based distro looks promising. <p /> I'm happy to see that there is a recording-grade sound card that works with the Linux kernel, the <a href="http://www.rme-audio.com/english/hdsp/index.htm">RME Hammerfall</a>. I found an <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7024"> article</a> about how to set it up. The equipment from the article is not too cheap (<a href="http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/s=computer/search/detail/base_pid/240313/"> PCI</a> and <a href="http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/s=computer/search/detail/base_pid/240312/"> Multiface</a>). I might start by seeing how far I can push SoundBlaster Live. Thu, 14 Oct 2004 12:11:31 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=18 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=18 <h2>Summer Vacation</h2> <p /> <img height="378" width="284" alt="Erin and John on a bridge" src="http://jfulton.org/gallery/adirondacks_2004/half_IMG_0133.JPG" /> <p /> Erin and I have just gotten back from camping in the <a href="http://jfulton.org/gallery/adirondacks_2004/"> Adirondack Mountains</a> and visiting <a href="http://jfulton.org/gallery/montreal/"> Montreal</a>. <p /> It was 40 F on the first night. I enjoy going north to start the Fall early. Aside from kayacking, hiking, and eating well I read <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/hackpaint.html"> Hackers & Painters</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345391810/103-9053436-0909411%5C?v=glance">The Restaurant at the End of the Universe</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345391837/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/002-0555692-8200849?v=glance">So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish</a>. Now I'm back. Aside from writing <a href="http://www.php.net/">PHP</a> and going to meetings I'm reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345418778/qid=1094423009/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-0555692-8200849?v=glance">Mostly Harmless</a>. Sun, 05 Sep 2004 18:36:12 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=17 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=17 <h2>Dillinger at Vintage Vinyl</h2> <p /> I got to see <a href="http://www.dillingerescapeplan.com/">dillinger</a> two nights ago. It was good to catch up with everyone. I mirrored some <a href="http://jfulton.org/gallery/dep_vv/">pictures</a> of the performance. <p /> While there I picked up a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00029J24Y/qid=1090509369/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/002-3901279-4976830">Miss Machine</a>. I love it. It's the perfect next step for them. Thu, 22 Jul 2004 11:31:02 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=16 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=16 <h2>Fractal Music Explanation</h2> <p /> Rolf Wallin has an <a href="http://www.notam02.no/~rolfwa/Fractalarticle.html">article</a> that gives you an idea of how to actually start making fractal music. I.e. this article is different since a lot of the other fractal music pages on the net don't seem to explain <em>how</em> the music is created. Thu, 15 Jul 2004 23:48:10 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=15 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=15 <h2>My New Media Player</h2> <p /> Wouldn't it be cool if my audio player had some visual representation that was a function of the audio so that I could watch "new age dreams of flying" as I listed to my music? That way the complexity of all those fancy graphics could introduce bugs so that my audio player could work less reliably... Hmmm. Perhaps it wouldn't be that cool. <p /> In my applying the "small is beautiful" philosophy I am opting to use command line tools instead of GUI ones like <a href="http://www.xmms.org/">xmms</a> to play music. This approach may not be for everyone. <p /> For example, I am now using <a href="http://pkgsrc.netbsd.se/?cat=audio&amp;pkg=33965">madplay</a> to play music that is encoded in the popular but patent encumbered MP3 format: <div class="tablature"> <pre> jfulton@grond:~/tunes/euro_metal/Meshuggah/none$ ls 01_humiliative.mp3* 03_ritual.mp3* 05_aztec_two_step.mp3* 02_sickening.mp3* 04_gods_of_rapture.mp3* jfulton@grond:~/tunes/euro_metal/Meshuggah/none$ madplay -v * MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.2 (beta) - Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Robert Leslie et al. >> 01_humiliative.mp3 </pre> </div> <p /> It's easy to interface with: <ul> <li>type "p" to puase it</li> <li>type "b" or "f" to move back and forth in tracks</li> <li>type "t" to cycle through stop tracks</li> <li>type "q" to stop it</li> </ul> or just read the man page. It <em>just</em> works. Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:33:27 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=11 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=11 <h2>Croquet</h2> <a href="http://www.croquetproject.org/">Croquet</a> is a very interesting project. Tue, 06 Jul 2004 13:51:25 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=10 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=10 <h2>My Niece</h2> <a href="http://jfulton.org/jane/">Pictures</a> of my niece. Sun, 04 Jul 2004 22:49:25 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=9 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=9 <h2>Reading List Update</h2> <ul> <li>I'm focusing on <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/acl.html">ANSI Common Lisp</a> again.</li> <li>I enjoyed <a href="http://www.findinglisp.com/blog/2004/06/swine-before-perl.html"> The Swine Before Perl</a>.</li> <li>As for fiction, I finished <a href="http://slashdot.org/books/99/10/18/1049244.shtml">Snow Crash</a> and I'm now reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345391810/103-9053436-0909411\ ?v=glance"> The Restaurant at the End of the Universe</a>. </li> </ul> Sun, 04 Jul 2004 11:40:53 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=8 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=8 <h3>An old picture</h3> <p /> My Dad sent a <a href="http://jfulton.org/images/shandy.jpg">picture</a> of me from 1983 having a half-pint of Shandy in Dover England. Sun, 06 Jun 2004 17:10:42 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=7 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=7 <p /> Read an interview with <a href="http://shop.relapse.com/content/resound.aspx?EditorialID=87">Ben</a>. Thu, 27 May 2004 13:48:33 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=6 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=6 <h2>My Introduction to Kendo</h2> <p /> I had my first <a href="http://jfulton.org/?page=Kendo">Kendo</a> lesson this week. My feet still hurt. I also borrowed <a href="http://jfulton.org/?page=Kendo&amp;file=five_rings.php"> A Book of Five Rings</a> from the library. Sat, 15 May 2004 11:10:44 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=5 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=5 <h2>Today is my birthday</h2> <p /> Each year I look forward to a card from my friends the <a href="http://www.maggie.panyko.com/">Panykos</a>. This year they have not failed me. Behold: <br /> <a href="http://jfulton.org/images/happybirthday28.png"><img width="200" height="176" alt="cake of metal" src="http://jfulton.org/images/happybirthday28.png" /></a> Tue, 11 May 2004 11:10:44 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=4 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=4 <h2>Attempting the Scheme Modal Web Server</h2> <p /> I set things up so that I could follow the Modal Web Server <a href="http://www.double.co.nz/scheme/modal-web-server.html">tutorial</a>: <ol> <li> I built (./configure, make, make install, ldconfig) <a href="http://www.call-with-current-continuation.org/">Chicken Scheme</a> and <a href="http://www.call-with-current-continuation.org/manual/manual-Z-H-8.html#%_sec_3.3">compiled some Scheme into C</a>. </li> <li> I then <a href="http://www.call-with-current-continuation.org/manual/manual-Z-H-51.html#%_chap_7">extended</a> my chicken with three eggs: <a href="http://www.call-with-current-continuation.org/eggs/ssax.html">ssax</a>, <a href="http://www.call-with-current-continuation.org/eggs/regex-case.html">regex-case</a>, and <a href="http://www.call-with-current-continuation.org/eggs/http.html">http</a> (as root: chicken-setup ssax.egg, chicken-setup regex-case.egg, &amp; chicken-setup http.egg). </li> <li> After untaring the <a href="http://www.double.co.nz/scheme/modal-web-server-0.1.tar.gz">modal webserver</a> and going into the directory of its files, doing a <em>csi *.scm</em> started the chicken and <em>(spawn-server 5000)</em> started the server. </li> <li> I could then point a browser at <em>http://localhost:5000/</em> and see the HTTP requests printed on the Scheme prompt. </li> <li> After pasting some of the examples into the read-eval-print loop I was able to type <em>(show page1)</em> and see the output of <em>Hello World</em>, however I was not able to see it run in my browser by pointing the browser at <em>http://localhost:5000/page1</em>. </li> </ol> <p /> I might have misunderstood something in the tutorial. No time to fix now. I will respond to this when I find the time to figure it out. <p /> Also, I read an <a href="http://pobox.com/~oleg/ftp/papers/SXs-talk.pdf">article</a> about using S-expressions to make dealing with XML nicer via <a href="http://ssax.sourceforge.net/">ssax</a>. Sun, 25 Apr 2004 17:55:38 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=3 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=3 I found a <a href="http://www.double.co.nz/scheme/modal-web-server.html">nice tutorial</a> about using continuations for web programming in Scheme (which was linked from <a href="http://www.findinglisp.com/blog/">Finding Lisp</a>). Fri, 23 Apr 2004 13:18:38 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=2 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=2 <p /> Someone showed me a great <a href="http://www.underlevel.net/jordan/erik-perl.txt">rant</a> that was posted in response to a "Should I learn Perl?" question on comp.lang.lisp. Thu, 15 Apr 2004 09:53:52 EST http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=1 http://jfulton.org/blog/?entry_id=1 <p />Interesting links that I recently found: <ol> <li><a href="ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc3751.txt">Omniscience Protocol</a></li> <li>This is what it's all about: <a href="http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/maine-speech.html">Freeing the Mind</a>! </li> <li>I've <a href="http://jfulton.org/index.php?page=Home&amp;file=technical.php">redesigned</a> my site. </li> <li>A good article: <a href="http://www.ultratechnology.com/forth.htm">Thoughtful Programming and Forth</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/infolab/">Start</a> might be as cool as Google. </li> <li>A <a href="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=95121&amp;cid=8157356">comment</a> on Slashdot I liked. </li> </ol> Sun, 04 Apr 2004 16:24:30 EST