? Alan Porter (@rockhopper)

Raleigh, NC, USA

The below is an off-site archive of all tweets posted by @rockhopper ever

November 2011

Got our first graphs from our @arduino based crab cage temp/humid monitor. Gets cool at night, but stays moist. Adding R/T clock tonight.

via Twitter for iPhone

Delighted to learn that the analog input pins on the @arduino can also act as digital outputs. I needed a few extra output pins!

via web

I’m a little behind on my time sheets — my company’s answer to “TPS reports”. Catching on 32 weeks’ worth.

via web

Network is down at work… not just the internet, but the whole she-bang. With the cloud, sometimes comes the rain.

via Twitter for iPhone

I usually don’t do Christmas music until Dec 1st. However, if I must… at least let it be Mannheim Steamroller.

via web

Gnome3: You HAVE to click-to-focus. Otherwise, you would not be able access menus for some applications.

via web

Upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10 at work. Giving the new Fisher-Price - I mean gnome3/unity - desktop UI an honest chance.

via web

Can not “sign out” of the mobile @twitter site. Just redirects to mobile . twitter . com with my avatar, still signed in.

via Mobile Web

Woot! Mini boarduino and LCD are working! (Thanks to @adafruit & @arduino) http://t.co/jKyM1qRw

via Twitter for iPhone

Watching a re-run of the 11/19 Iowa Thanksgiving Family Forum (GOP debate). This should’ve been a Halloween forum… it’s pretty scary.

via web

Finally soldering all of my new toys from @adafruit - LCD, SD card holder, mini-boarduino.

via web

Very happy that @arduino uses plain old C/C++, and that “wiring” is just some preprocessor macros and libraries.

via web

@amessyroom I use “keepass” - It’s free, open source. It works on Linux/Mac/Windows/iPhone. Nice UI does not display PW, uses clipboard.

via web in reply to amessyroom

joneilloine This is how the Curiosity Rover will land on Mars…Holy Hell http://t.co/7qSNO8Mc

via Twitter for Mac (retweeted on 8:24 PM, Nov 26th, 2011 via web)

Finally got sane values out of my temperature/humidity sensor on the @arduino. Had to use a logic analyzer to debug it. Yay!

via web

@base10 Mandarin Pinyin pronunciation in a nutshell - http://t.co/ZoAik7gA

via Twitter for iPhone in reply to base10

Showing the girls how to find the center of the pumpkin pie circle using just a right angle (newspaper page). #geekdad

via Twitter for iPhone

shawnp0wers Things I’m totally not doing tomorrow: Shopping.

via Echofon (retweeted on 7:00 PM, Nov 24th, 2011 via Twitter for iPhone)

@nivex This cool kid was using the gnome monitor widget… until gnome went all Mac on him. Now searching for an xfce equivalent.

via Twitter for iPhone in reply to nivex

For some reason, it still feels like the day BEFORE a holiday to me.

via Twitter for iPhone

Awesome telescope is awesome!

via Twitter for iPhone

“Mowing the grass” this time of year really means “vacuuming up the leaves with a mower”.

via web

Lunch with the third graders… delicious (cheese poppers), nutritious (corn & black eyed peas) and educational (boys can burp the ABC’s)!

via Twitter for iPhone

The Chumby is now showing car insurance ads in my children’s bedroom.

via web

AstinTO Great idea for the GOP debate tonight. Each candidate gets waterboarded while being pepper-sprayed. Then asked if that was torture.

via tGadget (retweeted on 3:44 PM, Nov 22nd, 2011 via web)

Nice weekend… my chair is now butt-shaped, and my butt is now chair-shaped.

via web

Added a pull-up resistor to my I2C bus on the @arduino. Now the temperature is 615.25°C.

via web

According to my @arduino-based temperature sensor, it is 612.70°C in my mad scientist lab.

via web

Bit-banging some I2C.

via web

Scheduling D1’s afternoon down to the half-hour. School work, scout stuff, a geeky maker project, birthday party and blog updates!

via web

The way to get D2 to eat vegetables… http://t.co/IKRIKOGR

via Twitter for iPhone

Finally watching “Clay Shirky on Love, Internet Style”, a very insightful 10-minute speech by @cshirky

via web

Girl scouts just got back from a day at camp… I think tonight’s gonna be filled with camp song entertainment!

via Twitter for iPhone

Desktop roundup - XFCE+compiz is taking the lead.

via web

@nivex I am still stuck on what to do on my work PC, still running maverick (because natty was a step backwards).

via web in reply to nivex

Mailman just came, still no package from @adafruit! Ordered on 11/10, shipped via USPS on 11/11. No toys this weekend. <sad face>

via web

Unimpressed with gnome3, not a fan of kde4, so I’m shopping around for a new desktop package. So far, LXDE+compiz is the winner. #choices

via web

@nivex Test-driving Enlightenment, LXDE and XFCE4. KDE4 never appealed to me.

via web in reply to nivex

Did an “apt-get dist-upgrade” on my Linux Mint laptop and it dropped a big Gnome3 gnome-shell turd on me.

via web

Hurry up and wait — YES, we are doing a software build today. NO, I can’t check my code in. Don’t worry, we’ll build again… in 14 days??!

via web

What is GOP candidate Jon Huntsman doing on ESPN, hosting “The Herd”? (Or is Colin Cowherd JH’s twin?)

via Twitter for iPhone

RT @grap3_ap3: The best thing about UDP jokes is that I don’t care if you get them or not.

via Twitter for iPhone

RapGenius Corporations are people, Pizza is a vegetable, the Internet will be censored and protest is illegal. Welcome to 21st century America.

via web (retweeted on 8:58 PM, Nov 17th, 2011 via Twitter for iPhone)

schneierblog EU Bans X-Ray Body Scanners: The European Union has banned X-ray full body scanners at airports. Millimeter wave… http://t.co/9rBkgmGV

via twitterfeed (retweeted on 3:48 PM, Nov 17th, 2011 via web)

@amessyroom I haven’t seen any idle messages from you in a while.

via web in reply to amessyroom

jackie_singh Complete List of Airports with Whole Body Imaging/Advanced Imaging Technology Scanner - FlyerTalk Forums http://t.co/36gB817D

via chrome-share (retweeted on 10:00 AM, Nov 16th, 2011 via web)

RT @NASAKennedy: What are your plans for Black Friday? We’ll be launching a rover to Mars! @MarsCuriosity is scheduled to lift off at 10 …

via web

@jbroome Dunno about the kids reading Marx. But you have to admit, Daddy does resemble Lenin a bit.

via web in reply to jbroome

Uh oh, came home to sniffly kids. And now I am starting to feel a bit phlegmy. Time to pop the zinc and vitamin C pills!

via web

Colleague texted me, asked me to call him in 10 min to get out of a mtg. - Iphone already does that, called “alarm”. Welcome to the future!

via web

D2 has a debilitating case of the giggles.

via Twitter for iPhone

@amessyroom You DO know that you’ve been tweeting your idle/away status all weekend, right? Bitlbug?

via Twitter for iPhone in reply to amessyroom

Phooey - My heavily-firewalled-but-wide-open wifi is interfering with IPv6 on my home network. Now I must choose… cruel fate!

via web

Our awesome kids fixed us an awesome breakfast! http://t.co/l7oqx0Ir

via Twitter for iPhone

MikeOpera Losers in tonight’s GOP debate: Geneva Convention and employee at CBS in charge of live feed. #GOPdebate

via Twitter for iPhone (retweeted on 9:29 PM, Nov 12th, 2011 via web)

Spent most of the day in a data center, upgrading @TriLUG’s main server. Mission accomplished, but dang, now it’s dark!

via web

Attendees gather in our living room before the royal wedding for Princess Cookie & Prince Spot! http://t.co/gkofu46f

via Twitter for iPhone

While we wait for our @arduino & parts from @adafruit, I’m teaching my 10yo daughter that I2C is like talking in code using 2 jump-ropes.

via web

jawartak #oops http://t.co/fXLKWMRA

via Twitter for iPhone (retweeted on 11:04 AM, Nov 11th, 2011 via web)

D1: I’m pretty sure that elf poots smell like peppermint.

via Twitter for iPhone

At the @TriLUG meeting. Wondering why Red Hat’s flag is flying at half-mast. http://t.co/2CADGvWd

via Twitter for iPhone

To my Indian friends: Happy “Guru Nanak’s Birthday”

via web

My co-workers claim that I have a “geek-dar”… I can sense a gathering of geeks, and I go join them.

via web

I contributed to Project Gutenberg. — OK, so I only fixed a small typo. But the whole idea of constant reader-led improvement is awesome!

via web

Today I am earning my keep, not by actually working myself, but by preventing others from doing unnecessary work.

via web

rayleee Do Americans realise that tomorrow is 11/11/11 and not 11/11/11?

via TweetDeck (retweeted on 1:02 PM, Nov 10th, 2011 via web)

“Winter” is the name of my kids’ Elf-on-the-Shelf. And she is becoming more active these days.

via Twitter for iPhone

Got distracted by the elephant circus… now trying to decide whether to place my order with @adafruit or wait until their G+ VIP discount.

via web

“CNBC is not streaming the debate online. Tune in to cable TV to watch.” — Hello? 1980 called… they want their TV back!

via web

10yo daughter and I are putting together an order for @adafruit… awesomeness delivered by mail!

via web

Happy Carl Sagan Day to all beings on the Pale Blue Dot - http://t.co/RiZLdMJy

via web

Deleted and re-installed the @SpiderOak app and now it works. I feel a combination of “whew” and “yuck”.

via Twitter for iPhone

Uh oh, @SpiderOak iphone app crashes on start-up, leaving me without access to my STUFF. D’oh!

via Twitter for iPhone

Night sky is dominated by the full moon and Jupiter.

via Twitter for iPhone

Writing code that diddles with time zones… again! This time, in PHP and mysql.

via web

Today’s lunch was a taco salad weighing 2.15 POUNDS. I am proud that I only ate half of it… but that’s still a lot of taco salad! *burp*

via web

@mtdotnet Sorry, I see you’ve already been down that path. I still like that theory. Maybe those addr’s are RR’s privates, not TM’s.

via web

@mtdotnet Your T-mobile/DoD answer is here: http://t.co/4DV7gTnf - It’s not DoD, it’s a “fake” RFC1918.

via web in reply to mtdotnet

@adafruit - Is there any chance of getting black-on-yellow 20x4 LCD’s. I’m not a fan of white-on-blue.

via web

T-Mobile is using (non-publicly-routeable) DoD address space as if it were RFC1918: Clever or Insane? http://t.co/4DV7gTnf

via web

@robertryals I just hope we don’t change our name to something dumb like “T4 Tech Systems”.

via web in reply to robertryals

It’s always fun to wake up and see your employer on page 1 of the local news.

via web

Power blinked, kids’ alarm clock reset to 12:00AM. When it went off at midnight, D2 leapt out of bed & stripped naked. She does not recall.

via Twitter for iPhone

shawnp0wers Daylight savings time is one of the dumbest things we do as a planet - like US banks though, it’s apparently too big of a blunder to fail.

via Echofon (retweeted on 10:10 PM, Nov 6th, 2011 via web)

@nivex Full disclosure, this was after we decided that our club house would be inside a 8-foot diameter drain pipe that runs under the road.

via web in reply to nivex

My kids want me to be the leader of their club. Enjoy it while it lasts.

via Twitter for iPhone

Hardware store opens in 7 minutes. Waiting in the parking lot. Just long enough to play @alyankovic’s song about this very anticipation.

via Twitter for iPhone

Like a civilized society, we spend 18 weeks per year on “standard” time, and we pretend it’s later than it really is for the other 34 weeks.

via Twitter for iPhone

Anyone taking bets on whether or not iOS5 finally does Daylight Saving Time correctly? We’ll find out tomorrow (or maybe on Monday).

via web

New rule: Pixy Stix must be stored separately from the rest of the Halloween candy. They bend & leak when I am digging for the good stuff.

via Twitter for iPhone

My favorite Andy Rooney quote: “Dishes, underwear, and soap should all be white.”

via web

Upgrading our hermit crab’s cage:
☒ Glass tank
☒ Sand
☒ Water pool
☐ Heater
☐ Arduino ??

via web

And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Ka-Troo
And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo
A Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!

via web

On NC Voter Registration form: “If you do not have a street address, draw a map of where you reside. Please include roads and landmarks.”

via web

Comment from today’s code review: “I think Gödel, Escher and Bach must be the 3 Musketeers”

via web

Thanks, @OldCrank … now another half-dozen important facts just got pushed out of the ole noggin, replaced by useless meta-math trivia.

via web in reply to OldCrank

Comment seen in code review: “// By using sorting by name data fetched is is more readable and well sorted.” THAT clarifies everything!

via web

FYI - When you say “mantissa”, you probably mean “significand”. Meanwhile, some important fact just got displaced from my dusty attic.

via web

Due to DST time changes in Europe (last week) vs in US (next week), I managed to miss my conference call TWICE today.

via web

Any landing that you can walk away from is a “good” landing. To the pilots of LO-16 (Newark-Warsaw), good job!

via web