So c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon / Check it out!

NPR SOTD: The Ideal Soundtrack to an Early Spring by Stephen Thompson

Fortunately, though it runs only two and a half minutes, "Sun Is Out" functions as a charming, modestly shambling mini-epic, complete with discrete movements that culminate in a full-on power-pop blowout. It's not exactly intellectually taxing — "The sun is out / The sun is out / So c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon / Check it out!" — and it never entirely coheres: It's basically three likable interludes strung together. Nevertheless, the effect remains infectious and beguiling throughout. After all, "Sun Is Out" functions as the ideal soundtrack to an early spring, so what's not to love?

New LaTeX Resume/CV Template

UPDATE: I've made a few updates that make the LaTeX easier to work with while still providing the same output. I've updated the links to the new source below. This source code evolves toward greater simplicity (e.g., so it can someday be generated from MultiMarkDown). So expect things like the specialized list environments to one day be dropped.

I've just created a new post on using LaTeX for résumé/CV production. I've actually just put my own CV on-line as well as its LaTeX source. They can be found at:

• tpavlic_cv_faculty.pdf – My CV (PDF)
• tpavlic_cv_faculty_tex.ascii – The LaTeX source linked for easy browser viewing
• tpavlic_cv_faculty.tex – The LaTeX source linked for easy downloading

Notice the \makeheading{}, \section, and \blankline
macros as well as the outerlist and innerlist environments. Also notice how the template creates PDF bookmarks to each section of the CV.

It should be possible to take my template, strip out my information, and add your own.

Turtle Flatulence Sets Off Fire Alarm

Flatulent Turtle Sets Off Fire Alarm

Unfortunately, there was no one else around to blame. A hungry turtle who munched on Brussels sprouts managed to create big enough bubbles with his flatulence that it actually set off the fire alarm at the Sea Life Center in Weymonth in the UK. The flatulence was strong enough to set off the sensors throughout the aquarium, according to Marine Biologist Sarah Leaney.

When Leany raced to the aquarium, she thought it odd to find the place relatively calm and quiet. According to the Daily Record, she says: "When I got there, all seemed fine. I looked at the tube containing the sensor and saw a turtle beneath it. As I watched, a few large bubbles emerged from beneath him and rose to the surface next to the tube."

"I realized what must have happened. We like to give all our animals a treat at Christmas and sprouts are a really healthy choice for sea turtles. But they do produce similar side-effects to those experienced by humans who eat too many sprouts."

How iMet my Neighbor on iTunes

The audio for this story is hilarious. Discovering "Anna's music" pop up in iTunes leads to strange stalker-like behavior (that probably isn't proper for a married man) that eventually leads to an awkward meeting that goes as poorly as you might imagine. Hilarious.

"How iMet my Neighbor on iTunes" by David Kestenbaum

The on-line version includes a web extra introducing Last.fm and Pandora, two services about which everyone should know (and love).

Gator... BAIT?

I've heard Florida Gator fans chanting, "If you're not a gator, you must be gator bait!"

This is a silly chant. After all, the noun "bait" is defined as (using Merriam-Webster):

• something (as food) used in luring especially to a hook or trap
• a poisonous material placed where it will be eaten by harmful or objectionable animals
• LURE, TEMPTATION

So they're saying that OSU is a lure, a temptation, meant to catch and possibly poison or kill the gators.

Well, okay. I'm fine with that.

Oh, southerners...

Go Bucks! Beat Gators!

New Swiss Army Knife

It (a collector's item) weighs almost 3 pounds and costs almost $1000 (the MSRP is $1200).

• swissinfo: "Giant Swiss Army knife sharpens Wenger brand"
• Official Wenger press release: "WENGER UNVEILS 100 YEARS OF INNOVATION IN ONE KNIFE: All Implements Produced by Wenger Showcased in World's Largest Swiss Army Knife"

I hate DRM so much . . .

. . . and today's news (CNN: "Studios sign off on movie downloads") doesn't make me feel any better.

If I buy a song or a movie or an audiobook, it's MINE. I should be allowed to do anything I want with it. In particular, I should DEFINITELY be allowed to put it on my cell phone rather than my iPod. In fact, I should definitely be allowed to put it on BOTH of them. Additionally, when I upgrade my phone or when the DVD I just burned dies, I should be allowed to copy it AGAIN onto my media; I should NOT be locked out and forced to buy a new copy!

I know this is a bigger issue, and on the bigger discussion I'm convinced that copyright/IP laws do much more harm than good. However, even without that, if I'm not distributing my purchsed media to someone else, I should be allowed to do anything I want with it.

(on a related note, yesterday I tried to move some MIDI (that's right, MIDI) files (ringtones) over from my old phones to my new phone; to my surprise, those MIDI files were copy protected! The phone refused to let me move them! And this is an UNLOCKED and UNBRANDED PHONE! We're not talking about Justin Timberlake's latest howling -- we're talking about 3 second long MIDI RINGTONES! Hell is on earth)

Roomba Robots as Development Platforms

Evidently, the iRobot home robots (the Roomba and Scooba varieties, with emphasis on the former) are now being used as robotic development environments.

It makes sense. They're tiny. They're robust. They're packed with sensors and motors. On top of all of this, they've gone through a modern manufacturing process so they make for a nice little package. On top of all of this, iRobot provides a serial interface by way of a 7-pin mini-DIN on top of the unit (this pin-out is the same as an 8-pin mini-DIN, so it's not so difficult to find a cable to work with it).

How do you use all of this? Well, iRobot has a developer page to get you started. From there, you can find information about the serial command interface (SCI). From the resources there, it's pretty easy to hack together serial interfaces to get up up and running programming the internals of your robot . . .

. . . HOWEVER, RoombaDevTools has done a great deal of the work for you. The two apps that I think are the coolest are the RooStick and the RooTooth.

So RoombaDevTools gets you right up and running with documentation, hardware (including cables), and software as well as lots of other helpful stuff. PLUS most of the importnat software is either platform-independent (i.e., Java libraries made for the JVM) or provided for OS X, Windows, and more. IN FACT, a common application is to combine a Roomba with a control system built on top of a GumStix. That's WAY cool.

So there ya' go... The Roomba(+Gumstix, perhaps) -- the next affordable robot development platform.

HyperRef Options for Proper BackReferencing with Figures Numbered Within Sections and Partial Roman Page Numbering

That's a really long title, I know.

I have a long document that has roman page numbering for its first four pages (i.e., its title page, table of contents, and list of figures). After that, the rest of the document has arabic page numbering starting at page 1 (so the first four pages of the document are i-iv, and the fifth page is page 1).

I have the option (via package amsmath)

\numberwithin{figure}{section}

turned on. This lets my figures be numbered by section (e.g., Figure 2.1).

I have backreferencing turned on (via hyperref) in my bibliography.

It turns out that hyperref won't get all of the links correct unless you massage it quite a bit. For example, page i and page 1 can get the same label (page.1) and so back references to page 1 end up getting sent to page i, which is clearly not correct. A similar thing can happen with Figure 2.1 and figure B.1; they both get labeled as figure.1 and so links to them get confused. There are lots of other pitfalls you run into as you turn on and off options to try to fix things.

Anyway, I had to dig through the hyperref and backref sources to figure out which options to set. These were the ones that I ended up needing. Things work as expected now.

\usepackage[pdfpagelabels,pagebackref,
            hypertexnames=true,plainpages=false,
            naturalnames]{hyperref}

NOTE: If you are producing a DVI rather than a PDF, if you want the links to work, you should probably use:

\usepackage[dvipdfm,
            pdfpagelabels,pagebackref,
            hypertexnames=true,plainpages=false,
            naturalnames]{hyperref}

That's the same line, but the "dvipdfm" option was added in front.

You should also use pdflatex to build your document. You can pass pdflatex an -output-format dvi option to get it to produce a DVI. (note: you can also symlink pdflatex to latex to get it to produce a DVI) (ALSO: you can add -src-specials to the pdflatex line if you're into source specials)

Phew. That took a long time to figure out. I need a beer.