Girl with Pearl Earbuds (with apologies to Vermeer) by Option8.
originally posted April, 2004
Girl With Pearl Earbuds by Charles Mangin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Old Stuff
02
Nov 07
Girl With Pearl Earbuds
12
Feb 07
ipod cozy
why… what’s in that little knit cozy?
yep. i knit an ipod cozy. email me if you want the pattern :)
[update]
i’ve never actually written a pattern before. i’m even bad at following them, as i tend to try and experiment – sometimes with unpleasant results. anyhoo, for everyone that has requested it, here’s what i’ve got. it may be hard to follow, incomplete or totally inaccurate, but then, that’s true of most everything i write.
if you’re more of a “pro” knitter, and feel up to the task, feel free to adapt or rewrite these instructions in a proper format.
[pattern follows]
ipod cozy pattern:
begin by casting on 9, 11, or 13 stitches onto a double-ended needle. the number depends on the size of your needles (i use #7 / 4.5mm), the type of yarn (i’m using a “worsted” weight yarn this time), and whether you’re planning on using the resulting cozy on an ipod, ipod mini, cel phone, or other electronic gadget of similar size. full-sized ipods tend to fit the 11- or 13-stitch cozy, the mini is more of a 9-stitcher. in any case, the result should be plenty stretchy, so don’t be alarmed by a slightly small diameter.
the bottom:
so… 9 (or 11, or 13) stitches on a double-ended needle. knit one row. perl one row. knit one row. knit one last row.
form the circle:
beginning and ending with perls, alternate knit and perl for one row.
with three more double-pointed needles, complete the circle. cast on 4, then 9 (or 11, or 13), then another 4. you should now have a wide rectangle.
join the circle and, following your previous row, beginning and ending with perls, alternate knit and perl for the long sides.
for the short sides, perl one, knit two, then perl one.
rinse and repeat:
in this manner, continue to form the cozy, until you’ve reached the desired length.
add the drawstring:
bind off one of the short sides. continue around the three remaining sides, perl every stitch. turn around and knit a row. continue this – a row of perls, a row of knits – for six more rows.
finish up by sewing the resulting flap at the top such that you can pass a string or braided yarn through the hole and cinch up the opening at the top. i’m not describing this very well, but look at the photos and you should see what i did.
sew the bottom flap so you’ve got a closed off “sock” to slip your ipod into, then turn inside-out to hide the seams.
share and enjoy.
08
Jan 07
Kernel Notes (from Linux v0.1)
due to the continual popularity of this post from my old site, i’ve decided to repost it in the new WordPress site, so people can actually comment on it
comments and notes by Linus Torvalds included in the Linux Kernel
(version 0.01)
When looking through the kernel source, out of curiosity and in an effort to glimpse a piece of the history of this revolutionary operating system, as well as the personality behind it, I found myself fascinated by the irreverent comments and side notes that the author included with the code.
I felt that the comments in the code, the direct communication between the programmer and his peers, the kernel’s earliest users, was worthy of archiving as much as the operational code. Possibly moreso.
The following comments are contained in the source code of the original Linux kernel, version 0.01, from August 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Many of these survive in the latest developmental kernel, alongside those of the many open source contributors that have, since 1991, joined the, now monumental, effort.
from head.s:
/*
* setup_gdt
*
* This routines sets up a new gdt and loads it.
* Only two entries are currently built, the same
* ones that were built in init.s. The routine
* is VERY complicated at two whole lines, so this
* rather long comment is certainly needed :-).
* This routine will be overwritten by the page tables.
*/
/* This is the default interrupt "handler" :-) */
.align 2
ignore_int:
incb 0xb8000+160 # put something on the screen
movb $2,0xb8000+161 # so that we know something
iret # happened
/*
* Setup_paging
*
* This routine sets up paging by setting the page bit
* in cr0. The page tables are set up, identity-mapping
* the first 8MB. The pager assumes that no illegal
* addresses are produced (ie >4Mb on a 4Mb machine).
*
* NOTE! Although all physical memory should be identity
* mapped by this routine, only the kernel page functions
* use the >1Mb addresses directly. All "normal" functions
* use just the lower 1Mb, or the local data space, which
* will be mapped to some other place - mm keeps track of
* that.
*
* For those with more memory than 8 Mb - tough luck. I've
* not got it, why should you :-) The source is here. Change
* it. (Seriously - it shouldn't be too difficult. Mostly
* change some constants etc. I left it at 8Mb, as my machine
* even cannot be extended past that (ok, but it was cheap :-)
* I've tried to show which constants to change by having
* some kind of marker at them (search for "8Mb"), but I
* won't guarantee that's all :-( )
*/
from boot.s:
| well, that certainly wasn't fun :-(. Hopefully it works, and we don't
| need no steenking BIOS anyway (except for the initial loading :-).
| The BIOS-routine wants lots of unnecessary data, and it's less
| "interesting" anyway. This is how REAL programmers do it.
from buffer.c:
/* NOTE!! While we possibly slept in sync_dev(), somebody else might have
* added "this" block already, so check for that. Thank God for goto's.
*/
from exec.c:
eip[0] = ex.a_entry; /* eip, magic happens :-) */
from file_dev.c:
/*
* ok, append may not work when many processes are writing at the same time
* but so what. That way leads to madness anyway.
*/
from memory.h:
/*
* NOTE!!! memcpy(dest,src,n) assumes ds=es=normal data segment. This
* goes for all kernel functions (ds=es=kernel space, fs=local data,
* gs=null), as well as for all well-behaving user programs (ds=es=
* user data space). This is NOT a bug, as any user program that changes
* es deserves to die if it isn't careful.
*/
from config.h:
/*
* HD type. If 2, put 2 structures with a comma. If just 1, put
* only 1 struct. The structs are { HEAD, SECTOR, TRACKS, WPCOM, LZONE, CTL }
*
* NOTE. CTL is supposed to be 0 for drives with less than 8 heads, and
* 8 if heads >= 8. Don't know why, and I haven't tested it on a drive with
* more than 8 heads, but that is what the bios-listings seem to imply. I
* just love not having a manual.
*/
from main.c:
/*
* Yeah, yeah, it's ugly, but I cannot find how to do this correctly
* and this seems to work. I anybody has more info on the real-time
* clock I'd be interested. Most of this was trial and error, and some
* bios-listing reading. Urghh.
*/
void main(void) /* This really IS void, no error here. */
{ /* The startup routine assumes (well, ...) this */
from utime.h:
#include /* I know - shouldn't do this, but .. */
from string.h:
/*
* This string-include defines all string functions as inline
* functions. Use gcc. It also assumes ds=es=data space, this should be
* normal. Most of the string-functions are rather heavily hand-optimized,
* see especially strtok,strstr,str[c]spn. They should work, but are not
* very easy to understand. Everything is done entirely within the register
* set, making the functions fast and clean. String instructions have been
* used through-out, making for "slightly" unclear code :-)
*
* (C) 1991 Linus Torvalds
*/
from errno.h:
/*
* ok, as I hadn't got any other source of information about
* possible error numbers, I was forced to use the same numbers
* as minix.
* Hopefully these are posix or something. I wouldn't know (and posix
* isn't telling me - they want $$$ for their f***ing standard).
*
* We don't use the _SIGN cludge of minix, so kernel returns must
* see to the sign by themselves.
*
* NOTE! Remember to change strerror() if you change this file!
*/
from vsprintf.c:
/* vsprintf.c -- Lars Wirzenius & Linus Torvalds. */
/*
* Wirzenius wrote this portably, Torvalds fucked it up :-)
*/
from tty_io.c:
/*
* Jeh, sometimes I really like the 386.
* This routine is called from an interrupt,
* and there should be absolutely no problem
* with sleeping even in an interrupt (I hope).
* Of course, if somebody proves me wrong, I'll
* hate intel for all time :-). We'll have to
* be careful and see to reinstating the interrupt
* chips before calling this, though.
*/
from sys.c:
/*
* This needs some heave [sic] checking ...
* I just haven't get the stomach for it. I also don't fully
* understand sessions/pgrp etc. Let somebody who does explain it.
*/
from sched.c:
/*
* 'schedule()' is the scheduler function. This is GOOD CODE! There
* probably won't be any reason to change this, as it should work well
* in all circumstances (ie gives IO-bound processes good response etc).
* The one thing you might take a look at is the signal-handler code here.
*
* NOTE!! Task 0 is the 'idle' task, which gets called when no other
* tasks can run. It can not be killed, and it cannot sleep. The 'state'
* information in task[0] is never used.
*/
from printk.c:
/*
* When in kernel-mode, we cannot use printf, as fs is liable to
* point to 'interesting' things. Make a printf with fs-saving, and
* all is well.
*/
from mktime.c:
/*
* This isn't the library routine, it is only used in the kernel.
* as such, we don't care about years<1970 etc, but assume everything
* is ok. Similarly, TZ etc is happily ignored. We just do everything
* as easily as possible. Let's find something public for the library
* routines (although I think minix times is public).
*/
/*
* PS. I hate whoever though up the year 1970 - couldn't they have gotten
* a leap-year instead? I also hate Gregorius, pope or no. I'm grumpy.
*/
from memory.c:
/*
* Well, here is one of the most complicated functions in mm. It
* copies a range of linerar addresses by copying only the pages.
* Let's hope this is bug-free, 'cause this one I don't want to debug :-)
*
* Note! We don't copy just any chunks of memory - addresses have to
* be divisible by 4Mb (one page-directory entry), as this makes the
* function easier. It's used only by fork anyway.
*
* NOTE 2!! When from==0 we are copying kernel space for the first
* fork(). Then we DONT want to copy a full page-directory entry, as
* that would lead to some serious memory waste - we just copy the
* first 160 pages - 640kB. Even that is more than we need, but it
* doesn't take any more memory - we don't copy-on-write in the low
* 1 Mb-range, so the pages can be shared with the kernel. Thus the
* special case for nr=xxxx.
*/
from fork.c:
/*
* 'fork.c' contains the help-routines for the 'fork' system call
* (see also system_call.s), and some misc functions ('verify_area').
* Fork is rather simple, once you get the hang of it, but the memory
* management can be a bitch. See 'mm/mm.c': 'copy_page_tables()'
*/
03
May 05
minirant
i’m currently reading:
Crimes Against Logic
by Jamie Whyte
highly enlightening, even in the slightly americanized version (the original, UK version is Bad Thoughts). an excellent logical vocabulary builder for your next discussion with a politician, priest, or management consultant, and a vitally useful reference whilst reading or watching the news.
i recommend it and, though the link above goes to amazon (and i don’t get any credit or affiliate points if you click on it) it’s probably available in the philosophy section of your local bookseller.
02
May 05
minirant
so we get disclaimers and warnings on our prime time cartoons these days about “animated nudity” and “sexual dialogue” – presumably referring to a second of cartoon butt and a humorous conversation about which of the men in a gay relationship has the vagina – but no mention of, say, the attempted assasination of one spouse by another, the drinking of hazardous toxic waste from a thermos, underage girls exposing themselves in exchange for beer, a man biting off his own thumb, or homeless men fighting over the belongings of one of their friends who has just died. this is American Dad, after all, i suppose.
i love our american value system. i wouldn’t trade it for anything.
unless it was money. yeah. i’d trade it for money.
13
Apr 05
minirant
last night it rained and i couldn’t sleep.
the gentle hush of rain and the patter of drops on the tin roof of my storage shed would normally put me to sleep in short order. but last night, i was, for some reason, too restless to sleep.
then it started again. the dripping. the. steady. plop. drop. drip. thunk. of water, not in a random stream of droplets as on the roof or window, but the metronome of dripping water i became so familiar with in an apartment with a leaky faucet a few years back.
my first reaction upon hearing this sound, in the late hours of one night a few weeks ago, was that my brand new roof had already sprung a leak and, because of my expert triangulation of the sound’s location, was leaking water into the space behind the drywall.
fetching a flashlight (and this will come back into the story later) i hurried to the attic and attempted to catch the dripping in the act. after an exhaustive search, i determined that the source of the sound was not, in fact, inside the house at all.
apparently the new roofline had some new drop accumulation points along the edge of the roof that overhangs the wall just outside my bedroom, and one of these was dripping onto the electrical box attached to that wall, hence the hollow thunk when the drips hit in steady succession. or the cable box. or the phone box.
that side of the house is festooned with electrical protuberances, each of which could have been ground zero for plunging droplets.
for a while, i slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that the drips which would occasionally wake me were coming from outside, and were not the harbinger of rotted and crumbling drywall, mold and water damage.
until last night.
restless and already perturbed by my inability to sleep, i determined to go outside and put an end to the dripping – or at least the sound – once and for all. i would find where the drops were hitting and put something, pine straw or leaves, on top to deaden the impact, and hence the sound.
but i’d need some light. so i sought out that same flashlight from the attic expedition. it didn’t work.
neither did my other flashlight – a 30+ year-old boy scout model that takes D cell batteries. i swapped out the batteries, as for some bizarre reason i was able to locate spare Ds before i could find the AAs the other light took. still no good.
oh well, the bulb’s gone in that one. here’s some AAs for the other… crap.
the bulb had blown in both of them, and i had no replacement bulbs. in the end, i went outside with a decorative candle, sheltered under an umbrella, to spot the dripping culprit and put a handful of wet pine straw on it. it was the phone box.
my point, and why i ended up cursing my way back to bed, was that, surrounded by an endless wasteland of computer and other electronic components, technology in all its splendor, i had no way to make light in the darkness outside my door. i can turn on my tv from the other room, or set up a show to record from my computer at work, even over the phone, but i couldn’t fulfill the simplest, stone age requirement of lighting my way in the darkness. at least not without resorting to the stone age implement of fire to do it.
in the end, exhausted and lulled to a deep calm by the remaining comforting sounds of falling water, finally, i slept.
then one of the cats horked up something in the living room…
25
Mar 05
minirant
enterprise sucks. i will not be sad to see it go.
yeah. i had high hopes for a prequel series when the buzz started up about it. but as soon as the first episode started up and that… song… oozed out of the speakers… sweet mother of crap, that was awful. it killed the mood, shat on the entire majesty and nobility of the journey into the unknown that makes trek, well Trek.
even TNG, on its worst wesley crusherest of days, still kept the spirit alive, though it was sitting in a corner, crying a little. a big part of it was characters like picard, but, as with a lot of the best movies and series, one of the characters was the music. in my mind, enterprise was DOA in that department.
well, that and the decision to make enterprise’s pre-TOS technology too far advanced. where are the knobs and switches? analog, kitschy interfaces would have made things a little humorous, but the series took itself way too seriously anyway. that and the transporter. i wanted so badly for them to not have that plotcrutch to lean on. to have to write themselves out of a wet paper bag, without the deus ex machina of instant matter transmission.
and time travel. god, how readily that’s trotted out when the soup gets thin. it’s all somehow worse than the dark days of deus ex wesley. at least those episodes can be explained by a writers’ strike. or so i’d like to believe.
paramount should have hired the writing team from firefly as soon as fox let them out of their contract, killing off the last great hope of many scifi tv fans. firefly will be missed.
in the long run, though, enterprise will not be mourned, at least not any more than ensign whatshisname that got killed that time. the one in the red shirt that transported down to that planet…
20
Mar 05
minirant
highlights from south by southwest:
i saw a hobbit talking on his cel phone.
Al Franken signed my ipod, and didn’t say anything derogatory about David Sedaris when he saw “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim” on the screen below “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them” – and didn’t make fun of me at all, despite the fact that i’m a drooling fanboy
Ana Marie Cox made a comment about my having big hands, and worked the phrase “ass fucking” into her answer to my question about the definition of journalism.
the guys from home star runner are almost as funny in person as they are when animated.
i managed to ask matt mullenweg about the possibility of getting hit by a bus without raising any suspicions.
I was interviewed for a documentary about second life and may soon burst into flames and collapse in upon my own force of geek gravity.
i like austin.