Stever's blog

(article actually written on Saturday, July 17th)

I am currently writing this blog entry from Null Space Labs, a new hackerspace that just opened up in LA. The building is located on 1015 Main St in Los Angeles in a nondescript building. The area is basically downtown LA, slightly off the beaten track. It’s still close enough, though, to have regular city amenities like atms and fast food places or whatever. There is no sign to this place, you can enter the hackerspace through the center door at west wall. This gives it a kinda an underground feel to it.

Inside is pretty nice. It’s nicely airconditioned (it’s currently hot outside) and the room is about 2200 square feet or so, so there’s plenty of space for small gatherings. There are comfortable seats here too. ie: sofa chairs instead of those hard-style library chairs you find at starbucks. But it’s not so much the facility that makes this place cool than it is the community. Basically, the place is a hangout for hackers and any like-minded lovers of technology. It’s a non-profit (I believe), or at least, it’s run that way. There are no real employees here. Most people just pitch in for communal reasons. Some people contribute by paying a monthly dollar donation, some people donate stuff, and some people just show up and help other hackers. I’m attending a Hacker News meetup here and the people, at least in this meetup, are generally agreeable and knowledgeable. Which is kinda refreshing because most computer programmers I meet these days are idiots in my opinion.

The people affiliated with this space are known hacker group “la 2600″, by the way. I mean this both in a white-hat and black-hat way. But if you’re cool with them, they will generally leave you alone.

I guess the only downfall to this place is that I wouldn’t use it for professional meetings or as a place for getting business done. It’s not a professional space and it’s not meant to be. If you need professionalism with guaranteed hours and dedicated meeting rooms, I recommend a co-working spot like Coloft or Blank Spaces.

Anyway, a suggestion donation is $40/month. You can also help by donating stuff (like in an asian/buddhist style monastary way) or perhaps holding a class or something so that others can learn. But overall, my initial impressions of this place are very positive.

Website of the place is here: http://032.la/

I am very vocal about the incompetence of certain people. Incompetent people are everywhere – only they don’t know it. Anyway, it’s apparently an effect called the “Dunning-Kruger effect”. Straight from wikipedia:

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which “people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it”. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than in actuality; by contrast, the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to a perverse result where less competent people will rate their own ability higher than more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. “Thus, the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.”

edwin didn’t work on mit-scheme for some reason. Kept on giving me a “Can’t find any usable display type” error. I had to compile mit-scheme manually since ubuntu’s package system didn’t handle it for some reason (at least on the 64 bit version). Turns out I was missing a few libraries at compile time and the configure script didn’t tell me about it. This is straight from the author:

Here’s the list of package dependencies that must be installed when building:

m4, autotools-dev, libssl-dev, libncurses5-dev, libx11-dev,
libxt-dev, libltdl-dev

And here are some optional packages that are needed for specific
purposes like crypto and databases:

libmhash-dev, libmcrypt-dev, libgdbm-dev, libpq-dev, libdb-dev

Putting this on my blog so other people can benefit. I don’t want the author bothered unnecessarily.

I came across a few poems from a young girl (age 11) a few years back on about.com. “Kelly Barlett” was her nom de plume. I’m putting this out on the internet in the hopes someone knows of her whereabouts. She’s 24 now and I assume she has a blog or something out there. Perhaps she’s even published. If anyone knows who she is, please reply. Her output at such a young age is amazing.

Summer Sprite
by Kelly Bartlett
age last edited: 11

See the delicate hummingbird,
As tiny as a baby’s thumb.
Zooming through the flower garden,
Sipping sweet elixir from each mum.

His exquisite plumage sparkling,
In the summer’s radiant sunlight.
Like wee precious diamonds,
Iridescent colors seem to ignite.

Flitting from flower to flower,
As rapid as the eye can blink.
To each blossom he will zoom,
Delicious nectar he will drink.

A diminutive flying wizard,
Darting sideways and upside down!
Hovering almost stationary,
From morning’s first light to sundown.

What a wonderful acrobatic aviator,
Performing truly Amazing stunts!
To each bouquet he skillfully zips,
Imbibing the sweet juice more than once.

Secret Love
by Kelly Bartlett
Age last edited: 11
Georgia, USA

Why can’t I tell you how I feel?
How much I love and adore you,
This affection I have for you is real.
I know you have these feelings too.

You must be as bashful as I’m.
In class I can feel you staring each day,
But when your eyes meet mine
You become embarrassed and look away.

We talk for hours on the phone,
And time goes by so fast,
When we hang up I feel empty and alone.
I wish our talks could last and last.

When I look in your brown eyes,
I get a funny feeling inside.
You are different from the other guys.
I blush and get all starry-eyed.

At lunch you always sit near by,
But we just make small talk and smile.
Why are we both so painfully shy?
Why do we both live in denial?

There are people in this world who are very intelligent, but are poor thinkers.
“The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven”

- Debono

For some reason mit-scheme (my preferred lisp interpreter) is not available as a package on x86-64 Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Haron. So I tried manually compiling it myself and got this error:

gcc -o scheme -export-dynamic artutl.o avltree.o bkpt.o bignum.o bigprm.o bitstr.o boot.o char.o daemon.o debug.o dfloat.o error.o extern.o fasdump.o fasl.o fasload.o fixnum.o flonum.o gcloop.o generic.o hooks.o hunk.o intern.o interp.o intprm.o list.o lookprm.o lookup.o memmag.o missing.o obstack.o option.o osscheme.o ostty.o outf.o prim.o primutl.o ptrvec.o purify.o purutl.o regex.o rgxprim.o step.o storage.o string.o syntax.o sysprim.o term.o transact.o tterm.o utabmd.o utils.o vector.o wind.o prosenv.o prosfile.o prosfs.o prosio.o prosproc.o prospty.o prosterm.o prostty.o pruxsock.o intext.o pruxenv.o pruxfs.o pruxio.o ux.o uxctty.o uxenv.o uxfile.o uxfs.o uxio.o uxproc.o uxsig.o uxsock.o uxterm.o uxtop.o uxtrap.o uxtty.o uxutil.o cmpauxmd.o termcap.o tparam.o pruxdld.o cmpint.o cmpintmd.o comutl.o usrdef.o -ldl -lm
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_return_to_interpreter’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x1f3): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_operator_1_0_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×217): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_operator_2_0_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×257): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_operator_2_1_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x2a7): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_operator_3_0_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x2f7): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_operator_3_1_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×347): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o:cmpint.c:(.text+0×397): more undefined references to `interface_to_scheme’ follow
cmpint.o: In function `return_to_compiled_code’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×939): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_primitive_error’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x9bb): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.o: In function `compiler_interrupt_common’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0xe0d): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_unassigned_p_trap_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×1045): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_safe_lookup_trap_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×1165): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_lookup_trap_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×1285): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_assignment_trap_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x13b5): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_link’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x1a4a): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0x1a6d): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_primitive_lexpr_apply’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x1b29): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_primitive_apply’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x1cad): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_op_lookup_trap_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×2164): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_unassigned_p_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×2342): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0×2375): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_safe_lookup_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x24b2): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0x24e5): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_lookup_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×2622): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0×2655): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_assignment_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x27af): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0x27e2): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_link_caches_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x29be): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_lexpr_apply’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x2c86): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0x2cdc): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0x2ceb): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_apply’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x2ff9): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0x309d): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0×3116): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0×3159): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_operator_lookup_trap’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×3444): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_reflect_to_interface’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×3503): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0×3557): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.c:(.text+0x35eb): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.c:(.text+0×3625): undefined reference to `interface_to_scheme’
cmpint.o: In function `comutil_cache_lookup_apply’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x3a6b): undefined reference to `interface_to_C’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_cache_lookup_apply_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x3cbe): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `enter_compiled_expression’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x3e6f): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_error_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x82a): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `comp_interrupt_restart’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0×888): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpint.o: In function `apply_compiled_procedure’:
cmpint.c:(.text+0x3b4a): undefined reference to `C_to_interface’
cmpintmd.o: In function `x86_64_reset_hook’:
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x16a): undefined reference to `asm_scheme_to_interface’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×175): undefined reference to `asm_scheme_to_interface’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×184): undefined reference to `asm_scheme_to_interface_call’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x18f): undefined reference to `asm_scheme_to_interface_call’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x19e): undefined reference to `asm_trampoline_to_interface’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x1a9): undefined reference to `asm_trampoline_to_interface’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x1b8): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_procedure’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x1c3): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_procedure’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x1d2): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_continuation’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x1dd): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_continuation’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x1ec): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_closure’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x1f7): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_closure’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×206): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_dlink’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×211): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_dlink’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×220): undefined reference to `asm_primitive_apply’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x22b): undefined reference to `asm_primitive_apply’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x23a): undefined reference to `asm_primitive_lexpr_apply’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×245): undefined reference to `asm_primitive_lexpr_apply’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×254): undefined reference to `asm_assignment_trap’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x25f): undefined reference to `asm_assignment_trap’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x26e): undefined reference to `asm_reference_trap’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×279): undefined reference to `asm_reference_trap’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×288): undefined reference to `asm_safe_reference_trap’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×293): undefined reference to `asm_safe_reference_trap’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x2a2): undefined reference to `asm_link’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x2ad): undefined reference to `asm_link’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x2bc): undefined reference to `asm_error’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x2c7): undefined reference to `asm_error’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x2d6): undefined reference to `asm_primitive_error’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x2e1): undefined reference to `asm_primitive_error’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x2f0): undefined reference to `asm_generic_add’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x2fb): undefined reference to `asm_generic_add’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x30a): undefined reference to `asm_generic_subtract’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×315): undefined reference to `asm_generic_subtract’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×324): undefined reference to `asm_generic_multiply’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x32f): undefined reference to `asm_generic_multiply’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x33e): undefined reference to `asm_generic_divide’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×349): undefined reference to `asm_generic_divide’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×358): undefined reference to `asm_generic_equal’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×363): undefined reference to `asm_generic_equal’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×372): undefined reference to `asm_generic_less’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x37d): undefined reference to `asm_generic_less’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x38c): undefined reference to `asm_generic_greater’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×397): undefined reference to `asm_generic_greater’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x3a6): undefined reference to `asm_generic_increment’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x3b1): undefined reference to `asm_generic_increment’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x3c0): undefined reference to `asm_generic_decrement’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x3cb): undefined reference to `asm_generic_decrement’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x3da): undefined reference to `asm_generic_zero’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x3e5): undefined reference to `asm_generic_zero’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x3f4): undefined reference to `asm_generic_positive’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x3ff): undefined reference to `asm_generic_positive’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x40e): undefined reference to `asm_generic_negative’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×419): undefined reference to `asm_generic_negative’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×428): undefined reference to `asm_generic_quotient’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×433): undefined reference to `asm_generic_quotient’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×442): undefined reference to `asm_generic_remainder’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x44d): undefined reference to `asm_generic_remainder’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x45c): undefined reference to `asm_generic_modulo’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×467): undefined reference to `asm_generic_modulo’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×476): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×481): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×490): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_1′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x49b): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_1′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x4aa): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_2′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x4b5): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_2′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x4c4): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_3′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x4cf): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_3′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x4de): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_4′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x4e9): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_4′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x4f8): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_5′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×503): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_5′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×512): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_6′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x51d): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_6′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x52c): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_7′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×537): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_7′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×546): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_8′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×551): undefined reference to `asm_sc_apply_size_8′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×560): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_continuation_2′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x56b): undefined reference to `asm_interrupt_continuation_2′
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0x57b): undefined reference to `asm_fixnum_shift’
cmpintmd.c:(.text+0×585): undefined reference to `asm_fixnum_shift’
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [scheme] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/steve/Downloads/mit-scheme-9.0.1/src/microcode’
make: *** [compile-microcode] Error 2
ioo

Weird. The code compiles cleanly using the “Portable C” option, but not the 64 bit version.

I checked all the conventional channels (google, ubuntu forums, etc) with no luck so I wrote to the authors. It seems their configure script doesn’t check for a package called “m4″ (whatever that is). I installed it and then the program compiled cleanly. I am posting this online just in case anyone else had the same problem as me.

Imagine two very different types of animals. One animal is optimized for grazing. His mindset is basically programmed to react to every little noise in a bush as a potential source of danger. This animal is less about exploring and more about running away. The second is a hunting animal who is programmed to look at the same rustling bush as a potential source of prey. In a bad economy, too many entrepreneurs think like the first animal. A good entrepreneur should “smell” money in the same way a hunting animal smells prey.

My point: it’s important to understand phenomenons from multiple points of view – apart from the one that everyone else thinks is “reality”.

American bankruptcy laws are incredibly lax relative to the rest of the world. In effect, American entrepreneurship is a lot like playing roulette with other people’s money – you can keep the winnings, but the losses are paid for you. While you can never be sure to win any one particular bet, in the long run you will win sooner or later. In this type of game, the best strategy is to play as often as possible, to increase your chances of winning.

This joke makes a good point:

Two patients limp into two different medical clinics with the same complaint. Both have trouble walking and appear to require a hip replacement. The FIRST patient is examined within the hour, is x-rayed the same day and has a time booked for surgery the following week. The SECOND sees his family doctor after waiting 3 weeks for an appointment, then waits 8 weeks to see a specialist, then gets an x-ray, which isn’t reviewed for another week and finally has his surgery scheduled for 6 months from then.

Why the different treatment for the two patients?

The FIRST is a Golden Retriever.
The SECOND is a Senior Citizen.

Next time take me to a vet!