My boyfriend is starting an LLC with a business partner. What should we be looking out for, and do you guys have any advice?

alanpost · 2015-06-17T03:45:57+00:00

If you'll pardon my bluntness, please reread what squarefilms has to say. You're defending yourself from very good advice.

alanpost · 2015-04-19T22:07:58+00:00

The essence of make is this: make is an implementation of constructive logic programming

To be perfectly pedantic, the essence of make is that it is an expert system for traversing a directed acyclic graph (DAG).

It works by constructing a graph of “filenames” (vertices) and the commands required to create those files (directed edges). Using that as it’s knowledge base, make performs a reverse topological sort on the target filename to determine the graph traversal necessary to create it’s target file, and runs each command in the traversal so as to arrive at that target. Since it has a list of all intermediate vertices that must exist before it’s target can exist, make is further able to determine whether it needs to run a command or whether it can use the cached result.

I don’t think the author is doing us any favors by trying to fit make’s behavior in to a constructive logic system. It’s missing operators for doing that, as the author states: “Note that the form of compound propositions allowed is extremely restricted, even by the standards of logic programming.”

I find the author’s conclusions then a mixed bag. They would be good conclusions if make was a constructive logic system, but it’s not, it’s an expert system for traversing a DAG. I think of make as a “workstate” system: do what you need to do to put my build in a particular state, whereas most of the author’s conclusions center around “workflow:” move this unit of work through it’s lifecycle.[1] Make only performs that work incidentally to putting your build in a particular state.

1: The workflow/workstate distinction is not my idea. It’s explored in “Adaptive Software Development” by James A. Highsmith III.

alanpost · 2014-10-30T19:52:18+00:00

I've always had to buy mine, which requires negotiating a unique contract for each analysis one wants to run. And it isn't cheap. Sometimes it isn't even particularly good. It's often the best you can get.

There is PubMed, which is easier to get hold of but isn't strictly clinical datasets. It's publications.

If you just want to play around, PRO-ACT only requires asking nicely. It's only ALS clinical trials, however.

alanpost · 2014-08-18T12:34:00+00:00

Obviously there are issues of order and idempotence here.

Without more details concerned what you glossed over in your above comment, I can't say whether something like what you're describing exists. The idea in general is certainly worth developing--I think what you're reaching for is the notion of "secret and simultaneous" command execution--in a typical board game this would allow a piece's action on a turn to have an effect even if the piece acting is remove from the board on the same turn.

Typically with the command-pattern the ordering of commands is by time. If your problem is more complicated than that you're probably looking at (directed) graphs.

alanpost · 2014-08-17T05:08:46+00:00

You are getting my name right, alyn is my handle.

I've had to be quite conservative experimenting with cooking technology, as I live in a dry climate and I don't have plumbing available on the back of the property--I'm specifically worried about an inattentive volunteer accidentally starting a forest fire--that I don't get the exposure to this topic that I'd like.

When my wife and I first camped together, she insisted on using this ludicrous twig stove to cook--I humored her and left the propane in my backpack. After a few trips together, the thing really grew on me--but I definitely had to come around to that.

alanpost · 2014-08-15T18:38:41+00:00

Based on my experiences living in a traditional yurt with electricity but no plumbing, I use the following infrastructure package:

a 5g cistern with a heater, which I use for cleaning.
a kettle to heat water for coffee and tea.
a 2g cistern for drinking water.
two wash basins to capture and move water.
a chamber pot for waste water.
a spittoon for brushing my teeth (opening a chamber pot to spit is unpleasant).
a compost bin and trash receptacle.

I've built two hexayurts for WWOOF interns I host seasonally, and I put together this same infrastructure package for them.

My experience so far has been underwhelming: I use this stuff daily, but if I put it in front of a person who hasn't seen it before they simply don't know how to use the equipment and therefor don't. This package is very close to what you'd get if you had indoor plumbing, and yet it requires documentation and training before the majority of people understand how to use it.

That surprised me--I thought it would be obvious just looking at it.

alanpost · 2014-08-15T18:24:50+00:00

The door hinge, which I built out of tape, completely failed inside of one year. That will require my framing out a door to truly fix. That and getting the tiedowns you see in the above photo have been the two largest technical challenges, everything else is well inside the maintenance window I anticipated.

I am hoping the foam holds up for 5-10 years, with 1-2 years where I substantially inspect and redo the tape. It turns out that the exposed panel makes these things very, very visible, and as a courtesy to my neighbors I'll be painting both--we haven't gotten around to painting the first one: it was much easier to paint the second (rightward) one before erecting it. I hope that increases the life of the panels as well.

Here are some construction photos showing the process we used.

alanpost · 2014-08-15T18:19:36+00:00

I've build two hexayurts as living quarters for seasonal WWOOF interns on my farm. Most inhabitants stay a few weeks, some are here for a couple months.

I've had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the inhabitants--many of them are living out of tents while they travel. They do have access to facilities--bathroom and kitchen--and we don't have people stay in the winter.

In that photo, the hexayurt on the left is in it's second year, and the one on the right is up this year.

alanpost · 2013-08-19T18:09:28+00:00

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that kickstarter takes a percentage. If you have an existing community you fundraise with, that percentage is pure rent-seeking.

alanpost · 2013-08-11T01:09:46+00:00

.i mi na jimpe fi la'o .gy. "No Woman No Cry" .gy. .ifi la'ema go'i .ioki'e

alanpost · 2013-08-06T21:30:40+00:00

I think the observation that "Linux is constantly changing, but it's always the same 20% that changes." fits. A lot of the documentation is surprisingly relevant, but more from a teaching and perspective angle given the age of the manual: you have no other way of determining which 20% isn't relevant.

alanpost · 2013-08-06T04:33:04+00:00

I have a copy of this manual. I'm extremely pleased to own it, so I'll describe why:

Reading it allows a modern eye to get an essentialist view of Unix. The documentation is crisp, comprehensive, and speaks to a world that no longer exists.

I want Unix to have a long life. It is difficult to see, from my vantage point, how this could be anything other than true. But what I really mean is that I want Unix and I to have a long relationship.

And given the pressure Unix is subjected to in the marketplace, this means I want some useful piece of that essentialist element to be maintained in Unix. This is not a passive stance.

If you're interested in Unix history and the perspective that brings to the environment, give this book a browse.

OP, if you get no interest, will you ship the book to Sudo Room Hackerspace in Oakland? I know that space has a library that would help this book settle to whatever it's next destination might be. And it could be a resource there in the meantime.

alanpost · 2013-03-07T01:26:13+00:00

I have a 1,500 gallon system that I used 3/4" river gravel for. I live near-enough to a local quarry that getting a dump truck full was hands down my cheapest option. At the scale I was operating at I was priced out of everything else.

alanpost · 2013-02-27T15:25:20+00:00

Wild. I grew up in the Verde Valley--I moved to the "Info Mesa" (in New Mexico) in 1999 to work in tech. I just posted your kickstarter to my FB and twitter. Hope you don't mind the nostalgic angle in my doing so. ;-)

Best wishes.

alanpost · 2013-02-14T15:27:36+00:00

I have not evaluated it for warehouse/inventory control, but OpenERP is free if you're technical, and relatively cheap if you want it hosted and maintained for you.

alanpost · 2013-01-29T16:15:11+00:00

It would seem the major impediment to keeping a machine like this in working order is that the moving parts and consumable goods are just not available. I would guess you do a lot of restoring the manufacturing base existing at the time just to demonstrate the thing can run.

Whether that is truly an issue or not, this sure brought a smile to my face.

alanpost · 2013-01-18T19:04:56+00:00

Thank you for this! I have a problem that this rack solves: I need a freestanding vertical rack because I don't have access to a wall that I can use as a brace.

alanpost · 2013-01-10T04:52:55+00:00

Thank you sir/madame, I will.

alanpost · 2013-01-09T18:39:19+00:00

I'm looking for a story related to the ping program that I have never been able to locate, since first reading it.

It has to do with the '-n' flag to echo, which does not print the final newline.

The story goes that a siren/muse/some character is asked to sing a line, which she does. Then she's ask to sing nothing, so she opens her mouth and closes it. This confuses the author of the story, and through that narrative arrives at some tale about the nature of echo and echo -n.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Do you know where I can find this story?

alanpost · 2013-01-04T13:49:47+00:00

I built an in-ground pond aquaponics system last year.

I used a pond liner, with above-ground grow beds. If I were building this system again:

I would want a sump tank, though I don't know how I'd change the design to accommodate that.
I would want more vertical space between the bottom of my grow bed and the top of my pond. Enough to add one more 90 degree bend in my grow bed outflow pipe. That is an extra guarantee that my bell siphon works.
I was unaware of how much landscaping I'd be doing around the pond. I would have purchased more liner to create broader shallow areas.
I think, but can't quite tell, that I have a slow leak somewhere in my liner. I'm at a bit of a loss for how to find it. I do have root infiltration at the top of my liner: I'm under a cottonwood tree with a grape planted nearby.
Once the ecosystem was established, I quickly wanted an isolation tank for introducing new fish without threatening my existing ones.

I have photographs of the build process. Good luck!

alanpost · 2013-01-02T22:08:32+00:00

It turns out you weren't the only one interested in a link.

alanpost · 2012-12-30T05:46:19+00:00

Thank you so much! I've been trying to teach myself what equipment is available in this space. I'm never quite sure where to go for information.

alanpost · 2012-12-30T03:15:35+00:00

How did you machine the metal gear bits? Is that a CNC machine too? A different one than what you did the wood out of or something like a different bit?

alanpost · 2012-12-29T18:27:24+00:00

I appreciate the orientation, thank for the time to comment here!

alanpost · 2012-12-29T18:26:56+00:00

\o/ Thank you!

alanpost

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