After I started running Linux and then Mac OS X, in addition to Windows, I started on a quest to find the universal filesystem. I had multiboot systems and external drives where I wanted to to be able to read and write disks under multiple operating systems.

The obvious choice is FAT32, the ubiquitous, lowest-common de­nom­i­na­tor filesystem. FAT32 is supported out-of-the-box by all major operating systems, digital cameras, and PDAs, so that’s a huge advantage. FAT32 also has major short­com­ings:

• Maximum file size is 4GB. I have ISOs, MPEGs, and other large files exceeding this limit.
• Frag­men­ta­tion happens too easily.
• Timestamps: accurate only to 2-second resolution. No notion of timezones or UTC.
• Journaling: none. Preferred for robustness.
• ACLs or Per­mis­sions. …continue.

New post to the Cozi Tech Blog: Iframes: thinking outside the box.

Using an iframe to host some content turned out to be a big pain, so I came up with a different approach.

On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down their state’s gay marriage ban. Today, the Vermont Leg­is­la­ture legalized gay marriage.

It’s been a great week for fairness. We still have a long way to go: 29 states have con­sti­tu­tion­al amendments banning gay marriage.

I’m sure the right wing are beating the fund-raising drums for all they’re worth. We can expect more Propo­si­tion 8-style backlashes, I’m afraid.

But the news still made my day.

As I mentioned the other night, I introduced two narrators into the chapter of Ulysses that we’re reading in June.

I’d say from the rehearsal tonight that the additions are successful, that they clarify the text for the listener, without being intrusive. I expect that I’ll have to produce a third draft of the script in a few weeks, but I think the next round of changes will be minor. The second draft required hundreds of small changes.

We gained three new readers tonight. There are plenty of parts to go around, so it’s all to the good. We had great difficulty initially last year in getting enough readers from the old guard, until we …continue.

In Seattle, it is said that moss grows on the north side of the rain. To be sure, moss thrives in the shadier parts of our yard.

On a cold, dry February day, I rented a pressure washer with the intention of scouring the moss from the ground and the flaking paint from the garage walls. Although it was quite effective at removing moss, it made a godawful mess. There were muddy flecks of moss everywhere. Against the flaking paint, it made little impression and I still have to deal with that. I had dealt with perhaps a third of the moss when the pressure washer died. I got a partial refund, but didn’t …continue.

Moments ago, I completed the second draft of the Circe Part I script for this year’s Ulysses reading.

The chapter is couched in the form of a play, making it relatively straight­for­ward to convert to a staged reading. There are, however, huge numbers of “stage di­rec­tion­s”, often ironic, generally unactable: A vast, detailed procession in Bloom’s honor; Bloom burning at the stake; camels offering mangoes to Molly; and much, much more.

In addition, there are over one hundred characters, most of whom have a line or two, then disappear. They need to be introduced somehow.

So I added two narrators to handle all of this. They steer the reading along, adding much-needed context to aid the audience who won’t …continue.

It’s been a long, dreary winter in Seattle. After a horrible, wet Saturday, last Sunday was glorious, the first nice day in weeks. Then the cold and rain came back. It snowed on April 1st, for Pete’s sake.

And now we have another lovely weekend, with promised highs in the high Sixties tomorrow. I did some yard work today and cleaned the grill and outdoor furniture. We’ve invited a handful of friends over for dinner tomorrow night.

I am greatly heartened by today’s news of Iowa’s Supreme Court unan­i­mous­ly striking down the state’s gay marriage ban. The passage of Propo­si­tion 8 in California was a setback. The Iowa Court made a strong ruling, gutting the arguments against same-sex marriage.

It’s hard to believe now that in­ter­ra­cial marriage was illegal in many states until 1967. President Obama’s parents could not have married in those states. We look back at that now with bemusement and a little horror. The opposition, then as now, was led by cultural con­ser­v­a­tives, making religious arguments.

Someday soon, we’ll look back at the gay marriage debate with the same bemusement and wonder what all the fuss was about.

About three weeks ago, I answered a question on Stack­Over­flow about generating the most readable color of text on a colored background.

I suggested flipping the top bit of each component, (r ^ 0x80, g ^ 0x80, b ^ 0x80). This has the same effect as adding 128 if the component is less than 128, and sub­tract­ing 128 otherwise.

Another way to think about it is to imagine the 256x256x256 color cube. Inside that cube, erect another cube half as wide. One corner is at your original color and the diagonally opposite corner is the one computed above.

The questioner liked my answer the best, but I decided to experiment further. I wrote some JavaScript to …continue.

I love Spring. The winter recedes, the weather grows warmer, the young plants appear, the dormant trees bloom, and all is right with the world.

I dread Spring. My nose itches, it runs, it blocks up, it explodes.

This year, my eyes itch too. A lot. It’s really, um, irritating.