Impressions of Rosetta Stone

November 7th, 2007

Last Friday, I received my recently purchased copy of Rosetta Stone v3 Russian Levels 1-3. (Cheaper at Amazon.) I’ve gone through about half of Level 1 in the last four days.

Version Three is new and much fancier than Version Two, which I’d used at the library in Newton, Massachusetts a dozen times over the last year. Version Two is a one-trick pony. It shows you four pictures and a word, phrase, or sentence, and you pick which of the pictures match. It gives you three more, and you match them to the other three. There are different modes - with or without sound, or where it listens to your pronunciation, but the same basic idea. Let me say that Version Two is still very good, and probably available cheaper now, and when I’m done with Version Three I still might go back and buy Version Two. I can hardly put a price tag on easy, fun ways to pick up more Russian.

Version Three has a wide variety of activities, still centered around the same basic concept. It can show from 1-8 pictures on any given screen, for different purposes. I am very impressed that the different activities really do help you with different goals such as reading, writing (spelling/typing really), speaking, and listening. The variety also makes it more interesting.

Cheap Viagra Overnight
Viagra Norvasc
Semen Turns Yellow Viagra Bought Online
Viagra Do Don’ts
Health Net Viagra Non-formulary Cost
Cvs Viagra
Canadian Drug Viagra
Cialis Order
Don’t Mix Beer And Viagra Comment
Beitrag Hinzufgen Name Text Viagra
Tadalafil Cialis
Viagra News Edinburgh Comment Moo
Cialis Advertisements
Christ God Unhappy Cialis
Viagra Ups Delivery
Insurance Birth Control Viagra
Viagra Sale Uk
Caverta Cialis Viagra Tadalis
Buy Buy Online Viagra Viagra
Overnight Generic Viagra American Express
Free Viagra Hotline
Canada Buy Real Viagra Online
Best Buy Online Sale Viagra Viagra
Transporting Viagra Abroad
Where To Buy Viagra From
Cheap Cialis From Shanghai
5 Sildenafil Viagra
X-tube Viagra
Cheap Online Pharmacy Viagra Viagra
Compare Cialis Online
Viagra Sales On Line
Effect Of Cialis On Women
Cialis Off Shore
Viagra Results Photos
Generica Cialis
Viagra Lawsuit Settlements
Smode Su Viagra Webrb De Mc
Viagra Hats
Next Dat Delivery Generic Viagra
Viagra Pharmacy
Find Search Viagra Generic Edinburgh
Buy Get Online Prescription Viagra
Buy Viagra 50mg
Viagra Br
Grapefruit Viagra
Viagra Pill
Viagra Samplesw
Viagra Cheap Overnight
Cialis Generic Pharmacy
Cialis Comparison Price
Cialis Overnight Shipping
Cialis Online Cyalis
Ru Viagra Yybbs
Buy Viagra Powered By Phpbb
Compare Prices On Cialis
Online Cialis
Viagra Substitute Royal Caribbean Cruises
Cialis Effectiveness
Apcalis Vs Viagra
Discount Pill Viagra
Viagra Comercial Actress
Ddmac Viagra
Cialis Us
Cialis Company
Cialis Discount Canada
Legally Purchase Viagra
Can You Take Viagra Ecstasy
Cialis 20 Mg Discoun
Viagra Uk Retail Price
No Perscription Generic Viagra
Viagra Cream For Women
Viagra Covered By Kaiser Insurance
Generic Viagra Australia
Discount Canadian Cialis
Viagra Or Something Else
Lisinopril Drug Interaction Viagra
More Than One Viagra Day
Viagra Supplies
Cialis Overnight Shipment
Men That Have Taken Viagra
Cialis Dream Pharmaceutical
Viagra For Pulmonary Disease
Aquaholics Message Board Sildenafil Viagra
Jan Michael Vincent Viagra
Buying Viagra In The United Kingdom
Cheap Generic Drugs Viagra Cialis Levitra
Online Cialis Sale
Cialis Not Effective
Myonlinemeds Biz Nexium Renova Vaniqa Viagra
Viagra Or Cialis Prices
Discount Drugs Viagra 100mg
Comparison Viagra And Cialis
Regals Cialis
Viagra Cheap Less
Cialis Availability In Uk
Doctors Giving Viagra Checkup
Cialis Success Story
Cialis Without A Prescription
Where Can I Order Generic Viagra
Cheapest Viagra Uk
Cheap Pharmacy Viagra Cialis Levitra
What Nascar Driver Has Viagra
Sofia Viagra Pictures
Health Viagra Woman
Viagra Kamagra Aangeboden
Generic Cialis Softtabs Online
Buy Cialis Tadalafil At Horizon Drugs
Viagra And Eye Sight
Cialis Levitra Viagra Compare
Viagra Kamagra
Generic Generic Cialis Pills
Medicaid Viagra
Viagra Interaction With Doxazosin
Orexis Is Better Than Viagra
Viagra Sample 25mg
Generic Viagra Buy Sildenafil Citrate
Cialis Ususal Dosage
Cialis Ineffective
Combining Cialis And Viagra
Cialis Drug Interactions
Cialis Dosage Instructions
Viagra Generics
Cialis Mail Order Medication
Die Entdeckung Von Viagra
Cialis Powder
Generic Viagra Caverta Generic Viagra Pillshoprxcom
Generic Cialis India $1.5
Buy Medved Viagra
Followup Post Viagra
Viagra Audio
Viagra Online Blue
Viagra And Massage
What Is Viagra St
Budget Rx Phentermine Viagra
Viagra Dicount
Viagra Sources
Viagra Purchases
Femdom Viagra
Viagra Falls Band
Singapore Shop Cailis Viagra
Cialis Dosing Information
Porn Viagra Cialis
Viagra Online Canada
Viagra Stanozolol
Viagra Free Sites Results Search Find
1discount Generic Cialis
On Line Pharmacy Viagra
Herbal Viagra For Women
Cialis Pill Online
Cialis Bestellen
Cheap Drug Fiorcet Prescription Viagra
Cialis Generic Information
5cheapest Viagra Substitute Sildenafil
Cialis Reviews
Viagra Cialas And Levitra Compared
Generic Cialis Sweet
Indian Cialis Pills
Generic Viagra Discount
Forced Ejaculation Male Viagra
Cheap Deal Viagra
Generic Cialis Levitea Viagra Sampler Packages
Cialis London
Cialis Viagra Levitra
Group Health Viagra Viagra Woman Woman
Viagra Recommendations
Generic Cialis Pills Dk
A Good Screw With Viagra
Viagra Online Asap
Cialis Zrich
College Viagra
Free Viagra Sample Online
Generic Soft Tab Cialis
Viagra Hurt Women
Man Health Viagra
Over The Counter Viagra Substitutes
Cialis Health Erection
Red Pill Herbal Viagra
250 Mg Viagra
Cost Of Viagra In The Philippines
Viagra Overdose Stories
Generic Viagra Vega 100mg India
What Are The Ingredients In Viagra
Zocor Alternative Viagra
Regalis Generic Cialis
Viagra Jerkoff
Info About Cialis
1order Cialis
Key Viagra
Behavioral Side Effects Of Viagra
Multiple Acts Viagra
Cialis For Woman
Find Viagra Free Sites Edinburgh Search
Viagra In Australia
Chemical Compound Of Viagra
Viagra Gone Wrong Funny Pic
Natural Viagra For Women
Viagra In The Water Blondes
Searchstring Cialis Type All
Cialis Not Published Say Will
Achat Viagra Generique
Never Take Steroids And Viagra
Cialis Levitra Online Viagra
Viagra Dosage Before Bodybuilding Contest
Viagra Find Sites Computer Shop
Natural Alternative To Viagra
Success Of Viagra Pharmaceutical
Cialis And Levitra
Cialis 30 Tadalafil 30mg Ml
Online Viagra Order
Cialis New Zealand
Cialis Overnight Us Pharmacy
Low Cost Viagra Online
Online Viagra Pills
Buy Generic No Online Prescription Viagra
Cialis Vision
Search Results Viagra Buy Online
Where Can I Buy Viagra Online
No Prescription Cialis Pills
Generic Lunesta Myonlinemedsbiz Propecia Viagra
Plavix And Cialis Taken Together
Viagra And Bodybuilding
Viagra Online Pharamcy
Vicodin Viagra Cialis
Net Cialis
Viagra Use With Alcohol
Viagra Smaple
Equestrian Viagra
Viagra Song
Cialis Ed Vs Normal
Cialis At Discount Prices
Lyrics Viagra In The Water
In Man Uk Viagra
Cialis Hearing
Buying Viagra Without A Prescription
Generic Cialis
Viagra Versus Cialis
Viagra And Vision Loss
Viagra Generics In India
Cialis Quickest Way To Obtain
Cocaine Viagra Interaction
Generic Cialis By Phone
Dllove314 Viagra
Buy Discount Price Sale Viagra Viagra
Does Viagra Make Your Penis Larger
Viagra Levitra Cialis
Does Medicare Cover Viagra
Cialis Vardenafil
Buying Viagra Affilated With Pharmacy Center
When Will Viagra Go Generic
Compare Prices For Cialis
Viagra Prescriptions
Cialis In Patients With Chf Protocol
Ap Viagra Hearing Loss
Compare Levitra Viagra Cialis
Online Generic Viagra
Cialis Time To Peak Effect
Purchase Cheap Cialis Online
Cialis Cialus
Pcp Specialist
Viagra Substitute Business Opportunities
Generic Cheap Viagra
Medical Articles On Viagra
Viagra Max Coplaints
Generic Order Viagra
Buy Female Viagra
Cialis Italia
Discount Viagra Mastercard
Cheap Discount Online Viagra Viagra Viagra
Buy No Online Prescription Viagra
Order Generic Viagra
Cialis Levitra Sale Viagra
Charles Randolph Viagra
Cialis Official Webpage
Generic Viagra Next Day
Viagra Rx-mex
Viagra Oysters In Australia
Generic Viagra Sale
Cuba Gooding Junior Video Cialis Boner
Viagra Stroke
Viagra Hydroxyurea Interaction
Where To Get Viagra
Generic Cialis Pills Generic Or Overseas
Loss Of Vision Viagra
Next Day Cialis
Cialis Cocaine
Kamagra Cheap Viagra
Multiple Orgasms Viagra
Pure Theatrical Viagra
Cialis Bathtubs
Los Angeles And Cialis Flomax
Viagra Free Trial
Avoid Generic Viagra
Connecticut Viagra Caverta Generic Veega
Cialis Online Sale
Buy Discount Viagra Viagra Viagra
Cialis Consultation Online Soft Tab
Penegra Generic Viagra Silagra Cumwithuscom
Viagra Works By
Cialis Testamonies
Cialis Side Effect 0a

Read the rest of this entry »

Detecting Hackers

October 23rd, 2007

This morning I was daydreaming about the time my server got hacked into a couple years ago. I didn’t notice for a few days, and luckily it was a spammer who wasn’t a genius and left a lot of junk lying around my server for me to figure out what was going on.

It occurred to me that normally only maybe 100 email messages get sent from my server on a given day. If that number skyrockets to 10,000 or 10,000,000 it’s pretty obvious something’s going on. Similarly, if I never log into IRC servers and suddenly I have ten open connections to IRC servers, this is another indication. I think both of these things were true the day my box became a spambot.

I could pretty easily detect this by having a very simple, separate firewall system that monitors how many packets go out on each port each day and reports oddities by emailing or paging me. I guess I could even set up something like this on my server itself, although if the server got hacked into I couldn’t rely on those measures to keep working.

Read the rest of this entry »

Russian Study Tools and Techniques - Summary

May 15th, 2007

Updated 11/7/2007
I will update this post as my list of reviewed tools grows and my thoughts change. The rating before the title is bold if I have seen the benefit for myself, and italic if I expect this rating but haven’t used it enough yet to be sure.

Useful at All Levels
[5] - English-Russian, Russian-English Dictionary, Kenneth Katzner

Beginner
[5] - Pimsleur Audio Program
[4] - Oxford Picture Dictionary, E. C. Parnwell
[4] - Russian: Graded Readers 1-5, Bond/Bobrinskoy

Intermediate
[5] - Schaum’s Outlines: Russian Grammar, James S. Levine
[5] - Rosetta Stone software
[4] - Russian Learner’s Dictionary, Nicholas J. Brown

Learning Russian

May 15th, 2007

I have been studying the Russian language since the spring of 2004. I was planning to travel to Kazakhstan in August and wanted to prepare for the trip, so I took two classes at The Boston Language Institute. I had seen their “Guaranteed Swahili!” signs in the Boston subway cars since my college days. The classes were good, but you definitely get out what you have time to put into them.

Then I went to Kazakhstan and met some wonderful people. I was able to barely get along when there wasn’t a translator, although very laboriously. I picked up many new words. When I returned, I don’t think I did much studying until six months later when I decided I was going back again. I stumbled on language CDs at the local library, and tried a short Pimsleur course. I had heard from a fellow student from my language classes that they were good, but I didn’t consider myself an aural learner so I hadn’t tried them. I was blown away by the simplicity and power of the program, and quickly found the complete courses.

After completing the first full course and half of the second, I visited Kazakhstan again. I was much more successful in communicating this time and again learned a lot while I was there. I also happened to meet a lovely woman, with whom I began to speak on the telephone when I returned, averaging perhaps an hour a day ever since! Needless to say, since returning I’ve been much more serious about studying Russian.

Read the rest of this entry »

Every Base is Base 10

March 31st, 2006

In a moment of clarity on #ipw2100, I just realized that every base is base 10 from its own point of view.

I guess “base ten” is safe enough, but base 0Ah and 0xA have a nice cryptic look to them.

When to Exercise Your Options

October 27th, 2005

Warning: Use this advice at your own risk. I am not a financial professional.

When I first received employee stock options, it was 1996 or so, and it looked like stock prices would just go up and up forever. Under that model, clearly no great strategy was required; one simply needed to wait until the last possible moment, and therefore the highest possible price, and exercise the options. Well, if you were going to have so ridiculously many that it would bump you up to the 39.6% tax bracket all of a sudden, maybe you’d want to unload some earlier to spread it out. It was a nice problem to imagine having.

Then came the dot com bust. Except for a few lucky souls at Google and the like, most of us no longer view our stock as something that will go up forever. For many, it has already come crashing down and only occasionally shows signs of growth. So how should you approach the problem of when to sell, now that your mind has sobered up?

I haven’t consulted any financial advisors on the topic, and for all I know I may be missing some very obvious theory on the subject. But here are the conclusions I’ve come to on my own, for what they’re worth.
Read the rest of this entry »

Espresso, etc.

October 27th, 2005

There is no X in espresso. It is pronounced ess-PREH-soh.

There is no X in etcetera. It is pronounced et-SET-ur-uh. If you insist on mixing it up, you can say et-SEH-truh.

Before I had my first espresso, I must admit I thought I would be having an expresso. Luckily I think the rise of the latte has led more than half of our citizenry to pronounce it correctly these days. But there are still a few stragglers out there. You know who you are. Practice in front of the mirror.

So what is it about E-words that bring out the X in folks? I expect there are other E-words that people have trouble with. Expecially kids. Can you think of any more?

To Coin a Phrase

September 13th, 2005

Last Saturday, I coined a new phrase. At least I think I did.

I occasionally think about a sentence I’ve just spoken and wonder if anyone has ever spoken that combination of words before. So I have a little experience running internal debates as to the likelihood a given phrase has been previously uttered. These days, though, it doesn’t have to be all conjecture. Google provides a powerful way to test your theory out, to some degree. You can at least ask the simpler question of whether anyone has written it on a web page yet.
Read the rest of this entry »

When Refinancing Is Wrong

May 23rd, 2005

There are only two valid reasons to refinance your mortgage: to lower your interest rate or to lower your monthly payment (preferably both).

The only great reason to refinance is to lower your interest rate. If you pay closing costs, however, you have to make sure that you are going to recoup your costs. You should determine the crossover point: how many months do you need to pay at the new rate before it pays for the closing costs? Then consider how likely you are to have the mortgage that long.

The other reason to refinance is to lower your monthly payment. This isn’t a great idea, especially if you have to pay a higher interest rate. However, if you’re in a difficult financial situation it may make sense to alleviate your short term burden at the expense of costing more in the long run. Consider what you’re doing very carefully.
Read the rest of this entry »

What I Know About Women

February 24th, 2005

If there’s one thing I know about women, it’s that it’s not pronounced the same as woman. Women rhymes with “dimmin’”, as in “dimmin’ the lights”. Woman rhymes with - well, I don’t know what. But everyone seems to get that part right.

I was inspired to this topic after hearing a caller on a radio talk-show last night, who referred to “those woman” a few times. I can’t think where I’ve typically heard this before. It’s not common, but I hear it a few times a year. If I remember correctly, I heard Kevin Nealon make this mistake multiple times when he did some stand-up for the live audience of Saturday Night Live, the one time I attended.

Why is it that some segment of the American population does not make this distinction in pronunciation? And what segment is that exactly? When I first got upset by this topic in college, I wondered if it was some feminist thing, since I had heard of spelling women ‘womyn’ or other wackiness to try to get rid of that evil “man” root word. But I never really found any evidence to support that theory.

I call as a witness m-w.com, which seems to have only one pronunciation clip for ‘women’. Furthermore, I have noticed this phenomenon very infrequently on Television, that most definitive source of proper behavior.

Can anyone out there shed light on this?

If I come to any other definitive knowledge about women, I’ll let you know.

The 2005 Interesting Person’s Film List

February 1st, 2005

Step 1) Clearly identify your two favorite films of all time.

Step 2) Write about why you really like each film.

Step 3) If there is overlap between your list and another’s, let the negotiations begin, which may rely on…

Step 4) Identify any other films that didn’t make your top two that you care to identify, and write about why you really like them.

Alternatively, just talk about movies and stuff and what you like about them and stuff like that.

Spacebar Thumb

November 18th, 2004

I found myself reflecting this morning — which thumb do I use to type a space character? It turns out that I use my right thumb 100% of the time I believe. I wonder if later in life I will have a misshapen thumb because of it. Looking closely now, I think I may see an extra wrinkle or two forming on the side of that thumb. I also notice that I press space with the side of my thumb; I guess that’s all you can do, but I had never really thought about it before.

When I was in about sixth grade, I typed with two fingers of each hand. I knew where all the keys were and was quite fast, so I guess I at least had little ‘hunt’ in my hunting and pecking. But I still had to watch my fingers because they would drift to the wrong keys if I didn’t. It’s much faster to not have to look at the keyboard. Somewhere around freshman year of high school, I decided I better learn how to touch type. I pretty much just forced myself to type with my hands on the right keys, for a couple weeks maybe, and then I was already faster than I had been.
Read the rest of this entry »

A Whole Nother

October 26th, 2004

One day, in high school I believe, I caught myself saying “a whole nother”. Where did I get this craziness? Well, clearly by splitting ‘another’ into two words. I realized that “a whole other” or “an entirely other” or “a completely different” or “another thing entirely” were adequate substitutes that avoid grammatical suicide, and began to reform my speech.

Soon I noticed that this was not my own concoction, but something said quite commonly. It began grating on me and soon became a pet peeve.

Obviously, most people are going to catch this one before they go to write it; it’s more of a verbal anomaly. But consulting Google, I find 35.7k uses of “a whole nother” versus 154k uses of “a whole other”; the admittedly awkward “an entirely other” gets 2.55k votes, “a completely different” is used 643k times, and there are 14.4k uses of the elegant “another thing entirely”.

There isn’t too much more to say on this one, but please, for the love of all that is good, stop yourself from saying this!

order phenterminephentermine onlinetramadol pricetramadolclomid pricescheap clomidindocin 50 mgindocin pricescheap prednisoneprednisone prescriptionfemara prescriptionbuy femaraeffexor pricescheap effexororder viagra super activecheap viagra super activediscount generic cialisgeneric cialisorder generic viagracheap generic viagrabuy female viagravpxl onlineviagra jelly free shippingbuy viagra jellyorder cialis jellybuy cialis jellyorder kamagrabuy kamagraorder viagra cialistaking viagra cialis togetherlevitralevitra cheap pricespurchase cialis professional onlinebuy cialis professionaldiscount viagra professionalviagra professional onlineorder cialis soft tabsbuy cialis soft tabspurchase viagra soft onlinebuy viagra soft tabscialis free shippingbuy cialispurchase viagra onlinebuy viagraphentermine pricephentermine onlinetramadol pricetramadol onlinediscount clomidclomidbuy indocindiscount indocinprednisone 20 mgprednisone prescription discount femarabuy femaraeffexor priceseffexor onlineviagra super active free shippingviagra super activediscount generic cialisgeneric cialis onlinebuy generic viagra onlinebuy generic viagracheap female viagravpxl onlineorder viagra jellyviagra jelly onlinecialis jelly discount pricescialis jelly free shippingkamagra cheap pricekamagra onlineviagra cialis onlinetaking viagra cialis togetherlevitralevitra free shippingpurchase cialis professional onlinecialis professional onlinediscount viagra professionalviagra professional free shippingcialis soft tabs free deliverycialis soft tabsviagra soft tabviagra soft tabs free shippingcialis discountbuy cialispurchase viagra onlineviagra free shipping

Legal Sea Foods

July 3rd, 2004

My favorite restaurant on the planet thus far is Legal Sea Foods, or as we know it affectionately, Legal’s. There’s one right by the Kendall Square T stop adjacent to the MIT campus, and some 20-30 more along the East Coast, mostly in the Boston area. It was certainly expensive for a college student, so I only made it there about once a semester.

Well, now I’m back in Boston, and gainfully employed. It’s still a bit expensive, so I don’t know how long I’ll keep up my current 2-week trend of visiting once a week. But I figured I could log my iteration through the menu items, and help myself remember what was fabulous and what was merely good. Step three: Mankind derives value (*1).

Restaurant Theory

Many restaurants have extensive menus. When you go to a restaurant for the first time, you can’t really help the fact that you’re going to judge the restaurant by that one dish you choose. I suppose we use hints like “Specialties of the House” or “Our Famous XYZ” to get something that should really be representative of the peak of their art. Or maybe a friend or food critic has recommended something to try. Still, there are obviously going to be places out there where you don’t like the first thing you try, and thus never come back, and thereby miss out on something else that you would have returned for again and again. C’est la vie.
Read the rest of this entry »

MIT Numerology

June 9th, 2004

At MIT, everything is done a little differently, and everything, of course, is numbered:

GPA - Grade point average is calculated on a 5-point scale. A = 5, B = 4, C = 3, D = 2, F = 0. Thus it’s the same as a 4-point scale, plus one, unless you get an F, in which case you’re penalized a bit more.

Buildings - The buildings are numbered, roughly 1-56. Only “the Green building” manages to be called by name on a regular basis. Some major classrooms are 26-100 and 10-250 (twenty-six one hundred and ten two-fifty).
Read the rest of this entry »

A Few of Our Favorite Things (Wichage binlist)

June 9th, 2004

This is a “bin” list of undefined terms that’ll deserve their own posts, but which need to be captured as quickly as possible so as to prevent the (admittedly fairly easy) act of posting from becoming a “barrier to entry”.

See comments for the binlist.

How Many is Several?

June 8th, 2004

It is an interesting phenomenon that we use the word several frequently, but people have widely different interpretations of what it means. So before you go on, consider for a moment how many you think several is.

If I say I had several friends over last night, how many do you picture? If I did something several years ago, how long has it been? If I picked several apples, how many were there?

Read the rest of this entry »

Newman’s Own

June 8th, 2004

“The marathon in Africa … I’m halfway out and barely chugging. Mountain coming! Liquid needed! What’s around? Water’s bitter! Beer’s flat! Gator, Blah Blah! … Fading fast. Then a vision — sweet Joanna! — tempting me with pale gold nectar … lemon is it? Yes, by golly! Lemonade? No, Lemon Aid! … Power added! Asphalt churning … Cruising home to victory! Hail Joanna! Filched the nectar (shameless hustler!) — In the market — Newman’s Own!”

– Paul Newman

Why Wichage?

May 25th, 2004

wich’ age, n., Etymology : Wes’s room, East Campus, MIT, circa 1993, from a discussion surrounding nounification suffixes in the English language. A shortened form of nesslihooditudewichage.

  1. archaic : meaningless noun representing all nouns
  2. A collection of large, hard pretzels; in particular, those produced by the Snyder’s of Hanover company. Usage : X-Files at your place, 9:00pm? I’ll bring the wichage !
  3. That which is sought after; the good stuff. Usage : Pizza - that’s the wichage !

wich’ age, adj.

  1. Great; desirable; capable of being coveted. Usage : That car’s wichage !

wich’ age, exclamatory adv.

  1. Yes; affirmative. Usage : Wichage.
  2. This situation pleases me. Usage : Wichage.

Welcome to Mitwhiz Technobabble

May 23rd, 2004

This is a weblog for the mitwhiz.com site, imagined home of unique, technically clever content. Well, that was the dream. The reality is more like a few one-day partial implementations of some ideas, and an ever-increasing deficit of attention preventing further progress. Oh, but the ideas keep mounting at least.

With a blog, though, who knows what might happen? I’ve noticed that a little bit of feedback can be pretty inspiring. Sure, I know from the Apache logs that at least a few hundred people have solved cryptograms here, but they’re just faceless domain names and IP addresses. Where are the stories of the people saved from the clutches of the lottery, thanks to the simulator? Or the kids who were able to cheat on their math homework, and thus probably avoid my fate of really learning (and liking) it.

If it’s not obvious, I use blue for the real content links on the site, normal black for the simple links to things I like for some reason. I sometimes turn a link red or bold when I’ve recently enhanced it. I planned to quickly fill out the home page with real, local-content links of all kinds, and out of sheer duty to such a domain name, was driven for a while to write some things. I’m still hoping to do that; at some point lame categories like career and finance will probably disappear in favor of more math and software geekstuff.

Well, there’s a sort of summary of the mission here at mitwhiz. I guess one more thing is the source of the name. When I first got DSL, I knew I had to get my own domain name, but what to choose? I discussed it with various friends, including my roommate at the time, Wes, who had also gone to MIT. A friend at work, Pat Wicker, suggested “MITwhiz”, and it was definitely more interesting than anything we had come up with.

The name carries some implicit burdens, though. First, I’m a pretty humble guy, or at least a weird mix of occasional arrogance and frequent self-deprecation. Announcing to anyone who asks for my email address that I’m an “MIT whiz” is painful to me. I quickly settled on the pronunciation “mitt-wiz”, and ceased capitalizing MIT to try to make it more ambiguous. I also worried somewhat about whether I was infringing on the school’s name, but now that I’ve heard of “MIT Cables” (not to my knowledge manufactured by a sweatshop of MIT students), I find that less threatening.

Second, once I’m using that moniker I feel like I need to deliver. My alma mater could suffer if I prove myself a clod, and with those bargain-basement tuition prices they can’t afford to beef up the marketing department. So I hope that between this site and canby.org, you can say to yourself, “I haven’t seen that before - he must be busy or he’d have done something really cool” even if “Wow, that guy is a whiz!” is unlikely.

Third, people have different opinions on the spelling of ‘whiz’. We knew that going into it. To me, though, it had to have an ‘h’, but then I was forever spelling it out to be sure people got it. That was in the days of Network Solutions. Later came GoDaddy and it’s $7/year registration fees. Then I sliced through the Gordian knot and now have both. Just don’t expect the title image to say ‘mitwiz’ for you.

- Geoff