A Fun Code Snippet

I was poking around in old Cyclopath scripts I'd written and came across this gem:

if [ `hostname` = $PROD_HOST -a $dest_db = $PROD_DB ]; then
    echo
    echo "WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!"
    echo "You are about to destroy the production database!"
    echo
    echo "Are you sure you want to DESTROY THE PRODUCTION DATABASE!?"
    echo
    echo "If you really want this, type 'destroy the production database'."
    echo
    echo -n "> "
    read sure
    if [ "$sure" != "destroy the production database" ]; then
        echo "Aborting."
        exit 0;
    fi
fi

Or, I thought it was funny at least. :)

Purple and Lavender Petunias

MIT Museum Visit: Self-Oiling Sculpture and Smashed Pianos

On Monday, my little brother Peter and I visited the MIT Museum.

I think my favorite part was the surrealist kinematic sculpture by Arthur Ganson.

This machine pours oil on itself over and over:

This one is a small model cat on a platform that moves back and forth while a chair bounces up and down on it:

This one is a small yellow chair trundling about the surface of a flat rock:

This exhibit also caught my eye. It's a telegram of congratulations from President Nixon to an MIT researcher who had just won the Nobel Prize, followed by the researcher's reply. The content of the reply? Essentially, "Glad you appreciated it. Please end the Vietnam War." I thought that was pretty great.

This exhibit commemorates the annual habit of a particular dorm: throwing a piano off the dorm's roof. The wreckage of one such piano was considered museum-worthy.

Chihuly Exhibit at MFA

Erin, my little brother Peter, and I went to the MFA here in Boston today to see the Chihuly exhibit. It was packed; we had to wait about 1/2 hour to get in, and it was very crowded even inside the exhibit. However, it was definitely worth it. A few photos:

Translucent Morning Glory, Backlit

Jess in a Bag

In case you've forgotten, our cat is extremely cute.

Cambridge Water Works Tour

Yesterday, Erin and I toured the Cambridge Water Works. It was pretty great. Tours are led by a fellow named Tim who is extremely personable and extremely passionate about water treatment. The place has a sense of humor, too (see the signs below).

One thing that astonished me was the fact that a watershed of only 25 square miles provides sufficient water for a city of 100,000 people – that's only a little over three times more area than the city itself. You wouldn't find anything like that in the West.

The Gulch Adventure Trip Report

The trip report for my September canyon adventure in The Gulch, Escalante country, Utah is now online:

http://reidster.net/trips/2010-gulch/

I hope that you enjoy it! Thanks to my lovely wife Erin and all my friends that came on the trip, for making it a great trip and giving excellent feedback on and comments for the report.

Here's a sneak peek at a few of the photos:

Again, the full report is here.

Please e-mail me with any comments or questions. I'd love to hear your feedback.