nicely done googles.

interesting sponsorship of an open source program.

i was unable able resist the replacement of our existing stainless steel sierra mugs with a shiny titanium sierra cup from snow peak.  unfortunately, i can’t seem to purchase this locally and a purchase direct from snow peak was the result.  (such are obsessions) this was an entirely painless purchase experience, but i was surprised at how heavy the package that arrived was.  my titanium sierra cups had been co-packed with a 2 lb. glossy printed catalog.  WTF?

i honestly don’t quite know what to make of this.  i realize that there’s a strong stigma to showing up in a publication such as this.  but wouldn’t purchasing this also imply that you know the folks that are going to be in there? the tag … “Now Even MORE Registered SEX OFFENDERS in Your Area” seems to indicate that this is a good thing, or at least a selling point.  odd.

for those interested in the answers to  ”Match the Perp to the Crime”, it’s B, C, A.  though, i’m really not quite certain as to what masterbating in the public library consists of.

i was a little curious as to what kind of checks were implemented with the API and how interaction with the API actually worked. it turns out that the API operation is dead easy. however, they don’t do some things like check the realistic time difference between checkins or the distance between venues for consecutive checkins.  as such there’s no notion of physicality associated with the application and the check-in process and the game.

of course this means that they’re dependent upon well behaved client behavior. to that end you only have to present the coordinates for the venue(s) you’re interested in, in order to obtain (or maintain) mayoral dominance.  you can use this to periodically check into a venue, even if you’re not physically there to pick up the GPS coordinate.  given that there are often perks associated with being a mayor of a particular venue, there might be some value in squatting on a particular location.

this begged a little experimentation. yielding foursquatter. a perl foursquare client script which can be trivially used to squat on a venue, or venues.

code and such is available on github.

i’m behind on organizing pictures and notes from our recent trip to peru.  but when i was running through some video, i ran across this little nugget of annoyance.

imagine, if you will, that you’ve spent the better part of the last 3 days hiking 30 miles in the andes and you haven’t had a shower.  you’ve traipsed around machu picchu and you’re dog tired.  more than anything, you’re really looking forward to getting some sleep and chilling on a train on your way back home.

as a slight aside, i should point out that some folks who’ve hiked the inca trail and arrive at machu picchu to be confronted by, “we took a bus here” tourists get their teeth set on edge. when confronted by these tourists complaining about having to walk up and down stairs at a wonder of the world the last thing you want to do is have to put up with them on a train.

however, the company that runs the trains from aguas calientes is (justifiably) loathe to miss a marketing opportunity and after they’ve given you some light snacks and tea proceed to bust out the sales cart and the pulsating techno.  when you want to sleep and politely ignore the couple sitting 18 inches across the aisle from  you this is not helping things.

a note of advice – if you’ve going to do the inca trail and you’re making a decision as to which train you’re going to take back to cusco, or wherever it is you’re going back to, stick with your peeps.  you want to be with worn out fellow hikers and folks who aren’t going to be drunkenly whipping out their visa/amex/mc to purchase alpaca wool sweaters and shawls.  more importantly, you don’t want to be dealing with some rancid marketing techno while you smell like ass.