Beeblog

Why are you looking at this tired old blog that no longer publishes to my own site via FTP? Don't come here anymore. It's not being updated. You should look at my new Wordpress blog. It's better. http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/dbeeby0/

.... and we're back. After a fifteen-year tenure at Columbia, I've left the ivory tower. My blog is now at http://beeby.org (all blog... all the time, such as it is).

Posted by dan at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

I live in Park Slope. Park Slope loves Halloween. In the past I made off-handed comments to friends and colleagues that "a lot" of trick-or-treaters come to our stoop every year (I'd claim wild numbers like 200+ kids). This year, we decided to be scientific about it and collect some real data.

There's not much to report, really, but with trusty cadre of helpers/candy-passers/pumpkin-carvers on the front stoop along with an ample supply of beverages and snacks to keep them all happy we set about our business. I downloaded "tally counter" to my iPod touch and KW (and TB) brought a combined total of over 14 pounds of chocolatey, "fun-sized" goodness. (Averaging ~1/2 oz per bar, that adds up to 450 pieces of candy). A not insignificant portion of that candy was eaten by the aforementioned "helpers", but most of it went to the kids. the grand total: 359 (that's three-hundred-and-fifty-nine!) individual costume-clad kids graced our front stoop. Tom Beeby would be proud (not of the kids, of the accuracy of this report!).

To get an idea of the scale of Halloween in PS, check out this photo by hijirik near the corner.

Posted by dan at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

M and I have been looking for a small recycle bin solution for some time.  Most were expensive and huge so we stuck with a kitty litter pail and cardboard box. Finally, we decided to try these Ikea Trones shoe bins and they worked out really well.  They're unobtrusive, but have enough room to meet our needs. 

Posted by dan at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

I spent last weekend in Daytona, FL at the "Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona", a 24-hour endurance race in which Bruce Ledoux was competing with the Guardian Angels, a team is raising money for Children's Hospital Boston. The car came in 29th after completing 572 laps and raising nearly $70,000 for the hospital. More info (and videos) at the Guardian Angel race page.

The event is strange because it runs two car classes simultaneously: Daytona Prototypes (DPs) and Daytona GTs. The DPs are much faster (top speeds over 200 MPH in the straightaways vs the GT cars' 160 MPH). My small role on GT car #63's crew was to act as a spotter. The goal was to warn the driver that a much-faster DP car (or many of them as the case may be) was approaching so that the driver was aware of the passing car and so that he didn't veer into any of the hidden cars trailing behind. This is a picture of T and C up on the grandstands spotting the car towards the end of the race.

All-in-all it was a good time. We were all sleep-deprived, but we ate well (thanks Bruce!) and got to participate in the race as in a behind-the-scenes way.

Posted by dan at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments

Zoe Kazan is featured in Modern Luxury's December 2008 Miami magazine (p. 76). The shots for the article were taken in our Brooklyn backyard. In this photo Zoe is luxuriating in the hammock that SB got us during her stint in Amsterdam. There were a number of other (more interesting?) shots, but this is a pretty darn good one. This is the first in what will, hopefully, be a long string of press events for the backyard!

Posted by dan at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

New York Magazine's Reasons to Love New York 2008 edition is on newsstands. I'd like to point out two sibling-in-law-related highlights. First, LH has a byline in her Intelligencer article, "Amid Downturn, an Uptick in Doing Good". Second, CN is featured as the 32nd Reason to Love New York.

Posted by dan at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Tonight I did a much simpler version of this to turn a regular dim incandescent bulb into a three-led super-light. It did take some soldering, but the job was straight-forward (no "electrical" work was required).

UPDATE: This doesn't work. Some "electrical" work is required. The bulb works for a mile or so, but dims and eventually goes out. I'm going back to incandescent.

Posted by dan at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

The claim is unverified, but it makes sense... the holes in this "eco font" should save ink. Maurice, what do you think? We could use this in the office. I'll try it at home first. (via lifehacker)

Posted by dan at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

I was putting up the christmas tree this evening and (surprise) all of last year's light strands worked. However, when I string the lights each year, I realize that I have to continually readjust them until M approves of the light distribution. I thought, "self, there must be some calculus that could help me solve this problem". So I did the geekiest thing I've ever done in my life... I built a "Christmas Light Calculator". It's based on Ken Muldrew's Christmas Tree Calculator. Is the math correct? I don't know, but 83.5156' of lights sure seems like a lot!

Posted by dan at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

More photos of Ale are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/todd.beeby/NewBeebyBabyAlessandra#

http://flickr.com/photos/44124347618@N01/tags/alessandra/

Posted by dan at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments