Sam

Haven’t posted recently

 Uncategorized  1 Response »
Jul 142006
 

Answers to recent comments and questions people have asked me recently:

  • It’s true, I haven’t posted recently
  • Work is very interesting right now. In the apocryphal Chinese proverb sense.
  • Seattle was wonderful. I got to see many friends and the weather was great. It got up to the 90s with no humidity during the day and down to the 60s at night. Why do I live in the east coast? (Of course, it is really Seattle’s rainy season.
  • The low point of visiting Seattle was getting a call from Andrew the day before I left at 2 am from SeaTac Airport asking where I was. Turns out that he, Jen, and Samuel left Seattle the day before I was arriving. We were not traveling the same day. Oops.
  • High points of visiting Seattle included:
    • seeing friends (Tina, Chad, Peter, Steph, Alex, Christine, Dan, Audryn, Mike, Scott, Jill, Jen)
    • visiting Bricco
    • dinner at Chihuly’s Boathouse Studio
    • working out and swimming at the Westin hotel in Bellevue
    • attending the Microsoft ProPhoto conference
    • meeting many interesting and talented people involved with photography
  • I have taken many photos that I need to post on the web site.
  • I have not seen the new Superman movie yet. I want to, but I hate seeing movies when it is nice out. And I want to see Clerks 2 and My Super Ex-Girlfriend. And I still need to see the Al Gore movie, which I didn’t necessarily want to see but Kristen successfully argued that I needed to see before she would discuss it with me.
  • I went kayaking at Phil’s house last week. I only capsized twice and with Phil’s help was able to get back in the kayak. I got a really interesting suntan because of the life preserver (or PFD)

I apologize for the lack of posts. Incidentally, drop me a note if you would like automatic email when I post something new. I can set up a mailing list or somesuch. Expect posts with pretty photos in the near future, where near is poorly defined.

 Posted by at 7:14 pm

Syndication and Blogger

 Uncategorized  2 Responses »
May 302006
 

For those who read this site using a news reader, I regret to inform you that occasionally, it appears that Blogger sometimes decides to chop my posts and provide them without markup such as link tags and photos. I’m not sure why this is happening.

News aggregators read the site using syndication. Two good news aggregators are Bloglines and Netvibes.

If this continues to happen, I’ll write a whiny note to Blogger. If it still happens, I switch news feeds or write my own blog-type service.

I’m apologize for the meta-post. Please continue to sympathize with my ligature woes.

 Posted by at 11:58 pm

Ligatures

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
May 302006
 

If you are asking, what is a ligature, check out this web page on OpenType and advanced typography. Wikipedia also has a fairly decent entry. Interestingly, I have now been to two custom stationery stores in New York City. Neither store knew what I was talking about when I asked if their letterhead used ligatures.

Incidentally, this is not a new concept with respect to computers and typography. TeX has had support for ligatures since its creation in the late 1970s.

 Posted by at 11:52 am

Ligature support in Microsoft Word 2007

 technology  No Responses »
May 262006
 

I installed the beta of Microsoft Word 2007 in the hope that it included ligature support. Not to mention support for advanced typography features like context-sensitive glyphs. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. So, if you love freedom, vote for my ligature support suggestion on the Microsoft discussion forums. Because “Greenfield” looks silly without an “fi” ligature.

 Posted by at 2:51 pm

“You say you’ll change a constitution”

 politics  2 Responses »
May 222006
 

From CNN: Gonzales: U.S. could track reporters’ phone calls:

But he added that the First Amendment right of a free press should not be absolute when it comes to national security. If the government’s probe into the NSA leak turns up criminal activity, prosecutors have an “obligation to enforce the law.” 

“It can’t be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity,” Gonzales said on ABC’s “This Week.”

I must have missed a part of our constitution where it said that the federal government can overrule selected portions when pursuing criminal activity. Let’s double check the first amendment to see if there is an exception:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

I don’t believe it can be called a “right” to have “the federal government go after criminal activity.” The beautiful nature of our constitution is that it limits the actions our government can take while still preserving our rights and protecting our society. If we start to selectively ignore parts of our constitution, we risk a descent into totalitarianism.

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” I feel there is an important corollary: those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety will receive neither liberty nor safety.

 Posted by at 12:25 am

For aggregator users

 Uncategorized  2 Responses »
May 012006
 

Last night, when I created my last two postings, Blogger generated a syndication feed that only included a plain text summary. Some aggregators, like Bloglines, have not displayed the correct syndication feed with all of the markup. If you didn’t see photos in the last two posts, I encourage you to visit samgreenfield.com directly.

If you don’t use an aggregator and read this site directly, then you don’t have to worry about this issue.

 Posted by at 10:56 am

Sakura Matsuri cherry blossom festival at the BBG

 Uncategorized  2 Responses »
Apr 302006
 

Today I went to the Sakura Matsuri cherry blossom festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It was a beautiful day, and I was able to zip through the line. When I left a few hours later, the line was an order of magnitude longer.
Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Cherry tree in the water at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden A river of people the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Fish at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Double-crested cormorant at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Drop me a note if you would like me to email you higher resolution photos.

 Posted by at 11:08 pm
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