David.Blackledge.com

What's that? Ok, an ambigram is a word that reads the same (or reads something else) when turned in some way (reflected, rotated, etc). Natural Rotational Ambigrams are a subset of that which I like to experiment with. They're rotational ambigrams (they look the same when you turn them over (rotate)) and they're natural in that they don't use any artistic alteration to create them, just a typical English text font. It helps to have non- D'Nealian a's ("hook" a's) since they look like e's (and vice versa) when rotated. Anyhow, over several years I experimented more and more with what was possible, at different levels of rigor, and I haven't messed with it in a few years, so I might as well post what I came up with, right? Here's some of my favorites. They aren't much, which gives you an idea of how hard this ended up being. Single words: I o nu axe ale pod mow seas haley paled saxes sales swims solos passed sasses Symbiotogram ...

I know I mentioned Solitaire for the TiVo before, but now I've packaged it up nicely so it is easy to install and run... in fact I did that for a bunch of things. All are available at http://David.Blackledge.com/tivo Solitaire and FreeCell are about what they were before, but there are now 2 versions, one without and another with all of my "Multitasker" features added (pictured) since those features are still difficult to configure and are a little unstable anyhow. And, of course, they're easy to install now (one download, unzip it, run the .bat file, enjoy on the TiVo DVR) Mahjongg for TiVo was actually created by Gene Wadleigh a long time ago... his project was abandoned and didn't work with the current TiVo software, so I fixed it up and have finally made a good package that is easy to get running. The Calendar is a handy little application for checking any "ical" format file or URL to check out what is on that calendar... it comes preconfigured with ...

N ow that was a Thanksgiving worth blogging about ;] Of course we have to start with the food. Tricia tried two turkey techniques she hasn't done before and was ecstatic with the result. Brining the turkey for a number of hours, and using Alton Brown's Turkey Triangle to keep the white meat moist. She said it was the most moist and just all around best turkey she has ever made. Although she wasn't happy with the experimental spelt dressing (which she enhanced the next night to great effect), that didn't take away from the fantastic meal which also included Charlene's requested sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and homemade mashed potatoes and turkey gravy all pictured here (in the foreground is a half-price centerpiece find from the turkey-buying trip... plus some embellishments by Ian). I, on the other hand, successfully carved the turkey for the first time by getting a few turkey carving pointers from another video (I picked the shortest listing from search resul...

I finally took some time last night to upload the current state of my TiVo software, so it's now available to download at http://David.Blackledge.com . I haven't taken the time to make it easy to install, though... you currently have to install Galleon as a host for the software. And, it ends up, if you want Tivo Solitaire, you have to download all the files that I've uploaded since it depends on the Solitaire Engine and it depends on Multitasker which depends on all the other files to do all its features. Maybe I'll make a non-Multitasker version (trivially done) just for quick setup. Anyhow, go to my TiVo page and you'll find everything to download. Feel free to ask if you need help.

I sometimes forget that I seem to have above-average luck in giveaways... I happened to notice the TiVo Blog was doing one, so I "entered" (by posting a comment ) and lo and behold, I am now the proud owner of a TiVo plush, some TiVo coasters, and TiVo "ears." Total retail value almost $22! 1 out of over 80 posted comments... that's pretty good luck, I'd say. Not a bad day's haul for a school snow day / 2 hour work-delay day.

We got our first Sukkah up this year! We got a kit and it went very smoothly...until the heavy wind and rain storm the first night of Sukkot :-/ That's a lesson in "just barely enough isn't enough." Hardware store had 6' and 8' boards to use for the roof structure... I wanted 6.5' so I went with the 6' ... which left no room for shaking in the wind. We rebuilt with the 8' the next day. Here's the time-lapse of our Sukkah building! Messy Yard: Prepped Yard: Hard at work: Roofless, but standing: Roofed: Roof collapsed and soaked after first night it was used. :[

Ok , bad joke... On 10/4 my son happened to be in the living room and called out "there's a bird in the fireplace!" ... I came over and heard the chirping and saw some flapping myself. (Get it now? Fireplace...flu ...told you it was a bad joke) Not much to tell except it was so dark that we could only really see it well in the flash pictures. When we opened the cover, it just hid behind the fake logs, so my wife Tricia started dismantling (hey, another pun!) the log stack. She eventually got hold of it so we could release it out in the front yard. My uneducated guess says it's a thrasher... a confused one.