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projects

The Mesoamerican Rabbit Moon

It’s storytime again, now relayed by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano, who translated Alfredo López Austin, who got it from the 16th century Friar Bernardino de Sahagún, who got it from the Mexica people (also known as the Aztecs). Long ago, the gods gathered in Teotihuacan, an ancient city about […]

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technology

About my next computer: insert words in mouth, commence chewing

Since I wrote about how I have been moving to a desktop setup, I have been telling everyone that my next computer would be a Mac Mini. The specs looked good, and it would force me to walk away from my computer instead of lugging my computer around with me. Despite being on the computer […]

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projects

Moon Profile: Thoth

Entity Type: Egyptian God Historical Context: Ancient Egypt, at least 1500 BC, +/- 1500 years Representation: either a dog-headed baboon, or an ibis (it’s a funny looking bird that bears no resemblance to a dog or a baboon) Origin: Emerged as a god from the Nile River Delta, but became popular in Middle Egypt (Eshmunen […]

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projects

The Limits of the Ancient Egyptian World

Let me start with the story of Osiris and Isis. In Egyptian mythology, Osiris was the god ruler of Egypt. After returning home after a business trip, his brother Set (also brother to Osiris’s wife, Isis; don’t worry too much about familial relations) had a plan to take over: he built a chest the exact […]

Categories
tabletop games technology

My Google+ Hangout Success Story

This past weekend, 3 friends and I met up to play Dungeons & Dragons in the early morning, mid-afternoon, and late night, in California, Washington, the UK, and Korea. Simultaneously. And we could all see each other and share notes and drawings with each other. Technology just works when we can easily do things we […]

Categories
projects software engineering

Introducing chronoline.js, a JavaScript library for timelines

Sadly, a lot of my work at Zanbato is behind closed doors, but recently, I have been working on a widget that is definitely not proprietary and is available for all of you to use, extend, or even just look at: chronoline.js. chronoline.js is a library for making a chronology timeline out of events on […]

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food

A Dessert for the Indecisive and Inquisitive

In general, I don’t think I’m very good at making desserts. I have had many disasters with oven temperatures that cause burned cookies, tough cupcakes, liquid-y banana bread, and more. Fortunately, most things turn out well enough when enough sugar is added, and because I’m usually willing to stomach my own mistakes, food usually gets […]

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personal

Two Unrelated Stories

Story 1 A few weeks ago, I was a little hungry late in the afternoon at work. I wasn’t hungry enough to even eat a granola bar, but definitely needed something to nibble on. While wandering through the mini-kitchen, I spotted a single fortune cookie sitting on the counter, left over from lunch a day […]

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video games

My Thoughts on the Diablo 3 Beta

Hopefully those of you who also spent years in Diablo 2 didn’t miss the big news last weekend that Diablo 3 was in open beta for stress testing. The servers were up and down as Blizzard presumably was testing various capacities and training staff responses, but it was a tremendous opportunity for many fans of […]

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food

Potlucking Like It’s Your Job

My friends and I have a lot of potlucks. We haven’t had as many recently, but last summer, we had them weekly on Friday nights, and I thought it was a great way to hang out. It’s cheaper than going to a restaurant, exposes you to interesting creations, and hopefully gives you something to be […]