Author Archives: xan
Tie-Dye Soda Ash Experiment
One of the steps in tie-dying is to soak the shirt in a “fixer” solution of sodium carbonate, also known as soda ash. I think of soda ash as a dye-cotton binding agent. My informal experiment is to see the … Continue reading
18 Days of Tie-Dye
I finished my summer run of consecutive tie-dye day earlier this month with a final count of 18 different shirts in 18 consecutive days, beating last year’s record of 16. I could have done a few more, but I imagine … Continue reading
Google Code Jam 2011 Round 2
My luck ran out in Round 2 of the Google Code Jam 2011. I placed 626th but needed to be in the top 500 to advance. At least I qualified for a T-shirt for being in the top 1000. There … Continue reading
Chapel Hill Flooding Video
I was eating lunch downtown at Mint with Joe and Anli when the heavy rains rolled in last Friday. We tried to wait it out, but it didn’t follow the usual pattern of a brief summer storm. After about an … Continue reading
Google Code Jam 2011 Round 1
Round 1 of the Google Code Jam 2011 contest was last week-end. I stayed up Friday night for the first of three sessions for round 1 qualification. The top 1000 in each two-and-a-half-hour session advance to round 2. I was … Continue reading
Google Code Jam 2011 Qualification
I advanced through the qualification round for the Google Code Jam 2011 over the week-end. It was a relatively low stress format allowing 24 hours to solve 8 problems, with only about 3 successful answers needed to move to the … Continue reading
Tom Peters Apple Prediction
I used to follow Guy Kawasaki in the early Mac days, and I recently noticed he has a new book out. I haven’t seen it, but the announcement prompted me to check out some of his older books from my … Continue reading