Crystallography in the kitchen

The Physics of Chocolate (from this post by gmcdavid.)

Includes an actual cooking tip, down in the last two paragraphs, for tempering chocolate more reliably.

Java 6 now GPLv2 and included in Ubuntu 8.04

Open Source Java Technology Debuts In GNU/Linux Distributions

Latest Releases of Fedora and Ubuntu Feature OpenJDK-based Implementations

SANTA CLARA, CA April 30, 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA), Canonical Ltd. and Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), today announced the inclusion of OpenJDK-based (http://openjdk.java.net) implementations in Fedora 9 and Ubuntu 8.04 Long Term Support (LTS) Server and Desktop editions, furthering the promise of Sun's open source Java technology initiative.

In addition, the NetBeans 6.0 Integrated Development Environment (IDE) (http://www.netbeans.org) is being delivered as part of the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS release and Canonical has certified Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition on several Sun x86 systems.

(From Groklaw's news picks.

Modified rapture!

Colleen's wheelchair arrived this morning. It's very heavy -- no way she can get it in and out of the van herself. We may have to see about a crane. It also remains to be seen whether it fits in the trunk of my Honda Civic. (It'll almost certainly fit upright in front of the back seat, but that only works if we have no passengers.)

It marks the start of a transition that I hadn't fully realized was coming up. I should have, but bears are not very perceptive creatures. Luckily they're somewhat adaptable.