Benjamin Chodroff

Perhaps you want to find someone in your social network that is single and looking. Or perhaps you want to find a friend of a friend who is single and looking? Someone could easily write an interesting web application using the Facebook API to solve this problem. You might select a night that you are available. You might be required to enter an event activity such as “Going to my friend’s party” or “Dinner and a movie”. You could then browse local Facebook people who have opted into DateBook and see who is interested in going on a casual date, or more.

Many people have experienced the unfortunate result of a bottle of soda being slightly shaken up and exploding all over themselves when they open it. Can this situation be predicted and avoided? Perhaps a bottle cap that uses a material that changes color under varying pressure could be included to warn the consumer. A light shade of green would indicate a safe opening, while a bright red might let you know you should open it over a sink.

Some soda bottles will include printed droplets of water on the label. My guess is this subliminally makes me think this tasty beverage will quench my thirst. It would be interesting to see if any water bottle distributers have used realistic pictures of ice cubes on the label so that consumers think their water is cooler.

My bike got stolen. It happened sometime between 10:30pm last night and 11:00 am this morning. I filed an incident report with Campus Security, but that bike is gone. I should have used a better lock. A pair of bolt cutters could have gone through that lock in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.

The thief might have won the battle, but he won’t necessarily win the war.

I want to build a Radio Alarm Bike lock and lock up a decoy bike. This is a simple device that could be built using a cheap-o cable bike lock, a radioshack plastic enclosure box, and an FM broadcast circuit. When the bike lock is cut, it would activate the weak FM distress signal. I would have a radio tuned to this FM frequency in my room and amplified. I could then go out and beat the @#$% out of the thief with a large blunt object. Or, this could activate a security camera, call security, etc.

Unfortunately, I have no funds for this project. It would probably cost me $50. Any donors or interested parties?

My two favorite Indian chicken recipes:

Chicken 65
Chicken Makhani
I made the Chicken 65 last Friday when Sara came up from North Carolina to visit me. It was excellent, but I have to admit I enjoyed the Chicken Makhani I made today even more. No worries - the company was more enjoyable on Friday. Then again, I did enjoy eating with my roomates who shared some potato latkes, beer, and wine. OK - the company was more attractive on Friday. Fair enough?

Sara came up on Friday and left Sunday morning. She had her baggage for approximately 12 hours during the entire trip since it was misplaced by the airline. We still had a great time. I got some great shots of the Botanical Gardens. I’m regretting that she wouldn’t let me take any photos of herself. Next time….

Greg Szorc and I created a new Phi Kappa Theta website for our chapter. We used Drupal as the content management system and I am thoroughly impressed. It is the best content management system I have ever used. It is very easy to modify and theme and the number of additional modules available is insane. I am very pleased with how the site turned out.

We are currently working on modifying the CAS single signon module to allow only certain CAS authenticated users to login. Once logged in, brothers, alumni, and pledges will be presented private information including forums, a wiki section, and the ability to modify the public site.

We have been so impressed with Drupal that we are looking into an even bigger project. More details to come later.