Alexandre R.J. Francois

American Guild of Organists concert at the Arlington Street Church, part of the 2008 First Night Boston festivities. Today's stair number: 1

Ceiling in one of the reading rooms at the Boston Library. Today's stair number: 4

The Webcam computer vision project is now available on Mac OS X. Picture: Haar face detection demo, using Intel OpenCV library , applied to my blog picture. Today's stair number: 2

Spiral staircase dressed up as a spiral array, complete with pitches, key, center of effect and trajectory. Today's stair number: 1

Back to Caffe Bella Vita . This time, the tiramisu was gone to fast, only the cappuccino was left for a picture. Today's stair number: 1

WPA wireless now works . Web browsing, including Blogger and Gmail, work fine. The controls book-mode configuration do not really work: no way to point and click, and no remapping of buttons in portrait orientation. Today's stair number: 1

The Harvard Yard is very quiet and peaceful (and cold). Today's stair number: 3

Thick on the trees. Today's stair number: 2

Our little bench looks like it is sinking in the snow! Today's stair number: 2

Against the crisp blue sky. Today's stair number: 1

It is really starting to feel like Christmas in the Cambridge Commons. Today's stair number: 1

It snowed from the wee hours of the morning, late into the night. Tomorrow, it will look like this (trust me...) Today's stair number: 0

The XO laptop comes with very little printed documentation out of the box. It took me a while to figure out how to open it without breaking anything. I learnt from the OLPC wiki that I cannot use my WPA encrypted Airport wireless out of the box. I had to get to the office to find a proverbial "linksys" open network in close range, and be able to surf the web and check my email on Gmail. By the way, that worked quite well. Back at home, I had ample time to decipher this somewhat cryptic but undeniably central message, which occupies a whole sheet of paper in the sparse printed documentation, and comes up every time the machine shuts down. I really feel I am being educated... Today's stair number: 1

My own XO laptop ! I hope the lucky kid who gets the donated one is as excited as I am! Today's stair number: 5

The sign reads: "Due to winter conditions please use center steps." (just in case we could not figure it out ourselves...) Today's stair number: 1

Harvard Square under a foot of snow and crisp blue skies. Today's stair number: 1

Fresh Pond partially frozen. Today's stair number: 1

It's just beautiful. Almost a foot total, and there's more to come! Today's stair number: 1

Almost a foot of snow, and still going strong! Today's stir number: 1

1991-1992. Today's stair number: 2

Very cool BMOP Club Concert, hosted by, and featuring the work of, fellow Radcliffe Fellow Lisa Bielawa. Today's stair number: 1

... just very cold! Today's stair number: 1

The branches are covered with ice. Today's stair number: 1

Wonderful performance by the Harvard Contemporary Dance Ensemble, featuring fellow Radcliffe Fellow Christine Dakin. Today's stair number: 6

...and cold! Today's stair number: 2

Proposal complete, uploaded, and ready to submit! Today's stair number: 1

It seems only yesterday that I took a similar picture on one of our very first few days in Cambridge. In 3 months, we have had only 4 or 5 rainy days, and only recently some freezing temperatures and this beautiful snow! Today's stair number: 2

Too busy working on a proposal to take pictures, so here is a snapshot of the Stormwind Cathedral I took some time ago in World of Warcraft. Today's stair number: 1

More snow than I have seen in years! Apparently, it's only the beginning, and I hear it gets a old after the first 3 months. But for now, it's just great! Today's stair numebr: 5

This is the first snow that stays. The streets are white! Today's stair number: 1

One of the many high points of the day: I got to play with an XO Laptop. I even snatched my own picture of the device! Today's stair number: 1

View from the Stata Center's pub. Today's stair number: 5

Italian home cooked pasta for the Wednesday night Fellow soiree. Today's stair number: 5

Map For The Lost, 2002, Jill Reynolds (BI 1998-1999). Today's stair number: 1

Taking a bath, as the French say (means it's in the clouds.) Today's stair number: 1

Got another guided tour in the full GTA San Andreas world. Highlights include mountain biking... Today's stair number: 1

A picture of Harvard's Science Center, taken a few weeks ago... Today's stair number: 4

Everything looks (even) better on a large bright screen! Today's stair number: 2

The first of many servings of wonderful Thanksgiving delicacies. Today's stair number: 1

With the Holidays around the corner, many news outlets have already compiled lists of best gadgets and revolutionary devices, that have, or will, revolutionize everything and more. The iPhone has certainly been a source of hype and praise (and criticism). I do not have an iPhone, and I am unlikely to get one, because as cool as it is, I have no need for it. Here is what I really want in a portable, personal device: A screen that is readable, not too large, not too small A usable keyboard, one that does not require me to use my thumbs and/or press multiple times to get the letter I want Energy consumption and battery power that allow me to go unplugged for, say, a whole day Networking capabilities that allow me to remain connected no matter what, and does not subject me to the tyranny of cell phone companies or local IT policies An interface that does not get in the way of what I want to do (and if possible designed so that a kid could pick it up and go, kind of like a good video ga...

First snow flakes of the season! Really, that gray patch on the ground is snow, and if you squint, you can actually see the snow flakes falling... Today's stair number: 1

This time I managed to take a picture of the Kronos statue in the Barker Center's Thompson Room (actually, I will take this picture tomorrow:-). Next time I will write down who did it, where it came from and what the symbols are. Today's stair number: 1 More info (added 13 April 2008): The statue is by Frank Edwin Elwell. According to the plaque, "the original heroic-sized statue was made for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, 1901." The plaque also reads: "Kronos (Time) with veiled face, moves forward inevitably whether on swift wing or at the pace of a turtle. He holds in his hands all things that we know."

The future home of the Radcliffe Fellowship in Radcliffe Yard, reflected in the Fellows poster. Today's stair number: 4

Another chamber music concert, this time at MIT. This picture is of the ceiling at the Mass. Ave. end of the Infinite Corridor. Today's stair number: 2

Wonderful chamber music concert the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. Today's stair number: 1

The Stata Center in the night. Today's stair number: 5

This is posted in the Radcliffe Yard, and lit at night. It lists each fellow's name, affiliation and project. Today's stair number: 2

After concert dinner at Bertucci's. Of course, no time to bother with taking pictures when the pizza gets to the table! Instead, here is a picture of the olive oil plate that, together with the bread, helps make the short wait more humane. Today's stair number: 2

The weather is wonderful, but temperatures have plunged. Time to invest in the proper winter attire. Next up: matching gloves... Today's stair number: 3

I cannot seem to get tired of this... Today's stair number: 1