Meanderings

Time for a Change

2011-08-15T17:33:00.001-05:00

I'm relocating things, moving them around a bit, cleaning them up.

You'll find me over here.

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T15:10:00.009-06:00

To all fortunate enough to have a significant other: Don't you DARE forget them, neglect them, or mistreat them ... EVER. But, if you can't manage "ever", at least TRY for one day. It seems small, but it's a start. If you can do it for one day, you can do it for two ... if for two, then three ... if three, four ... and before you know it, you're you're a better person, you're both happier, life gets better, and your positive karma increases exponentially.

Make "Day 1" today. It seems like the perfect time to start.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Send this eCard! Graphics! Animation on Facebook

The (Apocalyptic) Future is … Now?

2009-06-09T12:27:00.001-05:00

Science fiction writers have, historically, been very accurate seers into mankind’s future, both near and distant. When Jules Verne penned “From the Earth to the Moon” in 1865, he envisioned an event so strikingly similar to the Apollo missions it’s uncanny, and he did it 92 years before Sputnik launched. The following year (1958) saw the movie adaptation of Verne’s adventure and the creation of NASA, but it would take 11 more years before Neil Armstrong would walk on the moon, something Verne saw with crystal clarity 104 years earlier.

Another popular theme of science fiction evolves around a future, post-apocalyptic Earth, with movies like The Road Warrior, Mad Max, Escape from L.A., Terminator (pick one), and Solarbabies (there’s one from the B pile), to name a few. Watch any of them and you’d see the same thing: rusting hulks of old automobiles used like oversized cinder blocks in the creation of walls, barricades, and fortresses. I enjoyed the movies, comforting myself that this was far from reality and could never happen, if for no other reason than where the heck would all the cars come from?

I’m such an idiot at times.

While Chrysler and GM are cutting dealerships left and right, Chrysler’s also not buying back the inventory off the lots. So, we’re going to see dealerships dissolve … and vast lots of cars start to appear … and rust … hmmm. Raw materials for future events?

Think I’m crazy? You may be right … but I have to ask: What does that say about the rash of “natural disaster films” (Day After Tomorrow, 10.5, Nuclear Twister, Earthquake, The Core, Armageddon, Space Cowboys, Outbreak, Volcano, Dante’s Peak, etc.) we’ve been “plagued” with lately?

“That which we call a rose by any other name …

2009-06-03T14:40:00.001-05:00

… would smell as sweet.” – Juliet (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2)

If you look back through history at various mystical or metaphysical belief systems (Pagan, Wiccan, Druid, etc.) you find an interesting common belief: all things, visible and invisible, have 2 names:

The name everyone knows that thing by (rock, tree, wind, sky, etc.)
The “secret” name known only to that thing and the supreme deity.

It’s the secret name (the “name of power”) that interested early mystics, as they believed that once you learned a thing’s secret name, you had total control over the thing. Another example would be knowing the “secret name of God”, and the power that knowledge afforded those who knew that name.

As a species, we’ve carried that belief forward to this day. Look around you:

The words “new and improved” seem to magically make products better.
How often have you found yourself in a discussion where the phrase “I wouldn’t use that term …” has come up?
Doesn’t “pro-life vs. pro-choice” imply that “pro-choice” is “anti-life” (since it’s on the opposite end of the argument?
We have no more handicapped, only “differently abled”.
It’s Windows XP … no Windows 2009 … no Windows 7 … no Windows internal version 6.1 …

In other words (quoting a colleague), “Names is important”. Hold on to that thought as we fast forward to back to the present and current political events.

Newt Gingrich got another 15 minutes in the spot light when he called Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor “racist” (or since she’s Hispanic, a “reverse racist”). He’s since recanted the use of the “R word” but still clings to his fear that her decisions, should she join the highest court in the land, could very well be biased because of her ethnic background (and an ill-played attempt at humor).

While the media (and the GOP, and the DFL, and anyone else who thinks they’re opinion is important to the mass public …) are all having a field day analyzing and speculating, and pointing and counter-pointing, we’re overlooking an important point here: Newt’s opinion of her has not changed … just the term he’d (publicly) use to describe it. Stop and think about that for a moment, and ask yourself the following question:

“Which is more important: The word or it’s definition?”

Many may argue that the word itself is the key. All we have to do is eradicate (or replace) the word and we’ve solved the problem (at least, that’s what Newt seems to be saying). Sound familiar? It should. as it’s the philosophy driving the “politically correct” movement.

George Carlin was a great student of language, repeatedly putting our use of English under his comedic microscope. More than once he opined that words by themselves are just words, having neither innate good nor evil. It’s the associations we tie to them that render them bad or inappropriate. Sadly, we’ve become so wrapped up in the words themselves, we completely ignore the definition that drives them.

So, to say “Sotomayor is not racist” but she could render ethnically-biased opinions is call her potentially racist without every using the word. And, somehow to Newt, that’s alright: don’t use the word and the problem goes away. Idiot.

Looking at it another way, isn’t the act of insinuating that someone could be biased because of their racial background an act of racism itself? In order to make that statement, aren’t you assuming that (since they are of a different race than you) they aren’t as unbiased as you (and your race)?

Perhaps I was wrong, but I thought we were getting away from the “because you don’t think the way I do, you’re un-American, evil, and dangerous” mindset of the last 8 years.

He Who Dealt It Can Now Measure It

2009-06-01T19:37:00.001-05:00

Here is yet more proof that, in spite of the current economic situation, there are people with too much free time. The only thing odder is that it was a final project for a class at Cornell University.

On one hand, I applaud them, because they’ve provided an answer to an age old question: How corrosive is my gas?

On the other hand … I’m afraid.

Yarrgh!

2008-09-19T15:12:00.001-05:00

Anuther year 'as gone, me hearties!

Net Neuter-ality

2008-08-20T08:57:00.001-05:00

In the emotional whirlwind which is our current political campaign cycle, there are many issues that wax and wane with the tide of public opinion. "Net neutrality" has been on the waning side (haven't heard much about it recently) and, because of that, I've not paid much attention.

Lawrence Lessig, on the other hand, has been watching and he's summed up his perspective on John McCain's technology policy brilliantly in this video.

Isn't it curious how the Republicans always serve up geriatric candidates with archaic stances on evolution, while Democrats serve up youthful alternatives interested in changing the world? Now, before you go off whining about one party or the other, I'm not loyal to either of them as I think both have faults. Yes, both parties are generational, both have good basic principals. The problem is neither follow them, though that's as much the fault of the populace as anything else.

But, I digress. Check out Lessig's video and draw your own conclusions. As for me:

John McCain: EPIC FAIL

Barack Obama: Verdict still out

Zen and the Art of the Reply (Part II)

2008-07-23T13:56:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I wrote about 3 questions you can ask yourself before you respond to someone (to figure out whether a response is needed or warranted). Today, I want to delve deeper and offer a perspective for answering those questions, by using an adaptation of the "Ben Franklin" decision technique.

For those not familiar with it, the "Ben Franklin" technique was a method used by Ben when faced with a complicated issue. With it, he'd boil all the pros and cons of the issue down to a simple question with two possible outcomes. Simply put:

List all the points that support the question.
List all the points that counter the question.
Apply any necessary weighting factors to what's been listed (if certain pros/cons are more important than others)
Look at what you've written, letting the the lists and weights drive the decision.

A very simple example (without weighting) would be:

Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle.
List all the pros down one side of the line, cons down the other. Keep each item to a single line (bullet point).
Which ever side has more bullet points (pro or con), that's the decision to make.

In applying Ben's method to the 3 questions, we get:

Does [what they said] require a response?

What would happen if someone did respond?
What would happen if nobody did?

Does [what they said] require a response from me?

What would happen if I did respond?
What would happen if I did not?

Does [what they said] require a response from me now?

What would happen if I responded now?
What would happen if I waited?

A key thing to remember: "I'd feel a lot better once I ..." isn't necessary the best answer (to any of the questions above). When you finish venting you naturally feel better because you've "run out of steam" and are less stressed than you were at the peak of your vent, but you're still much more stressed than you were before you started. Not everyone is like Mel Gibson's Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon, who went from wild-eyed, in-your-face-with-a-revolver-under-his-chin to a half-lidded, matter of fact "I'm hungry" in under 5 seconds. Stress takes the rest of us time to work out of our systems, to return to our "resting heart rate" as it were.

So, why stress in the first place? Ask your questions, look at your answers, then decide whether it's worthwhile to pursue things.

Zen and the Art of the Reply

2008-07-22T16:27:00.001-05:00

In this day of multi-channel communications overload, it has become insanely easy to fire off an email (or SMS, Twitter, Tumblr, Jaiku, Plurk, Pownce, Jott, ...), post to your blog (or Facebook, Classmates, Friendster, LinkedIn, Plaxo, LiveJournal, WordPress, Blogger, MySpace, Utterz, Orkutz, an online forum or your choice, ...), or leave a post on someone else's blog (or ... well, you get the picture) ... all without really thinking about what we have to say. Couple that with a general air of intolerance in some online circles (where any reply brings on a "flamewar" as though people were just itching for a fight) and spam shrinks to a trivial (and, for the most part, ignorable) online issue.

In a nutshell: Just because someone else publicly said something (either to/about you or about a topic which you're passionate about) doesn't mean you must engage in what may appear to you as witty repartee but which, in fact, is mindless "oh, yeah? Well, so there!" prattle. To say nothing of the stress created as your blood pressure rises and you focus all your energy on visualizing your online foe being squished between your thumb and forefinger (like the heads of victims of Mr. Tyzik from The Kids in the Hall) . It may feel good, but only for awhile ... and it usually keeps things escalating for no good reason.

I had lunch with my parents this weekend, during which our discussion wandered (as it is want to do) onto the topic of conflict resolution. More specifically, is it really necessary to confront someone who has either said something or sent something (email, etc.) to you, especially if their statement pisses you off?

The simple answer: Not necessarily. If you're having an open and honest dialog, perhaps (but it requires that both parties be willing to both listen and understand the other). However, if you're pretty certain that the speaker will neither understand nor appreciate your response, sometimes it's best not to reply.

But how to know when and when not to continue a dialog? A very good question, and I can answer that by giving you 3 questions to ask yourself when you're in such a situation.

Before you react (or reply, or email, or whatever), ask yourself the following:

Does [what they said] require a response?
Does [what they said] require a response from me?
Does [what they said] require a response from me now?

If you cannot answer "yes" to all three questions, don't respond (if "yes" to just the first 2, then wait a bit). Pretty simple, cuts to the heart of the matter ... but not the way we're programmed to think normally. Think of these as a more detailed interpretation of the old adage:

"If you have nothing constructive to say, say nothing."

I can't take credit for these 3 questions. Kudos here goes to a coworker who uses them to get her through meetings where she finds herself itching to dive into a debate, only to find (after applying the questions) that any input she would have provided would have been misinterpreted and not produced the desired outcome.

I also make no claims about how easy it is to simply let things go when you first try. It's not (believe me, I know), but it does get easier with time. And, with time, you'll find that you become less and less riled up about things you have no interest in discussing. Life gets better, stress goes down.

Try it!

Twitter ... in ... Space ...

2008-06-25T10:21:00.001-05:00

Now this is just completely beyond cool!

Mars Phoenix Mission Twitter Feed

(Don't) Sleep on It!

2008-06-16T10:53:00.001-05:00

A study conducted by the University of Minnesota suggests that if you don't have a consistent, regular sleep habit (i.e. same number of hours, same level of relaxation, same time of night, etc.) you're more likely to have "aging issues" (i.e. you'll die).

There's a part of me that went "duh!?!" when I heard this (it seems intuitively obvious), but then I had to take a step back and rethink things. Is it really your screwed up sleeping habits that adversely affect your health (and, potentially, lead to your death) ...

OR ... is it the waking early and staying up late that affect your health ... or the driving while drunk (because you're out later) and driving hung over (because you were out later the night before) that kills you?

OR ... it that (according to another survey) too little sleep leads to snacking ... which leads to weight gain ... and fat gain, and cholesterol gain ... which leads to health issues?

OR ... is it because we're all getting fatter, and being overweight (which apparently ups the changes of shortened sleeping) has it's own mortality issues?

Bottom line: You can't draw significant conclusions from a study unless the study addresses all possible variables and variations that may affect the outcome.

Oh, and don't go thinking that all you have to do is get a lot of sleep. Too much sleep can also lead to restless nights ... which puts you right back in the same leaking boat.

As for what this all really means, I'll have to get back to you ... after I take a nap.

Things that make you go "WTF?"

2008-06-13T12:25:00.001-05:00

A little buzz among bloggers was kicked off this week by Podnosh (and picked up by Bad Science) around a report published by the Charity Commission stating that (to paraphrase) "wikis and blogs have no educational value". I'm not going to go into a detailed stance here (I'll let the discussion on Podnosh and Bad Science do that for me, they're doing a wonderful job), but I am going to make one observation: What does this mean for the BBC? Let me explain.

If you take a look at who makes up the Charity Commission, you'll find Sharmila Nebhrajani is one of the commissioners. Sharmila is also COO of BBC Future Media & Technology, and this is where I get confused. The commission has a member who runs the BBC department that handles its digital content, website, and (I would assume) blogs and podcasts. The commission doesn't see blogs as educational, yet the BBC continues to support Sharmila's department in spite of a £36 million overspend.

Did I forget to mention that Sharmila also has a Facebook account?

Does this strike anyone as mildly ... well ... odd?

What a Trip!

2008-04-30T10:29:00.001-05:00

Albert Hofmann, "the father of LSD", died yesterday ... at the age of 102! That's one hundred two years old. Makes me wonder about these health nuts and what they espouse. However, that's not the main reason I'm writing.

Think about this: It's a common belief that, as you're "crossing over" you review the events of your life ... they "flash before your eyes". In essence, you have a life-encompassing "flashback" as you leave this plane of existence. The ultimate trip, eh?

Now try this: One side effect of LSD use is the possibility that you will continue to have occasional flashbacks throughout your life, even long after you'd stopped taking the drug. Good trips, bad trips, didn't matter. I had a friend who described his flashbacks as, "I'd be driving along and all of a sudden the sky would turn green, the grass in the median neon blue, and the highway a hot red. I'd be like ... 'cool ... let's see where this goes ...'". Anyway, you get the picture.

Now, here's the final point to ponder: If your life of flashbacks flashes before your eyes as you pass, wouldn't that set up an infinite recursion that would either:

Send you back in time, or
Make you immortal (since you wouldn't finish passing until the recursion collapsed)

???

Technorati Tags: lsd

Yep, I'm older ... like a fine wine

2008-03-14T15:48:00.003-05:00

Today's birthday number 45. Well, if 50's the new 30, then I'm still in my 20's. I've got that going for me. I've received several eCards today from co-workers. Many of us are rigged up on Plaxo, making the process of remembering someone's birthday ridiculously easy:

You receive an email from Plaxo, reminding you of the upcoming event
You click on a link to send a card
You select the card to send, change the default text (if you really want to)
Hit a button and you're good to go

I love it, I use it, it works. Now ... I'm not certain what to make of this, but every eCard I got today was the same template (and I mean EVERY card):

Should I be concerned?

MN politics in action takes my breath away

2008-02-29T12:08:00.001-06:00

Yep, they're at it again. That wacky, madcap band of senators and reps in St. Paul are out to extend our 2nd Amendment rights, and finally give the sellers of ammunition a break (by increasing sales).

I've only one question: I thought it was illegal to discharge a firearm in the city limits. Does this legislation trump that, or do I still get charged with a misdemeanor after killing the frightening clown who was trying to give me a balloon animal?

It seems like we're focusing on the wrong problem

2008-02-15T15:43:00.001-06:00

In his book "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?", George Carlin explains that "suicide bombers" aren't really committing suicide: suicide is the result of someone believing their life is worthless, while these bombers believe the act of ending their lives matters especially if they can take someone with them (preferably an infidel or two). In reality, they're more "homicide bombers" that get caught up in their own act of mass murder. (If you have an Audible account, get the audiobook version, as it's read by Carlin himself and his delivery, as always, is hilarious).

Maybe we're all looking in the wrong place, or in the wrong direction. In the past week, we've have 5 different incidents of "suicide shootings" within our borders ... in our own schools. Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee, California, and just yesterday in Illinois. The latest trend in school shootings is to shoot a video, go kill a bunch of people, then kill yourself. If that isn't "suicide terrorism" I don't know what is.

We're so preoccupied with keeping people outside the country from coming in ... are we completely losing perspective on what's happening at home?

And the Award for 'Best Implementation of a Double Standard' goes to ...

2007-10-10T16:16:00.001-05:00

... the American Legal System! And I'm not just talking about judges, lawyers, law enforcement, no sir! I'm including regular American citizens ... specifically Minnesotans! Let me explain:

Supporting Case #1: PhotoCop

In an effort to cut down on people running red lights and causing accidents (like, for instance, the idiot that ran a light and crashed into a schoolbus injuring 6 people), Minneapolis installed automatic cameras at intersections that would snap a picture of any vehicle that ran a red light. The snapped license plate was then used to track down the owner of the car, who was sent a traffic ticket. Makes sense, and it netted the city around $2.5 million in fines ... until people whined and a judge declared the system illegal: Just because the car was breaking the law doesn't mean that the owner of it was behind the wheel and (therefore) should not be held responsible.

Ok ... thinking about that, I can see that logic ... to a point, though frankly, if you gave your car to someone who broke the law, are you really free from blame ... even if only to be blamed as an idiot? And what if you gave your car to the same offender again? How smart does that really make you? But, I digress.

The point: Because you can't see the person behind the wheel to verify that it is indeed the owner of the car, you cannot hold the owner responsible for anything that vehicle is involved in. Hold that thought.

Case #2: Jammie Thomas

In a recent decision by a Duluth, MN, jury, a woman was found guilty of illegally sharing music ... to the tune of $222,000 in fines (I would have linked to the Star Tribune, but they're expecting you to sign up for the content and I don't tolerate those retarded games ... nice one "STrib", you loose to the BBC). Why so much money? Because the RIAA (AKA "Music Mafia Run Amok") claims that the service they enlisted to track down evil music sharers traced illegal peer-2-peer sharing activity back to a certain IP address ... said IP address being further traced to the computer in Jammie's home. Can they prove that she either was physically sitting at the computer performing the illicit act? No. Can the prove that she set up the sharing software? No.

But, apparently, in this case, it's not necessary to be caught in the act. That you own the offending machinery is good enough?

Say what? Doesn't this strike you as even mildly contradictory? It's ok not to be accountable when your vehicle potentially kills someone, yet woe be unto you if the RIAA levels a claim against you they can't prove you physically did. I've always believed that the winters here in Minnesota have an adverse affect on the ability of humans to think rationally.

I can't help but wonder what that Duluth jury was thinking ... assuming they even thought at all about it.

'Tis Talkin' Time Again, Me Lads

2007-09-19T10:18:00.000-05:00

Shiver me timbers, kiss the black spot!

"What's good for the goose ..."

2007-08-28T15:14:00.001-05:00

"... is good for the gander." At least, that's the way the adage goes.

Apparently, the contemporary equivalent is "If it worked for the RIAA and they didn't get busted for extortion, then it should work for the MPAA with the same level of criminal immunity." I think I'm going to be sick.

Can we at least turn the tables? Can we demand that they stop paying Hollywood actors incredible sums of money for crap movies and we promise to still go see them from time to time?

Is it just me ...

2007-08-09T20:57:00.000-05:00

... or has Google Reader become slower than crap lately? Try to add a feed, and it wanders off into no-man's land. Use Firefox, flip between tabs, and it takes upwards of a minute to come back to the Reader tab.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Google ... hello? You been "improving things?"

And I thought the media was bad

2007-08-07T14:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I absolutely detest the feeding frenzy the media's been in around last Wednesday's collapse of the 35W bridge here in town. I'm even disappointed with how MPR's gone FoxNews with inanely repetitve reporting, leading questions, and dubious "experts".

But ... that all pales in comparison to this joker, who further reinforces my comprehensive disgust with organized religion.

Fred, got a bit of advice for you: stay the $#@!% away from our city and our state. Your idiotic, moronic, childish, brain-dead, headline-grabbing, pathetic excuse for religious intelligence should stay right where you are, with the rest of the idiots.

Better yet, come on up! Bring your entire congregation of losers, so we can throw your sorry, stupid asses in jail!

I'm fine

2007-08-02T09:26:00.000-05:00

I wasn't near downtown with this happened last evening. While my heart goes out to those who've either lost loved ones or just don't know yet, I'm growing more and more irritated at the media, even public radio, who apparently has decided that the Fox News method of reporting is the most effective way to go. Then again, they're no better or worse than the massive number of gawkers flocking to the site just to watch and hopefully witness a wee bit of carnage (and, even better, if they can film it and get it up on YouTube).

You want a good example of how low our species has started to stoop? Watch the media feeding frenzy, the litigation bloodlust, and the repetitive, inane mutterings of one "expert" after another over the next few weeks.

It's a tragedy, yes. Let's treat it, and those affected by it, with the dignity and respect they deserve, let the authorities get on with the unenviable task of sorting it all out ... and get on with life.

Internet Radio Day of Silence

2007-06-26T14:01:00.000-05:00

If you believe, truly believe, in the RIAA's extortion tactics, bald-faced lies, and petulant "we're protecting the artists" statements ... do nothing today.

If, however, you want to enjoy music the way you want to, not the way some overpaid, under-endowed media mogul wants to sell it to you, call your congressman today and get them to listen to the silence:

Act now, or don't whine when the silence becomes permanent.

Swarm of Angels Trailer

2007-06-18T13:58:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm one of the swarm. We've just released a trailer for the project. Check it out:

Click To Play

Parking Ramp Morons

2007-05-14T12:32:00.001-05:00

Hmmm ... looks kinda tight:

And, it's not much better on the other side:

What to do? Simple ... climb out through the trunk.

I think SUVs should be banned from parking ramps.

Minnesota "Nice", as in "Nice job parking, idiot"

2007-05-07T14:14:00.001-05:00

I tell ya, some people just have no appreciation for those around them:

I mean please. If you look in the lower left of the picture, the yellow you see below the SUVs bumper is the dividing line of the adjacent parking space. If there hadn't been a cement post on the right of the car (giving me extra room to climb in over the stick shift), I'd have to have gotten into my car through the trunk.

This is the making's of a real good week.

A Moment to Reflect

2007-04-20T10:19:00.001-05:00

The governor of Virginia's declared today a day of morning:

Virginia Tech -- 04.16.2007

I think we all need to stop ... reflect.  If you wish to lend assistance, check out the Virgina Tech Tribute Blog.

Don Imus Leaves the Airwaves ...

2007-04-13T16:57:00.000-05:00

... and, I must say, I'm a bit ambivalent. MSNBC dropped their simulcast, CBS fired him, the media's "analysts" can't stop talking about it, Al Sharpton claims a victory, Rutgers accepts his apology ... and I can't help but think:

"Are we going to consistently treat everyone who uses racially improper speech with an equal amount of vitriol and retribution?"

If so, then good. If not, then how many of those loudly screaming now will be silent the next time?

I really hate jumping in on major public brawls like this. Everybody who's anybody (and plenty of people who aren't) have already opened (and will continue to open) their mouths. But there's another issue here that's being marginalized: "What happens the next time?"

Whether Imus went too far or not isn't the issue moving forward, consistency of response is.

If it walks like a duck ...

2007-03-06T18:39:00.000-06:00

... and talks like the RIAA, it probably is extortion. It's about time that word got associated with the recording industry's latest tactic. Wikipedia's entry is most interesting, including such tidbits as:

"the simple four words "pay up or else" are sufficient ..."
"...may also be committed as a federal crime across a computer system ..."
"the message only has to be sent ... to commit the crime ..."

Sounds interestingly familiar, doesn't it? Even more interesting is it appears to be completely legal for the RIAA, which is a private entity (not a wing of the government).

A slightly different (yet exciting) definition for "the feed"

2007-01-23T22:13:00.000-06:00

In Neal Stephenson's book The Diamond Age, one of the more intriguing (at least, to me) mechanisms was "the feed", a connection that served up atoms for replicator-like devices to use to construct whatever they were programmed to make. Fantastic fiction? Perhaps ... but now, it seems that science has discovered a means to bring that concept into the real world. Maybe not for years, but at least it's moved from fantasy to crudely demonstrated theory.

King Lear ... in a week!

2006-12-21T04:44:00.000-06:00

I've been getting into Librivox, the site that takes public domain literature and (through a network of volunteer readers) creates audio versions that are freely downloadable and shareable (think Audible but older books and without the monthly fee). Right now, there's a project going on where a group of "voicers" are attempting to construct a complete recording of Shakespeare's King Lear in a single week. This week.

Check out the progress in their forums ... then, see if you can figure out which part I'm reading.

Closure

2006-12-12T18:09:00.000-06:00

Well, they sentenced the bastard who killed my friend yesterday. Actually, "bastard" is too good a word, as it implies "human" and Derick Holliday is anything but human. Life in prison without parole. He deserved worse, much worse (the death of a thousand cuts comes to mind) ... but, I guess, it's the best that can be hoped for.

As for that moron's family, spare me your remorse. No "good boy" takes a .44 Magnum and chases another human being down a crowded street shooting at them over an altercation in a movie theater. If you're looking at someone to blame ... look in a bloody mirror.

Actually, one thing could make things a (very) little better: If there was a service available that one could subscribe to that would send a single (postal) letter at a specific time once a year for the rest of Holliday's life, I'd pay to send the same letter to him each year on the anniversary of his conviction. Why that date? Because that's the day that, after being found guilty of murder in the first degree, he had the brainless audacity to look at the parents of the man he killed (because he got in the way of him trying to kill someone else) and say, "I hope you're happy". Idiot ... but I digress. I'd pay to send the same letter to him each year:

Derick,

In answer to your question ... no, I'm not happy. But I'm satisfied that you will never be free to live your life the way you want to.

Ok, the cheerleader's saved ... now what?

2006-11-21T03:13:00.000-06:00

I'll admit it: I'm addicted to Heroes, the new "X-Men-kinda-sorta-with-a-twist-and-we-ALSO-have-a-comic-book" series currently airing on NBC. Tonight was (supposed) to be the night that we all learned what was meant by the show's catch phrase:

Save the cheerleader ... save the world ...

I watched it and (like all previous episodes) it was well written. But ... I'm still waiting: the cheerleader's been saved ... what about the world? I hate marketing hype that blatantly lies. But, I hate myself even more for believing it.

Being a Leader ... for Dummies

2006-11-09T13:47:00.000-06:00

Here's a definition of the word "leader" I heard once some time ago:

A leader is a person who:
figures out which way the crowd is going
takes a shortcut across a field
gets out ahead of them
makes them believe he/she is leading the way

By that definition ... and that definition alone ... Bush is a true leader.

Anti-Vote

2006-11-07T17:20:00.000-06:00

Nick Bradbury mentioned it. Chris Pirillo blogged about it last week. Today's the day:

Who you going to vote against?

Ahh ... Alaska

2006-11-06T21:51:00.000-06:00

I'm finally getting caught up and am uploading photos I took back in June of my trip to Alaska. My dad and I went up for some salmon fishing outside of Soldatna.

Plus, it gives me a chance to experiment with Zooomr, a new Flickr competitor.

Just one more day

2006-11-06T12:58:00.000-06:00

Man, these mid-term, mid-stream, mid-section, mid-whatever elections are almost over, and it couldn't come fast enough. Hang on, everybody, we've got one more day of candidates berating each other before we can lapse back into the coma called "politics as usual".

I don't hear much about what a candidate stands for anymore, just about what their competition is either against (in case it's a "good thing") or for (if it's a "bad thing"). That may seem odd at first, but remember this: if politicians never say exactly where they stand, they never have to be accused of lying when they change their minds:

"I never said I was (for/against) that ... I just said that my opponent was (against/for) it."

Makes perfect sense when you think about it.

It's not healthy, so don't use it ... DUH!

2006-10-31T11:25:00.000-06:00

Kentuky Fried Chicken's latest press release has pushed the company's visibility to new heights throughout the media, with BusinessWeek, the LA Times, and the Toronto Star (to name a few) blathering on about this earth-shattering news. I've even been hearing it on BBC Radio all night ... and yet, I wonder whether the decision to eliminate partially hydrogenated soybean oil from their restaurants was driven by a true concern for the "American Obesity Epidemic" or a desire for massive (and, when you factor the blogosphere in, free in many cases) publicity. When it comes right down to it, if it ain't healthy either don't use it or don't use so much of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know: it won't taste the same. That's the primary reason/excuse the major food franchises have given for not moving faster on this whole issue (and others): the product won't have the same taste customers are familiar with, and they'll sell less product until customers either accept the change in flavor or they gain new customers. That isn't rocket surgery either: any cook worth half his salt ... err ... sodium substitute ... knows that if you change an ingredient in a recipe you will alter the flavor in the final product. This applies not only to the ingredients you put in the food you're making and the things the food comes in contact with during the cooking process, like the oil you're frying in. While it may be a "bold move", I suspect the move was more political than "conscientious citizenship" (there's a move in New York to ban the use of trans fats in restaurants). But, what does all this really mean? Good question. I've no clue, but here are a couple observations:

Fear of falling profits may have (um, I hear a duh on the wind) factored into the decision not to move faster ... but the irony of the whole thing is that you can bet that the very same stock holders who demand their stock perform (and would sell if it didn't) will probably be the first people to complain about the change in the taste of the food and stop buying the food (which would reduce sales ... which would reduce profits ... which would reduce stock performance ... which ... you see where I'm going with this).
KFC is just one of the properties owned by Yum!, with Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Long John Silvers being sister franchises (this is why you're seeing "combo stores" with two of these franchises in a single location sharing a common inside counter and drive through window). Wonder if any of those brands still use trans fats ... and, if so, are they planning on changing things anytime soon? Remember that trans fats are commonly used in things like dough and oils to prolong shelf life.

Now I Know I'm Losing It

2006-10-26T20:42:00.000-05:00

It's been a long week. The discussion of "esoteric programming languages" came up at work yesterday, and I can't get it out of my mind. After looking at the variety of languages at the wiki dedicated to such things, I noticed something was missing: A language based on "pirate-speak".

I think I'm gonna create one. Yarrrr!

If peanuts could fly ...

2006-10-16T06:11:00.000-05:00

I know it's happened to you before. You hear something and it sticks in your head, hard. You find yourself humming some inane theme or jingle until you're about ready to gouge out your eardrums with a corkscrew. Lewis Black on his White Album ranted about this phenomenon, though in the context of "the dumbest thing you've ever heard". Maybe things stick because they're dumb ... inane ... I don't know. All I know is I'm there right now, with that idiotic Snickers jingle in my head:

"Happy peanuts soar, over chocolate covered mountaintops and waterfalls of caramel. Dancing nougat in the meadows, sings a song of satisfaction to the world ..."

I need therapy.

So I'm Not a Poet ... I know It

2006-10-10T22:50:00.000-05:00

Baby That's Hot was having a "Hot Sauce Haiku" competition last month. In a fit of whimsy, I tossed a couple into the hat. Granted, I didn't win (the two that did were really good), but I did hit a soft spot in their hearts as a favorite.

Gambling? That's ALL You Can Think of Fixing?

2006-10-03T19:35:00.000-05:00

So ... while:

In a Colorado school, a man shoots and kills a 16 year old girl before taking his own life, THEN ...
In a Wisconsin school, a student fatally shoots his principal for reprimanding him for tobacco, THEN ...
In Pennsylvania, a man shoots and kills 5 children in an Amish schoolhouse

All in less than a week. And, right smack-dab in the middle of this spree of school shootings, our ever-vigilant federal government passes legislation in an attempt to shut down internet gambling. In the midst of all the back-slapping and jockeying for sound bite coverage proclaiming their support of this "important" legislation ... you don't hear one word from these chuckle heads about anything else. I guess children being murdered in school isn't a pre-election priority (like it's any more a post-election priority ... yeah, right). Way to go, Congress! Woo Woo ... you're really going after the critical issues of our time! Society as we know it would cease to exist if it weren't for you.

A Clear and Present Danger ... ???

2006-09-26T20:15:00.000-05:00

The government wants carte blanche to arrest, detain, and torture suspected terrorists (in the name of National Security and protecting Americans and the American Way of Life ... naturally) ... yet, we seem completely incapable of protecting Americans from clear and obvious threats from other Americans.

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... "We did what we could." Bullshit ... though I'm sure that line makes the Sheriff in that county sleep better at night, as it absolves him (and the rest of his staff) of responsibility.

My point is this: We're so afriad of being attacked from without ... we're ignoring the fact that we're being destroyed from within ...

... and noone wants to own up to it.

Yarr!

2006-09-19T22:23:00.000-05:00

Remember

2006-09-11T15:49:00.001-05:00

Blogger beta? Bugger! I'm bugging out!

2006-08-23T10:20:00.000-05:00

As you may or may not know, Blogger's getting an upgrade, Google-style. Currently, the new version of Blogger's in beta ... and Google's only letting a handful of blogs convert over. While the possibilities are exciting (Google has done practically nothing with Blogger/Blogspot since they bought it), if this runs anything like Google Analytics did up until recently (limited access, could never get in, could never get an account because they didn't have capacity), I'm not impressed. In fact, I'm moving ... at least for the time being. I've set up a new blog over here, and will be redirecting the feedburner feed in that direction shortly (those of you connected via feedburner shouldn't have to change a thing). If you're connected to the blogspot Atom feed, however, you're gonna want to shift. Meandering's has a new home.

Delirium

2006-05-17T10:48:00.000-05:00

Cirque du Soleil’s new show, Delirium, is in town. Four of us went to last night’s show …wow. This is the third Cirque show I’ve seen, and I still can’t find words to describe them. In talking about it afterwards (well, not so much talking as staring slack-jawed at each other) we all agreed: You can’t explain one of these shows to someone who’s never seen one, you have to experience it yourself.

What I can say is it’s very different from what you’d expect from a “typical” Cirque show. The other’s I’ve seen (Alegria and Corteo) were more “circus-y” with positively unreal acts of physical coordination, dexterity, and teamwork, all performed to a bed of original music. Delirium is (for lack of a better description) the exact opposite. It’s more a concert than a circus, where the music takes center stage and the circus acts (lesser in number, but not in intensity) augment the songs. Truly outstanding.

This is a short-run show (only 2 nights) in cities across the US and Canada, and it’s opening up in more and more of them. I know I’ve said it before, I’m going to say it again, and I’ll say it after every Cirque show I see:

Go … now.

Patents are meaningless

2006-05-08T12:38:00.000-05:00

Either that, or the people in the US Patent Office bottomed out in the ennui department. John C. Dvorak caught this little ditty this morning demonstrating the breadth and depth of intelligence of our federal "intellectual property protection system". The patent owner's a fellow Minnesotan ... though I'm not certain what that means (if anything). I'm in the wrong line of work. To heck with trying to win the lottery, I'm gonna file patents for:

Dangling the legs in the water creating sinusoidal ripples
Riding a bicycle
Walking a dog ... wait ... too obvious ... walking a cat
Holding a pencil to apply graphite to a paper surface

Then I'll sit back, relax, and sue everyone for ... living

Now here's something you don't hear everyday:

2006-04-28T12:12:00.000-05:00

"I think I'll go shopping over lunch ... I need buyer's remorse."

Quote of the day

2006-04-27T14:09:00.000-05:00

I overheard a woman today:

"I don't have a problem with polygamy ... as a concept."

When "Senseless" doesn't begin to cover it

2006-04-03T11:29:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine was killed this weekend in an act of utterly senseless, pointless, non-directed, moronic, stupid, childish, pathetic violence. I don't even know where to start. It's hard to rant in multiple directions at once. Al ... I'll miss you. We all will.

For every innovation ...

2006-02-23T13:19:00.000-06:00

... there's someone that want's to capitalize on it, and some government agency that enables said capitalization. For example, take U.S. patent No. 7,000,180. While it was originally filed back in 2001 (well before AJAX became the "acronym du jour"), it was finally granted this Valentine's Day by the beloved U.S Patent Office ... and it could well screw up web technology innovation as we know it, as it's broad enough to (potentially) require any AJAX-like technology to pay a license fee back to the patent owner. Brilliant ... just bloody brilliant. So, what do we learn from this? Simple:

Patent everything. Then, even if you have no success yourself, you can stifle everyone else's.
Technology isn't about thinking outside the box. It's about who has the most legal paperwork on file.

Mother Nature 2 ... Weathermen 0

2006-02-17T10:50:00.000-06:00

Woof. For the second time this year (once last month, and now this month) a predicted "wicked snow storm that will blanket the Twin Cities with at least 6 inches of snow" ... never happened. Last month, the storm missed us by a few dozen miles to the north. This time, a few dozen miles to the south ... and all they really got was "a dusting". Man ... I'm in the wrong line of work: You get paid, yet are consistently wrong. On the other hand, they got the temperature right ... once again, Minnesota temperatures are more what we all expect up here this time of year: low double-digit, single-digit, or any-digit as long as it has a '-' in front of it.

A Farewell to ... Happy Hour

2006-01-16T22:47:00.000-06:00

Living in Plymouth, on the west side of Minneapolis, for the past 8 years, I've become fond of a local establishment: Grandma's Restaurant and Wine Bar. Grandma's is a Minnesota original, with restaurants in only 5 cities in the state, and the Plymouth location (being close to home) I've grown especially fond of. I started out down the path of "becoming a regular" at the Bloomington store, which is long since closed (I may write about the stupidity behind that sometime ... someday) and migrated to Plymouth, along with a collection of both regulars and staff. Over the years, I've seen a lot of things ... a lot of people. I've seen good times, bad times ... and some really, really crazy times (good thing no one had a camera ... at least, no one who's come forth with pictures ... yet). And, I knew that all good things, no matter how good and packed with potential, must come to an end ... and Grandma's Plymouth is no exception. On March 31, 2006, the Plymouth, MN, store will close ... and I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I'm not surprised. From a customer standpoint, the store isn't doing stellar business. Traffic ebbs and flows with the booking level of the adjacent Comfort Inn. On the other hand ... frankly, I'm pissed off. The Grandma's line is Duluth-based, and watching the way the Plymouth store has been handled tells me that their corporate office doesn't have a clue about how to make money in the Minneapolis market. Granted, they're doing ok business in their downtown store ... which is located in the "Seven Corners" area of the East Bank of the University of Minnesota. I mean, come on ... how hard is it to make it when you're in a prime location ... where all you really need to do is open the doors, serve decent drinks, and have one of the local radio stations play live music once a week. A near-sighted Rhesus monkey on crack could make money there ... case in point. No. The real challenge of making a business is going after something new ... something different ... and making it work. From what I've heard, they want out of their lease big time. The price they're asking for the property is a steal, especially with you factor in the rate of growth of the western suburbs. So ... if anyone is interested in partnering in what could be a very exciting venture ... ... let me know.

How I Love (Pod|Vid)casting

2005-11-27T18:00:00.000-06:00

Extended holiday weekend ... a chance to catch up on a variety of things. Given the options of:

Watching regular television
Watching movies on cable
Watching DVDs
Watching Video-on-Demand (VOD)
Watching/Listening to Vidcasts (videoblogs) or podcasts

I find myself increasingly moving in the direction of #'s 3, 4, and 5 (with 5 becoming the fast favorite). Frankly, regular TV blows (duh), and has for some time. Lame concepts, rehashed plots, and commercials ... those flippin' commercials that you see every 5 minutes (if you're fortunate, you won't see the same commercial every single break ... if your fortunate). Same companies pushing the same crap over and over and over again. I know, I know, I wrote about this before. I can't help myself ... I find the entertainment industry unbelievably frustrating these days.

Sadly, cable channels are beginning to follow in their footsteps at a more and more irritating rate. I used to really enjoy watching the SciFi Channel (which is sad, because now that they're doing their own B-rated movies, I'd enjoy a mindless film from time to time ... but ...), the Food Network (it's my personal chef side), Biography, The History Channel, and others ... until they took the concept of commercials and cross-bred it with cross-promotion. Now, you have the same number of repeated interruptions to whatever you're attempting to watch. But, rather than pepper you with spots for floor wax, spot remover, or the latest and greatest in SUV technology ... they run ads for other shows on their own networks, and they do it with even more idiotic frequency than the major networks run "traditional" spots.

Even public television is beginning to go overboard. Granted, you don't get commercial interruptions during the program (unless you're watching during a pledge drive ... and there seem to be more and more of those happening nowadays, too), just between shows, where you see one "underwriter" mentioned after another. And the "mentions" now take the form of 15- to 30-second commercial spots (but they're not "commercials" ... because public television doesn't do "commercials" ... you say toe-MAY-toe, I say toe-MAH-toe, doesn't matter what you call it, it's the same damn thing).

The folks from the premium networks (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc.) must watch their fair share of public television, because you now see the same over repetition of "ads" promoting other shows on the same networks. And now that there isn't just a single HBO, Showtime, or whatever channel there are entire networks of them (HBO Family, HBO Latin, Encore, Showtime Family, etc.) they can cross-promote shows from one channel to the next, providing an even broader selection of spots to assault us with.

Pay Per View (PPV) and Video On Demand (VOD) can aleviate commercial overload, assuming that you either:

are willing to put up with the fees the cable companies charge to rent a player that's compatible with their networks, or
subscribe to a service like TiVo, and are willing to accept their restrictions on content utilization (including, but not limited to, their systems ability to delete content from your system after a period of time, whether you wish that content deleted or not), or
are technically savvy enough (and equipped with some disposable income) to construct your own personal video recorder (PVR), which is becoming easier with the evolution of systems like MythTV, but still doesn't necessarily integrate into a home theater system in a straightforward way.

And heaven forfend if you should opt out of television and want to listen to music. You can:

use iTunes from Apple, locking yourself into their software's "interesting" (transaltion: designed by people who apparently never bothered to ask the user community how they do things) method of managing music. The price ($0.99/song) is right (though the record labels want to change that), and it works for many ... but ..., or
subscribe to audible.com, locking yourself into their proprietary format, or
use software like WinAmp and rip your own music (again with the technically savvy)

Depending on the path you choose, you may find yourself limited, hobbled, frustrated, or harrassed by the RIAA (which seems to have carte blanche to act as a private collections agency/enforcement unit with almost complete impunity).

In a word ... make that two words ... no thanks.

I love what's happening in the podcasting and videoblogging world right now. New content ... fresh content ... niche content ... things you'd never see through other commercial channels (because they wouldn't be able to figure out how to monetize it sufficiently) ... and, most important, content created by regular people for regular people. Plus, because it's "time shifted", you can listen watch what you want when you want to. Save shows for later and listen/watch them again. Got an idea for a show of your own? Grab an iRiver (or similar player w/ a microphone) and dive right in.

It's giving the regular media channels a headache they so richly deserve. They can't control it ... the can't monopolize it (in spite of Apples iTunes 4.9 launch which, initially, pushed "indie" podcasters out of the limelight as the networks rolled shows out ... until people realized that the network's "shows" were just the same crap they've been slinging in a new package with a pretty pink bow) ... they can't even figure out how to monetize it (making some of them question the viability of the medium: "If I can't figure out how to make money with it, it'll never be popular enough to worry about." Wrong).

But enough of the rant. Check it out, it's worth exploring. To start "casting your own web", check out some of the following places:

IndiePodder.org -- Adam Curry manages the top-level of this growing OPML-based directory (meaning the individual categories are managed by people from around the world) of podcasts.
PodSafe Music Network -- Loaded with music that is safe (i.e. free of RIAA interference) to listen to (and use in your own podcasts)
PodNova -- An online podcast aggregation service (simple and easy to use). Access your feeds from anywhere.
MeFeedia -- An online video cast aggregation service. Relatively new, easy to use.
Juice -- Open source "podcatching" client for Windows, Mac, and Linux (soon). Can be tied to your PodNova account to automatically keep up your current list of feeds, downloading new casts as they become available (so you can plug them right into your player without having to go hunting for them).
FireANT -- Video feed catcher/watcher

If you're interested in getting started with your own podcast, one of the best sources I can mention is Podcast411. Rob's done a remarkable job creating a library of tutorials that can get you off and running.

Me? Yeah, I'm working on a couple shows (completely different genres). When they're ready for prime time ... you'll be the first one to know.

Corteo: The Show Moves On

2005-10-23T23:36:00.000-05:00

I finally went to see Corteo this afternoon, catching the last show before it leaves Minneapolis and heads for San Fransicso. As I said back when Alegria was in town, if you ever have the opportunity to see a Cirque du Soleil show, go.

Sitting in the 4th row back from the stage, it was almost too close (the show is heavily aerobatic, with people flying on wires all over the place), but it was definitely worth it. I'm not even going to try to describe the performance, it simply cannot be done with words, you have to experience it for yourself. And the DVDs, the music CDs, and the TV airings on Bravo don't get you there either. Yes, they're good ... but they only give you a taste ... and it's simply not the same. I find myself comparing the evening to the MasterCard commercial series:

Tickets: $70
Parking: $10
Bag of popcorn the size of your head: $5
Chance to see Cirque du Soleil: priceless

I went alone this year (was trying to get some friends to go ... and they were interested ... just not enough to commit to a date so we could get tickets. Their loss.) and, although watching those lithe, limber athletes bounding around both sky and stage (reminding me how out of shape I am ... and how old I'm getting), it was still fantastic. Even better was seeing that Minnesotans have grown up a bit from when Alegria was in town: not a single cellphone went off during the performance (at least, none that I could hear). The opening announcements I found creative yet subtle when dealing with this:

"... after the show, please remember to turn your cellphones and pagers back on ..."

No "please turn them off, now" message like the last time (for all the good it did ... just read my post) ... just a polite reminder to turn them back on when you leave. Inverse psychology, if you will. I like that.

And still, there are some things that are so traditionally "Minnesota un-nice" ... I think they're typical of human behavior regardless of the state or city ... like trying to get out of the parking lot after the show. Rather than go into a diatribe around each instance, I offer the following "Tips of Parking Lot Etiquette":

When entering the lot, think ahead. It may make perfect sense to put the car as close to the exit as you possibly can, but parking in the aisle you know people are going to be driving down when their trying to leave means you'll have to make a jackass of yourself backing out into the exit lane when you want to go.
If you must park in the exit aisle, go find a restaurant or bar and have a cocktail (or two) after the show. Wait for 30 minutes (or an hour) before trying to go extricate your car. You'll have more fun, and spend less time waiting.
When walking to your car, remember that there are people in large, heavy, metalic motorized vehicles that are already trying to leave ... walk through them at places that will do the least damage to the flow of traffic. You may find that things are easier for you to get out when you finally get into your car if you let more people ahead of you do the same.
Since we're all trying to do the same thing (leave), show a little courtesy for the people around you. Honking your horn, flashing your brights, or riding up on the trunk of the car in front of you because they're not moving as fast as you'd like them to (nevermind that they can't go forward right now because the traffic light at the exit is red) isn't going to get you out the door any faster.
While I'm on the subject, keep in mind that we all have to squeeze out the same exit ... so share. Just because you've got an SUV doesn't make you special (stupid, probably ... special, definitely not). Wait your turn.
Last (but definitely not least), relax. Be patient. You'll get out just like everyone else.

In short, think. The very people who don't think of those around them ... are the same ones who get so mad when someone else's lackof thinking directly impacts them.

That said, even the antics of my fellow Minnesotans didn't tarnish the evening. It was a damn good show. If you ever have a chance ... GO.

Podcasting vs. 500 Cable Channels ... the winner? (psst ... it ain't cable)

2005-10-04T17:43:00.000-05:00

Catching up on my podcasts (I listen to way too many of them … but I can’t help myself), I’m listening to Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code for September 22 right now, as Adam’s doing a bit of comparison/contrast on the popularity of podcasting here in the states, while the concept is a little slower getting off the ground elsewhere around the globe. To summarize, Adam believes:

Podcasting is popular here in the US because people are fed up with what radio/TV are currently offering … the technology now exists both for you and I to both create and share content (audio now, and video coming) … and people are “voting with their ears and eyes” by hunting down something new.
In the UK (for example), the media (BBC) does better programming, so there’s less frustration or dissatisfaction … hence podcasting, while growing, is growing slower.

I completely agree. The networks (and I’m talking television, cable, and radio) have done a wonderful job packaging up pablum that the unwashed masses have greedily consumed. Problem is … we may be unwashed, but we like a bit of variety in our diet … and the networks are doin’ a poorer and poorer job with the meal planning (to continue the analogy). What with all the talk of obesity in America, you could extend things even farther and say that our media habits are as cholesterol-and-sugar-heavy as our eating habits, except that it’s our minds that are getting fat, slow, and lethargic. Spoon feed the same boring … well, crap … and see what happens?

But I digress. Here’s another angle to consider: Remember when cable (TV) first made its appearance? Remember all the promises made by cable/broadband proponents?

Enhanced TV (with additional embedded content)
500 channels (or more) … you could literally find anything you want to watch

That was then … this is now:

Enhanced TV … if you have a High Definition TV and you’re watching one of the few programs that use it
More channels than before … not 500 … unless you count the 20 channels of in-car NASCAR + 20 channels of football + 20 channels of baseball + multiple ESPN channels + all the HBO channels + all the Showtime channels (that show the same movies) + … get the picture?

Why has it been this way? Simple: money. It costs money to fire up channels (tv, cable, radio, doesn’t matter) … money to produce shows. Where do you get money? Advertisers … but it comes with a price: the advertiser then controls (or, at the very least, influences) the programming. And, it costs a lot of money.

Not with podcasting. In fact, anyone can create a podcast. All you need is an iRiver and a trip to Rob’s podcast411.com website (and podcast) to go through his tutorials and you’re off and casting … and you can podcast about anything you want. You can even do video casts … with nothing more than your home movie camera if you choose.

Welcome to 500 real channels with content that spans the map. Check out indiepodder.org or podnova and see for yourself.

The Universe Is Huge. What We Are ... Isn't

2005-10-01T19:49:00.000-05:00

If you’ve ever wanted to know how big/old/whatever the universe is … now we know. So, the answers to questions that have been plaguing scientists (and the occasional quiz show) are as follows:

13.7 billion years old (accurate to 1%)
73% dark energy, 23% cold dark matter, 4% atoms
Expanding at 71 km/sec/Mpc (accurate to 5%)
Expand Forever

Now we know. Man … we (i.e. that which you and I actually see in this universe) are only 4% of what’s there … ponder that the next time you encounter some self-important person who thinks the world of themselves, their beliefs, or their causes …

… it’ll help you put them in perspective.

When mixing JavaScript and XML ...

2005-10-01T18:38:00.000-05:00

… somethings things act … strangely. I was tweaking a script I use to manage podcasts (bridging the gap between iPodder and WinAmp), I needed a date formatting function. No problem, the DateFormatter from Gazingus.org is an excellent module (if you need date formatting in JavaScript, get it, it rocks).

Problem is, I’m writing Windows Scripting Host format scripts (using their XML schema and generating .wsf files) and I came across some interesting behavior in the cscript engine. If the engine incounters a ‘<’ (“less than”) symbol in a JScript block, it bombs with the following error:

Windows Script Host: Expecting a valid name

Even more irritating, you’ll get the error even if you comment out the offending line (doesn’t matter which way you do it, line comments (//) or comment block (/* … */) … which tells me that it’s the XML parser part of the engine that’s barfing (it doesn’t get to the JScript engine). This took a little while to figure out … and if you think like an XML parser, it (sort of) makes sense: it hits the ‘<’, thinks a new XML element is being started, and doesn’t like what it sees next (in the case of the date formatter, it usually was a number).

Ok, fine. Now what? Well, the solution (at least, my solution … I’m sure there are others out there that are more elegant) was to rewrite the logic converting all less-than comparisons to an equivalent greater-than comparison. For example:

formats['DD'] = ( date < 10 ) ? '0' + date : date;

becomes

formats['DD'] = ( 10 > date ) ? '0' + date : date;

and so forth. The logic still holds … it lets you plug it into a WSH file without generating a parser error … and it’s still a cool chunk of code.

Save yourself the trouble of rewriting Gazingus’ script, here’s a copy with the “patches”. I’ll post my iPodder script after I add some comments.

I wonder if they take walk-ins?

2005-09-26T17:05:00.000-05:00

If you’re a restaurant fancier, you simply must read this bit of humor. It was fantastic!

Sit Yer Fat Butt Down ... and Eat!

2005-09-18T00:15:00.000-05:00

Catching up on my SciFi Channel watching tonight, I’ve seen (more than once … but that’s a different rant) Burger King’s latest ad campaign, featuring the return of Dr. Angus (Harry Enfield). You know the character:

(too) perfect teeth
“sloppy” speech (much like Patrick over at Nobody Likes Onions)
Hair only Wink Martindale’s mother could love
bit of a paunch

Yep … that’s the guy (I’ve gotta give Enfield credit, he does a great job with this character). And the focus of this latest campaign, the crux of Dr. Angus’ latest “empower yourself through beef” movement? Power Sitting: the power of the Angus to enable you to sit … and enjoy things … like hamburgers that require two hands and a forklift to maneuver.

Now, on one hand, I find the concept cute … on the other hand, I’ve gotta ask myself one question:

“With all the concern with obesity in America, doesn’t an obviously overweight man encouraging people to partake of inactivity while they eat hamburgers the size of their own heads … seem contradictory … or maybe just plain wrong?”

Now That's What I'm Talkin' About

2005-09-01T16:47:00.000-05:00

Remember those cool communicators in Earth: Final Conflict? Or, perhaps, the ones from TekWar (ok, ok, yeah it’s a Shatner thing, but the technology was cool)?

We’re getting close … check out this little ditty from over at GadgetFlash. Phillips has it goin’ on.

Every Blog Has It's Day ...

2005-08-31T20:41:00.000-05:00

… and it happens to be today. Yep, that’s right, today is BlogDay 2005, when bloggers around the world are to link to 5 new blogs. Interesting concept, in that it gets you to “think outside the blog” … or, at least, the blogosphere you’re familiar with.

So, without further adieu, here are some new blogs I’ve stumbled across:

For the science-minded, check out the Physics Blog. Everything from noteworthy news to poetry.
“It’s a dog’s life” is more than a phrase over at the Beagle Chronicles.
Everybody’s got to have a hobby. If numismatics is yours, swing by hobbyblog.
For those of you who simply cannot get enough of your celebrity chefs (Gordon Ramsay’s so cute when he’s mad, don’t you think?), there’s SuperChef Blog.
For you Oracle-fanciers (I'm talking about the database, people! Sheesh), and some insight from one of Oracle's best insiders, check out the Tom Kyte Blog.

So, get out there, get clicking, and check out more blogs!

Fnord + Blogger = Fnordder? ... Flogger? ... Blnorder?

2005-08-26T19:50:00.000-05:00

Taken from the Wikipedia entry:

A fnord is disinformation or irrelevant information intending to misdirect, with the implication of a conspiracy.

Just think back to some of the colorful mixed metaphors attributed to Ross Perot, and you’ll get the general idea.

What’s this have to do with blogging? I’m glad you asked:

Whilst catching up on the feeds in my aggregator (I’m currently using Newzie, which is definitely worth checking out), I came across an article on Blogger hacks. This led me to Stephane Hamel’s article on embedding a dynamic random quote with javascript.
I used to have a Fnorder (code that generated Fnords) on my old site (one of these days, I’ll get around to bringing the “lab” back online … maybe), written in PHP. If you’re interested, you can pick up the script from Steve Jackson Games.
I grabbed a copy of the PHP … converted it to Javascript … voila! The quote in black (above) changes each the page is loaded … and it’s a “fnord”.

Go ahead and refresh to see for yourself. You can download the javascript here.

Reality TV = Lotto with Ads

2005-08-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

NBC had a “Fall Preview” show on this morning. Really nothing more than all the ads for their shows played back-to-back (nothing deeper, no “behind-the-scenes” stuff, nothing) with Vanessa Marcil and Nikki Cox (from Las Vegas) hosting (aka “eye candy”)… in other words, the same pointless, mindless, useless fluff the networks have become known for. I see Martha’s dominion is back in full swing, becoming the next Apprentice franchise (leave it to Martha to key into something with the word “franchise” attached) … and that put me back into my ongoing internal rant over the entire concept of “reality TV”.

Then it hit me: reality TV is the next Lotto.

Our society has been preoccupied with the concept of accumulating excessive wealth for centuries. Along with that has come both the hucksters and the “hucked” of one get-rich-quick scheme after another. Look at some of them from the last decades:

Publishers Clearing House
Amway (and all the MLM or “MLM-like” derivatives that preceded and followed)
Day trading
Real Estate (I’m talking about the more speculative side)
Beanie Babies
The “dot-com” boom (more of a ka-boom, as we saw)
the Lottery (gambling from the comfort of your gas station)

Some may say “Hey! Real estate is a real investment!” To them I reply “you’re absolutely right … assuming you know what you’re doing and are willing to accept the consequences (e.g. financial loss) if you don’t or are wrong”. Problem is, many people don’t accept the responsibility of failure … we just go hunting for someone to sue (another bullet to add to the list above: lawsuits).

My point is this: look at the trends that have driven some of the greatest crazes of our time, and they all come back to the same things: money or fame (or getting famous because you won money … or getting more money because you’re now famous). And we’ll do anything we have to to achieve that fame/money … including reality TV.

And the cool thing about reality TV is you don’t have to be what they’re looking for on the show, you just have to be willing to do anything for the cash. In “Hell’s Kitchen” (Gordon Ramsay’s entry into realTV from Fox), half of the “chef wanabees” didn’t even work in the food business (out of the 12 there were 3 chefs, 1 baker, a culinary student and a server … the rest were outside of the food industry). Who won … a chef (go figure) … but, hey, at least someone who’d never worked a line in a restaurant had a chance. Like the lottery … there’s always a chance.

And the networks will gladly create this schlock, because advertisers will pay to have it created … because we will watch it. There’s money to be made.

I wonder what would happen if someone tried to combine reality TV with politics?

Just a thought …

What's that about "those who forget history ..."

2005-08-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

Remember the great (one could almost say venomous) enthusiasm with which the Department of Justice went after Microsoft last decade? Our government was convinced that Microsoft was an unfair monopoly, pushing it’s weaker competitors (like Sun and Oracle … yes, there is sarcasm there) out of the market … remember? No? Good lord, where have you been? Really? Hmmm … in that case, I’ve got this great concept for an internet startup and I’m soliciting venture capital. It’ll make you positively rich, what with the internet boom and all. What’s that? Hell, yeah, the boom’s still on!

Ok, Ok … all sarcasm aside. That was then … this is now. That was the DOJ … this is the FCO (Federal Copyright Office) … and apparently, while the DOJ found Microsoft guilty, the FCO seems to think they’re they only solution for interacting with their online copyright registration process. At least, they’re asking “would y’all mind it if we required IE?”. Apparently, the FCO never got the memo (or memos, when you factor in all the security issues).

If I wasn’t so flabbergasted (and, sadly, not surprised) by this, I’d blog more. In the meantime, check out Aunty Spam’s article on it and draw your own conclusions.

And now for a word from our sponsors ...

2005-08-07T01:35:00.000-05:00

Having worked in technology for as many years as I have, insomnia has become an “occupational hazard”. From time to time, I still find myself running full tilt in the middle of the night, unable to slow down or relax enough to sleep until sunrise. In the past, I used to rely on late-night television to help me shift gears … wind down.

You know the drill: you’re flipping through the channels and come across a movie you’ve seen before, yet still like. So, you hunker down to watch (the visual equivalent of reading a book, except you’re not really interested in retaining anything) … and, just as you’re getting “into the groove”, both with the program and your circadian rhythm …

… and it’s time for a commercial …

… actually, it’s time for a crapload of commercials. Worse yet, these are (more than likely) the same commercials you just saw during the last break, which was only 5–10 minutes ago. Maybe the first or second time, you tolerate it … but then, you get pissed … really pissed. How many people are going to remember in the morning that they should go out and check out the local auto dealership, because they saw some local shmuck’s face a hundred times in a 2–hour span the night before? Heck, even the infomercials these days suck. I remember the “good old days” of infomercials … the dude with the whacky sweaters and amazing discoveries … like spray-can hair (yes, spray-can hair, not hairspray) … those were good commercials. The sad thing is, it doesn’t put me to sleep, it just pisses me off … here’s an example of what our society has become: they won’t air something someone hasn’t paid for, meaning that some company has actually paid to have their product power-plastered into the minds of insomniacs. I just bugs me … but it doesn’t stop with TV …

… it’s now begun to spread into podcasting (yes, this goes back to my rant the other night about monetization). With Apple’s latest iTunes release, more people are able to easily (well, that’s a relative thing … depends on who you ask) subscribe to podcasts … meaning more people are podcasting. Let me rephrase that: more entities are podcasting … people, couples, organizations … corporations … and radio stations. Yep, we’ve got radio stations repackaging their programs and making them available as podcasts … and in many cases commercials included.

Food is one of my passions, so I tend to watch “food things”: websites, blogs, podcasts, etc. I can handle (to a point) the ads that websites splatter across their pages to help offset cost … but I just finished listening to several podcasts of food programs that I thought would be interesting … but were really no different than what’s available on-air: segments of content limited in scope because they have to play so many ads within a given period of time. And, we’re talking ads that mean absolutely nothing to me: stores advertising products or events in cities I don’t live in or near, other radio programs on stations I can’t listen to, you name it.

Why? Because a large chunk of those exploding onto the podcasting scene have no clue what podcasting really is … to them, it’s merely another way of distributing content, gaining “ears” so they can sell more ads.

Ads aren’t content. Content is content. Somehow, we need to remember that.

An "A" for creativity ... but ...

2005-08-05T06:42:00.000-05:00

I came across a new article over at CodeProject, and I couldn’t help myself. In a nutshell, the author was trying to solve the following problem: How can I get rid of those irritating ORA-xxxx errors that are thrown when I attempt to INSERT records into the database and the field data violates a key constraint?

I’m all for creative, “out-of-the-box” thinking … but the solution proposed (which would word) is a heck of a lot more work than necessary: by storing additional information in the database that you check against before you attempt to insert the data. Not necessary, as you can use those ORA-errors to help you get the job done: Trap the errors in a PL/SQL exception block and deal with them inside the database. No additional tables, no additional tests, better scalability.

At any rate, if you’re interested, check out the article.

"... 43 people were injured, but amazingly no one was killed ..."

2005-08-03T07:11:00.000-05:00

So it was said on Minnesota Public Radio this morning, during a story on the Air France accident in Toronto yesterday. While it’s great news that no lives were lost, the word “amazingly” struck me as odd in the sentence the anchor was reading. It was as if there was a bit of disappointment in the fact that even though the plane split in half, that there was fire, lightning, rain, panic, and plenty of fodder for the “experts” to be questioned on (I just love our media: when there are no more facts than have already been presented, fill the time by asking the same questions to one expert/analyst after another, providing them with their 15 minutes of broadcast fame) … no one died.

I’ve always found the English language both intriguing and amusing, and I’m probably picking nits, but since we are a people who are so focused on the words used (in spite of the meaning … or, maybe, because of the potential multiple meanings and our desire to know exactly what was meant), there are other words what would have had less of a “damn, no blood” feeling. Such as “fortunately”. Try this:

“… 43 people were injured and, fortunately, no on was killed …”

No “crap, it’s not a horrendous catastrophe” sentiment. Ok, ok … someone could argue that “fortunately” is “editorialising”. I’d argue that “amazingly” is just as much editorialising, but in a negative way.

Such is our species: we’re drawn to catastrophe, and bored by fortune (unless, of course, that fortune comes in the form of a lottery ticket that we are holding).

Reality (TV), the Next Generation

2005-08-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

Hell’s Kitchen, one of the latest reality shows (Gordon Ramsay bloody rocks), finished last night. Not first food reality show (others including “The Restaurant”, “Into the Fire”, and even “Iron Chef”, depending on what you call “reality”). And it looks like America’s TV food fetish is just beginning, what with the new sitcom Kitchen Confidential starting this fall (both shows on Fox … coincidence?). I’m curious what Anthony Bourdain thinks of it (though I’d rather see a show based on Tony’s book, but somehow I don’t think it would have made prime time) … but I digress … today’s subject is reality television.

Now, I find reality television as amusing as the next person (when I have/find time to watch it, usually by accident), and I’ve fought like mad to keep from becoming an addict (I will admit that I really got into Rocco DiSpirito’s “The Restaurant” … for awhile, then it I found myself thinking Rocco an arrogant … well, anyway … I’m digressing again) …

… but I’m afraid that I can’t help myself: I found myself cooking up the next great American reality series:

Working Title: Royal Flush

Concept: One of the greats of Texas Hold’em (Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Chris Moneymaker) take on a cadre of gambler wannabes from a variety of backgrounds (schoolteacher, truckdriver, computer programmer, priest, etc.), challenging them as they’re taught how to be the next great Hold’em champion. The last man standing wins a seat at the table at the World Series of Poker.

Why not? We’ve had chefs, boxers, bug-eaters, billionaires, executives, sports agents, and Hiltons (to name a few). Why not poker players?

Just remember: you heard it here first.

Why must everything be "monetized"?

2005-07-28T01:20:00.000-05:00

Podcasting has hit the mainstream, due in a major way to Apple’s latest version of iTunes. And, as has always been the case whenever a technology blooms into the general public awareness, the “experts” are out in full force … interviewing and being interviewed, expounding their expertise and making their predictions. You pretty much hear it all:

Podcasting is the next media
Podcasting is a fad
Podcasting will kill radio
Podcasting can cure male pattern baldness

While listening to G’Day World’s podcast with Frank Baranko (On The Pod #40), I keep hearing the same thing:

Podcasting will be taken over by “the big guys”
Little (indie) podcasters are being squeezed out
The little guy will be stomped out
Unless you can monetize it, you won’t succeed

Granted, this isn’t the first show I’ve heard this take on, but come on, people … open your bloody eyes! It’s sad that the unwashed masses are so indoctrinated into the mass-market pablum spewing forth today that’s colloquially called “radio and tv” … that “wonderfully interesting, intellectual, challenging” collection of reality shows (how many different ways can you eat bugs?) that all we can think about is “how can I make money from this?”

I don’t get it.

I doubt I ever will.

Yeah! Home Delivery ... Wait ... I have to be home when?

2005-07-14T23:31:00.000-05:00

Came home from work to find a flyer (junk mail as a door mat … somehow it seems appropriate). Wait … it looks like SimonDelivers is finally getting over to this side of the Twin Cities. Excellent! This is a fantastic concept for the time-constrained:

Call them or surf their site
Place your order
Have it delivered right to your door

Sweet! Hold it … hmmm … lessee …

Delivery times are on a weekday between 2 and 4 pm
No need to be home

Ok, I live in an apartment building. You mean to tell me that my orders gonna be sitting out by the elevator in the public area until I get back? Wait … there’s more …

Groceries are packed with dry/blue ice, items stay fresh for up to 8 hours

“Up to”? It’s July in Minnesota … one of only two months of the year where the temperature gets above freezing (I may be exaggerating, but it doesn’t seem by flippin’ much). So … if they’re efficient in the delivery, and the clock starts close to 2, I’ll be down to 2 hours of “fresh time” if I make it back by 6 (which ain’t easy with my current commute). Note to self, do not order ice cream, mayonnaise, eggs, or anything else that’s hyper-bacterial velcro.

I’m still a little intrigued by the “don’t have to be home” and the “we’ll leave it by the elevator”. I’ve seen how people handle the phone books (delivered by the stack and parked next to the mailboxes) … you’d swear some folks have a call center in their bathroom with the number of books they cart off. I wonder how they’re gonna handle something packed in dry ice in a clearly distinguishable SimonDelivers tote bag.

Gonna sit this one out for a bit … see what happens.

'Bout Time ...

2005-07-11T06:29:00.000-05:00

... I get this sucker moving again. Sorry, spent the last week trying to get several different projects tied off. Moving sites around, consolidating stuff (it's amazing how much crap I've got strung out all over the internet ... guess that makes me a "digital packrat" ... or a "byte-rat" ... something like that).

I should have life back to normal again this week.

Atkins is counting its own carbs ...

2004-09-14T23:30:00.000-05:00

... and laying off employees. In a recent release, Atkins (the 'low carb' giant) announced it would be laying laying off an undisclosed number of its 370 employees (check it out here). This came out after an anouncement the previous day about the company's bank debt being priced down.

Things don't look good, but (I hate to say it) I'm happy ... as it indicates some intelligence creepy (albeit slowly) back into the population. While I can't argue with people who've had success at weight loss and (even more importantly) maintenance after loss utilizing the Atkins system (or similar systems, like the South Beach Diet) ... I still have to ask the basic question: Is a diet that cuts a particular type of food out a good thing ... or would a better thing be to get off our collectively flabby butts and excercise a bit?

I mean really, folks: low carbs ... carbs ... things like bread and pasta and such ... things that are consumed in abundance in Europe ... and I've got to wonder what the overall health of the Italian and French populations are when compared to us in the states. I seem to remember articles awhile back that showed that France consumes more wine per person than the US does, yet has lower cholestrol and fewer heart-related health issues than we do. Makes you wonder if it's because of our lifestyle ... not the food we're packing into our mouths.

Actually, I think it's a combination of things:

Excercise (it's all in the mind) The national excercise of the U.S.A. is the "12-ounce curl" or the "channel-changer flick". We've taken the concept of "picture it in your mind, and it will happen" to an extreme (just look at the plethora of half-hour infomercials touting "lose 30 pounds in 20 seconds just by frowning" or "get six-pack abs ... and still drink that six-pack!"). I know I feel more toned after watching 30 minutes of aerobics ... guess I don't really need to do them then, right? Fast (from lips to hips) Food It used to be that "fast food" meant "good food prepared and delivered quickly". If you believe that definition still holds, then have another Big Arch Delux, lardboy (remember those things? I think they topped out at the same amount of fat and calories as the entire daily consumption of Tuvalu). If you want to swear off fast food permanently, check out Fast Food Nation, a romp through the side of the industry you never really wanted to know ... but probably should. My point is simple: "Fast Food" is neither "good food" nor "good for you food". Period. That's one of the reasons I became a personal chef, to provide a more wholesome (yet convenient) alternative to the world of "meat" patties (they ain't real meat ... or, at least, not meat you'd really wanna eat) and fries. "If I can (blame/sue) someone for my problem ... it's no longer my problem" Let's face it: American society is litigious ... any way we can make money off our own stupidity, by gum, and we're'a gonna do it! Pour hot coffee in your lap while you're driving ... it's clearly the fault of the guy who gave you the coffee (not your own clumsiness ... never that). And when it comes to food, we're no different. One guy ate nothing but fast food for a month and gained 30 pounds ... another guy did the same thing and didn't ... what's this mean? Simple: we must force restaurants to put nutritional information on the menus (critical assumption: we actually read and understand it), because the restaurants are feeding us too much bad food ... never mind that the concept of "family sized" portions is based on a family of humpback whales, we demand to get our money's worth. And if we can't ... sue 'em. It's the next best thing to the lottery.

Ok, ok ... 'nuff of my high horse ... I need a bacon double-cheese burger.

Maybe everything just vibrates ...

2004-08-23T06:47:00.000-05:00

If you're up for an interesting read, check out Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos, a delightfully mentally stretching romp through the worlds of relativity, quantum physics, and cosmology.

I've got the book on CD (compliements of Audible) and it's an interesting way to while away the commute across the state (my current employment is about an hour's drive away from home). I'm almost beginning to comprehend the concept of 9- or 10-dimensional space ... when my brain takes a slight detour around the "particles are waves ... waves are particles ... everything is strings ... and strings are waves" part.

I remember watching a program about research being done in the area of our sense of smell. The theory being put forth is that the nose doesn't differentiate smells by the configuration of the molecules that make up the smell, rather it uses the vibrational differences between molecules. In other words, without knowing what chemicals combined together to produce a particular odor, if they combined compounds based on their vibrational frequencies ... a smell could be duplicated. Now, all that needs to be done is the mapping of the 'smell notes' (different frequencies that, when combined, generate specific smells) and (much like having mapped the genome) we can replicate smells.

Wait ... wait ... ahh, here we go ... the scientist is Dr. Luca Turin at University College of London. There's a book on the entire thing (something else to add to my reading list): The Emperor of Scent: A Story of Perfume, Obsession, and the Last Mystery of the Senses

But look at things a different way: what they're saying is that certain molecules vibrate in certain ways and it's the vibrations that control the smell. I think this is just the tip of a much bigger iceberg: one where all our interactions with reality are in fact nothing more than frequency combinations. Look at our 5 senses:

Variations in the vibrations of photons generate the color spectrum that we see
Variations in the vibrations of molecules generate different smells
Variations in the vibrations of molecules of air generate different sounds

That's 3 out of 5 that can be mapped to vibrations as opposed to particles:

Touch appears to be "particle-based", but that makes sense: touch is a rather "coarse" sense, requiring relatively large quantities of matter before it can be physically detected.
Taste also still appears to be particle-based ... but if smell is vibrational, it's conceivable that taste could be seen the same way (we know that single molecules, for example a single capsaicin molecule, can be detected ... so it appears we're on the same molecular scale as smell

Sure, we talk, think, and visualize the world as a collection of particles ... electrons, protons, etc. ... but those particles are themselves made up of smaller entities (quarks) which are (if you adhere to superstring theory) made up of vibrating strings). Is it possible to take the frequencies of all the vibrating strings that make up a particular thing and figure out the overall harmonic pattern of the thing? Better yet, identify what frequencies combine to produce particular sensory responses (blue, sweet, rotten, etc.)

I'm babbling, I know ... but it's an interesting concept ... at least, it's interesting when I'm trying to keep from doing real work.

So it does ... but it doesn't (at least, we don't think so)

2004-08-15T11:55:00.000-05:00

So, compliments of an incredibly stupid maneuver Friday I've endured some sort of muscle spasm in my back for the past couple days. Not a comfortable situation, but (with the aid of modern science) one that can be managed ...

... at least, I think it can be managed. Modern medicine's a truly wonderful thing. But, when you cross it with the "wizardry" of modern marketing ... and throw in a dash of "truth in advertising", you get some wonderfully puzzling situations.

Take my back, for instance. My first thought was to anesthesize the problem, and I immediately thought of Doane's Pills (since I remembered an advertisement proclaiming them a back-pain solution). A quick (but calculated) trip (making sure not to move in unplanned or uncomfortable ways) to the local store and I was home with a box. After following the recommended dosage, I was feeling considerably better (given the appropriate time for the pills to dissolve and disperse their active ingredient through my blood stream).

Don't ask my why I went back to look at the box ... maybe it was out of awe at the power of a couple small, white tablets over my thoracic musculature ... I honestly have no idea ... but it least to my current puzzlement.

First off, let's take a look at the box itself:

>One of the first things you notice is the large, yellow "Releaves Back Pain" claim. Excellent, just what I was looking for ...

... except, if you focus in on the paragraph immediately below that claim:

you'll find that, according to the manufacturer, Doane's isn't any more effective (against back pain) than regular aspirin, ibuprofen, or a ball-peen hammer behind the right ear (that's another story ... for now, let's just call it "folk medicine").

Now, I know that, compliments of the disclaimer, everything is "legally" fine ... but I gotta wonder about a society that permits both the claim and the counter-claim discounting it to be part of the same advertisement.

Then again ... we pull the same stuff in the vitamin suppliment industry.

The (French) Kitchen's Closed ...

2004-08-13T12:08:00.000-05:00

Julia Child passed on in her sleep last night, according to her publisher (here's a link to the story on MSNBC). She was 91.

I'd love to say "I met her once ..." and relate a touching, personal story but that's simply not the case. I, like most of the rest of the food-loving world, knew her only from afar: her cookbooks, TV programs, guest appearances on Emeril Live, and so forth. So, I'll forego a long winded eulogy and simply say,

"God bless, Julia ... you will be missed."

Give "Quake 'n Bake" a Whole New Meaning ...

2004-08-05T12:10:00.000-05:00

Here's the ultimate gift for the chef/geek (or is that geek chef) in your life. Play Unreal ... frag friends ... make muffins ... and never leave the keyboard.

Dilbert goes to France

2004-08-03T11:27:00.000-05:00

Finally, proof that the Peter Principle has an entirely different meaning across the pond: BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Lazy joke lands author in trouble

I'm j0hnny. I hack stuff.

2004-07-29T15:06:00.000-05:00

johnny.ihackstuff.com :: I'm j0hnny. I hack stuff. Ever wondered how much Google knows about you?

Broadcatching with BitTorrent

2004-07-29T13:38:00.000-05:00

scottraymondnet: Broadcatching with BitTorrent Now, if only search mechanisms would start to leverage this ... I can see it now: TV-oogle

Alegria

2002-09-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

Went to Cirque Du Soleil's Alegria last night. If you've never been to a Cirque show ... go. Any special you've seen on television pales in comparison to experiencing the real thing. Watching a trapeze act immediately above you is absolutely amazing. I'm still trying to digest the experience ... and I'll probably be doing that for some time. The only blemish on the entire evening (not counting our dining adventure at the Old Spaghetti Factory ... but that's another story) was the one cell phone that went off in the middle of the performance (not mine, some other moron's). As timing would have it, it went off with it's damnedably distinctive ring during a quieter part of the act ... as if proudly proclaiming, "I'm so important I need to let everyone know." I mean, when the show opened, the introduction included specific instructions to the audience (loudly and clearly detailed by the young Mongolian actor in English more cleanly pronounced than many Americans):

Don't smoke in the tent
Don't take pictures or video (the flash and lighting could distract and be potentially dangerous to the cast)
Turn your cell phones and pagers off

The last point brought a round of applause from the audience, a serious indication that people are tired of these self-important, arrogant assholes who feel that common courtesy doesn't apply to them. Ok, ok ... so you're an important individual ... you've a job where being "on call" means you have to be contactable ... I can respect that. But, you can easily get a vibrating battery pack for your phone (I use one myself) that silently alerts you to an incoming call. If you can't turn the phone or pager off, at least think of the people around you ... and not in the way you usually do ("people who see me taking calls in public will know I'm an important person ..."). I mean ... think. You impress no one with your phone ... get over yourself ... you're no better than the whining idiots I see in the Usenet newsgroups and website discussion forums critically ripping everyone else around them apart ... yet being completely incapable of contributing anything worthwhile to the discussion (yes, that's another story, too). ::deep breath:: Anyway, it was just one phone ... so no major issue. In my own jaded way, I was half-expecting there to be more interruptions, so having only one was a pleasant surprise. At any rate, I've always been amazed at the skill of the performers in Cirque ... ... now I'm a serious fan.

Where has Summer Gone?

2002-08-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

I look up, and suddenly we're into August ... man ... where'd July go?

Internet Radio: The End Begins

2002-07-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

KPIG Radio, one of the long-time online streaming sources, announced yesterday that they're pulling the plug on their live webcasts in light of the latest ruling from the illustrious Copyright Office. Sadly, I see this as the beginning of the end ... but I don't think it's going to turn out the way the record labels and the RIAA expect it to. I've already stated my opinion of the intelligence of Washington when it stumbles into the world of Cyberspace. Sadly, I don't give the recording industry much more credence ... just look at their position on various parts of the issue: "Webcasters should pay royalties..." Actually, I can't argue this ... the artist is entitled to a residual when their work is broadcast. Unfortunately, I don't see the artists getting this money ... it goes into the pockets of the record labels and the RIAA. Besides, it's never been about whether webcasters should pay or not, it's been a case of how much, and whatever's been offered up by the webcasters has never been enough for the labels or the RIAA. "... and they should pay back royalties to 1998." It's interesting that this business practice exists at all ("tell ya what ... we'll let you exist while we try to pull our heads out and figure out how much we want to milk you for ... then when we do, you'll owe us back to day one..."), but when you've got large organizations (think "business sloths") who can sway Washington to do their bidding ... anything's possible. Blatant greed is a sad, sad thing. So ... what's next? Well, you've started seeing it already:

KPIG's hanging it up.
Last year, the company I worked at for 2 years (NetRadio.com) closed its doors.
Live365.com is now charging a $5/month "Royalty Administration Fee"
And these are just a few

I'm afraid you're going to see more and more of this, as webcasters simply stop webcasting (or go out of business entirely). What I'm afraid will happen is the RIAA, not being happy getting rid of its master's competition will continue to go after ex-webcasters that haven't filed for bankruptcy since they used to webcast and still owe royalties for the time they did. On the flip side, you can expect that the recording industry is tallying up the money it will rake in off either royalties or additional music sales when the webcasters die and the listening public will have to get their music somewhere (meaning the labels). Thing is, the royalty money they're not gonna get (as companies close or stop webcasting) they're simply not gonna get (by any means). It would be interesting to start a tally of the amount of money the RIAA has lost the labels because of what they've done "protecting the artist". Ya listening, Metallica?

So, some forms of guerilla cyberwar are acceptable?

2002-07-15T00:00:00.000-05:00

Caught an article on Tech Live, talking about how bogus MP3's of popular music tracks are appearing on filesharing services. While the recording industry is playing silent, the RIAA's come out endorsing the practice. And a politician from California is sponsoring a bill that would make this legal! What the ... ??? Ok, I'll readily admit that whenever Congress steps into cyberspace, they are the proverbial 400 pound ... well ... dodo (I can't do that to guerillas). I mean, stop and think about this: a law making it legal for copyright owners to post/upload bogus versions of their content to services they feel are or would post/upload legit versions of their content (legit but violating their copyright). Now, just sit for a minute and let that sink in. Make any sense to you? Didn't think so. Your head hurt yet? I know why: you're wondering when it became illegal for you (as the copyright holder) to post alternative versions of your own content? Who's going to sue you? Yourself?

The Experiment Begins ...

2002-07-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

Been meaning to get this section up and running for some time. The concept of blogging has always intrigued me ... and apparently as I get older I'm getting more opinionated and less concerned about keeping quiet. I spent some time looking at the many options to blog out there and settled on Movable Type for a couple reasons:

I wanted to be able to run this blog off my own server (an opportunity to play and explore)
It's in Perl, a language I know
It's free, and with this being my own little corner of the world, why pay for the right to excercise free speech?

Finally, this is yet another experiment, in that I'm using MT to generate ASP.NET pages (taking advantage of .NET's coding capabilities). What that means to this app is pretty limited right now ... but we'll see.