In a recent flurry of increased connectedness to the Internet world, I've been looking at social networking sites like Del.icio.us, Digg and Technorati (all discussed in a prior post, below).
To date, I've been flying this blog well below the blogosphere radar. Nearly everyone who's come here has done so from word-of-mouth direction from me: mostly family and some friends. There have been occassional visits by others who arrived God-knows-how (I think they flew in from Blogspot.com)
Well, for better or worse, I've listed this site at Technorati. I haven't tagged it yet (mostly because I don't know how to categorize it and I don't really have an area of focus), nor have I listed it with their BlogFinder service (for the same reasons). However, I have opened the door a bit more to scrutiny by a broader audience. Yikes!
To quote an delightful four-year-old I once knew: "Ooooh. Scawy" (Which, accompanied, as this statement often was, by an affected, over-dramatic shiver that only a 4yo can properly muster, was much better in person than in print. Thanks for the memories, Casey.)
It shouldn't be that bad, right? After all, I'm just one tiny little voice whispering through the din of millions. Who's even going to notice....?
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Insights into evolution explain why RSS humanizes the Web
RSS, social networking sites, podcasting and other web technologies fit our cognitive view of social groups -- likely due to evolutionary pressure.
This ZDNet article tells why we favor groups of about 150 and how some web technologies fit this world view. It's a good intro, but The Economist's article is where you'll find the beef.
read more | digg story
This ZDNet article tells why we favor groups of about 150 and how some web technologies fit this world view. It's a good intro, but The Economist's article is where you'll find the beef.
read more | digg story
Digg this: Open Letter espousing alternative Intelligent Design
In the science classroom battleground, where the "scientific theory" of Intelligent Design (aka Creationism) recently lost an important skirmish in a Pennsylvania federal court, a cry is heard asking for equal time for an alternative Intelligent Design "theory."
One Kansas citizen has decided that if Intelligent Design can be taught in science class, so can his beliefs: Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. And, absurd as it might seem, Kansas State School Board members have responded to his open letter.
Go figure.
read more | digg story
One Kansas citizen has decided that if Intelligent Design can be taught in science class, so can his beliefs: Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. And, absurd as it might seem, Kansas State School Board members have responded to his open letter.
Go figure.
read more | digg story
Monday, December 26, 2005
Is the Web really fun, or am I just an incurable nerd???
I'm continually amazed at the stuff you can find on the web. Much of it is self-perpetuating, self-organizing and self-enhancing. Google.com, Yahoo!, and (self-serving tendencies aside) MSN.com all try to help us get a handle on this monstrosity called the Internet -- all with varying degrees of success.
This damned Internet-thing grows by mega-scads every day. That growth is caused by sites like this one, of no known redeeming value, by sites like Microsoft.com, Linux.org, Apple.com, NBC.com, NPR.org, NYTimes.com, NASA.org, Nature.com, DrWeil.com, SlashDot.org, Wikipedia, GrokLaw.net, Seth Godin's Blog and by millions of others that actually have something valuable to say, as well as by little-known sites that touch us, the visitors, in strange, enchanting and useful ways.
In the past couple of days, being the incurable nerd that I am, with a bit of time on my hands and no family gatherings to attend (the family is on the left coast, whilst I am on the right), I naturally turned my attention to the web. I've made some interesting discoveries.
Sadly, I'm not on the bleeding edge with these finds; I can't stick a flag in the ether and claim them for God and Country. Others got there long before I. Still, I found the sites in my own good time and, like those who went before me, I've adopted these sites as my own. Now I share them, kind visitor, with you.
In case you haven't noticed, Blogging is Big. Big, I tell you. Everyone seems to be doing it. Even me (obviously). Even Microsoft, Google, and others. Your Aunt Bessie might even have a blog to share her favorite recipes with her Bunko Buddies. You should ask her.
But how to do you find all the good Blogs? Depends what you're looking for. However, a great place to start is Technorati.com. I've known about this site for a couple of years, but haven't used it -- until recently. It's a site that indexes and displays information about the hottest blogs in the blogosphere. Interested in some topic? Search for it at Technorati.com and you'll likely find a blog or 100 that focus on that very topic. Your Aunt Bessie's blog may even be listed there.
If you're looking for technology-related news, you could also use Digg.com. Digg is a technology news site where the user community takes an active role in the editorial process, deciding what's hot and what's not. The community posts articles and the community votes for articles they deem Worthy. Articles that are successfully vetted by the community get promoted to the site's home page; articles that don't make the grade quietly and ignominiously fade away.
Digg has even spawned a blog and a podcast whose sole purpose is to watch what's hot on Digg.com: Diggnation. Caution is advised for the pure of ear -- the hosts are excitable and boistrous lads who tend to use colorful language now and again.
"Podcast," you ask? Sit tight; I'll get to that.
First, surely you've heard of this iPod thing. It's a little white (or black) bit of plastic and metal that records your music after you've "ripped" it (no, it doesn't hurt you or your music) from CDs to your computer's hard disk, allowing you to haul around 15,000 of your favorite tunes to listen to at your leisure and on your schedule. It's time-shifting for tunes. It's very cool. I have an iPod. I love it. But that's not really news anymore. Everyone loves their iPod. It's the current hot-story we tell each other.
So, have you also heard of this PodCast thing? iPods and Podcasting are related. Podcasts are web-based audio and video content that you download to your PC, copy to your iPod (or other portable listening device) and listen to at your leisure and on your schedule. More timeshifting. PodCast sites are also growing by mega-scads. Which, of course, leads one to the obvious question: how do you find the good ones? PodCasts, that is.
Well, if you have an iPod, you could use iTunes. The PodCasts there are submitted by users and the popularity ratings are based on user subscripton activity. You could also try Yahoo! Podcasts.
While I'm generally not a big proponent of much of anything Yahoo! does, in this case I like the way they've organized their podcast content. They group podcasts by popularity, subject area and with tags, and you can search by all of these. I like tags (more about tags later). It's the way they use tags that I like. Popular tags get big fonts, less popular tags get smaller fonts -- intutive and obvious. It works for me.
So, what are tags? Tags are all-the-rage on the Social Networking Sites, a category of web site that's also all-the-rage. Essentially, tags are descriptive words that the user communty assigns to things that are important to the community. Funny thing is, we all tend to think somewhat alike, so we tend to assign the same tags to similar things. As a result, by counting and grouping the tags, we can see what things are important and popular (they have lots of tags) and we can see what they're about (the tags are similar).
Take Flickr.com. Flickr may be one of the best-known tagging sites going. Essentially, Flickr is a place to store and share pictures. Once uploaded, you apply tags to your pictures so people can find them.
For instance, after you upload pictures of your Holiday-decorated ficus plant, you tag it with the words "ficus holiday decorated." Anyone who wants to compare their decorated ficus with yours need only search for "holiday decorated ficus" and all the pictures that share these tags are returned. You can then add comments to all the other pictures heaping praises on the other users for their creativity. Plus, you've just found a bunch of folks who share a passion similar to yours. Social networking in action.
Another site that uses tags is del.icio.us (yes, that's its complete web address. No www, nor .com or .org). This is a site where the user community uploads and tags their browser bookmarks. Like Flickr, if you're looking for a topic of interest, you'll find it by searching for tag words. Del.icio.us works like Flickr in this sense, but it also allows you to store your bookmarks in a central location for you to access from anywhere: home, work, or Starbucks. An additional benefit is that you can make all or part (or none) of your bookmarks public, sharing them with everyone, or just your close friends and family. Very cool. Very convenient.
The last tidbit I recently found is a site from a guy named Chris Hill. The site is called Ubergeek. Chris is a graphic artist by training, who has also picked up some of the programming skills often related to web sites, as well as some decent animation skills. He also has a slightly twisted sense of humor.
One item on his site really got to me. It's a recording of his mother, Jean, to which he's added animation. He calls it "Geeks In Love." it's part of an interview he did with his mom, initially to find a way to embarass her on the 'Net. After hearing this partcular story, however, he was moved to take a serious approach to the subject, and to treat it with the respect it deserves.
In this interview Jean (Chris' Mom) recounts how she met, and later lost, Walter (Chris' Dad). It's a great piece of work. Jean's narration is funny and earnest and the annimation suits it well. It's well worth the 25 cents Chris charges to see the second half. Yes, you read that correctly: $.25US. One quarter of one dollar. The first half is free, the second half will set you back 5 nickels.
Before I give you the address to the page with the animation, there are some things you should know.
First, dial-up users need not apply. It's Flash animation and it won't play well with your pokey download speed. Next, despite the fact that the animation will start immediately, I suggest that you click the link to pay the 25 cents. You'll be able to use either a credit card or PayPal (my choice). This will allow you to watch the piece uninterrupted and you'll enjoy it all the more. Finally, bring a hanky. You might need it.
Here's the URL to the animation page (it will start right away, but go ahead and pay the 25 cents): http://www.ubergeek.tv/article.php?pid=48 . Please take a minute after you watch this to tell me what you think in the comments to this article, below.
Merry Day-After Christmas and all the best for the new year.
This damned Internet-thing grows by mega-scads every day. That growth is caused by sites like this one, of no known redeeming value, by sites like Microsoft.com, Linux.org, Apple.com, NBC.com, NPR.org, NYTimes.com, NASA.org, Nature.com, DrWeil.com, SlashDot.org, Wikipedia, GrokLaw.net, Seth Godin's Blog and by millions of others that actually have something valuable to say, as well as by little-known sites that touch us, the visitors, in strange, enchanting and useful ways.
In the past couple of days, being the incurable nerd that I am, with a bit of time on my hands and no family gatherings to attend (the family is on the left coast, whilst I am on the right), I naturally turned my attention to the web. I've made some interesting discoveries.
Sadly, I'm not on the bleeding edge with these finds; I can't stick a flag in the ether and claim them for God and Country. Others got there long before I. Still, I found the sites in my own good time and, like those who went before me, I've adopted these sites as my own. Now I share them, kind visitor, with you.
In case you haven't noticed, Blogging is Big. Big, I tell you. Everyone seems to be doing it. Even me (obviously). Even Microsoft, Google, and others. Your Aunt Bessie might even have a blog to share her favorite recipes with her Bunko Buddies. You should ask her.
But how to do you find all the good Blogs? Depends what you're looking for. However, a great place to start is Technorati.com. I've known about this site for a couple of years, but haven't used it -- until recently. It's a site that indexes and displays information about the hottest blogs in the blogosphere. Interested in some topic? Search for it at Technorati.com and you'll likely find a blog or 100 that focus on that very topic. Your Aunt Bessie's blog may even be listed there.
If you're looking for technology-related news, you could also use Digg.com. Digg is a technology news site where the user community takes an active role in the editorial process, deciding what's hot and what's not. The community posts articles and the community votes for articles they deem Worthy. Articles that are successfully vetted by the community get promoted to the site's home page; articles that don't make the grade quietly and ignominiously fade away.
Digg has even spawned a blog and a podcast whose sole purpose is to watch what's hot on Digg.com: Diggnation. Caution is advised for the pure of ear -- the hosts are excitable and boistrous lads who tend to use colorful language now and again.
"Podcast," you ask? Sit tight; I'll get to that.
First, surely you've heard of this iPod thing. It's a little white (or black) bit of plastic and metal that records your music after you've "ripped" it (no, it doesn't hurt you or your music) from CDs to your computer's hard disk, allowing you to haul around 15,000 of your favorite tunes to listen to at your leisure and on your schedule. It's time-shifting for tunes. It's very cool. I have an iPod. I love it. But that's not really news anymore. Everyone loves their iPod. It's the current hot-story we tell each other.
So, have you also heard of this PodCast thing? iPods and Podcasting are related. Podcasts are web-based audio and video content that you download to your PC, copy to your iPod (or other portable listening device) and listen to at your leisure and on your schedule. More timeshifting. PodCast sites are also growing by mega-scads. Which, of course, leads one to the obvious question: how do you find the good ones? PodCasts, that is.
Well, if you have an iPod, you could use iTunes. The PodCasts there are submitted by users and the popularity ratings are based on user subscripton activity. You could also try Yahoo! Podcasts.
While I'm generally not a big proponent of much of anything Yahoo! does, in this case I like the way they've organized their podcast content. They group podcasts by popularity, subject area and with tags, and you can search by all of these. I like tags (more about tags later). It's the way they use tags that I like. Popular tags get big fonts, less popular tags get smaller fonts -- intutive and obvious. It works for me.
So, what are tags? Tags are all-the-rage on the Social Networking Sites, a category of web site that's also all-the-rage. Essentially, tags are descriptive words that the user communty assigns to things that are important to the community. Funny thing is, we all tend to think somewhat alike, so we tend to assign the same tags to similar things. As a result, by counting and grouping the tags, we can see what things are important and popular (they have lots of tags) and we can see what they're about (the tags are similar).
Take Flickr.com. Flickr may be one of the best-known tagging sites going. Essentially, Flickr is a place to store and share pictures. Once uploaded, you apply tags to your pictures so people can find them.
For instance, after you upload pictures of your Holiday-decorated ficus plant, you tag it with the words "ficus holiday decorated." Anyone who wants to compare their decorated ficus with yours need only search for "holiday decorated ficus" and all the pictures that share these tags are returned. You can then add comments to all the other pictures heaping praises on the other users for their creativity. Plus, you've just found a bunch of folks who share a passion similar to yours. Social networking in action.
Another site that uses tags is del.icio.us (yes, that's its complete web address. No www, nor .com or .org). This is a site where the user community uploads and tags their browser bookmarks. Like Flickr, if you're looking for a topic of interest, you'll find it by searching for tag words. Del.icio.us works like Flickr in this sense, but it also allows you to store your bookmarks in a central location for you to access from anywhere: home, work, or Starbucks. An additional benefit is that you can make all or part (or none) of your bookmarks public, sharing them with everyone, or just your close friends and family. Very cool. Very convenient.
The last tidbit I recently found is a site from a guy named Chris Hill. The site is called Ubergeek. Chris is a graphic artist by training, who has also picked up some of the programming skills often related to web sites, as well as some decent animation skills. He also has a slightly twisted sense of humor.
One item on his site really got to me. It's a recording of his mother, Jean, to which he's added animation. He calls it "Geeks In Love." it's part of an interview he did with his mom, initially to find a way to embarass her on the 'Net. After hearing this partcular story, however, he was moved to take a serious approach to the subject, and to treat it with the respect it deserves.
In this interview Jean (Chris' Mom) recounts how she met, and later lost, Walter (Chris' Dad). It's a great piece of work. Jean's narration is funny and earnest and the annimation suits it well. It's well worth the 25 cents Chris charges to see the second half. Yes, you read that correctly: $.25US. One quarter of one dollar. The first half is free, the second half will set you back 5 nickels.
Before I give you the address to the page with the animation, there are some things you should know.
First, dial-up users need not apply. It's Flash animation and it won't play well with your pokey download speed. Next, despite the fact that the animation will start immediately, I suggest that you click the link to pay the 25 cents. You'll be able to use either a credit card or PayPal (my choice). This will allow you to watch the piece uninterrupted and you'll enjoy it all the more. Finally, bring a hanky. You might need it.
Here's the URL to the animation page (it will start right away, but go ahead and pay the 25 cents): http://www.ubergeek.tv/article.php?pid=48 . Please take a minute after you watch this to tell me what you think in the comments to this article, below.
Merry Day-After Christmas and all the best for the new year.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Wikipedia: on which side are you?
Every few months, it seems that some contentious issue or another rages across the Internet until it dies from lack of interest, is beaten down by common sense or a new hot topic displaces it. This month, the hot topic is Wikipedia bashing, judiciously mixed with Wikipedia FUD (FUD: "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt").
I'm tired of the Wikipedia bashing. I think it's time for a constructive discussion that presents the facts of the matter, along with some solutions, rather than inflammatory rhetoric.
Here are the facts about Wikipedia:
1. It's a community-supported repository of knowledge.
2. Contributors can be anyone, from topic experts to non-experts, to vandals (though the vandals are relatively scarce). Even you can contribute.
3. The contributors are human, with human strengths -- and human frailties.
4. The content is not refereed, though most contributors try to be as accurate as they can be. There is some oversight in some areas, but contributors are rarely held to account for the accuracy of their contributions. Accuracy is mostly guided by conscience, and most peoples' sense of fair play and a desire to Do The Right Thing.
5. The content, while it may be useful, should not be treated as the End All, Be All, Final Source for any topic. It should be used, as with any research source (even the Encyclopedia Britannica) as one source among many, all of which are cross-checked for agreement and consistency.
6. There are nearly 900,000 articles in English (that's a lot of information)
7. Use common sense when reading Wikipedia.
The rhetoric that contends that Wikipedia isn't Open Source or that it's full of errors, inconsistencies and personal agendas is true -- up to a point. In reality, most of the articles are accurate, some are not, and the vandals are a small minority of the community.
As with most things on the Web, we need to temper our use of Wikipedia with common sense. When you use it, bear in mind that the articles might not be accurate. Read the articles with a discerning eye. Apply the "smell test" (if it smells bad, it probably is bad). Cross-check anything important. Don't use Wikipedia for anything of substance (school papers, legal briefs or newspaper articles) without cross-checking the facts (just as you would for most other research sources).
Now what about solutions? The solution is so obvious, I'm amazed no one's mentioned it yet (at least from what I've seen). Everyone seems to have staked out positions in defense of, or in condemnation of, Wikipedia. Neither side seems to have grasped the real solution.
When I was in the military my first sergeant once asked me a question that, at the time, I thought was deeply profound. It was the first time in my young life I'd heard the question, though it's since become a cliché: "Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?" This firestorm of rhetoric over Wikipedia brings to mind this question. The Wikipedia-bashing and the rhetoric is definitely part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Wikipedia is a new, unique, and I believe, valuable form of media. But it's having growing pains. It needs help, guidance and nurturing, not (destructive) criticism (I'm all for constructive criticism).
Whining about a flat tire won't make it magically patch itself and fill itself with air. Likewise, whining about Wikipedia won't make it any better. The exciting thing, though, is that its very nature allows its problems to be easily remedied. All you have to do is change your perspective a bit. To wit: stop whining, go there and fix what's broken.
Contribute to Wikipedia. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. The idea behind Wikipedia is for the community (the world, really) to simply and easily build a public repository of knowledge. If Wikipedia is inaccurate, anyone can fix the inaccuracies -- even you Mr. or Ms. Whiner. If there are problems, they can be repaired.
The power to fix Wikipedia is in everyone’s hands. Whining about the problems doesn't make them go away. If you feel strongly enough to write an article that bashes Wikipedia, perhaps you should put that energy to good use. Find a Wikipedia article that's "broken" and fix it.
Unfortunateley, it takes less energy to point fingers, complain, whine and trash-talk a revolutionary, if flawed, concept than it does to roll up your sleeves, dig in and help improve Wikipedia. Dare I say it? Bashing Wikipedia is the lazy person's way to "fix" the problems. If enough of people whine loudly enough and long enough, someone else will fix the problem -- or maybe Wikipedia will just collapse under the barrage of whining.
If you care enough to complain, maybe you should care enough take some initiative and get involved. As so many of the bashing articles are so quick to point out, the barriers to entry are miniscule. They malign this as a weakness, when, in fact, it's probably Wikipedia's greatest strength. If you have a constructive perspective on the matter, you'll see that this "weakness" could be Wikipedia's salvation -- if only people would quit whining and start editing.
If you don't use Wikipedia, never go there, can't be bothered, but you've jumped on the Wikipedia-bashing band wagon, what good are you? Try being constructive, rather than critical. By climbing aboard the bashing bandwagon your voice is getting lost in the din. Better to get involved and make a difference. Or is that too much like work? Whining is so much less work -- and so much less valuable.
So, are you part of the problem, or part of the solution? In this particular matter, with Wikipedia's virtually non-existent barriers to entry, there's really no middle ground.
Part of the problem, or part of the solution: you know which you are.
I'm tired of the Wikipedia bashing. I think it's time for a constructive discussion that presents the facts of the matter, along with some solutions, rather than inflammatory rhetoric.
Here are the facts about Wikipedia:
1. It's a community-supported repository of knowledge.
2. Contributors can be anyone, from topic experts to non-experts, to vandals (though the vandals are relatively scarce). Even you can contribute.
3. The contributors are human, with human strengths -- and human frailties.
4. The content is not refereed, though most contributors try to be as accurate as they can be. There is some oversight in some areas, but contributors are rarely held to account for the accuracy of their contributions. Accuracy is mostly guided by conscience, and most peoples' sense of fair play and a desire to Do The Right Thing.
5. The content, while it may be useful, should not be treated as the End All, Be All, Final Source for any topic. It should be used, as with any research source (even the Encyclopedia Britannica) as one source among many, all of which are cross-checked for agreement and consistency.
6. There are nearly 900,000 articles in English (that's a lot of information)
7. Use common sense when reading Wikipedia.
The rhetoric that contends that Wikipedia isn't Open Source or that it's full of errors, inconsistencies and personal agendas is true -- up to a point. In reality, most of the articles are accurate, some are not, and the vandals are a small minority of the community.
As with most things on the Web, we need to temper our use of Wikipedia with common sense. When you use it, bear in mind that the articles might not be accurate. Read the articles with a discerning eye. Apply the "smell test" (if it smells bad, it probably is bad). Cross-check anything important. Don't use Wikipedia for anything of substance (school papers, legal briefs or newspaper articles) without cross-checking the facts (just as you would for most other research sources).
Now what about solutions? The solution is so obvious, I'm amazed no one's mentioned it yet (at least from what I've seen). Everyone seems to have staked out positions in defense of, or in condemnation of, Wikipedia. Neither side seems to have grasped the real solution.
When I was in the military my first sergeant once asked me a question that, at the time, I thought was deeply profound. It was the first time in my young life I'd heard the question, though it's since become a cliché: "Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?" This firestorm of rhetoric over Wikipedia brings to mind this question. The Wikipedia-bashing and the rhetoric is definitely part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Wikipedia is a new, unique, and I believe, valuable form of media. But it's having growing pains. It needs help, guidance and nurturing, not (destructive) criticism (I'm all for constructive criticism).
Whining about a flat tire won't make it magically patch itself and fill itself with air. Likewise, whining about Wikipedia won't make it any better. The exciting thing, though, is that its very nature allows its problems to be easily remedied. All you have to do is change your perspective a bit. To wit: stop whining, go there and fix what's broken.
Contribute to Wikipedia. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. The idea behind Wikipedia is for the community (the world, really) to simply and easily build a public repository of knowledge. If Wikipedia is inaccurate, anyone can fix the inaccuracies -- even you Mr. or Ms. Whiner. If there are problems, they can be repaired.
The power to fix Wikipedia is in everyone’s hands. Whining about the problems doesn't make them go away. If you feel strongly enough to write an article that bashes Wikipedia, perhaps you should put that energy to good use. Find a Wikipedia article that's "broken" and fix it.
Unfortunateley, it takes less energy to point fingers, complain, whine and trash-talk a revolutionary, if flawed, concept than it does to roll up your sleeves, dig in and help improve Wikipedia. Dare I say it? Bashing Wikipedia is the lazy person's way to "fix" the problems. If enough of people whine loudly enough and long enough, someone else will fix the problem -- or maybe Wikipedia will just collapse under the barrage of whining.
If you care enough to complain, maybe you should care enough take some initiative and get involved. As so many of the bashing articles are so quick to point out, the barriers to entry are miniscule. They malign this as a weakness, when, in fact, it's probably Wikipedia's greatest strength. If you have a constructive perspective on the matter, you'll see that this "weakness" could be Wikipedia's salvation -- if only people would quit whining and start editing.
If you don't use Wikipedia, never go there, can't be bothered, but you've jumped on the Wikipedia-bashing band wagon, what good are you? Try being constructive, rather than critical. By climbing aboard the bashing bandwagon your voice is getting lost in the din. Better to get involved and make a difference. Or is that too much like work? Whining is so much less work -- and so much less valuable.
So, are you part of the problem, or part of the solution? In this particular matter, with Wikipedia's virtually non-existent barriers to entry, there's really no middle ground.
Part of the problem, or part of the solution: you know which you are.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Tribute to James "Scotty" Doohan
On Slashdot news, I read an article about a portion of James "Scotty" Doohan,'s cremated remains being memorialized space. The company responsible is Space Services, Inc.
For any who might not know, James Doohan played engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the Star Trek original series, in one episode of the Next Generation series and in seven of the movies.
With Jimmy's remains will go a collection of digitized tributes. Anyone can add a tribute at http://www.nameastarspacelaunch.com/doohan_message.asp
I did.
However, since one can only included 500 characters, it was a bit constraining for my usual long-winded style. At 1600+ characters, my first cut was summarily rejected -- and I thought it was pretty short!
I slashed and hacked and got it down to under 500 characters, but I think it loses a little in the translation. I gave the original piece a bit of effort (I know, Dave. If you're reading this. I needed to take a break to clear my head ;-) and didn't want it to go to waste, so I'm sharing it with you, here. I'd put a link to this page in the tribute, but it wouldn't fit. So, if you happen to know Wende Doohan, could you please send her the permalink for this entry: http://www.tdfunk.com/2005/10/tribute-to-james-scotty-doohan.asp?
Thanks so much.
Here's how the tribute looked before I whacked it down to 414 characters.
Here are some kind words from friend George "Sulu" Takei.
Though I don't consider myself a trekker, I do like all versions of Star Trek, and I've always been particularly fond of Scotty. He always seemed like a loving and beloved uncle we all wish we could have. Plus, he was a fine leader one hell of an engineer! That's really handy to have when your ship is fully of tribbles or the Rolumans are breathing down your neck. ;-)
Related links:
James Doohan at StarTrek.com
A news article about this event at StarTrek.com
A gentle introduction to the world of Star Trek, for anyone who lives under a rock, or is just curious about this crazy Star Trek phenomenon.
Star Trek at SciFi.com
George Takei's blog
An NPR Science Friday episode about the Star Trek phenomenom
For any who might not know, James Doohan played engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the Star Trek original series, in one episode of the Next Generation series and in seven of the movies.
With Jimmy's remains will go a collection of digitized tributes. Anyone can add a tribute at http://www.nameastarspacelaunch.com/doohan_message.asp
I did.
However, since one can only included 500 characters, it was a bit constraining for my usual long-winded style. At 1600+ characters, my first cut was summarily rejected -- and I thought it was pretty short!
I slashed and hacked and got it down to under 500 characters, but I think it loses a little in the translation. I gave the original piece a bit of effort (I know, Dave. If you're reading this. I needed to take a break to clear my head ;-) and didn't want it to go to waste, so I'm sharing it with you, here. I'd put a link to this page in the tribute, but it wouldn't fit. So, if you happen to know Wende Doohan, could you please send her the permalink for this entry: http://www.tdfunk.com/2005/10/tribute-to-james-scotty-doohan.asp?
Thanks so much.
Here's how the tribute looked before I whacked it down to 414 characters.
Wende,
It's a bitter-sweet thing, the passing of someone like James Doohan.
The bitter, of course, is his passing. It brings that sick sense of loss, that hole in the heart and soul were a loved was, everything that you have endured and are heart-achingly familiar with.
But there's a sweetness, too. Jimmy's passing gives us pause and encourages us to reflect on the man and his legacy. As James Doohan passes on, he leaves behind a body of work that inspires millions.
Though the character of "Scotty" was originally penned by Gene Roddenberry, it was Jimmy who breathed life into that character, stamping "Scotty" with his inimitable style and endearing him to fans around the globe. Jimmy, through "Scotty," brought hope, joy and a sense of wonder to us all. "Scotty's" "can-do," "under-promise and over-deliver" spirit stands as a credo worthy of emulation. Jimmy's delightful portrayal of "Scotty's" love of life; wonder at, and love of, technology and exploration; and dedication to friends, crew and duty, could only have come from an actor who holds these tenets near to his own heart.
It's fitting that James "Scotty" Doohan's remains should find their final rest in space. From that grand perch, Jimmy will watch Man's slow march into space. He'll look upon our progress lovingly and with encouragement. When we finally arrive, it's appropriate that he be there to greet us. When we get there, he'll nudge us in the ribs and say: “What took ya so long, laddie? I co'd na waited much longer!”
Jimmy, "you are, and always shall be [our] friend."
Godspeed, Jimmy.
Wende, our thoughts and prayers go to you and your family.
Here are some kind words from friend George "Sulu" Takei.
Though I don't consider myself a trekker, I do like all versions of Star Trek, and I've always been particularly fond of Scotty. He always seemed like a loving and beloved uncle we all wish we could have. Plus, he was a fine leader one hell of an engineer! That's really handy to have when your ship is fully of tribbles or the Rolumans are breathing down your neck. ;-)
Related links:
James Doohan at StarTrek.com
A news article about this event at StarTrek.com
A gentle introduction to the world of Star Trek, for anyone who lives under a rock, or is just curious about this crazy Star Trek phenomenon.
Star Trek at SciFi.com
George Takei's blog
An NPR Science Friday episode about the Star Trek phenomenom
Monday, August 29, 2005
Productivity software that isn't
I recently came across David Allen, his company and his organizational system that he calls "Getting Things Done." He's a success coach and mentor, and has published a couple of books about the Getting Things Done system (you can see them here and here).
Unlike other systems I've come into contact with, this one seems both powerful and simple -- and very action- and performance-oriented. Not much theory, just how to get from A to B quickly and efficiently, without repeating yourself or forgetting things. It also seems to fit with my own idiosyncratic (aka "organizationally challenged") view of things (dis)organizational.
The David Allen Company contracted with NetCentrics, Inc., to write an Outlook add-in that implements the Getting Things Done system. Unfortunately, like so much software today, it's not a well-polished implementation. In this genre, this is especially inexcusable. It's irony that borders on hypocrisy.
I decided to download and install the software. During the installation the installer kept telling me that Outlook was running, even though it wasn't. I jumped through a number of hoops to get try and complete the installation, to no avail.
Adding to the fiasco was the fact that the support site was anything but supportive. I had to search the FAQs and the Knowledgebase, even though between them there are only 29 articles available (eleven and eighteen, respectively). None of my searches turned up any useful results. Then they wanted me to register with their site just to ask for help on software I didn't yet own.I couldn't just fill in an email address, fill in the problem and click "Help Me! Please!" Finding email addresses to circumvent their support request page took even more time.
So, this "productivity software" is, so far, anything but that. It wasted about an hour of my day, and I have nothing to show for it. Sad. Very sad.
The really sad thing is, the "error" is completely unnecessary. Most installers of any value today can schedule installation steps to occur after a reboot. However, instead of taking the time to implement this approach, the offered solution was to have the end-user press Ctrl-Alt-Del, fire up Task Manager and manually kill any running versions of Outlook. YIKES! (not to mention that fact that that solution didn't even work). Most users see Ctrl-Alt-Del as the work of the devil, reserved for super-power-users and those people at the other end of tech support calls.
Considering that the target end-user is someone who is using the Getting Things Done system (e.g., overworked, non-technical knowledge workers, executives, marketers, etc., rather than overworked technologists), I'm sure this product's market penetration is a small fraction of what it could be. Most users will just walk away from problematic software, rather than fight with it, or even complain about it. Add to this the fact that these particular end-users are, by definition, very busy people, not likely inclined to waste time fighting with new software.
What did NetCentrics do wrong? Basically one thing: they didn't fully consider their target audience (Tom Peters adherents might say they didn't go for the WOW!). Plus, I'm also betting that they haven't done much, if any usability, testing or surveyed their users.
I wrote them an email explaining to them my views on all of this. Hopefully, they'll take to heart the fact that they're supposed to be improving end-user productivity, not impairing it. If something changes, I'll mention it here.
Unlike other systems I've come into contact with, this one seems both powerful and simple -- and very action- and performance-oriented. Not much theory, just how to get from A to B quickly and efficiently, without repeating yourself or forgetting things. It also seems to fit with my own idiosyncratic (aka "organizationally challenged") view of things (dis)organizational.
The David Allen Company contracted with NetCentrics, Inc., to write an Outlook add-in that implements the Getting Things Done system. Unfortunately, like so much software today, it's not a well-polished implementation. In this genre, this is especially inexcusable. It's irony that borders on hypocrisy.
I decided to download and install the software. During the installation the installer kept telling me that Outlook was running, even though it wasn't. I jumped through a number of hoops to get try and complete the installation, to no avail.
Adding to the fiasco was the fact that the support site was anything but supportive. I had to search the FAQs and the Knowledgebase, even though between them there are only 29 articles available (eleven and eighteen, respectively). None of my searches turned up any useful results. Then they wanted me to register with their site just to ask for help on software I didn't yet own.I couldn't just fill in an email address, fill in the problem and click "Help Me! Please!" Finding email addresses to circumvent their support request page took even more time.
So, this "productivity software" is, so far, anything but that. It wasted about an hour of my day, and I have nothing to show for it. Sad. Very sad.
The really sad thing is, the "error" is completely unnecessary. Most installers of any value today can schedule installation steps to occur after a reboot. However, instead of taking the time to implement this approach, the offered solution was to have the end-user press Ctrl-Alt-Del, fire up Task Manager and manually kill any running versions of Outlook. YIKES! (not to mention that fact that that solution didn't even work). Most users see Ctrl-Alt-Del as the work of the devil, reserved for super-power-users and those people at the other end of tech support calls.
Considering that the target end-user is someone who is using the Getting Things Done system (e.g., overworked, non-technical knowledge workers, executives, marketers, etc., rather than overworked technologists), I'm sure this product's market penetration is a small fraction of what it could be. Most users will just walk away from problematic software, rather than fight with it, or even complain about it. Add to this the fact that these particular end-users are, by definition, very busy people, not likely inclined to waste time fighting with new software.
What did NetCentrics do wrong? Basically one thing: they didn't fully consider their target audience (Tom Peters adherents might say they didn't go for the WOW!). Plus, I'm also betting that they haven't done much, if any usability, testing or surveyed their users.
I wrote them an email explaining to them my views on all of this. Hopefully, they'll take to heart the fact that they're supposed to be improving end-user productivity, not impairing it. If something changes, I'll mention it here.
Back safe and sound -- weeks ago!
So, the STS-114 mission, Return to Flight, is complete, the astronauts are safely back home and now they're fulfilling their NASA Ambassadors of Goodwill duties.
By all accounts the mission was a success, except, of course, for that one errant chunk of foam that fell off during launch. Other than that, the flight was flawless. In my book, NASA is back on the job.
Kudos to NASA. Kudos to the crew of STS-114.
By all accounts the mission was a success, except, of course, for that one errant chunk of foam that fell off during launch. Other than that, the flight was flawless. In my book, NASA is back on the job.
Kudos to NASA. Kudos to the crew of STS-114.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
NASA Rocks!
| Sidenote: I'm continually amazed at how much time magically passes between posts. Time just seems to fly. Yes, Virginia, I'm a slacker. As you an see there are no pix posted yet for the "neighbors". I shot some, but they're not edited or posted. <sigh> | (all links in this post will open in the same window, separate window from this. You can pre-open it now, if you'd like) So, have you been keeping up with NASA (NASA history) and the current Space Shuttle flight? They're having a bang-up, near-perfect flight. A large-ish piece of foam fell off during launch. It was captured on video during the launch and the source location was captured by the crew after the external tank was jettisoned. Thankfully, the piece of foam didn't contact the orbiter, however it was unexpected and NASA is holding up future flights until this can be addressed. Personally, I think it's an anomaly, but you can't bee too careful. The astronauts are performing admirably, with EVA1 (the communications handle for Soichi Noguchi during EVAs) and EVA2 (Steve Robinson) performing their first EVAs ("Extra-Vehicular Activity" is NASA-Speak for "Space Walk") in near-perfect fashion. And how do I know all of this? Through the magic of television: NASA Television, to be specific. NASA TV is a NASA-run 24/7 Audio/Video feed that you can get from the web or from various satellites. I've been working my tail off at home the past few weeks and since the launch, NASA TV has been a constant companion. I've even been adjusting my sleep schedule to coincide with the shuttle crew's sleep schedule so that I can watch their "antics." NASA TV -- if you're into the space program at all, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Very highly recommended. Interested in space? Here are some other resources: |
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Shooting the neighbors
Some of you already know of my new neighbors: a family of swallows have taken up roosting over the sliding-glass door leading to my little back-porch/balconey.
The other day, I spent some time shooting them. No, not with a BB gun. Rather with my camera.
Seems these little buggers ain't too bright. At one point, I leaned out of the door and shot straight up at the nest. About that time the pair returned and landed on the porch railing. I turned toward them, aimed and fired. I got a couple of the female, twig in her beak, before she flew to the nest for a little homemaking.
The male just hung out for awhile, waiting for his dearest to fly off for more au natural decor. When she finished, she swooped out of the nest and into the sky, with her lazy mate in pursuit.
I'll post some pics on a separate page and update this post with a link.
The other day, I spent some time shooting them. No, not with a BB gun. Rather with my camera.
Seems these little buggers ain't too bright. At one point, I leaned out of the door and shot straight up at the nest. About that time the pair returned and landed on the porch railing. I turned toward them, aimed and fired. I got a couple of the female, twig in her beak, before she flew to the nest for a little homemaking.
The male just hung out for awhile, waiting for his dearest to fly off for more au natural decor. When she finished, she swooped out of the nest and into the sky, with her lazy mate in pursuit.
I'll post some pics on a separate page and update this post with a link.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Darth Vader's New Blog
You know some people have the most deliciously twisted senses of humor. I found a blog that screams "deliciously twisted humor."
You absolutely have to check out The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster.
The author calls it his "lark-blog written from the point of view of Darth Vader."
Me? I call it inspired.
You have to check out this blog!
You absolutely have to check out The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster.
The author calls it his "lark-blog written from the point of view of Darth Vader."
Me? I call it inspired.
You have to check out this blog!
You meet the nicest people In Open Source
(Names and sites withheld, lest this be perceived as name-dropping.)
I was trolling the newsgroups of an open source community a week or so back and posted a message to one of its many groups (they actually still use honest-to-goodness NNTP news:// groups, rather than some crazy new forum software). I got a response back from one of the newsgroup denizens We'll call him Matt -- not his real name.
Matt was quite helpful and encouraging. He even responded positively to an offline email I sent him offering to help on the particular issue at hand. Matt's general response to my message was essentially: "I appreciate your enthusiasm and it's great that you want to help. I don't generally get involved in the day-to-day operation of our projects, so you should keep an eye on the newsgroups for further developments." I thought this was an odd thing to say from someone who was involved enough to respond to news messages on a fairly narrowly-focused topic.
In Matt's offline email (offline in the sense that it was away from the newsgroup, cuz, you know, it's kind of tough to exchange email around the world when you're truly "offline") I finally caught his title, which was missing from his newsgroups posts: Executive Director. Turns out Matt, this very nice, very helpful fella, who was quite encouraging and supportive, was the executive freakin' Director of the organization I was visiting. I was completely floored.
Now, you have to understand that this organization is one of the hottest Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) efforts on the web today. Trust me on this: Matt is a very, very busy guy. In fact, as it turned out, he was writing to me from Japan, though he lives in North America.
When was the last time you wrote to a company and the CIO, the CTO or CEO (the corporate equivalent of Matt's position) responded to your email? You don't get this kind of personal touch in the commercial software world.
When we speak of the "Open Source Community," "community" isn't a hollow term. I'm continually amazed at the giving nature of so many of the folks involved with F/OSS. And the fact that an Executive Director, busy on a business trip to Japan, would make the time to answer what was essentially an unimportant message only reinforces this notion.
I don't think commercial software is ever going to die. However, more and more of the software marketplace will be "overrun" by F/OSS software. This is due entirely to the selflessness of the players involved that F/OSS works so well. Also telling is that commercial software companies are also recognizing the value of F/OSS and are actually employing people, and paying them salaries, to reward their heretofore un-remunerated selflessness. Red Hat, IBM, Sun, Oracle and even Microsoft (see FlexWiki, WiX and WTL) all have Open Source projects underway.
Raising good software takes a village -- luckily the F/OSS villagers are community-spirited, so great software is sprouting up all over the place.
I was trolling the newsgroups of an open source community a week or so back and posted a message to one of its many groups (they actually still use honest-to-goodness NNTP news:// groups, rather than some crazy new forum software). I got a response back from one of the newsgroup denizens We'll call him Matt -- not his real name.
Matt was quite helpful and encouraging. He even responded positively to an offline email I sent him offering to help on the particular issue at hand. Matt's general response to my message was essentially: "I appreciate your enthusiasm and it's great that you want to help. I don't generally get involved in the day-to-day operation of our projects, so you should keep an eye on the newsgroups for further developments." I thought this was an odd thing to say from someone who was involved enough to respond to news messages on a fairly narrowly-focused topic.
In Matt's offline email (offline in the sense that it was away from the newsgroup, cuz, you know, it's kind of tough to exchange email around the world when you're truly "offline") I finally caught his title, which was missing from his newsgroups posts: Executive Director. Turns out Matt, this very nice, very helpful fella, who was quite encouraging and supportive, was the executive freakin' Director of the organization I was visiting. I was completely floored.
Now, you have to understand that this organization is one of the hottest Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) efforts on the web today. Trust me on this: Matt is a very, very busy guy. In fact, as it turned out, he was writing to me from Japan, though he lives in North America.
When was the last time you wrote to a company and the CIO, the CTO or CEO (the corporate equivalent of Matt's position) responded to your email? You don't get this kind of personal touch in the commercial software world.
When we speak of the "Open Source Community," "community" isn't a hollow term. I'm continually amazed at the giving nature of so many of the folks involved with F/OSS. And the fact that an Executive Director, busy on a business trip to Japan, would make the time to answer what was essentially an unimportant message only reinforces this notion.
I don't think commercial software is ever going to die. However, more and more of the software marketplace will be "overrun" by F/OSS software. This is due entirely to the selflessness of the players involved that F/OSS works so well. Also telling is that commercial software companies are also recognizing the value of F/OSS and are actually employing people, and paying them salaries, to reward their heretofore un-remunerated selflessness. Red Hat, IBM, Sun, Oracle and even Microsoft (see FlexWiki, WiX and WTL) all have Open Source projects underway.
Raising good software takes a village -- luckily the F/OSS villagers are community-spirited, so great software is sprouting up all over the place.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
New money and a new infatuation
Well, it's been almost a year since I Visual Analytics and I parted company. I've been on my own, living the life of the "Independent Consultant" since April of last year.
In that time I've learned that being self-employed can be painful.
The past few months have been excrutiatingly slow with the coming of the moneys. Things have finally turned around, though.
In the past few months I've also learned to appreciate Maslow and his hierarchy. When I studied him and his little pyramid, it seemed right enough, seemed on-target. However, having lived the past few months worrying tiny little things like how to make car payments, pay rent, keep the lights on and eat, I can tell you with the some authority: Maslow was a freakin' genius!
It's interesting to watch (in retrospect of course -- when you're in the thick of it, it's anything but "interesting") how one devolves into a huddled mass of fear and worry when you're pondering silly little things like how to pay rent, or if anyone will really notice that your telephone won't be working for a few weeks (only three people noticed: Mom, Stacy and Teresa. I guess I don't get many calls on the home number).
Now that, at least for the time being, anyway, invoices are getting paid, and there's actually a revenue stream to work with, my attitude is must marvy. So much better than it was just a week ago. I'm climbing the pyramid again.
They say that money doesn't make you happy. Maybe not, but it sure makes it easier to pay bills!
So, what of this infatuation I mentioned?
I speak of the venerable and yet still shiny and new Apple iMac. VAI has one in their office to test VisuaLinks on (btw, it's not a pretty thing. They have some work to do to get VL to be Mac-friendly). Still, when no one's using it, I've played around with it a bit.
I like it. I may almost like it enough to consider getting one.
It's the new iMac G5, the one that look like it's just a screen. It's fully self-contained, and has no CPU unit attached. It's VERY cool. The grapics are sweet. The performance is good and the user interface is nearly as intuitive as everyone says it is.
I may be getting myself on of these sometime in the future. Just not right now.
The revenue stream isn't quite that healthy just yet.
In that time I've learned that being self-employed can be painful.
The past few months have been excrutiatingly slow with the coming of the moneys. Things have finally turned around, though.
In the past few months I've also learned to appreciate Maslow and his hierarchy. When I studied him and his little pyramid, it seemed right enough, seemed on-target. However, having lived the past few months worrying tiny little things like how to make car payments, pay rent, keep the lights on and eat, I can tell you with the some authority: Maslow was a freakin' genius!
It's interesting to watch (in retrospect of course -- when you're in the thick of it, it's anything but "interesting") how one devolves into a huddled mass of fear and worry when you're pondering silly little things like how to pay rent, or if anyone will really notice that your telephone won't be working for a few weeks (only three people noticed: Mom, Stacy and Teresa. I guess I don't get many calls on the home number).
Now that, at least for the time being, anyway, invoices are getting paid, and there's actually a revenue stream to work with, my attitude is must marvy. So much better than it was just a week ago. I'm climbing the pyramid again.
They say that money doesn't make you happy. Maybe not, but it sure makes it easier to pay bills!
So, what of this infatuation I mentioned?
I speak of the venerable and yet still shiny and new Apple iMac. VAI has one in their office to test VisuaLinks on (btw, it's not a pretty thing. They have some work to do to get VL to be Mac-friendly). Still, when no one's using it, I've played around with it a bit.
I like it. I may almost like it enough to consider getting one.
It's the new iMac G5, the one that look like it's just a screen. It's fully self-contained, and has no CPU unit attached. It's VERY cool. The grapics are sweet. The performance is good and the user interface is nearly as intuitive as everyone says it is.
I may be getting myself on of these sometime in the future. Just not right now.
The revenue stream isn't quite that healthy just yet.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
MusicMatch -- ya just gotta love it
I've been a MusicMatch subscriber for three or four years. Their player is pretty good, though for playing MP3s out of my ripped library I prefer WinAmp.
You can download the MusicMatch player (they call it the Music Match Jukebox) for free, which gets you the ability to play MP3s, plus some bennies:
MusicMatch is not a peer-to-peer site, nor is it a license to download MP3s and rip them to disc. The raison d'etre for MusicMatch (at least from their side of the equation) is for you to buy tracks and albums.
You can buy any of their tracks for $.99, or entire albums (regardless of the number of tracks) for $9.99. Essentially, any track over and above the first ten is free. And they make it very easy to purchase music. Click-click, done! If you like buying your music online, you really should check out MusicMatch.
Even though they make it very easy to buy their music, during the entire time that I've subscribed, I've only bought two tracks from MusicMatch; I've never bought an entire album, though I've been tempted.
I find that I have this enduring distaste for buying music MP3s online. I'm not even much of an MP3 downloader. Hell, I don't even have Napster, a Bit Torrent client, or any of the other peer-to-peer "sharing" applications. I think the RIAA is heavy handed, but essentially I agree with them -- sort of. Artists should be compensated for their work. Just like software developers should (fodder for another rant at another time).
A couple of years ago, I was a member of a peer-to-peer site (something with "satellite" in the name) where I paid a monthly fee and could download MP3s at will. While I was online, I had to share out my own collection of MP3s to other members. That's the part I didn't like and I still don't. While I was a member, I stocked up pretty good, downloading quite a number of files for a pretty varied selection of artists (I have eclectic taste in music. Only bad Opera is off-limits). The RIAA shut down the site. I guess the fees they were charging weren't enough to pay the licensing fees. Plus, there was that whole peer-to-peer sharing thing. That's probably what got them into trouble. During that time, however, I got hooked on online music.
I found that I liked being able to download "tastes" of artists' music. I've never liked buying albums online because you don't get the stuff you get with a CD: liner notes, lyrics, artist and collaborator recognition, artists' thank you's, etc. I like that stuff (but then again, I read movie credits, too). Still, on-line music allows me to try new artists and to decide if I like them enough to buy their albums. If I like the artist enough, I run to Amazon.com or Best-Buy and plop down $15 for a CD.
Soon after I started my MusicMatch subscription, I upgraded my subscription to include access to their online radio feature. It's nice, but nothing to write home about. It allows you to stream "stations" to your PC. The stations are mostly genre-based, though some focus on specific artists. The quality is good -- if you have broadband (DSL or cable modem). Not recommended for dial-up.
Late last month I got an email from MusicMatch saying that they were discontinuing their Premium subscription service (which is what I had, that allowed me access to MusicMatch Radio streams). They said they were converting all their Premium members to their On-Demand service for the same price, at least for the foreseeble future (I'm sure there's a rate hike in my future).
One of the complaints I had about MusicMatch Radio was that you couldn't select specific songs to play. The best you could do was to select artists. Even then, you'd get a few songs by that artist, and then you'd get songs from related artists (usually artists in the same genre with similar styles). Plus, you couldn't replay any song that you'd just heard. It was very frustrating and I only used it when I was going to sit for long periods at my machine and I felt like listening to something other than the ripped library of songs I already have.
Well, all that's changed since my upgrade to MusicMatch On-Demand. Now I can select specific songs, specific artists, genres, etc., and queue them up to play as though they're in my on-disk library. The only requirement is that I have to be online. No biggy, since I have 1.5MB DSL.
I can even add On-Demand songs to my library. They aren't physically downloaded to local storage; they're linked through MMJB to stream from the MM servers when I play them. They don't even show up in WinAmp.
So, I've reached a decision: MusicMatch On-Demand rocks!
Just today I listened to nearly a hundred Richard Elliot songs. I love his music, but after 90+ songs, even Rick got old. After that, I decided that I needed to liven things up a bit, so I selected about 25 of MusicMatch's top electronica/dance tunes. A few of them I even played over. Now, since it's late and I'm trying to wind down, I'm listening to their top New Age artists (a tune from the movie Hero is playing now1 -- that's a great film. Highly recommended). I queued up a bunch of tunes and went through and deleted the ones I didn't like (for instance every title by Yanni. Ick). There are a bunch of artists I've never heard of, but I'm getting exposure to their music. I'm probably going to buy some of them -- not on-line, of course.
With On-Demand, I can choose specific songs, jump around, replay songs and even add them to my library if I want. Nice. Very nice.
Here's the part that I like best: you can listen to on-demand music as though it's part of your library, but you can't rip the songs to CD or push them to your portable MP3 player. I pay a small fee to gain access to hundreds of thousands of songs. I can play them almost as though I own them, but I can't steal them. Everyone wins.
If you like on-line music, believe in supporting artists and want to listen to lots of different artists (and have a broadband connection), I highly recommend MusicMatch.
-------
Footnote 1: The song is "Love in Distance," played by Itzhak Perlman. Itzhak is a GREAT violinist, but I don't recall ever seeing him credited as playing on any movie soundtracks. As it turns out, he's played in three movies. If you look at his IMDB listing, he's played in Hero, Fantasia 2000 and Schindler's List. A pretty heady list.
You can download the MusicMatch player (they call it the Music Match Jukebox) for free, which gets you the ability to play MP3s, plus some bennies:
- When you play a song, the MusicMatch Jukebox (MMJB, henceforth) tries to find that song in their database. If it can, it displays the album's song list, artist info and cover art in its "Now Playing" Section. I've always liked this feature. The text usually includes links to other albums by the same artist.
- They have something they call "Super Tagging," which allows you to modify the MP3 tags for a bunch of songs all at the same time. When you Super Tag a set of songs, MMJB looks up the songs in their database and makes a best-guess of what songs you're tagging. It downloads artist, album and other info and allows you to choose from a list of possible candidates. Essentially, you select a bunch of songs, right-click and select Super Tagging and then click checkboxes for each song you want to tag. MMJB does the rest. This is a very cool feature.
- MMJB also interfaces with various portable MP3 players, including my Gen-1 iPod. The super-tagging allows you to send fully-tagged songs to portable player. Very cool.
MusicMatch is not a peer-to-peer site, nor is it a license to download MP3s and rip them to disc. The raison d'etre for MusicMatch (at least from their side of the equation) is for you to buy tracks and albums.
You can buy any of their tracks for $.99, or entire albums (regardless of the number of tracks) for $9.99. Essentially, any track over and above the first ten is free. And they make it very easy to purchase music. Click-click, done! If you like buying your music online, you really should check out MusicMatch.
Even though they make it very easy to buy their music, during the entire time that I've subscribed, I've only bought two tracks from MusicMatch; I've never bought an entire album, though I've been tempted.
I find that I have this enduring distaste for buying music MP3s online. I'm not even much of an MP3 downloader. Hell, I don't even have Napster, a Bit Torrent client, or any of the other peer-to-peer "sharing" applications. I think the RIAA is heavy handed, but essentially I agree with them -- sort of. Artists should be compensated for their work. Just like software developers should (fodder for another rant at another time).
A couple of years ago, I was a member of a peer-to-peer site (something with "satellite" in the name) where I paid a monthly fee and could download MP3s at will. While I was online, I had to share out my own collection of MP3s to other members. That's the part I didn't like and I still don't. While I was a member, I stocked up pretty good, downloading quite a number of files for a pretty varied selection of artists (I have eclectic taste in music. Only bad Opera is off-limits). The RIAA shut down the site. I guess the fees they were charging weren't enough to pay the licensing fees. Plus, there was that whole peer-to-peer sharing thing. That's probably what got them into trouble. During that time, however, I got hooked on online music.
I found that I liked being able to download "tastes" of artists' music. I've never liked buying albums online because you don't get the stuff you get with a CD: liner notes, lyrics, artist and collaborator recognition, artists' thank you's, etc. I like that stuff (but then again, I read movie credits, too). Still, on-line music allows me to try new artists and to decide if I like them enough to buy their albums. If I like the artist enough, I run to Amazon.com or Best-Buy and plop down $15 for a CD.
Soon after I started my MusicMatch subscription, I upgraded my subscription to include access to their online radio feature. It's nice, but nothing to write home about. It allows you to stream "stations" to your PC. The stations are mostly genre-based, though some focus on specific artists. The quality is good -- if you have broadband (DSL or cable modem). Not recommended for dial-up.
Late last month I got an email from MusicMatch saying that they were discontinuing their Premium subscription service (which is what I had, that allowed me access to MusicMatch Radio streams). They said they were converting all their Premium members to their On-Demand service for the same price, at least for the foreseeble future (I'm sure there's a rate hike in my future).
One of the complaints I had about MusicMatch Radio was that you couldn't select specific songs to play. The best you could do was to select artists. Even then, you'd get a few songs by that artist, and then you'd get songs from related artists (usually artists in the same genre with similar styles). Plus, you couldn't replay any song that you'd just heard. It was very frustrating and I only used it when I was going to sit for long periods at my machine and I felt like listening to something other than the ripped library of songs I already have.
Well, all that's changed since my upgrade to MusicMatch On-Demand. Now I can select specific songs, specific artists, genres, etc., and queue them up to play as though they're in my on-disk library. The only requirement is that I have to be online. No biggy, since I have 1.5MB DSL.
I can even add On-Demand songs to my library. They aren't physically downloaded to local storage; they're linked through MMJB to stream from the MM servers when I play them. They don't even show up in WinAmp.
So, I've reached a decision: MusicMatch On-Demand rocks!
Just today I listened to nearly a hundred Richard Elliot songs. I love his music, but after 90+ songs, even Rick got old. After that, I decided that I needed to liven things up a bit, so I selected about 25 of MusicMatch's top electronica/dance tunes. A few of them I even played over. Now, since it's late and I'm trying to wind down, I'm listening to their top New Age artists (a tune from the movie Hero is playing now1 -- that's a great film. Highly recommended). I queued up a bunch of tunes and went through and deleted the ones I didn't like (for instance every title by Yanni. Ick). There are a bunch of artists I've never heard of, but I'm getting exposure to their music. I'm probably going to buy some of them -- not on-line, of course.
With On-Demand, I can choose specific songs, jump around, replay songs and even add them to my library if I want. Nice. Very nice.
Here's the part that I like best: you can listen to on-demand music as though it's part of your library, but you can't rip the songs to CD or push them to your portable MP3 player. I pay a small fee to gain access to hundreds of thousands of songs. I can play them almost as though I own them, but I can't steal them. Everyone wins.
If you like on-line music, believe in supporting artists and want to listen to lots of different artists (and have a broadband connection), I highly recommend MusicMatch.
-------
Footnote 1: The song is "Love in Distance," played by Itzhak Perlman. Itzhak is a GREAT violinist, but I don't recall ever seeing him credited as playing on any movie soundtracks. As it turns out, he's played in three movies. If you look at his IMDB listing, he's played in Hero, Fantasia 2000 and Schindler's List. A pretty heady list.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Oh. Btw: Happy Valentines day.
Check out the Valentine's Day logo at Google.com. Cute.
The Google Holiday logos are done by Dennis Hwang. He's very creative, don't you think?
Google.com keeps an archive of their previous holiday logos. Check it out.
The Google Holiday logos are done by Dennis Hwang. He's very creative, don't you think?
Google.com keeps an archive of their previous holiday logos. Check it out.
Oh, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy... I am SO not a cook!
I love caramel. I love chocolate, too, but given the choice between a good caramel dessert or a chocolate dessert, for your own safety, it's best not to get between me and the caramel.
Caramel is great for putting inside of chocolate; that's the best of both worlds, like that Hershey's classic Rolos. Oh! Remember the original Marathon Bars? Caramel is good over, and in, ice cream and cookies, and for coating apples, pears, creme brulee, pies, popcorn and girl friends! wooHOO!
Have you tried Häagen-Dazs' Dulce de Leche ice cream? Oh. My. Divine. It has these lovely ribbons of caramel running through it. Highly recommended.
Well, I've been cooking more and more lately. Tonight, in search of a little comfort food and some mental distraction, I decided to try my hand at caramel-making. How hard could it be? Boil some water with sugar in it, add some butter and milk and presto-change-o! Caramel Candy. Right?
Um. Not so much.
This moment, in my kitchen is a testament to my cooking naivete: a baking dish full of caramel-colored sugar crystals. Tastes like caramel; looks, and feels, a lot like brown sugar. I think I'll use it to sweeten my coffee.
Turns out it is difficult to make candy. Well, not difficult, really. More like delicate or finicky; tricky, mostly. Melted sugar doesn't like to be melted. It wants very much to be a crystal. It likes being crystallized. If you're sugar, crystals = normal, pleasant and stable; melted = a highly agitated, unstable, abnormal, uncomfortable condition. Kind of like the first time you thought about your folks having sex, but worse. Yikes!
Plus, as it turns out, there are any number of fairly innocuous things that you can do during the cooking to speed sugar's return to it's preferred state. While making my "caramel" tonight, I think I did, well, pretty much all of them!
Tonight I learned some interesting things about the chemistry and nature of melted sugar -- after I created my batch of caramel crystals. After the disaster, I went to Google, looking for things like: "making caramel candy not crystals," "how do I prevent crystals while making caramel candy," and "where did I do wrong" (that one didn't find me any good hits about caramel). Eventually, I hit on a couple of sites that were very informative. I love the Internet. It's like caramel for your brain!
As I said, I'm pretty sure that everything you're not supposed to do to prevent the dreaded crystallization, I did. I stirred it after it was boiling - a lot. I bumped the pan. I jostled it. I didn't use a wooded spoon. I overheated it by a degree or so. I didn't use enough "inhibitor". I added cold ingredients into the syrup. I refrigerated it when it was done. I didn't fully dissolve the sugar before it boiled and, last, and probably most heinous, I didn't keep the sugar crystals from forming on the sides of the pan while it was cooking. Oh, did I mention that I stirred it? A lot? That's supposed to be very bad, too.
Oh, I did do one thing right: I used a candy thermometer. Big whoop. Lotta good it did me... ;-)
So, I'll eventually try it again. Maybe this weekend. In the mean time, I just had to talk about this. I was so thrilled at the actual making of the caramel, the process. I was kind of proud of myself. Look at me! I'm COOKING for cryin' out loud!
And then result was so so disappointing, and so very much not caramel as I know and love it. It was pretty funny, really. Kind of a caramel roller coaster that careened out of control, crashing crazily into candy sand! (how much did that suck???)
Stay tuned. I'll let you know how the next batch turns out.
Btw, if you want me to send you links to the sites that I found for making candy and caramel and such, drop me a comment (below). I'll send them along.
Actually, I just want to see if anyone's reading this thing ;-).
Caramel is great for putting inside of chocolate; that's the best of both worlds, like that Hershey's classic Rolos. Oh! Remember the original Marathon Bars? Caramel is good over, and in, ice cream and cookies, and for coating apples, pears, creme brulee, pies, popcorn and girl friends! wooHOO!
Have you tried Häagen-Dazs' Dulce de Leche ice cream? Oh. My. Divine. It has these lovely ribbons of caramel running through it. Highly recommended.
Well, I've been cooking more and more lately. Tonight, in search of a little comfort food and some mental distraction, I decided to try my hand at caramel-making. How hard could it be? Boil some water with sugar in it, add some butter and milk and presto-change-o! Caramel Candy. Right?
Um. Not so much.
This moment, in my kitchen is a testament to my cooking naivete: a baking dish full of caramel-colored sugar crystals. Tastes like caramel; looks, and feels, a lot like brown sugar. I think I'll use it to sweeten my coffee.
Turns out it is difficult to make candy. Well, not difficult, really. More like delicate or finicky; tricky, mostly. Melted sugar doesn't like to be melted. It wants very much to be a crystal. It likes being crystallized. If you're sugar, crystals = normal, pleasant and stable; melted = a highly agitated, unstable, abnormal, uncomfortable condition. Kind of like the first time you thought about your folks having sex, but worse. Yikes!
Plus, as it turns out, there are any number of fairly innocuous things that you can do during the cooking to speed sugar's return to it's preferred state. While making my "caramel" tonight, I think I did, well, pretty much all of them!
Tonight I learned some interesting things about the chemistry and nature of melted sugar -- after I created my batch of caramel crystals. After the disaster, I went to Google, looking for things like: "making caramel candy not crystals," "how do I prevent crystals while making caramel candy," and "where did I do wrong" (that one didn't find me any good hits about caramel). Eventually, I hit on a couple of sites that were very informative. I love the Internet. It's like caramel for your brain!
As I said, I'm pretty sure that everything you're not supposed to do to prevent the dreaded crystallization, I did. I stirred it after it was boiling - a lot. I bumped the pan. I jostled it. I didn't use a wooded spoon. I overheated it by a degree or so. I didn't use enough "inhibitor". I added cold ingredients into the syrup. I refrigerated it when it was done. I didn't fully dissolve the sugar before it boiled and, last, and probably most heinous, I didn't keep the sugar crystals from forming on the sides of the pan while it was cooking. Oh, did I mention that I stirred it? A lot? That's supposed to be very bad, too.
Oh, I did do one thing right: I used a candy thermometer. Big whoop. Lotta good it did me... ;-)
So, I'll eventually try it again. Maybe this weekend. In the mean time, I just had to talk about this. I was so thrilled at the actual making of the caramel, the process. I was kind of proud of myself. Look at me! I'm COOKING for cryin' out loud!
And then result was so so disappointing, and so very much not caramel as I know and love it. It was pretty funny, really. Kind of a caramel roller coaster that careened out of control, crashing crazily into candy sand! (how much did that suck???)
Stay tuned. I'll let you know how the next batch turns out.
Btw, if you want me to send you links to the sites that I found for making candy and caramel and such, drop me a comment (below). I'll send them along.
Actually, I just want to see if anyone's reading this thing ;-).
Friday, February 11, 2005
Recently seen in email
In an effort to keep content here "fresh," I'm resorting to putting interesting email posts in the blog.
These come from me Mum:
DHR, are you listening?
OUCH! Mr. Bush, are you listening?
Interesting. Speaking of Constitutions...
I just read an article about a recent Pennsylvania Western Federal District Court decision (this is a PDF file) where Extreme Associates, Inc. (a company that sells adult videos and toys) was given protection under the First Amendment for their actions.
I don't necessarily support the company (notice I've not linked to them -- though pornography, the adult film industry, adult toys and videos, and the like don't cause me any angst), but I do support the decision as it furthers the idea that what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home is their business and not the business of the Law.
However, at the same time, religious icons (statues, images, etc.) are being challenged because of the overzealous application of the High Court decision Lemon vs. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602. This case gave us the Lemon Test, as well as the precedent that Federally funded agencies can't engage in religious activities. This is being interpreted to extend to the display of traditional and historic religious iconography. Statues, paintings, the Pledge of Allegiance, and myriad other traditional and historic "artifacts" are coming under fire from the hard-core secular left (aka the ACLU).
In a Brief Amicus Curiae ("Friend of the Court Brief") submitted to the High Court by the American Family Association, Center for Law & Policy, the AFA makes a case (another PDF) to overturn, or at least to modify the application of, Lemon v Kurtzman.
Simply put: I agree.
Though I'm hardly a religious man (I'm passionately disinterested in the subject, in fact), I do believe that this country was, in part, founded on religious grounds - or at least the free participation and expression of religion. There are many historical religious artifacts that come to use from the past. Today, they have more historical significance than they have religious significance. I don't understand why the secular left believes it must attack such artifacts.
Get a life.
These come from me Mum:
Cows
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington. And they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.
DHR, are you listening?
Constitution
They keep talking about drafting a constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.
OUCH! Mr. Bush, are you listening?
Ten Commandments
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a Courthouse: you can't post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery," and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians! It creates a hostile work environment!
Interesting. Speaking of Constitutions...
I just read an article about a recent Pennsylvania Western Federal District Court decision (this is a PDF file) where Extreme Associates, Inc. (a company that sells adult videos and toys) was given protection under the First Amendment for their actions.
I don't necessarily support the company (notice I've not linked to them -- though pornography, the adult film industry, adult toys and videos, and the like don't cause me any angst), but I do support the decision as it furthers the idea that what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home is their business and not the business of the Law.
However, at the same time, religious icons (statues, images, etc.) are being challenged because of the overzealous application of the High Court decision Lemon vs. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602. This case gave us the Lemon Test, as well as the precedent that Federally funded agencies can't engage in religious activities. This is being interpreted to extend to the display of traditional and historic religious iconography. Statues, paintings, the Pledge of Allegiance, and myriad other traditional and historic "artifacts" are coming under fire from the hard-core secular left (aka the ACLU).
In a Brief Amicus Curiae ("Friend of the Court Brief") submitted to the High Court by the American Family Association, Center for Law & Policy, the AFA makes a case (another PDF) to overturn, or at least to modify the application of, Lemon v Kurtzman.
Simply put: I agree.
Though I'm hardly a religious man (I'm passionately disinterested in the subject, in fact), I do believe that this country was, in part, founded on religious grounds - or at least the free participation and expression of religion. There are many historical religious artifacts that come to use from the past. Today, they have more historical significance than they have religious significance. I don't understand why the secular left believes it must attack such artifacts.
Get a life.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
The Little Black Cloud strikes again
Some of you who know me well know there's a Little Black Cloud that follows me around raining annoying bad luck down upon my life. It's usually highly annoying things, sometimes catastrophic things, and these things don't seem to happen to other people. And they usually come in groups. Many of them are of my own doing, though certainly not consciously.
Like the time that I "struck down, with fierce vengeance," a pair of hapless and unwitting sunglasses.
While heading to Philly to do some work, I threw my bags into the back of an SUV, closed the tailgate and climbed into the front passenger seat. The "tailgate is a jar" light was on (and I always thought it was just a door ;-), so I hopped out to make sure that I'd closed the door tightly enough.
I opened and closed it again and still the light burned. I opened and slammed it a good one. The light shown challengingly. I realized that there must be something stuck in the door, keeping it open.
When I investigated I found the neoprene case of my $150 sunglasses hanging from my bag, right in line with the lip of the door frame. Yikes.
I lost it. I came unglued -- with laughter.
You see, these kinds of things happen to me (or I do them to myself) fairly often, and I just have to laugh them off. I have to. Or I'd go postal.
I detached the glass case from my bag, ignoring for the moment the questions from within the SUV of "What? What's so funny?" and closed the door like a normal person. The light winked out. I think it might have flickered laughingly.
I climbed back into the front seat, still giggling to myself. I told my companions that I'd found what was blocking the door. For comedic effect, I slowly poured the tiny bits of pulverized sunglasses into my hand. More laughter, this time from them.
Then there was the time I was in San Diego to do some work for ARJIS, and my laptop decided to quit. I opened an image from my digital camera and the computer froze. When I turned it off and on, it didn't recognize the hard disk. All from looking at a picture on the PC. Like thst's so dangerous to do. And like nobody else ever looks at their digi-cam shots on their computer. However, only I can trash a hard drive doing it. Only me, baby. Go figure.
Sadly, I needed that laptop to do the work I was in San Diego to do. It was almost a disaster. That time the LBC wasn't funny. I was supposed to be at the customer site the following Tuesday, and, it then being Sunday afternoon, I didn't see any pleasant solutions.
Luckily, on Monday, we found a local PC repair store that allowed us to reinstall XP on the machine (apparently this problem isn't uncommon and the folks at the store knew how to fix it - just reinstall XP. It doesn't even overwrite your previous configuration). Eventually, all was well, though I was certainly worse for the wear and tear on my psyche.
That wasn't all, though. I was staying with family in Murrieta and Monday night I headed to SD. When I got there and got my stuff out of the rental I found that I'd left my business clothes in Murrieta, hanging in my room, an hour and a half away. Time to shop -- at 8:30 in the evening, with the stores close at 9:00. I headed to Nordy's at Horton's Plaza. I knew fro their world-class reputation for services that they wouldn't kick me out promptly at sharp.
I was right. They kicked my out at 9:05, sharp. Not! Kiddking! Actually, they were very kind and very helpful.
So, when I got to the customer site, there was still more from the LBC. We (they) had terrible network problems the whole time I was there. See? There's always more.
Well, the LBC struck again last night. It came again into my life, bringing its calamitous rain and its ill wind.
Last night, the very same laptop that was with me in SD, decided to die permanently and horribly, complete with grinding sounds from the hard disk. It was ugly. Very ugly.
But, as is usually the case, these rain storms are like Ginzu knife commercials: "Wait! There's more!"
At about this same time, I was installing RedHat Linux Fedora Core 3 on my desktop machine. I wanted to be able to dual-boot it into both Linux and Windows XP. Everything seemed to go well, until the moment of truth, when I rebooted the machine: Linux wouldn't boot. Figgers.
Oh well, no big deal. Just a little lost time while I figure out why. So, I rebooted again and selected XP to load. It started out ok, then it, too, died.
So, I says to myself, I says:
"Oh. Dammit (or maybe it was something more colorful). That's not good.
"Well, at least I have Windows 98 SE. I didn't do anything to that installation. I'll boot it and fix the other two from there."
(Fwiw, I wasn't talking to myself. I was talking to Spaz, who was snoozing disinterestedly behind me)
Like I said: "Wait! There's more!" There always is.
I reset the machine, chose Windows 98 to load and it started out OK... Then Windows 98 died.
"SHIT," I says (or maybe it was something more colorful).
Now I'm starting to worry a bit.
While all of this was happening, the laptop, sitting quietly in it's docking station, started being not-so-quiet. So I undocked it and booted it. The screen just said: "No hard disk or optical drives found." Oh-oh.
So, I booted it from a disk of recovery software, which started up just fine. I told the software to fix the disk. This went OK for about five minutes, then the noises got worse and finally, the grinding ground into stillness. Quiet. An ominous hush. No sounds except for the whir of the little fans inside the laptop.
I think I again said, "SHIT!" (or maybe it was something more colorful).
So, there I sat, with no working computers in the house (my original Linux box had died a couple of months ago). I'm starting to feel withdrawal symptoms. No web. No email. No IM. No Python. No Java. No Eclipse. NO C-O-M-P-U-T-E-R-S!!! Aaaaaagh!
I started trying to recover the Windows 98 and Windows XP installations. I also run some diagnostic tests on the laptop.
"Wait! There's more!'
I needed to be able to boot to some utilities on a floppy, so I created a boot disk. I picked up my handy, dandy P-Touch label maker (one of those things that makes the little black-on-white plastic labels), punched in "Windows 98 Boot Disk," clicked Print and...
...the little machine ate the label. It whirred and clicked and made brave little printing sounds, but no label came out.
NOW it was time for the laughter. It finally occurred to me that the LBC was hard at work making fodder for my blog.
But, as I said: "Wait! There's more!"
Oh, yes. There's more. There always is.
This morning I called Dell about the laptop. The technician I spoke with started to complain about her system being slow. Still, we were able to muddle through the process and we almost completed the call. Almost. Just as we were about wrap up the call, she exclaimed:
"Oh, NO! My system just crashed!"
Oh, yes. Crashed. Done. Kapoot. Yeah, baby. The LBC can travel through the phone lines. Das whad I'm talkin' about!
I just laughed. Hard. I think this offended the technician. However, by the time I explained to her about the LBC, the glasses, and my prior evening, she was laughing, too. You just have to laugh.
Or you'd go postal.
The LBC is real. And it can reach through the telephone and destroy other peoples' lives who get embroiled in my embroglios [sic].
So, if I ever call you up to help me out of an unfortunate situation, you may want to think twice before agreeing. You might get rained on. In fact, you should probably just hang up on me. It would be safer for you if you did.
Like the time that I "struck down, with fierce vengeance," a pair of hapless and unwitting sunglasses.
While heading to Philly to do some work, I threw my bags into the back of an SUV, closed the tailgate and climbed into the front passenger seat. The "tailgate is a jar" light was on (and I always thought it was just a door ;-), so I hopped out to make sure that I'd closed the door tightly enough.
I opened and closed it again and still the light burned. I opened and slammed it a good one. The light shown challengingly. I realized that there must be something stuck in the door, keeping it open.
When I investigated I found the neoprene case of my $150 sunglasses hanging from my bag, right in line with the lip of the door frame. Yikes.
I lost it. I came unglued -- with laughter.
You see, these kinds of things happen to me (or I do them to myself) fairly often, and I just have to laugh them off. I have to. Or I'd go postal.
I detached the glass case from my bag, ignoring for the moment the questions from within the SUV of "What? What's so funny?" and closed the door like a normal person. The light winked out. I think it might have flickered laughingly.
I climbed back into the front seat, still giggling to myself. I told my companions that I'd found what was blocking the door. For comedic effect, I slowly poured the tiny bits of pulverized sunglasses into my hand. More laughter, this time from them.
Then there was the time I was in San Diego to do some work for ARJIS, and my laptop decided to quit. I opened an image from my digital camera and the computer froze. When I turned it off and on, it didn't recognize the hard disk. All from looking at a picture on the PC. Like thst's so dangerous to do. And like nobody else ever looks at their digi-cam shots on their computer. However, only I can trash a hard drive doing it. Only me, baby. Go figure.
Sadly, I needed that laptop to do the work I was in San Diego to do. It was almost a disaster. That time the LBC wasn't funny. I was supposed to be at the customer site the following Tuesday, and, it then being Sunday afternoon, I didn't see any pleasant solutions.
Luckily, on Monday, we found a local PC repair store that allowed us to reinstall XP on the machine (apparently this problem isn't uncommon and the folks at the store knew how to fix it - just reinstall XP. It doesn't even overwrite your previous configuration). Eventually, all was well, though I was certainly worse for the wear and tear on my psyche.
That wasn't all, though. I was staying with family in Murrieta and Monday night I headed to SD. When I got there and got my stuff out of the rental I found that I'd left my business clothes in Murrieta, hanging in my room, an hour and a half away.
I was right. They kicked my out at 9:05, sharp. Not! Kiddking! Actually, they were very kind and very helpful.
So, when I got to the customer site, there was still more from the LBC. We (they) had terrible network problems the whole time I was there. See? There's always more.
Well, the LBC struck again last night. It came again into my life, bringing its calamitous rain and its ill wind.
Last night, the very same laptop that was with me in SD, decided to die permanently and horribly, complete with grinding sounds from the hard disk. It was ugly. Very ugly.
But, as is usually the case, these rain storms are like Ginzu knife commercials: "Wait! There's more!"
At about this same time, I was installing RedHat Linux Fedora Core 3 on my desktop machine. I wanted to be able to dual-boot it into both Linux and Windows XP. Everything seemed to go well, until the moment of truth, when I rebooted the machine: Linux wouldn't boot.
Oh well, no big deal. Just a little lost time while I figure out why. So, I rebooted again and selected XP to load. It started out ok, then it, too, died.
So, I says to myself, I says:
"Oh. Dammit (or maybe it was something more colorful). That's not good.
"Well, at least I have Windows 98 SE. I didn't do anything to that installation. I'll boot it and fix the other two from there."
(Fwiw, I wasn't talking to myself. I was talking to Spaz, who was snoozing disinterestedly behind me)
Like I said: "Wait! There's more!" There always is.
I reset the machine, chose Windows 98 to load and it started out OK... Then Windows 98 died.
"SHIT," I says (or maybe it was something more colorful).
Now I'm starting to worry a bit.
While all of this was happening, the laptop, sitting quietly in it's docking station, started being not-so-quiet. So I undocked it and booted it. The screen just said: "No hard disk or optical drives found." Oh-oh.
So, I booted it from a disk of recovery software, which started up just fine. I told the software to fix the disk. This went OK for about five minutes, then the noises got worse and finally, the grinding ground into stillness. Quiet. An ominous hush. No sounds except for the whir of the little fans inside the laptop.
I think I again said, "SHIT!" (or maybe it was something more colorful).
So, there I sat, with no working computers in the house (my original Linux box had died a couple of months ago). I'm starting to feel withdrawal symptoms. No web. No email. No IM. No Python. No Java. No Eclipse. NO C-O-M-P-U-T-E-R-S!!! Aaaaaagh!
I started trying to recover the Windows 98 and Windows XP installations. I also run some diagnostic tests on the laptop.
"Wait! There's more!'
I needed to be able to boot to some utilities on a floppy, so I created a boot disk. I picked up my handy, dandy P-Touch label maker (one of those things that makes the little black-on-white plastic labels), punched in "Windows 98 Boot Disk," clicked Print and...
...the little machine ate the label. It whirred and clicked and made brave little printing sounds, but no label came out.
NOW it was time for the laughter. It finally occurred to me that the LBC was hard at work making fodder for my blog.
But, as I said: "Wait! There's more!"
Oh, yes. There's more. There always is.
This morning I called Dell about the laptop. The technician I spoke with started to complain about her system being slow. Still, we were able to muddle through the process and we almost completed the call. Almost. Just as we were about wrap up the call, she exclaimed:
"Oh, NO! My system just crashed!"
Oh, yes. Crashed. Done. Kapoot. Yeah, baby. The LBC can travel through the phone lines. Das whad I'm talkin' about!
I just laughed. Hard. I think this offended the technician. However, by the time I explained to her about the LBC, the glasses, and my prior evening, she was laughing, too. You just have to laugh.
Or you'd go postal.
The LBC is real. And it can reach through the telephone and destroy other peoples' lives who get embroiled in my embroglios [sic].
So, if I ever call you up to help me out of an unfortunate situation, you may want to think twice before agreeing. You might get rained on. In fact, you should probably just hang up on me. It would be safer for you if you did.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
New Wiki Software coming soon
If you look above this entry, to the right of the site logo, you see two links: "wiki" and "obx."
These two link will take you to an installation of FlexWiki that lives on this site.
The version installed now is old and rickety, and I installed it more as a test than anything else.
FlexWiki has been "taken over" by Microsoft as an Open Source project at SourceForge. In the past few weeks there have been updates and fixes and stuff.
I'll be installing that new version soon (I've just downloaded it to install at home for testing). When it's up and running, I'll be notifying those of you in the family who will be interested in the Outer Banks links. I'm going to install a bit of security on some of those pages so we can share emails and what-not. This will keep them safe from EmailHarvesters.
Stay tuned. More to follow soon.
These two link will take you to an installation of FlexWiki that lives on this site.
The version installed now is old and rickety, and I installed it more as a test than anything else.
FlexWiki has been "taken over" by Microsoft as an Open Source project at SourceForge. In the past few weeks there have been updates and fixes and stuff.
I'll be installing that new version soon (I've just downloaded it to install at home for testing). When it's up and running, I'll be notifying those of you in the family who will be interested in the Outer Banks links. I'm going to install a bit of security on some of those pages so we can share emails and what-not. This will keep them safe from EmailHarvesters.
Stay tuned. More to follow soon.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Interesting Site: LearningToLoveYouMore.com
I just found this very interesting site: www.LearningToLoveYouMore.com.
Actually, I didn't find it. I was pointed to it from Ana Voog's Live Journal.
Nonetheless, it's an interesting site.
I'm thinking about doing assignment #44 (Create and submit your own LTLYM assignment). Something to do with photography, email and friends in different cities. Still pondering the particulars.
Actually, I didn't find it. I was pointed to it from Ana Voog's Live Journal.
Nonetheless, it's an interesting site.
I'm thinking about doing assignment #44 (Create and submit your own LTLYM assignment). Something to do with photography, email and friends in different cities. Still pondering the particulars.
Friday, February 04, 2005
What's wrong with C|Net?
C|Net (http://www.cnet.com/). It used to be one of my favorites sites for things technological and computorial. Alas, not no mo'.
The last few times I've been there, it's been a horrid mess of broken image links. The site is drain-bamaged without its images. Everything I know about web design says that your site should be usable without images. The reasons are three-fold:
So, here' s what you get when you browse C|Net with FireFox, Opera and Internet Explorer (note that these images have been optimized for the web [i.e., lower resolution, etc.] to make them download faster, so the text is a bit smudged):
FireFox
Opera
Internet Explorer (Sorry, no link to IE at Microsoft. I can't actively support IE anymore. FireFox rocks. IE sucks. )
Now, at first I thought it might be FireFox. However you can plainly see that C|Net is an equal opportunity offender.
Now, I suspect the reason this is happening is that the images are downloading from a 3rd-party image server and my browser or firewall software is blocking them. For instance, the big image in the upper left cornet, which I think is their logo, comes from this location: http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/hd/fd-redball.gif.
I tried to include an image of this link, but it won't work. At all. The site isn't responding. What's that about? In the first pass over this entry, I'd written some speculations about my browser or my firewall software interfering with the images. I expanded on the paragraph above. However, it appears that the site just flat don't work. Or maybe it does, and there's something going on at my end to prevent it from working.... Whatever. Don't know. Don't care.
Whatever the reason for the broken links, I refuse to go past that home page. I tried it once. Yikes! Give it a shot. Click on any of the links on the home page. Like, say, the Cell Phones link in the left column of links. What a nightmare.
So, C|Net, if you're listening: fix your site. Because I'm not going to stop by to see you until you do.
Anyone else who does web page design take note: this is exactly how visitor to your site react when your site is broken. They go elsewhere. A word to the wise.... (also here and here, though the latter [Bartlett's] attributes Cervantes.)
The last few times I've been there, it's been a horrid mess of broken image links. The site is drain-bamaged without its images. Everything I know about web design says that your site should be usable without images. The reasons are three-fold:
- Accessibility. Not everyone who uses computers is sighted. Fact of life. A well-designed site takes this into account. And C|Net is big. Very big. Millions of visitors hit that site every year. Statistically, some of them have to be vision-impaired (or maybe they gave up and don't go there anymore).
After looking at the site without images, trying to use ALT tags and TITLE tags to ferret out what the broken image links point to, I've reached a conclusion: cnet.com is, at best rude in this respect. At worst, they're downright disrespectful. I feel for anyone who visits that site who's vision impaired.
Get a social conscience, C|Net. Fix your site. (like my site is the paragon of accessibility. "Let he who is without sin...") - Performance. In this day of ever-expanding broadband use, through cable modems, DSL and other options, this is less a problem than it used to be. "Back in the day," when Mosaic ruled the web, people actually turned off images in their browsers to make pages load faster. It was not uncommon, way, way back in the Internet Dark Ages of the mid-90's, to turn off images in your browser. It made for an Improved User Experience Lordy! It took me forever to find a short, lucid description of "User Experience." What does that say about an industry (User Experience Design) that claims to know about enhancing the user experience that can't even clearly define its own business....?
At that time, even though HTML 1.0 didn't have much in the way of gold-plating to bloat up pages like it does now, the 'Net's pipes were all tiny and loading a bunch of images could take some time. Especially when we surfed from home; those pipes were downright miniscule by today's standards. Remember 4800 and 9600 Kb modems?.
Many people still use dial-up (like my Mom, who refuses to move to DSL or Cable modem -- fodder for another rant), but I don't think anyone turns off images anymore. Now they just grouse about how slow the web is (ah-hem... Mom!).
Back In The Day, pages had to be designed for use with images turned off. Obviously, the web designers at cnet.com forgot about this little design guideline. - usability. This is actually Reason Numero Uno, at least from the perspective of someone running a website who wants to stay in business. Actually, both reasons 1 and 2 are specific instances of usability. When C|Net's images go away, usability of this site plummets. It's downright sucky, actually. I'll go someplace else before trying to make sense of that mess. Someplace like PC Magazine's site.
So, here' s what you get when you browse C|Net with FireFox, Opera and Internet Explorer (note that these images have been optimized for the web [i.e., lower resolution, etc.] to make them download faster, so the text is a bit smudged):
FireFox
Opera
Internet Explorer (Sorry, no link to IE at Microsoft. I can't actively support IE anymore. FireFox rocks. IE sucks. )
Now, at first I thought it might be FireFox. However you can plainly see that C|Net is an equal opportunity offender.
Now, I suspect the reason this is happening is that the images are downloading from a 3rd-party image server and my browser or firewall software is blocking them. For instance, the big image in the upper left cornet, which I think is their logo, comes from this location: http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/hd/fd-redball.gif.
I tried to include an image of this link, but it won't work. At all. The site isn't responding. What's that about? In the first pass over this entry, I'd written some speculations about my browser or my firewall software interfering with the images. I expanded on the paragraph above. However, it appears that the site just flat don't work. Or maybe it does, and there's something going on at my end to prevent it from working.... Whatever. Don't know. Don't care.
Whatever the reason for the broken links, I refuse to go past that home page. I tried it once. Yikes! Give it a shot. Click on any of the links on the home page. Like, say, the Cell Phones link in the left column of links. What a nightmare.
So, C|Net, if you're listening: fix your site. Because I'm not going to stop by to see you until you do.
Anyone else who does web page design take note: this is exactly how visitor to your site react when your site is broken. They go elsewhere. A word to the wise.... (also here and here, though the latter [Bartlett's] attributes Cervantes.)
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