January 2004 Archives
I started reading Quicksilver in October of 2003. Today, I finished it.
Since Quicksilver is the first volume of the Baroque Cycle, the ending of Quicksilver leaves you much like the ending of Fellowship of the Ring.
I don't want to be rash in my review, but the Shaftoe stories are the only ones that kept my interest. Quite unlike Cryptonomicon in that sense, for me at least. In that tome, the Waterhouse stories were my favorites.
I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to the next volume or not. I guess I know when I get it and start reading.
The Confusion : Volume Two of The Baroque Cycle. It's on pre-order now. Ships in April.
Boy the yuks just don't stop coming today. It must be Friday. I do know that if I set this monstrosity up for my grandma she would beat me into a pulp.
- She likes to type letters on her computer, so for word processing I gave her OpenOffice, KOffice, AbiWord, Emacs and Vi to choose from.
- I set up X-Chat to connect her to my favorite IRC network for warez, and as a courtesy I installed WineX so she can run Windows games if she wants.
- So that she doesn't get bored with the look of the system, I set up cron jobs that change the desktop theme and widget set for her every day.
- My mom also said that Grandma signed up for Internet access with her cable company already, which is great because that means I can get her subscribed to a Usenet LUG where she can post her questions and file bug reports if she discovers any.
I think this crosses a line somewhere. I'm not sure what line. But it must cross some line.
The Onion mocking Bush/Cheney '04? BRILLIANT!
"After years of false statements and empty promises, it's time for big changes in Washington," Bush said. "We need a president who will finally stand up and fight against the lies and corruption. It's time to renew the faith the people once had in the White House. If elected, I pledge to usher in a new era of integrity inside the Oval Office."
Oh man.
"A credibility gap has opened between the Oval Office and America," Bush said. "The public hears talk, but they don't see any result. But if you choose me as your next president, the promises I make in my inaugural address will actually mean something. The president of this country will be held accountable for his promises, starting Jan. 20 of next year." (emphasis mine)
Update: Greg Kucharo ads this gem via irc:
"This government is clinically incapable of providing accurate information on practically everything."
Dilbert gets a wave of a paw again. I can't tell you how much this hits the spot for me today. The first appearance I know of is way back in 1996.
Dogbert:
From now on, I will not try to reason with the idiots I encounter. I will dismiss them by waving my paw and saying "bah."
Best. Advice. Ever.
The 76th Academy Awards nominations are out. For 'Actor in a leading role' Johnny Depp and Bill Murray are my favorites. Bill Murray is a great actor, and even though Lost in Translation wasn't great, he did shine. I though The Station Agent was a much better indie movie. It's just nice to see these guys get credit for actually, you know, acting. Pirates of the Caribbean at the Oscars...whodathunkit?
Richard Perle is going to be on The Daily Show tonight.
You know, military spending makes so much more sense when you put in terms of cookies. What will the leftist 5th column think of next?!?!
"The Republican Party is the party of freedom, opportunity, lower taxes, and strong national security. And our policies are working. The reason Democrats are shaking their heads and finding themselves so tepid is because Americans have no taste for their steady diet of stale ideas and bitter rhetoric."
Ed Gillespie
RNC Chairman
GOP Team Leader E-mail
Let's put some "bitter rhetoric" to use shall we?
- Freedom: USA PATRIOT Act (Parts I & II)
- Opportunity: As long as you deal in oil or weapons
- Lower taxes: If you make over $2 million a year
- Strong national security: Which is rotting from the inside out due, in some degree, to corporate corruption (see Boeing, Halliburton, etc.)
All of these bullet points look great by themselves. It's only when you put them in context of what has actually happened over the last three years that I feel they ring completely hollow, unless you fall into the very small group of people that actually benefit from these policies as applied by the Bush administration. Again, let me make my point very clear, these bullet points are great, I just don't feel that they are being applied to benefit most americans. I would love to feel that I am free to express my views, have great opportunities, have more money in the bank, and feel safe that Canada will never invade us.
The cats have managed to break our cable TV. Not sure how, but I'm sure they are to blame.
Orkut is quickly sweeping around the net, even though the intention, I assume, was to keep it small by making it invite only.
People are making a stink about Surfin' Safari not working with Safari. I wonder if they ever wondered if a) Hyatt even cares b) maybe the site isn't finished or c) maybe it works with his development version of Safari. They could ask...or they just just post a bunch of snarky comments about how they don't want to pay for Panther. It's a free country.
While I was gone, Howard Dean lost Iowa. Actually he got killed in Iowa. People think it's a sign and are pilling on or jumping ship. It might be. But go ahead and name the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Iowa and the nomination. The polls in Iowa had him at the top, and he got creamed. That should tell you something about polls. I'm sticking with Dean. Then I'm going to vote for whichever donkey gets the nod. I just wish the candidates would avoid firing squads, circular or otherwise. Rove is taking notes and the general election is going to be an order of magnitude worse.
As badly as I want to use MT-Subcategories I can't help but worry about how MT 3 is going to handle it. I don't want to get all jazzed on this and find out it breaks everything going forward. Ah, but what's a little template hacking?
It's official, Content Scramble System is not a secret. Bunner countersues for a billion trillion dollars.
All the talk about candidates wives is really starting to bug me.
If you don't read Cursor, you should.
If you use Movable Type and don't use the Save button, you should.
Isn't "going berserk" what pundits do?
With all that we know about Bush 43, is it a shock to anyone that he doesn't want to read your e-mail? Hell, I bet I don't want to read your e-mail either.
The fact that wars are fought to make money shouldn't shock anyone either.
Bill Gates thinks he can beat spam. He probably also thinks Windows XP is a dandy OS and that Exchange is "Enterprise-level" software. Hey, I'm just sayin'...
Bush is going to campaign on fear. The only thing I fear is four more years of this garbage. The percentage of the country that Bush governs for is incredibly small, which means that almost half the country doesn't know they are really being left out. It may be denial. Whatever it is, I hope they snap out of it before November.
Dear Spirit, get well soon.
Cory@BoingBoing: cell phone towers dressed up as trees. I was recently in Seaside (Monterey) and I saw one of these things. Big deal? It gets a little better. Next to the dressed up tower, was another undressed tower. My immediate reaction was some goofball at UC Monterey Bay was doing some control experiment with birds or something. I wish I had a photo, but it was right off the highway, my camera was in my bag, we couldn't stop, they told me they fixed it, it's not my fault!
I used to be skinny. This is me on top of Mt. Lassen some number of years back.
I don't think the iTunes Music Store RSS Generator has gotten near enough play. Can somebody cool please post this for people to see?
Oh, and I'm back from my work trip. Posts a plenty I'm sure. I can see you jumping for joy already.
So I'm going crazy waiting for Iowa to be over. The usual suspects don't have any news, nor will they until much later tonight. So I decided to call up Ryan and see what the vibe on the ground was. He sounded like he was surrounded by complete chaos and loving every second of it. Before I knew it Anna had grabbed the cell and was telling me stories faster than my phone could handle it. They are both having the time of their lives, meeting amazing people and feeling that they are making a difference.
Political junkies to the nth degree. I wish I could have made it...
The good doctor has weighed in:
Today was football, tomorrow will be Politics: the first presidential voting in Iowa, where I like Dean to win because of his consistently strong and loyal grass-roots organization and also because he did not vote for the Patriot Act, or the War in Iraq. We will see.
Technically he weighed in 6 days ago. Shhhhhh.
Music Fans Find Online Jukebox Half-Empty
Some artists, such as cerebral Brit-rockers Radiohead, believe their albums should be listened to in their entirety and will not sell them online as singles.
So sell the album as one giant mp3. Problem solved. That being said, I have a few questions about how I should listen to the new Radiohead album.
- My CD player has a random feature. Am I allowed to listen to the Radiohead album on random play?
- The inside of my car is quite noisy and I'm thinking it might interfere with the "Radiohead experience." Can I listen to it in my car?
- At home I have two small JBL speakers for my stereo, are these "Radiohead approved?"
- What household activities am I allowed to do while I listen to the new Radiohead album? I'm guessing that dusting would be okay, while vacuuming would be right out.
- Sometimes my dogs bark at cars that drive by. Must I muzzle them while I'm listening to the Radiohead album?
- Speaking of cars driving by, some can be quite loud. Should I have my street shut off to traffic while I'm listening to the Radiohead album?
- Many times people call me, should I take my phone off the hook while I'm listening to the Radiohead album?
- If my house were to catch on fire while I was listening to the Radiohead album, would I be allowed to escape certain death if it meant not hearing the whole album?
Yes. These were all ridiculous questions. But just as ridiculous as expecting somebody to listen to your music your way. People love music. Let them love your music the way they want to. If you don't want people doing that, don't publish your music. Nobody is forcing you to publish it, for money.
As I was preparing another 200×150 pixel image for the index page, I noticed that iPhoto was exporting crappy resizes.
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I've added a couple of pictures to the Winter Wonderland album. Nothing spectacular, but I like the one above. These are the same trees from the Sudden Storm series. Since they are right outside my front door, I suspect they will be in a lot of my photos. I'm lazy that way.
My buddy Ryan is in Iowa working for Howard Dean. Of course he's blogging the whole thing.
It's not everyday you get to talk to Joe Trippi, in the middle of Iowa, in the middle of a snow storm. Heh. Have fun Ryan!
As an unapologetic Warren Ellis fan-boy I'm duty bound to demand that you all read his latest Brainpowered article on how big media is dying.
This last is apparently significant enough that advertisers are reportedly gathering to negotiate a reduction in the ad rates network TV charge. And since network TV is little more than a delivery system for advertising, people are starting to run scared. To the point where Jeff Zucker at NBC has suggested the previously taboo -- that perhaps too many suits are involved in the creative process, issuing too many conflicting notes and generally pissing in the drinking water.
I haven't seen this in TV, but I've seen it in other areas, and I can assure you that too many suits are pissing in the drinking water. Using words like "accountability" and "process" to mask their sticking a finger into everybody's pies. You're a suit. Go do suit things, like figuring out how not to pay people over time. Whatever you do, do not tell creative people how to be creative.
Screw you, I'm not bitter.
Rolling Stone has posted a nice chuck of their interview with Howard Dean, The Doctor Is In. Too bad he had to share the cover with Kid Rock.
Most of the time when a big name political type goes on the Daily Show they know it's going to be fun and get some laughs and not have to deal with shouting heads like Tim Russert or Bill O'Reilly. I was just browsing the video archive on the Comedy Central site and saw that I missed Tom Daschle's visit (Real Player). I don't want to say Jon ambushed him, but he certainly didn't let him off with a fluffy repsonse on the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.
iLife will be $29 for students, faculty and staff people at educational institutions.
Very cool. Fog Creek has released the bug tracking software for UNIX. They list Mac OS X as well, but the requirements are the same, obviously: PHP and MySQL.
I can't wait to try this out.
The ACLU doesn't care about the law, or the Constitution, or what the people want. It is a fascist organization that uses lawyers instead of Panzers.
It will find a way to inflict damage on any concern that opposes its secular agenda - and it is growing in power.
I've recently formed an opinion that Bill O'Reilly suffers from some sort of mental problem. If he thinks the ACLU are fascists, I wonder what he thinks of EFF?
I swear that bloglines gets cooler every day.
Some of the comments on CAPPS are scary as hell.
It's a shame your little girl (like everyone else) didn't like the experience, but maybe next time she'll be more used to it
You try to make it sound like you were wrongly treated, or your daughter was wrongly treated in some way. The understatement of your story is that you are uncomfortable that new security measures are in effect. So, who gives? Deal with it. It's a new world for all of us. That includes you.
The answer to your question "Why can't Homeland Security tell the difference between Al Quaeda and my six-year-old daughter? " ... is that there is no difference. Your daughter may not be an evil terrorist, but in the eyes of DHS, anyone can be a terrorist.
I'm focusing on the comments that basically say "get used to it" or "why do you love terrorists turning planes into missiles?" I wish these people would read the Schneier Salon op-ed.
Security involves a tradeoff: a balance of the costs and benefits. It's clear that canceling all flights, now and forever, would eliminate the threat from air travel. But no one would ever suggest that, because the tradeoff is just too onerous. Canceling a few flights here and there seems like a good tradeoff because the results of missing a real threat are so severe. But repeatedly sounding false alarms entails security problems, too. False alarms are expensive -- in money, time, and the privacy of the passengers affected -- and they demonstrate that the "credible threats" aren't credible at all. Like the boy who cried wolf, everyone from airport security officials to foreign governments will stop taking these warnings seriously. We're relying on our allies to secure international flights; demonstrating that we can't tell terrorists from children isn't the way to inspire confidence.
Remember that hail storm? This is our back yard the next morning.
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Click through for full size (1600×1200) versions. I like the close up shots a lot.
Santa Cruz Boardwalk from the pier.
Upper Bidwell Park.
Upper Bidwell Park again.
The Daily Show has taken more than a few shots at Howard Dean for being "angry." Finally they've turned their razor wit on how the myth of this anger has reached legendary proportions. It's a Real Video link, but it's better than nothing, mostly because it's hilarious.
As Lisa is wont to say, it's the best show on television.
Some of it I even agree with! Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub has the scoop.
Schwarzenegger's budget proposal released Friday was the first not presented in a telephone book-sized document. Instead, it was offered online and in compact disc form. Most of the printed summary books, meanwhile, were on an inexpensive stock, not the glossy paper of past years. The Finance Department says this saved $98,000 and 12.2 metric tons of paper.
I have to admit, that's pretty cool.
Howard Dean's Blog for America has a small transcript snippet from campaign manager, Joe Trippi's chat with Paula Zahn. Here's my shorter translation:
ZAHN: I'm going to take things out of context and hammer Dean! Ha ha!
TRIPPI: I'm going to put them in back in context and show the people what a bad journalist you are.
ZAHN: No you aren't. I always get the last word. Let's cut to commercial break.
It's going to be a rough 11 months...
HP chief lambasts digital piracy
The chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina, launched a blistering attack on digital piracy last night, vowing to throw the full weight of her company's resources behind attempts to clamp down on illegal online file sharing.
"File sharing." I think we've long past the point where that term has any real meaning. I do lots of file sharing, not through KaZaA but through photo gallery software. I make my photos available under a Creative Commons license. These digital photos are files. I'm letting people have them. That's file sharing folks. It's legal. Carly hates illegal file sharing.
I was given an 10 GB iPod, the kind with no FireWire cover and a spinning wheel. The battery recently decided it was going to say it was charged and then only play for 3 minutes. This is LTO.
I'm pretty sure I saw a post on Boing Boing about how all that was needed to fix this in the old iPods was to disconnect the battery and then reconnect it. The only problem is cracking the damn thing open.
Luckily the nice folks who sell replacement batteries also have the docs online for how to get the case open. So I followed them to get the case open, disconnected the battery, re-connected it, closed the case, and prayed.
The iPod still plays and I have normal battery capacity again. For how long will be the next big question.
That's right kids. Check out David Frum and Richard Perle on Fresh Air. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but I have to wonder if Perle gets all huffy and walks out like a child having a temper tantrum.
DVD Jon has cracked the iTunes DRM scheme, on Windows at least. DRM will always get cracked, insert argument about how useless DRM is to preventing piracy and how then it's only conceivable function is to annoy paying customers here. Although my prediction of it not being cracked until iTunes was available on Windows was correct. No, I never posted it, but you can ask Fred about it.
With MacWorld launching tomorrow, it will be interesting to see what reaction, if any, Apple has. After what happened to Adobe I hope they don't think they can get away with suing the guy.
I know the Safari team is working on caching problems, but I'm posting this just so I can trackback the issue. I've started up again with the hosted amazon ads. They run in an iframe. I have some code the randomly spits out a chunk of html, but Safari (1.1.1 v100.1) seems to cache the contents of the iframe. I would hazard a guess that since the src of the iframe is always to the same domain and is only differentiated by the query string, that might have something to do with it. It's probably already fixed in an internal version.
(7 MB QuickTime movie)
I was accused the other day of having fallen into the "classic socialist trap" of assuming that only government can provide 'service X.' The accuser then when on to explain that while it may be true for some services, it is not true for all services.
I felt like I was be accused of being someone I didn't even know.
My friend Adam was kind enough to upload some of the pictures he shot at our New Years party. I was not a person to be trifled with that night. I should have just knocked him out and horked his camera.
That being said, it was a very fun night. Two games of Trivial Pursuit were played, one Genus (the original) and one 20th Anniversary. The women won both games, but not by much. The guys are getting smarter, or the women are getting dumber. Maybe they just pity us. Who knows.
There are more pictures, but out of some odd sense of privacy they are not in a public forum. I'll try and excerpt out some of the more innocuous ones.
