November 2005 Archives
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"incompetent design."
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The new red/blue map
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more data on the bush titanic
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bill o'reilly has a list
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automated deployment? sweet!
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one layout to bind them
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why I hate us
Just a reminder to myself to let the "conservative" commenters at Libertas know that big media companies donate to Democrats because they are buying copyright laws to protect their business model.
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laugh, cry, it's better than Cats
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eos rebels fan site
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lighthttpd+(rails app * x)
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another windows ssh walkthough
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free scott adams book
That's right. Today is the first day that I'm available for hire as a Technology Pundit™ and/or Technology Analyst™. I prefer 'pundit' because too many people think 'analysts' are the people who write "white papers" or just make up stuff about companies that are traded on the stock markets.
First, some reason I may not be right for your publication, podcast, vidcast, and/or TV show:
- I have no previous published works other than this weblog.
- I have no professional references.
Now some reasons I may be perfect for your publication, podcast, vidcast, and/or TV show:
- I understand more about © and Creative Commons than John Dvorak.
- I understand more about the internets than John Dvorak.
- I understand more about DRM than John Dvorak.
- I understand more about Apple than John Dvorak.
- I understand more about Microsoft than John Dvorak.
- I understand more about Linux than John Dvorak.
Yes, there is a certain pattern in my strengths and that is that I understand a lot of stuff. So if you're looking for somebody who actually understands the stuff they talk and/or write about, I'm your man.
Contact: pberry at gmail.com
Some concepts are easy to get. Like "FIRE BAD!" It's very simple, to the point, and easy to convey. Then there are some concepts that are very hard, like free speech and freedom of religion. They are so hard the people who founded this country wrote down the basics of them so we could always refer back and make sure we still had it right.
But as people with power are wont to do, they are gaming the system. I'm specifically referring to Jerry Falwell's "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign." If you want to read more about the he said, she said part of it, feel free. Either way I will assume that you, like myself, feel that Falwell is a jackass and continue on in such a fashion.
Falwell knows he has a lot of power, as does his brand of Christianity. He convinces people that they are under attack and/or becoming a minority to get his folks fightin' mad and to demand the protections provided in the Constitution. And by "protection" I mean "preference" -- which as you know is specifically not how the Constitution describes freedom of religion. In other words, they want freedom for their religion at the expense of other religions. To them, that is more than fair since they are "under attack." If you say they aren't under attack, well, you're attacking them and you're going to Hell. Yippee!
For a while I was worried when various brands and braches of "faith" started seeking to weaken freedom of religion, as envisioned by the Consitution. Because even though it appeared to be a group effort, it would end up with one at the top getting more play than the others. Which would seem to me to be the exact opposite of freedom of religion.
So once again, lets think all the way back to jr. high and remember that yes, our founders were "people of faith" and even predominatly Christian -- who were repressed by the Church of England. So they bailed and found a place where they could practice their faith their way. Then when we became a country we thought it would be a good idea if the State didn't get to have a religion so it wouldn't feel it necessary to to crap on all the others.
BRILLIANT!
So, in my opinion, either Falwell and his ilk never made it past jr. high or they are playing people for fools.
I dig 37 Signals. I read their weblog. I buy their books. I use their sites. They're smart cookies.
Except when they aren't.
If you ask people who think you suck to express how much they think you suck, you should expect the obvious. But, I guess not.
I'm sorry, but the "jump the shark" post was literally asking for non-productive "noise" to be posted. I know that turning comments off have been a while in the making, but this was clearly the straw to the camel's back.
Honestly, I don't care. I don't go there to read comments. In fact, I'm fed up with "community" sites. I should say that I'm fed up with certain aspects of these sites, mainly the asshats who use them to try and make a name for themselves. Think "first post!" and I think you get my drift.
I, for one, will welcome our new comment-less SVN overlords.
There was a time when I was the "music guy." People would come to me when they wanted to find new music because they knew that 1) I listened to a lot of music and 2) I would be able to give them something that they liked based on what I knew about them. I am no longer that guy.
Music used to be about buying physical objects, be it tapes, vinyl, or CDs. The radio never really came into it because the radio always played crap. I never really got into the Napster scene. Sure, I would try and find out of print or live stuff, but if it was available for sale I wanted to buy it. Not because I felt obligated to give the RIAA money, but because I wanted the best possible source for the music I wanted to listen to. I was like an audiophile without the expensive equipment.
But now, when there are so many ways to get music I've stopped buying. Not completely of course. I have hundreds of tracks that I bought through iTunes. CDs are just outrageously priced and I buy very few of them these days. Only for bands that mean something to me, like the Pixies for instance -- who are selling live concert discs themselves!
But enough about them, this post was about me and how out of touch I am. What amazes me the most is that my separation from music came from many of the same reasons as the generations before me. Specifically, technology. This bothers me because I've kept up with technology better than my mom did. But just understanding the technology didn't keep me in touch with the music, which is sad because there are a lot of really good bands out there today.
Which brings me to a small list of bands that you're probably already heard that I'm only now discovering.
- Blo
gc Party - When I hear this band I think this is where I wanted Blur to go after Parklife. Amazing stuff. Melodic. Rocking. Thickly accented. It's got it all. - The Bravery - a less annoying version of The Killers
- Franz Ferdinand - Yes, I'm just now getting to them. Shut up.
- Ladytron - 'Destroy Everything You Touch' constantly intrudes on my daily thoughts.
Another reason that I've become detached from music is that I have an aversion to hype. It's not that I wont like something because it's popular, I just tend to not like things that get popular. And by "popular" I do mean top 40/TRL material. I need to find me from ten years ago and ask for new music.
Penny Arcade, in addition to bringing profanity to the masses, is doing some very cool charity work with children's hospitals. You can buy off Amazon wish lists setup by the hospital or drop some PayPal love on them.
Eventually, I hope, Democrats will pull their heads out of their political ass and get serious about running campaigns. I'm not saying Democrats need to cheat, but they at least have to have the same caliber of players on the field. A documentary of Ohio in 2004 shows that the Kerry team didn't think it was important enough to get serious people into Ohio. It's not like he didn't have the cash either. I don't get it. I just don't.
In celebration of the Flying Spaghetti Monster book, I suggest you convert now and avoid the rush.
Pastafarianism benefits:
- Flimsy moral standards.
- Every friday is a relgious holiday. If your work/school objects to that, demand your religious beliefs are respected and threaten to call the ACLU.
- Our heaven is WAY better. We've got a Stripper Factory AND a Beer Volcano.
Hard to beat that.
But while we're on the topic of "intelligent design," lets talk about Kansas. And by "talk," I do mean "laugh at." President Bush wants science students to hear "both sides" so they "know what the debate is about." Once again, our Dear Leader is wrong. There are more than two sides, as the "Christian God" version of ID clearly conflict with the Flying Spaghetti Monster version of ID. This part of the debate is critical, as one of the Kansas School Board members spreads it out in a nutshell:
Member Kenneth Willard accused the scientific establishment of having "blind faith in evolution." He told his colleagues during a 45-minute debate that the anti-evolution view is more intellectually honest.
Now, I don't know which ID version Mr WIllard is coming from (he is not pictured in the WaPo story and so I can't tell if he is in pirate regalia or not) and that is critically important to the debate, as I'm sure the president would agree. We want to know all sides, don't we?
So we Californians have a special election tomorrow. It was initially conceived when our governor had a bit better standing with the fine citizens of our state. It's all fallen apart now. To me it looks like a mash-up of a boondoggle and a power grab.
Lets start with the power grab. Prop 75 is grade-A BS. Why do the voters get to determine how union dues are used? Shouldn't that be up to...you know...union members? Does any other private group need to get written permission from every member before spending money on their behalf? As a shareholder of a few companies I don't remember ever having to do this. It's a pretty standard GOP move in my opinion. You see, "reform" has to happen somewhere, so it might as well be where we can screw over traditional Democratic institutions.
Now the boondoggle. Big Pharma is behind most of the creepy prescription initiatives. I'm not saying everything they do is wrong or evil...I'm just sayin' they might not have the interests of people who need medicine at the top of their list. I'm pretty sure "maximizing shareholder value" is at the top of the list. Funny how they don't mention that in all their TV ads.
Once again the most depressing thing about California politics is how we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot with our initiative process. It's just stupid. Ask Arnold what his thoughts on the process were before he put his own idiotic initiatives up. He blamed the process for our current budget fiasco that he promised to solve. Well, at least he was right about one thing.
You can check out a progressive voter guide if you need help deciding.
Lately Kat and I (mostly Kat) have been doing projects to improve the "look and feel" of our home. This includes lots of painting. Recently the living room got the full treatment: walls, ceiling, trim, moulding, and doors. We moved everything out to make the painting easier. We (and by "we" I mean "me') also put in new light switches and outlets. I hate working with electricity and wiring, mostly because I never studied that chapter in physics class.
Anyway, we put everything back and Kat's iPod dock is hooked up to the stereo, but the sound is horrible and there is a hum. "Oh crap," I thought to myself. I screwed up the wiring! We're all doomed! But then I calmed down and decided to apply some science. How did I know it was the wiring, besides having no confidence in my own ability to do it right? How did I know it wasn't the dock itself, which was Kat's suggestion? I didn't. So a battery of test, blind and double blind were developed and forgotten about. Instead I called up Scott and asked if he could bring over his dock to test a "known good" and sure enough his dock sounded great and didn't have that creepy hum.
Scott: Well, that's good news.
Me: Yeah, I don't have to try and figure out where I went wrong in the wiring.
Scott: No, we get to take it apart now.
Me: I better get my camera.
Pre-disection
Inside The Dock
Top-down View
In the interest of full disclosure I should point out that I was too much of a pansy to pry it open. Scott handled that.
Without a hint of irony I can tell you that Mark Pilgrim's Remote Mac HOWTO is the best (read: easiest to understand) tutorial for using all the cool ssh tools on Windows that I have seen.
Not much goin' on, but there are a few small items to get out there before I forget them.
Ryan is excited! How excited is he? I'm glad you asked. He's so excited, he wrote about his NY trip.
While it's quite clear, and really always has been, that Americans don't like abortion, they generally don't think it should be illegal either.
The musings about torture being the canary in the coal mine really don't say enough about how wrong we are. We are so wrong, we're using Soviet-era prisons. Do the words "Evil Empire" ring a bell? I would hope that to any sane person there would be nothing to justify this insanity.
Last, but never least, we have a Giblets rant.
Oh how Giblets longs for the good old days of seven months ago, when the stately Bill Frist held court over an emergency session to prolong the life of the famously vegetative, or when the august Rick Santorum compared gay marriage to terrorism on the Seante floor! Instead we must endure the pernicious and terrible tricks of Harry Reid, Mormon from Hell, as he hijacks America's upper house in some petty quest for Congressional oversight!
What can I say. The munky abides.
