Flutterby™! From 2000-07-01 to 2000-07-31

Okay, if everything goes right with this software update there'll a few bugs fixed and one new feature: Comments now have a change history, so if someone's been editing themselves you can see how. Also, to those with entry capabilities, the second one-line thingie is the primary URL of the entry so that other discussion forii can get the number of comments we've got on a given topic, a step towards better syndication of the user participation.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

A clever little weasly way of snooping on you. You what bothers me is this is the kind of thing being developed/invented by my peers (Gen X). The next group is going to playing around with gene sequencers manipulating bacteria & viruses. I must be getting old, because Gen Y is starting to scare me..... Hey you kids! Get off my lawn!

[ related topics: Children and growing up ]

In a belated celebration of Dan's birthday last week, I tried to find the post to Usenet that got Dan a job offer at Pixar - dragging him kicking and screaming out of Chattanooga... Or was that kicking and screaming at him in drag... Anyhow, the search would have been easier if a guy named Marcin Jagodzinski hadn't used Dan's quote, "XML is basically the subset of SGML that Microsoft's developers could understand," as a signature on his posts. Unfortunately, DejaNews is reconfiguring their historical archives and you can't pull up anything more than a year old. What's scary is that just one years' worth of posts generates 392 hits on 'Dan Lyke' (divided about 1/2 between Dan's posts and Marcin's posts with Dan's quote).

[ related topics: Pixar Interactive Drama Web development Content Management Animation Microsoft ]

I've got a friend who's finding the whole "sovereign citizen" pitch appealing. And I have to admit I haven't heard this person get specific about things that might actually land 'em in jail, but the whole thing feels like watching someone hang out with those kids who smoke in front of the liquor store; it's not like I can put my finger on what's gonna go wrong, but... Since I haven't heard the full pitch I've looked around a bit and found sites like the World Government Web which has a FAQ that recommends actions that look a bit like standing on a hill with an upraised umbrella during an electrical storm, which, of course, led me to the U.S. Constitution, the tax protester hall of fame, and useful cases for fighting sovereign defendant cases.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Politics Web development ]

Via Marginalia (which I just discovered, and find a lot in common with the author of), Octavo Marginalia: Aspects of Authorship, Conservation and Book Design and Construction.

[ related topics: Web development Books ]

A fix (hmmmm... mistyped that as "fux" on my first try... who was Freud?) that I hope works: "email my password" should now work, and the login screen now has a "remember me on this browser for 10 years" checkbox. Tell me if they don't work for you. Oh yeah, while we're talking about features, up in that top menu that everyone skips: The "new messages" link. Feel free to use it...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Why Didn't I think of this? Wireless Porn

[ related topics: Web development Wireless Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Sleeping with the Enemy Marc Andreesen of Loudcloud

[ related topics: Web development ]

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

[ related topics: Religion Politics Web development ]

Charlene has been complaining about some of my attitudes towards kids recently, notably my claim that duct tape is vastly underrated as a child-rearing aid. An Argentine teacher gagged 70 students, sounds like a woman after my own heart: "But some parents defended the state school teacher, saying she did a good job and that sticking up their noisy kids' mouths with tape was just a game."

[ related topics: Children and growing up Games Dan's Life ]

I hate to cross-post, especially when it's just a band, but I really like these guys (as embarassing as it may be!). Maybe it's because I was a C64 user and not an Atari user.

The Scotch Night crowd went to see The Patriot last night. Wow, was that movie lame. Melodrama at its most forced. Bad dialog. Cinematography that dragged my attention kicking and screaming towards the empty spaces. Historical and technical inaccuracies that just shattered any illusion of believability. And it was freakin' long. I wish we'd read Ed Johnson-Ott's review of The Patriot. Todd's a little more forgiving, so maybe he'll pipe in here, but a popular sentiment as we were leaving was "maybe we should have gone to see Big Momma's House after all"... From Salon's dissection of the violence of the movie: "If the Nazis had won the war in Europe, and their propaganda ministry had decided to make a film about the American Revolution, "The Patriot" is exactly the movie you could expect to see -- minus the computer-generated effects, of course. (Doubters should take a look at Goebbels' pre-Pearl Harbor efforts at inflaming isolationist Anglophobia.)"

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

The new RISKS digest tells the interesting tale of an Oregon newspaper that published the winning lottery numbers 4 hours before they were drawn, some notes about Daylight Savings Time in Australia, CDs shattering in high speed drives, and the usual software and systems failures.

[ related topics: Web development Music ]

I get a great deal of personal satisfaction watching Netpliance getting the negative press it worked so hard to earn. When I look at their home page I find myself wondering if a digital artist removed the skyscraper windows behind the people jumping?? you might enjoy the Cnet Article or if you do a search for them on "my latest favorite site" FuCKED CoMPANY

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development Microsoft ]

The Fucked Company thread on dorkiest CEOs.

After this morning's hike (Marin headlands from Fort Cronkite, once again I'm totally amazed at the wildflowers this year) I spent an hour or two repairing a door frame that got busted when Catherine had locked herself out of her apartment. Something I learned: They make replacement parts for door frame repairs. Despite the fact that this is just a few standard cuts on otherwise stock wood, they are totally worth any extra cost. What I thought was gonna be the fitting and shaping project from hell was almost trivial.

[ related topics: Dan's Life ]

Save that ol clunker PC NUG30 solved .Hmm if the Seti guys were as smart as the ones at Northwestern, we would be talking to ET by now.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development ]

Can I just say that Matt Drudge has a keen grasp of the obvious? Yes, Steve's interested in Eisner's job. Duh. And yes, it's fairly obvious that Eisner's going to have to pick a successor who's not from the Disney ranks because he's singularly good at promoting the Ed McMahon/Vice Presidential types, and that the easiest way for an outsider to take the reigns politically would be by merging with large entitites that have distinct corporate cultures that are still compatible with the Disney ethos, and that Pixar and Apple (minus the old technical acumen...) qualify.

[ related topics: Pixar Apple Computer Animation ]

Okay, KQED gets a membership renewal from me. Driving to a client site this morning, Forum had a particularly good session on sex and disability, enough that when I got on site, I dropped a CD on a desk, then went back down to the car to listen to the show while I waited for the rest of the team. Links reproduced from their web site that I haven't had a chance to check out:

• World Institute on Disability
• Dr. Rhoda Olkin
• The Disabled Women's Alliance
• www.CanDo.com
• Corporation on Disability and Telecommunications
• Bent Voices zine

[ related topics: Web development Music Erotic Sexual Culture ]

On the topic of sex, Debra of Pursed Lips is back from vacation.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Based on some inside information, I made some Fucked Company picks today, but here's an article I wish I'd read before I chose this weeks failures. Especially pertinent, since I've been discussing with that friend who was interested in "sovereign citizens" the ethics of pyramid schemes, was this quote: "It's a difficult time period to take a company like Divine public," said Steven Frankel, managing director of Boston-based Adams Harkness & Hill. "It's very hard to get investors excited about a company whose end product is more IPOs." (Incidentally, there are some neat elements to the design of that site promoting the pyramid schemes, it's worth a look, although if it starts to actually sound enticing you should balance it out.) I found this 'cause I was looking around for a little more supporting evidence on that aforementioned inside info. Anyone know of a weblog or super fast breaking news site devoted to .com rumor? CNET News is more sanitized hype than useful information, which I guess is a function of advertiser funded media.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Business Web development Weblogs ]

Via /., Larry passes along this note about a company that'll track down negative web board posters for $5k each. Eric and I used to have a company called Hacker for Hire that, based on its name, got a lot of calls for people who wanted us to do some virtual breaking and entering. I can't believe that anyone doing shady stuff that easily looks like it could be on the far side of legal would ask for this much publicity...

An interview with Cynthia Plaster Caster: Do you ever get tired of looking at a bunch of dicks on your mantelpiece? Never. Never. They're like my pets. I have them in this room on pedestals, and there's a warm yellowish tint in the room, it's like sitting in your living room with your pet kitties.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Help! I have some Perl scripts I wrote that run just groovilishiously under Apache, and when I use the CGI module run fine under IIS, but one of them takes as input a posted XML document, and when I read 'til STDIN goes away IIS quickly swells to undreds of megabytes.

[ related topics: Free Software Web development Content Management ]

Everyone's been mentioning the Feed and Suck merger, two web zines that I found dull and overhyped, so I suppose it only makes sense that my only response has been "I wonder if they're gonna call it 'Seed' or..."

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development ]

The wrong people doing the Right thing

By the way, even though I haven't told him yet, I've added Larry to the list of approved new entry makers. It seems kind of appropriate given that he was the only person to figure out my old security scheme and get posting privileges behind my back...

It appears that a couple of senators have figured out that all those anonymous Napster an Gnutella users are voters. This is starting to get really interesting.

[ related topics: Business Web development ]

Judge imposes no-pregnancy sentence. What scares me is some of the groups coming out against the sentence. If we can agree that the state has an interest in the welfare of children (you wanna pipe in, Ziffle?) then doesn't this just make sense?

[ related topics: Ziffle Children and growing up Interactive Drama Web development ]

Can you all make a pact with me? If any of you are ever serving on a jury, and you learn that an exchange occurred where the defendant asked "What does the error message say?" and the deceased replied with some variant of "It says it didn't work." rather than, for instance, reading the error message to the defendant, can we all agree that not only is acquittal in order, but that there are grounds for suit for pain and suffering against the estate of the deceased as well?

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

The only thing it seems to be missing is wireless Sony PDA

[ related topics: Web development Wireless ]

Help! Is there someone out there that understands the business models of adult sites?? Especially the "soft" sites like Bikini.COM genre. I'm all for doing interesting projects but I can't seem to make the numbers work. Everyone tells me Porn makes money, somebody enlighten me please...

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Nerd alert: I'm officially disgusted with Windows Installer. Did you know that Windows Installer as driven by InstallShield for Windows behaves differently on 98 and NT (and probably a bunch of other subdivisions that I haven't tried yet) depending upon the case of your properties? Now a part of this is documented, you're not supposed to be able to set properties that aren't all upper case from the command line, but why should that influence the ability of dialog boxes and scripts to access those properties in the installer itself? I take back anything bad I may have ever said about RPM or DPKG.

[ related topics: Microsoft ]

In the "I wish they would suceed genre" Linux Game Console but I doubt Sony will even notice a speed bump as they crush them under their wheels...

[ related topics: Free Software Web development Games ]

More evidence of the wireless revolution: Cybiko looks like gameboy meets those funky japanese date finder thingies. Point to point and group chat, email, they claim from anywhere but the point to point seems to be 150-300 feet, multiplayer games...

[ related topics: Wireless Games ]

Via /.. It's always refreshing to see people resolve problems without resorting to violence, lawyers or politicians. So it seems that with all the battle going on in the courts and in senate hearings over the sharing of music online that the answer to the problem might lie within the cuckoo egg.

[ related topics: Politics Music ]

Oh dear. Further evidence that computers have become too easy to use: STOPP: Stop Planned Parenthood International: The purpose of STOPP is really quite simple. We intend to cause such discontent with Planned Parenthood programs that it will have no choice but to close its doors and get out of town! That doesn't seem like too much to ask of an organization that has been ruthlessly attacking our children for years-abusing them in the womb and in the classroom.

[ related topics: Children and growing up ]

Ian passed along a long note saying, essentially: Lunar eclipse tomorrow to be broadcast live via webcam. Eclipse coverage on Universe Today, NASA Eclipse Resources, including images, maps, and photographs, Universe Today will have further coverage.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Michael Stutz notes that the UK polygamy law is set for a challenge. British Muslims are set to challege Britain's ban on polygamous marriage in the European Court of Human Rights. Under Islamic law a man is allowed to have up to four wives, but the Muslim Parliament of Britain says that many families are being forced to live outside the law because their polygamous marriages are not recognised here.

I'm out in Dan's Land now. Got in last night at about midnight local (3am my time). Got to see San Francisco late at night. Today we went out to a hiking trial and saw the ocean. It was the first time I saw the Pacific. It's interesting to see an ocean on 'the wrong side'. Spent the day hiking and driving up Route 1 along the coast. I'm damn glad Dan was driving otherwise I don't think we'd be alive now.

Meta: A few days ago Todd was wondering if his contributions were in-line with what I was looking for, and Eric is out here in Cafilornia to visit, and he commented that he really likes the new multiple contributor format, but he'd really like to see the next contributor added to be a non-techie. He mentioned "someone like Debra", less nerdly than the rest of us, but I don't have anyone in line for that that doesn't already have their own 'blog. I haven't looked at the logs to see how the public at large is dealing with the changes, but does anyone have any suggestions or comments? On the list as soon as I get this one product done for a client is a list of most recent message activity at the top, and there's a few syndication things I need to clean up, but how's the multiple contributor thing working for y'all?

[ related topics: Weblogs Flutterby Meta ]

How Network Solutions, Inc. Made Me A Child Pornographer.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Dan and I just got back from a long, brutal hike - 1800 ft down and then straight back up. It was a great introduction to the ecology of North California. Steep, exagerated terrain, speckled with Redwoods and lots of ground-cover. The most interesting aspect of the hike was the transition into the "micro-climates" under the Redwood canopies. The Redwoods collect moisture from the almost ever-present fog. The moisture condense and falls like rain when the wind blows. The net result is that outside of the Redwood canaopy the ground was bone-dry and the temperature in the mid-80s. Under the canopy it was essentially raining (at one point it was a literal down-pour) and the temperature would drop 10-20 degrees. It got annoying having to take my jacket off and put it back on every quarter mile... Evidently, before the Redwoods were logged into nothing, the entire forest was like the area under the canopies. I don't think I have ever been so aware of how important a single species of plant or animal is to an ecology. Afterwards we stopped to see "Methusula" - the oldest living creature in the Bay area. It's estimated to be over 1800 years old.

X-men Really sucked. I can usually lower my expectations to match the film and have a good time. This puerile chunk of swill has me wondering what drugs they use at the Gate. I admit I laughed at 1 of the one liners where wolverine has to Identify himself to Cyclops. Those of you that don't heed this warning will understand. Those of you that do heed will have 2 hours of your life saved.

[ related topics: Drugs Web development ]

The Shadow passes along an update on that inadvertant child pornographer.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Both Cam and Dave Winer have mentioned Webzine 2000, next Saturday night in SF...

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett Web development Dave Winer ]

Todd, Eric and I went to see But I'm a Cheerleader this afternoon. General consensus: Awesome movie. I'll try to write a longer review in the comments for this later, and I assume that they'll follow suit, but great photography, great sound, tight script, fun art direction...

[ related topics: Photography ]

In one of the comments, Jay passed along this patent for an automated masturbation device. I just recently read The Technology of Orgasm, nominally a look at the history of vibrators, but really a great set of examples of how views of "how things should be" have affected scientific knowledge.

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Sexual Culture ]

727 jet blasts blowing over small Cessnas, a passenger yelling at people and throwing things on an America West flight, call the FAA, get an America West crew member! Wait a minute, it was the FAA's 727 and it was an America West pilot.

[ related topics: Web development Cool Science ]

We're all off to the Open Source Conference 'til Thursday, if you need to catch me on the fly you can use "danpalm" at the usual address to catch me on the mobile. Keep the messages short, please. Maybe see y'all down there?

[ related topics: Free Software Interactive Drama ]

Dan, Todd and I are chillin' in Monterrey at the OpenSource conference. So far we've tried to avoid seeming too jaded. The technical BOFs we've attended have mostly been cries for help (we need the web site redone and don't have the time, can any of you help) and the business model BOFs have been arguments that sort of resemble a face-to-face slashdot conversation: "OpenSource doesn't work in my co.", "well that's because of X, OpenSource is better so you should use it anyway", "Microsoft sucks"... I think the only thing anyone can agree on is that it is hard to hire technical people who have a clue. Monterrey itself is quite nice. Sort of like a Disney World for semi-retired WASPs. It's the kind of place that other cities sell picture postcards of - small, coastal village, ex-fishing town, very sanitary. Nothing like downtown San Francisco. I think if Martha Stewart were to design a coastal village...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Microsoft ]

Yesterday Dan, Todd and I went to a BOF organized by the Lutris folks who make the Enhydra java app server on Wireless and WAP. It was VERY educational and exactly what a BOF should be: some folks who spent alot of time figuring out what works and what doesn't sharing what they know in hopes of getting some more info. The Stonehenge people gave a real throwdown party last night across the street. Full open bar and lots of loud music. I drank too much and hopefully didn't make too much of a fool of myself on the dance floor with the women from O'Reilly. One of the Stonehenge reps mentioned the GeekCruises. Unfortunately the next Perl cruise isn't until 2002 - but maybe I can convince my employer that I need to go on the XML cruise... Actually, once you factor in the costs of food and whatnot, the cruise is not a bad deal. The conference has gotten alot better now that I've learned what seminars and BOFs to avoid. It's fun passing the likes of Larry Wall and Eric Raymond in the halls. Unfortunately we head back to the Bay area tonight. The exhibition area is quite interesting. Almost no one is selling anything other than jobs.

[ related topics: Web development Wireless Music Content Management ]

Back from the Open Source Conference. I'm trying to organize my thoughts a bit for a longer essay. One of the problems with the shift from "free software" to "open source" is that every yahoo short a real business plan is slapping "open source" on their products in hopes that their user base will suddenly do the work necessary to make the business viable. On the other hand, there are some really great ideas out there being developed. Correction: On the discussion forum hosted by Dave Winer, Cam asked why there wasn't more discussion of Microsoft's .NET initiative. I confused them because Dave responded to Cam's first postings. My personal take? Because that's what people like Cam have been working on at Alphanumerica for quite a while. Everyone sees it for what it is, a late attempt to pull customers back into the fold with empty promises in order to starve competition, just like they've done before. Actually, I went for the open source bits, but the Perl sessions were generally better, partially because the Perl folks aren't as tied up in the politics, they're just having fun and solving problems, and they understand that community is what's made Perl work. And Damian Conway is a fantastic presenter. If you get the chance, watch him talk on underwater basket weaving. After I get some work done today and have some time to do some webbing I'll post a long list o' URLs, and work on my reactions to the open source bits.

[ related topics: Free Software Cameron Barrett Interactive Drama Politics Dave Winer Microsoft ]

Nina Hartley interviewed, you might wanna pass her message for America's youth down there at the very bottom along to your favorite adolescents.

[ related topics: Web development ]

New RISKS digest covers security issues I thought we would've fixed ages ago, and some side effects like Texas putting birth records online meaning that anyone using mother's maiden name as a security check is now hosed, an interesting note about a man on a home respirator who died after his power was cut off, and a note on why the UK Millenium Bridge had that design failure.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Via Scripting News, yet another study that concludes that Napster increases music sales. The open source conference and things like this have me thinking about situations where an economy isn't closed and cooperation rather than competition can lead to net growth.

[ related topics: Free Software Web development Music Dave Winer ]

Dave Winer pointed out that I misreferenced him and Cam in my recent Open Source update. A correction has been made.

[ related topics: Free Software Cameron Barrett Dave Winer ]

Eric and I are hanging out at WebZine 2000. We've run into Cam, Bill Humphries and Evan. As I type this it seems kinda weird that I can reference everyone I've met here by URL. Kinda sick. Anyway, we set up the video room so that the RTMark video could sell its culture funds, and we're vaguely aware of the panels going on while we talk to various people.

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett ]

QOTD, by some guy from Florida being interviewed about how San Francisco is different: "People don't jog where I come from, people die."

[ related topics: Quotes ]

Via Bradlands, the last Survivor contestant revealed.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Took a number of the Coyote Grits folks down the gorge run of the South Fork of the American yesterday. Had a blast, and we decided on my new job title: "Sherpa". I've thought about it a little, and it fits. I don't speak the same language, I come from a different culture, I've no idea why you'd want to climb to the top of that mountain just to come back down, and you'll have to teach me a few things about the tools you use, but you'd be a fool and unlikely to reach your goals if you tried to explore the rarified heights without my assistance.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development ]

The New RISKS Digest is just a republication of the PFIR Statement on Internet Policies, Regulations, and Control.

[ related topics: Web development ]

A couple of other blogs have linked to this report of the Hertzfeld talk at the Open Source conference, but it kinda falls flat. Especially in that second-to-last paragraph where he somehow mixed up "Curie temperature" with "curing temperature". Huh?

[ related topics: Free Software ]

Holy *&^%$#@! this is cheeky as hell. I just got spam that says: A Poll is being taken to settle the issue whether commercial e-mail or SPAM is a good form of advertisement, which you would like more of or it's a bad form of advertisement which you are against. Your opinion on how to make this kind of advertisement better & to increase its use is vital. Or if this is a terrible form of advertisement and how it should be curtailed, regulated or ended all together. Please call, 1-900-XXX-XXXX and tell us. I've been ignoring spam recently, but this is just screaming for some time spent in traceroute...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Comes Naturally #99: Women's Sexuality: For Women or for Men? explores "honor killings".

[ related topics: Web development ]

Concorde crashes in Paris, 113 dead. A plane which captured my imagination when I was young, I used to run out of the house when I was visiting my grandparents who live under one of the JFK approaches to watch it go by. As airplanes go this has been spectacularly incident free, it rather surprises me that Air France and British Airways immediately jumped on the "we're grounding our fleet" bandwagon, I don't remember that same reaction the last time a 737 or 747 went down, I'd like to learn a little more about this sort of risk management...

[ related topics: Web development Cool Science ]

After my note about my new job title, anser passed along Sherpa facts.

Thomas Crapper my ass. A Western Han Dynasty era toilet has been found.

Dan & I have been kicking around ideas for a glossary system but it had not ocured to me that this type of technology could be twisted into a form of Marketing. I guess I'm slipping...

[ related topics: Web development ]

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issues injunction against Napster. Mixed feelings here, I'm not much on the piracy, but enjoining against pointers seems to set some dangerous precedents...

[ related topics: Web development ]

Free tanning sessions. Well, kinda. Free if you're cool with having your image web cammed.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Erotic ]

No, really, we're naturists, not fetishists: Smooth & Cut Naturists "has the sole aim of joining together socially men and women who practise depilation (body hair removal at least of the pubic region, by whatever means), with the men also being circumcised." The prose on the picture gallery page is priceless. Hypocrisy and hidden agendas are one of my very favorite pet peeves in communities such as these...

Sorry for the recent lack of post. Perhaps Dan could interview people to find another poster to contribute. I think the general want was someone who is more interested in other issues than technology and that is female. If your somewhere in that neighborhood why don't cha send dan an email?? It seems like there is a direct connection between Coyote Grits getting busy and going "heads down" and Flutterby going through a posting drought.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]