Flutterby™! From 2002-07-01 to 2002-07-31

[ related topics: Movies Beer Bizarre punishment link ]

It's a little mainstream for flutterby, but http://www.fuckedcompany.com/den

is a flash oddity ala south park of minimal worth, funny and sad at the same time.

[ related topics: New Economy ]

Last weekend Charlene and I did touristy stuff around the city. A report on Saturday will come when I've uploaded some images. Yesterday, we hit the SF Pride Parade. At first the onlookers were fun, and the energy came up as the Dykes on Bikes thundered by, and then... minutes of gap, waiting. The bike messenger brigade, and more gap, and then they got into the interminable political folks, and the crowd lost its energy. Perhaps I'm jaded, and I probably don't "get it", but it seems that this event has become such a mainstream thing that it's no longer an edgey political event, and in becoming so commercialized it's lost a lot of its sense of celebration of a community.

So we bailed and ducked down to Mission to go to the Cartoon Art Museum. That was pretty good, the featured exhibit right now is the history of Spiderman, and they had lots of originals showing the evolution of the character, both visually, and story wise. And the rest of their exhibits are nicely done too. Especially now that I'm more active in the city, that's going to be a regular stop back.

Tomorrow I'll upload images and notes from Alcatraz (our only complaints were sins of omission), and our North Beach and Telegraph Hill meanderings on Saturday.

[ related topics: Politics Dan's Life Art & Culture Community ]

A few days ago, I ranted about a blog entry by Arnold Kling about version fatigue. Tom, over at Backup Brain, linked to an expansion of those ideas titled The Programming Soviet, which got me to thinking about what we've accomplished by making software easy enough for lawyers and management to use directly. And then, after a little ranting in response to Meuon's "playing with snakes" entry, it came to me: If, as Edward Tufte asserts, "power corrupts, PowerPoint corrupts absolutely", how much of the billions bilked by executives at Enron, GlobalCrossing, WorldCom, Xerox, and who knows what else were enabled by GUIs? Is it, perhaps, that, rather than helping boost the economy, MacOS and Windows will turn out to be the biggest indirect drains on the economy in the last decade? Confidential to Dubya, this might be your chance to find a scapegoat that'll keep you from going down in history as the Herbert Hoover of your era...

[ related topics: Politics Microsoft New Economy Open Source Current Events Macintosh ]

I've done a little longer bit about our ramblings at Alcatraz, here's some bougainvillea climbing up a house outside Lombard Street, one of the sites of our wanderings through North Beach.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Bay Area Flowers ]

Within two minutes of the ferry departure, I'm running across the parking lot towards the terminal, fumbling with my wallet, realizing that somehow I've left my TransLink card at home, when a woman sees my distress and hands me a ticket. On the ferry, most of the inside seats were full, so I sat on the back deck, watching the spray fly up behind us, the tanker with its tugboat escort on the way to the refinery in the east bay, Alcatraz in the mist, with the outline of the Golden Gate Bridge appearing occasionally through the fog, the cold wind tossing my hair in my eyes... I was reading some ebook on my Palm, but watching the other ferries leave wake as they scurried on their way, and passing the big lumbering container ships, I realized that the story contained there couldn't match up with the world. Most days are good days to be alive, but this one feels more that way.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Bay Area California Culture ]

Some things I'd like to see have an IR port, or maybe scannable data in barcode form, or BlueTooth, so that they could quickly and easily drop data to my Palm for later incorporation into budgeting and calendaring applications:

• Gas pumps and my car's odometer, to automatically log maintenance and mileage information.
• Anything that prints receipts, like the grocery store cash register.
• Any invoice, for that matter.
• ATMs (obviously).
• Radio commercials
• Key facts about public radio or similar interview show topics, book being pimped, author's name, etc.
• Event announcement posters.

What places do you find yourself transcribing data?

[ related topics: Wireless Dan's Life Cool Technology ]

I know in REAL cities, you can probably see this kind of show any night of the week, but in Chattanooga, it's great to see it come through. The Lost Film Festival is a series of independent shorts - the kind of independent work that makes Sundance look way mainstream. There was some griping by local artists because they got short changed (the Lost Film Fest guys broke down outside Louisville and were an hour late getting started - something had to be cut).

[ related topics: Art & Culture Chattanooga ]

Genehack had a link to an explanation of why "Savings Cards" aren't. One of the ventures Todd and I were involved in during the .com boom was a project to bring rewards cards benefits to the local merchant. It failed for a variety of reasons, but one of them was that we couldn't find ways to pay for the (substantial) costs involved with implementing such a system. We'd chalked up the supermarket's successes to a better information technologies infrastructure, but this article claims (and backs up my observations of Albertson's, which we've got about block from the house and is therefore our store of last resort) that they're not finding any lower costs than we were.

[ related topics: John S Jacobs-Anderson New Economy Todd Gemmell ]

Today's picture is of roses on Filbert Steps, on the north east side of Pioneer Park on top of Telegraph Hill. Don't believe the guidebooks, Greenwich Steps aren't nearly so picturesque, but if you happen to be up near Coit Tower a wander down the Filbert Steps is worth a bit of leg strain.

[ related topics: Photography Bay Area Flowers ]

Burning Man is suing a company that is selling video footage of naked women at the event. The lawsuit charges "breach of contract, trademark infringement, invasion of privacy and trespass".

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Burning Man Erotic Privacy Nudity ]

No, I'm not talking about Steve Fossett's circumnavigation in a hot air balloon (he successfully touched down in Birdsville Australia today), this is some real ballooning history: Adam Savage recreates the 1982 flight of "Lawn Chair Larry" Walters

It was not a stunt, said the man in the chair. It was a scientific experiment.

No one knew exactly what was proved, however. Perhaps it was that latex can burst under pressure, a concept already well known in San Francisco.

[ related topics: Aviation Bay Area Current Events California Culture ]

On July 4^th, it's worth going back and taking a few moments to re-read The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies, pausing over words and considering their meanings, and considering what it means to be a part of the endeavor for which this was a seminal event.

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.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

... continued...

[ related topics: Religion Politics Civil Liberties ]

I wonder if Disney knows that Microtel (the company that is providing Walmart PCs without an OS and with LindowsOS pre-installed) has stolen the dancing penguin animation (see the the box on the right side of the home page) from the movie Mary Poppins?

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Ethics Copyright/Trademark ]

So what ya do, is ya sneek over into your neighbor's garden and clip a couple of leaves of sage and a few stems of thyme. The pineapple sage and citrus thyme are better, but you get what you can. Then you crush up a few allspice berries and a couple of cloves of garlic, throw this in the food processor, and process. Toss in some ground turkey, and some canola oil to make up for the fact that the ground turkey is really low fat, sauté and serve. That's what ya do.

Just wear an apron if you're tempted to do what ya do in the nude.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Food What Ya Do ]

4 times in my life, last time while in New Orleans a few weeks ago, I have tried to get my palm read by a 'reputable palmist'. Yet again, I was given my money back and told they would not read my palm. This site worked almost as well. According to one expert, my hands show a crease line pattern that is very unusual, and is similiar to a genetic trait that shows up in 'downs' children. Even comparing my hands to a significant number of people, many even related, they are distinctly unique. Does anyone know a 'real' palmist? At this point I am intrigued and want to know why they are so different.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Currency ]

My Compaq Presario 1247 that I bought for $750 two years ago has had a progressively flakey power connector. It got bad enough that I took the whole thing apart, took the power connector off, and resoldered it. Of course now it doesn't seem to work at all, and CompUSA just quoted me $900 for a new motherboard (which is better than anything I can find at the Compaq site). So I'm off to search for a new one.

I have a list of features I want. It'd be nice to go to a vendor, click "Linux", "802.11b", "10/100baseT", click off "modem", select a few other things, and be able to order the results by things like screen size, or battery life, or weight, or even price. Dell asks me if I'm a home office or corporate user, and I have no idea what feature set that gives me when I click on either. Sony gives me two sample items on their page, and has a nice comparison chart which would make me have to remember all sorts of product numbers as I go try to find pricing and other configuration info (rather than making it a JavaScript pop-up, how about having the labels on your graphic linked to products?). Besides, I have no idea what I'd do with a MemoryStick^tm reader, do you have one with a CompactFlash reader? Dell, Sony, and Compaq sites have all given me 404 errors off of various links within the last half hour.

LinuxVoodoo allegedly has a laptop called the "Silver Bullet" which looks promising, but when I click on "Compare", the search results gives me a list of Bob Seger albums. I kid you not.

How the hell do most people shop for laptops? Brand name or stupid-ass product number first? And what sort of incompetent morons are keeping up these sad excuses for a web site?

[ related topics: Wireless Open Source Work, productivity and environment ]

I just got a call. She and the river gods had a little disagreement on a bit of water out in Idaho involving a swim and a strainer and a little time weathervaned by her ankle. The guy who kicked her free says she was under more than a minute. She needed to chat a bit, and while I haven't been exactly there I have gone drinking in the neighborhood. And sixty seconds can be a damned long time.

So every one out there take a deep breath, because you can, and because the alternative is far less appealing. And a little reminder that no matter how long you've been doing something, even after years as a professional, sometimes the world has other plans. Stay aware, kids.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Whitewater ]

Ok, so some of you might be aware that there is a Flutterby CMS next gen project in the works and that has slowed down some of the patches on the current systems (sorry). Please direct any licensing or legal questions to Our newly retained counsel

[ related topics: Content Management Law ]

Bio Hucksterism at it's worst. Get ready for the next wave of Bio/Gen FOO to replace tachyon crystals and essential oil magnets.

This morning's Chronicle has an article about swinging, a bunch of quick pull quotes.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Bay Area California Culture ]

Sometimes one has to brave the 90+ temps and 60+ humidity and just go for a walk. Yesterday was that kinda day for me. This cute little waterfall is tucked away in a gorge in the middle of nowhere (between Manchester and Tullahoma, y'all) and was worth the two ticks I removed when I got home.

I also found some good advice for all of us at a nearby State Park.

[ related topics: Photography Nature and environment Chattanooga ]

Ok, the purpose of punishment links is to <slap> complacency of non-posting out of the contributors and the community at large. If helps to think I'm DOMing/TOPing you then bend over Bee-ach and take it. I personally just think I'm a mean person and like using the stick instead of honey. We are getting tons of traffic but no posting so here is some pure evil that might get you thinking posting some thoughts to the community isn't such a bad idea. Even if it's just to tell me that's a stupid lame attempt at punishment.

[ related topics: Community punishment link David Hasselhoff ]

Columbine brings up the issue of immigration and if you look at the stats it's contributing a person every 30 seconds net. It's my thinking that these people (in a vast generalization) are a good thing. They are willing to work harder for less to create a better life for themselves and their children. I think it would be a good thing to allow relaxed immigration and legalize them provisionally and tax them to help offset the burden they place on domestic infrastructure. Now if we could only do something about current citizens that are not helping, perhaps make citizenship a priveledge instead of a right? Maybe the Brits had the right idea with Australia? C'mon people, someone has to be in agreement or honked off by the above statements...

[ related topics: Children and growing up Politics Work, productivity and environment ]

Warning: maiden post in the main area (does this mean todd's punishment links worked?). So here's the thing: I wanna play KICKBALL! I can just hear the SPLOOCH! of that big red rubber ball when you kick it, and feel my elbows getting scraped up as I slide in the dust rounding second base while trying to avoid getting whomped by the ball on my way to a spectacular 'out'... Apparently, there are World Adult Kickball Association teams lots of places, including one in San Francisco. It's summer, let's play! ("To Provide and Promote the Joy of Kickball to those Young at Heart!")

[ related topics: Health Todd Gemmell Coyote Grits Bay Area California Culture ]

Drewcifer posted this protest about a problem with a group feeding the 'bums' at Miller Park. I'll be there Sunday. Maybe I'll post bail for friends, maybe I'll need it myself. I've watched them feed the "bums" (Park Service's term, not mine) and it seem more like an extended family picnic (ok, not quite, but close) I'll bet if Tennessee Temple was doing this (while trying to convert them... Witness! Brother! Witness!) the political/ police reponse would be different. Maybe a big crock pot of Red Beans and Rice would be welcomed.

Please understand I really don't like the 'homeless' hanging out in Miller Park, but it's a public park and they have as much right to hang there on a Sunday as I do. And if someone wants to bring some extra food and share it.. that's a freedom I would not want to see taken away from an individual or group. I've also attended 'spontaneous' micro-raves and other interesting activities at Miller Park. It's a neat small 'greenspace' park right downtown.

I was at Coolidge Park on the 3rd, and ran into Robbie and friends with a BIG spread of food on picnic tables just before the pops concert and fireworks. He (and his Mom and others..) were generous with their offers of food and drink to many passerby as well as me. Should this type of activity be illegal?

[ related topics: Politics Sociology Law Enforcement Civil Liberties Chattanooga ]

I think the use of fax machines by marketing people is their way of lording the failures of technology over geeks.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Consumerism and advertising Marketing ]

I'm talking about the Blood on Wall Street of course. I just renewed my subscription to The Wall Street Journal after letting it lapse for the last two years and while I can't say we are at the bottom of the market I think the "Irrational Exuberance" has been crushed and then some. Corporate scandals have investors making "no confidence" decisions about all companies in all sectors. Time for me to start researching which companies to put my faith and money into because this is America

[ related topics: Business Todd Gemmell Current Events Currency ]

Charles passed along an article on how Britain is setting policy to not charge for marijuana posession with the note that this looks like a way to squeeze the small producers out, and cement dealing to the large producers.

[ related topics: Drugs Current Events ]

Looks like the Good Omens project is Back On

Game all you can be. The Army's latest recruitment tool Operations Recon seems to be a resounding sucess. I've got mixed feelings about this because it's sneaky and feels like the begining of the path to Ender's Game but it's perhaps a good way to filter the people with the best twitch skills for the job. Of course we all know the Army stole this idea from Aliens

[ related topics: Books Games Movies Heinlein ]

OK tech like GPS is very cool but leave it to some miscreant to twist it into some evil use. Not disclosing the GPS device is where they crossed WAAAAY over the line. If capitalism works properly they will be severly spanked by consumer backlash.

[ related topics: moron Consumerism and advertising Automobiles ]

People who are going to get smacked by Dan #4218: The next Windows developer who references Mandrake versus Red Hat versus Debian versus SuSE Linux distributions, or the various glibc version issues, as a problem.

[ related topics: Free Software Microsoft Open Source ]

The Register reports that Ogg Vorbis has gone gold. Start rippin'.

[ related topics: Music Cool Technology ]

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/pasp01/

I have had it with patents for software - we all break them every day - maybe if they actually researched them for prior art before they issued them - and if the code was new and 'not obvious' then -- but right now, sign on!

Ziffle

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Invention and Design Software Engineering Art & Culture ]

A semi-plausible way for MSFT Bill to own the internet.. http://www.usatoday.com/money/columns/maney.htm When the software guys bail out the telecom's.. they also pick up the data networks.

[ related topics: Microsoft Net Culture Currency ]

Somehow Bambi came up in conversation, I mentioned I'd never seen it, Charlene said she'd only seen Bambi as an adult. Then I thought about Bambi as an adult, and wondered if, after growing up without a mother, Bambi had issues that drove him into... sorry... stag films.

[ related topics: Humor Movies ]

Went down to the Hotel Utah Saloon to see the Cantankerous Lollies Review last night. Lots of fun. Classic burlesque, some of it reasonably hot, interspersed with routines that had us laughing a lot. Kitten on the Keys provided musical accompaniment and a few pieces of her own, like "I Wanna Be Your Pony Girl". The wonderfully disturbing Mr. Tinkler performed old classics. The Ramblers did a serious interlude for intermission. And Scott's Bachelor Party up in the balcony threw just the right amount of stuff at the MC. All recommended.

[ related topics: Music Erotic Burlesque ]

John Walker Lindh pleads guilty, will spend 20 years in Federal prison. Leavenworth Aryan Brotherhood and Muslim Alliance begin bidding war for rookie.

[ related topics: History WTC/Pentagon attacks ]

/. has an interview with Piers Anthony where he answers questions not only about his use of Linux but accusations of pedophilia and [the objectification of] young female sexuality in his books. For the most part, I think he steps up to the plate and delivers excellent responses.

[ related topics: Books Sexual Culture ]

I've actually had the camera a month and now feel like I should post on it. I had a Canon S100 for about six months and loved it. Unfortunately, it had a false feel of indestructibility to it and it didn't survive my lifestyle. The A10 was chosen as a replacement - smaller CCD (1.3mpixels) and larger, plastic case but half the price.

The larger size is a boon. Sure it doesn't fit in my jeans pocket but I'm forced to keep it in a camera bag (see above note about the indestructibility of the S100). The larger size means a larger LCD and easier to manage controls. It has EXACTLY the same UI, so I really can tell the difference in the controls. The 1.3Mpixels doesn't bother me because all of my shots are destined for the web. 1280x1024 is too big for most web applications, bigger than that is useless to me. The A10 uses four AA batteries. That means I can buy extra rechargeables for $10 a set (compared to $50 for a spare for the S100) and, in a pinch, I can run in a convenience store and buy some disposables.

It has 3X optical zoom (2X digital - but I never use it). Canon also makes a filter/lens adapter to extend the range of the camera. All in all, I like the A10 better than my old S100!

[ related topics: User Interface Photography Law ]

A lot of people have been linking to the new Citizen Corps. At first I thought I'd stumbled on to a Whitehouse.org site, but nope, it's a legit .gov address. I'm not completely sure how I feel about it, Operation TIPS is creepy, but other parts of the site are good reminders that government isn't just a service we buy. Burning Bird linked to a Washington Post article on Citizen Corps which explores a lot of the down-sides, and also pointed to a weblogger version, Operation RATS.

[ related topics: Politics Civil Liberties ]

Visual C++ used to have an Epsilon keyboard mapping that didn't tie my fingers into knots when I switched between it and Emacs. I can't find anything that indicates custom key mappings are even possible in Visual Studio .NET, and given how tightly coupled the code and the forms editor are, it's hard to switch back and forth. Anyone got a line on custom keymappings for Visual Studio .NET? While looking for that, I found a list of fun warm fuzzy things about Microsoft: "That which does not kill you only sets you up for the next thing to reduce you to tears."

[ related topics: User Interface Dan's Life Microsoft ]

UPS Package Tracking rocks. Except that the dates they sort entries by are local time, and when I've got a package shipped 2 day air from Japan, deciphering where the heck my package is is a hassle. But the new laptop arrived in Oakland yesterday evening...

[ related topics: Dan's Life Invention and Design Bay Area ]

Just when I start to feel like I need to trust the government, a reality check: Louisian judge indicted for planting drugs.

[ related topics: Drugs Health moron Law Current Events ]

So what do you do when the heat is on about your past business dealings? Hint that Emannuel GoldsteinOsama Bin Laden may be dead.

[ related topics: Politics Current Events WTC/Pentagon attacks ]

Pop Up Ads may not only be on the web.. but on TV as well. 5-10 second pop-up ads DURING the show.. TNT tested them and reportedly did NOT get much flack. Whats next, scrolling ads on the top and bottom of a letterbox format movie?

[ related topics: Technology and Culture Movies Current Events Television ]

Went to Titillation Theateragain last night. Enjoyed it, not quite as much as the first time, but now we're also on the Blackhole mailing list, apparently Squidlist isn't nearly as comprehensive as we'd thought. Met Charlene out in the upper Haight, so I spent some time out sitting on a bench in the panhandle, in the cold summer fog, watching people play with their dogs and practice their martial arts.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Bay Area Theater & Plays ]

John Gilmore challenges requirement that air travelers identify themselves.

After spending the last day fighting with the half-implemented feature set of Visual Studio .NET and the intricacies of the System.Security.Permissions.RegistryPermission class, I think once again that .NET is a feint to waste the energy of third party developers and lead them on a merry chase down a blind path.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Microsoft moron ]

Transmeta lays off 40%. Pertinent for two reasons: My new laptop (pictures and review coming once I get a chance to play with it a little more) has a Transmeta chip in it, and I need to check to see if Scott got hit in this round.

[ related topics: Business Invention and Design Current Events ]

Dive Into Mark's 30 days to a more accessible weblog has concluded today. I've implemented some of them, plan to implement others (yay laptop and work on the ferry!), and already conformed to a few of his suggestions just 'cause I do use Lynx, but his notes are worth reading all the way through.

[ related topics: Web development User Interface Content Management ]

Actually it more like a Google Mirror Site in a very literal sense. My wife has a google short cut on her browser bar I think I'll remap it and watch the fun. BTW if you type backwards you actually get correct results.

[ related topics: Humor Cool Technology ]

So 37 days left before Burning Man and the excitement and panic begin. Somehow I procrastinate all my projects to right before the event and in keeping with that tradition I won't start work on our burning man vehicle for another 10 days just so I can get the panic butterfly feelings just right. I'm starting my wish list too... oh Santa?

[ related topics: Burning Man Butterflies Photography Todd Gemmell Coyote Grits Work, productivity and environment Douglas Adams ]

Large American Penis linked to an article about how the Clay Springs Volunteer Fire Department disobeyed Federal orders in order to save their town.

"In an emergency situation, it can't be a democracy," said Roy Hall, operations chief of the incident management team. "Somebody's got to be in charge. And true heroism comes through standing together. This little community tried to maintain its identity to a fault, to a detriment."

I dunno, asshole, it sounds like they managed to save their own places even though you wanted to sacrifice their homes so that you could use their efforts for some "greater good".

[ related topics: Politics Libertarian Current Events Community ]

David Steinberg asks why Dubya is afraid of his anus.

[ related topics: Politics Sexual Culture moron ]

I think this makes sense. Via Up Yours

[ related topics: Humor ]

/. has a couple of interesting links, the Free Software Donation Directory, and an attempt to raise money to buy Blender from the NaN shareholders and GPL it.

[ related topics: Free Software Software Engineering ]

Charlene and I watched the remake of Ocean's 11 last night. While I agree with Columbine that this is a film about snappy timing, I'd like to smack the screenwriter, and I'd like to propose a new holiday: National Slap-An-Art-Director Day. On the screenwriter, what the hell was up with that science fiction deus-ex-machina plot device? If you need that effect, why not just build it with reality? I don't want to drop a spoiler in here, but most casino security systems have a perfectly reasonable flaw that could have been made to fill that plot hole perfectly; I happen to know this 'cause my dad's worked on large power systems, but it's not like it's any big secret. And on National Slap-An-Art-Director Day, if I see visible laser beams on a security system one more freakin' time, someone needs to get hurt. It's not like it's hard to write that in either. Overall, I loved the acting, I loved the snappy timing, the direction was decent, although they could've gotten a more beleivable love interest than Julia Roberts, it was a great mood piece, but it would've actually been a film I could recommend if they'd managed to put a story without plot holes big enough to put the damned casinos in in there somewhere.

[ related topics: Movies moron Art & Culture ]

On Saturday evening, Charlene and I visited the Fire Garden. The Sunbrothers stuff was excellent, a few roses, the corn, and peas, and some of the other stuff was neat, but do we need gratuitous video? And I'm not sure what particular sub-genre it is, I think it's "trance", but how about some music that doesn't bore us to tears? We hung out for a bit, decided to blow 'cause we were bored, and as soon as we got out of earshot of the sound system realized that most of the reason we were bored was the music. Could've been a really cool evening, instead was a bust.

[ related topics: Music Art & Culture Pyrotechnics Flowers ]

On a positive note, I finished Iain Pears' new novel, Dream of Scipio, this weekend. I wasn't much of a fan of An Instance of the Fingerpost, but it was all the rage in my social circles, so I felt like I had to read Dream of Scipio. I enjoyed it. It's a tragedy, but you know that within the first paragraph, so you can get on with enjoying the three tales. The literature references move the story well, but you don't have to get them, he's got some great thoughts on good intentions leading to evil, and keeps it interesting. Recommended.

[ related topics: Books Art & Culture ]

Gary forwarded along the Bill Gates "Trustworty Computing" spam, and Eric replied to it. Along those lines, Mike confirmed what I've thought about .NET, but found this spiffy VS.NET resource editor, which temporarily eased my seething.

[ related topics: Humor Microsoft Spam moron ]

Dan's been busy this morning. (Flutterby Meta)Mondays tends to be busy on Flutterby, I think it's from repressed posting on the weekend or work avoidance being really strong at the begining of the week. Anyhow here's some really funny post from True Porn Clerk Stories

[ related topics: Humor Erotic Sexual Culture Work, productivity and environment ]

Oh yeah, my Fujitsu LifeBook P-2110 arrived last week, and I've had a chance to play with it. I'm still in love. With the help of Linux on Fujitsu P-2046, the longest part of the setup was swapping CDs. Sound works. Video works (although I haven't tried the two-monitor setup), and the screen is extremely sharp. CD-RW works. Networking, both wired and wireless, works. RAM suspend/resume works. PCMCIA IDE devices don't use up extra drive devices, so I've got my CF cards auto-mounting and unmounting. All 3 mouse buttons. Battery life appears to be over 6 hours for my basic combo of Emacs editing and Perl scripting. Build quality is a different world than the Compaq Presario it replaced. It's a little slow on Windows (and the CPU runs noticeably hotter under XP than Linux), but overall it's exactly what I thought I was getting. Sweet.

[ related topics: Free Software Wireless Dan's Life Microsoft Perl Open Source ]

nVidia acquires Exluna, Pixar settles lawsuit with Exluna.

[ related topics: Pixar Animation Graphics ]

We are at a public place, about to become a hotbed of activity, and the 'client' just bought a Linksys 802.11b wireless access point, and really neat little USB/ethernet/802.11b to feed his registration and point of sale systems that they expect to handle 30-60 THOUSAND credit card transactions next week. The POS systems talk to a 'PC Charge' server, over wireless, and then the PC Charge server communicates via the 'net to their CC gateway. No sweat. The PC Charge server is encrypted to the 'net, but the local Linksys (Channel 6, SSID 'Linksys') AP and SU's are not... 10 minutes later, my laptop was dumping sniffed packets from the air.... Truth.. not just comics.

We did actually not make it work, But Eric has the right idea for being a high tech nomad.

[ related topics: Wireless Coyote Grits Work, productivity and environment Chattanooga Comics Cryptography ]

So Apple has resorted to hiring Idiot spokes people to prove that anyone can use their computers. Meanwhile Ben is showing us how to mac-off with the ports and Uber geek explains how some of us grew up with our dads beating us with a PC. So let's all move to Iceland.

[ related topics: Apple Computer Technology and Culture moron Television Macintosh ]

I've seen people kite boarding from the ferry, but they've always been far enough away that I thought they were sitting. Standing on a wake board. That looks coooool.

Now that I'm in the fashion industry, and now that I'm riding the boat with all sorts of people who work in the financial district, and doing people watching, I've become a bit more conscious of clothing. This morning I had a slightly cramped seat on the ferry, so I unclipped my fanny pack, and nearly forgot it when I got off the boat. Suddenly it hit me that quite a few of the people on that boat were wearing outfits that cost several thousand dollars, it's just that the materials aren't always silk and wool.

[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment Fashion Clothing ]

You might have noticed a dearth of Salon articles on these pages. A year and a half ago I paid for a Salon Premium subscription in the hopes that it would help them get back on their feet. After a year of more political whining and sleazy advice columns, I let it lapse. So I don't know what to make of Userland Software's deal with Salon to have Salon hosted (and branded) blogs.

[ related topics: Weblogs Dave Winer Salon magazine ]

Phil has mounted a full-fledged campaign to get me to accept the beauty of Windows, .NET, and Microsoft's vision in general. I'm calling this attempt at converting the unbeleivers the "winquisition".

Our chief weapon is suprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency..

[ related topics: Dan's Life Microsoft Monty Python ]

Welp California is seceding from the union because of a variety of ecconomic and political issues. Because of the impeding destruction of North America the wiley californians have begun to implement The Lexx Luthor Plan to save our soon to be new island country.

[ related topics: Politics Movies Nature and environment Invention and Design moron Current Events Monty Python California Culture ]

While I've taken some courses at a couple of different community colleges over the years, I've never actually earned a degree. In high school I didn't see the need. I felt that a) I didn't want to limit myself to a single area of study and b) that colleges just couldn't keep up with the pace of technology (that I'd be learning obsolete stuff). Nowadays I feel differently and I've been considering going back to school for my degree. And having been unable to find work for two months now, I'm thinking now may be a good time.

I live less than a mile from Bellevue CC and they seem to have some good programs. The problem is that I risk losing my unemployment payments (which we need to get by) if I make myself "unavailable for work each day" by attending classes. So I'm thinking I need to find some scholarships and financial aid to not only pay for my schooling, but to cover living expenses as well. (I'd like to avoid loans if at all possible. We've already got plenty of personal debt that we're trying to get paid off.)

Anybody have any advice to impart about attending and paying for school at 31?

[ related topics: Shawn's Life Education ]

Todays Burning Man images is brought to by the letter Q. A couple of years ago I noticed Air force planes making practice bombing runs at The Man and thought it seemed a little silly at the time(why would you want to blow up some camp in the middle of the desert?). It seemed especially dangerous since they did this exercise during a sand storm. Maybe they can drop the bright yellow food pakages(the ones that look like unexploded munitions)this year since there are left overs. Come to think of it with Ashcroft in office maybe they'll use live bombs to quell this desert uprising

[ related topics: Burning Man Photography Food ]

News.com: Gates: Slow going for .Net. I'm not surprised, first because of my previous whines about Visual Studio .Net, but more because most of .Net is solving problems that haven't yet hit the practical application stage. Give me a unified API for managing the workflow and security issues inherent in data and documents, rather than code, and I'll be all over you like Dubya on government funded private initiatives.

And a resolution: No more techie whining on the front page 'til at least next week.

[ related topics: Microsoft Current Events ]

You non-Californians probably aren't up on this, but a guy named Cary Stayner is currently on trial for some grizly murders near Yosemite. Yesterday, an article came out saying that Stayner offered a confession to the FBI in exchange for access to child pornography. The article quotes Stayner as saying:

"In the free world, I was always terrified to go looking for this stuff. If I had the balls to go to San Francisco to the Tenderloin district and ask for this stuff, maybe this would not have happened."

I have mixed feelings about talking about this, it seems to me that Stayner is obviously a few tacos shy of a combo platter, and anecdotes from someone who knows he's screwed up aren't data, and there are all sorts of other ethical issues to be resolved here given that this is specifically about child pornography, but people have noted before the possible connections between repression and violent killers.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Ethics Bay Area Current Events Law Enforcement ]

I was actually going to watch CSPAN for entertainment value(how often can that happen?) but missed it. Seizing the opportunity to be a weasle or perhaps grasp at his last 2 seconds of his 15 minutes Gary Condit votes to keep Traficant in office. The vote was 420 to 1 ....

[ related topics: Politics moron ]

After this morning's whine and a trip to Stacey's Books at lunch, I'm wondering if anyone has some suggestions on books or resources on workflow that predate XML and the whole "content management on the web" thing. I've seen a bunch of processes at work, I have some ideas on how workflow should progress, but I'd like to see other opinions about it, both as it relates to computers, and as it relates to businesses and manufacturing processes in general.

[ related topics: Books Content Management Work, productivity and environment ]

Many of you may have noticed a recent jump in my postings. A little while back I was contemplating leaving cyberspace altogether. After a good eight months of not checking email every day, not having a running desktop (or a desk for that matter), I seem to be re-entering cyberspace. This time I'm a student and a geek in a GIS Lab. But the direction I'm going in (cartography), hopefully, will take me futher away from computers. What I'm hoping to do is remove myself from the computers-for-computers-sake world and just use the damned things as tools. Despite the fact that cartography is a heavily computerized field, there is still significant field work that goes on. Hopefully, I'll be able to steer myself in that direction...

[ related topics: Coyote Grits Work, productivity and environment Sports ]

Here so I can find it in a few days to implement it: After years of my asking every coder I could to implement something similar, the good folks over at Movable Type have implemented Trackback. Flutterby implementation hopefully coming soon, I've rewritten the HTML parser to be more robust than the HTML::Parser module on CPAN, and am getting closer on the articles.

[ related topics: Flutterby Meta Perl Software Engineering ]

Went to Zeitgeist to meet up with a bunch of Firetown folks to make sure we're all on the same page about Burning Man. Many of my fears were assuaged, I like the people I met last night. Food was decent too, that heavy grill taste that says "I'm at a dive bar". And despite the fact that "Zeitgeist is a designated patchouli free zone", I only got called a "freakin' hippy" once. And that was more because we had an automated bubble blower that was positively blanketing the patio in floating soapy goodness.

[ related topics: Burning Man Dan's Life Food ]

I was pretty brain-dead last night, so we watched Vanilla Sky. There's an hour forty five I'll never get back, but I kept thinking "Cameron Crowe wouldn't cop-out on this in that totally obvious way". Note to the film-maker: If you're not going to have a story, could you give me just one character I don't find despicable? I felt like I was talking to the drunk guy at the bar who thought he'd just made some incredible philosophical realization and was trying to explain it to me.

[Warning: Spoilers will appear in this thread]

[ related topics: Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality Movies ]

Just 'cause here at Flutterby we're not afraid to try to have rational discussions about extremely emotional topics, over at inexplicably fancy trash there's a look at Tadpoles and Lolitas.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Sexual Culture ]

Yep.. our governments, and especially the court systems are loving wireless lans. And when shown why they shouldn't, nail the messenger. Should 'ethical hackers' demonstrate these holes for the greater good?

[ related topics: Wireless Ethics ]

Chattanooga MetroNet finally has a website and is actively seeking techno-firms to relocate to Chattanooga that need cheap bandwidth availability. Of course, at the last minute, they needed someone to host the website because the organization has a marketing firm, a board, and no-one to make it work if there was an it.

Its the dream that Dan (and others) had and I ran with back in 1993.. and I really think it's still a good idea. But does Chattanooga really want high bandwidth companies here? Sure, not ALL of it will be 'adult personal entertainment services'...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama broadband Consumerism and advertising Work, productivity and environment Chattanooga Marketing ]

Todays Burning Man image is brought to by the letter K. This is Kiki and her Caldron right before a dust storm hits. I think Dan will be running the caldron for kiki a couple of nights this year and we are all excited about her new project Egeria

[ related topics: Burning Man Photography Invention and Design Art & Culture Sports ]

Hiking this morning involved heading north from the Bolinas Bird Observatory towards Alamere Falls, but about two miles short of the trail to the falls there's this lake that Terrence wanted to jump in before he moved to Massachusetts. So we spent a while feeling like we were 12 years old again, jumping off the rope swing into the water. It's been a while since I've had a second or two of free-fall, and I'd just gotten to the point where I was ready to figure out what to do with it when we decided it was time to head back.

When Charlene got home from work, I went hiking with her, up near Roy's Redwoods, where the afternoon sun cast this cool shadow on the tree.

Then we got home, and got Charlene's Burning Man project to a working stage! I don't think she's ready yet to reveal it to the world, and we've got some bugs and glitches to work out, but I think it's going to be really really cool. An all around good day.

[ related topics: Burning Man Photography Dan's Life Nature and environment ]

Like Dan, I got to spend some time hiking and playing today too. The hiking was done at Cumberland Mtn. State Park. On the way home, a rainbow appeared.

And the playing? Ah c'mon... you don't really think I'd post those pics...

[ related topics: Photography Nature and environment Chattanooga ]

There's a bunch of new code, a stricter version of the HTML parser to catch some of the nesting errors the old one let through, but primarily a clean-up of a bunch of code to give the Flutterby content management system an install script which should improve performance, and maybe actually now let another person or two install it. Still a little work to do there, but the ferry ride is productive. Anyway, if you see problems post bug reports here or email me. Thanks.

[ related topics: Content Management Flutterby Meta ]

Dan was looking for some mechanical engineering parts, and referred to it as an 'adult erector set'. Just for fun, I goggled: 'adult erector set'.

My childhood erector set was nothing like this one!. I am not sure how these work into things but the fire play toys are interesting.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Work, productivity and environment Pyrotechnics ]

Meuon's picks look like they'd be more fun, but if, like me, you're having to build erector set type things on an adult scale, FlexLink looks like they primarily do production lines, but they have a US division and catalog (I'm not a fan of their web strategy), and Meuon found Macron Dynamics, which has the MacFrame set of parts, and a series of linear actuators. What most amazes me is that it looks like a 3 meter 40x40mm structural bar is about $65, which isn't the order of magnitude difference I expected from what I've paid for slotted angle iron for various projects.

[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment Machinery Cool Technology ]

The other thing I'm having to do is get some information from this device we're working on back into the computer, and since we're taking pictures with cameras anyway, putting bar codes on the moving parts seems like the best way to do that. George J. Laurer was apparently the inventor of the UPC back in 1973, and has answers to questions about the UPC and some thoughts on patents. BarCode 1 has lots of barcode links, and Dan Bornstein's barcode server generates barcodes on-line.

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Photography Work, productivity and environment Cool Technology ]

Today's picture is proof once again that Dan will do anything if he's goaded right. This is on a log that extends steeply across the stream and up a slope in Steep Ravine, above Stinson Beach in western Marin.

[ related topics: Photography Dan's Life Nature and environment Bay Area ]