Flutterby™! From 2002-11-01 to 2002-11-28

No pics.. I was having too much fun to go get the camera. I was Meuon the Magician, with a purple Wizards hat and a 5 strand sequence of El-Wire, a black robe, with blinking el-wire trim. and a couple of free strands just for playing with.

• You get in the door free..
• Women walk up and ask to play with your el-wire
• Getting women to dance with you is NOT a problem..
• Women do things with your el-wire... :)
• You get invited to go to other clubs.. just for atmosphere..
• You don't win the sexy halloween costume contest, but you get an honorable mention and applause..even if you did not enter.

Unfortunately, at Club #3, (Drink)... they don't keep the dance floor drink free and it's slippery, and after slipping and falling and twisting my back I had come home and lie down.

[ related topics: Burning Man ]

So it's Larry Niven's "wirehead", the effects of drugs without ingestion, battery powered happiness: the Voodoo Magick Box.

Are you ready to experience the future of digital pleasure? Simply attach the clips to your earlobes, turn on, and trip- out! Experience feelings of inebriation, psychedelic visuals, extreme relaxation, floating sensations, intense endorphin releases, all culminating in a relaxed yet alert euphoric state.

They claim "it's entirely safe". Anyone got any guesses as to long term health effects?

[ related topics: Drugs Health ]

Ever wander by a Macwarehouse and when nobody was looking, stop and look in the glass pane and wonder what it would be like with a a Mac? Well there is a Mac Porn Site to take care of all those needs. To finish my story I got as far as touching the keyboard but when I reached for the right click button and there wasn't one! I broke into a cold sweat and bolted from the store...

[ related topics: Humor Erotic Sexual Culture Todd Gemmell Macintosh Fabrication ]

Tastes Like Chicken has a link to TV Radar with the comment: "I thought I was a geek, but now I understand that I am not worthy of such an appelation." Perhaps, but what's geeky about this isn't the math, which is fairly simple, it's that someone cared enough about the new ghosting on their TV signal to try to figure out why. And that inquisitiveness is cool.

[ related topics: Cool Science Television Mathematics ]

I haven't really delved into the storyline yet, but if the art is any indication (both in quality and its own visual story-telling prowess), this looks like a cool new¹ online comic.

¹ Started in April, 2002.

[ related topics: Comics ]

The game that got me hooked on programming was "asteroid" on the KIM-1. With a 6 digit LED display this wasn't anywhere near even the vector graphics "Asteriods" you remember from the early video arcades, but dodging those blinking bars and then learning how to set up my own patterns and make them go faster or slower got me started down the tortuous road of 6502 machine language. And yes, there are still opcodes I remember. Anyway, Camworld had a link to the Gamebutton Arcade, games written in JavaScript played entirely within a button. And the top one is an asteriod dodging game. Took me right back to those days.

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett Nostalgia Games Software Engineering Graphics ]

"Punch-Drunk Love"

I thought it was a chick flick - I almost walked out - Am I glad I stayed? Dunno - Reminded me of a mental patient on acid - or maybe just another 60's nothingist movies - see it your self - in a blue suit - and its not a chick flick. Where is Adam sandler taking us?

Ziffle

[ related topics: Movies ]

Congrats New York. I'm disappointed we didn't get the bid but hopefully New York will make us all proud.

[ related topics: Invention and Design Current Events ]

Today, I'm shooting a coupla pics at Double Trouble on the Ocoee and down the river comes a guy standing in his boat as he runs the river. Uh, Dan.... tell me this isn't normal.

[ related topics: Photography Chattanooga Boats ]

On Friday night we still both had a bit of energy late, so we checked the movie schedule and the choice was between Roger Dodger and Punch Drunk Love. We ended up walking out of Roger Dodger, not because it was bad, but because it was a challenging movie and we weren't that awake. I don't think it needed to be that challening, it was a movie about conversation that used a lot of hand-held camera work, and while I loved some of the angles that allowed I kept thinking it'd be really nice if they'd do that cool "through the crook of someone's arm" shot with a tripod... Might go back and pick this one up where we left off when it hits video.

So I'm glad Ziffle was neutral about Punch Drunk Love, I don't feel too much like I missed something.

[ related topics: Photography Movies ]

Charlene dragged me, Jeanne and Zack to see Alisdair Fraser do his scottish fiddle thing last night at a fundraiser for an organization trying to restore Hetch Hetchy. I think the organization doesn't have the odds of an ice agglomeration in the netherworld, but damn can Alisdair Fraser weild a bow. Beautiful music, keeping the rhythm through tempo changes that make the music interesting and unexpected without losing the vibe of the audience. Highly recommended.

And we're listening to some of his CDs, on the Culburnie label.

[ related topics: Music ]

Starjewel had a link to what does your evil clown look like? (and, since lots of people are uninstalling it nowadays, I ought to mention that it requires Flash).

[ related topics: Humor ]

Wow! Eric Boutillier-Brown just did a huge update over at Evolving Beauty, lots of new photo diary entries, and a new video talking about his working style. I haven't even had a change to scratch the surface of this yet, but I do like his figure photography.

[ related topics: Photography Erotic ]

Over at Utopia with Cheese, Columbine had some commentary and a link to David Steinberg's article on Gwen Araujo, the transgender teen killed in Newark California (near Fremont). In today's SF Chronicle there's an article titled "Jack Thompson Isn't a Girl", about an out teen in Berkeley, showing that "the Bay Area" is a lot larger than "San Francisco, Berkeley and Marin", and that yes, it is easy to get caught up in the relative freedom of our tiny enclaves and forget that some of us live in an amazing culture that is not the norm.

[ related topics: Privacy Sexual Culture Bay Area Sociology Civil Liberties California Culture ]

A start-up has milked a few million out of investors with the promise of quantum keys on fiber channels. Yeah Right! They are spinning Heisenberg with the guarantee that the signal can't be observed and they will spin him again when their key doesn't work.

[ related topics: moron Work, productivity and environment Cryptography ]

Based on Tom's adventure Grand theft Auto Vice City is fun before you even load it into the machine.

Finished War Craft III and it's the best ending ever. The movie outakes and singing orcs were worth the price of the game alone.

Per Diane's suggestion I signed up and played Game Never Ending and it seems to be an evolution of MUD MOO into graphical space. I talked to Stewart for a while and I think the game might take off as a social space. My personal hope is that they add more game element and perhaps some community goals. Oh, I'm Wile E. Coyote when logged on there.

[ related topics: Games Movies tolkien History Space & Astronomy Community ]

In the spirit of evil clown making you can create your own stereotype

Asha and I caught Secretary Saturday night. Asha commented on how she hadn't seen an S&M oriented movie that made it look positive. Great movie, even if you aren't into 'deviant sex'. Fortunately for us, the theater was empty so we didn't distract anyone with our own show...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Erotic Sexual Culture Movies Theater & Plays ]

Mark Fiore sums up this year's California gubernatorial situation: Gray Simon for governor. Requires Flash.

[ related topics: California Culture ]

Augh! Nuts. Use IE to kill time just once and look what happens. Sorry for the duplicate entry.

[ related topics: Flutterby Meta ]

Reverse Cowgirl had a link to yet another journal of a pornographer. (No, not that pornographer's diary).

I suppose that, just as every budding novelist wants to break the genre, every budding pornographer wants to do the brilliant crossover film. What amazes me is that, with so many film students who have the basic rudiments of how to make a film, how few people wanting to film "erotica" have actually bothered to think about a script, or storyboards. In fact, how often they talk about wanting to film a certain genre and then in the same breath say "but I have to admit that's not what gets me off".

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Well, guess I get the time-shift from hell next week. If everything goes well (and they agree to let me out of the country, my passport appointment is tomorrow) I'm off to Hong Kong on Tuesday. Need to run around and make sure that my various gadget chargers are all compatible. Don't know yet what I'll have time for in terms of pictures, or whether there'll be net access for on-the-fly web updates.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Hong Kong Dan's December 2002 Hong Kong Trip ]

Had dinner at Millenium last night, awesome as usual, although we should've asked for a faster pace, because we missed the first half of the warm-up act at Puppetry of the Penis. On the other hand, the warm-up act was kind of lame, I don't remember her name, but her jokes felt a bit tired; how old is the "hippie bumming a ride in an SUV" schtick, anyway? Puppetry of the Penis, on the other hand, was a lot of fun. Not everybody laughed, the guy beside us was stone-faced the whole show, but his date was rolling on the floor. It was, exactly as advertised, two guys folding their penis, testicles and scrotum into all sorts of bizarre and unexpected shapes. Not great theatre, but very well done vaudeville.

[ related topics: Humor Erotic Sexual Culture Theater & Plays ]

Debra got a cease and desist letter from the manufacturer of an anal retention catheter about using their trademark. She's removed all mention of the trademark. I am not a lawyer, but I would've apologized for any potential genericization, and made sure that each mention had a ^tm and was clearly marked as referring specifically to the product mentioned. No brand dilution there.

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Sexual Culture Law Copyright/Trademark ]

Oh. Wow. Columbine blows me away with Mei Wah, or how to read the menu in a Chinese restaurant.

[ related topics: Language Food ]

First rain of the season, and all of the people who've forgotten how to drive... Damn, rear ended someone on Van Ness, and that car hit the car in front of it. Double damn. Hadn't been in an accident since I got rear-ended in the accident that took out my beloved BMW in 1996, and hadn't had any accidents that were my fault, or even moving violations, in longer than that.

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

Ummm. Yeah. Terrifica, guardian of the single girl patrols New York after dark in a red cape and a mask, protecting vulnerable women from the advances of nefarious Lotharios:

"I protect the single girl living in the big city," says Terrifica, sporting blond Brunhild wig with a golden mask and a matching Valkyrie bra. "I do this because women are weak. They are easily manipulated, and they need to be protected from themselves and most certainly from men and their ill intentions toward them."

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Sociology ]

/. today linked to a game called Porrasturvat or "Stair Dismount". The object is to kick a person down the stairs with one shove, inflicting the most damage possible. It uses the Open Dynamics Engine. Elasto Mania is more playable, but this is both fun and amazing if you grew up in the era of computer graphics where such simulations used to be all day affairs with far fewer links. Windows binaries only, alas.

[ related topics: Games Graphics ]

Reason #2309 I have a beard: Two injured by rigged electric razors. When you shave, you're helping the terrorists.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Current Events ]

I remember chortling over the hoax that Alan Sokal perpetrated on postmodern criticism, by getting a nonsense paper published in the journal Social Text. Now it appears that modern physics may have payback. I missed this when The Register reported on it, but today's Arts & Letters Daily refers to two reports: John Baez has a well linked rundown and The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article.

[ related topics: moron Education ]

Our offices are on the second floor. Yesterday we looked out the window and were surprised to see a car parked just outside. A story off the ground. The obscuring plants helped the illusion, as it moved shortly afterwards.

[ related topics: Photography Dan's Life Automobiles ]

The rain has hit with a vengeance. After a late night partying at Laszlo and The Odeon to see the Thrillpeddlers, I woke up at 5:30 this morning to be the alarm clock for friends whose power was still out. Lots of traffic lights out and flooding as I made my way to the ferry, which crawled and tossed through the fog and waves, sending at least one person in my row running for the bathroom.

Today I grabbed my way overpriced umbrella that I'd bought at SFMOMA a while back when I was caught in the rain, black outside, with a blue sky dappled with light clouds on the inside, and as I was maknig my way through the financial district I thought "I need a suit, bowler hat, and a mask that looks like an apple"*. Gonna have to see how I can complete this...

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

FDA approves 20 minute HIV test. Still requires a "health care professional" to administer the test; I'm waiting for "bouncer"... Since we've just gone through kind of a 60s phase with color and design, anyone else foresee "Helloooo, the 70s"?.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Health Current Events ]

I've been planning out a 4 person club seating quadricycle, but this gets the creative juices flowing: The Conference Bike is a tricycle with 5 or 7 seats around a central table.

[ related topics: Cool Technology Pedal Power ]

Hike this morning was supposed to be a short jaunt from Fort Cronkhite up to the old Nike missile site on Hill 88 and back down (Someday I'll have to figure out where the Nike site in the Marin Headlands that's being restored is). We made it up just fine, but on the way back down didn't have the landmarks, and ended up over on the Tennessee Valley trail, a ridge over from where we expected. Then the rain started. And the climb back along the coastal trail was brutally steep.

It was kind of cool doing this hike with two people who hadn't explored all the leftovers from World War 2 and the Cold War, bunkers, holes, gun placements and missile sites strewn over the hills, and we managed to not drop back to the usual Sunday morning hike talk, about batteries (what else do geeks fret over?), until... well... we came back to the entrance of Battery Townsley.

Anyway, we got back a bit soggier, had another great breakfast at Winship Restaurant in Sausalito, and all was good.

[ related topics: Photography Nature and environment Food Bay Area History Guns Sausalito ]

This one's for Eric: McYoga for the masses is a quick blurb on the current yoga craze, focusing on the Bikram's Yoga College of India plan to create yoga studio franchises.

[ related topics: Education ]

This looks like the gadgets Dan was playing with, or an offshoot of them. Adding a small FM receiver and transmitter is brilliant, adding a CDDB database is icing on the cake.

[ related topics: Music Cool Technology ]

Since we've decided flying over the Thanksgiving break for a 1 day visit with my family is not going to help us de-stress, I've been planning a vacation closer to home. Charlene wants to be surprised, so I can't post the planning stages to the front page of Flutterby or she'll read it. So, Charlene, don't read the comments here...

[ related topics: Dan's Life Food Trains ]

Apologies for the registration-only and horribly slow LA Times article titled Bishops Change Tone on Abuse, but it was the only one that had this full quote. Speaking at the opening of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Illinois said:

"Sadly, even among the baptized, there are those at extremes within the church who have chosen to exploit the vulnerability of the bishops in this moment to advance their own agendas," he said. "One cannot fail to hear in the distance — and sometimes very nearby — the call of the false prophet, 'Let us strike the shepherd and scatter the flock.' We bishops need to recognize this call and to name it clearly for what it is."

My G... ummm... no, that's not right... Sigh. I should learn to be less surprised when life imitates satire so closely.

[ related topics: Religion moron Current Events ]

An old markpasc.blog entry pointed to The Kenning Game. Word-play fans who like analogies must read.

[ related topics: Language Games ]

After a legal battle, British composer Mike Batt paid a six figure settlement to the estate of John Cage for infringing on Cage's composition 4'33", four minutes and thirty six seconds of silence, with Batt's A One Minute Silence. Said Batt, "Mine is a much better silent piece. I have been able to say in one minute what Cage could only say in four minutes and 33 seconds."

[ related topics: Music Law ]

Julie writes:

In a rare S.F. appearance, the Dead Kennedys - with Brandon Cruz instead of Mr. Biafra - will be performing Thursday Nov. 21 at Studio Z - The Transmission under new ownership. They play with Fear (for any of you L.A. fans.)

And tags on these URLs:

http://www.deadkennedys.com/tour.htm

http://studioz.tv/events/deadkennedysfear

[ related topics: Music Bay Area ]

After the intense lightning storms and winds of Sunday, it was good to get out. Sharp eyed folks may recognize 300,000,000 tax dollars on the left of that photo. By the way, if you're itching to get a similar photo, Goat's Point Road is NOT a 4WD optional road. Folks are very serious about their 4WD vehicles in this area.

[ related topics: Photography Nature and environment Chattanooga ]

According to MSNBC, artist Stan Lee may not be getting his due from Marvel Comics over SpiderMan (the recent movie). I saw it at the movies, and bought the DVD. I liked it a lot. My thought is to promote the boycott the upcoming movies (Daredevil, Hulk and X-Men II nad Spider-Man II) unless Stan Lee gets his 10%. No, I'm not a comic book maven, but it sounds like foul play is afoot.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics Books Movies Current Events Art & Culture Comics ]

Every once in a while I wander over to Kuro5hin, and I always feel like I've walked into a dorm room where everybody's stoned out of their minds and talking philosophy:

"No, wait, dude, what if, like, asphalt was cheese and cars were like penguins?"

"Whoah... but doesn't that imply antlers have feet?"

It's kinda like trying to read the weblogs of the Cluetrain creators, only without the life experiences that can sometimes make their stories interesting.

[ related topics: Drugs Weblogs Net Culture ]

After my disparaging comments about Kuro5hin, below, I'm almost reluctant to put this up, but... Phil and I were musing on the ferry last night about directions of technology. It's clear that we're in a malaise like the early '90s, a big revolution has happened, incredible things have changed, and yet because we were so caught up in it we're now looking around saying "was that it?". In exploring this, one of the questions we asked was why telecommuting hadn't taken off yet. Both of us could probably do more work at home than we do, but little things keep us making a fairly long trek into the office each day.

So we started wondering how computers and the internet could facilitate the little interactions that make the shared space of the office necessary. Why is email not sufficient? And, since we think we're so good at this, why can't we seem to communicate effectively with some of our other branches?

I got into the internet back in the early '90s because I saw it as a better outgrowth of the social networking that was happening in FIDOnet. I think I use the net as a social tool pretty effectively. I've kept some pretty good friendships going despite moving thousands of miles away from the physical space that those relationships formed in, and I've developed some new friendships that have risen to the "sure you can crash on my couch" form that started with the net, a web page here, an email there.

Anybody interested in brainstorming for a proposal for a session at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2003? We've got a couple of months, and I've got an office with a couple of eager folks who'd be guinea pigs for playing with conferencing software. Anyone got experiences with "tools for net collaboration", specifically oriented more toward occasional real-time interactions?

[ related topics: Dan's Life Invention and Design Work, productivity and environment Net Culture ]

Must read: William Safire says "You Are a Suspect".

[ related topics: Privacy Law Current Events ]

Just throwing a bunch of collaborative apps so I've got a space to organize things in while I search for more extensible and flexible alternatives to Windows Messenger. There's Digital Lecture Board (dlb), vic, the VIdeo Conferencing tool, the associated audio tool vat, and the wbd Whiteboard has Windows binaries too. That last one points to ReLaTe, REmote LAnguage TEaching, which looks like it integrates a lot of these tools in interesting ways.

[ related topics: User Interface Microsoft Software Engineering Work, productivity and environment ]

Via Arts & Letters Daily, I'd always thought that the "escort" business was a young women's game. I had my horizons broadened a bit by seeing Scarlet Harlot talk at that sex workers' film festival a year or two ago, but old stereotypes die hard. Interesting article by a woman who decides to become an "escort" at 57:

Would I want my daughters to do it? In a word - no. I am new to escorting; but, that admitted, I doubt whether it is a career most women could gain much from (except financially) before they have done many other things that are part of a `normal' woman's life. Being an escort certainly wasn't on my original agenda.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

I've been working from home the past few days, but this morning Charlene's out of town, so I woke up early enough that I wanted to be out on the bay. I took the 6:45 into San Francisco. I thought sunrise was happening a little later than it was, but this was the view from the back of the boat while we waited for it to leave Larkspur. You can see the progression, then I got a shot of the profile of Mount Tam to incorporate into the logo of that Bay Area info site I've been wanting to build, a freighter heading north to the delta, and this little boat towing... well, I'm not sure what the hell they were towing, but it looked like a bizarre half-flooded load to have out in the chop of the gate.

[ related topics: Photography Dan's Life Bay Area Work, productivity and environment Boats ]

Someone, I forget who, had a link to Joel Spolsky's essay Leaky Abstractions. Bram has a rebuttal that says exactly what I wanted to say:

You may notice that all the Microsoft tools are left to the end, right before the claim that the law of leaky abstractions is dragging us down. This essay isn't about API design, it's about software apology, an attempt to claim that all software is inherently bad hence it's okay that Microsoft's is bad. Like any good microsoftie, Joel starts with the assumption that the (very flawed) tools he uses are completely acceptable, and works backwards from there.

Can you tell I've been doing contrasting lots of Windows XP and .NET development with Un*x development recently?

[ related topics: Microsoft Software Engineering moron ]

Oh yeah, just because I've seen some pretty shoddy "science" from some of the Marin breast cancer oriented non-profits and suspected that they're mostly involved in paying salaries to their directors: Today's IJ has an article titled Experts downplay Marin cancer mystery, which once again makes it look like the people who are saying "adjust your numbers for demographics, bozos" are getting shouted down by the shysters.

[ related topics: Health Bay Area Current Events ]

Via RC3, Win McNamee got a wonderful picture of Dubya. Kudos to an excellent photographer.

[ related topics: Politics Photography moron Current Events ]

Wow. Dave Winer labels Too Much Ventured Nothing Gained a "must read". I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it did spark a few neurons on the state of venture capital that need some further exploration. Recommended.

[ related topics: Dave Winer New Economy ]

Taiwan rules oral sex isn't adultery.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Current Events ]

Can you tell I'm at the office today? Starjewel had a link to a story which could have an effect on copyright law: Ananova: 700-year-old picture of 'Mickey Mouse' found in Austrian church. I'm sure Disney is rolling out the lawyers right now.

[ related topics: Religion Current Events Copyright/Trademark ]

Watched Dogtown and Z Boys last night. Not as good as I'd expected, given the rave reviews I'd heard. Part of this was just that the stunts are old, any given walk by Justin Herman Plaza and that stretch of the Embarcadero sees kids doing more spectacular stuff, but it was also clear that this was a film made by the same people it was about. We're all the baddest-ass of the bad ass in hindsight.

Still very watchable, some good historical perspective, frightening surfing shots, and lots of people with '70s hair doing cool stuff on a plank. Recommended with those caveats, except that Meuon must see it.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Movies California Culture Skating Justin Herman Plaza ]

Cynthia Plaster Caster is having an exhibit and sale of her work starting tomorrow at ArtRock in SF. A limited edition of 199 copies of the Hendrix cast will be for sale.

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

Over at Weird Ass Shit, the right reverend Hasty pointed to Heather Firth's Earth Erotica. If you're into figure photography, this is that done in color photographs of rocks. I'll forgo the obvious puns because others have beat me to it.

[ related topics: Photography Erotic ]

I've been promising myself that I'd get Shadow of Tam set up as a resource for art, entertainment and venues of interest to us dwellers of Marin County, but I'm still dicking about with a look. However, I did promise that I'd give the guys who played that party at our place a while ago another plug, so here's a basic transcription of an email they sent, with booking information and all that: Pie

[ related topics: Music Bay Area Art & Culture ]

West Marin women strip for peace.

[ related topics: Politics Sexual Culture Bay Area Current Events ]

Charlene's been out of town this weekend, and in the process I've started to revert to my old sleep schedule; early to bed and early to rise. In this case I was up at 4:30, and since we were meeting at Bill's house at 8:00 for a hike I slapped the light on the bike and pedaled up the hill to meet the sunrise. Alas, the atmosphere was clear this morning, this was as close to colors as I got, tooling along the Terra Linda divide over towards Lucas Valley.

We don't have colors like the northeast has colors, but a few trees do show a little bit, this one was a house down from Bill's place as I was killing time waiting for the appointed hour, trying not to look like some hippy loitering in an Eichler subdivision.

Then on the way back over the ridge, the composition of this flowering bush through this tree leaped out at me. Not a great day for picture taking, especially given the hopes with which I launched out of bed, but some good early morning stretch out. Now I have to get the house back in order before heading off to hang with friends this evening, 'cause Charlene and I will probably be getting home about the same time tonight.

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

Hell has officially frozen over. Dan's gone shopping at Nordstrom. I love the feel and look of good fabric, and I could get used to real service, having people run around the store to get me stuff is cool, but I wish fashion would change a little bit. How about "sportswear" that's a little more casual, something where the collars aren't quite so pronounced? How about more casual shirts in some of the great fabrics that dress shirts come in? I'd love to wear some of those colors, but damn I don't want to look like a cell phone salesweasel. Excuse me: "wireless communications specialist".

Of course the various other stores I've been to recently have been even worse. Sigh, what's a yuppie hippy to do?

[ related topics: Dan's Life Fashion Clothing ]

Once again we discover that the big problem with data mining is the quality of the data being mined. GooglePeople is very confident that the answer to your question who invented the internet is: Al Gore.

[ related topics: Politics Net Culture ]

Columbine rants on drug patents and strong copyrights, and I just had to respond to:

In other words, yes, they're entitled to their high-priced party for twenty years. After that, though, they need to let go and let it become cheap and widely available. They don't get to have it forever.

As I said as much to Debby, I added, "Of course, if Dan Lyke or a couple of other people I can think of were in this room right now, they'd say that is in direct conflict with my position on strong copyright."

Actually, I think you'll mostly find me in strong agreement on the copyright position. My only complaint with long copyright is that I believe it should be consciously renewed occasionally, say, every 10 to 25 years. This way we can do an easy search to see if something has lapsed from copyright, or if it hasn't we can contact the creator or heirs of the creator to find out what the current licensing situation is. I want to listen to old radio shows, and to explore old books, and I'm not averse to paying royalties for them, but I want to be able to definitively select when I do and don't have to.

Here's the difference: With patents, there's a good chance that what was patented was simply that that's the current state of technology, that multiple people are doing the same research at the same time. Patents are a bad compromise for protecting ideas and since their collateral damage is so high, keeping other innovators from the fruits of their thinking, patents need to be strongly limited. Copyright, and even trademark, on the other hand, allows for subtle enough variations that it's much easier to trace an expression back to a specific person, and there's plenty of room for other unique expressions.

Even if Disney apparently ripped off Mickey Mouse from the 14^th century.

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Health Current Events Copyright/Trademark ]

Amazon just e-mailed me that if I buy NOW ($5k) I can have a Segway in March 2003. 4 plus months away. Sorry Dean, the hype and shine has worn off, for $5k I can buy a nice used car and a bunch of parking tickets. I can buy 5-10 really nice bicycles and all the accessories, and go farther faster, especially on the local hills. On the other side.. in a couple of years, these things will be in pawn shops and will be fun to tinker with.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Automobiles Segway/Ginger/IT ]

Whoops: Scratch this, Mark says he isn't quite ready yet. Keep it in mind and I'll announce again when he is.

I'm not completely sure how much of the Flutterby CMS Mark Hershberger is using, but I know we've been talking back and forth about database schema changes and such. Anyway, he seems to be ready to release OpenWeblog.com on the world. If you've been wanting to set up a weblog on the net, he's doing cool stuff and will host it for a small fee (to help him pay his colo bills).

Oh, and Todd let slip that he got me a very cool Christmas present that maybe we can build into a development site for the Flutterby code. Further details to follow.

[ related topics: Content Management Weblogs Flutterby Meta Todd Gemmell ]

Debra collects old books. Some of these old books I'd love to read, but collecting them and maintaining them costs money and time spent looking. The money would probably be better donated to Debra to do her own looking, if I could find a way to share her books. So I'm interested in anyone who's done scanning of books. I'm thinking a decent digital camera and a copy stand and maybe there's room to start building an antiquarian library for the ones out of copyright, and maybe for the ones that might be in copyright I can see how hard it really is to track down copyright holders.

[ related topics: Books Photography Copyright/Trademark ]

So, if you were going to start from scratch and choose a digital camera for use in a fixed focus, fixed lens length environment, with a Firewire/1394 or faster data transfer system and excellent manufacturer support for a Windows based API, which would it be? Looking for at least 2k by 1.5k resolution, roughly a 50mm 35mm equivalent lens length. API reliability and feature set is the primary concern, as that's the problem with our current hardware.

[ related topics: Photography Microsoft Software Engineering ]

I overheard bits of conversation of two women having lunch at the metreon next to me. I almost fell on the floor when I heard ...My Girlfriend blessed Bill Gates last night. I asked her why, and she said that He was responsible for the ubiquity of the mouse wheel and therefore for the extreme dexterity of the middle finger of my right hand.

[ related topics: Humor Todd Gemmell California Culture ]

Ernie the Attorney has a cute little tale about the hazards of the Amazon "1-click" settings. Some kind soul accidentally bought him a Nikon 5000.... I'm not about to experiment too much, but I see a potential scam here...

[ related topics: security Net Culture ]

Back when I was musing about language overhead I remember thinkng that a language that dealt with vectors as nicely as Perl deals with strings would be nice. Kuro5hin has an introduction to K that makes it look like a language to try. It's commercial, from Kx Systems, but there are free downloads for Windows, Solaris and Linux.

[ related topics: Free Software Microsoft Perl Open Source Software Engineering ]

Public Autopsy by Body Worlds adds exhibition and audience participiation to an already strange art form.

[ related topics: Art & Culture ]

I've been researching Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) for a potential independent study project next Summer and came across Charles Benton's site. He seems a little more interested in composition whereas I'm looking at applications for remote sensing - but his photos are quite impressive. The link is into his spectacular series of shots from Burning Man 2001.

[ related topics: Burning Man Photography Bay Area ]

Okay, after having spent most of yesterday trying to get Direct X to behave sanely (never mind consistently) on a few different machines, with the result that I'll be doing Windows 2000 reinstalls today, it's time for some Microsoft mayhem. We'll just note the last two days of /.: First off, there was yesterday's report about whining that after over a month of no response from Microsoft on yet another Internet Explorer hole, someone posted an exploit that allows formatting a user's hard disk. Today there's a report of another exploit that Microsoft Support Bulletin MS02-065 suggests you fix by removing Microsoft from the list of trusted publishers. I did this for a while, had troubles with Windows Update, and now simply only use IE when I'm running Windows Update, never otherwise. Finally, /. pointed to a Microsoft whitepaper that talks about total cost of ownership and ease of administration in terms that... well... don't show up in their marketing materials. Security Office found the paper, The Register has excerpts and commentary.

[ related topics: Microsoft Open Source moron Net Culture Marketing ]

Aargh. So I'm trying to contact various digital camera vendors. Specifically, I called Nikon for some details, and they said "use the web form". So I'm trying to. But their site is down, which means I have to hit "submit" again every few minutes to see if it's back up, and can't reboot my machine or I'd have to fill the form in again. I really love to be able to email them, because then all of the queueing and waiting for their server to be live again would happen automatically. But while I'm wishing for real customer service, I also wish that the "your query has been received" emails I'm getting from various places also had a "your email is 4318th in the queue, expect a 6 hour wait", just like we get with phone support.

[ related topics: Photography Net Culture Marketing ]

When these anonymous forwards come around I really wish I had sources so I could credit the original, but, alas, Ruby just knows that this came from a friend who got it from a friend. Anyway, without further ado, an image of the male brain.

[ related topics: Humor Erotic ]

Mark Pilgrim has a new toy that finds similar links in weblogs. As I read through the sites recommended for Flutterby, most of those sites are "check occasionally" reads.

In a recent email exchange with Mark Hershberger I admitted that I don't read his weblog regularly. I don't know why that is, he's got a lot of entries that are right up my alley. I realized that one of the difficulties in finding sites to read is that I don't want to see the same stuff I'm posting, I want to see the same kind of stuff, but... different. And that's going to be tougher to do with automated systems.

[ related topics: Weblogs Flutterby Meta Invention and Design ]

Yesterday evening we were sitting in the office, admiring the clouds and the setting sun, when out in the distance someone spotted a blimp. The shot looked like it would be cool enough that Phil, Ruby and I dashed to the roof (who knew that would be such a long run?) and tried to take some pictures of it.

Phil snapped pictures with my S100 while I scanned the sky with my video camera. Unfortunately the clouds hadn't yet developed the color of later in the evening, and my little point-n-shoot doesn't have much of a lens on it, so this is about the best we got. But the whole sense of the thing approaching over that skyline in that light felt like some art director was playing with us.

[ related topics: Photography Bay Area Art & Culture California Culture ]

Foxtrot on music piracy:

"You realize the more you do this sort of thing the more likely it is that record companies will stop making these albums altogether?"

"That's my hope."

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Humor Music ]

Hot Laptop Burns Scientist's Penis. I'm not sure I would've admitted to this had it happened to me...

[ related topics: Health Cool Technology ]

This might not be a typical subject for Flutterby: maybe it belongs on my own weblog instead. But if you haven't already listened on NPR to Marion Winik's absolutely brilliant piece on aging as a woman in the US today, here's the RealAudio link (or an extended written version, if you prefer to avoid RA; her voice makes it real, though, and it's been edited for the radio and conciseness). I assure you that every word she speaks, she speaks for me.

My invisible face, the face of my consciousness, is still the smooth one. If I look too long, this new face will stick.

And when you're done, go read a poem called Warning, and then let's talk about it. (Dan, did you ever wonder why I wear so much purple these days?)

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Weblogs Coyote Grits Invention and Design ]

Congratulations to Tom and Melissa and their new little one, Emma.

[ related topics: virus Invention and Design ]

Wow. If you've ever snapped your fingers along to "My Girl", or wailed "ain't no mountain high enough" just slightly out of tune, you must see Standing in the Shadows of Motown. It's narrative and interviews with The Funk Brothers, the Motown studio musicians, intercut with concert footage from a reunion concert. Those guys still have it, it's fantastic to see how a bunch of jazz musicians jammed for 14 hours a day, knocking out good take after good take, and were the real talent behind all those singers who got the name recognition.

The performance of "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" had the audience in the theater applauding, but it wasn't just about great music, it was also seeing recognition come to a bunch of modest, unassuming guys who really deserve it. Highly recommended.

[ related topics: Music Movies ]

A friend gave me the DVD of Moulin Rouge! - bohemian, bizarre, and beautiful. An absolutely absinthe inspired indulgence. Mixing modern music with a fantasy 1899 Paris provides a wonderfully surreal experience.

[ related topics: Music Movies ]

Hilarious SFGate interview with a Macaw owner. She got the bird as a teen, not knowing that they live for 80 years and... well...

Do you recommend macaws as a pet for anyone?

Gideon is a spoiled queen. She needs to be preened, she needs her nails done, her beak done, a nice warm shower once a week -- she needs to be loved unconditionally, or she screams. I recommend macaws only to very rich people with nerves of steel who don't mind a mess, are hard of hearing and have tons of time on their hands.

[ related topics: Humor Nature and environment Birds ]

Argh. I was in CompUSA this weekend, remembered that Linux had a Belkin USB-serial driver, and bought one. Now I find out that Belkin is one of those horrible "rev the hardware often" companies, and I think I've destroyed the packaging enough that I can't return it. So if anyone wants one, it's available. Just ordered a Keyspan high speed USB Serial Adapter which is supported by the manufacturer. Teach me to do my homework next time. Sigh.

[ related topics: Open Source moron ]

You can't make this shit up: ACLU hires conservative Republicans Bob Barr and Dick Armey, Rob Morse points out the obvious: the President ran on states's rights and is now undermining them, here in San Francisco Emperor Willie says "boys will be boys" after 3 off duty cops are involved in a beating, leaving the other two participants bleeding on the sidewalk:

...Brown suggested that the incident could have amounted to "mutual combat" and that if those involved were "small and inefficient at it like I am, they don't always win the fight. . . . If there is mutual combat and all of us admit we were there and all of us admit we participated, there is no crime scene to investigate."

And Ethel the Blog points to John Ashcroft circa 1997: Keep Big Brother's Hands off the Internet, proof that it's all about partisan games and politics.

[ related topics: Politics Bay Area moron Law Enforcement Civil Liberties Net Culture ]

So, how's the weather out there in California? This incredible space image, suggested by Instapundit and Jerry Pournelle, shows the fog over Central California on the morning of a 14-car pilup on the interstate. No Wonder.

[ related topics: Space & Astronomy California Culture Automobiles ]

/. had a link to a Wall Street Journal article on consumer profiling gone bad, or what happens when Amazon thinks you're "a pregnant gay man." And what happens when users try to outsmart the systems. I've long espoused that the best interfaces are the ones that aren't, the ones where the system can work in the background and just do the right thing. But when users become aware of them, they become interfaces again, and having good overrides is a necessity.

[ related topics: User Interface Consumerism and advertising ]

Freakin' yay: Shelley links to and summarizes an idea that I've been mentioning for quite a while. In fact there are a bunch of scrapers out there to convert structured HTML into RSS, but the popular kids have been so stuck on the evil that is RSS that nobody's put it into a syndicator yet. First person to do so defines the standard that I'll follow, but since CSS tags are cumulative I'll probably follow however many standards seem reasonable. There are days when I wonder about making Flutterby something that appeals to the masses, seeing something that's been a good idea for years finally take off makes this one of them.

[ related topics: Web development Content Management Weblogs Flutterby Meta Net Culture ]

Saw Pumpkin last night on video. Can anyone find a connection between it and But, I'm a Cheerleader. I can't but everything from the music to the camera work has a similar feel. Pumpkin falls short of Cheerleader though...

[ related topics: Music Photography Movies Coyote Grits Nature and environment Work, productivity and environment ]

Flutterby is limping along, I'll try to get things switched over before we leave for a break tomorrow.

Went to the San Francisco Auto Show with Phil, Ken and Ruby today. Rather a bust. I think I took this blurry picture because I liked the design, but aside from the Shelby tribute, which had the car to the left, "Dragon Smoke", CSX2357 owned by Janet and Drew Serb, most of it was about cars to make fun of. Too many cars which came with high spoilers that suggested that a shag carpeted dashboard should not be an option.

When we walked by this display, Ruby broke out in "Don't cry for me, Argentina". I wondered why anyone would want to advertise themselves as an assasination target. The car that says "someone wants me dead".

Land Rover had their small little thing that looked like a Honda CRV clone. Mitsubishi or Daihatsu or somesuch had something that looked like what might happen if Hummer had a H¹/₂. Mercedes had that yellow convertible that screamed "I'm a lawyer with size issues". Ford, I mean, kinda, Jaguar had various Taurus incarnations. Mitsubishi and Nissan had vehicles that had garish colors and those over-populated stereo displays, even playing music with that heavy bass; the only thing missing was the neon light around the base.

I didn't get the right angle on this one, but the new Thunderbird is... well... pretty fly for a 2003 model. It was missing the funk with the wawa pedal, but I'm sure that was just because nobody cared because... well...

Because the show was basically just a large showroom with less annoying salesweasels following us around. For my $7 I wanted hype! I wanted flash! I wanted concept cars and half-naked babes!

Oh well.

[ related topics: Music Photography Invention and Design Bay Area Automobiles ]

Okay, I am so out of here. First to the redwoods with Charlene for a well needed break, then on Monday to Hong Kong for the week (really, this time) for business, and guess what: I'm not going to have a chance to transfer the data to the new database or do any of the other maintenance stuff I'd hoped to accomplish before I left. So, have fun, and I hope nothing breaks, and the state of backups will be roughly when I leave, 'cause those scripts are busted right now. Gulp.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Flutterby Meta ]