Flutterby™! From 2005-07-01 to 2005-07-30

There was an ad in Alaska for the local psychiatric hospital that ended with the tag line 'if you don't get help here, get help somewhere'. Maybe this moose is just trying to get some help. It does look a little mal-nourished.

Well, the first time I went to this link http://www.adn.com/photos/wildlife/v-photo_gallery_0/ It let me. When I tried to test it, I got a log in page. Bummer.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Alaska ]

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a Reagan appointee, to retire.

[ related topics: Politics Law Current Events ]

This weekend we're around Marin, next weekend it's camping in Yosemite, the weekend after that we're going to be helping Kiki out while she's off at the SimNuke event by running a firefall (The Cauldron) at the Fire Arts Festival. Looks like it could be cool.

[ related topics: Bay Area Art & Culture Pyrotechnics ]

Despite the late rains and the incredible wildflower blooms through June, summer has definitively arrived. The hills have gone from green to ... uhhh... gold. This was when I pedaled by Spirit Rock at quarter to seven this morning, the sun just breaking over White's Hill, the low fog cover not yet burned off.

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

The Unauthorized Randy "Duke" Cunningham Page.

[ related topics: Politics moron ]

It pains me to pay attention to a heavily hyped commercial sports event, but I know enough people who are at least peripherally following the Tour de France that I'm going to try to stay conversant on it this year. Mark Livingood, who runs http://www.TheTandemLink.com, posted number of links to the Tandem@Hobbes mailing list that'll help me in that. From that message:

Official TdF Website: http://www.letour.fr/index.html Live Reports - http://www.letour.fr/2005/TDF/LIVE/us/100/index.htm

Cycling News TdF Website: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/ Live Reports - http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/?id=livetimes

VeloNews TdF Website: http://www.velonews.com/tour2005/ Live Reports - http://www.velonews.com/tour2005/live.html

[ related topics: Theater & Plays Current Events Sports Pedal Power Bicycling Bicycling - Tandem ]

I'm struggling to stay up just a little longer for the Post-Impact Briefing from NASA's Deep Impact team. Space science is so cool: as we crowded around my laptop in the kitchen late tonight, waiting for the pecan pie to emerge from the oven, a washing machine-sized probe parked itself in the way of a speeding comet traveling at 23,000 MPH, with a larger probe meandering by snapping photos. (And we got to see them as they arrived back on earth!) The little probe-let took its own snapshots, too; my jaw dropped as I watched it documenting its way to its own demise... and then the result of impact as a plume of icy who-knows-what shot into space, in what must be some of the most dramatic space photos yet. The JPL team must be ecstatic about this result. As Rick Grammier, the project manager, said, "It's a bullet trying to hit a second bullet with the third bullet." Bulls-eye. Here's hoping for good scientific results: the p.r./drama/WOW factor was pretty darned high.

[ related topics: Photography Movies Space & Astronomy Astronomy Personal Lubricant ]

Because I think it deserves re-reading at least once a year, and today is as good a day as any: The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies.

We're going to hop on the tandem and go to the local fire department fundraiser breakfast, take a little longer ride, then hang out for the Woodacre Parade.

[ related topics: Politics Dan's Life ]

Does anyone know what the cost is to leave a computer running (without monitor) for 30 days? I amspeaking of the cost of the electricity.

[ related topics: Cool Science Sports ]

While the masses gather to storm the G8 conference in Britain, Africans are trying something that never seems to have occurred to them: figuring things out for themselves. Last week's BBC program Global Business tells how locals in Kenya and Ghana are using mere cell phones to improve their economy. For example, 40 or 50 poor farmers form a group to get a cell phone, and use it to call the agricultural exchange to find out what produce is selling for in distant markets ("press 1 for bananas, 2 for cassava" etc.)and thus be in a better bargaining position with the middlemen.

Even more intriguing is how they can transfer prepaid phone minutes to each other's accounts for free. In a nation of few banks and poor mail service, minutes have become a secondary currency. You can transfer time to your Mom back home, and she can transfer them to the stock dealer in exchange for 5 chickens.The Africans don't need concerts, they need cell phones.

[ related topics: Wireless Monty Python Television Currency Conferences Economics ]

A Capital Idea has a link to Ruth Walker: Mebbe gonna hafta get useta 'gotta', in which she muses that perhaps some of our slang contractions aren't just sloppy diction, but actually provide words with more specific meanings:

In other words, the temporal "gonna" is not just sloppy diction and muddled thinking. It's different from the more carefully enunciated spatial "going to." No one would say, "I'm gonna the gym tonight." In a century or two, who knows? This construction may be standard written English. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, as my mom used to say.

She also notices the difference between "let us" and "let's" (the latter being inclusive), which reminds me of a Yankee of my acquaintance who was trying to justify the use of the singular "y'all" by noting that "all y'all" is indeed a valid phrase. It's been a few years since I've been to the hollers, and I was a Yankee to begin with anyway, but I believe that the difference is that "y'all" is a plural second person, and "all y'all" is refers to every plural second person in the context.

[ related topics: Language ]

Living out here in the San Geronimo Valley, we've been inundated recently with calls to "oppose the tank", a large underground water tank that the Marin Municipal Water District has proposed studying. A few things have seemed fishy about the opposition, one of which is that locals tell us that some of the loudest voices in opposition were also those who, in protesting any involvement with the French Ranch development, a subdivision which was clearly going to be approved, pretty much screwed over the local schools.

So we've been very skeptical, and yesterday got the chance to drill some people wandering around the Woodacre parade with petitions on the details. Today I'm trying to get in touch with the MMWD to see if I can get copies of the September 12^th 2000 announcement of the tank mentioned in this article and the May or early June 2003 study mentioned in this one.

Yes, there are a few eminent domain issues I'd like to see if there are better solutions to, but based on what I've been able to dig out so far, the opposition seems like a big case of NIMBY coupled with the desire to loudly protest anything.

[ related topics: Bay Area Law Current Events ]

Despite offers of much larger subsidies from various U.S. states, Toyota plans to build $800M plant in Ontario:

"The level of the workforce in general is so high that the training program you need for people, even for people who have not worked in a Toyota plant before, is minimal compared to what you have to go through in the southeastern United States," said Gerry Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, whose members will see increased business with the new plant.

[ related topics: Politics Current Events Education ]

It's not like I ever get out to see movies, but this looks like one to put in the back of my mind somewhere: Murderball. A documentary on playing rugby in wheelchairs.

[ related topics: Movies Physiology ]

Remember that DeBeers ad that claimed "Whack! Pow! Whoosh! Kablam! In a tender, loving sort of way." Yeah, Al Qaeda is alleged to be big in the diamond biz.

It's odd that diamonds are alleged to hold their value, but at the retail level there's no resale-ability.

[ related topics: Current Events War Economics ]

Chilean court strips Pinochet of immunity. No word on whether this disqualifies him in the eyes of the Bush administration as a replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (hat tip).

But if you're interested in the issues regarding her replacement, you might want to add The Supreme Court Nomination Blog (thanks to Larry).

[ related topics: Politics Current Events Dictators ]

This morning London had at least 4 bombs, 3 in the underground trains, 1 bus above ground, kill and injure an as yet unknown number of people. At least one 'Al Qaeda' website claims responsibility. All ya'll need to check in the real news for the latest news, conjecture and talking heads.

Blair left the G8 in Scotland to go back to London, GW's ad-hoc-ish statement was un-inspiring and cold and full of 'war on terror' cliche's condemning the terrorists for killing innocent people, and I kept wondering how many innocents we have recently killed in the middle east.

[ related topics: History Current Events Machinery Trains Public Transportation ]

You know that dynamics simulations are making it into games in really cool ways these days. The rat boys got me Half Life 2 for my birthday, not so much for the game, but so that I could experience "goldbergs" and Gary's Mod. We've come a long way from Porrasturvat, now we can toss a body around in Flash.

And speaking of Flash, I think the Jedi Trainer is one of the coolest simple gameplay interfaces I've seen in a while.

[ related topics: Star Wars Games Cool Technology ]

Some musings on recent events from Tim Blair Down Under in Sydney:

Collected some Weapons of Mucus Destruction this evening as part of my so-called War on Sinus. Young woman behind the pharmacy counter. Raining outside. In the role of typical idiot customer, I say: "Unhappy weather." Not looking up, she answers: "It's an unhappy weekend." Then, turning towards the street, she adds: "This is London weather. Solidarity."

[ related topics: History Community War ]

Microsoft claims that 30% of the 600M Office users are still using Office 97. I have to agree. Office 97 was a pretty good suite of software and lacked much of the bloat of Office XP. But maybe I'm missing the point. According to Chris Capossela, Microsoft corporate vice president for the information worker product management group:

"We've gone beyond traditional applications of Windows and Excel on desktop and expanded beyond improving personal productivity."

I'm not supposed to expect my word processor and spreadsheet to improve my personal productivity, it's supposed to do something else!

[ related topics: Humor Microsoft Software Engineering moron Work, productivity and environment ]

Went to Yosemite on Friday evening, arrived late, set up camp (in the coolest spot in the Upper Pines, in between two rocks so that we had almost no sound in the tent), had a prolonged breakfast with the group we were hanging out with, and then biked down to Bridal Veil Falls and back, stopping along the way at whatever looked interesting.

There was a lot of snow this winter, so the cliffs were covered with rivulets and falls tumbling down the granite, spraying white and reflecting the bright glare of the sun in narrow streaks.

My past few treks to Yosemite have been weighed down a bit by the camera, but this time I resolved to carry only the newly repaired little one, and to keep the shots to vacation pictures, snaps of us. Mostly I kept to that.

The bike was clearly the right way to experience the valley in the high summer. The traffic in a few places was astounding, and since the highest speed limit in the valley is 35 and in most places it's 25, even when things were flowing at the limit we weren't any slower than the car. Not that getting anywhere fast was a priority.

Sunday morning we pedaled up to Mirror Lake, then back down to Yosemite falls, before wandering back to camp, packing up, and getting back at a reasonable hour.

On the way back we got distracted in Oakdale Escalon by a couple of old cars on a side street and discovered "The Horseless Carriage Garage, Don & Lillian Ritchey, proprietors", which looks like Don Ritchey's shop and obsession, containing everything from a Stanley Steamer to a 1917 or 1918 Caddy with numerous things in between. We were feeling a little pressed for time, so we only chatted for a little while with the man fiddling with the 1911 Maxwell in the driveway, we assume that was Don, and we've promised both him and us that we'll be back to explore and chat more.

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

2257.tv is listing websites shut down or altered because of changes to how the US DOJ interprets U.S. Code Title 18 Section 2257.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Free Speech Sexual Culture - 2257 Changes Sexual Culture - U.S. Code Title 18 Section 2257 ]

After pulling all of the broom from our yard, we planted a bunch of things, and our lavender is starting to come in (It's scattered, and it may be next year before that hill has enough cover that pictures would look pretty). But this looks cool: If you're up in Healdsburg, Dori pointed out some things to do, including pick your own lavender.

[ related topics: Bay Area ]

The remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opens on Friday, Chocolate: The Exhibition runs at the California Academy of Arts & Sciences through September 5^th, Ghirardelli Square has a chocolate tasting September 10^th and 11^th, there's a Wild and Wonderful Chocolate Festival in Oakhurst on October 8^th, and Scharffenberger has ongoing tours. All of these links were lifted from SFGate talking about chocolate

[ related topics: Bay Area Chocolate ]

Meuon, this one's for you: SFGate talks to some "dirtsurfers", a sport which is slightly misnamed 'cause it looks like they all ride on the road, but it's basically two-wheeled downhill skateboarding.

I think I need to add a "crazy fuckers" topic...

[ related topics: Sports ]

Morgan Spurlock Watch is dedicating to following the creator of Supersize Me and documenting his various claims and mis-claims.

[ related topics: Health Movies ]

Every time I get fed up with the Bay Area, every time I think I'm ready to move on, something happens that makes me realize that I don't live here for the weather or the climate, I live here for the culture that lets the local newspaper's website has a weblog that has entries like More Proof of God #267, in which there's a rundown of various vibrators you might not be aware of, including a rubber ducky in bondage gear.

Yeah, I wanna see Ernie singing about that one...

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Weblogs Bay Area Journalism and Media ]

Flash game of the moment: Planarity. Untangle the knots.

[ related topics: Games ]

I'll just totally rip off Dori:

Go listen to While my ukulele gently weeps. Really, it's good, and worth your time.

The performer is Jake Shimabukuro, he's got a gig up in Grass Valley this weekend at the California Worldfest, if you're not following us to the Fire Arts Festival, and the clip came from the Midnight Ukelele Disco, which has more of him, and some of the usual ukelele absurdity that's more in line with what you'd expect from the instrument.

[ related topics: Music California Culture ]

As New York Times reporter Judith Miller goes to jail for refusing to admit that she's still just passing along what Karl Rove tells her (even after the New York Times apologizing for not properly dunning info from the Whitehouse), and the noose tightens around Rove for compromising national security (who'd've thought the traitor would get caught?), it's good to know that... no, we're still getting screwed over: President Bush signs the "junk faxes are okay" act (David Lazarus has the scoop) which does that same toothless "any business you've ever had contact with has blanket permission to use your resources to send you crap" thing and usurping any tighter state regulations that the CAN-SPAM act did.

[ related topics: Politics Spam moron Current Events ]

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2004/07/feng_shui_motherboard.html

[ related topics: Current Events ]

Not only are 47% of all statistics made up, 16% of widely published medical studies are later shown to be bunk, and another 16% get shown to have weaker results. The abstract of the paper, published in JAMA, says that:

All original clinical research studies published in 3 major general clinical journals or high-impact-factor specialty journals in 1990-2003 and cited more than 1000 times in the literature were examined.

and that:

Of 49 highly cited original clinical research studies, 45 claimed that the intervention was effective. Of these, 7 (16%) were contradicted by subsequent studies, 7 others (16%) had found effects that were stronger than those of subsequent studies, 20 (44%) were replicated, and 11 (24%) remained largely unchallenged.

Via /..

[ related topics: Politics Health ]

Dykes on Bikes encountering resistance while trying to trademark name:

Twice, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the Dykes' application, on the grounds that "dyke" is vulgar, offensive and "scandalous."

Ya know, in the recent Woodacre 4^th of July parade there was a "Tykes on Trikes" contingent. It always takes me a while to recalibrate and realize that there are pockets of people who are completely out of touch with reality and the culture. Pockets like Virginia and Maryland.

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Political Correctness Sociology California Culture Copyright/Trademark Bicycling ]

The Wet Spots:

I'm goin' where the lube is flowin'

the sun don't shine where I'll be glowin'

wherever you're going, I'd like to come.

[ related topics: Music Erotic Personal Lubricant ]

A few random political ramblings:

1. What are the ramifications of China's drop in oil consumption? (Dave's Picks)
2. Could Bush administration political maneuvering have caused the intelligence failures that led to the London bombings? He makes a good case.
3. David Lazarus connects the dots between the statements that Karl Rove is now documented to have made and Valerie Plame via public databases. Don't know if this qualifies as "disclosure" under Title 50 Chapter 15 Subchapter Section 421, but it seems to me that the only question remaining was whether Rove had valid access to that information, or if someone additional perjured theirself in the investigation. And Robert Novak claimed two administration sources...

[ related topics: Politics moron Law Current Events ]

Greetings from Alaska, Pic is meuon and Nancy along the coastal bikeway outside of Anchorage Alaska.. Recumbent bikes rocks for being a tourist..

[ related topics: Hardware Hackery Photography Robotics Embedded Devices Bicycling Alaska ]

Sixty years ago the world's first nuclear bomb was detonated at Trinity Site, in New Mexico. At the aptly named 2020 Hindsight, Susan Kitches is live blogging the atomic bomb, time-shifted by 60 years.

And we were running The Cauldron at The Crucible's Fire Arts Festival because Kiki is off at Sim Nuke.

A couple of neat projects there, many of which I'd seen before, and Dance Dance Immolation was very funny.

[ related topics: History Art & Culture Pyrotechnics ]

Man, what is it about San Diego voters? First Duke Cunningham, now a string of mayors:

Jurors found Zucchet guilty of conspiracy, extortion and wire fraud two hours before he was to preside over his first City Council meeting following the departure of Dick Murphy, who had resigned Friday to give San Diego a fresh start amid a widening federal probe of the city's deficit-ridden pension fund.

"I suspect he'll be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the shortest time as mayor," said Jerry Coughlan, Zucchet's attorney.

Whatever criteria those folks are using to judge character, it's wrong.

[ related topics: Politics moron Law ]

Remember when Dubya said that if anyone in his administration leaked classified information they'd be fired? Well, what he really meant was that "if someone committed a crime" they'd be fired. Want some syrup with those waffles? Edit: It has been pointed out that Bush's stance hansn't changed since 2003. Although Scott McClellan did say that "The President expects everyone in his administration to adhere to the highest standards of conduct", "highest standards" apparently means "unconvictable".

Meanwhile, Rove and his supporters are claiming that since Rove never actually uttered the words "Valerie Plame", and instead allegedly referred to her by relationship, he's in the clear. Let's take a look at Title 50 Chapter 15  421:

Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

Note that it says nothing about what may already be known about the agent, just whether or not "the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship".

And he did this during a self-described time of war. Send the fucker off to Gitmo.

[ related topics: Politics moron Current Events ]

Wow. Alaska's range of incredible landscapes really needs to be seen by air to appreciate it. Nancy's in the plane to the left. In some places, it's like another planet. Friends took us on an amazing expedition, 3 very small planes, several glaciers, a semi-active volcano, river canyons whose angry waters make the Ocoee and Gauley look like placid lakes.

Dan, if you get a chance to do some tree-top flying, whatever the cost. Take it. The smaller and slower the plane, the better.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Photography Coyote Grits Aviation Space & Astronomy Chattanooga Alaska ]

In honor of the 36^th anniversary of the first moon landing: Google Moon. Not a whole lot of imagery there (discovered as soon as I went searching for "the dark side of the moon"), but cool none-the-less.

[ related topics: Astronomy ]

No idea in IT ever stays dead; they just keep on returning. According to Infoworld, many enterprises are beginning to look again at Thin Client systems, where all apps and files are kept on the servers, and desktop boxes have no hard drive or input system other than the mouse and keyboard. Of course, we also know this idea from some of its older incarnations, such as Larry Ellison's "Internet Computer" of the last decade; the dumb terminal of the 80's and the Timeshare system of the 70's. This time the allure is not saving money on hardware, instead its being pushed for security, with desktop idjits not having the wherewithal to volunteer for spyware installation or to copy virus infestations from home. They also see it as a great labor-saver, since you don't need any roving desktop support teams. Instead, you have guys in bunny-suits tending blade servers back at HQ. We sahll see it this one has better wings than the Internet Computer.

[ related topics: virus Net Culture Segway/Ginger/IT ]

A quote by Lionel over at Cluefire and Damnation made me go check out Criminal Code of Canada, 159(3)(b)(i) which, indeed, makes anal sex an indictable offense

if the consent is extorted by force, threats or fear of bodily harm or is obtained by false and fraudulent misrepresentations respecting the nature and quality of the act...

Emphasis mine. If you're hangin' out north o' the border, be careful how you pitch the evening's activities, kid.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Law ]

Courtesy of David Chess, it's the Theological Engineering Exam.

4. (20 pts.) Assume the Rapture occurs at time t. Cornelia, a saved human weighing 90 kg, in a state of grace, has her head in the closing jaws of an alligator at time t. What mass of meat will remain to the alligator at time t + 10 sec.?

[ related topics: Religion Humor ]

How much freedom are we willing to give up in order to feel safer? Apparently all of it: House votes to keep "Patriot" Act:

Lawmakers voted 257-171 Thursday to make permanent 14 of the Patriot Act's 16 sections that are scheduled to expire in December, rejecting the civil liberties concerns of Democrats and some Republicans who wanted to limit several provisions of the anti-terrorism law.

And the bits which give 'em access to your "business, medical, library, bookstore and other shopping records" and allow 'em roving wiretaps are enshrined again.

[ related topics: Politics Privacy Law Civil Liberties ]

Man killed by London police not connected to bombings. This is for all of the people who are asking why we're not profiling more: dark skin isn't proof of guilt.

And, like every needlessly confiscated set of nail clippers, this is a security failure.

[ related topics: Law Enforcement ]

A couple of weeks ago, Dan pointed me towards wxPerl - a Perl Extention for using wxWidgets from/in Perl. Just wanted to say - Thanks Dan! - more info and screenshots.

[ related topics: Weblogs Perl Open Source Coyote Grits ]

My Dad ranted yesterday about 'environmentalists'. "They should all be put on a ship to visit the whales, and sunk", then ranted about PETA. Although the phrase 'People Eating Tasty Animals' came up and was funny. He's an avid listener of radio talk shows like: Savage Nation, and it's starting to show in bad ways. The issue is extremism. Our society is a fairly 'moderate' place, and gets pulled slightly left or right by activists working the fringes. But hate is a powerful force, focus it and bad things happen. If you have not checked out the other fringe lately, wrap yourself in red while and blue camo and start clicking: Savage Nation

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Work, productivity and environment Television Machinery ]

On Friday, Forest and I went out to see Murderball (mentioned previously). I'm still trying to sort out why I'm not jumping up and down to say "you must see this movie". It's a good movie and, indeed, it has me looking at disability in new ways. It was not a "we can do everything able bodied people can do" movie, one of the great lines was when Mark Zupan is talking at a rehab hospital, one of the patients asks "What happens if we can walk again? Can we still play?" Zupan replies, deadpan, something like "If something happens and you can get up out of the chair and walk normally again, this might be one of the things you'll have to give up."

So it's a movie about some people who have come to terms with their limitations and are excelling within those limits. And it's a movie about what those limits mean, and they're not always what I expected: the bits on sex and disability were both funny and enlightening.

On the other end of things, the "these people are gifted and have pushed their bodies to the extreme end of that", a few weeks ago, John sent me a copy of The Tour Baby!: Armed with a video camera and no prior knowledge of how to use it, Scott Cody buys a plane ticket to France, rents a van, and goes to Le Tour de France. Scott's obviously a personable guy, he ends up going from being just another guy with a video camera to getting access to... well... standing on the winner's podium. Along the way he talks to the women who present the medals, the guys who drive the camera motorcycles, hands the camera off to one of the crew who takes it in to the hotel the cyclists are staying at.

This isn't a "what is The Tour?" tape, it's one die-hard cycling fan's fairly well-edited home movie of what he saw when he went to see it. It's probably not the right place to start if you're of the "I've been biking a bit, and heard of this Tour thing..." ilk, but even so we enjoyed it.

[ related topics: John S Jacobs-Anderson Sexual Culture Movies Sports Travel Bicycling Handicaps & Disabilities ]

An interesting SFGate article looking at Susan Stern's documentary The Self-Made Man, about her father's (taped) decision to commit suicide. Looks fascinating, out here in the Bay Area it's airing on KQED this evening, here's the POV page on the episode. I don't have broadcast TV, but I may try to track down a tape or disc of this, it looks good...

[ related topics: Technology and Culture Health Television California Culture ]

The War on Terror as viewed from the Bourne shell.

[ related topics: Humor Software Engineering History Current Events ]

On the beach at Cumberland Island National Seashore at sunrise, I found myself alone, or so I thought until I peeked over the dunes to see the locals sleepily enjoying their breakfast. The island is nothing short of surreal on several levels: the unique, stunningly pristine beaches, the wealth/intrigue/eccentricity of the humans who still live there, the heat that was in the 90's with near 100% humidity, the sheer terror of getting outta your tent to pee at 3am and being greeted by a snorting mare and her foal.

On a biking note, I rented a single speed (ugh!) bike to do the 15mi round-trip ride to Plum Orchard mansion. Did I mention the heat/humidity? It was a peaceful, and thankfully flat, ride through live oaks, palmetto, and sandy oyster-shell roads. Beautiful!

[ related topics: Photography Nature and environment Travel Bicycling ]

Forest is here, and we're working with him on study skills. Part of that is note taking, and as we were talking about it I mentioned some of my difficulties, and he suggested that I record Skype and iChat conference calls so that I can go back to 'em later.

So, all you "podcasters" and whatever: Audacity doesn't seem to have a "record what I'm hearing in my headphones", and what I'd really like is a "record both my mic and my headphones" application. For the Mac. Anyone got experience?

[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment Macintosh ]

Lyn has said that the wingnuts are after Griswold, and today she catches one of 'em in the act. From a CNN NewsNight transcript, our old friend Senator Rick Santorum says it flat out:

SANTORUM: I think there's a right to unreasonable -- to unreasonable search and seizure...

BROWN: For example, if you'd been a Supreme Court judge in Griswold versus Connecticut, the famous birth control case came up, which centered around whether there was a right to privacy. Do you believe that was correctly decided?

SANTORUM: No, I don't. I write about it in the book. I don't.

They believe that government has the right to absolute control over your life. Whether it happens at the state or federal level is a matter of convenience, because they've certainly shown themselves to be pragmatists about states rights and Federalism.

[ related topics: Privacy Sexual Culture moron Law Civil Liberties ]

Some pics from Summer Road Trip... Hmmm... I was looking around on Flutterby and decided to push this button to see what happens...

[ related topics: Travel Archival ]

What if WW2 were an online real time strategy game?

*Hitler[AoE] has been eliminated.*

benny~tow: OMG u noob you killed yourself

Eisenhower: ROFLOLOLOL

Stalin: OMG LMAO!

Hitler[AoE]: WTF i didnt click there omg this game blows

*Hitler[AoE] has left the game*

paTTon: hahahhah

T0J0: WTF my teammates are n00bs

[ related topics: Humor Games Dictators ]

You know those billboards that are black with white lettering, of the form

"Let's meet at my house Sunday before the game." - God"

Here are some suggestions for more of 'em.

[ related topics: Religion Humor ]

According to the Times of London, advertising watchdogs in the UK are forbidding liquor firms from using good-looking men in liquor ads. The idea is to break any conection between women's sexuality and drinkling alcohol. They suggest using only middle-aged or ugly men in future ads. A multi-million pound campaign featuring George Clooney may be cancelled.

[ related topics: Consumerism and advertising Economics ]

Must read: Steven Johnson's open letter to Hillary Clinton on video game violence (via /.):

I'm writing to commend you for calling for a $90-million study on the effects of video games on children, and in particular the courageous stand you have taken in recent weeks against the notorious "Grand Theft Auto" series.

I'd like to draw your attention to another game whose nonstop violence and hostility has captured the attention of millions of kids — a game that instills aggressive thoughts in the minds of its players, some of whom have gone on to commit real-world acts of violence and sexual assault after playing.

I'm talking, of course, about high school football.

As the bluenoses complain that GTA: San Andreas actually might have sex hidden amongst the violence, it's good to put things in perspective.

(To catch y'all up: From what I can tell, the "Hot Coffee" mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas only has clothed models, unless you download and install alternate models that fans have built for the game, and unlocking the "Hot Coffee" minigame on a console requires a GameShark or "AR Max".)

[ related topics: Children and growing up Politics Games Sexual Culture Current Events Sports ]

The 25th Annual ESRI User Conference is on in San Diego. Jane Goodall gave the keynote. Interesting speech to give to a crowd ranging from academics and ecologists to military analysts and petroleum engineers.

[ related topics: Photography Conferences Archival ]

Rick Santorum is sending up trial balloons on a presidential run. Last year I linked to a bit titled "Culture war being reshaped: Conservatives lower expectations". If Santorum can get national coverage by considering a presidential run, any more than someone like David Duke, then the cultural reversal is far faster than I feared.

[ related topics: Politics moron Current Events ]

Did anyone catch this part of Tony Blair's statement about the IRA stepping down:

I welcome the recognition that the only route to political change lies exclusively in peaceful and democratic means.

Doesn't this sound a little off when the same person was calling for war as the only means of political change when the target was Iraq?

[ related topics: Politics History moron ]

The 2005 Results of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest are in:

After months of pent-up emotions like a caffeine-addict trying to kick the habit, Cathy finally let the tears come, at first dripping sporadically like an old clogged percolator, then increasing slowly like a 10-cup coffeemaker with an automatic drip, and eventually pouring out and noisily wailing like a cappuccino maker complete with slurping froth.

[ related topics: Humor Writing ]

I got an email yesterday from Robert Smith-Hald, someone who knew me back in my grade school days. I was browsing through his musical biography and some bits of my childhood came into perspective. In describing his upbringing he says:

The glue of these types of communities is to lay down lots of taboos. The outside world is bad, henceforth; No TV, no candy, no junk food, no blue jeans, use candles rather than electric lights- and stay way from anything remotely connected to modern culture- and the worst- NO POP music, which includes rock, folk, blues, even most country music. The only music allowed was classical.

My family wasn't this hardcore, but we did trend that way, and a good number of the people who went to the school I went to through 7^th grade were this extremist. I'm not quite sure where I wanted to go with this, other than that if you read that you'll get some clues into why I'm slightly out of sync with the world most people inhabit.

And his music is worth a listen.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Music Dan's Life Technology and Culture Sociology Television Community ]

Microsoft's "Genuine Advantage", a program that required users to start verifying their serial number before getting more updates started this week was cracked in under 24hrs after release. The goal was to force users to either buy their WinXP, or tell Microsoft where you got the illegal copy. Bypass this typical M$ attempt at security before pressing the 'Custom' or 'Express' buttons, paste this text to the address bar and press enter:

    javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')

It turns off the trigger for the key check, at least for now. :)

[ related topics: Humor Privacy Microsoft Software Engineering moron ]

You know the "heat a beer can, put it upside down in water, watch it crush itself" science experiment? Yeah, like that, only done with a railroad tank car:

I was told the interior of the tank car was washed out & cleaned with steam. Then all the outlet valves were shut and the tank car was sealed. All the workers went home for the evening and when they returned, this is what they found.

[ related topics: Cool Science Beer Machinery Trains ]

Yep, just as you suspected, Abu Ghraib went straight to the top: Military's Opposition to Harsh Interrogation Is Outlined:

The memorandums provide the most complete record to date of how uniformed military lawyers were frequently the chief dissenters as government officials formulated interrogation policies.

"These military lawyers were clearly disturbed by the proposed techniques that were deviations from past practices that were being advocated by the Justice Department," said Senator Graham, himself a former military lawyer.

[ related topics: Politics moron Law Current Events ]

If you're interested in network security, personal and professional ethics, and propaganda, Bruce Schneier's coverage of Cisco and ISS versus Michael Lynn is worth a read.

[ related topics: Ethics security Net Culture ]

[ related topics: Humor ]

Austria Museum Lets Naked People in Free.

[ related topics: Nudity Current Events Art & Culture ]

Whoah! Cool! You know that allegedly possible but never supposed to happen except under laboratory conditions thing where water superheated in a microwave can appear to not be boiling, but "explode" when something is put in it? I was just heating water to clean the conductive gel off of some EEG electrodes, grabbed it out of the microwave, lowered the probes into it and... whoosh! Would have sucked if it had burned me, but the quantity was low enough and the container was shaped such that it just bubbled to the top and over a bit, so it was really neat to see that science experiment in action.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Cool Science ]

Argh. Well, I couldn't stay away from a printer, the HP died, and we've replaced it with an Epson Stylus Photo R200.

Gives great images when I print from GIMP, once I got the settings right, but given that I now have this stupid thing, what I'd really like is a way for me to take a whole bunch of images from a text file, and batch print them montaged 4 up. Heck, price-wise this is even competitive, the only problem is that at highest qualtiy it's going to run for a long time. So this has to be batched.

lp -dEpson img_3592.jpg prints the incoming raster at like 72 DPI or something. The best thing would be if someone could tell me how to tell it that the incoming image is at 2800 DPI (or whatever it wants, as long as what it wants is 300DPI or better), and I'll write a quick script to montage and re-arrange the images appropriately. Anyone done batch printing like this? Alternatively, anyone have a real quick "This is how you script GIMP to load an image, print it, and exit"?

[ related topics: Photography Dan's Life Graphics Linux ]

The Daily WTF: Tales from the technology trenches, mostly actual code found by programmers maintaining real systems. Might be a good source for interview questions.

[ related topics: Humor moron Net Culture ]