04.29.03
Dental Plan .. Lisa Neds Braces
After spending countless days at work, pouring over details of my project’s plan, all I can hear whenever my project manager said ‘project plan’ is:
“Project Plan… Lisa needs braces”
04.28.03
A victory for file sharing
In a reversal from the trend so far, a judge in Los Angeles has knocked down the record industry lawsuit against file-swapping software companies.
Judge: File-swapping tools are legal
“Defendants distribute and support software, the users of which can and do choose to employ it for both lawful and unlawful ends,” Wilson wrote in his opinion, released Friday. “Grokster and Streamcast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights.”
04.25.03
Yahoo Launch Addict
With a rating for Lullaby (Extended Mix) by The Cure my ratings level on
Yahoo Launch just jumped over the 5,000 ratings mark from ‘Fanatic’ to Addict. The ratings break down as follows:
Artists – 830 rated
Albums – 1,247 rated
Songs – 2,932 rated
I calculate I have rated 1,609 items since I made my initial Launchcast entry on the blog: The Lion’s Den: Get to know new music on launchcast on December 20th of last year or 12.8 ratings a day.
It feels like Launchcast has become more intelligent about the music it selects for me. Some of this could be due to the large library of music it knows I like and plays for me as well as the very large amount of music I have told it never to play again. This could also be due to better tweaking of the genre categories ratings. Whatever the case I am very happy with the Launchcast service.
Read the rest of this entry »
04.23.03
Three doses of Novocain
During my last dental cleaning my dental hygienist noticed a hole had developed in one of my fillings. Yesterday I went in to see my dentist and have it fixed. It has been a long time since I sat in the dentist chair. As Dr. Price gave me a shot of Novocain I thought of mentioning to her that in past I have had to have extra shots before I am anesthetized, and then never fully. I decided to let the session go in case it was some error in the part of previous dentists that had caused problems. That was a mistake.
After letting the shot sit for a few minutes Dr. Price began drilling out the old filling and quickly hit a nerve. I squirmed. She stopped, asked how I was feeling and gave me a couple of extra shots. Her assistant handed me a magazine to read while the painkiller settled in. After a few minutes the doctor set to work again, and quickly got another yelp out of me. A bit surprised she stopped her drilling and again set to work administering Novocain. This time she gave me five short shots to specific parts around the gum. We sat for a few minutes more until I could feel the numbness up my cheek and through the gum line.
After being given what felt like as full a dose as I could get, Dr. Price set to work on the tooth again. This time it was a while before I again felt the pain. It was not as sharp or intense and it took longer to feel it, but there were definitely some uncomfortable moments through the procedure, specially as cold air came into the hole before it could be filled.
Now, I am left wondering why. Why is it that even with extra injections of Novocain placed in precise and strategic places by a professional I trust, my jaw could not be convinced to not feel any pain? I am 6?3? tall and presume most drug dozes will need to be increased to account for my size… but three doses of Novocain? Am I really that sensitive? Am I somehow immune to the stuff? I remember as a kid I used to have a very keen sense of hearing (headphones in high school took care of that) and I have always been very sensitive to smells and tastes. Is there any relationship? Is there a way to find out? I have asked a couple of doctors about this and had them look at me as if I were a dunce, but have yet to hear any answers.
04.22.03
The History of MacOSX
The University of Washington has a simply wonderful presentation by Bud Tribble posted to their web site entitled ‘Mac OS X for UNIX Users’. Follow the link to the page with the Windows Media stream
Mac OS X for UNIX Users
The underlying operating system in Mac OS X (Jaguar) actually has a long history stretching back to BSD UNIX and CMU Mach. Bud Tribble will cover its interesting evolution and its place in the current line-up of mass market operating systems. Topics include: the miracle (and challenges) of actually providing ease of use on top of BSD, the interaction of Mac OS X with the open-source software community (Darwin) and recent developments in Mac OS X (Rendezvous networking, Safari browser, X Window Server support, OpenGL, Java tools). For more information about this program, please see the CSE web site.
04.21.03
Who invented the Web? Why Charlie of course.
An interesting little article about a fellow (Charlie) who has patented web services. Follow the link for the rest of the article.
Charlie Northrup, the guy in New Jersey whose prior art on what looks to be Web services dates back to 1994 and appears to trump anybody else’s IP, has gotten another patent.
God knows it wasn’t easy. The US Office of Patents and Trademarks pored over his application simply forever, comparing it to other like-minded patents. It found nothing that would disallow it, certainly nothing held by any member of W3C, and just granted the patent the other day.
04.16.03
Twelve Reasons Why President Bush Should Lead Iraq
NPR aired a report entitled Twelve Reasons Why President Bush Should Lead Iraq last week. The report was very funny. Follow the link above for an audio feee or read the transcript below:
1. Lots of guns.
2. Plenty of oil in need of drilling
3. Climate similar to Texas
4. Most Iraqi people also speak English with an accent
5. Changed it’s name from Mesopotamia to the easier to pronounce Iraq
6. Unmarried daughters have to live at home and stay out of trouble
7. No problem defying international treaties
8. No alcohol: No temptation to fall off the wagon.
9. No term limits
10. No annoying campaign finance rules
11. People will love faith-based initiatives
12. It’s got capital punishment… and them some.
04.14.03
720 Miles in 3 Days
Friday evening I drove the three-hour drive from Portland to Seattle after work. I met up with Sara in Seattle tired but happy sometime around 10pm. We had dinner at a very nice restaurant atop Capitol Hill called The Rose Bud. The ambiance of the restaurant was superb and the food was quite good, though there was something about the mushroom dish that Sara ordered that quite disagreed with my palette. The waiter brought me a sample cup of a simply superb Chipotle corn soup. While sitting in the restaurant I was pleasantly surprised to see Ingy and Heather walk by on their way to visit another New Years friend, Lisa at a bar around the corner. We did not stay late though, as we had to get up early the next morning to go hiking.
We were on the road heading to Yakima at 6:30 on Saturday morning. At my aunt Lisa’s house in Snoqualmie we met up with Lisa, my Mom, her friend Marilyn, our friend Kate and later on with a co-worker of Lisa’s Amelie and her husband Stephen. The eight of us Caravanned across the pass and over the dessert to a nature area just north of Yakima. There we found our hike: Umtanum Trail, otherwise known by the locals as ‘Rattlesnake Alley’. As promised by our hiking books the trail delivered beautiful wild flowers, grand canyon landscapes, lots of sagebrush, a great creek and plenty of birds. What the books did not mention and I was delighted to see was abundant Beaver sign, and with that I mean whole bunches of freshly downed trees. The drive out and the drive back were both through torrential rain, though there were was only a drop or two on the hike itself. No rattlesnakes were spotted, which so far as I am concerned was all for the best. The hike totaled just over six miles (Stephen had a GPS device with him), which were mostly mild, but had some very rough spots as we hiked up steep embankments, hugged the cliff side on slide areas or balanced our way across talus slopes. There was one hard fall as a whole set of rocks gave way as my mother crossed one of the talus slopes, but thankfully bumps, bruises and some scrapped skin was all the damaged suffered.
The plan was to find some good authentic Mexican food for a post hike lunch in the town of El Conquistador turned out to be pretty bad industrial Mexican food. I don’t think anyone was eager to stand up and go somewhere else after being served chips and shown a menu, though after eating my enchiladas I wished I had. After dinner we visited Hyatt Vineyards where the owner was very gracious in letting us sample his fine red wines. Most of the party was very impressed by the selection. I was only really interested in his Syrah and the Reserve Chardonnay.
After the hike we drove back across the pass in a rain fall so heavy it was hard to see more than a car ahead. Tired and sore Sara and I took a few minutes to rest and watch the new Matrix Reloaded trailer before heading out to a birthday party at the house of a friend of hers. I was not much good at the party, being an introvert I quickly looked for a corner seat where I could hide. Tired as I was the mass of people I did not know proved too much for me so we left early.
Sunday was a mellower kind of a day. Sara and I had brunch at a restaurant on First Hill then downloaded pictures from her camera taken on our visit to New York (the pictures should be posted to the gallery soon). I visited my grandfather who is recovering from open heart surgery in the afternoon. In the evening I had dinner with Sara and her roommates who made a delicious pasta with sauce made from vegetables picked that afternoon out of their garden. The conversation somehow steered towards Devo (which I found out comes from one of the band-members belief that humans were de-evolving) and The Church of the SubGenius.
On the drive to Seattle I listened to two volumes of the Living in Oblivion series. Between the drive out to Yakima, around town and the drive back I almost finished off the series as well as some good Celtic music. Driving back to Portland was once again through poring rain. It was on the drive back that I remembered I had zeroed out my odometer as I departed. As I pulled into the garage the car’s odometer showed I had driven just over 720 miles in 3 days.
04.09.03
Sexual Orientation and Ballad Of Ray Suzuki
There are a couple of songs that Yahoo Launchcast keeps bringing up in my play list that are simply wonderful:
EBN
Sexual Orientation by EBN has an addictive beat, interesting melodies and best of all suggestive lyrics that are always just a little too soft and a little to fast to be understood. By the way, I also highly recommend EBN’s music videos. Take a look at their videos for Electronic Behavior Control System and for We Will rock You (find it on the Launchcast EBN page)
Looper
Ballad Of Ray Suzuki by Looper is one of those simple little electronic songs where the same short sample loop keeps playing over and over. I do not know what it is about this song that appeals to me so, but I could (and do) listen to it over and over.
04.08.03
Kinky Sex (Makes the World Go Around)’ By the Dead Kennedys
I was recently reminded of a great song I have not listened to in years. The song ‘Kinky Sex (Makes the World Go Around)’ from the album Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death by the Dead Kennedys is in the form of a phone call from the US State Department to the British Prime Minister proposing that ‘The companies want something done about this sluggish world economy … The companies think It’s time we all sit down … and start another war.” Once I remembered this song existed I was amazed I had not thought of it before. It should be the anthem to the current war in Iraq. I recommend it to anyone out there who is bothered by Halliburton having signed contracts worth over $73 million with Iraq before the war and now getting a blank check from the government to put out post-war oil fires. Until you get a copy of the song, here are a copy of the lyrics:
“Kinky Sex Makes The World Go ‘Round”
Greetings:This is the Secretary of War at the State Department
of the United States
We have a problem.
The companies want something done about this sluggish
world economic situation
Profits have been running a little thin lately
and we need to stimulate some growth
Now we know
there’s an alarmingly high number of young people roaming
around in your country with nothing to do but stir up trouble
for the police and damage private property.
It doesn’t look like they’ll ever get a job
It’s about time we did something constructive with these people
We’ve got thousands of ‘em here too. They’re crawling all over
The companies think it’s time we all sit down, have a serious get-together-
And start another war
The President?
He loves the idea! All those missiles streaming overhead to and fro
Napalm
People running down the road, skin on fire
The Soviets seem up for it:
The Kremlin’s been itching for the real thing for years.
Hell, Afghanistan’s no fun
So whadya say?
We don’t even have to win this war.
We just want to cut down on some of this excess population
Now look. Just start up a draft; draft as many of those people as you can.
We’ll call up every last youngster we can get our hands on,
hand ‘em some speed, give ‘em an hour or two to learn how to use
an automatic rifle and send ‘em on their way
Libya? El Salvador? How ’bout Northern Ireland?
Or a “moderately repressive regime” in South America?
We’ll just cook up a good Soviet threat story
in the Middle East-we need that oil
We had Libya all ready to go and Colonel Khadafy’s hit squad
didn’t even show up. I tell ya
That man is unreliable.
The Kremlin had their fingers on the button just like we did for that one
Now just think for a minute-We can make this war so big-so BIG
The more people we kill in this war, the more the economy will prosper
We can get rid of practically everybody on your dole queue if we plan this right.
Take every loafer on welfare right off our computer rolls
Now don’t worry about demonstrations-just pump up your drug supply.
So many people have hooked themselves on heroin
and amphetamines since we took over, it’s just like Vietnam.
We had everybody so busy with LSD they never got too strong.
Kept the war functioning just fine
It’s easy.
We’ve got our college kids so interested in beer
they don’t even care if we start manufacturing germ bombs again.
Put a nuclear stockpile in their back yard,
they wouldn’t even know what it looked like
So how ’bout it? Look-War is money.
The arms manufacturers tell me unless
we get our bomb factories up to full production
the whole economy is going to collapse
The Soviets are in the same boat.
We all agree the time has come for the big one, so whadya say?!?
That’s excellent. We knew you’d agree
The companies will be very pleased.