An article about The Power Girls movie opening on Wednesday. Anyone wanna go with me?
Play Dates With Destiny. The Power Girls fly off television sets to invade the summer matinee. But who are these strange creatures that mesmerize little girls? By Virginia Heffernan. [New York Times: Movies]
Quentin Crisp. "Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level." [Quotes of the Day]
Robert K. Brown: "Everything You Thought You Knew About Grilling Is Wrong" [jenett.radio]
This reminds me of when I bought a grill of my own in San Diego. I picked up a book on grilling and was surprised to find that there was much more to grilling than just tossing meat on the grill.
Thanks to Adam for posting the following. I heard this mentioned on NPR this morning on my way home and told myself I should find a link about it and post it:
Arthur "Spud" Melin, co-founder of the toy company that introduced the world to the Frisbee, Hula Hoop and other faddish gems of American pop culture, has died. He was 77 and had Alzheimer's disease. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]
Last night was Changmian's yearly beach party. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, I think this was an okay one, but not the best we've had. One thing that did become clear to me is that I think we have to change how we promote these events. This one was just a bit too crazy for my comfort levels. I'd guess that at some point there were at least 200 people there, if not closer to 300.
Part of the issue to me is that though the beach is on federal land, the road leading up to it isn't. It's a private residential street. So people driving up and down it and making noise at 2am in the morning have a good chance of disturbing the people living there. I've always been a firm believer in 'Leave no Trace', which includes disturbing people who live closeby.
Also, as you get more and more people the chances for problems increase. There were more then a few kids there who quite obviously did not know how to party responsibly (though it sounds like they were at least smart enough to have a designated driver). All it takes is a cop pulling up and seeing a bunch of teenagers stumbling around and the party could be shut down.
I would be much happier to see something where we invite people and tell them their invite is good for them and a few of their friends. As I was hanging out at the top of the hill overlooking the beach I heard numerous kids walking by talking about how some friend of theirs had emailed them telling them about the party.
Okay, I'm definitely sounding a bit like a grouchy old man :). But I'd rather see us put some limits on these events. There are people who regularly attend our events and I want them to be able to have a good time. While I'm sure they did this time, the risk level made it harder to ensure that. I keep thinking of the times the had public Moontribe events. Almost every time they had one there were major problems. I don't want to see that happen with our events.
I'm offline for the next 24 hours or so. I'm heading out for the night and hopefully will have some stuff to write about tomorrow.
Albert Einstein. "The important thing is not to stop questioning." [Quotes of the Day]
Opening in limited theatres on August 9th, 24 Hour Party People. I have to see it. I was just reading about The Hacienda in Last Night a DJ Saved My Life and Factory Records is one of my all time favorite labels. And I also just found the Official Site of the movie.
Dave set up OS X:
OK, with Jake's help, I got my Mac OS X Cube running. It wasn't too hard. I like some of the neat UI things they've done. Like when you enter the wrong password, the dialog shakes its head. No need to beep at me. I like the special effects when you launch an app. I like that I can run the terminal window. Nice. Next we have to figure out how to copy my MP3s from my Windows machine to the Mac OS X machine.
[Scripting News]
I'll be curious to hear more of his reactions to it. And as far as copying your mp3s. Just ftp them! You can turn on ftpd in OSX by going into system preferences under sharing.
Douglas Adams. "You live and learn. At any rate, you live." [Quotes of the Day]
I started going through my records today because I'm trying to come up with a new mix or two. Being a packrat and a DJ isn't always a great combination. There are so many records I have right now that I wouldn't normally play, but I don't want to store them away just yet.
It is looking like one of the mixes will be a bit harder. And one will be a bit more on the house/deep/tech house side of things. Now I just need to get off my ass and get it all done.
The weekend is here. That must be why I can't sleep. I decided to take an extra day off this week just cause I felt like I needed it. I've actually been quite busy at work lately and have been exhausted when I get home due to this wonderfully humid weather.
Look for some good weekend reports by Monday.
H. P. Lovecraft. "The most merciful thing in the world . . . is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." [Quotes of the Day]
Yay, I upgraded apache and php to the latest versions just now. Thank god for not being able to sleep. It's the best time to do system upgrades.
A friend of mine pointed me at the Danger Hiptop. It's a phone/IM/pager/email type thing that looks like it is just the right size. I want one.
I'm way behind on posting anything new. Work is just a bit crazy the last few days. I'm on vacation the next two days though, and have a nice weekend lined up so things should get better.
I got the idea for this from one of my LJ friends. Searching google for "Gregory is" we find that (I picked my favorites):
Seen on Slashdot. Yamaha has a new feature for their CD-R/RW drives coming out in Japan called DiscT@2.
The CRW-F1 is the first CD-RW recorder to offer the revolutionary DiscT@2TM Laser Labeling System, which allows graphics and text to be burnt onto CD-R disc, eliminating the need for labels. Customers can put graphics, such as signatures, logos, memorandums, and photo images onto CD-R's unused area after data writing. This unique feature will certainly enhance the CD-R recording experience for many users.
I so can't wait till this is available in the US. I can't wait till I can add images to my mix CDs.
Here's some information on a nice resource for anyone who is looking to get a wireless gateway:
Planning to buy a wireless gateway?. Before dropping the money for one of the many wireless network gateways out there, take a look at the Revamped cheap home gateways matrix from 80211b News. Today Glenn writes: The cheap home gateways article has been revamped to include this matrix that compares all the major gateway features across all the major inexpensive units. [Rob McNair-Huff: OS X 10.1.4]
It was nice to see that the one I've been recommending (the SMC) to get for people is pretty good. And I even saw it on sale for $99 after rebates this weekend at MicroCenter. That's only $10 more then their non wireless version.
Microsoft Brings Instant Messenger to Cellphones. LONDON (Reuters) - Users of Instant Messenger can keep receiving messages, even when they are not logged on to their personal computer, as Microsoft and eight European mobile operators expanded the service to cellphones on Monday. By Reuters. [New York Times: Technology]
How many people out there have tried using IM on their cell phone? How many people tried it once or twice then decided it was a neat curiosity but something they'd never use? I tried it once or twice. I thought it was kind of interesting, but too cumbersome to use. If someone really needs to get a hold of me that badly they can call me.
Yet another stunning revalation from the New York Times this morning:
Use of Internet Is More Active at High Speed. People who use high-speed services to connect to the Internet from home have a much more active relationship with the online world than those who dial up. By Amy Harmon. [New York Times: Technology]
Um, well duh. Have you tried browsing over a dialup line lately? It's painful. Especially after having a high speed connection at home or work. The study I'd be more interested in seeing is how people use the net differently over broadband. I know that my usage patterns have varied a lot since I got it. I use the net for a lot of things I wouldn't have before because of the improved speed.
Matt Groening. "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." [Quotes of the Day]
I had been waiting for Warner Brothers to re-release Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker. When they first released it on DVD they'd made a number of edits to make it more 'kid friendly'. Needless to say, people were upset.
Friday I saw that it had finally come out and decided to pick up a copy. I watched it this morning and I have to say it's quite good. It's features like this that give me hope for american animation. For the record, I think there actually is a lot of good american animation, but there still tends to be the feeling that cartoons are for kids. So you don't have a lot of animated featues targetted at an older audience.
AHhhh! I just saw a commercial for Cookie Puss and Fudgy the Whale. Is Carvel even still around? (It looks like they are.)
I dunno about anyone else, but Cookie Puss never looked that appatizing to me.
Oscar Wilde. "Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event." [Quotes of the Day]
Though their birthdays aren't for a few days I want to wish my friends Bree and Susan a Happy Birthday. Last night there was a surprise party thrown for them that was lots of fun. I think my favorite moment was watching Bree's expression when she walked into the bar and saw her parents there. Jill had called me yesterday afternoon when she was out with Bree and asked me to invite them.
It was also nice to get out and socialize a bit. I got to spin a nice housey set (It was nice to find out I could spin a set with almost no trance). I also got to meet a few new people who were really cool. I was even a good boy and slipped out a bit early so that I wasn't up TOO late. Also, thanks to Chris for asking people to smoke outside (as well as for organizing everything). It's really nice to see people just being aware that their smoking is really bothering someone.
One thing I love about summers in Cambridge is that there is actually parking. Once graduation occurs things clear out a bit for a few months. It's nice being able to find parking right in front of my house after being out late on a Saturday night. It is almost unheard of during the school year.
I've had a bunch I wanted to post this weekend, but just haven't gotten around to it. So there may be a bunch of updates this morning.
I'd like to welcome back Dave also.
Hot Damn. My Kimagure Orange Road DVDs finally arrived. I was a little surprised to see them arrive at home because I'd put down my work address as my shipping address. One thing I've just realized is that the episodes of this I had seen were from the OVA series. So these are all new episodes for me. Animeigo has even said they are going to remaster the discs to fix some issues with them. It seems they thought that people wouldn't want to see the openings for each episode and so made them seperate. Understandably, people were a bit pissed off about this. Animeigo gets points in my book for admitting they screwed up.
From Boing Boing:
TBL on links and the law. Tim Berners-Lee anticipated NPR's absurd link policy in 1997, in this paper on Links and the Law:
The intention in the design of the web was that normal links should simply be references, with no implied meaning.A normal hypertext link does NOT necessarily imply that * One document endorses the other; or thatLinkDiscuss(Thanks, Patrick!)
* One document is created by the same person as the other, or that
* One document is to be considered part of another.
I'd actually thought about looking to see if there was something that TBL wrote about this.
Bob Edwards. "When Solomon said there was a time and a place for everything he had not encountered the problem of parking his automobile." [Quotes of the Day]
William Blake. "It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend." [Quotes of the Day]
So here's what tracks are on the soundtrack for Wipeout Fusion:
Damn I want this on CD.
Boing Boing has some more coverage on the whole NPR linking issue. It appears that Wired has an article on it where they interview NPR's Ombudsman. In reading this I once again want to ask the question, "What are you doing on the web if you don't want people linking to you." The web exists as it does today because it lets people easily link from one site to another. To those who don't like that, tough luck.
Here are some other things I just thought of. What are the limits of this. Is it okay to tell someone a link? How about print it in a print publication? Is it illegal to mention an print article in a magazine(not reprint it, just mention it)? How about if you tell someone it is from the July 25th issue on page 6?
Didn't Small Pieces Loosely Joined talk about this some too? I'd look it up myself, but I've lent out my book to my boss. (Hey look, The book was talked about on All Things Considered a few months ago too).
Does anyone here use Quicken for OSX? I'm trying to find out about online banking and bill paying. Does anyone know of banks in the Boston area that support it? I know it is possible to download statements from some bank's websites, but I don't know how automated it all is. Anyone able to offer some insight into this? If so, please comment or drop me a line (<%radio.macros.mailTo ()%>).
Cool new product:
Cloudmark's Anti-Spam Software looks very promising: "The company's flagship product called SpamNet is the first collaborative spam reporting network capturing nearly every spam attack around the world in real-time to automatically keep 75 percent of spam out of peoples' inboxes - a percentage that will improve overtime as the network grows." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]
This is pretty cool. I tried setting it up yesterday at work and had some issues. I tried it again today and it's working pretty well. I don't need to use it at home because I'm using spamassassin, which has support for razor (even though I'm not using the razor part at the moment), the unix app Spamnet is based on.
Marlene Dietrich. "I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself." [Quotes of the Day]
Wipeout Fusion is out. And it kicks ass.
Now excuse me while I go race a bit more.
Jean Giraudoux. "Only the mediocre are always at their best." [Quotes of the Day]
I think I might be coming down with something. Either that or I'm just overtired. Or something new just bloomed that is triggering my allergies. I think I might take an allergy pill this morning and see if that helps.
Found this a few different places:
Cory Doctorow on NPR's brutally stupid linking policy: "NPR joins KPMG and other bastions of cluelessness by requiring that anyone who wishes to link to the NPR site fill in this form. No matter how deep or shallow your link is, NPR requires you to fill in this form." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]
I went and looked around the NPR site at random story pages and didn't notice anything on any of those pages about not linking. So I guess it must be hidden someplace or you're just supposed to know. I really would like to know why they felt it was necessary to do this.
Yesterday I got an interesting offer from Verizon in the mail. They have this new feature called 'Call Intercept'.
Call Intercept stops calls that do not provide a valid telephone number. These calls appear as "anonymous," "private," "out of area" or "unavailable" on your Caller ID unit. Call Intercept will ask unidentified callers to record their name before your phone rings. When you pick up, you'll hear the recording. So you can decide whether or not to take the call. If callers refuse to give their names, their calls won't get through. That way your phone doesn't ring and you won't be bothered.
It's definitely an interesting idea. But I don't know that I'd pay $5/month for it. But if I was getting a lot of annoying calls I might think about it. If I was still using my land line.
This is from a few days ago, but I kept forgetting to post about it. Megnut has a great article about What We're Doing When We Blog. Possibly one of the better articles out there about blogging.
Another anime related post. I finished watching Alien 9 last night. I'd watched the first two episodes a few months ago and the end of the second one just made me go BUH. Enough that I wanted to wait a bit before watching more.
Last night I finally settled in to watch them and the end of episode three just made me go ACK. And the end of episode four made me go "I want more!" Unfortunately there have only been four episodes of this done. I really do hope it gets continued eventually. There seems to be a lot of interesting things going on (Even if the main character is the whiniest character since Akari in BAV).
Shamelessly stolen from Nari. It appears they have found the source of the Colorado fires going on right now.
CASTLE ROCK, COLORADO - A U.S. Forest Service employee set the fire that scorched more than 100,000 acres in Colorado and forced thousands to evacuate by burning a letter from her estranged husband in the Pike National Forest, authorities said Sunday. [ KOMO TV ]
Tomorrow AT&T is coming out for a third time to try and fix my cable issues. The first guy who came out told me to specificly ask for a "triple tech" to come out. The first time I tried this I had the same guy come out a second time. He then told me I should ask for a supervisor and they could help.
So, over this weekend I tried again. I made an appointment with for a triple tech to come out today, but then had to reschedule when I realized I had meetings all afternoon. I'm a bit afraid because when I called to reschedule I tried to confirm that it was an appointment for a "triple tech" the guy on the phone was a bit clueless. I probably should call and confirm again, but I'll just keep my fingers crossed.
Mel Brooks. "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die." [Quotes of the Day]
I finished watching Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar earlier today. Yet another really good show. Despite its being insanely cute it was really enjoyable. Once I got to episode 19 I had to watch it all the way through to the end.
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While taking pictures I noticed this path leading to... nowhere. It got me curious about where exactly it used to go to before.
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The sun lit things really nice after it rained today. I just had to get some pictures. This is one of the ones I took.
From John Robb's Radio Weblog:
Here is an update on my friend and boss Dave Winer. He is in the hospital and will remain there until next weekend. To those that are sending notes, he should be OK, but in the meantime send positive healing thoughts in his direction. He will be providing more details when he is able.
Here's some positive healing thoughts going out to Dave.
I went to go see Cherish today. I thought it was okay. I'm not sure it was worth the full price of the movie ticket though. Robin Tunney was pretty good in it, but I felt like the movie never quite figured out what it was trying to be (A comedy, drama, or thriller).
I've gushed a few times about how I love my Audiotron and the shuffleplay function on it. And I'm going to do it again. I love how it helps remind me of older songs that I used to listen to a lot years ago. I was just getting ready to head out to the movies and Accidentally 4th St (Gloria) by Figures on a Beach came on. I remember first hearing this back when I was living in Pittsburgh. I think Dave Bulebush first played it for me. It was off of Sire Records' Just say Yes, one of the best sets of CDs ever.
Gotta love the power of music to cheer one up on a gloomy day.
It's been kind of overcast for the last two days and it is making me cranky. I need to be able to go outside and feel the sun on my face. Today I'm either going to stay in and watch DVDs all day or head out to the movie theatre to see something (Currently I'm thinking about going to see Cherish). Or maybe some combination of both.
Years ago I remember seeing the trailer for Lady in White and remember thinking it looked cool. I finally got around to renting it from netflix and really enjoyed it.
The basic premise is that the main character ends up getting locked in a coat closet on Halloween. While there he sees a ghost of a young girl as she is murdered. The rest of the movie is discovering what happened to the girl and who killed her. I liked it enough that I've already added it to my wish list. I also have to say that the sound on the DVD was amazing. One of the best DVDs I've heard.
Browsing through NYTimes website today I saw the headline: Artist's Fame is Fleeting, but Dog Poker is Forever. It must be a slow news day.
Wow, in the past week I've noticed the number of people reading my rss feed increasing. Pretty cool!
Wow, I haven't done this in a while. Here's my first Friday Five in a few weeks:
A principal at a California school has banned tag. Excuse me? Tag? I'm sorry. I don't buy the whole self esteem argument. I wasn't the fastest or strongest kid, but I used to LOVE playing tag (and dodgeball). I mean. I can't imagine not being able to play things like TV Tag during recess. I wonder what classic kid's game will be next.
British Airways flies high with broadband. Mile high surfing [The Register] [jenett.radio]
This would definitely influence the airline I used. That flight to the UK is a long one and if you could be online for that time it would rock.
I have today off. These off fridays really have been helping me keep sane lately. Plus I end up getting a lot done. Hopefully today I'll have some lomo pictures developed that I can use for the web site (Since I haven't posted anything in ages).
I haven't been to a USENIX conference in years. Luckily these days sites like s l a m are blogging it. Now, I can at least get a hint of what cool things are going on.
The Shifted Librarian has an interesting post of an article about the Harry Potter DVD being released without Macrovision.
"Warner Home Video has chosen not to copy-protect the home versions of its blockbuster movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in major markets, including the US and UK. This means people can go out and buy a DVD or VHS, connect the analogue output of their player to a recorder - either analogue or digital - and make free copies for friends.
Usually, hot new movies are protected by Macrovision, which tinkers with the analogue picture signal so that it can be viewed on a TV set but not copied.[New Scientist]
There's another reason this is good news. Macrovision also effects the video quality of movies. It's one of the reasons a lot of people don't like it. Here's hoping that LOTR is released without it too.
Quentin Crisp. "If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style." [Quotes of the Day]
I'm up way too ealry so that I can head over to my friend Jeff's place to watch some soccer. It should be an interesting game. I haven't watched much soccer at all, so it will also be a bit of a learning experience.
So I guess blog is officially becoming a word:
Dane Carlson notes that "blog" is being added to the Oxford English Dictionary. [Scripting News]
I'm not quite sure what I think of this.
Well, I think it is official. The rain is what is causing my cable to go wacky. It was just fine while the weather was hot earlier this week and as soon as we have a day with rain the interference starts up again. At least I'll be able to let the cable company know there's some kind of connection, since most of the time I call them when there is a problem and by the time they come out it is gone.
The last cable guy who was here was also quite helpful in letting me know the best way to call in and get the help I need. First step, ask for a supervisor, the front line phone techs suck.
I had my bi-weekly massage tonight and it was so relaxing. One thing I've noticed is that it really does take a small bit of effort to make myself relax. But this definitely does help with that.
I've been running around dealing with lots of work stuff. It's been interesting since my new boss started this week. One thing about having someone new starting is you get to expose all the places you might have cut corners. It's a little stressful at times.
I have to say i really like Apple's new ad campaign. The biggest reason is that I am one of those people who switched recently. Back in college everything was unix and mac. Then, when I started working there were a lot more PCs out there. And even now a lot of my day to day work is on PCs.
When I got a bonus last year I was looking at laptops and some friends had recommended looking at Apple. I laughed at first, but decided to take a look because I'd heard OS X was based on unix. After trying it out I loved it and got a TiBook. While I still have a PC at home, I rarely use it.
So while I think there's definitely a ton of marketing gibberish on Apple's site, I so totally agree with the overall message. I definitely think it's worth it to take a look at Apple if you are thinking of buying a new computer.
Of course I don't have anywhere to put this (maybe my kitchen?). But Adam had a link to the Jacuzzi that I'd love to have. My only question is "does it have 5.1 sound?". Not only do you have water jets you've got the bass vibrations!
Scott Adams. "The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers." [Quotes of the Day]
I picked up Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Second Season today. I still think this season and the third were some of the best moments of Buffy. Here's hoping next season we can get back to some cool stuff.
Over on The Bleat today James Lileks has an interesting note:
Random note #1: If the process of animation consists of a human being drawing the pictures and other human beings photographing them, would it not be accurate for all animation to include the words ãFilmed before a Live Audience.ä Just to confuse people.
When I saw this post about Monday over on The Shifted Librarian I was sure it was a joke. I actually went and browsed to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting page and saw that it was actually true:
I Used to Think Accenture Was Bad.
"The accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has changed its name. Henceforth, it will be known as:
Monday
No joke. Monday. As in www.monday.com. As in, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will have its Academy Awards tallied by Monday. (Since the Oscars telecast is usually on a Sunday, that could be a problem.)
Sheesh. Monday. As in "I Don't Like Mondays." And they paid someone for this?
(By the way, domains for the other days of the week are already taken.)" [Over the Edge]
IMHO, this has got to be one of the lamest names ever for a company. I'm sure someone was paid big bucks to come up with it too.
Douglas Adams. "He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes
wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it." [Quotes of the Day]I just looked over and saw a spider sitting next to me on the couch. Just a nice small one. I jumped and quickly moved out of the way. Then I looked away for a moment and when I looked back it was GONE. Now I'm all freaked out. Where did it go? Is it hiding someplace waiting to jump out at me?
I HATE spiders (yeah yeah, I know they are good and kill the bad insects, doesn't change that they creep me out).
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Here's an image I'm going to be posting to the mess as art LJ Community. I hadn't posted anything to the blog recently so I figured I'd post it here too.
Another interesting post from The Shifted Librarian. In the second part she talks an article in Wired that talks about people using messaging on their mobile phones for telling people where parties are.
The Wired article is actually even a bit behind the times. It mentions people calling 800#s to find out where raves were. But even going back four years kids ago were using text pagers to let people know about parties. A friend of mine was telling me of how they'd have a couple of kids just typing in the same message over and over again to send out party directions to people from their pagers (and back then the interfaces weren't anywhere close to as nice as they are now). I would imagine they are still doing it now, but with an even nicer interface.
The Shifted Librarian posted a link to a news article about talking margarine. It seems that Parkay is going to be putting talking margarine in supermarkets to get people's attention.
I have to agree though that this could be the start of a very annoying trend. The idea of walking down the aisles of the supermarket and having various products trying to talk you into buying them just seems horrifying to me.
David Letterman. "Sometimes when you look in his eyes you get the feeling that someone else is driving." [Quotes of the Day]
It's been a slow weekend as far as any DVD watching (I still haven't had time to sit down and play with the Special edition of Memento). But I was able to pick up the first volume of Excel Saga. Of course I had to watch it right away. ADV did a wonderful job with it. The show is as hysterical as always, but seeing it on TV with a clean transfer to DVD was so much nicer then seeing the DiVX version. They also have a feature with 'popup video' style notes explaining various Japanese cultural references.
While i was at Tokyo Kid I noticed they also ahd a copy of Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. Being a fan of CLAMP, and seeing that it was only $12 I figured what the hell. Watched that this weekend and really wish I could get a hold of whatever drugs they are on. Wonderland with a CLAMP spin. It's so wrong it must be right.
Once again I logged the songs as they played while I was lounging around this afternoon. I wonder if my Audiotron reads my mind because most of the time it's playing things that I'm in the mood to hear.
I just checked the weather for the week over on wather.com and discovered that it is mostly going to be rainy and cloudy this week. Feh. Need more SUN!
In the tradition of sites like amihotornot.com comes whatsbetter?com. You are given two images and select which one is better. Then, based on the votes received they have a ranking of what things people find better. As of this writing the top three are: The Simpsons, Milla Jovovich, and Natalie Portman.
I keep finding myself checking back here every few days and then getting caught up for a few minutes voting on things. I usually vote till I find two images that I really could care less about and move on.
The Most Common UNIX Commands For Webmasters [The Shifted Librarian]
This is actually also a good reference for any UNIX beginner (especially folks who are new to OS X for instance). I'm always on the looking for things like this for my friends. I know a lot of people who want to try unix, but just aren't sure of where to start.
Jean Kerr. "The average, healthy, well-adjusted adult gets up at seven-thirty in the morning feeling just plain terrible." [Quotes of the Day]
In my typical half awake, middle of the night state I was looking through the listing of new fansubs over on AnimeNfo and ran across a show called Earth Defense Family. Upon looking at the description I decided I will have to try and snag at least one episode of it:
An ordinary family is chosen to become high-tech fighters to defend the earth from an invasion of horrible alien monsters. The family consists of 8 year old Daiichi, his 14 year old big sister, his 34 year old Mom and his 40 year old Dad. But this isnt your ordinary Japanese family after all.
First of all, everyone is involved in this, not just the kids. All four have their own power suits, special weapons and roles. Daiichi and his sister have flying surf boards, the Moms car transforms into a flying car and the Dads suit doubles as a rocket suit. Everyone is initially enthusiastic about this turn of events, but things start to wear thin pretty quickly when they find out that they are charged for each super weapon that they use to defeat an alien, and the bounties that they get are being swamped by an ever growing debt. And they can't resign because the unknown agency that has chosen them will throw them into debtors prison if they don't pay off their bills.
I like when they take a fairly typical genre and add interesting little twists to it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower. "Things are more like they are now than they ever were before." [Quotes of the Day]
It seems that Beijing Evening News reprinted an article from The Onion as real. It seems they didn't realize that it was a joke (and said they will still have to research it more before they print a correction).
Well, it's finally happened. Warner Bros. Pictures has teamed with Gaylord Films to option the rights to the Hanna-Barbera characters the Wonder Twins, with plans to make a live-action family feature. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I just know that it scares me.
Originally seen on http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/
My astrological ruminations weren't enough to decode your destiny this week. I had to add a novel form of divination -- videomancy. Prostrating myself in front of my blank TV screen, I prayed that I'd be guided to turn it on at the right moment to receive an omen about you. When I felt the spirit rise within me, I pushed the "power" button on the remote and pressed the "channel" button seven times. What came on the screen was a scruffily dressed mother and toddler in a thrift store. They bought a bedraggled baby doll dressed in a bear suit. When they got home, the mom removed the doll's costume to wash it. A wad of $100 bills fell out. Bingo! I had my videomantic oracle. Here's my interpretation of its meaning for your life, Scorpio: An underprivileged aspect of your psyche will soon make a valuable discovery by accident.
(-- From http://www.freewillastrology.com/ --)
Articles like the following kind of annoy me:
Security Hole Found in KaZaA File-Sharing Service. A study showed that users of KaZaA, an Internet service for sharing music files, frequently expose personal files on their computers by misconfiguring the program. By John Markoff and Matt Richtel. [New York Times: Technology]
Why do articles like this annoy me? I find them kind of misleading. There isn't anything in how the software works that I'd call a security hole. Yes, some people share out more things they think they are. I used Kazaa for a while (before I found out about the spyware and ripped it all from my system) and it wasn't hard for me to figure out exactly what I was sharing. Maybe I'm just more paranoid about that kind of thing then most people. I also think a security hole is a different kind of flaw then a crappy UI.
So last night I finished watching the Utena TV series. After sleeping on it I think I pretty much liked it, despite not being real sure what it is about. Or at least what it is about for to me. I get the feeling it is one of those shows where everything is up for interpretation. I think Chris was much more affected by it then I was. While I felt kind of shellshocked after the massive Utena binge I'd been on for the last few days, I found the series more one I'd like to go back and rewatch at some point.
I can definitely say that it didn't leave me as bewildered as the Utena movie, which qualifies as one of the most stunning animated movies I've watched (from a visual standpoint). Now I'm wondering if I should start taping Evangelion for Chris.
Edward Chilton. "I'm worried that the universe will soon need replacing. It's not holding a charge." [Quotes of the Day]
I hate high humidity. When the air gets this heavy it gets a little bit harder to breath. I know it makes me cough a lot more. I think it is most probably the reason that I have not slept well tonight. And it is making me more and more cranky.
So now it is 4:40am and I'm once again at that decision time. Do I stick it out for another hour and go into work really early or crawl back into bed for two hours and probably oversleep and get into work around 9. I'm starting to think I should shoot for the first one, since that would mean I could get out a bit early. Bah.
I just found out that Better Off Dead is coming out on DVD. This is definitely one of my favorite Cusack flicks. I should check to see if The Sure Thing is out on DVD also.
A bit of the morning shuffleplay coming from my stereo.
So, looking through my logs I keep seeing people probing for this one cgi script called formmail.pl. What's great about these probes is that they give me all their information.:
64.108.203.174 - - [04/Jun/2002:15:16:24 -0400] "GET /cgi-bin/formmail.pl?email=lafam&subject=www%2Eezoons%2Ecom%2Fcgi%2Dbin%2Fformmail%2Epl&recipient=isyndr0i%40aol%2Ecom&msg=Formmail_Found! HTTP/1.1Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" 404 2050 "-" "Gozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; windows 2000)"So, if I really wanted I could send them back some email. I was wondering if this constitutes 'abuse', because I could then email their isp (in this case AOL). Either that or I could start signing them up for lots of mailing lists or for lots of spam.
Mel Brooks. "Humor is just another defense against the universe." [Quotes of the Day]
Today's going to be a long day. Every few months I get to go to the lung transplant clinic to check in with them. They ask me how I'm doing, ask if I have any questions, and then send me on my way. Two times a year or so, I also need to get some updated tests today is one of those days. It sucks because I've got appointments from 11 until 3 with nice long breaks in between.
My big goal when in there today is to find out if I can get a perscription for a bigger oxygen tank for when I work out. This would let me use the treadmill at work, thus removing the problem of having to wake up at 5:30am when I want to work out.
Found over on /usr/bin/girl this wonderful site where you can get Origami Boulders. What a great idea! I could decorate my apartment with these!
Kilgore Trout. "The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest." [Quotes of the Day]
I'm not sure what my response to this one is:
I'm watching Hamtaro. It is cute. Too Cute. I don't think it should be allowed.
Beryl Pfizer. "I write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on." [Quotes of the Day]
I'm loving Last Night a DJ Saved my Life, it is so cool to see how the concept of having two turntables has been there all along.
Noel mixed records, too. On a primitive setup -- he just had a volume dial for each deck -- he would take elements from a track and tease and taunt the crowd with them: a Jimi Hendrix guitar lick here or a Chambers Brothers a cappelle there -- allusive whispers, barely heard fragments. Then he would slam the whole song through the mincer. "People would come up to me and say, 'I was listening to the Mamas and Papas and now I'm listening to the Stones and I didn't even know.' I used to try some of the wildest changes without losing a beat." Noel's reuptation had risen to the point where producers would bring test pressings of their latest confections. he still has the metal test disc that Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy brought down of Smokey's new production, the Marvelettes' "Dont Mess With Bill."
Wow. It's amazing. This guy, Terry Noel, is supposedly the first DJ who mixed records back in the 60s. People's reactions are the same now. I love that moment when the song suddenly switches over and you suddenly KNOW you're in another song, even though in actuality it's been sneaking in for the last few minutes.
For the first Sunday in ages I slept in. It was only till 10:30 or so, but it felt really nice. I'd woken up at around 5, and it was looking so dreadfully dreary out that I just had to crawl back into bed. To my surprise I woke up to nice warm sun.
Of course the weather since then has been kinda wacky, alternating between sun and clouds, raining some while the sun is out, etc. But it has been nice weather to sit outside and finish reading the first Love Hina manga that Tokyopop put out. I have the bilingual version, but this one is a little bit better I think. Tokyopop has been doing a wonderful job with their latest translations, even presenting them in standard format (ie, reading 'backwards').
I'm off to see Undercover Brother in a bit with my friends Sean and Selma. They're always fun to hang out with, and maybe I can talk them into sushi later.
So chris was asking me to make a list of my top 10 anime shows (along with everything past the top 10, but that's a much bigger task). So this morning, having woken up way too early, I decided to do a first pass on the list. I'm sure I must be missing things. In fact, I think a top 20 list would be easier.
A recap episode already? Was this really necessary? Are they trying to just extend the series some? Just how many episodes is this supposed to be anyways?
Herbert Agar. "The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear." [Quotes of the Day]
Wow, today sounds like it is going to be beautiful (Lots of sunshine. High around 86F. Winds WSW 10 to 15 mph.). I've decided I'm going to quickly run out to breakfast and grab a bite to eat then toddle over to Harvard Square to sit by Au Bon Pain and read while watching people. Though I need to pick something new to read from my book list, as I finally finished Northern Gothic (and plan on posting comments soon). Right now Last Night a Dj Saved My Life : The History of the DJ is staring at me from my bookshelf. So I think I'm going to dive into that (yes Chris, I do still have your book to get and read, I know).
Robert Orben. "There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all." [Quotes of the Day]
One of my goals lately has been to find out more about Jazz. I've always liked listening to Jazz, but never really listened to it seriously enough to know what I was listening to. One of the local public stations here usually has Jazz playing at night, so I'd hear it in the car if I was driving it around. There was just always something warm and comfortable about it. So now I'm slowly starting to dig into what there is, since it seems like there is SO MUCH.
Anyone have anything they'd like to recommend? I went through and listened to a bunch of samples of things on Amazon and added a bunch of things that sounded interesting to my wish list there. I figure I can add a CD here and there to my orders. I kind of feel like when I was taking my first steps into being a DJ. I'd walk into the record store and just stare at all the records. Then, slowly, as I'd listen to more and more I was able to figure out what kinds of tracks resonated with me the most. It's a fun learning experience.
Lyn, I used to get the worst foot cramps in the middle of the night. I'd bolt out of bed and be hopping/hobbling around going OW OW OW OW. I think it had to do with the high doses of prednisone I was on at the time because as the dose went down the cramps went away.
The ones I still get now and then that kill me are ones in my calf. I seem to always get them when I'm on long drives, which is just hell (as you said, fiery ball of death).
