October 2004 Archives

A friend of mine asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I really wasn't sure. I mean, I want the new Looney Tunes collection coming out on my birthday. In fact, I'd say the first three things on my Amazon wish list are the big items.

If money wasn't an issue I'd want something like the new Think Outside bluetooth mouse or a iPod Photo (60GB of course) (only partly care about the photo part, I want most of it for music).

Oh, and I just signed up with that freeipods.com thing, so if you want to help me out, sign up for something using http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=10659946. I'm actually opting for the $250 gift certificate for the iTunes music store. Since that will be handy for impulse puchases.

Jim Horning
"Nothing is as simple as we hope it will be." [via Quotes of the Day]

Here's a recipe for some Cider Sorbet that my mom makes. It's really good.

Cider Sorbet

• 4 cups cider
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup dark rum (Myers is what she uses)

Simmer cider with sugar for five minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Process in an ice-cream maker until slushy and firm, then place in containers and freeze. This can also be made by freezing in a shallow container until mushy, then processing in a blender or food processor until smooth and put into containers for freezing.

Ingredients can also be adjusted to taste.

Here's a site where you can vote for a Bush or Kerry Pumpkin. I personally think they both look kind of ugly. They both looks like there's something running out of their noses. I think I'd be scared if I saw them as a kid, so maybe they'd be great for halloween. Unfortunately, at the time of this posting, Bush is winning.

Roy Blount Jr.
"The last time somebody said, 'I find I can write much better with a word processor.', I replied, 'They used to say the same thing about drugs.'" [via Quotes of the Day]

A few years after I graduated from high school, my school started doing mock elections. Since 1988 their mock election has accurately chosen the eventual winner. VOTES 2004 was today, and the winner was... John Kerry! Let's hope their record of success continues.

It's a pretty interesting setup. From the web page:

Two schools from each state participate in the highlight of the month-long project—a mock election at which a winner is declared just days before the general election. The VOTES election is unique in that it simulates the electoral college process of selecting a candidate: the winner must earn at least 270 out of 538 electoral votes.

And here is the breakdown of the results:

Candidate
John Kerry
George Bush
Ralph Nader
David Cobb
Michael Badnarik
Michael Peroutka
Others

Electoral Votes
326
212
0
0
0
0
0

Popular Votes
26,920
22,771
2,253
758
572
230
56

Percentage
50.20%
42.50%
4.40%
1.40%
1.00%
0.40%
0.10%

Voter Turnout 70%

Pretty cool I must say. I can't wait to see how accurate it is this year.

Derrick Story writes about his Favorite Stewart Copeland Story:

The next day, when we had a few moments to talk, I asked him what he thought of the laptop. Stewart was in a great mood. He said that since he didn't have any of his stuff on it, he just nosed around, and quickly discovered GarageBand. Stewart is more of a ProTools kind of guy, so he's never taken the time to check out GB.

"I saw this cool looking guitar on the dock," he said. "So I clicked on it. It seemed like about 20 minutes had passed, but it was more like a couple hours. Next thing I knew, I had some pretty sweet tracks put together. And that was without a USB keyboard (as in the musical type). I was just tapping on the computer itself." [O'reilly:Derrick Story]

Some quick Mac gaming bits from Insidemacgames.com in the last week or two. The first is the re-release of a game that I found quite cool and quite disturbing when it came out: Bad Mojo.

Originally hatched in 1996 under the gleeful gaze of publishers Pulse Entertainment, Bad Mojo tells the quirky, Kafka-esque story of mad scientist and entomologist Roger Samms, who, one morning, wakes up to find that he's been temporarily turned into... a cockroach. Players are entrusted with navigating the reborn insect back to safety along a path of discovery across the giant obstacle course that has become his own apartment building. [insidemacgames.com]

And also, sometime next month or so we should give us the release of The Fool and his Money:

Further to yesterday's news item regarding the upcoming release of his new metapuzzle, independent game developer Cliff Johnson has contacted the IMG News Staff with further news regarding his current project, the long-awaited sequel The Fool And His Money.

According to Cliff, the current projected completion date for the new title has been pushed till December of this year; December 6th, to be exact, judging by the completion countdown clock on his web page.

...

Despite the game's numerous delays, the game developer's rabid fan base are standing behind the solo programmer, and are offering unconditional support to his latest effort. In his email to IMG, Cliff writes:

What has been and continues to be both thrilling and heartwarming is the tremendous outpouring of love and affection for The Fool's Errand (and 3 in Three) from True Believers all over the world, confirming what I've always suspected... that folks from all walks of life enjoy the game. To borrow the retired Mac slogan, "a game for the rest of us."

[insidemacgames.com]

This is one I've been waiting to come out for ages (here's my post on it from over a year ago). I am so psyched to see it finally coming out. The Fool's Errand is still one of my favorite games of all time.

Just in case you happen to live anywhere near a Volcano.

"Oh yeah, AWAY from the volcano..."

From the U.S. Geological Survey's What to Do if a Volcano Erupts page:

During an Eruption -

Move Away From A Volcano - Not Toward It

[via The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century :: Joey deVilla's Weblog]

Last night I was at a birthday party for a neighbor that was held at Real Art Ways in Hartford. I'd never been there before and it's a neat little place (and their movie theatre has some interesting sounding things coming up). One of the exhibits there was by Laura Carton and featured pictures that were originally porn that had been downloaded from the net, and then had the people in them removed with the help of photoshop. It definitely changes one views them once you find that out.

The thing is, the concept sounded so damn familiar. I knew I'd heard about it before, and had a feeling it was from BoingBoing. So, this morning I did a bit of searching about and discovered it had been on BoingBoing. And not only on BoingBoing, but by a posted by guestblogger there: the amazing Susannah Breslin.

Oh yes, there is nothing like watching a new anime and realizing that the theme song was done by Dimitri from Paris. It is quite slick. Neko Mimi Mode (AAC) is a bit of a variation on Love Love Mode, and is a nice little bit of grooviness (and it's even better with the animation (with the cute vampire girl with cat ears on)). Definitely a fun little song that had to be shared.

Of course I now keep having it run through my head and hearing Chiwa Saito say "Neko Mimi Mode" all day long.

I've been scanning in more pictures for my mom. Both of their trip to New Mexico, which was stunning, and a bunch of old family pictures she had (like ones her father took during World War II), and ran across this old school picture of me from what must have been 2nd or 3rd grade. So I figured I'd post it here.

And on the subject of scanning, I'm still amazed at how much detail the scanner pulls out of those old black and white photos. When you look at the picture itself you think there's just not much there, and then after scanning. WOW. I'll post some more as I get to them.

Since I haven't been posting much in the last few days, here's a recipe that my mom made the other day that kicked ass. I think she got it from the New York Times originally.

Updated 11/1: Just found it posted again to the NYTimes web site with corrections (thanks to ellen).

Bolzano Apple Cake

Time: 1 1/4 Hours

• 1 stick butter (4 ounces), plus more for greasing pan
• 1/2 cup flour, plus more for pan
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 1/4 lbs Granny Smith apples (3 to 4 small to medium)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk at room temperature
• Powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 375 Degrees. Line 8-inch square pan with foil, then smear with think layer of butter. Dust with flour; turn pan over, and tap lightly to remove excess flour.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Set aside. Beat together eggs and half of sugar in a bowl. Continue to beat while slowly adding remaining sugar until thick; it should form a ribbon when dropped from spoon.
3. Split vanilla bean in two lengthwise. Scrape seeds into the egg-sugar batter and add pod to melted butter.
4. Peel, quarter and core apples, then trim ends and slice thinly.
5. Remove vanilla pod from butter and stir butter into sugar-egg batter. Combine 1/2 cup flower and baking powerder, then stir it into batter alternately with milk. Stir in apples, coating every piece with batter. Pour batter into pan, using fingers to pat top evenly.
6. Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate the pan; bake for about 25 m minutes more, until cake pulls away from pan and is brown on top; a thin bladed knife inserted into the center will come out clean when it is done. Cool 30 minutes, then cut lengthwise and sprinkle slices with powdered sugar.

Yield: 6 to 8 services

Once again, my friend Lyn links to some of the oddest things:

Richard "Dick" Grayson woke up gay, and didn't bother to ask why.
cough. [via lyn - This Is Not The Journal You're Looking For]

Someone posted this thing on LiveJournal that ranks your interests there. I thought it was pretty keen, so here's mine:

How common are gblake's interests

Universal anime (172676) books (187437) computers (266008) dancing (239431) dvds (108587) movies (538818) music (821354) reading (352824)

Popular coffee (91395) history (62836) manga (65089)

Common 80's music (19393) adult swim (29200) astrology (32446) boston (19370) buffy (26369) chobits (10429) comedy (39865) cowboy bebop (27045) depeche mode (26835) japan (40926) japanese (18146) jazz (48206) lust (16940) naps (10189) naruto (10710) new order (10822) ps2 (23260) six feet under (14240) sushi (48595) tarot (17636) techno (43654) television (18851) terry pratchett (10206) the smiths (37299) trance (22798) trigun (16930) wine (24892)

Specialist angelic layer (1847) apple (4366) badtz maru (1097) cardcaptor sakura (2748) cartoon network (4934) clamp (6759) cthulhu (2221) dj (2256) dnangel (1333) dresden dolls (1565) escaflowne (5185) farscape (6584) ffx (2220) flcl (8323) fruits basket (8052) full moons (3443) haibane renmei (1064) hikaru no go (2338) horoscopes (5041) house (5857) inu-yasha (2015) jpop (7933) kenshin (2870) lenore (6459) love hina (6143) megatokyo (5070) mp3 (7026) my bloody valentine (6873) noir (2942) old movies (9357) one piece (2787) pocky (7051) powerpuff girls (9227) pr0n (1999) red dwarf (8071) rurouni kenshin (8207) shaman king (2463) the prisoner (1077) the young ones (3254) utena (3222) witch hunter robin (3267)

Unusual ai yori aoshi (511) alien 9 (43) art of noise (286) battle athletes victory (36) being a geek (901) blogger (228) bubblegum crisis (977) changing rooms (669) chii (868) coffee cake (98) digweed (343) earth girl arjuna (39) fluxx (287) folk rock (708) gasaraki (203) gatekeepers (245) getbackers (919) ground force (229) hoshi no koe (66) hybrid (721) kanon (384) ken ishii (70) kor (47) lomo (700) lunch money (128) macosx (282) mao-chan (15) mark farina (277) moev (45) nmh (74) northfield mount hermon (27) nurse witch komugi (18) onegai teacher (517) over the edge (120) peeing on clamp's rug (16) princess tutu (369) saber marionette j (485) saikano (356) style council (65) t616 (14) tech-house (109) tenjou tenge (211) tiny snow fairy sugar (208) tinymush (30) weblogs (366)

Rare audiotron (3) lung transplant (4) mush=mud (6) oliver leib (4) poonlarp (7) prolekult (1) tinymud (3) wwnkd (2)

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Enter username:

InterestRank was bought to you by _imran_ and MemeLand.org

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From over on Popgadget, a soft serve ice cream maker from Kitchen Aid. From the KitchenAid web page for it:

This pro-style dessert maker is both fun and convenient bringing professional results into the home. Featuring a built-in batch freezing system, the PRO LINEâ„¢ Series Frozen Dessert Maker will produce a variety of drinks and desserts in about 30 minutes

The folks over at Everything Sysadmin have started a wiki to go with the book (along with their blog). They're also talking about integrating wiki and blog, something that I think could be a really cool thing. I've thought about trying to find easy ways to do that myself (especially when I'm posting about some nifty OS X tip).

I made the mistake of going into Borders today and walked out with a stack of manga. They need to stop releasing so many things at once! Today's purchases:

• Negima! 3
• D.N.Angel 4
• XXXHolic 3
• Hikaru no Go 2
• The Wallflower (aka Perfect Girl Evolution) 1

I'm most psyched about the last one. I've been waiting for it to come out since I heard Del Rey picked it up.

From over on McSweeney's, Sexual Euphemisms That Won't Catch On. Here's a small sample:

Paying extra for refills

Do-boning the salmon fillet

Compounding 4 percent interest annually

Taking the F train to Queens

[mcsweeney's]

Thanks to a friend of mine on LJ for posting this, I can't remember which one I read it on though.

When Microsoft opened up the MSN Music Store the other day, there was a comment about Apple and how their system is "closed". This was given as a reason that MSN is better.

"iTunes has done a great job of helping to elevate the [digital music] market," said Christine Andrews, lead product manager of MSN. "We're different because Apple is a closed system. If you want Apple, you have to use the iPod. A lot of people want choice and we offer that." [macnn.com]

So let's see. My choice is use iTMS and an iPod, or buy a whole second computer in order to use the MSN Music Store. Let's be honest, they're both closed in different ways. IMHO MSN's is more closed because I can't even use it on my computer. Though I wouldn't hate Apple if they opened up access to their DRM a little bit. Given their market share I think they can afford to let people use a few other players. There is still a market for flash players that aren't that expensive.

fall04.jpg,
originally uploaded by snooze.

Today on my way back from Framingham, I just had to stop and take a few pictures of the leaves. They are really amazing this year. And even though I knew it was October, I hadn't expected to see them this colorful yet. That means CT should be hitting peak in the near future. I'll hopefully get some pictures of the street my parent's live on, because it's always really nice down here.

Click on the picture to see a few other pictures I took.

I realized that the individual archives for here have been screwed up for probably the last week. They should be fixed now (finally). I really need to update my contact me script so people can tell me about this stuff.

Once again, someone has been fired for running SETI@Home.

Man Said He Used Computer During Off Hours

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The search for extraterrestrial life has ended at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The department on Thursday fired a computer programmer who admitted to using a state-owned computer server to process data for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project, run by the University of California at Berkeley.

Charles E. Smith, 63, told administrators he didn't think loading the SETI software on the server was much of a problem because he ran the program only on weekends and on weekdays between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., when the server wasn't being used, according to a disciplinary report.

Department director Tom Hayes disagreed.

"I understand his desire to search for intelligent life in outer space, because obviously he doesn't find it in the mirror in the morning," Hayes said. "I think that people can be comfortable that security has beamed this man out of our building." [newsnet5.com] [via AP]

I'm not sure if I posted about this kind of thing the last time it happened, but without knowing more background I'm not sure how to react. At most places I've worked there has been an official policy that you aren't supposed to install unauthorized software. This was mostly to try and stop people from installing every little thing they download from the net, and to be able to scold them when something they've downloaded broke their computer. In the case of something like this though, I almost have to wonder if the application was actually cutting into computer resources. But, the article doesn't give us any information about that (though I'd be curious to know more). The other issue is that I think the department director's comments are a bit unprofessional and unnecessarily insulting.

Hmm, maybe I should give SETI@Home a download and start it running on one of the machines I have floating around.

Irrational Games has started talking up Bioshock, the spiritual successor to System Shock 2. Gamespot has a preview of the game and I just may have to see how cheaply I can throw together a PC to be able to play this one when it comes out. System Shock 2 is still one of my favorite computer games ever. It was one of the creepiest games I've ever played.

Irrational Games originally conceived of its cult-classic hybrid game System Shock 2 as a "spiritual successor" to the original game. And Irrational's next game will, in turn, be a "spiritual successor" to System Shock 2. We're pleased to bring you the first official details on BioShock, a new game that will attempt to further the open-ended, emergent gameplay of the previous games by offering even more choices for players to creatively interact with the world around them and to solve the challenges that face them.

While System Shock 2 represented what Irrational general manager Ken Levine describes as "a convergence of technology and commercialism" (that game took place on a corporate-sponsored starship), BioShock will instead represent "a convergence of technology and biological life," or more specifically, genetics. It's important to note: BioShock is not a sequel to any of the System Shock games, nor does it have any official relation to those games. But like the previous games, this one will offer a horror-themed gameplay experience in which what you observe, and what happens to you, will be tempered by your own choices. "[At Irrational], we think emergence is the future," says Levine. [gamespot.com]

Btw, a request to the Mac gaming world. Please get in contact with these folks and do a Mac port of both System Shock 2 and Bioshock. Even though System Shock 2 is a few years old at this point, it's still such a kickass game that really does deserve a Mac port.

There's an article in the New York Times today about Wingwomen.com. It's a service where you rent a woman to help you meet other women.

Are You With Him? Why Yes, Want to Date Him?

... When he expressed no interest in the next woman she pointed to, a brunette in a preppy sweater, Ms. Frenkel shrugged. "He's the man, whatever he wants," she said. "It is not about me." Then Mr. Blumberg gestured toward the bar area. "What about that Kylie Minogue look-alike over there?" A moment later the couple headed over.

Ms. Frenkel was not on a date with Mr. Blumberg, in pursuit of a kinky threesome; she was on the clock. A 29-year-old graduate student, she is one of a dozen women who work for a New York-based Web site called Wingwomen.com, earning up to $30 an hour to accompany single men to bars and help them chat up other women. The Web site's founder, Shane Forbes, a computer programmer, started it in December after realizing he had more success with women when he went to clubs with female friends. "Every time I was with them, I would meet women," he said.

The wingwoman is the latest twist on the wingman, that devoted male sidekick who helps a buddy pick up women at bars and clubs. Originally a "Top Gun" kind of term that referred to a pilot flying protectively behind his squadron leader, its more recent meaning entered popular culture around 1996 through the movie "Swingers," about two men road-tripping to Las Vegas, serving as each other's wingmen in attempted conquests. [more] [nytimes.com]

Peter Sellers
"There used to be a real me, but I had it surgically removed." [via Quotes of the Day]

I hadn't heard about this article until just now so thought I'd share it. My doctor did not recommend that I try this treatment as he felt that the variety of IPF I had wouldn't be helped by it, but I know of a lot of people who were really happy with the results they had on it. So I am kind of surprised at this report. At least there seems to be hope that it will help people with mild to moderate symptoms.

Interferon a No-Go for Pulmonary Fibrosis

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDayNews) -- A once hopeful treatment for pulmonary fibrosis, a fatal disease of the lungs, appears to have little or no effect on progression of the disease or on quality of life, a new study has found.

There remains some optimism, however, that the treatment, interferon gamma-1b, might benefit patients with mild to moderate symptoms of the disease. The authors of the study, which appears in the Jan. 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, are launching a new trial to test this hypothesis.

The median survival time for patients diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis is only two to three years. The disease results in a scarring of the lungs that eventually prevents the lungs from fulfilling their primary mission of delivering oxygen to the body. The only effective treatment is lung transplantation, although many people are treated with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs, both of which have side effects... [www.medicinenet.com]

As for me, I'm just waiting for a lung to come up for me on the transplant list and wondering why this article just popped into my aggregator now if the article is from January.

I posted about Audioscrobbler ages ago. It is a service that tracks what music you play on your computer so that you can see what artists/songs you listen to the most. It also tries to recommend music to you based on what your profile (here's mine). An added bonus is getting to listen to a radio station based on other users with similar profiles, or one with your profile at last.fm.

So, I've added a link to listen to my radio on the left that looks like this: . So give a listen and enjoy.

Sequential Tart has a nice article with pointers to various retellings of fairy tales. I was happy to see it included one of my favorites, which is Sheri S. Tepper's Beauty. And now I've got a few more books to add to my book list.

The other week i wrote complaining about the iTunes Music Store. After going back and forth with support a few times I finally got a nice note from their technical support team saying to check back in a few weeks while they fixed the tracks I wanted. I just went and checked the store to see if they were still listed and Lard - Last Temptation of Reid isn't even listed anymore. Also, they've removed the short version of Original Sin from INXS - The Swing.

Good job so far. Now we'll wait and see if that Lard album ever comes back.

Vladimir Nabokov
"My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music." [via Quotes of the Day]

Reason #5 Katamary Damacy rocks: You can roll up cows. They Moo. Reason #4 is the music for the game.

If you haven't seen this game, check out this clip of the gameplay.

Lately, whenever I find myself humming Magical Trevor (which is way too often as it is) I find myself inserting Clow for every occurrence of cow. Though I really want to figure out some alternate lyrics for what he saw in the parallel dimension.

I was just looking at Amazon.com and noticed they had a little ad up for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2. I loved the first collection, it was a great start to them releasing many old old cartoons that I hadn't seen in their entirely in ages. This one looks to continue the trend with a lot of early material. And even better, it comes out on my birthday next month (November 2nd)! I've added it to my wish list, anyone wanna pick it up for me?

Wow. I just watched the trailer for a new anime series titled Gankutsuou. It looks like it will be an anime version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Of all the promos I've seen for the current season in Japan, this is the most stunning (and it's being produced by Gonzo, who have been doing great work lately). I hope it's as good as the animation looks. The story has been a favorite of mine since I read a version of it back in French in High School, I can't wait.

Even drug abusers know that cheese rocks:

Drug abusers target cheese

ST. JOHN'S  —  Police in St. John's say drug abusers trying to pay for their habits has led to a thriving black market for cheese.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary says stealing and reselling food from supermarkets and other stores to support addictions is becoming quite common.

Earlier this week, they say a man threatened to stab people with a hypodermic needle in the parking lot of a supermarket.

Staff Sgt. June Layden says he was holding a number of blocks of cheese when police arrested him "Right now we believe it was between 12 and 16 blocks, quite a quantity of cheese," she says.

Patrick Corrigan, 26, is charged with theft and assault in connection with the incident.

Layden says cheese theft is a growing problem in this province — and that the people stealing it need quick money to buy drugs like OxyContin.

"From speaking with a number of people yesterday including some employees at some of our larger supermarkets ... they are finding people are coming in and stealing it by blocks," she says. [read more] [via lonita.links.log]

From my good friend Emilily: The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation

The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation was created in 1982 by a small group that originally came together as a an informal support group for problems that were the result of traumatic experiences at petting zoos as children. This group realized that there were many others out there who were afraid to come forward with their horrific stories and wanted to find some way to help as many people as they could. The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation is the result of their dream.

Through its programs and workshops, individuals from all walks of life have been able to live happier and more fulfilling lives, without the ever-present ghosts of their personal goat traumas. Some have even made such progress that they have been able to put their traumas completely behind them and rejoin mainstream society.

No matter what the effects of your trauma, we can help you. The effects of a childhood goat trauma vary widely from person to person, depending on the severity of their trauma. Such problems as irrational fears, unexplained twitching, and insomnia could all have origin in a goat trauma. [The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation]

Goats never really bothered me much. Hamsters though, I still twitch when I think about that one time...

For bonus points: What childhood experience traumatized you? For me it was my uncle making me go to The Haunted Mansion at Disneyworld when I was like three or four. My face was hidden almost the whole time, and the one time I look out a skeleton pops up from behind a gravestone.

John Lehman
"Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat." [via Quotes of the Day]

So that last post was from Flickr, and I'm not sure if I like how it posts. I may have to fiddle around with their template for posting. Overall though it was pretty painless. The only issue is that there aren't any categories for that post.

Koan Pouncing on Asana,
originally uploaded by snooze.

Here's my entry for BlogACatMas: