Heidi is throwing a birthday party for me and the new year today, at the same time! We're making red beans and rice and boston baked beans with the ham hock left over from christmas dinner. Yum.
From my parents, I received one of those weather-stations you've read me pining over. See, wishes do come true! At least if you shamelessly broadcast them to the world, repeatedly.
Alida Jacobson has a blog, which gets more photos than text, but they are good photos of her life and friends. I'm adding her to my blogroll.
My dad and I will be sawing up windfall, into tiny chunks that fit into our woodstove today. We may even fell a new tree if two desk-potatoes have the mustard to get it done. We'll be moving the windfall pieces across the seasonal creek, which is burgeoning currently. The land is saturated from consistent heavy rain we've had for the past 2-3 weeks.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Chew 'Em Up & Spitzer 'Em Out
I hope Elliot Spitzer finds out what I've always suspected: 99 cents is about double what I should have to pay for a single track of downloaded music. Man, if tracks were 50 cents, it would be open season, I'd be back in the music-buying business. But at 99 cents, I feel like there is no discount for not costing them the overhead of publishing the content on CDs with labelling etc.. I mean, with my DSL connection I'm paying for at least half of their distribution costs. I'm saving them at least 10 cents in packaging, probably much more than that. Maybe 99 cents is right for hot new songs. I mean, who am I to deny a company the ability to charge a premium for brand-new material. But everything else in the world should be 50 cents or less. The doofuses don't realize people would just buy tons of stuff that they hadn't bought before due to price.
Steve Jobs was right. The record execs are being greedy. Spitzer is going to prove it, and we'll all be living large with 50 cent downloads.
Steve Jobs was right. The record execs are being greedy. Spitzer is going to prove it, and we'll all be living large with 50 cent downloads.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Coolin' It on Christmas
Coolin' It on Christmas
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.
Jamey and Arthur, lounging in their new Mr. Incredible lawn-chairs, with umbrellas. And playing Lego Star Wars for XBox. Hour 2 of 7.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Rap Follow-Up
I'm not going to try to vivisect all the opinions expressed in the prior post's comments. I'm fascinated by the strong reactions to rap, which I've been aware of for a long time. I figured that post would generate at least one heated comment.
I puzzle often over the source of my enjoyment of rap, especially when the genre is rife with so much vulgarity, posturing, misogyny and probably many more negative things not currently coming to mind. Rap, is perhaps like Darth Vader: mostly bad and terribly fascinating to watch. And, if you believe there is good in it, you may find it. I have come across endearing, touching, noble, and just plain artful poetry in popular rap. It is drowned out by the sheer quantity of the negative and lame stuff, but it is in there. If you want, you can don some scuba gear and go see it.
For a good many people the 'obscene' language presents an obstacle that is insurmountable. I prefer to disregard it when it's boring and try to understand why, sometimes it sounds cool.
At any rate, I'm thrilled at the comments you all left. Ever since I started reading the now-defunct Rocket in high-school, I've fancied the notion of being a music-critic. Now I get to be, whenever I feels like it, and at least four or five people will read it. And with such positive reviews of my reviews, I feel like a huge success.
Even 'Anonymous' with her curiously firm grasp of things I've said in blog-mas past, (i couldn't find what I said, even with Google's Blogsearch, though I remember saying something like that) and the interesting description of the seemingly paradoxical behaviour of Madonna, is piquing and engaging.
This themed-post idea went off well, I think. I'll be checking out Will's old-school faves, and using Pandora.com to broaden my horizons (I've played the crap out of those songs I reviewed).
It's now thirteen minutes past the witching-hour (anyone know where that saying comes from?) so I'm off to bed, but I'll leave you with the sage words of 'the other Jay-Z':
I puzzle often over the source of my enjoyment of rap, especially when the genre is rife with so much vulgarity, posturing, misogyny and probably many more negative things not currently coming to mind. Rap, is perhaps like Darth Vader: mostly bad and terribly fascinating to watch. And, if you believe there is good in it, you may find it. I have come across endearing, touching, noble, and just plain artful poetry in popular rap. It is drowned out by the sheer quantity of the negative and lame stuff, but it is in there. If you want, you can don some scuba gear and go see it.
For a good many people the 'obscene' language presents an obstacle that is insurmountable. I prefer to disregard it when it's boring and try to understand why, sometimes it sounds cool.
At any rate, I'm thrilled at the comments you all left. Ever since I started reading the now-defunct Rocket in high-school, I've fancied the notion of being a music-critic. Now I get to be, whenever I feels like it, and at least four or five people will read it. And with such positive reviews of my reviews, I feel like a huge success.
Even 'Anonymous' with her curiously firm grasp of things I've said in blog-mas past, (i couldn't find what I said, even with Google's Blogsearch, though I remember saying something like that) and the interesting description of the seemingly paradoxical behaviour of Madonna, is piquing and engaging.
This themed-post idea went off well, I think. I'll be checking out Will's old-school faves, and using Pandora.com to broaden my horizons (I've played the crap out of those songs I reviewed).
It's now thirteen minutes past the witching-hour (anyone know where that saying comes from?) so I'm off to bed, but I'll leave you with the sage words of 'the other Jay-Z':
If you're feelin like a pimp, go on brush your shoulders off
Ladies is pimps too, go on brush your shoulders off
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Music Post
Since Will and Lief dispatched their Music Post so quickly, the pressure is on for me to hold up my end.
Feeling like I already spent my fuel on prior recommendations for last.fm and Unheard Beethoven, I've been doing some mental digging about what I could add to the topic. What I came up with is:
James' Rap Recomendations!
Wherein James Gives Rap-Artist and Track Recommendations With Brief Explanations of the Merits of Each, And in the Order They Surface in His Mental Soup
Yes, I'm reviewing some favorites from "That Genre With the Heavy Beats and All the Obscene Language"
Feeling like I already spent my fuel on prior recommendations for last.fm and Unheard Beethoven, I've been doing some mental digging about what I could add to the topic. What I came up with is:
James' Rap Recomendations!
Wherein James Gives Rap-Artist and Track Recommendations With Brief Explanations of the Merits of Each, And in the Order They Surface in His Mental Soup
Yes, I'm reviewing some favorites from "That Genre With the Heavy Beats and All the Obscene Language"
- Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day - Ice Cube is not the most versatile, or flamboyant rap artist, his style is fairly stable and representative of rap of the early to mid nineties. However, this particular track is a delightful romp of imagination based on the premise of what it would be like to have a good day when you live in south-central LA. The wishful thinking is universal, if the setting isn't, as exemplified by this bit of verse:
Picked up a girl been tryin to f*** since the 12th grade
It's ironic, I had the booze she had the chronic
The Lakers beat the Supersonics
It is comical, well-written and not burdened with an annoying, repetetive chorus. - Eminem - Rock Bottom - Eminem is truly a talented individual. I am a fairly decent mimic and I often judge an artists interestingness by their ability to foil my attempts at mimicry through sheer complexity and nuance. Norah Jones and Emmylou Harris come to mind. Eminem has a rapid-fire delivery, interesting rhythms and a seemingly supernatural ability to string together rhyme and slant-rhyme. All of which make it extremely difficult to mimic him convincingly. Take this example of slant-rhyming 'oranges':
There is no denying that my weenie is much bigger than yours is
Mine is like sticking a banana between two oranges
Why you even doing this to yourself, it's pointless
Why do we have to keep on going through this, this is torturous
My point is this
The highlighted words may not sound the same in the reading, but you should hear him rap them. - Dr. Dre - The Watcher - "Thing's just ain't the same for gangstas". At least we have it on Dr. Dre's authority. The master of G-Funk gives the impression he's surveying ages in this reflection on a career in the music industry. 20 years in the music industry is, relatively speaking, ages. But Dre's lyrics always tend to convey the impression that the author has a broader view on the world than his peers. He delivers well-engineered lyrics with one of the most indelicate voices in the business, making an odd presentation that somehow works, perhaps due in large part to the inventive, moody tracks he raps over.
- Jay-Z - Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Snap! Crackle! Pop! That's Jay-Z. Besides a dope moniker, Jay-Z has, and delivers the goods. Early in the track you hear him shout something like: "You're now tuned into the mother*****in' greatest!" And follows with a track that stops you from arguing. His theme is one I had to look up in the Urban Dictionary, but it really wouldn't matter what it meant, you can't help but get caught up in his energy. The track is somewhat techno and his vocal style is kind of breathy, which adds to the effect of him sounding like he's working out really hard.
- The Game - Hate It or Love It - Again, reflections on life in the bad part of town, but this time by an up-and-coming artist, albeit with loads of help from Dr. Dre. This track is sweet, the lyrics blend a world-weary, reflective attitude with a slightly angry one and a track that blends brass, soulful vocals and more in an unusual and very slick way.
Bonus Tracks with no explanation: Nas - I Know I Can, Tupac Shakur - Momma's Just a Little Girl, Snoop Dogg - Gin And Juice
All of these artists have plenty more top-notch tracks.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Icy Sheets
I knew it was dangerous to plan a trip based on weather reporting accuracy, but I tried, last night to leave the Erskine family Christmas party in time to avoid the ice-storm, which was scheduled to hit our area at 7 pm. Well, it hit at 4:30, and was thereby well established before we arrived. I-5 was only wet, but when we exited at Woodland, the picture was different. Slush on the off-ramp, ice and snow on less-travelled roads. Cedar Creek Road was pure, dry sheets of ice. Out of the remotest hope of better conditions, we followed it along the flat stretches near Woodland, until we reached the first hill, which is plenty steep. Opened the door, reached down and felt the texture of the roadway. Nope. Not going to make it. Turned around and stayed at the Econolodge, in Woodland (which I can recommend as fully passable economy lodging.)
This morning, the rain came and melted the ice. We made a break for home. Four cars were in varying states of catiwhompussness on the very hill we turned away from on the night before. Smugness filled my head, and indeed our whole car.
So now we're safely ensconced in our cozy abode. The power must have been out overnight for 6 hours or so, based on our stove's blinking time. The temperature was still 69 F though, when we arrived.
The oppossum must have thawed enough to fall out of it's tree. Sorry folks, I know how much you wanted to see that picture.
This morning, the rain came and melted the ice. We made a break for home. Four cars were in varying states of catiwhompussness on the very hill we turned away from on the night before. Smugness filled my head, and indeed our whole car.
So now we're safely ensconced in our cozy abode. The power must have been out overnight for 6 hours or so, based on our stove's blinking time. The temperature was still 69 F though, when we arrived.
The oppossum must have thawed enough to fall out of it's tree. Sorry folks, I know how much you wanted to see that picture.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Welcome to December
How can it be halfway through December already?
This month has been a whirlwind of cleaning and get-togethers. And there will be just as much happening in the second half of the month. In addition to the normal holiday bustle, I've been trying to make a go of some freelance coding/consulting/database work.
A word of advice: do not try this without a competent mentor available to help.
My flight is just starting. Still uncertain if it will be like the flight of Icarus, Lindbergh or the bumble-bee. But I guess that goes for most things.
My fat pipe enthusiasm has diminished somewhat. I realized that my connection is not symmetrical, the upload is only about 500Kbps, while the download appears to be only about 1Mbps. So, I might have to do a reversal on my prior enthusiasm.
Another Country Living Vignette
Heidi spotted an Opossum, in a tree. Dead. Frozen. Hanging by it's tail.
Are they still called "Opossum's"? I haven't heard that word spoke at me in so long, it sounds weird.
This month has been a whirlwind of cleaning and get-togethers. And there will be just as much happening in the second half of the month. In addition to the normal holiday bustle, I've been trying to make a go of some freelance coding/consulting/database work.
A word of advice: do not try this without a competent mentor available to help.
My flight is just starting. Still uncertain if it will be like the flight of Icarus, Lindbergh or the bumble-bee. But I guess that goes for most things.
My fat pipe enthusiasm has diminished somewhat. I realized that my connection is not symmetrical, the upload is only about 500Kbps, while the download appears to be only about 1Mbps. So, I might have to do a reversal on my prior enthusiasm.
Another Country Living Vignette
Heidi spotted an Opossum, in a tree. Dead. Frozen. Hanging by it's tail.
Are they still called "Opossum's"? I haven't heard that word spoke at me in so long, it sounds weird.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Getting a Fat Pipe Baby, Yeah!
The very existence of my phone company instills a sense of awe in me that borders on belief in the supernatural. Especially when contrasted with every other phone company I've ever dealt with. Those are all dark entities in my brain from which no light, sound or even thought can escape, and so they must remain nameless.
TDS Telecom, on the other hand, is a sunny, glowing panorama, where deer graze on the slope below me while I'm sipping fresh coffee and my family is gathered around, gazing at me in obvious adoration. And I'm outdoors, high in the mountains on a cold morning, but the chill doesn't penetrate.
We live 3 miles outside of a town that only recently acquired a gas-station. We are at the end of the road. Our neighbors, on at least one side, are coyotes. And they may be wily, but I don't think they are paying for DSL service.
So to be offered DSL in our location tickled me cyclamen. Now, they are offering double the speed for the same price. So, as of 5 this evening, I should be getting something close to 3 Mbps synchronous bandwidth on my DSL. This phone company is so good I'm scared. Scared that one day I'll awaken and find it was all just a pleasant dream.
Every transaction with them has been smooth and easy. No billing errors, no long waits on the phone for customer service, which I've only had to use maybe once to figure out my router.
TDS Telecom is awesome.
TDS Telecom, on the other hand, is a sunny, glowing panorama, where deer graze on the slope below me while I'm sipping fresh coffee and my family is gathered around, gazing at me in obvious adoration. And I'm outdoors, high in the mountains on a cold morning, but the chill doesn't penetrate.
We live 3 miles outside of a town that only recently acquired a gas-station. We are at the end of the road. Our neighbors, on at least one side, are coyotes. And they may be wily, but I don't think they are paying for DSL service.
So to be offered DSL in our location tickled me cyclamen. Now, they are offering double the speed for the same price. So, as of 5 this evening, I should be getting something close to 3 Mbps synchronous bandwidth on my DSL. This phone company is so good I'm scared. Scared that one day I'll awaken and find it was all just a pleasant dream.
Every transaction with them has been smooth and easy. No billing errors, no long waits on the phone for customer service, which I've only had to use maybe once to figure out my router.
TDS Telecom is awesome.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
I'm Leaving My Mistress
Yesterday's extended family Christmas party was a success. Since we knew we'd be too busy to stoke our woodstove, we decided to turn on our radiant floor heat, just for the day.
Well, now it's the day after and my toasty toes have spent the entire morning smooth-talking my id to forget to turn off the floor heat. Let me tell you, those toes are persuasive.
So, science, my mistress, has been abandoned for a more comfortable situation, yet again.
Well, now it's the day after and my toasty toes have spent the entire morning smooth-talking my id to forget to turn off the floor heat. Let me tell you, those toes are persuasive.
So, science, my mistress, has been abandoned for a more comfortable situation, yet again.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Things That Make You Go Hmmm
When you reach for the thin, plastic bottle of mouthwash, and find a thin, plastic bottle of toilet bowl cleanser where the mouthwash normally is.
Sapsucker At Breakfast
Sapsucker At Breakfast
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.
I was up at dawn and was able to get this red-naped sapsucker in perpendicular lighting.
Frost was coating everything this morning. And it was spiked. It made every plant look like a cactus, riddled with spines.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Weekend Update
On a clear day, like today, a large shadow on the side of Mt. St. Helens' snowy SE slope is slightly jarring. Of course the only explanation is that ash must have blown over the lip of the crater to settle on the otherwise pristine white southern face. It's fun to see evidence of activity on the mountain; a little disturbing, yes, but fun nonetheless. It is also rare to have a winter day clear enough to know without doubt that it is not a cloud-shadow.
This sunny day has also allowed us to avoid having a fire all day, despite conditions that caused 1/2 inch ice-sheets in any water standing outside last night. The temp has raised inside about 4 degrees farenheit since this morning.
We're preparing to host a large party over the weekend. As such I ran to the dump to purge more of the seemingly endless stream of trash we've generated during the construction of this house. After the dump I went a few miles south to pick up a used dryer I'd found on craigslist.com. When I got to the house with the dryer, I realized I had left my hand-truck/dolly at the dump. : So, after loading the dryer by hand, I zoomed back to the dump and made my way back to the place where I left the dolly only to see it being scooped up in the bucket of a massive bulldozer. I watched it get pushed along, with a sensation similar to watching a kite get tangled in an impossibly high tree, or a cell-phone dropped into deep water. However, the dozer finished his push and backed up for another go. The dolly was on the near side of the heap. I dashed out across the mounds of mattresses and sheetrock-scraps, trying to remember how it was that Remo Williams was able to run on water. Miraculously the dolly appears unharmed, albeit wet and covered in heaven-knows-what.
This sunny day has also allowed us to avoid having a fire all day, despite conditions that caused 1/2 inch ice-sheets in any water standing outside last night. The temp has raised inside about 4 degrees farenheit since this morning.
We're preparing to host a large party over the weekend. As such I ran to the dump to purge more of the seemingly endless stream of trash we've generated during the construction of this house. After the dump I went a few miles south to pick up a used dryer I'd found on craigslist.com. When I got to the house with the dryer, I realized I had left my hand-truck/dolly at the dump. : So, after loading the dryer by hand, I zoomed back to the dump and made my way back to the place where I left the dolly only to see it being scooped up in the bucket of a massive bulldozer. I watched it get pushed along, with a sensation similar to watching a kite get tangled in an impossibly high tree, or a cell-phone dropped into deep water. However, the dozer finished his push and backed up for another go. The dolly was on the near side of the heap. I dashed out across the mounds of mattresses and sheetrock-scraps, trying to remember how it was that Remo Williams was able to run on water. Miraculously the dolly appears unharmed, albeit wet and covered in heaven-knows-what.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Isn't the lichen lovely, dear?
Highly Color-Saturated Cascara & Lichen
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.
It has come to my attention that my prior post about lichen in bloom lacked context. So I'm sharing this picture that explains a bit of what I'm referring to.
I increased the color saturation 100% to make the colors more noticeable.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Snow-covered Firs
Snow-covered Firs
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.
This snow melted overnight, and now we have a similar amount again, from this morning's snow.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Lyrics. Snow Update.
These look like pretty decent lyrics to Lida Rose:
http://www.geocities.com/merrystar3/allysongs/LidaRose.htm
I have a po-dunk thermometer I could put outside, but it's accuracy is probably about as good as mine. That is, it will say 32 F and I won't be sure it's not 30 or 34.
The flakes are coming down medium-sized and medium-paced. They've been continuous since 9 am and sticking since 11:30 or so. In the last hour, the size and rate have stabilized.
http://www.geocities.com/merrystar3/allysongs/LidaRose.htm
I have a po-dunk thermometer I could put outside, but it's accuracy is probably about as good as mine. That is, it will say 32 F and I won't be sure it's not 30 or 34.
The flakes are coming down medium-sized and medium-paced. They've been continuous since 9 am and sticking since 11:30 or so. In the last hour, the size and rate have stabilized.
And It's Sticking
Snow sticking now at 550' near Amboy. Trees whitening. Noise dampening. Clouds thickening.
Heidi said it's only rain in Battle Ground, but I think it will be on the roads between here and there. She may have to stay there for a while.
Heidi said it's only rain in Battle Ground, but I think it will be on the roads between here and there. She may have to stay there for a while.
Pre-School Birthday Party Outfit
Pre-School Birthday Party Outfit
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.
This is Jamey, a few minutes before leaving for pre-school and his birthday celebration there.
Light-a Snow At Home Again Snow
(Title sung to the tune of Lida Rose. Hope you have some other music handy, cause that one tends to stick around in one's head for an irritating while.)
Yes, it is in fact snowing here. Not sticking yet, but the pace has been increasing since 9 am. Heidi and the kids may get stuck in Battle Ground if it starts sticking. Or in particular, the 980 foot-high pass between Fargher Lake and Amboy. We're at roughly 550' here.
Jamey was desperate to get to his pre-school today because they are celebrating his 5th (cough, cough, sputter) birthday today. That includes special attention for him, cupcakes for the class and Jamey gets to be the teacher's special assistant today. He has dressed in his finest attire for the occasion, and is, quite rightfully, proud of himself.
And the snow kept falling...
Yes, it is in fact snowing here. Not sticking yet, but the pace has been increasing since 9 am. Heidi and the kids may get stuck in Battle Ground if it starts sticking. Or in particular, the 980 foot-high pass between Fargher Lake and Amboy. We're at roughly 550' here.
Jamey was desperate to get to his pre-school today because they are celebrating his 5th (cough, cough, sputter) birthday today. That includes special attention for him, cupcakes for the class and Jamey gets to be the teacher's special assistant today. He has dressed in his finest attire for the occasion, and is, quite rightfully, proud of himself.
And the snow kept falling...
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Snow Tomorrow
wunderground.com predicts a 90% chance of snow in Amboy tomorrow.
Renton is scheduled for Friday, I think.
Hey Mimi, what's the snow report in Belgique?
Renton is scheduled for Friday, I think.
Hey Mimi, what's the snow report in Belgique?
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
More Old Video Games
I'm not vouching for the quality of these, but it looks like a large assortment of video games from the 1980's is available here:
http://www.1980-games.com/us/
http://www.1980-games.com/us/
Monday, November 28, 2005
How Cold Is It Anyway?
Today's forcast is for snow in Amboy. It's definitely cold and windy outside, with thick ice on the ground. But the clouds don't look very thick yet.
Inside, this morning the new $3 thermometer I bought yesterday said it was 60 degrees F in our living room. My office, where I'm sitting now, is considerably colder than that. That sounds really cold to me, but it didn't feel really cold. So now I have to confirm the accuracy of the thing.
Inside, this morning the new $3 thermometer I bought yesterday said it was 60 degrees F in our living room. My office, where I'm sitting now, is considerably colder than that. That sounds really cold to me, but it didn't feel really cold. So now I have to confirm the accuracy of the thing.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Red-headed Sapsucker?
Red-headed Sapsucker?
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.
Time once again for, Name That Bird!!
There will be no prizes. The journey is its own reward.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Tis The Season for....Lichen!
Why don't you ever hear people say "Amboy is so beautiful when the lichen are in bloom!" Or, "Isn't the moss simply redolent this year, darling?!"
I have a few ideas on that, but I'll let you formulate your own, without interference.
Have I mentioned the book Guns, Germs & Steel yet? Great book. It's also a video you can rent from Netflix.
I just learned, while reading it this morning, that Thomas Edison didn't realize that the phonograph was best suited to replaying music until 20 years after he invented it!!!
That fact was meant to support the notion that invention is the mother of necessity, not the other way around as is commonly understood.
Another interesting notion, that the best invention isn't always adopted by a population. As case in point he mentions the computer keyboard, which you probably know was modeled after the typewriter keyboard. But the typewriter had a limiting feature that keyboards don't; that is, the mechanical arms and their potential to jam if two keys were pressed simultaneously. Consequently the layout of the letters is designed to disperse commonly typed letters widely around the keyboard in order to slow you down!! Clearly this is not what you want in the computer age, but the QWERTY keyboard is so entrenched it is showing little sign of being displaced by designs that would increase speed by double and reduce the total effort by 95%!!
So now, in order to not feel like some ignorant brute I'm going to have to get a Dvorak-style keyboard so that I can achieve the typing speed of....a really fast typist.
Lief introduced me to this concept more than a year ago, but some of the problems I read about prevented me from taking the plunge. The most significant challenge being the switch back to QWERTY whenever you use someone else's keyboard.
Here's an excerpt from fingerworks.com:
I have a few ideas on that, but I'll let you formulate your own, without interference.
Have I mentioned the book Guns, Germs & Steel yet? Great book. It's also a video you can rent from Netflix.
I just learned, while reading it this morning, that Thomas Edison didn't realize that the phonograph was best suited to replaying music until 20 years after he invented it!!!
That fact was meant to support the notion that invention is the mother of necessity, not the other way around as is commonly understood.
Another interesting notion, that the best invention isn't always adopted by a population. As case in point he mentions the computer keyboard, which you probably know was modeled after the typewriter keyboard. But the typewriter had a limiting feature that keyboards don't; that is, the mechanical arms and their potential to jam if two keys were pressed simultaneously. Consequently the layout of the letters is designed to disperse commonly typed letters widely around the keyboard in order to slow you down!! Clearly this is not what you want in the computer age, but the QWERTY keyboard is so entrenched it is showing little sign of being displaced by designs that would increase speed by double and reduce the total effort by 95%!!
So now, in order to not feel like some ignorant brute I'm going to have to get a Dvorak-style keyboard so that I can achieve the typing speed of....a really fast typist.
Lief introduced me to this concept more than a year ago, but some of the problems I read about prevented me from taking the plunge. The most significant challenge being the switch back to QWERTY whenever you use someone else's keyboard.
Here's an excerpt from fingerworks.com:
The DVORAK key layout was carefully designed by August Dvorak in the 1930's and became an ANSI standard in 1982. All vowels are placed on the left hand home row keys, and the most common consonants ('D','H','T','N','S') lie on the right
hand's home row. This way most (70%) typing is done within home row, and finger hops between upper and lower rows of keys are minimized. This is a stark
contrast to QWERTY, which requires finger hops for common letter sequences like 'EC','EX','CR','CT','CE','BR','BE', and 'UN'. (Compare finger travel to type
'EXCRUCIATING' on QWERTY versus on the DVORAK layout above).
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Hold The Phone Folks
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
This year, in addition to my usual thankfulness for family, friends, health and wellness, I'm thankful for technology.
Technology has come such a long way since the days of the pilgrims. And each new year brings great strides. For instance, this year you don't have to scour magazine ads looking for all the stuff you want your family to buy you for Christmas, all you have to do is go to a site like bf2005.com and review all the stuff that's on sale day Black Friday (tomorrow) then you can give a detailed map and directions as to where they should go. When I say they, I'm referring to those crazy (but incredibly generous) relatives of mine that are willing to face the crushing crowds physically tomorrow, in the hopes of getting the coolest Christmas gifts for the lowest prices. Whereas I figure the money I overpay by not going, is a pittance compared to the psychiatric bills I'd incur by going. No, no, no, crowds are not for me. I'll be shopping online this year, which brings us back, tidily, to my ode to technology. For instance, costco.com, not Costco, but only costco.com is offering the Oregon Scientific CableFree Weather Station for $25 off the normal price!!! You gotta love that. Using technology to help you buy more technology. Heaven, I'm in heaven.
Am I imagining this, or has the Christmas season come earlier this year? I wonder if there is a greater sense of malaise this year than usual and people just need to make Christmas bigger and sooner than ever?
Well, it's working for me. All this Christmas-list making and Black Friday planning has me in the highest of spirits. They may even be high enough for me to start thinking about what other people may want this year for Christmas. Hmmm, strange.
This year, in addition to my usual thankfulness for family, friends, health and wellness, I'm thankful for technology.
Technology has come such a long way since the days of the pilgrims. And each new year brings great strides. For instance, this year you don't have to scour magazine ads looking for all the stuff you want your family to buy you for Christmas, all you have to do is go to a site like bf2005.com and review all the stuff that's on sale day Black Friday (tomorrow) then you can give a detailed map and directions as to where they should go. When I say they, I'm referring to those crazy (but incredibly generous) relatives of mine that are willing to face the crushing crowds physically tomorrow, in the hopes of getting the coolest Christmas gifts for the lowest prices. Whereas I figure the money I overpay by not going, is a pittance compared to the psychiatric bills I'd incur by going. No, no, no, crowds are not for me. I'll be shopping online this year, which brings us back, tidily, to my ode to technology. For instance, costco.com, not Costco, but only costco.com is offering the Oregon Scientific CableFree Weather Station for $25 off the normal price!!! You gotta love that. Using technology to help you buy more technology. Heaven, I'm in heaven.
Am I imagining this, or has the Christmas season come earlier this year? I wonder if there is a greater sense of malaise this year than usual and people just need to make Christmas bigger and sooner than ever?
Well, it's working for me. All this Christmas-list making and Black Friday planning has me in the highest of spirits. They may even be high enough for me to start thinking about what other people may want this year for Christmas. Hmmm, strange.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Ice Cream, tire, Phoebe
Ice Cream, tire, Phoebe
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.
Two of our three new cats. Ice Cream is the gray one. Jamey named him. Phoebe is Arthur's. She has the orange nose stripe. Flower, not pictured here, is Heidi's. Flower looks exactly like Phoebe, except her nose is black.
Monday, November 21, 2005
The G.O.A.T. Gets Bush's Goat
Is it just me, or does Ali's fist look a little menacing in the picture here? Not to mention the more obvious curiosity of what he intended by that gesture. There's a video of the moment that's interesting because of how fast Bush moves aside and just as fast two handlers move in to escort The Champ away. Calls to mind the movie Gladiator, when Commodus keeps trying to look good but can't in comparison with a real hero.
The State of Biodiesel
Washington's Biodiesel industry is still largely in the minds of its proponents. But the interest-level is heating up. Here's an article in the Seattle P-I about it.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Northwest_Biodiesel_Canola.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Northwest_Biodiesel_Canola.html
Yikers!
Advair and Serevent are potentially dangerous?!
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,16781,1647524,00.html
Maybe this is not a big deal, but thought some of us might want to keep an eye on this story.
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,16781,1647524,00.html
Maybe this is not a big deal, but thought some of us might want to keep an eye on this story.
Google is Directly Awesome
My previous post about Google being evil should probably be taken in the context that they are overwhelmingly good. I think you all knew that, which is why I didn't talk about that part. However CNET news and, ironically, The New York Times makes it easy to give them their fair shake:
Thank you, Google.
Without intending to do so, the company set in motion multilateral disarmament by telling its first advertisers in 2000: text only, please. No banner ads, no images, no animation. Just simple words, which would go either at the very top of the page, above the search results or, alternatively, as the experiment evolved, at the far right. These "sponsored links" had to conform to strict limits on length and aggressiveness in punctuation and phrasing. If you wanted to claim in your ad that you were the "best," you had to display the third-party authority that authenticated the claim.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
King Cnut
King Cnut was a Dane who ruled England and Denmark at the start of the 11th century.
His is also the name I've chosen for my new Flickr account. Flickr is a service for hosting photographs. I've just uploaded some photos there of Heidi and the boys. I'm posting them there because it is fast and easy and they offer several sizes all at one upload. They do the resizing automatically.
Check 'em out if you want: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingcnut/
His is also the name I've chosen for my new Flickr account. Flickr is a service for hosting photographs. I've just uploaded some photos there of Heidi and the boys. I'm posting them there because it is fast and easy and they offer several sizes all at one upload. They do the resizing automatically.
Check 'em out if you want: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingcnut/
Magic Flute?
Get your mind out of the gutter. This is about an actual Magic Flute.
We took Jamey and Arthur to see a performance of Selected Scenes from The Magic Flute by Mozart, courtesy of the Vancouver Children's Symphony last night. It was kind of dicey, I thought. Hard to decipher the story both because the words weren't clear during the singing and because it was 'selected scenes' which jolted me out of the suspension of disbelief so that I couldn't become engaged in the performance.
However, the entire production was greatly redeemed by the final song, a rapidfire duet between arguing lovers Papagano and Papagana. Jamey literally jumped out of his chair in excitement over it. And Arthur kept repeating papapapapapapapa....and then chuckled as we left the auditorium.
We also saw "The Wright Family Band" which is a bluegrass-playing family from Amboy that has some very talented musicians in it.
It was a long day for all and the kids were rummy as pirates by the end. Hopefully they will sleep WAY in today. They're still asleep now, and that's a good sign.
We took Jamey and Arthur to see a performance of Selected Scenes from The Magic Flute by Mozart, courtesy of the Vancouver Children's Symphony last night. It was kind of dicey, I thought. Hard to decipher the story both because the words weren't clear during the singing and because it was 'selected scenes' which jolted me out of the suspension of disbelief so that I couldn't become engaged in the performance.
However, the entire production was greatly redeemed by the final song, a rapidfire duet between arguing lovers Papagano and Papagana. Jamey literally jumped out of his chair in excitement over it. And Arthur kept repeating papapapapapapapa....and then chuckled as we left the auditorium.
We also saw "The Wright Family Band" which is a bluegrass-playing family from Amboy that has some very talented musicians in it.
It was a long day for all and the kids were rummy as pirates by the end. Hopefully they will sleep WAY in today. They're still asleep now, and that's a good sign.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Christmas Makes Me Berserker With Greed!
Will's response to my McMaster-Carr post brings to light another interesting place to shop. Not that I'm advocating consumerism.
Lehman's is interesting to me because of some of the high-quality tools, such as this Diamant grain mill. The fact they carry European-style scythes, among other items shows a willingness to carry heirloom-quality tools, which I find refreshing.
This brings me to the realization that some of you may be looking for Christmas present ideas this time of year, (Christmas '05 or '06, whatever). And, since I now have a small collection of sites that I enjoy looking through, I bring you:
James' Gift-Idea Generation Tool!*
Simply click randomly on one of the following links to delve into a world packed with a wide assortment of creative and high-quality items which may or may not present terrific gift-giving-ideas to you personally, but which I find compelling.
Cool Tools
Lehman's
McMaster-Carr
I used to think Christmas was for kids, but now I realize how cheap and easy it is to please kids (just provide them with grandparents.) Christmas really just gets better with age.
They say the more you want the happier you are. Well I must be one ecstatic dude then. Here are some of the things I couldn't imagine living without in '06:
But enough about me, what do YOU want for Christmas?
Let's see if Amazon and their "Madonna CDs" and their "Star Wars" DVDs are right, or are there other things that you yearn for?
*I'm still thrashing around like a hamstrung rhinoceros for gift-ideas, so this is by no means a guarantee of success
Lehman's is interesting to me because of some of the high-quality tools, such as this Diamant grain mill. The fact they carry European-style scythes, among other items shows a willingness to carry heirloom-quality tools, which I find refreshing.
This brings me to the realization that some of you may be looking for Christmas present ideas this time of year, (Christmas '05 or '06, whatever). And, since I now have a small collection of sites that I enjoy looking through, I bring you:
James' Gift-Idea Generation Tool!*
Simply click randomly on one of the following links to delve into a world packed with a wide assortment of creative and high-quality items which may or may not present terrific gift-giving-ideas to you personally, but which I find compelling.
Cool Tools
Lehman's
McMaster-Carr
I used to think Christmas was for kids, but now I realize how cheap and easy it is to please kids (just provide them with grandparents.) Christmas really just gets better with age.
They say the more you want the happier you are. Well I must be one ecstatic dude then. Here are some of the things I couldn't imagine living without in '06:
- Weather station
- Mp3 player
- JBL Creature II powered speakers
- Tablet PC
- FM Transmitter
- Xbox 360
- Diamant Grain Mill
- Digital Projector (gaming and movies)
- Screen for projecting on
- Every accessory they make for the Canon Digital Rebel
- More, more, more…
But enough about me, what do YOU want for Christmas?
Let's see if Amazon and their "Madonna CDs" and their "Star Wars" DVDs are right, or are there other things that you yearn for?
*I'm still thrashing around like a hamstrung rhinoceros for gift-ideas, so this is by no means a guarantee of success
$100 Laptops!?
Nicholas Negroponte is on a mission to bring IT to everyone. It's a noble mission. I hope he succeeds. Here is a quote:
The device is intended to be a computer, e-book, games console and TV all in one, and its promoter, MIT Lab chairman Nicholas Negroponte, evangelised about a production run of millions within just one year.
The device is intended to be a computer, e-book, games console and TV all in one, and its promoter, MIT Lab chairman Nicholas Negroponte, evangelised about a production run of millions within just one year.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Buying a Tool?
Try McMaster-Carr
They have everything, in lots of models. A clean efficient website as well.
They have everything, in lots of models. A clean efficient website as well.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Google is Indirectly Evil
Because Google News routinely links to 'subscription' news sources, The New York Times, which has an irritating "Free" registration. And worst of all, they link to Forbes, which apparently has to dilate it's cervix to deliver a page. And only after serving an ad or two.
In order for Google to live up to its goal of "not being evil", they should desist linking to news sources which deliver painful user experience.
In order for Google to live up to its goal of "not being evil", they should desist linking to news sources which deliver painful user experience.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Delta Paint Scam
Delta Paint Scam!
I have several "acquaintances" that like to paint. The paint they use is Delta acrylic paint. Thing is, every new project they paint requires several new colors. This has led one of my acquaintances, who has been buying paint for several years, to acquire what I consider and excessive collection of obscure colors. When I say obscure, what I mean is this: most of the paint in the bottle has dried up because it's only useful for highlighting Rudolph's red nose in the mid-nineties. Nowadays, people see Rudolph's nose a little darker, more cranberry-ish. I mean, is it ALWAYS glowing??
Not only is the sheer size of the collection astonishing, but it inevitably leads to absurdly frequent trips to <wide-eyed grimace>CRAFTERS WAREHOUSE, or JO ANN's!!</wide-eyed grimace>
My proposal is this: Delta should release the formula for all of their colors in 'drip-ratios'. This would save probably billions of dollars annually in transportation costs nationwide as painters throughout this great nation could save the emergency trips to the aforementioned houses of horror and actually (gasp!) Mix Their Own Paints!
I realize that Delta has some disincentive regarding this course of action, but since what they are doing is obviously and inherently evil. They need to stop it. Now. Or else, someday Google is going to index their colors and provide the conversion right on their search page. Then where will Delta be. Nowhere my friends. Nowhere at all.
I have several "acquaintances" that like to paint. The paint they use is Delta acrylic paint. Thing is, every new project they paint requires several new colors. This has led one of my acquaintances, who has been buying paint for several years, to acquire what I consider and excessive collection of obscure colors. When I say obscure, what I mean is this: most of the paint in the bottle has dried up because it's only useful for highlighting Rudolph's red nose in the mid-nineties. Nowadays, people see Rudolph's nose a little darker, more cranberry-ish. I mean, is it ALWAYS glowing??
Not only is the sheer size of the collection astonishing, but it inevitably leads to absurdly frequent trips to <wide-eyed grimace>CRAFTERS WAREHOUSE, or JO ANN's!!</wide-eyed grimace>
My proposal is this: Delta should release the formula for all of their colors in 'drip-ratios'. This would save probably billions of dollars annually in transportation costs nationwide as painters throughout this great nation could save the emergency trips to the aforementioned houses of horror and actually (gasp!) Mix Their Own Paints!
I realize that Delta has some disincentive regarding this course of action, but since what they are doing is obviously and inherently evil. They need to stop it. Now. Or else, someday Google is going to index their colors and provide the conversion right on their search page. Then where will Delta be. Nowhere my friends. Nowhere at all.
Blogging From Word
Blogging From Word
Is this going to work? Answer: Yes!
Wow! I just blogged from within Word 2003 with the Blogger Add-on.
It was super easy and quick. I might start doing it more because I'd like to save a local copy of my posts. Call me anachronistic, but I just can't quite let go completely and yield to the bliss of Google as sole possessor of all my data. Although I know it's futile to resist.
Is this going to work? Answer: Yes!
Wow! I just blogged from within Word 2003 with the Blogger Add-on.
It was super easy and quick. I might start doing it more because I'd like to save a local copy of my posts. Call me anachronistic, but I just can't quite let go completely and yield to the bliss of Google as sole possessor of all my data. Although I know it's futile to resist.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Election News
We're a little disappointed and a little relieved at the outcome of yesterday's election for Clark County Cemetery District 4 Commissioner Position 2.
The disappointment stems mostly from the failure to succeed for Heidi's supporters. And from the knowledge that the results will ensure a one-family monopoly on the Cemetery District, which simply isn't healthy democracy.
One key lesson learned: get in the voters' pamphlet, or don't bother running.
The results bespeak an underinformed electorate, including strong favor for those that appeared in the voters' pamphlet.
The disappointment stems mostly from the failure to succeed for Heidi's supporters. And from the knowledge that the results will ensure a one-family monopoly on the Cemetery District, which simply isn't healthy democracy.
One key lesson learned: get in the voters' pamphlet, or don't bother running.
The results bespeak an underinformed electorate, including strong favor for those that appeared in the voters' pamphlet.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Rude Awakening
After attending Abby's 3rd birthday party last Saturday and delivering the boys to 'camp out', by which I mean camp-in, with their grandparents, Heidi and I checked-in to a luxury suite at the Renton Holiday Inn. It was through the kindness of the clerk that we were allowed to stay on the 6th floor, home of the prestigious "Priority Club" suites.
It was, in fact, a nice room. Spacious and conspicuously lacking that ambiguous, musty smell of the standard rooms on the lower floors. Despite this, my inner skeptic prevented me from buying-in to the marketing card left on the bed reading:
"Give us your hungry, your tired..." blahblahblah "...those who yearn for a good night's sleep."
Yes, I yearn, it's true. However a little piece of cardboard (that looked reused at that) placed on my pillow was not the sort of token I'd perceive as a guarantee of success.
While I love being proved correct in my skeptical ways, in this case I would have been, at minimum, just as happy to have been wrong.
For minutes after midnight, just as I was undoubtedly settling in to my 2nd hour of peaceful slumber, an insistent rattling rang from our door-handle. Heidi is a light sleeper and such aggressive clatter had her alert as the meerkat-on-watch instantly. Meanwhile, my consciousness began to surface like an old tire dredged by a fisherman from the bottom of a lake and quite coated still, thickly with the mud of sleep, so that the true tread of my wakeful self wasn't apparent. Deep inside I knew I had set the safety-latch on the door so that no-one could barge in and disturb us, not to mention the improbability of someone foiling the electronic card-key system. So I resolved to resist the fisherman's insistant tug and was succeeding fantastically, dropping deeply, darkly, back to slumber when suddenly: bright light, loud voice.
Yes the rattling revelers had managed, incomprehensibly, to open our door as much as the safety-latch would allow.
Terrorist? Murderer? Mugger? Idiot? My mind sifted through the options while the intruder proceeded to unleash all manner of arguments and persuasions designed to rouse us to some action. Heidi could explain the whole plot-arc of his tirade, but to me it was all but indecipherable. Nevertheless, I attempted to diffuse the situation with this silver bullet: "We're sleeping!" in as irritable voice as I can muster. And, as most of you know, I can muster like Custer when you wake me up.
Bafflingly, the man was not yet satisfied with my logic and tone, although substantially subdued, according to Heidi.
He carried on blah blah blah blah blah, and finally, as my senses were very nearly clear, suggested that we might both contact the front desk. That struck me as a capital idea indeed, so I readily agreed to call the front desk, wishing wistfully that some just punishment would befall him for his evil actions.
Whatever. He left. Yay. The front desk said, weakly: "Sorry, won't happen again." I should hope not.
The thick slog of adrenaline through my tired heart promised to keep me awake for 30 minutes more at least.
It was all worth it though. Heidi hailed me as a hero for "handling" the situation. In particular the setting of the safety-latch prior to retiring to bed. And, for intimidating the fellow with my curmudgeon-iest voice.
It was, in fact, a nice room. Spacious and conspicuously lacking that ambiguous, musty smell of the standard rooms on the lower floors. Despite this, my inner skeptic prevented me from buying-in to the marketing card left on the bed reading:
"Give us your hungry, your tired..." blahblahblah "...those who yearn for a good night's sleep."
Yes, I yearn, it's true. However a little piece of cardboard (that looked reused at that) placed on my pillow was not the sort of token I'd perceive as a guarantee of success.
While I love being proved correct in my skeptical ways, in this case I would have been, at minimum, just as happy to have been wrong.
For minutes after midnight, just as I was undoubtedly settling in to my 2nd hour of peaceful slumber, an insistent rattling rang from our door-handle. Heidi is a light sleeper and such aggressive clatter had her alert as the meerkat-on-watch instantly. Meanwhile, my consciousness began to surface like an old tire dredged by a fisherman from the bottom of a lake and quite coated still, thickly with the mud of sleep, so that the true tread of my wakeful self wasn't apparent. Deep inside I knew I had set the safety-latch on the door so that no-one could barge in and disturb us, not to mention the improbability of someone foiling the electronic card-key system. So I resolved to resist the fisherman's insistant tug and was succeeding fantastically, dropping deeply, darkly, back to slumber when suddenly: bright light, loud voice.
Yes the rattling revelers had managed, incomprehensibly, to open our door as much as the safety-latch would allow.
Terrorist? Murderer? Mugger? Idiot? My mind sifted through the options while the intruder proceeded to unleash all manner of arguments and persuasions designed to rouse us to some action. Heidi could explain the whole plot-arc of his tirade, but to me it was all but indecipherable. Nevertheless, I attempted to diffuse the situation with this silver bullet: "We're sleeping!" in as irritable voice as I can muster. And, as most of you know, I can muster like Custer when you wake me up.
Bafflingly, the man was not yet satisfied with my logic and tone, although substantially subdued, according to Heidi.
He carried on blah blah blah blah blah, and finally, as my senses were very nearly clear, suggested that we might both contact the front desk. That struck me as a capital idea indeed, so I readily agreed to call the front desk, wishing wistfully that some just punishment would befall him for his evil actions.
Whatever. He left. Yay. The front desk said, weakly: "Sorry, won't happen again." I should hope not.
The thick slog of adrenaline through my tired heart promised to keep me awake for 30 minutes more at least.
It was all worth it though. Heidi hailed me as a hero for "handling" the situation. In particular the setting of the safety-latch prior to retiring to bed. And, for intimidating the fellow with my curmudgeon-iest voice.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Weather System Purchase
You can buy the weather system at this link: http://www.ambientweather.com/wmorscwiprwe.html
It entitles you to browse Weather Underground with no ads too!
It entitles you to browse Weather Underground with no ads too!
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Friday, October 28, 2005
Gmail Anyone?
Google's web mail client is live, though in beta still. It has some neat features like:
- capturing all correspondent's e-mail in a contacts list
- virtually unlimited memory (if your mail is composed mainly of text, that is)
- clean, efficient Google-style interface
- correspondence is presented in tidy 'conversation' structure
- Google search your mail (I've not tried this. I assume it is a boon based on their web-search capability)
They are employing an invitation-style sign-up. If you want one, just let me know, I'm happy to send one your way.
Here's a screen-shot:
Weather Information
Have you ever thought that the temperature, rainfall and wind-speed at 'the airport' just isn't accurate enough for your happiness? Does your local weatherman look sly or untrustworthy? Have you ever gone to the kitchen to pop some corn and come back to the TV to find you've missed the weather report and are now gripped by the nagging question: 'How many inches, exactly has it rained today'?
Fret no longer friends. Come with me into the fabulous world of tomorrow by purchasing this awesome weather-monitoring system for installation at your home!
Did you notice the rain gauge is self-emptying?
And, the data can be integrated with the online data at Weather Underground.
Furthermore, you'd get highly accurate data to assess the thermal performance of your home. Something that may be of particular interest if you have an unusual construction method. One that the world may be interested in knowing more about.
Oh, yeah, and the sensors are all 'iPod white'!
So, the need for this system is irrefutable, right? The evidence in favor: overwhelming.
Fret no longer friends. Come with me into the fabulous world of tomorrow by purchasing this awesome weather-monitoring system for installation at your home!
Did you notice the rain gauge is self-emptying?
And, the data can be integrated with the online data at Weather Underground.
Furthermore, you'd get highly accurate data to assess the thermal performance of your home. Something that may be of particular interest if you have an unusual construction method. One that the world may be interested in knowing more about.
Oh, yeah, and the sensors are all 'iPod white'!
So, the need for this system is irrefutable, right? The evidence in favor: overwhelming.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Kids at Play
Jamey: "There's so many of those vines!!! And a whomping willow, over there!!!!
Arthur: "Dada, there's a whomping willow by you!"
Jamey: "He just got me with a rock. Shoot me with my gun"
Arthur: "Pchoo"
Jamey: "Thanks."
Arthur: "Dada, there's a whomping willow by you!"
Jamey: "He just got me with a rock. Shoot me with my gun"
Arthur: "Pchoo"
Jamey: "Thanks."
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Campaign News and More
The Columbian has published their review of the 2005 Elections. Heidi's race is covered, along with some quotes.
We put up many signs last Saturday.
I found a praying mantis in the yard yesterday, but didn't have my camera to share. It's body was about 2/3rds the length of my index finger. I only saw it as it rushed across the trail I was walking, undoubtedly to avoid my footfall. It was green as a fresh blade of grass, and when it wasn't holding still, it swayed like a leaf blowing gently in the breeze.
Playing the "Animal Game" with Arthur this morning, he said:
We put up many signs last Saturday.
I found a praying mantis in the yard yesterday, but didn't have my camera to share. It's body was about 2/3rds the length of my index finger. I only saw it as it rushed across the trail I was walking, undoubtedly to avoid my footfall. It was green as a fresh blade of grass, and when it wasn't holding still, it swayed like a leaf blowing gently in the breeze.
Playing the "Animal Game" with Arthur this morning, he said:
"My a'mal has two bumps on it's back."
"Is it a camel?"
"Yes!"
"Arthur, do you know why camel's have bumps on their backs?"
Smiling, benignly, Arthur spreads his hands and cheerily replies "Because they're camels!"
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Voters Pamphlet
Here is the information we needed a month or two ago on the voters pamphlet:
https://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/pdf/GYITV2004WebVersion.pdf
https://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/pdf/GYITV2004WebVersion.pdf
Campaign News
Neither Heidi or I thought about getting a profile into the voter's pamphlet until it was too late. So the campaign has been set back a bit by that. However, we'll have signs by this friday. And we're looking into placing ads in local publications.
Also, The Columbian interviewed Heidi yesterday as part of their elections review. I thought she presented herself and her position well. We await the review and recommendations of The Columbian with bated breath.
We'll look into how one gets a blurb into the voter's pamphlet. I'll keep you posted.
Also, The Columbian interviewed Heidi yesterday as part of their elections review. I thought she presented herself and her position well. We await the review and recommendations of The Columbian with bated breath.
We'll look into how one gets a blurb into the voter's pamphlet. I'll keep you posted.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Campaign Sign
Heidi's Campaign Sign
Assuming we can get someone to print this from a .tiff before Nov. 8th.
RSS And You
Why use RSS?
An RSS system of writers and subscribers is similar to e-mail, but improves on e-mail in these ways:
An RSS system of writers and subscribers is similar to e-mail, but improves on e-mail in these ways:
- the writer does not have to know ahead of time who will want/need to read his message
- the reader is not expected to read every message and engage the writer, failure to do so possibly resulting in guilt or hurt feelings or both
- being open to the public, an RSS feed has the potential to create or galvanize a 'community' of interested people
My experience has been an improved sense of communication with a wider range of my family than ever before. That's a particular boon for me, given my geography. When I started it was with the intent just to keep a "journal". Now it has transformed into something far richer. "If you build it they will come" comes to mind. However, I don't think it's just about geography either. It's an empowering technology. Web-publishing made as easy as brushing your teeth. It can't replace e-mail, but should replace e-mail distribution lists.
How to Use RSS
You may not realize it, but Will's blog is already served as an RSS feed. Go to bloglines and add this URL, and you'll see what I mean. Blogger.com automatically publishes the atom.xml (atom is an RSS format backed by Google, who owns blogger.com) file for every blog they host.
If you're reluctant to sign up with a hosting service, or use an online feed service, you can get the same functions done on your own hardware. Lief's blog demonstrates that. Also, the next generation of Microsoft products will have RSS features riddled throughout them. Outlook will probably have a perfectly good aggregator. Google has just released an aggregator, which is still in beta and perhaps a little more glitchy than their normal products, but has the expected Google flair.
Saturday Night Feverish
Grange Sale
We made it through the Grange sale in fine form. Jamey, Arthur and I held down the fort for the meaty middle of the day. We sold a decent amount of Heidi's Jam & Jill's hats. But, as usual, it's not what you sell, but what you buy that makes this sale so fun!! For instance, Heidi picked up a Bat Apartment Building, which houses up to 30 bats!!! Now I know some of you are thinking we've gone completely off our rockers with this, but check this out: Bats eat half their weight in insects each night! If I were a bat I'd have to eat over 100 pounds of insects per night!!! Or if I were a nursing mother bat, I'd have to eat over 200 pounds!!! Each night! OK, that's enough digression. I just wanted to give the image of a 230 lb. nursing mother bat with my face as a Halloween treat to you. So we just have to mount this box on something, in the open, facing east-southeast and about 15 feet above ground and we'll be able to declare this a 'bug-free zone'.
And we found the usual assortment of glassware, honey, baked-goods (especially cardamom bread). All of which is practically irresistable.
News From the Campaign Trail
Heidi hadn't planned on campaigning with 'yard-signs', but one of her opponents has put out many. Now Heidi feels that to honor her supporters, who have already put some effort into spreading the word about her candidacy, she should level the field regarding sign-visibility.
Books Jamey Has Read
A Treasury of Dick and Jane and Friends
Jamey finds the Dick and Jane stories both easy and pleasurable to read. There are about 40 small stories in this treasury, and Jamey has but 4 to go. He prefers these stories far more than several other "learning readers" he has tried in the past. Once he has completed reading all the stories he will be treated to a dinner at Red Lobster, to celebrate his achievement.
As witness to his progress, I have experienced wonderment akin to watching "Magic Rocks" grow. Seemingly from nothing and from nowhere, this wonderful talent has appeared. Of course that points to the truth, which is that Heidi has primarily worked with him on reading. I spend many mornings telling him all about "how trees make oxygen" and "how babies are made" and how "molecules conduct heat" and "how the weight of the atmosphere can crush a kerosene can" (that one we demonstrated already). So I work on the fun stuff, while Heidi slogs away at the fundamentals. :D
Arthur has earned his trip to Red Lobster by recognizing and naming all the letters in the alphabet, upper and lowercase.
Red Lobster was chosen by Jamey because that's where his uncle Ryan's high school graduation dinner was held. I'm surprised that he remembers the celebration there at all. In my memory we spent nearly the entire time in the restroom on one of his marathon expeditions. The kind where you return to no food, because the waiter thought you must have been done, or left altogether.
Heidi points out that neither of us have done anything to earn our trip to Red Lobster. :(
We made it through the Grange sale in fine form. Jamey, Arthur and I held down the fort for the meaty middle of the day. We sold a decent amount of Heidi's Jam & Jill's hats. But, as usual, it's not what you sell, but what you buy that makes this sale so fun!! For instance, Heidi picked up a Bat Apartment Building, which houses up to 30 bats!!! Now I know some of you are thinking we've gone completely off our rockers with this, but check this out: Bats eat half their weight in insects each night! If I were a bat I'd have to eat over 100 pounds of insects per night!!! Or if I were a nursing mother bat, I'd have to eat over 200 pounds!!! Each night! OK, that's enough digression. I just wanted to give the image of a 230 lb. nursing mother bat with my face as a Halloween treat to you. So we just have to mount this box on something, in the open, facing east-southeast and about 15 feet above ground and we'll be able to declare this a 'bug-free zone'.
And we found the usual assortment of glassware, honey, baked-goods (especially cardamom bread). All of which is practically irresistable.
News From the Campaign Trail
Heidi hadn't planned on campaigning with 'yard-signs', but one of her opponents has put out many. Now Heidi feels that to honor her supporters, who have already put some effort into spreading the word about her candidacy, she should level the field regarding sign-visibility.
Books Jamey Has Read
A Treasury of Dick and Jane and Friends
Jamey finds the Dick and Jane stories both easy and pleasurable to read. There are about 40 small stories in this treasury, and Jamey has but 4 to go. He prefers these stories far more than several other "learning readers" he has tried in the past. Once he has completed reading all the stories he will be treated to a dinner at Red Lobster, to celebrate his achievement.
As witness to his progress, I have experienced wonderment akin to watching "Magic Rocks" grow. Seemingly from nothing and from nowhere, this wonderful talent has appeared. Of course that points to the truth, which is that Heidi has primarily worked with him on reading. I spend many mornings telling him all about "how trees make oxygen" and "how babies are made" and how "molecules conduct heat" and "how the weight of the atmosphere can crush a kerosene can" (that one we demonstrated already). So I work on the fun stuff, while Heidi slogs away at the fundamentals. :D
Arthur has earned his trip to Red Lobster by recognizing and naming all the letters in the alphabet, upper and lowercase.
Red Lobster was chosen by Jamey because that's where his uncle Ryan's high school graduation dinner was held. I'm surprised that he remembers the celebration there at all. In my memory we spent nearly the entire time in the restroom on one of his marathon expeditions. The kind where you return to no food, because the waiter thought you must have been done, or left altogether.
Heidi points out that neither of us have done anything to earn our trip to Red Lobster. :(
Friday, October 14, 2005
Books I've Read Recently
Eragon
Eldest
Interestingly, on amazon.com, the reviews seem to be love it or hate it. I couldn't put either book down. Eldest was better, IMO.
True, some of the criticism that say the themes copy from Star Wars & Lord of the Rings. Personally I don't see that as a bad thing.
What I liked most was some of the detail spent enriching the worlds of magic and the elves. A lot of cool ideas brought forth. It's been a long time since I read a fantasy book.
I stayed up super-late last night finishing Eldest.
Eldest
Interestingly, on amazon.com, the reviews seem to be love it or hate it. I couldn't put either book down. Eldest was better, IMO.
True, some of the criticism that say the themes copy from Star Wars & Lord of the Rings. Personally I don't see that as a bad thing.
What I liked most was some of the detail spent enriching the worlds of magic and the elves. A lot of cool ideas brought forth. It's been a long time since I read a fantasy book.
I stayed up super-late last night finishing Eldest.
More Family Blog Info
How could I be so faithless as to not share blief with you all? Bop-Op sets me straight again in comments. Lief actually put his together from scratch, which impressed the heck outta me. For that matter, why don't I just link to Bop-Op's blog?
Also, Will has left his blog link in comments as well! There is some great stuff there. And, he's not afraid to get political too, which is nervy. :D
I need to get a blogroll up, now that I have so many family-members blogging.
The sun is burning my chest right now. I'm parked in front of our living-room windows because my office is being tiled. First clear day in almost a month I think. Hopefully we'll capture enough of this heat to last a day or two. So far our little Aspen wood stove has easily handled our heating needs on these many cloudy days; not that it's been bitterly cold yet. I'm totally stoked. I may need to supplement it with our electric system (though I'm going to try hard to avoid that for the scientific research I mentioned before) when the lows get into the 30's and below, but, then again, maybe not. As it is, each time I've run it lately the house has become uncomfortably warm by the end of the day. This stove is only supposed to handle up to 600 sq. ft.
Coming later, pictures of Jamey and Arthur with their Halloween pumpkins.
Also, Will has left his blog link in comments as well! There is some great stuff there. And, he's not afraid to get political too, which is nervy. :D
I need to get a blogroll up, now that I have so many family-members blogging.
The sun is burning my chest right now. I'm parked in front of our living-room windows because my office is being tiled. First clear day in almost a month I think. Hopefully we'll capture enough of this heat to last a day or two. So far our little Aspen wood stove has easily handled our heating needs on these many cloudy days; not that it's been bitterly cold yet. I'm totally stoked. I may need to supplement it with our electric system (though I'm going to try hard to avoid that for the scientific research I mentioned before) when the lows get into the 30's and below, but, then again, maybe not. As it is, each time I've run it lately the house has become uncomfortably warm by the end of the day. This stove is only supposed to handle up to 600 sq. ft.
Coming later, pictures of Jamey and Arthur with their Halloween pumpkins.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Heightened Expectations
I really don't know why I haven't been posting lately. I'm pretty sure just as much has been happening.
Heidi has had two relatives die recently. Her aunt and now a cousin who was only 14 and whose service is this Saturday. Causes, were cancer and leukemia respectively. Heidi is of the opinion that everyone in her family dies of cancer, so now we'll have Turmeric with every meal.
She will attend the service for her young cousin this Saturday, while Jamey, Arthur and I will man the booth Heidi has reserved at the Fargher Lake Grange Fall Sale.
We were going to attend a Friends of the Library shindig a couple weeks back. We thought it was going to be fairly formal, so I bought a suit (the first suit I've ever owned!). However, Jamey had a terrible fever the day of the event, so we decided we couldn't turn him out of his bed for everyone's sake. As a result, I've yet to wear the suit.
I've had some good conversations over e-mail and IM with a couple of my cousins. Sounds like Will might be starting a blog. I hope so. I'm going to subscribe when it happens. Hopefully this online journaling will catch on with more of the family. Jen has a blog, but only posts pictures infrequently (which, by the way, doesn't waste my time since I'm using an RSS feed reader to subscribe to her blog).
PSA: RSS. Get it. Learn it. Live it. Love it. RSS.
Go to bloglines, or newsgator or someplace like that and start aggregating. But don't subscribe to anyone who averages more than 2 posts per day. It will SUCK YOUR LIFE AWAY. Trust me. Count Roogin must be behind Engadget, The Register and Slashdot.
In other news....
I bought a cord of wood. Now I have to use nothing else to heat the house all winter so I'll know how far a cord gets me. Science is indeed a cruel mistress.
Heidi has had two relatives die recently. Her aunt and now a cousin who was only 14 and whose service is this Saturday. Causes, were cancer and leukemia respectively. Heidi is of the opinion that everyone in her family dies of cancer, so now we'll have Turmeric with every meal.
She will attend the service for her young cousin this Saturday, while Jamey, Arthur and I will man the booth Heidi has reserved at the Fargher Lake Grange Fall Sale.
We were going to attend a Friends of the Library shindig a couple weeks back. We thought it was going to be fairly formal, so I bought a suit (the first suit I've ever owned!). However, Jamey had a terrible fever the day of the event, so we decided we couldn't turn him out of his bed for everyone's sake. As a result, I've yet to wear the suit.
I've had some good conversations over e-mail and IM with a couple of my cousins. Sounds like Will might be starting a blog. I hope so. I'm going to subscribe when it happens. Hopefully this online journaling will catch on with more of the family. Jen has a blog, but only posts pictures infrequently (which, by the way, doesn't waste my time since I'm using an RSS feed reader to subscribe to her blog).
PSA: RSS. Get it. Learn it. Live it. Love it. RSS.
Go to bloglines, or newsgator or someplace like that and start aggregating. But don't subscribe to anyone who averages more than 2 posts per day. It will SUCK YOUR LIFE AWAY. Trust me. Count Roogin must be behind Engadget, The Register and Slashdot.
In other news....
I bought a cord of wood. Now I have to use nothing else to heat the house all winter so I'll know how far a cord gets me. Science is indeed a cruel mistress.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Political Scene
This year's race for Cemetery District 4 in northeast Clark County has caught the attention of The Columbian:
Her platform is:
Someone from the Amboy cemetery region should shoulder our fair share of this responsibility.
And yes, the Heidi Zimmerman mentioned in the column is my wife.If you like behind-the-scenes stories in politics, including whispers about nepotism and conflicts of interest, it's hard to top Cemetery District 4 in northeast Clark County. Four candidates are running for the same seat on the three-person board, an office that pays $50 per monthly meeting.
That's political activism of monumental proportions. Another cemetery district, No. 5 just south of Woodland, didn't attract a single candidate for its three spots on the ballot, which means the incumbents will stay on. School board and city council races rarely attract four candidates.
Her platform is:
Someone from the Amboy cemetery region should shoulder our fair share of this responsibility.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Heat On Today
We fired up the woodstove today for the first time this fall. Since this is the first Fall we've spent in this house, Oct. 3rd will be our benchmark. However, I won't know if this performance is good unless I get some thermometers inside and out. I really don't know why I haven't done this already.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Solar Home Tour Comes to Amboy
Tomorrow we're going to be part of the solar home tour. Meanwhile the entire house is disheveled due to the ongoing tile flooring project. :|
There's probably a solar home tour near you (in North America).
solarwashington.org
There's probably a solar home tour near you (in North America).
solarwashington.org
North part of tour
5th location: Clark County Operations Center near St Johns and 78th St. This is a demonstration project similar to the PUD project only using Shell panels. Real Time data is available.
6th location: Zimmerman home. This is a passive solar, straw bale home.
7th location: Boehm home. This home utilizes passive solar design, solar hot water, geothermal heat pump, heat recovery ventilator and super insulation. This home is brand new and uses most of the state of the art green building and renewable energy technologies.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Fishing for Small Children
After a conversation this morning with Tom Buss, the redoubtable fly-fisherman, I've come to the conclusion that it isn't necessary to 'educate' young children on the killing, cleaning and eating of fish. A more valuable lesson, as Tom pointed out, is to teach them the conservation of fish until such time as you desperately need to eat them. Like the Apocalypse for instance.
Early in the Spring of this year, Heidi and I took Jamey and Arthur to a local pond where the catch is guaranteed. Though I tried to be discreet, Jamey observed me cutting his fish's head off and promptly exclaimed "Don't cut my head off!", which aroused some concern in my mind as to how secure he felt was his place in our family. Naturally I tried to fortify his sense of belonging and safety with reassuring words. However, my feeling is that words are weak when held next to the primal experience of seeing your (once trusted) father cut the head off of a small, defenseless creature.
As a result of that, as well as Tom's and my own experience as first-time fishermen, I now feel that is a mistake to assume kids must learn, on their first time out, what it fundamentally means to be an omnivore.
There will be time for that later.
Early in the Spring of this year, Heidi and I took Jamey and Arthur to a local pond where the catch is guaranteed. Though I tried to be discreet, Jamey observed me cutting his fish's head off and promptly exclaimed "Don't cut my head off!", which aroused some concern in my mind as to how secure he felt was his place in our family. Naturally I tried to fortify his sense of belonging and safety with reassuring words. However, my feeling is that words are weak when held next to the primal experience of seeing your (once trusted) father cut the head off of a small, defenseless creature.
As a result of that, as well as Tom's and my own experience as first-time fishermen, I now feel that is a mistake to assume kids must learn, on their first time out, what it fundamentally means to be an omnivore.
There will be time for that later.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Frost, Sun & Sunny Personalities
The weather this September has been just glorious. I have to remember that summer here is July-Sept. I don't know why I keep thinking it's June-Aug, but it's not.
Yesterday, I laid down on my hillside to read, and I just about cooked myself tender. I had to seek shade in the alders.
When I discovered frost on the car last week, I scraped some off to show Jamey. He looked at the ice on my fingertips for about 1 second. Then, whipping his head up to me, his mouth opened in an excited smile, eyebrows lifted, "That means my birthday is coming!!"
What a charmer.
My whole charming crew has been away to the beach for several days now, while the tilers lay the kitchen and bathroom.
I miss them.
They will be back today, soon.
Here are a few words I keep meaning to jot down:
Arthur:
lellow
biloculars
"I knoooww!" {index finger pointing straight up, mouth open, eyes looking sideways in thought}
"meooww"
"You mean 'Baby Kitty'"
Jamey:
"I have to tell you a question"
"Do you want to play the game where you be things?"
"Do you want to play Poof?"
pom pom blower
asthma gun
eggy spiders
(note: I've purchased him a more age-appropriate video game now, and he loves it. whew!)
Heidi, doesn't like me to share her cute idiosyncrasies publicly (or privately, for that matter), so I'll just report that I've missed her. Terribly. And that is in a sincere, earnest voice. Not the "can I have another bowl of white rice" voice.
Yesterday, I laid down on my hillside to read, and I just about cooked myself tender. I had to seek shade in the alders.
When I discovered frost on the car last week, I scraped some off to show Jamey. He looked at the ice on my fingertips for about 1 second. Then, whipping his head up to me, his mouth opened in an excited smile, eyebrows lifted, "That means my birthday is coming!!"
What a charmer.
My whole charming crew has been away to the beach for several days now, while the tilers lay the kitchen and bathroom.
I miss them.
They will be back today, soon.
Here are a few words I keep meaning to jot down:
Arthur:
lellow
biloculars
"I knoooww!" {index finger pointing straight up, mouth open, eyes looking sideways in thought}
"meooww"
"You mean 'Baby Kitty'"
Jamey:
"I have to tell you a question"
"Do you want to play the game where you be things?"
"Do you want to play Poof?"
pom pom blower
asthma gun
eggy spiders
(note: I've purchased him a more age-appropriate video game now, and he loves it. whew!)
Heidi, doesn't like me to share her cute idiosyncrasies publicly (or privately, for that matter), so I'll just report that I've missed her. Terribly. And that is in a sincere, earnest voice. Not the "can I have another bowl of white rice" voice.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Friday, September 23, 2005
Flashback Time
Guess what I found here:
http://www.freewebs.com/drussell/Download.htm
Well, I was going to put a picture of it, but for some reason I can't get it to upload.
Lief might be the only one who even slightly cares about this.
It's a video game from before one really needed video cards in one's PC to play video games. I'm not sure it's really even a video game, maybe just 'game' will suffice?
But hot-diggity-dog, what a fun game it is.
Yummy mango anyone?
http://www.freewebs.com/drussell/Download.htm
Well, I was going to put a picture of it, but for some reason I can't get it to upload.
Lief might be the only one who even slightly cares about this.
It's a video game from before one really needed video cards in one's PC to play video games. I'm not sure it's really even a video game, maybe just 'game' will suffice?
But hot-diggity-dog, what a fun game it is.
Yummy mango anyone?
101st Post!
I meant to mention that my last post was my 100th, but I forgot. So I'm mentioning that this one is the 101st. I'll let the reader determine which ones were 1-99.
Some links:
If you didn't already hear:
Opera becomes free at last.
Download it if you like. It has some nice features and is flying somewhat under the radar of hackers etc. A lot of stuff looks disjointed in it, since the vast majority of pages are developed for IE. But nothing too bad so far. I really like the notes feature; it's helpful for gathering topics and links that you might want to blog about later.
Rory Blyth's blog has some really funny moments. Example:
Some links:
If you didn't already hear:
Opera becomes free at last.
Download it if you like. It has some nice features and is flying somewhat under the radar of hackers etc. A lot of stuff looks disjointed in it, since the vast majority of pages are developed for IE. But nothing too bad so far. I really like the notes feature; it's helpful for gathering topics and links that you might want to blog about later.
Rory Blyth's blog has some really funny moments. Example:
I spent my summer afternoons and evenings driving other people’s cars in and
out of the Marriott garage. It wasn’t very intellectually stimulating, but this
was offset by the perks of getting to breath exhaust for eight hours a day while
wearing a pseudo-naval uniform complete with ceremonious epaulets. What the job
lacked in pay, benefits, and prestige, it more than made up for in humiliation
and exposure to carcinogens. I also learned that most Mercedes from the mid 70s
smell like raisins on the inside. Don’t know why that is.
Red Sky at Night
Wow. Last night I saw the most intensely colored sunset in my memory. Did you ever see the movie "Hoffa", with Jack Nicholson? At the end, when he's threatening the mob boss with "I'm 'a do what I gotta do to get the union back!!", the sky behind the mob boss is so full of color it looks fake. Well, last night's sunset was MORE colorful that that!!
ASP.NET 2.0
Yesterday I went to a seminar on the upcoming ASP and Visual Studio 2005. It was pretty cool and got me pumped up (as usual) to try doing something with the new versions. Rory Blyth, who was extremely humorous and entertaining, was the presenter.
Some of the cool features I took notes on:
A lot of the information that I saw presented live is contained in a series of pages with very simple links:
shrinkster.com/78r through 78z and 780, 781 and 782
One last cool thing in ASP.NET 2.0 is that you can deploy your application completely compiled, which means all of the asp pages are deployed as blank stubs. The source that is sent out to browsers is generated from your app completely. This prevents editing of the pages outside of the VS05 project.
ASP.NET 2.0
Yesterday I went to a seminar on the upcoming ASP and Visual Studio 2005. It was pretty cool and got me pumped up (as usual) to try doing something with the new versions. Rory Blyth, who was extremely humorous and entertaining, was the presenter.
Some of the cool features I took notes on:
- With VS05, you don't need to set up a separate web server to test your ASP.NET apps, the test environment is included.
- Some cool controls are included, like the so-called breadcrumb control and log-in controls.
- SQL cache invalidation appears to give useful and granular information on data validity, which will help you present the most up-to-date data with very little effort.
- New project file-types called .masterpage and .skin are included, which provide a central place for structural template, and visual effects, respectively. The .skin file allows you to set the appearance of controls and is in addition to whatever .css design you've implemented.
A lot of the information that I saw presented live is contained in a series of pages with very simple links:
shrinkster.com/78r through 78z and 780, 781 and 782
One last cool thing in ASP.NET 2.0 is that you can deploy your application completely compiled, which means all of the asp pages are deployed as blank stubs. The source that is sent out to browsers is generated from your app completely. This prevents editing of the pages outside of the VS05 project.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Frost on the Punkin
For those of you not from Amboy, the English term for what is locally, and affectionately referred to as the 'punkin' is 'pumpkin'.
Yes, we had frost last night. As far as I know that is the first frost of fall. Though I don't pretend to be an authority since I rarely venture out until all the dew has dried. It confirms that my weather feed is dead wrong, as they are reporting lows in the 40's.
The house is and was perfectly toasty throughout the night.
It may be time to get a little more scientific in my observations, by getting a personal weather station and indoor thermometer to better analyze the performance of this house.
Yes, we had frost last night. As far as I know that is the first frost of fall. Though I don't pretend to be an authority since I rarely venture out until all the dew has dried. It confirms that my weather feed is dead wrong, as they are reporting lows in the 40's.
The house is and was perfectly toasty throughout the night.
It may be time to get a little more scientific in my observations, by getting a personal weather station and indoor thermometer to better analyze the performance of this house.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Color Schemes
Here's a cool tool for creating color schemes. It could really assist in designing a Web-site.
The super-cool bonus is that you may be able to use it to diagnose color-blindness. See the bottom right dropdown to render your color-scheme in the way that various color-blind persons would view it.
Color Scheme Generator
The super-cool bonus is that you may be able to use it to diagnose color-blindness. See the bottom right dropdown to render your color-scheme in the way that various color-blind persons would view it.
Color Scheme Generator
Tip of The Day
Should you decide to vacation in any part of the country subject to Atlantic or Gulf hurricanes, take your vacation during Winter or Spring. For heaven's sake, don't go during September!!
Hurricane Season is roughly June-November, with the worst being in the middle of that span.
Hurricane Season is roughly June-November, with the worst being in the middle of that span.
Using Heat Yet?
This has been, perhaps, a freakishly warm September for us, but temperatures are now dipping into the 40's at night and we have yet to fire up any type of indoor heating.
Looks like we're expecting highs in the low 70's for the forseeable future (5-15 days). Given that we appear able to last nearly a week in cloudy and cold weather before the cold seeps into the house thoroughly, we appear set to cruise into October in comfortable warmth.
Looks like we're expecting highs in the low 70's for the forseeable future (5-15 days). Given that we appear able to last nearly a week in cloudy and cold weather before the cold seeps into the house thoroughly, we appear set to cruise into October in comfortable warmth.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Microsoft Max - Waste of Time
I'm no Microsoft-hater. In general, I tend to think their approach must be the closest to being "right" if only because their success is undeniable.
However, I have to say today that I was suckered into trying Microsoft Max, because it was the first thing to come out of the PDC the day Scoble said something amazing was coming.
It's moves like this that earn MS the animosity of legions.
It's a photo-sharing software that is utterly dismal at loading and keeping track of where your pictures are. Each time I want to create a new "slideshow" I have to browse to the folder where I keep ALL of my photos, just because it isn't c:\documents and settings\my documents\my pictures, I have to *keep showing it over and over and over*. Actually that third 'over' is erroneous, because after two times, and finding no feature redeeming enough to justify this pain, I've quit bothering.
Who's in charge of deciding when software is good enough not to aggravate the users??
Summary: Microsoft Max = Sucktacular
However, I have to say today that I was suckered into trying Microsoft Max, because it was the first thing to come out of the PDC the day Scoble said something amazing was coming.
It's moves like this that earn MS the animosity of legions.
It's a photo-sharing software that is utterly dismal at loading and keeping track of where your pictures are. Each time I want to create a new "slideshow" I have to browse to the folder where I keep ALL of my photos, just because it isn't c:\documents and settings\my documents\my pictures, I have to *keep showing it over and over and over*. Actually that third 'over' is erroneous, because after two times, and finding no feature redeeming enough to justify this pain, I've quit bothering.
Who's in charge of deciding when software is good enough not to aggravate the users??
Summary: Microsoft Max = Sucktacular
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
New Blog Aggregation Site
Here's a new site that lists hot-topic headlines from the blog world. Choose either politics or tech. Refreshes every 5 minutes. There seem to be quite a lot of intelligent voices here.
Found it at Scobleizer, who, by the way has been promising some kind of huge, groundbreaking announcement from Microsoft at the Professional Developer's Conference today. He says to check memeorandum.com or google news after noon today (PDT) that's less than two hours from now.
Found it at Scobleizer, who, by the way has been promising some kind of huge, groundbreaking announcement from Microsoft at the Professional Developer's Conference today. He says to check memeorandum.com or google news after noon today (PDT) that's less than two hours from now.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Public Service Announcement
loose sounds like looss
lose sounds like looz
loose is the opposite of tight
lose is the opposite of find
lose sounds like looz
loose is the opposite of tight
lose is the opposite of find
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Great Horned Owl Sighting
We had visitors this weekend. As such, we toured some local attractions; the Ape Cave and the Trail of Two forests. Both areas feature fascinating geologic features based on lava flows from Mt. St. Helens.
In the evening I was treated to views of some astral bodies documented by Messier. Globular clusters, a galaxy and more. All very beautiful, some like tiny puffs of white smoke and others like diamond-chips on impossibly smooth velvet.
Perhaps the most exciting, for me, was the sighting of a Great Horned owl, perched on top of a tree near the border of our property. With the telescope trained on it, we could watch it hoot and rotate it's head around. A few times I was able to make out, faintly, it's eyes as it looked my way. It appeared to be calling to another owl, as we heard a response after most of the hoots.
Monday, after such an eventful day of sights, we decided to venture out to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and were delighted by the landscape and the abundant wildlife. Perhaps most memorable were the Great White Egrets. Dazzlingly white, I remember seeing these in books as a child, but I'm not sure I've ever seen them live until yesterday. I counted 20.
We also saw numerous Great Blue Herons, some by the waters edge, others in the midst of large, dry fields. One was undoubtedly the least shy heron I've ever encountered. As we approached it in our car, (it was standing in the road) it slowly stalked across our path and into the grass on the other side. When we passed it, we couldn't have been more than 30 feet away, probably 20.
In the evening I was treated to views of some astral bodies documented by Messier. Globular clusters, a galaxy and more. All very beautiful, some like tiny puffs of white smoke and others like diamond-chips on impossibly smooth velvet.
Perhaps the most exciting, for me, was the sighting of a Great Horned owl, perched on top of a tree near the border of our property. With the telescope trained on it, we could watch it hoot and rotate it's head around. A few times I was able to make out, faintly, it's eyes as it looked my way. It appeared to be calling to another owl, as we heard a response after most of the hoots.
Monday, after such an eventful day of sights, we decided to venture out to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and were delighted by the landscape and the abundant wildlife. Perhaps most memorable were the Great White Egrets. Dazzlingly white, I remember seeing these in books as a child, but I'm not sure I've ever seen them live until yesterday. I counted 20.
We also saw numerous Great Blue Herons, some by the waters edge, others in the midst of large, dry fields. One was undoubtedly the least shy heron I've ever encountered. As we approached it in our car, (it was standing in the road) it slowly stalked across our path and into the grass on the other side. When we passed it, we couldn't have been more than 30 feet away, probably 20.
Friday, September 02, 2005
More to Come - NOAA
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2484.htm
NOAA RAISES THE 2005 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON OUTLOOK
Bulk of This Season's Storms Still to Come
7-9 Hurricanes Predicted this year!
Floored By Europe's Generosity
I don't even know what to say about this:
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=9546692&src=rss/topNews
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=9546692&src=rss/topNews
"It's self-evident that we support the American bid," German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder told a news conference in Berlin.
He expected a massive two million barrels per day of oil to be shipped over the next month -- more or less offsetting lost output from the Gulf coast's battered refineries.
"We assume that would lead to there being sufficient energy reserves in the market and, second, we would wish the pressure on the prices of oil products to be lessened," Schroeder said.Speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Wales, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "Whatever the United States asks for they will be given."
New Orleans' Mayor Spittin' Mad
Quote from http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=9546874
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin blasted the federal government as emotions spilled
over in an angry radio interview, saying he was "pissed" at the lack of help the
historic city had received.
"I need reinforcements. I need troops, man.
I need 500 buses, man," he said. "Now get off your asses and fix this. Let's do
something and let's fix the biggest goddam crisis in the history of this
country."
"We authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq, lickety split. After
9/11 we gave the president unauthorized powers, lickety split to help New York
and other places," he said. "You mean to tell me that a place where most of your
oil is coming through ... that we can't figure out a way to authorize the
resources that we need," said Nagin.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Should I Buy This?
A solar-powered LED porch light.
http://store.yahoo.com/solardyne/sunraysolsec.html
This would save me from having to perform a seemingly difficult maneuver of running new wire through my straw wall.
http://store.yahoo.com/solardyne/sunraysolsec.html
This would save me from having to perform a seemingly difficult maneuver of running new wire through my straw wall.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Is There an Economist in the House?
I'm noticing many stories on Google News detailing the destruction of the Mississippi gambling industry.
From the Seattle P-I:
From the Seattle P-I:
The effect on the Mississippi economy could be severe. About 14,000 people
work in the dozen casinos along the Mississippi coastline. Each casino
has a land-based hotel.
The hurricane damage could cost Mississippi some
$400,000 to $500,000 a day in lost gambling taxes. Last year, the
state's casinos generated $2.7 billion in revenue.
My questions:
If casino's aren't fleecing working people out of $500,000 per day, plus the
Casino's cut, won't the people have more of their own money to pay for things
they need?Don't casinos really just bleed money from an economy like
medieval physicians would bleed a sick patient?
Casino's don't produce anything. They don't invest in anything except their own proliferation. Jobs are 'created' by having casino's, but those are necessarily a fraction of the value of the money that is being skimmed off for profit and taxes.
With apologies to those whose living is tied to the gambling industry, is the damage done to gambling in Mississippi truly damage to the economy?
Clue me in if I'm off the mark here.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Amazon Photo-Printing Service
15 Free prints when you start.
http://amazon.shutterfly.com/?scic=0&ref=ce_stf_gw/002-9434769-9207208
http://amazon.shutterfly.com/?scic=0&ref=ce_stf_gw/002-9434769-9207208
eBooks from King County Library System
This eBook service is available to me, in Clark County!!! I haven't used this service yet, so can't say how well it works, but I've just found out I'm eligible as are most of my regular visitors. (Apologies to my European colleagues. Though I'm sure your proximity to the world's finest chocolate, and other such benefits more than outweigh this little perk.)
Soon, all libraries will provide such service. Eventually libraries will be 1/10th the size, because they will only have kiosks where you browse for titles to download to your eBook reader, or one that you borrow from the library.
Soon, all libraries will provide such service. Eventually libraries will be 1/10th the size, because they will only have kiosks where you browse for titles to download to your eBook reader, or one that you borrow from the library.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Find Recorded Musicians Similar to....
Last.fm does a good-looking job of listing artists similar to one you enter. I have been using MusicMatch for the past year and they're similar artist results are not nearly so broad, especially in mixing big-names with obscure names. Musicmatch appears to weigh the notoriety of the musician more heavily than their similarity to your chosen musician.
My standard test is the "Leonard Cohen" test, which I think works well because you expect to see obscure names in any list of Cohen sound-alikes. If you see only big-names, you wonder how comprehensive the search is.
My standard test is the "Leonard Cohen" test, which I think works well because you expect to see obscure names in any list of Cohen sound-alikes. If you see only big-names, you wonder how comprehensive the search is.
Voice: AOL, Google, Skype
Lief made a good point in the comments of my Googletalk post. I'm not familiar with almost any IM clients out there, so it may have been a day late and a dollar short for me to plug Googletalk that way.
Do AOL/MSN Messenger/AIM/Trillian et. al. have a voice-only mode?
Also I heard that Skype is an existing service that has more to offer than the new Googletalk.
If any of you regular readers has, or cares to install one of these tools, let me know which one and we can test the phone features.
It appears to require broadband. My apologies to those without.
Do AOL/MSN Messenger/AIM/Trillian et. al. have a voice-only mode?
Also I heard that Skype is an existing service that has more to offer than the new Googletalk.
If any of you regular readers has, or cares to install one of these tools, let me know which one and we can test the phone features.
It appears to require broadband. My apologies to those without.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Unheard Beethoven
Here's a great example of the value of the Internet.
Two guys unearthed hundreds of Beethoven works that aren't recorded anywhere else and made MIDI tracks from the scores. Now they are available online: http://www.unheardbeethoven.org/
This ability for small entities to publish obscure information for a small subset of the population makes my heart glad.
Two guys unearthed hundreds of Beethoven works that aren't recorded anywhere else and made MIDI tracks from the scores. Now they are available online: http://www.unheardbeethoven.org/
This ability for small entities to publish obscure information for a small subset of the population makes my heart glad.
Comment Spam
Hey folks, I'm starting to get comment spam, so I turned on the option to require character-verification before posting comments.
If you find this reduces your inclination to comment, let me know. I could set it up so that all of you that comment regularly are "members" or something.
If you find this reduces your inclination to comment, let me know. I could set it up so that all of you that comment regularly are "members" or something.
Talking Over the Web
Google is introducing an IM and Voice Conversation client called Google Talk:
"so all our users can talk to each other for free"
"Now that is a noble cause!"
Each party must have a GMail account, which is open for anyone with a cell-phone to sign up as of today. I could really see this catching on like wildfire.
Internet Explorer Follow-up
The FriendlyCanadian site has demonstrated that while using IE in it's default security mode for the Internet Zone, it is possible for any web page to read the contents of your Windows clipboard*. Here is the line of code they use to get the clipboard text:
There is no other prerequisite, they just have it. They can do whatever they can dream up with it. If it happens to be your credit card number, or a password, or other sensitive text, you may regret that someone else has it.
The magnitude of this problem is somewhat subjective. It has been around for 5 years. However since so few people will truly need it, I'd say at best it's an unnecessary vulnerability. The only time you would need it is if you had some wacky software that couldn't accomplish some data transfer task any other way. For most of us, that's very unlikely.
*clipboard is an object Windows uses to store anything you copy with Ctrl-C, or by right-clicking your mouse and choosing Copy.
var content = clipboardData.getData("Text");In English: "Whatever's in your clipboard, give it to me!"
There is no other prerequisite, they just have it. They can do whatever they can dream up with it. If it happens to be your credit card number, or a password, or other sensitive text, you may regret that someone else has it.
The magnitude of this problem is somewhat subjective. It has been around for 5 years. However since so few people will truly need it, I'd say at best it's an unnecessary vulnerability. The only time you would need it is if you had some wacky software that couldn't accomplish some data transfer task any other way. For most of us, that's very unlikely.
*clipboard is an object Windows uses to store anything you copy with Ctrl-C, or by right-clicking your mouse and choosing Copy.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
IE Copy/Paste Scripting Behavior
Here's some 5 year old news for you:
This site points out how Internet Explorer can allow a website to see what's in your clipboard.
You can disable or prompt for that feature by setting the value of the following registry key to 3 or 1, respectively:
HKeyCurrentUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\3\1407
Alternatively, you could use this Internet Explorer menu and choose Disable or Prompt:
This site points out how Internet Explorer can allow a website to see what's in your clipboard.
You can disable or prompt for that feature by setting the value of the following registry key to 3 or 1, respectively:
HKeyCurrentUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\3\1407
Alternatively, you could use this Internet Explorer menu and choose Disable or Prompt:
- Tools>>Internet Options
- Click on the Security tab, then the Custom Level button
- Scroll to almost the bottom to find the option called: Scripting
- The second option below Scripting is Allow paste operations via script
- That is the option you will probably want to set to Disable or Prompt
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
I'm Baaacckk
The beach was terrific, as usual. The weather was mostly cloudy, which was probably for the best as it looks like the days were scorching here while we were gone.
I've decided that my ideal year would be something like this
2 weeks of Fall (Just for the moodiness)
2 weeks of Winter (at least a full foot of snow for the duration)
4 weeks of Spring
44 weeks of Summer
On vacation I had the opportunity to read some interesting books
I've decided that my ideal year would be something like this
2 weeks of Fall (Just for the moodiness)
2 weeks of Winter (at least a full foot of snow for the duration)
4 weeks of Spring
44 weeks of Summer
On vacation I had the opportunity to read some interesting books
- Red Star books 2 & 3 - Really cool graphics and inventive storyline. Archangel Studios are melding computer-graphics and hand-sketches into beautiful comics. The storylines are very roughly modeled on Soviet history and include futuristic and mystical elements.
- Cormac McCarthy's latest, No Country for Old Men. Clearly a well-written book. One that has the ability to haunt you afterwards.
- And, I read a "readable" version of Beowulf, which was really neat. I never knew that Beowulf was supposed to have torn off the Grendel's arm! Classic tough-guy story.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
I am leaving for vacation in mere minutes
Sorry if you've been feverishly watching the news for tsunami for the past day or so, I'm not at the beach yet.
You can begin feverishly watching the news for tsunami in about 4 hours. Thanks.
You can begin feverishly watching the news for tsunami in about 4 hours. Thanks.
James Edward Zimmerman & the Stirling Cycle Engine
Here's a neat paper on uncle Jim I haven't seen before:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/77/19884/00919524.pdf?arnumber=919524
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/77/19884/00919524.pdf?arnumber=919524
Friday, August 12, 2005
On Vacation Soon
If a tsunami hits the Washington coast in the next 6 days, you can know where I'll be: Davy Jones' locker. That's right, vacation time has rolled around again and so I will cut myself off from the connected world and spend some time getting sand between my toes, wind in my stubble and my senses filled with all things beachy.
Looks like I already missed the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, but I'm sure it will still be nice to see tonight.
One last link. I wonder if these guys have a few mirrors to spare, and an azimuth tracking motor, and maybe event a stirling engine just lying about the shop they could give me? What's it going to take to get my sweaty little hands on one of these bad boys?
Looks like I already missed the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, but I'm sure it will still be nice to see tonight.
One last link. I wonder if these guys have a few mirrors to spare, and an azimuth tracking motor, and maybe event a stirling engine just lying about the shop they could give me? What's it going to take to get my sweaty little hands on one of these bad boys?
Got Water?
At the Clark County Fair last night, I picked up a pamphlet that said Amboy receives an annual average rainfall of 80 inches!! Which means, that if my roof is 40*44 feet, and 80 inches is 6 and 2/3rds feet, the cubic feet of rainwater per year is 11739 cubic feet!! That translates to 87,809 gallons of water landing on my roof annually!!!
Man. I gotta dig a pond.
Man. I gotta dig a pond.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
More on the Dish
In the test on about 1 qt. water that I conducted just after the plastic melting phase, I was not able to boil it, though I warmed it considerably in about 10 minutes. I painted the bottom of the pot flat black. And even so, it was still so bright it was hard to look at.
Several problems that may have contributed to the inability to boil:
Several problems that may have contributed to the inability to boil:
- Pot not in the optimal focal point. I need to be able to either move the dish or the pot more flexibly to align the pot with the focal point better.
- Apply more mirror to the dish
- Large quantity of wrinkles in the mirror
I think I really need to improve the range of the dishes motion so that I can aim directly at the sun. Then, I could mount a hanging hook at the focal point and know that I can get the focal point there. And, then I should probably consider applying "real mirrors" instead of the wrinkly mylar.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Solar Collector v 1.1 up
Here's my second attempt at a solar collector. The picture shows smoke coming off of the melting plastic.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Hot Enough Yet?
I don't know what the official temperature was today, but I can tell you it was hot enough. Google says it was 87 degrees, but that hardly seems representative of what it felt like.
One good bit of information I obtained was to find that my office can stay quite cool even on a hot day like today, as long as I'm not in it and running my computer. After cooking all day (for some crazy reason I decided to cook fry-bread for breakfast), the main portion of the house felt warm and muggy. Still, we had guests over and one of them asked us if we used air-conditioning; so that made me feel pretty good.
I finished installing a clothesline today. It's no work of art, but we're excited to get that fresh, outdoor scent in our laundry. And saving a few dimes on electrons doesn't hurt either.
We were like bedouin today. Staying inside all day and going out at sunset to play.
One good bit of information I obtained was to find that my office can stay quite cool even on a hot day like today, as long as I'm not in it and running my computer. After cooking all day (for some crazy reason I decided to cook fry-bread for breakfast), the main portion of the house felt warm and muggy. Still, we had guests over and one of them asked us if we used air-conditioning; so that made me feel pretty good.
I finished installing a clothesline today. It's no work of art, but we're excited to get that fresh, outdoor scent in our laundry. And saving a few dimes on electrons doesn't hurt either.
We were like bedouin today. Staying inside all day and going out at sunset to play.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Summertime Picture of Our House
Here's a shot of the exterior of our house. This was taken today at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Note the sun is on the bottoms of the windows. We may opt for some type of awning to keep the August sun out of our living room.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
It's all FREE!!!
Here are two free graphics programs.
Inkscape - http://www.inkscape.org/
Paint.NET - http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
I tried Paint.net in an earlier incarnation. Haven't tried either of these in their latest yet.
What I want to know is: will they save me from needing a $600 (choke, gasp) copy of Adobe PhotoShop?
Inkscape - http://www.inkscape.org/
Paint.NET - http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
I tried Paint.net in an earlier incarnation. Haven't tried either of these in their latest yet.
What I want to know is: will they save me from needing a $600 (choke, gasp) copy of Adobe PhotoShop?
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Google Reveals Moon Detail Never Before Seen
http://moon.google.com/
Zoom all the way in to see the best detail.
Zoom all the way in to see the best detail.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Don't Buy a New Monitor Until You Read This
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000143050582/
Whether you’re plunking down money for one of the new ultra-fast LCD displays with 4ms response times or you’re becoming the envy of neighborhood with Dell’s UltraSharp 2405FPW widescreen display, you’re buying a monitor that won’t play nice with premium content in Longhorn.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Recommendation of the Day
If you want to eat 'junk food' with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, try Newman O's instead of Oreos. Even if you're not into paying extra for organic foods and , the facts of trans fatty acids that Kraft Foods discloses on their Web site may dissuade you from eating Oreos (and other products containing hydrogenated oils).
You can find Newman O's in the nutrition section of Fred Meyer stores and in many stores that carry organic foods. Please comment if you don't think the Newman O's taste better.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that there is a relationship
between trans fat intake and risk of coronary heart disease.
You can find Newman O's in the nutrition section of Fred Meyer stores and in many stores that carry organic foods. Please comment if you don't think the Newman O's taste better.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Fourth of July Weekend
We've almost survived!
This has been a hectic 4th. I'm whupped.
Parties galore. Burgers, brats, kebabs. Salad, slaw & chips. Pop, beer & wine. We had it all. Followed by impressive fireworks in grass fields.
I'm taking a bath now.
See you tomorrow.
This has been a hectic 4th. I'm whupped.
Parties galore. Burgers, brats, kebabs. Salad, slaw & chips. Pop, beer & wine. We had it all. Followed by impressive fireworks in grass fields.
I'm taking a bath now.
See you tomorrow.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Boy With Bug Vacuum
Jamey, with his new Bug Vacuum. He was awarded this for being brave at the emergency room while the doctor literally glued his wound together. The wound is visible on his forhead in this picture, and marks the point of impact between an irresistable force (Jamey) and an immovable object (tile floor).
Blogging in infancy
Robert Scoble's post today teases us with a hint at some new product that is supposed to make blogging easier and richer (more structured perhaps?). Also it is a reminder that blogging is still quite new.
What I wonder the most is this: are blogs doomed to become clutter, like spam and web porn? Is the blogosphere just unstructured data that will collapse under its own weight?
I love the idea of giving everyone an equal voice. It gives us all special power. But, is Syndrome correct, in "The Incredibles", when he says "...when everyone is special, no one will be"
Or, will this just be the most incredibly empowering technology since e-mail? Will like-minded people find each other faster, create groups that accomplish great things faster?
Also via Scoble, ArtRage looks like a promising app that could be the one, or type of app that finally makes me commit to a Tablet PC.
However, I do have to ask myself, what good is it to create paintings that can never be anything more than prints/posters?
What I wonder the most is this: are blogs doomed to become clutter, like spam and web porn? Is the blogosphere just unstructured data that will collapse under its own weight?
I love the idea of giving everyone an equal voice. It gives us all special power. But, is Syndrome correct, in "The Incredibles", when he says "...when everyone is special, no one will be"
Or, will this just be the most incredibly empowering technology since e-mail? Will like-minded people find each other faster, create groups that accomplish great things faster?
Also via Scoble, ArtRage looks like a promising app that could be the one, or type of app that finally makes me commit to a Tablet PC.
However, I do have to ask myself, what good is it to create paintings that can never be anything more than prints/posters?
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Saturday, June 25, 2005
New China Hutch in Place
Heidi bought the hutch above at an auction. With her mother and brother, she moved it from the auctioneer to my parents' driveway. From there, my brother, father and myself moved it into my parents' dining room, where it stayed for two weeks. Then, my brother and father helped me move it into Heidi's mother's truck, which I had to borrow for the trip. Finally my neighbor Neil helped me get it in our house.
I guess it takes a village to buy a hutch. Thanks everyone!!
I guess it takes a village to buy a hutch. Thanks everyone!!
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