Friday, September 30, 2005

Random Cruft

I have to say that I am getting tired of being too busy.

Work has been dull the last few days. There have been a variety of meetings that I have been in that although important to my future are, fundamentally, dull. There is just some info that you just can't make exciting. I like what is being talked about, but having seen the same half hour presentation 4 times in 3 days can put you to sleep. The problem was there was 4 different sessions and invariablely someone had not been to one of the other ones so we had to go through the first half hour. Zzzzzzz! At least the last hour of each session was different (and more exciting).

Whenever I am in meetings like this I always feel like I am not "working." I know intellectually this is part of my job, but emotionally I feel like if I am not cutting code then I am not doing anything. Too much old school programming I guess.

Outside of work I am trying to get ready for the 2005 For Purpose Conference. This is a gathering I have been to for the last 4 years or so. It is great to get together and "talk shop" with a bunch of like minded individuals. If you poke around you can even see some pictures of me on the site. The cycles work is not for everyone, but I have found it to work for me. That is probably the most important part - finding things that work for me. Finger crossed when I leave in 1.5 weeks I will have everything at work wrapped up.

In the midst of all of this I have been working to celebrate two birthdays in the family and try to keep my sanity. Nancy is giving a workshop tomorrow on the American Indian medicine wheel. At least one of them. This is also a part of the cycles work that I am going to be working with at the For Purpose Conference. I know quite a bit already, but Nancy has worked with it longer than I have. Plus I try to support here whenever I can when she has workshops. It is helpful when setting one to have a couple of people there that know what is going on. Or at least that can fake it!

Nancy also organized our tai chi demo for this weekend. Just another one of those too much to do weekends. The demo this year is more of a chance for the students from her different classes to get together than a full on public demo. It is always fun plus I can catch up with some of the students who have switched classes. She has classes 3 different days of the week and at 3 different locations so many of the students have moved around as she has offered more classes.

I think that is it for now. I need to pack up my drum, rattles & crystals for the seminar tomorrow. Plus there is a rock I want to take with me tomorrow and to the conference that I have yet to locate. It is really pissing me off because the rock is important to me yet the think always seems to wander away from where I last put it. Very frustrating!

Beacon Journal | 09/30/2005 | Akron bridge ready to open

Beacon Journal | 09/30/2005 | Akron bridge ready to open

Happy dance!

This has been a major problem for me since the the closed portion of this, Home Ave., is a major route for me personally.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

� Move over Microsoft, Dell. The $100 PC cometh. From MIT. | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

� Move over Microsoft, Dell. The $100 PC cometh. From MIT. | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

I've blogged about the $100 computer before. I remember reading Negroponte talking about this back when he had a regular column in the back of Wired magazine (the only reason I even go most issues).

I said that $100 is a key point for handhelds. If we can get the cost to $100 or less, people would keep multiple Palm/Pocket PC/Blackberry type devices. Think Star Trek with their little Padds where they would have multiple of them loaded with different projects they were working with.

If we could get a $100 tablet style computer I could see electronic books really taking off. Handhelds are a little too small for really lots of reading, and laptops are not convenient. Tablets though have the right form factor for electronic books.

Arctic Ice Melts Faster As It Gets Warmer - Yahoo! News

Arctic Ice Melts Faster As It Gets Warmer - Yahoo! News

Hmmmm.....Ice melts as it gets warmer. I never would have guessed that! (too bad we don't have a sarcasm flag)

Senate Confirms Roberts As Chief Justice - Yahoo! News

Senate Confirms Roberts As Chief Justice - Yahoo! News

I have to agree - too many unanswered questions. I can guarantee the first abortion ruling will overturn Row v. Wade. Call it a hunch.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Conscious Citizenship: Senator Dayton introduces Department of Peace legislation in the Senate!

Conscious Citizenship: Senator Dayton introduces Department of Peace legislation in the Senate!

Those who have read (or listened to) Marianne Williamson know she has talked about the Department of Peace in the past. It would be nice to create a department that could create friendships instead of blowing shit up.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Wikipedia Meme

From Becky

Here's an idea I just invented. Go to Wikipedia, click on the "Random Article" button, and write about how that thing relates to you, skipping stub articles and anything that doesn't resonate at all. Do this five times.

1) Fuelladder - I have a friend who is a firefighter in the Columbus area. Both our schedules are too busy to get together much anymore, but we do email each other from time to time.

2) Stencil Shadow Volume was not one of the techniques I learned in my Computer Graphics class in college. I grant you we were one step above pong, but still not something I learned.

3) Fudge - Aside from a favorite snack food, particularly peanut butter fudge, they missed something on this page. Fudge as a euphemism for manure (or poop, or shit). Used in the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the line "I am barely holding my fudge right now."

4) Combustion - Although yours truly made it all the way through Boy Scouts to Eagle, my fire starting skills usually involved a fair amount of "Boy Scout Water", AKA kerosene.

5) SBC Communications - My current local telephone company. Overall I don't mind them, although I am pissed that they still don't provide DSL to my house. I would be willing to take the speed hit to get $15/month for DSL. Hey I would settle for the $25/month for about half the speed I get on my cable modem.

Neat meme. I have to say I skipped a lot of articles about various English football soccer teams. Really weird the number of soccer articles that came up.

Mind Hacks: Is the internet making us more intelligent?

Mind Hacks: Is the internet making us more intelligent?

I did not read the whole series, but it was interesting. A show from All in the Mind that I just got around to listening to talked about how memory seems to work and the whole hemisphere model is a bit wrong. It seems the right side is more concerned with learning new things, the left side with retaining and recalling things. Still a speculative, but interesting. The bottom line in both cases, though, was that we need to keep trying new things to keep the brain engaged.

43 Folders | GTD-style email in Thunderbird

43 Folders | GTD-style email in Thunderbird

This is something I have been sitting on for awhile. I finally started using this and it is a really cool way to handle your email if you are into Getting Things Done. The problem I have always had with GTD email is remembering to routinely scan the folders of email for Next Actions or Waiting. plus the shuffling between folders is a pain. This way everything is in the same folder, I can pull up the unhandled inbox items (all unlabeled) or just the waiting for, just the Next Actions, etc. Also, as mentioned, you can create a filter to include multiple labels so you can see all Next Actions and waiting.

The only down side, at least from my work, is that if you are color blind it would be tough to tell what is in what category an email is in since they color the email in the inbox to tell you what the category is. Also you still need to train the spam filter so unless you automatically delete email that is manually marked as spam (as I do) you need to mark the spam and then label it for delete.

I have found it useful to flip the delete filter on, cntrl-A to select all email, and delete. It is a quick way to move through the email.

43 Folders | Writing sensible email messages

43 Folders | Writing sensible email messages

I have run into my share of bad email. I may not be perfect, but I am better than the average bear at this. My two biggest pet peeves are people who use no subject and massively forwarded emails without any kind of clean up. I have waded through 4 and 5 levels of nested enclosed emails, usually out of curiosity to see how far down the rabbit hole I need to go. Typically I just kill off email that is not readily available to me.

There were a few ideas that I liked. I particuarly liked the EOM at the end of the subject so you know there is nothing in the body of the message. I get a number of subject only messages at work, and it is slightly annoying to open an email to find nothing there.

Note that normally I am against the "I agree" types of emails, but I find at work that you need to do them sometimes. I avoid them at home unless I have soemthing meaningful to add, but at work many times someone is just asking a question or walking through a process and need some kind of feedback, if only "yep, that's right".

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

It would be nice if we could combine Google's search capabilities with print on demand. Get the author some funds without the publishing comany middleman (oops, maybe I just let on to the REAL source of this lawsuit).

As anyone who has done research in college can tell you, researching books is a pain. At least the old fashion way. This could help you to quickly cut down on reserach time by seeing the parts you want. If it is relevant to your research you can look to get the book (library or purcahse). Google never said they were going to make the entire text available to read, just to search.

Two strange bedfellows, one new smart phone - Wireless World - MSNBC.com

Two strange bedfellows, one new smart phone - Wireless World - MSNBC.com

I have mixed feelings on this. As someone who works exclusively programming Windows this is a cool move (ooops, my Microsoft-borg implant just kicked in). However I am an avid Palm user and the one tool I use extensively on my Palm has no Windows Mobile equivilant. At this point you can only get my Palm by prying it from my cold, dead hand. Frankly I have never found much of a need to run mulitple apps on my Palm at the same time, I hate working on documents on my Palm, and even email can be a pain in the butt. Your handheld is not supposed to be a small notebook, or have everything from your desktop. It is supposed to be a replacement for your old Daytimer paper organizer.

Vinny Testaverde Set to Rejoin N.Y. Jets - Yahoo! News

Vinny Testaverde Set to Rejoin N.Y. Jets - Yahoo! News

Ooo doggie! I hope Testaverde can make it through the physical. It is cool to see "old farts" keep going.

Brown Blames 'Dysfunctional' Louisiana - Yahoo! News

Brown Blames 'Dysfunctional' Louisiana - Yahoo! News

FEMA's role may not be to do the evacuation, but they should be coordinating efforts for different agencies. That is communication! They should also be after cities & states in areas that will regularly interface (such as hurricane areas) with FEMA to make sure to make sure there are plans in place to do evacuations and establish lines of communication to stop problems like this.

Plus, I feel it is very bad form to open up comments by blaming someone else for your mistakes. Bottom line is you made an assumption, for right or wrong. That is why you were removed from your job.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Archive meme

Sarah said:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.


"Now I have been following podcasting for all of a week now, but I can already see where there are a number of problems."

This was from 13 Dec 2004.

Cable's Digital Drive Irks Basic Customers - Yahoo! News

Cable's Digital Drive Irks Basic Customers - Yahoo! News

Boy, if I could get digital cable for $45/month I would switch since it would be $5/month cheaper than what I am currently paying. I have been considering dropping my "extended basic" cost $40/month above the "lifeline basic". Every time I see my cable bill I remember that line from Pink Floyd "13 channels of shit on the TV to choose from." Well now we get 70+ channels of shit to choose from. At least I can cut down on the shit and save some money.

Bloglines Dumping Ground

I was just going through my Bloglines feeds and found 57 stored links sitting there. I use Bloglines so that I can keep tabs on my read feeds from multiple computers. Some of these saved posts are things I need to do on one or another computer. Some are long posts that I want to read later. Some are podcast show notes that I have saved until I listen to the episode. Still I have 45-50 podcasts that I need to do something with other than listen to a podcast.

Someone, possibly 43 Folders, had mentioned using your blog as a dumping ground of information you want keep. You have access from any computer to bits of info. Cool idea, although obviously you would want to skip any sensitive info. Given I have a PDA that I tote along with me just about everywhere I have very little need for this. In fact I wwould like to pull some of my information OFF of the web and put on my PDA in a much easier method. 43 Folders has a guide on printing out your Amazon Wish List, but I want to get that on my PDA. Same with my NetFlix queue and maybe a Flikr feed or two. I know I can get RSS feeds onto my Palm, but I do like 43 Folder's idea of using the Amazon Wish List as a dumping ground for what I want to pick up and tend to forget. Unfortunately I don't always get things on my Palm, plus then I easily order things off of Amazon when I am ready to purchase them.

Grumpy Blogger Day

Today did not start out great. Apparently everyone has forgotten how to drive on wet pavement making me a half hour late for work. Well, we have flex time so I was not so much late as later than usual. Grrr!

Beacon Journal | 09/26/2005 | Komodo Kingdom slithers into Akron

Beacon Journal | 09/26/2005 | Komodo Kingdom slithers into Akron

The Akron Zoo has always had its problems. Being we are 30 odd miles from the Cleveland Zoo, and a couple hour ride from the Columbus Zoo people do not really flock to it. Plus the zoo itself is somewhat land locked limiting expansion potential without a lot of eminate domain issues.

I remember when the zoo was a really bad place to go, but we would go a couple times a year because it was cheap. Don't get me wrong, at 6 and 7 I enjoyed it immensely, but I know that the zoo was not the best maintained at that time.

The zoo has come a long way in the last 30 odd years. I try to get out there once a year or so, although the zoo is another one of those places where as a single guy visiting people look at you funny sometimes. I did not make it out there this year, maybe over the winter.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Beacon Journal | 09/25/2005 | Readers upset at OSU sports burying news of Aeros, Zips

Beacon Journal | 09/25/2005 | Readers upset at OSU sports burying news of Aeros, Zips

I have to agree with much of this sentiment. I do not follow sports very closely, but I do like to keep an eye on the University of Akron's football & basketball teams just to see how they are doing. Sometimes you cannot even find their score on Sunday because of all the other sports coverage. The only thing that local newspapers have going for them now is that they cover local events. The University of Akron will never be some powerhouse football or basketball team, but they still deserve more coverage than a box score.

Friday, September 23, 2005

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

A little old, but this is what happens when I get busy. I like the name splogs to describe spam blogs.

Luke Skywalker is a Design Pattern

Luke Skywalker is a Design Pattern

Very geeky, but also very true. I have said, without the benefit of reading Joseph Campbell, that the Star Wars movies have been about the hero's journey. Episodes 4-6 is Luke's journey, and all the episodes show Anakin's journey.

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

Google is becoming the next Microsoft. Google is going to start running into the same problems as MS soon. Although with Microsoft buying part/all of AOL this could work for them.

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

With Katrina & Rita, plus my own hard drive failure over the summer, data recovery has been a key interest. Maybe a bit overkill, but really it is very through way to handle disaster recovery.

White Sox Inch Toward Historic Collapse - Yahoo! News

White Sox Inch Toward Historic Collapse - Yahoo! News

For us in the Cleveland area, this is a flashback to the 95-96 time frame when the Indians were kicking butt and taking names.

Fox legal drama is first victim of new TV season - Yahoo! News

Fox legal drama is first victim of new TV season - Yahoo! News

No one gives a show a chance to develop an audience any more. Two episodes and whack! I saw part of an episode and it looked interesting. Maybe it can find life on one of the cable networks.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

43 Folders | Happy Discardia: Let something go

43 Folders | Happy Discardia: Let something go

Cool idea! I am going to be celebrating.

Political Bloggers Demand Speech Freedoms - Yahoo! News

Political Bloggers Demand Speech Freedoms - Yahoo! News

Concerns over internet ads and blogs are different. Now anyone who PAYS a blogger should include that as part of their advertising. But if someone runs a political blog and accepts no money there should not any rules put to these people.

Consumer Sentiment Erodes Key Index - Yahoo! News

Consumer Sentiment Erodes Key Index - Yahoo! News

Given the current state of gas prices, hurricanes withstanding, it is no shock that there is some consumer doubts. I know I have them.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

43 Folders | Kendall Clark: AlphaSmart Neo's interesting for what it's not

43 Folders | Kendall Clark: AlphaSmart Neo's interesting for what it's not

I have seen something similar, and decidedly lower tech, in use. Awhile back I saw a one of these in use by a journalist at a football game. I have since read that journalist love these things because they had a 300 baud modem built in but, more importantly, they could take a beating and still run. Siome guy in California was still refurbishing them 6 or so years ago! If these are just as tough they could be worth every penny.

I flip between having one, all encompassing device and a lot of small, specialized devices. Overall I prefer the specialized devices - easier upgrades and if one breaks all the functions are not out of service. However there are times I would like to setup a server and have it function as a lot of the little things around the house: Music server, PVR, answering machine, etc.

43 Folders | How do you get creative with your phonecam?

43 Folders | How do you get creative with your phonecam?

Given I don't have a phonecam I can't take advantage of this, but is a pretty cool idea. I have my PDA at hand just about all the time so some of these would not work. There are some times I wish I had a phonecam just to grab the occassional photo that you just can't get later. Given my current plan the mailing of photos would kill me, but I would love a phone I could snag the photos off of from my PC.

I have to agree - a pretty good sandwich

Scripting News: 8/24/2005

Scripting News: 8/24/2005

I had to go out and get gas after my trip to Columbus yesterday so I thought I would give this Subway sub a try. Pretty good overall. I did make a few changes: No salt and I used the little packets of mustard & mayo so I could put on how much I wanted but otherwise I kept everything just like Dave suggested. I'm not a big ham eater, but this was a nice mix.

If I am not getting the latest Subway concoction, I usually am getting a Veggie Delight with a full selection of veggies (sans cucumbers) with either the Sweet Onion or Southwestern sauce. I will skip all sauces if the sub is to be taken to work the next day and put on some vinegar or little packets of something. My bread choice is usually either wheat (no whole wheat locally) or the Honey Oat, but I will mix it up and I am always willing to try a new bread if they have it.

In India, you may NOT kiss the bride - Yahoo! News

In India, you may NOT kiss the bride - Yahoo! News

A quote from a movie: "From the country that brought you the Kama Sutra, THE TURN AWAY" where just before kissing the couple in a film will turn away.

Now I will agree that the couple should have respected the laws of the temple and not kissed, but it still seems a bit that public kissing is frowned upon.

Court Nixes Some Ads Sent to Cell Phones - Yahoo! News

Court Nixes Some Ads Sent to Cell Phones - Yahoo! News

This all makes sense, especially since here in America people get charged for every text message. People are beginning to realize that getting charged for receiving text messages makes no sense, but that is slow in getting implimented.

There was a comment made somewhere that outside of America people who get free text messaging use it very differently, and much more efficiently. We consider outselves so sophisticated yet we don't seem to get how to really use new technology.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

tech.memeorandum - Getting the buzz in the blogasphere

tech.memeorandum

A good idea, although it is just another place to check out. Given everything is updated every 5 minutes I am not too sure if I would like it in my aggregator. There is also a political Memeorandum site as well for those who want more info than you can shake a stick at.

Symantec: Mozilla browsers more vulnerable than IE | CNET News.com

Symantec: Mozilla browsers more vulnerable than IE | CNET News.com

Intersting, but I'm still not switching. Frankly I think Firefox is a better browser, security problems and all. I would find it hard to believe though that an open source project would not get a lot of eyes on security and, in the long run, Firefox proves more secure.

Beacon Journal | 09/20/2005 | Akron rock legend calls for a chat

Beacon Journal | 09/20/2005 | Akron rock legend calls for a chat

Akron may not be the center of the music universe, but even the distance galaxies have some interesting tidbits. Love or hate The Pretenders and Devo they have made an impression on music. All from a little town in the rust belt!

I hate to admit it, but I don't follow the local music scene. I hate bars - too many people, smoking (which drives me nuts), noise. Sensory overload. If I could find some quiet coffee bars with no smoking it might be more up my alley, although you don't usually don't find interesting music in venues like that.

(BTW - this would be an excellent example of when to use a Microformat. Click on the time listed and boom! it is on your calander. I guess we can only drag the "dead wood blogs" so far so fast though. ;))

The Fourth Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon for Breast Cancer and Hurricane Katrina Victims

The Fourth Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon for Breast Cancer and Hurricane Katrina Victims

Interesting idea. My grandmother was a breast cancer survivor so I usually try to support research into this area. At least this, once a year, raises some awareness of the ongoing problem.

And remember - breast cancer is not just for women. When my grandma was in the hospital after her surgery she ran into a man who had just had the same surgery she had for the same reason.

Bloglines | My Feeds

Bloglines | My Feeds

I just got around to listening to this. Nice intro about Microformats.

I love the idea of Microformats. There have even been some GreaseMonkey scripts to help convert some of the Microformats to the base format they are based upon. That is the key to Microformats though - human readable, machine parsable. Personally, I'm lazy and if I can get the computer to do something for me, like say adding an event to my calander, then I'm all for it. Isn't that what computers are for?

Now, to get a Microformat to handle online shopping transactions...

Off To Columbus

Yours truely is off to Columbus, OH to return a rental car with my sister in law. The company wants $150 for the privledge of dropping the car of here in town. It is cheaper to drive back to Columbus and drop the car (van actually) off back where they got it.

They had to rent the van when theirs broke down in Columbus over the weekend. Both of them want to take a cattle prod to the dangly bits of some people over at AAA since they were basically lied to about when they could use their membership and the extent of the benefits. Not to mention some piss poor customer service. You might think that when someone says "by cell phone battery is dying, I cannot hold" the next words would not be "please hold". Fortunately they got an understanding tow company that really worked with them, even working through their dispatcher to get things handled after their phone completely died (18 hours of recharge time). Might I add this was not even the company that ended up with the tow. These people know how to do customer service!

Anyways I was just killing some time before I head over to meet up with my sister in law. We have to wait until my brother gets home from work. My MP3 player is loaded up for the trip down, and everything I need is ready to go. The trip back I will have my 2 year old niece in the car, so I see a lot of kiddie DVDs on the way back. I grabbed Shrek. At least it is something I would not mind listening to. I know my niece is used to longish road trips since she has been doing it since she was born, but I expect this to take longer than we plan on.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Montreal Gazette - canada.com network

Montreal Gazette - canada.com network

To me this is one of those great potential ideas, but it needs to prove itself. This, combined with hybrid and other technologies could go a long way toward reducing our need on oil. Ideally we should try to get something else for transportation, but this will help.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Beacon Journal | 09/14/2005 | Final dump cleanup set to begin today

Beacon Journal | 09/14/2005 | Final dump cleanup set to begin today

I never realized I drove relatively close to a toxic dump every day. Granted it does not sound like anything overtly nasty, but still closer than I would like to be.

I already live less than a mile from an old city dump. No smell or anything, but I know they are venting methane from the site.

Paolo Valdemarin Weblog

Paolo Valdemarin Weblog

Mmmmm...on first glance this seems a bit odd. After all blogs are already indexed by Google. However the advanced search page makes more sense. If you are looking for blogs about a given topic this could help you. This is even more reason to have an RSS or ATOM feed.

There are two things that I hope will come out of this. First off the results from blogsearch are RSS feeds. Maybe that will move into regular Google. Second if Google is going to index our blogs in this manner, we should be able to get simple and free search for our blogs from Google.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Roberts Rebuffs Democrats' Questions - Yahoo! News

Roberts Rebuffs Democrats' Questions - Yahoo! News


Mmmmm... part of this process is to feel out how a justice feels about certain issues, particularly abortion. Guess what? By deciding to sidestep the issue he pretty much stated his view - I'm going to overturn Row v. Wade first chance I get. Let's see - involved in the Reagan administration and was fast tracked by W. He may want to play the moderate, but I truly doubt he is.

TiVo 7.2 OS adds content protection, blocks transfers, and auto-deletes some shows | PVRblog

TiVo 7.2 OS adds content protection, blocks transfers, and auto-deletes some shows | PVRblog

This is the future of DRM. I was considering a TiVo, but now I may consider refurbishing an old PC and building my own. Again, I don't want to burn any DVDs, I just want to be able to watch my shows when I want to.

Random Ravings

As I sit and wait for some data to upgrade to move on with my next task at work, and I have run out of other desk stuff to do, I thought I might put out a short "what the hell is going on in my life" type of entry.

The health front is pretty good. My leg still wants to swell more when I eat salty junk food, but if I keep moving it is not too bad. This month is when I try to step up my workout routine by adding some weight lifting again. The Natatorium where I work out has a fitness circuit, which from what I have heard is similar to Curves, only allowing men to work out as well. I am somewhat "old school" in how I handle the circuit - I do a single (once around the circuit) and then follow that with 100 crunches using an ab roller. Well, I do as many as I can right now. Back when I was doing the circuit regularly I did 100. I may never 6-pack abs, but stronger abs helps with back problems which is what I am more interested in. After my trip to VA Beach in October I will probably add my once a week yoga class back in as well.

One of my goals is to get ready for the Victoria Blossom Walk and the Vancouver Discover Walks next April. This involves 2 20K or so walks back to back on back to back weekends. It's a regular blister fest! Since I will be in the area I want to do additional walks between the weekends. Just the walks, over a 6 day period, is about 100 K (62 miles for the metric-impaired) and yours truly is far from ready right now. I have plenty of time, just need to get some miles on the old feet.

I'm still hacking away at the local hiking programs. I just about have the required trails for the local one. Once I get the manditory trails done I will be looking to get some of the outer lying programs.

My roof is done! There was some problems doing the last bit that was unexpected by everyone. We have had a nasty rainstorm since and no water anywhere. Bonus! Now to take out some trees that are in the hedges right on the property line. Technically they are the neighbor's trees, but frankly they don't keep up the hedges (the last owners put up a fence so they don't have to see the hedges) so I don't imagine they will care. These are some small (10 ft or so) trees that are starting to become a problem for pulling up shingles. Unfortunately there will probably be a chemical war involved with getting the stumps out, or at least not sprout new stuff. I still have a basement window that needs to be replaced, but I am going to use a piece of wood on that for now. Next year's big task is replacing the steps to the basement. Oh happy day!

I am still not sure what to do with the front of my house. I do not know if I want to try and put in a raised bed or if I just leave it. My guess is I will just to make it look cleaner. Of course that is going to mean getting some kind of flower, ground cover, whatever to put in. I would love to put in a veggie garden, but there is too much shade for 90% of veggies. I may try some tomatoes up front again, although I figure that would result in many of my tomatoes walking off. If I remember I will pull the picture of my camera and post it.

The house itself is in desparate need of painting. I mentioned earlier about how the finish was coming off as we powerwashed earlier in the year. The house has not been painted/sided/had much done with it in 20+ years. When mom moved in almost 20 years ago the only thing that has been done is the inside was painted and that was about it. Even then my grandparents had not done much for 5 or so years before that. In fact the last things done was the siding put on & the house insulated.

The inside itself is presenting me with all kinds of fits. The walls in all the rooms need painted. Carpet is needed all over. Junk needs to move out of my life. I probably need a new stove (the current one is of unknown age) and fridge (about 20 years old). Sinks need replaced, the kitchen has not been touched in 50 years (outside of paint & flooring and a sink). Why do I flash back to The Money Pit? Of course I am not arguing with no house payment. Hopefully the bulk of the big ticket items are done for awhile (knock wood, praise Murphy). The inside stuff is not horrible - paint on the inside is no big deal. Some of the rooms have hardwood floors that I should be able to just recondition (however one does that). Flooring for the bathroom & kitchen will be the biggest problem. The cabinets need some inside updating as well as new doors. Everything works fine, but dated looking. Maybe if I stopped running all over the country I could save the money for some of this ;).

Beacon Journal | 09/13/2005 | Akron may nab speeders on film

Beacon Journal | 09/13/2005 | Akron may nab speeders on film

Big Brother is at it again. I am all for protecting children, but this is an emotional response to something, and council has been seeing $$ for awhile on this anyways.

The problem I have with these types of systems, especially in school zones, is what is "restricted hours"? Every time I pass a flashing school sign they turn on & off at different times, and if there is a camera with no flashing sign there will be a lot of complaints when a school is closed because of no water (why should people be doing 20 then) or, as I have seen, some idiot forgets to shut things down over the summer.

Not to mention I see a lot of people slamming on the brakes to get to 10 or 15 MPH (you can never be certain just how accurate your speedometer is) and causing accidents. Save a kid, kill all the adults.

Can you say nightmare? I knew that you could.

Beacon Journal | 09/13/2005 | Schools kill contract with Mich. company

Beacon Journal | 09/13/2005 | Schools kill contract with Mich. company

More fun & joy in the nightmare that is becoming the rebuilding of the Akron Public Schools. We have already been lied to about all the schools keeping open, now they will probably get sued for canceling a contract. Maybe the school board & the city officials should be talking closer. Just a thought.

Interestingly they awarded another contract to a Cuyahoga Falls group. I wonder if the city is going to get all pissy about that one since it went to someone outside of Akron (although within the state).

Beacon Journal | 09/13/2005 | 11 children found in cages in Huron County

Beacon Journal | 09/13/2005 | 11 children found in cages in Huron County

Such a fun day for child welfare in the state of Ohio. A few years back we had a case like this in Akron, only it was the biological mother locking the kids in a closet. Again, they wonder why people are moving away from Ohio.

You have to wonder where our priorities have gotten when the organizations in place to protect children who have already gotten some kind of bad shake in life get dumped on like this. It is one thing when biological parents can get away with locking kids in closets, but locking foster kids in cages? Come on people. America is supposed to be a great place, yet time and time again we seem to miss some basic, fundamentals of life.

Beacon Journal | 09/13/2005 | Father gets eight years in assault of baby boy

Beacon Journal | 09/13/2005 | Father gets eight years in assault of baby boy

This has been a truly bizzare case, with the grandmother ending up with custody after the state had it for awhile and wanted to pull the plug. Matthew Stein is in a coma, will eventually die and the father cannot be prosecuted for the death.

The prosecutors held out as long as they could and finally had to do something or not charge him with any crime. I would be surprised if this guy makes it out of prison - this has been a high profile case and no doubt someone on the inside will make his life a living hell.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Delocator

Delocator

Tired of Starbucks, or any other big coffee house? Stick it to the man and venture beyond the green & white logo!

Personally, I don't drink coffee however I do love chai and sometimes hanging out at a coffee shop. I am not sure how many of the independent establishments would encourage hanging out and working (as does places like Starbucks & Borders), but it is worth checking out.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Friday, September 09, 2005

Killing some time - TV on DVD

I'm killing some time at work, which officially for me is done for the day but I am going somewhere nearby so I am waiting a bit before heading out.

I have been watching a lot of old TV shows on DVD lately. In fact, I just picked up Charmed season 2 this week. So far I hit 2 shows I had not seen before. I am also in the process of watching, through NetFlix, Angel Season 4 and the entire Monty Python collection.

For me there are two main reasons I watch these shows. Either I missed the earlier seasons (such as I am doing with Charmed) or I really liked the show (such as Monty Python & Angel).

With this I have noticed a lot of difference in how different shows have been handled. With that in mind, here is my IDEAL way to handle TV shows on DVDS:

1) I want to be able to skip the opening theme song. I might listen to one a disc if I really like the song, but lets face it - if I am watching 22 episodes of a show in a short time frame I can do without the opening credit sequence that is the same for every show.

2) I want to skip the ending credits. This is particularly important when using Play All. I realize the crew deserves credit, but like with the opening theme I don't want to sit through the same thing over & over.

3) I want a play all. Those fancy animated menus wear thin after the second disc. Since most DVD players will start up where they were left off at when you turn them off, it is easy to pop in a disc, play all, and turn the player off when you are done and then pick up where you left off. See item 1 & 2 for further usefulness. Submenus are nice for commentary on episodes, but personally I like to play through all the episodes and then go back and pick up commentary.

4) Fill the damn discs. Farscape had 2 episodes per disc. When the first released the original Star Trek the discs mimiced the VHS release. Take advantage of the medium.

5) Balance the discs. I have gotten crammed discs and then a final disc with 1 or 2 episodes on it - not even bonus material. Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel do this well - disc 3 & 6 have 1 less episode but have the bonus material. Charmed Season one dumped the extras at the end, which is not bad either (the disc had 2 episodes).

6) Make it clear that these are the original, as aired episodes. As I understand the Rosanne set is the syndicated, and shorter, episodes. Keen Eddie did not ship with its original music. If we are shelling out money (and even more valuable, time), we should know what we are getting.

7) Give me an easy way to get to the episodes. Maybe a relatively recent development, but Charmed Season one came out in thin DVD cases, much like the thin CD cases. You got a cardboard box with 6 little cases. Season 2 took it even further with 3 thin cases (2 discs per case). Earlier series have this weird foldy thing going on which reduced the amount of shelf space but made it difficult to get to discs. When I wanted to get a disc from Angel or Buffy I have to lay the thing down and unfold it like a road map. Actually, I would like to suggest the use of the thin DVD case for all DVDs, not just in used in sets.

Comment spam? Me??

With the huge number of readers reader I have I was very surprised today to see 3 pieces of comment spam on my system. In a way I am both honored & pissed at the same time. Granted spammers are not picky, but still I figured high enough somewhere for someone to post a bit of spam.

EFF: The Customer Is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music

EFF: The Customer Is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music

A good article for anyone who buys music through many of the popular online services.

One problem I have, as I have said before, digital rights need to make more sense. We need to be able to EASILY move things to a new machine when we buy them, upgrade software, etc. Plus, and this is important especially for iPod Shuffle users, you need to be able to copy it to a device multiple times. In fact it should be able to handle several devices.

Lean & Hungry Fitness: The Netflix Workout (The First Twenty Pounds)

Lean & Hungry Fitness: The Netflix Workout (The First Twenty Pounds)

I have seen this idea before. The place I work out at has the "cardio theater" where there are 6 TVs setup, and some radio channels, where you can watch while working on your favorite machine. Of course you are stuck to 6 TV channels.

If you want to kick it up a notch, at least exercise wise, try this:

1) Load TWO series into your queue - one an hour long and one a half hour long.
2) Alternate the series in your queue
3) Get some dumbbells.
4) Do your aerobics during the hour long episode.
5) Do dumbbells during the half hour long episode.

If you are feeling adventurous, Netflix carries DVDs on yoga and other aerobic exercise, such as belly dancing & stripping which could be mixed into the rotation.
via Hacking NetFlix

Column by PC Magazine: Podcasting: The Next Big Thing

Column by PC Magazine: Podcasting: The Next Big Thing

Dvorak mostly gets podcasting, although I think he is a bit behind on the scene - many businesses are realizing that it might be good to pay a poscaster with a narrow audience if that audience is concentrated into your demographic. Now advertisers need to realize that such a narrow audience could be worth as much as what they pay to some of the magazines & radio shots. As he points out, if one podcast could demonstrate 1 million, or I would even say 100 thousand, unique listeners bigger companies will "get it".

I do have to agree though - podcasting is like having 50,000 stations and nothing on. It is tough to find new stuff. There are some podcasts about podcasts, but with only so many hours in the day it is tough to squeeze them in as well as work, reading, etc. Word of mouth is probably the biggest "advertisement" that a podcast can get.

Now let's hope that with the "professionals" getting into the game that they don't try to shut up the people who started the game.

Embryo May Be Created From Two Women - Yahoo! News

Embryo May Be Created From Two Women - Yahoo! News

Ok, so if this works I guess women really will not need men.

Beacon Journal | 09/09/2005 | Families need emergency plan

Beacon Journal | 09/09/2005 | Families need emergency plan

These are all great ideas. A long time ago in a city right here when your's truly was a Boy Scout slogging his way toward Eagle (which I made) we all had to earn a merit badge called Emergency Preparedness. I have gotten lax in my preperations of late.

One thing about water though - remember that water weighs 8 pounds per gallon (roughly), so you are talking 24 pounds you may need to slog around if you need to evacuate. A water filter is a better idea. If you go that route though remember most water filters sold on the market only remove foul odors and the like. To remove the nasties in water you need a filter that is something along the lines of 2 microns AND I would recommend a carbon filter for flavor as well. These are not cheap (last I checked $200), but that particular one is rated at 13,000 gallons and should last a lifetime. Even with a filter don't forget a canteen or some other way to store filtered water.

One other piece of advice - if you keep clothes in your kit remember to swap them out seasonally. This is true especially if you have children.

Woot : One Day, One Deal

Woot : One Day, One Deal

Cool idea, right price point, but only supports AOL Instant Messenger. If it supported Yahoo IM, or maybe mulitple formats I might have picked one up to play with.

Actually they point out a problem in many households - one computer. What I think most houses need is one big, honking server and several cheapy laptops with WiFi. That way everyone could store their MP3, DVR, etc files in one spot and yet everyone has mobile connection to all their files. Plus people could use things like calander programs. Hey, I know someone who uses Paypal to send money to his son that lives in his house instead of say giving him $10 for mowing the lawn.

Oliver Willis � Team Hate America

Oliver Willis � Team Hate America

I hope the peopel that the people who elected these people will remember this come the next election get these yahoos out of office.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

"High Speed" rail?

There is talk of putting in a High Speed regional rail that will hit Cleveland, and no doubt Akron as well that will run from Toronto, Pittsburgh and eventually Chicago. The talk is it will go anywhere from 80 to 110 MPH. Wow. Given Emmanuel Goldstein talked about the Japanese Bullet Trains (not a reference from Mr. Goldstein) have a average speed of 120 MPH, and a recorded average speed of 168 MPH. He also talked about a maglev train in Shanghai That hit 267 MPH! Let me say that again, 267 MPH. If China & Japan can have speeds like that, why can't we here?

Now the big question is - if we get transportation between these cities, can we get around within the cities once we get there? I am not sure about Columbus, but Akron & Cleveland do not necessarily have the best public transportation system.

KAMP | straight out of the 18th ward

KAMP | straight out of the 18th ward

Why does this sound like some kind of "it was not our idea so you can't help" type of thing? Given the huge fuck up that was the reponse to Katrina FEMA should be willing to take any help that is offered. Some people really need to get their heads out of their asses and acknowledge a good idea when it is presented.

Ham radio operators have been good about helping when disaster strikes. Maybe in this time of "ownership society" that the Republicans seem to want us to do such help is a good thing.

BMW Joins GM, DaimlerChrysler on Engines - Yahoo! News

BMW Joins GM, DaimlerChrysler on Engines - Yahoo! News

This is interesting news. BMW is probably one of the better auto engineering companies in the world.

Unless a completely electric engine is created, some form of hybrid technology will be used, and even some of the hybrid technology could be used in an all electric engine. Now we just need to get off of fossil fuels...

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Style-conscious city flags down bald cabbies - Yahoo! News

Style-conscious city flags down bald cabbies - Yahoo! News

Instead of worrying about a cabbie being bald or have too long hair, maybe you need to work on their personalities.

Stars to Sing in 'Emmy Idol' Contest - Yahoo! News

Stars to Sing in 'Emmy Idol' Contest - Yahoo! News

This is one good reason to skip the Emmy's. We all know William Shatner is not a singer. I doubt Trump is much of a singer. Gary Dourdan & Kristen Bell are anybody's guess as to how good they will do.

Housing Slowdown Could Spell Trouble - Yahoo! News

Housing Slowdown Could Spell Trouble - Yahoo! News: "And none other than Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently said that 'the housing boom will inevitably simmer down' with prices slowing and possibly even falling."

I like this part in particular:


And none other than Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently said that "the housing boom will inevitably simmer down" with prices slowing and possibly even falling.


Well, duh.

Beacon Journal | 09/06/2005 | Towpath Trail growing in Summit

Beacon Journal | 09/06/2005 | Towpath Trail growing in Summit

I love the Towpath, and to see more segments of it finished is great. I know originally PPG was thought to be one of the sticking points to completing the trail.

Although it is currently designated for Cleveland to New Philadelphia, I recently saw a map that showed it extending a little further to Zoar. It would be cool if we could get the corridor to extend from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, just like the canal itself.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Why I have not blogged about Katrina

I scored some power at Borders, and I thought about this while on my walk so I thought before I dug into the meat of what I need to do today I would put out some thoughts.

Really most of what I could say has already been said: The response from organizations like FEMA was horrible, the president seemed to treat the whole affair rather lightly, and really there is no excuse for that kind of response. Yes my prayers go out to everyone affected by this - especially to those who survived. Yes, I will make a donation to the Red Cross. I have yet to know exactly how much - I always set aside some money out of every pay to give to various charitable organizations and I don't know how much, off the top of my head, is in the kitty right now. I decided that all that is there is going to the Red Cross (who is on my short list of regular donations anyways), and I will definately get that matched by my company.

One thing that pissed me off is before the relief effort had really gotten underway the finger pointing started. Everything from bureacratic red tape to we did not expect this to happen. FEMA was a good organization who was nimble. Standard emergency preparedness coming out of FEMA was each person should plan for 3 days of food & water to tide themselves over until FEMA can get setup. And by and large they usually get there in that time frame. However this was the first real test of FEMA as a part of the Department of Homeland Security. Things did not work out well.

What surprised me is the people who claimed "we had no idea this was coming." Aside from the fact we knew where the hurricane was going, the flooding of New Orleans just as what happened was anticipated. Hey, even I could tell you that the levees would be a great target for terrorists. The problem caused by Katrina is not a far stretch from some yoyo with a bomb. I also like the "we did not know how bad it was" comments. Apparently getting someone to watch CNN or just about any other news network/program is not done anymore.

Now I am not sure how the response was in other areas affected. Most of the news coverage is over the mess that was known as New Orleans. I would hope that other affected areas had a better response. Even the Red Cross seemed to move slowly, but then again they can only go in once an area is reasonably safe for the workers.

However I hope that some of the bloggers and others start a discussion on what we can learn from this. I can point fingers and shift blame as much as the next guy. However I think it would be a better use of time and energy to learn from this fiasco, and the sooner the better before everyone forgets about how bad it was.

First off I hope that some of the "looters" - people who were stealing food, water, needed medicine since they could not get that help from the government sources that were supposed to provide it will not be prosecuted. Then again I hope that those who were raping, killing, and stealing stuff get maximum sentences. In fact personally I would like to see these people have to serve large chunks of community service helping to rebuild the damaged areas. The worst case I heard of is a kid who took a school bus and was moving people to shelters and they are talking about jailing him for looting. Get a clue! He was doing what the cops, National Guard, and FEMA should have been doing.

One thing that has come out of this is the need to evacuate people without a way to evacuate. How many poor people died becuase when the evacuation order was given they had no way to get out? Telling people to get out and having a way to get out are two different things. Again, to me this is a huge flash of the obvious, but I have been told I was alloted a lot of common sense somewhere in my life. Maybe the coastal areas of Florida that normally get hammered by hurricanes have this under control. Maybe someone should share this info?

Next we definately need to look at the slow response from FEMA. Again, I do not know how they did in other areas, but if that was anything close to how they handled New Orleans they need to be a bit quicker. Red tape? Maybe we need to move FEMA back to an independent organization. Could they not get in quick enough because of the roads? Maybe we need to build up some infrastructure. Obviously we need to do something about the levees in New Orleans, if the city is going to be rebuilt. If FEMA tries to use the "we did not know how bad it was" defense the person who said that should be taken out and sacked, and that will involve a baseball bat and some dangly bits. It is your job to know how bad it is. Personally I always follow the addage "plan for the worst, hope for the best." Not hard. You may over react sometimes, but frankly I would think it would be better to have too much ready to go than to get caught with your pants down.

The security of the area was obviously a problem. There were a lot of cops walking off the job, the National Guard did not respond timely, or at least they did not seem to. Again, I have no real idea when they were called in. I know a group from Ohio has been sent down. The National Guard, like a large part of the rest of the military, is stretched a bit thin. There is no short term answer for this. An obvious answer would be to keep our noses out of other country's business. I would not want to see a draft get implimented, especially since I might get sucked in on that, but it may come to that. It would be interesting to see how the National Guard was deployed before Katrina to see if part of the problem may have been just getting the units into the area from other areas.

Lastly it was very distrubing how New Orleans degenerated into Lord of the Flies in only 2 or 3 days. Could be just the media coverage, although usually they love to suck up to stories of man helping man in these situations. I have not heard of a lot of these stories.

It really looks like we are one step short of total anarchy in this country, and we are holding ourselves out as an example to the rest of the world. In the past the Republicans liked to say that we all need to take responsibility for things. Even now the current adminstration wants to move us to a more owner based society. However no one in the adminstration wants to, like in basketball, put up their hand and say "my foul." No one person is responsible for this, but there should be some accountability in this. I only hope that people remember this at the next election.

Loving being disconnected in a connected world

Over the last week I have been working here and there and many times without any internet. I am cheap frugal and do not want to pay for the small amount of time that I want to connect at Borders, McDonalds, whereever.

I really would like to get back to some old school programs that do not require the internet to work. Back in the old days when we had to pay per hour for internet connectivity, and even further back when you paid long distance to direct dial BBSs (and only had maybe an hour of time on them a day) we had a lot of programs that would allow us to jump on line, grab what we needed, send our new stuff up, and get off.

However now a days it seems that everything depends on a constant internet connection. Sure you can snag/send email offline, you can even grab some pages to read later sometimes. Even now this entry is being done offline and will be uploaded when I get home.

My gypsy ways over the last week has showed me that there are a lot of stuff that could be done offline but is not. One of the first things is Netflix queue management. Now I just started working with a program called FlixQueue that does work with the Netflix queue locally and then sends the changes up to Netflx. It is easier to use than the Netflix site, but it still grabs the queue everytime you start it up. I was hoping that it would keep my copy of the queue that was already on my machine and allow me to delete some movies that I wateched over the weekend.

I have yet to try Feeddemon to see if it works offline for XML feeds. I know there are aggregators that work on mobile devices, so it is doable on the PC as well. That would have been great this week had I thought about it so that I could snag the feeds in the morning and then sit at Borders or wherever and read them.

eBay has some offline management tools for sellers. I have not checked to see if it has anything for buyers, mostly because I do not use eBay that much.

To me though, the ability to work offline has really hit home. Given I have used a Palm or other palmtop device for over 10 years I have seen how synching technology is finally maturing. I even have a few items that synch with the internet if the internet is one. What I miss on the PC is the ability to hit a button and have all the things that I want to synch to synch. It could run out and send/receive email, update my Netflix queue, update my eBay information, get info on my shipping/packages, etc. Maybe if we had some kind of scripting this would be doable.

In gypsy mode again

I am in gypsy mode again. The roof is going to be finished up today at least.

I am a bit pissed since I thought McDonalds was offering free wifi. At least mine is not. I guess I could check out and see how much for an hour or so of access. Of course it is an unsecured network and they want me to transmit my credit card number. Oh yea, that is smart. Maybe I can get some offline work done.

I got a new MP3 player, a SanDisk 512 meg memory player. I like the memory players for podcasts since I can never get through a lot of them. I want to play around with getting this to auto-synch so that my played podcasts will be removed and add new stuff.

I finished the Wilderness Center's Hiking extravaganza on Friday, and today I will complete two trails in the Fall Hiking Spree and be half done with the required trails and about 1/3 done with all the trails.

Hacking NetFlix : Netflix and Katrina Victims

Hacking NetFlix : Netflix and Katrina Victims

This is a nice reaction from a company. I hope that other companies are willing to work with survivors.