J*Blog

Church Of The Geek - New Home

2006-03-07T15:45:00.000-05:00

I'm sure the regular readers out there are wondering where I am.

A brief summary:

1. I just started my second week at the new job. It rocks.

2. My new domain/web site is just about finished. I'm still tweaking the look (default wordpress = blech) but all available posts from J*Blog have been imported. Now it's just a question of whether or not I want to go the trouble of categorizing all those old posts.

3. There seems to be some sort of plague going around Lansing. I expect to see large numbers of people following the Japanese tradition of never going out in public without a surgeon's mask around here soon.

4. Fluxbox, XFCE, Gnome, KDE... what's your favorite linux desktop? They're ALL installed on my laptop and I still can't stick with one. Linux is great but one thing about OS's never seems to change: You can never find one that meets all your needs. In this case you can never find a desktop manager that fully meets your needs.

That's about it for the moment.

Depending on how much time I have over the next few days this could just be my last post on J*Blog. Point your browser to www.churchofthegeek.com and see what the future holds.

Firefox With 100 Extensions

2006-03-07T13:47:00.000-05:00

Firefox 1.5 + 100 Most Popular Extensions = Hilarity

(or just a really crowded browser window)

check it out

via CNet

R.I.P. Don Knotts

2006-02-25T18:14:00.000-05:00

Don Knotts passed away last night. Seth puts it well:

"Now there really is no reason to go on living."

You know a really great comedian has died when your first comments upon hearing about their death makes everyone laugh. Yup, he really was that good.

via TVsquad

Microsoft: New Motherboard = New Computer

2006-02-21T10:14:00.000-05:00

This is hilarious, especially if by "hilarious" you mean "this has probably pissed off a ton of people."

According to Microsoft if you purchase a new motherboard you are creating a "new" computer, even if the rest of the components remain the same.

Might not sound like a big deal until you remember that Microsoft Windows licenses only apply to a single computer at a time.

So to all you dedicated Windows users out there I have two suggestions:

1. Switch to Linux and never worry about these silly problems again. Check out Ubuntu.

2. Don't ever, EVER upgrade your motherboard.

via Metafilter

Quote of the Day

2006-02-17T21:35:00.000-05:00

"I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than go driving with Ted Kennedy."

- Big John

D.H.S. Tests New High Tech Tool: Listening To Experts

2006-02-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

In a staggering turn of events, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement that makes a lot of sense.

I know, I'm shocked too.

A D.H.S. official has suggested, after the recent Sony BMG CD rootkit crapola, that rootkit software be outlawed.

C-Net News link

If I were a government geek I'd buy that official a drink. Cheers!

Alas Poor Bomberman

2006-02-16T12:23:00.000-05:00

I love the Bomberman series. It's one of those games I grew up with and have thoroughly enjoyed on every platform I've ever played it on. Decades before Pokemon started the cute n' violent trend this little bugger was destroying massive amounts of blocks and enemies in a game that mixed puzzle and action with simple game play that anyone could appreciate.

If you share the same love of this series you might want to sit down before you scroll down.

...

...

Then again, I don't know many people who read web pages standing up...

...

...

...

This is Bomberman as he will appear in the freshly announced Bomberman: Act Zero for the Xbox360.

The original Bomberman is survived by his loving wife and two children, Bomberbaby and Bombertoddler. Memorial gifts of fireball power-ups can be directed to the great binary sprite memory dump in the sky.

via Press The Buttons

Cops Arrest Grand River Elementary Student - Video

2006-02-16T11:50:00.000-05:00

While reading RSS items this morning I heard some yelling outside and took a look through our front window just in time to see three Lansing P.D. cruisers corralling a kid inside the Grand River Elementary School playground. A single cop chased him on foot, caught him, pulled the kid inside the school for a short period and then cuffed him and led him to a parked cruiser.

I managed to catch the last few minutes on video just because I really couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Not sure exactly why this happened...

You can view this video at the YouTube site here.

----

Update: Uh-oh. I sent this to a few local news e-mail tip lines that I knew of and I got a couple bites. According to the Lansing State Journal the L.P.D. were responding to reports of stolen school property and the while they were chasing the kid down he punched an officer.

----

Update 2: I bid a warm welcome to all the new readers from the Michigan state government, Ingham County Schools, and other "officially" interested parties that I'm seeing in my server logs.

For the record: I am completely unaware of having done anything wrong here, and so far nobody has tried to tell me that I have. This was not intended as a shot against the L.P.D., the student involved, or the Grand River Elementary Magnet School. If there is any fault to be seen here it lies with the kid for allegedly punching an officer.

While the link to this page has been removed from the current version on the LSJ site, you can still find the original at the LSJ link below.

The American Geek Dream

2006-02-16T10:06:00.000-05:00

"The tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimes they are a channnnnnngingggg..."

My grandparents told me about times without widespread cars, life without computers, and growing up during the depression.

Someday I'll be able to tell my grandkids "I remember back when Amazon sold books and only books."

Anybody else notice how the Internet has caused a drastic shift in the way we view a successful business? Companies that do enough business online to be considered "very successful" are almost always diversified, offering a plethora of goods and services while their only truly unique claim to fame is their site layout or a web design trick or two.

Does anybody actually see this as a sustainable market or a way to do business? With the Internet full of aspiring Amazons, Googles, and budding Microsofts it seems like all-out corporate war is the only way a select few will come out on top.

Or they can continue buying up every little threat to their established customer base.

THAT's the new American Geek Dream: Come up with a piece of software that threatens Google or Microsoft so they'll buy you out rather than compete with you.

Bored Bored Bored

2006-02-15T11:44:00.000-05:00

T-minus 12 days and counting until I start my new job.

It's funny... after almost two months off work the concept of "free time" has really ceased to exist for me. I still read a lot and game a lot, but without any kind of real work going on it all seems so... pointless. You know you're bored when watching reruns of ER and Star Trek is a highlight of your day.

This might sound like a complete 180 after reading the previous paragraph, but believe it or not I am not one of the many people who define themselves through their job. I'll admit that during my last job I was very concerned that I was doing exactly that, and that if I lost it I'd feel... lost or something along those lines. Spending four years with one company at the age of twenty-five is a little unusual.

I've used a lot of this time to get things done around the house. I don't have any kids so this is NOT an opportunity for a "Mr. Mom" joke :-) I semi-winterized our house, cleaned up our DVD and game storage, alphabetized and indexed my comic book collection into a database, cleaned up my old cameras, fought a pitched battle with excess phosphates in our fish tank (still ongoing), and taught myself the basics of Linux (Ubuntu Linux rocks). Please note this list isn't a complete one, just the basic crap I can remember filling time with over the last two months.

And now I am bored with this post.

50/50 Chance You Will Misunderstand The Tone Of This Title

2006-02-13T13:23:00.000-05:00

I can't tell you how many people I've known over the years who have had everything from minor disagreements up to major falling-outs via e-mail or text messaging. Every time I've told them "Important personal things need to be communicated in person, or at the very least over the phone." Plain text, and even the HUGE advancement that is rich text (that's a little font-formatting joke there) can't accurately convey the emotional and often rational, train-of-thought tones that are a part of everyday speech.

Now there is proof. A recent study published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that even though people thought they had correctly interpreted the tone of a message 90% of the time they were only correct 50% of the time.

This is why I never get involved in flame wars.

Spam Zen - Kodak

2006-02-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

I'm a registered Kodak digital camera owner (for the warranty) so they send me stuff from time to time.

While emptying my spam folder I discovered this little gem from yesterday:

Here's the first part:

Sounds cool. Let's see it!

What the hell?

Here's what they're advertising:

If I ever ran into that wolf-thing I'd hope for the "Goes wide" part.

Crazy marketing people...

Screw You Channel 4 (The IT Crowd)

2006-02-09T10:51:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: After following a link in the comments section (Thanks J Pettus!) I downloaded un-drm'ed files via the fine folks at BoingBoing.

Unfortunately this did not actually improve the situation, at least in the legal sense.

While these files are standard, generically encoded WMV files, I cannot legally view them on a Linux computer. As a computer geek with limited financial resources I made the decision to go open source instead of continuing years of obtaining software through less scrupulous means.

WMV files use a windows32 codec which is considered the legal property of Microsoft (I think). Regardless of who owns them they are definitely illegal to install on a Linux machine, not that that has stopped the throngs of *nix users out there.

While there is a way to do this on a Linux machine, it's still not ok in the eyes of the computer cops.

Lovely.

------------------------------------

So after spending literally hours trying to get my Ubuntu Linux box to read the WMV files that are the first two episodes of The IT Crowd I've decided to give up. To make matters even better you can't access the streaming versions of the show from outside the UK (you can view that error message here.)

This whole process has really pissed me off.

I'd imagine Channel 4's discussion went something like this:

Programming Exec: "So we're ready to release the show online. How should we do it?"

Marketing Dweeb: "I know! Let's use a DRM-protected windows media format! That way we can appease the DRM gods (even though our product is supposed to be "free" online)."

PE: "What about people who don't use windows?"

MD: "Oh, you mean the people the show is actually targeted at? We never worried about them before, why would we now?"

----

A friend recommend undrm'ing the files with WINE, but that would involve reinstalling windows on my machine just to get a couple DLL files.

Screw that.

And screw Channel 4. So much for the first great attempt at IP Television.

The Ninja Answered My Question!!!

2006-02-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

Words cannot express my joy now that my question has been answered and a highly skilled ninja is looking forward to killing me soon! (Update: Actually, he's looking forward to killing my wife.)

Ask A Ninja #9: Ninja Love

Be sure to check out the main page of Ask A Ninja and check out all the previous episodes.

More Smokers Successfully Quit On A Whim

2006-01-27T10:37:00.000-05:00

Interesting article covering recent findings from British researchers...

Feast Your Eyes On The Nintendo DS Lite

2006-01-26T11:34:00.000-05:00

Damn you Nintendo! Why must you continually introduce great hardware then make it even better a year or so down the road? And why do I keep loving almost everything you make after you keep doing this?

I'll probably own one of these sooner or later. I do try and stick to a strict rule in this situation: Trade-in deals only. I got my SP by trading in my original GBA and a couple games, and a couple years or so later I picked up a DS by trading in that SP and a couple more games. These trade-in deals usually aren't offered until the console has been out for a couple months or so (patience is a virtue).

Not a whole lot of solid details on the DS Lite are available yet, but you can check out the Japanese product page here.

via Kotaku

UPDATE: Gamespot has an article with a decent list of DS Lite tech specs. One notably missing item is any mention of reverse compatibility with GBA titles.

If any Nintendo employees happen across this, I'd like to make a minor suggestion: PLEASE ADD THE ABILITY TO PLAY OLD SCHOOL GAMEBOY AND GB COLOR GAMES BACK IN!!! And an easy way to link to the GameCube via standard GBA cable, both sorely missed features from the SP.

spec link via digg

Ben Franklin Had It Right, Georgetown Students to Gonzales: Back Off

2006-01-25T11:22:00.000-05:00

Just want to share a quote from this Boing Boing post:

That just about sums up my thoughts on the matter.

A group from the Future American Lawyers stood up during a recent speech by Alberto Gonzales and displayed this quote with backs turned to the podium. Mr. Gonzales was delivering a speech arguing the justifications for the Bush administration's illegal wire taps.

All of this is thanks to Insomnia over at LiveJournal.

Stewie Griffin Gets A Talk Show

2006-01-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

Words can't express how excited I am about this...

Stewie Griffin will be hosting an internet-only talk show! No word yet of when exactly it will start airing, but the article even mentions that Stewie is preceeded in this "honor" by Space Ghost.

Can't wait!!!

Verizon Gets Legally Slapped For Crippling Phone Services (Finally)

2006-01-24T14:06:00.000-05:00

According to this Gizmodo post Verizon just lost a class action suit in California for removing Bluetooth services from the Motorola v710. This is the first lawsuit of the type against a U.S. cell provider that I'm aware of (somebody please comment and/or e-mail if you know otherwise).

Might not sound like a big deal at first, but here's the larger picture: Early adopters (like myself) know that as handheld technology and more importantly battery technology progresses we're trending towards a media-rich mobile lifestyle. Most of the baby boomers are now comfortable camera phones (I had a talk with my dad once about how a 1 megapixel camera phone is a poor substitute for an actual digital camera), my generation doesn't feel safe without an ipods ear bud wires dangling down their cheek, and the younger generations now have the ultimate leverage over their parents: They know how to use the computer. A generation that doesn't know a life without computers everywhere is more inclined to let new technology in.

One other trend that has grown by leaps and bounds in just a few years is wireless. From phones to LANs, pocket pets to optical mice and keyboards we're snipping those wires like our future depends on it.

So where are we heading? Towards something like this, maybe this, or perhaps this (my personal favorite). Devices which combine every piece of the information age.

Here's where the problems start with what providers are doing right now. Say you go to Best Buy and you want a DVD player. You read a great review online from a web site that talks about all these awesome features. So you get your new DVD player home and much to your surprise only half, maybe less, of the features you wanted work. You take another look at that review just to make sure you go the right model and you notice the review came from somebody in the United Kingdom.

You're screwed. And yes, you have the right model.

This isn't happening so much with DVD players (though you could get into a debate about region encoding) as it is with cell phones. Many of these devices originated in places like the U.K. where service providers don't care as much about locking down phones as their U.S. counterparts do. A friend of mine has this really kick ass LG phone with mp3 functionality, but it's locked down by Verizon so he can't play his own music even though it has a SD card slot.

Are we all thieves now? Has it reached the point where policy is to treat your customers as potential pick pockets before they've even signed up?

The real story is that it isn't totally about copyright law and related interests. In this case, Verizon left out the fact that it couldn't transfer files to a PC but what they're not talking about is what people really want, a phone that can be used as a modem. If the phone can do it, why do I have to pay more for it?

Because their networks are running but not running well. It's hard to keep up with the kind of explosive growth cell phone use has seen in the last few years, all the while trying to offer new this and new that. Bigger better faster.

Unfortunately the first "utility" to fail during every major disaster we've seen in the last few years is cell phone service. I wonder how many service credits (if any) got issued to the citizens of New York during 9/11? Any in New Orleans? They even fell apart during the July bombing in London.

Ultimately, if we're going to assign blame, I place it squarely on the customer base for not taking the time to really know how they're being taken advantage of. These folks did and all it really got them was an easy out or a service credit. As is always the case in history all it really takes is enough people standing up together at the same time.

...

Just in case you were wondering, yes, I am one of those "free information" type geeks. How could you tell?

Menu Observation

2006-01-14T19:04:00.000-05:00

"All extras cost extra."

- read from a restaurant menu by Seth

Hell Hath No Fury Like an Old Black Impala

2006-01-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

One of the joys of being temporarily laid off and unemployed is suddenly there's so much time to take care of the minor domestic items that are hard to fit in a 40-hour work week.

(Damn it's hard to write while watching The Colbert Report)

Early the other morning I dropped my wife off at work and proceeded down two fairly busy roads in Lansing, Okemos Road and Mount Hope. I was on my way to pick up my poor cat from the vet following the loss of his manhood, and I as I approached an intersection a large black Impala decided he should test the spatial boundaries of our vehicles (near as I could tell). He was waiting to turn right into my lane, I had a green light and he was sitting at a red. He had plenty of opportunity to go before I even approached the intersection, but he waited until the last possible second to pull out and cut me off in the process. Brakes jammed, swerving left, barely miss the asshole. As I flew by him (now in the left lane, it's a 45 mph road and moving was safer than total brake lock) I flipped him off.

Yes, I'll admit, I flip people off on the road. Other than the horn it's my only display of "road rage". I only use it when necessary, and more often than not I do nothing at all. What can I say? I learned how to drive just outside Chicago.

Now, this Impala looked to be a mid-1990's model which resembles the cop-friendly Caprice Classic so it's got a gigantic V-8 under that hood, and post-bird appearance I of course watched the car in my rear view mirror.

If there were any doubts about that V-8 they were cleared up as I watched the Impala roar up behind me (I could hear the engine over my completely closed car with CD playing loudly). I swear it seemed like he was doing at least 70 trying to catch up.

We reached the next red light and as we came to a full stop I realized he'd left the car and was walking (on the freaking double yellow line on a 4 lane 45 mph road) up to me. It dawned on me what a great invention power locks are.

Just as I could see him in the corner of my eye the light turned green and I peeled out like I have never done before. Thank God those tires are pretty fresh.

(Now, this is the moment when I just have to point out the inner glee I felt at this moment, leaving this asshole standing in the middle of the road while his lady friend yelled at him from the passenger seat)

As you can probably guess this was followed by another episode of him doing some insane speed to catch up, and at the next light he decided to pull into the right lane along side me. At first I thought I'd just ignore him, but finally I looked over and he seemed relatively calm. He was gesturing for me to roll down my window. So I did.

Jerk: "What the hell man? Why'd you flip me the finger?"

Me: "Because you almost killed us that's why! If I hadn't slowed down or moved into the other lane you would've hit me."

Jerk: "Well what does it matter?"

(This was the moment when I realized the futility of continuing the conversation)

Me: "Well, if you did that with somebody driving a truck or SUV towards you you probably wouldn't live to have the conversation we're having now."

Jerk: "Whatever man." *stomps on gas pedal*

And he ran the red light we were sitting at.

Single worst road rage incident I've ever had in Lansing.

Staying Put

2006-01-12T12:47:00.000-05:00

I was having a conversation with an old friend who moved out to the west coast, and during this chat I was asked if I'll ever move out of Lansing. Honestly, I'm not sure.

I was born in Kansas City Missouri but from what my parents told me I was there less than 6 months. My parents wanted to be closer to family so they moved back to the Lansing area. At the time I had two sets of grandparents within an hour's drive and more aunts and uncles than I ever bothered to count, so they certainly had good reason.

I guess this could be said by any 25-year old who's spent the majority of their life in one area, but they say that home is where the heart is and my heart never felt more at home then it does here.

I spent 6 years spending one weekend a month here and the majority of every summer vacation. Every time my sister and I left Illinois I felt like I was going home, and every time we had to get ready to go back I felt like I was packing up to move again.

A long time ago I realized I'm the kind of person who likes to really understand things. "Grok" would be a better word to use for the Heinlein fans out there.

I grok my home.

Nintendo DS Fastest Selling Console Ever

2005-12-29T13:22:00.000-05:00

Worldwide console sales figures mean more to the Big Three than they do to the average U.S. gamer. While my red-white-and-blue bretheren tout the PS2's game library and mod-friendly X-box, Japan's sales figures continue to outline one possible (and likely) future for the industry.

In Japan, during the last 13 months, the Nintendo DS has sold over 5.44 million units. It took the Game Boy Advance 14 months to hit the 5 million unit mark, and the PS2 took just over 17 months.

Huzzahs are in order!

vis dsfanboy

Lansing Michigan Gas Prices - Community Site

2005-12-29T13:16:00.000-05:00

A quick bookmark for Lansing Michigan and the surrounding area readers...

Lansinggasprices.com is a community run site dedicated to its direct-to-the-point domain name.

Sunoco in Okemos ($2.22/gal currently) is where I'd be making my stop ;)

Comments/Trackback Update

2005-12-29T11:41:00.000-05:00

Just updated the page template to include comments and trackback linking from Haloscan.

Just wanted to let the few comment submitters know that things will look a little different from now on.

Maglite Working On LED Models

2005-12-28T11:54:00.000-05:00

Maglite, my favorite flashlight manufacturer, has a note up on their web site that they will introduce LED-based models in 2006.

I've been a long-time user of their products, and I've always thought an LED mag would be the best of two worlds: Time-tested durability and power efficiency.

I'll have one on preorder as soon as they're available ;)

via Gizmodo

Post Christmas RSS Mania

2005-12-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

132 RSS feeds + Christmas Vacation = A whole mess of info to catch up on.

Click on the pic for a full size view.

Merry Christmas Y'all!!!

2005-12-25T12:22:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I'm having a great day myself and I hope you are too.

Welcome To Unemployment Land

2005-12-20T17:58:00.000-05:00

No more job for Jason!

Seriously, just found this out about 10 minutes ago. Somebody in New York will be doing my job.

Honestly it's a relief.

Ghost Rider Teaser Online

2005-12-20T14:23:00.000-05:00

The first official teaser footage for the upcoming Ghost Rider movie is now online.

(flash, click on "The Rider Revealed" near the upper left at the link above)

I imagine most comic book fans (like me) are going ape-dookie right about now.

via The Movie Blog

A Word On Maxwell House Coffee

2005-12-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

I'm addicted to coffee. At least I'm honest about it.

My love of the stuff started when my parents took me to church every week, and the apple juice and punch got a bit tired so I switched to "the hard stuff" as far as the congregation was concerned. It got me through many a falling-asleep-in-the-pew Sunday mornings.

In college I worked at Beaner's, a mid-Michigan based coffee house which has a huge following around Michigan State and Lansing. They teach their employees classic espresso methods and have a great coffee selection. To put it simply, Beaner's can compete with all the local Starbucks and not only stay in business without a problem, but expand over 150% in the last five years.

For those in other areas of the country: Yes, I am aware the stereotype connection. Unfortunate choice of names.

Anyway, as much as I love the place they recently increased the price of by-the-pound brew beans to over $11.00 per pound. The last time I was regularly buying their beans it was just over $8.00 a pound and that wasn't even a year ago.

As a result my home-brew experience (a little coffee geek humor there) has turned towards the pre-ground Meijer's shelf selection, and this week I'm trying out the Maxwell House Smooth Master Blend.

Normally I just use a tablespoon and estimate how much is needed but today I decided to try brewing a full 10 serving pot of the stuff based on the label recommended amount: A full half cup of grounds.

Yeah, I'm twitching.

God bless coffee.

Droidel Droidel Droidel I Made You Out Of Super Dense Hyper Alloy

2005-12-20T13:28:00.000-05:00

I know what I'll be spinning this year!

Make your own Droidel

via BoingBoing

Nintendo Power J. Scott Campbell Poster

2005-12-19T16:31:00.000-05:00

This poster is in included in the latest issue of Nintendo Power, and it rocks my socks off.

-click for full size-

Illustrated by J. Scott Campbell, who rang bells in my head for his work on the mid-90's comic Gen13.

Best viewed Large.

Why Christmas Cookies Rock

2005-12-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

Because you can put anything on them. Especially the ambiguous round ones.

Ken Jenning's On Hoes

2005-12-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

What's a Hoe?

via digg

Random Saturday Post: Free MP3 Blogs

2005-12-17T13:09:00.000-05:00

Music blogs rock my socks off. Repeatedly. Every day.

I've only been going to these sites for about six months and I have almost a gigabyte of mp3's that I love, most of them artists I'd never heard of prior to seeing them at the links below.

Music 4 Robots

Aurgasm

OpenDir

Little Hits

Worth checking daily. RSS feeds available for all of them.

The Chappelle Theory

2005-12-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

Gather 'round the fire conspiracy theorists for what will surely become a classic tale in some circles.

An anonymous PR industry person has put together The Chappelle Theory, a site covering why Dave Chappelle's show went off the air.

It's a medium read, but I found myself going through it quickly as it just gets crazier and crazier. As a huge fan of the show I closely followed the press involving Dave's departure to Africa and his decision to pull the plug on a show he'd just been paid $50 million to continue for only two more years.

If even a couple parts of this story are true though I can say I certainly understand why he needed to get away.

A short synopsis of the really crazy bits:

- At least two dozen or so threatening phone calls directed at Dave, his career, his family's safety, and his life.

- Voodoo Dolls. 'nuff said.

- The all encompassing wrath of Oprah and Bill Cosby.

- Nation of Islam enforcers covertly working on the show for unknown reasons.

- A specially taped message directly from Oprah played only on Dave's television during the middle of her show telling him she was going to end his career.

- Waking up with a gun to his head and three guys in his house who had been tailing him for some time who nobody else ever even got a look at.

- The Net-style computer hax0ring of Dave's credit cards to make them all stop working at the same time.

I could keep going and going. Just read it. These types of things are what the internet was built for.

The Chappelle Theory

Merry Christmas From The U.S. Senate: Patriot Act Renewal Rejected

2005-12-16T15:02:00.000-05:00

To paraphrase Boing Boing's post, yes Virginia there is a Santa Clause. In this case he isn't one jolly old man with rosy cheeks or a bowl full of jelly gut. This year he's about 100 people who shake when they laugh like a bowl full of booze.

The U.S. Senate rejected extensions of major provisions of the Patriot Act today in a 52-47 vote. Bill Frist, charming fellow that he is, demonstrated whole-heartedly to the U.S. public that you really shouldn't vote the way you feel as he changed his vote at the last minute to the nay-sayers. He realized they were going to win (and here's the kicker) so he changed his vote because it gives him the ability to call for a new vote at any time.

So much for voting with your beliefs. Clearly bullshit political maneuvering takes priority over anything even resembling a moral stance.

8 Foot Star Wars Lego Ship

2005-12-16T14:52:00.000-05:00

THIS BLOWS MY MIND.

Be sure to scroll all the way down at the link above for larger pictures.

Linksys Router Snafu

2005-12-15T12:04:00.000-05:00

According to Volker Weber Linksys may have a minor product recall on its hands.

Somehow a small number of WRT54GX4 routers have been built with RJ11 (phone jacks) instead of RJ45 (ethernet) ports, rendering the units useless.

Back in my tech support days I took a large number of calls that dealt with this type of problem. People very seldom know the difference between a phone and ethernet jack until they can't get online and somebody explains the difference to them. Personally I'd hope that people would understand on their own after simply looking at the ports (plus there's the fact that they're usually labeled).

Here's a brief version of a real call along these lines that I took a few years back:

Me: "Thanks for calling tech support, my name is Jason, how can I help you?"

User: "Hi there. I'm trying to get online and I'm getting an error message that says 'no dial tone'."

Me: "Ok, let's take care of that for you. First off, let's check the cords. Is the phone line plugged in correctly?"

User: "Yeah I think so."

***Several diagnostics/tests/questions later***

Me: "Ok, well we've tried all the usual suspects and we still can't get a dial tone."

Suddenly the problem snaps into focus. Tech support often involves trying everything that should work, and only after that do you get an idea of what's going on. 95% of the time you'll never know what caused the problem, just how to attempt to fix it.

Me: "Sir, this is a laptop correct?"

User: "Correct. My daughter just brought it home. She's in college and she just got home tonight, which is why she's trying to check her e-mail."

Me: "Does she live in a dorm?"

User: "Yeah, why do you ask?"

Me: "Because they usually give students network (ethernet) access for free. When you tried to connect her laptop, did she plug the phone line into her ethernet port from force of habit?"

At this point you see where I'm going, and you probably know what the problem was. Because phone lines are smaller than ethernet jacks they can fit inside an ethernet port, but not vice-versa. Two minutes later this customer was online.

via digg

Michigan GOP Office Gets a New Name

2005-12-12T11:35:00.000-05:00

Every day I drive by the Michigan Republican's office at least twice. Up until my favorite little smirk-generating fact about the place is their "Republican Parking Only" sign on their driveway.

Friday night some folks decided to tell the staffers what they thought of their party in large red letters.

My favorite line from the article in today's Lansing State Journal:

"If you want to have a debate about the issues, let's do that, instead of this senseless, juvenile behavior," said Republican Party spokesman Nate Bailey.

Sorry Nate but your party doesn't have the best record when it comes to an open and honest debate. Regardless, my guess is the folks who did this aren't the types you'd even let near you for an off-hand comment, let alone a debate.

Greetings Ann Arbor Reader

2005-12-07T11:41:00.000-05:00

Dear Ann Arbor MI Reader -

Thanks for keeping up with my blog! I noticed in my server logs that somebody running Firefox 1.5 on Mac OS X has been checking in almost daily from Ann Arbor.

I don't have that many regular readers on the front page (most of my hits come from search engines pointing people to old entries) so I'd like to know who you are!

Please e-mail me at jasonrallen [at] gmail dot com for a little meet-n-greet if you have a chance. I'd love to know who you are!

- J

UPDATE 12/15/05:

The mystery reader is revealed. Glad you're checking it out D!

My Desktop

2005-12-06T13:01:00.000-05:00

Ever notice when you use a word several times over in a short amount of time it seems to lose its meaning?

Desktop... desktop... desktop... desktop...

Now it sounds like some Klingon's name. "DesKtOP!"

Anyway, here's my desktop as of today.

Fast Times at World Court High

2005-12-05T10:45:00.000-05:00

Saddam: "I Am Not Afraid of Execution!"

World: "Good."

Movies I Love: Event Horizon

2005-12-02T15:22:00.000-05:00

Back in 1997 I was (and still am) a die-hard science fiction fan. I prefer sci-fi films in the vein of Blade Runner or the Aliens series. Dark atmospheres, unsettling imagery, protagonists dropped in the most dangerous and unfamiliar environments.

When Event Horizon was originally released it was marketed as a pretty standard sci-fi action-ish movie. Much like the marketing of the first Matrix film, Event Horizon's previews left audiences thinking they knew more about the movie than they really did. Anyone who saw previews for this movie and then saw it in the theatre left with a very similar state of mind: Complete surprise and a very unsettling feeling.

The story takes place in 2047. Space travel has been perfected through nuclear-powered engines and hibernation cocoons that protect the ship's crew from the massive amount (THIRTY G's as quoted in the movie) of initial acceleration. Captain Miller (played by Morpheus, I mean Laurence Fishburne), our main hero, is taking his crew on a journey to recover the Event Horizon, widely known to the characters as the biggest space disaster in the history of the human race. This ship has been missing for years, and nobody knows where it's been, only that it has returned.

Jack Noseworthy, known by many of my generation as the slightly odd-looking hero from MTV's Dead at 21, plays the babyface of the group while Sam Neill plays the lead scientist who designed the Event Horizon, assigned to Miller's ship to assist in the recovery.

It quickly becomes apparent to the crew that there is some type of intelligence at work in the ship. The Event Horizon did not return from its unknown destination alone. Dr. Weir (Neill's character) begins to lose his sanity, and one-by-one the crew is pursued by very life like horrifying imagery from their past.

The creepy highlight of Event Horizon has to be the Core, essentially an artificial black hole used to warp space and transport the ship across huge distances in a very short amount of time.

I mean seriously, look at the thing, doesn't it just bleed evil?

UPDATE: I just remebered. It does. Literally.

While I'd love to reveal the ending and the full story behind where the ship went it's simply too great a movie to give away the unsettling surprise. To give you an idea, ponder this: The "presence" on the Event Horizon drives Noseworthy's character to shoot himself out an air lock... with no pressure suit. To make the situation even worse, he awakes from his trance mere seconds before the lock opens.

Yeah, nasty stuff.

You can pick up Event Horizon at Amazon for $12.99.

How Fast Can You Type The Alphabet?

2005-12-02T14:29:00.000-05:00

Type the Alphabet - Flash "game"

5.268 seconds is my best so far.

And don't bother with the high score board. People have obviously found a way to crack the system.

Obi Wan Squir-obi

2005-12-02T10:32:00.000-05:00

Obligatory crazy image of the day:

That is all.

Welcome Home Lansing-based MI National Guard Units

2005-12-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

150 members of the 119th Field Artillery unit (based in Lansing) are returning home today after 11 months of duty in Iraq.

While I may not support the reasons our troops are there, I do support the troops themselves. We Michiganders aren't cut out for desert duty :)

On a side note, while I was looking for an image to accompany this post (those are the MI National Guard shoulder patches you see above) I came across this interesting and startling picture from 1937 of MI National Guards confronting union protesters outside a GM plant in Flint:

More info available here on this picture's context.

Movies I Love: Heat

2005-12-01T14:13:00.000-05:00

When I was sixteen I rented Heat for the first time. It bored me to the point where I didn't even finish it, and that's only happened with 3 other movies in my entire life.

Thankfully a friend of mine whose opinions on movies I place a lot of faith in convinced me to take another look at it. I've always been a huge fan of crime dramas and I have a soft spot for bank heist flicks, so I realized that Heat should be up my alley.

Years later it is now one of my favorite movies of all time.

Let's start with the fact that this movie was hyped as the first time De Niro and Pacino appeared together on screen. While they were in The Godfather II they were never on screen at the same time excluding some brief crossfading. Many people have complained that Heat didn't live up to the hype as the two are hardly ever on screen at the same time. In the wide screen version of the film (yes, I'm one of those people who think wide screen is always superior to full screen) we get a few brief shots as they share some coffee at a diner, a scene widely regarded as the peak moment of the film.

The movie's title is a reference to a well known street term for cops, but it also extends to how the men on both sides of the fence (cops and crooks) are trying to balance their lives between their professions and home. As the movie opens Al Pacino's character is struggling through a third failing marriage while De Niro's character starts his first relationship in an unknown (to the viewer) amount of time. Hell, it could be his first kiss for all we are told.

De Niro's crook character lives by a simple code: "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." The conflict between work and home is inevitable even with that simple rule as his character's new relationship ultimately jeopardizes his final flight from the L.A.P.D.

The technical aspects of Heat are what really solidify it as a classic in my collection. Not a single sound stage was used during filming. Director Michael Mann used sixty five real locations in L.A. instead. Sounds for all the weapons fire were recorded live at the shoot so you end up with a very accurate sounding movie. In fact, if you've never heard an action movie recorded this way you probably weren't even aware of the difference between dubbed weapons fire and live fire. It may sound like a small detail but believe me it makes all the difference in the world.

Ultimately Heat has no grand lessons or moral lessons to learn, other than maybe we should all spend more time at home. If anything, Heat is an homage to the toll one's professional life can take on a person, and how, if we're not careful, we can be consumed, no matter which side of the fence we're on.

You can pick up two versions of Heat, both available at Amazon (and elsewhere of course):

Heat DVD - $14.99 @ Amazon

Heat 2-Disc Special Edition DVD - $19.99 @ Amazon

UPDATE

One last thing I forgot to mention: Heat clocks in at 2 hours and 50 minutes, so be prepared.

Kanye West's "Heard 'Em Say" Video

2005-12-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

Check out this Bill Plympton animated video for Kanye West's "Heard 'Em Say".

Very cool.

A Terabyte On Your Desktop

2005-11-29T15:22:00.000-05:00

...or under it depending on how much desk space you have.

Iomega is offering this 1 Terabyte XL series hard drive for $899.95. (Iomega product info page)

I remember back in the day when the original terraserver went online and we were all amazed (as we looked at the web site on 400 Mhz AMD windows 2000 machines) that a single server had a terabyte of storage on it. Now it's yours for under a Grover. And I mean this guy, not this guy... thing... whatever.

via digg

Stand-Off - The Banned Xbox360 Ad

2005-11-29T14:59:00.000-05:00

This supposedly banned commercial for the Xbox360 is freakin' hilarious.

I would've volunteered to be an extra in it ;)

Canada's New Five Dollar Coin Starring William Shatner

2005-11-29T14:43:00.000-05:00

You know that saying about the values associated with words and images?

I think this picture is worth about 50,000 words or so.

Read

Intel "Ultrasuede" Laptop

2005-11-29T14:24:00.000-05:00

Any time my wife says "Wow that's a cool laptop" it's worth posting.

This is Ultrasuede laptop from IBM and Toray. And yes, that is a suede-ish material attached to the casing.

via Gizmodo

NOOKA Watches

2005-11-28T11:27:00.000-05:00

I have a bit of an obsession with watches. And these just made me... well... want one.

Sadly they are in the $250 range, which is way above what I normally spend on a watch. Someday when I've got the money to blow I'll definitely pick one up.

NOOKA Watches

Will Ferrell as W. Bush, round 2

2005-11-28T10:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Freakin' Monday folks! Hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving and holiday weekend. Mine was filled with too much shopping, lots of video games, food, and hanging out with friends and family. According to the media this is what any red-blooded American is supposed to be doing during Thanksgiving.

Next year I'll have to organize a group of pirates to go marauding with me or something. Break from tradition a little bit.

Anyway, here's your Monday video installment: Will Ferrell reprising his role as George W. Bush for a recent TBS special on global warming.

Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-25T02:31:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to wish everyone a happy Turkey Day!

Crazy Holiday Lights

2005-11-21T16:21:00.000-05:00

Another Monday video post...

Think you've seen some crazy holiday lights?

Think again.

Monday Cat Hijinks

2005-11-21T11:18:00.000-05:00

It's Monday. Unfortunately. At least it's a short work week.

We've got five cats in our house. Yes I know that's a lot. No, we didn't intend on having any more than three. Two of them were charity cases.

This video should give you a good idea of why I like these little fur balls so much.

via digg

Robot 1, Bush 0

2005-11-21T10:52:00.000-05:00

I for one welcome our Einstein-ian robot overlords.

via

I Support Bloggers Rights

2005-11-16T13:11:00.000-05:00

Support Bloggers' Rights!

Bloggers get fired for posting about their jobs. Bloggers get sued for posting previews of upcoming products (I'm looking at you Apple). Bloggers are sued, fired, AND shunned by some in the tech community for posting information on important and potentially devastating flaws in commercial software and hardware. What is potentially the biggest issue is the one I try to avoid on my blog: Politics. Current laws do NOT provide protection for bloggers who openly criticize or comment on politicians and elections. So we can talk about it to each other, but God help you if you publish your views on your blog.

Over at the EFF's site you can pick up a badge and put it on your blog or web site, just the like the ones I've added to J*Blog and Freeware Freak today. The EFF also maintains a legal guide for bloggers and a guide to blogging safely, both essential reads for any blogger might be pushing the lines a bit.

Show your support for blogging rights by adding a badge to your page, and join the EFF!

I'm being stalked by powdery white stuff that falls from the sky

2005-11-16T11:32:00.000-05:00

See that white stuff on the radar map above? It's doesn't take a degree in thermodynamics to figure out what it is.

That's right folks. Today is the first day of the season in which I've seen SNOW *shudder* on the weather radar. And yes, it is fairly late in the year for our first snow. Which makes me think we're going to get hit that much harder when the season really starts to kick-in.

Our forecast is calling for snow around 3:00 PM today. I'll be securing a bunker with a sauna for the remainder of the year.

UPDATE: It's here.

R.I.P. Eddie Guerrero

2005-11-14T12:17:00.000-05:00

Eddie Guerrero
1967 - 2005

As a recent convert, I cannot begin to describe what this means for life-long fans. Eddie Guerrero had more in common with the "average man" than just about any other professional wrestler. He was open about his alcohol and drug abuse, spent the last 4 years sober, and had recently proven that he was just as popular (if not more so) as a "good guy" character than his previous incarnation as a lie-cheat-steal dirty fighter.

Metafilter points out that this just another in a long string of professional wrestlers who died relatively early in life.

For general info check out this AP News story, and for a personal insight into what this means for the wrestling community check out this post at rajah.com. The Wikipedia has an exhaustive page covering his life and background.

You'll be missed Eddie. Don't forget to frog splash St. Peter from the corner when you see him.

I'm such a slacker, random Monday musings

2005-11-14T10:44:00.000-05:00

I was updating the site code today after signing up for a Google Analytics account when I noticed I haven't posted anything new in over a week.

Man I'm such a slacker sometimes.

Truth be told, it's been a fairly crazy week. My skills as a product manager (the little title under my name on my biz card) were put to the test over the last two weeks as the company I work for pushed through some very large projects in a very, VERY short amount of time. Nothing I can't handle, it just makes for some really rough work days. Thankfully I had a nice relaxing weekend.

On the 11th one of our cats (Zoey) had her kittens:

She had four total, even though all you see here are the first set of two. All of them will be going to good homes after they've had about eight weeks to become more independent.

Let's see... what else...

I've voted in every presidential election since I was 18. Last week I voted in my first mayoral election, and I'm happy to say the guy I voted for won (first time that's happened in ANY election I've voted in). Why did I vote for this particular candidate? Simple: I want to see if he'll make a difference. Lansing has had the same mayor for several terms now, and it really seems like the city has done nothing but stagnate while the former mayor was in office. Hopefully Mr. Bernero will show us something other than the status quo.

Friends and family know that I keep several different pages on the internet for a variety of purposes. There's the blog you're reading now, my Flickr account for digital pictures, my del.icio.us account for sharing bookmarks, my depository for freeware titles Freeware Freak, and my Last.fm profile where you can check out the music that I've been listening to.

Through the awesome data-merging service SuprGlu you can now view all of the content above in one place, or with one RSS feed if you're into the whole news aggregation scene. Point your browser at http://jasonrallen.suprglu.com/ to get all the latest posts, pics, bookmarks, and track listings.

That's about it for now. Hopefully you'll hear from me again before Thanksgiving.

Delphi Execs Go "Yaarrrrrrr!" After Plundering Larger Severance

2005-11-06T17:38:00.000-05:00

Picture several warehouses full of fifty gallon drums of bull poo. Now read this article. I think you'll find the BS levels about the same.

Thousands of my fellow Lansing residents are in the economic outhouse due to GM's recent issues, and this can only hurt our economy as well as the rest of the state. If this isn't illegal it sure ought to be.

My First Pro Wrestling Show

2005-11-04T12:57:00.000-05:00

Tonight I'm heading to Detroit to attend my first professional wrestling event. Ring Of Honor (basically a much cooler version of the WWE) is having a show tonight, and I will be attending with my brother-in-law and a few friends.

I never really got into wrestling as a kid, but my bro-in-law has a HUGE wrestling DVD collection, and over the last five years he's educated me in the ways of the ring. For the record: I know it's not real. I know it's scripted. But that doesn't change the fact that watching a man do a full 720 degree flip off the ropes before hitting the mat is impressive as hell.

And yes, this guy (Samoa Joe) will be there.

I need to make sure I don't forget my chair repellent.

UPDATE, After the show:

Wow...

First off I can now safely say that you haven't really experienced any form of pro-wrestling unless you've seen it live. The fans and the wrestlers were all really cool people, and I was pleased to discover that all the stereotypes simply don't hold any water (unlike most of the rest of the world).

I really did need that chair repellant! A match went outside the ring and two of the wrestlers proceeded to go at each other with chairs. At this point it basically turned into a mob-like scene, with a huge crowd of people around me jockeying for the best view. I was only five feet away from the carnage but still couldn't see it as the crowd kept moving, like some kind of river flowing around a couple of very large, moving boulders.

It was when this river of people suddenly took a collective step backwards in my direction that I started recalling the "Holder of this ticket voluntarily assumes all risk and danger of personal injury and all hazards arising from, related in any way to, the Event" portion of the back of my ticket.

Thankfully nobody got hurt, and I can't wait for the show to come out on DVD so I can pick up a copy.

I would recommend a Ring of Honor show to anybody. Simple put: It's just fun.

Stephen King's Dark Tower Comic Coming

2005-11-02T15:03:00.000-05:00

Holy freakin' crap...

I recently finished the Dark Tower series, and today there's word that it's getting turned into a comic, with pencils by Jae Lee (one my all-time favs)...

Words... fail...

via 4 color rebellion

Even Stormtroopers Prefer The Nintendo DS

2005-11-02T14:43:00.000-05:00

Just one more reason why the Nintendo DS rocks...

Because once the Imperial Empire takes over you won't have a choice.

via Kotaku

Unrest

2005-11-01T15:23:00.000-05:00

What the hell is going on in France? - Metafilter

I mean really, what the hell IS going on in France?

Looking at this from a broad perspective, I see multiple free and fairly prosperous nations such as France and the U.S. with increasingly large numbers of increasingly unhappy residents. Are we nearing a point where a "free" society cannot remain free while still avoiding revolution?

Are more and more of us reaching the point where we can't stand our government? Or are we reaching the point where we really can't stand each other? Anger has a habit of easily transferring from one person to another, from one idea to another, from a good reason to a bad reason. I hope the answer is where it usually is: Somewhere in the middle.

I wish I knew.

UPDATE 11/04/04: Check out this BBC News article. I'd be hard pressed to say the situation is improving.

On The Virtues Of Idleness

2005-11-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

I highly recommend reading through Mark Slouka's "Quitting The Paint Factory: On The Virtues Of Idleness", originally published in Harper's magazine, November 2004.

A brief taste:

Ah, but here's the rub: Idleness is not just a psychological necessity, requisite to the construction of a complete human being; it constitutes as well a kind of political space, a space as necessary to the workings of an actual democracy as, say, a free press. How does it do this? By allowing us time to figure out who we are, and what we believe; by allowing us time to consider what is unjust, and what we might do about it. By giving the inner life (in whose precincts we are most ourselves) its due. Which is precisely what makes idleness dangerous. All manner of things can grow out of that fallow soil. Not for nothing did our mothers grow suspicious when we had "too much time on our hands." They knew we might be up to something. And not for nothing did we whisper to each other, when we were up to something, "Quick, look busy."

Weekend OS X Freeware Marathon @ FreewareFreak

2005-10-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

I just put the finishing touches on the Weekend OS X Freeware Marathon (WOSXFM) on my other blog, FreewareFreak.

Direct links to the WOSXFM titles:

Inkscape - Freeware Open Source Cross Platform SVG Editor

Galerie - Freeware OS X Gallery Generator

FireStarter FX - Freeware OS X Advanced CD Burning

Dockyard - Freeware OS X Dock Switcher

A Quick Music Post: Sigur Rós - Takk

2005-10-27T12:55:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while I stumble on an album that gets played, over and over again, at every opportunity.

Sigur Rós's Takk is one of those albums. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it.

$11.99 at Amazon.

Starbucks Fair Trade Challenge: East Lansing MI

2005-10-27T12:17:00.000-04:00

Following up on the Starbucks Fair Trade Challenge posted yesterday...

I stopped by the East Lansing Starbucks on my way home from work yesterday, hoping to get myself a cup of fair trade coffee. I made my way past the throngs of MSU students hard at work to the front counter, and waited patiently while some guy in front of me made some obvious and fairly pathetic attempts to flirt with the girl at the register.

(Normally I wouldn't bother writing down a detail like this, but I'll give you one line he said that made feel obligated to do so: "Some day I'll be world famous!" Sure buddy.)

After Mr. World Famous decided to go wait for his $5 drink I finally got my chance.

Register girl (RG): "Hello, what can we get for you today?"

Me (me): "I was wondering if you have any fair trade coffee available."

RG: *3 second blank stare* "Ummm... one second."

(literally one second later)

RG: "I'm sorry, but we don't have any today."

Me: "That's ok. I'll just take a regular brew. Am I the first person to ask you this today?"

RG: "Yeah, why?"

Me: "Well, there's an online 'experiment' going on to see if your company is actually abiding by its policies." (please note that I was not trying to give this obvious student a hard time about the gigantic company they work for) "Starbucks policy says that they are obliged to serve fair trade coffee at any of their stores if requested."

RG: "OH! Now I know what you mean! Yeah, we have fair trade coffee that we can brew for you in a french press."

By this point she'd already given me my plain brew, and now I was being told that they do in fact have what I'd asked for in the first place. I politely thanked her for the information, told her she'd probably be hearing more about this in the near future, paid, and left.

So... mission accomplished? Not exactly. Abiding by the policy? Sort of.

Super Mario World One Man Band

2005-10-27T12:04:00.000-04:00

Free mp3's are cool. At least that's what I'm told.

Courtesy of XOC, check out this complete cover of the Super Mario World (SNES) soundtrack, performed by him and him alone using a variety of instruments. Fantastic stuff.

My favorite track so far.

The Starbucks Fair Trade Challenge

2005-10-26T15:24:00.000-04:00

Fellow blogspot blog green LA girl has an awesome challenge/contest going: Head to your local starbucks (just look under a rock if you can't find one, the damn things swarm) and ask them to make you a cup of fair trade coffee. According to their own policy they are supposed to do so when requested, on any day of the week, whenever they are open (no restrictions is the point you should be getting here).

As you can probably expect the first reports coming back to them (via del.icio.us) aren't encouraging. But don't let that stop you. Do it anyway, and if you get looked at funny it'll be that much worse for them in the end.

Validation: Starbucks corporate is sitting up and paying attention like the good lap dogs they are. At least they lady on the phone sounds like she was nice.

via Lifehacker

500 U.S. Physicists Protest Change in Nuke Policy

2005-10-26T15:13:00.000-04:00

Filed under "Yet Another Disturbing Article About The United States That I Read From A Foreign News Service".

500 U.S. physicists have signed a petition protesting recent changes to U.S. nuclear policy.

Remote Control Humans

2005-10-25T23:56:00.000-04:00

Creepy

Who else but the Japanese. And no, that's not really even a question.

Mario Pumpkin

2005-10-25T00:36:00.000-04:00

Zombie Pumpkins via Joystiq

I know what will be on my doorstep this Halloween!

Now I can get that Powerbook...

2005-10-25T00:30:00.000-04:00

My blog is worth $2,822.70.
How much is your blog worth?

Too bad this is the binary equivalent of Monopoly money.

Electroplankton Date Confirmed

2005-10-19T18:46:00.000-04:00

Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS has been confirmed for a January 9th 2006 U.S. release date. I've been looking forward to this game since the first information came out, so check out the link below and you'll probably understand why :)

This isn't a game. The best way it can be described is a music toy. Seriously.

Elecroplankton Gameplay Videos - Gamespot

via joystiq

Frost Advisory

2005-10-19T15:14:00.000-04:00

This just popped up on my desktop courtesy of Weather Watcher:

...FROST ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM EDT THURSDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND RAPIDS HAS ISSUED A FROST ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM EDT THURSDAY.

TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO FALL INTO THE 30S AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT...AND ARE EXPECTED TO BOTTOM OUT IN THE LOW TO MID 30S BY DAYBREAK THURSDAY MORNING.

WIDESPREAD FROST IS EXPECTED TO FORM AT MOST AREAS AWAY FROM THE IMMEDIATE LAKE MICHIGAN SHORELINE OVERNIGHT. SOME OF THE NORMALLY LOCAL COLDER LOCATIONS MAY SEE TEMPERATURES FALL BELOW FREEZING.

A FROST ADVISORY MEANS THAT FROST IS LIKELY. SENSITIVE OUTDOOR PLANTS MAY BE KILLED IF LEFT UNCOVERED.

Yes, weather bulletins come over news wires in all caps.

Yes, this is a reminder that I do in fact live in Michigan.

Mitch Hedberg Video Collection

2005-10-18T12:02:00.000-04:00

Mitch Hedberg Video Collection - SmitHappens.com

If your day is going anything like mine then you need a good dose of laughter. Unfortunately even this dose has a down side, but it's still a must-see.

Mitch Hedberg was referred to by some as "the next Seinfeld." I don't know about that, but I did have a chance to see one of Mitch's shows on Comedy Central (which you can watch at the link above) and I realized I was watching the most original stand up comic I'd seen in... well... ever.

Sadly Mitch passed away from heart failure on March 30 2005. His family and friends have said that they know Mitch would want to be remembered through his comedy (which is genius). Spend some time today remembering Mitch by watching these videos. The Wikiquote also has an excellent list of quotes from his work.

Help Fight the Broadcast Flag!

2005-10-16T01:22:00.000-04:00

I believe that one day, eventually, people will realize that electronic rights are as important as civil rights. We entered the era where information is power long ago but our laws have consistently lagged behind the pace of new technology.

To make a large issue simple: The Broadcast Flag is an attempt by the MPAA to use the FCC's powers and impose copy controls on just about every form of digital media. Remember the days of recording your favorite shows or movies on your VCR? As the VCR goes the way of the Dodo you may lose that ability.

The EFF makes it easy to help fight the Broadcast Flag. Just click here, fill in your information on their secure server, modify the pre-written text if you'd like, and you're done.

While you're at it head to http://www.eff.org/ and sign up up for the EFFector, the EFF's e-mail newsletter which will alert you about important issues like this one.

Bruce Campbell

2005-10-14T12:47:00.000-04:00

I'm a huge Bruce Campbell fan, mostly because he's probably the only modern actor to really be 100% open and honest on their thoughts about the industry.

iFilm has a 15-minute interview with Bruce covering his current home, stories about filming, being an author, and his "four head of cat." Don't miss it.

His web site is also a fantastic read. Be sure to read through his various rants.

Misdirection & Politics

2005-10-13T16:49:00.000-04:00

Short but sweet post for this as you need to do most of the topical reading at the link below:

The Nexus of Politics and Terror (Keith Olbermann)

The gist: "...in the last three years there had been about 13 similar coincidences - a political downturn for the administration, followed by a “terror event” - a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning."

Coincidences are funny things. I for one am of the opinion that coincidences are impossible, as long as the human understanding of quantum mechanics is even close to correct.

Misdirection is an amazing talent. As a youngster I was fascinated by magic tricks, and I've met a few people who flat-out blew my mind with some of the misdirection tricks they demonstrated for me.

Magic isn't the only arena in which misdirection plays a large part. Read through the link above, or if you'd like you can download the video clip of it (quicktime) here.

Observation: Do you know what the best part about using misdirection in politics is? With magic the subject KNOWS that misdirection is involved with what's about to happen in front of them, but if misdirection is successfully used in politics you'll never know until after the fact.

via Metafilter

Now I know why I don't like Johnny Rockets, Daft Punk Continues To Rule

2005-10-13T16:29:00.000-04:00

About a year or so ago a new shopping complex opened up in East Lansing called Eastwood. Thankfully it didn't go for the usual mall structure and is an open-air shopping center with a lot of cool stores that you can't find anywhere else in town (without driving to Detroit, I guess).

Anyway, I was reading this article at the Miami New Times web site and noticed that Johnny Rockets now occupies the land (formerly an apartment complex) where Brian De Palma shot the infamous chainsaw scene in Scarface.

Johnny Rockets just creeps me out. Personally, I find it to be the embodiment of everything wrong with a lot of modern restaurants. To put their apparent philosophy simply: It's not about the food, it's about what the idiots around you are doing. They've spent so much time focusing on the ambience (if you can call it that) of the place that their food has just gone to crap. Normally I wouldn't form an opinion like this of a place I've never actually been in, but literally everyone I've talked to who has eaten there says it's terrible. Just walking by the place while shopping is enough to make me glad I'm not inside those doors.

The whole staff dresses in white and wears little paper hats. Once an hour or so the whole staff does the "let's sing and dance" number, but unlike Ed Debevic's they look like there's someone in the kitchen waiting for them with a cat o' nine tails if they aren't selling the performance just right.

On a side note, I've spent the last couple days listening to Daft Punk's new album Human After All and it's awesome. If you're a Daft fan and you enjoyed Discovery you will definitely get down with this robot-infused funk feast.

May your day be full of candy and joy and may your evenings be cool and comfortable! (not sure where that came from exactly)

J

Mondays Suck. Really Suck.

2005-10-10T16:35:00.000-04:00

Sorry there's nothing new today folks. I've been dealing with a day-long reminder of why Mondays can suck more than an industrial milking machine.

I actually wrote a two page entry earlier today and erased it all in a fit of frustration after I realized I was writing about one thing, thinking about another, and the entry just turned to crap somewhere in middle.

Hopefully I'll be in a mood better suited for writing tomorrow... and hopefully you've had a better day than me!

Zod in 2008!!! Kneel!!!

2005-10-07T15:49:00.000-04:00

"When I first came to your planet and demanded your homes, property and very lives, I didn't know you were already doing so, willingly, with your own government. I can win no tribute from a bankrupted nation populated by feeble flag-waving plebeians. In 2008 I shall restore your dignity and make you servants worthy of my rule. This new government shall become a tool of my oppression. Instead of hidden agendas and waffling policies, I offer you direct candor and brutal certainty. I only ask for your tribute, your lives, and your vote."

-- General Zod
Your Future President and Eternal Ruler

And so the next chapter in American history begins. Or Zoderican history... whatever.

Just kneel. The man has death beams.

Zod in 2008

Raiding the 20th Century - DJ Food

2005-10-07T12:00:00.000-04:00

djfood.org

What is all this copyright stuff about? Why do thousands of internet users spend hours every day reading about copyright law, how it works, and what's being done with it now?

Download this hour long mp3 and educate yourself.

Syriana Trailer

2005-10-07T11:59:00.000-04:00

Yahoo! Movies - Syriana Trailer (quicktime)

When George Clooney said his next couple movies will get him in trouble politically he wasn't kidding.

I'm really looking forward to this.

MSU Rants on AIM, Computer Education & Employment

2005-10-06T11:54:00.000-04:00

Before I start, I'd like to say that I have a long history with Michigan State University. I was a student there for two years, and the vast majority of my immediate family (mother, father, uncles, aunts, grandparents) either went there for school or worked for the university at some point in their lives.

That being said, I find my current thoughts on MSU to be far from what I ever thought they'd be. Not only have they imposed tuition hikes this year that hurt new students (freshman pay more per credit than all other class levels), but they continue to put forth hypocrisy on levels so easy to understand it's a wonder their enrollments rates aren't dropping (they're actually rising year-over-year).

Here is an AIM chat I had with a friend today after reading an article in today's State News:

[10:36] Me: wow, check this out

[10:36] Me: http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=32176

[10:38] E: Makes me glad I don't park out there

[10:38] Me: honestly i think the university's response is bullshit... let's wait 8 days to release the information that it even happened, and then say "The students have to step up to the plate to fix the problem"

[10:39] Me: I swear, if i had kids there's no way in hell I'd send them to MSU

[10:39] Me: i'm so sick of how they run things, and this is just another example

[10:39] E: With all the money that place gets I don't know why they can't install a few cameras

[10:39] Me: and I went there for the love of god

[10:39] Me: exactly

[10:39] E: It would cost what, a few thousand initially

[10:40] Me: i'm so sick of listening to them bitch about budget problems, but let's go ahead and build a $10 million addition to the FOOTBALL stadium while keeping tuition rates at A) record highs, and b) keeping the record rates of raising tuition

[10:40] E: See it's only a problem if it doesn't bring in money. If it brings in money they will ignore it

[10:41] Me: Here's what MSU really is: A place for research scientists to get what they need for free. All they have to do is teach a class here and there.

[10:41] E: I stopped going to MSU again. I just didn't want to pay another 10k for a degree I would never use practically and to be honest I just didn't feel up to go to school with a bunch of under age kids

[10:41] Me: I'm serious... I had teachers who openly admitted on the FIRST day of class that they were really here to do research, not deal with us

[10:42] Me: had a psych teacher who kept saying that all freakin' semester

[10:42] E: I don't doubt it. I think that is why I don't respect many college educated people. It's a front

[10:42] Me: couldn't agree with you more... i spent two years working on a CompSci degree

[10:42] Me: have I used ANYTHING I learned in there since then?

[10:42] Me: no

[10:43] E: Some college people are smart and have common sense but I think at least 50% of all college students have the common sense that God gave a doorknob and will never be useful

[10:43] Me: and 75% of them are there just because their parents told them to (and that's not a shot, I was one of them)

[10:44] E: lol

[10:44] E: I wasn't but I chose a path that didn't work for me.

A couple clarification points: College educations for computer geeks are a hard subject to discuss and still arrive at any valid conclusions. Many of us got great educations and now have solid, well paying jobs. Some of that same group got a great, expensive education and now they're paying off their student loans waiting tables instead of hashing code.

I stopped going to MSU for Computer Science after I realized I couldn't see myself doing anything that I was taking classes for for the rest of my life until retirement. I felt like everyone around me was going through the motions because they were told to, not because they wanted to. I'm sure some of them did, but I didn't feel like spending two more years in a glorified high school.

So I dropped out of MSU and got a job that dealt with computers. As a supervisor in tech support I did a lot of employment interviews, and there were many MSU grads who we did not hire because they didn't have any practical experience. And make no mistake, computers are one of the biggest fields for "you can't just learn it you have to apply it." The hiring decisions weren't mine, I was just doing the interviews and going through the questions. I'm sure some of these people went on to get great jobs, but we turned away so many I can't even try and count them.

I've tried explaining this to people my parent's age and I learned a good lesson: Never try explaining the state of computer geek education and employment to a parent who has a kid taking computer classes. They automatically take my point to mean "you're wasting your money" and get offended, which is not my point at all. The point is that, as an industry, computer geeks are in a very difficult situation. We can all benefit from taking classes and going to expensive universities, but there is no guarantee we'll really (and more importantly PRACTICALLY) benefit from the knowledge. I learn more in a single day of browsing my RSS feeds than I ever did in a single lecture. That's mostly because I tend to absorb information quickly and the prof's always had to slow it down to make sure everyone in the class was getting it.

Ok I'm done now. This ended up being much longer than I planned.

Nintendo Famicom Calculators

2005-10-06T11:49:00.000-04:00

After doing a bunch of reports at work yesterday it occurred to me how I need a new calculator. The $1.99 Walmart special just doesn't cut it anymore.

These little beaut's are available from Lik-Sang for $14.95, and the top flips closed so that the calculator actually looks like a Famicom cartridge when not in use.

Legend Of Zelda, Super Mario Bros, and Ice Climbers available.

Decisions... decisions... decisions...

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

2005-10-05T18:53:00.000-04:00

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes - $94.50 (Amazon)

via I'm a Human Inbox

Continuing with the Gift Ideas theme as we approach the holidays, I can think of a dozen people I know who'd love this Calvin and Hobbes collection, weighing in at a hefty 1440 pages (shipping weight 22.5 pounds!).

Hinokio

2005-10-05T18:43:00.000-04:00

Hinokio - Trailer 1
Hinokio - Trailer 2
(large quicktime movies, I recommend #2)

Do you want to know why the Japanese make 99% of the best technology, games, and now increasingly movies?

Watch the trailers above. Then you'll know why.

The basics: A disabled Japanese boy attends class with the "normal" kids through a telepresence robot. Child cruelty ensues, kids learn lessons, and the robot turns into Skynet and starts killing everyone. Ok so that last part isn't true, but this looks like an awesome movie.

Directed by Takahiko Akiyama, who was the Visual Effects Supervisor for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (which I thought was VERY underrated).

Duct Tape Tails for Your Remote

2005-10-05T12:35:00.000-04:00

via Lifehacker

Here's an interesting, functional, and slightly odd looking tip: Adding a duct tape tail to your remotes makes it almost impossible to lose them (in the usual manner).

From the article:

Attaching a duct-tape tail to your remotes increases their visibility and makes them almost impossible to lose. The remote may work its way into cracks between sofa cushions or into the space under a lounge chair, but the tail won’t make it in. And if you use a strongly-contrasting duct-tape color, the remote will never be able to “hide” on a black table.

You’ll want to keep the tail about 18” long, so measure out about 40” of duct tape. Attach the first end to the bottom of your remote, below the lowest button. Carefully loop the duct tape in half, folding it carefully as you attach it to itself. There should be an inch or two left at the top after folding to complete the attachment to the remote. If space permits, add an additional “belt” of tape where the tail meets the remote.

How To: Change Sync Directory For Logitech Pocket Digital

2005-10-05T09:26:00.000-04:00

Back in April of this year I got a good deal on a Logitech Pocket Digital 130 on eBay. I've been a fan of the camera ever since it was introduced, and when I was looking for a new digital camera it was my first choice.

The camera doesn't take the best pictures in the world, but you can't beat it when it comes to size. It has the same length and width as a business card, and the thickness of a pencil. It slides open to reveal the flash, view finder, and lens.

About a week ago the company I work for made a change to our domain system, requiring all users on dedicated systems (like me) to create a new profile in WindowsXP/2000. Everything went relatively smoothly, but the Logitech camera sync software decided it was going to continue copying all my pictures to my old profile.

Now, it is possible to locate the pictures via the Documents and Settings folder, but I really wanted to have the My Pictures shortcut work again. Plus I don't have a reason to keep my old profile around except for this photo sync problem.

So I wrote an email to Logitech asking for help. Since it took them over three weeks to get back to me, here is their response so that anyone else experiencing this problem can find the solution here instead of waiting on Logitech:

Dear Jason,
You can save your pictures to a different location.
This requires a change in the registry that is not supported by Logitech.
Please follow the instructions below to save your pictures to a different location:

Click on Start.
Click on Run.
Type in Regedit.
Click OK.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to solve some issues, this document makes references to editing the Windows Registry. For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" online Help topic in Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).
Make a backup copy of the registry before you edit the registry.
WARNING: Using the Registry Editor incorrectly may cause symptoms requiring a reinstallation of Windows. Logitech is not responsible for issues which may result from incorrect use of the Registry Editor. Use the Registry Editor at your own discretion. The Registry Editor should only be used to make the exact changes described.

Click on File.
Click on Export.
Make sure the export range has a dot in all.
Name the file regbu.
Click on Save.
When it is finished that box will go away (this is the backup copy)

Click the + in front of HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
Click the + in front of Software.
Click the + in front of Logitech.
Click the + in front of CameraSoftware.1 (ImageStud.1 if you are using Image Studio software).
Click on the Album folder.
On the right side of the screen, double click on Base Dir.
Change the Value data line to read the path you want to save the pictures to.
Click OK.
Close the Registry Editor.
Restart the Computer.

eels in Munich, 2005-06-01

2005-10-04T11:14:00.000-04:00

Sprünge von der Teppichkante » eels in Munich, 2005-06-01

For my sister: A large collection of mp3's from a live Eels' show in Munich back in June.

Enjoy!

Quote Of The Day

2005-10-04T10:57:00.000-04:00

From the excellent Quote Of The Day page:

"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true."

- Robert Wilensky

The Worst Interiors of 1974

2005-10-04T10:43:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Eurobad '74, an exhibit of Europe's worst interiors of 1974.

An oldie but a goodie, this page will take you on a brief tour of some terrible, TERRIBLE interior design ideas.

My favorite (least favorite? not sure how it works picking favs out of a "worst of" line-up) is this green horse stable and kitchen combo.

Now if they had a cow in there I could understand it, but why a horse?

Kal-El Coppola Cage

2005-10-04T10:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Nicolas Cage's wife gave birth to his second son, who they've named Kal-El Coppola Cage.

Sadly this isn't a joke. Who knew Nicolas was such a Superman fan?