Beware of Suits Bearing Gifts

Free Hardware: a Trojan Horse?

Amen to that.

Folks in the marketing world understand the power of the word "Free", but they also think consumers are stupid. That's why, once again Microsoft will try and own your corporate soul by "giving" you hardware. Unless your IT manager is already in Microsoft's pocket, this ain't gonna happen.

Primal Fears, Part II

Remind me sometime to tell you about my completely rational fear of bears, which I developed by reading sporting magazines in barber shops.

"'My first thought was, that's a really big dolphin. But then I noticed it was swimming side to side rather than up and down,' he said."

Pucker Factor?

Years ago, before I screwed up my back, I enjoyed windsurfing. Of course I was using a 50 pound board and a huge sail mainly on the freshwater Hoover Reservoir and a few times in the protected Albermarle Sound.

Recently I've seen guys out on the Outer Banks with these kites and they're pretty amazing, but with an equally amazing learning curve. I suppose this would be motivation to get your ass out of the water, though.

A first -- from Farallones to S.F. by kite-boarding"'My pucker factor, at the thought of the sharks, was huge,' said Gibson. 'The whole idea was to tread water as little as possible. I still had a feeling we were being watched.' "

Yikes.

Old style wind surfing is tough enough to learn. You have to balance on the board, then haul the sail up out of the water. Then you have to understand the wind - not just with your head, but with your body. You have to get everything aligned, balanced, and well, spend several days just getting the hell beat out of you. When it finally clicks it's a hoot - the sensation of speed is amazing - especially when the board planes out of the water and you rip along. And these kites are another order of magnitude more complex. Even without Great White Sharks increasing your pucker.

Odd Self Discovery: I'm A Fantasy Fan

I'm a voracious reader and don't limit myself to any particular genre. It has always been easier to say what I don't like - I'm not a big fan of celebrity biography or autobiography most any form. And I certainly don't read what is know as "romance". And usually on that list was Fantasy. Swords and sorcery. Sure, I love Tolkien, but hate his imitators.

But I just finished "The Knight" by Gene Wolfe. Yes, I know I've sworn to wait till he published the second volume, but the interest took me to it on the shelf and it was TERRIFIC. God, there's good stuff there.

I've always felt more comfortable in science fiction. Seat me with the nerds, not the goths, please. But in truth, sci-fi is a sub-genre of fantasy. Hell, all fiction is a sub-genre of fantasy.

OK, I just don't care for bad books. I'll read a good one wherever I find it.

And after finishing that excellent novel I had my appetite whet for more. Time, once again, for T. H. White's "The Once And Future King"

The One With The Horse

I'm a big fan of the Illiad (read the Robert Fagles translation - it's amazing ), so I was hopeful about this movie.

But after talking with a friend that went to a preview, I'll be dammed if I give the movie makers any of my dollars.

The Iliad is one of the great works of literature for more than one reason - and here's the biggest: the story is perfect. Why fuck with it? The movie makers gain NOTHING by killing off characters and "condensing" the action. Hollywood movie logic says "bad guy" Agamemnon must die, totally ignoring that he will be murdered for his crimes by his own wife when he returns and setting off the events that help define modern justice and the turning away from revenge and vigilantism. The war lasts 10 years, not 2 weeks - which makes much more sense as to why the Greeks are at each others throats.

And the Gods - Homer's story shows them every bit as petty and vindictive as the mortals. Stubborn, vain and capricious. Yes, I can see the story told without them, but WITH them we have a powerful mirror to human interactions.

But Hollywood thinks us stupid. We've never read the story. Our literature and foundations of our society, government, and civilization doesn't resonate with its message. We just want to see some buff guys fighting with swords.

A missed opportunity.

Just Plain Wrong

Wow, does Katie Hafner writing for the New York Times blow it with her article on building a home cinema. She sets off on the wrong foot with this:

The New York Times > The Do-It-Yourself Cineplex: "My first step was to lay a few ground rules. One was to conduct thorough research but not drive myself crazy. I vowed to gather information from a handful of well-informed aficionados near my home in the San Francisco Bay area and ignore the rest.

I allowed myself to use the Web, but selectively. Product reviews and price comparisons were fine, but I steered clear of the dozens of online home theater discussion groups. Remember, some of these people are not merely opinionated fanatics, they're opinionated fanatics with too much time on their hands.

If you want advice, you're better off calling friends who have been through the home theater ordeal. Make sure they went through it recently, because like most technology, equipment and prices change almost weekly."

Let me tell you something: your friends don't know shit. And even if your friends do know something, you don't know if they're experience on this can be trusted.

And most of all, you don't know what's possible.

This can be applied to anything, but let's talk about home theater.

Before starting a project like this, survey what's possible. You might decide you'd just like a TV and some stereo speakers, or you might discover that for a little more, you can build an immersive environment. But you'll never know until you look outside your group of friends. You might find out that those Bose speakers you've been looking at don't produce as sound as well as something less expensive, but Best Buy doesn't carry them. You might find out that no, painting your wall flat white isn't the best way to save on buying a screen (but there are other colors and DIY solutions that produce very good results.) And you might find that a little more thought about the room before you look at equipment can save you $$$ and give you a great audio environment.

You picked the wrong group to ignore, Ms. Hafner. Some of us fanatics could have spent some of our "too much time" helping you.

Oh, and you really screwed your friends by showing them "Master and Commander" with a blown subwoofer. That movie rocked at my place.

Damn, Missed Another Anniversary

Gmail For All (OK, Just For Me)

I received my invitation to join the Beta test of Google's new email system last night. Gmail, when it's released to the public will be a free service which offers a free email account with a full gigabyte of storage. Most systems offer a tiny fraction of that - hell, most paid systems offer less than 10%.

It's also an interesting approach to email - making your email into "conversations" - which I find very useful. And searching - which is also cool.

I wish there were a way for me to dump 10 years of old email into it, but I'll have to work it from this point forward. And I'm not yet set on making it my main account, which also limits its usefulness.

The ads? Not a problem. And no, I don't have any more privacy concerns with them than I do with any other internet service provider.

And no, I can't get you into the beta, either. But it should be available to the public soon.

It's Due Now, Baby

"'John always knows when his homework is due.'"

This is good news. Sorta.

But it doesn't counteract the acid sent swirling in my gut this morning when I hear Rush Limbaugh proclaim that the Iraq prison abuses wasn't a bad thing at all. “If you look at the role Arab men make their women play, to make American prison guards females and give them utter power over Arab men, some might call that torture. Some might call that decent punishment. Some might say, 'Here's a taste of your own medicine. This is what you've been doing to your women, only now the tables are turned.'”

I use too think he was just a blustering idiot I didn't care for. It's clear now that that he's more than that. He's a evil man - a real bad guy. He poisons his audience, trying out messages, seeing what they'll believe. When he goes to far he'll say, "I was only kidding. Can't you tell it's all comedy?"

No. It's not funny anymore. It never was.

And shouldn't he be in prison? What happened to those drug charges? Guess it helps to have friends in high places. Too bad - he might get to see some of those prison guard abuses up close and personal.

Changing Time

Hmm - Blogger's been sprucing up the place. I've been mucking about with my template as well. We'll see how this all turns out.

Good Choice

I recommend Steven Pinker for two reasons. First and most important - he's a terrific and entertaining writer. That alone makes his books worth while.

And of course, he his also on the cutting edge of the cognitive sciences. Here's a man that can title a book "How The Mind Works" without false bravura. The man knows what he's talking about.

Steven Pinker Selected as one of the "Time100"

His most recent work, "The Blank Slate" is terrific and contains some really thought provoking ideas about ethics and morality, certainly steps beyond the simple nature vs. nurture argument.

Oh, and a third reason. Any person of intelligence that wants to seriously think about existence and human potential should read his Pinker!

While your at it, best see what George Dyson has to say as well.

When I Was Seventeen . . .

The hell with that, my teenage years were not exactly angst filled, but I have no nostalgia to return to that time and place.

Now 20, that was a good year. I finished my sophomore year of college and changed my major to something I enjoyed and was good at. I spent the summer working on a construction crew and returned to college fit, golden brown, driving my vintage Karman Ghia convertible. I was confident with myself and was finally getting the hang of dating, or at least asking for dates.

But in all, now that I am 44, I'd not go back. Going forward is much more interesting.

Apparently, somewhat gender confused as well

What Liberty Meadows Character are you?
Name
DOB
Favourite Color
Your are	Evil Brandy
This QuickKwiz by fabboferretsdad - Taken 78 Times.

New Car Blues

For some reason or another I've got it into my head that we need to buy a new car.

My justifications:

• Kathleen will be 16 in September and will need a vehicle
  
• The minivan has over 112,000 miles on it and I currently put around 300 miles per week on it - if we want to keep it for family vacations/road trips, we need to keep the mileage down - or plan on replacing it soon (and I'd rather not have another minivan as my daily driver).
  
• Some other really good and decisive reasons that I can't think of right now.

We've had both of our current vehicles paid off for a couple of years and it's nice to not have a car payment. We've discussed a number of options. But the new cars beckon.

My requirements: Flexible and comfortable - big enough with a hatchback so we can transport the string bass with driver and 2 passengers. Quieter on the road and more car-like (as opposed to truck-like) ride and handling.

Which brings me to the "crossover" class of vehicles - which include the Nissan Murano, the Lexus RX330, and the Infiniti FX35. All of which are terrific vehicles and much too expensive. I should never have driven the FX35. It's just too much fun (think sport car, not SUV). It just purrs. At least I didn't drive the FX45 - even I know that's too much car.

I'm going to take a step back and drive some things on the other end of the spectrum like the KIA Sorrento and the and the Hyundai Sante Fe. And to balance things out, the VW Touareg.

Sigh. It's just a hell of a lot of money. I think leasing is a scam and we do tend to keep our vehicles six years or longer, on average (the Windstar is a 98 model year, purchased in 97, my wife's Taurus is a 99 model year).

If I had to decide right now and money wasn't an issue, I'd pick the Lexus. Although I get the impression that I wouldn't be buying a car as much as joining a club. It appears to be a terrific vehicle, but I'm not really the country club type. Can I get the vehicle without the attitude?

And I Thought It Was A Surprise Birthday Party For Me

MacMinute: Jobs to speak on iTunes Music Store anniversary

If you haven't tried out iTunes for searching for and buying music, you're missing out.

My daughter, Kathleen, is a big jazz fan and plays string bass in her high school band (see previous posts here). She came home last week with a hand written list of songs she wanted to hear and learn. A few minutes in iTunes and she had them all (all that I didn't already have, I'm a jazz fan myself). We bought a half dozen tracks for 99 cents each - late Sunday evening. It's damn handy and addictive as hell.

I worry about the music industry, though. Those guys don't get it. I've seen threats of price increases. And they're unhappy with single track sales vs. CDs. But it's way cool and my preferred way of purchasing music (and yes, I've bought more total dollars worth of music in the past year than the previous one).

Ride Captain Ride

Damn. Listening to the radio and get songs stuck inbetween the ears. This time it's "Ride Captain Ride" by Blues Image.

Tell me, do the lyrics have any meaning? "Seventy three men sailed up from the San Francisco Bay . . ."

And while we're at it, what about "One Toke Over The Line". Is it really just some homesick and stoned guy whining?

Wanted: More Brave, Anonymous Patriots

‘Where is the David Halberstam of this generation?'

Where indeed.

LA Weekly: Features: Swallow This, Deep Throat "One of the reasons Deep Throat stayed anonymous back then was if it came out that he was ratting, they would kill him. That is an anonymous source."

There Is No Limit To The Cool Stuff You Can Buy On eBay

This is so out of my field, but were it closer, I'd bid it up!

eBay item 3189039958 (Ends Apr-30-04 09:58:51 PDT) - DECREASE YOUR ERDOS NUMBER! scientific coauthorship

Genius In The New Millennium

This is fucking brilliant. While once we told ghost stories around the fire, now we do it on eBay.

Dibbuk Haunted Jewish Wine Cabinet Box

Geeks And The History Buffs They Become

I've been saying for some time now that the path to intellectual enlightenment isn't science, it's history. Science is important, but it calls for breaking things down. History, real history, as broad and as detailed as possible (including archeology) makes one question the assumptions that are thrust on us. History from as many sources as possible. "Wait a minute, different people have different views of the same event?"

And first person accounts forces one to drop interpretation and try and see what it was like to be there.

Salon.com Books | The Salon Interview: Neal Stephenson "There was a review of 'Cryptonomicon' with a line in it that struck me as interesting. The guy said, 'This is a book for geeks and the history buffs that they turn into.' I'm turning into one. I'm in this history book club, which is not all geeks but it's definitely got some serious geeks in it. It's been going for four or five years maybe. We're all consistently dumbfounded by how interesting history is when you read it yourself compared to how dull it was when they made you study it in school. We can't figure out why there's that gap. I think they try to cover too broad a sweep at once so you never get down to the individual people and their stories. It's all generalities. "

Yes, geeks that are more than obsessives find their way inevitably to history.

On a side note: I really like Stephenson's work, but I'm waiting for him to finish the cycle before reading it. I HATE having material dribbled out. Yes, I understand why it's done, but I don't like it. I have the latest Gene Wolfe sitting on my shelf, unread, for the same reason.