Sex Not Found

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Now, how do we force movie executives to watch it?

I am hopeful about the future. Technology gives us tools and people find a way to do great things.

If you've been to a movie recently, you've probably seen one of those pointless "don't steal movies" ads. Here's the perfect answer to it:

Who Watches Movies?

Blogger Broken

Damn - can't post.

Actually, I can post, but I can't get the site to update. Something is
broken.

However, if you can read this, it is now fixed.

Carry on.

There Is A Balm In Goldberg

I'm feeling particularly "tender" today. No particular reason, just a synchronisity of events. My oldest daughter turned 16 this past weekend and I spent all of yesterday afternoon running her around so she could get her driver's license. This morning she kissed me goodbye and headed off on her own. I watched her drive away with a mixture of pride and sadness. My job as a parent for her is almost done.

Today I also learned of a coworker/friend how just learned her child has cancer. I don't know any details yet, but I instantly felt that mixture of depression and fear.

So here in my office, at work drawing time lines for projects, I turn to the Goldberg Variations. Ah, they do help.

Buy More Music

Yes, we've added iTunes to the side bar so you can buy more music.

Actually, it's a pretty good way to get the music you want. As an example, Kathleen plays in several different bands and orchestras. She comes to me with a list of the music she's playing and we look for the tracks - and don't have to buy the whole album if we don't want it (but with classical I typically do - so much good stuff).

My Favorite Error Message

Many years ago (almost 20 years!) I was documenting software and creating training for a large medical information project at Bell Labs. I came across an error message for a field that I got a big kick out of. It said:

Please Disambiguate This Field.

I could never be certain that the programmer was joking. Knowing that crowd of button-down programmers, they were probably serious.

What made me think of that today?

Wikipedia:Disambiguation

I Don't Buy It. And Neither Should You.

Sigh.

Would this were true.

The Last Days of Telemarketing

As much as I hate spammers, tele-marketers truly depress me. Here's a real person and they're on a mission not just to annoy the hell out of me, the expect me to buy something. I'm rarely outright rude (OK, not so rare anymore), but gosh, what a way to make a living. What has lead you to the point in life where the best job you can get is sitting in a cubical farm and calling strangers, shilling. How sad for you.

Here's my rules for telemarketing, spam, and even door-to-door sales:

1. NEVER BUY FROM THEM. PERIOD.
That's right, and turn them away quickly. Yes, it's a person, but you're not obliged to talk to them. Yes, there is a difference for the neighborhood kid that's selling stuff to support their school - but not a big difference. If one of them approaches you, I suggest giving, but instead of buying junk, offer to make a direct contribution to their cause.

2. If you buy from these jerks, you make trouble for everyone else.
Why do they do it? Because it works. Spam a million people and ten will buy. So I'll spam 100 million. Again and again. Stop buying and stop everyone you know from buying. It's the only way it will stop.

3. If that wasn't clear enough for you, let me make it perfectly clear: Only stupid people buy from tele-marketers and spammers.
You're a mark. You've been conned. So wise up.

Let me tell you something else. Those television "info-mercials" aren't much better. It's a medicine show. It's all staged. The elixir they sell you is bathtub gin and gunpowder (which, unfortunately, I'm acquiring a taste for).

I have to admit, the Ginsu knifes I got at the Illinois State Fair 25 years ago are still razor sharp!

Captain Randy Sells Out

I'm really cluttering up the blog - more experiments, really. I've added an Alibris "Affiliate's Link" to the sidebar and will soon add one for iTunes - more playing around than anything serious.

But hey, I already bought 3 books since adding it, so it seems to be working. Oh, wait . . .

The Shape Of Things To Come

Soon, my friends, I hope to see the day when good news such as this is common place.

Carol Connolly gets another chance to garden

I have great hope for the future. Some day, cancer will be a story from our dark past and we'll shudder at the way people died and what they went through. All of the common diseases will fade away and our children and grandchildren will know them not.

But those of us who did know them, who knew those who suffered and died, will have a special bitterness.

And I have a new fear. When I was young, I knew that I would never live to the age of 16 and get my driver's license. It was clear that the world would vanish in a wave of nuclear heat. I still remember the nightmares where I would look out over the prairie from my home, the home of my great grandfather, and the western horizon would be lined with mushroom clouds.

And now? To get the news, to find cancer growing in my own body, or worse, my loved ones, so sure that in just a few years it would be trivial to reverse and repair.

I'm happy for Carol. Many happy days for you.

How to be creative

gapingvoid: how to be creative (original short version)

Even better when translated into Chinese.

I especially like Rule #7 and it's corollary, The Sex and Cash Theory.

This is only a test

I'm just screwing with the ads, see what shows up.

So, if I were to look for calendar software for my Mac, what should I get? Or if I wanted to buy movie posters or props? What about gourmet foods? And I like coffee - what about some really good coffee - maybe some I could roast myself? Where can I buy a coffee roaster - a small one? Or how do you roast coffee beans in an iron skillet?

And what about digital cameras? Where can I get one with a large hard drive, not a stupid little memory card.

And how much caffeine free coke can one person drink in a day?

After These Messages, We'll Be Right Back

So, as an experiment, I'm trying out the Google advertising - you may (or may not) see them to the right of this messages.

I don't think I have enough readers to make them worth while, nor do I encourage you, gentle reader, to click them or to buy their products or services.

I'm just a curious monkey.

The Wrath of the Net

Every day I spend 15 to 20 minutes sorting out the spam - even with pretty good spam filtering. It's annoying and offensive and I wish to hell that someone, somewhere could do something about it.

So, here's a plea for all you spammers out there. Look at yourselves. Trying to sell sex, drugs, real estate get-rich-quick plans. Is this what your life has come to?

Know this. Your time is short. We'll fix email and the net and you'll reap the whirlwind. When reputation matters and there are no more secrets, we'll remember you. Yes we will.

Repent, Spammer

Call Me Ishmael

Now here's a great and worth project: The Hook Project

Wow, just reading through the entries to date makes me want to shout, "to the library!"

Books are such wonderful things. It's such a rare pleasure to find really good ones. And the best, the very best, take no time for you to ease into them. Bam. You're hooked.

My first contribution: the opening from John D. MacDonalds' Darker Than Amber

"We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody dropped the girl off the bridge."

Wow. Top that!

So Tell Me About This Internet Thing

Shakespere was right. "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

I see these things and I laugh, but it also makes my stomach churn. Repeat after me, "Linking is GOOD". Oh, and here's another, "Linking is NOT STEALING". And most important, "I WANT YOU TO LINK TO ME - IT'S HOW I MAKE MONEY!".

Athens 2004 Hyperlink Policy

And don't even get me started on the so called "Modern" olympics.

"It's INAPPROPRIATE!"

The following blog entry I found linked on Boingboing.net both depresses and angers me.

Sea and Sky and Land - GRRR!

First of all - congratulations and high praise for "mephron". You sir, are a hero.

Next - whoever in charge there needs to do the following:

1 - Issue a public apology to mephron and also praise him for standing up to an abuse of power.

2 - Publish the training and standards documents for these security people

3 - Put a supervisor with some common sense in charge so that in any given instant they can be called to override idiots.

Thank god there are some people with courage out there.

Actually, I'd Prefer to be Maced Instead Of Being Forced to Watch "Catwoman"

These idiots deserved to be maced and arrested. I'm a great fan of cell phones, but they should be off or on vibrate in theaters and restaurants - virtually anywhere where the public expects quiet and no interruptions.

Southpinellas: Police: Belligerence led to couple's arrest

On the other hand, a good tazering might be more satisfying for the audience.

So Cool

Let's all go the Phantasmagoria! Early Visual Media

A Modest Proposal: The Media License

I've been kicking around a proposal for years. Unfortunately, I'm only a voice in the wilderness with no one in a position to make it happen listen to me.

This blog post at Home Theater Watch reminded me of it: Home Theater Watch: DVD producers lament shortened windows

Here's what I recommend that will put untold riches in the studio's hands while treating the consumer fairly AND taking into account changing technology. The media license.

Here's how it would work: I go to a movie and pay not just for a ticket, but to license the content - it's no longer an anonymous transaction, but an agreement. I could, like the blog suggests, buy the DVD on in the lobby on the way out, but in my scenerio, I already have a license to the content, so I'd only need to pay a small media charge for the DVD.

If new editions or new formats come out, I could pay the media charge and get them as well. I could not, however, resell my discs. I could show them in my home to friends as much as I want, but not lend them out. On the other hand, if the DVD format goes to HD-DVD and then to totally online, I wouldn't have to repurchase the content again and again.

Rogue Waves redux

Interesting post on rogue waves! I too wonder what the frequency is. My grandfather's grandfather was engineer (yes, a Scottish engineer) on a sound and well-maintained passenger ship with an experienced captain and crew sailing in familiar waters that foundered off Halifax, N.S., just after the turn of the 20th century. I still have copies of clippings and a copy of a long letter of condolence his widow received from their pastor.

My ancestor was the hero of the occasion, going below himself to try to keep the ship afloat long enough to get the passengers and crew off in the lifeboats. He went down with the ship, knowing when he went below that it meant he was doomed. I think this makes him a great man, but I'm not sure how much comfort that idea was to his widow on that occasion.

Yes, some people were killed in the tragedy -- stormy seas, difficulty getting boats and the people in them to other ships and to shore -- but not because anyone got stranded aboard the ship, except for my ancestor (and, I believe, the captain of the ship).

I don't know if a rogue wave was involved or not. And we'll never know, will we? But it gives one furiously to think.