Aardman Animations' trailer for Chicken Run is being shown in theatres now. Unfortunately, I picked that exact time to visit the ladies' room and only got to see trailers for obvious flops. I'll have to watch it online instead.
4/30/2000 12:17:59 PM - name='184381'
Saturday, April 29, 2000
Is the commentary track of The Matrix DVD worth sitting through? Tell me what you think if you've heard it. The movie's long, I've seen it so many times now and the commentary sadly is not by the Wachowski Bros, so I'm skeptical about allocating time to hear it. Update 5/2:Consensus is that it's not terribly enlightening; Carrie Moss has some interesting things to say; there are quite a few long stretches of silence. So I think I may play it as background noise one day when I'm primarily occupied on something else.
4/29/2000 8:51:47 AM - name='182217'
Bird on a Wire's mention of Lucasfilm suing Dr Dre for using their THX sound dredged up an old memory of Harley-Davidson trying to take action against another motorcycle manufacturer who had developed a bike with that signature Harley sound. Harley-Davidson decided to apply to trademark their engine's distinctively loud putt putt, which this WSJ article describes as "syncopated" and "like saying 'potato-potato-potato'". MGM's lion roar and NBC's three tone bongs have been trademarked. The trademark search database has a listing for Harley-Davidson's application, which reads "The mark consists of the exhaust sound of applicant's motorcycles, produced by V-Twin, common crankpin motorcycle engines when the goods are in use." Its current status: "An opposition is now pending at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board." I suppose that other motorcycle maker is asserting their right to also add to our landscape's sound pollution.
4/29/2000 8:38:04 AM - name='182197'
Friday, April 28, 2000
Here's a list of unusual items that UPS has shipped. I don't think "Rock band equipment for world tours" is particularly unusual, but I suppose it's got that celebrity cachet. I'm sure people have shipped more unusual items than this via UPS -- corporate just didn't know about those ;-). (found indirectly while catching up on Turlyming)
4/28/2000 9:22:47 AM - name='179976'
You know those programmers who have mirrors on their monitors so you can't sneak up on them? You know those arrogantly bright programmers who don't enjoy answering questions from seemingly unintelligent co-workers and therefore adopt highly condescending attitudes? Let's just say there happens to be a cross-section of those two groups. I'd like to slap a sticker onto their mirrors which reads: "Objects in mirror are smarter than they appear."
4/28/2000 9:14:47 AM - name='179962'
Thursday, April 27, 2000
Many of you probably already know about these sites, but they may be a helpful resource to some. I've recommended them to a few acquaintances recently who I thought should already know about them, but didn't. If you are looking for cell phones and wireless rates, visit cellmania.com. And if you're looking into getting DSL and need to figure out how far away you are from your central office or check out various ISPs, take a look at dslreports.com.
4/27/2000 1:16:41 AM - name='176273'
Science News has a wonderful article on the convergences between birdsongs and composed human music. The field of biomusicology, which studies what music is and how it evolved, has biologists and musicologists examining the patterns and musicality found in the songs of birds and humpback whales. Mozart was very fond of his pet starling, apparently borrowing the style and alterations of his winged friend's skilled compositions and mimicry. The article includes a link to a wav file of the white-breasted wood wren singing, whether by coincidence or not, the very familiar four note opening to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The important commonality for all composers, human, bird, or whale, is that variations on established themes create and hold interest in the composition. Animals are attracted to novelty, within a comfortable framework. So it's no wonder we end up with similar patterns in our beautiful method of communicating emotions. (article via Robot Wisdom)
4/27/2000 1:11:48 AM - name='176267'
Wednesday, April 26, 2000
More creative ads...these go onto the sand on the beach. I like the impermanence of it. (thanks Considered Harmful)
4/26/2000 9:11:28 AM - name='174323'
I guess this consumer color palette forecast explains why, though The Gap is finally offering a set of color denim jackets, which I've been craving recently, they don't have one in pink. Although pink came back into fashion this past year, I guess it's on the way out again. Feh. Anyway, I ended up buying a pink suede jacket from last season (Horrors! I'm behind the trendline!). (via brig, via anil)
4/26/2000 9:06:52 AM - name='174302'
Tuesday, April 25, 2000
Some people don't believe me when I tell them that splash screens were
originally created because programs started taking too long to load, so something was
needed to keep the user occupied and prevent them from trying to use
the program too soon. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I heard and
experienced myself. When applications I was working on got too bulky
to load in a jiffy, we'd add the splash. Some of the more amusing
bugs I've fixed had to do with splash screens interfering with the
loading of the program, either through display quirks or window handles
not going away. And many Windows programs had a "no splash"
command flag (e.g. runme -ns) so that you could load up without them.
There's also the "how to freak out your product manager when you're
very close to shipping" practical joke: replace your app's splash screen
with something unexpected -- perhaps a wanted poster with their photo.
4/25/2000 12:09:17 AM - name='171456'
A little while back I mentioned carvertising.com where you could get paid to have an ad banner on your vehicle. Today autowraps.com popped up on Yahoo - What's New. You can get paid to have your car wrapped with vinyl adhesive advertising. "All Federal and State studies conclude that the normal personal vehicle is averaging 750,000 impressions per month." Huh. That's not too shabby. Of course, they keep careful tabs on you to make sure you're making that impression. A GPS device is installed on your car and you have to drive more than 800 miles a month. Also you have to agree to wash your car no less than semi-monthly (I'd fail that one!). I think the oddest part of participating in this program would be that people would assume that you work for the company you're advertising. What if you had the misfortune of having to drive around with a competitor's ad! That would go over well in the company parking lot! Oh, and if you want your car to bear your own custom design, they can create a custom wrap just for you!
4/25/2000 12:06:05 AM - name='171447'
Monday, April 24, 2000
Flixx gives new meaning to the term "flashy jewelry". Their "lightwear" bracelets are powered by watch batteries. Some styles include motion sensors so they flash only when you're moving. There must be interesting new concepts designers can bring to the intersection of new technology and jewelry. I'd like some high tech hair accessories. Oh, and a sound-sensor collar for my cat that lights up when she meows in the dark!
4/24/2000 1:47:43 AM - name='169075'
FigLeaves.com is the best domain name for an ecommerce site I've come across in, uh, weeks. It's memorable and describes exactly what they sell in a fun, imaginative way. Not a lot of those left. (Oh, in case you were wondering, they sell underwear.)
4/24/2000 1:31:26 AM - name='169061'
Sunday, April 23, 2000
I found both of today's links on the excellent education log, LTSeek. First, this fascinating NY Times article about the campus-wide wireless network at Mount St. Mary College. It has had numerous positive effects on the faculty, librarians, and, of course, students who are able to access the Internet from anywhere on campus via laptops. The wireless solution was cheaper than wiring the entire campus, and it's so much more convenient. Of course, their campus is ideally suited for such a setup, the only interference being a microwave oven in a faculty lounge.
4/23/2000 10:43:08 AM - name='167885'
Here's another look at whether the increasing use of the Internet as a communication mechanism will have a negative impact on the socialization of teens. This Boston Globe article has a more balanced tone, with good quotes from MIT's Sherry Turkle, who is founding the Center for Technology and Identity to study how people lives are being affected by the influx of computers. She states that ''The Web is the location where much of the work of adolescence is being done these days." The article notes that some teens are more self-confident online. Does that translate eventually into real life? Perhaps. Those who don't believe the critics say that the Internet is just another communication medium which won't harm the development of children anymore than the phone does. Sure, life is different now than it was a few years ago, but so goes progress.
4/23/2000 10:35:46 AM - name='167872'
Saturday, April 22, 2000
What will the design backlash be to counter all this see-through jelly iMac-inspired stuff? Black? I remember when the NeXT cube was way cool because it was black (in fact, a one-foot die-cast magnesium cube) and just plain different than everything else and impressively ahead of its time.
4/22/2000 10:09:52 AM - name='166186'
On the PBS series Mental Engineering, panelists intelligently dissect commercials, discussing their hidden agendas and persuasive techniques. Sadly, many public television stations are wary of picking this gem up since they depend heavily on corporate financing. Which, to me, kind of defeats the purpose of having public television. But I suppose they have to do what it takes to survive. (via Feed)
4/22/2000 9:56:34 AM - name='166162'
Friday, April 21, 2000
Landon was looking up info on the "hollow.com" concept (because of that "vapid but greedy" dot com CEO report) and ran across this oddity: Hollow Planets Theory. Someone has published a book that discusses the possibility that Earth and other planets may be hollow. No, it's not a joke. There are actually some scientific facts that make this a concept worth looking at. At the very least, it shakes up long-lived assumptions enough to spark some new thinking on the makeup of planets. All five Amazon.com reviews are very positive.
4/21/2000 1:01:12 AM - name='163711'
The Online Journalism Review has a commentary on What the Pulitzers Missed: What makes a Newspaper a Newspaper? They question why online news publications were not allowed to submit their work for consideration. The Pulitzer bias is clear: printed format is required. It matters not that the content of an electronic publication may be of (gasp!) higher quality than that of smudgeable newsprint which can be used to line the bird cage. What will it take for the Pulitzer administrators to consider online-only entries? Will printed newspapers and books have to go completely away? When will the web be taken seriously as a publication medium? It is already the primary news source for multitudes of people.
4/21/2000 12:51:15 AM - name='163694'
Thursday, April 20, 2000
The abstract to Douglas Hofstadter's talk at Berkeley Friday is interesting food for thought. As is typical (though he has a wide range of interests), he is speaking about language and thought. His focus will be on the use of the word "guy", claiming that "this word is perhaps the most deeply sexist term in the entire English language, and the irony is that it is precisely because it seems so innocent that it is so insidious and such a trap, even for sophisticates." The plural "guys" is often used, and accepted for use, with mixed groups. Heck, I've even used it with groups of all females. And I don't like the word "gal" for some reason. This is an intriguing topic, laced with cultural oddities. As he states: "I cannot think of a single word that so epitomizes the complex relationship between language and thought as this one word in American English."
4/20/2000 1:03:33 AM - name='161301'
Lesson learned, over and over. Realtors, stock brokers, recruiters... these people are all in sales. It's easy to forget that fact when they're helping you find what you want, giving you suggestions, and offering advice. And there certainly are nice people in sales professions, even those rare birds who will sacrifice their commissions to make sure you get what you truly need or want. But the only person who you can be absolutely sure of to purely look out for your own needs is you. So always listen to yourself. Don't doubt yourself when working with people who have not yet earned your complete trust. If you feel manipulated when you're working with someone in sales, you most definitely are being manipulated. They know what buttons to push to close a sale.
4/20/2000 12:54:06 AM - name='161285'
Wednesday, April 19, 2000
Dotcom CEOs vapid ... but greedy. I laughed. I cried. I set up a trust fund for the cat. Forrester Research CEO and Chairman George F. Colony has written a blunt column criticizing the quality of dotcom CEOs. Their commitment and focus are on the short term, the IPO, the valuation, the marketing blitz, stuff I think of as the veneer of the company. There's no substance, no sustainable business model, no long term employee culture or morale, and, worst of all (IMHO), no commitment to creating quality product for the customers. Isn't that the point, after all? The users? sigh. Let the mergers & acquisitions begin.
4/19/2000 9:40:13 AM - name='159688'
Web Firms May Vastly Inflate Claims of 'Hits'. (And some celebrities may actually use hairpieces! Oh horrors!) Even if a site uses an auditor, they try to pump their numbers up, asking search engine hits to be counted and so on. I don't suppose the Nielson Rating method will ever work with the web. Grabbing a small percentage of the population to track web site popularity would be ludicrous. Right?
4/19/2000 9:31:10 AM - name='159665'
Tuesday, April 18, 2000
Interesting statistic from Medscape's Women's Health newsletter (sorry, registration required, so no direct link to the facts). According to statistics released last week, Canadian women abort almost one in four pregnancies. This is a rising trend that runs counter to a declining rate in the United States. The number has risen steadily since the Supreme Court struck down Canada's antiabortion law in 1988. Does Canada's vastly different health care system figure into this?
4/18/2000 1:19:53 AM - name='156636'
PC Week columnist, Peter Coffee, has written a few words about coders and, though he doesn't label it as such, their philosophies about writing code. His thoughts could use some expansion and clarification, but his basic premise is that someone still has to write the code and that coders disagree on when it's time to actually write it. I have two modes of operation. If I have time to do the design properly, I spend a chunk of time creating design documentation before any code is written, though I often do some "proof of concept" coding during that phase. If something is needed immediately or I'm "playing", I can happily stare down a blank editor window for a few minutes and crank out a few class files without the term "UML" making even the tiniest flitter into my mind.
4/18/2000 1:13:16 AM - name='156630'
Monday, April 17, 2000
RIP Edward Gorey. I'd like to know what will be on his tombstone. Did he design one for himself?
"Once when he was asked why he wrote so much about murder and other forms of violence, Mr. Gorey answered: 'Well, I don't know. I guess I'm interested in real life.'" (from the NY Times obit)
4/17/2000 2:09:12 AM - name='154182'
Once again, it is Patriot's Day, that unique Massachusetts holiday which I celebrated in college by standing outside my dorm for many hours, screaming my lungs out at the halfway point for the Boston Marathon. "Located between miles 12 and 13 is Wellesley College - an all women's school. Commonly referred to as the 'Screech Tunnel,' the tremendous support offered by the female students has made this one of the loudest sections of the course. Fans and photographers interested in witnessing this spectacle are encouraged to view from the opposite side of the street to enjoy the full effect of students' cheers and runners' reactions." I wouldn't call it screeching. It's just, well, high pitched 'cause it's mostly women.
4/17/2000 2:07:57 AM - name='154181'
If you're upgrading to a new cell phone, consider donating your old one to Call To Protect. This organization provides cell phones to victims of domestic violence. They program the donated phones to dial 911 and domestic violence shelters. "Over 50% of all women will experience physical violence in an intimate relationship, and for 24-30% of those women the battering will be regular and on-going. Every 15 seconds the crime of battering occurs."
4/17/2000 2:01:06 AM - name='154175'
Sunday, April 16, 2000
From the "easily amused" meets "bad puns" department: Well, today is Palm Sunday. So everyone with Palm Pilots and other PDAs, it's your day to celebrate! (thanks birthday girl, Lisa).
4/16/2000 12:33:39 AM - name='152537'
Forbes' article on Pierre Omidyar, founder of EBay, describes how he is attempting to give away all but 1% of his billions by 2020. I appreciate that he tries to keep a low profile, and that he is picking charities that address the root causes of problems instead of the "band-aid" situations. Sure, it's important to feed the hungry, but the long term results of a program to allow more people to provide for themselves is critical to fixing the actual problem. The article includes plenty of details on his reaction to sudden wealth and how he and his wife tried to find the best way to donate their wealth. It's important to make sure your money is being used properly, otherwise, why bother giving it away?
4/16/2000 12:29:00 AM - name='152534'
Saturday, April 15, 2000
Seth (who has shortened his log name to Entropy) pointed me to the Question Exchange where technical people can get certified and then paid to answer questions. I worry a little about this model since cooperation and information exchange is one of the hallmarks of the 'net. But I suspect that savvy geeks will continue to answer questions on discussion groups and mailing lists. However, if getting an answer is free to the reader (although I suspect "free" == "give us your personal data so we can sell ads"), and the responder can profit, along with the site host, is that good or bad? I'm actually not sure. Opinions?
4/15/2000 8:33:17 AM - name='151443'
I was perusing the GE Avantium site and, all of a sudden, a window popped up telling me that I've been visiting for 1.5 minutes and my pound of shrimp would be just
perfect right now. A few minutes later, they inform me that my chocolate chip cookies are now done. I felt like sticking around a bit to see if they were going to let me know that I had also just burned my biscuits in my nonexistent oven.
4/15/2000 8:24:00 AM - name='151432'
Friday, April 14, 2000
Do kids with cable television not draw televisions as a box with a "V" antennae on top? And how many unused rooftop antennas are taking up airspace above cable-wired houses?
4/14/2000 2:02:25 AM - name='149288'
I often wonder what it would be like to read travel guides about the United States written for foreigners. I suppose unless I learn other languages, I would be limited to those from English speaking countries. But I'd love to know what a Japanese or French guidebook says about traveling in America. Do they remind you that football isn't really football and soccer is? Do they offer advice on how to deal with native New Yorkers? I bet there are lengthy explanations about the various tipping scenarios. America is such a diverse nation, I'd feel uncomfortable reading any generalizations about our culture and behavior. But there probably are valid statements that can be made. Just look at all the coffee drinkers and hamburger eaters. Memepool recently linked to a U.S. and Canada travel guide written for a British audience. Poking through, I found some interesting items. The Other Comments section of the Connecticut description reads "Most American states are divided into counties for administrative purposes. According to one source, Connecticut is divided into towns; another source says Connecticut has counties but they serve virtually no administrative purpose." Connecticut does have counties, and they do have an administrative purpose, but not to the extent of a larger state like California. California's Other Comment is "Several sources such as guide books and brochures state that it is illegal to run out of petrol in California. This appears in fact to be a myth, as far as I can determine. I can find no mention of any such law in the official California Driver's Handbook. It would appear that it is illegal to run out of petrol on some lengthy bridges, but this law is not unique to California." Hmmm. Massachusetts, the other state I've lived in, has no Other Comments. Hmph. The page about the Major Cultural and Practical Differences Between the UK and the USA/Canada describes "Typicalville, USA". Worth a read. My favorite section was about traffic: "Everyone obeys the speed limits in town because they know the police will stop them if they don't." I guess I don't live in Typicalville. There's second page, also worth a scan, of other differences. "Whereas it is quite common to have to share a table with one or more strangers at a fast food restaurant in the UK, this is just not done in the USA and Canada." And I never realized that our many wooden houses look temporary to visitors from the UK. Weird. Regarding television "The constant advert breaks make the viewing of a programme with any kind of a plot almost impossible." Wow. To me that's like saying it's impossible to read a newspaper with all those darn ads in the way! It's neat that someone took the time to put this site together. It covers many other topics I have not had the chance to read.
4/14/2000 1:52:20 AM - name='149275'
Thursday, April 13, 2000
Everywhere I go in Silicon Valley I see "Help Wanted" and "We're Hiring" signs. Restaurants, supermarkets, high-tech buildings, low tech shops. So, I've got to wonder: who the heck isn't hiring?
4/13/2000 12:58:12 AM - name='147260'
I get stressed easily. I worry a lot. And I stress and worry about how much I stress and worry. I'm better than I used to be, but I still need to remember to relax. (Sometimes I sit and watch the San Diego Zoo baby panda cam to calm myself. Watching a cute little baby panda sleep is so relaxing.) Feed's special DNA issue has an informative, if somewhat disconcerting, essay about the Influence of Anxiety on our genes. Gene CYP17 on chromosome 10 makes an enzyme which enables the body to convert cholesterol into cortisol. "Cortisol and stress are virtually synonymous." So when you're stressed, a lot of cortisol is running around your veins. And through a complicated interplay of turning various genes on and off, cortisol suppresses your immune system by altering white blood cells. And, ultimately, it's your brain, under stress, that sets off this chain of events. Monkeys lower in their social hierarchy get more heart attacks. So do British civil servants lower in their pecking order, according to another study. The less control someone has over their lives, the more stress they are under. "Cortisol levels rise in response not to the amount of work you do, but to the degree to which you are ordered about by other people." And then your blood will "contain less and less of the cholesterol bound to high-density lipoprotein (HDL)." That translates to clogged arteries and raised heart attack risk. A low cholesterol diet makes little difference. What really got me was this sentence: "You can raise your cortisol levels just by thinking about stressful eventualities -- even fictional ones." If I don't learn how to stop worrying about every little thing, I'm doomed. My health is my number one priority. Mental and physical. And, dualism be damned, the mental affects the physical in greater ways than traditional medicine has led us to believe. Maintain control over your life. It may be the best way to live a happy, healthy one.
4/13/2000 12:52:06 AM - name='147247'
Wednesday, April 12, 2000
Follow up to the Amazon.com of the future mock-up: A women, quoted in Powell's April 11 newsletter, gives feedback on their web site redesign. "Where are the tabs? How can I be sure you're trying to sell me books if your pages aren't nested inside make-believe beige file folders?" (big giggles here)
4/12/2000 12:59:11 AM - name='144939'
Time for our favorite essay device: compare and contrast. Article 1: The New York Times: For Women in Silicon Valley, It Seems Like Strikeout.com. Article 2: The New York Observer: They’re Single, Ambitious, Worth Millions, But Can New York Women Download Their Megabyte Egos?. Article 1 mentions a five to one ratio of men to women in the Silicon Valley dating scene. The men complain about gold-diggers who are just trolling for millionaires. One well-traveled male says "the women are quite stuck up here." Oh how wonderful. But though men have a hard time finding a date, the women don't seem to be coming up with much either: "the good guys that are available don't come out of their cubicles." In Article 2, various male Silicon Alley execs reveal their dating issues. "I have two people I dated in the last three years who dated me specifically to leverage their careers." They also echo the gold digger sentiment, with one guy stating that if a woman starts talking about charities like she wants to be the next Melinda Gates, she's only interested in dollar signs. Meanwhile, the women complain about the web workaholics: "Thirty minutes after the millennium, my boyfriend was back on the computer." and "if you’re looking for someone who’ll be home by 7 to cook dinner with you after work–someone to share a sane, stable life–Internet people, men and women alike, are probably not for you." To me, none of this sounds new. It's the same old themes, played out with the money and atmosphere of the new Internet economy. Men and women have been miscommunicating about dating and relationships for eons. And using each other to get ahead. And working too late. On both coasts and everywhere in between. (Observer link via Robot Wisdom. For another take on the NY Times article, read Salon's criticism of the New York media for jumping on the Silly Valley gold digger idea.)
4/12/2000 12:47:00 AM - name='144926'
Tuesday, April 11, 2000
The Pulitzer Prizes for 2000 have been awarded. Where's that extra time I need to polish my short stories? Oh right. I started a web log instead. :-)
4/11/2000 1:10:20 AM - name='142662'
Feed pointed to a fascinating and educational essay on book publshing by Jason Epstein, editor-in-chief of Random House. It's long, but worth setting aside time to read if you are interested in the evolution of publishing and how he believes it will change with new technologies. He begins with a nostalgic trip back to his earlier days at Random House when he had an office in a lovely mansion and authors such as Dr. Seuss and Ralph Ellison would drop in for a spell. His details regarding the current state of the publishing world are harbingers of vast changes to come. Previously, publishers' bread and butter were their backlists of steady sellers. But "the retail market for books is now dominated by a few large bookstore chains whose high operating costs demand high rates of turnover and therefore a constant supply of best sellers, an impossible goal but one to which publishers have become perforce committed." There is a concentration of authors amongst the bestsellers. "Between 1986 and 1996 the share of all books sold represented by the thirty top best sellers nearly doubled as retail concentration increased. But within roughly the same period 63 percent of the one hundred best-selling titles were written by a mere six writers—Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, and Danielle Steele" And what will become of the brick and mortar bookstores in the face of ecommerce? "Like shrines and other sacred meeting places bookstores are essential artifacts of human nature. The feel of a book taken from the shelf and held in the hand is a magical experience, linking writer to reader." He says that readers may prefer bookstores as they prefer eating out in restaurants instead of ordering in, but the convenience of online ordering "will profoundly affect current book marketing practice, to say nothing of the effect on readers and writers." The role of the publisher could change markedly and perhaps be collapsed into that of the writers and their business managers and agents. "The obstacles imposed between readers and writers by traditional publishing technologies -- a system of improvisations accumulated over generations from the vagaries and impasses of obsolete forms of production and distribution -- will wither away."
4/11/2000 1:03:24 AM - name='142654'
Monday, April 10, 2000
Wheee...no longer do I have to channel Seth. He can channel himself with his new Entropic Decay log. Phew!
4/10/2000 10:04:00 AM - name='141291'
I've been thinking about ringing phones. Well, more specifically, I've been wondering if the phone will always ring in the future. With AOL Instant Messenger, if someone is on my buddy list, the "caller's" first message will just pop up in the window. How does their new voice chat paradigm work? Does that "ring"? With my always-with-me personal communication device of the future, ideally I will be able to choose how I want incoming communiques to be announced. The two variables would be what I'm doing at the moment (if I'm in an interruptable meeting, I may want my device to vibrate in all cases) and who is calling (if it's my S.O. and I'm doing work at my desk, I won't mind getting their voice immediately, if it's a cold-call recruiter, they should go into voicemail). Of course, if the device itself is intelligent, it could figure that out for me automatically, but I probably wouldn't mind personalizing most of it myself. There are some technical issues, of course, with having a ringing phone vs. an instant voice come over the wire, but I assume those are just vestiges of old technology paradigms and that the "interrupt method" of the future can be flexible.
4/10/2000 10:01:03 AM - name='141283'
Sunday, April 9, 2000
There are things we do that are so ingrained into our system that they've become part of our subconscious and we no longer realize we do them. I discovered yesterday, at Fantasia 2000 at The Tech's IMAX theatre, that when I sit down in an auditorium or theatre, I look for an exit sign. Just in case. The IMAX theatre didn't have any I could see. Which was nice since it would be a distraction to the immersive experience. But I spent a few minutes feeling a bit uncomfortable that some part of my brain didn't know where to head in case of a fire. Fantasia is quite good. My favorite was the final piece, Firebird, since that was the most original, in both artistic expression and music selection. My main complaint was the overabundance of piano selections. There are plenty of other fascinating pieces for other solo instruments and orchestra. Maybe next time.
4/9/2000 9:24:53 AM - name='139526'
Saturday, April 8, 2000
Amazon.com of the not-so-distant future. I wonder if they have any taxonomy experts on staff. (via kottke)
4/8/2000 9:19:00 AM - name='138091'
Driving home from work yesterday doing Lilly's commuting activity #7 (think of a personalized license plate for myself), I suddenly thought of an awesome one: NOSPOON (as in The Matrix, get it?). So I'm feeling all self-satisfied because I can never think of a plate configuration that I would actually use, but, of course, California contains 90% of the geek and movie population in the world and NOSPOON is already taken, according to the DMV database. I wonder if it's on a black 1965 Lincoln Continental. And, though I was sure of it, I checked anyway, and domains nospoon.com, net, and org are already taken. That's the problem with being a geek. We all think alike. Darn hive mind.
4/8/2000 9:08:28 AM - name='138070'
Friday, April 7, 2000
These Fisher Price Little People dressed as TV and movie characters had me laughing for many minutes. (Remember, I'm easily amused.) (via Kestrel's Nest)
4/7/2000 1:11:02 AM - name='135783'
PC Week is jumping onto the ubiquitous "e" bandwagon and changing its name to eWEEK. I used to read PC Week's print issue religiously about five years ago, accumulating large, slippery stacks of it in my cube. I enjoyed Christine Comaford's column which covered various topics on client/server development back when I was working on that oh-so cutting edge technology. Christine now appears to be keeping busy with her VC firm, Artemis Ventures, but her old Christine.com site is still up. Losing the "PC" in the PC Week name made me think about outdated store names like "Record World". And then the strangest thing happened. I typed www.eweek.com in my browser and was redirected to www.simple.com. Then I tried www.recordworld.com and ended up again at www.simple.com. I thought maybe I had miskeyed something and gone back a page, but I tried recordworld again with the same results. So I did a whois search and found out that eweek.com and recordworld.com are owned by the same folks, who, obviously, also own simple.com. That's got to be the oddest thing that's happened to me on the web -- at least this week. It's as if the web itself is validating my oblique trains of thought. The web connects all.
4/7/2000 1:01:28 AM - name='135775'
Thursday, April 6, 2000
I don't remember how I found this, and it's not particularly exciting, but I was amused that it existed. Little Black Dress To Go sells little black dresses in three styles. To me, Little Black Dress == Audrey Hepburn.
4/6/2000 3:09:22 AM - name='134148'
There are some interesting essays in Joel on Software, a software development web log. Strong opinions to agree or disagree with. Hmm...I once used Excel for software schedules too. Now I just enjoy yelling at Project's user interface. I do. I do.
4/6/2000 3:03:19 AM - name='134147'
Noel Davis at RootPrompt.org sent me info on the nifty Alex Catalog of Electronic Texts, a searchable "collection of digital documents collected in the subject areas of English literature, American literature, and Western philosophy." You can read more about its features and infrastructure. It was created using all open source tools, which makes it even niftier. This reminded me to make my periodic check into Project Gutenberg to see what new texts are available.
4/6/2000 2:53:45 AM - name='134144'
Wednesday, April 5, 2000
Counter-intuitive information about the dangers of cell-phone radiation. The study found that the hands-free sets actually increase the amount of radiation. Huh.
4/5/2000 9:30:17 AM - name='132585'
From a Wired News article: "Redskirt.com, which launched in December, is a Chinese-language portal attempting to create an online community for women in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States."
This idea takes wonderful advantage of the power of the web as
an information resource, and it makes me feel like there are rays of
light amongst the money-grubbing e-commerce sites (not that there's
anything wrong with making money off the 'net!). As the article says: "The Internet provides an outlet for women who are reluctant to
seek outside help for personal problems they find embarrassing..."
It's a nice feeling to be able to reach women who don't have anyone to turn to. Of course
many women who need help and information don't have access to the Internet, but it can't
hurt to have a resource available for those who do. As the web continues
to grow, and popular sites become more homogeneous and commercially saccharine, I hope we continue to maintain niches of information, support, and sharing for groups of people who need specific help but have nowhere to turn except the Internet.
4/5/2000 9:26:40 AM - name='132574'
Tuesday, April 4, 2000
I'm not quite sure what to say about these Microsoft Certified Professional Action Figures except that it doesn't look like they can get their arms close enough together to do the "three finger salute" (that's control-alt-delete for all you lucky people). Maybe that's why there are three of them. They travel in packs of three ready to perform reboots in a single synchronized bound. (via Considered Harmful)
4/4/2000 1:57:29 AM - name='129737'
MSN's UnderWire (gak, I don't think I like that name!) has an article on women in high tech and how they dress. The "no duh" conclusion is that female programmers are treated more as equals by their male counterparts when they dress as casually as they do. Heck, male engineers probably would be too. A guy in a suit doesn't get much respect if he hasn't proven himself to be competent. But it probably would take a nicely dressed female longer to earn that same respect. Someone I worked with at a previous company was sent to Apple as a consultant and she got little or no help from the male techies there who were supposed to help integrate her project. She finally decided to start wearing jeans and t-shirts to work and was suddenly taken a lot more seriously. It's too bad that how someone looks gets in the way of certain people's assessment of their abilities. I'm sure I do it too, because tech people do fall into stereotypical categories more often than not. But it is nice that I don't have to be dressed up to be taken seriously in this industry.
4/4/2000 1:37:15 AM - name='129733'
Monday, April 3, 2000
Ahhh, now I know why I haven't seen any of those new dollar coins yet. This Mercury News article explains that Sacagawea coins are being hoarded and not spent by consumers. Come on, people! This is not a limited edition release like those state quarters. They will make more. Let them go! Then again, perhaps if we refuse to use them, vending machine proprietors won't be inclined to round all purchase prices to the dollar. I'm wondering how many bridge toll takers will be out of work if the coins do catch on and exact change baskets get installed at the bridge tolls. But, as the article punnily says, "People resist change."
4/3/2000 1:45:55 AM - name='124318'
It's college admissions season. Whew. Seeing the articles the NY Times is running on the admissions process at Wesleyan University brought back some frightening memories. I was rejected from the majority of the places I applied to because I shot pretty high (oh lo over the ivy walls). And to this day I wonder what miracle of fate got me into the only place I really wanted to go. I remember my friend, Nicole, calling me up at work to tell me that we both got into our (same) safety school. She had already called my mom to ask her if I had also received a bulky envelope from a certain university. Her exact words were "Now we know we get to go to college!" Oh, but until that second acceptance arrived, I remained a nervous wreck. I think senior year of high school was when I picked up the terrible habit of not sleeping when I'm under stress. And it was all those darn college applications that started it. The NY Times article points out how the admissions process often ends up being very personal for the committee members as they see their own experiences reflected in those of the applicants, often ones with some disadvantage. And, as we always kept hearing, it's those extracurricular activities that put you over the top.
4/3/2000 1:39:57 AM - name='124311'
Sunday, April 2, 2000
I like how the opening for the straw in the Jamba Juice cups is a bit off center.
4/2/2000 12:12:20 PM - name='123253'
Did you know that those nice Pyra/Blogger folks also own blooger.com? It's amazing what you can learn from referral logs. Barnes & Noble owns a bunch of misspelled domain names too, which was a smart move. Of course they were probably most thrilled to get bn.com.
4/2/2000 12:08:56 PM - name='123245'
Saturday, April 1, 2000
I wasn't planning to see High Fidelity on opening day. Really, I wasn't. I've got piles of things to do. But Randy was unintentionally a bad influence and I ended up at the matinee. So, in the spirit of the film (which was Most Excellent), here are my top five John Cusack movies in reverse chronological order, with a few autobiographical references. I realized today that the reason I love his definitive films so much is that he's basically my age and his characters always hit my psyche at just the right time.
And, from the official web site's Top Five lists, I discovered that Rob's second favorite book of all time is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Cool.
4/1/2000 1:16:40 AM - name='121477'
