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March 31, 2003
In keeping with my use
In keeping with my use of this website as a giant "favorites" list, complete with a search engine, I have to add www.thistothat.com as a link. When you're trying to glue things together, it's important to know which glues work best. And just to make sure this link comes up first in the search: glue, glue, glue, glue, glue.
Posted by John at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2003
I'll bet you had no
I'll bet you had no idea there was a UNESCO World Heritage site in Alberta, Canada called Head-Smashed-In. Don't say you never learned anything at Keelhauling! Apparently, for the last 5500+ years or so native American peoples (mostly Blackfoot tribes) have routinely stampeded buffalo off the cliff at this site, carving up the carcasses on the valley floor below. For some reason, this warranted placing the site on the UNESCO list alongside other historical locations such as the pyramids, Stonehenge, and the Galapagos Islands.
I think I'll order a supply of Head-Smashed-In Beer Steins ($12.95) from the gift shop. (Quote from the gift shop page: Their objective is to give their customers a wide selection of real "authentic native crafts"... Now this obviously begs the whole question of the authenticity of authentic native beer steins emblazoned with the authentic native logo of buffalo jumping off a cliff, but is maybe explained by the fact that "authentic native crafts" is enclosed in quotations marks, like a disclaimer that they don't really mean it.)
Posted by John at 06:55 PM | Comments (0)
X-ray Shrub. Track the war
X-ray Shrub. Track the war with the Iraq-O-Meter. If the dolphins are defecting, send in the monkeys. And if one more person sends me the time traveler story link, they're going to get keelhauled. It's not even April Fool's Day yet! What a weird day.
In a fit of extreme political incorrectness, I went looking for an online game where I could kill some Iraqis and take out some of my pent-up frustration on the keyboard. I googled "raghead shoot-em-up" and I followed some links, ultimately arriving at the most extreme anti-American paranoid conspiracy-theory laden site I've ever seen. When I went to the "About" page to see who the moron was who put the site together, it said, "I was born in 1977 in the north of France". Surprise. No, I'm not going to link it.
But the weirdest thing all day was getting my glasses fixed. The metal frame just snapped right at the temple in front of the hinge, undoubtedly due to my frequent "adjusting" of the angle of the earpieces. Great. I'll never find new frames on a weekend. Then I remembered my company has a vision plan. I think I'm covered, might as well check. I went to the corporate intranet and searched in benefits and found the link right away (www.vsp.com). I put in my name and last four digits of my social security number, and it found me! Said I was covered. I clicked "find an optometrist near you", put in my address, and it found one! Five miles away! With Saturday hours! I called, and they had a slot available at 2:30pm. I went at 2:30 and they found Giorgio Armani frames that fit the lenses that were in my Ralph Lauren frames that broke. My vision plan gave me a $160 discount off the frames! I walked out in 13 minutes with new frames. Now THAT'S weird.
Posted by John at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2003
Quote of the Day"As we
Quote of the Day
"As we go to an appliance model, it's much, much easier to control users' behaviors. I think we may look back and see the PC as an anomaly - how strange to run anything ending in '.exe.'"
- Berkman Center Faculty Co-Director Jonathan Zittrain, anticipating the loss of the general purpose computer in the face of the content industry's push for legally mandated digital rights managment (DRM) technologies and the growing popularity of digital "appliances" like TiVo.
Posted by John at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)
Where were you when the
Where were you when the dot-com bubble burst, Dad? Relive your glory days at the Business Plan Archives.
Posted by John at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)
When I'm ready to retire,
When I'm ready to retire, I might become a Professor of Internet Studies, an "emerging social science evolving from a mix of library science, computer technology and insights from other disciplines". I would start with The Spire Project as required reading on my course syllabus. It has dozens - maybe hundreds - of useful search tips and methodologies, and many excellent articles. I'll assign tomorrow's homework tomorrow. Reading ahead is not allowed.
Posted by John at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)
Thinking through the phrase of
Thinking through the phrase of the day, and remembering some old ones we've touched on before. While I love that story about the origin of the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey", a little scientific research provides a cautionary note. The coefficient of expansion of brass is 0.0000193; that of iron is 0.0000121. Assuming that CoE is constant across a wide range of temperatures, if the base of the stack were one meter, the drop in temperature needed to make the 'monkey' shrink relative to the balls by a difference of one millimeter would be 138.8 degrees Centigrade, or 282 degrees Farenheit. The story isn't true. Sorry.
And on a related note, the "whole nine yards" phaseology appears questionable as well.
These are some of the versions going the rounds: without evidence one is as good as another, take your pick...
It comes from the nine cubic yards capacity of US concrete trucks and dates from around 1970s.
The explanation refers to World War II aircraft, which if proved correct would clearly pre-date the concrete truck version. There are several aircraft related sources, 1. the length of US bombers bomb racks, 2. the length of RAF Spitfire's machine gun bullet belts, 3. the length of ammunition belts in ground based anti-aircraft turrets, etc. No evidence to show that any of these measured nine yards has been forthcoming.
Tailors use nine yards of material for top quality suits. Related to 'dressed to the nines'?
The derivation has even been suggested as being naval and that the yards are shipyards rather than measures of area or volume.
Another naval version is that the yards are yardarms. Large sailing ships had three masts, each with three yardarms. The theory goes that ships in battle can continue changing direction as new sails are unfurled. Only when the last sail, on the ninth yardarm, is used do the enemy know which direction the ship is finally headed.
We shall have to exercise a little more due diligence in the selection of our bon mots, methinks.
Posted by John at 01:25 AM | Comments (0)
If you have some free
If you have some free time to browse, one of those sites that just makes you go "ahhh" and relax with the instantaneous realization that 'this is going to be fun' is the National Gallery of Art. It's well-organized too, with pre-established "tours" of the major artists and time periods, many with audio as well. Ahhh.
Posted by John at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)
Things I Want My Kids
Things I Want My Kids to Understand #1: Always remember - a statistic is an answer to a question. Etch it into your brain, for this is the rock on which rafts of human interest statistics splinter. When you see a statistic or factoid offered by the media, always remember to play "Jeopardy" with it and ask yourself, to what question is this an answer?
Posted by John at 12:21 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2003
My friend Steve sent me
My friend Steve sent me a hotjobs posting for a sales position. Cracked me up. This guy is an Alec Baldwin wannabe (Glenngary Glennross - you remember - "Coffee is for closers." The best movie without a murder, love scene or special effects that I've ever seen).
Posted by John at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)
The flood of mass mailings
The flood of mass mailings in my email Inbox is of sufficiently staggering proportions that I don't usually comment on them, but every once in a great while one comes along that has it just right. Here's today's:
Subject: Dixie Chicks - A Soldiers Remarks
May she also have the freedom to look for a new career.
Letter from radio station website in Lubbock, home of the Dixie Chick
that spewed forth about our president:
Name: LT Layne McDowell
Date: 03/15/03
Time: 01:54:49 PM
An open letter to the Dixie Chicks:
Earlier this week, while performing in London, you stated that you were ashamed that our President is from your home state. I wonder if you realized how many Americans would be listening. This American was listening. This Texan is ashamed that you come from my state. I serve my country as an officer in the United States Navy. Specifically, I fly F-14 Tomcats off carriers around the world, executing the missions that preserve the very freedom you claim to exercise. I have proudly fought for my country in the skies over Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan without regret. Though I may disagree wholeheartedly with your comments, I will defend to the death your right to say them, in America. But for you to travel to a foreign land and publicly criticize our Commander in Chief is cowardice behavior. Would you have so willingly made those comments while performing for a patriotic, flag-waving crowd of Texans in Lubbock. I would imagine not. How dare you pocket profits off songs about soldiers, their deaths and patriotism while criticizing their Commander in Chief abroad, even while they prepare to give their lives to ensure your own freedom of speech.
Please ask yourself, what have you done to deserve that sacrifice? Do not try to justify your comments by claiming that you made them only because you care about innocent lives. Never once in our history have we committed troops to war for the purpose of taking innocent lives. We do it to protect innocent lives, even yours. If the world leaders of the late 1930's had the vision and courage of our present Commander in Chief, perhaps the evil men who caused the death of millions in WWII would have never had the opportunity to harm a soul. The potential loss of millions of lives in the future at the hands of today's evil men necessitate action. In a separate correspondence, I am returning to you each and every Dixie Chicks CD and cassette that I have ever purchased. Never again will I allow my funds to support your behavior.
All you have done is to add your name to a growing list of American "Celebrities" who have failed to realize that they have obtained their successes on the backs of the American blue-collar workers such as our servicemen and women.
To Natalie Maines: This Texan, this American will continue to risk his life to guarantee your freedoms. What will you do to deserve it?
Posted by John at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2003
Richard offers up Billy the
Richard offers up Billy the Big Mouth Bass Hacking in Linux.
In these times of international strife and tension it's just comforting to see people committed to the cause of embedding Linux in a rubber fish. It never ceases to astound me that people buy these things in the first place, you've got to be pretty bored in the checkout line at Costco to walk over to the stand, tuck one under your arm and deal with all of the stares of other folks who feel so sorry for your sudden and serious attack of bad taste.
Posted by John at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2003
I brought a DVD movie
I brought a DVD movie from Netflix on the plane with me, to watch on my laptop on the 4.5 hour flight to New York. Here is my movie review of One Hour Photo.
My 40X DVD drive spins at 8,000 RPM. The running time on the movie is 98 minutes, so the disk revolved 784,000 times. A DVD disk is 4.75 inches in diameter, which yields a circumference of 14.92257 inches. If the DVD were a wheel, it would have traveled 11,699,291 inches during that 98 minutes, or 184.65 miles. Which is a long way to go only to get nowhere.
Posted by John at 01:15 AM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2003
So busy!! Haven't had time
So busy!! Haven't had time to do my customary web crawling these past few days. Fortunately, Josh has, and he sent me a link to Splashpower.com. Set one of these up by the door and you can just unload your electronic accessories when you get home, and they'll be all charged up when you're ready to head out. Device charging by induction, very cool. No more buying AA batteries by the gross, or carrying around three different AC chargers in my briefcase.
Posted by John at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2003
Speaking of great little free
Speaking of great little free utilities, it's time to update your reference file for Ad-aware and run it again. Lavasoft has added many new spyware bugs to the list. Even though I practice safe computing, it found 110 items: 61 registry keys, 48 files and 1 folder. Cleaning these up made a meaningful difference in PC performance. When you start the program, click the link that says "Check for updates now".
Posted by John at 05:10 AM | Comments (0)
Enter a long URL
TinyURL is a very useful little service. It turns long links into short links. This is very helpful if you're going to email them, as the recipient's email client usually breaks the link as it inserts a line break if the text is too long for a single line. No problem. Tiny URL turns this:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380809060/qid=1048249512/ sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-6684269-2659166 into this: http://tinyurl.com/7w4e
This:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?addtohistory=&country=US&address=10th+Street+and+&city=&state=
&zipcode=20560&historyid=&submit.x=0&submit.y=0
into this:
http://tinyurl.com/7w56
There's even a link to add a TinyURL button to your browser, so they're only a click away.
Posted by John at 04:29 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2003
Now that we're at Burnt
Now that we're at Burnt Orange or whatever the official "alert" status is - which they ought to just call the "fly your F-16's over that Keelhauling house between 2-4am" level for clarity's sake - mocking the new Terrorist Emergency signs from Ready.gov has become every budding PhotoShopper's new fetish. There are some really funny ones in here.
After exposure to radiation it is important to consider that you may have mutated to gigantic dimensions: watch your head.
Posted by John at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
Giveitback.net. I suppose it was
Giveitback.net. I suppose it was only a matter of time. Now that we're all boycotting Evian water and Michelin tires, the Statue of Liberty's simply got to go.
Posted by John at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
Keelhauling mail bag
From the Keelhauling mail bag:
_________
Hi John;
I have published a book of keelhauling stories. satirical type.
I would be glad to send you a copy if you enjoy weird humour.
_________
Weird humor? Me?
I wonder if Barb is a Brit, since she spells it "humour". Her email name is very French-sounding, a bad sign. Hopefully that's French Canadian. I can't wait to see it!
Posted by John at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2003
The Internet is a tiny
The Internet is a tiny place. Go to www.snapturtle.com. Scroll down to March 17. See the entry on "The French"? Check the first comment.
Posted by John at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)
If you're wondering how the
If you're wondering how the War on Terrorism(?), Gulf War II(?) -- what are we calling this thing anyway? -- is going to come out, just run the simulation. I'm not going to give away the outcome. [Although I will tell you the French never show up.]
Posted by John at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)
Apparently, zipping through the commercials
Apparently, zipping through the commercials using TiVo doesn't meaningfully impact your retention rate in recalling the ads later on, researchers at Proctor & Gamble have discovered. Which either says that TiVo is not much of a threat to advertisers, or that our retention rates are so low anyway that there's nothing there to threaten. More importantly, this is the first article I've seen that uses "TiVo" as a verb.
Posted by John at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2003
Those who don't live in
Those who don't live in the world of finance every day don't understand its awesome power. I was talking to Julie the other night about how easily the Arabs could forestall this war, if only they would reach an alignment - a la OPEC - over the issue. If the Saudi regime were to call Washington and say "we want all US troops out of the region within 48 hours or we'll withdraw all our deposits from American banks and effective Thursday we will only sell oil for Euros, not dollars", the troop transport planes would be in the air before nightfall. Alan Greenspan would be calling George, giving him a quick "Introduction to Economics of Banking" lesson, and the dollar would open limit down 15% on all international markets tomorrow morning. And Wednesday morning. And Thursday morning... Troops would be home by Easter and Hans Blix would be Colin Powell's new darling. "Time? You need more time? Take all the time you need..."
If you don't believe that, check out Turkey's actions today. After the Turkish Lira hit all time lows on international markets today, they suddenly saw the light, and are indicating willingness to allow the U.S. to use Turkish bases as staging areas for invading Iraq from the north. Imagine that. Ankara is at risk of not receiving the $6 billion in grants and $24 billion in loan guarantees that were pledged by the U.S. as financial compensation for the economic fallout of war. Apparently, investors view foregoing that economic assistance as more of a problem than war. After all, it has been primarily the continued IMF support, encouraged by Washington, that has helped Turkish markets and the Turkish economy stave off a complete meltdown. Not to be too cynical, but I wonder what the Federal Reserve's international accounts short position in the lira looks like today.
Posted by John at 06:05 PM | Comments (0)
Here's a short little article
Here's a short little article that demonstrates the difficulty inherent in rewording all things French, extending the recent trend in "freedom fries", "freedom kissing" and "liberty toast" to its logical extreme. I think we should just send the Statue of Liberty back. They need it worse than we do. "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternity", indeed. Not that that's a new idea...
independence the citizens of that nation joined with the citizens of the
United States in placing in New York harbor an heroic statue representing
Liberty enlightening the world. What course shall our nation pursue? Send
the statue of Liberty back to France and borrow from England a
statue of William the Conqueror?
By William Jennings Bryan
Extract from a speech delivered at Democratic banquet,
St Paul, Minn., February 14, 1899.
Maybe we should send it back with a knife stuck in her back.
Posted by John at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)
When the fish start talking
When the fish start talking in Hebrew, it's time to prepare for the end.
The most unintentionally poignant line in the article is the straightforward: "It was finally butchered by Nivelo and sold." People never learn.
Posted by John at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)
Today's bon mot is a
Today's bon mot is a triple-header. England is quite an old country, and space - land - is at a premium. As early as the 1500's they began running out of places to bury people. So they started digging up coffins, taking the bones to a "bone-house", and reusing the graves. Unfortunately, when reopening coffins, many (some sources say as many as 1 out of 25!) were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So a new procedure was initiated. They would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through a hole in the coffin lid and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit in the gaveyard all night ("the graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, some could be "saved by the bell" and others could be considered "dead ringers."
And I always thought "saved by the bell" came from boxing. This is much more horrific and therefore much more interesting.
Posted by John at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2003
Today's bon mot is "mad
Today's bon mot is "mad as a hatter".
In the 19th century, craftsmen who made hats were known to be excitable and irrational, as well as to tremble with palsy and mix up their words. Such behavior gave rise to the familiar expression "mad as a hatter". The disorder, called hatter's shakes, was caused by chronic mercury poisoning from the solution used to treat the felt. Attacking the central nervous system, the toxin led to behavioral symptoms.
Posted by John at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2003
Contrasting articles up today in
Contrasting articles up today in the Iraq war watch. First, our boys in brown are suffering some inclement weather, sand storms so fierce the guys are forming human chains to go to the latrine so no one gets lost on the way. The springtime phenomenon the Kuwaitis call ghubar - the dust - is one of the most severe operational challenges the Americans are facing. And it's early this year... But ready? They're ready. "Get your letters written, make sure your body's ready to move out, your gear's ready to move out and your buddy's ready to move out." The heavy artillery is moving in, invasion seems mere days away. And the British are ready, too.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum of pride, responsibility and honor, we have the French. The US and Britain have both had about enough of the Frogs. Chirac, dubbed Le Worm, vowed this week that Paris would block a new resolution "whatever the circumstances", basically confirming for the world that he's no longer interested in the merits of action against Iraq but simply wants the spotlight. I think one of the most difficult jobs you could have right now would be as ambassador to France.
Fortunately, there is a positive side to all this. Most Americans seem to harbor a mistrust of, and distaste for, the French, but keep it well hidden out of general politeness and political correctness. The recent actions by the French have allowed the gloves to come off, and have provided ready fodder for the satirists and pundits. From tee shirts and coffee mugs, to mouse pads and bumper stickers, even the graffiti scrawled on the ordinance has a humorous anti-French sentiment.
And some not so humorous, like the email that's circulating around:
> Today it was reported that severe earthquakes have occurred in 10 different locations
> in France. The severity was measured in excess of 10 on the Richter Scale.
> The cause was the 56,681 dead American soldiers buried in French soil rolling over
> in their graves.
Posted by John at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
A Keelhauling link got posted
A Keelhauling link got posted on Memepool on Saturday March 8, which has driven my bandwidth utilization to record levels. And it was a crappy little Monty-Python-derivative Flash video that I didn't create, to boot, which is kind of disappointing. Interestingly, though, about the same time the traffic from Redwood High School on my Keelhauling Games Hall of Fame page really surged, which caused me to overlook the Memepool link. Thanks, Joshua, for pointing it out. Big leagues, baby.
Posted by John at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)
I've been tapped for several
I've been tapped for several press interviews the past few weeks on new products our company is releasing and trends in the financial services marketplace, and one of the magazines is requesting a photograph. This led to an email to a photographer from our marketing department yesterday that contained the unfortunate line: "Kim: Can you plan on shooting John tomorrow?". I'm just back from a trip to Chicago and am planning to go down to headquarters today, so I'll have to lobby for a stay of execution.
Posted by John at 03:53 AM | Comments (0)
I signed up for the
I signed up for the impending "Eat More Words" web site notification a couple of months ago, and haven't heard... well, a word. One of the founders is Judith of www.calamondin.com, a site I visit often. Looks like they are putting together a sort of non-profit language admiration society. They're planning official launch for March 21, so you still have a week to get in at the pre-launch price of $10 per year, which seems imminently reasonable. From the site: "Our goal is to provide resources that enrich the experience of reading and writing to logophiles, writers, independent scholars and students of language and literature."
However, I may just have to start compiling my own, as I run into these all the time from sources both various and sundry. Here's today's juicy linguistic tidbit:
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
Posted by John at 03:26 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2003
Got a chuckle out of
Got a chuckle out of two things this morning: First, some British paratroopers in Kuwait doing live-fire exercises testing their weapons were surprised by a bunch of Iraqi soldiers who came over and surrendered, thinking that the war had started. That has to be a morale booster for the guys over there.
Second, Zagat's has posted a page of comments submitted in their restaurant reviews that didn't make the final edition. My favorite is the pithy line: "Food tastes like socks." [via MetaFilter]
Posted by John at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
I'd like to think of
I'd like to think of this as the first sign that the tide is turning: "The Supreme Court unanimously ruled "Victor's Little Secret" did not infringe on the trademark held by the similar sounding 'Victoria's Secret.' " So, while the nation girds itself for war, the best legal minds in our country are busy contemplating the impact of two store names that might be confused with one another (if you were really drunk or you just woke up and the other person was talking really, really fast, maybe) on the nation's critical lingerie business, and they said "no". Finally. Maybe this will start a trend and we can begin to put the brand Nazis back in the basement. Maybe this will help put people like NameProtect.com (see below) out of business. [Thanks, Richard!]
Posted by John at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)
March 05, 2003
The beating heart at specialdefects.com
The beating heart at specialdefects.com is the weirdest thing I've seen on the 'net in awhile. [via MetaFilter] Move your mouse around the screen to change the heart rate. Turn up your speakers and freak out the cat.
Posted by John at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
Thought for the Day:"The hangover
Thought for the Day:
"The hangover may prove to be proportional to the binge."
-- Warren Buffett.
Posted by John at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
Just for the record, the
Just for the record, the title of worst car name ever must now pass from Daewoo ("Leganza") to Nissan ("Murano"). The car doesn't actually look bad, if James Bond drove an SUV, this might be the one. But it rolls off the tongue like "moron-oh", and that's an obvious problem. Obvious if you're a native English-speaker, at least. It's no coincidence that these really awful car names come from the foreign car manufacturers. Can you imagine a name like that coming out of Detroit on a Ford or a Chevy? All Nissan can do at this point is hope that Toyota brings out a 2004 model called "Idioto" or maybe Yugo will introduce the "Retarda". The Volkswagon "Putz"?
Posted by John at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
March 04, 2003
I wrote a recommendation letter
I wrote a recommendation letter for a friend of mine last week, trying to help her get admitted to the MBA program at Berkeley. I put in about an hour on it, trying to do a good job of representing her strengths and putting her (very few) weaknesses in the best possible light. The latter has become more difficult as admissions officers and corporate HR departments have become jaded with the old standards that take a strength to such an extreme level that they become a weakness. "She's very detail-oriented, and sometimes her perfectionism can slow her down, as she insists that all her work is of the very highest quality", or He's extremely bright, and tends to be impatient with others who are slower on the uptake than he is." The trick is to come across as trying to help the interviewer coach the candidate. We're all in this together, so if you really want to help this applicant be all that they can be, these are the things to focus on.
Anyway, today, in the mail, comes a package with 4 CD's and a bag of cookies. Oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip. Which is not only incredibly generous, but is also just ... nice. She really is an exceptional human being, and this just serves as personal confirmation of all the laudatory comments about her that I made in the recommendation letter. Now I really hope she gets in.
Posted by John at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)
BTW, for high-tech gadgets, Gizmodo
BTW, for high-tech gadgets, Gizmodo is the best site around, and I don't think I've linked it here before.
Posted by John at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
Still trying to figure out
Still trying to figure out the digital music environment I want to build. Hard drive prices are down below the $1 per GB threshold, so it becomes economically feasible to have a terabyte of storage.
I was hoping to have the ability to wirelessly stream DVDs to TVs in the house from the same multimedia server, but with the advent of blue light laser DVDs which can pack a whopping 23 GB on a single DVD (and you know that will be the standard within a few years - 2 hours of high definition movie on a single DVD), I'm revising that strategy. At current prices, it doesn't make any sense to digitally archive movies - they just don't get watched all that often. So, for the video portion of the home theatre plan, I'll focus on simply streaming the video signal wirelessly to TVs from the source DVD. This may require upgrading the home wireless network to 802.11g (especially with the higher data rates for HDTV), But I'm not sure yet. Investigation continues.
At least the music part of the equation is coming together. Only two open issues remain. I need to figure out the best way to transmit the data inside the house wirelessly. New dedicated broadcast products like the Digitial Music Adaptor are starting to come on the market at affordable prices. Then I need to find the best software for ripping and organizing the songs. The GUI is all-important, as we'll be playing with it a lot. If anyone knows of a good jukebox/playlist program that utilizes a good MP3 codec, let me know.
Posted by John at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2003
GET TO WORK. You Aren't
GET TO WORK. You Aren't Being Paid to Believe in the Power of Your Dreams.
I think that poster is my favorite of the 2003 series from Despair.com. I have the classic series that was sent to me as a PowerPoint presentation, and they release new "demotivational" posters every year. You're guaranteed to get a chuckle and to think of a few people these would be perfect for if you browse through the collections (12 per year back through 2000, plus the classic series for a total of 60 posters). Sacrifice, Despair and Irresponsibility are a few of my favorites.
Posted by John at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
