Year: 2004

Noscope wrote a very good summation of the issues surrounding the second Gulf War. You’ll find links galore to pertinent articles.

(Thanx to Binary Bonsai)

I found myself listening to the radio far more than usual yesterday. Lisa got me into the habit of putting on oldies or classic rock stations, but this time it was a bit different. I switched to WFMU, and began listening to the “Inner Ear Detour” – what ended up being the last regularly scheduled broadcast, also. What a great selection of classic punk from a time when it truly meant something. The host seemed to revel in the concept of playing anti-Reagan samples as a rather pointed way to leave. On top of that, their archive page allows me to stream the show at a later date, so I can write down the names of the songs I want to seek out. Now, this isn’t exaclty new to me, or anyone else, but I rarely get the opportunity to take advantage of such simple resources as this.
Continue reading “Radio Daze”

I went to Target last night. Much to my surprise, I found two Philips DVP-642’s sitting on their shelves. Now I know what you’re probably thinking. Probably something along the lines of “Oh my God, you actually managed to get your hands on one of those amazingly sexy units! How the hell did that happen?!?!” Or, more likely, you’re saying to yourself, “WTF? Is that supposed to mean something to me?!?!” For those not in the know (and I’m not sure how I am), the DVP642 plays DivX and XviD files as well as DVDs. That’s right, my collection of over 600 bootlegged backed-up movies can actually be played on my TV without needing a computer!

Last night I tested it out, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. I’ve had this thing on back order with Amazon for a few weeks now, and I can happily cancel it now. The second unit is for Joseph as I said I’d pick one up for him. My main reason for wanting one of these is TV. That’s right TV shows. I rarely watch shows when they are on, and instead am forced to download them and watch them on my computer later. Not that I mind, with my 20″ flat panel 😉 , but it sure would be nice not to be tied to the desk. Now I can download all the latest shows, as well as classics not yet available on DVD, burn them to a disc, and watch them in the comfort of my living room. Oh yes, life is good.

And for those interested, I also picked up copies of Lost in Translation and King of New York (which I’ve still never seen) for $10 each, as well as the first two seasons of Just Shoot Me. If they had had the first season of Monk there, I would have picked that up, too.

Well, since everybody is talking about that damn Evian beauty poll, I just can’t avoid it. Thank God that they at least got number 1 right with the obvious choice of Audrey Hepburn. Of course, now I have to step away from it, otherwise I might spend all day looking at pictures of her and not getting any work done.

I still have to see the full list, and maybe make one of my own. That way I can move Grace Kelly up, and maybe bring in some better contemporaries like Audrey Tatou instead of someone like Angelina Jolie (she may be hot, but I certainly wouldn’t put her high on the natural beauty scale).

Now I’m not going to cheer like I did with the death of good ol’ Strom, but here is a nice summary of Reagan’s 8 year reign. It certainly helped to remind me that there were bad parts of the 80s.

Thanks to Jen.

I’ve been so busy at work so far this week that I didn’t even get to complain about my stupid weekend. I work late on Friday, and Lisa was already home since her early evening apointment in the city fell through. Of course we were both tired and the end result was the usual – we bailed on the planned excursion to catch Eugene (and possibly High Speed Chase) at CBGB. Totally lame, but I still had big plans for the rest of the weekend. Yeah, right…

Saturday was pretty miserable outside. It was rainy enough that I didn’t want to chance taking the camera out and about. That also meant that there was little chance of me heading up to Stevens for the alumni weekend – even if it is technically my 5th reunion. So instead I sat around playing games until Brian, Mike and I decided to head on over to Modell’s to hunt for sporting goods. It turned into more of a clothes-shopping expedition, but I did end up buying a Whiffle Ball & Bat! Oh the joys of pelting your neighbor’s car with a harmless puff of plastic. Unfortunately there were no gloves my size, and our subsequent game of catch was pathetic at best.

Yes, I made it home in time to catch yet another heartbreaker for Philly. Which simply turned into a lot more beer drinking for me before we finally ordered some wings, etc. So in the end, the whole day was pretty much awash.

Of course that meant the only possibility for Sunday was more miserable weather which discouraged Lisa (not the g/f, the co-worker) and I from going ahead with our planned hike. Oh joy, not a single picture taken the entire weekend. Sure, that night was cool as a bunch of us went to Johnny Carino’s in Bridgewater for dinner, but the rest was a big fat disappointment. Next week I’m planning on sitting on my ass the entire time – that way I’ll be pleasantly surprised when something cool comes up, or content to merely catch up on all my missed opportunities for ass-sitting.

Tonight Lisa (the g/f this time) and I will be checking out an apartment in Montclair. Let’s hope it goes better than the weekend.

Why do we have Lady Foot Lockers? Seriously, I was in Foot Locker today and half the store is women’s clothes, shoes, etc. Why do they have their own store, too?

Yes, Philadelphia is desperate for a sports champion. Yes, I generally ignore horce racing. Nevertheless, there’s no way I’m missing the race tomorrow. And while I may not cheer as loudly as during the NFL playoffs, I’ll still be screaming my head off for Smarty Jones.

Lots of fun with Picture Pages, now it’s time Bill Cosby drew a picture page… Oh where was I? Oh yeah, as I mentioned before, I ordered my new toy, and now my life is complete. Seriously, tonight’s show at CBGB’s with Eugene and High Speed Chase will be the first real test, but I’ve still been taking pictures in the meantime. First up is a picture of the camera itself (courtesy of my trusty PowerShot A40 – I think my cell phone is there for sizing purposes).

!@(images/thecamera.jpg popimg: “The Camera”)
!@—

We’ll follow it with a picture of the manual explaining how to hold the camera – please note the placement of the feet!

!@(images/themanual.jpg popimg: “The Manual”)
!@—

And lastly we shall conclude with a glimpse of my spacious office. Don’t let the angle fool you, it’s not nearly as big as this picture makes it look.

!@(images/theoffice.jpg popimg: “The Office”)
!@—

This concludes today’s brief experiment with photography and blogging. I truly hope this was uneducational for all.

So after my (somewhat over-the-top) response to “The Mac is a Harsh Mistress” I received a (somewhat) well-deserved reply by the author. My big mistake was using such a harsh title – I sometimes forget how trackbacks work 😉 . Anywho, the only reason I even bitched about it was the implication (well, not so much implied as stated) that Linux desktop users will eventually come to their senses and use something else. The rest of my complaints really weren’t enough to get me energized for a post.

Nevertheless, I brought it up, and was left thinking yesterday about what was my real problem with the analogy. Now many of you may have realized by now that I am not a fan of analogies. They tend to be poorly constructed to prove a one-sided point without really comparing issues properly. However I still find it a challenge to improve upon ones that I see as flawed. You obviously can’t take into account all factors (Macs are white and I’m dating a black girl!), but you can try for some sort of common ground, or consistancy, in compared areas. And that’s where the challenge is.

Personally I wasn’t sold on the whole woman idea. I don’t have any emotional attachment to my computer, merely some of the information I keep on it. I use it for fun and functionality, my life occurs away from it (which would be why my girlfriend wants me to spend less time on it 😀 ). But then it occured to me that the inherent problem with Charles’ take was using the extremes of whore versus lover. Let’s take it all with the same approach he looked at Linux – girlfriends! (Right now is when I’m glad that Lisa doesn’t actually read this 🙂 ). The basic setup is this: Mac = high school sweet heart / Windows = girl in college / Linux = high school girl you find later. Now let’s see if I can make this work:
Continue reading “What OS are you dating?”