Extrapolated Facts

We've moved

2007-10-18T13:00:00.001-06:00

I moved a while ago, but forgot to update my blog here. Sorry about that.

New site: www.mckeeth.org

(Redirecting)

500kV Switch

2006-03-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

This is a cool little video clip showing the power of electricity:

It is a 500kV Switch Opening in the nevada desert.

Subject tags: [Video] [Electricity]

Copy & Paste Comic

2006-02-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

I write a lot of code as a software developer. It is very common practice to copy code and paste it somewhere else for reuse. The preferred method is to put it in a common method or library that both places reference, but that doesn't always work.

I have been curious if comic artists ever did the same thing. I was reading one of my favorite comic's PvP today and noticed that it appeared he copy and pasted one of the characters between two different day's.

The the drawing for Jade in 3rd cell of the comic for yesterday, February 9th, and her appearance in the 1st cell for today, February 10th looked the same to me. I flipped back and forward a couple times and they seemed like a match to me.

Luckily I have Beyond Compare from Scooter Software, one of my "can't live without" utilities. It has a really cool image comparison plug-in. I put the two comics in to see how they matched up.

The first thing I noticed was the one from the 9th was 5 pixels bigger. I always assumed the comics were always the same size from day to day, with occasional exceptions for special format comics. I then slid the two pictures in the different cells so they lined up, and sure enough they were a match. There is some slight variations, which could be artifacts form resizing both of them down from larger originals, or scanning them in from paper copy. I don't recall if Scott Kurtz creates his comics on paper first or not. It is within the realm of possibility that he drew both by hand and is just that good at recreating the same drawing from years of practice everyday.

I used Debugmode's Wink do a screen capture of the comparison process. Take a look.

Subject tags: [Code] [Comic] [Artist] [Blooper] [PvP]

Firefly Season 2

2006-02-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen Serenity or Firefly (or even if you have seen them, and don't own them yet) yet then go buy the DVDs. After you watch them then complete the Firefly Season 2 survey.

Personally I have no problem paying to watch each episode of Firefly, but the amount of money I will pay is dependent on the freedom I get with the episode. If it is locked up with DRM so I can only watch it once (or in a certain time frame) from my computer, then I won't spend much. But if I can burn it to a DVD to watch from my TV then I am more interested.

Subject tags: [Serenity] [Firefly] [SciFi] [Wheaton] [TV] [Movie]

Back to WinAmp

2006-01-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

As you most likely know, all the original developers from NullSoft that worked on WinAmp prior to the AOL assimilation left the company a while back. Combine that with the anoyingly slow "modern" skin and a few other anoying features and I finally decided I needed to move on to a different audio player.

Well, I made the rounds, and short of writing my own player I think I am going to stick with WinAmp for now. Sure, it still has some warts, but for overall usibility for playing audio it is the best, and it is well supported. The fact it also does video playback is good too.

I'll stick with the free version for now. My audio ripping needs are satisfied by AudioGrabber (via LAME), Monkey Audio and FLAC.

Subject tags: [Music] [Audio] [WinAmp] [Ripping] [MP3]

Happy Birthday Mozart

2006-01-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Break out the powdered wigs and put on your classical music. Today is Mozart's 250th birthday. How are you celebrating?

Subject tags: [Mozart] [Classics] [Birthday] [Music]

The Future of Serenity

2006-01-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

Despite very good reviews, and staying well within budget, Serenity didn't do so hot in the box office it turns out. All is not lost. Amazon still ranks Serenity as #3 in DVD sales, with Firefly close behind in #5.

As Joss put it:

DVD sales should, however, put Serenity back in the black and when the bucks start rolling in we can only hope that one of the suits at Universal looks at the numbers, adds the success of the Firefly DVD box set and greenlights a return for Captain Reynolds and his crew.

Subject tags: [Serenity] [Firefly] [Movie] [TV] [Sequal] [DVD] [Whedon] [Joss]

Google Maps Package Mapper

2006-01-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Honestly I think it would be a good idea for Google to provide this as part of their services. Until they do, we can use PackageMapper.com from Oliver Steele. Just enter your tracking number, and it uses SimpleTracking.com's RSS feed for that tracking number to get the history of where the package has been. Then he uses the Google Maps API to display it all on a Google Map.

Subject tags: [Google] [Tracking] [RSS] [Map]

Moving to WordPress 2.0

2006-01-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

I really like WordPress, and the new 2.0 release is sweet. I've been slowly moving some of my smaller blogs over to Wordpress 1.5, and I just this week upgraded one of them to Wordpress 2.0. The installs are always so easy (provided the host doesn't get goofy on me), it is well documented, well supported, and it is such a nicer interface then Blogger offers. I am planning to upgrade this blog soon too. So if you notice some changes or if you cannot access the blog that is why.

If you want to use WordPress, and don't want to mess with installing it on your server then check out www.WordPress.com.

Subject tags: [WordPress] [Blogger] [Blog] [Upgrade]

Self referential

2006-01-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is a word that describes itself:

sesquipedalian: (of words) long; having many syllables.

Unlike abreviated.

Subject tags: [Words] [Dictionary] [Word] [Language]

Serenity Quote

2006-01-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

The movie Serenity is full of great quotes. Joss Wheaton is just a great writer. Listening to the DVD commentary he said that he had a lot of long sections of dialog that were actually cut out. I guess he is really into conversation.

This quote is one of my favorites, and it is in the first 9 minutes of the movie, even before the credits run. The scene it is from forshadows one of the last few scenes in the movie beautifully and it establishes the new character of the Operative very nicely.

The Operative: You know, in certain 'older' civilized cultures, when men failed as entirely as you have, they would throw themselves on their swords.
Dr. Mathias: Well, unfortunately, I forgot to bring a sword.
Dr. Mathias: [as the Operative pulls out his sword] I would put that down right now if I were you.
The Operative: Would you be killed in your sleep, like an ailing pet?
Fight ensues. Dr. Mathias attempts escape. The Operative paralyzes him and then places the sword so he can fall on it. After he falls on the sword, before he dies.
The Operative: This is a good death. There's no shame in this. In a man's death, a man who has done fine works.

You can watch the first 9 minutes online even.

Subject tags: [Serenity] [Movie] [Quote] [Death] [Ritual] [Suicide] [Seppuku] [Sword]

Playing with Pandora

2006-01-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been out to Pandora I highly suggest you check it out now. It basically lets you build your own radio stations. They created a huge music taxonomy, classifying music by many different criteria. Then you tell it which songs you like and which you don't and it finds more that you will like. I found it very accurate.

One tip, if you create a station based on an artist then it will play music like everything the artist has made. So if they released some crossover song then you might be surprised by what they play. So if you want to really fine tune it create a station based on a specific song.

Out of curiosity I created a new station based on a specific song, then never told it anything else I liked. Eventually it played the song the station was based on. I told it I didn't like that song. Logically since the criteria the station was created on is now negated then it would be forced to play music without any criteria. I expected something like Brittiny Spears to start playing. No such luck, it just kept playing similer music. Interesting.

You will also notice that if you keep skipping songs, or voting them as not liked then afte the 10th skip it won't let you skip any more. You can still say you don't like it, but it still finishes the track. This is a result of the music license they have. Unfortunately. Although if you voted 10 tracks down chances are you are on the wrong station.

I also get a kick out of reading the "Why did you play this song?" descriptions. They use words like rhythmic syncopation, vocal-centric aesthetic and other musical terms I am unsure of the meaning of. It would be nice if they had a hyperlink to a vocabulary and maybe a sample of what that sounds like exactly.

They give you the ability to email a station to someone. Unfortunately that means if you want to post a cool station to your blog that you have to email it to yourself first. Check out this interesting station I actually discovered by accident.

Subject tags: [Pandora] [Music] [Artists] [Technology] [MP3] [Streaming Audio]

Justice is (Color) Blind

2006-01-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

I actually wrote this post a long time ago. Back in November of 2004, but somehow it never got posted. My good friend Rich Hundhausen posted about his jury duty which reminded me of this, and then when I looked for it I couldn't find it. So here it is, and just a little late.

Justice is (Color) Blind

Well at least the jury and bailiffs are.

As I previously mentioned I was on jury duty during November 2004. My number did come up one day and I had to go down to the court house as a perspective juror.

There were three juries that morning. I was perspective juror 241. They gave me a pink badge that said "Jury" on it and I took a seat. I looked around and noticed there were also blue badges and another shade of pink. I thought maybe some of the badges were faded, since it was a very similar color. I was curious where the third jury was, since just pink and blue where here.

And why blue and pink? Those are the colors they put new babies in so you know if they are a boy or girl.

We all set quietly with very little talking. Just an occasional whisper. Something about being in a court house seems to make most people nervous.

A bailiff came in and announced that the salmon jury should follow him. Salmon? I noticed that people with both shades of pink were getting up to follow him. Then he reiterated that pink and blue should stay, but salmon should follow him.

I looked over at a guy next to me with the same colored badge. He looked as confused as I felt. "Are we salmon?" I asked.

"I have no idea," was his response.

So I turned to another bailiff and asked him. He glanced at my badge, tipped it in the light, then looked over at someone with the other shade of pink and examined their badge. He finally nodded his head so I headed out.

We were led to another room full of jurors. They had badges that were my shade as well as the other shade. So the color issue was still not solved.

Another bailiff introduced her self and said we would be with her in this court room. A video was started and the bailiff went to turn down the lights. He flipped a number of switches on and off as he watched the lights go on and off. It was like he had not' adjusted the lights in here before. He finally settled for all the lights being off.

We watched a video that explained how important jury duty was. It also explained some of the process. Basically we would be randomly selected and then questioned. We could then be possibly dismissed if either side thought we were somehow biased or connected with the case. They stressed that being dismissed should not be taken personally.

Before the video was over the lights came on and again a bailiff said for all the salmon ones to follow him. This was a little confusing, but I figured they changed their mind so I started to get up. I was starting to wonder if we were being tested on our ability to follow orders and also differentiate colors.

Before we got far the other bailiff protested and said pink was to follow her. There was a short debate as they examined badge colors and paper work. They finally came to an agreement.

Of course at this point no one knew what color they were. They held up a badge of one color and said "This color follow me," then they held up the other shade of pink, "This color stay."

I still don't know what color I was, but I ended up with everyone having the same shade of pink that I did.

I ended up not having my number called up for questioning as a juror, so it is conceivable I was in the wrong court room.

Afterwards we all commented to each other about how crazy their color selection was. Just imagine if someone actually was color blind!

(For those of you who are really paying attention, I used the color salmon instead of pink, since salmon is easier to read on white. Just so you know, the difference between the two badges was MUCH less pronounced.)

Subject tags: [Jury Duty] [Funny] [Colors] [Color Blind]

Waterborne on Google Video

2006-01-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

I just watched Waterborne on Google Video. It is an independent film that is exclusively premiering on Google Video. The movie follows the aftermath of a fictional biological terrorist attack on the LA water supply. I must say, I am REALLY impressed. It is a great movie, and the Google streaming video feed worked great. They are selling the movie for $3.99 and I highly recommend you go check it out.

I embedded the video bellow so you can watch it here if you like. But you will get a little better control if you visit the Google page.

Subject tags: [Movie] [Waterborne] [Google] [Video] [Terrorists] [Water] [Independent]

Crazy CS 3D Video Games

2006-01-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

Stanford's CS 248 - Intro to Computer Graphics - has a final project to create a 3D video game. Check out the winners and finalists for 2005. I personally thought the 1st and 2nd place winners were far wackier games then the game that won wackiest. Although I imagine that game won wackiest because of its creative input: tilting an Apple Power Book.

Thanks to Matt for the link!

Subject tags: [Games] [3D] [Wacky]

No such thing as luck

2006-01-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

I suggested there was no such thing as luck. My friend Jake said "What about winning the lottery"?

Winning the lottery is not something you can influence directly without cheating, but it isn't luck. There are a number of required steps on your part that you must do to actually win the lottery:

Buy a ticket
Remain in possession of ticket
Be aware it is the winning ticket
Claim the prize

Miss a step and you don't win. In life and business many people skip some or all of the steps and then wonder why they don't win. Of course the business steps are a little different:

Have a product or service
Offer your product or service for sale
Find (marketing, etc.) a customer
Close the sale

The only thing that changes is what are your odds of moving from step 2 to 3. If you want to sell pickled worm yogurt in your business then you will have a hard time finding customers. Might be similar to your odds of winning the lottery. But if you keep offering your product (or buying your ticket) then you increase your odds.

It is all about knowing the cost before you go into a deal. You could for example buy all the possible numeric combinations for the lottery and win, but that wouldn't be a good investment. Likewise you could go door to door, offering a free sample of your yogurt to everyone on the planet, until you find someone who likes it. Again that would be a good propsition.

Now I don't advocate playing the lottery or making pickled worm yogurt. Stick to something with better odds. The secret is to do a little research first. Invest into propositions that have a high chance of a good return. Don't go for the million to 1 longshots. Find a sure thing that you can reproduce over and over again.

Guy Kawasaki's Blog

2006-01-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Chris Woodruff for the tip that Guy Kawasaki has started a blog. His blog is titled Let the Good Times Roll with Guy Kawasaki with the subject like (which I love) of Blogger. n. Someone with nothing to say writing for someone with nothing to do. Guy is possibly best known for his book The Art of the Start.

Check him out and what he can do for you business.

Subject tags: [Guy Kawasaki] [Business] [Blog]

Fast Electric Car

2006-01-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

Wrightspeed Electric Supercar Ride (0-60 in 3 seconds)

I want one.

Subject tags: [Electric+Car] [Speed] [Video] [Car]

Camera's and the Law

2006-01-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

I've know a number of people to be threatened about their act of taking pictures as being illegal. Turns out taking pictures is a lot more legal then most people realized. Basically, if you are taking a picture of something in public, then it is legal. So you can go to the mall with your camera and take pictures, or take pictures of a building.

Andrew Kantor did some great research on when and what it is legal to photograph, as well as when and what it is legal to publish. Your biggest threat is a civil suit, or being charged with trespassing while taking the picture.

Just remember, neither Andrew nor myself are lawyers, and this is not legal advice.

Subject tags: [Pictures] [Law] [Cameras] [Photography] [Legal] [Photograph] [Blog] [Publish]

The History of Food

2006-01-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

Now I really enjoy food. I think most people do. I also find the history of food really interesting. Thanks to this Food Time Line anyone can explore when foods were introduced and the history behind them.

For example, did you know Fried Chicken was introduced in the 1st Century AD? Or that the Marshmallow was originally from a plant? Maybe you are looking for an authentic 1660 recipe for Marzipan?

Subject tags: [Food] [History] [Timeline] [Recipe]

Gmail Storage: Take 2 - Part 2

2006-01-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

I was curious what causes the Gmail usage statistic to change, and how quickly it updates.

To save you from needing to look at my last post, here were my usage statistics

You are currently using 574 MB (21%) of your 2681 MB.

I sent myself a 10 MB email. Sure enough immediately my usage statistics changed to:

You are currently using 587 MB (22%) of your 2681 MB.

A jump of more then 10 MB from what it just was. 13 MB in fact. My guess is that it is measuring the Base 64 encoded (MIME) size of the binary attachment.

Now I delete it. No change. So I went into the trash and hit delete forever.

You are currently using 574 MB (21%) of your 2681 MB.

Right back to where I started from. So the usage updates immediately, but it also includes your trash and Spam folders.

Subject tags: [Google] [Gmail] [Email] [Storage]

Gmail Storage Space: Take 2

2006-01-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

I previously reported that my Gmail usage statistics as of October 24th:

You are currently using 547 MB (21%) of your 2657 MB.

I was watching that percentage for a while and I got a rather large attachment which bumped me to 22%. I decided to stick it out a little longer to see if the average came back down to 21%. It did not. Here are my usage statistics as of December 13th:

You are currently using 577 MB (22%) of your 2673 MB.

Still not bad for almost 50 days of heavy email usage.

For some reason I took a long time to post this. Now it is January 5th. Since December I unsubscribed from a lot of the mailing lists I didn't read anyway, subscribed to a few more, started 3 more Yahoo!Groups & GoogleGroups and made some new friends. I still get a lot of email, and still don't delete very much of it. Here is my new usage statistics:

You are currently using 574 MB (21%) of your 2681 MB.

My total use decreased, so percentage also decreased. Curious where that 3 MB of email went I looked in my trash folder. Despite the warning that "(messages that have been in Trash more than 30 days will be automatically deleted)" I still found all my trash back to August of 2004. Looking in my Spam folder showed that they are in fact deleting spam over 30 days old since it only goes back to December 6th, 2005. When I checked my spam folder before it went back much farther then that. So I am guessing that the missing 3 MB of mail was Spam, so it really isn't missed very much.

Just in case you are curious, over 73 days Gmail gave me an additional 24 MB of storage. That is about a third (1/3 or 0.33) of a megabyte of storage per day. So as long as I get around a third of a megabyte of email per day then I will stay at about 21% usage. If not then I will need to start emptying my trash, and deleting more emails.

Since I know you are all really curious about how many emails I have:

545 Spam (30 days worth)
423 Trash (since August of 2004)
8352 Other messages

2611 Inbox messages
1577 unread inbox messages

That doesn't tell you how many unread messages there are outside my inbox. In all honesty I will probably never read them anyway, unless they show up in my search at some point. Same is most likely true for most of the 1577 unread messages in my inbox. So much email, so little time.

I probably could stand to delete more email and unsubscribe from more mailing lists.

Just so you know, I do read and reply to all my personal email.

Subject tags: [Google] [Gmail] [Email] [Storage]

I Passed 8th Grade Math

2005-12-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Subject tags: [Meme] [Math]

Video Gaming Myths Debunked

2005-12-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

Leave it to PBS to debunk some of the pervasive video game myths as part of their coverage of the Impact of Gaming in their Video Game Revolution series. I was very surprised for their findings.

The 8 myths they debunked:

The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.
Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.
Children are the primary market for video games.
Almost no girls play computer games.
Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them.
Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.
Video game play is socially isolating.
Video game play is desensitizing.

I still think it is important to have children playing age appropriate games. No Grand Theft Auto until my kids are much older.

Subject tags: [Gaming] [Video Games] [Youth] [Violence] [Children] [Girls] [Social Expression] [Preception] [Desensitization] [LAN] [Myths] [Debunked] [Console]

Internet Explorer vs. Firefox

2005-12-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Checkout the RocketBoom Video Blog with Amanda Congdon for December 2nd. It would appear she is at a university questioning people as they walk by if they prefer Internet Explorer or Firefox. From my own field tests I showed that Firefox was way ahead of Internet Explorer among my visitors, and growing at a very fast rate.

It is interesting that in the video everyone who gave a "why" for Firefox, gave a feature of Firefox, or an advantage, even if only a perceived advantage. Everyone who said Internet Explorer and gave a "why" their reasons were like "Because I don't know any better", "I never heard of Firefox", "It came with my computer", etc.

This reinforces my theory / argument that using Internet explorer is like buying a picture frame and leaving the filler picture in place. The only reason to do this is either you don't know anyone who's picture you can put in, you don't realize the picture is removable, or you lack the ability to change the picture.

Subject tags: [Mozilla] [Firefox] [Microsoft] [Internet Explorer] [Browser]

US States Puzzel

2005-11-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

How well do you know the location of your US States? I was actually surprised to get 94% right with a 13 mile average margine of error in 244 Secs. See how well you do at placing the states.

Subject tags: [US] [Geography] [Puzzel] [States] [Game] [Challenge] [Fun]

Honda Odyssey

2005-11-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday we purcahsed a Honda Odyssey mini van. We researched it and it was consistantly rated as the top mini van. We got the dual powered slidding doors, which is a huge hit with the family.

Sunday we went over to my sister's house. On the way there when I put my daughter in the van she said "Close please door," so I hit the button to close it. She smiled brightly. Then when we got there she said "Open please door," and I of course hit the open button. She giggled with excitement and said "Thanks car, you're the greatest!"

Subject tags: [Mini Van] [Honda] [Odyssey] [Sliding Door]

Acer Aspire 3003WLCi

2005-11-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

Overview: Great notebook for the price
Pros: Price, display, wifi, thin, thoughtful features.
Cons: Battery life, usb port placement
Rating: 9 out of 10

I was able to pick this Acer Aspire 3003WLCi notebook up for $700 at a local retailer, and it came with a nice bundle of extras: Color printer, wireless router, virus protection, etc.

The display is amazing. Runs wide screen at 1200x800 pixels, and it is super bright and sharp. When you hook up an external monitor the key to change configuration brings up a list of options so you can choose. No more guessing.

The touch pad has a middle button which you can configure to scroll up and down and do a forward and back button in your browser. You can also disable the touch-pad with a keystroke when using an external mouse. Unfortunately the scroll doesn't work in Firefox, my browser of choice. The back and forward buttons do though.

I like the feel of the keyboard except occasionally my fingers catch on the underside of the key. Seems like I have had that problem before on other laptops. Must be a function of the fact that the laptop keys are so shallow. The other anoying thing about the keyboard is there are € (euro) and $ keys next too the up arrow. I keep hitting those by accident. I don't really need a € (euro) or a second $ (it is also on the 4 key). It would be nice if they were programmable like all the other special keys.

There are three USB ports, but 2 of them are on the right hand side (along with the one PCMCIA slot, modem and ethernet), with the other in the front (along with the headphones). The only jack on the back is the power and the external display. The USB should be on the back or left so it doesn't interfear with the mouse. The only thing on the left is the DVD/CD Burner.

My particular laptop has 512 MB in a single bank, so I could add another stick if I wanted. It also has

The battery performance is really poor. On the plane I got about 1 hour watching a DVD with the screen brightness turned down. I imagine with WiFi turned off and not using the optical drive I might get an hour and a half. Not usually a big deal. Most my flights are about an hour anyway, and I am plugged in most often.

I gave the laptop at 9 out of 10, not because it is the best laptop out there, but for the price it is amazing. When I was shopping this laptop was nicer then the many of the more expensive ones.

Subject tags: [Laptop] [Acer] [WiFi] [Storage]

Excuse Me?!

2005-11-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed how flexible the phrase "Excuse me" is? All based on body language, voice inflection, and current context it can have more meanings then I could list. Broadly, the more common usage it is rather submissive as you beg someone to forgive you for your imperfections. While in another almost as common usage you let someone know that their imperfections have offended you and they should correct the situation. And both of these circumstances have a wide range of variations.

For example, lets say you are at a party (I know this might be a stretch for some, but stay with me). You are in a crowded room with lots of talking. You see someone you want to talk to on the other side of the room and you start moving towards them. Someone is in your way. You say "Excuse me" to politely let them know that you wish to humbly ask them to move as you so rudely want to reposition yourself through their personal space. The don't move. So you say "Excuse me" again to let them know that you find their lack of moving rude. They still don't move. This time you say "Excuse me" to indicate that you find them to be a Neanderthal not worthy of your patience. Now they respond "Excuse me?" to indicate they didn't understand you. So you point in the direction you are trying to move and they kindly step aside. You continue on your journey, but accidentally step on their toe, to which they protest "Excuse me!" and you apologize "Excuse me!"

These are dangerous words. You may be trying to ask someone to move nicely, but you have a bit of a frog in your throat making your voice a little gruff so they get the impression you are demanding they move. And then when you clear your throat and repeat it you only make matters worse.

I would imagine that with some hand pointing, voice inflection and other body language two people could have a complete unrehearsed conversation only uttering these two words.

One time I was attending a public forum where individuals would take turns standing up and expressing their opinion. There was no podium, people just stood up where they were and took turns. Usually there was some sort of informal recognition before people spoke, but people were taking turns, so this wasn't really necessary. At one point this woman just started speaking, and then this man interrupted her. They both started speaking close to the same time, so his mistake was understandable to the rest of the audience, but the woman was obviously speaking first. They spoke over each other for a second, and then the man turned to the woman and said "Excuse me." At first we thought he was apologizing for his obvious oversight in interrupting her. Then he continued to talk. At that point we realized that he was not apologizing, but was instead letting her know that she should sit down and let him talk. This didn't go over very well with the audience, but he didn't care.

This is where lack of social intelligence comes in. People who don't pick up on these subtle cues in body language and voice inflection tend to appear really rude, but in fact they just don't get it. Although some people really are rude. It can be hard to tell.

Moral: And that, my friends, is one of the many reasons it is so tough to teach a computer to understand English, especially when spoken. I am not too familiar with other languages, but I imagine they are similar, but not as bad.

Subject tags: [English] [Funny] [Excuse me] [Conversation]

Black Friday 2005 at CompUSA

2005-11-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

I went to stand in line at our local CompUSA to pick up one of their day after Thanksgiving sale items. Ran into a bunch of my friends while there too. A couple showed up way before I did, securing themsevles a better place in line, while the rest showed up shortly after I did. I moved back to stand in line with them so we can visit.

CompUSA decided to claim the 1st store to open on Black Friday by opening at 11:59 PM the day before. Most stores open at around 6 AM, and their sales run for a few hours. All the good stuff is gone inside 15 minutes though.

I arrived at the store at 11:40 PM and was standing outside with my purchase at 12:15 AM. A friend of mine that was much closer to the begining of the line then I actually grabbed it for me and waited for me inside.

Sure, you go and stand in line to get a good price, but hanging out with your friends in the middle of the night when it is freezing cold is the best part.

I snapped a few pictures and put them up over at Flickr. Added a video of The Line Outside on PutFile.com.

Subject tags: [CompUSA] [Black Friday] [Shopping] [Thanksgiving] [Line] [Waiting] [Boise] [Idaho] [Friends] [Cold] [Pictures] [Photo] [Video] [Flickr]

Paradigm Shifts

2005-11-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't it interesting how we can go through life with some assumption and never question it always assuming it to be correct, then one day everything changes? These basic assumptions are our paradigm. Then when one day these assumptions are challenged the result is a paradigm shift. Life is all about paradigm shifts. If we don't have paradigm shifts then we are most likely not growing or learning.

So why do I mention that? Odd story. A friend of mine had a cobweb on his desk. I pointed it out and said how I thought it was interesting that they looked like spider webs, but they weren't. He told me they were actually spider webs. I had heard they were just made from dust and that there was no spider involved.

I decided to look it up. Turns out he was right and I was wrong. A cobweb is made by a spider. Here I have been going through life operating under this assumption and whamo, one day it all changes.

Sure, this isn't as big of a paradigm shift as many of the others that are out there, but it is indicative of how we have things we never think to question, and we just go along happily thinking it is right. It is important to be open minded since you never know when things will shift, but don't be so open minded that your brain falls out.

Subject tags: [Paradigm] [Assumption] [Cobweb] [Paradigm Shift] [Life] [Open Mind]

7 Acres

2005-11-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Turns out my cousin Neal Galloway has a band called 7 Acres. There is a poll on radio station X102 to get them more air time. If you have a second then please head over and vote for 7 Acres. Thanks!

Subject tags: [Music] [Band] [Radio] [7 Acres]

Pirates are a Consumer's Best Friend

2005-11-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine earlier today said that he encourages pirating of music. This was in response to the folly of Sony's Music CD DRM (Digital Rights Management - restricts consumers use media) [Technical article that unearthed Sony's folly]. Sony was installing DRM software on people's computers (without their knowledge) to prevent them from copying their music CD's, but the software had huge unintended (so they claim) consequences and was draconian in its behavior. Then Sony released a "patch" for the DRM software and it would appear it is worse then the problem it is fixing. Now Microsoft has announced that they are clasifying the Sony DRM as Malware and will be automatically removing it. Sony also announced they will buy back all the DRM CD's and replace them with non-evil ones.

At first I was a bit surprised to my friends reaction. Sure, every is anoyed by DRM and especially Sony's behavior, but to encourage priacy? Then I got to thinking about it. His response was actually valid.

As a consumer we do want pirates. They are in our best interest. Services like iTunes only exist today as a result of pirates. Piracy seems to be the only thing the recording industry (and associated industries) will listen to. If we want the prices on pay per listen music to come down it would appear we need to encourage pirates.

Before the piracy of music we only had two choices when it came to buying music was Tape or CD. Both were over priced, and we usually only wanted one or two song on either anyway.

Then along comes all the music pirates with their MP3 sharing. As a direct response we get the RIO MP3 player. The RIAA sue unsuccessfully to stop it. Now personal MP3 players are everywhere and the iPod is taking the world by storm. All thanks to the pirates.

Along with the iPod we got a new music purchasing option: iTunes. They were not the first online music seller, but they were the most successful. Now online music sales are everywhere, and at competitive prices. All thanks to the music pirates.

The movie industry has tried to be more pro-active by offering movie downloads. Unfortunately the movie downloads are too high prices (about the same as a rental) and locked up tightly with DRM making them less appealing.

Now RIAA is trying to get iTunes and the others to raise their price. Why? Well, they have started to make a dent in the efforts of the pirates. So if we want better prices in online music, movies and other media, and also more flexible options to actually consume said media, then we need to encourage pirates.

The RIAA and others want us, as consumers to see pirates as the enemy, but the fact of the matter is the pirates drive consumer options and lower prices. They are the best consumer advocacy group around.

Subject tags: [RIAA] [MPAA] [iPod] [iTunes] [Pirates] [Piracy] [Music] [Movies] [DRM] [Sony]

Creative Alarm Clocks

2005-11-09T23:02:00.001-07:00

Found a couple creative alarm clocks. They are both in the SkyMall catalog and come from Hammacher Schlemmer.

The first is the "Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock". It gradually raises the ambient light, while it releases stimulating aromas and peaceful nature sounds. The lights and aromas starts a whole thirty (30) minutes before the scheduled wake-up time. Then fifteen (15) minutes into it the soft nature sounds start (one of six). Finally at wake-up time you get the buzzer. All for just $49.95.

I would really like one of these. I have found that when I get a few minutes of time before getting out of bed that I am more alert and get up easier. The problem with a clock radio is you have no idea how long you have been laying there. It would be nice if the times were adjustable. You might find that compressing or expanding the "warm-up" time more effective from person to person.

The second alarm clock takes the opposite approach. Instead of gradually waking you up the "Sensory Assult" throws everything it has at you at once. It uses a strobe light (guessing just white), a vibrating pad under your pillow and an upto 95 decibel siren. If you don't want to alarm the neighbors too you can turn down the volume, or use it in just vibrate mode too. Can also function as a telephone ringer. The time is displayed on and oversized bright display so you can't miss it. Get assulted for $59.95. Does _not_ come with a wake up guarantee.

I woundn't want one of these. For starters I am the kind of person who likes to wake up gradually. aditionally my clock radio already wakes up my wife and oldest son. The latter is slepping on the other side of the house. I am sure this clock would wake up the whole house, and the neighbors. Although using it as a telephone ringer has merit.

I'll post pictures and links later.

Finding WiFi

2005-11-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

SkyMall has a mini WiFi signal locator in its Diversions section. It is called the Mobile Edge and would fit on a key chain. I am guessing it is about 2" x 1". It runs $29.95.

I always use my Clie. It is a little bigger, but I already have it with me and i can actually use the WiFi if it is availabe.

The biggest problem I have found is finding free WiFi. I don't mind paying for it if I am going to be using it for more then 5 minutes, bu quite often that is all I need.

A great idea for a WiFi provider would be to offer the first 15 minutes free. I am sure they might loose some money from people who were going to pay for just using it a few minutes, but I imagine the net result will be more people using it.

A lot of people just want to check their email really quick. If they think they can get it acomplished in the free minutes then they are more likely to check their email. Once they ge online they are more likely to find something that requires their attention. Since they already entered their billing information, as soon as their free time is up then they will start being billed.

What would be ideal is if there was some way to just get an account on all the networks for one price, or through a micropayments system. Maybe some one already offers this.

Or maybe someone has started a system like bugmenot.com where everyone shares out their login infrmation for the various networks. Of course the trick would be getting the login information if you can't get online yet. Maybe the current set of login information could be mailed out in an easily printable format for quick reference, or you could retrive them using a simple call from the phone.

I imagine the network providers would not be to keen on such a network though. They would probably be deactivating accounts as quick as they were shared. It may also violate the terms of service.

XBox 360 BSOD

2005-11-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

Reason #27 to buy an XBox 360:

It has a BSOD - Black Screen of Death.

Who wants to be worried with racking up "up-time" on their console anyway? The BSOD is a feature to encourage players to take a break from time to time. Stretch their legs, get some air, maybe even exercise.

Plus the fact it is in multiple languages provides valuable diverse cultural exposure that may have otherwise been missed.

[Thanks to Engadget.]

Subject tags: [XBox] [XBox360] [BSOD] [Funny]

Picard, Riker and Data in a Car

2005-11-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me this animated gif of Picard, Riker and Data from Star Trek | The Next Generation.

I am not sure what they are all doing in this car, or where they are going, but they seem to be having a good time and posibly listening to some enjoyable music. They are also very snappy dressers. Much nicer then those solid color leotards they usually wear.

There is a Comedy Central logo in the corner. If anyone knows where this image is from I would love to know. It appears to be a creatively doctored image and not a screen capture from a TV show.

Subject tags: [Star Trek] [StarTrek] [ST|TNG] [Trek] [Funny Picture] [Animated GIF] [Animation] [Picard] [Riker] [Data]

Step One: Hybrids

2005-11-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

Kevin just forward me an article on hybrid dogs. The article is specifically about the Puggle - a Beagle and Pug cross - but it mentions a few other hybrids too. Now you can drive a hybrid car with a hybrid dog in the back.

I am waiting for the Great Dane and Cockerspaniel cross, simply because I like Great Danes and my wife likes Cockerspaniels. Not sure how the mechanics of that would work though. Would we call it a Great Spaniel?

I thought it was funny that they had the lady from the AKC though. Of course she is going to be critical of it. Those AKC people are really stuck up. The interesting thing is every time you breed a dog you take a gamble with what the puppies will be like, even when breeding the same breed. In fact for those who are breeding show dogs it is not uncommon to put down half the litter. This is especially true when they inbreed the dogs (with siblings) to enhance the positive attributes - it results in concentrated negative attributes too. The problem is the negative ones are not always recognized until they are breed in for a few generations. The AKC could care less about pets.

I predict that it won't be long and we will see pets engineered to order. Instead of choosing a breed we would choose a list traits and they would grow us a puppy. Just a matter of mapping the doggie genome. Just wait, it will happen.

Subject tags: [Puggle] [Dogs] [Hybrid] [AKC] [Pets] [Treds] [Genetic Engineering] [Genome]

Biological Stats

2005-10-28T01:09:00.000-06:00

These are some interesting stats I wanted to jot down, so I sent them from my Clie to my blog where they will live forever.

98% of the cells (the source said atoms) in your body are replaced every year.
Cells of brain replaced every year.
Skeleton replaced every 3 months.
Liver every 6 weeks.
Skin every month.
You have 60,000 thoughts every day.
95% of your thoughts are the same every day as they were the day before.

I was thinking about how our thoughts hardwire our cells, specifically your nerve cells. So if you change your thoughts how does that change your physiology, and how long does it take before there will be a significant long term impact?

My lovely wife found these stats for me. Not sure of the source though. 33.5% of statistics are made up on the spot anyway (just like that one), although it is always nice to reference a source, even if they made up the statistics.

On a mostly unrelated note:

I was reading a great essay about Public Relations. They author talked about how a previous employer made a lot of use of PR firms and how they work. Basically the company would write up an article that talked about the industry and spoke favorably of their company. Then the PR firm would pass that article, or a boilerplate of derived information, off to their contacts at the different news establishments. Then the news reporters would basically put their name on it as news.

The effect at one point was they were able to extrapolate the percentage of the industry that used their product. The number was more guess then fact. Then they were able to get that fabricated statistic published, which they then referenced in their marketing material as fact. So they paid a PR firm to use the news media to turn their marketing material into fact.

Next time you see a "news article" that strongly favors one player in the industry, it is a good chance it is a PR piece.

Subject tags: [Biological] [Meme] [Statistics] [Stats] [Thoughts] [Thought Patterns] [Nerves] [Public Relations] [PR] [News] [Marketing]

Blogging in the Dark

2005-10-24T21:36:00.000-06:00

So what do you do when the power goes out? Wouldn't that be a great time to update your Blog? That is what is nice about having a portable device. Instead of a laptop I got a Sony Clie ux50. It is like a really small laptop.

Unfortunately I can't post until the power come back up since my wireless access point requires electricity. I guess I could always drive to coffee shop or something.

Why is it when your power goes out you always want to know who else lost their power? Is it to make sure you are not suffering alone? And how do you decide who calls the power company? Does everyone call, or is there some system to determine who it will be. You certainly don' want to waste the power companies tim answering the phone, but at the same time you want them to realise the gravity of the situation.

At 11 PM maybe I should consider going to sleep instead of blogging. . . .

Gmail Storage Space

2005-10-24T11:21:00.000-06:00

I've been using Gmail for my email for quite some time now. Not only does it provide plenty of storage space, but I really like the interface. Gmail's debut was on April 1st last year (See post by Paul Buchheit, Gmail'1st Engineer). Some people thought it was an April Fools joke - 1 gigabyte of email from Google - Google is famous for their jokes (e.g., Pigeon Rank and Lunar Jobs.) It was no joke, and it was very popular. Then on April 1st of this year they doubled the storage from 1 gigabyte to 2 gigabytes, and growing. As of today the storage space is 2657.638419 megabytes (and counting).

I am a fairly heavy email user, and I rarely delete things. Gmail encourages you to not bother deleting messages since you have so much space. I don't get many large attachments, so most of my emails are just messages with an occasional attachment. I looked down and was shocked to see that I am using over 20% of my storage space. If they hadn't doubled my space I would be getting close to 50%!

In fact, this is my current usage information as of today, October 24th:

You are currently using 547 MB (21%) of your 2657 MB.

I am curious if my storage space is growing faster then I am receiving new email. I'll check back in a few weeks and see if my percentage is going down or up.

Unfortunately there is no way to sort your message by size. I may have some large attachments in there that might be worth deleting. I am curious if a fowarded attachment is duplicated, or if both messages point to the same attachment. The latter seems more logical.

Subject tags: [Google] [Gmail] [Email] [Storage]

Flu Shot

2005-10-13T22:46:00.000-06:00

Seems like ever since the flu shot was introduced there has been a pattern. This pattern may not hold true every year, but it certainly seems to be regularly re-occuring. In about late September, early October I start to see signs going up at the big stores saying they will have a flu shot clinic on a certain date. Flu shots seem abundant and are easily obtainable for a couple months.

Then in about January you start hearing news reports that there is a shortage for flu shots. Panic sets in. People rush out to get their flu shots before they are all gone. Others blame the government! People start to refuse to go outside for fear of an epidimic. Pandimonium sets in.

It amazes me that there can be such abundance for those who get their shots early, then such a shortage later. If it is so important to people then why don't they get them in October. Unless I am missing something then it seems to me that people who wait until January or February and then complain that there are no more available get what they deserve. The shot is good for the whole flu season so why not get it early? It takes a few weeks to be effective anyway, so waiting until flu season may be too late anyway.

But then again maybe I am missing something.

Anyway, I got my first flu shot this year. There were pleanty to go around. We will see what happens come January.

Tags: [Flu Shot] [Politics] [Planning] [Lazyness] [People]

Mini MPEG4 VCR

2005-10-12T16:20:00.000-06:00

Just ordered a Pacific Image MPEG4 PV-801 mini VCR off of Woot. I have some VHS tapes I want to get into my PC, plus I have video clips I want to get to my TV. I have a DVD burner, but that seems hit and miss in my DVD player as of late. Short of moving my VCR into the computer room and buying a TV I/O Video Card I figure this is a good solution. Plus it is portable. I may need to pick up some larger CF or SD media to go in it though.

Tags: [MPEG4] [VCR] [Media]

Yahoo! and Microsoft to Link IM Networks

2005-10-12T10:17:00.000-06:00

It is about time these networks started linking. Imagine if we still had disconnected email networks (it wasn't that long ago). I wonder if AOL is going to make a consolidating move, maybe with their own ICQ network. For anyone using Jabber or GAIM, then you already have the ability to connect to multiple networks, but you still need an account on each. I am curious if the combined Yahoo! & MSN network will require seperate accounts, or if an account on one will work for both / either.

Tags: [IM] [Microsoft] [Yahoo] [AOL] [AIM]

Pi: The Music Video

2005-10-12T09:53:00.000-06:00

190 Digits of Pi, set to music in a video. Wizards, robots, kids in striped shirts, people being disintegrated, break dancing and a little bit of hip hop for good measure.

"That's what I call get'n some π. . ."

BTW, I listened to it again, and although it is made took look like a show off PBS it is not exactly kid friendly.

via [Waxy]

Tags: [Bizarre] [Retro] [Pi] [Math] [Video]

"I Wouldn't Want It"

2005-10-10T16:44:00.000-06:00

I was getting some water this afternoon and started talking with a co-worker. He pointed to this poster about how "you could win a Mercedes-Benz C230 Sport Sedan for one year" (same picture as on the site). He was saying how he wouldn't want it since he would have to pay for the insurance for a year, and what if his kids spilt something on it?

I stood there looking at the poster and thought to my self ". . . and that is why you won't win it." How many people are out there talking themselves out of why they want to win things before they even win. Just so anyone knows, if you win something, and don't want it, I'll take it. In fact, if you are trying to give something to someone, and they don't want it, you can give it to me.

Tags: [Prize] [Win] [Attitude] [Mercedes-Benz C230] [Insurance] [Motivation]

Secret Lie

2005-10-10T13:02:00.000-06:00

I am sure it is obvious to anyone who knows my wife Dawn and I that I am really fond of her and think the world of her. Occasionally she still impresses me. She has started her own Blog, which she setup on her own I might add. Her latest post "The Secret Lie" is brilliant. I love it. Go read it and check out some of her other posts too.

Tags: [Secret] [Lie] [Blog] [Motivation]

Feed Moved to Feed Burner

2005-10-10T11:30:00.000-06:00

I discovered the Blogger is not formatting my newsfeed correctly. I've been looking at FeedBurner for a while now. They provide a free service that enhances news feeds. I ran my news feed through it and discovered it fixed all my complaints.

If you are using the old ATOM feed you will want to switch your subscription to the new feed location. You will probably notice the feed is more readable now too. I will switch the Atom feed off in a while, so be sure you make the transition.

Monitor Meltdown

2005-10-05T14:16:00.000-06:00

I had a tech support call one time where their monitor wasn't working. It was a brand new computer, so we had to make sure it was the monitor and not the PC. During the call their monitor started to spark and smoke, then it burst into flames (maybe burst is an exageration). I told them to unplug it and get back. The fireworks stopped once they cut the power. I sent them a new monitor.

I doubt this is that monitor, but it reminded me of that call. . .

Tags: [Tech Support] [Monitors] [Funny Pictures] [Fire]

More on Serenity

2005-10-05T12:33:00.000-06:00

HowStuffWorks (one of my favorite sites) has a behind the scenes on Serenity. Really interesting stuff. Especially on the future of Serenity:

The cast is signed for two sequels, which they and Whedon would gladly make. "There are more stories to tell with these characters, so if the opportunity came up, I'd jump. We had a lot of fun and I think it translates on screen. I believe that if people see it, they will like it," says the director. He wouldn't rule out another TV version either, but adds "though I don't know who owns the TV rights."

I think the Sci-Fi Channel has TV rights, but I could be wrong. That would be a very welcoming home I expect. Although usually if a movie does well you see a second movie, not a TV series, especially if the movie is based on a TV series. I guess time will tell. Serenity was #2 at the box office (right after Flightplan) on opening weekend. RottenTomatoes, which aggrogates movie reviews, has it rated at 80% FRESH (Really good). Most everyone involved in the movie has very little "Star Power" with Hollywood as a whole. A lot of them have been in other movies or even top TV shows, but I don't think any of them had top billing on a blockbuster movie. We will see what next week holds. I say the odds of a sequal are very good.

Serenity Review

2005-10-01T00:16:00.000-06:00

We went to the 8 PM showing of Serenity at the Boise Edwards. They had it on two screens out of 21. It looks like it was a sold out theater. I must say, Serenity ROCKS! It was fantastic! Exceeded my expectations.

It took a while to get past the changes from the series. Instead of Mal doing the voice over in the beginning they have someone else doing it, which just sounded wrong, and then they didn't use the theme song either. For some reason everyone always looks different on the big screen instead of the TV. Not sure why. They ship was different too.

But you really get into all the characters, even the new bad guy. The whole theater laughed, cried and jumped together. A lot of good action. The fight scenes were not that crazy camera movement we see in most other action movies, so you could tell what was happening and didn't get dizzy.

The script was very tight and all the dialog was really well thought out. Best of all there was no Jar-Jar.

Dawn isn't a huge sci-fi movie fan and she even liked it, although it was a little gorey and had a few too many jump scenes for her.

Recomendation: See it twice if you are Sci-Fi fan, more if you liked FireFly.

Tags: [Movies] [Serenity] [FireFly]

Pet Peeve - Conference Calls from Cubicles

2005-09-30T13:35:00.000-06:00

This is a pet peeve of mine. I think it is down right rude when someone is on a conference call over their speaker phone from their cubicle. It is rude to the people in cubicles next to them who have to listen to all the noise, and it is rude to the other people on the call who get to listen to all the other conversations and environmental noises in the background.

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Online

2005-09-29T08:43:00.000-06:00

Getty Research provides a catalog of geographic names. For example, here is the entry for Boise. It shows it in the following hierarchical position:

- World (facet)
- North and Central America (continent)
- United States (nation)
- Idaho (state)
- Ada (county)
- Boise (inhabited place)

Then each page for each location provides some details about it and its classification. For example Boise is classified as

inhabited place (originated as Fort Boise in 1863)
city
state capital (since 1864)
county seat
manufacturing center (for packing houses & food processing)
quarrying center (for stone)
agricultural center (produces fruit, sugar beets & livestock)
mill center (for lumber)
commercial center
administrative center (for federal & state agencies)
educational center (includes Boise State University founded in 1932)
tourist center (noted for Boise National Forest, with remnants of empty gold mines & ghost towns)

There is the ability to search the categories and browse the hierarchies. I guess the objective is to provide agreed upon and standardized categorization and labels. Most of the labels look like the kind of names you would see on a map, and they come with latitude and longitude.

Tags: [Geography] [Cartography] [Catalog] [concert] [Boise] [Idaho] [USA]

Childhood Movie Favorites

2005-09-19T22:00:00.000-06:00

Do you ever have a movie that you remember really enjoying as a child, but you can never remember what it was? Big Trouble in Little China was one of those for me. I couldn't remember what it was called, but then when we saw at an office movie party it all came back to me. A lot of fun!

There was this other movie that I remember as being a musical about pirates or something, but I never remembered the name. It was a goofy movie where some young man signed up to be a pirate until his 21st birthday (or something) and then when he thought he was done he discovered he was born on leap year, so he really is only 5, not 21, therefore he was still a pirate. So he ends up taking on all the pirates in a big battle so that he can marry the girl of his dreams. Then at the end the girl doesn't like how the movie is turning out so she stops all the action and changes it to a happy ending. Like I said, it was goofy!

Well I was reading PVP today and they had a comic in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day where they included a reference to The Pirate Movie. I was a little curious so I went out to IMDB to read about it. This was the movie I could never remember the title of. I remember loving this movie as a kid. Guess I will either go rent it, or take it to our office movie party.

Tags: [Movies] [Pirates]

QuickTime Standalone

2005-09-18T21:19:00.000-06:00

If you go to download QuickTime (my favorite video format) now Apple bundles it with iTunes by default. I have nothing against iTunes, but it comes with Bonjour, which after installing it on my laptop it rendered my network disfunctional (of course my attempted surgical uninstalling of of the suspected SpyWare may have had something to do with that). Uninstalling, reinstalling iTunes didn't help. Reloading the OS did.

After a lot of poking around I found QuickTime without iTunes. I forget the reference page, but you can download QuickTime Standalone here.

Tags: [QuickTime]

Sling TV Over the Internet

2005-09-12T22:45:00.000-06:00

This looks really interesting. A guy here at PDC'05 is running it and watching the TV he missed while here. Sling Media lets you watch your TV or TiVo anywhere over the internet. I'd wanted to do this for a while.

Men claim to be cleverer than women

2005-08-29T14:06:00.000-06:00

Two male academics in the UK claim to have proof that men (of the age 14) have on average 5 more IQ points then women and that "the difference grows when the highest IQ levels are considered."

There were twice as many men with IQ scores of 125, for example, a level said to correspond with people getting first-class degrees.

At scores of 155, associated with genius, there were 5.5 men for every woman.

IQ has always been a disputed measure of someone's intelligence. The IQ test they used claims to measure based on "general cognitive ability - spatial and verbal ability." Interestingly they go on to say:

.. . there is evidence that at the same level of IQ, women are able to achieve more than men . ..

Personally who cares what someone's IQ is, how much are they able to achieve? If a woman scores lower on an artificial IQ test, but can do more then a man with a higher IQ from the same test, then the woman is smarter in my opinion.

Time Travel

2005-08-26T11:48:00.000-06:00

Generally I find progress a good thing. From time to time I do find myself longing for the way things used to be. Here are some of the resources I have found invaluable for a little time travel.

OldVersion.com - Keeps an archive of older versions of freeware and shareware applications. They keep expanding their library too.
Wayback Machine - Provived by Archive.org and keeps an archive of the different revisions of web pages. Fairly complete, although fairly slow. Check out my original home page.
Abandonware is the idea that when the copyright owner of a piece of software is unable to be found and the software cannot be obtained elsewhere, then it becomes free. This is most often applied to games, but some Abandonware sites have other applications too. There was some possible legislation recently to legalize Abandonware. Now it kind of exists in a grey zone.
Old DOS Shareware / Freeware / Public Domain software can occasionally be found too on some of the big file archives.

If you literally want to travel in time then check out these sites:

NOVA on Time Travel
How Stuff Works (fun site) on How Time Travel Will Work.
The Time Travel Fund - Invest $10 now and eventually it the future it will be enough to pay for time travel!
Wikipedia on Time Travel

So what other time travel resources - either physically or nostalgically - do you use or recommend?

Tags: [Time travel] [retro] [software]

Pamelia Kurstin plays the Theremin

2005-08-26T11:08:00.000-06:00

Dawn and I are planning to go hear Pamelia Kurstin play the Theremin in Boise (with more information) at the 3 Shapes Aikido Dojo. The Theremin was the first electronic instrument, invented in 1917, and is played without touching it. Check-out some Theremin samples (large variety in quality).

Tags: [Live] [theremin] [music] [concert] in [Boise], [Idaho]

Picking Flowers

2005-08-26T11:01:00.000-06:00

I was trying to look up the exact quote "Pick a flower on earth and you move the farthest star," which I thought was James C. Maxwell. Turns out it was Paul Dirac. Not sure why I had them confused! It is still one of my favorite physic's quotes. Found the reference in the online version of the book Newtonian Physics by Benjamin Crowell (under the section heading for 10.4 Vector Addition of Gravitational Forces). I love physics!

More on the Swan Falls Dam

2005-08-23T14:34:00.000-06:00

I originally and erroneously reported that the Swan Falls Dam no longer was used for power generation. Steve Jung emailed me to let me know it has been in full use as a electric generating power plant since it was built in 1901. Depending on inflows it has the capability of generating 12 mws. It is still owned and operated by Idaho Power Company.

He emailed me again with the following details:

About 10 years ago the turbines at Swan Falls were upgraded to a more efficient turbines. The old part where the outdated turbines were have been made into a museum, and the new turbines are in a added powerhouse on the dam. Generation has always been produced at the Swan Falls dam, but perhaps the confusion lies in the fact that an "old" part of the dam where the outdated generators were no longer produce power.

More information:

Turns out Steve used to work at the Swan Falls Dam as an operator back in the 1970's. I stand corrected. Thanks Steve!

Tags: [dam] [hydroelectric] [Idaho]

Johnny Applebot's Resurrection

2005-08-23T13:56:00.000-06:00

Back in April I posted Death of a Toy about the fleeting momemnts before my son's Johnny Applebot toy passed away. Today I got an email from Bart Feliciano. He was the original designer of Johnny Applebot. I got his permission to share what he wrote with everyone.

I designed Johnny Applebot when I worked at Trendmasters.
Just a comment on the original design.
Originally I designed this toy specifically to elicit emotional response like what you describe.
After the suits got through with it it was reduced to the canned voice responses that you saw in the finished product.

The original design had 2 eyebrows to allow it to emote better, but the number of motors required to support 2 eyebrows independantly proved too expensive. It would have been much more emotive though.

I'm glad to see it got even one reaction along the lines of my original intent even after the realities of production and an unimaginitive product manager got done with it.

The Johnny Applebot was a lot of fun when my son first got it. Pretty exciting to meet the designer of it, even if it was just via email.

Tags: [technology] [toys] [robots] [Design]

Bush's "Brain disease sparks concern"

2005-08-20T19:58:00.000-06:00

This is another case of an unfortunate juxtaposition of headlines and photographs in a news paper. President Bush is coming to visit Nampa, Idaho, the city I live. That made the headline, but Bush's picture was placed right beside a headline of "Brain disease sparks concern." See the results for yourself.

It doesn't help that Bush as a goofy look on his face.

The little dark area between his eyes is a spot on the lens of my digital camera.

Tags: [Bush] [Brain disease] [newspaper] [Headlines]

Lost and Found

2005-08-20T19:38:00.000-06:00

A while back Dawn pointed out that the problem everyone has with weight loss is metal. When we "loose" things we go out looking for them to get them back. Like we loose our keys, or loose a job. We have a feeling of loss and want to feel the void left behind. So when we loose weight we either find it again, or replace it with new weight. The alternative is to shed pounds.

I was at a local pizza place and they had this sign up, which you may have seen a similar one before. It read "I lost 40 LBS in 2 months" followed by an 800 number. Well, someone else attached a second sign that read "I found 15 of them" with their number attached. I thought that was too funny!

3 Shapes Aikido

2005-08-17T21:56:00.000-06:00

Dawn and I just attended our first Aikido class at the 3 Shapes Dojo in Boise. We had a great time and learned a lot. We are taking advantage of their beginner special and hope to join the dojo after our trial month is up.

Aikido is a great martial art. It is one I have been interested in learning for close to 20 years now (hard to believe it has been that long!) A lot of people discouraged me from learning it by saying it had a very long learning curve and took a life time to get any good at it. After attending a brief introduction a while back we decided to look into joining a local dojo. 3 Shapes also offers classes for young children, so our two boys will be joining too.

I am sure I will be blogging more about Aikido and 3 Shapes as a learn more. Until then here are some great resources for you to learn more about Aikido:

Looks like I have some reading to do to!

Double Habanero Pizza

2005-08-16T18:54:00.000-06:00

Our local Flying Pie Pizza offers a Double Habanero pizza only during the month of August, when the peppers are their hottest. For anyone who doesn't know, a habanero is the worlds hottest pepper and is roughly 50 times hotter then a Jalapeño.

We ordered one for lunch at work today. Had them add Jalapeño's and then I added crushed Cayenne peppers. It was quite a spicy pizza. You really feel it. Luckily they serve it with ice cream. Very helpful.

They require you to sign a waiver if you take it out of the restaurant, and if you eat it there they watch you closely. I might suggest putting a biohazard sticker on it.

If you are in Boise during August I recommend checking it out if you like hot (and I mean very, very hot) food. I also recommend having a strong heart and updating your life and health insurance.

Tags: [Habanero] [Pizza] is a [Spicy] [Food]

DNA is not Destiny

2005-08-16T16:24:00.000-06:00

Wired has an article about the epigenome. . .

The more we learn about the human genome, the less DNA looks like destiny. As scientists discover more about the "epigenome," a layer of biochemical reactions that turns genes on and off, they're finding that it plays a big part in health and heredity.

The article goes on to say that the epigenome can actually be influenced by the environment. While we cannot change our DNA we have a large amount of control over our epigenome, which is more important in who we are. Is that an empowering thought or what?

Tags: [Life] [DNA] [Genome] [Destiny]

Mixing Topics

2005-08-16T10:39:00.000-06:00

This is something I have "gone to guns" on before, but now I want to take a more thoughtful approach. I was reading Dan Miser's blog and noticed his post about Robert Scoble. Dan is upset that Scoble posts about political topics in his personal blog. It is Dan's opinion that Scoble's blog is a technical blog and it his Scoble's responsibility to only post technical posts. Either that or provide post categories so that readers can subscribe to only the topics they are interested in.

Like I said, I've "gone to guns" (a Top Gun reference) on this issue before. I was on a programming mailing list and the moderator posted a heated controversial message to the list along with graphic pictures and a call to action. The list turned into a flame war for a while - everyone felt like they had been spammed since they subscribed to the list for programming topics and they received an email about politics, especially with graphic pictures.

So is Mr. Scoble posting about politics (aka poliblogging) in his blog different?

I actually started this blog because I wanted to have a different venue for blog posts that don't fit on www.bsdg.org. I felt that I have am agreement with my readers on that blog - I agree to post on topics related to software development and they agree to read my blog. I'll admit that I am not perfect. I've discovered that I also believe that readers of my blog are also subscribing to my voice. They want to hear what I have to say. Now this may be my ego stepping in, but I discovered that in a lot of the blogs I read I also enjoy hearing the poster's voice, even when off topic.

So where is the line? Did Scoble cross it in talking about politics? Furthermore did Dan cross it in complaining about Scoble talking about politics? It would appear to me that Dan has a technical blog. His post topics are .NET, ADO.NET/BDP, DataSnap and ObjectSpaces, which covers most of his posts, except the one about Scoble. So, does Dan hold Scoble to a higher standard then he holds himself? Using Dan's logic would we all now unsubscribe from his blog? I'll keep subscribing to Dan's blog for now. How about you?

I think Joe White is a good example of doing this well. The stated subject of his blog is Life, .NET, and Cats, and his post categories include .NET, Delphi (BorCon2004), Extreme Programming, Ruby, Projects (DGrok, Diff, SharpLayout) and then Personal which includes Ooo pretty (Adult ADD), Writing, the dreaded Politics, and even some Religion for good measure. I notice no categories about cats though, interesting. Now I may not like cats, and I have gotten into some interesting discussions about Religion with him, but I subscribe to his blog because I like his voice and now he is my friend (I actually met him briefly at BorCon2004).

I believe that when you subscribe to a blog you subscribe to a voice. Sometimes it is chorus of many voices, other times it is one voice. It is also a relationship, which goes both ways. You leave comments and visit their blog, they share posts with you. As with any friend sometimes you disagree with what they say or how they say it. If you decide the signal to noise ratio is not to your liking you move on, or you may decide that your friendship and relationship is worth putting up with their quirks.

Tags: [Weblog] [Tags] [Politics] [Blog]

Anyone Familiar with Panda?

2005-08-11T23:53:00.000-06:00

I know they have been around as an anti-virus company for a while, but I am curious if anyone has used Panda, specifically their Panda Platinum Internet Security 2005. I found a really good deal on it too. People are always aking for me to refer them to a similar product. I'd like to be able to recommended a low cost one.

WordPerfect on the Cheap

2005-08-11T23:48:00.000-06:00

Miss WordPerfect too? This site passes my sniff test, but shop at your own risk: Corel WordPeftect Office 12 (OEM) for $9.99. You can also download a trail to see if you like the latest version. I will let you know.

Feature I Miss from WordPerfect

2005-08-11T12:58:00.000-06:00

Of course the first feature that any serious WordPerfect user misses when working with Word is reveal codes. That goes without saying. And anyone who says you don't need reveal codes with Word has never done any serious formating.

Another innovative feature of WordPerfect is the Make It Fit feature introduced in WordPerfect 6 (if I remember correctly). With that feature it will automatically format your document to fit in the desired number of pages. You set the options and ranges for how it can make it fit. This is a great option for cleaning up that elusive quarter page at the end of your paper, or to condense a document down to a single page to be used as a handout. If you are in school then it is a great way to meet the page requirements of a paper too, although if your font size and spacing gets too big your teacher might catch on.

WordPerfect is now on version 12. Unfortunately I am forced to use Word at work. Maybe I will pick up the home suite for $89. . .

Video Games and the Decay of Society

2005-08-05T17:30:00.000-06:00

The Economist.com has an column Video gaming | Chasing the dream which compares the video games of today to the rock and roll of the 1950s.

Like rock and roll in the 1950s, games have been accepted by the young and largely rejected by the old. Once the young are old, and the old are dead, games will be regarded as just another medium and the debate will have moved on. Critics of gaming do not just have the facts against them; they have history against them, too. "Thirty years from now, we'll be arguing about holograms, or something," says Mr Williams.

First of all, I really enjoy video games. I always have. I may not play them as often now as I once did, but I still find them very entertaining. I think this column raises some really valid points.

When I was in kindergartenen (about 1978) I remember my teacher, Mrs. Earnest, would always complain that we were unable to maintain our attention span because our brains had been warped by the TV. As I am sure anyone who has dealt with 5 year olds can confirm, they tend to be a little rowdy and don't sit still for long. So was she right? Were our brains really rotted by television? Well, I didn't have a TV at home until I was in 3rd grade (a great decision by my parents) and I was just as restless as the rest of the class. So my verdict is she was just blaming an outside source to make up for the fact she was unable to maintain the level of control on the class she wanted.

I have pointed out in the past that when new technology, specifically for entertainment or to make life easier, comes along, the established (or older) generation rejects it, while the new generations embrace it. Video Games are the latest innovation disputed along generational lines.

My opinion is that video games, just like its predecessors - TV, the Internet, Compute Bulletinen Board Systems, Comic Books, Rock and Roll, Books and Cave Paintingts are neither good nor bad. They are neutral. The decay of society results from the undisciplined over indulgence of these advances as well as the use of these mediums to deliver degrading messages. Of course the flip side is that the blaming of these outside advances and elements for our failings (especially as the older generation) only exasperates the situation.

There may be some aspects of society that are in decay, but on a whole society is improving. They sky is not falling, but you still don't want to be hit by too many acorns.

Tags: [Video Games] [Culture] [Generations] [Society]

Boise boys with big guns keep Fallujah safe

2005-08-04T01:14:00.000-06:00

This article is about my brother Dan with the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division in Fallujah, Iraq. He is driving the tank pictured at the bottom.

“These tanks mostly serve as a deterrent, making insurgents feel incapable of opposing us,” exclaimed the 25-year-old tank crewman, who currently serves with 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division. “Tanks give us the ability to provide (ground infantry personnel) excellent security and surveillance capabilities.”

Tags: [Boise] [Iraq] [Tanks]

Rascal Flats in Iraq

2005-08-04T01:12:00.000-06:00

This just in from my brother Dan in Iraq:

Here are some pics of Rascal Flatts who came out to give us a concert. Before the show we took them for tank rides and let them shoot some machineguns. We got VIP front row seats. It was a really good show.

Tags: [Rascal Flats] [Iraq] [machine guns]

Mailing List Disclaimer

2005-07-29T16:58:00.000-06:00

I administer a few mailing lists, most on Yahoo!Groups or GoogleGroups. I get a chuckle when someone posts to the list with one of those annoying and useless email disclaimers. I thought it a good idea to add a disclaimer footer for all messages posted to the group. Here is the disclaimer I came up with. Anything I missed?

.._______________________..
./                       \.
.| NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER |.
.\_______________________/.

This e-mail is intended nobody in particular. This transmission likely contains information that is goofy, irrational and/or devoid of logical thought as defined by a sane person. If you are not in possession of a sense of humor please destroy this message immediately. You are hereby notified that any serious consideration, genuine interest in, or belief in the factual nature contained herein (including any reliance thereon) is foolhardy at best and may lead to serious injury or public embarrassment. Criticism, flames, mocking, disagreement, snickering, gaffing, making fun of and belly laughter is very likely. While disclosure of information contained herein with orangutans or hypnotized zombies of the brain eating variety is HIGHLY ENCOURAGED.

If you received this transmission intentionally or accidentally, please accept our apologies for any wasted time, computer storage, bandwidth consumed, brain damage or emotional trauma caused by this message and/or the reading thereof. Please immediately respond to the sender without completely reading the message or any linked articles and destroy their belief in the intelligence of humanity by flaunting your ignorance. Printing of this material in its entirety or in part, whether intentionally or accidentally is a waste of natural resources. Forwarding this message to others will lead them to find you neither funny nor intelligent.

The contents of this email do not necessarily represent the opinions, views or policies of any sane person or artificial computer intelligence. Any resemblance of fact is purely coincidental and will be corrected immediately upon discovery.

Failure to disregard this notice in its entirety is a sign of having too much time on your hands. Please go read a book or take up a hobby not involving the computer.

Thank you,

-List Administration

Reading through this again I think it would be a good idea to add something about spelling errors. What else?

Amici Forever

2005-07-27T10:56:00.000-06:00

I just picked up Amici Forever's two CD's. They bill themselves as the first "Opera Band". I first found them browsing the Classical category in Winamp Video (from the library). On there they have the video for Senza Catene, which is Unchained Melody in Italian. It is very beautiful. You can also watch the video on Amici Forever's web site.

Amici Forever is a 5 person group that sings opera, but not the usual opera most people think of. I would say it is more of a pop opera. "Amici" is Itialian for "Friends". In an interview they said "we're all good mates" which might explain the name. They got together because they are all young singers on the opera circut in the UK. They are an "Opera Band" because they have classically trained voices instead of pop voices.

I played some for Dawn and she said while she wouldn't have expected to like it, she really enjoyed it. You can listen to excerpts from their CD's on their web site, or you can stop by my house and I will play you some.

LCpl Dan McKeeth nominated for the Navy Achievement Medal

2005-06-24T09:25:00.000-06:00

My brother, Lance Corporal Dan McKeeth, is serving with the Marines' Bravo Company, 2nd Tanks "The Brawlers" at Camp Fallujah in Iraq as an M1 tank driver. He tells me that driver is the position everyone starts at in the tank, and then move up through the other positions - gunner, loader and commander (if I remember right).

Shortly after arriving in Iraq his crew put him in for a merits promotion, which is how he ended up as a Lance Corporal. He was actually put in for another promotion, but there is a requirement that he serve as Lance Corporal for a while first. Now he has been nominated to receive the Navy Achievement Medal or NAM. The following is a paraphrase of his write-up.

While on a mission the tank commander was injured. LCpl McKeeth brought the tank to a stop to evacuate the crew as the tank filled with smoke. He then drove the tank quickly to the medevac site with his hatch open, exposing himself to potential fire. Later that day LCpl McKeeth assumed the role of gunner without training or experience, performing very well. At the same time he trained up a replacement driver with no previous experience.

As driver he is the newest member of the crew. The fact that he took action when needed is really impressive. He's crew regularly comments that he knows more about Maya then anyone else.

He has not received the award yet, but he says his odds are really good.

My Kind of Case Mod

2005-06-07T08:23:00.000-06:00

I used to really be into Lego's. When I saw this case mode, or actually more of a custom case it brought back a lot of memories.

Star Wars Wedding: More Coverage in the Paper

2005-05-31T19:06:00.000-06:00

The Idaho Press Tribune has a really nice write-up on us in the paper today. Not only did they mention our free evening workshop on communication, they also included a great photo of us, and a link to our website.

This photo was taken by our good friend Rebekah. In the foreground you can see or good friend Brian performing the ceremony. He actually performed the first one for us too. You can also see our son observing. In the background are the guests and some other theater attendees.

The Idaho Press Tribune was the first media source to really take the time to talk about us as more then just Star Wars fanatics. It is nice that they talked about who we really were, and heard the message we were trying to communicate.

Subject tags: [StarWars] [Wedding] [Marriage]

Flotations - Ping Pong Balls vs. Helium Balloons

2005-05-27T22:23:00.000-06:00

Mythbusters is a great show and it is full of useful information.

For instance, will it take more ping pong balls under water, or 11" helium balloons in the air, to raise 1 pound of weight?

It takes 15 ping balls, submerged under water to float 1 pound. Those same ping pong ball can withstand 60 psi, which is 4 atmospheres, or the equivalent to 90 feet under water, just in case you were curious. They expected it would take 50,000 ping pong balls to raise a small sail boat. It ended up being 27,000 balls. The theory was the boat was buoyant too. I wonder if was the salty sea water.

For the much larger 11" helium balloons? Each balloon can float up 10 grams, so you will need 46 balloons to lift 1 pound. If you wanted to lift a 44 pound girl you would need 3500 balloons, although they originally estimated 2070 balloons.

Just in case you ever need to raise anything.

Star Wars Wedding: Family Photo

2005-05-26T19:06:00.000-06:00

Our little family right before the wedding. Han, Leia, a Jedi Padawan and three Ewoks. Subject tags: [StarWars] [Wedding] [Marriage]

Star Wars: Better Article

2005-05-25T19:07:00.000-06:00

The Idaho Press Tribune featured a much better article on Jim and I, even mentioning our new training business. Unfortunately they didn't put it on their website. A good friend of mine was so very kind to take some pictures for us at the ceremony. Jim will upload some of those for you tonight I think.

One of our local news stations even sent a camera person over to film and interview everyone and everything. She was running that camera for alomost an hour talking to everyone she could. So, we had about 5 or 10 seconds on the 10 o' clock news.

JIm had suggested that we write up a PR release ahead of time and give that out. I didn't think it was needed. I admit I might very possibly been wrong on that one. Oh well. It was fun.

Subject tags: [StarWars] [Wedding] [Marriage]

Alpha Wolves

2005-05-24T20:24:00.000-06:00

Dawn and I just watched this great documentary on the Discovery Channel about this couple that lived with the Sawtooth wolf pack in Idaho for 6 years to create a documentary. They discovered a lot of really interesting things about wolves, but one of the things that really struck me was the selection of the Alpha Wolf.

The Alpha Wolf is the leader of the pack. There is usually an Alpha male and he selects a mate who is the Alpha female. Usually the Alpha

At the bottom of the pack is the Omega. The Omega is not an outcast, but is an important part of the tribe. The Omega always eats last, among other things that come with being the low dog.

So the really interesting thing is it was always believed that the Alpha was the largest and oldest wolf in the pack. When they were building the Sawtooth pack (since no wild wolves were currently in the area) they started with a couple adult wolves and then introduced a few pups. While they were preparing the pups to be released with the adults they observed that one of the pups had a very Alpha personality. They were concerned how that would go over with the current Alpha wolf in the pack.

When they released the pups into the pack the "Alpha pup" became the Alpha of the whole pack, even though the current Alpha was an adult and much larger. Had it come to a physical battle the adult could have killed the pup easily.

The really interesting thing was the Alpha pup's brother became the Omega. As Omega he always walked with his tail between his legs and in a lowered or crouched state. This makes judging their size difficult. When they were full grown they noticed that the Omega was actually notably larger then his Alpha brother. Again size made no difference for who was Alpha and who was Omega.

So why did the wolves take their roles of Alpha and Omega? Because of their energy. They received the roles they wanted, the roles they designed for themselves.

This is just like our life. We all are in the roles we choose for ourselves: consciously, or subconsciously. So what life and role are you going to choose for yourself?

In the paper

2005-05-19T08:45:00.000-06:00

I get to work this morning and find that Dawn and I are in the Idaho Statesman on page 9 of the main section. There is a little blurb about us too. Most of the facts are right. It is interesting they printed the parts they did. The way they took the photos is cool, but it makes us look a little funny. Maybe that is the idea.

There is still time to make the ceremony tonight! Hope to see you there!

Cookies and a Hematoma

2005-05-17T13:22:00.000-06:00

Gave blood today for the Red Cross. I have been a fairly regular donor since high school. Today was my 19th donation. At 24 I get a 3 gallon pin.

For some reason when they stopped the flow to the bag so they could get some in the test tubes the bevel at the end of the needle sucked up against the edge of the vein. It was rather painful as they worked the needle around to get enough blood to fill the 3 test tubes.

In the end I got a sticker (heart shaped that says "Be nice to me, I gave blood today"), a red bandage, an ice pack, some cookies, and a hematoma on my arm. Hematoma is basically medical speak for bruise.

Kuna Caves and Swan Falls Dam

2005-05-15T18:40:00.000-06:00

We decided to spend a family day today and drove around the desert outside of town. We drove to Kuna Caves and Swan Falls Dam, as well as a number of other scenic destinations along the way.

The Kuna Caves are a lava flow cave. What you see in the picture is a hole in the ground where the roads intersect. There is a ladder you can climb down into the caves. I've explored mostly to the north, but I hear you can actually go a ways to the south as well. If you look at the full map you will see a field to the north. Legend has it the caves used to go that far, but they were destroyed in that area.

When I think of Swan Falls I think of the boulder fields to the west of the actual dam. We used to go camping a lot there for Scouts. There are all these huge boulders spread through these fields. A lot of fun to play around. You need to watch out going their during the hot seasons because of the rattle snakes. The Swan Falls Dam is on the Snake River, and ~~is no longer used for power generation~~ has been in full use as a electric generating power plant since it was built in 1901. Depending on inflows it has the capability of generating 12 mws. It is still owned and operated by Idaho Power Company. It is also within the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. You will see a lot of really great birds there.

The day before Jonathan and I went to the Tripoli Idaho SpudRoc-10 rocket launch. That was our first time time to launch a model rocket, and they launched some really big ones there too. The launch site is near Swan Falls as well, which is where I got the idea. We were actually going to go to the launch today as well, but it got rained out.

Update: Thanks to Steve Jung for correcting me on Swan Falls Dam's power generation. Not sure where I picked up that erroneous information! I thought it was odd and figured it must still be used for power generation, but never questioned my unknown source (probably something I picked up when I was in Scouts.)

Almost Darth Vader

2005-05-13T12:56:00.000-06:00

As I am sure most people know, James Earl Jones did the voice for Darth Vader in the original Star Wars movies while Dave Prowse was the man in the costume. Neither will be reprising their roles in Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. Update: James Earl Jones will be the voice of Darth Vader in Episode 3, although uncredited.

Interestingly in Star Wars: A New Hope Dave Prowse did not know that his voice was going to be replaced. In fact James Earl Jones requested that he go uncredited since he didn't belive his work waranted credit. Also, Lucas gave James Earl Jones different lines to read in Empire Strikes back during the scene when he told Luke he was his father. Dave Prowse's lines reinforced that Vader killed his father.

A bit of history that most people don't know is that Bobcat Goldthwait was Lucas' first casting choice for the voice of Vader. Luckily he wasn't able to get Bobcat, but unfortunately his twisted humor did survive in the creation of the Jar-Jar Binks character. As an odd turn of events, James Earl Jones turned down the voice roll for Jar-Jar and his chance to be the only actor in all six movies.

Update: That last paragraph is just a rumor.

Assumptions on Evangelism

2005-05-13T09:48:00.000-06:00

Joe White posted some of his Assumptions on Evangelism in his blog. I wanted to provide him some feedback, this is what I wrote.

Joe, you are assuming that anyone who evangelizes is assuming the person they evangelize too is wrong.

Evangelism is zealous preaching and dissemination of the gospel, as through missionary work. Previously it was specifically the proclaiming of the Christian Gospel. The word evangelist comes from the Greek word ("eu-aggelos") for 'bringing good news. But the word has a broader definition now. David I is the chief software evangelist for Borland.

Evangelism is passionately (with zeal) proclaiming (or educating) based on your beliefs. Essentially with your blog you are a Unitarian Evangelist (as well as other topics, like XP) because you are passionately sharing with others based on your beliefs.

Now the problem comes in when someone is over zealous in their evangelism. Just a like a pushy sales person, they give a bad name for the whole group. What is important to realize is we are all human, and some of use make mistakes, but to label a class of people based on the actions of a few is to label yourself since you are human too.

I have a number of beliefs that I believe to be based on truths, and these beliefs are contrary to some of the beliefs of others. It would appear that you also have beliefs that are contrary to the beliefs of others. Now I may passionately share with you my beliefs, but not because I believe you are unable to make up your mind, but because I believe you have not yet heard the truth I have to share. It is my responsibility to share my truths. It is my hope that by sharing the truth you will accept it. As true Christian (or otherwise compassionate human) then I accept you regardless of if you accept my truths and me or not.

DVR Feature Idea - Look before you Jump

2005-05-12T00:06:00.000-06:00

So we have had our Dish Network system for a couple months now. It is really cool, especially the DVR functionality. The DVR (Digital Video Recorder, aka PVR) is Dish Network's version of TiVo or ReplayTV. Kind of like a VCR on steroids. I tell it I want to watch every episode of Stargate SG-1, and the DVR dutifully records them on every channel for me. Our system has two tuners, so it is really flexible as it can record two shows at once.

I'll probably write more on the joys of the system later, but I wanted to record an idea I had for a new feature for the DVR before it escapes me.

A feature the DVR and ReplayTV has, that TiVo doesn't (without hacking it) is a 30 second skip forward and a 5 second skip back. So when you are watching a show and the commercial break comes on your just press the skip button 6 times or so and you are back to the show again. As a I result I hardly watch any commercials.

Occasionally I skip into the last couple seconds of the last commercial. But since I don't know how close the show is I hit the skip button again jumping 30 seconds into the show. This results in needing to skip back about 6 times (6 jumps x 5 seconds being 30 seconds).

Other times I only jump 1 second into the show, but and there are none of those "just back from commercial break" cues, so I jump back 5 seconds, and end up watching 4 seconds of commercials (the horror!) Every so often I get really carried away and jump forward and backwards for a while trying to find the exact right spot.

So I propose a solution. After you jump the system displays a frame from key selected points before and after the current point at the bottom of the screen. For example, if I jump forward, it might display a frame from 5, 10 and 15 seconds before the current time, and 10, 20 and 30 seconds into the future. Then I know where I will end up if I skip without having to skip and then trying to skip back.

I've been thinking about the intervals to display frames from, and I am not convinced these are the best intervals, but I am sure with a little experimenting a good set of intervals would be found. They may be different if you skipped forward vs. backward since the size of the jump is different.

After a second (or pressing the play or cancel button) then these frames disappear. This feature could be a preference that people could turn off that don't mind find tuning their jumping experience.

Another nice addition to this would be if I could use the number keys to jump to a specific frame. Then it might display the surrounding frames at smaller intervals to really allow a fine tuned jump.

I mocked up a little example of what I have in mind. You might also add a window up at top that shows program information, which is what my DVR shows now. This one only has 4 frames, 2 before and 2 after. Maybe it would make more sense to show 3 after and 1 before. Maybe this would be user configrable. . . .

What might also be interesting is if you could come up with a way to preprogram a jump forward 3, 4 or 6 minutes (whatever the common commercial break durations are), and then have the frames like outlined above so you could zoom in on your destination. This last option might be a little complicated for most users though.

I still think it is a shame that ReplayTV removed their automatic commercial removal feature. I've never used a ReplayTV, but that sounds like the ideal system. Hopefully someone will re-implement it again in a future model.

Congratulations to Russ on Graduating

2005-05-10T15:46:00.000-06:00

A good friend of mine, Russ Ogilvie, just graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Utah State University. I've known Russ for almost 10 years. We worked together at Micron PC (now MPC) in Technical Support. Russ was working there when I started and he was one of the guys I set with to learn the ropes.

He has always been one of those really smart guys that like thinking about complex math equations and stuff like that. Even before he was attending school he would spend his free time reading math books and figuring out things on the computer. Then he would tell me about some neat thing he learned and I would try to follow what he was explaining. It was always something cool.

When we worked at Micron PC there was a patent program where you could submit patent disclosures and the company would review them and decide which to persue. I had been involved in the program for a while after I moved into engineering, and knowing that Russ was a smart guy I told him about it too. He would submit like 10 disclosures a month, which was probably a record.

A number of his inventions ended up being pursued by other companies a few years later. They were ahead of the time. For instance he came up with a method of using the mechanical motion of typing on a laptop keyboard to help regenerate the batteries. It wasn't much, but would help. Micron PC didn't pursue it, but later Compaq did. He is always thinking.

I wish Russ and his family the best!

Star Wars Wedding: Music - Part 1

2005-05-03T19:02:00.000-06:00

At our original Star Wars wedding my good friend James did the music. He was working Karaoke at the time, so had a nice portable sound system.

Unfortunately he doesn't have the gear any more. I will need to come up with another option. Know anyone?

The Irony of Microsoft and Cars

2005-05-03T17:33:00.000-06:00

Microsoft is once again sticking their fingers into other industries. Now they are working make cars that can't crash. That is their eventual goal of their move into the auto industry. I would like to see Microsoft make an OS that doesn't crash first. I run Windows XP, and I still have more crashes on my PC then I do in my car, I and drive quite a few miles during my commute (often while eating, talking on the phone, etc.)

Is it just me, or is this the ultimate irony? Microsoft thinking they can make a car that doesn't crash when they cannot make an OS that doesn't. I'll buy a car that runs on Microsoft when my computer quits crashing. Although I expect that will happen when I switch to Linux.

I must admit, this reminds me of the battle between Microsoft and GM. I think this took place around 1996, but I am not sure. This has become some what of an urban legend now, and the story has changed some, but fundamentally it is the same idea, and still very funny.

At COMDEX Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon.

In response to Mr. Gates' comments, General Motors issued the following press release (by Mr. Welch himself, the GM CEO).

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you'd have to buy a new car.
Occasionally your car would just die on the motorway for no reason, and you'd have to restart it. For some strange reason, you'd just accept this, restart and drive on.
Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to stop and fail to restart and you'd have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you'd just accept this too.
You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought a "Car 95" or a "Car NT". But then you'd have to buy more seats.
Apple would make a car that was powered by the sun, was twice as reliable, five times as fast, twice as easy to drive - but it would only run on five percent of the roads.
Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades to their cars which would make their cars go much slower.
The oil, engine, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced with a single "General Car Fault" warning light.
People would get excited about the "new" features in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely that they had been available in other cars for many years.
We'd all have to switch to Microsoft gas and all auto fluids but the packaging would be superb.
New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.
The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off.
If you were involved in a crash, you would have no idea what happened.
Every time GM introduced a new model car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
You'd press the "start" button to shut off the engine.

I am sure the list has grown and been modified over the years, and I am sure you could think of a lot of new things to add to the list.

Star Wars Wedding: The Reverend Brian

2005-05-02T19:01:00.000-06:00

My good friend Brian actually got his reverendship to perform our original wedding last time. I asked him to perform it again. He is going to make sure he can schedule it in.

Interestingly if you perform a single wedding then you can claim tax exempt. Brian didn't claim that 6 years ago though. I think he was nervous of an audit. (Don't take this as tax advice. Be sure you consult a tax professional!)

They actually changed the law about becoming a reverend and performing marriages in Idaho since then. It used to be really easy. I imaging since Brian was official accepted before they changed it then he is still official, not that he needs to be for a renewal, but it is just cool.

He received his reverendship from the Universal Life Church in California. I actually called the State of Idaho and they suggested the ULC, although they didn't know you could be ordained via their web site.

Star Wars Wedding: It's Official

2005-05-02T19:00:00.000-06:00

It is official! We got approval from the Boise Edwards 21 Theater to renew our wedding vows in their lobby on May 19th at the premier of Star Wars episode 3. We were actually remarried there 6 years ago at the premier of Episode 1. When I saw Episode 3 was to be released on May 19th again I just had to do it.

It took a while to convince Dawn to do it, and even longer to get the theater lined up. The same manager works there, but the company was purchased by Regal, so the process took longer to get approved.

Everyone is invited. Costumes are optional.

Subject tags: [StarWars][Wedding]

Keeping You Busy

2005-04-24T17:19:00.000-06:00

So I am cleaning some paint out of the carpet when my 4 year old comes over and starts getting into something. I ask him not to since I am busy cleaning up a mess by his younger sister. He responds that he needs to make a mess to keep me busy. Turns out he sees his job as keeping me busy. That really explains a lot.

Best Buy Strikes Again

2005-04-12T12:06:00.000-06:00

In Best Buy's latest attempt to drive customers away they had a man arrested for using $2 bills.

What happened was a sales rep at Best Buy misinformed a customer (big surprise) about a car stereo's compatibility, when the customer came back in for a different stereo they gave him a free installation to apologize. The next day they threatened to call the police if he didn't pay for his free installation. This irritated him so he decided to pay using a stack of $2 bills that he uses for his tour service. Since no one at Best Buy had seen a $2 bill before they called the police. Guess the officer wasn't up on his currency either since he hauled the guy out in handcuffs and leg irons. He was held until the Secret Service confirmed they were legal tender.

Lesson number one: Always get everything in writing! I have had this bite me a number of times. Both maliciously and accidentally I am sure. Had he gotten the free installation offer in writing he could have avoided this mess.

Lesson number two: Don't shop at Best Buy. Any store that labels some of their customers as daemon or devil customers because they make legal use of rebates is not the kind of store that really cares about customer service. Best Buy groups customers who make heavy use of rebates with those who fraudulently return things after claiming the rebate.

The guy was justified in being irate with Best Buy for charging him for the free installation, and threatening him with calling the police if he didn't pay it. He was also justified in using the $2 bills since they are "legal tender for all debts public and private". Best Buy has the option to not accept his money and give him the install for free.

When I was in school I actually went on a field trip where they gave us $2 bills to buy lunch. I guess it is a really common practice and pretty cool when you are a high school student.

As much as I hate to see frivolous law suite I hope he files one against Best Buy and the Baltimore County police department. Best Buy just keeps moving itself further down my list of places to shop.

Murmurs from the Beyond

2005-04-04T21:18:00.000-06:00

I was hauling the trash out to the curb tonight. I may have been imagining it, but I think I may have heard a faint murmur from the bottom of one of the cans. Not sure if there was something still down making noise or if my conscious was reminding me of past events.

Throw Food Out the Window

2005-04-03T23:30:00.000-06:00

Do you ever find yourself at the mercy of some strange habit or uncontrollable impulse that makes no logical sense? Whenever I am in the car, and eat something, I have this urge to through the scraps out the window.

I don't litter. If it is "trash" like paper or the like, then it goes in the trash can, but if it is a bit of food, then it must go out the window. Sometimes I can curb this urge, but it can be though.

Apple cores, banana peals, pizza crusts, bits of hamburger buns, bones, etc. All of these must go out the window. Now I don't eat in the car very often, so this hasn't been much of an issue. When I do eat in the car I sometimes worry that the people behind me will think I am throwing trash out, when in fact I am feeding the wildlife. So I often put it in the car trash.

Logically now I know that most food will just sit on the side of the road for a long time. Plus it could attract animals to the road where they might be hit by a car. All this logic is great, but I still want to throw it out the window.

I think this habit originated from a road trip when I was very young. I had eaten piece of fruit, and wanted to throw the peal / core in the trash. Since we were going to be on the road for a while my parents threw it out the window so it wouldn't stink up the car (or that is my theory now. Doubt they remember the event.) I remember suggesting that was littering, but they said the wild life would eat it, or it would break down.

Same for gum. It has to go out the window! Especially if you are on the freeway. I remember my mom telling me that it would "become part of the road". Logically now I know that it would stick to someone's foot, but I still want to throw it out the window.

Interestingly I have a big hang-up about wasting food, so the thought of throwing it out the window is very ironic!

Death of a Toy

2005-04-03T22:47:00.000-06:00

So my son decided to clean out his room. Any toys he didn't want would go to charity, except for the broken ones, which would go in the trash. Well, one of the broken ones was a Johnny Apple Bot - which is a robot in the shape of an apple. I never was quite sure of the purpose of it. Anyway, it has a motion sensor and talks to you. Yesterday I went out to throw something in the outside trash cans when I hear this strange noise. At first I wasn't sure what it was, then I thought it sounded like someone talking, then I realized that his Johnny Apple Bot (which I didn't know was thrown away) got activated in the trash can and still had good batteries. It was sitting there going "Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

Kind of sad actually. This abandoned toy crying out for someone to play with it. Not willing to give up just because it was buried in the bottom of a trash bag.

"Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

I pulled the bag out and he stopped is cries for attention, but it was obvious he was in the bottom of a bag, and I didn't want to dig through the bag of trash to put him out of his misery. I dropped the bag back into the can. His sirens song continued.

"Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

My son seemed unaffected by this. He informed me in a matter of fact manner that mom said broken toys went in the trash, and it was broken. So as we spent the greater part of Saturday working outside on various tasks, every time I walked by the side of the house I would hear Johnny's pleas to be saved from the doom that awaited him.

"Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

This gave me a number of chances to reflect on how little my kids play with their higher tech toys, but tend to be absorbed by low tech toys and various odds and ends. Little nick-nacks they pilfer from mom and dad's room or the den seem to be some of their favorite toys. I usually wonder if we were to give permission for them to have them if they would immediately loose interest.

"Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

Poor Johnny. Should I dig him out and put him out of his misery? Removing his batteries would do the trick, but so might a hammer or a slight rotation in how he sits in the bag. Should I repair him and see if my son, or some other child would be entertained with his high tech talents?

With little ceremony he finally stopped. I asked Dawn and she said she didn't do anything with him. I am left to assume either his batteries finally died, or his little heart gave up. Unable to deal with having his pleas ignored he surrendered to the doom that awaits him.

I would imagine that high tech toys are more often sent the land fill, while low tech toys are more often handed down. Maybe if Johnny wasn't a robot he would have moved on to a new home. He was betrayed by his high tech electronic heart. The very ability that allowed him to make that final plea for help from the trash can beside our house was the very thing that doomed him to his untimely demise in the first place.

UPDATE: I got an email from the designer of the Johnny Applebot.

Yahoo! 360° vs. Blogger

2005-03-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

I finally got a Yahoo! 360° Beta account (with 100 invites, if you are interested). I thought I would do a comparison between Yahoo! 360° and Blogger. Yahoo! has some nice features, but is more focused on the FOAF functionality. It is less flexible as a blogging tool (I haven't figured out how to edit the template for example).

Maybe as Yahoo! 360° comes out of Beta they will expand that functionality more.

Update: You will need a Yahoo! 360 account to even view the blog. Let me know if you want an invite.