October 2002 Archives

Yahoo! News Photos - Run DMC Rapper Dies in Shooting DJ Jam Master Jay, a member of the groundbreaking hip-hop group Run-DMC, was shot and killed Run-DMC are the reason that many people even know what rap is. Hope his wife and kids do alright....

adam.gerstein.net: Yeah, smoking's not bad for you... In June, I posted something after reading some of the trials and tribulations that Dave Winer who, at the time, was recovering from a smoking related heart problem (he was never specific, and I respect his right to do that). The reason I posted it was that he included a very interesting quote about how Nicotine is stored in your body and continues to have an effect on your body for years after you quit smoking. So then I made some comments about the quote and Dave's situation, then closed it with a sarcastic note about how bad smoking is (but it wasn't phrased that way - because I was being sarcastic). So why am I re-living this now? 'Cause a bunch of morons keep adding comments to the entry saying that I'm dumb for saying the opposite of what I said. And since it's in black and white, and on my server, it's not like I'm being misquoted - I'm just dealing with morons. I just added a note to the posting indicating that if someone reads through the entry, then the comments and still makes an idiotic comment I will change their words and ridicule them. Guess what? I'm waiting for the first idiot to rise to the occasion. I'm thinking it's going to be about 5 days....

adam.gerstein.net/fortune cookie project Ever get a really funny fortune cookie? Or how about a really good one that came true? Now you can add it to the list here, as well as get a fortune at random (coming soon). :contact: me if you want to participate, or if you have one to add.

Denny's Menu Strongbad's Email - very fun stuff. I enjoyed the newest entry, "new hands" - check it out for yourself.

Military & Aerospace Electronics Current Articles So, the U.S. Army is trying to embed nanites ("nanomachines") into the paint on their vehicles. This will let the machines detect and heal cracks and corrosion in the body of the vehicle, and give it the wicked ability to change it's camouflage almost instantly. Cool.

his claim just can't be right. His webmaster can't code the site properly, the copy editor apparently doesn't speak English well (or is it good?) and I can't find a job - so where exactly are those 100,000 "good paying jobs"? Are they the reason I keep seeing ads in the classifieds for drivers, bakers, auto-mechanics and "dancers"? The Rowland Record - Economy Creating more than 100,000 good paying jobs Anyway, I don't want to get all political right now - it's not really my area of expertise - but I would like to point out that I know more about the Republican sitting in office then I do about his Democratic challenger. And seeing as how I'm a registered Democrat (I think, anyways - it was a while ago, and does that even really matter?), I think that's not really a good sign. Or maybe they're happy with the fact that I know his name and might be able to pick him out of a lineup....

(I'm thinking of starting a "did you know" category, and putting random tidbits in it like this. Anyone have any strong feelings about this? :contact: me and let me know!) How are interstate highways numbered in the United States? Believe it or not this is something the goventment does that makes sense. All east-west interstate highways are even-numbered and increase from south to north. So, east-west Interstate 80 is north of I-70. North-south interstates are odd-numbered and increase from west to east. City bypasses and spurs have triple digits and are numbered odd or even depending on their directional orientation. (And thanks to my friend Rich for providing this interesting tidbit).

ellenfeiss.net > image gallery Ellen Feiss, for those who don't know, is a Mac "Switcher", as seen on TV. It's funny 'cause it's an ad campaign, but it's sad 'cause she does indeed seem to be a bit stoned in the ad. Oh well - now her 15 minutes of fame will last a little longer!

that I'm not the only one who thinks that Christina Aguilera is skanky. So very, very, very good.

Up Yours - And More Helpful Tips But that said, when it comes to isolating and then punishing criminals I am as sadistic, violent, vindictive and dehumanized as any killing machine. Finally, someone else agrees with me that the felons need more punishment and less rehab. I'm willing to give them a chance, but if they prove they're not capable of changing, then we need to find a nice secujre place to put them all. As long as they stay inside, they can do whatever they want to each other.

Davezilla is creating his own "Tarot of the Blogger". Only a few are up now, but there's more to come - and they're funny.

shop.eonline.com -- Anna Nicole Bobblehead Doll Now I'm sure some of you will think that maybe I need to add a new category for all things "Anna Nicole Smith" - we'll we're not there just yet. But come ON - why is this bobblehead even neccessary? Have you seen the show? Have you seen Anna lately? A bobblehead is supposed to be a spoof, not a literal interpretation of the subject. (And if you want to buy me one - you know, just to see if it's as bad as it looks - :contact: me)

ASCIIMoviePlayerSample Have MacOS X? Wanna be a little crazy? Download this little application and you can watch QuickTime movies in your Terminal window. You have to play with the fonts, and squint a little bit, but it's worth it - check out the sample screen shots I've attached....

Catch Me If You Can The book is pretty good so far, so I guess the movie won't be too horrible - Tom Hanks AND Christopher Walken AND Martin Sheen make up for Leonardo DiCaprio being in it....

The Metaverse Excuse-O-Mat I just tried it out and got: I got so obsessed by what turned out to be NOT a long-lost cousin that I could hardly get myself centered-- and then my ISP managed to delete all my e-mail. I am so soft in the head sometimes! Anyway, I hope nothing else goes wrong this week. Not the best, but I'm sure there are tons of others in there...

BBC wins police Tardis case This is just a bit odd - the Metropolitan Police Force (i.e. the Bobbys of London) tried to get the rights to the image of the Tardis assigned to them, so they'd be able to get some money from the BBC for all the money they make off the image.

The ElectriClerk A Mac SE mated with a manual typewriter - and it all works, right down to the carriage return!

about:blank If you type "about:blank" (without the quotes) into your browser address (at least in IE), it will bring you to a blank page. Don't know why anyone else besides me would want that, but I figured it out on my own, so I figured I'd share the wealth.

Wired News: Apple's Stickiest Marketing Ploy Someone stole a woman's Apple sticker out of her car. They smashed a window and stole the sticker. I have one just like it in my car, so now I wonder.... is there something else I have to worry about?

FOX Broadcasting Company: 24 Or else! I really enjoyed last seasons "24", and I hope that this seasons turns out to be even better. Counting down the hours...

INDUSTORIOUS CLOCK ||| MONO*CRAFTS3.0 A "real-time" clock like no other.

When the family went to Roger Willams Park and Zoo in Providence recently, we went for a walk to kill some time. We knew that a good portion of the park was constructed as part of the WPA, but we forget most of the time and just concentrate on how nice the parks grounds are (with the exception of the geese, which are sure to be the topic of another entry at some point in the future).

This time through, I noticed a little WPA marker embedded in the path, and remarked to Jen about how they did some really cool stuff - like the park. Or the bridges on the Merrit Parkway in Connecticut. Or any of the other things they did.

Then I started thinking, where is the WPA now? A quick Google search reveals some interesting articles about the WPA and what they did, but it's gone - no more.

Roosevelt started the WPA as part of his "New Deal" Cultural Programs. Unemployment was rampant, and The WPA philosophy was to put the unemployed back to work in jobs which would serve the public good and conserve the skills and the self-esteem of workers throughout the U.S.

What the Bush administration needs to do, now that we're in a "job-less" recovery for our recession (which I don't think we're recovering from, but whatever) is to start up something similar to the WPA. I'm not sure there would be too much of a call for web designers and such, but I'd be happy to have a job that pays me enough to cover my bills and lets me get out of the house and feel useful again. It would be nice if that would be doing web stuff, but it doesn't have to be - I'm a pretty versatile computer geek, so I would be just as happy roaming the schools of CT and fixing their computers/proxy servers/internet connections/mail server/whatever. It'd be useful to the schools, I'd be doing something besides turning into a couch potato with my kids - it's a win-win situation.

By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 This Library of Congress collection of WPA posters is pretty cool.

Just wanted to let the world know that tonight we ate at a friends house, and we enjoyed fried dough. I normally only partake at fairs and such, but damn it was good. A little butter, a little powdered sugar - or maybe with some nice tomato sauce and parmesan.... Either way, it's all good! Good food, good friends - there's not much more to life. Remember that...

Sphere, by Michael Crichton.

A psycologist is taken by the US Navy to the middle of the ocean and joined by several people he knows - people he picked out for a government team to deal with an "ULF" - unidentified life form. Things get weirder when they are told that there is a spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean. When they start to piece together where the craft came from, things get even weirder. Accidents start to occur in their deep-sea habitat, and people start to die.

The characters don't get too developed, but that's ok - most of them get killed off very soon. The plot is reasonable, but there are a few leaps that require a bit too much suspension of disbelief. And if you've already seen the movie when you read this, well, it's not going to leave you too happy - the movie adaptation takes the usual liberties, and it's just not the same.

Just re-watching The Matrix for the 20th time (and I had to fix the tape this time - ah!) and I have to say that it's a pretty damn cool movie. The effects are great, the action pretty much non-stop, and even Keanu doesn't wreck it too bad ;).

So, this morning :emma: had her soccer practice (which is another post altogether, but suffice it to say that when they "play" against the adults, it's 15 kids massed around the ball) this morning, so Jen stayed home with the other two. I called the house after practice, but got the machine - no big deal, I figured Jen was half asleep - she did work last night, after all. Then my cell phone rings, and it's the house calling me. I ask why she didn't answer, and she tells me that she heard the phone, but she was nursing :abby: at the time, so she couldn't get it. :noah:, hearing the phone and somehow knowing Jen couldn't answer, apparently runs to the living room to get the cordless for her. He can't find it, so what does he do? He pulls his little chair over to the table the base is on, hits the page button so the phone starts beeping, and then brings the phone over to Jen. How frickin' cool is that?

smattering.org >> the friday five 1. How many TVs do you have in your home?
Two televisions, and a TV tuner card in my computer. Three VCR's (one for each TV, including the computer) and a DVD player in case anyone cares... 2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week?
Too much. Usually from 7:00 pm 'till the news is on, then maybe a little Letterman or something. Occasionally I'll watch more during the weekends, but there's too much to do. 3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children?
Not really. My youngest (8 months) now watchs Baby Mozart stuff (it's supposed to help her growing mind) and the other two watch it pretty regularly. But not a lot - it's all in moderation. 4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you're heartbroken?
er, Scrubs, CSI, West Wing are among the favorites. I need TiVo - bad! 5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like?
The channel would be on cable, satellite and available as streaming video on the web. There would be all kinds of "geeky" shows - like Mcgyver, Misfits of Science, Weird Science, X-Files, all that. I'd also have any of the cool shows that the networks gave up on after a season or two - Seven Days, Space: Above and Beyond, Earth 2, and tons more that are out there. It would probably end up being a lot like SciFi is, but it'd be branded as GeekTV. And I would be the reason that Farscape gets rescued - SciFi management is a bunch of morons for letting that one go.

So, there used to be 5 pumpkins on our front steps. As you can see, there are now only three. They took the smallest - which belonged to :abby: - and then they took the biggest, which my father bought for us. Tonight, I took the remaining 3 inside, since Jen didn't want to take any chances. It may have been a good thing - I heard voices outside, and the garage motion sensor light was turned on by whoever owned those voices. They sounded a little disappointed - like maybe they'd been hoping to take another pumpkin. So, what are my options here? Exploding pumpkins? A web cam on the remaining pumpkins so I can print up a giant size photo of the thief and put it on my front lawn with a note saying that he's wanted and I'll pay for his capture? Lie in wait and then capture them myself, holding them for the police to arrest for trespassing and pumpkin theivery?

UserFriendly Strip Comments The comic linked above is an approximation of what the options are. Please feel free to donate to the "help adam keep his cable modem running" fund.... :)

As you might have noticed, I've added a new [poll] down in the right hand navigation. Take it. Please. I'm considering a redesign of my site. Partially 'cause I feel like it might be time to move along. Partly 'cause I have some ad banners (all text, of course) down in the left hand navigation, but they weren't there to start - so they're kinda thrown in and feel wrong. Have any thoughts? Let me know - add a comment below.

Wired News: Film: Mac Fervor, Malcolm X Style A movie about Mac zealots who promote the Mac by any means necessary.

MacInTouch: Mac news, information and analysis

Microsoft had posted a reverse-switcher story on its web site, which we noted early yesterday: Confessions of a Mac to PC Convert appeared to be fictional - the picture of the woman is actually a Getty Images stock photo, recognized by MacInTouch reader Dane Mitchell, who wrote, "I recognised the shot (attached) as one that I was looking at earlier today to use in a design piece." (Microsoft subsequently removed the page, but it was cached on Google.)
  After Slashdot readers did some detective work, the AP covered the whole Microsoft fiasco:

Red-faced executives at Microsoft Corp. on Monday pulled a breezy advertisement purportedly by a free-lance writer who switched to using Windows software from the rival Macintosh, amid questions about whether the woman actually exists.
  An employee at a public relations company hired by Microsoft, Valerie G. Mallinson of Shoreline, Wash., later acknowledged she was Microsoft's mysterious convert. The Associated Press tracked Mallinson by examining personal data hidden within documents that Microsoft had published with its controversial ad.
  "I guess I can tell the truth," Mallinson said Monday. "It was me. I made the switch."

that feels this way: TummyMonsters: if you're feeling stupid today, please stay inside

Ok, look, I'm all for people getting together to protest something that they feel strongly about - it's one of the things this country is founded on. But when a bunch of people get together on the green of New Haven, CT, to protest the fact that King Bush II is trying to declare war on Iraq, it makes me mad for two reasons: 1) they probably moved as far away from the homeless people protesting the fact that they have nowhere to live as they could 2) do they really think that they're dinky little protest is gonna make the King think to himself "Hold up - the people don't want me to go to war??" The homeless thing is a whole other topic for debate/rant, but let's just say that those people have a better reason to protest then the anti-war folks. Let's see.... do you want to have a warm place to sleep at night or worry about people dying in another part of the world? I'll worry about the homefront before I'll worry about my neighbors. Think about it - a tree falls down on your house and your neighbors house. Are you going to rush over to your neighbors house, or are you going to see how bad off your house is? It's not rocket science, is it? This is one of the reasons that I think we need to pull the hell out of the Middle East and let them figure things out for themselves. It's not bad enough that we're in trouble with various folks for either supporting or not supporting various sides in the various conflicts. But now we're trying to take out Saddam Husein who, as far as I can tell, has not made any recent overt moves against the US (i.e. I don't recall him ordering the events of 9/11, I don't remember reading about him declaring war against us, and I haven't seen him on the TV news saying that the US must perish in a nuclear fire). I'm not saying he's a nice guy and should come over for lunch, I'm just saying that we have bigger fish to fry on the home front before we should start mucking around in other peoples affairs. Sure, it could be argued that we have a dependance on the area and we need their oil to run our country. But guess what? If we had a President who wasn't in deep with the US oil cartels/energy concerns (did you know that he used an Enron jet to fly around the country before he lost won the election?) then we might actually spend some money on alternate energy sources (i.e. wind, water, solar) or even on finding new and better ways to use the energy sources we have. So instead of getting all worked up about a war in another country, think to yourself - is there something thats a little more important I should be worried about? What can I do to help get the focus on that? What can I do to help the country? (And yes, I know that historically a war has helped our country out of various recessions and whatnot. But is that really the answer?)

Yahoo! News - Man charged with filing false report of seeing sniper on suburban Washington roof All I can say is: what a dumbass. But hey, at least he's no longer living in his car, right?

Roger Williams Park/Zoo has a yearly event called the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular. We went to it last night. It rocked. Imagine going for a walk through the woods. Now imagine that there are almost 1,000 or so pumpkins, carved or shaved in various ways, scattered along the path, complete with sound effects, music, fog, lights, and fun. That's what we had. There were so many pumpkins that it was hard to imagine carving even a fraction of them. The displays were all very well thought out, and the pumpkins were well placed - they were set at various angles, so even if you looked back after passing a scene, you could still see something peeking back at you. If you're in or near the Providence area, I highly suggest it - it's well worth the trip.

diesel sweeties: love and pixels A very cool web comic, and now they're in the middle of a very funny plotline: Metal Steve has just become a porn star, but is managing to keep his virginity. How? Well, just check it out and see!

This means guiding them by instruction and direction. Danger means distrust. Capter 1: "On Assesments"

The comprehensiveness of adaptive movement is limitless. Chapter 5: "Strategic Advance"

Your life becomes more and more of an adventure.

So, many years ago (way back in 1987) there was a very short-lived tv show called "The Highwayman. It featured, among other folks, Lyle Alzado, Claudia Christian, G. Gordon Liddy, Roddy Piper, Jimmy Smits and Jacko. Who? Jacko - you know, the Australian from the Energizer commercials who shouted "Oi!" during his little commercials. What does this have to do with anything? Well, the show was kinda cool for a geek like me - "A government agent in a supertruck named "Stealth" that is loaded with ultra-high-tech weapons and a helicopter travels the highways, fighting evil.". Anyway, today I decided to do a search on it to figure out once and for all if I was imagining the whole thing or if it really happened. It did. The turning point today was Too Much Information: 820: Space Mutiny, a site/page dedicated to an episode of MST3k, which I've loved for years. I never saw this episode, but it was nice to find the background info I needed to put all the pieces together. And that is why I love the internet - still. Oh, by the way.... My name is Adam and I am a complete and total geek. :)

Some of the other bloggers have a "One year ago..." type thing on their sites. I decided to do the same thing, so it's over there under the calendar. So, if I post something on a day when I've posted something a year (or more) ago, then you'll see "On this day in..." and a year (or something to that effect - I don't recall the exact phrase. Next year it will go back two years.... I forgot all about it myself until I saw my site on 10/5, which is also the anniversary of my first layoff. I also have a script that runs at midnight to put in a message appropriate to the day (i.e. holidays, personal stuff, or my layoff aniversaries :)). Anyway, just thought you should know it's there now...

This weekend was passed trying to finish my office. Trying in vain. The original plan called for some kind of flooring to be installed - maybe a Pergo like substance, maybe some kind of pre-fab interlocking tile system. Doesn't matter though, since the floors not level. At this point I just want it done, so I don't have time to level the floor (nor the $$$). I've bought cement primer and stain so that I can get the floor a uniform color (gun metal gray for those who care) and then I'll find some rugs or something. Here's a helpful painting tip: make sure you mask the area you're masking with the right kind of tape. I used regular masking tape, instead of the kind that painters use. The difference? Well, the painting kind is less tacky, so it wouldn't have pulled up any of the paint that I just finished putting up. So now I have to re-do some corners/where walls meet and such. Not fun, but I have to do it - so it's just one more thing keeping me from having a working office. What a pain.

Dialtones (A Telesymphony) - Mobile Phone Concert They figured out what each phone in the audience sounded like and where it was located. Then they played a symphony.... Cool!

smattering.org >> the friday five 1. What size shoe do you wear?
Fourteen (14). Yes, they're big. Yes, they're hard to find shoes for. 2. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
Seven (7). Yes, that's right, seven. Sneakers, "yardwork" sneakers, 3 pair of dress shoes, sandals, and boots. 3. What type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, pumps, etc.)?
Sneakers, then sandals or boots, depending on the weather. 4. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. Why are they your favorite?
My boots were a Christmas gift from my wife like 2 or 3 years ago - and they kick major ass. L.L. Bean makes very good boots - there's like no wear on the sole, and I've already gone through 2 pairs of shoe laces. Usually the boots go before the laces.... They're very comfy, I can walk for hours in them, and 5. What's the most you've spent on one pair of shoes?
Usually spending $80 on a pair of sneakers is more than enough.... I think that the boots were over $100, but considering how much wear I'm getting out of them, I'd say it's worth it - well worth it!

a small victory - love us with money or we'll hate you with hammers brings us.... GoogleFight, a new, fun little toy that searches google for 2 different search terms and tells you which is more popular. In case you didn't know, Bush beats Saddam, so that's all taken care of.... I was pleased to find out that the First Amendment beat out U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft...

Here's your chance to buy a piece of geek history: Kevin Mitnick's Laptop, Seized by FBI, and now available to you. The auction ends in just over 2 days, so bid now if you want it!

Right from one of Apple's VP's! Ken Bereskin's Radio Weblog Check it out - some useful stuff.

Oh my lord - is her show still on? I'm flipping around the channels just now, Jen just got home, and :abby: and :noah: are up (sorta), and I stumble upon the "Anna Nicole Smith Show" on E!. Why do I mention this? Well... Anna's drunk for what appears to be most of the show. She's got some kind of funky relationship with her lawyer (who's name is Howard Stern, incidentally). Her son is destined for the analysts couch. And her cousin just showed up. Apparently there's a group trying to do an "unauthorized biography" of Anna, and they paid her cousin to try to get them into the house. It failed miserably, and let us see that Anna's cousin is so desperate to see Anna that she'll be take money from strangers to do it. The fact that Anna's gained like 60 pounds and her cousin doesn't have any teeth is just the icing on the cake, to be honest. I'm not normally one to poke fun at others (especially the weight thing), but damn.

Timmy's Speak n Spell Is kinda cute. I tried it out (here) and it was fun, but you have to keep in mind that not all the words are digitzed yet.

americaworld.gif The title of the image says "The World according to America" - but I think it might be more accurate to say "The World according to King Bush II".

Jen bought me a subscription to a magazine a couple years ago (actually, it was a renewal that took over a year and a half to actually get started, but that's another story) that now arrives in her name - complete with a mis-spelling in our last name. I sometimes do this (or add a suite number/letter) to sorta keep track of which mailing lists my name is being bought/sold from - but we don't usually change our last name on purpose. So, when Jen got a copy of "Teen People" a month ago, we thought it was odd - until I noticed the mis-spelling and decided to figure out the deal. I called "Teen People" subscription services, and they said it was a 3 month trial subscription and then gave me the name of the company that ordered it. I called them, and they said it was a thank you for renewing some magazine - probably not true, but Jen wasn't around at the time. Anyway, I told the guy I was talking to that we weren't interested, it wasn't our demographic, and to take the magazine and... well, cancel it. Yesterday, when the mail arrived, there was a new magazine for Jen. This time, it was "Mutual Fund" magazine. With the same typo in the last name. If I had the energy/patience, I'm sure my call to their subscription services would lead me to the same magazine company, and this would also be a thank you - but it's just not worth it. Now we're using the copy of the magazine as a drink coaster. But it makes me wonder what we'll get in the mail next month.....

New Haven Register It may not be possible to work yourself to death, but a pink slip definitely increases the odds of making that final big promotion into the sky. Well, at least I have my health - or so I thought before I read this. I think I'll be ok, however, since I'm not really doing anything I didn't do before - no overeating, no drinking, and there's not much else that I do that's dangerous (except continuing to draw breath, which has it's own challenges....)