August, 2001: 26 posts.

Jenny and I will be moving! Just an FYI… 2001 Aug 02

Jenny and I will be moving! Just an FYI. We’re moving to North Park – still here in San Diego / CA / USA. So it’s the usual – looking for boxes, utilities startup, changes of address.

Anybody want to help us move?

I now have a list of links – not all blogs – on my blog archive page… 2001 Aug 02

I now have a list of links – not all blogs – on my blog archive page. It’s more for my own convenience than anything.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

If ever there was an example of the problem with Dead Media 2001 Aug 03

If ever there was an example of the problem with Dead Media – ( Bruce Sterling’s essay about DM ) – it’s this one – where the original Viking data was in a data format which apparently nobody remembers anymore. That’s crazy!

via Nettime. Archives here.

# 2001 August Zero comments Bruce Sterling .

Initially this site had a search powered by a script from Matt’s Script Archive… 2001 Aug 05

Initially this site had a search powered by a script from Matt’s Script Archive. Based on the timestamps on files I think I installed it in March of 1999. Last month I replaced it with another service. Problem is, a few weeks later, based on testing it now and again – it didn’t work more than it did work.

So what’s the answer?

Google! of course. Google comes around and indexes roughly monthly. What that means is that the blog will not always be instantly searchable. And day-to-day changes will only be searchable with a lag. But Google is good, and predictable.

If I can find a PHP solution that’s painless I may change again.

I learned a great deal on that first perl-based search though. Installing, configuring, testing.

# 2001 August One comment google perl -based search Perl PHP .

Over at markmartin… 2001 Aug 05

Over at markmartin.net, I have an entry in his Come Draw With Me section. Just some Photoshop silliness. Mark Martin is a great character.

# 2001 August Zero comments Mark Martin .

Clarification: 2001 Aug 06

Clarification: Mark Martin is a cartoonist.

# 2001 August Zero comments Mark Martin .

Lab time! Why the form action mailto: stinks… 2001 Aug 06

Lab time! Why the form action mailto: stinks. Includes screengrabs.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

288 Days until US Release of Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones… 2001 Aug 06

288 Days until US Release of Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

# 2001 August Zero comments United States .

We’re playing with the software from summary… 2001 Aug 08

We’re playing with the software from summary.net right now – it does analysis of web server hit logs It is cool fast. Just crunched the raw numbers (without DNS lookups) for 4.5 gigs ( 6 months worth — 23,334,050 hits ) of client logfiles in about 13 minutes time. this is on a PIII/Win2k box.

Thanks to Dennis W. for pointing this out over on the Web405 list.

# 2001 August Zero comments DNS web server hit .

Can’t stop listening to The Mothers of Invention’s Oh No Some lyrics: 2001 Aug 09

Can’t stop listening to The Mothers of Invention’s Oh No Some lyrics:

Oh no
I don’t believe it
You say that you think you know
The meaning of love
You say love is all we need
You say
With your love you can change
All of the fools
All of the hate
I think you’re probably
Out to lunch

Oh no
I don’t believe it
You say that you think you know
The meaning of love
Do you really think it can be told?
You say that you really know
I think
You should check it again
How can you say
What you believe
Will be the key to a
World of love?

It’s a beautiful, cynical song.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

I think Jenny and I missed The Perseids… 2001 Aug 12

I think Jenny and I missed The Perseids. We’re in the midst of moving. Hard heavy work.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

Back online at our new home – using Cox@Home now and not RoadRunner… 2001 Aug 17

Back online at our new home – using Cox@Home now and not RoadRunner.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

We are nearly settled, and almost done moving… 2001 Aug 17

We are nearly settled, and almost done moving.

Even “almost” feels good.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

Censorship in action: 2001 Aug 17

Censorship in action: why I don’t publish my HDCP results by Niels Ferguson really sickens me.

Learn more about why we the people should secure our rights against the DMCA at the EFF web site.

This is definitely on the spectrum with the Dmitry case – Read more here

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

Recent thought: 2001 Aug 19

Some things are worth dying for. I say this as a married, comfortable person who wants to bring children into the world.

In the face of oppression, lunacy can indistinguishable from bravery. When people goaded into not speaking their minds in protest out of fear of repression or reprisals by “the authorities” — one could argue that that is evidence of “oppression.”

Now, agreement or disagreement with their goals and ideology is a separate issue.

My tendency is to be disappointed by two things – the quickness with which police forces resort to violence, and the quickness with which many protesting people resort to violence. I’m further disappointed by the way popular media tend to lump nonviolent protesters with violent ones. In this way all anti-globalization protesters get viewed as violent and “deserve what they get” and indeed, those who would protest abortion here in the US all get branded as people who desire to see Doctors killed. I’m in favor of people getting a hearing for their ideas.

So how do those who would protest get smart? They need to organize in such a a way that they can beat the police, and the media, at their own game. Every protester in my mind needs a video camera, and an online journal. Eyes wide open, direct to the world – Media savvy. Documenting abuses by the police in realtime. I truly believe, all evidence to the contrary, that the truth will out. This is my manifesto – for those with real causes — that is, causes worth fighting for — media-savvy, nonviolent, hyper-protest.

And we have the tools – compact microphones, video cameras, cellphones, the web. So why haven’t we seen this on a global scale? I don’t know. But the means is available. Think: McLuhan meets Gandhi.

# 2001 August Zero comments online journal United States .

I put this in the lab because I don’t know where else to put it … 2001 Aug 20

I put this in the lab because I don’t know where else to put it — HTML 2.0 – An exploration!. The idea here is an exercise in web authoring, 1996-style. Just some pointers to the original specs, and brief ruminations on how it’s a little different.

# 2001 August Zero comments html web authoring .

The Onion – brilliant satire – sometimes gets serious… 2001 Aug 20

The Onion – brilliant satire – sometimes gets serious. Here’s a great Interview with Berkeley Breathed.

At one point I wanted to be a cartoonist, and Breathed is certainly one of my heroes in that area. His insights into how the modern age is scarcely worth satirizing are worth the price of admission, and there’s much more.

Here’s what he has to say about that::
It’s like doing a parody of The National Enquirer. Can’t be done. We’re over-saturated with commentary and with absurdity, and we’re numb because of it. Nothing shocks, so what’s the fun? And irony, oh, the goddamned irony, that courses through the popular culture like a cancer. If nothing is serious anymore, then there’s nothing to satirize. Look at George W. Bush. He knows the game. He knows he’s a maroon, as Daffy Duck would say, and refuses to take himself seriously. … The game’s changed forever.

Go read it now!

# 2001 August One comment George W. Bush .

Comparative Anatomy for Server Side Scripting 2001 Aug 20

Comparative Anatomy for Server Side Scripting – two small, trivial examples of the same thing, done different ways – in Perl, in Cold Fusion, in PHP, and ASP.

# 2001 August Zero comments Perl .

Up too late again 2001 Aug 23

Up too late again fooling with the blogger template and archives. Trying to tune this up. I’ve been doing this for seven months. I’ve decided I enjoy this writing. I think not many people read it, but that’s okay – I think of it as a public diary. If you haven’t tried it yourself, you really do owe it to yourself to try blogger.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

New header for the main artlung… 2001 Aug 24

New header for the main artlung.com page! And in glorious bright colors!

Old headers here.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

I wrote this to web405 in response to a thread… 2001 Aug 25

I wrote this to web405 in response to a thread on the job market and resumes, here’s a replay, with minor edits:

A college degree does not make a person able. And lack of a degree does not make one incapable. If you have “mad skillz” then by all means show them off — and show what a great person you are to work with. The quality of resumes that I see (yes, sometimes I’m in a position to judge resumes) is generally mediocre – they all look like grocery lists: (ASP Programmer, SQL Server, IIS, SourceSafe, BS in Computer Science, Pound of sugar, Stick of Butter).

Doesn’t every darn resume book say to use action verbs on resumes to actually try and *communicate* what you do? Like “wrote a kick ass banner management system for dot com which subsequently went belly up.” or “Managed team of 15 while fighting off clueless Due Diligence Nazis from our funders” or “fought to put proper software development cycle in place before getting canned.”

There’s a lot of great job experience out there. I think that the resumes people use to display their talents, though, are filtered, deboned, and whitewashed in such a way as to hide the experience and personality of the author.

In my opinion, resumes should strike a balance between simple communication and letting some real mojo shine through.

# 2001 August Zero comments proper software development cycle .

Made an acquisition today … 2001 Aug 25

Made an acquisition today — L.A. Confidential — [amazon] — went to Tower Records, didn’t have any taste for music, but L.A. Confidential is an amazing movie that never fails to delight. I’m a sucker for all things Los Angeles, and that’s a big part of my pleasure at the movie. The meat of the movie is compelling characters – Bud White’s obsession with justice and defending women, Jack Vincennes’ seeming to be on top of the world, but knowing in his heart he has lost himself; and the do-gooding political animal Ed Exley. I was surprised at how much of what appears in the film has real historical antecedents. One in particular is the LAPD atrocity “Bloody Christmas” – which opens the film – and it based on a real event.

# 2001 August Zero comments Bud White christmas Ed Exley los-angeles .

Is there an equivalent word to anglophilia for people who love Los Angeles? 2001 Aug 25

Is there an equivalent word to anglophilia for people who love Los Angeles?

# 2001 August Zero comments los-angeles .

My wife has an online diary! voz37… 2001 Aug 28

My wife has an online diary! voz37.diaryland.com is the address. Somehow, despite being married to me, she has show little serious interest in blogging or keeping a diary – but I think she may be hooked after seeing and enjoying other peoples’ journals.

Also, after having had no interest in anything to do with code for several years, now she’s asking me things like “so how do I make the links blue.” And of course I answer that I can think of at least 4 ways to make a link blue. I will try to limit my comments as she is learning to clear and concise, and not go on ranty raves about how she should assure to markup structurally, and style with css. If I can keep my trap shut our marriage should survive her foray into HTML just fine.

# 2001 August Zero comments html online diary .

Question from Dori. 2001 Aug 31

Question from Dori.

Some possible answers: I enjoy toiling in obscurity. I started blogging too late to be an A-List Blogger. People are not interested in the ramblings of a former Respiratory Therapist. I don’t pass along memes like all your base quickly enough.

Just spitballing there. Thanks for asking!

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.

Now I have a reason to watch the Latin Grammys! 2001 Aug 31

Now I have a reason to watch the Latin Grammys!

Seriously though, the Grammy’s are a sham — as are most awards shows.

# 2001 August Zero comments No hashtags.