June 2003

Blogger Upgrade
Blogger has upgraded their backend software for free blogs. It’s much faster, and so far, much more stable. I’m quite glad I’ve stuck with Blogger. I think using a tool made by Google is part of it. But more, I think Blogger is a company that’s doing the right stuff.

More Links
Still much catching up to do on the link front. Thanks for your patience!

• Now, this is a really peculiar site. (Not for the faint of heart)
• Gibson on Orwell, or, The Road To Oceana
• How’s the Iraqometer doing?
• I intend to read: Netscape’s JavaScript
• What Politech thinks is worthwhile other reading
• US ‘Negation’ Policy in Space
• Woo hoo! Add Telnet to .NET!—two insecure tastes that go great together
• A cool idea to fight spammers (for system administrators) RMX Records
• A post I made to nettime about some blog tools
• This movie: Painting With Fire, about Frank Frazetta, looks wonderful. And check it on IMDB
• Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac
• NetworkView is a great tool for Windows to map out your local LAN.
• Killer App: Google Toolbar 2.0 (windows only) – includes popup blocker and a blogger tie in
• Google on NPR
• ExactAudioCopy and dbPowerAMP are two MP3 rippers for Windows. On my home machine I just use iTunes

Good Morning!

• About online games… How to Hurt the Hackers: The Scoop on Internet Cheating and How You Can Combat It
• Pringles Antenna Redux
• Leann Rimes is cute
• One of the funniest Onions Ever
• I thought I coined this, but I didn’t: It’s not rocket surgery
• Al A is cool. Listen to him!
• David Snow has redesigned!...a remarkably talented fellow!
• The Web Developer Extension for Mozilla Firebird is a great tool for web developers like me.
• Mind you, Mozilla was already good at debugging websites
• Read about Stew in this Village Voice article.

Stew, On Writing Pop Music (today from the negro problem mailing list)

But my pop hiatus was less the result of a serious minded young writer’s quest for depth and more simply a complete misunderstanding of how the game worked. I learned that the musical limitations placed on what we call pop are precisely the point of the music. That is why when geeks start talking about their favorite new songwriter who “stretches the genre” i start reaching for that manure filled sock that Woody talked about – then earplugs.

I known and observed writers who’ve tortured themselves trying to be original, using weird personal tunings, a special combination of guitar effects, writing lyrics that don’t rhyme, songs with choruses that only happen once (if at all) and (the worst offenders) those that infuse their pop with virtuosity in an effort to raise it above the “common.” Its all very boring and serves little more purpose than allowing geeks to pat themselves on the back for being clever enough to connect the pointless dots. These folks think they are raising the genre but actually they are lowering the rim and pretending they can slam dunk.

The game is you (and everyone else) are dealt a certain amount of flowers. The trick is to arrange those flowers – those same f*cking flowers that everyone else has been dealt from Robert Johnson to Avril Lavigne – and come up with something that transcends the limitations. I used to feel hemmed in by the restrictions. Now i see that rules is rules. It’s more fun than coal mining and less complicated than bridge so why complain?

iChat AV
iChat AV rocks hard. Talked to my very own sister tonite from thousands of miles away. Super-freaking-awesome! Of course, I don’t have a microphone, but her genius boyfriend said I could use a pair of headphones as a Mic. I did. It worked. And we all talked!

Currently you can only talk one on one, don’t know if that will change.

There were some technical glitches talking to her laptop, but to her boyfriend it was smooth as silk (despite talking into headphones).

I really love my sister. Lucky to have her. And my Parents, who recently celebrated their 35th Anniversary.

I’m a remarkably lucky man.

Links Galore! (It’s been Too Long!)

• David Hyatt with great thoughts on browser ‘support’ graphs—amen!
• General Clark was told to make the link between 9/11 and Iraq—I don’t like being lied to.
• With all the talk about The Hulk, what about She-Hulk
• On the next Pixar flick: much more info about The Incredibles
• Dice salary survey-o-meter
• So you find yourself wondering where your favorite open-source database software is going? Check the MySQL Roadmap
• Good for job seekers how to get past job resume reading robots
• I saw this with Leah, Masked and Anonymous—and I’ll say it was absolutely the best movie starring Bob Dylan as a radical underground dispossessed folk/rock star in a futuristic semi-thirdworld dystopia starring Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman, Jessica Lange Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Giovanni Ribisi, Mickey Rourke and others. But I’ll also say it’s absolutely the worst in that genre as well. Leah and I got in free though, if that helps. We considered leaving about 2/3rds of the way through, but then, well, we were wondering how much worse it would get. Then Mickey Roarke became president and Bob Dylan broke a whiskey bottle and threatened another characters life. Then we knew precisely how bad it would get.
• Some books recommended by pal John, with his comments:
  • The eye in the triangle; an interpretation of Aleister Crowley by Israel Regardie—Very interesting look at his early years when he developed his ‘style of magic’. Story by his defunct star student, Regardie.
  • Futureland by Walter Mosley—An amazingly fresh cyberpunk book! Superb series of short stories linked together.
  • Evasion by the Crimethink Collective.—Sort of a post-modern Tom Sawyer story about hopping trains, living without a job, and shoplifting to survive. Come be useful info if Bush is re-elected!
  • The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman—A cool motivational/Zen book that has a big positive impact on most folks who read it.
• Good to keep in mind, In defense of al-Jazeera
• RDF and other monkey wrenches
• Interesting: Lindows.com says it’s down for a major upgrade to provide support for our exciting new LindowsOS 4.0 release.
• Also Interesting: Religion in popular music
• I want this t-shirt
• What’s an E-Bomb
• Research inspired by Matrix Reloaded: The Merovingian Mythos: Its Symbolic Significance and its Roots in the Ancient Kingdom of Atlantis
• (In Babylon 5) Why was San Diego nuked?
• Get Edumacated! MIT OpenCourseWare

Downtown San Diego

I often walk around, semi-randomly downtown. I traipse and amble and mosey. Sometimes I take pictures. Here’s one. You can see the building I work in in this one. I like working downtown. It looks like I may be working there a bit more permanently. I’m pleased with that, and I’m generally happy in my life now. Things are chaotic. But things are encouragingly hopeful. I’m a happy person. Considering where my head was at a year ago, I’ve come a long way.

So many things done in the past 2 weeks that have been good, some that have been bad. But I’m doing well. And I’ve not blogged about them, really. I’m not sure whether that’s discretion or sloth or what. But it’s certainly interesting to see that my online time seems to be drawn to other online projects lately.

More this week.

Onward.

New And Improved
Hey. Let’s see. Long time no blog. Project Updates Follow.
Stew Sez, which I put together for Stew, has some wonderful wierdness on it.
SanDiego Blog has some more interestingness in it. Want to write for San Diego Blog? Contact the editor (me). ANYONE CAN DO THIS.
In the lab, Batch File Rename By File Extension in Unix was updated.
I made my own Wiki, but it’s only for me, because it’s all private and such. WebSanDiego.org now has its own Wiki for members, and even a fork for Web405
San Diego Bloggers keeps chugging along. New blogs regularly.
My pal Chris Greazel has added more images to his portfolio area
I’m (very very slowly) working on a portfolio area of my own as well, using the same software.
As of today, there’s a new header for this here blog, too. More old headers here.

Six Days Since Blogging
A record maybe?

Lyric of the moment:

Close my eyes
She’s somehow closer now
Softly smile, I know she must be kind
When I look in her eyes
She goes with me to a blossom world

Some Fun APs found Wardriving San Diego
maybe not fun, but mildly interesting…
SDSU_Wireless
SDBay
BeNice
defaultsuck
Gaslamp
gateCrasher
katatonic
parkloft
Praise Our One True Lord
shesheshe
skyriver
snowhound
SoCalFree.net
TRAINDEPOT
UniversityPolice


Also interesting, of the 263 total, 204 had no WEP, 59 had WEP.

Admittedly, not that interesting.