Dingoes ate my

phone company?

Sunday, June 26, 2005 @ 02:20 p.m. - Comment

Get the ...

facts.

But get them from someone not being paid by Microsoft. mmm'kay?

Saturday, June 25, 2005 @ 04:57 p.m. - Comment

Point-Counterpoint commentator Shana Alexander

dead at 79, of cancer. Those who can remember why she is notable will likely find themselves unsurprised that evern news piece covering her death contains the words "Jane, you ignorant slut".

Saturday, June 25, 2005 @ 12:01 p.m. - Comment

The Florida EOC

has apparently hired a webmaster with a bit of a clue: their site is not apparently running on some reasonable sort of site management package, which was evidently not the case last year.

More power to them, and let's hope Pinellas's catches some clue soon -- the entire Pinellas County webcluster is ugly and poorly managed.

Thursday, June 23, 2005 @ 04:43 p.m. - Comment

Well, I think the Nerd Purity Test is more fun...

but apparently Dave is nerdier than me:

Thursday, June 23, 2005 @ 12:22 p.m. - Comment

I got a searchlink in from

this old dejagoogle thread today, in which Steve Sobol says I'm not a shit head.

That's nice, since I've been beginning to wonder, lately...

Monday, June 20, 2005 @ 06:47 p.m. - Comment

MPAA lies...

public shocked.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 @ 02:38 p.m. - Comment

Maybe the Great Bird of the Galaxy

has had a positive impact, after all:

"So, anyway. What did he do?" I picked at the hem of my sweatshirt, looked just to the right of her face. I couldn't meet her eyes. I felt nervous. I felt under dressed. I wondered where my son was.

So she told me what he did. And as she told me, I started to laugh. I didn't laugh a little, either, but I belly-laughed and grabbed my stomach. My son stood with his class this morning, put small right hand over heart, faced the American flag, and recited his own personal pledge of allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Federation of Planets, and to the galaxy for which it stands, one universe, under everybody, with liberty and justice for all species.

"Mrs. Jaworski. This isn't humorous. The Pledge is an extremely important and patriotic moment each morning in the classroom. I am ashamed of your son's behavior, and I hope you are, too."

[ Stolen shamelessly from Dave ]

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 @ 09:45 a.m. - Comment

RS v The Washingtonienne...

Or, Why I love law, and always wanted to be a lawyer.

Yeah, Pam, I know: C-O-N-N-E-C-T...

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 @ 07:32 p.m. - Comment

Ok, I can see I'm gonna like this girl

Shame she lives about 20 miles from...

where my sister *used to* live.

The Society for Aesthetic Deletions -- Making the world a more beautiful place, one hit at a time.

Her name appears to be Julia, but I'm stickin' with Maureen, I think. :-)

Sunday, June 19, 2005 @ 04:43 p.m. - Comment

Warning: Don't get your pictures printed

at Wal-Mart if you're too good.

Friday, June 17, 2005 @ 10:06 p.m. - Comment

Get out your tinfoil hats again...

More conspiracy theory on the 9/11 collapses.

@ - Comment

Is Katie Holmes serious?

Yep. She's converting from Catholicism to Scientology.

Monday, June 13, 2005 @ 03:48 p.m. - Comment

So I don't forget this...

an IBM DeveloperWorks piece on how to build and install linux for lightweight environments... like the pen tablets I propose to use as karaoke songbooks.

Sunday, June 12, 2005 @ 09:16 p.m. - Comment

Yo, Alan!

Go here.

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database is a database of bibliographic information on science fiction and related genres such as fantasy fiction and horror fiction.

Sunday, June 12, 2005 @ 09:11 p.m. - Comment

Cruciatus en Crucem

Linux is *my* copilot

Sunday, June 12, 2005 @ 04:09 p.m. - Comment

Pretty sure it's reading low, Lowe...

Your IQ Is 115

Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Above Average Your General Knowledge is Above Average

Sunday, June 12, 2005 @ 04:04 p.m. - Comment

Hey, John...

Here's a great way to pick up some spare change...

;-)

Sunday, June 12, 2005 @ 02:56 p.m. - Comment

SO... when the hell

did Google start clicktracking on it's returned results?

This is sort of evil, since they've never done it before...

I'd at least like to hear them say something about it, but I see nothing on the Googleblog. Am I the only one whom this bothers?

Sunday, June 12, 2005 @ 01:46 p.m. - Comment

I'm fond

when someone else sings an Eric Carmen song at karaoke (since, y'know, *I* can't reach that shit anymore... :-), of noting that "there's a man who made an entire career out of remaking Rachmaninoff.

Unsurprisingly, he's not the only one.

Saturday, June 11, 2005 @ 07:12 p.m. - Comment

Second try...

I hate Pitas, sometimes. Except for, y'know, the freeness. :-)

Herewith: Fresh Bilge (link above) seablogger Alan on the upcoming weather season:

Models of the atmosphere are trending toward agreement on a pattern change for the continental US in the next week. Increased blocking will reorient the jet stream into a trough-ridge-trough configuration. Abnormal coolness and even some rain will settle into the normally summer-dry West. The mid-continent ridge will bring warmth and welcome sunshine to the soggy Plains. Summerlike heat will depart the East, as cool air thrusts at least to the Mid-Atlantic region, and possibly further. This is not a typical pattern for early summer; it's something more like mid-spring. There's no hint yet what sort of summer it might be. Tropical storm Arlene should not be regarded as a portent. Hurricane season may well be active, but an amplified jet stream could steer most storms away from the US, if it persists.

A heartening though. Hope it works out that way.

Saturday, June 11, 2005 @ 07:05 p.m. - Comment

What happens...

when we allow camcorders to be in the possession of bored soldiers in combat zones...

way down in Kosovo.

[ BigBoys is right; this is pretty funny. ]

Saturday, June 11, 2005 @ 03:47 p.m. - Comment

You may have heard the fracas

about the commercial for The Real Gilligan's Island, which is reportedly even sexier than the Paris Hilton hamburger commercial...

It is.

Here, in case they take it down, is a version hosted by big-boys.com, who tackily clip off the actual promo...

Saturday, June 11, 2005 @ 03:19 p.m. - Comment

Found a cool new weblog...

He's got some interesting stuff, Tygar does.

Friday, June 10, 2005 @ 10:58 a.m. - Comment

Do the geeks get the girl?

Well, it never seems to work for me, but The New York Daily News says so...

Thursday, June 9, 2005 @ 05:44 p.m. - Comment

For those who think they're Libertarians

but aren't quite sure what that means: ESR's Libertariansim FAQ.

(Hmm... wonder how long this will be up before John tells me all the things he got wrong. :-)

Thursday, June 9, 2005 @ 01:38 p.m. - Comment

Oh. My. Ghod.

Someone in the music business is actually getting it.

Check out this download page for smoothjazz.com:

Full albums. $8 and up. Zipped up MP3's. No DRM.

I'm there...

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 @ 09:29 p.m. - Comment

Classic Baylink

Captain Sarcastic and the Two Dollar Burrito.

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 @ 07:00 p.m. - Comment

The Third Rail

of American Politics.

That's the nickname long since given to Social Security, implying that any politican so foolish as to want to tamper with it would be killed (politically) as effectively as if by the many thousands of volts of electricity that drives a subway train.

So, of course, there's a chain letter going around this year suggesting that Republican president Dwight Eisenhower asserted, away back in 1954, that:

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.

Only thing is: unlike most chain letters, this one is actually true.

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 @ 06:39 p.m. - Comment

So, if you were in Vinoy Park

like me this weekend, and you just couldn't live without your Internet connection (there's therapy for this condition now, by the way -- and no, I am not making this up) -- isn't it nice to know that you didn't have to?

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 @ 02:29 p.m. - Comment

Rob Pike *quits* Bell Labs?

Yup.

He went to Google.

Monday, June 6, 2005 @ 11:34 p.m. - Comment

Here's a website

that gives "technology porn" a whole new meaning...

Monday, June 6, 2005 @ 09:36 p.m. - Comment

I'm disappointed

Every once in a while, I see a *really* good idea come along... and fall flat. No one's interested.

(I'm not talking about *my* good ideas; those garner no interest frequently... :-})

The latest one which surfaced on my radar again today is tarproxy, a mail de-spammer that works by determining in realtime, while you're receiving the message, how spammy it is, and slowing d-o-w-n t--h--e c---o---n---n---e---c---t---i---o---n more and more, the spammier it thinks the message is.

Why does that work? Because most normal mailers follow the rules, which say that the time out between packets that should be acceptable in a mail conversation is between 5 and 10 minutes. If you're a spammer, though, and you're trying to get a million messages out a day, you're going to crank that down to 15-30 seconds, tops... and you'll give up on target addresses that act like this.

Ever since I first saw that, I was convinced that if the top 10 dialup and top 10 cable/DSL ISP's installed it on their incoming mail servers, spam would cease to be commercial viable tomorrow.

And nothing else would change.

Alas, those *mail* admins apparently either don't agree, or don't know about it. The guy who was working on it has backburnered it because it's not commercially viable at the moment. I expect if each of those 20 providers kicked him a grand (which, let's face it, has to be petty cash for them), he could get it done in the couple months in which he would not have to do other work to pay the bills...

Monday, June 6, 2005 @ 05:24 p.m. - Comment

Why Compression Is Bad

Audio compression, that is. [ Courtesy of Flutterby. ]

Monday, June 6, 2005 @ 04:50 p.m. - Comment

Jessica Simpson

while she has really large breasts, isn't quite as ditzy as we give her credit for.

But they are really nice breasts.

Monday, June 6, 2005 @ 04:27 p.m. - Comment

Apple cuts off nose

"I feel spited", says face.

Monday, June 6, 2005 @ 04:12 p.m. - Comment

For Alan

A piece on whether (and how) Quixtar is googlebombing sites that compliment them to trivialize sites that dis them.

Thursday, June 2, 2005 @ 09:54 p.m. - Comment

Oh. My. Ghod.

Michelle Trachtenberg, courtesy AskMen.com

Thank ghod she's over 18 now... :-)

Thursday, June 2, 2005 @ 06:00 p.m. - Comment

Incidentally...

for those who weren't sure how serious those The Chosen Buffy VS people were...?

Check out their show open. It's good.

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 @ 09:16 p.m. - Comment

/me misses

Sugartits.

They say you can't go back again, but hell; eGoogling isn't that uncommon...

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 @ 08:30 p.m. - Comment

My friend Alan

whose blog I won't link to here because he's only written like 8 entries in it since 2002, and I don't want to embarass him, is an Orson Scott Card fan.

This piece might change his outlook a bit, methinks.

Read it all the way through; read the outlinks.

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 @ 06:19 p.m. - Comment

There's an interesting conversation going on over at

Slashdot, on whether the CRT is dying.

I find in this conversation scary parallels to "is film dying" in the wake of the consumerization of digital photography. In each case, it's likely that the losing technology won't die *completely*, but it will become less flexible and more expensive, as the 'consumer wave' which was keeping prices artificially low moves along to a newer way of getting things done.

It's a fairly common scenario, actually, and it is likely only to become more common as time marches on. So, ask yourself: amd I in a business or market where this is going to affect *me*? And When?

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 @ 06:07 p.m. - Comment

Well, it's hurricane season

again for 2005. I wonder whom it's going to kill that I know *this* year. <sigh>

Someone who may be dying that the weather *isn't* responsible for, but whom the weather couples me to anyway, is the SeaBlogger, up there on the reinstated WeatherBar as "Fresh Bilge". Seems he's turned up with chronic leukocytic leukemia. I've also just lost a cow-orker, to lung cancer, and the father-in-law of my best friend to complications of diabetes. It is not turning out to be a good 12 months.

I suppose I was due though; I hadn't lost anyone before 1999, when my dad died, for almost 15 years.

On the bright side, Alan says he's reasonably sanguine about the long-term negative impact of this season on the East coast.

Good thing; if not, I suspect Kansas and Nebraska would start looking good to lots of Floridians.

I'll clean up the WeatherBar and get a decent set of links into it tonight or tomorrow; it's a pretty busy week.

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 @ 10:51 a.m. - Comment

For Amber and Chel

neither of whom is likely actually reading me: An incomplete list of impolite Doctors.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 @ 10:35 p.m. - Comment

Back in about '93 or so

I was working at the now defunct MOR Music TV (great idea, bad sales force), and one of the things that wandered across our network of Macintoshes and wasted *far* too much of my time was the smartest videogame I'd seen before or since: Lemmings.

I hadn't realized it had been ported as widely as the page suggests; I'd really love to find the Palm and Linux versions...

Or maybe I don't need to: Woo hoo!

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 @ 09:15 p.m. - Comment

Damn, but I'm in the mood for some

Deep Throat.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 @ 05:47 p.m. - Comment

Ladies and Gentlemen...

Tonight, for one night, and one night only....

CATS!

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 @ 11:50 a.m. - Comment

Earworm

The Boston Red Sox won the 2004 'World' Series, their first in 86 years. Fox Sports simply nailed it to the wall, with a custom sportsclip music video set to Five for Fighting's "100 Years", which song I G-netted the other day (along with the original VH1 music video for the song -- how *did* they get that piano out in the middle of the desert?), and which I now simply cannot get out of my head.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 @ 11:07 a.m. - Comment

Clearly

National Masturbation Month (no, of course I'm not making that up) is a success, since there are now articles decrying it's crass commercialization.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 @ 10:32 a.m. - Comment

Well, one of my favorite flavors of SPAM

is making the rounds again...

No, not "Smoky Mountain". :-)

This is that email from "administrator@" or something similar in your own domain, telling you that your email account is going to be shut down.

This is especially amusing to me because my email address is in a domain I control. In other words, I *am* that administrator whose supposedly sending the message.

But, if *you* get a message from adminstrator@earthlink.net (for example)... well, just ignore it.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 @ 10:09 a.m. - Comment

No one ever believes me...

when I tell them that it's called The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

That's how they got the federal money, you see...

Monday, May 30, 2005 @ 10:30 p.m. - Comment

And I thought the licenseplate maker was cool...

Proving that some people really just have federally-prosecutable amounts of too much time on their hands, here's the Java Interstate sign maker.

Monday, May 30, 2005 @ 10:25 p.m. - Comment

OMFG

Type designer James Montalbano apparently *just decided* that interstate highway signs weren't readable enough, and went and designed his own font.

I'll say that again: he designed his own highway sign font.

And got it approved by USDOT.

Wow.

[ Incidentally, the reference manual for this sort of thing is the DOT's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. My dad having been that sort of engineer, I used to have two of those; both now sadly demised. But the official version these days is available electronically, both HTML for convenience, and PDF to print out. ]

Monday, May 30, 2005 @ 07:25 p.m. - Comment

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

I. Will. Never. Buy. A. Ford. Again.

"Where are the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys on on the dashboard?" indeed...

Monday, May 30, 2005 @ 06:54 p.m. - Comment

In a pair of columns

here and here, FindLaw columnist and author Julie Hilden writes about a possible future where companies like Google might -- instead of merely sifting news sites for headlines and leads as they do now -- run robots that strip the *facts* out these news stories, and construct new ones, tailored to the reader based on their discerned preferences.

Leaving out for the moment whether it would actually be practical to "strip the facts out" of a news story, I'm not sure that this additional level of disintermediation would play well in Peoria, nor do I think it's a good idea.

It has always been my perception -- borne out, I think, by the recent uptick in popularity of the unabashedly conservatively slanted Fox News Channel -- that people choose what news source they prefer (TV, radio, or print -- and now online) because they want to be told how to think.

This was true, in the Cronkite era, and I think still today, because -- as much as we "intelligentsia" (which is defined as people who think they're smarter than everyone else :-) had to admit it -- America is filled with stupid people. They're everywhere. To paraphrase The Sixth Sense, they don't even know they're stupid.

Unfortunately, that means that they will pick precisely the wrong news sources: ones that tell them things they always agree with. I, personally, want to hear news I'm *unhappy* about, at least occasionally. If I don't, I think I'll feel like I'm in the same situation the US is in right now: That stem cell bill? The one championed by no less celebrities than Chris Reeve's widow Dana, and Ronald Reagan's widow Nancy? It will be the *first* veto Bush has threatened. In five years. That makes me nervous about Congress. They must be real lap-dogs, if he hasn't felt the need to veto anything...

The fundamental point here, though, is this: people want *other people* to tell them how to think, to the extent that they want to be told at all. If a computer is doing it, there's (hopefully) no judgement behind it at all. And there's really nothing wrong with editors, as long as a) you pick the right ones, and b) you get *some* undigested raw news so you can keep an eye on them and their decisions.

Will the fact that (I think) it's bad for people *not* to have *some* of that intermediation change the fact that it might happen?

Probably not.

Someone page Michael Crichton and Robin Cook? They're the kings of the Cautionary Tale.

Monday, May 30, 2005 @ 01:58 p.m. - Comment

My ghod, this is weird

I'm sitting here reading Willow/Xander H/C, and I can't tell it apart from the Wilson/House H/C.

Maybe that's why House is a hit.

Sunday, May 29, 2005 @ 03:26 p.m. - Comment

Ok, then...

My copycat older sister bought a digital camera, too.

At least she has good taste.

Saturday, May 28, 2005 @ 06:09 p.m. - Comment

Virtual Television, Redux

I noted below that there's a group tracking all the virtual season fan fic projects they can find, including 9 (count em, 9) different Buffy VS's, 5 of which 'air' a new ep weekly or biweekly.

Herewith, Chosen, season 8.

[ and Pam, I *told* you about those noises... ]

Saturday, May 28, 2005 @ 04:44 p.m. - Comment

Windows Nearly Ready

for the desktop.

Friday, May 27, 2005 @ 09:09 p.m. - Comment

As Dan puts it:

"Always bring a spotter when going out in public wearing vibrating panties".

Friday, May 27, 2005 @ 06:21 p.m. - Comment

Judge says

divorcing couple can't teach their child their religion -- cause they're wiccan.

I can't do any better than the defense attorney: "Didn't this judge get the memo that it's not up to him to define a 'mainstream religion'?"

Friday, May 27, 2005 @ 12:33 a.m. - Comment

After dozens of years

an historic piece treaty has finally come to pass.

Presidents of Vienna Hot Dogs, Rosen Bakeries agree to package both dogs and buns in 8-packs.

Friday, May 27, 2005 @ 12:15 a.m. - Comment

Anyone who was wondering

where my sister was last weekend, read this.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 @ 06:11 p.m. - Comment

I don't mean to get off on a rant here...

oh hell: yes I do.

I'm more than a bit sick and tired of the disingenuousness of the Republican members of Congress who continue to try to position the whole Phil A. Buster issue as one of "a fair up or down vote on the Senate floor".

It's *not* a fair vote: it's a "all the Republicans will vote the damn way we tell them to" vote, and there's no way Frist & Co. can't realize that.

Unfortunately, the General Public doesn't always realize that. You've already got all the power, guys. You want it permanently? Sure; see how that works out for you.

(Think: "Second American Revolution")

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 @ 03:02 p.m. - Comment

ATTENTION ALL COACHES

Tampa Bay has just scored the 2009 Super Bowl.

I want a trifecta:

Bucs in the Super Bowl.

Rays in the World Series.

Lightning in the Stanley Cup.

I don't even care if y'all win the final game -- though I wouldn't object -- just playing in all of them, and the first home-field Super Bowl in NFL history, in the same year, would be a killer.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 @ 02:29 p.m. - Comment

9412... your Internet Classic Rock

'radio' station. With *live DJ's*. Woo hoo! Check'm out: they're pretty spiffy.

No, I have no clue why "9412".

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 @ 02:20 p.m. - Comment

You Don't Bring Me Flowers

I've been looking for this story for years...

APRIL 1, 1978
Gary Guthrie, a disc jockey in Kentucky, combines Barbra's rendition of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" with composer Neil Diamond's version. The "duet" is played on the air and becomes the most requested song in the area. When Columbia Records finds out months later, Streisand and Diamond agree to go into the studio and record the song as an official duet. The song is released as a single and on both Streisand and Diamond's subsequent albums, becoming a major success for both.

Wonderful fun song to sing, though there are, like, 6 different karaoke version of that and all but one of them are broken, sometimes badly.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 @ 02:08 p.m. - Comment

Space...

the final frontier.

These are the voyages of the space probe V'ger, er, um, Voyager, which crossed the termination shock, sometime last december.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 @ 12:45 p.m. - Comment

irc.freenet.org:#horde

[10:56:47] <Baylink> So I'm installing H3 with PG, and I'm trying to configure
                     the Horde base, and it complains that it can't write
                     the conf.php.bak file. Well, of course it can't,
                     scripts/set_perms.sh didn't leave the config directory
                     writable. I'm confused... :-}
[10:57:32] <yunosh> why?
[10:57:53] <Baylink> Because it appears obvious that it ought not to work, and
                     my understand is that they're production tarballs.
[10:59:02] <yunosh> yeah, so what? did you actually *read* the complete
                    message?

So, any further questions on why I won't be using the Horde for my programming work? Why don't project leaders realize that the attitudes of their lead users are *critical*? I'm trying to get real work done here. I'm perfectly willing to do my own legwork, but if the documentation is worthless, and the best the IRC channel habitues can manage is "Yeah, so what?", then fuck 'em; I'll do the work myself.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 @ 11:16 a.m. - Comment

There's a new definition for

"Santorum" (and that is the number one Googlehit for that word, and I'm proud to be doing my part), and here's some more on why: Santorum bought by commercial weather services; floating bill to gut National Weather Service.

Monday, May 23, 2005 @ 06:28 p.m. - Comment

Salvation Army cuts off nose

"I feel spited", says face.

Monday, May 23, 2005 @ 10:34 a.m. - Comment

What a Country!

Convict men of sex offenses, rape or molestation...

Give them free Viagra!

Monday, May 23, 2005 @ 10:27 a.m. - Comment

Mother of God...

Is this the end of...

Dilbert?

Monday, May 23, 2005 @ 12:10 a.m. - Comment

Let the Organic Rebellion instruct you

so that you might avoid the Dark Side of the ...

Farm.

Shame there's no good way to do that sort of thing without megabytes and megabytes of copyright violations. Still a fun trip, though.

Sunday, May 22, 2005 @ 07:44 p.m. - Comment

And we're not even going to *talk*

about this.

And, of couse, in the spirit of the week, also this.

I love it...

Sunday, May 22, 2005 @ 04:37 p.m. - Comment

But if I thought my *laptop* was a pain

imagine having to work on some of these machines.

Sunday, May 22, 2005 @ 04:34 p.m. - Comment

Well, it was time for a new drive in my laptop

80GB, in fact.

I'd forgotten just how much of a bitch it is to install Linux on a laptop...

The install of RH7.2 on my old 6GB drive in my old Portege 3010 went down without a hitch, which made it even more annoying. So, in order:

• While the Sony PCMCIA CD-ROM drive will boot the 3010ct, it will *not* boot the 3440ct
• While the 3440ct will boot a USB floppy (at least in BIOS legacy emulation mode) it will *not* boot a USB CD/DVD drive (Liteon), even if the disk is bootable
• TomsRtBt will apparently not work in a USB floppy, either (L 04 04 04 04 04) 1770KB apparently verboten
• The SuSE 9.2 installer isn't happy with 64MB of RAM
• It tells you to turn on swap, but provides no way to run fdisk
• When you pull the 2.5 drive and put it on an adapter, partition it, *and mkswap the swap partition* in the same trip
• Don't pick ext3 as your filesystem type for the install; it requires a module that doesn't appear to come along or be prompted for
• If you *do*, switch to Alt-F2 and hand mount all your partitions with -t ext2

More to follow... I'm sure.

Sunday, May 22, 2005 @ 04:00 p.m. - Comment

Heads up:

In the wake of Channelside Cinemas and IMAX dropping their previous assocation with Regal and going independent, they've started running Rocky Horror on the weekends -- the first couple, for free. I understand they're going to have their own cast, starting Friday the 27th of May: go on out and support them, eh?

Saturday, May 21, 2005 @ 07:37 p.m. - Comment

Well...

Herme-sexuals have been getting married (legally, in most cases) in the Untied Snakes of America now for just slightly over one year.

Did *you* notice any difference?

Me neither.

I will *never* again be able to say those words without hearing Ashley Williams' brother-in-law in my head.

Saturday, May 21, 2005 @ 04:58 p.m. - Comment

I believe Marci has mispelt

paranoia in that first sentence.

Saturday, May 21, 2005 @ 04:42 p.m. - Comment

Got SMS...

but no Mobile Web? You can still use Google...

Saturday, May 21, 2005 @ 03:02 p.m. - Comment

So I don't lose this

(not that this will help): an imcomplete list of impolite file extensions.

Saturday, May 21, 2005 @ 02:54 p.m. - Comment

It's a Scotch Day

Now, I like a good scotch egg as much as the next guy (well, ok, maybe a lot more than the next guy; that happens to me a lot), but this is ridiculous.

On a related topic, Scotch Tape is coming in a new, improved dispenser now; the first change in 60 years. So, if you liked the *old* dispenser, stock up now...

Saturday, May 21, 2005 @ 02:52 p.m. - Comment

See? See??

I *wasn't* crazy: There were supposed to be 9 Star Wars movies!

Saturday, May 21, 2005 @ 01:41 p.m. - Comment

Your favorite TV show cancelled?

Are there fanfiction writers out there working in that universe? Looking for a place, perhaps, to coordinate a virtual season?

Well, look no further.

Check out the website of the first virtual television production 'studio': Phoenix Virtual Television.
[ Pam: don't make noises like that; people will wonder about you. :-) ]

Friday, May 20, 2005 @ 05:06 p.m. - Comment

I'm shopping for my last component

for karaoke work: speakers.

Anyone got a pair they wanna sell cheap? Series II or III, please.

Friday, May 20, 2005 @ 01:16 p.m. - Comment

Demonizing Sex Offenders, part 1

I'm going to embark on a quest, this coming couple of weeks, to demonstrate that, while a little intelligent concern is good, demonizing discharged sex-offenders as we do in America these days is bad.

First up: 35 year old IT worker might not be allowed to take his 2 kids on the rides at Six Flags because he fooled around with an 8-year old relative when he was 16.

Um, if he's not allowed on the rides with *his own* kids... why did we allow him to *have* kids? *Much* more damage is being done here -- to him -- than was likely ever done to the 8-year old in question.

And that child's problems can likely be solved, to the extent there were any, with therapy.

How do we solve his?

Friday, May 20, 2005 @ 10:22 a.m. - Comment

It's time to

Save The Republic.

So get your lightsaberscell phones out, and call your congressperson.

Thursday, May 19, 2005 @ 07:41 p.m. - Comment

House makes an old couple happy...

this guy goes to gaol.

Whatta country!

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 @ 01:43 p.m. - Comment

Why controversies are...

well, controversial:

A tale of two constituencies: Gay Marriage in Massachusetts.

Both sides, you see, want to "protect" marriage.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 @ 01:40 p.m. - Comment

The Eiger Sanction

So, XP won't run on your hardware?

Upgrade to *another* Microsoft operating system? Why??

Monday, May 16, 2005 @ 08:44 p.m. - Comment

The New TV Season

Herewith, a list of the returning TV shows, and cancellations, I give a damn about. :-)

NBC: Yes: Joey, Medium, Scrubs, The West Wing
No: Committed (pout), LAX

ABC: Yes: Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy
No: Blind Justice

Fox: Yes: House (Yes!) No: Tru Calling

More to follow; those are the only leaks I have so far. No word yet, either, on my continuing assertion that someone could *still* pick up Enterprise -- until either Bakula has a contract on something else or everyone has actually *started airing* next season, the fat lady still has not sung, much as I know my sister would prefer the just stick with the despair. :-)

Monday, May 16, 2005 @ 11:41 a.m. - Comment

You've heard of "Fake ID"?

Well now there's RealID. But it's not what you think.

Read. Become incensed. Call your congressman and let him know he's out of a job.

Sunday, May 15, 2005 @ 03:40 p.m. - Comment

Crown Victoria Police Interceptor... take 2

Well, actually, Ford's taking back 150,000 of them; there's apparently a recall due to overheating insulation. I guess that's a *little* better then the car getting blown up when you get rear-ended...

Saturday, May 14, 2005 @ 06:15 p.m. - Comment

Up until about 100 years ago...

There was one question that burned in every human... that made us study the stars and dream of travelling to them:

Are we alone?

Our generation is privileged to know the answer to that question. We are all explorers, driven to know:

What's over the horizon? What's beyond our own shores?

And yet... the more I've experienced, the more I've learned that no matter how far we travel or how fast we get there, the most profound discoveries are not necessarily beyond that next star. They're within us. Woven into the threads that bind us.

All of us...

to each other. The Final Frontier begins in this hall.

Let's explore it together.

Friday, May 13, 2005 @ 10:06 p.m. - Comment

These are the voyages...

There's been some talk, since it was reported that talks to take Star Trek: Enterprise to a new production company had finally fallen through, that Berman and Braga had written a final episode that would scotch the possibility of that ever happening, by making changes in the world that were large enough to take the idea off the table.

C'mon, guys; this is *Star Trek*.

You think that killing Tucker, and showing "what happened when they decommissioned Enterprise" is enough for that? Well let me tell ya' something: Tucker's *been* dead. Twice, I think.

Nope; all they have to do is retcon around it, and move along with season 5 from the end of the preceding episode, which -- in a wonderful example of Manny thumbing his nose at them right under their faces -- makes a better finale than the last one did.

It ain't over til it's over... and it ain't over until the next TV season starts, and no one has said "Ok: we heard you; we're bringing Enterprise back for season 5".

Hopefully, with slightly more publicity.

Friday, May 13, 2005 @ 10:00 p.m. - Comment

It's ok...

I'm an amateur gynecologist.

Friday, May 13, 2005 @ 09:51 a.m. - Comment

On writing fiction

This list of tips is disguised as a treatise on writing gay fiction, but don't let that fool you; it's pertinent to almost all fiction writing, as far as I can see.

Oh: the best-selling novel that alternates first-person viewpoints?

The Number Of The Beast, by Robert A. Heinlein.

Thursday, May 12, 2005 @ 11:51 p.m. - Comment

Here's a piece explaining

why you want Denny Crane involved from in front.

Thursday, May 12, 2005 @ 11:08 p.m. - Comment

Lots of weird stuff...

More on Microsoft, and how hot and sexy they are even though their stock has gone from 120 to 23... What is it I keep saying about monopoly reflexes?

Also, a story about a study about all the extensive planning Americans on the East and Gulf coasts are doing for this hurricane season... not.

And, finally... "If there is anyone here today who can give cause why these two people should not be wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 @ 04:01 p.m. - Comment

So, how *do* you spell

Bishkadu?

(Yes, I really did post this *just* to see how many Joey fans there are. Yes, I *do* have a PVR.)

Monday, May 9, 2005 @ 08:33 p.m. - Comment

A couple of interesting commentaries

from FindLaw:

First, lots of expansion on the recent, well, expansion of the Castle Doctrine in Florida. It will be interesting to see how that one shakes out -- and I want to see the *exact* changes in the wording of the relevant statutes...

Secondly, John Dean (yes, that John Dean; he's a regular columnist for them these days, opines on Orrin Hatch lying about Republican judicial filibustering in the past.

Sunday, May 8, 2005 @ 12:37 p.m. - Comment

Here's a carefully mis-headlined article

which suggests that the 'Broadcast flag' would have had *any effect whatsoever* on 'piracy', as opposed to what it *was*, which was a direct assault on the guarantee of Fair Use of copyrighted material by private individuals.

More, with a much more positive outlook (which you'll appreciate, unless you work for the MPAA), from the EFF, who helped win the case.

Your right to tape TV is *still* in danger, though; MPAA will no doubt go to *Congress* in their attempt to deprive you of fair use; they think it costs them money.

[ UPDATE: figures that the Register would get it properly characterized, from right over in the bloody UK ]

Saturday, May 7, 2005 @ 03:18 p.m. - Comment

What's a nice girl like you doing...

on a Knight like this?

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 @ 09:59 a.m. - Comment

A show I really should be watching...

but am not, Pamela Anderson(-not-Lee-anymore)'s delightfully titled "Stacked", is apparently trying the *next* level of TV series promotion:

cast blogging.

I liked it better when the Buffy *characters* (well, or their stand-ins) were LiveJournalling; I wish someone would do that for Grey's Anatomy (I don't know that House needs it; that one needs to stay first person).

Tuesday, May 3, 2005 @ 06:05 p.m. - Comment

Well...

it looks as if the Hitch Hiker's Guide is popular enough that the Beeb is talking trilogy.

Wonder how many movies that is? 4? 5? :-)

$21.7M opening, at number 1; let's see if it has legs...

@ - Comment

For those who care

the main title theme to "Grey's Anatomy" is titled "Cosy in the Rocket", and it's by a band called Psapp.

Authoritatively.

The track's on G-net, though I gather it's not released yet.

Monday, May 2, 2005 @ 10:41 p.m. - Comment

Want a quick stroll through history?

Check out these pictures.

Monday, May 2, 2005 @ 07:04 p.m. - Comment

If you needed a reminder that there are

whack-jobs out there, here's a guy who believed the whole 'Wingdings NYC - death to jews' thing a few years back.

Monday, May 2, 2005 @ 04:09 p.m. - Comment

Have I mentioned lately

that O'Reilly Associates, the computer publisher, are an open book?

Monday, May 2, 2005 @ 12:01 p.m. - Comment

That's right, kids!

You too can have your very own In-action Heroes posable action figures!

Only $19 95 99 95 99...

Monday, May 2, 2005 @ 09:49 a.m. - Comment

So, I'm watching Grey's Anatomy tonight

and... wait. Didn't I write a piece with that lead *last* week? :-)

But, seriously, folks...

Grey's is turning into Scrubs. Voiceover at each end; compare and contrast... I feel like I'm watching English Lit 302.

Good show, though; watch it.

Sunday, May 1, 2005 @ 06:31 p.m. - Comment

WWW

No, that stands for "What Women Want".

Herewith, a precis on that subject, from the writers of Joan of Arcadia... I'm guessin' the female writers:

• She wants to be respected,
• listened to,
• understood;
• She wants flowers.
• She wants to laugh,
• she wants to trust you,
• she doesn't want to read your mind,
• she wants to be valued for who she is...
• and sometimes, she wants you to just shut up and stop trying to fix things.

I've found that the fewer flowers, the better; one carefully selected rose is usually optimal.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 @ 09:17 p.m. - Comment

Bill Gates

proves he's at the trailing edge of technology again.

Tell me: what's the difference between this and this?

Oh yeah: the one Gates *isn't* talking about is the one that's already shipping.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 @ 06:38 p.m. - Comment

Don't Panic.

"'Strange' is likely the most charitable thing anyone can say about any part of this movie." -- me

That has, of course, been the theme of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I'm told DNA preferred the two word usage over Hitchhiker's) for some twenty years now.

Not much has changed. :-)

I saw a preview screening of the new movie version of the book last night, on assignment for Focus Magazine, and I can testify that it is absolutely acceptable.

Those who have experience of the television series might find the casting a touch jarring (Mos Def as Ford Prefect?) and mourn the loss of a few of the traditional jokes (such as, oh, *explaining* how Ford Prefect got that name), but anyone well enough informed to mourn their loss *already knows them*, and will now have the luxury of being the one to explain them to all the friends they drag along to the theatre.

I particularly liked Zooey Deschanel as Trillian, whom I think may be the best casting ever for that part. I also think she may be the most beautiful woman in the world, but then I haven't gotten laid recently, so who knows?

It's been a while since I read the books, or the scripts, but it holds up just fine for me. Go see it.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 @ 10:22 a.m. - Comment

Well, it's been a

New Toy Month.

New phone, too.

So far, so good.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 @ 10:22 a.m. - Comment

Attention Courts:

I am a journalist.

:-)

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 @ 11:32 a.m. - Comment

A good catch from my sister

on Digital 'Rights' Management in the trenches in the UK.

Don't expect it's any different here in the US.]

The RIAA wants their Kate and Edith, too, and it ain't'a gonna happen.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 @ 10:50 a.m. - Comment

But even less often

that you hear the one "Homosexual interspecies gorilla pimping."

Sunday, April 24, 2005 @ 06:58 p.m. - Comment

It ain't often

you hear the phrase pontifical lepidopterist.

Sunday, April 24, 2005 @ 06:16 p.m. - Comment

The OOPS list

A collection of pictures of incidents you're glad you weren't involved in. Mostly for Alan, as they're mostly aviation related.

[ follows link ]

Holy slithering Jesus. The rest of the story: What happens when you eject halfway out of a KA-6. Sort of lends a whole new meaning to the next guy in the Martin-Baker.

[ Courtesy of Flutterby. ]

Sunday, April 24, 2005 @ 02:19 p.m. - Comment

Well...

ick.

I mean, I'm not anti-abortion-rights, but this is kinda miserable...

Sunday, April 24, 2005 @ 02:11 p.m. - Comment