blog@cliffdweller

Free Cases For Everyone!

2010-07-23T15:49:07Z

Apple today released an App at the App Store for ordering your free bumper or case if you have an iPhone 4.

It doesn't require you to say you're having antennae problems, or anything, other than which case you want.

Launching the app requires you to put in your iTunes password, and then it takes you to a gallery of available cases from Apple, Speck, Griffin, etc. All of the available cases are black. Even the bumper from Apple. Black.

Which is fine, since I wanted a black one.

So it seems that in 3-5 weeks they'll be shipping me a case.

If you have an iPhone 4, and want some love from Apple, you can start by downloading this app: Case Program.

note: in the screen shot, I'm running some location tracking software in the background, I don't think that the iPhone 4 Case Program is the App causing the little location tracker arrow to show up in my menu bar.

Delicious Grass Flavor, plus vanilla.

2010-07-19T22:31:58Z

I'm no vegan. I'm not even a vegetarian. Nor am I anything else when it comes to diet, really. I see what I want and I eat it.

I've been through phases where I haven't eaten any beef (talk about a hard thing to explain to my Texas relatives), or when I've shied away from milk, or chocolate, or wheat.

I've been diagnosed with a jillion allergies. If it's processed food from the neighborhood supermarket, I'm probably allergic to some ingredient contained therein.

In the past year or so I've really started paying attention to the things I eat. I have eliminated MSG, olives and olive oil completely from my diet, and I seriously consider the ramifications before I eat anything with processed sugar, corn syrup (especially HFCS), chocolate, caffeinne, or wheat. I still eat them, but only sparingly and with full knowledge of how much of each I've eaten recently.

Also in the past few weeks, we've been on the adult cycle of trying to lose weight. So we started doing Slim Fast. If you don't know, it's basically a starvation diet where you drink a canned beverage for breakfast, one for lunch, and then "have a sensible meal" for dinner. YOu also get to eat three snacks of around 100 calories each during the day.

It's nice because there's no thought that goes into it, and it's fast. Two minutes after you decide it's time for lunch, you're finished and ready to go back to whatever it is you were doing. Each can of goo has around 200 calories in it.

So it adds up thusly: 200ish calories at breakfast, 100ish calories at around 10:30, 200ish calories for lunch, 100ish calories around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, pig out and eat as much as you can at the restaurant for dinner. :) So before dinner you are supposed to have had around 600 calories. Which isn't much. But it's doable.

And it appears to work. I've lost around 10lbs since beginning in June.

The problem is that Slim Fast only comes in 6 flavors: Vanilla, Strawberry, Coffee, and 3 different kinds of chocolate. With the chocolate allergy and the avoidance of coffee, that leaves me with two flavors for most of my "meals".

So we went to Whole Foods to see what they had to offer on the meal replacement aisle. We bought one of each to try them out and see what I think, and I had one of them for lunch today.

Here's the rundown: Today's sample was "Vega Sports Natural Plant-Based Performance Protein" – the "Vanilla Flavor." I know, I said I was bored with vanilla, but that was Slim Fast that actually tastes like vanilla. This is some Vegan protein thing that taste like freshly mowed lawn with a hint of vanilla. I didn't want to stray too far from the norm…

While Slim Fast lives up to it's name (it's fast), this one required mixing it with a liquid. I chose Milk, because I didn't want it to be too vegan, or vegan at all, for that matter. Plus I wanted the extra calories that milk had to offer. And while I may sound like I am whining, I had to stir and stir and stir. This stuff has a natural aversion to being mixed with milk. It took almost 10 minutes of stirring to get most of the powder dissolved in the cow juice.

But science must go forward, so on I went.

The resulting drink, and I think I'm being fairly liberal when I call it that, was cold and green. Those are the only nice things I can think of to say about it. I drank it over an hour ago and my throat is still grainy/gritty. mmmm.

I'm not hungry. I can attest to that. We'll have to see how it goes as the afternoon progresses. Right now, I'm thinking it's almost time for my mid-afternoon snack, but I'm not craving it like I have been. Maybe this is a good thing, or maybe just mixing it up a bit is the good thing.

Again, the jury is still out. I'm still stocked up with Slim Fast in the fridge, but I have more of these non-HFCS things to try out. I'll stay in touch.

At church this morning

2010-07-05T00:02:05Z

Happy Birthday #6

2010-07-04T03:54:32Z

Go Reilly!

Las Vegas Slideshow

2010-07-01T18:29:58Z

We're back from Vegas, baby.

Here's the slideshow of the family pictures from the trip:

High School Graduation

2010-06-10T06:03:01Z

Tonight Tim and I went to Kristin's graduation ceremony. I counted 340 kids in the program.

They did all the usual things. They had choirs, they had the band, they had 14 valedictorians (all with perfect 4.0s), they recognized the foreign exchange kids, they had speeches and they processed.

The main speech by their principal was a rah-rah go out and conquer the world speech that sounded pretty good until further reflection.

She encouraged them to never surrender, never give up, never compromise.

That sounds all well and good when you're talking about your own personal values and your stance against personal things, but that's not how she phrased it.

It felt more like she was saying don't listen to the other side. The Republicans are wrong. Or, if you are a Republican, then the Democrats are wrong. Never surrender. Never compromise.

What the hell kind of thing is that to teach our children. What ever happened to things like "share" and "turn the other cheek" or "working for the common good". Are we too anti-everything-not-us now that we don't dare ever compromise? How is any committee ever going to get anything done?

I don't like where these kinds of thoughts are headed. What do you think?

So, congrats Kristin! 12 years in the making! Stand up for what's right but know that you can't always have it your way. Sometimes you'll have to work with others instead of working on them. But you knew that. Now, go out and make the world a better place…

Present Time

2010-06-09T04:30:49Z

It works like a charm.

Do this out loud:

Say your name. Say what time it is. Say where you are.

It's simple enough, but it's always good to get a reminder.

Bringing yourself back into present time this way means that you aren't thinking about how you're going to lose that extra pound or two. It means you're not going to be able to worry about why your next paycheck has been spent for two weeks already. It keeps you from thinking about anything else.

Even if it only disrupts your thought for the time it takes to say it, that can be enough to help you get out of the constant worry that's going over and over in your head. Like the way you can use jumper cables to start a car so it can drive off in a completely different direction.

It's good advice to remember occasionally.

Breathe, and present time yourself. You will be glad you did.

Too Many Things Apple Today

2010-06-08T05:09:42Z

Safari 5 was released quietly today and I have to say so far I really like it. I approve. Go download it from Apple if you haven't already.

Yeah, that iPhone 4 hardware is cool and all. Renaming the operating system iOS was genius (it was iPhone OS). That FaceTime thing is cool, with it's easy switching from front facing and rear facing cameras, and it's supposed to be open-sourced tomorrow so hopefully people will get excited about new technology instead of bitch more about the lack of old stuff.

(Did anyone catch the coy way Steve said FaceTime would be on over 10million iDevices this year? not iPhones, but iDevices. Does that mean front and rear facing cameras on iPods and (dare I say it) iPads?)

Yeah, I watched all that and I simply must have one. Or two if Tim wants to use one, too.

But the cool thing that came out today that I can use today was Safari 5. It is faster. It has some cool plug-ins coming (Coda Notes from Panic is one I'll require all my clients to use from now on…). My new favorite feature is the reader.

When you are looking at a blog like this one and there is too much going on (pictures, ads, links, surveys, etc), just click the reader button next to the URL at the top of the page and it'll dim out the website and scroll up a white page in the center with LARGE text and embedded pictures and none of the extra clutter. Gone is the color layout, gone is the crap you don't care about, gone is the microscopic print that my old eyes can't read.

I'm sure the pureblood designers hate this, but we users are loving it! Go Apple!

…now if they'd just start syncing iTunes wirelessly to my iPhone like they do to my AppleTV… I'm just sayin'…

Facebook Suck

2010-06-07T05:55:14Z

It used to be that I would blog a lot. Lately though, I've been lucky to make two or three entries in an entire month.

I blame Facebook.

In the old days I would post all the fun stuff I ran across here on the blog. It gave me a place to say "hey, look at this link" to my friends and family. Sometimes I'd cover several things a day.

Now I use facebook. It's too easy to just post a link there and be done with it.

So I started posting lists of the links I posted on Facebook during a given month. That system is mostly automated on my iMac now, but it just isn't the same as frequent updates.

So where do I turn for more substantial blogging ideas?

I could go on about how I liked David Tennant better than Matt Smith (and I might since I'm trying to come up with something to blog about every day in June). Or I might just start reviewing cool software like that thing I installed today that makes my iPad behave like a second screen to my mac (and I might do that after I've had more than a day or two to play around with it). Or I could just make wacky predictions about WWDC and what Steve Jobs is going to say to the world in about 12 hours (free MobileMe anyone? oh please oh please, have better cloud stuff for wireless iTunes syncing…)

But I won't. I'm going to go to bed now. It's easier to just blame Facebook and drift off. Maybe I'll be more energetic tomorrow.

Mountain Friendly

2010-06-06T04:25:34Z

Today was a great day in Oregon to take the doors off the Family Jeep and tool around a bit. We ended up driving up into the area around Mt Hood and hiking in the woods.

I recommend it to everyone, there's nothing quite like it.

Faith in Humans

2010-06-05T02:23:35Z

Today we couldn't decide what to eat for lunch so we drove around aimlessly in the Family Jeep for a while until Tim suggested Claim Jumpers. That seemed OK, since I was starving at 2:30pm with no lunch yet. So we redirected our four wheels toward Crackamas Town Center.

Along the way, my iPhone had rung (ringed? rang?) so I had taken it out of my pocket and handed it to Tim, as is our custom when the driver's phone rings. You see, it's illegal to talk on the phone while you're driving in Oregon, so we always hand it off to the passenger. ANYWAY, long story short, I left my phone in the Jeep when we got to the restaurant.

While Tim was being seated, I headed back to the car to retrieve the iPhone when I was approached by a street urchin. I'm really good at ignoring people walking towards me in public places – I've been a city dweller for far too long. But this guy walked right up to me and started talking:

Him: "Don't get mad at me, the last guy I talked to almost hit me."

Me: "No worries, mate. What up?"

Him: "I'm really hungry and I was wondering-"

I cut him off right there. I have a soft spot for hungry people so I interrupted without letting him finish his well rehearsed speech.

Me: "You want to join us for lunch, we're just sitting down in that restaurant right there."

His face lit up and it was like Christmas morning. He seemed genuinely excited about the offer of a free meal.

Like I said, I've always had a soft spot for people who're hungry. This guy seemed down on his luck and hadn't actually asked for money. I almost never give them money, but I will always buy them food if I can afford it.

Him: "Can I bring my buddy? He's over at the Max Station…"

Me: "Sure. Go get him and meet us inside. I'll tell the restaurant that you are coming. Just ask for Paul when you get back."

He ran off in the direction of the Max Station to get his friend. I went back inside Claim Jumpers to tell Tim we needed a larger table.

Fortunately Tim had already been seated at a large enough table, so I sat down and told him we were expecting company.

The guy who had talked to me in the parking lot looked to be about 25, was clean-cut and didn't smell like cigarettes or like he hadn't bathed in a while. He seemed like your average guy at the mall, only he was down on his luck and hungry.

We waited about 40 minutes before we ordered our lunch (we did have an appetizer of delicious cheese sticks so I wouldn't die in the process). Finally we gave up waiting and ordered and ate our meal. The two of them never walked in the front door, I could see it from where I was sitting.

The whole thing kind of made me sad. I wonder why he didn't come back. I wondered if his friend didn't want to come, or if they got food somewhere else first, or if he was just looking for a handout and when I didn't offer cash he bailed, or what.

I hope it was that they got food and went on their way.

Then there was New Mexico

2010-06-04T00:06:15Z

This photo is from sometime before I was in the third grade. Who knows exactly when. I'm gonna guess 1971 or maybe 1972. I think it's at Bandalier National Monument in Northern New Mexico.

Bandalier ranks right up there with Mesa Verde as one of my favorite ruin sites to visit. I mean think about it. What's the name of this website again?

You can see, even back then I was calm and collected. I was the cool little boy everyone else wanted to be. And yes, I seem to have been into plaid at an early age.

This is a photo of me and my big brother.

I don't remember anything about this particular trip, but I do remember lots of composite things about Bandalier from several trips there:

I've backpacked in the backcountry there. I've had the best tasting Dr. Pepper of my life there. I've seen odd petroglyphs that seem to indicate both Christianity and Space Men visited there before Columbus "discovered" America. Heck, My boy scout troop even did a scout project there once, scraping graffiti off of the cliff sides.

On one of our backpacking trips we were accosted on day one by a bunch of 6 year olds on a field trip that we collectively referred to as "the YMCA kids." For years whenever we'd do impossible things (like climbing peaks in Glacier Park) someone would inevitably say "look, it's the YMCA kids…"

Hiking the Alamo Canyon was always a challenge. Even a simple walk a couple of miles to the Rio Grande could turn into a life-threatening adventure (it is in the New Mexico high desert, after all).

All in all, its a fascinating place. Maybe I should drag Tim down there to look it over some time.

Spotty European Memories

2010-06-03T04:48:56Z

When I was in the fourth grade, my dad and step-mom decided to take the whole family to Europe. It was my first time there. As soon as we got out of school that year (maybe even a day early as I remember it), we sauntered off to Houston's Intercontinental Airport to fly to the UK.

From there we toured seven countries in twenty-one days. Here are the first things that come to mind when I think of that trip:

1.Under Dover Castle there are tunnels. Scary white tunnels where my step-brother scared the bejesus out of me by jumping out at the appropriate time.

2.They don't serve French Fries on the Eiffel Tower (at least they didn't that day) and for some reason the waitrons thought it was appropriate to bring fried green beans to a fourth grader who was expecting fried potatoes.

3.Lucern has a cool covered bridge and a sweet cogwheel train that went all the way up the side of a mountain that starts with the letter P.

4.All of Venice is not canals and museums. And it was the first haircut I ever got that was 100% done with scissors.

5.When you're racing your brother down 5 floors of a building and you're in the elevator, he's gonna push the call button on each floor to make sure he can prove the stairs are faster.

6.When you are on a bus tour with an agency (American Express in this case), pay attention to where the bus driver eats.

I also remember the family telling stories about that trip, but those are the things that stand out for me. Remember, (1) I was just a fourth grader, (2) The 3 week trip started 36 years ago this week and (3) chemotherapy – the old standby – destroys memory cells.

Was it worth it?

For the financial part of it, you'd have to ask the folks that paid for it. But even though I don't remember a lot of the details, I do know that much of what I believe today comes from my family's fearless treks into the 'out yonder.'

Some truths that got etched into my brain from that trip are simple things, like how a three week trip lasts for twenty-one days. Others were not so simple, like how people (in this case, the company lead tour guide) don't always speak the truth (we found out somewhere along the way that the company got kickbacks from the places we visited – hence my memory of eating where the bus driver eats instead of where the tour guide eats). I learned that subways don't run 24 hours a day in big cities (London big enough for you?) and that my dad would get really worried when my brother and step brother didn't come back to the hotel until after 1AM (both of them under the age of 16, they had decided to ride the tube all the way around London – see my last note about the tube not running 24 hours a day).

So I say, it's a good thing. Take your kids with you when you go places. Even if they don't remember all the Fodor and Rick Steve's info, they'll get a lot from it and you'll all be better people.

Hello, June!

2010-06-02T05:07:17Z

Summer is almost upon us. June has arrived. With it comes all the rain that we always get. Hopefully it'll clear up soon and we'll have decent weather. I think that usually starts right after the Rose Parade.

June is a hectic month. There are several things happening in the next few weeks. I'm going to try to remember to blog about it every day. Just like two years ago. We'll see if I actually make it.

I don't know if there will be anything exciting like the bigfoot-in-a-freezer scam that turned out just to be a monkey suit frozen in a block of ice, or if there will be anything so wonderfully misspelled as the number one search term that's still bringing people to this site. Who can say what the future holds?

I do think it's a great time to try to keep up.

My May 2010 Facebook Links

2010-05-31T22:31:44Z

These are the links that I posted on my Facebook Account during the month of May 2010.

Link Disclaimer: most of the links in this post go to external sites beyond the control of cliffdweller. Please understand that some of them may not yield the exact results over time that the original description on this page outlines.

May 7, 2010 – Hyperbole and a Half: How to Make Showering Awesome Again
Here at Sueeve, we understand that showering can be one of the most boring, shame and confusion-filled parts of your day and we've made it our mission to fix that!
Paul said: Giggles all around. I especially like the tagline for the razor: "The closest your face will ever come to being shaved by a spaceship."
May 9, 2010 – Lipton Ice Tea with Hugh Jackman, Full Version.
Lipton Ice Tea Ad, featuring High Jackman. The longer (and better) Version. Directed by Michael Gracey.
Paul said: why don't we get commercials like this one in the states?
May 11, 2010 – 'Super 8' Official Trailer HD
Directed by: J.J. Abrams Produced by: Steven Spielberg.
Paul said: Next summer "it arrives"… sweet. I love this crap!
May 11, 2010 – UPDATE – New attack bypasses EVERY Windows security product | ZDNet
Are you a Windows user? Do you make sure that your antivirus program is updated regularly? Do you feel safe? You shouldn't! Read on to find out why ..
Paul said: more happy virus news. why do people use windows? I keep missing the point I guess…
May 12, 2010 – Emeco 111 Navy Chair: Information
About four years ago, in 2006, Coca-Cola came to us at Emeco with a proposal. Their recycling plant in Spartanburg South Carolina was brand new and processing thousands of plastic bottles a day and they were looking for ways to show the value of recycled plastic. …
Paul said: sure, but is it comfortable?
May 12, 2010 – Jupiter loses a stripe – image 1 – space – 11 May 2010 – New Scientist
A dark band in Jupiter's southern hemisphere is not visible in this 8 May snapshot, but it can be seen in earlier images (Image: Anthony Wesley)
Paul said: The universe just vanished out of sight
and all the stars collapsed behind the pitch black night
May 12, 2010 – Panic Blog » An Apple //e, an iPad, and Jed
I just saw some photos of your office and couldn’t help but notice an Apple //e. I have an odd request. Back in 2005 I created a music video for the band Grandaddy by programming a text animation on an old Apple ][+. You can see the video here.
Paul said: this is cool... click on the video to watch it. especially if you are an iPad nerd or an Apple ][e nerd, or a retro video nerd...
May 13, 2010 - Springfield Punx: A Little More LOST
Oh,Wow, Dean! Those rule! You did such a good job of capturing the actor's likenesses, but at the same time manage to keep them Simpsonized. What a beautiful way to help wind things up...I'm going to miss this show... ...
Paul said: I refuse to get sucked into Lost. The Simpsons, on the other hand...
May 17, 2010 - Apple Responds – Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report
I agree more with adobe’s stance than the adobe crapolanch to be frank.Its like microsoft saying, nah we dont want Safari or Quicktime or iTunes on windows as its dodgy and has a habit of causing system ...
Paul said: I [lego brick] the internets.
May 17, 2010 – Back in Black – Glenn Beck's Nazi Tourette's
Glenn Beck needs to find an attic and hide there for the next three years without making a sound. Airdate – 05/12/2010
Paul said: OMG this is funny. And a little scary.
May 18, 2010 – Craftsman Music Experiment – Craftsman Labs
What you are watching is built entirely from the sounds of Craftsman tools mixed and edited by Kutiman. No musical instruments were used.
Paul said: What the Art of Noise *wanted* to be back in the late 80s…
May 18, 2010 – On the gulf, a trip with the Coast Guard to search for oiled waterlife | OregonLive.com
VENICE, La. – Rough weather kept them in port for five days, but on Monday, wildlife rescue crews finally got back on the water to search the Mississippi River Delta and Gulf of Mexico for birds or other wildlife oiled by the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Paul said: Tyler's Famous! Thanks Julie for pointing it out!
May 18, 2010 – What Stormtroopers do on Their Day Off | WildAmmo.com
Stormtroopers aren’t fighting in battles every single day like you see in the Star Wars films. Here’s what they do when they have some free time.
Paul said: More star wars themed stuff… cute.
May 19, 2010 – Impossible motion: magnet-like slopes
Winner of the Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest 2010 http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/ Koukichi Sugihara Meiji Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematical Sciences, Japan In this video, wooden balls roll up the slopes just as if they are pulled by a magnet. …
Paul said: It's an illusion…
May 19, 2010 – Less is More: Hunt's Ketchup Removes High Fructose Corn Syrup From Entire Retail… — OMAHA, Neb.,.
Less is More: Hunt's Ketchup Removes High Fructose Corn Syrup From Entire Retail Line. New Hunt's 100% Natural Ketchup Features Five Simple Ingredients.
Paul said: Wahoo! Hunt's Ketchup is my new favorite brand!
May 19, 2010 – London unveils 1-eyed Olympic mascots – Connecticut Post
London 2012 organizers unveiled the Olympic and Paralympic mascots Wednesday â" one-eyed creations from the digital age named after two small English towns. Officials predicted the mascots â" Wenlock and Mandeville â" will be a big hit with kids and help inspire young people to get involved in Ol…
Paul said: London unveils amazing one-eyed space alien hovering gay mascots for the 2012 Olympics…
May 19, 2010 – Tom the Dancing Bug: Nate – Oil Spill – Boing Boing
You can also buy Thrilling Tom the Dancing Bug Stories, All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned From My Golf-Playing Cats and Tom the Dancing Bug at Amazon.
Paul said: I didn't say…
May 20, 2010 – All-time scariest TV characters — #3: Weeping Angels
Character: The weeping angelsShow: Doctor WhoEpisode: 'Blink'A more appropriate title for this episode of Doctor Who would have been 'Don't Blink', or
Paul said: Yes. yes. and yes. I've only just caught up on Doctor Who in the past year, and I have to say the Weeping Angels are as scary as the red eyes in The Amityville Horror…
May 20, 2010 – Eggbot Kit – The Eggbot Project
The Eggbot is an open-source art robot that can draw on spherical or egg-shaped objects from the size of a ping pong ball size to that of a small grapefruit– roughly 1.5 to 4 inches in diameter (4 – 10 cm). …
Paul said: I'm so gonna *need* an Egg-Bot
May 20, 2010 – PAC MAN (REMI GAILLARD)
Dangerously funny videos created and produced by Rémi GAILLARD. The show continues on www.nimportequi.com
Paul said: ah, the french.
May 20, 2010 – Resort to Cannibalism – The game of deliciously hard choices
The game where you decide when it's appropriate to eat human flesh.
Paul said: what do I miss about not having flash on my mobile phone…
May 23, 2010 – Portland Coast Guard Petty Officer Tyler Joki Looks for Oiled Birds | OregonLive.com
Portland Coast Guard Petty Officer Tyler Joki leads a group of volunteers to look for for oiled birds, Mon., May 17, 2010, on a boat trip from Venice, La., down the Mississippi Delta into the Gulf of Mexico and back. …
Paul said: Tyler in the news again, helping in the Gulf of Mexico disaster… Go Tyler!
May 25, 2010 – Animals AutoTuned: Wolves
Download LaDiDa iPhone App: http://bit.ly/5VOnp This song was created automatically by LaDiDa, using only real wolf howls as audio input, from the actual video clips shown here. No tricks. Just some clever artificial intelligence. …
Paul said: for all my dog-loving friends… it's Auto-Tuned Wolf Music
May 25, 2010 – Ask Pablo: Does Sunscreen Cause More Skin Cancer Than It Prevents? (Updated) : TreeHugger

The original Ask Pablo article answering this question was very popular and the Environmental Working Group has just published its 2010 Sunscreen Guide. Since summer is right around the corner, this topic is more relevant than
Paul said: the sun is threatening to come out for the summer sometime in the near future, so I thought this might be appropriate reading…
May 25, 2010 – OMD – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

The OMD Official Website: News, Biography, Discography, Songwords,Interviews, features, Merchandise and much more!
Paul said: OMD has a *new* album coming out this fall… and a free track to download from their website right now… Diego Jones & Melanie Clark, I'm looking at you…
May 26, 2010 – The latest version of the LittleDog Robot
This is the more advanced version of this robot, created by the University of Southern California. The robot is completely autonomous and trained by machine learning algorithms. The video is real-time, i.e., not sped up.
Paul said: yes, I want to see more. this is cool.
May 27, 2010 – AppleInsider | Apple market cap tops Microsoft, is now world's largest tech company
The dethroning of Microsoft now makes Apple — for now — the second largest American company, behind only Exxon-Mobil. Apple has a ways to go to catch the oil giant, which has a market capitalization …
Paul said: Apple's Market Cap closed larger than Microsoft yesterday! Take that all you naysayers from my NASA days…
May 27, 2010 – Christian Groups: Biblical Armageddon Must Be Taught Alongside Global Warming
Constitutional debate continues over whether public schools should include biblical Armageddon alongside global warming in end-of-world curriculum.
Paul said: I love The Onion.
May 27, 2010 – Icelandic volcano takes time out from disrupting flights… to produce a giant smoke ring | Mail Onl
Perfectly formed, it rose from Eyjafjallajökull's main crater and hovered hundreds of feet above the seething mountain for more than five minutes.
Paul said: sweet!
May 27, 2010 – IRON BABY
An Iron Man movie parody starring my baby girl. The costume was created by her uncle STROB. http://www.strob.net/mon-portfolio/ Get some pictures here… files.me.com/patrickboivin/b0ph05
Paul said: Silly, but better than watching that Babies movie…
May 27, 2010 – Scissor Sisters – Fire With Fire
Fire With Fire is the first single from Scissor Sisters' amazing new album, Night Work. The single is out on June 20, with the album released on June 28. More info at http://www.scissorsisters.com/
Paul said: Scissor Sisters are back! here's the first video from their upcoming album…

Leave a message, I'm asleep

2010-05-26T15:58:29Z

Recently a friend turned me on to an app called "Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock (opens iTunes)." It runs on your iPhone while you're asleep and produces the data visualized in this graphic.

You simply set it on the bed next to your head you before you start sawing Zs. It uses the motion sensor to see how much you toss and turn during the night, and somehow interpolates all of that data into when you're deep sleeping and when you're not.

As an added benefit, and since no one really wants to have all that cellular antennae stuff beaming everywhere in your brain while you sleep, the developers suggest you put the phone in airplane mode.

I'm loving that! No more 6AM text messages from my nephew on the east coast! No more drunk calls from Japan! Sweet!

So not only do I get to sleep all night now, but I get to start tracking my actual sleep patterns. I'll post more data after I've used it for a while…

Offensive Words in Music

2010-05-19T17:56:49Z

Recently, while listening to Ben and Dave's Sixpack, I was tipped to a new artist that used a lot of video game-like sounds in his music. Never one to shy away from 8-bit samples, or speak and spell-as-a-musical-instrument (see my erasure or depeche mode collection for proof), I hopped right on it. And it was a free download to boot! sweet!

I am very happy with the sounds on the new album by Simon Curtis, but I can't play it in public.

You see, it has "the F word" predominantly featured several times in not one, not two, but three songs. Maybe more. I stopped counting and just put it all in the "don't play this in public" file. Hence I'm listening to it a lot less than I would normally.

So you say, so what? That's his artist expression to use whatever language he likes in his music. I would agree with you. It is his prerogative. And as soon as the rest of the English speaking world catches up with his progressiveness, then I'm sure all will be o.k.

Personally, I don't get offended by words. The F word doesn't bug me in the least. Neither do a whole list of other words that are used by everyone all over the place.

What is offensive to one person may not be so to another. I remember when I was in high school, ABBA released a song called On and On and On and I was scandalized. My father was letting us play a song that said "sure as hell" in it. Hell, he was playing it too. :)

That same year on a Scout Trip, I was made and example of and punished by the scoutmaster for saying "hell was in the hymn we sang this morning in church".

In Middle School, I was scandalized by the Charlie Daniels Band for saying "son of a bitch". I was more pissed off that I lost a bet about it than the fact that they said it. You see, in conservative Dallas, they were protecting us from ourselves by playing a different version on the radio that actually said "son of a gun".

In my present life, I find guns much more offensive than bitches.

Blondie had a song that referred to "a pain in the ass". That was 9th grade. We would never in a million years have ever noticed except that the local radio station in San Angelo TX was protecting us by actually blipping the word "ass" out of the song. So Blondie sang "Once I had a love and it was a gas, soon turned out to be a pain in the [BEEEEEEEP]". not disruptive at all.

When I Moved to San Francisco, they were playing a certain song by Nine Inch Nails in heavy rotation. They didn't bleep the F word completely, but they bleeped most of it so there was no question about what was being said. You can download almost any song by NIN to hear the F word.

When I moved to Portland, a local family in my apartment complex got mad at me for using the word "stupid", because all four of their kids had been taught that it was a curse word.

I guess my point is this: who cares? Why is the F word offensive? Why is "stupid" offensive?

I can't say. But I do know that because the F word is so prevalent in the new album, I couldn't play it in the car on the way to the beach with the kids from the church over the weekend – even though the music is bouncy and fun. Oddly, the kid's are listening to music with the exact same language peppered all through it (and don't even ask me what I caught one of the googling on an iPod touch) – and I do mean ALL through it. But it's more of the NIN variety with screaming and anger and not the bouncy pop-goodness that I couldn't play for them.

Look at me, I'm famous!

2010-05-13T23:24:02Z

A few weeks ago, a friend on one of youth at church contacted me. She had a school project where she needed to interview an adult who travels a bit. Now I'm not going to argue whether I deserve adult status or not, but no one would disagree that I do like to travel.

Here is her write up from the interview:

I met Paul (interviewee) through my friend. He was her youth leader for church. She recommended me to interview him since Paul and I shared the same passion. My plan in the beginning was to go to a travel agent and interview them. Then I realized that wouldn’t do me any good. I needed somebody who had experience and enjoys traveling. So I got the email address from my friend and I emailed him. I introduced myself and told him about the passion project. After a couple of exchanges we found a time to meet up. We met at the Starbucks inside Safeway on 39th/SE Powell on 4-15-2010. Of course I forgot to give Paul my phone number. I had to call up my friend and ask her what he looked like and for his number. But it all worked out in the end.

The interview went pretty well, I had a lot of fun listening to him talk about all of his trips. I had come up with twenty-one questions to ask him regarding his travels. We talked for about an hour and in the end I was like wow and jealous. Paul and his husband travel for fun and he traveled for his whole life. In the beginning I actually thought he traveled for church. I know some people travel with their church and go on a mission trip. Obviously I didn’t know but that was what I thought. Paul is really spirited and just has a lot of time on his hands. He doesn’t like having a schedule. He is heading to London soon and they (him and his husband) will rent a car and just drive around. In other words, he just goes with the flow. I hope sometime in my life I will be able to travel around the world. I think the key thing is to work really hard and to not have any kids. Then I would have a lot of money.

After interviewing him, I realized why I want to travel so badly. I want to see the world and see all the different cultures. I think that would be more memorable then sitting in class learning about economics. (If that made any sense) During the interview he mentioned about being in Berlin and how their car almost got craned away (They use cranes to tow away cars). Now that is something worth remembering. I don’t know if this interview was so much about me learning new things. It just led me to think studying abroad or whatever you learn so much more. Actually being there would actually stick to your mind, as opposed to reading a textbook. Not everything can fit into a textbook especially every little detail and area. I don’t know if I am making any sense but it is something that is hard to explain.

This was a great subject for my passion interview. I wouldn’t interview anybody else. I grew up traveling and I loved it, now after interviewing Paul it makes me want to travel more. Later on in life if I travel to places like Berlin and I see a crane, I might think of Paul and his memories with it.

She interviewed me back in April, before that volcano in Iceland redirected our latest trip to the East Coast.

Simon (Google?) says

2010-05-12T15:13:23Z

Is it just me, or does the Google Chrome logo look like a Simon from the 1970s?

red

The imagination wanders a bit with the similarities. Imagine everyone just doing what Simon says.

red-green

What if Google turned from "Do no harm" to "Do as we say…"? Wouldn't that be a bit scary? I mean they're already processing almost everyone's emails. And they certainly know what each of us likes to look at on the web.

red-green-green

Imagine if Google just started telling us what it wanted to tell us in order to get us to do what it wanted us to do. We all rely on it for tons of stuff, some of us without even realizing it.

red-green-green-yellow

When teaching people how to make websites in the classroom, I was amazed that I could tell people something like "go to http://www.cliffdweller.com" and they would type exactly that into the Google search bar and then click on the resulting search page, adding an extra step to the simple process all the while alerting Google to their presence. Imagine so many people giving so much control of their web-life to Google.

red-green-green-yellow-green

Google Analytics is on most of the websites you go to. It enables web people to track who's coming to their site (this site included). You are giving information to Google without even realizing it.

red-green-green-yellow-green-blue

How far are we willing to go when it comes to big faceless corporations knowing so many details about our lives? Google your name. Google your name and address. Google your name and place of employment. See what's out there.

red-green-green-yellow-green-blue-green

Paranoid? Decide for yourself.

More GPS Goodness

2010-05-11T21:17:34Z

Now I'm glad that our Jeep was broken into and our Garmin was stolen. Because as soon as Timmy sees this, I am certain he'll be ordering a Tom Tom from Amazon.

Is it better than a Yeti?

Yes. Yes it is.

Two weeks on the East Coast

2010-05-06T01:18:23Z

Tim and I have returned from our vacation on the East Coast. Whether you were keeping up with our exploits via Facebook, Flickr, email, or not paying any attention at all, here's your chance to read about the whole trip in one blog post.

We chose the East Coast at the last minute because of the volcano trouble that was preventing travel to and from the UK. As many of you know, we had planned the UK trip for months, but at the last minute it got derailed. I'm happy to say that we received a full refund on the plane tickets from Iceland Air, no questions asked, so needless to say when we do actually go to the UK, we will be using them!

Our trip began in New York city, when we landed at JFK. We stayed in the New Yorker Hotel, just a few blocks from Times Square (and everything else in this densely packed city!). While we were there we got to spend time with my good friend Julie, and we got to see lots of landmarks and eat lots of really good food.

We saw The Addams Family on Broadway (my first Broadway show!), toured NBC at 30 Rockefeller Ave, had amazing food at Katja Café and at that breakfast place in Brooklyn, rode the ginormous ferris wheel at Coney Island, shopped at The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co and walked The High Line.

We walked and subwayed and cabbed and ran around like little kids in a candy store – of course, we were kids in a candy store later in the trip when we went to Hershey, PA, but I am getting ahead of myself.

We went to church at the Riverside Church. It was a pretty amazing experience. One of the orators sounded like Darth Vadar.

Check out the selected photos from the NYC part of our trip.

New York City

Two guys (and sometimes a girl) running around Manhattan, Brooklyn, Harlem and Coney Island with iPhones, snapping pictures away at our little heart's content. Thanks to Julie for being the perfect host, and steering us to some of the best restaurants in The City. We had a Fabulous time hanging out with you!

100 Photos

While we were in New York, we also did a run through at the American Museum of Natural History. Mostly a disappointment, many of the exhibits would have been right at home in the foyer of a 1950s high school, next to the trophy cases with sports achievements and homemade posters for homecoming queen.

After what seemed like hours, we finally found the part with the dinosaur bones (it's on the fourth floor, btw). Those are presented here for your viewing pleasure.

Museum of Natural History, NYC

We entered the museum from the subway, so we missed the grand entrance (which was closed anyway, as it turned out) and ended up having to hunt for the dinosaur bones.

30 Photos

Then there was our Fire Island adventure. Fire Island is a favorite destination of The Gays, and neither of us had ever been, so we decided to go over and check it out for a night.

Of course, the season for Fire Island doesn't open until the week after we were there, and it doesn't kick into high gear until the actual summer arrives. Our room listed for $1200 per night, but since it was still off season (and the resort wasn't even officially open), we got it for a mere $50.

And it was cold. And miserable. And there was a lightning storm. And we were only about 2 feet above sea level. And the hotel looked like a set from a vampire movie. It was indeed and experience. If I could actually afford it, I'd like to go back sometime when the season is in full swing (and when it's warm).

Fire Island

Our great adventure, catching the last ferry to the island at night and the first ferry off the next morning.

27 Photos

Then we headed to upstate New York. Our ultimate goal was Niagara Falls, but since we were driving through Buffalo we decided to stop at a famous place and have a famous meal.

Upstate New York and Niagara Falls

One of the primary destinations for our trip was Niagara Falls. Neither of us had ever been there so it seemed like a good time to go. Besides, isn't it the #1 honeymoon destination in the world? (Not that this was our honeymoon, I'm still holding out for the UK on that one)

18 Photos

A good halfway point back towards Washington, DC, seemed to be candyland. None other than Hershey, PA. And we were kids in a candy store! We traipsed through the Hershey corporate museum, and took a ride on the fake factory tour.

I know I ate too much chocolate while we were there, but hey, it's not like I'm there every day… right?

Hershey, Pennsylvania

Chocolate chocolate chocolate. Everything in this town was about the Hershey's Company and about chocolate. And that's exactly why we went…

29 Photos

Then on to Unger's Corner, West Virginia. Tim's ancestors came over to West Virginia from Germany. Everywhere we turned in this place, there was another Unger sign. Of course, we got there too late to actually talk to anyone, but we did see lots of signs and gravestones.

Also, this part of the world seems to like having giant things in their yards. Look at the photos, then you'll understand.

Ungers Corner, West VA, & Luray, VA

We took some time to look up the old Unger grounds in West Virginia. Who knew there were so many Ungers around?

37 Photos

We tired of rural Virginia pretty quickly, so we headed into Washington DC a day early. We surprised Naomi on her birthday (she wasn't expecting us until the next day) and took her and John out to eat.

During our 4 Days in the DC area we did all the touristy stuff. We went to the Smithsonian, we hung out at the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, we wandered up and down The Mall, we ate and ate and ate (altho the food was nowhere near as good as the food in NYC) and we spent a lot of time with my Nephew and his wife.

We went to church at the National Cathedral on Sunday. Instead of having an orator that sounded like Darth Vadar, they had an actual Darth Vadar head as one of the gargoyles on the outside of the church.

Washington, D.C.

For some reason, we ended up in Washington, D.C., on the hottest day of the year (so far). It was literally 90 degrees F.

89 Photos

We tracked down Charm City Cakes (from the tv show "Ace of Cakes") and actually saw Geoff as he was leaving work. I was pleased as he is my favorite guy on the show. We had some cake and bought a t-shirt across the street.

And finally, the last city on our whirlwind tour was Philadelphia. We took in the Liberty Bell and all things Benjamin Franklin, as well as Independence Hall and Macy's with the world's largest pipe organ.

Baltimore and Philadelphia

Whether is eating cake across the street from the Ace of Cakes place, looking at the Liberty Bell, or listening to the world's largest pipe organ, you know we're going to find something to do…

32 Photos

It was a short trip, but as you can tell we packed a lot of things into it. Every night along the way we would add the comments to the photos you see here, so those are all pretty fresh along the way. You can see all of those comments when you look at the individual galleries.

And as always, feel free to leave comments. I may have left something out…

My April 2010 Facebook Links

2010-05-31T22:15:10Z

These are the links that I posted on my Facebook Account during the month of April 2010. (Please pardon the lateness of this post, as I was on vacation on April 30 and am only just now getting around to it…)

April 2, 2010 – Earth Hour 2010 – The Big Picture – Boston.com
Beginning in Sydney, Australia three years ago, Earth Hour has grown into a global observance. States, large organizations and individual people observed Earth Hour 2010 on Saturday March 27th, as homes, …
Paul said: here's a fascinating photo piece on Earth Hour where you can click on the pretty pictures and see the lights go out.
April 6, 2010 – Asteroids Player Smashes 27-Year-Old High Score (Update) | GameLife | Wired.com

On Saturday, John McAllister sat down at a friend's house near Portland, Oregon to play a game of Asteroids. By Monday, he was still playing. At 10:18
Paul said: stories like this make me proud to live in Portland.
April 8, 2010 – Dailymotion – PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN. – une vidéo Art et Création
New York invasion by 8-bits creatures !PIXELS is Patrick Jean' latest short film, shot on location in New York.Written, directed by : Patrick JeanDirector of Photogra
Paul said: It's like he's looking inside my head! Seriously, very cool, nice attention to details. You gotta love this stuff.
April 9, 2010 – Myth of the 'gay lifestyle' justifies bias – CNN.com
On most mornings, my better half wakes up around 5:30, throws on some sweats and heads to the gym before work.
Paul said: "Being gay isn't a choice, but being a bigot certainly is." – LZ Granderson
Well said. Read the whole article here:
April 11, 2010 – podcasts.howstuffworks.com
Paul said: I want my 300 years back! Conspiracy theorists believe that we may have skipped a few hundred years on the calendar back around 600AD. hmmm.
April 12, 2010 – Sarah Palin Network
Sarah Palin previews her new network line up.
Paul said: I love Tina Fey.
April 13, 2010 – Vatican makes peace with the Beatles – Yahoo! News
The Vatican has finally made peace with the Beatles, saying their drug use,
Paul said: Thank God The Vatican is on top of things!
April 14, 2010 – Hyperbole and a Half: The Alot is Better Than You at Everything
As a grammatically conscientious person who frequents internet forums and YouTube, I have found it necessary to develop a few coping mechanisms. When someone types out "u" instead of "you," instead of …
Paul said: I'm really enjoying the Hyperbole and a Half website. You. Go read it. You enjoy too!
April 19, 2010 – Toyota and Top Gear Tackle Icelandic Volcano | Autopia | Wired.com

One of the blokes from Top Gear was tooling around Iceland's Eyjafallaj√∂kull in a Toyota pickup about a week before it blew and scientists who set up
Paul said: Maybe Toyota *caused* the eruptions…
April 24, 2010 – The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company
Paul said: I really liked our visit to the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company. I suggest you all go check it out and support the cause.

Open Letter to Adobe

2010-04-12T18:31:44Z

Dear Adobe,

I love my iPad and my iPhone. I'm tired of hearing everyone complain about how they don't support Flash.

I know that it's in your financial interests to whine as loudly as you can about the missing Flash on Apple's mobile devices, but it's making me like you less and less.

In fact, today when you announced your new CS5 suite of products, I started pricing out upgrades for the individual components that I actually use instead of just blindly going for one of the bundles you've listed.

Interestingly, your website doesn't support Safari on my Mac very well. If you're doing it on purpose to strike a blow at Apple, then good job. Except now I'm wondering if I can get by without any of your products.

It's 2010. Having a website that doesn't scroll with the scroll wheel on my mouse is so 1992. If you would use open standards in your own websites instead of the proprietary Flash, then maybe, just maybe, your website would work like the other websites out there.

Your website is all corporate and pretty but it's not functional.

It's making sense to me that you are fighting against HTML 5 when things like the scroll wheel that don't rely on HTML at all don't work on your Flash-based site.

Note that I've just about talked myself out of all of your products except for Photoshop. I could probably get by without it as well, there are several good programs that do what I do 99% of the time, but I like using Photoshop and I'm excited about it being 64bit (finally) on the Mac. One of Photoshop's superpowers is that it creates media that is not a proprietary standard. It makes things called JPEG and GIF and PNG that I can use in hundreds of other programs.

Please apply some of your knowledge and expertise to (1) making your site more accessible and (2) to making tools that develop websites for the current decade instead of the one 15 years ago. I'd love to see an HTML 5 development app from you, especially one that includes support for the CANVAS object.

That's something I'd buy.

Thanks

Happy Birthday, Big Guy

2010-04-07T19:01:39Z

77 years ago today, King Kong burst onto the scene with all the grace and aplomb accorded to a giant monkey.

It's hard to imagine life without him. King Kong definitely earned a permanent place in pop culture. Retold stories, tv series, remakes and reboots of the franchise, King Kong even made appearances in several of the giant monster Godzilla vs. movies.

I think the original 1933 film is one of the first movies I ever saw. Even if it's not, i'm going to claim it as such from now on. (It was either Kong or The Gnome-Mobile – so now you see why I'm claiming Kong).

I remember reading everything I could get my hands on when they remade the movie in the 70s, and then again in the 2000s.

It might even be part of what spawned my continuing interest in Big Foot. I'm pretty sure that there's no such thing as King Kong, so at least let me have Sasquatch.

But I digress. To King Kong I say "Happy Birthday!" I think I may just celebrate by watching the first one all over again.

Read More at Wired.com: April 7, 1933: King Kong Opens Wide

My March 2010 Facebook Links

2010-04-01T06:04:52Z

These are the links that I posted on my Facebook Account during the month of March 2010.

March 2, 2010 – Hillbilly Bone (feat. Trace Adkins)
The new music video for Blake Shelton's "Hillbilly Bone" featuring Trace Adkins
Paul said: Hahahahah! Now this is country as God intended. Except for the booze, of course.
March 3, 2010 – Print: 6 Elements Every Conspiracy Theory Needs | Magazine
London Times columnist David Aaronovitch says that our rampant infoculture provides a breeding ground for crackpot theories, and identifies six key elements to building one. Try out his theory on The Conspiracy Generator.
Paul said: Are you kidding me? The moon landing was a total sham! Think about it! … I just wanted you to be aware of this, in case I disappear.
March 4, 2010 – OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – RGM version
Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. …
Paul said: ok, I'm gonna have to stop facebooking and start working. right after this…
March 8, 2010 – iPhone / iPod controlled Dalek! using the accelerometer.
A cool and ultimately pointless experiment! I hooked up an iPod to a Dalek full of servos and LEDs. The ipod sends out OSC signals over WiFi to processing which then talks over serial to my Servo Board. …
Paul said: OMG. I've turned into a Doctor Who fanboy.
March 9, 2010 – Garage TV – De kortfilm der logo's | video filmpjes | kortfilm, film, marketing
Logorama is een kortfilm van de Parijse studio H5, die is opgebouwd met merkenlogo's. De film wijst er ons zo op hoezeer merken in ons leven zijn doorgedrongen.Kijk op www.buzzingbees.be voor meer creatieve communicatie!
Paul said: in case you haven't seen it (language is a little rough) here's Logorama. It's kind of cool, but very pulp-fictioney
March 12, 2010 – Doritos Tablet
They say that chip technology doubles every two years. We've disproven that limitation.
Paul said: Silly. I ordered mine this morning. did you?
March 13, 2010 – The Devil is living in the Vatican, says the Pope's chief exorcist – The Daily Record
Visit our other sites: The Sunday MailThe GlaswegianBusiness 7Row ZScotcareersDaily Record BingoDaily Record CasinoLocal Mole ScotlandRecord ShoppingDaily Record Dating
Paul said: "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness." How Southern Baptist of them. Oh wait, that comes directly from the Vatican.
March 15, 2010 – Amazon.com: TrendyDigital WaterGuard Waterproof Case, Waterproof Cover for Apple iPad, Blue Border:.
Amazon.com: TrendyDigital WaterGuard Waterproof Case, Waterproof Cover for Apple iPad, Blue Border: Electronics
Paul said: it's a plastic bag to keep your iPad dry in the bath tub, at the pool, on the beach. oh, and it costs $20.
March 16, 2010 – www.youtube.com
Paul said: simply brilliant way to sell a book about starting a business by using Fox News tactics… you'll laugh, you'll cry, you might even buy the book.
March 17, 2010 – The TV Theme Medley
TWO Fredriks (oh yeeeaah), performing a medley consisting of themes and openings from a collection of TV shows. 0:01 Two and a Half Men 0:22 The Simpsons 0:36 O.C 1:00 Naruto 1:11 Family Guy 1:41 Married …
Paul said: Somebody has too much time on his hands, and some talent to share…
March 22, 2010 – The passage of health care reform could save millions of people from having to hear Congress further
Send free Somewhat Topical ecards and Somewhat Topical cards with a personalized Somewhat Topical message from someecards ecard site. Our Somewhat Topical greeting cards are designed for every Somewhat Topical card occasion.
Paul said: Thanks to Susan C. for this one!
March 23, 2010 – podcasts.howstuffworks.com
Paul said: The hum! The Hum! Make it stop!
March 24, 2010 – Electric Independence: Vince Clarke and the Temple of Synth | Motherboard
Vince Clarke is a man synonymous with synth pop and a legend in the history of electronic music. He's famous for founding three of the most popular and lasting musical acts in history: Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure. …
Paul said: Sweet interview with Vince Clarke showing his ginormous collection of "'holy grail' analogue synthesizers", talking about Depeche Mode, Yazoo & Erasure
March 25, 2010 – ThinkGeek :: Darth Vader USB Hub
Darth Vader USB Hub – The Dark Hub of the Sith
Paul said: I've been needing more USB holes…
March 26, 2010 – McDonald's Food Menu – See Global McDonald's Menu Items at WomansDay.com
Check out the most interesting McDonald's food menu items around the world at WomansDay.com!
Paul said: There's gotta be a McDonalds around here somewhere…
March 29, 2010 – Apple vs. Microsoft: The Value Gap Is Closing — Seeking Alpha
Paul said: stock market wars: what to do when Apple becomes larger than Microsoft, in the not-too-distant future…
March 31, 2010 – Miley Cyrus-The Climb (Metal Version)
Here's a dark, heavy version of "The Climb" by the megastar, Miley Cyrus. The "official video" version is at http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=63283362 I hope that this version can help bring world peace. …
Paul said:Miley is my favorite. Especially when she sounds like a demon child singing heavy metal…dividual&VideoID=63283362 I hope that this version can help bring world peace. …

Ever So Slowly.

2010-03-31T01:38:19Z

Is Saturday ever going to get here?

…and Rob thinks this Saturday is all about Doctor Who…

Fugawi Jeepers on Goats Mountain

2010-03-31T00:54:30Z

Today we went Jeeping. We started at 8 AM at Pete's house and took off for Goats Mountain down near Estacada. So it wasn't too far, but still a lot of fun.

This time it was Me & Tim, Pete & Kim, Carolann & Terry, Chris Haney, and Corey Morris. It was Corey's first outing on the Jeep trails (like I'm an expert, it was my second).

Here are a bunch of the photos that I took along the way on my iPhone. Once we got to the top of Goats Mountain, we had spectacular views of Mount Hood, Adams and St Helens.

Don't be confused by the name, Goats Mountain is not really a mountain. But it's taller than the other hills in the surrounding areas.

The trip was fun. Nobody broke anything. The kids seemed to enjoy it. And the Jeep is completely covered in mud.

Ah, nature.

Eruption!

2010-03-25T23:58:03Z

This is last weekend in Eyjafjallajökull glacier in southern Iceland. I'm going to be there soon. Hopefully I won't run into any erupting volcanos, but I thought it was worth posting the video here, now.

My Newfound Love for the iPod Ecosystem

2010-03-15T20:11:44Z

I read a lot of whining on the internets about Apple's restrictive DRM. Everywhere you turn people are blasting them for using DRM and other means to keep consumers tied to the Apple iPod ecosystem.

For some reason it is bad that if you download something from the Apple store, you have to play it on some Apple device (or at least in some Apple software that's free). I don't quite understand that.

And now that I've dealt with Garmin and their GPS with downloadable maps, I *really* don't understand why people are attacking Apple.

You see, I have about 4,000 items from iTunes that I have purchased. Apps, Movies, TV Shows, and music from the early days that has DRM. They are mine. I get to use them on any computer I want. Sure there are limits, if I try to use them on more than 5 computers, then I have to deactivate my account on one of the existing computers, but it can still be done. Apple charges me nothing for this.

Now, let's talk about my Garmin experience. I downloaded a Garmin map for the UK. I paid $99 for it. Less than a week later, my Garmin was stolen. Guess what? The $99 was just a fee for that map on that Garmin, tied to that serial number (a Nüvi 1350T, if you must know). Gone is the Garmin, gone is the extra $99 map. Garmin has graciously agreed to let me download the UK map again for half price (note, that's $49.50).

Now let's compare and contrast. iTunes, in order to use the music on another device with my same account: free (within the 5 computer limit and on an infinite number of iPods/iPads/iPhones). Garmin, in order to use the map an another device, $49 and change.

iTunes manages my purchases by account. Garmin manages my purchases by serial number tied to a piece of easily misplaced (stolen) hardware.

The bottom line is that when an iPod gets stolen or goes bad, I can still use the content I legitimately purchased on a desktop machine. Plus I know that if I go buy another iPod, I can use all the content I've purchased on the new pod device. That keeps me buying from Apple, and I am a happy customer.

When the Garmin goes bad, or when some bastard smashes the window of my Jeep and pries open my center console to steal it, then I have nothing but loss and smashed windows. I don't have any incentive to step back up to the Garmin plate and buy any more Garmin hardware.

Sure I know I'd have to buy new Garmin hardware to run my UK map, and I am willing to do that, but I am not willing to shell out $50 for a digital download that I am simply repeating from less than a week ago.

So while Apple's iPod ecosystem seems restrictive, it's nothing compared to Garmin's. Why aren't people ripping holes in their broken system?

My next trip down the GPS lane will be squarely in the iPhone App court. And I will be avoiding products from Garmin for a really long time.

Where for art thou, Miley?

2010-03-13T07:50:32Z

So we decided to go see the new Miley Cyrus film today. Tim and I are both (not so closeted) Miley fans, so it didn't take much to talk him into going after lunch.

I still can't remember the name of Miley's film, so I looked it up on Fandango on my iPhone, saw the poster and thought that was it. We made it to the theatre with about 10 minutes to spare, stood in line with a bunch of 14 year old girls and felt a little embarrassed about being the only adult males going into the theatre.

We watched all the trailers (who knew there's another Twilight segment coming so soon?) and were doing just fine. Waiting patiently for the movie to start.

It did. It started with a little girl seeing her mom get murdered on a subway platform in NYC back in the 90s. Ouch. That didn't seem quite right, but maybe the filmmakers were trying to show us some backstory before Miley grows up, runs off to the beach, and has a summer fling with hottie mc hot hot.

But noooooo. Twenty minutes in, there's Robert Pattison. I don't remember him being in Miley's new movie. Uh oh. I think we're in the wrong place…

Turns out we weren't in the Miley Cyrus movie at all. Turns out that Miley's movie doesn't come out for several more weeks. D'oh! And yet it felt like such a Miley Cyrus crowd when we sat down in the first place.

We stumbled unwittingly into a unspeakably boring movie about dysfunctional family who's oldest brother committed suicide a few years ago and the middle brother has anger issues and always looks constipated while the father is a really busy lawyer with no time for his kids and the youngest sister is an art savant who lives with the mom who has remarried some guy. The movie really gets rolling when the angry middle brother, played unsparklingly by Robert, gets beat up by a cop whose daughter is hot so he starts dating her and she turns into his girlfriend until she finds out he knew her dad before they started dating and breaks up with him for a few minutes right towards the end but gets back together and everything seems to just be sorting itself out when the horrific twist happens. Queue slo-mo music montage, float a final voice over or two, and then the movie ended.

So I'd warn you about spoilers but the first 9 hours were lifted from the same old formula that was already 50 years old when that chick who played Sabrina The Teenaged Witch did it in that movie with the song by Britney Spears. How can their be spoilers for a movie using this formula?

If I had known anything about this film going in, I most definitely would not have gone. Plus we kept expecting Miley to show up for the first 20 minutes until we were absolutely sure it was the wrong movie.

Sigh.

Still, after 98% of the movie had passed, they threw a twist out there. It was enough of a twist that we talked about it in earnest three or four times this evening after seeing it. They lead up to the twist very well. There are little clues all through the film. But I didn't actually see it coming until about 30 seconds before it arrived. And that's always welcome, even in slow moving painful movies like this one.

So thanks, Hollywood, for abandoning the formula for just a second. It is the only thing that made this film memorable at all. Now don't make me sit through 5000 more of them.

The title of the film we saw was "Remember Me". If we had walked out before the last 5 minutes I would have given it a D-, but those last 5 minutes were really good ones. So I bumped the whole movie up to a C.

Why Avatar didn't win

2010-03-13T06:58:54Z

Back in January, we had Charlie Booker telling us how to make a compelling news report, in the format of, well, a compelling news report (see that post here).

Now we have these guys telling us how to make a compelling Academy Award winning movie trailer, in the format of, well, a compelling Academy Award winning movie trailer.

Catch phrase! Clever.

I love Lauren Bacall

2010-03-10T18:07:41Z

Did you see all the dish Lauren Bacall is offering up from just watching the Oscars? I have to say I love her more than ever now.

You can read for yourself everything else she had to say over at her twitter feed (Lauren_Bacall).

And for those of you who don't know who she is, she's been in movies like The Big Sleep, Key Largo, Murder on the Orient Express, The Shootist, and Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King. How can you not love that kind of list? Seriously, her movie and tv list is much bigger than Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King, go check it out.

She also summed up my feelings with this little gem:

Yeti in the Jeep

2010-03-15T20:10:25Z

[UPDATE 3/15/10 - Even though this article is fairly kind to Garmin, I've since had to actually deal with the company. I have sworn off of Garmin because of their total lack of Customer Service. The short story is that they want me to pay an additional $50 to re-download a map I already paid $99 for. So anyone looking for Garmin recommendations, please do not accept this blog post as one. Just read it for what it's worth. The first ten days with Garmin were fun, but then it all went sour. You can read my thoughts on Garmin's Nüvi 1350T DRM and crappy customer service here]

Sometimes you find giggles in the most unexpected places…

In the past couple of weeks, Tim and I have been trying out various third party GPS systems for the Jeep. And by various, I mean two. They both seemed adequate at getting us places, but the Garmin is the clear winner.

The Tom Tom had a kludgy interface. I am constantly surprised when any tech company still has interface issues. It seems really simple to me: minimize the number of times a person sitting in the car has to tap the screen to make it go and let the computer do everything it can with no help from the user.

Oddly, the Tom Tom would make you type everything and then it would start directing you with the voice, but the screen wouldn't start updating until you clicked on "DONE". I have no idea why that extra click was in there. Add to that, the "BACK" button inexplicably kept changing sides, so you couldn't just click on it four times in quick succession. You actually had to focus on it and watch where it would appear next in order to back out of the nested menu structure.

Here's a note to Tom Tom: either pay Apple to build a simple interface for you, or at least read the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines and follow them.

The next one we tried, and the one we kept, is the Garmin Nüvi. Not only did they get the whole "BACK" button position right, they used an icon so you don't have to read AND they made it so if you hold it down it skips all the way to the top no matter how deep in the menu system you are. Good move!

Then I found the Yeti voice in the picture above and there was no turning back. This is the only GPS I've ever had that makes me smile when its giving directions. "Oot ort ort OOOT Squeeee!" apparently means keep driving in the direction you're going or something.

And, Yes, Rob, it does Squee.

So it wins. We're so keeping the Garmin. It gets us where we want to go and it makes me giggle.

Skinput

2010-03-03T18:00:43Z

Sweet! These folks are exploring ways to use your skin as input for computer devices. One version includes a Pico projector that allows you to play video games on your hand.

The video shows a guy poking at his arm and hands and fingers to play Tetris, to control his iPod, and to navigate through a series of menus on his arm. This is similar to that thing we saw a while back from MIT that projected info about the person standing in front of you onto said person so you could remember important facts about them.

My February 2010 Facebook Links

2010-03-03T08:31:14Z

These are the links that I posted on my Facebook Account during the month of February 2010.

February 2, 2010 – Urban Dictionary: iphone effect
shortly after one person in the group brings out their iphone, the rest follow suit, ultimately ending all conversation and eye contact.
Paul said: the iPhone effect… it happens every time we go out to dinner. or go out to a movie. or go out. or stay home. or watch tv. or anything else.
February 2, 2010 – Rumor: Apple Has Another Tablet In The Works. More Like A Mac Than An iPhone.
In the movie Contact, when revealing to main character Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) that there is actually a second space travel machine that …
Paul said: The iPad has been announced, now it's time for a new batch of wild-assed rumors!
February 2, 2010 – Amazon.com: Jason NutriSmile Toothpaste, Orange, Cinnamon & Mint, 4.2-Ounce Tubes (Pack of 4)
Paul said: is amazed that his toothpaste is "orange, cinnamon and mint" flavored. All in one place. who'd of thunkit?
February 2, 2010 – The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen + The Muppets
Paul said: always a classic.
February 2, 2010 – www.normthompson.com
Football Sausage is sure to score big points with sports fans on your gift list. Give our Football Sausage to sports fans. Award-winning salami is made the old-fashioned way, with fresh beef and pork, cured and slowly smoked over hickory fires. …
Paul said: The jury is still out…
February 3, 2010 – Jonas Brothers Hardcore!
Paul said: This is the funniest Jonas Brothers thing I think I've ever seen.
February 3, 2010 – Bill Watterson, creator of beloved 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic strip looks back with no regrets | Livi
Cleveland Ohio living section: Get lifestyle, food, religion, home and garden news and more. Comment on the articles and join the forums at cleveland.com
Paul said: Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, in his first interview since 1989…
February 3, 2010 – How to Suck at Facebook – The Oatmeal
Paul said: How to suck at facebook… accurate, and very funny
February 5, 2010 – The Water Monopoly
The porthole bath is an original French double ended bath with two portholes cut into the side. It makes a wonderful piece for children’s bathrooms, or it can be used to create a bathroom with a nautical theme. …
Paul said: this is too cool!
February 8, 2010 – Hubert de Lartigue: pas à pas "X-wing"
Je suis très fier du résultat et j'ai l'impression d'avoir fait un petit chef d'œuvre, j'en suis arrivé à me demander si les tickets de métro n'avaient pas été designés pour pouvoir me servir un jour de support pour ce "travail". …
Paul said: This is cool, even if you *don't* speak any French… It's a step by step guide on how to build tiny x-wing fighters with psuedo-origami
February 10, 2010 – Parisian Love Too
Response to Google Superbowl ad.
Paul said: anyone see the google superbowl ad? here's an interesting alternate (read: gay) version.
February 10, 2010 – T-SHIRT WAR!! (stop-motion music video)
GET a SHIRT that we wore in the video (or design a replica in your size)! http://rhettandlink.com/tshirtwar GET this SONG on our 27-song CD (it has vocals): http://rhettandlink.com/music or on iTunes: …
Paul said: oooh, T-Shirt Wars! Stop motion video with 222 t-shirts.
February 11, 2010 – Apple – iTunes celebrates 10 billion songs downloaded.
iTunes changed the way you buy music, making songs and albums available for download, day or night. Seven years later, we’re about to celebrate our biggest milestone for music, yet — 10 billion songs downloaded. …
Paul said: Coming soon: iTune's 10 billionth download. And there's a contest… I *need* that gift card.
February 11, 2010 – Google Liquid Galaxy live demo at TED
Google's Liquid Galaxy is engineer Jason Holt's 20% time project, a wraparound view of 8 LCD screens providing a truly immersive experience of Google Earth and Street View.
Paul said: Google Earth on Steroids
February 12, 2010 – Orange Fruit Batteries Power An iPhone
You can power a digital clock with a few slices of oranges – but how many many oranges do you need to power an iPhone?
Paul said: How many oranges does it take to charge an iPhone? Gilligan's professor would be so proud…
February 13, 2010 – Global Warming isn't the opposite of snow
Feb. 10: Bill Nye, the science guy, explains to Rachel Maddow why snow in the northeast in the winter doesn't have anything to do with global warming.
Paul said: too bad Bill Nye says "un-patriotic" and that this is on the politicized Rachel Maddow show. It's a very good discussion about Climate Change and allowing science to be science.
February 16, 2010 – L.A.R.P. Live Avatar Role Playing
Portrait of The Na'vi People of Hometree Wisconsin.
Paul said: OMG, please tell me this isn't for real…
February 16, 2010 – TORCHWOOD – Tonner Doll Company
Tonner Doll Company, Inc. – Extraordinary Dolls and Character Figures.
Paul said: Is Captain Jack actually worth $199?
February 16, 2010 – Starwars Musquito Defense System English Version
Groen Brothers commercial spoof of an anti-mosquito laser system
Paul said: ah, the classics.
February 17, 2010 – TOXIC: Garbage Island – CNN.com
Back in the mid-zeroes, I remember reading a lot of stories about a buildup of trash in the Pacific Ocean so massive that it had formed a floating island of waste the size of Texas. Its colorful nickname …
Paul said: Scary video footage about the waste we are producing and how we're polluting our planet. I've heard about this Pacific Ocean gyre before, but this is the first I've really seen about it from a mainline news source.
February 17, 2010 – Chain Reaction – The Game
Paul said: Chain Reaction! This game is a cool HTML 5 demo – it will only work in Safari, Chrome and (maybe) the IE8. Sorry, no Firefox.
February 17, 2010 – 'Avatar' = 'Pocahontas' In Space (PICTURE)
James Cameron worked on "Avatar" for over a decade. That makes sense.
Paul said: Talk about your formula movies! Avatar really was just a remake of Disney's Pocahontas…
February 17, 2010 – Tumblr
Paul said: actual photo… not mine, but actual anyway.
February 18, 2010 – iSandwich 4G
What would you do, if Steve Jobs is coming for lunch? Be creative and make an iSandwich 4G! This is how you can Do It Yourself. Read more in our blog isandwich4g.blogspot.com. Our tutorial is for everyone: Don´t play with the food – enjoy it! TRY THIS AT HOME!
Paul said: silly. watch it to the very end…
February 18, 2010 – c64 cynthcart live
Paul said: True that. The c64 will never die!
February 18, 2010 – The Johnny Cash Children's Album by Johnny Cash – Download The Johnny Cash Children's Album on iTune
Preview and download songs from The Johnny Cash Children's Album by Johnny Cash on iTunes. Buy The Johnny Cash Children's Album for just $9.99.
Paul said: Johnny Cash has a children's album? who knew? And why am I looking at children's albums on iTunes?
February 18, 2010 – MacDailyNews
"More than 74,000 PCs at nearly 2,500 organizations around the globe were compromised over the past year and a half in a botnet infestation designed to steal login credentials to bank sites, social networks, …
Paul said: I like this headline: "The Microsoft Tax: 74,000 Windows PCs in 2,500 companies attacked globally; Mac users unaffected"
February 23, 2010 – Know Your Aspirals – Introduction
Paul said: I want me one of these
February 23, 2010 – C O D E O R G A N
The dawn chorus… the music of love… whale song… a babbling brook… but none compare to the beauty of the Codeorgan. It reads the content of any webpage and translates the content into music.
Paul said: this is what it sounds like when you play my blog on the code organ. Sweet. Now I'm off to test twitter…
February 25, 2010 – Life in Quarantine – Fully Sick Rapper.m4v
I was eventually let out of hospital on the 2nd Jan, but then brought back in on the 18th Jan and diagnosed with a more serious form of TB… As a result, I have been back in quarantine since the 18th Jan, and all up now I have spent 55 days on the inside of a single room in hospital… …
Paul said: Sometimes you just can't stop the funny. I hope if anything like this ever happens to me that I can be half this creative…
February 25, 2010 – Minimalist Star Wars Tourism Posters: Vacation in Tatooine, Hoth, Endor, Dagobah & Cloud City
Justin Van Genderen is a graphic designer in Chicago. He made these minimalist travel posters for the locations in Star…
Paul said: Somebody (besides me) has too much time on their hands…
February 25, 2010 – The Recycled Alien Queen Is Here With Tip Or Two About Recycling | Walyou
The Recycled Alien Queen Is Here With Tip Or Two About Recycling so start taking notes from the famous monster.
Paul said: Recycled Alien Queen!
February 28, 2010 – sjcerling on Etsy
Paul said: check out these things a friend of mine makes and sells… and buy one or two of them.

Cheryl Luce's Site is up!

2010-02-19T15:21:40Z

Here's another site I set up for a friend who wanted to start blogging about her travel groups.

CherylLuceTravel.com

She is using the site to promote the trips that she leads to places all over the world. Last fall she took a group to Africa, this summer she's taking a group to Alaska. And those are just the A's.

The site is all based on the wordrpess theme "Sliding Doors" but took a bit of modification to get it to display things properly. It's still a work in progress, but I think it's looking pretty nice. She's updating it almost daily.

Percy Jackson – Way to change the book…

2010-02-14T05:44:02Z

No spoilers here, but I have to say I liked The Lightning Thief.

OK, one spoiler: it is nothing like the book. Once I got past thinking "that's not what happened in the book," and "why'd they say that, the book said something else," I started really enjoying the movie.

Maybe there are some spoilers here, but not much.

So Percy didn't really go on an assigned quest. He was just going to free his mom from Hades and accidentally found the lightning bolt and had some sort of flying fight with Luke over the top of Manhattan, but it did turn out well.

Oh, and Uma Thurman makes a great Madusa. Those snakes in her hair were extra creepy. Plus they get extra credit for gratuitous use of the iPhone. Bet Steve Jobs didn't see that one coming.

Anyone know if the kid who played Percy is any relation to Ian what's-his-name in The Vampire Diaries?

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Way different from the book, but the essence was the same. Go see it.

The Wolf Man – please just have the franchise put down already.

2010-02-13T05:52:30Z

Arrrooooooooo.

If you're going to howl at the moon, it's probably best to stick with David Naughton or Lon Chaney Jr. The 2010 wolfman story leaves a l-o-t to be desired.

Things missing were the whole beast-within-theme, tortured soul, decent dialog, story line, etc.

Things it had, but only because I had to: an old gypsy woman, the wolf guy's dead brother's wife (a.k.a. the love interest), the creepy old dad (wolfy, I'm your father. it is your destiny…), oh, and a creepy psych ward with a scary german accented crazy doctor who got his comeuppance right before Scotland Yard is forced to shoot up half of London in a beast-chasing sequence that could only be rivaled by Mel Gibson chasing cars on foot in one of those Lethal Weapon movies.

Suck suck suck.

It was pretty. The sets were well done, the transformation into the beast(s) were super cool. The actual beast, no so much. I was reminded of Roddy McDowall in that movie about those apes that had their own planet.

The big fight at the end between Wolverine and Bumble Bee was kind of nice. The burning of the house as the troops marched on Atlanta was ok. The "uh oh I got bit and even though the werewolf monster is dead but at least there can be a sequel if this one makes enough money" was a little predictable.

Lame, predictable, boring. Even the Danny Elfman theme couldn't bring this one up.

Is it just me, or is Hollywood really cranking out the formula these days? When will something come along that rises above that?Isn't it about time?

Will Portland learn from the greedy music industry?

2010-02-09T23:28:56Z

Today Ars Technica is reporting that "Variable download pricing correlated with slower music sales." Remember a year ago when iTunes dropped DRM but allowed the greedy music execs to raise the prices of popular songs? Let's take a look at how that panned out.

Ars says:

As noted by MediaMemo, this slowdown in growth has all happened over the same period of time that the iTunes (and Amazon, and Walmart) pricing changes went into effect.

That's right, after iTunes (and Wal-Mart and Amazon digital downloads) pricing went up, sales went down.

There are a million ways to spin it, but that's the bottom line. The decline in sales just happened to coincide with the price increase.

Like iTunes and the greedy music industry, The City That Works™, Portland, raised it's parking rates about a year ago. I for one stopped going downtown for everything I wanted to do, so my net is that I'm paying Portland less money every year for parking. I wonder if anyone's done a study to see if the higher rates are actually producing higher revenue…

How to Report the News

2010-01-29T00:24:16Z

This is brilliant! I ran across it on The Kidman Project, my friend Rob's website. Thanks, Rob, for sharing!

BTW, it does have a little bit of swearing (including the F word in one place). Ah, those Brits. They didn't call us Puritans for nothing…

JC Supertablet and friends

2010-01-27T16:58:16Z

Last night I dreamed that I was trying to get people to buy the Apple Tablet (that is going to be announced in a couple of hours) by trying to play Jesus Christ Superstar for them on my Apple Tablet.

Odd.

I guess I heard the phrase "Jesus Tablet" one too many times yesterday.

The sad part was that it didn't have enough memory so I only had part of the rock opera with me. Like the old days of the 8GB iPod Nanos. So I could only play one phrase out of one song over and over.

And that one phrase was "We need him crucified, it's all you have to do…" Everytime, just as it slipped into the next words "talk to me Jesus Christ…" it would repeat "We need him crucified, it's all you have to do,"

So instead of using my tablet to show off, I had to sit on the couch and dig through countless options on the thing to try to figure out how to make it play the rest of the song.

Somewhere I screwed up and jumped into the middle of "I don't know how to love him" but then it just was one phrase out of that song over and over and over.

Then I went in the spare room and was upset that the overnight guests had messed it all up and made it look like I did it.

Like I said, Odd dreams. But I'm awake now. I'm gearing up for the actual tablet unveiling in about an hour and a half. I'm hoping for new iLife, new iWork, new Tablet and cheaper TV shows from iTunes. iTunes in the cloud would be nice, too.

woohoo!

I launched Kurt's New Website Today

2010-02-19T15:20:48Z

It's true, I launched the new website for my friend Kurt in San Francisco today.

SomaticPsychotherapySF.com

This post is more or less just google bait to get the mighty search engines to take notice. However, if you want to click through, you may also do that.

Enjoy yourself, as always!

It's based on a new wordpress theme that I really like. I am thinking of changing Cliffdweller to use this theme, too… at least some variant of it.

Painting the world plaid

2010-01-20T01:52:53Z

What did you do today? Somebody asks me that question every day. It's not always the same person, but it is always the same question.

So here's what I did today: I painted the world plaid. No, seriously. It was no easy feat.

I started with a website known for having public domain pictures of the planet we live on. I wanted to find an animated globe.

What I found was a lot of work in Photoshop. It takes time to create graphics. Designers know that, but people often forget. So this afternoon, I started with a map of the world, and painted it plaid.

Then I animated it and saved it in a dozen formats. I have plans for this Plaid Earth…

California and Texas, first and second. Or not.

2010-01-12T23:23:00Z

Not that I'm getting into the whole competition thing or anything, but since a couple of weeks ago when I started actually using my Nike+ shoe doohickeys, I've been digging around the Nike Running website.

Today I ran across the pictured statistic. The miles quoted are how many miles that people in those states have run so far in 2010. It's a lot of miles until you start looking at populations.

Some guy in Texas was bragging about being second. Interesting. Second, only behind California. I went to look at the aggregated stats, and I see Oregon is number 3! Go Oregon!

Of course, some simple math will show the *real* bragging rights:

According to Wikipedia, the state of Oregon has 3,825,657 people in it. Divide that into the miles run in 2010 (23,192) and you get 6.06 miles per thousand people in Oregon.

I wonder what Texas and California get. Oh, let's go find out…

Texas has 24,782,302 people running 65,533 miles comes out to 2.64 miles per thousand people in Texas. The people in Oregon are running on average 2.29 times as much as the fatties in Texas.

California is even worse with 36,961,664 people running only 49,225 miles. That comes out to 1.33 miles per thousand people. Oregon is 4.55 times better than California. Ouch.

So I guess it kind of explains why Oregon feels so more "in shape" than either California or Texas, assuming of course that running miles equates being in shape. Until now I had always assumed it was just because we like our great outdoors, mountain climbing, snowboarding, skiing, camping, and hiking more than all the other states.

Maybe I am getting into the whole Nike competitive thing a little bit…

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T02:02:25Z

The chorus to this ABBA song goes something like this:

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

A bajillion years ago in high school, I think I made people listen to this song incessantly right around this time of year.

Just to back that statement up, here's one Melanie posted on Facebook today:

Melanie Clark *Sings "Happy new year, happy new year, may we all.." As with EVERY New Years day, Abba haunts me until I cover my ears and start shouting "It's a small world after all.." CURSE YOU PAUL ADAMS, AND THE MITSUBISHI COLT YOU DROVE IN ON!!

At first glance, I smiled and giggled a little bit inside. Was I really that obnoxious back then? (when I see my nephew John in action I realize that I probably was…)

But on further reflection (are we supposed to be all reflecty today?), I started thinking more about the paths my life has taken since way back then.

Here's another lyric from the song, the one that has actually stuck with me all these years:

It's the end of a decade
In another ten years time
Who can say what we'll find
What lies waiting down the line
In the end of eighty-nine

Besides horribly dating the song in 1979 (ABBA was so 1970's after all), it also gave me pause to reflect at the end of '89, just like the song said.

So here's the rundown.

At the end of '89 I was working as the manager of an 8 screen movie theatre in Arlington TX. I remember being upset on New Years Eve because there were no less than 5 accidents between my work and my home at 2AM when I got off work. I had spent the last decade trying to balance going to college and maintaining a demanding 60 an hour a week job. I finally gave up on college. And soon after this decade was over, I gave up on the demanding job.

At the end of '99, I was living in San Francisco, working for myself, running my own company. In the decade since '89 I had worked in three of the crazy startups in Silicon Valley, I had worked at NASA, and I had survived cancer. I had made several trips to Europe and the UK (my first trip to Loch Ness to look for Nessie!) I had camped in the dessert looking for UFOs with Gary. I went to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras with Jim (That's in Australia). Who would've expected all that back when they released this song?

At the end of '09, I am living in Portland. I am married to the man (and his ginormous extended family) that I love. In the past decade I have been the youth director at the largest Methodist church in Oregon, I have re-connected with many of my friends from the old days, I have remained cancer free. I've been to Antarctica, South America, Alaska, back to Europe, and all over the USA.

And more good news: this song no longer applies. I don't have to play this game this decade, only because "nineteen" doesn't rhyme with "who can say what we'll find"…

But, if it did apply, looking ahead I plan to have many happy years with Tim, travel a lot, maybe get a dog. It's the simple things. Maybe I will check back in in the end of twenty-nine.

Go Captian & Tennille! a.k.a. we don't need no stinking QA

2009-12-26T06:13:58Z

Today, Allan and Eunice gave me the Captain & Tennille "Ultimate Collection" DVD for Christmas. Yay team!

I was such a fan in Jr. High School. I once tried to sing my way to free tickets to one of their concerts on a radio station. Nothing like a 7th grader singing "I will, I will, I will…" and that's that last time I ever did anything stupid.

Oh wait, when ABC canceled the Captain & Tennille Show, I actually wrote in to get them to keep it on the air. That was the last time I did anything stupid.

So I was super happy when I got my whole yard of bubblegum from Miko and the Captain & Tennille show DVDs today.

I ran right home to rip the DVD so I can put it on my Apple TV and watch it, just like I do with all my DVDs. While ripping them, I noticed a very peculiar thing.

So, Captain, Tennille, if you're reading this, please note that when I put your 3 DVD set into my iMac, the title of the icon that shows up on the desktop is spelled wrong.

"Captian" and Tennille is a whole different group. I'm just sayin'…

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2009-12-24T21:53:39Z

Yesterday after my trip to the Apple store, Leif and I headed over to lunch and ended up at the "Everything's a Dollar" store. Why not? It seemed like a great place to find that something special for Tim's Christmas (I did, hint: it's pink and glows in the dark for about 4 hours).

While we were there a song came on that reminded me of that one by Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger from that movie a few years back. You remember the one, it was done in the 1960s Rock Hudson/Dorris Day style and was really a lot of fun.

So I thought, I like this tune. I launched up Shazam on my iPhone to find out what it was but it failed me. Like Target, the dollar store is made of kryptonite and lead that blocks AT&T's 3G network. So I was left with the catchy Christmas-ish tune in my head and no idea what it was.

Enter iTunes today. Yes, I'm admitting right here on my blog in front of everyone that I've been listening to my meager Christmas music collection most of the day.

It turns out I already had the song I heard yesterday. It came in on the Trojan Horse called "iTunes Holiday Sampler" that I downloaded for free a couple of weeks ago. The mystery is solved!

The tune is "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Lady Antebellum. Who'd've ever guessed that?

As a side note, I think it's funny that had I found it on Shazam yesterday, I would have had to pay $1.29 for it even though I was at the "Everything's a Dollar" store. iTunes wouldn't have warned me I already had it since it would have been coming from a different album than the free sampler I downloaded before.

How Many Geniuses does it take…

2009-12-24T03:25:41Z

How many geniuses does it take to fix an iMac?

The short answer is 1, but the more complex answer is 2. Unless you count the genius who broke it in the first place (that would be me).

I gotta say I love my ginormous iMac. It's the first desktop computer I've ever had that has and SD Card slot built right in.

A couple of weeks ago, when Tim and I were working on the Unger Family Calendars for 2010, he handed me some photos on the SD Card from his MacBook and I reached up and blindly shoved it into the slot on the side of my monster iMac.

And just like when you slam your locked car door just as you realize you've left the keys inside, I knew I had shoved the card in the wrong slot. Because I didn't actually look, I had shoved it into the DVD drive slot. Dang. That was my first Genius move.

So I've been iMacing without a DVD drive for a couple of weeks. I scheduled a Genius appointment at the Apple store last week, but I never could actually make it into Portland at the appropriate time. So I rescheduled and rescheduled and rescheduled. Wheeee!

My second Genius move was rescheduling the appointment for today. During lunchtime. I knew I'd be downtown anyway, so what the heck, I'll just stop by the mall and drop it off and they'll take it in the back for a couple of hours and then I'll bring it home.

Ooops that. Today is the next to the last shopping day before Christmas. Every parking space within a 3 block radius was taken. I had to lug the 27 inch iMac down stairs, into elevators, across streets, and through the whole habitrail system that is Pioneer Place.

That was the tough part. The easy part was when the guys who get paid to be geniuses spent longer documenting the problem than actually fixing it. It took the tall guy in the kilt holding the iMac and the short guy in the glasses with a piece of packing tape about 2 minutes to extract the SD Card.

YAY! I was their second SD Card extraction today, so they seem to be getting quite good at it. I didn't have to leave the iMac behind, I only had to lug it into the store and back out again.

So the real answer is 3. 3 geniuses, 'cause I had to break it in the first place.

Twitter your Keynote slides via Applescript

2009-11-26T17:37:37Z

You've all heard of a thing called Twitter. Now Gentry Underwood has created an AppleScript that will send predetermined messages to Twitter during your Keynote* slides.

It uses a mechanism where you can simply put [twitter][/twitter] tags in the presenter notes section of a slide. When you get to that slide, the Tweet goes out to the masses.

sweet!

You can even add #hashtags or @mentions to the Tweets.

Read the whole article and download the script for yourself here:

Keynote Tweet: Participate In The Backchannel of Your Own Presentation

*Keynote is a Mac only presenter program made by Apple.

First time for anything, I suppose.

2009-11-26T06:57:00Z

Tonight I installed a new dual-band Airport Extreme base station. I have been having problems with the older Airport Extreme non-dual-band since moving out to G-Town and setting up digs in this apartment I tend to call home. So the opportunity presented itself for me to upgrade to a dual-band system and I jumped on it.

In my sprawling apartment complex, just based on what I can see from the drop down menu, there are 15 (sometimes more) WiFi networks within 150 feet of where I'm sitting right now. Tell me there's no interference from that!

So I went for the dual-band WiFi base station, hoping that I can out-fox all the other folks using primitive gear. Now the slower, less critical WiFi can support the iPhones and the media centers while the more robust WiFi can support actual work on actual machines (assuming I do any actual work, of course).

So that's all well and good, but when I plugged in the new base station, I ran the Airport Utility program to set it up and lo, I didn't have a recent enough version. It seems the new base station wanted version 5.5 and I only had 5.4.2 on my shiny new (huge) iMac.

That's not too weird in and of itself. Often updates come out after machines ship but before people get them into their hands. The weird part is that I checked Apple's website and sure enough, the most recent version was the one I already had installed.

So I did something that I have never done, not one single time in the past 10 years of owning Macintosh OS X products: I installed the software that came with the product in the box.

Way back before there was an OS X, we learned that sometimes installers downgraded system components, so I got into the habit of never using the disk in the box. The reasoning goes that whatever software has been sitting in the box at Best Buy for months can't possibly be as up to date as the software installed over the web from Apple's software update application.

So anyway, all the Mac die-hards out there are all having a collective gasp right now, while all the windows users are saying "so what's the big deal, you can install software."

This is the first time since 2000 that it didn't "just work" by plugging it in.

For shame Apple. Are you growing too fast? Did you outsource this one? is there some reason why Airport Utility 5.5 hasn't been made available for the masses?

I felt like I was using a Microsoft product for a few minutes.

Of course, 10 minutes later when I had a dual-band WiFi base station up and running and supporting 3 machines and an iPhone, the Apple-love returned and I quietly put the CD away. Yes, it only took 10 minutes, and that includes an SMS conversation that I was having with my hubby at the same time.