June 2003 Archives
I've finally done up some more photos of Conor.
This also comes with a brief "my boy is so great" story. So, we were at our 2 month doctor appointment last week, where Conor was weighed and measured. He also got his first 2 shots. Was not too happy about that! But the crazy thing is how much he is growing - he is up to 15 pounds and just under 25 inches. That puts him into the 97th percentile for growth and weight. Crazy. He is the monster baby. And monstrously cute. I just couldn't not say that. I get all sappy and sucky around him... Because, you know, normally i have a dark and tormented soul that would never become sappy and sucky... never...
So i have a lot of CDs. I have a home that is wired with ethernet. I have a server in the basement with a really big hard-drive. I want to mp3-ize all my CDs. I then want to listen to them all over the house, or at least, at the living room and the TV room. The slimp3 looks like the device to do this. Pretty cool. And, just so i can say this is an interactive website, what software do you use to rip your CDs? Keeping in mind that i am on the far inferior Windows OS...
I'm also very interested in these chainless bikes. I hate taking care of chains, both on bicycles and on motorcycles. I'd be interested in picking up something like this for my next bike, just for the lack of maintenance, as i am basically a very lazy person. Update: there is a store in Toronto that sells these things - Bicycles @ St.Clair
I've got lots to point to today, so let me get started...
Wanted to point to Stacy's blog (or this one, but the LJ is more recent) and web/vanity site (her words!). I had a chance to catch-up with her on friday, and heard a bit about her next film project. Stay tuned...
You should really head over to Billmon's Whiskey Bar blog to read about the horrible shit that is going on with Iraq and the massive amounts of hypocrisy that the government is spewing about it. I'd rant, but he does such a better job, and doesn't even swear.
The FSF has come out with a statement about the whole SCO vs. IBM thing. Again, i'd rant, but there seems little point. Here is an anti-FUD commentary by Richard Stallman. Slashdot posts regarding the whole mess.
Two strange only-in-japan-gods-i-wish-i-lived-there things. More Matrix Cos-play photos. Also, "Gothic and Lolita Bibles" photos. It just really looks to me like a bunch of folks dressed up in Gothic garb, and by that i'm saying traditional, old-fashion-style cloths, tho there are some almost cyber-y looks there too. And some strange "Lolita" things going on...
Are you sick of hearing about how ironic something is? Well, after reading this article at the Guardian you will be able to refute any erroneous usage of said term... and they use lots of long, multisyllabic words too!
Oh, and i'd also like to say Happy Birthday to Orneryboy!
Well, i got my first mosquito bite today. I will be looking out for West Nile like symptoms...
Volvo approached a blogger to tell their side of the story - here is his write up. I've also added his post to the politech list below.
An interesting post which links to a report about how female avatars, with the same skill sets as their male counterparts, are sold (at auction or online) at a much lower price.
I read about this dispute between Volo Auto Museum and Volvo cars a few weeks ago, and the WIPO has just handed down its decision. I admit that i'm a bit surprised that the little guy won, as it seems that in the majority of cases the bigCO wins.
Now, that's a lot of monitors. I wonder what Quake or any other FPS would look like on that. Thanks to Miroslav for the link.
Watched "An Evening with Kevin Smith" last night. What a monster of a film, three hours and forty five minutes long, you'd think it would feel like it too. Surprisingly, i was riveted for the whole thing. Ah, now i see - its actually a 2 disk DVD. I saw it on the movie network, so no DVD flipping. Handy.
Saw the second matrix film the other night, the IMAX print. Lordy, it was very very large. And loud. And fun. Tho i did think the score in the fight scenes was quite weak. If you are not burned out on the film, or still haven't seen it, it was worth the extra two bucks to see the IMAX version. The abridged version of the script is also worth reading, as long as you have already seen it, as its full of spoilers.
Another site describing some of the ... inconsistancies in the Bush governments statements surounding WMD in Iraq - The Big Lie. I found the site from the Whiskey Bar. I can't even go into how totally messed up this whole thing is. I don't even like to post about it, cuz it just seems so obvious and so on, but i know its all going to be blown over, propagandized and rhetoriced into nothing as Bush wins a second term. Too depressing... Ok, i admit that i'm being a bit defeatist here, and pessimistic - chart it up to CWS.
Sounds too good to be true. But i'm going, who's with me? 
So i went and saw X2 tonight. It was quite a bit better then i expected, and much better then the first film. Interestingly, during the credits, i was overcome with the strongest feelings of nostalgia. I have no idea why, but i went out and bought Led Zeppelin's 'Houses of the Holy', which is all part of this nostalgia binge i find my self on. I was remembering in High School, all the "cool" and "popular" kids at the dance would get to hang out with the DJ's in a special part of the gym that the regular folks did get to hang out in. I was thinking to myself about how consumed with wanting to not fit in i was back then. Of course, i just fit into a different clique then the cool, in kids. I was with the stage crew, a mutant offspring of the drama folks. More techy, but probably even lower on the "cool" level. See, even now i seek to place my self far away from "cool", all as an effort to prove how we, i, did not seek to fit in. But we did, just into our own little piece of the social strata. What is all this getting at? Shit, i have no idea. But for some reason the film really elicited strong feelings, and a drive to look back to those times. Something about a group that is "outside" the "normal" perhaps? I mean, i think the whole thing about the Xmen that makes it funny to me is, like, who the hell wouldn't want to hang out with them? Don't they seem really cool? They can do all this wicked shit with their mutant powers, are all good looking, etc etc But perhaps that just says more about me then anything else. Man, i haven't listened to this album in a really long time...
"hey lady - you got the love i need
oh maybe - more than enought
oh Darling Darling walk a while with me
-- oh you've got so much --"
Led Zeppelin
A Report of Research on Privacy for Electronic Government. Just so i don't forget to read it...
And i wish i was in Port Dover. Tho the weather is pretty bad, the photos of all the motocycles lining the streets look quite amazing. Some day i'll get out there on a Friday the 13th...
Some nice QTVRs (Quicktime VRs - panoramas) of Burningman to go along with an interview of the photographer.
Enjoy your weekend!
It apparently really pays off for the men...
Almost half of all deaths in the original Star Trek TV show were "Red Shirts". Now i have a good excuse for why i've only got black and grey shirts in my closet!
Ok, maybe not a good excuse, but its an excuse...
I will never look at parents with crying babies or children the same again. This might be over stating it a bit, so take the following with a grain of salt. I always thought that as long as you did X, Y and Z you would be able to keep your kid happy. You know, if he starts to cry, just give him some attention, or walk around with him a bit, cuddle, give him some food, whatever. Once you've met his needs, he will be a happy, perfect child. No problems. Well, i can now say that that was the thinking of a person who has never had a child. The amened thinking goes something like the following:
Holy FUCK, what have i forgotten!? I've changed him fed him given love tried the bouncy chair gone for a walk burped sung 18 thousand lullabys he is still crying i'm going to loose my mind STAY FOCUSED you can't let him know that you are going crazy keep smiling keep singing keep walking thats it its ok oh god please PLEASE PLEASE stop crying i'll do anything i'll get you a car when you turn 16 let you go out late at night not get mad when you don't clean up the house after the party you have when we go away anything if you stop crying
Well, that's how i was at some points this weekend, anyway. And this is with a non colicky baby (colic is defined as 3 or more hours of crying a day). I can not even imagine how hard it is for parents with kids that are really colicky. All was made good this morning however, when he was just full of smiles and giggles for Ciara and I. We played for about 15 or 20 minutes, dancing, kicking and coo-ing. He is really starting to truly interact with us now. And its for moments like that that i will deal with any and all difficulties that arise with little Conor. So, at the end of the day, i've learned that you can do everything you can possibly think of to try to calm down your kid, and none of it might work. Kids have bad days just like their parents, and i don't know why i thought otherwise.
Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker, sent to me by AJ, struck me as something that keys in on things i've been wrestling with for the past month or so. An interesting read.
Also, WILLFUL INFRINGEMENT is a website for the self named documentary, all about copyright and how the law is currently being used by Disney and the like to curtail any kind of speech about their "property". Chilling Effects Clearinghouse is a site which documents the uses of copyright law to restrict certain kinds of speech. Generally, speech that the copyright holder does not agree with. Lessig also has lots to say about this. His latest attempt to inject some sanity into the nightmare which is current copyright law (in the states).
"Thats right. . . . Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Powell, Franks, all of these people, bottom bouncing ejaculate spraying lip locking sexual freak addicts. Perverts. Their wives eager participants in this danse macabre, the satanic hedonism of the dark hours supressed for so long at last overwhelming these sick, twisted, and tormented souls." link...
An interesting article by Shaenon K. Garrity, discussing the current state of manga, and how many folks are simply re-hashing the tried and true. Badly. The article is also worth reading for the links to other interesting "manga-style" comics ("Strings of Fate", "As If!"), all of which i'd never heard of before. (source - Small Stories)
There is a great post at the Whiskey Bar about the back-peddling the Bush administration is doing about the whole "Weapons of Mass Destruction" vis-a-vis Iraq and the war. Is a time line of quotes from all kinds of White house and Military people. All quotes backed up with links. Interesting. Almost as good as the whole FCC relaxed cross-media ownership rules and how they are spinning it as a "limit on media concentration." Whatever. Good writeup at RatcliffeBlog.
An interview at Slashdot with Bram Cohen, the inventor/creator of BitTorrent.
This is both super cool and very scary. Safe-View is developing a tool which uses "ultra-high frequency, low powered radar waves" which "allows the operator to clearly see metal, plastic, ceramic and other materials that may be hidden under clothing without using ionizing radiation." Crazy. Who doesn't like to hear the term "ionizing radiation" every once and a while? The only photo on the site gives an interesting demo of what this tool can do. What else can it "look inside" of? It also kind of reminds me of Larry Niven's "deep radar" from his "Known Space" series of books. (source - politech)
Was out on Saturday at Trinity Bellwoods park taking pictures of the bike race, one of the events happening around bike week. It was very wet. Only the "hard core" were out there participating... Or we were all just really stupid, and didn't care that we were soaking wet! Anyway, my pal Bep was there, part of team SUV. They totally kicked ass in the race. Well, they had the best cheering section for sure. Much fun was had by all, tho i think the highlight was getting home and crawling into a nice warm bath.
Both an interesting scientific discovery and great name for it! Scientists have discovered the gene which may help turn ordinary cells into stem cells - cells which can be "turned into" any other cell - very helpful for all kinds of health related procedures. The discoverers have called the gene "Nanog after the land in Celtic myth called Tir nan Og, whose inhabitants remain forever young".
Of Keanu Reeves. Somebody that gives away 50 million pounds to the the costume and special effects teams of the matrix movies can't be all bad. Wow.
