the usual suspects

The TV Epidemic

And no, I'm not talking about the lack of decent programming. Rather, the rate of TV consumption.

- SL

Asteroids Record Stands

From Skiffy's website:

"A Portland, Ore., man tried and failed to top a 22-year-old record playing the 1980s arcade game Asteroids when his machine malfunctioned after 27 hours of play, the GameSpot Web site reported. Bill Carlton was gunning for Scott Safran's 1982 Asteroids world record of 41 million points at the Ground Kontrol Arcade in Portland, the site reported."

But that's not the really disturbing part of the story...

...this is:

"Carlton had notched up some 12.7 million points when the aging arcade machine malfunctioned. Walter Day, editor of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, told the site that Carlton would have needed to play for at least two more days to beat Safran's score."

I'm just waiting for Bill Carlton to sue the arcade and the machine's manufacturer, for depriving him of his potential place in the record books... *sigh*

On a more seriously sadder note, I ran a quick Google on the original record holder, and found this:

"The world record holder for Atari's classic arcade game "Asteroids" was located by game record keeper Walter Day of Twin Galaxies after nearly 20 years of searching. Unfortunately, the "Asteroids" champion, Scott Safran of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, died in 1989 after falling off a roof during an attempt to save his pet cat." [full text]

A Home Server

My suggestions for new desktop computer features are almost always ignored because I'm considered a "lunatic fringe" user. Wellll ... I think this guy just might be a leetle bit further out on the fringe than I. Time to catch up!

Digital Paper

I don't want digital paper, dangit. I want BOOKS. Good old fashioned, dead tree, pulped paper BOOKS.

But I bet Pye will love this. *g*

"Fractal Stupidity"

I first saw this article on ZDnet -- unusual because it doesn't really discuss technology -- and tracked it back to the original source. Fractal Stupidity. It really is all around us.

Evidently, I'm no ro-NA.

I was looking at Quicksilver's blog, and found his link to the "Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?" quiz. Here're my results:

Furnulum pani nolo.
"I don't want a toaster."
Generally, things (like this quiz) tend to tick you
off. You have contemplated doing grievous
bodily harm to door-to-door salesmen.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Is TiVo Doomed?

I remain unattracted by TiVo, although I know a number of you folks really love it. It just doesn't even register as something I'm interested in, which is particularly odd, given my usual fascination with gadgetry. So I was intrigued to come across this piece. It's obviously an Op/Ed take on the subject, but it nonetheless reinforced my gut feeling that this technology isn't quite where it needs to be in order for me to buy into it. I'd be interested to hear what you TiVo'ers think of it.

Those crazy Aussies...

Every time I decide that there are no more insane ppl than those found in my own country, Australia proves me wrong. *g*

Check it out.

In like a lion ... and it's still roaring

An innocent ol' Southern boy such as myself might expect that after a couple weeks of reasonably pleasant weather in March, the true winter might be over. Nothing doing. March came in like a lion, and it's still roaring.

This is the view that greeted me this morning. The only warning I received was a terse message from weather.com -- Snowfall Expected Tomorrow.

Popppppppppies

Canada's planning to intro a new coin (had you heard about this, chipper?) that's at least partially colored.

It's interesting that they're willing to roll out (so to speak) this coinage even though they apparently haven't found a way to make the color permanent; that's the sort of thing that would prevent a coin being issued, by the U.S. Mint.

Does the association of red poppies with veterans extend beyond North America? I know it exists in the U.S. (at least, it does in New Hampshire), but hadn't realized it also existed in Canada. What about in Europe? I guess I should do a Google to find out the origins of the association.

BTW, the first thing I thought on reading this article? The Wicked Witch crooning, "Poppppppppppppppies..." *g*

Hollywords

Gee, isn't it just great that these represent America's contributions to global language?

Why can't Johnny read...ink?

"The kids are so computer literate that it would seem almost foreign to them to use a book."

This quote appeared yesterday on CNN's website, in an article about the demise of the printed encyclopedia.

Information has always changed on a moment-to-moment basis; only in recent decades has technology allowed us to become aware of those changes in something close to realtime.

Do we really need to have instant access to the latest, most minute details? Is that need sufficient enough to outweigh the risk of bad information being posted prior to adequate verification and validation? Is there a negative impact of any significance, in relying on a printed reference work for the first line of a new inquiry?

Everything moves so fast these days. I'd kind of like my data to slow down once in a while.

homogenization of America

Where do we draw the line, between traditions that have outlived their usefulness, and traditions that define who we are, distinct from other people, places, and cultures?

Yesterday was Town Meeting Day in New Hampshire, the traditional day when communities across the state hold their annual gathering of citizens, to discuss and vote upon proposed budgets and municipal activities for the coming year.

In my home town (the town where I grew up, rather than the one I live in now), the last vestiges of this form of government have finally been eliminated.

When you govern by Town Meeting, there is no separation between the concepts of "Town" and "citizens". They are one and the same, and governmental activities are woven into the fabric of normal, everyday community life. To choose instead a representative form of government, is to separate the one from the other. Instead of the Town being a "we", it becomes an "it". What kind of impact does this have on individual investment in the community? When you are no longer part of the core structure of a town, maintaining a high level of social discourse among an informed electorate is made monumentally more difficult.

I wonder what impact it might have on national politics, to eliminate the electoral college in favor of a plain ol' popular vote.

"Take the cheese, 'cos kissin' don't last"

Wisdom according to Pratchett? Not quite, but it's a phrase that I find useful as a decision guidepost.

The title is a quote from a Pratchett book. If you don't know which one, I'm not telling, because you might get hooked searching and I would not want to deprive you of that pleasure.

I interpret it to mean that you should take the real, material benefits available from a grateful entity (corporation, group, country, etc.) instead of depending on that good will having an extended shelf life. Gratitude never does last, of course. It goes bad faster than fish and guests.

Come to think of it, guests might go bad faster than fish because they are tied in with gratitude as well.

Cynical? Yes, but even cynical people have true rules about the way the world works. In some ways, you'd even help the group or whatever by accepting the material gift, because you'd also eliminate the possibility of a guilty conscience later. So take the cheese, because it's the moral choice. :)

Jammin' for Ideas

I've been working on the first DRAFT of a reference website for collectibles-related-to-that-show-some-of-us-watch. The longer I struggle with it, structurally, the more I think it needs to be database-driven. But if I wait to post it until I know enough about MySQL and PHP and CSS to run it that way, it's going to be at least a year before anyone sees it, and I'd kind of like it out there, in Some form, sooner than that.

If anyone has any suggestions re: structuring the initial flat files and directories, I'd love to hear them. The areas where I'm really struggling are (a) efficiently managing entries for items which fall into more than one logical category, (b) cataloging disparate items whose descriptive requirements have little in common with each other, and (c) designing a reasonable system for assigning catalog numbers to items in the collection.

Good Do-Bee Link of the Day

Came across this utility from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children today - thought I'd share the link.

Hey, science types!

I don't quite understand this story from the Beeb. Is this thing now in some sort of ice cavern, or is it inside a solid chunk of ice, or what? It's very confusing - and none of my other news sites are reporting on it yet...

[Updated 5-Mar-2004 here and here]

What do you write in these things?

I never could really do well writing my thoughts. They always seem so formed in the shower but once they near the printed page, it's buh-bye

first off, when I really did want to write, it was usually because I was so steamed I wanted to break stuff and all that came out was random obscenities! I never was good in English, I was always reading but never writing. "Jessica! What is that behind your textbook?"

Is it a record of the day? well if that is it, I'm afraid it will be a boring read for some time.

example: Jess' day

~wake up too Frelling early (frelling drugs) wait two hours before breakfast which must be at a specific time to coincide with drug administration.(prescription drugs! i see what you're thinking)
~lay on couch
~decide which DVD to watch
~pick up the knitting, knit a row, drop stitches, get frustrated and distracted.
~watch more DVD, flick channels on tv.
~take more drugs , repeat every four hours.
~eat
~bed

repeat ad nauseum.

or should it be about the DVD I'm immersed in. well that's more fun.
Just bought the Back to the Future DVD collection. tons of extras! Loving it. perhaps I can test whether laughter is the best medicine. and that Michael J. Fox is such a cutie! and the outtakes are pretty hilarious. hmm I think I'll watch it now.

smilin
jess

Is there life after work? And What’s all this cheese stuff anyhow?

Well, is there? I have often wondered if life will ever return to what I thought was a much simpler state, or if, like water under a bridge, has passed by and continues on to its next destination.

Over the last several years, things (life!) has become increasingly more centered upon the non recreational events of the day. You know, those things such as sitting in a cube, pouring over the hundreds of emails that have probably taken the sender no more than a few minutes to compose but will undoubtedly require at least several hours of your attention to answer.
Or the endless meetings, that people seem think your contribution would greatly enhance. Ah, Yes, and Voicemail! My goodness where would we be without the tens of short little messages, like, “Hey, Where are you? Your message says you’re in, but you didn’t pick up. Call me back ASAP, I’ve got a burning issue with………..”. You know the ones, they kind of eat up your day the same way that your paycheck DOESN’T fill up your bank account.
Eventually it seems that the workday has become longer. Work goes home. Home becomes a place of work. All of a sudden, there is a T1 connection to your house. There are multiple computers on each floor. You find that you actually have more bandwidth at home than you do at work. (For those DBA folks you know what that means!) Later you find there is a wireless hub at home. You can compute from anywhere, and I do mean ANYWHERE!!! You can go from the work place to home without even shutting off the laptop, only loosing connectivity for the 20 or so minutes during the commute. You carpool, someone else can drive and you can answer a few of those pesky emails while riding. Then when in range of home, bingo, connected again. Emails sent! Dammit, more arrive! More often than not you find yourself sitting at the Dinner table, laptop at your side, plate of food in front of you, Dog at your feet, cell phone vibrating across the table. Your spouse sitting across the table. gives you a look that you can easily interpret to mean, “If you don’t do something about this, I’m sure I can”.

At that very instant you realize, the Children have grown up and moved out. You can’t remember the last time you have seen the sun set (daylight even), or had meaningful conversation that didn’t include words like, schedules, headcount, objectives, Milestones, budgets, and on time delivery. The last time you had a conversation with a friend was………… ………friends?
Oh dear………………. life has really gotten away from you.
The same way the 5:15 metro DOESN”T wait for you to show up at 5:45!

You turn off the computer, give the dog the cell phone to play with, Grab a bottle of wine, and take the spouse for a long moonlit walk.

So, I ask again, is there life after work? Are we doomed to continually spiral out of control until one day it all comes crashing down? How do you prevent work becoming a way of life?

And regarding the cheese, well It seems I’ve run out of time (ACK!), More on that later.

~Giz

From the Jungles of...Carolina?

Snippet from News of the Weird:

"And a 28-year-old motorist escaped serious injury when, on River Road in Beaufort County, S.C., her car was hit by a hippopotamus (which had escaped from a nearby plantation)."

I've heard of some strange things being raised on plantations, but hippos?

How far we've come...NOT

So, here I am, perusing the international media on my daily rounds, when I come across this story from Australia. Do Swedish women not know how to check their oil or something?

[Updated 3/4/04: longer story with photos]

"doesn't need washing, will book itself in for a service thanks to wireless technology, and has special ports in the headrests to accommodate ponytails"

This all sounds good, albeit unnecessary. (Well, except for the ponytail thing. If you've never had a ponytail, you probably don't appreciate how uncomfortable they make it to lean back against a headrest. It's an ergonomics thing.)

But this,

"The project team figured women would never want to look at the engine, so the front end is designed to come off in one piece at the workshop."

This from a project team made up of women?!?!

I think they need to cut back on the lutefisk over there, it seems to be pickling their brains...

BritBlog today - BushBlog tomorrow?

The Brits are putting their words where their web is - now all briefings from the PM are being posted to a blog, which in turn is open for public comments.

The Beeb's website had a blurb today about this new venue for political discussion. It's an interesting idea, although I'm not sure what to make of the very low volume of comments posted there.

It would be interesting to see something similar done on the US side of the Pond...