J-Walk Blog: November 24, 2004 Archives

24 November, 2004

Leo Kottke

Here's an interesting article about how Leo Kottke approaches performing: Guitar hero Leo Kottke reflects on 20 years of post-turkey Ordway shows. (registration required. Try milepost165 / fullerton)

I lost my body clock years and years ago. I never really know anymore what day it is, what time it is.

I take guitars I know I can afford to lose. They're good guitars, but I know they can be replaced.

Preparing a set list: I never really do that. I do think about what song I want to open with, and that will inevitably set up a train.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

CD Sculptures

George Radebaugh's CD Sculptures.

George Radebaugh creates art by joining together recycled materials: hundreds of discarded CDs, pipes, and other miscellaneous stuff.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Our Leader

From The Blue Lemur: Mysterious 'George W. Bush: Our leader' Clear Channel political public service billboard graces Orlando freeway.

A billboard recently put up in Orlando bearing a smiling photograph of President Bush with the words "Our Leader" is raising eyebrows among progressives who feel the poster is akin to that of propaganda used by tyrannical regimes.

No big deal. Clear Channel is free to ~~waste~~ spend their money any way they like. When the government starts putting up those signs, then it's time to worry.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Foreigners

There's something to offend virtually everyone in this old National Lampoon classic by P.J. O'Rourke: Foreigners Around The World.

Some will find this offensive. If that's you, don't read it. Remember, it's from National Lampoon -- a publication that's not known for its PCness.

I'll pick one at random for an excerpt... OK, it's the Germans.

Racial Characteristics: Piggish-looking, sadomasochistic automatons whose only known forms of relaxation are swilling watery beer from vast tubs and singing the idiotically repetitive verses of their porcine folk tune-both of which amusements probably hark back to a prehuman state. Germans have never been successfully Christianized. Their language lacks any semblance of civilized speech. Their usual diet consists almost wholly of old cabbage and sections of animal intestines filled with blood and gore.

Hey, my ancestors were from Germany!

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Watch A Horror Movie

Ben Edelman recorded a movie of unwanted software being installed.

How much junk can get installed on a user's PC by merely visiting a single site? I set out to see for myself -- by visiting a single web page taking advantage of a security hole (in an ordinary fresh copy of Windows XP), and by recording what programs that site caused to be installed on my PC. In the course of my testing, my test PC was brought to a virtual stand-still -- with at least 16 distinct programs installed. I was not shown licenses or other installation prompts for any of these programs, and I certainly didn't consent to their installation on my PC.

I guess this sort of thing happens hundreds of thousands times per day. And it's probably all perfectly legal.

(via Slashdot)

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Newspapers

From Wired: Newspapers Should Really Worry.

From the perspective of publishers, the 18- to 34-year-old demographic is highly prized by advertisers -- the people who make writing, editing and working at a newspaper or magazine a vocation, not just an avocation (like it is for most bloggers.) But there is trouble afoot. The seeds have been planted for a tremendous upheaval in the material world of publishing.

Young people just aren't interested in reading newspapers and print magazines.

I'm hardly in the 18-34 year old demographic, but I can relate. I used to subscribe to 10-12 magazines, and I read the newspaper daily. Now, I subscribe to no magazines, and I haven't read a newspaper since we moved to Arizona (nearly five months ago).

Everything I need to know is on the Net. At least I think it is.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Typing Http

What happens if you type http in your browser's address bar and press Enter?

With Internet Explorer, I end up at MSN Search (not too surprising)
With Mozilla Firefox, I end up at microsoft.com (very surprising)

Is there a Firefox setting that I should adjust? Or is this behavior coded into the browser?

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Our Government Is Broken

Can anyone deny that the U.S. Government is broken after reading this story? Budget Has Room for Special Projects.

Austerity in big-ticket government programs hasn't dulled lawmakers' appetite for special interest spending items that curry favor back home.

The spending plan awaiting President Bush's signature is packed with them, doling out $4 million for an Alabama fertilizer development center, $1 million each for a Norwegian American Foundation in Seattle and a "Wild American Shrimp Initiative," and more, much more.

Each one is small potatoes in the big scheme of things, but these pet projects add up to billions of tax dollars.

It seems that we're seeing the effects of yet another meaningless campaign promise:

When Bush first took office, he vowed to cut pet projects from the federal budget, but the president has yet to veto a single spending bill. He is expected to sign the new plan as well.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Magnatune

A record company that gets it: Magnatune - the open music record label.

We call it "try before you buy." It's the shareware model applied to music. Listen to 326 complete MP3 albums we've picked (not 30 second snippets).

We let the music sell itself, because we think that's the best way to get you excited by it.

There's some good stuff here.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Microsoft Uses Firefox?

This review of MSN Search at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer shows a screen shot of the search site -- using Mozilla Firefox as the browser.

That's not too unusual, except that the image was supposedly provided by Microsoft.

This photo provided by Microsoft shows Their search tool and the preference rankings that can be defined by the user. (AP Photo/HO/Microsoft)

Well, you can't really blame them for not using IE.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Oswald Jam Session

On this day, it's only fitting to revisit a classic Photoshop job: Bob Jackson's Oswald in a Jam.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Chainsaw Art

Bob King uses a chainsaw to make wood sculptures. Here's his gallery of chainsaw art.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Knowledge Base Humor

I've linked to this in the past, but now it has a new URL: Funny Microsoft Q Articles.

Here's a collection of computer humor directly from Microsoft. Well, ONE of them is a parody. The links were accumulated from colleagues, Usenet and web searches, but mostly from "googlewhacking" the Knowledge Base.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Last Supper Comes Alive

The Brussels American Chapel presents The Last Supper.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Hohokam Petroglyphs

From Wikipedia: Hohokam.

Hohokam is the name of one of the four major prehistoric archaeological traditions of the American Southwest. Archaeologist Harold S. Gladwin applied the name meaning "those who have vanished" to the remains he excavated in the Lower Gila Valley. The Hohokam may be the ancestors of the modern Pima and Tohono O'odham peoples in Southern Arizona, though the link has not been proven archaeologically.

My understanding is that they used to live in our neighborhood -- long before it was a neighborhood. These petroglyphs, located in a canyon near our house, are supposedly 1,000 years old.

(Photo by Pamn)

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Dual Monitors

I've never used a dual-monitor system, but this look intriguing: Doublesight DS-1500.

The new DoubleSight dual LCD monitor is an attractive, cost effective alternative to large CRT monitors that consume a lot of physical desktop space or expensive LCD monitors. DoubleSight harnesses your information and computing power utilizing a unique approach to the multiple monitor feature to enhance the user's viewing and productivity experience. By connecting two 15 inch LCD monitor panels side-by-side using a single base stand, DoubleSight provides large monitor real estate in a small footprint at a very affordable cost.

The effective resolution is 2048 x 768. Street price is $770.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Special Fit

A special type of clothing store, for adults with Down Syndrome: Special Fit.

The owner of Desens' Designs is Dorothy Desens from Hutchinson, Minnesota. She recently retired from 30 years of teaching, mostly in the area of Special Education...

About 10 years ago Dorothy and her husband observed a group of developmentally disabled adults and they both noticed their clothes didn't look nice. On closer inspection, they realized the clothing was new, but simply didn't fit the adults with Down syndrome. This was the beginning of the clothing line Special Fit.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

TurboSpoke

Get spoke-powered super engine sound on your bicycle: Turbo Spoke. Uses only pedal-power.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Lard Of The Wings

This site is very weird, and I have no idea what it's all about. I gave up because it's so slow.

The strangest part is it's domain name.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Self-Esteem Game

View a matrix of 16 faces and click on the one face that's smiling. Do it as fast as you can. It's the Self-Esteem Game. It's part of an experiment.

And it's much more difficult than you think.

My average was 6.187 seconds.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Deleting From An iPod

I've never seen an iPod, much less used one. Therefore, I was surprised to read this at I Love Radio:

Remember, the iPod's whole raison d'etre is to synchronize, not to manage. It prefers that your iTunes or Windows Media Player manage the content -- that's why you can't delete audio like podcasts on your iPod.

Is it really true that you can't delete files from an iPod unless it's hooked up to a computer?

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Ad Hacks

Generic advertising copy for sale: Ad Hacks.

For example, if you sell bourbon, you can buy this for $199.99:

Old Acme Reserve No. 66.
Taste a part of our past in every sip.

Smooth and mellow. Rich with satisfying bourbon taste that only six generations of southern heritage can create. Old Acme Reserve No. 66.

10 years in the barrel. Now it's your turn.

Oh yeah, it's a spoof -- but it could be real.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Dead Stuff

For sale: Weird and Dead Stuff.

A 190 page shopping journey of weird, lovely and dead stuff, from shrunken heads to cameos, from sharks teeth to opal, ivory, dichroic glass and amber jewelry, from alien stuff to rocks, from prehistoric doo-doo to jewelry boxes...prepare for a journey to all continents and eras...

If a 9-inch jumbo alligator foot is on your shopping list, you've come to the right place. Only $85.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Still More New Stuff At Google

Just in time for the gift-giving season. Now Google offers a Froogle Shopping List service. Kind of like Amazon's wish list.

Keep track of the products you want to buy. Create and share your wish list.

Posted on 24 November, 2004

Liquor Laws

Some states are stuck in the dark ages when it comes to laws regulating the sale of liquor. Pennsylvania is one of them, and it looks like they aren't progressing: Senate Votes Down Sunday Beer Sales.

The state Senate voted down a bill that would have allowed football fans and everyone else to buy kegs and cases on Sunday.

The bill, which failed 40-6, would have allowed the state's 1,300 wholesale distributors to sell beer on Sundays, which they are not allowed to do currently.

Beer drinkers can buy up to a six-pack from bars, restaurants and delis that have a license to sell alcoholic beverages

Sorry, Toad.

Posted on 24 November, 2004