The 24th Century Catches Up to the 20th

I just finished watching Star Trek: Nemesis, and I saw in one of the DVD's deleted scenes that the chairs on the Enterprise's bridge are finally receiving an upgrade long-awaited by those poor crew members constantly being thrown around the ship (and in some cases, into space): seat belts.

All I Can Say Is, "Huh?"

Yahoo! News - 'Jap Road' to Be Renamed 'Boondocks Road': "'Everyone in this area, even newcomers that haven't even been to the Boondocks, have heard of the Boondocks,' he said."

However, the Boondocks they've all heard of is a fried-catfish restaurant that closed a decade ago, not the comic strip. In fact, the article here doesn't even mention the oft-controversial comic strip, which deals frequently with ... racial issues.

Also, they say the big reason these residents of a street in Texas voted for naming their road Boondocks over giving it the name of the family in whose "honor" the road was originally named was that many of them couldn't pronounce it. That name was "Mayumi," and presumably the name was written in its original Japanese character set on the ballot since it so threw the residents. Unless, of course, what they really couldn't pronounce was "Japanese."

Why in the world are they all so found of a decade-closed fried-catfish shack, anyway? Yuck.

macCMN0.8

I found this article on Mozillazine. Under a heading of "Small Glitches":

Taming the Beast: The Solution to Mozilla's Hidden Marketing Problem: "In only winFF0.9.2 the FREE SUPPORT link on the sidebar jumps down. (I tried to fix it, but the 'fix' then made winIE6 and winOpera7.52 jumpy.)"

I won't get into what I think positively or negatively of this person's idea of what is best for the end user in the mozilla.org design, but I will just note what I found amusing about this: Though the name is buried in browser-geekese, this "small glitch" specifically affects the browser his new layout is supposedly designed to sell -- and seeing a web site render incorrectly in what may be the first page new users see when launching Firefox is not exactly a selling point for the browser.

The author notes that these and the other glitches are "only small cosmetic problems that most people would not even notice, affecting only a tiny population." Perhaps it's unintentional, but it sure says something about his design's potential to grow the user base ... or not grow it, rather.

Hehe. I don't intend to criticize the intent of the article. I am merely having a little fun.

The 411

sarah. word.: "California is a huge, vast state with a wide range of climates, terrains, flora, fauna, and most certainly lifestyles, all of which go through some sort of metamorphosis along the 101. Yes, I just said 'the 101.' If you're from California, you'll understand."

I have to say, this California propensity is the one I find the strangest. On my first visit, it took me a couple of days to figure out what the heck everyone was talking about all the time. It's a small difference, but it's highly disorienting when you've never heard it before.

Lies Your Teacher Told You

It's sad how many myths we still learn in school. Who besides me spent time in high-school biology grimacing while touching a cotton swab soaked in quinine to their tongue to show how it tasted "more bitter" on the back of the tongue than the front?

"[Linda Bartoshuk of Yale] and other scientists have proved that you can taste salty, sweet, sour, and bitter everywhere on the tongue where there are taste buds. 'Your brain doesn't care where taste is coming from in your mouth,' Bartoshuk says. 'And researchers have known this for thirty years.' "

Sometimes it seems like much of my early education was a waste as I had to spend so many years unlearning all those "facts."

Tabula Googla

The New York Times > Business > Media & Advertising > Microsoft May Sell Slate, a Pioneer in Web Magazines: "According to company executives, Microsoft is considering a sale of Slate because the model of creating a Web magazine of cultural criticism and political analysis to attract visitors to its MSN Network has little business salience in an age dominated by search applications. And the site's small size limits its ability to contribute meaningfully to Microsoft's revenues."

While I may agree with the company's other contention, the Slate might flourish more under another owner with goals more in line with that of a content producer, I am getting a bit fed up with the much-hyped idea that this is "an age dominated by search applications."

If everyone on the Internet decides to become a purveyor of search, what will there be to search for, anyway?

And search is hardly that exciting. Sure, we all run a Google search a few times a day, I'm sure. But who really goes from site to site looking for the best search results? Seach is so utilitarian. The top pages for any term between sites are likely to be remarkable only for their similarity.

If you need basic evidence of the similarity between search sites, see the new MSN search.

At any rate, I hope the hype blows over soon so we can all focus again on what matters most: raising our Google Page Ranks.

Will It Work?

Wired News: Bono Moves to Preempt Thieves: "Irish rockers U2 will release their recently stolen album on Apple's iTunes music store if it shows up online, according to a report in the London Daily Telegraph.

An advance copy of U2's brand new album, which is not due in stores until November, was stolen last week at a photo shoot in the south of France."

Jealous

CNET.com - Kill the iPod: "With all the attention the Apple iPod's been
getting lately, it looks like the inventor of the
Walkman is getting jealous. Twenty-five years
after Sony debuted its first music player, see how the portable audio pioneer is trying to win back your love."

I think I should start counting how many times Cnet's home page runs the headline "Kill the iPod" or "iPod Killers." They seem to be obsessed with ridding the world of Apple's music player. Probably, being the PC-centric site they are, they can't understand the idea of consumer electronics as fashion accessories. It doesn't quite enter their editorial consciousness that looks could outshine typical PC characteristics such as "cheap" and "inexpensive." And "doesn't cost as much."

With something like the iPod, where the market is not business but rather individuals, the strategy of a typical PC maker doesn't work. Believe it or not, people actually like having to pay more for certain items. It conveys the idea of the item being premium and thus more worth having. It's a marketing thing more than anything. Apple could obviously make plenty of money off each iPod sold even if it priced it more in the range of the similarly sized player from Dell, but it probably wouldn't be nearly so popular if cost so much less.

It's like Weber grills -- stores are actually forbidden to offer sale prices on Weber gas grills because it would reduce the value of the brand in the eyes of the consumer. I believe iPods cannot be discounted as well (except for when Apple offers them as a bonus for buying a Mac).

But anyway, I find it somewhat amusing now how many times Cnet has declared the iPod dead. Somehow, I don't think the new Walkman, which doesn't really look all that different from all the other iPod wannabes, will make any significant impact on the market. Sure, the Walkman brand was cool once -- but that was a couple decades and a couple media formats ago.

Oh Yeah, and You'll Get a Little Brother, Too

Yahoo! News - Britain Loosens Rules on Embryo Screening: "After a months-long review and a meeting Wednesday, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said it would let couples with a sick child test embryos conceived during fertility treatment and pick one to implant in the uterus that matched the older child's tissue type. ...

Joe and Julie Fletcher, of County Down in Northern Ireland, toasted the decision with champagne."

Putting aside for a minute the whole "eugenics slippery slope," can we think here about what this is going to do to the state of mind of the child born only to provide tissues to save the older sibling's life? While some might become convinced that they're deserving of great importance as a lifesaver, "lifesaver" is a very one-dimesional raison d'etre. Won't these kids feel rather used? I mean, people are sensitive enough when they hear their birth was "an accident" -- how would you like living with the knowledge that you were born not because your parents wanted you but because your parents wanted your older sibling twice over?

What a mess of family issues. I foresee therapy.

Choice Words from Jane Austen

These are taken from Mansfield Park, a book I've generally been disappointed with, simply because I dislike the heroine and hero, though I've started to wonder if there is in fact yet another level at work in this book I've been missing.

At any rate, this particular quote made my eyebrows shoot for the heavens:

"In a review of the two houses, as they appeared to her before the end of a week, Fanny was tempted to apply to them Dr. Johnson's celebrated judgment as to matrimony and celibacy, and say, that though Mansfield Park might have some pains, Portsmouth could have no pleasures."

In the Details

So is Gmail no longer a beta? Because I can no longer report bugs or make "suggestions." There's still a "beta" in the logo, but the whole "helping out" portion of the beta seems to be kaput.

Understanding

R.E.M. (band) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Although 'Out of Time' is sometimes thought of as a sugary pop record, and contains some of the band's biggest radio hits, it also includes such emotional, contemplative tracks as 'Belong,' 'Half A World Away' and 'Country Feedback' (which Michael Stipe acknowledges as his favorite R.E.M. song ever)"

I'm listening to the song right now, and I can most distinctly hear the genesis of Reveal and Up. Somebody page Bill Berry.

"Classics"

Apple has released the 9/11 Commission hearings as audiobooks at the iTunes Music Store. And they're free to download, too. We're talking the testimony of the heavy-hitters here -- Condi, Colin, Rummy, and more.

Just fire up iTunes, click on the Music Store link, click on Audiobooks, and there's a graphical link to the commission hearings right on the front page there.

Screen Haze

It's crazy how much sharper and punchier my screen looks now that I've switched it from thousands of colors to millions of colors. I don't know how it ended up set for thousands in the first place, but suddenly whites are whiter, my crazy Camino/Firefox graphics problem is gone, and pictures that I thought looked worse than I remembered them being when I created them look right again.

That still doesn't make the new Blogger work in Camino. One thing at a time, I guess.

The New Blogger, Part Deux

This isn't going to be a terribly interesting entry as it is merely a proof of concept. If you're reading it, I've successfully posted from Firefox to my web site using the new rich-text Blogger entry interface. If you're not reading this, then by golly, you're psychic! Alert the media!

Glory Be

Sony Pictures Television - JEOPARDY!: "Ken Jennings became the undefeated JEOPARDY! champion for the 33RD time, bringing in another $50,000 during the Friday, July 16TH edition. Ken's jackpot stands at $1,100,460."

He's a software engineer from Salt Lake City, and he's playing like the Little Engine that Could. Back in the $600,000s or so, he was already the hero of all the geeks on Slashdot. He's also vowed to give 10 percent of his winnings to the Mormon Church.

What is "blessed by God," Alex?

The Fallout Continues

Yahoo! News - 'NY Times' Admits 'Mistakes' in Iraq War Editorials: "The New York Times said on its editorial page this morning that it was time to be 'candid' about its 'mistakes' during the run-up to the war.

Saying it had been a part of 'groupthink,' the paper in a highly unusual editorial titled 'A Pause for Hindsight' admitted it had not questioned the existence of WMD in Iraq before the war strongly enough, partly because it 'did not listen carefully' to those who raised those doubts. And, the editorial added, it 'should have been more aggressive in helping our readers understand that there was always a possibility that no large stockpiles existed.'"

Updates, updates

Is it just me, or does anyone else find themselves unable to type in the text area of the snazzy new Blogger rich-text interface? (I'm typing this entry in via the BlogThis! bookmarklet.)

I got a summer job today, finally. I'll be working at Steve & Barry's starting Thursday. For those unfamiliar with it, they sell extremely cheap clothes, most with a university theme. They just opened a new store in the Chicago area, actually, so they might even have some Northwestern gear there. They don't in the Erie store, although they did have some at the Buffalo store. Go figure.

I'll be making above minimum, which is nice, and they want me to work for the holiday season, too. So I guess I'll have a good bit of money, considering.

I'm still sick. My cold has travelled from my throat to my nose and chest, however. It's not worse, since I really detest sore throats, but it is requiring a lot more tissues.

I've been making good use of our new Netflix account this summer. So far, I've rented PBS's Seabiscuit mini-documentary, Something's Gotta Give, It Happened One Night and Bend It Like Beckham, which we watched tonight. All were pretty good.

I have two coupons for buy one, get one free soft pretzels!

Drumsticks

You know an article has reached a crest of snobbery when it invokes the French:

The New York Times > Dining & Wine > The Minimalist: Crossing Over to the Dark Side: "'I've always loved the dark meat,' said Michel Richard, the chef at Citronelle in Washington, 'but at the restaurant it's tough to sell, so we wind up featuring white meat, usually with truffles or porcini to make it taste like something. In France, of course, most people think dark meat is better.'"

I'm sorry, but I find chicken thighs to be slimy rather than delicious.

More Crime on Campus

ATTEMPTED ARMED ROBBERY, Breaking News, Northwestern University: "A Northwestern University female student was the victim of an attempted armed robbery just west of campus Monday (July 12).

The victim was stopped by a man at about 10 p.m. in the 900 block of Simpson Street near her home. The offender displayed a handgun and tried to take the woman’s purse. The victim was able to escape and run to her apartment. The victim was not hurt in the attack and declined medical treatment.

The offender fled in an alley in the 2100 block of Maple Avenue. The offender was described as a male black, about 30 years of age, approximately 5 feet 5 inches in height, and wearing a green cap. Evanston Police and University Police searched the area, but were unable to find the suspect."

I'm glad I'm not living off campus next year. Sheesh.

Millennium Park Is Done

Actually, reading this article caused me to draw comparisons between Mayor Daley and Ramses the Great. Maybe Mayor Daley is corrupt -- what Chicago politician isn't, honestly? And maybe Ramses was the pharaoh who refused to "let my people go."

But like Ramses and Abu Simbel, I think more people will remember the mayor for Navy Pier, Millennium Park and other civic projects (or bulldozing Meigs Field in the middle of the night -- that's my perpetual favorite) than for whatever problems he might have caused.

You have to remember, people like these are the kings of spin -- Ramses most famous "victory," after all, was a battle he'd lost.

The New York Times > National > Letter From Chicago: A Prized Project, a Mayor and Persistent Criticism

Scratchy Throat

I thought I was cured early on this evening, but it appears my cold will last for more than two days. Too bad, especially since I've been sleeping for about 24 out of the last 48 hours to try to get over it. It's an irritating cold, since it's only postnasal drip and some fatigue. I feel like I shouldn't really be sick since I'm hardly suffering.

I am suffering a bit from this heat. Well, this humidity. You'd think the humidity would help my throat.

I watched "Something's Gotta Give" tonight. I wish I had the discipline to be "90 percent hard work, 10 percent talent." Having my writing be proportionately the opposite makes for very little progress. I wish I could write well and consistently.

Full of It

Bush's new reason for going to war in Iraq? That Saddam had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction and could have given that knowledge to terrorists.

A little vague? Under this definition, we should also have bombed the heck out of North Korea and Libya, right? Oh, and lest we forget, Pakistan, India, Israel, Russia, the states formerly of the USSR, China, France, Britain, the United States . . . oh, wait.

He apparently said eight times in a speech today too that "America is safer" because of the Iraq war. You know what? I remember a bit of legal wisdom from back when I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" -- the more you repeat yourself, the less convincing you sound. It basically comes off like you're trying to convince yourself of what you're saying. Even Sport knew Tom was better off just saying "No," rather than "No, sir, I did not, never."

Reagan Rip-off

Seen the ads for the Reagan commemorative silver dollar? It costs $29.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. But lest we forget -- a dollar, even with a mass-produced image of the 40th president sprayed on it, is worth nothing more than a dollar as currency. So the main material making up this "collectible" costs the company $1. With the economics of mass production, it's doubtful that the painting on the coins and the shipping materials add much to the cost. I would guess the company could still make a profit from these babies if sold for only the cost of shipping. Of course, why do that when you can get every "patriotic American," as the commercial says, to buy up to five for $30 a pop? I'm sure Reagan himself would have been proud.

Bangkok's Feeling Lucky

Yahoo! News - World Photos - Reuters:



"A Thai waiter wears a condom over his head while serving a cocktail as a patron looks on at the Cabbages and Condoms restaurant in Bangkok on July 8, 2004. ..."

Just As Good As Flossing ... Or Not

Seen the new Listerine commercial? Seems they've finally got themselves a study showing rinsing twice a day with their mouthwash is just as effective as flossing. But if you read the fine print at the bottom of the screen, you'll notice some interesting advice:

"Floss daily."

And all things considered, flossing once a day is infinitely less painful than subjecting one's mouth to Listerine at all.

All the Money in the World

... and the guy can't buy himself a decent haircut? Or maybe some laser eye surgery?

Bill Gates and Philippe Starck

Support Firefox

If you have a moment this weekend and have ever used Firefox, head over to Download.com to post a review of the alternabrowser. The Mozilla Organization is pushing right now to get 1,000 reviews in order to ascend the ranks at the popular software site by becoming one of the most-reviewed products there.

So far, they're about halfway to their goal. It's a community project, like the browser itself, and nobody is reaping profits from all the evangelism -- well, except in terms of sanity. In fact, supporting Firefox is taking a blow against the corporate behemoths, so you can even go ahead and pat yourself on the back for being an upstanding person.

adot's notblog*: take action

Some (Questionably) Tasty Sponsored Links

Google Search: bacon:

Bacon at eBay
Low Priced Bacon
Huge Selection! (aff)
ebay.com

For Switchers

Here's an interesting article on extensions for Mozilla Firefox, which give the pared-down browser extra functionality. Some include a button to open a problem page in Internet Explorer and a button to automatically fill in a working name and password for any site that requires registration to read its articles (so you don't have to register yourself).

Also, note on the second page the description of the Googlebar -- if the integrated Google search bar in Firefox doesn't match the IE Google tool bar enough for you (I certainly don't miss the other features myself, but whatever), this extension actually installs a replica of the Google tool bar in Firefox.

Wired News: Building a Better Mozilla

Commercial Close to Home

Seen the commercial for M&M Cookie Bars? With a little boy tearing up a package of them, throwing the bars in his backpack and the wrappers on his obedient dog, and then yelling to mom that the dog had eaten the (insert brand name here)?

The boy's dog is a black Lab called Oscar. Our dog is a half-black Lab named Oscar. And blaming Oscar for eating the cookies would be all too believable. The only part that's unbelievable is the obedience.

Strange But True

Princess Grace of Monaco died on Sept. 14, 1982 -- the day I was born.

Grace Kelly

Phishing

I just got an e-mail purporting to be from U.S. Bank, Northwestern's new banking partner. The subject line is "Critical Changes to your Account Access." It appears to have been sent to a whole bunch of Northwestern e-mail addresses, probably in hopes of taking advantage of students who don't know better and who think this must have to do with the campus' switch from LaSalle to U.S. Bank.

However, this clearly bears the marks of a scam to get your account information. No bank would ask you via e-mail for identifying information, and no Northwestern student accounts are being automatically shifted to U.S. Bank -- if you use LaSalle, you'll be stuck with them until you actually go to the bank and close the account yourself. And even then, you'll have to go to U.S. Bank to open an account with them before you are considered a "U.S. Bank accountholder."

To avoid identity theft, delete this e-mail if you get it. Do not follow the link within. And pass this info on to anyone who asks.

More Glad I Don't Use Windows Anymore Every Day

Microsoft's patchwork mess | Perspectives | CNET News.com: "So, in exasperation, I entered 'Download.Ject' into the keywords search field. Presumably, when I hit go, this will take me to the download I'm looking for. But still nothing.

Microsoft had no comment at the time this story was published about why the statement refers to a download that can't be found. But it did offer a link that leads directly to the download. Unfortunately, following this link reveals yet another problem.

Instead of mentioning Download.Ject or 'keystroke logging' (some keywords that users will want to see in order to know that they've reached the right place), the heading on the page appeals to software developers instead. It says 'Critical Update for Microsoft Data Access Components - Disable ADODB.Stream object from Internet Explorer (KB870669).' The more recognizable keywords aren't mentioned in the description of the update either."

I don't use the OS anymore, but most of my relatives do, and they expect me to fix their broken Windows a lot. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that sort of crap -- viruses, keystroke loggers, adware, etc. -- on a daily basis. And the attacks seem to have become progressively worse and more difficult to head off lately, which makes me feel rather nervous about using any Windows computer to access the Internet.

And I know most Windows users don't realize the dangers or understand why they have so many pop-ups all the time. Especially at my internship, I've seen how clueless most people are about computers still. If I were in charge of information technology at a company, there's no way I'd let the employees loose in Internet Explorer. It'd just be asking for headaches.

I mean, how much productivity could you reclaim by forcing employees to give up IE? A lot of computer down time at work was from the masses of spyware and Trojan horses that had to be removed.

Widgets or Gadgets?

Apple might have saved itself a lot of grief had the marketing folks stuck with the name used for Dashboard applets in the program itself. I do hope they stick with "gadgets" in the long run myself, not only because I'm fond of that word but because I'm used to referring to buttons and drop-down menus as "widgets."

Apple OS X Tiger preview - Dashboard

There was a good article linked to on Slashdot today, too, that explained that why the front-end user interaction for Dashboard appears mostly the same as Konfabulator, the back-end engineering is different. Basically, the point was that since Dashboard's applets are powered by WebCore, Apple didn't have any reason to buy out Konfabulator, which is essentially a platform for running applets. They already had a platform, a different, OS-specific platform (whereas Konfabulator can be cross-platform), so buying the Konfabulator code would have brought them nothing they could use. The widget interfaces were not part of Konfabulator, and the idea of applets was not unique to that platform.

What really hurts for the developer is not any injustice by Apple but the fact that the new feature will render his separate program superfluous. It's hard to feel pain at something abstract, after all.

Look Both Ways

Konfabulator, Dashboard controversy flows out of WWDC: "Rose and business partner Perry Clarke have been working on a longer term plan for Konfabulator that includes an upcoming release for the Windows platform. While Rose, a longtime Mac developer, said he wasn't ready to leave development of Macintosh products, he wonders where the incentive is for developers on the Mac platform."

Said as if Microsoft wouldn't do the exact same thing to him if he developed something cool for Windows. Whatever.

The article on the whole is rather poor journalism. As I've learned myself through reading about this controversy in several sources since it first broke, there's more to the story than meets the eye. As a journalist, this reporter should have investigated more into Apple's claims that widgets were long part of OS X and NextStep, explaining what that meant rather than just letting the statement stand.

And it certainly wouldn't have hurt to have gotten quotes from more than the developer and another journalist's story.

The Official Warning

To see the Homeland Security Department's warning against using Internet Explorer, follow this link:

US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#713878.

A Good Reason

From today's "The Boondocks," on the benefits for Democrats of kidnapping Ralph Nader:

"I think you're kidnapping the wrong people."

"Yeah, but Republicans carry guns ..."

Pun Alert

Yahoo! News - Spacecraft Sends Back Images of Saturn: "'I can tell you it feels awfully good to be in orbit around the lord of the rings,' JPL Director and Cassini radar team member Charles Elachi said."