Monthly Archives: December 2004

Air and Land Safety

Posted on December 26, 2004 | 1 comment

So it’s been a while since I watched Joan (and this week’s was a rerun) but at some point in the show (burnout) God says, “It’s like everyone has something better to do. Until they’re on a plane, and then they’re all over me”. I’m not going to worry about the context I’m just wondering why people feel that way. What makes people so fearful to fly? Everyone knows it’s way safer to fly than drive (I have no statistics on this, I’m just assuming you know it’s a fact) so why freak out about a plane crash. Most people haven’t had a ‘close call’ on a plane, while many may have had one in a car. Many people are on their way to have some fun somewhere, so they shouldn’t be worrying about anything (except maybe that they left the iron on at home). Once you get up there, it’s beautiful to look down day or night (IMHO). They don’t worry when they get in the car and they’re the ones in control (now that’s something to be scared of). Most people can’t even signal properly, it’s amazing they don’t have more dents in the car already. Although one thing is with the car is that you can have minor injuries, it’s not often you hear of a minor plane accident. Okay, I’m going to end this now since it’s starting to sound a little morbid… I just wanted to know

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This gives new meaning to cat lady.

Posted on December 26, 2004 | 2 comments

Cat cloneSo everyone keeps talking about the lady who cloned her cat at the Genetic Savings and Clone (no I’m not kidding) for $50,000. The strange thing is most articles I’ve read all focus on what she could have better spent her money on. I’m know $50k is a lot, but it’s not fifty million dollars, you could say the same about anyone who spends too much on a house or car or boat. They talk about it being a bit “morally reprehensible” but I’m not going to go there with this post, I’m just waiting for her to clone her ex-boyfriend…

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No more WWW

Posted on December 25, 2004 | 3 comments

WARNING: No holiday content in this post!!!

It’s about time to ditch the WWW from web addresses. There is no technical reason to have them there. You want a secret? There never has been a (required) reason* to have them. Since the dark ages of the Internet people have typed that 4 extra characters every time they want a page while most web pages do not require it. It’s actually the http:// that tells the computer it’s a web page (not the WWW) and most web browsers do not require the http:// part either (and haven’t for a long time) since it’s a web browser it’s first assumption is that it is a web page so it views it correctly (most e-mail browsers and word processors like it so they know for sure where to send you).

Nowwwclass-BWhy am I babbling about this today of all days? 1) it’s a pet peeve. 2) I just heard them talking about it on a radio show (which is coincidentally a podcast). 3) I want to expose you all to more podcasts whenever I can so I can get you hooked. Over at Future Tense they discuss it. You could go there and read it or you could just listen to the MP3 file (or the Real Audio file). I don’t know how long they keep the audio files up so listen while you can, it’s under four minutes long. (SORRY, AUDIO DOESN”T WORK ANYMORE.)

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Posted in me + myself + i, reviews

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Christmas Loot

Posted on December 25, 2004 | Leave a comment

Merry Christmas! We’ll ignore the whole spirit and joy thing for now and just talk about the important stuff: What did I get!!!

I got the Cartographica Extraordinaire: The Historical Map Transformed which is a huge book about maps and the evolution of them. I like maps* and I saw these guys on the The Screen Savers talking about maps and the book and they way they superimpose images and scan and do stuff to make old maps better…

I got shirts and ties and gift certificates and something from my amazon wishlist that didn’t arrive yet (but I don’t know what it is) and candy and wine and a 512MB(!) thumb drive and that’s all I can think of for now.

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Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2004 | Leave a comment

Mexican style food and appetizers for dinner were fun! The kids sure seemed to love it. To clarify these are kids that I bought gifts for last weekend’s holiday get together, so we’re just there to hang out and eat and watch the kids play (this is fine with me they’re hysterical to watch). So now the adults have wrapped up gift cards from the kids for me as a thanks (this isn’t normal). Which is great, I love gift cards, Target and Best Buy (like I’m not in those stores 3 times a week), I’m even conscientious about how I spend them; I won’t use them to fill my prescriptions, I’ll use them when I get music, movie or some accessory for my computer or iPod (then I can tell them what I got).

Okay so I digressed, again, but I buy the presents for the kids ’cause I want to. I find stuff I like and I’ll know they like and it makes me happy. I figure out what I wanted for one the girls and spent too much time/money on it, but it’s what I wanted, so it’s what I got. What I want (at most) is for the kids to make me something as a gift or thank you. Or to make sure you invite me to the birthdays, I don’t eat much and I bring good presents, what’s the problem…
Two of the points made me laugh since they apply to me:

  • It’s just that a geek’s approach to life tends to be if-x-then-y.
  • They don’t get hints.

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    Posted in friends + family, holidays + events, me + myself + i

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    Christmas Eve (day)

    Posted on December 24, 2004 | 1 comment

    So it’s Chirstmas Eve (day) and I’m trying to finish stuff up. All I’ve got to get together is Mom’s loot and some clothes for tomorrow (and I’ve got to wrap Mom’s stuff still). I think everyone else that I’m seeing in the next 36 hours I’ve already exchanged gifts with (at least I hope so).

    Tonight, Mom & I will go over my Aunt’s (or is it my cousin’s? they’re only three houses apart) and watch the kids go crazy, I think they’ll only be four of them (unless it’s at my cousin’s, where there might be kids-in-law). We’ll head to my Mom’s (eight or nine blocks away) and do presents and stuff in the morning. Then dinner with her boyfriend and then I’ll head home and let them do gifts, etc. Now that I’m thinking of it, he might be there tonight if he’s not working.

    Every drive safe and have a great holiday!!!

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    Posted in friends + family, holidays + events, me + myself + i

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    Happy Holidays from Michigan!

    Posted on December 23, 2004 | 1 comment

    Did you get the snow that we got here (Michigan)??? We’re buried in a little bit here. They’re plowing behind my place or I’d be shopping, I was hoping they’d plow enough behind the condos so I wouldn’t pack it all down with the car. Plus it’s garbage day so it’s an extra disaster day out there. It all looks beautiful though, I can’t wait to go check out some lights at night.

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    Adam Curry – The Daily Source Code

    Posted on December 22, 2004 | 1 comment

    AdamcurryMany of you know Adam Curry from Mtv, but these days he’s known as “the prince of pod” or “the podfather” or a few other (complimentary) things. He did a lot of pushing in a lot of ways to make podcasting what it is today. His almost daily show is The Daily Source Code, to appreciate it you really need to listen (at last count I think he said he’s got 50,000 listeners). He does it like a live show, if he screws up it’s there, it’s about 40 minutes an episode so put it on your mp3 player or burn a few episodes to CD and listen to it at your convenience. He’s hysterical. His show is about tech, podcasts, music and his life, check it out.

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