The Barenaked Ladies Variety Show?

It seems that one of my favorite bands, the Barenaked Ladies (song samples), is coming to Fox TV with a variety show.

Don't worry, they're fully clothed, but their name does get your attention, doesn't it? Their songs are often described as pop-folk and include quite a bit of humor. While I haven't been to a concert myself, I'm sure they're the kind of band that is even more enjoyable live. But a variety show? I don't know. But I'll certainly watch to see. Posted by Chris on 9/29/2004 11:46:00 AM :: Permalink   

Azureus Displaces ABC

A while back I wrote about a cool peer-to-peer technology called BitTorrent. At the time, the client I was using was ABC (Another BitTorrent Client), but now I've tried Azureus and I've decided to switch.

For some, just knowing that it's the number two project on SourceForge's list is reason enough. It's a nice polished interface that provides more details than ABC and so far I haven't encountered any problems. Check it out. Download and more info here. You may need to update your Java Runtime Environment (instructions and link included in Azureus info). Posted by Chris on 9/29/2004 10:41:00 AM :: Permalink   

Photo of the Day

Victoria the Kindly Viking.

Labels: family

Posted by Chris on 9/27/2004 02:07:00 PM :: Permalink   

Swimming in Snot

You, too, could have been one of the lucky (or was it unlucky?) volunteers to swim in a pool filled with a goo substance best described as "snot". And it was all in the name of science! This experiment was to determine if one would swim faster or slower in a substance that was twice as thick as water. Make your prediction and then read the results which proved Sir Isaac Newton wrong on this matter. But still give Newton credit for realizing that he didn't know for sure and could not prove it, so he presented both viewpoints in Principia Mathematica. Posted by Chris on 9/27/2004 01:54:00 PM :: Permalink   

Sorry, Officer. I Didn't Realize...

I don't think it's possible to talk your way out of a speeding ticket for doing 205 MPH on a US highway. Witness Samuel Tilley's feat unearthed by The Smoking Gun. Posted by Chris on 9/24/2004 02:25:00 PM :: Permalink   

An Ample Audio Feast For Your Aural Appetite

AudioFeast offers a 15 day free trial of downloadable radio in MP3 format. They've got quite a collection of news talk shows, sports shows and the like. Might be excellent for the work commute or during exercise time. Either that or hear the same 12 songs over and over again on the local radio station. Even NPR gets quite repetitive on a decent commute.

Thanks to Scoble for this link. (I wonder if he will see it?) Posted by Chris on 9/22/2004 01:03:00 PM :: Permalink   

Google Browser?

For the past month or so, I've been using Mozilla Firefox pretty much exclusively. I like it. I love the tabbed browsing feature. I like several of the extensions. I like being able to ditch Microsoft Internet Explorer. Well, almost. There are still some site that I must visit that simply won't work with Firefox, but that number is quite small and continues to dwindle.

However, in recent days I've heard rumblings of news that might really shake up this newly resurrected browser war by bringing a third contender to the field. Could the brain trust at Google be creating a browser? Here's some evidence of a Google browser from kottke.org. I suppose it's little more than a rumor at this point, but we can dream, can't we? A perfect melding of Google search, Gmail, and Blogger? Wow. Could really give Microsoft a run, especially since MS has seriously curtailed further development on IE (IE6 was released in 2001 and they've abandoned IE for Mac development). Posted by Chris on 9/22/2004 12:11:00 PM :: Permalink   

Inaccessible Information

College campuses are littered with bulletin boards and the boards are often crammed with people selling things, looking for things, or advertising things. It's quite common to see the bottom portion of the flyer have a dozen or more tear-off strips containing some contact information. This is genuinely a great idea since many interested people might not have something handy to jot down a phone number or URL. Instead, they can just rip off a preprinted piece of paper and contact you later.

This picture is an example of just such a flyer that I found posted at work this morning. Ignore for a moment that the advertised event is already over. That's not my issue. At first, this might seem like a good idea...until you realize (move your mouse over the image) that the flyer is inside a glass case!

This is broken. Posted by Chris on 9/21/2004 12:11:00 PM :: Permalink   

Never Underestimate the Power of the Blog

I don't even watch the news anymore. There are two basic reasons for this. One is that I have two young children and we are typically eating supper, reading books, or playing together during this time. Yes, of course, I have TiVo. But I'm not inclined to watch the news later because of reason number two. The second reason is because of the Internet. I can get the news I want when I want it. Google News is hard to beat for me for generic news of the day. But I also get other more tailored-to-my-interests news from bloggers.

Just to remind everyone what a blogger is, you're reading a blog right now and I'm a blogger. The power of having so many people (over 6.6 million by BlogCount's estimate) writing about whatever they choose and publishing it to the world is amazing. Gather that many people and you are sure to have legitimate experts on virtually every subject. Sure, you have to filter through the noise, but you choose your sources. And there are sources worth choosing.

The most recent, and most prominent to date, example of blogger power was the debacle at CBS with their story of (forged) documents relating to President Bush's military service. This finally brings me to the point of this post which is for you to read What Blogs Have Wrought. This is an excellent chronology of how the events unfolded in a very short amount of time and how the power of blogs came out on top of the mainstream media. Before the advent of blogs, this error might well have gone unnoticed. Posted by Chris on 9/20/2004 02:02:00 PM :: Permalink   

I Found Some Of Your Life

"...and now I'm sharing it with the world via this blog."

This is really, oddly interesting -- and creative. Someone found a CompactFlash card in a taxi in New York. As there was no identification on the card, it was impossible for the finder to directly contact the owner. The owner decided to create a blog, "I Found Some Of Your Life", and display one of the pictures from the card each day, in hopes that the owner would stumble across it and reclaim it.

To add a little spice to it, the finder adds commentary to each picture, making up names as he goes along. It's an interesting bit of voyeuristic fiction that networks would certainly claim is "based on a true story". He started posting July 26th and there are enough pictures to continue the blog (at a rate of one picture per day) for a full year. You probably want to start with the Archives and read bottom to top to keep things in order. Posted by Chris on 9/20/2004 11:40:00 AM :: Permalink   

Halo Slayer Free For All Times Sixteen

Our Xmadness weekly multiplayer gaming at work continues. Sixteen players in the same room with all the screens lined up on the same wall is the way to go. Even in larger maps like Hang 'em High, the action is fast and furious. Posted by Chris on 9/17/2004 02:56:00 PM :: Permalink   

Photo of the Day (Again)

You know, "Equal time for all candidates"...err...I mean, daughters. So I had to post two photos of the day.


Delaney muses,

"I'm biting my lower lip so you can see just how hard I'm pedaling. Ouch! That hurts."

Labels: family

Posted by Chris on 9/17/2004 10:18:00 AM :: Permalink   

Photo of the Day

Victoria's look says

"Prices on chalk, toy cars, and refrigerator magnets have really skyrocketed. I'm not one bit happy about it."

Labels: family

Posted by Chris on 9/17/2004 10:18:00 AM :: Permalink   

Better Here or Here? Number 1 or Number 2?

Under no circumstances should it be permissible for an opthalmologist to utter the phrase "bitch slap" in the presence of a patient.

Now that I have your attention...

This morning I had the misfortune of visiting Dr. Frederic Munz for a follow-up visit related to an eye problem. It was during that visit that he carefully chose his words, often noticably pausing mid-sentence to contemplate just what to say, and uttered "bitch slap" while trying to describe his preference of aggressive treatment as opposed to conservative treatment of my condition. Apparently, he chose to "bitch slap" my eye with some anti-inflammatory steroid drops. Now it's not that I've never heard the term before, but I've certainly never heard it from a medical professional before. That wasn't the first time he had used profanity, either.

Allow me to expand on my two most recent encounters with Dr. Munz. Or don't allow me. It's my blog, so I'll expand anyway.

He feels the need to use analogies for every other sentence out of his mouth - as if I am either too dense to comprehend the complexities or his need to talk down to patients has not yet been fulfilled. From my paperwork, he read my job title as "Software Engineer" and proceeded to tell me that was better than a "Straight Engineer" (whatever that is???).

When asked about details of laser correction surgery cost, he adamantly claimed that "Straight Engineers" tend to overanalyze decisions by doing things like calculating cost-benefit ratios and break-even points. I'm sure anyone with half an interest in business or personal finance can tell you those concepts are real and are important. He simply compared it to getting married, saying something like "It may not be the smartest thing to do, but you do it because you want to." Huh? He also dodged the question of providing specific recommendations for doctors and centers performing the procedure, instead opting for "When you're ready to spend $3000-$4000, come back and see me!"

After this discussion about laser correction surgery, he went back to scribbling on my chart. He must have glanced at his watch because he commented in a bit of surprise that we had been talking quite a bit more than usual, but "that's ok -- that's part of what you are paying for". Well, yes. I know that. I don't need you pointing it out. I didn't know it was possible to talk too much to your eye doctor about an eye procedure you were contemplating. Apparently I was mistaken.

This all reminds me of a bad experience I had when I was a teenager and just beginning to wear contacts. After determining the correct prescription via repeated "Better here or here? Number 1 or number 2?" questioning, the optometrist (I forget his name) retrieved two vials of contacts. We put them in and I looked at the eye chart. It was worse than without any correction! The doctor could not, would not believe me, exclaiming "You're lying!". I wasn't. Why would I? Why would a doctor call a patient a liar? Later he discovered the bottles were mislabelled and the prescription was the inverse of what I needed.

Suffice it to say, I will not be returning to Dr. Munz. The sad thing is that I will miss the excellent office staff, especially Cynthia who is both affable and efficacious.

I will not miss Dr. Munz. Posted by Chris on 9/16/2004 10:26:00 AM :: Permalink   

Question: Xbox to Xbox Copy? -- Answer: Avalaunch!

Last night, I helped two friends mod their Xboxes. We added the Xecuter 2.6 mod chip with the Xapter solderless adapter and a 160GB hard drive. We started about 6pm and the final software installation finished around 2am. There were a couple of points of uncertainty, but everything was resolved and both are working great now.

One thing I learned this time was how to do Xbox-to-Xbox copies right. Sure you can burn things to DVD-R (or even CD-RW, in some cases) and then copy them back to another box's harddrive. Or you could ftp the files to a PC and then back to another Xbox. Both of those are fine for a few files, but when you're moving over 50GB of data, you want the fastest way possible. Enter Avalaunch.

Avalaunch is a dashboard replacement for the Xbox. Typically I use Evolution X, but I have Avalauch installed as well and it can be launched like any other app. After changing the xml config file to use static IP addressing and setting unique IP addresses, I connected the two boxes via a crossover Ethernet cable. Avalaunch's file manager was able to find the remote Xbox and display its disk contents in a separate pane.

Then I could queue up and copy whole directory trees from one box to another. On the theoretical max of 10Mbps links, the copies averaged about 8.8Mbps! That's excellent! Avalaunch is definitely the way to go for copying apps, games, and any other files from Xbox to Xbox. I'll have to give Avalaunch another look as a default dashboard as well. Posted by Chris on 9/16/2004 10:25:00 AM :: Permalink   

Xbox Next May Play Original Xbox Games After All

There's been a lot of discussion (rumors) that the Xbox Next (or Xbox2) would not be backwards compatible. So you would plunk down $300 or whatever for a new console and have to leave all of your games behind. Now Transitive Corporation steps in with technology that may resolve the problem. They have QuickTransit hardware virtualization technology that would allow Xbox games to run on Xbox Next without any performance or compatibility problems. It eliminates the porting process. This, too, has not been confirmed by Microsoft, but there are indications that they may be working together for an Xbox solution. Posted by Chris on 9/15/2004 10:40:00 AM :: Permalink   

This Is Broken

In your lifetime, you will encounter countless things that are broken. This Is Broken collects them.

For example, if you were to encounter this green stop sign, what would you do? Should you go or should you stay? Should you purchase a can of red paint to prevent others from being caught in your quandry? Who would make a green stop sign? Do we have some local sign ordinance to thank for this? This is broken.

Then there's the emergency phone. Great, I'm driving along without a cell phone and I really need to make a phone call. I see a sign ahead. At last, an emergency phone. This is great. Wait, 174km ahead? Really? Can that be useful in an emergency? This is broken.

And everyone's experienced Windows wonderful prediction capabilities. It aims to tell you exactly how much longer it will take to copy your files. In this case, that works out to about eight and a half years. Better go grab a sandwich. This is broken.

More laughs at thisisbroken.com. Posted by Chris on 9/14/2004 03:42:00 PM :: Permalink   

Hurricane Hunters

With all the hurricane activity this time of year, you might wonder how they get all of that data. Well for some of it, they actually fly an airplane (the P-3 Orion) into the hurricane. Yes, on purpose. The brave men and women are called NOAA's Hurricane Hunters, though today all the hunting is done for them by satellites.

Here's a post that's several years old but gives a fascinating description of flying into the eye of a hurricane. More info at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center.

And the planes (two P-3's and a Gulfstream IV-SP jet) are named after the Muppets - Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Gonzo. You might need to know that on Jeopardy one day.

For all of your hurricane info, visit NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Posted by Chris on 9/14/2004 02:05:00 PM :: Permalink   

Xmadness Begins

Today was the beginning of Xmadness. I have a feeling its lifespan will be much longer than that of the day's contenders.

Xmadness is something a small group of us started to play system-link Xbox games over lunch at work. Today was the first encounter. We setup 3 xboxes with 12 controllers using 3 DLP projectors in a conference room. We would have added a fourth xbox, but we could only muster 12 controllers. The game was Halo. Even with the screen being split into fourths, each player still had a view larger than a 36" TV would provide one player.

We ended up with about 25 players and another half-dozen spectators. You might be surprised how much some of your coworkers would enjoy "killing" you! Twelve people playing the same Halo map in the same room is action-packed, to say the least. It was probably 80% beginners, but most learned quickly and everyone had fun.

The games went faster than expected since getting 15 or 25 kills doesn't take too long when there are 11 targets and you're holding a loaded shotgun. Ultimately, I'd like to play some team games and introduce a little more strategy. But for the next several events it will be hard to beat the simplicity and thrill of "shoot everything in sight". No reason to ask any questions.

We mostly played Hang 'em High with Shotguns, no shields, 50% health, and no radar. This makes for quick kills and lots of action, even for newbies. Most of the earlier matches went to FireCrkr (me) with G-Zero (Dave) getting a victory as well. And big papa (Wayne) made a strong showing as well. But even though we hadn't played this map, the three of us had played together several times and certainly had the upper hand going in.

Once we had enough players, the three of us sat out and several players came on strong. cHaks (Vicente) certainly had skills and Tivolicious (Eric) and kmo (Karl) were contenders, but kaelius (Ken) was victorious. Other sentiments expressed during the game were that newbie (?) should consider a name change, and peaceful (Ishraq) was not.

Now to find four more controllers... Posted by Chris on 9/10/2004 10:28:00 PM :: Permalink   

DVDs In Your Mailbox

Years ago I tried a startup Internet service called Netflix. I was able to rent DVDs over the Internet, they'd arrive in my mailbox and when I was done I'd just put them in return mail, postage prepaid. Since the nearest Blockbuster at the time was 20 minutes away and their DVD selection was relatively small, it was a perfect match. It worked quite well. The selection was large, there were no lines, and the movies I wanted were always available.

Years later, I'm now inclined to try Netflix again. With two young kids (and let's not forget a couple of TiVos) I don't spend much time at all watching DVDs. I might have watched 3 or 4 in the last year. But this deal of an entire month of free DVD rentals might make me try harder to find time for DVDs. And there are tons of kid-friendly rentals. Netflix has a two week free trial available to everyone right now, but this link gives you the whole month FREE. As long as you cancel before the end of the month, there's absolutely no charge. Of course, you may like it enough to continue for their monthly fee.

Time to start catching up on all those movies you missed at the theater.
Posted by Chris on 9/10/2004 08:11:00 PM :: Permalink   

For Sale: Lawnmower, Bagger, Aerator, Spreader

So maybe you have grass, and maybe you're inclined to cut it. Or maybe you're just looking for something cool to ride around the neighborhood. Here's a deal for you.

We've got a smaller lot now and we're selling our Murray 14.5HP 42" cut riding mower with hydrostatic drive (that means you just use a pedal to go faster and slower and reverse, no gear shifting). It's got a huge bagger attachment on back and the blades are only a month old. Runs fine. Also included is a lawn aerator and a fertilizer/seed broadcast spreader. Both can be towed behind the mower.

$375. Arrange for pickup (leave a comment here or use the email links at right). In Wake Forest, NC.

Spread the word, or don't, if you're interested in it for yourself. Posted by Chris on 9/08/2004 01:00:00 PM :: Permalink   

We Didn't Name It 'DVD By Mail'

Read about it before it happens - TiVo and Netflix are set to announce a partnership. This could be key to TiVo. You would be able to order virtually any DVD you wanted (Netflix has a huge collection - significantly more than your local Blockbuster) and have it delivered to your TiVo via broadband. Then you could watch it (in digital glory with Dolby Digital sound, etc) whenever you wanted with all the TiVo Trick Play features. You don't have to leave your couch to get it or to return it.

"We named the company Netflix, we didn't name it DVD by Mail" -- Netflix CEO, stating this has always been the delivery plan.

No word on whether this would work with the DirecTiVo combo units, but I would guess not unless DirecTV is rolling out new software to the Series 2 DirecTiVo units to enable the USB port for Ethernet connectivity. Still, it looks like a good partnership for both companies. Posted by Chris on 9/05/2004 08:57:00 PM :: Permalink   

Alien Contact?

Somehow I missed this last week, but CNN is reporting that SETI@home found a signal which could be originating from an alien species. Not yet confirmed, if you really can confirm something like this, but real enough to excite astronomers around the world.

Anyone ready to watch "Contact" again?

SETI@home is a screensaver that anyone can run on their PC when it is idle. It basically uses your computer's processing power to analyze millions of radio signals picked up around the world. It then sends the data back to a central collecting point. An excellent example of distributed computing. Posted by Chris on 9/05/2004 01:26:00 PM :: Permalink   

Never Without TiVo!

I think this is the coolest TiVo hack you can do (or maybe I should say, that has been done, since not everyone will be willing to go the effort this gentleman did) without even opening the case. Ben Spink, TiVo fan and IR enthusiast, just couldn't be without his TiVo no matter where he went, I guess, so he rigged it up so that he could control it via his web site and stream the video back to him. That meant that he could watch TiVo at high res from his laptop via wireless anywhere around his house, from all over the world with slightly smaller video via the Internet, and it was even watchable in his car via cell phone net connection!

How'd he do it? He gives you all the details in Tivo Project 101. It doesn't sound that difficult, but I would still consider it a 300-level class and certainly not an entry level 101 class. Unfortunately, but understandably, he does not have a live demo up. But the description is excellent and there are some sample pages to view, along with links to everything you need for your own project.

Labels: tivo

Posted by Chris on 9/04/2004 09:45:00 PM :: Permalink   

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Tonight Delaney and I got to watch the Carolina Mudcats defeat the Tennessee Smokies 5-4. I don't think the score was the most important thing to her, though. And we actually left the game when it was tied 4-4 in the middle of the seventh about 10pm. She got to sing "Take Me Out to The Ballgame" at the seventh inning stretch, and if she weren't in bed right now I'd have her blog it. Maybe later.

Our neighbors Don and Abbie were kind enough to share tickets they won with fifteen neighbors. It was a great night with wonderful weather and Delaney and I had fun watching the game and getting to know everyone. Delaney was disappointed the cotton candy was sold out, but she ate practically a whole tub of popcorn herself and added some ice cream "frozen dots" later on.

Labels: family

Posted by Chris on 9/02/2004 11:43:00 PM :: Permalink   

Amazing Pictures of the Hurricane headed towards Florida

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/images/frances090204-1815zb.jpg

http://www.rednova.com/imagery/iod/0001/2004/09/090104_hurricane_12big_frances_modis.jpg

We will be praying for the safety of our friends in Florida. Posted by Melissa on 9/02/2004 08:29:00 PM :: Permalink   
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