tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61723602011-09-09T07:55:38.717-07:00AvraShowWords about people and things and ideas that you might find useful, interesting and enjoyable.Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.comBlogger1231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-53669632921731771432011-09-09T07:55:00.001-07:002011-09-09T07:55:38.724-07:00Music InstructionDo you play guitar? Piano? Banjo? Dulcimer? Over the years I've bought a bunch of Homespun Videos musical instruction videos. They're about $25 each, if you watch for periodic sales or Buy 3, Get 1 Free specials. I recently got a DVD of John Sebastian and someone showing how to play Mississippi John Hurt songs. Even if you don't have that thumping alternating-bass thumb motion, you can Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-87111028308767164552010-12-06T16:03:00.001-08:002010-12-06T16:08:50.212-08:00DeepZoom Tips and TechniquesDeep Zoom Composer allows you to create graphic images that people can zoom in on interactively. Typically, people use DeepZoom to make collages (collections of images arranged irregularly) or tabular, grid-like arrangements of equal-sized images so viewers can choose an image to zoom in and see more detail. The Hard Rock Café memorabilia site created by Vertigo is anAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-73398153750259151382010-05-15T16:14:00.001-07:002010-05-15T16:17:31.532-07:00The most boring 48 hours on TV!I can't say I'm excited about it, but every weekend I check cable TV listings for the C-SPAN channel. During the week, they air Senate and House of Representatives votes and debates. But on the weekends the programming changes to Book TV.They have mostly half hour or one hour recorded presentations of authors talking about their books, reading from them, and taking Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-32063490168178445712010-04-06T17:57:00.000-07:002010-04-06T18:08:21.475-07:00A Small TreatThere's probably nothing healthier to eat than something you pick from your garden. Whatever vital forces are in food sometimes diminish the longer the time since picked. Of course this doesn't apply to peaches or avocados or things that ripen after being picked, but for lettuce and carrots and peppers and squash and corn the sooner they are eaten from the time they were living on Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-88276854980468515412010-03-27T04:40:00.001-07:002010-03-27T04:40:30.070-07:00nora cat pianoAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-14311485105069402512010-02-10T01:31:00.001-08:002010-02-10T01:36:32.621-08:00What?! Again!?? I looked for replacement brush heads for my Sonicare electric toothbrush recently only to find the model no longer sold and placement brushes unavailable. One online retailer had a stash for $36 a pair, with a warning the price may go up $10 when those run out.My first electric toothbrush was from Interplak. When they came out with a new model and replacement brushes were hard to Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-20037751898622351612010-01-03T13:03:00.001-08:002010-01-03T22:08:58.850-08:002010 Do we say "two thousand ten" or "two thousand and ten" or "twenty ten"? I'm convinced the answer will be 'twenty ten'. It takes an extra syllable to say "two thousand ten". Does an extra syllable matter? You bet.English has a pattern of simplifying speech. We can determine much about how English was pronounced 500 or 1000 years ago by looking at misspelled words or contractions. From Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-67324678142888166482009-12-06T05:10:00.001-08:002009-12-06T05:46:12.863-08:00Don't rub your eyes Sometimes a residue of tears or mucus forms overnight in my eyes. I used to gently wipe my fingers across my closed eyes until the bits of dried matter fell away. But I won't do that again.One day I was terrified to see in the mirror the white on one side of my eye filled with red. I hoped my eyesight was all right and knew that as a contractor, I let my health insurance Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-36345316952147733632009-11-07T17:56:00.000-08:002009-11-07T18:11:10.926-08:00Is the brain similar to computer hardware? The mind as software or operating system? The brain is a physical organ with interconnected cells that somehow store memory (memories). We think of "the mind" or "consciousness" as our knowledge, skills, beliefs, identity. Things we do beyond the mere automatic functioning of the nervous system. Things we remember are stored more or less Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-38864148737358561072009-10-15T15:07:00.001-07:002009-10-16T02:56:32.734-07:00The Death Penalty A pardon has been granted to relatives of Tom Joyner, the radio host, who were electrocuted in 1913. What difference does it make now? A lot.There's a famous quote that those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Unless we look at what happened and why, we will have learned nothing.Right now, the governor of Texas has stopped an official inquiry Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-56514161549123751842009-09-27T03:54:00.001-07:002010-12-07T06:12:50.687-08:00Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at Video Music Awards ceremony. I hadn't seen either video, but saw a YouTube video of a baby dancing to the "Single Ladies" video. There are several clips of kids 3 years or younger dancing to the song, but the clip with the baby is pretty incredible. Babies are not affected by an artist's fame or popular acclaim. They like what they like.Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-69657045961362218162009-08-16T16:14:00.000-07:002009-08-16T16:36:31.132-07:00I was about 6 years old when I saw a display of kids' licence plates for bikes or tricycles. I didn't ride a bike until years later, so it must've caught my eye for my tricycle. They had a floor-standing 4-sided rotating display of names--two displays--one of boy's names and one of girl's. I looked for "Austin" but couldn't find it. There were even variations of common names like David, Dave, Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-68888753479473006472009-08-02T11:57:00.000-07:002009-08-02T12:12:20.413-07:00Speciesist? Is there something special about us humans? Are we as a species unique and somehow different than the animals? The first time I heard that chimpanzees and gorillas are less similar (less common DNA) than humans and chimpanzees I felt shocked and affronted. (Don't know if it's true. Heard it on a TV documentary.)There are lots of interesting people giving short talks on what drives Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-9229817145780697922009-07-08T00:33:00.001-07:002009-07-08T00:54:40.021-07:00Insight into Iran, via Netflix I've never been to Iran but I have some idea of what it's like thanks to Netflix. There is a large subset [not large enough, imo] of Netflix movies available to watch instantly. You can add any of those to your Instant queue. You have to opt in for the Silverlight experience.I mentioned previously how I hooked up my new laptop to my HDTV via HDMI cable. I tried Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-52311532517985737342009-07-03T11:54:00.000-07:002009-08-02T12:29:06.432-07:00Highly recommended documentariesNext Thursday or so, today being July 3, there are two nature documentaries on Animal Planet cable channel worth watching.I have no pets. I had a dog at five years old they tell me, and I saw a picture once of me and that German Shepherd, but I don't remember it. Our family had a cat once and I like cats.Have you heard of Christian the lion? Seen the youtube Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-62571779193618934512009-05-14T12:21:00.000-07:002009-05-14T12:31:27.876-07:00Amazon Review I've been a customer at Amazon.com for 10 years. Besides books, I've bought electronic accessories, DVDs, and software. I've recently been ordering fresh food from Amazon Fresh now available in my area. Since it is not available everywhere yet, I thought I would write out my views.I was an early enthusiast of Homegrocer.com. Their well known failure as a company included Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-75273427830626502412009-03-26T23:44:00.001-07:002009-03-27T00:07:07.332-07:00Watching videos from Mix09, one presenter called offstage to someone named Austin. It wasn't me.But I did hear one of the keynote presenters use a phrase I wrote in my "graphic design principles for developers" ASP.NET blog when he spoke about using these new graphics effects for good, not evil.Although he might have gotten it from reading my blog, it's likely he got the phrase from the title ofAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-71713540290907028962009-03-10T15:42:00.001-07:002009-03-10T16:41:16.318-07:00I owe an apology to Sarah Palin. People get so used to the habits and conventions of their community that it makes anything different seem strange.A lot of people, myself included, thought that a mother of small children with a shotgun shooting and skinning a moose was weird and discomforting. And for Washington, California or New York, it would be out of place.I used to think that chopsticks Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-35086179842937701842009-02-10T10:56:00.001-08:002009-02-10T11:08:21.743-08:00Lincoln Abraham Lincoln is being written about and documentaries shown on PBS as the 200th anniversary of his birth is remembered.Carl Sandburg wrote a six volume biography of Lincoln. I read an abridged version of one in the three paperback set for a book report when I was in high school.In the downtown Portland library I checked out the unabridged tape cassette versions and would listen to Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-73289644243239457442008-12-31T19:56:00.000-08:002008-12-31T20:11:29.697-08:002009 9 years ago I was filling my bathtub. Really. I'd taken elective Computer Science classes and remembered how teachers gave us clever tips on how to save space in our programs by using just two digits for the year. I was taking no chances.An interesting ceremony at the end of the year is to look back and look forward to what might occur. The Roman God Janus with two faces always seemed as Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-37412274079012311182008-11-03T05:58:00.000-08:002008-11-03T06:14:32.663-08:00The Bradley effect, the butterfly effect, the 1984 OlympicsThomas Bradley was police chief in Los Angeles. I remember when he was elected mayor. I remember when the man he beat was first elected mayor.Sam Yorty had been mayor for 5 terms. He was first elected mayor on a campaign that said 5 terms is enough and his predecessor had been there long enough. After Sam had been mayor for 5 terms, he Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-36520537397639877232008-10-01T20:58:00.000-07:002008-10-01T21:14:38.311-07:00Sarah Palin was probably first considered as a vice presidential candidate as a brilliant strategic countermove if Mr. Obama had chosen Hillary Clinton as his running mate for vice president.Mrs. Clinton would have united the Democratic party but would have galvanized the Republicans. In debates and campaign speeches, Mrs. Palin would have appeared more youthful and optimistic in contrast to the Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-67039179841403582532008-09-10T19:07:00.000-07:002008-09-10T19:25:28.657-07:00The most interesting thing I ever saw on television might have been a study on the effects of pain on learning.At a university, volunteers' short-term memories were tested as they were wired to a device capable of a small electrical shock.A scientist conducting the experiment would ask questions to a subject in the adjoining room over an intercom system, and a student volunteer would push a Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-24784967384154389252008-08-10T11:06:00.000-07:002008-08-17T08:42:53.857-07:00AdvertisingThere's a trend I'm amazed at. It began with giant pharmaceutical companies airing commercials about how they've got a special brightly colored bus driving from city to city across the United States (I think they specifically say it goes to every state). With a well-known talkshow host who has medical problems that are also known, the commercials have "ordinary folks" saying that if Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-51211245071894976492008-08-04T21:53:00.000-07:002008-08-04T22:29:20.635-07:00How the mind works. We perceive the world as a sequence of visual panoramic bitmaps and our mind constructs a mental map of things with boundaries from these inherently meaningless blobs of color. Babies work hard to put together a mental picture of what things are and how they work. I saw a documentary about babies that said they sometimes pour liquids on the floor to watch and learn about the Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-69162027043146211322008-07-09T00:00:00.001-07:002008-07-09T21:09:05.763-07:00Austin has two laptops.My 4 year old Dell laptop came with a spacious 80Gb drive. An LCD TV I bought at the same time is 22". A 26" model would have been about $1000 more.The picture quality was better on HD channels, but CNN and other standard definition channels looked worse than on my warm 36" picturetube TV. Widescreen TVs either clip the top and bottom or sacrifice screen area at the left Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-69478276320229634012008-06-01T22:35:00.000-07:002008-06-02T08:16:40.889-07:00Entertaining and EducationalIf you haven't heard them, I highly recommend six lectures by Richard Feynman called Six Easy Pieces. It's a series of introductory physics lectures he gave at Caltech to incoming freshmen. The problem was whether to teach physics in the classical sense (you know, Newton) and in later classes introduce the concepts of Einsteinian relativity and quantum mechanics that Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-65465327342525053122008-06-01T22:27:00.000-07:002008-06-01T22:57:43.432-07:00Definitive answers to two unanswerable questions I read that a space probe landed on Mars. It may find water or evidence of water from the past. It may turn out that those canals on Mars (which if I remember correctly are a mistranslation of the Italian cannali or channel) really once were flowing waters.To the question "is there life outside of earth?" I will give you a definitive answer: Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-63529417479566734602008-05-01T07:31:00.000-07:002008-05-01T08:49:50.654-07:00Small act of kindness. I didn't work from 1990 - 1994. I had a respiratory problem I needn't go into here. I started a contract technical writing job in 1994. I had charged my credit cards to the limit and gone through all my savings, even sold my guitar for some much-needed rent money.Another writer on the team brought in a guitar case one day. He took weekly lessons from a noted guitar Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-31287860468349423982008-04-23T18:43:00.001-07:002008-04-28T21:03:54.050-07:00King Richard the Third I noticed browsing imdb.com that there's going to be a new film version of Richard III. They are updating the setting to Hollywood. There are some credible actors, such as David Carridine, Sally Kirkland, and Maria Conchita Alonso. Will it work? I'm skeptical but not certain.Sometimes Shakespeare's plays get a freshness in a more contemporary setting. There was a Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-49508583389445293622008-04-12T11:28:00.000-07:002008-04-12T11:37:01.052-07:00Finding work as a freelancerWhen I was a contract freelance technical writer (still am, but I work almost only for Microsoft), I would sometimes call on companies and talk to project leaders and engineering managers about writing documentation for their projects. After they could tell I knew the writing tools and process (if it were a documentation manager) or the technology they wanted Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-82748541836823304072008-03-26T21:08:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:02:57.351-08:00Here's to Amy, Nancy and Frieda.I have a pizza stone I put into an oven, heat up, dust with a little cornmeal, then bake an Amy's frozen pesto pizza for 10 minutes.If I remember the story correctly, in the 1950's an odd fruit called the Chinese Gooseberry had fuzzy brown hairy skin and bright green flesh. Freida sold them as coming from New Zealand -- kiwi fruit.Nancy's organic yogurt, cottage Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-52095041125104841972008-02-16T13:18:00.000-08:002008-12-10T14:02:57.819-08:00I once asked a lady with an English accent working behind a sandwich counter about an ingredient of one of the sandwiches. I've heard of chutney, I told her, but what can you use it on?She brightened up and said, "Everything!" I told her that didn't really help me. Could I put it on meats? Absolutely. Is it good on vegetables? Oh yes. I think I might have asked her about ice cream, but I Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-3233098384321162122008-02-03T19:26:00.000-08:002008-02-03T19:30:10.155-08:00There's a new movie, Juno. Haven't seen it.But the director Jason Reitman (son of Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman) also directed a movie I saw on cable recently that has become one of my enjoyable-to-watch-again movies. Only a few critics enjoyed it, but I thought "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" was humorous with likable characters. I totally believed Uma Thurman as an overworked superhero.These areAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-10255117452667860202008-01-25T08:35:00.000-08:002008-01-25T08:43:11.963-08:00Graphic design principlesJust published my first post about graphic design for developers: http://weblogs.asp.net/austinavrashowIf you like the series (all future posts will include illustrations), you can recommend it to friends. I hope I can express ideas clearly so that others can learn something useful or interesting. Time will tell.Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-73061762275878588172008-01-24T02:04:00.000-08:002008-01-24T02:15:16.771-08:00Winter. I'm letting my beard grow. It began between Christmas and New Year's. I'm working as a contractor at Microsoft. I asked another bearded fellow as we walked to the elevators whether he thought having a beard provided extra warmth in the winter. He emphatically answered yes. These Microsoft folks are generally sharp and knowledgeable, but I was skeptical and asked how he knew it. "Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-31013739482804551482008-01-18T00:42:00.001-08:002008-01-18T01:28:36.108-08:00Both Thumbs Up! I'm going to pass this tip on to Ebert and Roeper. I think they should have a new category for movie reviews: Both Thumbs Up. This would be an indication of a movie they think the average viewer would enjoy more than once. There are few movies that the average person wants to watch more than once. After all, we know what's going to happen. As an English major, I thought one Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-40604029964783100652008-01-17T03:23:00.001-08:002008-02-01T02:47:32.732-08:00GradientsHere is a Web page consisting of text. Here is an illustration of a child. Here is an airplane with a fish design (no special effects, BTW). Here is a drawing (top hat? short Greek column?). Adding a Gradient as a Design Element A gradient can add visual interest. The Web page previously shown has just two colors: blue text on a white background. By adding a gradient at the left side of theAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-27726870149142014372007-12-26T16:09:00.001-08:002007-12-26T16:35:11.063-08:00WaterWe have an arrogance towards nature. Maybe that's a necessity to get on with civilization.I was born in California. There once was a drought so severe that people could only water lawns on alternate days. After a while, no lawn watering was allowed. There were restrictions on washing cars and people were advised how to save water. We were told not to let the water run while brushing Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-47280712006979955422007-12-20T07:58:00.000-08:002007-12-20T08:05:26.108-08:00Christmas MusicHere is a Christmas song you probably don't hear every year:dub dub dub . avrashow . com slash bambino dot mp3Enjoy.Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-7532303620154498092007-11-15T23:19:00.000-08:002007-11-16T00:01:53.814-08:00Graphic Design for the Code-Centric IndividualMany developers say they have no design skills. Some say it apologetically, some proudly. You may have no artistic ability (nor do I), but the good news is that you can use the computer to draw the graphics for you.Whether you are a WPF application developer, an ASP.NET web site developer, or work with any other technology that displays something Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-14185976938523749772007-11-10T23:44:00.000-08:002009-11-17T05:47:55.334-08:00Professional Organizer I moved from a 3-bedroom house in Portland to a 1-bedroom apartment in Bellevue WA. From the 1-bedroom, I recently moved to a 2-bedroom.To facilitate the move, the moving company recommended a professional organizer who they work with. I didn't know there were people who did that as their profession.So she came out, took photographs of the furniture and office equipment Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-52660608578680652702007-10-30T20:04:00.000-07:002007-10-30T20:30:10.584-07:00fridgeI had a contracting interview where I used the expression "to come on like gangbusters." As soon as I said it, I realized that to those not of a certain age, that expression is probably strange and puzzling. Luckily, the fellow interviewing me was not extremely young or maybe heard it before and let it pass.I was thinking about terms and expressions, like dialing a phone or telegraphing Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-31305103014314683022007-10-29T19:13:00.000-07:002007-11-03T15:11:30.330-07:00SEO (Search Engine Optimization)You may not need this information for your own personal site, but you might know somebody who sells a product or service that could benefit from a higher ranking from search engines.If you search for "Bellevue API writer" on Google, my web site is the #4 result. Search for "redmond sdk technical writer" and I'm #6. Similarly on Live Search, my website is in the Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-19916730044620998442007-10-22T01:32:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:02:58.427-08:00Studies suggest canned tomatoes are better for you than typical supermarket (i.e., non-vine-ripened) tomatoes.I don't think canned tomatoes get any better than Muir Glen's. I like to have some cans of whole tomatoes on hand in winter. I pour the juice they're packed in into a glass and it's the best tomato juice I can imagine.The fire-roasted tomatoes are tasty and spicy as salsa (but don't Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-64985827086784516602007-10-16T15:57:00.000-07:002007-10-16T15:59:58.578-07:00George Carlin once said all other drivers are either morons or maniacs.You're driving along, and the person in front of you is going slower than you. You think to yourself, "What a moron."But you're driving along and somebody passes you, and you think, "Look at that maniac go!"I find it amusing because I drove a Checker cab in Los Angeles many years ago. I didn't overtly speed, but few cars Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-19563667833088331812007-10-14T17:32:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:02:58.678-08:00I'm writing a series of posts about design principles.Here's a graphic:It looks like I whipped out an old airbrush and sprayed a metallic finish on a 3D model, but it's done with one line (path), 3 rectangles, and one ellipse.Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-87719118514758513862007-10-12T14:21:00.000-07:002007-10-12T14:44:11.440-07:00Does Internet Explorer ever lock up when you save a page?I save web pages I might need later. Often, seemingly not due to any animated gif or flash banner, the progress bar on the modal Save Webpage dialog never moves and clicking the Cancel button or close box has no effect.Even if you minimize the unresponsive dialog, you cannot click on that web page or another tab. You can kill it with TaskAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-86767948888512085642007-10-08T16:44:00.000-07:002007-10-15T03:35:43.544-07:00I know there's no best song, but if I had to pick one song...Most popular songs are based on a few standard chord progressions. The most basic is the 1-4-5, also known as the standard blues progression or 12-bar blues. You've heard it a million times. Whatever chord you start on, you go up to the fourth note and play that chord, then back to the first chord. The notes in the key of C are C D E Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-66587987270907402852007-10-04T02:56:00.000-07:002007-10-04T03:38:31.814-07:00Silverlight 1.0 pages.http://www.avrashow.netguitar music from the past (and two R. Crumb drawings)some parts omitted or abridged in the "Much Ado about Nothing" movieAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-57555216404499544322007-09-22T20:51:00.000-07:002007-09-23T15:23:36.882-07:00Deleted Scenes. If you've seen the movie "Much Ado about Nothing" you might enjoy a 12 minute video I put together with some scenes omitted or abridged in that film. I took camcorder footage of a few scenes from the complete play as done by the BBC in their series of all of Shakespeare's plays and added some comments.The movie version took out much of the outdated wordplay that wouldn't be Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-47393240021291982172007-09-17T11:40:00.000-07:002007-09-17T11:53:16.789-07:00Microsoft offers peek at Media Center Extender devices (Mary Jo Foley, Sept 6).Evidently there are other people like me who don't have an Xbox 360 or Media Center Edition PC but would like to watch videos from their PCs on their TVs.I just kludged together a workable solution for watching PC video on my medium-size HDTV. I copied totaltraining.com WPF and Blend training videos from the TemporaryAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-12473231736199848432007-08-24T14:47:00.000-07:002007-08-24T15:30:02.780-07:00a week with WPFAlthough WPF has been officially available since the release of Vista (or months before), I would guess that it is just beginning to be seriously experimented with using Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2. Intellisense makes writing XAML easier.There are so many new concepts such as attached properties, dependency properties, routed events, templates and styles that before now, seemed like Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-6923583863612312472007-08-17T10:51:00.000-07:002007-08-18T11:39:09.959-07:00Day One with BlendI expect this to be a 1000 mile journey on foot. I installed Expression Blend yesterday as well as the extensions for Visual Studio 2005.I've been reading up on WPF, watching free video training movies from Lynda.com on Blend, and viewing video training on WPF, Expression Blend at totaltraining.com. I just attended Wintellect's 3-day Devscovery training in Redmond to see some Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-63382952214839197432007-08-02T16:58:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:02:58.982-08:00One bird, one stoneI wanted a device to play videos downloaded from webcasts or sessions from MIX07 or TechEd that I could watch without the inconvenience of sitting watching my computer monitor or even finding a comfortable position to watch these videos on a laptop.The Archos 704 has a nice-sized screen (7") and built-in speakers and costs about $480.I wanted to watch some presentations about Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-76632174065662168562007-07-27T15:27:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:02:59.202-08:00Huh?If I would've looked at this image, knowing that these are important C# 3.0 features, I would've read the accompanying article like medicine: something good for you but not too tasty.Instead, this is from a screencast where Daniel Moth cleverly explains that this new LINQ stuff is really just a concise syntax of existing .NET 2.0/3.0 syntax and new seemingly minor specialty .NET 3.5 Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-82647353916917902112007-07-23T13:06:00.000-07:002007-07-23T13:13:16.139-07:00Is your place dusty?I used to wonder why a thin film of dust accumulated on window ledges and horizontal surfaces where I used to live in Portland and to a lesser degree, in my Bellevue apartment. I found out why.Rarely do I see a TV commercial for a new product and buy it the next day. But I did with a new Dyson vacuum (Dyson Slim DC-18, lightweight upright vacuum). The commercial showed some Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-38860210719493493592007-07-06T21:55:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:02:59.451-08:00Samsung YP-K5Here's an MP3 player with one added feature: When you slide it open, it has built-in speakers. From reviews, people find having a built-in speaker useless or ingenious. It also comes with earbuds, and Samsung now even makes a similar model without the speaker.If you have private space and don't like to fuss with earphones, you might enjoy having it. The sound quality is pretty good. Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-43462385575988867492007-07-05T18:14:00.000-07:002007-07-05T19:04:49.991-07:00Two birds.One of the benefits people selling fax machines long ago touted was that, in a pinch, you could also use it to make a copy of a piece of paper. Yes I did make one or two copies of something I was going to mail away, but fuzzy text on glossy rolled-up fax paper wasn't the same as what a copy machine produced for 5 or 10 cents.One "added feature" I use more than I expected is the timer Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-75564381023669079942007-06-23T23:00:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:02:59.870-08:00Catch-22I like clever gadgets. I bought something that promises (if the reviews are accurate) to make my life simpler and less dangerous. I'd let you know if it works, but I can't figure out what to use to get it open.Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-72966450032041584482007-06-23T12:22:00.000-07:002007-06-23T12:36:32.331-07:00Carl Jung. One of the significant thinkers of the 20th century, IMO.I listened to his story as an audio book on cassette. I haven't see it on Audible.com.He took dreams to be significant self-expression on a level other than conscious awareness. He saw the collective unconscious of a group of people, the common features of myths and stories and symbols across different cultures, and invented the Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-44682987379945984402007-06-22T12:55:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:03:01.138-08:00More Flying FishWhen I consider the wondrous intricacy of the moving living parts of the animals and plants and minerals, I can understand why people say a 'design' implies 'a Designer'.Consider the fins wings on these fish. They are shaped like dragonflies. Could mere time and chance and the forces of air resistance have molded and shaped these structures so similarly perfect? Even if we know Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-91230881674907658502007-05-31T17:17:00.000-07:002007-05-31T17:26:24.009-07:00The Surface OS I like the new Surface computers. I think they're really revolutionary. They don't have keyboards. Or mice.My first impression is that this is the first step of getting rid of the need for every new Windows computer to be backwardly-compatible to run every Windows and DOS program that's ever been written. Scott Guthrie said the interaction is built with WPF, which reaffirms to meAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-61833300746495366012007-05-15T16:53:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:03:01.871-08:00Flying fish!Copper River salmon from Alaska are on sale now here in the Pacific Northwest. The season is brief. The fish is expensive. But the fish from these pristine Alaskan waters taste more flavorful than any farmed varieties.Bake up some salmon and top with this simple sauce.Mix equal parts of:Soy sauceMirinSoy sauce should contain just water, soybeans, salt, maybe alcohol to preserve Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-90342720763888058892007-05-05T00:58:00.000-07:002007-05-05T00:59:15.108-07:00Self-esteem is the reputation one acquires with oneself.--memorable sentence from some bookAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-51383629398606873142007-05-03T01:01:00.000-07:002007-05-03T04:08:08.812-07:00Silverlight will be pervasive. I was going to end the blog entry right there.First, Silverlight will be built into Internet Explorer in the future. Second, I assume it will somehow not frighten people when the browser asks if it can download it. I suppose if the average person sees this request a few times when trying to access some video on a web page, especially on some big media site like Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-7550483845185187152007-04-28T13:47:00.000-07:002007-04-28T14:38:11.176-07:00Went to a mosque earlier today.I live in an apartment building where across a busy street and past the 7-11 is a mosque for the community. They put a flyer on my door saying there would be an open house on Saturday.Since ignorance of any group or culture leads to misunderstanding, and because I'm sure that many Americans look on the clothing of a Muslim in America as strange and since 9/11, Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-55731803371547819862007-04-26T23:00:00.000-07:002007-04-26T23:16:38.454-07:00A cheesy sports movie (with Shakespearean touches)If you can follow the action in a basketball game, you might enjoy the movie "Glory Road", a movie based on the true story of a college basketball team from El Paso.It’s a Disney movie, so many of the gritty details are glossed over and treated humorously. It was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who knows how to make a blockbuster spectacle, and hisAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-41746900847533170932007-04-25T02:03:00.000-07:002007-04-27T00:43:54.006-07:00Greatest Living American? Although Google suggests Colbert...I’ve been thinking that the American who has done more to help the country in more ways might be Pete Seeger. He's a folk singing banjo player who once was investigated for “un-American activities”.First, Pete wrote the song that powered the Civil Rights movement. Imagine a group of people outside a business or school or City Hall with Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-24634824974545485982007-04-20T17:16:00.000-07:002007-04-20T17:24:30.189-07:00Google Says, "The Greatest Living American Is..."I blogged previously about the risk of discounting the prospects of a new Microsoft product or service going against a clear market leader, such as taking on Google in search. Google is lightning fast, and its paid ads are close enough most of the time to what's being searched for to earn billions in advertising revenue. How could Microsoft Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-6657343719672733532007-04-17T23:57:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:03:02.351-08:00World's Easiest Exercise (not a joke, extremely helpful)Ever hurt your back? I can't suggest a pill or exercise to heal the soreness, but I have discovered a few things that help prevent recurring back soreness.If I pick up things awkwardly, or try to move furniture around, or carry heavy shopping bags, or sometimes even lean over awkwardly to lift a teacup, I'm liable to have a sore back. ThisAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-91934861617795983602007-04-14T18:11:00.000-07:002008-12-10T14:03:02.494-08:00Future ComputersI have the feeling that future computers will closely resemble the slow-to-take-off ultra mobile PC (UMPC).I've used Dragon Systems NaturallySpeaking since 1998 version 1. It has some things that it does well, and after a while, you learn to work around its idiosyncrasies, like a car you have had for years. The best thing about it is that it learns from its mistakes (from your Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1353383172883603912007-04-13T11:46:00.000-07:002007-04-13T11:54:22.407-07:00They couldn't change a light bulb.I once heard some people talking about tenants who had lived in their rental property."They were nice folks, but they couldn't do anything around the house. They couldn't change a light bulb."I thought they were using a figure of speech. Turns out, the people came from a New York apartment building where if anything needed to be done, like a burned-out light Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-3595789996554145192007-03-27T19:23:00.000-07:002007-03-27T19:40:41.874-07:00Sting's lute, the known universe, and TaoismI saw Sting playing 16th Century lute songs on PBS recently. Between the songs, he described musical elements in the compositions of John Dowland, who he called the first British pop star.He spoke about some of the pauses between the notes, and how much he liked the pauses between notes in music. He said that musical notes are really just a kind of Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-62700027436888868762007-03-16T22:14:00.000-07:002007-03-16T22:29:11.930-07:00The need to learn XAMLExpression Blend will be out soon. I read that a Release Candidate is available.Lynda.com is offering free training on Blend, probably only until the product is released. In a movie titled Animation Basics, the instructor dropped an image onto the design surface, and made the image grow larger over time.Examining the XAML generated for the animation, he added an attribute toAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-56627535915463344632007-03-14T08:44:00.000-07:002007-03-14T08:56:01.254-07:00Who would be your choice be for most significant American of the 20th century?Many people would list Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the most important American of the 20th century because his optimistic spirit lifted the doubts and fears of the collective American public when jobs were scarce and the stock market bubble of perceived wealth and security popped.He also led the war against an Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-35231730617430053472007-03-10T07:25:00.000-08:002007-04-27T00:16:08.633-07:00Less typing. More typed. (My best writing tip.)If you use Microsoft Word, you can make life easier.If you write about some specific product or technology, consider the underutilized autotext feature (and to a lesser degree, Building Blocks in Word 2007). If you write articles or books or emails about computers or software, I'll bet you use the same base terminology repeatedly.Suppose your companyAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-74669452544665351582007-03-01T05:20:00.000-08:002007-03-01T05:48:00.191-08:00Water.I probably don't drink enough water. It seems, well, boring and tasteless.I have a new ritual in the morning. I drink a few sips of water before my cup or two of coffee. I enjoy the stimulating effects of caffeine, but I'm guessing that having some water first helps the system carry away leftover byproducts of food combustion with one's own personal Amazon. Well, you get the picture.I thinkAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1172064169786055022007-02-21T05:14:00.000-08:002007-02-21T05:32:26.183-08:00No artistic ability requiredThis picture had no artist. No one drew or sketched it. It was captured with a digital camera and with little more than a menu click, changed to a very human-appealing line drawing. Click on it to see the source image.Photoshop "filters and effects" can be applied to any photograph. No artistic ability required. Here's an article showing how to do these artistic Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1171931065447942872007-02-19T16:21:00.000-08:002007-02-19T16:26:54.680-08:00Two items for your consideration.Even in rainy Portland, I found an electric mower had many advantages over traditional gas burning models. First, I never had to buy or store gasoline to get the thing running. Also, starting it was easier and it ran much quieter than my neighbors' mowers.Perhaps most importantly, I was not walking behind the emissions equivalent of an out-of-tune auto. That Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1171411007902006082007-02-13T15:47:00.000-08:002007-02-13T21:03:04.193-08:00Web Design Usability ProblemsAuthority Jakob Nielsen pointed out usability problems with Web sites in the early days of the Internet [1994]. His new book (Prioritizing Web Usability, 2006) reexamines current web conventions to see what things have improved and what's still a problem.In this excerpt, people gave "negative" or "very negative" responses to these online ad features:Pops-up in front Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1170831285754806052007-02-06T22:54:00.000-08:002007-02-06T22:54:45.766-08:00Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes, that way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.- Jack HandeyAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1170426688376005022007-02-02T06:22:00.000-08:002007-02-15T10:39:40.530-08:00ScreencastsI'm a real fan of TechSmith products Camtasia and SnagIt. To me there's nothing as effective to demonstrate some software as displaying screen activity with a voice narration. A screencast is an ideal format for showing a sample application using a new technology or set of technologies (the term screencast was coined by Jon Udell to describe these animated demos). Jon did a screencast Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1170320751629715252007-02-01T00:43:00.000-08:002007-02-01T01:11:31.913-08:00Newman's cookies, on the right, have deep chocolate cookie wafers and a creamy filling. Surprisingly tasty. According to America's Test Kitchen TV show, Oreo filling is sweetened solid hydrogenated oil (i.e., Crisco and sugar). And try the Fig Newmans. I think they are tastier (maybe healthier) than the standard Fig bar brand. If you try Fig Newmans, get the package labeled Low Fat (the Fat Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1168895775180880782007-01-15T13:13:00.000-08:002007-01-15T13:36:34.626-08:00Small acts of kindnessSeveral years ago, I had trouble with asthma-like sneezing and coughing waking up in the middle of the night. From all the news stories, I figured it was dust mite allergies.Even with thorough washing of the sheets and bedding, and effective removal of dust thanks to the wondrous Roomba (I consider one of the cleverest inventions of the 20th century, at least in the field Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1168326804544336252007-01-08T23:01:00.000-08:002007-01-09T16:53:26.123-08:00Coffee sent to your doorI drink coffee. I've considered it healthy for many years, even before the recent wave of scientific studies finding benefits and not finding health problems from its consumption. It's a kind of bean soup, but with the beans roasted, crushed and only the broth consumed.Café Mam (sounds like mom) is grown by fair-trade cooperatives of native Mayan farmers living in the Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1167939761650663172007-01-04T11:35:00.000-08:002007-01-04T11:46:57.480-08:00It's time to XAML ! If you have Windows XP and a fast Internet connection, you can start playing with WPF.With any new technology, there are early adopters, there are late adopters, and there are those who only use what is preinstalled, preconfigured for them.Generally, I wait until tools support any technology rather than use Notepad to explore the concepts and constructs. But waiting for the Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1167880313645022072007-01-03T19:08:00.000-08:002007-01-03T19:16:00.490-08:00Gerald Ford, the 38th president, died last week at age 93.Bloggers have editorial freedom to comment on any event or thought, although the implied contract with readers mandates there should be some useful or interesting information in each blog posting. Often, a blogger will comment on a news event citing their personal involvement with the person of interest. I will use that as the thinnest Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1167773481351852202007-01-02T13:27:00.000-08:002007-01-03T16:06:45.106-08:00"Zune to eventually outsell iPod" someone claims.Lee added that he expects Microsoft will eventually "be the leader" in the digital media player segment.What? Well, I've been wrong before.Long ago I read a PC Magazine column saying Microsoft was planning to take its wordprocessing and spreadsheet programs (Word and Excel) and add a third program to let people create overhead slide presentations Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1166561715708745892006-12-19T12:14:00.000-08:002007-01-04T15:52:57.110-08:00Microsoft Expression Web is a solid product.It's $100 to upgrade from any version of FrontPage. I don't know if it checks upon installation for FrontPage. I had an old Office 2003 CD in the other disk drive, but either it found it automatically or didn't bother prompting me. Few people still have FrontPage installed, I'd bet.(free) TrainingAt Lynda.com, Joe Marini, a MS PM, offers online video Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1165950558547335302006-12-12T11:08:00.000-08:002006-12-12T12:25:35.103-08:00Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1165846470927658352006-12-11T06:13:00.000-08:002006-12-11T08:03:32.933-08:00What the Internet needs is a 5 cent payment system.When the Internet began, it was a national defense strategy to decentralize communication and/or means for scientific research to be shared among academic institutions. One day in his basement, Al Gore decided that the Information Superhighway could also help America's schoolchildren compete in the world. There was a great hubbub as to whether Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1165314150622606322006-12-05T02:00:00.000-08:002006-12-05T16:21:03.270-08:00of bears and birdsOn the Animal Planet cable network, they have a series called "Growing Up ..." where each show has some usually orphaned animal raised by humans. They had shows with a giraffe, a walrus, a camel... but the most touching show I think is "Growing Up Grizzly." A big burly guy in Utah raised a tiny grizzly bear from a newborn who he named Bart. If you've seen bears in the movies or Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1165108143047686982006-12-02T17:08:00.000-08:002006-12-03T23:44:22.186-08:00I don't know if the earth is in trouble from human activity. I don't know if the earth is gradually warming. I haven't seen Al Gore's movie.One person said that 30 years ago, we would have been worried about a possible new Ice Age, and that long-term changes are difficult to detect given the long-term fluctuations that happen in a dynamic system with so many variables. Makes sense.I saw a Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1164960204211534962006-12-01T00:00:00.000-08:002006-12-01T00:14:52.190-08:00I can't believe it.I am normally skeptical about conventional wisdom. Yet whenever I heard people speak about alternatives to the internal combustion engine, I thought they were wild-eyed and not in touch with the realities of modern civilized life.I assumed that the modern automobile has refined the cleanliness and efficiency of the gasoline engine to approach the best possible product. Did Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1164842909857582102006-11-29T15:14:00.000-08:002006-12-06T04:04:55.233-08:00Koko Koko is a gorilla who communicates with American Sign Language. Some details about the National Geographic special and the DVD about her have stayed with me.Watching Koko cradling her kitten All Ball (who she named) really struck me with the tenderness these gentle creatures have. People often talk about their dogs being part of the family. Part of that is because they are pack animals with Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1163885105856987772006-11-18T13:22:00.000-08:002006-11-18T13:25:40.996-08:00youtubeAustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1163101893003622592006-11-09T11:37:00.000-08:002006-11-15T11:19:49.700-08:00flipping thru channelsI saw a few minutes of "Hacking Democracy" on cable. I was shocked, shocked when they simulated how easy it would be to hack into the central tabulation program of Diebold voting machines software.It looked to my first glance as if the person who obtained the software (from an FTP site where it was mistakenly posted) watched as a person logged in as an administrator to what Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1163061081520279592006-11-09T00:30:00.000-08:002006-11-09T00:33:55.590-08:00Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6172360.post-1161976085840360292006-10-27T12:05:00.000-07:002006-10-27T17:56:03.536-07:00MobyI was listening to "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" -- love that wailing voice part -- and thought I would look up Moby on Wikipedia.Moby (born Richard Melville Hall) is an American singer, electronic musician and the name of his live band.Aha, I thought, I see from his middle name why he calls himself Moby. I read on.He took his nickname from the novel Moby-Dick which was written by Herman Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14157346413588471987noreply@blogger.com0