So I was reading an article over at Wired today about the HVAC going out on Steve Ballmer’s CES 2010 keynote speech. They had this great image of a Steve Ballmer silhouette against the darkened room as Microsoft and the conference center staff struggled to restore power.
Suddenly I realized where I knew that figure from.
Coincidence? You tell me…
And who is the world’s #1 supervillain in this animated film, due out next summer?
Yes, that’s right, none other than Bill Gates!
This has been a tongue-in-cheek presentation. I actually quite like the direction Ballmer has taken Microsoft in and I am an MCSE supporting a mixed Vista/Win7 environment. Please don’t take this too seriously. Kthx.
“I’m going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We’ll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies — they’ll get a seat at the table, they just won’t be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we’ll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process.”
– Candidate Barak Obama
Oh, really?
Look, Mr. President. I understand campaigns are about getting elected and what you face in the Oval Office is a fair bit different but in this case you didn’t even make an effort. Health care reform should have been a 2-4 year goal. How can you shove a bill down our throats made of such opaque language companies will need a lawyer to understand it – then not even mention things like TORT reform, the doctor shortage, or insurance competition across state lines?
It’s my blog, I’m allowed to get up on my soap box for a minute. Mr. President, this bill is the biggest piece of garbage out of DC since the last time a President wanted to give a compelling State of the Union address and was running out of time to talk about anything other than a failed summit in Copenhagen, a nuclear arms reduction deal that didn’t materialize, and a Nobel Peace Prize a few weeks into office.
I spent a lot of time in front of a computer this weekend catching up on TV shows and watching a couple of old movies; the kind I loved the first time then never saw them again. Anyhow, one of these flicks was an under-rated little masterpiece of dialog set against an ultimately forgettable backdrop. That movie was “Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead”
I’ll spare you the plot details but the establishing scene between Jimmy the Saint and Dagne to this day reminds me of why we love movies. If only real life happened with such flair and certainty. This bit of dialog should be cheesy but instead it’s beautiful:
Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: Dagney? That’s your name? Tremendous name. My name’s Jimmy and I have just one single impulsive question. Are you in love? Dagney: What? Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: At the present time, are you in love? Dagney: Why? Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: Because if you are, then I won’t waste your time. I’m really not the type of man to impede another man’s happiness. However, if you’re not presently in love then I will continue my rhapsody, because if I may say so, Dagney, you are most definitely the bees’ knees. Dagney: Does this rap ever work? Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: Alas, in the old days. Now I rarely get a chance to try it. But you haven’t answered my question. Dagney: I forgot it. Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: Are you in love? Dagney: Well there is someone… Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: But? Dagney: We date… I have memorized his phone number, but I won’t use his toothbrush… We’re somewhere in between and he’s crazy about me. Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: As he should be. You glide. Dagney: I glide? Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: You glide. It’s a very attactive quality. Most girls, they merely plod along. You, on the other hand, you glide… Tell me about it. What’s his name? Chip? Dagney: Alex… Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: Same thing. Does he make you thump? Dagney: Define “thump”. Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: Thump. When you think about him, you can’t eat You can’t sleep. You forget about man’s inhumanity to man. Does he do that for you? Dagney: That’s a ridiculous concept. No one can do that. Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: Girls who glide need guys who make them thump. Have dinner with me. Dagney: Aren’t we the sultan of segue? Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: It’s a beautiful month. Just have dinner with me. Dagney: Are you going to make me thump? Jimmy ‘The Saint’ Tosnia: Or die trying.
Ultimately, I think this movie failed to capture America’s imagination for two reasons. The first is it was a dark romance where Jimmy The Saint fell in love but was condemned to death by the mob; the movie was released in 1995. As you will recall, the 90s were an era of huge optimism and little angst among anyone outside the exploding grunge-band scene. The second reason is that while the film comes to a satisfying conclusion it is not a happy ending. It doesn’t quite break your heart either and in our movie experiences we want either to celebrate or cry. This film did neither for me.
If you love dialog though, see if you can pull this off of Netflix some time. It’s worth a watch and an unlikely member of my favorite films list.
A couple of things passed by me before 11am today that I thought were worth mentioning. The first is a WordPress plugin which, sadly, I can’t install until I transfer this blog to its own server. The second is a major difference between Bing and Google.
Gigya Socialize
This fantastic little plugin sounds like it still needs a bit of work to be ready for prime time but I love the premise. Most people who read a blog would love to make a comment but don’t want to sign up for YET ANOTHER website just to say their piece. Wouldn’t it be nice if my blog could authenticate readers by way of Facebook Connect? Even better, throw in MySpace, Twitter, and OpenID. Well, bloggers, that is exactly what Gigya is attempting to do. I haven’t played around with it at any great length but the idea is that any reader with a login on any of those four systems can now comment your posts using that identity. Better yet, when you make a new post, you can (if you choose) comment the new link back to all of their walls.
Shiny.
And the difference between Google and Bing is?
Well okay that’s a trick question, there are dozens. I have come up with reasons to like Bing maps (the 3D stuff is really cool even if it doesn’t like Chrome) but hadn’t really started using search yet until today. My friend Andy Braun had asked me if there was any way to get his comments on this blog over to his friendfeed. Hmm… “Let me Google that” I said.
As it turns out, Bing knows the difference between “add wordpress comments to friendfeed” and “add friendfeed comments to wordpress” . Google, in its infinate wisdom, gives up the same results for both. I’m sorry, Google, I’m not interested in getting friendfeed likes and favorites or comments into my WordPress blog, I already knew about that plugin. I’m interested in getting my reader’s comments into their own Friendfeed setups.
As it turns out, that’s not yet possible. Thaks to Bing, however, I was able to determine this. Google was completely unhelpful in this regard today and even if Bing’s results still feel a bit thin compared to the Googleplex, score 1 for Redmond. It’s still a long shot but MS is working on making me a fan.
In a complete digression, if you haven’t checked out the daily Bing home page, it’s fun. Scroll your mouse around the image of the day for hidden search result hotspots related to the theme. Today’s is about Phnom Penh, Cambodia and shadow puppetry.
Not much has been reported on the Apple/Verizon deals since a flurry of rumors hit the net back in April. As reported by Engadget, CDMA is a pretty small percentage of the world market; unless you happen to be named Verizon.
So imagine my surprise when I ran into this on Apple’s job board?
* Strong knowledge and experience with UMTS or CDMA RF systems
In fact, computerjobs.com lists the posting as an “ASAP” hire date: http://www.computerjobs.com/job_display.aspx?jobid=2204465)
Go on Apple, try and deny it this time. The rest of us will just wait around for AT&T to go away and write it off as a terrible wireless experience we would rather not talk about.
Not much has been reported on the Apple/Verizon deals since a flurry of rumors hit the net back in April. As reported by Engadget, CDMA is a pretty small percentage of the world market; unless you happen to be named Verizon.
So imagine my surprise when I ran into this on Apple’s job board?
Qualifications include: * Strong knowledge and experience with UMTS or CDMA RF systems.
In fact, computerjobs.com lists the posting as an “ASAP” hire date. Go on Apple, try and deny it this time. The rest of us will just wait around for AT&T to go away so we can write them off as a terrible wireless experience we would rather not talk about.
“History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes” — Mark Twain
I had a fun email debate over lunch today with some friends from UC Davis. Rather than relate the whole thing, I’m going to pose a scenario for you and ask you to identify the period of history I am talking about:
A crisis began with a Republican moralist presiding over the White House
War was fresh in mind
The country had been through an unusually long economic expansion
Characterized by boom & bust cycles
Immigration was fueling dramatic policy changes
Technology was rapidly changing lives
Wall Street advisors were creating huge new entities as a result of buyouts & mergers
Government was investigating prominent executives
Public attitude towards business leaders was negative
A sentiment fueled a “muckracking” press
Several leading institutions went bankrupt
Resulting in a 37% decline in the stock market
Causing a run on banks
Leading to a crisis of confidence
JP Morgan and others channeled money from healthy institutions into weak ones in an attempt to save them
Currency standards came under assault
Reform elements of both political parties believed that the American banking system was fundamentally flawed and needed wholesale change
The crisis was brief, when compared to a history of recessions, but had global ramifications
Eventually bank reformists won the day and created a massive new government body
In a social context, government was becoming more interventionist
And in many cases more intrusive in citizen’s personal lives
“In the summer of 1907, the American economy was showing signs of weakness as a number of business and Wall Street brokerages went bankrupt. In October, the respected Knickerbocker Trust in New York City and the ¹Westinghouse Electric Company both failed, touching off a series of events known as the Panic of 1907.
In the wake of the initial business collapses, stock market prices plummeted and depositors made a massive run on the nation’s banks. The U.S. Treasury pumped millions of dollars into weak banks in the hope of saving them, but the string of collapsed institutions lengthened.
In a reprise of his role during the second Cleveland administration when the gold standard was under assault, J.P. Morgan acted to restore order. He summoned the leading bankers and financial experts to his home where they set up shop in his library. Over the course of the next three weeks, Morgan and his associates labored to channel money from the strong institutions to the weaker ones in an effort to keep them afloat.
The joint effort of the government and the business leaders improved conditions markedly over the course of several weeks. While the crisis passed, the finger-pointing began. Reform elements of both political parties believed that the American banking system was fundamentally flawed and needed wholesale change. Business leaders, however, held that Roosevelt’s progressive legislation had upset the natural order of the economy and the government should stop its meddling.
Following the Panic of 1907, the reform elements gradually gained the upper hand. An emerging consensus affirmed that thorough bank reform was necessary to provide badly needed currency elasticity (a major issue in the Panic) and the general soundness of the banking system. Congress responded by passing stop-gap legislation, the Aldrich-Vreeland Act (1908), until more thorough actions could be prepared.
With the passing of the Owen-Glass Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Federal Reserve System was created. The “Fed” was designed to be flexible and responsive to the economy and independent of politics. The Fed has evolved through the years by implementing many strict checks and balances. New departments, the General Accounting Office, GAO, and the Office of Management & Budget, OMB, were created to audit the Fed and most other government departments. As a result, the American economy, and American society are more stable.”
In the summer of 1907, the American economy was showing signs of weakness as a number of business and Wall Street brokerages went bankrupt. In October, the respected Knickerbocker Trust in New York City and the ¹Westinghouse Electric Company both failed, touching off a series of events known as the Panic of 1907.
In the wake of the initial business collapses, stock market prices plummeted and depositors made a massive run on the nation’s banks. The U.S. Treasury pumped millions of dollars into weak banks in the hope of saving them, but the string of collapsed institutions lengthened.
In a reprise of his role during the second Cleveland administration when the gold standard was under assault, J.P. Morgan acted to restore order. He summoned the leading bankers and financial experts to his home where they set up shop in his library. Over the course of the next three weeks, Morgan and his associates labored to channel money from the strong institutions to the weaker ones in an effort to keep them afloat.
The joint effort of the government and the business leaders improved conditions markedly over the course of several weeks. While the crisis passed, the finger-pointing began. Reform elements of both political parties believed that the American banking system was fundamentally flawed and needed wholesale change. Business leaders, however, held that Roosevelt’s progressive legislation had upset the natural order of the economy and the government should stop its meddling.
Following the Panic of 1907, the reform elements gradually gained the upper hand. An emerging consensus affirmed that thorough bank reform was necessary to provide badly needed currency elasticity (a major issue in the Panic) and the general soundness of the banking system. Congress responded by passing stop-gap legislation, the Aldrich-Vreeland Act (1908), until more thorough actions could be prepared.
With the passing of the Owen-Glass Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Federal Reserve System was created. The “Fed” was designed to be flexible and responsive to the economy and independent of politics. The Fed has evolved through the years by implementing many strict checks and balances. New departments, the General Accounting Office, GAO, and the Office of Management & Budget, OMB, were created to audit the Fed and most other government departments. As a result, the American economy, and American society are more stable.
Having watched the previews, I didn’t spoil my appetite by looking up detailed information on the plot of D9. As a result, I found in several instances the movie was distinctly uncomfortable to watch both from a visual and a moral standpoint. As it proceeded, however, D9 managed to graphically illustrate all the most damming flaws and redeeming qualities of the human condition in a single anti-hero.
This is classic post-911 drama in which the differences between good & evil are blurred to an incomprehensible point and the only resolution comes through a terrifying personal sacrifice. In the end, we are left with almost nothing. It’s beautiful; it will rip your heart out. D9 will leave you hoping that when the dust settles on our own chapter of humanity, the greater spirit inside really will deliver us from hell – even if it costs us everything we love in the process.
When United Healthcare sent out a general bulletin including the background, symptoms, and risks of swine flu to all its members this morning, it got me thinking about this modern-day would-be-plague. When my buddy Colter out in Austin Texas mentioned the first local case of swine flu at the HEB where he does his grocery shopping, well, that kicked me into action.
Given the gravity of the current epidemic, wouldn’t the ultimate life hack be avoiding this cross-species superbug?
While Liza recommends dressing pigs in lab coats to prevent them from infecting one another or possibly marinating bacon in liquor, I’m going to try to recommend a few more practical things that will help you dramatically reduce your chances of contracting the swine plague.
According to James M. Steckelberg, M.D., a flu virus can live on a contaminated surface for up to 48 hours. That’s a really freakin’ long time. Suspect everything you touch.
Alcohol based hand-sanitizers will kill 99.9% of viruses on contact, including Swine Flu. Consider keeping alcohol wipes in your pocket and using them on things like grocery cart handles and drink bottles from public places.
Also, keep a bottle of sanitizer around and wash your hands with it every time you have touched a door knob or surface in a public place. This includes public computer keyboards. The alcohol will dry out sensitive skin so also keep a bottle of hand cream nearby if you are prone to that sort of thing.
Viruses cannot penetrate the skin. They require contact with mucus membranes, airways, or your digestive system. If you have not washed & sanitized your hands since leaving a clean area, do not touch your eyes, mouth, or nose. I’m not kidding, I don’t care how badly your face itches. Resist the urge. No. Really. Resist it.
If things really get bad and you are in a high risk area, face masks can help avoid airborne infection. Unfortunately, airborne of the Walgreens variety may not do you any good against a bug as uber as this one.
If someone does have swine flu, they can give it to others starting about 24 hours before developing symptoms and will remain contagious for about seven days. If swine flu has been reported in your area, consider not eating out at restaurants until the epidemic has passed. Avoid eating raw foods and cook everything you make at home. Viruses cannot survive high temperatures.
Finally, it is worth noting that according to the Mayo clinic, smooth surfaces will allow a flu virus to remain active longer than porous ones. In other words, a virus will live far longer on a door knob or revolving door handle than on, say, a wood desk. STAY SANITIZED!
So to recap: Hand sanitizer is your friend, don’t touch your damn face, and avoid crowded places in public where you are likely to get breathed, sneezed, or coughed on. Do not eat at restaurants once outbreaks have been reported in your area.
Update: 4/30/2009
Today I noted that the bankers at First Republic have all been given alcohol-based hand sanitizers for their desks. The complimentary cookies are all wrapped in wax paper. It would seem businesses are beginning to take this threat seriously.
Previewing MMO game titles is a surprising amount of work. So is avoiding glitches in Drupal when publishing them. At any rate, most of my recent writing time went into a preview at Stratics, where I worked during the .com explosion at the turn of the millennium.
I Played Jumpgate Evolution for 60 minutes at GDC and all I got was this stinkin’ mousepad!
One of the new sectors we were introduced to at GDC
When you’ve done as much investigative work on the details of a game as the editors at JGEWiki.com have, diving into the game for the first time is an experience unlike anything the drive-by fan will ever know. At NetDevil’s reception on the 20th floor of the St. Regis hotel in San Francisco, most folks sat down and started flying from minute one, learning as intended by Scott Brown and the rest of the crew. I sat down and started looking at the keymap.
“Okay, where is the control to turn off dampeners?”
Those who have been following the development of JumpGate Evolution (JGE) for the last 18 months already know it but I’ll say it anyway – this is going to be a very different sort of preview.
Alright, it’s not new news but aparently it’s hot news again so I’m going to post it as a life hack. I’ve had several people in the last two days direct me to the handwriting font generator. For those who have never heard of it, this is a free (yes free) application that allows you to upload numbers, letters, punctuation, etc in your own handwriting and turn them into a usable font.
Seriously, within five minutes you can be emailing out PDFs that no one can read in your own script. It’s a great way to get even with your doctor at 70wpm next time you pay a bill.
If you’re really crafty though, you don’t actually need to design a handwriting font at all. This app will compress just about anything you design into a font, there are no limitations.
While this could easily be used to pirate a font (you know, just print each one onto the supplied template and generate it) I’m going to go ahead and suggest that you have better things to do with your time.
So anyhow, enjoy the brave new world of free custom fonts. Leave me a comment if you do something cool with it (that means you, Alyx).
When United Healthcare sent out a general bulletin including the background, symptoms, and risks of swine flu to all its members this morning, it got me thinking about this modern-day would-be-plague. When my buddy Colter out in Austin Texas mentioned the first local case of swine flu at the HEB where he does his grocery shopping, well, that kicked me into action.
