3 - 2005 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Art for art’s sake

No time to give this the full measure of bemused contempt it deserves, but I certainly urge you to check out this fine post from the Decrepit Old Fool on…

No time to give this the full measure of bemused contempt it deserves, but I certainly urge you to check out this fine post from the Decrepit Old Fool on a particular example of public “art.” The artist’s commentary on why his $200K piece was finally pulled from display (which I can only label as “blaming the victim”) is particularly telling:

The chasm of incomprehension between public art and its intended audience remains as wide as ever.

Seems to me that if you intend a piece of art for a particular audience, the responsibility to bridge that particular chasm is yours. But I’m sure that’s a horribly reactionary attitude on my part.

And on a different gaming note …

After all the online gaming, it was almost a shock to go back to face-to-face RPGs. Ran the next session in my IDC campaign, and it all went well –…

After all the online gaming, it was almost a shock to go back to face-to-face RPGs. Ran the next session in my IDC campaign, and it all went well — nice seeing everyone’s face, for a change, for one thing. For another, I was greatly amused (behind the screen) at the directions some of the players took the plot: nothing off the wall, by any means, but fleshing things out a lot more than is written up anywhere in the module.

Which meant we didn’t get nearly as far as expected, but, y’know, that’s okay.

Now I just have to take the time to do the game log, since I don’t think anyone else did.

Red, white, and blue, eh? Pretty suspicious, if you ask me

Girl has uncle in Iraq. Girl makes red, white, and blue bead necklace to wear in his honor. School decides that’s intrinsically a gang-related thang, and orders her to take…

Girl has uncle in Iraq. Girl makes red, white, and blue bead necklace to wear in his honor. School decides that’s intrinsically a gang-related thang, and orders her to take it off.

The school’s code of conduct states student’s jewelry “will be safe, appropriate and not … interfere with the educational process.” It also says “students will not wear any clothing deemed to be gang related.” The code of conduct does not explicitly mention beads or beaded necklaces. But school officials say the beads have been affiliated with gangs in the past. So they’re not allowed.

“We want to make sure that our students have options to express themselves, but it has to be done in a way that’s safe for everyone in the school building,? said Shari Greenleaf, the attorney for the city school district. […] School officials say the color red is often affiliated with one particular gang, and the color blue is often affiliated with another.

I suggest that the school issue gray jumpsuits and house the students in concrete cubicles to avoid any possibility that something that some gang member has worn at some time in the past might somehow make its way onto school grounds. But I guess it’s a good thing that the 4th of July doesn’t occur during the school year (and Flag Day is somehow passé and, well, of course, patriotic displays around Presidents Day are, no doubt, no longer seen as educationally sound or permissible.

Yeesh.

(via ThisIsTrue)

Sky Kitten and the Media Consumers of Tomorrow!

Watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow with Katherine on Friday afternoon. She had thought it was “boring” because someone brought it to her child care the other day,…

Watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow with Katherine on Friday afternoon. She had thought it was “boring” because someone brought it to her child care the other day, but it turned out this was a different movie, and she enjoyed it very much.

What’s actually funny, watching it for the first time again since the theaters, is the passing resemblance to The Incredibles. A hero. A secret plot. An island fortress. A giant robot (that has gone through progressive versions). A rocket ship counting down to disaster.

A zillion differences, too, of course, but it’s hard to keep a good pulpy plot element down.

And Katherine enjoyed it, even some of the scarier parts. It turned out that the movie she’d seen with a similar name that was “boring, boring, boring” was “Number 1” of something, and, I think, was probably Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace.

Popups and popunders

Lots of news of late regarding Firefox and popups designed to show up in that browser. And here’s a summary of various means of combatting that, for my own reference…

Lots of news of late regarding Firefox and popups designed to show up in that browser. And here’s a summary of various means of combatting that, for my own reference should I start actually seeing that problem.

No home should be without one

An industrial shredder. One that comes with videos showing it shredding mattresses, railroad ties, washing machines, a 50 gallon drum full of hardened concrete, a boat … (also via BoingBoing)…

An industrial shredder. One that comes with videos showing it shredding mattresses, railroad ties, washing machines, a 50 gallon drum full of hardened concrete, a boat …

(also via BoingBoing)

Suck them up, yum

Why go out and gather up chickens by hand to send them to the slaughterhouse, when you can have a device like this do it? (Be sure and check out…

Why go out and gather up chickens by hand to send them to the slaughterhouse, when you can have a device like this do it? (Be sure and check out the video.)

I’m just waiting to see something like this for crowd control at riots …

(via BoingBoing)

Scary stories

Granted that we have very few solid details here, but this certainly has all the marks of blind bureaucratic ZTosity. A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for…

Granted that we have very few solid details here, but this certainly has all the marks of blind bureaucratic ZTosity.

A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for making terrorist threats told LEX 18 News Thursday that the “writings” that got him arrested are being taken out of context.

Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole’s home that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police.

Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class.

“My story is based on fiction,” said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. “It’s a fake story. I made it up. I’ve been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies.”

Zombies! Obviously a teen psychopathic terrorist!

Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. “Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky,” said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.

I’m sure that’s at least slightly misspoken (presumably it’s any threatening matter involving a school or function), but that still sounds pretty goofy, since what consitutes a threat, or a credible threat, or what “threats” are actually protected by the First Amendment, are all very open questions.

Poole disputes that he was threatening anyone. “It didn’t mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn’t mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn’t mention no principal or cops, nothing,” said Poole. “Half the people at high school know me. They know I’m not that stupid, that crazy.”

Ah. He’s being held for violation of the double negative rule. That seems clear now.

No, really — consider what it means that you cannot write anything that might be considered “threatening” to a school or school function, for fear of drawing a felony charge. “I wish Principal Gorpley would get hit by a train.” Something that simple could send you to work camp with Bubba. Yeesh.

On Thursday, a judge raised Poole’s bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge.

“We realize now how ridiculous this is, so our only hope to avoid public ridicule is to invoke the Big Lie.”

Again, yeesh.

(via BoingBoing)

Wining about safety

Dunno which is more annoying: that LAX security found the wine opener (complete with corkscrew and tiny foil knife) that was lurking in my briefcase unbeknownst to me — or…

Dunno which is more annoying: that LAX security found the wine opener (complete with corkscrew and tiny foil knife) that was lurking in my briefcase unbeknownst to me — or that DEN security didn’t find it.

Of course, spotting anything through the mare’s next of cables in my briefcase is a huge trick, which is usually why they run it back and forth a few times under the screen.

But it does indicate a security weakness. And it does indicate that … well, I’m out a rather nice wine opener (and I’m trying to remember when the heck that got into my briefcase).

And so wine bottles on my flight home can rest easily knowing this particular Shifty Character won’t be terrorizing them any time soon …

WiFi and Early Rising

Once again, I remain astonished that LAX (or United’s terminal here, not an insubstantial one) does not have WiFi. The result of which is that this particular post won’t go…

Once again, I remain astonished that LAX (or United’s terminal here, not an insubstantial one) does not have WiFi. The result of which is that this particular post won’t go up until the morning.

Which reminds me that my flight won’t hit the ground in Denver until 11:45p, which means if I get into bed before 1:00a, I’ll be wildly lucky. And, alas, I have three critical phone calls and a deliverable to some VPs due tomorrow morning, too, so no sleeping in for the wicked.

*sigh* At least I’ll be back home.

UPDATE: Or …

We all get aboard, we’re all ready to go … and the dreaded “This is your pilot, the mechanics say they have to replace a part” message comes on. Next update in 20 minutes.

Which update is, they don’t have the part yet, so next update in 20 minutes …

At some point, I will say, “Screw it,” and plan on leaving a message for the Boss that I won’t be on that 7:30a phone call — which is an important call, but not that important.

UPDATE: Well, that was cool. They invited folks who wanted to come up to the cockpit (a few at a time). I casually wandered up, and me and a couple of other guys chatted with the pilot and co-pilot. It’s a 757, so it’s one of the first “glass cockpit” (video indicators) planes, so it has both the video and full analog instruments.

The pilot mentioned that he and the flight crew were all Denver-based, so they were definitely incented to get the plane off the ground ASAP. While I was up there, the ground crew guy came up and told them the part had arrived, but they needed to disconnect all the A/C — at which point I got my Surprise of the Evening, as the pilots did that, then cracked open the front-side windows of the cockpit. I never realized they opened …

Anyway, it was a very nice bennie of the unfortunate delay, and they were very nice and positive about it. Doesn’t make it any less late of a night (or early of a morning), but it was both entertaining and good PR.

UPDATE: Finally got home at 2:00a. Called the Boss, left a message on his office phone that I wasn’t sure I’d be on for the 8:30a phone call he had for me (and was going to call home about. At 8:30a, my cell phone went off. At 8:31a, the home phone went off.

Boss Man: Hey. Were you expecting our call.
Dave: Yeah. That’s why I left a voice mail for you last night saying I’d gotten in at 2 and wasn’t sure I’d be on the call.
Boss Man: Yow. Sorry, man. Hey, that must be what that blinking red light is for …

And so it goes …

Good to be home.

Munchies

When Margie rolls out a faboo dinner, at home or in a large group setting, folks ask me if I eat that way all the time. If I did, of…

When Margie rolls out a faboo dinner, at home or in a large group setting, folks ask me if I eat that way all the time. If I did, of course, I’d weigh a few hundred pounds more than I do. And the same sort of simpler life is true for actual professional chefs as well.

What do famous chefs have for breakfast when they travel? Oatmeal, mostly.

For lunch? Something light, perhaps grilled fish or an egg salad sandwich on whole-wheat toast. For a quick bite? A Whopper and fries will do nicely.

Yes, when they are on the road, the stars of restaurants like Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., and Daniel in Manhattan eat pretty much like you and me before 8 p.m.

After 8 p.m., they get serious. They are adept at finding the best local restaurants, even in out-of-the-way villages, and they tuck into the foie gras and grilled turbot with gusto. But in general, they prefer simplicity at breakfast and lunch.

Which reminds me of the Julia Child quote: “I … go to MacDonald’s and Burger King on occasion. What else are you going to do when you’re on the road and you have to dash in for some food? They are pretty good; they’re clean, and you know what you’re getting. I don’t know why anyone would think I always dine on hummingbird tongues or something.”

“So what should we use? Harsh language?”

Not if you’re in Australia and you feel the need to criticize a particular religion or religious group. Under Australia’s Racial and Religious Tolerance Act of 2001, “A person must…

Not if you’re in Australia and you feel the need to criticize a particular religion or religious group. Under Australia’s Racial and Religious Tolerance Act of 2001, “A person must not, on the ground of the religious belief or activity of another person or class of persons engage in conduct that incites hatred against, serious contempt for, or revulsion or severe ridicule of, that other person or class of persons.”

Which sounds like a fine way to prevent people’s feelings from being hurt by nasty people. And, after all, it’s only for the most extreme cases. Except …

There’s a defense for people who, among other things, are “reasonably and in good faith” engaging in “genuine academic, artistic, religious or scientific” commentary, or otherwise acting “in the public interest.” But the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal held two months ago that this defense is available only to those who speak “reasonabl[y]” and who “honestly and conscientiously endeavour to have regard to and minimise the harm [the speech] . . . will . . . inflict,” as opposed to “us[ing the freedom of speech] as a cover to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate people.”

Among other things, speech that isn’t “a fair representation of [another group’s] religious beliefs” is punishable, as is speech that fails to “distinguish between moderate and extremist” members of a religion. Likewise, the tribunal seemed particularly troubled by speech that “mock[s] what [members of a religious group believe,” or “repeatly invoke[s] laughter from the audience when describing apparent [religious] beliefs.”

See — freedom of speech is a cover. Nifty.

While acknowledging that there is no right that is absolute (the famous “shouting fire in a crowded theater” and slander exceptions being noteworthy in American jurisprudence), freedoms are not freedoms if they are only available when reasonably used. By their very nature, far too many of the words in the Australian statute are open to interpretation, and the tribunal’s ruling shows just what that means: you’re free to speak, so long as it’s “reasonable” and “conscientious” and tries to “minimize harm.”

That’s not freedom of speech. That’s freedom to be polite.

And by its very nature, discussion of religion is likely to stir up a lot of emotions, both among those who speak in criticism of a particular doctrine, faith, or theism in general, and amongst those being criticized in turn. Telling folks that a judge will decide whether said criticism is duly careful and reasonable not only encourages folks to be overly-offended by speech against their religion, it further chills speech by making people second-guess themselves.

Just imagine, in this country, if …

… you couldn’t call Jerry Falwell’s a horse’s patootie for his talking about how 9/11 was God’s retribution on American society’s tolerance for gays and abortion and the like.

… you couldn’t criticize those crazy religionists for believing in some crazy guy up in the sky and using that delusion as a basis for passing laws.

… you couldn’t criticize those crazy atheists for not seeing the plain and obvious presence of the Lord in the world about us.

… you couldn’t criticize the Catholic Church for the child molestation scandal.

… you couldn’t criticize Islamic fundamentalists.

… you couldn’t criticize Zionists.

… you couldn’t criticize anti-Semites.

… you couldn’t criticize White Supremacists who drape their beliefs in religious trappings.

I mean, there’s a ton of opportunities here for everyone to hate (so to speak) a law like this, because not only can practically any personal ideology be pointed back to a “religious” belief (including atheism), but anyone can cry “I’ve been hurt! I’ve been offended! I’ve been subjected to words that cause contempt and severe ridicule of me by an unreasonable person who didn’t try to minimize the hurt of their words, and who didn’t realize the difference between my moderate faith and some unfortunate extremists who are lumped along with me!” … and there’s always a chance that some judge will agree with them.

I hate hate speech. But the growing move in other “free” countries (less so in the US, mercifully, but not entirely absent) to restrict speech that someone might consider hateful is, to me, much more of a threat than any lunatic hurling vile insults.

(via DOF)

Mmmmmm

Faboo dinner up the street at the Arroyo Chop House. Oh, yum. Ate too much, including an incredible veal chop, mushrooms, potatoes lyonnaise. Did skip dessert, but since I’d had…

Faboo dinner up the street at the Arroyo Chop House. Oh, yum. Ate too much, including an incredible veal chop, mushrooms, potatoes lyonnaise. Did skip dessert, but since I’d had a big, late lunch at a Mexican place nearby, I was more than full enough.
On the bright side, I checked out of the hotel this morning, so I’ll be on my way home tonight — late, but home. Yay!

No music for you!

Interesting article on how some TV series are unlikely to make it to DVD … because of the cost of relicensing the music that was originally used for it. WKRP…

Interesting article on how some TV series are unlikely to make it to DVD … because of the cost of relicensing the music that was originally used for it.

WKRP in Cincinnati was one of the most popular television shows of the late ’70s and early ’80s, but it is unlikely ever to be released on DVD because of high music-licensing costs.

The show, which centered on a fledging radio station with a nerdy news director and wild disc jockeys, had a lively soundtrack, playing tunes from rock ‘n’ rollers like Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Elton John and the Eagles.

For many TV shows, costs to license the original music for DVD are prohibitively high, so rights owners replace the music with cheaper tunes, much to the irritation of avid fans. And some shows, like WKRP, which is full of music, will probably never make it to DVD because of high licensing costs.

“The indication from the studios is that we may never see (WKRP in Cincinnati) because of all the music that would have to be licensed,” said David Lambert, news director of TVShowsOnDVD.com, a clearinghouse of information on TV shows released on DVD. “As the DJ spins the record as he’s talking to Loni Anderson, if there is music playing even for a couple of seconds, then the people producing the DVDs would have to license it.”

The dramatic (and welcome) increase in releasing TV shows to DVD has made this a much more visible issue.

The original theme song for the show Married … With Children — “Love and Marriage” sung by Frank Sinatra — was replaced on the third-season DVD. Fans also complained when the song “Nights in White Satin” by the Moody Blues was missing from a critical scene in the Wiseguy DVD set. The second-season DVD sets of Quantum Leap and Northern Exposure both contain noticeable music replacements. And DVD distributors don’t always reveal on the box cover that music has been replaced, either.

Only selected episodes from the first season of Ally McBeal have been released in the United States because of the high cost of music licensing. But in the United Kingdom, where different licensing deals have been struck, viewers can order all five seasons of the show.

Ultimately, the music studios are going to need to make relicensing costs a lot more reasonable for this stuff. If they don’t, TV producers will, looking forward toward DVD sales, simply not use “real” music. Which would be a loss for everyone.

The cost of success

Now that Firefox has gained so much market share from IE — it’s being targeted more by spyware and pop-up ad writers. Great. The upshot of spyware writers’ newfound attraction…

Now that Firefox has gained so much market share from IE — it’s being targeted more by spyware and pop-up ad writers. Great.

The upshot of spyware writers’ newfound attraction to Mozilla, Arrott predicts, will be that in the next six months or so computer security guides will stop recommending that people switch from IE to halt intrusions.

It’s not just spyware that users of alternate browsers are complaining about. Much-reviled pop-up and pop-under ads are also making it past blocking software, a trend that Matina Fresenius, chairman and CEO of ad-blocking software developer Panicware, attributed to the fact that most older programs were made with IE in mind. “I’m not sure if it’s specifically that advertisers are finding ways to sneak by ad blockers in alternate browsers. I think it’s just that most ad blockers don’t support the alternate browsers,” said Fresenius, whose company launched a pop-up stopper last week that is designed to work with both IE and alternate browsers like Mozilla, Opera and Netscape.

Mac users are also complaining about a rise in intrusive advertising. In the past few months in particular, Mac users have reported a dramatically higher incidence of unwanted pop-up and pop-under ads, said Ben Wilson, senior editor of the Mac site MacFixIt. Typically, Wilson said, Mac users are subjected to fewer unwanted pop-up and pop-under ads than PC users. He attributes this tendency to security features in Mac OS X’s architecture and to its smaller market share.

Still, Wilson said, a handful of ad delivery firms openly boast about their ability to subvert traditional blocking systems, and Mac users are feeling the effects of some aggressive advertiser tactics.

Now what will be interesting is how quickly the FF development community responds to the problem. On the bright side, it can’t be any slower than Micro$oft …

Hot and stuffy

Why, oh, why, are we meeting for the next few days in the south-facing window-covered 3rd floor conference room that gets full sunlight through said windows and is inadequately air…

Why, oh, why, are we meeting for the next few days in the south-facing window-covered 3rd floor conference room that gets full sunlight through said windows and is inadequately air conditioned especially when the door is closed?

Drinking coffee is probably not helping with the internal thermostat, of course, and all the notebooks powered up on the tables aren’t helping with the air temp, either.

SOx SUx

Hokey smoke

I don’t know if there’s been a sudden and massive cold wave somewhere ordinarily associated with fire and brimstone, but that’s at least as likely as having actually heard Daniel…

I don’t know if there’s been a sudden and massive cold wave somewhere ordinarily associated with fire and brimstone, but that’s at least as likely as having actually heard Daniel Schorr on All Things Considered say, regarding Bush and Iraq and Democracy in the Middle East that, “He may have had it right.”

Given Schorr’s general hostility toward Dubya and the US adventure in Iraq, that’s akin to hearing Sean Hannity talk about how Hillary Clinton might “have it right” on national health care. Could’ve pushed me over with a feather.

Kid Stuff

I am inclined to agree with the Supremes that sentencing juveniles (those under age 18) to death is “cruel and unusual.” While I have no doubt that some 17-year-olds are…

I am inclined to agree with the Supremes that sentencing juveniles (those under age 18) to death is “cruel and unusual.” While I have no doubt that some 17-year-olds are capable of making morally informed decisions, I’m also sure there are 18-year-olds who aren’t, and setting an arbitrary date is better than leaving it to the whims of juries and judges.

I don’t have a problem with capital punishment per se, I think there is sufficient doubt that it is used in this country in a broadly fair and equitable fashion that its use in any cases has to be open to question. In the case of ostensible juveniles, I would tend to err on the side of youth (acknowledging that the alternative is a life sentence, which is hardly a walk in the park).

Month: March 2005