Author Archives: brad

Ananova: Police believe teenage pranksters are hacking into the wireless frequency of a US Burger King drive-through speaker to tell potential customers they are too fat for fast food. Policeman Gerry Scherlink said the pranksters told one customer who had just placed an order: “You don’t need a couple of Whoppers. You are too fat. Pull ahead.”

Says Lloyd Hart, in the introduction to his article, The Racist Tapestry of Lord of the Rings:

I don’t imagine that it was the intention of the director or the producers of the Lord of the Rings films to paint a racist stereotypical tapestry over what could be described as a basic set of principles of humanity’s behavior in the natural environment and with each other.

Indeed. I can already tell that I’m going to enjoy this article. Racism in The Lord of the Rings, eh? Gee, I wonder what Lloyd’s political leanings are.

In these times when a homicidal maniac from Texas (the Texas capital punishment policy under Bush) has stolen the American throne and called for a “crusade” against the “evil doers” in nations that white people have been invading, terrorizing, raping and pillaging in for 5000 years with zero provocation…

Oh, OK. That answers that. Onto the story. He goes on to point out that all the dark stuff – dark skin, darkness, dark hair, etc. – is associated with Sauron. And then this tidbit jumps out:

Being part of a European family that has lived on the North American continent for 400 years I’ve been lucky enough to gain perspective that when you create an evil character (Uruk-hai) that resembles native Americans as they have done in the Lord of the Rings films a great deal of cultural and racial alienation will occur.

Maybe I’m just naive, but the Uruk-Hai didn’t make me think of Native Americans at all. In fact, I find that suggestion racist. For one thing, I’m fairly certain that Native Americans are born naturally, like other humans, and not bred by evil wizards bent on destroying the world’s natural resources. Secondly… never mind. I’m too tired for this right now. Comments are open everyone. Have at it. I’ll close with Lloyd’s closing thought…

After watching the Lord of the Rings films I thank the universe and Mother Earth for the Rap/hip-hop culture and the counterbalancing influence the Rap/hip-hop culture has on the youth here in America and around the world.

… and refrain from further comment.

Jerome, you really shot me Monday
You shot me so I don’t know what I’m doin’
Yeah, you really shot me now
You shot me in the thigh on my right

Jerome, you really shot me Monday
You shot me so I don’t know what I’m doin’, now
Yeah, you really shot me now
You shot me in the thigh on my right

You really shot me
You really shot me
You really shot me

See, I won a CBE
So I’ll defend the girl at my side
Yeah, you really shot me now
You shot me in the thigh on my right

Yeah, you really shot me now
You shot me so I don’t know what I’m doin’, now
Oh yeah, you really shot me now
You shot me in the thigh on my right

You really shot me
You really shot me
You really shot me
Oh no…

(solo)

See, I won a CBE
So I’ll defend the girl at my side
Yeah, you really shot me now
You shot me in the thigh on my right

Yeah, you really shot me now
You shot me so I don’t know what I’m doin’, now
Oh yeah, you really shot me now
You shot me in the thigh on my right

You really shot me
You really shot me
You really shot me

I almost cried this morning when I saw the headline Kinks’ Ray Davies Shot in Robbery Attempt. For a moment, I thought he was dead, and I realized how David must have felt when John Lennon died. Then I read the article and was tremendously relieved that he wasn’t even seriously hurt.

Then I sat back and smirked at the irony that he finally got himself shot down, four years later than he anticipated, and by someone he didn’t expect.

The music of Ray Davies dominated much of my high school career. So few people truly appreciate the genius of this man, and the wealth of music that he contributed to the world.

Police say he “showed poor judgement in running after the individuals” that stole his girlfriend’s purse and his money. I say he was just being the British gentleman he’s always been. In fact, I’d say he’s a well respected man about town, doing the best things so conservatively.

Here’s to you, Ray. I know tomorrow you’ll find better things.

USA TODAY reports that Carb-crazed Atkins dieters’ cutback on starches has taken a bite out of the $6 billion bread business this year, and breadmakers are responding with attempts at low-carb breads.

Score one more for the low carbers. I used to have to go to specialty stores for low-carb food, but I’m seeing more and more low-carb, high-protein foods in grocery stores these days, and I think it’s a great thing. I’m sick and tired of seeing low-fat this and lite that. I tried the low-fat diet for years and only got fatter. Switched to Atkins and lost 55 pounds in the first five months.

There are only two things I don’t like about the Atkins diet. First is that I can’t have as many pretzels as I would like. Now, some people may say that I seem to eat a pretty good amount of pretzels anyway, but they may be surprised to learn that I eat about 10% of the pretzels I crave. I especially miss them around 3:00 in the afternoon, often sitting at my desk, longing for something salty and crunchy.

The other thing I don’t like is all the naysayers. I recently came across a post on Mark Pilgrim’s site about low-carb food. I normally agree with 95% of Mark’s opinions, and I read his site faithfully, but I was disappointed to see him characterize the popularity of the Atkins diet as “based on convincing millions of Americans that the real problem with their daily Ultra-Happy-Double-Cheeseburger habit is the bun. I can certainly see why this would catch on…” Well, yeah, there may be some logic there, but when I switched to Atkins, I was eating very low-fat and only getting fatter. I went from around 200 pounds to 247 pounds by following a low-fat diet, and I was hungry the whole time. And yes, Mike, I was exercising regularly at the time, visiting MU’s new gym three times a week.

I’m rarely hungry, genuinely hungry, when I’m doing full-on Atkins. And I’m hovering between 187 and 192.

It’s funny. When I first started back in 2000, my family went nuts. They warned me that I was killing myself, playing with fire, blah blah blah. I appreciated their concern, but I did it anyway. My grandma was the most vocal opposition, but my most ardent supporter. Sunday dinner usually consisted of a lecture for me, followed by sugar-free Jell-o. Grandma rules. Now, several people in my family are considering the diet for themselves, after seeing that I not only lost the weight, but have kept it off for over three years.

So stories like the one in USA TODAY make me smile. low-fat dieters have plenty to pick from. Let’s give the low-carb folks a choice, too.

And after the holidays, I’m back on Atkins again. I feel lousy after the things I’ve eaten in the past two weeks.

2003 is almost gone. I say, “Good riddance!”

My predictions for 2004:
1. In a stunning upset, the general election in November will be won by Dave Mancuso. But the election will be taken from him in a legal technicality.
2. Apple will introduce the 20 inch PowerBook, which will double as a lunch tray or boogie board.
3. Nicole will continue to live in poverty, at the sub-$100,000 level.
4. Some things will not change. At all. Ever.
5. Grace will turn five.
6. Tangelo will see the light of day.
7. Dan will get a haircut and get a real job. Hopefully with us.
8. Mike will regrow his Grizzly Adams beard, prompting more people to tell him that he was great in Castaway.
9. Bill will branch out into new franchises, like six word sentences.
10. Jen will turn 31. I’ve decided not to.

One word review: Wow.

Two word review: Oh, man.

Three word review: Holy freakin’ crap.

Four word review: It was that good.

Five word review (just for Bill): The best of the trilogy.

I was blown away. Even Jen liked it, although the camera action during the battle scenes proved to be a bit more than she was comfortable with, triggering a headache for her. I had no such problem.

Was it perfect? By no means. The climax, quite honestly, felt a bit rushed. By saving Shelob’s lair until midway through Return of the King, I think Jackson miffed the pacing a bit. That left Sam and Frodo something like twenty minutes to get from the tower to Mount Doom, which of course they did. And the march from Minas Tirith to the Black Gate appeared to take about ten seconds. Some clips of the journey would have helped that. And yes, I know that during that long journey, Frodo and Sam struggled their way to Mount Doom. It just wasn’t as clear as it could have been.

Otherwise, it was a great film. Gollum, again, was perfect. He will be remembered as the first great CGI character. I didn’t realize until watching the appendices on the Two Towers DVD that Andy Serkis drove the development of Gollum quite a lot. They were already animating when Serkis showed up to audition, and Jackson liked what he was doing with his face so much that he had Gollum “redrawn” to be based on Serkis. It worked.

The ending choked me up, even though I completely knew what was coming. When Frodo boarded the ship with Gandalf, a tear welled up in my eye. I knew he was going to; I’ve the read several times. But even so, I’ve come to care about these characters so much more through the films.

And of course, there are rumors of the Hobbit. We can only hope.

I can’t wait for the extended edition of ROTK.

Two days remain in the year 2003 AD. It’s so typical, but the end of a year always seems to bring about a time of introspection and evaluation.

So what did 2003 bring for me? Lots.

New friends. Dan and Nicole both joined our department in 2003. Both have been not only tremendous assets to our school, but great friends as well. I’m very blessed to have such friends to work with. Mike and Dave aren’t too shabby, either.

New focus. My trip to Saddleback in California this July will be one of those events I will look back on as a turning point in my life. It helped me to refocus on what’s truly important. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to make the trip. Going through 40 Days of Purpose was quite educational for me as well.

New direction. After several years of puttering about with little more than good intentions, I finally released my first shareware title this year: Frequency. Sales haven’t been quite what I’d wished for (I haven’t quit my day job yet), but I have big plans, both for Frequency and its in-progress big brother, Tangelo. More is the hopper.

New challenges. This year also brought some personal challenges that were quite frustrating. Not all are completely resolved, and some may never be. I can’t go into much detail here for many reasons.

New technology. Panther, Movable Type, PHP, REALbasic, RSS, CSS. These technologies all helped me greatly during 2003. Not all are new for 2003, but they were new for me.

New adventures. Raising a child is always interesting, and this year didn’t disappoint. Gracie turned four this year and kept me on my toes the entire time. Jen and I, meantime, celebrated nine years of marriage in June. Next year: the big one oh.

Here’s to 2004.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Merry Christmas, my friends. May blessings be upon you today and throughout the coming year.

James Maguire has written an article for the NewsFactor Network entitled, “Hidden Costs of Mac Ownership.” His premise seems to be that Mac users often cite lower total cost of ownership as a benefit to using Macs, but that they are wrong. Here are some of his points, and my responses.

Attaining full compatibility at the office can be pricey. “Apple’s got some basic software included on most Macs for word processing and e-mail, but if you really need compatibility with Microsoft Office, you’ll need to spend the money for Microsoft Office,” Macworld editor Jason Snell told NewsFactor.

Apparently I didn’t get the memo informing everyone that Microsoft Office is now bundled with all Windows PCs. The last I heard, Office was still a separate purchase, or at least an expensive add-on. Unless he’s talking about NotePad, or its beefy big brother WordPad. All consumer-oriented Macs, however, come with AppleWorks, which in my experience does a passable job at opening and saving Microsoft Word documents (I do this frequently, whenever I already have AppleWorks running and I don’t feel like launching Word).

Virtually every Mac user can recall offers that are Windows only. For example, the local office supply store may carry network hubs that are Windows only.

I wouldn’t give you two cents for a network hub that claimed to work only with Windows, because that would be a pretty clear indication that the hub in question isn’t adhering to any sort of proper networking standard. Packets are packets and bits are bits.

Microsoft, perhaps unintentionally, created a new cost for the Apple faithful by discontinuing development of the Internet Explorer browser for the Mac. Mac users can use existing versions, but as Internet technology advances, Apple’s Safari browser will be compelled to follow IE’s lead.

Interestingly, when Microsoft announced its intention to discontinue Internet Explorer for the Mac, Safari was mentioned several times, almost as though Safari was to carry some sort of “blame” for the death of Mac IE, despite that fact that Mac IE had not seen a significant upgrade in three years.

Apple’s minority status creates yet another cost for its users: Support is harder to find and is often more costly.

And, let us not forget, quite often much less necessary.

“There are more Windows technicians around. Therefore, the cost of those technicians isn’t so high, compared to the rare Apple technicians,” IDC analyst Roger Kay told NewsFactor. On the other hand, “an apple technician may cost twice as much, but he comes to see you half as often.”

Because you only need him half as often! I support hundreds of Mac and PCs for a living. I can tell which ones need more maintenance, and their initials are P.C.

The only conceivable hidden cost, Snell noted, would be that “there are fewer Mac programs than PC programs, and so sometimes you might end up having fewer options, which could potentially force you to buy a more expensive package.” However, he noted that this rationale is something of a stretch.

Which kind of makes you wonder why he brought it up in the first place, doesn’t it?

Still, while many of the applications are cost equivalent, Apple users who want to stay current with the latest Mac operating system release have needed to pay $129 on a regular basis. When Apple released version 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3, each one of the releases cost $129.

First, 10.1 was a free upgrade. It was given away to anyone who could prove ownership of 10.0. Secondly, none of these updates was mandatory, and I know plenty of people (many at my school) who are still running 10.1 quite happily, blissfully unaware of what they are missing.

If Mac software can be expensive, or if tech help is costly, Mac users do not seem swayed from their affection, Meta Group analyst Steve Kleynhans told NewsFactor. “The Mac has its following, and its following has learned to deal with its foibles.”

Foibles. Unlike that paragon of stability and consistency we call Windows.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Tangelo.

Well, you can’t meet Tangelo yet, because it doesn’t exist yet. But you’ll be able to meet it soon.

Tangelo is (or rather, will be) a complete weblog solution. In Tangelo, the weblog, the database, and everything will reside on your own computer. You publish it to your web server when you see fit. At the start, Tangelo will support FTP publishing. I’d like to add support for WebDAV and local network publishing as well, but time will tell.

To use Tangelo, you’ll enter a new post, or story, or article, or whatever for your weblog. Give it a title, pick which sections to publish it to (think categories), and hit publish. Done. Well, after the files are transferred. Initially, I’d like to offer automatic support for RSS and Atom feeds.

I’d like to include some facility for including pictures in your weblog. Eventually I’d like to support bringing in raw images and providing tools for cropping and resizing them, but that’s a someday kind of thing. At first, it will be just a listing of pictures that you can include.

What other features would you like to see in a weblog system? (Don’t say spell-check.)