The Weblog With No Name

Score!

2011-08-13T22:54:00.017-05:00

Found on eBay and delivered August 13th.

"TO THE MOON". From Time Life Books and Records in 1969

6 records in slipcase, plus hardbound book concerning the race to the Moon.

Both in original slipcase, with much of the original plastic wrap still in place.

All in the original shipping box. All in astoundingly great condition. Along with all the other paperwork that came with the set, including an order form to buy another book/record set.

Original price in 1969, US$29.95
Price in 2011 (via eBay) US$39.95.

But wait, there's more!

The seller transferred the records to CDs. I was planning on playing the records once, in order to copy them to the Macintosh. Thanks to the gentleman I bought the set from, that task won't be necessary.

The records are recordings of speeches, space craft communications, etc. Haven't listened to them as yet.

I wanted to get this set back in 1969, but at the time, I couldn't afford it. Better late than never.

Original shipping box front

Original shipping box back

Slipcase for records and book

Slipcase for records

Record slipcase with record index.

Record in sleeve

9/11 Anniversary

2011-08-01T12:37:00.002-05:00

9/11/2011 is going to be a day of unending blowfullness. Not to mention the overweening, fulsome suckitude.

The festivities, and make no mistake, it WILL be a festival of xenophobia, self congratulatory rhetorical masturbation and all round bullshit, will likely inspire another wave of anti ground zero 'mosque' protests at the site of the planned islamic center.

Geller and her ilk will be wall to wall on Fox Noise.

NYC that day will be awash in faux patriotism and American flags made in China, as another few first responders die from the multiple illnesses resulting from their efforts on that day and the succeeding days as they searched the smoking rubble.

Sure, there will be grand statements about the bravery and sacrifice of the police and firefighters. Not one word will be spoken about the fight to get those people the health care they deserve, nor will one word be spoken about the GOP refusal to grant them care for the cancers that are slowly killing those heroes.

The Apple TV and I

2011-07-31T11:51:00.003-05:00

(the Apple TV in situ, along with DVD player, cable box and external speakers.)

This past July, I got a 1st gen Apple TV from eBay. Works fine, as Apple defines "fine". It's been upgraded with the current OS revision/ATV firmware. It's also been hacked with the latest "upgrade" software/firmware, and has XBMC (XBox Media Center) installed.

Having trouble getting the XBMC to "see" the drive/folder where all my video files are kept, as well as the iTunes music library.

Apparently, I need the equivalent of "Hacking the ATV for Dummies".

That said, the ATV, using the ATV software, works well enough to play video and audio via the LCD TV. The Boston Acoustics computer speakers/subwoofer are a huge improvement over the stock built in TV speakers.

Letter to Democrats.org

2010-09-23T19:54:00.002-05:00

Email today. Paper mail followup tomorrow.

When is the Democratic Party going to grow a pair, grow a spine, and vigorously confront the GOP on every damned issue, large, small and everything in between.

Goddammit! STOP caving in to the goddamn GOP. America wants their taxes cut for the poor and middle class. They want those damned Bush era cuts for the rich to die on schedule.

I am a 'yellow dog Democrat'. I've been voting for Democrats since my very first vote.

I voted for President Obama to do what he promised to do. I voted for the Democrats here in Massachusetts to help President Obama keep his promises.

This November, I am not all that sure that I will make the effort to vote.

If the Democrats in the House and Senate and White House are so goddamned reluctant to do what that landslide in November 2008 elected them to do, than I can't see why I should vote for those COWARDS who are so frightened of inconveniencing the big bad GOP.

The Democrats OWN the House. They could KEEP the House and they could OWN the Senate in November if you get off your collective asses and FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE GOP and the insanity of the Teabaggers!

If the Democratic Party wants me to vote for them, you had better start goddamned fighting for me and the rest of the Americans who gave you their money and their vote and their confidence in 2008.

Don't blame BP. Blame yourselves!

2010-06-02T16:38:00.002-05:00

To all those Gulf Coast states that constantly and consistently voted in GOP Senators, Representatives, state and Congressional, as well as GOP Presidents. That voted against your own best economic and social interests. That voted the way Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson told you to vote. That swallowed the lies of the GOP and begged for more.

The destruction of your coastlines, the destruction of your tourist-based economy, the destruction of your Gulf-based seafood harvesting economy, the destruction of countless jobs.

Actions have consequences.

You brought all this upon yourselves.

Rise of the New Tribes

2010-05-28T01:01:00.002-05:00

(Something I wrote YEARS ago. There's a big clue as to how long ago in the text.)

The rise of the new tribes.

The "subculture" is dead! Long live the new Tribalism!

Used to be, back in the day (1967/68) the Hippies tried to form something beyond the Establishment label of "counterculture", a label that was actually embraced by the nameless entity that the hippies were struggling to evolve into. The absurd amount of drugs, the chronic malnutrition occasioned by so-called "macrobiotic" diets, rampant apathy and the lack of wide bandwidth communication killed that idea in the womb.

The Hippies ended up as little more than some scattered communes and a marketing ploy aimed at the middle american teens who wanted a taste, the merest frisson of the Hippie lifestyle they had read about in Time magazine, Rolling Stone and had seen on TV and propaganda films screened by the Hygiene Squad at High School.

These were not pretty times, I know, I was there.

Today, we no longer have a single "counterculture" or even subcultures, we are seeing the rise of the New Tribalism.

New Age Hippies, Skaters (roller and board) urban bikers, hackers, the whole amorphous queer scene, hip-hop, 'zine creators, street gangs, goths, punks, goth punks, goth punk hackers, gay goth punk hackers. (This is getting confusing, innit?)

Myself, I'm part of several tribes, hacker (cDc), SF fan, SubGenius, slight goth leanings, although more because of my interest in H.P. Lovecraft than any desire to wear white pancake and smoke clove cigarettes.

The tribes I'm part of all have their own rituals and sub rosa language and customs, more to bind the tribe members together than to keep the outsiders at arms length.

What allows these New Tribes to develop and flourish is partly the breakdown of national societal norms, and the rise of wide bandwidth communications between tribalists. Yeah, the computer is part of it, as is the homemade 'zine and the DIY music cassette and CD. All of these have taken the place of the communal sweatlodge or the longhouse as a means for bonding the tribe members together.

Coupled with the easy access to world culture via cable TV, video and music, ethnicity is no longer a Big Deal. Who you ARE is the thing, not where your great grandparents came from or went to.

And like all primates and most higher mammals, we prefer to hang with those like us and look with some suspicion on those who are Not Like Us.

In fact, we like it so much, that households are often formed around a single aspect of our Tribes. Hackers, ham radio, punk music, crossdressing, heavy drug abuse, role playing games and anything else that interests people these days.

Some households actually occupy a real house, some don't even occupy the same continent, let alone the same city, yet a member of a household is welcomed into whatever structure another member is occupying at the time. Granted, you may have to doss down on a piece of foam rubber in a corner of a room, but hey, no problem, it is, after all, your house.

The Internet allows for households, or houses for short, to spring up and to allow far flung members of a house or tribe to keep in close touch with other members of his tribe. The same personal computer, balanced on a milk crate by the side of a cheap futon also churns out 'zines and is the MIDI driver for making music, and is the animation stand for making movies. Think of it as a multimedia Swiss Army Knife. Many of the New Tribes have an artistic bent, if not an overwhelming urge to create art, music, literature, something, anything to put a dent in the universe, to express themselves. The computer, the 'zine, the 4-track cassette deck, the camcorder, the potters wheel, the rubber stamp, the spray paint can, pirate radio, wall posters, all are part of the totem poles and cave paintings of the New Tribes.

To an extent, 'zines are also a way for keeping a tribe informed about tribal doings. (and I am NOT going to attempt to describe 'zines in this essay. Go read the books about 'zines published by RE/SEARCH and R. Seth Friedman. Or do an Alta Vista search. Eschew passivity, you lard-butted geek!) 'zines take the place of the tribal bards and lawkeepers, who once kept the traditions and customs of the tribe. Easy to do when your tribe is an extended family unit, occupying a finite chunk of earth and space. The New Tribe can transcend national and continental borders. Kind of hard for one individual to maintain the tribal cohesion.

Punk 'zines deal with the punk tribe, Grrrl 'zines deal with the Grrrl scene, and so on and so forth. Your tribal 'zines show up in your mailbox, and you spend hours reading them on the toilet and while chowing down on the cheap store brand Mac and Cheese. You get the latest dope on your tribe, the philosophy, the ideas, the culture that makes your Tribe, _Your Tribe_.

Why Tribes?

At least in America and Western Europe, there is a widespread rejection of so-called normal values. The normal values of making lots of money and accumulating meaningless material goods and status. Keeping up with the Joneses, as they used to say. More and more people have decided that this "normal" lifestyle is bunk and they want no part of it, regardless of the personal inconveniences. A satisfying job these days, one which enriches the jobholder spiritually or artistically, is preferable to large paycheck, earned via a job that stultifies.

Coupland's book, Generation X, is a pretty decent representation of the attitude exemplified by a lot of the New Tribes. Interpersonal relationships, 'friendships' as it were, are more important than the latest luxury car or the biggest screen TV on the block.

Some tribes, like the Skinheads, have multiple cultures. On one side, there are the anti-racist skinheads, who embrace all cultures and races. On the other, we see the racist skins, who despise any race and culture that doesn't conform to their tribal norms.

To the outsider, a skin is a skin is a skin, lumping straightedge and doper, SHARPs and bootboy nazis all under the classification of "Skinhead".

Then we have the groups that try too hard to be a tribe. One well-known pseudotribe is the "Rainbow Family". Frankly, their wholesale plundering of Indian customs and traditions with no regard or understanding of the cultural backgrounds involved, irritates the hell out of me. "Indians are cool, man, they like, 'embraced' the Earth and were all peaceful and everything." Yeah, right. Study some North American anthropological sources about the intertribal relationships of say, the Navajo and the Hopi or the Abenaki and everyone else in northeastern North America.

Their yearly Rainbow gatherings are well known in the rural areas like Vermont, California and other places with large enough state or national parks to support a few thousand people for a couple of weeks of New Age crapola and the possibility of salmonella and dysentery.

While they claim to welcome and embrace all, in reality, if one prefers beer to pot, you are segregated to a specific campsite for your tent. Not one of the hallmarks of a real tribe, in my opinion. But then, modern pseudohippies are notorious for their self-rightious hypocrisy.

Similarly, the Ku Klux Klan is a pseudotribe, in that members of one faction of the Klan are often not welcomed by other factions, harking back to the skinheads. At least those Klan factions that aren't mainly FBI fronts to sucker redneck yahoos into providing information on the Klan, Nazis and such like groups.

Speaking of Nazis, this is a tribe that seeks out anyone who can be influenced by their peculiar philosophies. For the most part, anyone who swallows the Nazi party line is pretty damn stupid, and would fall for someones party line, as long as it told him that he was better than anyone else. If not the Nazis, then the Socialists, the Democrats, the Republicans or the Church. But then, this is beginning to encroach into the concept of cults, where damnfools check in, but they don't check out. (See Scientology, The Moonies, et al ad nauseum)

For the most part, the New Tribes are voluntary associations, newly evolved and haltingly developing traditions and customs. In this instance, the "Modern Primitives", Goths and Science Fiction Fans are way ahead of the hackers and GenX 'slackers".

Generally speaking, our first exposure to tribalism is in school. The jocks, the geeks, the nerds, the bookworms, &ct. Depending on what tribe we are accepted/forced into, school is hell on earth, or just merely tedious. And what tribe you were in, or forced into by the school social hierarchy, oftens influences the social groups you associate with in college. Even to the extent of what frat or sorority one is inclined to join. And that tribe can follow and influence you for the rest of your life.

These tribes often have a long history and specific tribal customs, particularly when it comes to inducting new members. This can be anything from ritual embarrassment to locking the prospective member in a car trunk with a quart of gin and a live cat.

As society becomes more and more fragmented and dysfunctional, these New Tribes will gradually take the place of "Society" as the arbiter of the "normal" way of life for many people. This "customization" of society(s) by the tribe members will result in more and more enclaves in the major cities of the world, as well as rural enclaves, a phenomenon that's already occurring in parts of New England with members of the gay and lesbian Tribe. This voluntary ghettoization of the tribes, rather than an enforced dictate of the State, is becoming an attractive alternative to many people who are fed up with the B.S. and hassles of living in a "normal" society. And thanks to cheap computers and cheap Internet access, tribal communities will more and more cross national and continental boundaries, as well as eschewing the need for "cities", thumbing the collective nose at the local mores and society.

About bloody time!

Some will embrace this new freedom and run with it, some will act like psychotic monkeys on speed and tequila, and some will just carry on as if nothing is happening, living the "American" (or German, French, Japanese, Chinese, &ct) Dream while things get REALLY odd outside their front door.

And then, one day, they will realize that the World has gotten SO DAMN WEIRD, they flip out and start blaming things like music, movies, TV, drugs, the Internet, liberals, conservatives, Freemasons, Catholics, Jews, Moslems, Protestants, Atheists, homosexuals &ct, everything but their nice normal dysfunctional 'Society' for the change.

Meanwhile, their children are engaging in their own particular/peculiar Tribal rituals, activities and "society", oblivious to their parent's rants and raves and letters to the editor about "kids these days, and how they have no respect for tradition and family values!"

Well, they are respecting traditions, their own tribal traditions. They don't care for what their parents respect, and with good reason!

Edward Kennedy

2009-08-29T13:36:00.002-05:00

He's being laid to rest at Arlington today.

The Commonwealth has lost a great legislator and a good friend.

Mac OS X

2009-08-27T11:57:00.003-05:00

Time Machine FTW!

Time Machine just saved me a few hours or so of re-downloading an old public domain movie from Archive.org.

I inadvertently trashed the folder the film was in, and then emptied the trash.

"Ah, bugger. Oh, wait. Right. Time Machine!"

Opened Time Machine, went back a few hours, and there was the file. Select. Restore. Done.

Not dead yet

2009-08-16T11:53:00.002-05:00

The G4 died, 6 weeks later, I have (thanks to the generosity of friends) a "new" Mac. a dual processor G5.

So, just had some fun with it. I changed out the Nvidia video card for the Radeon 9600 Pro video card in the G4. I also installed the old Sonnet USB/FireWire PCI card I had in the G4.

Now, the video card has its own slot at the bottom of the stack of slots. The card also has a metal shield that was dangerously close to some solder joints on the underside of the USB/FireWire card.

I slapped some duct tape over the solder joints, trimmed off the excess and installed the card.

(Yes, I could have installed the Sonnet card in another slot. I still would have had a slot I couldn't use, due to the potential of a short between the video card and whatever card was installed in the neighboring slot.)

REBOOT!

Startup chime and then... nothing. Crap! Change out the card for the Nvidia. Reboot. Chime. Nothing. Hell! I KNOW I observed all safety precautions.

OK, work the problem. The computer booted WITH the Nvidia card. What changed? Aha! The USB/FireWire card. Pull the card. Reboot. Chime and boot to desktop.

As I'm setting the Sonnet card aside, I noticed that some of the tape is covering some contacts on the other side of the edge connector. The side I never looked at when I was trimming the tape.

Oooops!

Trimmed that little bit of tape. Installed the card. Reboot to desktop.

AHA! Install Radeon card. Reboot to desktop. USB/FireWire card works. Video card works. Heart starts working.

Really, I am getting too old for this sort of thing.

It Just Won't Stay Dead!

2009-06-10T23:26:00.004-05:00

2010. Comedy Central.

26 NEW Futurama episodes.

"Hey, Cancellation! Bite My Shiny Metal Ass!"

Speaking of pathetic weenies.

2009-06-05T02:02:00.003-05:00

One of the stupidest trolls on the Internet has decided to post some comments on this mediocre little weblog of mine. It showed up on the Eschaton blog a few years ago, and immediately began a campaign of vulgar and obscene postings.

I discovered how to get under its skin, to the point where it was begging me to lay off.

Of course, if it had come to Eschaton, seeking a reasonable discussion, couched in civilized language, it would have been welcomed, despite its political leanings.

But no, it decided to be a pest. As ye sow, so shall ye reap!

I shall leave its pathetic little comments on my mediocre little blog, as they amuse me. Its cries of impotent outrage are as the very music of the Angels unto my ears, and I drink deep of its tears!

Texaschilibean: Stumpbroke & Steercotted, say "hi" to your mother, sister and older brother for me, OK?

Go for it, guys and gal!

2009-06-05T01:26:00.003-05:00

So, some pathetic weenies have complained about this ad campaign With Sally Ride, "Buzz" Aldrin and Jim Lovell.

All you pathetic weenies, listen up!

Your negative comments are understandable.

You realize that you will never be as cool and as competent as those three people in that image.

You will never do anything with your lives even 1% as amazing & exciting & history making as those three people.

You go to work, and the worst that happens is the office coffee sucks.

Jim Lovell went to work one day and made death in space his very own personal little bitch.

Ed Aldrin went to work one day, and discovered that his ride home was broken. The LM was incapable of lifting off from the Moon. A critical circuit breaker was munged.

So, in true MIT Ph.D fashion, he hacked that LM circuit breaker...

With. A. Ballpoint. Pen.

So, what did YOU do at work today?

Sally Ride, oh yeah! The Shuttle has so many critical points of unrecoverable fatal to the crew failure that Chinese bottle rockets have a better safety record.

She has more balls than a Jeff Stryker movie.

I was three miles from a Shuttle launch, STS-4. The exhaust from the SRBs, if the wind changed, well, we were told to get under shelter ASAP. You don't want to be exposed to the exhaust of the SRBs. Not at all.

Just watching a Shuttle launch from the press site can be dangerous. There's 14 names on the Wall at KSC that are testimony that the Shuttle can kill you in horrible ways.

If Ride, Aldrin and Lovell can make a little coin by being in the same picture with some LUGGAGE, what the hell does it say about them, their history and their iconic status that Louis Vuitton is paying them a bundle to be in the same picture with some LUGGAGE?

You pathetic weenies WISH someone would pay you that kind of money, just because of who you are and what you accomplished in your life.

Louis Vuitton wants a little of their fame and status to rub off on its luggage.

Can't say I blame them for wanting that.

Bob Ruzzo

2009-05-03T00:20:00.002-05:00

I've known this guy for YEARS!

Artist, musician, all around creative fellow.

This is his music website. Really, you should go there and listen to some of his music.

And if he'd get off his duff and start selling his CDs online already...

Wild Turkeys

2009-04-06T19:19:00.002-05:00

Seen around 5:30 PM, April 5th, 2009, at the beginning of the Neponset River pedestrian trail near the Central Avenue MBTA trolley stop in Milton, MA.

Hey, Glen Beck, try THESE principles!

2009-03-16T15:12:00.003-05:00

"The principles by which Buckaroo Banzai, M.D., Ph.D lives are known as the Five Stresses, the Four Beauties and the Three Loves. Things to be stressed are decorum, courtesy, public health, discipline and morals. The Four Beauties are the beauties of mind, language, behavior and environment. The Three Loves are love of others, love of justice and love of freedom."

Dr. Banzai can AND HAS kicked Chuck Norris' butt on several occasions.

The 'Impact' rally in Boston.

2008-11-17T01:12:00.003-05:00

I was there, along with over 2000 of my closest friends.

Helped some sweet dykes get their rainbow flag hoisted. (Lovely women, but couldn't tie a knot to save their lives!) took a bunch of pictures.

This is my favorite:

To see things like this, fills me with hope and optimism. Seeing these two older, distinguished gentlemen, having a conversation with a teenaged Asian girl, speaks so much about what we can be as a society and have become as a society. That these people, who some would think were separated by the gulfs of race and age were engaged in a conversation, the one, learning from and about her elders, the other two, encouraged and energized by this child.

Yes. This IS what hope looks like, what it feels like.

November 15th. 1:30 PM. Boston. City Hall Plaza.

2008-11-13T15:30:00.004-05:00

Protest against Prop 8 in California. Rally for full equality for citizens.

Both the Massachusetts and U.S. Constitutions guarantee all citizens the full and equal protection of and under the law.

I'm straight. I support marriage equality.

I'll be there.

(edit) crossposting my comment from the Facebook Boston Rally page:

"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph."

Thomas Paine, The Crisis -- December 1776

Have fun at your "riding lessons and 'American Girl stuff", your "plays", your "other plans".

Sorry that you won't be there in Boston because of the icky rain. Wouldn't want you to be the least bit uncomfortable.

I'm 56 years old. I am badly afflicted with arthritis. Standing in the cold and the rain will hurt like HELL for me. I'm also straight. But I'll BE THERE for my gay brothers and sisters. No matter what.

I can't really say that I'll miss seeing you 'sunshine soldiers' there.

If you look long enough, you can find anything on the Internet.

2008-11-10T06:10:00.002-05:00

For example:
Bertrand R. Brinley's 'Rocket Manual For Amateurs'. Published in 1960, it has long been something of the Holy Grail for modern amateur rocketeers.

Chock full of technical details, design specs, and rocket fuel recipes. And that's the reason why it's been out of print for decades.

Rocket Fuel. There are some seriously dangerous formulas in this book. You could easily kill yourself if you did something stupid.

And of course, in this post 9/11, "BE AFRAID!" day and age, as well as the irrational fear of anything that might possibly hurt someone, no one is going to take on the potential liability for republishing this book.

However, getting back to the subject of this posting.

The book is on the Net as a PDF scan of the pages. I just downloaded it myself. Not that I'm planning to brew up rocket fuel in my apartment or launch rockets from the roof of the building.

No, I downloaded it because I'm now one more person that has the PDF, making it just slightly more difficult for this book to be lost and forgotten.

While I'd love to have a genuine hardcopy of the book, the cheapest version I have seen recently was US$50.00 via eBay. Maybe someday I'll be able to spend that kind of money on a 40+ year old paperback book.

Oh, the URL?

Sure. Here you go: http://www.filestube.com/1144a11ae0e8381203ea/details.html

You'll have to download three seperate files, though, via Rapidshare, which will take you about 45 minutes to get all of them, and then use some manner of file decompression utility to expand the .rar files.

Oh, and then there's the matter of the file password.

It's Brinley.

DISCLAIMER!!! I am not responsible for ANYTHING that YOU DO with this book. Don't be stupid! If you have a "Here, hold my beer" moment and wind up getting a Darwin Award, that's not MY FAULT. No way, no how.

Got that? Good.

Ain't that America!

2008-11-06T18:52:00.002-05:00

Has it been that long?

2008-09-30T23:07:00.003-05:00

Apparently so.

Save for two trips to NYC, multiple X-Rays and MRIs of my right shoulder, plucking a very nice Macintosh Beige G3 Desktop (with Sonnet 500 Mhz G4 drop in CPU installed) off a Cambridge street corner, said Mac to become my graphics workstation, avoiding early jury service AGAIN, and emailing my Congressman and both Senators, as well as sending actual papermail to their offices, concerning the Wall Street Meltdown and potential bailout, there's not been much writing about.

So, here's the "new" computer:

Yes, that is the "My Life as a Teenage Robot" logo. Gotta love a cartoon where the aforementioned Teenage Robot says things like, "Thank Jobs!" (as in Steve Jobs)

Time for my nighttime pills.

"And so to bed!"

If it wasn't for Alan, you wouldn't be reading this!

2008-06-24T08:37:00.003-05:00

ALAN MATHISON TURING
23 June, 1912 - 7 June, 1954

Simply put, Turing is the father of the digital computer.

Dumb Little Thug

2008-06-18T16:55:00.003-05:00

The person holding the camera is myself.

The older gentleman is homeless and lives in his car in the parking lot of a supermarket.

The dumb little thug was arrested shortly after he fled from the scene. He plead guilty last week, thanks to the video evidence.

18 months supervised probation, on top of his current probation (I said he was dumb!) and random drug and alcohol testing.

When you're out thugging, if someone is videoing you, you don't look right at the camera and make threats, make threatening gestures, throw stuff and otherwise MAKE IT WORSE FOR YOURSELF!

You run like hell AWAY from the camera.

Well, THERE'S your problem!

2008-06-11T21:22:00.003-05:00

A little parking problem on Alpine Street, just around the corner.

The Latest and Greatest!

2008-05-28T15:48:00.006-05:00

UPDATE/EDIT

Mac OS X - 10.5.5

What we can do if we try.

2008-05-27T01:28:00.003-05:00

The Phoenix Lander and Parachute, photographed as it descends to Mars.

Article here.

Phil Plait says it better than I ever could:

Humanity can do whatever we can imagine. We have only but to decide to do it.

Thank you, Mr. Buckles!

2008-05-27T00:51:00.003-05:00

Last known surviving U.S. WWI veteran.

And thank you, too, Mr. Babcock!

Best. Keyboard. EVAR!

2008-05-25T00:13:00.009-05:00

There's this podcast, "The Talk Show", and these two guys sit around and talk about computers.

They both use Macs and this episode (download MP3) (iTunes) is an hour and 2 minutes of nothing but the Apple Extended Keyboard and Apple Extended Keyboard II.

I use the original Extended Keyboard myself, and listening to this podcast, I learned that the keyboard I use is one of the first generation of Apple Extendeds. Old School, baby!

I also learned that when these keyboards were introduced in the late 1980s, they retailed in the US$170.00 range.

I can believe it. The quality of the parts and the quality of construction is first rate.

It must be, as I'm using a 20 year old keyboard I bought for a dollar at Goodwill, and it works like it just came off the assembly line.

That's my Apple Extended Keyboard up there, by the HP-45 Calculator and Western Electric 4A SpeakerPhone microphone pedestal.

When I got the "new" Mac, it lacked an Apple Desktop Bus port, needed to use the Extended Keyboard.

I found a Griffin iMate interface on eBay for a reasonable sum. Plugged it in, plugged the keyboard into the interface, rebooted, that was it. It worked perfectly.

I was very pleased, as I was NOT going to do without my Extended Keyboard!

Well, how odd!

2008-05-23T17:32:00.008-05:00

Works Progress Administration logo

The wireless connection went all wonky after I fixed a ton of errors on the boot disk with the Disk Utility application on the OS 10.5 disk.

I could not connect to the router. Tried all sorts of things with no success. The Airport Extreme card kept self-assigning an IP address and wouldn't play nice with the router.

Then I found a message on the machintsosx message boards, referencing a document on Apple.com.

I read the document, and thought that there's NO WAY this will fix things.

"Change from WEP security to WPA security." is what was suggested.

"What the hell, lets try it", I thought.

It works.

So, right now, the wireless connection is working flawlessly... right now.

I think that tomorrow I might hit MicroCenter in Cambridge and see if the Ethernet card I want is in stock. I prefer an Internet connection I can trust to stay connected.

(edit) Well, the wireless connection has stayed up and running since this post went live.

Looks like the fix works.

Go figure.

Back to normal!

2008-05-22T09:19:00.002-05:00

For some reason, the new operating system, Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.2), was VERY slow when accessing the Internet. Web pages took minutes to fully load, if at all.

Turns out it was the Ethernet card in the computer. The built in Ethernet port is dead, and the card uses a chipset that does not play well with Leopard.

So I turned on the wireless connection between the computer and the DSL modem/router as an experiment.

And that was it. The card was at fault and the wireless connection is as fast as the previous OS Ethernet connection ever was.

I'll see about getting a new Ethernet card next month, as I prefer a hardwired connection for reasons of security.

A quick update

2008-05-19T18:10:00.004-05:00

OS X 10.5 has been successfully installed!
I needed to download only ONE updated application to replace a previous version that was not compatible with Leopard.

Currently downloading the large QuickTime update and the Big Mc Large Huge 10.5.2 combo update.

If The Force and St. Vidicon are with me, I'll have a fully patched and up to date OS running on my Macintosh Real Soon Now.

Ah, eBay, from which all blessings flow!

2008-05-19T09:53:00.006-05:00

I have this Macintosh Mirror Door Drive (MDD) tower computer, sitting on the floor under the table I use as a computer "desk".

About two weeks ago, I had it on my workbench (aka the kitchen countertop) to install a new video card. At the same time, I had to clean out all the dust and crud that had accumulated in it.

This particular Mac model has some prodigious ventilation needs, due to the dual 1.42 Ghz. processors and massive CPU heat sink.

I had to use the vacuum cleaner to get all the dust, etc out of the inside, and you do not want to know about the mat of dust and hair that had been blocking the main air intake for the tower.

Recalling that there had been some attractive aftermarket "riser" legs for this type of Mac tower, I did a bit of Googling and found them!

However, they are no longer manufactured!

So, off to eBay!

And there they were.

Kept an eye on them for a few days, no one was bidding, I placed the minimum bid and waited.

I won them, PayPal-ed the money, and they arrived the other day.

And here they are, installed on my Macintosh:

They'll go a long way towards keeping the dust and whatnot from getting into the computer, as well as keeping that main air intake vent unclogged.

RE: Apple Store Opening

2008-05-17T15:16:00.003-05:00

Was there, Did that, and indeed, I DID get the t-shirt!

I'm currently moving all the images and video from the memory card to a hard drive. They'll be available later.

So, I got there at about 3:00 PM, and the line was already around the block. Eventually, word had it, the line reached the Charles River.

Lots of press, including two helicopters. Spent most of the time chatting with fellow Mac users.

About 20 minutes before the doors opened, the staff came out, and ran down the line cheering and high fiving people. Getting the energy up for the opening.

At a little after six, we began to move towards the door. Inside, on either side and all the way up the huge circular staircase, the staff had lined up and were applauding and cheering and again with the high fives!

It was, without doubt, one of the most amazing experiences during my time in Boston. I could not stop grinning.

The noise! Oy! I could not hear myself as I made a brief video. I'm hoping that I'll be able to edit (in iMovie, of course!) all the video clips into something coherent.

The store itself is in the old CopyCop location across from the Prudential (for all you current and past Bostonians.) and is three stories tall, glass fronted, with the Apple logo promenently displayed.

Every horizontal surface that has a product on it is wheelchair accessable. That is, someone in a chair can roll right up close and play with the toys. There are elevators in the back of the store for the use of the disabled and the lazy.

There are LOTS of computers available to mess with, as well as iPhones and iPods.

I was in there about 45 minutes and then had to leave (the bladder was being quite insistant!

I'll be going back, more to play with the hardware than actually buy anything.

After actually being there, I now understand why people make trips to attend the openings of new Apple Stores.

The Big Day!

2008-05-14T21:21:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow, Thursday, 15 May 2008, at 6:00 PM, the very first Boston Apple Store opens its doors on Boylston Street, across from the Prudential Center.

I will be there, and, I hope, among the first hundred in line so I can get a limited edition t-shirt, among other goodies Apple hands out. (edit) There were MORE than enough t-shirts available!

Oh, yes. There WILL be photographs!

(photo of Boylston Street Apple Store copyright © 2008 by Apple. Used with permission)

Happy Anniversary!

2008-05-08T00:37:00.003-05:00

In a week, it'll be one year since I lugged the Apple 21" CRT Studio Monitor home. Hasn't given me a moment of trouble in all that time.

There's a reason Apple has such a devoted fan base.

They make superb hardware, to go along with their superb software and operating system.

There's nothing better!

A little hardware geekery

2008-05-07T06:43:00.002-05:00

Over the past few weeks, my Macintosh has received:

An upgraded Core Image compatible Video Card (Thanks, Keith!), another Gigabyte of RAM, and the 6 Gigabyte hard drive has been replaced by an 80 Gigabyte hard drive.

Next month (assuming the budget doesn't get blown by something unanticipated) I'll add the Apple Bluetooth transceiver module, in anticipation of adding a Logitech (or similar) wireless mouse at a future date.

There is also the potential for adding a Bluetooth headset for use with Skype/video iChat and/or other VOIP/video IM services. Depending on what shows up at the MIT Flea Market a suitable webcam might also be added to the system.

I would LOVE to get the discontinued Apple iSight camera. Apparently, so does the rest of the Apple using universe. Used iSights on eBay and elsewhere are selling for far more than I can afford/am willing to pay.

The X-Box 360 webcam is an often recommended webcam for Mac users, even though it lacks a built-in microphone, a la the iSight webcam.

A very attractive audio device for use with the X-Box camera is the Griffin iMic USB audio I/O interface. This would allow the use of an external microphone with the X-Box camera.

Also, as it has an audio out jack, my desire to have extension computer speakers in the kitchen area and the bathroom would be that much closer to reality.

Now, if only broadband would get to the neighborhoods of a few friends of mine with computers, Skype, iChat, et al, would save everyone so much money on their phone bills!

"As Seen On TV!"

2008-05-02T09:49:00.008-05:00

Ben Stein, shilling for the anti-evolution/pro "Intellegent Design" movie, 'Expelled', on the Trinity Broadcasting Network:

Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you.

Crouch: That’s right.

Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.

Crouch: Good word, good word.

Ben, it wasn't "Scientists" that blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, set off bombs at the Atlanta Olympics, Planned Parenthood clinics and gay bars in that part of the US, murdered Jewish radio talk show host Alan Berg. These crimes were committed by devout, True Believers in their particular faith. Their only interest in "science" was how to make bombs and poisons.

(sourced from boingboing.net, The Panda's Thumb and National Review Online)

A&E and the Andromeda Strain

2008-04-29T21:58:00.003-05:00

Remember how good the movie was?

Yeah, well, the two parter of The Andromeda Strain that'll be shown on A&E starting memorial day is not that good.

OK, I can live with the error about Buckminster Fuller discovering "Buckyballs", rather than having them named after him.

But come on! Having the WILDFIRE site powered by a small nuclear reactor with an open pile, looking like a fuel rod storage pool, complete with the blue glow of Cherenkov radiation.

And then there's the wormhole from whence came the Andromeda Strain.

Don't forget the secondary and tertiary sub-plots concerning a substance abusing reporter AND a Government Conspiracy, a la The X-Files.

OY! Just... Oy.

The first part IS pretty good, and 3/4ths of the second part holds the attention, but, yeah, the whole reactor thing just ruined it for me.

Your milage may vary.

Rating: C+.

The things you find when you look up!

2008-04-22T15:10:00.004-05:00

Yes, it's THAT 'Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry'. You know, these guys!

It's about a 20 minute stroll from where I live.

Gone, but not forgotten

2008-04-12T12:56:00.004-05:00

(found on the space.com website)

A monument to Laika, the first dog to go into space, standing on top of a rocket, is unveiled in Moscow, Friday, April 11, 2008. Russian officials on Friday unveiled the monument to Laika, a mongrel dog whose flight to space more than 50-years ago paved the way for human space missions. The small monument is located near a military research facility in Moscow that prepared Laika's flight to space on Nov. 3, 1957. Credit: AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky.

Look! Up in the sky!

2008-02-21T20:38:00.003-05:00

Taken with a little Kodak point and shoot digital camera from the living room window of my apartment.

I had to fiddle with the brightness and contrast a bit.

I was surprised to see that the camera captured the star Regulus, as well as Saturn. Click to see the larger image and the planet & star.

Why a "Liberal Arts" Education?

2008-02-01T01:54:00.000-05:00

That's why!

"...a day which will live in infamy!"

2008-01-26T20:20:00.000-05:00

(with apologies to the memory of FDR!)

Today is the first anniversary of the Great Boston LED Freakout and Mooninite Pwnage.

"It had a very sinister appearance,"

So does Dick Cheney.

[Massachusetts Attorney General Martha] Coakley told reporters. "It had a battery behind it, and wires."

So does Dick Cheney's heart.

Does this mean that we can get the Boston Bomb Squad to blow up Dick Cheney?

Never Forget!
01-31-2007

(edit) MAKE magazine recalls 01/31/07!

OMG! LED art invades Boston on the first anniversary of 01/31/07!

Make your own LED light board.

And in BLOCKBUSTER April 8th.

2008-01-13T19:26:00.001-05:00

"Get offa my lawn, you damn terrorists!"

And I'm officially 'healed'.

2008-01-04T14:46:00.000-05:00

I saw the surgeon the other day and he pronounced my sugical wound healed, and that I would no longer need the services of the home health care nurses.

The straight black lines are adhesive residue from the tape used to hold the dressings in place.

You could click on the image for a much larger view, but I wouldn't recommend it. There's really not much to see and the image IS huge.

Now, if it would only stop itching!

Happy Holiday Wishes to one and all!

2007-12-25T11:42:00.001-05:00

iSeasons iGreetings

May you reject and be kept safe from the heresies spawned by the Father of All Lies in Redmond, and accept the loving iEmbrace of Sts. Jobs and Woz.

In the Name of The Hardware, The OS and The Holy iPod.

ThinkDifferent!

Ultimate Apefighting

2007-12-18T21:02:00.000-05:00

Eventually we're going to see something like this on pay per view TV.

Man vs. Chimpanzee.

Tyson vs A Bigass Monkey is coming. Mark my words!

You can't make this stuff up.

2007-12-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

This is not a scene from a movie.

This is a scene from real life.

A street market in Thailand that shares its space with a set of working train tracks and the occasional train.

We live in an absurdly and wonderfully random world.

(Via the ever entertaining Telstar Logistics weblog.)

And how was YOUR Thanksgiving?

2007-11-25T00:18:00.000-05:00

Mine was spent recuperating from some minor surgery on my back.

The 21st, I had an abscessed lipoma removed from my back.

I was in at 9 AM and out by 4:30 PM. The worst aspect was the hurry up and wait. The actual moving to the O.R. didn't occur until noon, I was done by 1 PM or so, and then the next three hours or so were just waiting. First in the recovery room, then in the post recovery room.

Since I had a tiny bit of sedation, I HAD to get a ride back to the apartment. Once I was back here, I used the bathroom and then was right out again to get an antibiotic prescription filled.

Apparently, once I walk in the front door of the apartment, any liability that the hospital might have is ended and I'm on my own.

It would have been so much easier and faster had I been allowed to walk out the front door of the hospital on my own, stop at the pharmacy to drop off the prescription.

So it goes.

So as promised elsewhere, before

and

after images of the tumor and surgery.

As Warren Ellis frequently warns readers on his weblog:

"DON'T LOOK!"

Seriously. Do. Not. Look.

The images are BIG and GRAPHIC.

Good News, Everyone!

2007-11-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

It's on pre-order from Amazon, but when it all but fell into my lap on USENET, well, instant gratification IS my birthright as an American!

And after watching the movie, it'll be worth every penny!

What's really sad is when Futurama can do a much more convoluted time travel plot and story than Star Trek, and do it better, and resolve the multiple paradoxes without all that handwaving that Trek does.

Altar

2007-10-13T21:55:00.000-05:00

St. Angela's Church in Mattapan, on a hot summer evening.

I like the contrast between the dark, almost monochromatic street and the brightly lit altar in the church, seen through the opened doors.

It's Official! No jury service for me!

2007-10-06T11:06:00.000-05:00

I called the jury commissioner's office this past Monday and it was confirmed that I'm not eligible until sometime in November of 2009.

And the other day, the mailed notification arrived that I'm exempt from service.

I wouldn't greatly mind serving, except that the jury pool rooms I've been in are just damned uncomfortable. Too warm, too stuffy and the chairs are just painful.

With a little luck and financial discipline, I should have a video iPod by the time I get jury duty again. At least I can have some movies and music to distract me from the chair jabbing me in the kidney and de-articulating my vertebrae.

The last few days.

2007-09-30T10:49:00.000-05:00

I've got a fatty tumor (aka, a "Lipoma". Just a lump of benign tissue) on my back going bad.

It's infected, hurts a bit and it will be seen to sometime next week.

Did something to my right calf muscle a week or so ago, it's sore and stiff.

My doctor had me get an ultrasound scan of the leg, to determine if the pain and stiffness was due to a deep vein thrombosis, which could result in blood clots in my lung(s) and death.

That would be bad.

The scan was negative, I'm pleased to say. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes.

So, Monday will be busy for me. Call the jury commissioner's office, make the appointment to see a doctor about my back, write the monthly checks (dammit! Why isn't PayPal an option to pay the rent, phone and cable bills?), buy more checks, buy jewel cases for all the DVDs I have to send out this week, burn all the DVDs I have to send out this week, get an ethernet cable, get money for the laundry machines in the building, order a few books and things via the Internet, buy groceries and on the way home, buy my bi-monthly pizza.

Yes, it's ALL GO, here at Slovenly Tucker Hovel!

Jury Service Update

2007-09-30T10:47:00.001-05:00

So far, no reply from the jury commissioner's office.

If there's nothing in the mail tomorrow, I'll make a phone call and find out my status.

The battle has been joined!

2007-09-15T14:01:00.000-05:00

Right. Thursday, I get a jury service summons in the mail! Which is odd, because I'd done my service in November of last year, and in Massachusetts, once you've fulfilled your obligation, you're exempt from service for three years.

So, somewhere in the apartment is the certificate of service that was mailed to me by the Jury Commission, stating that I am exempt from service until at least November 18th, 2009.

But WHERE is it?

After MUCH poking about, and not a little cursing, stewing and muttering, I finally found it!

FREE AT LAST!

I filled out the little postcard that is part of the summons, checked off the correct box in the "I'm Disqualified Because..." section, and filled in all the needed details.

Mailed it off Saturday.

For all the good it will do. The Central Bureaucracy has me down for jury duty this coming November.

I fully expect that I'll have to actually go to the Jury Commission offices, with the original certificate (which will NEVER LEAVE MY POSESSION!) and a sheaf of photocopies of the certificate to hand out as need be, and spend an inordinate amount of time there, explaining that yes, I did my service last year, and that I am not required to do jury service again until almost 2010.

Or, a miracle COULD happen and I'll get a letter stating that, yes, I was summonsed in error and that yes, I am exempt until sometime in November of 2009.

And monkeys might fly out of my butt.

Like there was any question!

2007-09-12T09:05:00.000-05:00

Oh, REALLY, Senator Craig?

2007-08-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

You have a "wide stance" when you are sitting on the toilet, and that "wide stance" was why you touched the vice cop's foot in the next stall?

Senator Craig, you must have hips like a Rumanian gymnast, if your "wide stance" resulted in your feet intruding into stalls on either side.

Oh, Come on! At least make an effort!

2007-08-27T09:04:00.000-05:00

I swear! Kids today. Lazy as the day is long!

Jeebus! I used to think that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was a school full of smart people.

Not any more. Look at that. Didn't even try to spoof an appropriate return address.

NERD PRIDE!

2007-08-25T17:06:00.000-05:00

My "New" floor lamp

2007-07-23T12:16:00.000-05:00

Found it on the curb, awaiting the trash pickup. The switch wasn't working, and as a replacement socket would be a pittance, I brought it home.

Here's what the problem is:

It's a three-way socket, and as such, has a rotary switch. The knob screws onto the switch shaft inside the socket.

The threads on the knob were stripped. I stuck a short length of thin wire into the threaded bit on the knob and screwed it back onto the switch shaft.

Works just fine now.

Plenty of light to read by, and as the light reflects off the wall and ceiling, it provides ample, glare free illumination for the entire room, and there is no reflection of the lamp itself on the screen of my monitor.

At some point, I'll replace the three-way socket with a simple on-off socket, as I use Compact Fluorescent bulbs, and the switch itself is quite stiff to turn. I can see how the threads on the knob wound up getting stripped.

What annoyed me greatly about this lamp is that the fix was SO simple. Yet, someone didn't even bother to diagnose the problem and attempt to fix it.

Oh, and as for the Harry Potter book 7 shipping box affixed to my air conditioner. The A.C. is not that powerful, and the vents direct the cool air upwards. The box redirects the air flow downward and towards my chair.

Bridge goes up, bridge goes down

2007-07-22T23:56:00.000-05:00

The Granite Avenue Bridge, over the Neponset River, between Boston and Milton.

If you listen carefully, you can hear the bridge operators yelling at a couple of jerks to move their cars.

About every other year, the bridge gets stuck in the "UP" position. Hilarity, needless to say, ensues.

Rev. Longcrier speaks...

2007-07-17T17:34:00.000-05:00

...you listen!

Brief Verizon DSL update

2007-07-03T11:19:00.000-05:00

So far, it does seem as if Verizon has fixed the DSL problems that were plaguing me and just about everyone else in the area.

The service has been glitch free for the last week, long BitTorrent downloads have been uninterrupted. Streaming audio has been fine. Regular FTP up/downloads have also been unaffected.

I have to say that, save for the clueless (for the most part) tech support people, and the annoying long time it took to replace the faulty server, I have been very happy with Verizon DSL, and I do recommend it to anyone interested in getting a high speed connection.

Not to mention ten years!

2007-07-03T11:03:00.001-05:00

I started reading the Harry Potter books around the time they started getting in the news, due to the security procedures in place to prevent early sales.

It was my birthday, and I was in the local drugstore getting a prescription filled. I had wandered over to the magazine/book section, and, on a whim, picked up a large format softbound edition of the first book as a gift to myself. The second book, Chamber of Secrets, was also there.

I get home, open the book, and read it in one sitting. I was really annoyed that by the time I had finished the book, the drugstore was closed and I had to wait until the next day to buy Chamber of Secrets!

Which I did. I also ordered the third book from Amazon.com.

A few weeks later, at Arisia, the regional science fiction convention in Boston, I gave the books to an old friend. (She says I threw them at her.) She was so instantly hooked on them, she went and bought book three before she had finished Chamber of Secrets.

So, here it is, only a few more days until the 5th movie and a few more weeks to the final book.

Amazon had better make good on its promise to deliver my book on the 21st, or there will be hell to pay. Or at least a full refund!

The iPhone line in Central Square

2007-06-29T20:25:00.001-05:00

Pictures taken about 4:00 PM or so in Central Square. All waiting for the chance to buy an iPhone.

I wonder what the backstory is?

2007-06-27T19:51:00.000-05:00

Was someone digging through their backpack, desperately searching for a few more coins to cover the bus fare, discovering this ancient cassette, and deciding then and there to toss it, after not even having a cassette player for a few years?

Maybe someone was rummaging through the glove box or under the seats, and, finding this, furtively flicked it out the window, lest they lose face in front of their other hipster friends?

More likely, though, it was a case of finding it in the backpack or car, wondering "why the heck do I still have this", and just tossing it away.

In any event, someone decided that despite the heartfelt lyrics of pretty much their only mainstream hit, they just didn't want Cheap Trick in their life anymore.

Can't say as I blame them.

An old friend is now on the web

2007-06-25T10:16:00.000-05:00

Toni Lay, whom I've known since 1976, has finally gotten her Society for Creative Anachronism webpage online.

She would have had it done much sooner, but as her ISP is AOL, their tools for uploading text and images to external web servers are amazingly annoying and overly complex!

This is her website. Save for a minor hint or two I gave her, and my manipulating the graphics for her, everything you see, save for the graphics, is her own work. Pretty darn good for an HTML novice's first effort, I think.

And, as with all websites, it is a work in progress. She will be adding a page or two of photographs from The Pennsic War (the annual SCA "convention"), as well as a guide she's written for the Pennsic Wars novice.

I'm very impressed with how well she did on what is, essentially, her first ever web page. I've seen pages from so-called professionals that were not as well done as this first effort of hers.

The Verizon DSL saga concludes.

2007-06-25T10:06:00.000-05:00

Verizon FINALLY replaced the faulty DSL router at the Hyde Park central office (local switching center) and the DSL line is, at LONG last, back to normal.

The DSL connection is now continuous. As opposed to the working for a random period of time then just stopping dead. Requiring a power recycling of the modem/router here to force a reconnect.

Still and all, Verizon DSL is better than Comcast's cable modem service.

Supposedly, Verizon FiOS (fiber optic to the home) service is coming to this part of Boston by the end of the year.

US$99 a month for two years. I am SO signing up for this! 5 megabits per second Internet access, vs. the 3 mbps DSL service, cable TV with more channels than I'm getting now for US$40.00 a month LESS than what I'm paying Comcast, and unlimited long distance phone service.

Yeah. I am SO going to geek out when the glass is installed!

And we're back in the 21st Century!

2007-06-01T16:52:00.001-05:00

Spent almost an hour on the phone with a Verizon engineer, and with no little futzing with hardware on his end and mine, the DSL line is back up and running.

I think Ren and Stimpy most accurately reflect how I feel right now:

"Stone knives and bearskins"

2007-05-30T10:38:00.000-05:00

The Verizon DSL line went down Tuesday morning. It may not be back until Thursday or Friday.

This is the first problem I've had in almost two years of service.

Fortunately, the "new" Macintosh has a built-in modem.

I had forgotten how slow a 56k dial-up connection is.

Another Panorama

2007-05-24T21:12:00.000-05:00

I am having too much fun with this!

Taken a few days ago from the center ("Halfway To HELL!") of the Harvard Bridge, a sweeping view of the Charles River, the Longfellow Bridge and beyond, and both the Cambridge and Boston sides of the River.

Taken with a Kodak 'point and shoot' digital camera, and automatically "stitched" together with an all but automatic application, I am amazed at just how well it came out.

Click on the image to see the 1.6 MB full sized version.

Returning the favor

2007-05-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

Weblog of an old friend back in Rhode Island.

Bob Ruzzo is an original. Creative and talented as all get out.

I was very impressed with this particular entry about finding the wedding license of his great great grandparents.

I was fortunate indeed some years ago, to find his email address via Google.

One of these months, I AM going to get him up here on the right Sunday to hit the MIT Flea Market. If for no other reason than to see that he gets a replacement Macintosh.

Boston has the best trash!

2007-05-15T18:19:00.000-05:00

I scored an Apple 21" CRT Studio Monitor off the curb today.

I will not relate the tale of getting this 77 pound monster home. The horror... the horror!

So, I move the ViewSonic monitor and eventually manhandle the "new" monitor into place. Hook up the power and connect it to the computer.

I push the power button. Will it light?

YES! It's orange. The monitor is in standby mode, awaiting a video signal.

I push the power button on the computer. I wait.

The power button on the monitor glows green!

We get signal!

MAIN SCREEN TURN ON!

(sorry about that.)

I had to mess with the monitor settings a bit. However, I am now at 1600 X 1200 resolution @ 85 Hertz, on a monitor with an almost flat screen.

As an added bonus, it's got 4 USB ports on the side. Just the thing for the mouse, the PowerMate and the trackball.

Pictures will be posted shortly. I need to recuperate after getting this thing home.

(edit) Here's a photo of the monitor in place.

Jamiaca Pond Panoramas

2007-05-10T19:12:00.000-05:00

Each panorama is made up of 4 individual images, automatically stitched together with a Mac OS X application called "DoubleTake".

The shareware fee is US$21.95.

Sure, I could do all that manually in Graphic Converter or PhotoShop. However, if there's an application that'll do it for me, almost instantly.

Well, computers ARE supposed to be 'labor saving' devices, right?

(edit May 11) Yes, there are obvious exposure differences in the panoramas. I'm using Double Take in its free demo mode. As such, the more sophisticated options are, as yet, unavailable to me.

Once I pay the shareware fee, however...

But right now, for quick creations of impromptu panoramas, this IS a pretty spiffy application.

Wally Schirra

2007-05-03T22:47:00.000-05:00

Mercury, Gemini, Apollo.

Wally Schirra, one of the original astronauts in the Mercury 7 project, died Thursday at age 84.

Hawking in freefall

2007-04-27T13:40:00.000-05:00

Way to kick gravity's ass, Professor!

"Wait for the rerun?"

2007-04-23T13:12:00.000-05:00

Not while there's BitTorrent!

I missed King of the Hill and The Simpsons this past Sunday night.

Monday morning, I found the them via a BitTorrent tracker and less than an hour later, there they were on the Desktop of the Mac.

I watched them, and then trashed them. No need to clutter the hard drive with ephemera.

As opposed to "The IT Crowd" and the as yet unaired in the U.S. episodes of Doctor Who.

However, viewing TV episodes on the computer is not the optimum viewing experience.

In a year or so, I think I'll start looking on eBay for used first generation Apple TV units. I should be able to afford one by then. Along with 30 feet of ethernet cable to hook it up to the computer.

Giving Google's AdSense a try

2007-04-20T15:45:00.000-05:00

More for the amusement of seeing what Google thinks is appropriate for here than for the money.

What's wrong with this picture?

2007-04-20T15:43:00.000-05:00

01/31/07: Never Forget!

2007-04-14T23:49:00.000-05:00

DIY mini-Ignignokt LED "light board"

The immortal 555 IC is the heart of this project. The PCB schematic and layout is available as a PDF download, as is the parts list.

I emailed the gentleman with some questions, in the hope that he'll read it before he gets hammered by the flood of email he is sure to get from having the above page mentioned on the MAKE blog.

I would love to see a full sized replica of the original 185 LED Ignignokt 'light board'. I hope that this project inspires someone to design one.

I wish I didn't know this

2007-04-08T15:59:00.000-05:00

OK, bear with me. The All In One is a Macintosh that was sold to the educational market. A G3 running anywhere from 233 to 300 Mhz. One of the options was the "Wings" audio/visual card.

Composit video and S-video inputs and outputs. It also handled the interface between the graphics chips on the logic board and the built in monitor.

So, it seems that some of these Wings cards also were made with two extra connectors. These connectors were for the Apple TV or TV/FM Tuner card, and the Infrared remote control interface card. The tuner card was intended for several different Macs, all using essentially the same logic board. These Macs also had the IR remote board installed.

Apple, it seems, may have intended the All In One to be used with these cards and then,late in the game, never produced the All In One intended for the cards.

Now that I know this. I MUST find one of these Wings cards for my All In One! I have a spare TV Tuner card and have a suitable Mac in the closet I can salvage the IR board from.

If I can find a TV/FM Tuner card, so much the better!

Why do I want to do all this to the All In One? Well, why not? If I can find the Wings card cheap enough, this will enhance what the computer can do, and enhancing its resale value, should the need arise to sell it.

Also, honestly, it sounds like a fun hack. Making something do something it couldn't previously do. I also get to figure out where to install the IR sensor, how to mount some of the hardware, all that good stuff.

Ok, enough, already!

2007-04-07T23:27:00.000-05:00

It's April 8th. It should not be 29 degrees right now.

So much for the stone knives and bear skins!

2007-04-05T16:51:00.000-05:00

The "new" Macintosh is here!

Had a modest amount of trouble, vis a vis the master/slave drive settings between the OS X and OS 9 drives. A little googling found the needed jumper settings.

Video files that were unwatchable on the old Mac are now perfectly fine! I missed last night's episode of LOST: No matter, I can watch it via streaming video from abc.com.

I was surprised that it booted off the OS X drive easily. The previous Mac was a G3 running at 450 Mhz. The new Mac is a 1.42 Ghz, G4 dual processor.

So, all that remains is to thank Keith Kahla, an old and dear and generous friend, without whose generosity I'd still be using the ancient Mac All In One, as well as Robert Woodhead, an equally generous friend, who had just the right Mac for just the right price.

Robert is the owner of Animeigo. Go and buy Anime and Japanese films from him! I've seen his products, and they're all first rate.

Lacking permission, I'll not say more about what Keith does, lest his sterling reputation in the salons of NYC be tarnished by association with a grubby geek such as myself.

The long nightmare is nearly over!

2007-04-03T10:39:00.000-05:00

The "new" computer arrives Thursday, according to the UPS tracking website.

The DVI to VGA adaptor arrived today.

The Apple Desktop Bus to USB adaptor is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, according to the UPS tracking website. (and thank you Jeebus for that! I was not looking forward to using my iMac keyboard for any length of time. I am completely hooked on using the Apple Extended Keyboard.)

USB hub and memory card reader are en route. I'll be happy when they get here, but they are not critically needed hardware.

If all goes well, sometime Thursday evening, there will be a Macintosh tower under my computer table, and I'll be back online via OS X.

My deepest and most sincere thanks to Keith Kahla and Robert Woodhead! Both of whom made this possible.

My excellent Cable TV Adventure

2007-03-29T19:23:00.000-05:00

Thursday, I get a postcard from Comcast, my cable company informing me that my 10 years old analog cable box will have to be replaced by June 1st. I call the Comcast 800 number and ask if I can exchange the box for a new one at the local office. Yes, I can.

Off to the local office with the old box. A good omen when I arrive. There's NO LINE.

OK, there's ALWAYS A LINE at the local Comcast office. Swapping the box went very quickly. The nice man behind the counter said I'd have everything I have on the old box, "and a few more channels".

Holy Crap! I've got TCM, Science Channel, National Geographic, BBC America (Benny Hill! Avengers!), IFC, Sundance, several WGHB (Boston PBS) channels, a bunch of Encore channels,History International, G4, etc, etc, etc!

Just about 160 channels. Some of which I'll never watch, like Golf Channel, any country music or rap/hip-hop channel, practically all of the GodBotherer channels.

I would have had this a couple of years ago if Comcast had made it clear that for what I was paying for 80 analog channels would get me 160 digital channels.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

The Game Is Afoot

2007-03-20T12:47:00.000-05:00

It looks like I may have a "new" Macintosh sooner rather than later.

1.25 Ghz MDD (Mirrored Door Drive) Power Macintosh.

Life in Boston

2007-03-16T14:37:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, it was 70 degrees (F) here in Boston.

Today, Friday, it's 25 degrees (F) and snowing.

Tonight, it'll be in the 30s and raining.

Right now, I'm having a "Lone Gunmen" marathon.

This weekend, I'll likely finish off the "Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex" box set. (Thanks, Keith!)

Some progress with the All In One.

2007-03-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

Successfully (so far!) changed out the 266 Mhz CPU with the 450 Mhz CPU from the dead Blue and White.

Due to the nature of the AIO logic board/jumper settings, the CPU is running at 466 Mhz. I can kick it up to 500 Mhz, but for the time being, this is fast enough for me. If it's stable over the next few days at 466, I'll kick it up to 500 Mhz.

If/When I am able to get the G4 I want, this All In One will be properly reconfigured as the backup machine. If possible, I'll have it backing up the Eudora address book and mail folders on the G4 once a day, along with the browser bookmark file.

I can run OS X, 10.2 on this machine. 10.2 at 500 Mhz, with sutiable versions of Eudora, FireFox and Graphic Converter would go a long way towards making this a suitable long term backup machine in the event the G4 craps out.

Another option is to add this AIO to the local network and use it as the printer and scanner interface/Photoshop machine. I've a Wacom graphics tablet that isn't supported under OS X, but works wonderfully well under OS 9. A CD/RW would also go well installed in the AIO.

I am SO going to need a bigger desk if I do this.

Aout the only really annoying thing is that I can't download pictures from my camera via the USB cable. I need to get a memory card reader. Looks like I'm off to Micro Center to get the cheapest one they have that'll read SD cards.

In other news, I picked up a used and working FIreWire USB hard drive enclosure, complete with 70 GB hard drive. Works fine. I think this'll be the system backup drive.

Getting by via the All In One

2007-03-15T03:09:00.000-05:00

I have a working browser and email, and enough bookmarks and addresses to suffice for the time being.

Installed the RAM from the dead Mac to this All In One, so I've now got 512 MB in place. No more out of memory complaints from THIS computer.

I'll install the OS 9 harddrive soemtime this weekend and if I can find the details, I'll change out the 266 stock CPU with the 450 Mhz CPU.

I'm waiting to hear back on the 1 Ghz G4 machine.

If I can get that, I'll be doing the happy monkey dance all OVER the place!

Massive Hardware Malfunction

2007-03-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

My Macintosh G3 Blue and White, running OS X 10.3.9 died tonight.

So, things are going to be hectic around here for a while.

I'm currently using my old Macintosh All In One. I'll be transplanting the hard drives from the Blue and White into the All In One later tonight. That'll give me access to my email address book and my browser bookmarks.

Needless to say, I am very annoyed. I'm going to see if I can get a replacement logic board and hope that it's just the original logic board that went bad.

A hypothetical question

2007-03-12T13:59:00.000-05:00

"It had a very sinister appearance,"

So does Dick Cheney.

Boston has the best trash

2007-03-09T23:38:00.000-05:00

It's a Pentium III, running XP Pro. I have yet to get past the login screen, but then, I only tried for a few moments.

Addendum. I just finished cleaning all the gunk off the outside. Dust and dirt and whoknows whatall. Looks much better.

Still reeks of stale cigarette smoke, though. I'll tackle cleaning the inside sometime this weekend.

The keyboard, a Packard Bell P.O.S. will be disposed of shortly. It's filthy, the keys are sticky and there appears to be dried cough syrup on it. ICK!

I'll be scouring the usual thrift stores for a proper IBM Model "M" keyboard. Until I find one, I'll just grab something compatible and clean from the pile at the Goodwill in Davis Square.

For all I know, this thing might just wind up in the corner, running the MATRIX screensaver. Or, it might actually be useful in some hitherto unforeseeable fashion.

What a bargain

2007-03-08T13:47:00.000-05:00

Cozy studio in the trendy Ashmont neighborhood. Lots of light. Just steps from the Red Line! Intercom system. Shopping and dining nearby. Needs a little work. Asking $100k. No pets!

Dear Ms. Coulter:

2007-03-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

"Well, THERE'S your problem!"

2007-03-06T03:13:00.000-05:00

Urban Decay

2007-03-06T02:38:00.000-05:00

An old mural at the MBTA subway stop in Ashmont.
Rust conquers all, it seems.

Well, THERE'S your problem!

2007-03-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

The Boston Police Department's Bomb Squad apparently employs Snorks.

Confessions of a Retro-Tech geek.

2007-02-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

First up, old telephones!

This image is taken from another webpage of mine.

All that gear averages about 20 years old. Likely, it'll outlive me.

If the power goes out, the only thing that won't work is the Speakerphone.

I really like the design aesthetic of Western Electric consumer gear from the mid 70s.

The telephone was designed by Henry Dreyfuss, one of the most influential industrial designers of the 20th Century. For something as utilitarian as a telephone, it is a masterpiece of human interface design.

Take, for example, the keypad. The white characters on a grey button provides a readable images in almost any lighting conditions. The "dished" surface is not only more comfortable to use, it both keeps the finger from slipping off the button, and the concavity all but eliminates glare from bright lights from almost any direction.

Save for the actual keypad, there is barely a set of parallel lines to be seen. Everything is gradual curves and radiused corners. Beautiful!

Snowfall

2007-02-26T13:11:00.000-05:00

Today's snowfall, as seen from the window of my apartment.

I'm defending Willard "Mitt" Romney!

2007-02-25T19:47:00.000-05:00

I never expected that to happen!

OK, this is just plain BS!

While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.

There is much about Romney that is worthy of being pointed out and condemned. That his Mormon ancestors practiced polygamy is not. That he is a Mormon is not.

I will say that I greatly enjoy it when the GOP turns on itself like this.

What next, Guliani had an ancestor in Italy that once had a drink in a bar owned by someone who has a cousin in Sicily that once knew a Mafiosi?

How about John McCain having an ancestor in Ireland who once gave directions to one of Cromwell's army of occupation? That should get William Donohue all het up about McCain's anti-Catholic heritage.

About the only good thing I can say about this is that if the GOP mudslinging is starting this early, they may be so involved at Swiftboating each other, they'll ignore the Democratic candidates.

H.P. Lovecraft/Family Circus mashup

2007-02-25T03:14:00.000-05:00

All this started some years ago on LiveJournal.

Some brilliant, yet deeply twisted (but in the good way) person took Family Circus cartoons and added text from the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

This is something I came up with upon seeing the original cartoon.

It's satire and Fair Use, so keep the lawyers to yourself, Bil!