Hitchhiker's Guide: A Strange Trip

I'm sure that nobody else will dare use that post title.

Let me admit for the record that I've never read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." <gasp> I don't know why, but it simply never appealed to me. Anyway, it's important for you to know that, so that my observations about the movie will have some context. Well, mainly so you won't roll your eyes and go "tch...everybody knows that!"

Here's what I observed about the movie, which we saw this afternoon:

• This movie has been made before. The year was 1981 and the title at that time was "Time Bandits." Sure, the special effects are better today, but the overall feel is, well, identical. And, actually, that's a good thing.


• Not that long ago, I referred to Steve Zahn ("Sahara") as "the workingman's Owen Wilson." Well, move over Steve; there's a new sheriff in town and his name is Sam Rockwell, who plays Zaphod Beeblebrox, Galactic President. I'd love to see a movie featuring Wilson, Rockwell and Zahn. I'm pretty sure I'd be all, like, whoa!, IYKWIM.


• Also, Zooey Deschanel (who plays Trillian) looks a whole lot like Debra Winger. Just so you won't be surprised when you see her.


• Alan Rickman is a hoot as the voice of the chronically depressed robot, Marvin.


• Rockwell's aforementioned character is an obvious caricature -- and not in a flattering way -- of George W. Bush. Now, here's where the fact that I've not read the book becomes relevant. I don't know if the movie is true to the book's version of the character, or if the writers of the screenplay (Douglas Adams gets a co-credit with someone else) sensed an easy mark and nudged the character in that direction. It seems awfully coincidental that a book that pre-dates the Bush presidency by a decade or two would feature a cowboy-boot wearing president who confronts his defeated-but-obviously-more-intelligent campaign foe, and said opponent remarks that the election results just proves that you need only a good personality to be president. But, heck, the whole plot revolves around how improbable things can and do happen, so perhaps I'm reading too much into it. [But, if I'm not, I'd just like to go on the record to say that this was a terrible liberty to take with an audience who showed up to be entertained by a sci-fi comedy, not a political satire.]

But, you might ask, how did you like the movie? Fair question. I liked it, and MLB liked it. There were more than a few scenes that were laugh-out-loud funny, and the special effects occasionally bordered on breathtaking. I recommend it, if you've never read the book and if you go for the type of humor embodied by the more cerebral offerings of, say, Monty Python. But, if you've read the book and expect nothing less than a flawless transfer to the big screen, well, I don't know what to tell you. You see, I've not read the book. Did I mention that?

Technorati tag: Hitchhiker's Guide

Saturday Morning Observations

First, let me just say that I plan to lodge a sternly-worded complaint with Management regarding this morning's weather. We awoke to 43° and a wind chill of 34. That's ridiculous; whoever heard of having to wear earmuffs and gloves during a walk on the eve of May in west Texas?

Of course, Abbye didn't even notice, despite having a coat thinned by her TSH imbalance.

The upside is that this will give us an excuse to spend part of the day in a movie theater, consoled by a big tub of popcorn. Let's see..."Hitchhiker's Guide"? "Kung Fu Hustle"? "XXX"? Decisions, decisions...

Anyway, MLB were at IHOP for our usual Saturday morning breakfast (sans our regular breakfast partners who are busy trying to adapt to being first-time grandparents), enjoying a couple of life's simple blessings: leisurely cups of coffee while skimming through the local newspaper. (I've written before about the tactile advantage of newsprint over electronic media.) For whatever reason, the conversation turned to our respective comics reading habits.

If you're a regular consumer of newspaper-based comics, I'm willing to bet that you have a set sequence of reading them that never deviates. For example, I always begin in the bottom right column, read up to the top of the page, shift to the top left column and read down to the end (meaning that I always end with "Dilbert"). On the other hand, MLB has this truly strange behavior of starting at the bottom left, reading across, then up one row, reading back to the left, up one row, and repeat until near the top of the page, where she then reads two comics on one side and finishes with two on the other side. Her reading system is, frankly, beyond my comprehension (but that goes for many of her mysterious ways, something that I suspect many husbands can relate to).

Regardless of our apparently genetically-ingrained sequences, we achieve convergence in at least one area: neither of us reads "Mary Worth."

Technorati tag: Comics

Small World

Our quarterly Mac users group meeting was last night and we had a couple of new faces in the crowd. As it turns out, both of the new guys work in IT for major oil companies in town and they're both passionate Mac users, so it's great to have their expertise in our group.

Anyway, during the course of the meeting another member expressed some frustration about the fact that his home page in Safari had been mysteriously set to something he didn't want. He wasn't sure how to designate a new home page, and so we told him about using the Preferences panel to do that. He asked, oddly enough, "what should I use for my home page?"

I flippantly (well, maybe half-seriously...) replied, "I think that the Fire Ant Gazette would make a great home page for you."

One of the new fellows, sitting in front of me, whirled around and asked, "Do you do the Fire Ant Gazette?"

"Yeah," I replied, "how do you know about it?"

"I used to read the Gazette when I was in Oman! It was how I kept up with west Texas!"

He didn't say if he was still reading it now that he's back in the States (if you are...hi, George!), but I was blown away by that revelation. It's truly a strange and weird world in which we live.

However, I don't think the guy with the Safari problem took my suggestion seriously.

Tagged for a book meme

Well, like Cowtown Pattie says, turn about is fair play, so she's thrown a meme back at me. But, this one's pretty interesting, because it deals with books. So, what the hey...here's my stuff (but we're even now, sugar):

1. You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be? The phone book. I'd be a human PDA!


2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Miz Hepzibah in Pogo. That was before I knew that we weren't supposed to consort with the French.


3. The last book you bought was...? Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott. Watch for a review in these here pages.


4. The last book you read was...? Kings of Infinite Space, by James Hynes. Yep...there'll be a post on that one, too.


5. What are you currently reading? The Zen of CSS Design, by Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag, although you don't actually read it as much as you thumb back and forth, back and forth, wondering "how did they do that?" And, "Would any of my clients ever pay me to try it?" (I'm pretty sure the answer will always be "no.")


6. Five books you would take to a desert island...


1. The Bible (Ryrie Study Bible, NAS version) -- for the survival of my spirit;
2. How Things Work, by Louis Bloomfield -- for the survival of my body;
3. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson -- for the survival of my humor;
4. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter -- for the survival of my mind; and
5. Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century, edited by Orson Scott Card -- for the survival of my imagination.


7. Who are you passing this stick on to and why? I'm gonna tap the shoulder of a local guy whom I'm sure will amaze and delight us with his selections, and that is Jeff over at ArchaeoTexture. Then I'm going way out on a limb and sending this to a new blogger I just met up in Pennsylvania, Jim at the intriguingly named serotoninrain. This might be a good way for you guys to get to know him, if he's game for the chance.

Update: Jim's offering is up over at serotoninrain.

Big Bend Open Road Race Results are up

Even though the heading on this page says "2004," the results shown are for the 2005 edition of the Big Bend Open Road Race run last Saturday, April 23, from Fort Stockton to Sanderson and back.

It's always interesting to see the wide variety of vehicles entered in this race, from Panteras to Mini-Coopers; station wagons to pickup trucks; Porsches to Jags. Be sure to browse the photo galleries where most, if not all the participants are on display, along with some of the local color. The ocotillos appeared to be in fine form on raceday.

Technorati tag: Big Bend Open Road Race

Think you know Texas?

Cowtown Pattie has momentarily left Texas Trifles in order to put up a short Texas trivia quiz over at Texas Bloggers. It's a humbing experience for moi. I think I know the answers to about two of the questions, and I'm probably not even right about them.

Jeff, this looks like something you'd be able to ace in your sleep. How about it?

Technorati tag: Texas

Good riddance to April...

Warning: The following discussion involves topics and observations that are mind-numbingly pedantic. Reader discretion is advised.

Is it just me or has this year's edition of April in west Texas been one of the less enjoyable months, climate-wise, in recent memory?

It seems like we've had more wind than usual. As a bicyclist, I'm borderline obsessive (OK...I'm completely obsessive) about monitoring wind speed, as it's the single most influential factor on the enjoyability of that sport in our area. I have my own system for classifying days according to their "windiness," and thus far in April, we've had 21 days that met the criterion to be called windy. Even worse, seven of those days fell into the "extraordinarily windy" classification, meaning that sustained winds exceeded 20 mph. (And, by the way, today is forecast to fall into that dreadful category.)

Then there's the lack of rain. Barring a miraculous downpour, we'll end the month without any measurable precipitation. (It would be more dramatic to be able to say that we didn't get a drop of rain in April; unfortunately [for the lovers of dramatic effect], we did get one or two pavement-moistening "weather events.") April isn't usually a wet month -- according to this website, it falls about mid-pack in terms of historical average rainfall -- but it's still unusual for it to be so dry. I was especially hopeful that we'd see a wet spring given the higher than usual rainfall last year and even into the first couple of months of 2005. It's too soon to make this call, but it's easy for the pessimist to conclude that we're about to re-enter the drought cycle that's defined the norm around here for the past ten years.

Thus, I'm not a bit sorry to see April depart. I'm pinning a lot of hopes on May, which has provided a lot of excitement in the past, not the least of which was hosting Babe Ruth's first (5/6/15) and last (5/25/35) home runs, along with the crashing of the Hindenburg (5/6/37) and the sinkings of the Lusitania (5/7/15) and the Bismarck (5/27/41).

Apple Product Scoop!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 28, 2004

Cupertino, WA -- In response to the recent announcement by Adidas, USA of the release of its new computerized running shoe, the "Adidas 1™," Apple, Inc. is announcing its entry into the running shoe field with the "iSneeq™."

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs described the iSneeq as "insanely better than that stinky thing those other guys are building," and claimed that Apple first envisioned a computerized running shoe "back in the 70s, or something like that." He went on to say that the iSneeq has advanced features that go well beyond any other computerized running shoe on the market today. Apple envisions the eventual release of an entire product line based on the iSneeq technology.

The initial release of iSneeq comes in the form of the iSneeq Shuffle™. It comes complete with an integrated click wheel and USB 2.0 plug for interfacing with one's computer.

The iSneeq Shuffle takes its name from the fact that once the wearer dons the shoe and activates it via the click wheel, he or she is immediately taken in unexpected directions.

Future versions of the iSneeq Shuffle are expected to incorporate a Global Positioning Satellite module to help the wearer find his or her way home.

The iSneeq Shuffle is available immediately at Apple Stores across the country. One iSneeq Shuffle is priced at $199. A family license will allow a single household to purchase five iSneeq Shuffles for only $299.

Note to Apple's lawyers: This is called a "parody." Get over it. Thank you.

Technorati tag: iSneeq | Adidas 1 | Apple

Nominate a well-written blog and win big

I meant to post this earlier and got distracted. Garrett Dimon is hosting another contest (apparently this will be a weekly thing), and in this one he's soliciting nominations for well-written blogs, regardless of subject matter or design.

I submitted my nomination a couple of days ago, and it was an easy choice: Oklahoma's own antidote to oscitancy, the hyperproductive but always gentlemanly Dustbury.com.

Feel free to drop over and submit your own nomination for quality in blogging; you could win an iTunes Music Store gift certificate.

Tag...I'm it

Jen, the sweetheart in charge of Lintefiniel Musing, has tagged me to participate in a new meme (she's also threatened me if I don't participate, although she'll deny it if you ask her, so don't even bother...but keep in mind that she works in law enforcement). Here's how it works:

[The last two occupations were added by me for the next participants to consider.]

OK, I think this is harder than it looks; I'm pretty content with what I do now. But I'll take a shot:

• If I could be an innkeeper...I'd open a combination inn and dive shop on a little Caribbean island.


• If I could be a photographer...I'd specialize in underwater photography.


• If I could be a rap artist...I'd jack up a Pepsi truck and ride around in it all day (oh wait; somebody's already doing that, aren't they?).


• If I could be a musician...I'd play classical guitar.


• If I could be a painter...I'd be able to finish the job that our current (*&^##(& painter started and hasn't finished (look, you be the kind of painter you want to be and I'll be the kind of painter I want to be).

OK...having completed this exercise, I'm going to pass the baton to the following victims participants for their consideration:

• Rachel over at Life Being Beautiful


• Cowtown Pattie over at Texas Trifles


• And, finally, just for the sheer pleasure of the annoyance that it will bring him, Scott over at The Fat Guy (Ah, quitcher complaining; you got a link out of it, dintcha?)

Update: Here's Scott's contribution, and here's Rachel's. Oh, and here's CP's, so we're all done. Excellent!

PhotoStamps Are Back

Remember PhotoStamps, the service from Stamps.com that promised to let you design your own legal-for-Postal-Service-tender stamps? You may recall that it shut down a few months after starting up due to unsurprising abuse by an unruly customer base.

Well, regular Gazette contributor and Haiku King Larry Stephey just notified me that PhotoStamps is back in business and ready to makes stamps from any photo you submit. Well, subject, of course, to a few restrictions. Most of them are common sense, but they've added a restriction against submitting a photo of celebrities or celebrity likenesses, regional, national or international leaders or politicians, current or former world leaders, convicted criminals, or newsworthy, notorious or infamous images and individuals.

Well. As before, one must wonder how they intend to police this restriction. How will they know if someone is a "regional leader or politician"? Does a Midland City Councilman qualify, or do you have to be a County Commissioner? Or what about convicted criminals (assuming there's no redundancies in categorization, of course)? Are they going to do background checks on the subjects of all submitted photos? And, pray tell, what is the criteria by which one determines if a subject is "newsworthy, notorious or infamous"?

Presumably, if you happen to, in fact, be one of the people listed above, you can submit your own photo, under the "family fun" category. But what if your family member is a convicted criminal? Which rule takes precedence?

I gotta tell you, I think it will be a while before PhotoStamps can lick these problems.

Technorati tag: PhotoStamps

Yeah, but will my Odor-Eaters still work?

OK, here's a test. Fill in the blanks in the following series of quotes, based on what kind of apparatus you think is being described:

Sounds pretty impressive, right? Would you more or less impressed knowing that the following terms complete the sentences: "shoe," "shoe's heel" and "heel."

Welcome to the brave new world of running shoes, where the $250 "Adidas 1" makes a geek out of every wearer.

According to Gizmodo, in a pre-production sneak peak of the shoe last year, the processors in each shoe operate at a cycle speed of 20 MHz. That's faster than my first desktop computer! I'm trying to find out if there's any truth to the rumor that the teensy CPUs are running an OS called "Shoenix." [Heh.]

The Business Week story linked above discloses that the next generation of this shoe is likely to contain a port for downloading data to your PC. I know at least one local running engineer who will surely be first in line to pony up for that capability.

But I now have to wonder just how long it will be before someone hacks their way onto the winner's stand at the Boston Marathon?

Update: I just realized that I failed to provide a link to the Adidas 1 website. My bad.

Technorati tag: Adidas 1 | Running Shoes | Technological Overkill

Thanks for the link...but don't tell the Chamber of Commerce

While the kind words and link from the Austin American-Statesman are more than appreciated, I'm not sure what to think about the labeling of the Gazette as an Odessa blog.

Well, that's not true; I know exactly what to think. They can place me in Orla for all I care...just as long as the URL is spelled correctly! ;-)

Update: Well, that was quick. The post title has been corrected and we're back in Midland. The self-correcting mechanism of the blogosphere continues to function smoothly...

Repression for Dummies: Jobs Strikes Again

In a move both predictable and senseless, Steve Jobs has brought his Reality Distortion Field™ into the arena of book publishing by ordering the removal of all offerings from John Wiley & Sons from Apple Stores. Jobs is reportedly upset over the publisher's refusal to disassociate itself from the unauthorized biography, "iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business," written by Jeffrey Young and set for release within the next couple of months. The move affects "dozens of technology books" in Apple's 104 retail stores.

Apple is, of course, entirely within its rights to decide what products it will market. But moves like this do nothing to enhance Apple's reputation with consumers. Jobs simply comes off as whiny and childish, as he attempts to have his cake and eat it, too. He's a public figure and aggressively cultivates that status, while at the same time attempting to squash all reactions to that status that don't fit his agenda. Again, I'm not arguing that he doesn't have the right, legal or moral, to do this, but he really ought to pick his battles more carefully. For a creative genius, the guy surely has mastered the art of public silliness.

Technorati tag: Steve Jobs | Apple | Wiley & Sons

Christian Art: Where's the Excellence?

Julie Neidlinger has just returned from being a judge at a statewide denominational youth competition, and she was disappointed at the abundant absence of worthwhile artistic endeavor coming out of the evangelical Christian church.

It's certainly not universal, but it does seem that too often "good enough" is found to be an acceptable alternative to "excellent" in Christian circles. But if we take seriously the Scripture that tells us to do all that we do "as unto the Lord," there's no excuse for intentionally falling short of excellence.

Technorati tag: Christianity

Adobe/Macromedia: Reading between the lines

Jon Gruber over at Daring Fireball performs an expert deconstruction of Adobe's FAQ about its pending acquisition of Macromedia.

Unfortunately, the funniest lines are also the most perceptive.

Technorati tag: Adobe | Macromedia

Sniffing Out the Sudafed Saga

We've been an interested observer of the movements on a number of fronts to make Sudafed and its kindred products harder for meth-heads to abuse, so it wasn't a shock to read that the world's biggest retailer is moving all over-the-counter solid medications containing pseudoephedrine into its pharmacies. Wal-Mart's move follows similar actions by Target and Albertson's, and is intended to cut down on the amount of cold and allergy medications making it way out the door for purposes other than relieving stuffy heads.

But this throwaway sentence did catch me by surprise: Wal-Mart has also been in discussions with suppliers "regarding the reformulating of these products with alternative ingredients."

Well, now.

Have we indeed come to this, where a corporation has grown in size and influence to the point where it begins to assume the roles of government agencies? Do we really need (or want) a retailer, however efficient and successful, acting as a lobbyist to influence the makeup of our medications?

I'm sure Wal-Mart feels it has a dog in this fight. Sooner or later, retailers of these OTC medications will be sued by the family of someone who's been murdered by a jerk jacked up on meth manufactured from cold tablets shoplifted from a local store. Given the litigious nature of our society, that is inevitable, if it hasn't already happened, and moves like putting Sudafed out of easy reach are common sense. However, lobbying drug manufacturers to change the formulation seems to be overreaching.

Be that as it may, it's a moot point with respect to Sudafed, as Pfizer is making over the entire line anyway, substituting phenylephrine for pseudoephedrine in what will be called Sudafed PE (the old formulation will still be available...theoretically, at least; any bets as to whether Wal-Mart will carry it?). The new component cannot be used for making methamphetamine. I've been unable to locate any information about the relative efficacy of the two compounds.

It would be interesting to know how Pfizer came to the decision to substitute phenylephrine for pseudoephedrine. I wonder if the idea came to a Pfizer's exec in a dream, carried by a round yellow face sporting an evil grin?

Technorati tag: Phenylephrine | Pseudoephedrine | Sudafed | Wal-Mart

US Refining Capacity: A few statistics to ponder

Yesterday's announcement of Valero Energy's acquisition of Premcor, Inc., along with record high gasoline prices, has focused media (and investor) attention on the refining industry. The industry was even brought to the forefront in yesterday's meeting between President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the Texas White House, where a Saudi spokesman pointed out that even if Saudi Arabia increased its oil production, the lack of refining capacity would limit the impact of that move on gasoline prices.

Today's Wall Street Journal analyzes the Valero acquisition and provides some interesting background regarding the refining industry as a whole. The numbers help to explain the elevated gasoline prices, at least as far as the supply side of the equation is concerned. Here's a selection:

• The number of refineries has declined to 149 today from 325 in 1981


• No new refineries have been built in the US since 1976


• Capacity for refining crude has fallen 10% to 16.8 million barrels a day from 18.6 million barrels in 1981

This paints a rather glum picture for the industry, and for gasoline-thirsty consumers. But there is a silver lining, however thin.

• Even though capacity is down 10% since 1981, refinery output is up 25% over the same period, indicating that the industry is capitalizing on technology to better use existing capacity.


• Valero itself has added 380,000 barrels a day to existing refineries since 1996, via plant expansions and improved technologies.

Unfortunately, the country's appetite for energy is growing much faster than the measly 1% annual refining capacity growth.

A couple of implications to consider:

1. Specific to Valero, whose return to shareholders over the past five years has been tops in the S&P 500...can it continue in its strategy of focusing on heavy/sour crude* for its refining feedstock, thereby enjoying the higher margins that come from buying that lower-priced oil? Some of Exxon's Valero's competitors (notably, ExxonMobil) don't think it's a viable long-term strategy, as supplies of lower-quality crude will decrease over time.


2. In terms of the refining industry as a whole, will Congress ever address the mountain of regulatory and environmental restrictions that has stopped refinery construction dead in its tracks, and led to the closing of many existing plants?

*"Heavy crude" is oil that has a low specific gravity; that is, it's quite thick. Some heavy crudes are not even liquid at room temperatures. Sour crude contains a relatively high percentage of contaminents like sulfur. Both heavy and sour crudes pose special challenges throughout the production, transportation and processing chain.

Technorati tag: Refining Capacity | Valero Energy

One Ring to Rool, um, Rule Ya'll

She's not talking about an engagement ring; she's referring to her Aggie ring, and her sentiment is shared by just about everyone who lasted long enough at Texas A&M University to earn one.

The quote above is from an article in today's Houston Chronicle (hat tip to the Lone Star Times, snarky comment and all) describing the pomp, ceremony and occasional beer drinking that goes along with the Awarding Of The Rings in College Station.

I'm quite proud of my Aggie ring, although I'm one of the few grads who doesn't usually wear it. Apart from my wedding band, I wear only one other ring, which was also a gift from MLB. But that doesn't mean that I don't cherish my class ring, as well as the experiences that led up to getting it way back when dirt was new.

My dad, on the other hand, hasn't removed his Aggie ring since, oh, about 1949, when he graduated. It's been worn slick over the years and you have to know what it is to recognize it...but it's amazing how many people (ie. other Aggies) have an eye for that sort of thing.

We take a lot of flak about a lot of things related to A&M, and much of it is well-deserved, I suppose. But it's no bull when people say that an Aggie ring has a networking value far in excess of its rather hefty weight in gold.

Yeah, that photo is my ring!

Technorati tag: Texas A&M | Aggie Ring

Haiku Smackdown: Antboy Rulez!

Although you can't discern it from his post, I'm proud to announce that Garrett Dimon temporarily took leave of his senses and awarded me the grand prize in his inaugural* haiku contest...and I have the ITMS Gift Certificate to prove it (bringing my account balance to an amazing $14.15).

I'd like to think all the little people whose backs I had to shred while climbing to the pinnacle of my lustrous haiku career. (Never mind how sad it is that winning a $10 gift certificate is, indeed, the pinnacle.) I also appreciate Garrett's generosity in sponsoring this contest, which he promises will only be the first of many to come.

And, to you doubters who continually underestimate the creative forces behind the Gazette, I leave you with this (which I sent to Garrett upon receiving his notice of victory):

*Lest you think I'm invincible in the arena of words, however, I'll admit that it took me five tries to type "inaugural" correctly.

Abandoning the lowest common denominator

I'm pretty sure I wasn't the target demographic for this ad, considering how long I had to look at it before I figured it out.

I admit that my eye went immediately to the photo and text at the bottom of the page; I completely ignored the top 80% of the page. And, frankly, that made me think that the ad was somewhat dry, if not totally lame. But, in the full context, it's a great approach, and certainly presumes a refreshing level of perception and intelligence on the part of the reader from which most advertisers flee.

You can read more about the ad and its creators at AdFreak.

Tip o'the hat to Mike Davidson at Mike Industries. You might also be interested in his post (and the resulting 50+ comments) regarding why Apple might or might not want to release Tiger (aka OS 10.4) via a P2P network like BitTorrent.

Technorati tag: Advertising | Apple | Tiger | BitTorrent | P2P

Big Bend Open Road Race: The Rest of the Story

Jeff over at ArchaeoTexture has an interesting post about the Fort Stockton-to-Sanderson Big Bend Open Road Race, including how this great event came to be.

The BBORR is more than just a race; it's a true success story of how communities can achieve great things when they dream big.

Technorati tag: Big Bend Open Road Race

Rotary Dial Cellphone

I can remember when our home phone number was "Edison 6-3158"...although you didn't have to dial the "ED" to call it as long as you were in town. Five digits was plenty, thank you very much.

And that was a good thing, considering that rotary dial phones weren't the epitome of efficiency. But they surely are symbols of a long-past era, one that we'll never experience again.

Unless...

What if someone figured out how to convert an old rotary dial telephone into a completely portable (ie. wireless) "cellphone"? Would that be cool...or just an insane waste of time and electrical engineering expertise?

I dunno...you decide.

Tip o'the hat to Box of Chocolates

Exiting the Ecosystem

As far as I know, I'm the only person to have ever done what I've just done, which is adding a meta tag to an active blog's template that will result in that blog's delisting from The Blogosphere Ecosystem.

Don't get me wrong; the Ecosystem is still an interesting resource. The Gazette has been listed for almost three years and during that period the Ecosystem has grown from about 10,000 listings to over 21,000. We managed to claw our way into a seemingly inalterable state of upper mediocrity (which is the only inference I can take from being classified as a "Four-toed Gelatinous Mass with Partial Exoskeleton") in the top 20% of the list.

But, I've been increasingly cognizant of the fact that 21,000 blogs out of an estimated...10 million? 20 million? who knows?...is, frankly, not that big a deal. Especially when you consider that many of the new sites being added to the Ecosystem are pørn and other blatantly commercial sites. Of course, aside from the question of morality in the case of the former, there's nothing inherently wrong with blogs being set up for those purposes. I'm not a crusader for blogging purity, in terms of subject, structure...or anything else, for that matter. But, at some point, association with that list of sites ceases to become meaningful to me.

In any event, I find myself going to Technorati more and more often, for purposes both narcissistic and educational. I suppose that the Ecosystem and Technorati were never intended as competitors, but the latter's metadata just seems a lot more useful nowadays.

So, I bid adieu to the Ecosystem, while wishing it well. And 18,000+ other blogs get to move up a notch. No, that's OK; don't bother thanking me. It's just the way I am.

The Ultimate Skier's Accessory

I'd love to have one of these new Miniket Extreme Sport Camcorders to document our skiing and cycling adventures.

It's new enough that there's only one user review at Amazon.com, and the writer is a bit disappointed at the picture quality from the remote lens...but I wonder if his expectations weren't a little high going in.

This looks like a fun gadget that would help you capture moments that you've never before been able to grab.

Happy Passover!

I'm a Christian, but I recognize and love the Judaic roots that form the very foundations of my faith. And I'd like to send my best wishes for a happy and healthy Passover to my Jewish blogging friends, in particular Patti at White Pebble and David at Rishon Rishon.

As Patti put it, Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach to y’all!

I suspect there are other Jewish writers on my blogroll, and I apologize if I missed mentioning you by name.

More Google Map Goodies

In honor of today's NFL draft, hop over to Backcountry Conservative where Jeff Quinton has posted links to satellite photos of the Big 12 football stadiums (and a couple of extras like the Cotton Bowl and Reliant Stadium).

Of course, even if you're not interested in football, you can still drag the photos around and take visual tours of the campuses. I can't remember the last time I was on the A&M campus, but I can still spot some familiar landmarks.

Update: Here's a collection of interesting Google Map satellite photos, including Bill Gates' house and lawn mower art of Oprah Winfrey's face. Perljam.net has done the link legwork so you don't have to. I'll have to take their word about Gates' house, however; I couldn't figure out which one it is.

Technorati tag: Google Maps | Big 12 Football

Bandwidth Test Results

If you want to feel good about your internet connection speed, run a bandwidth test on a Saturday morning.

I just ran four tests over the space of about ten minutes, with results ranging from a low of 1.9 megabits/second up to a blazing 3.1 Mbits/sec. According to Bandwidthplace.com, those results compare to an average for all Texas cable users of 1.92 Mbits/sec and 1.54 Mbits/sec for T1 connections.

It's also a vast improvement over the pitiful 870 Kbits/sec I complained about last year. I have no illusions that Cox's system has gotten any faster. I realize that unlike me, most people have real lives and have better things to do on Saturday mornings than sit in front of their computers.

Ladeling out a little link love

There's really some pretty good stuff out there on the interweb, even if most of it is on other blogs, which means that if I link to them, you'll leave here and never come back, once you find out that some bloggers actually know how to write compelling posts about interesting subjects.

• Joel Achenbach, for example, explains that while baseball in D.C. in April isn't always a great idea, taking a 7 year old "personal assistant" to the game is always a good decision.


• Deb Thompson over at Write Lightning links to an article that might just hold the key to returning popcorn to its former political correctness.


• And while we're on the subject of food, TulipGirl is sharing a recipe for Black Thai Pork (heh). Any dish which has salsa as its second ingredient is bound to be a winner.


• Scott over at The Fat Guy wasn't the only Texan remiss in not blogging about our Independence Day yesterday, but he does make some amends.


• Meanwhile, Bill over at Out of the Bloo looks at Psalm 89 and reminds us that God does exactly what He says He'll do...because He's sworn by His holiness.


• And, last but certainly not least, fellow Midland blogger George over at Sleepless in Midland gives us a firsthand account of Day One of the Desert Reel Film Festival.

Well, it was nice knowing you. Feel free to return someday, when you're ready for some content-free blogging.

Backyard Blooms

Some areas call Spanish Broom a "noxious weed," and even require its eradication wherever it's found. We prefer to call it a beautiful bright spot in our backyard.

For scale, note that the fence is six feet tall. Four years ago, this plant was about 6" in height. The phrase "growing like a weed" is rooted (ha!) in truth. The weight of the blooms will sometimes bend the limbs to the ground, but none have broken; they're quite supple.

Technorati tag: Spanish Broom

Music Quiz: Final (Finally!) Hint

Update: OK, we've finally buried this dead horse, as Bill from Prairie Point correctly identified the last unknown song as coming from Grand Funk Railroad*, and Jeff from ArchaeoTexture confirmed the rather obvious title of "Time Machine." Sort of anti-climactic, isn't it? Anyhow, muchas gracias to everyone who participated. Maybe we'll do something like it again.

Bit of trivia for you. The co-founder, lead singer and guitarist of GFR, Mark Farner, released several "Contemporary Christian" albums in the 80s and 90s, and was nominated for a Dove Award.

...

I was just going to post the identity of clip #9, which has stumped even the most expert of listeners, but decided to lay out one last ridiculously revealing hint in the form of the following soundbite (size - 196kb):

Does it seem crowded in here?

The WSJ's Walter Mossberg reports on his experience with Microsoft's new free blogging package, MSN Spaces.

Spaces is Redmond's answer to Google's Blogger, and, if nothing else, will ensure that the blogosphere doesn't go empty anytime soon. Mossberg reports that Microsoft is claiming an installed base of 7 million blogs, with 100,000 being added daily.

If Mossberg's new blog Walt's Baseball Musings is any indication, Spaces is a step up in functionality from Blogspot, anyway. Of course, you have to be using Windows IE to get access to all that functionality...that goes without saying, doesn't it?

One of the more interesting "features" is that you have to have an Microsoft's NET Passport account in order to leave a comment on a Spaces blog. That alone should ensure that multitudes will lurk without ever saying anything.

Still, it's not the package that counts; it's what's wrapped up in it. Unless you're a one-year old, then the wrapping paper is probably more mesmerizing than the gift. Come to think of it...well, no; I'm not going there.

Technorati tag: MSN Spaces

Music Quiz Hints (Extended Clips)

Update #2: All answers, and those who submitted them first, are now shown below.

Update: I realized earlier today that I had committed a serious faux pas by neglecting to identify the perceptive readers/listeners who correctly named songs and/or artists. I've rectified that oversight below, as well as providing the identity of track #4, courtesy of Midland blogging amigo Wallace, who claims that he's still got a blue-light poster of Burdon hung up in his closet. I'll take his word for that. Now, about track #9...anyone?

...

I'm happy to report that the currently running music quiz has apparently provided just the right mix of difficulty, in that eight of the ten clips were identified rather quickly, and the last two have you completely stymied. Having heard your outcry, I'm providing some extended clips from the two mystery songs, but first, let's recap. Here's the list up to this point:

1. "Hello, I Love You" - The Doors [Michele at A Small Victory]
2. "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" - Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart [Wallace (artist) at Streams & Charles (title) at Dustbury]
3. "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" - The Buckinghams [Wallace (artist) at Streams & Charles (title) at Dustbury]
4. "Monterey" - Eric Burdon & the Animals [Wallace at Streams]
5. "On a Carousel" - The Hollies [Wallace (artist) at Streams & Charles (title) at Dustbury]
6. "One Tin Soldier" - The Original Caste [Denise (title) at Blue Sky in Texas & Charles (artist) at Dustbury
7. "Sealed With a Kiss" - Gary Lewis & the Playboys [Charles at Dustbury]
8. "Talk Talk" - The Music Machine [Charles at Dustbury]
9. "Time Machine" - Grand Funk Railroad [Bill (artist) from Prairie Point & Jeff (title) from ArchaeoTexture]
10. "You Got What It Takes" - The Dave Clark Five [Charles at Dustbury; Michele at A Small Victory was unspecific but did believe that the DC5 were in the list somewhere; we'll give partial credit]

Now, here are the extended clips for #s 4 and 9...almost 15 seconds of each intro. If this doesn't do it for you, I suggest that you either really weren't of this, um, vintage, or you enjoyed yourself entirely too much during the 60s. The clip is about 450kb, by the way.

OK. And the answers are...?

Technorati tag: 60s Music

The more things change, the more they don't

I had a chance to download a couple of the presidential tax returns mentioned in the previous post and find them to be fascinating glimpses into a very personal part of history.

Take Franklin D. Roosevelt's return from 1937, for example. There's nothing particularly out of the ordinary about the return itself, but he felt compelled to attach a note to it by way of explanation as to why he, in fact, was unable to figure out just what he owed the government.

This memo was addressed to the Honorable Guy T. Helvering, Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

Permit me a few observations.

• First, it's good to be king. While we still today have the option of filling out our tax forms then asking the IRS to compute our taxes, would you trust them to do it correctly? FDR apparently had no such qualms, and I suspect the computations done by the Bureau were checked and double-checked by more than one set of eyes.


• Those who question our current President's level of intelligence would do well to note that the leader of the free world during one of the most crucial times in our nation's history was apparently stumped by "higher mathematics" that involved such arcane principles as, say, division and multiplication.


• It's instructive to realize that FDR apparently did his own tax return (however incompletely). But even in the day of a four-page return, there were still aspects that were too difficult for the average head of state to master. Wouldn't you think that somewhere in the intervening six decades, someone would have figured out that the process needed to be simplified?

At least FDR had one advantage. On his 1934 return, he listed his address simply as "The White House, Washington, D.C." And he didn't even have to worry about someone hijacking his social security number.

Prez & Veep Tax Returns

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the Alternative Minimum Tax, and why President Bush and Vice President Cheney managed to avoid it. The article also provides some numbers from their tax returns, which are intriguing in a voyeuristic kind of way:

Also...

Letting Excel do some quick number crunching shows that the Bushes donated 9.9% of their Adjusted Gross Income to charities, while the Cheneys gave away a whopping 18.7%. Both of them paid just over 30% of their Taxable Income in federal income taxes.

From a personal perspective, I readily confess that we're nowhere near those lofty tax rates...but we did beat the First Family in terms of charitable deduction percentage. Not by much, mind you, but it will give the President something to shoot for in '05.

Oh, and how did these guys avoid the AMT? The answer's a bit complicated (gee...income tax regs are complicated?) but the easy explanation is that they just happened to have little in the way of the expenses that are deductible for regular FIT computations, but non-deductible for AMT. Also, Cheney's rather large municipal bond income is exempt under both computations.

Update: Presidential tax returns (including those from Clinton and Reagan, plus John Kerry and John Edwards...and FDR) are available for downloading here.

Insanely Unfair Music Quiz for Old Hippies

Update: The answers to the quiz are found here.

...

It's been a while since we've had a music-related quiz on the Gazette. The last one wore me out, but I think I've finally recovered enough to spring another goody on you.

What I've done is dive into my stack of old and busted 45s and pull out ten songs that charted during the period 1966-1969. I ripped 'em and then cropped out a hideously unrecognizable snippet (or so I hope), and sequenced the ten soundbites into a low-quality mp3. I did, at least, put almost two seconds of silence between each clip, so you'll know when one ends and the next starts.

Your job is, of course, to identify the song title and the artist. I assure you that if you were in high school or junior high in the US during the 60s, you'll know these songs. Whether you can dredge them up from your memory based on a few seconds of out-of-context music...well, welcome to your Golden Years, amigo!

Leave your guesses in the comments. I'll play it by ear as to whether or when to provide some clues, depending on how whiny you get.

OK, here's a clue already (I'm getting soft in my old age): there's nothing here by the Beatles, Herman's Hermits or the Rolling Stones.

Oh, and the mp3 is about 750kb, in case your bandwidth is teensy. Sorry about that.

Technorati tag: 60s Music

The war on moral relativism just got a bit hotter

Jack Rich over at Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness put up a very timely post this morning about Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's aggressive and consistent stance against the cancer of moral relativism.

Jack was obviously prescient, in that four hours later, Cardinal Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI, and his message about "the dictatorship of relativism" will no doubt continue to be laid out in unequivocal terms...this time with the full weight of the papacy behind it.

The real question is whether anyone will listen any better than in the past. Jesus Christ pointed out that prophets who tell people things they don't want to hear tend to have shortened careers. I'm skeptical enough to think that just as we've seen an ages-old tradition unfold today in Rome, we'll also see an even older human practice continue as we give lip service to the will of God while attempting to bend it to our own desires and emotions.

Technorati tag: Moral Relativism

Humbled and Grateful

The post title neatly sums up how Will and I feel about the response to the recently established "Sgt. Will Fund." While I had a feeling that a number of Gazette readers would be receptive to a way to show tangible support for the sacrifices that Sgt. Will and his family are making while he serves our country in Iraq, I frankly underestimated that generosity. Oh me of little faith! ;-)

Will wrote today to say that his outfit has been issued a change in mission, but the details aren't yet available. Please continue to keep him and his family, and his fellow soldiers in your prayers.

And if you'd like to show your support via a contribution to the "Sgt. Will Fund" please feel free to do that as well. Think of it as a tip jar for someone who's doing really, really important work on our behalf!

Gracias, amigos!

Obligatory Tuesday Dog Photo

Jasper, courtesy of his personal errand boy, James Lileks.

The world would be a better place if we had more golden dog photos.

Scary Simple Blog

Garrett Dimon's new blog sports the cleanest design ever. Ever. It makes Jakob Nielsen's site look downright gaudy.

Garrett uses Textpattern to create and maintain his site(s). I'm not familiar with Textpattern, which, according to its word-dense website, is a "...flexible, elegant, easy-to-use content management system for all kinds of websites, even weblogs."

It appears that Textpattern is not for the faint of heart. Again, from its website: "Note that current versions presuppose existing site design skills: there is nothing plug-and-play about Textpattern, yet. A default layout and CSS are included with the distribution, but the onus is upon the tester to work Textpattern’s tags into their own markup and site design." In my experience, anytime the documentation uses the word "onus," it's a clear signal that I'm probably in over my head. Even Garrett's description of his introduction to Textpattern has the ominous title of "Learning to Love Textpattern."

Regardless of the tool he uses, I must admit that I greatly admire the simplicity and focus of his design. As I contemplate a makeover for the Gazette, I think I could do worse than emulate the principles, if not the complete practices embodied in GarretDimon.com.

Tip o'the hat to Digital Web Magazine's blog

Technorati tag: Textpattern

The wildfire that almost got away

Anyone who lives on the prairie has a healthy respect for the power of a wildfire. That respect is a mixture of fear for the destruction it can do and the benefits that can follow the natural cleansing it provides the landscape. The term "controlled burn" is just a euphemism for "potential disaster," and Julie Neidlinger's account of her own little burn on Saturday is a vivid illustration of that fact.

Adobe + Macromedia = PhotoFlash?

The announcement that Adobe is acquiring Macromedia via a stock transaction valued at $3.4 billion caught me by surprise. It will definitely be one of the most-watched combinations in the online design world, given that it combines the owners of arguably the most influential software on the market (Photoshop and GoLive for Adobe and Flash and Dreamweaver for Macromedia).

I'm particularly interested to see how the web publishing software issues are resolved. I've been hitched to GoLive since its introduction and watched while it and Dreamweaver leapfrogged each other in terms of features and power. I think Dreamweaver has a larger installed base and seems to have an advantage in terms of dynamic, database-backed websites, and I've always envied that capability. GoLive, on the other hand, has the advantage of tight integration with the other Adobe products.

I can't help but think that only one of these programs will survive the merger, and if that's the case, there will be a lot of unhappy users. On the bright side, if the strengths of both apps are somehow combined into one "superpackage," that will be a good thing...but I'm not sure that the loss of the competitive pressure for continuous improvement will benefit the design community in the long run.

I will also be surprised if the maker of Illustrator will allow FreeHand to survive as is. Illustrator will always have the position of being the flagship vector illustration program on the market.

Technorati tag: Adobe | Macromedia

Firefox 1.0.3 Security Update Now Available

Sure, it's the best browser on the planet, but that doesn't mean that Firefox is perfect. Many of its millions of users are trying to stress it to the breaking point, attacking it in various ways to find vulnerabilities. Thankfully, a lot of those folks wear white hats, so to speak; any problems they uncover they report to the Mozilla team, and may even work with the team to find a fix.

Thus we find that Firefox 1.0.3 is now available for download, and it addresses nine security issues, three of which are deemed critical.

For an insider's view of these security issues, I recommend Gervase Markham's post over at the intriguingly-named "Hacking for Christ." Gervase, who, incidentally, looks to be about 12 years old, is on the Mozilla project team, and knows whereof he speaks. I also recommend reading the comments left on this post by some on both sides of the fence, with one in particular providing a slightly different-than-usual insight as to how Microsoft deals with similar security issues.

Technorati tag: Firefox | Firefox Security

Blogging friends back in the States

Blog pals TulipGirl and her husband Discoshaman and their kidwinks are back in the States after several years living in the Ukraine. They're now trying to readjust to American culture (good luck; I've been trying for decades without much success! ;-), and reacquire driving skills.

Disco apparently hasn't yet figured out how to hook his computer up to US current, because nothing new is up at Le Sabot Post-Moderne, but TulipGirl is going strong! Hop over and welcome her back when you get a moment.

New digs for the Gazette

Busy, busy weekend...sorry about the lack of correspondence here. Spent most of yesterday (1) loading up old office furniture for transport to its new home, (2) buying new office furniture, (3) assembling said furniture via instructions in the form of cryptic diagrams (managed to avoid breaking out the MIG welder, but it was touch-and-go for a while) and (4) moving computer and peripherals and accoutrements and trappings and miscellany from temporary work station onto new furniture. Took a quick break somewhere in that list to attend a Sunday School fellowship where pounds of boiled shrimp, potatos, corn, carrots and hush puppies were consumed and a Trivial Pursuit-type of game involving "brown wedgies" was played (the details aren't important, but they're milder than whatever you're thinking).

Hope tomorrow to be able to share an exciting update on the Sgt. Will Fund. Here's a teaser: if you look up the words "amazing" and "generous" in the dictionary, you'll see photos of a large group of Gazette readers!

Peace out.

So many people...such bad decisions

With all due respect to Patti over at White Pebble, who is one of the smartest bloggers around and who shows eminently good judgment in almost everything she does -- as evidenced by her prominent display of the "Firefox Download" icon -- her quote that accompanies that icon doesn't instill a lot of confidence. It says:

If that's true, how do we then explain the 400 million (or whatever) Internet Explorer users in the world?

Technorati tags: Firefox | IE Reeks

Esoteric Food Recommendations

It's late afternoon and the hunger pangs are starting to gnaw. I try to resist snacking -- not always successfully -- so perhaps writing about food will be a separate but equal answer (as Pogo would say).

Anyway, here are three somewhat unusual food items that MLB and I recommend highly for your consideration.

• Apricot Mango Wasabi Sauce by Robert Rothschild Farms. Wasabi is faddish, I know, but that doesn't make it any less delicious. In this concoction, it actually falls a couple of items behind plain old horseradish on the ingredients list, and my palate isn't discerning enough to distinguish the two in this setting. But this sauce is a wonderful blend of sweet and spicy, with just the right kick. Goes great with roast chicken and grilled tuna. Oh, and eggrolls, of course.


• Lemon Dill and Capers Sauce, again by Robert Rothschild Farms. We bought a jar of this in Fredericksburg at the same time we bought the aforementioned wasabi sauce. The taste of dill always takes me back to my paternal grandmother's dining table, where she served the world's best homemade dill pickles at every meal (OK, not at breakfast). This sauce is smooth and we really liked it with grilled pork chops. It's also good with tuna.


• Hot 'n Spicy Wasabi Chips by Eden Foods. I saved the best 'til last. These vegetable (a mix of carrot, cabbage, spinach, parsley, lettuce and onion) chips are baked, fried, then baked again, and they taste absolutely wonderful. Unlike the apricot mango wasabi sauce mentioned above, however, these chips have a serious kick to 'em! If you're a wasabi or horseradish fan, give these chips a try. We've not been able to find them in any retail store other than the Whole Foods Market in Santa Fe (even the WFM in San Antonio didn't stock them), but the internet comes through once again. One interesting bit of trivia: this is the only food item I've knowingly eaten that has "Job's Tears" listed as one of the ingredients.

I apologize if this post makes you hungry. I confess to succumbing to the lure of the wasabi chips; I just intended to read the label...but you know how that goes.

And another thing...

I also want to know, with respect to the Sonic Drive-In commercial mentioned below, why the people are sitting in their parked car, eating their salads with "meat-based dressing" (how appetizing is that, btw?), and wearing their seatbelts?

My guess is that the director had to strap 'em in to make 'em say those lines.

Random TV Questions

The following questions have been accumulating like dryer lint, gradually but effectively blocking my normal cognitive processes...and, believe me, I don't need any additional challenges in this area. Thus, I pose them to you as a way of cleaning the trap.

• Where would today's crime-related dramas get their ideas if they couldn't use DNA as a crutch? Makes you wonder how Perry Mason ever solved a single stinkin' crime.


• What was Sonic's ad agency thinking when they replaced the two Mormon guys with the new husband-and-wife (apparently) spokescouple? The guy is unctuously mindless in a way that allows jurors to righteously consider justifiable homicide as a defense, and the woman obviously can't wait to kill her agent for booking this lame gig. Surely Sonic's marketing strategy isn't designed to generate such murderous thoughts in its customers, but these are strange days we're living in.


• Speaking of strange days, we missed the premier of NBC's "Revelations" on Wednesday night, but caught it on the rebound via CNBC last night. It wasn't so bad as to be painful (other than the unfortunate timing of having a sub-plot involving the decision to pull the plug on a child in a "persistent vegetative state" and who, unfortunately for the ACLU-types, kept showing annoying signs of life) but that might have been an improvement over the general reaction of "huh?" If this "limited series" is really supposed to be a dramatization of the end-times prophecies documented in the Book of Revelation (note to TV producers: the Bible book's name isn't pluralized, but I'm sure you know that), the writers might want to actually, you know, read the book. Because as far as I could tell, they went to BibleGateway.com and pulled a dozen scriptures at random for "atmosphere" and called it a day. I have no idea who the target audience is, but perhaps anyone who thinks "The DaVinci Code" is a scholarly work will also be edified by "Revelations."

"Lone Star Rising"

Aaron Peña is a Democratic Representative (District 40, in South Texas) in the Texas House of Representatives. He also has a blog titled "A Capitol Blog," where he posts as "The Rep." According to this website, he's the only Texas legislator to have a blog. Good for him, I say.

Apparently feeling a little lonely, he's enlisted some fellow legislators to participate in a new group blog, started April 10, called "Lone Star Rising." Rep. Peña describes the new blog in these humble terms: "Political discussion and commentary by leaders of the great state of Texas."

One might infer from that description that this will be a fine forum for non-partisan discussion of issues facing the state legislature. One would also apparently be wrong, based on the contributions to date.

Let's recap the posters thus far, shall we?

• REP. JOE DESHOTEL - Democrat (Dist. 22, Port Arthur)


• REP. VERONICA GONZALES - Democrat (Dist. 35, Alice)


• REP. RAFAEL ANCHIA - Democrat (Dist. 103, Dallas)


• REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO - Democrat (Dist. 125, San Antonio)

Are we sensing a trend here?

All posts are being uploaded under Rep. Peña's name, presumably because the others don't know how to do it themselves.

Most of the posts thus far have a decidely partisan tone to them, and judging by their quality, I don't expect Lone Star Rising to appear on many Texas blogrolls anytime soon. It's unfortunate that something that could have been used for some non-partisan perspectives on the state legislative process is apparently going to be used simply for the benefit of one party, without even disclosing that strategy to visitors. And, after all, it's not like we don't have enough other less-than-expertly crafted, obviously partisan blogs to choose from.

OK, I'll admit that I don't know if Rep. Peña has attempted to recruit Republican legislators to participate in Lone Star Rising. Maybe he has, and they've declined. If that's the case, I apologize to Rep. Peña...although I still think he needs to label the posters with their party affiliation, in the interest of full disclosure.

Tip o'the Stetson to gritsforbreakfast, posting at Texas Bloggers.

Technorati Tag: Lone Star Rising

WOOFy Mouse Potato Ducking the Ohnosecond

I'm easily amused, so Jen's sharing of the email documenting New Words for 2005 just hit the spot.

Of course, some of them (like SITCOM and Percussive Maintenance) aren't really new. But, overall, it's a good lineup. Anybody who says that expanding one's vocabulary isn't fun is, like, 404 to the max.

Google Maps: Under the Hood

Google Maps is apparently taking the triple-w by storm, and deservedly so. In a post from a few days ago, I wondered about the technology behind the drag-to-view map interface. SitePoint has the answer, albeit one fraught with acronyms and other tech references that will probably raise more questions.

The short answer is a combination of DHTML and CSS, but that's like saying that a Rolls-Royce Phantom is simply a collection of bits of metal, wood and plastic.

The SitePoint article makes a good point, however, in recognizing that as cool as Google Maps is, it has some significant drawbacks that keep it from being a universally useful tool. Some of the features don't work in all browsers (the drag-to-pan feature doesn't work in Safari, for example, although Google says that's coming soon), and the site isn't accessible at all in non-Javascript-enabled browsers.

In an ideal world, websites would be equally accessible to all browsers, or would "degrade gracefully" for the older or less-capable. But I have a hard time faulting Google for the approach it's taken with Google Maps. There are plenty of mapping alternatives, so it's not as though people are getting shut out of an entire class of service. When you consider that updated and fully-capable browsers are free, most people have a choice when it comes to staying with an outdated program. And today's cutting-edge technology often becomes the norm, and can even drive browser development to new capabilities. In the end, Google is to be commended for pushing the envelope with this new website.

Technorati tag: Google Maps

Somebody needs a life.

I just got a visitor via a Google search for "ER Dr. Romano's death."* C'mon, folks...that was eighteen months ago! Surely you've got some closure by now. Move on. There's a whole wide world of new fictional characters to become obsessed over!

*The Gazette ranks #3 for that extremely popular phrase, by the way. Heck, after this post, we may claw our way to #2.

Got Hay?

Ranchers all across this great country of ours deal with a recurring problem: hay is always where the livestock isn't. Seems like it's always too wet or too dry or too cold or too...well, you get the picture. But conditions for growing hay are perfect somewhere else. So, how do they get the hay to where the animals are? It's an old problem.

The good folks at the USDA have, via their Farm Service Agency, created a high-tech approach to this problem: Hay Net. It's a website of wonderful simplicity, with two main links on the home page, one for those who have hay to sell (Have Hay), and one for those who need hay (Need Hay...doh, what did you think?).

All websites should be designed this well.

Tip o'the seed company cap to clagnut, which doesn't even originate in the US of A.

Winter Officially Over

I realize it's a bit odd to be writing about winter when it's just about time to mail the old federal income tax return, but we've still been having low temps in the upper 30s and goodness knows that the weather is no respecter of the calendar in west Texas; for example, we had snow on March 28th, two years ago.

However, with the gale force winds easing up for the first time in a week (OK, yesterday was calm, but my insanely unsympathetic boss wouldn't let me out), I went for a bike ride and saw the two indisputable signs that we will not be getting another freeze this spring. First, the mesquite is (are?) leafing out quite nicely. Second, a scissortail flew alongside of me, just above eye level and about thirty feet to my right, for a good quarter mile, until a car approached from behind and disrupted our race. Everyone knows that the scissortail flycatcher doesn't reappear in these parts until after the last freeze of the season. How they know that it's time to pack up their winter gear in Central America and return to the States is beyond me, but they're never mistaken, as far as I know. (The mesquite, on the other hand, have (has?) been fooled; it's rare, but it happens.)

So, pack up your longhandles and break out the thongs (sandals, that is; you are not in that kind of shape, yet)...summer's on its way!

Report from Iraq: Feeling like a Knight

Sgt. Will reports in from Iraq, having just returned Kuwait, and puts in his $0.02 about "force protection" (armor, for us non-military types):

Here are photos of Sgt. Will's truck before and after the installation of the LSAC. Quite a difference, huh?

Additional notes: Will also provided links to the Army's FMTV website and to GlobalSecurity.org's page for FMTV LSACs.

Update (2005-04-14): Here are some photos of the PLS mentioned above. Sgt. Will describes a PLS thusly: "...basically an Oshkosh 10 Ton truck that uses flat racks like the big dumpster trucks."

In addition, the KWES-TV website has just posted Will's latest "day-in-the-life" column.

And, don't forget that you can provide some tangible support to Sgt. Will and his family via the PayPal button shown at the right side of this page. 100% of the proceeds, net of PayPal's fee, goes to Mrs. Sgt.

Neato Geo

Gazette readers are the best. Recently, one of them (who claims she's too shy to be identified) brought to my attention (and, apparently, to many of you as well) the existence of the amazing satellite photos provided by Google. Then, right on the heels of that post, mi amigo and Undisputed Master of Bible Haiku, Larry Stephey, emails me about GeoURL, a "location-to-URL reverse directory." This is more cool stuff for anyone who's got a thing for geography with a high tech twist.

GeoURL is sort of a one-trick pony, but that trick is quite interesting. It allows you to find the URLs of other websites which originate from locations in close physical proximity to a base URL. For example, if you click on the GeoURL button at right, just under Abbye's photo, you'll see a list of a half dozen other websites that originate from within 25 km of the Gazette. Click anywhere on the map on the GeoURL home page to see a list of adjacent websites relative to the location you chose.

If you want to use GeoURL on your site, you'll need to add your URL to the database. GeoURL has a helper app that gives you the latitude and longitude to the proper degree of accuracy, based on your address or zip code. It then generates a set of meta tags which you can add to your source code. Those tags are readable by certain browsers (FireFox has a GeoURL extension, for example) and they allow visitors to access your "neighborhood" of websites.

Of course, the usefulness of the database depends on how many people add their URLs to it, and thus far it contains less than 200,000 websites. That's not very many compared to the hundreds of millions of URLs in use around the world. If you have a blog or a website, how about popping over to GeoURL and adding it to the database?

The point? Nothing significant, at least not at this time. It's just one more bit of meta-data that might help folks put some organization into the www that helps them do what they need to do.

Technorati tag: GeoURL

New DVD Release

Go ahead...tell me you can live without this. I don't believe you.

Tiger Beat

Apple has announced that the next version of OS X, Tiger, will be available for purchase on Friday, April 29. The price is $129 for a single-user license and $199 for a 5-user "family license."

While I'm excited about some of the new features that the upgrade contains, I