Honoring our troops via herobracelets.org

I've just learned about HeroBracelets.org, an organization "...founded to honor the sacrifices made by America's volunteer Armed Forces. Putting their life on hold for potentially dangerous duty is a brave thing to do, and we admire them all. HeroBracelets are available for all American Armed Forces, regardless of when or where they served their country."

The organization sells metal bracelets in a number of configurations, designed to honor or memorialize those who are currently serving, who served in the past, or who have fallen on the battlefield. In addition, $2.00 from the sale of every bracelet goes to the Fallen Heroes Fund, a non-profit, non-political fund instituted to provide assistance to families of military personnel killed while serving their country.

I like this idea, and I've just placed an order for a HeroBracelet to honor Sgt. Will, who is serving in Iraq. You might want to do the same, or perhaps you've got another soldier whose memory or service you'd like to honor in a tangible way. The organization offers several varieties of bracelets and dogtags, including some to honor those who fell in Viet Nam, and those who've been awarded Purple Hearts for being wounded in action (a category my own father is in).

I take extra pride in the fact that HeroBracelets.org was created by a Texan, Chris Greta, who has a small ad agency in Austin.

Technorati tags: HeroBracelet | Fallen Heroes Fund

TV to go: the new Mount Everest

Sling Media's new Slingbox™ is a device that allows you to watch TV (live or recorded) via your Windows laptop wherever you have a broadband connection. It's not a recorder ("timeshifter"), it's a "placeshifter."

The small $250 device sits between your TV or video playback unit and your router, and works some electronic magic that allows the signal to be streamed to a computer on the downstream side of the router...regardless of location. The Slingbox system uses variable compression technology to ensure steady streaming of the video, regardless of bandwidth vagaries (although it still requires a "high speed connection," equivalent to cable or DSL). The Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg tested the device and reports that it works as advertised.

You can even use the Slingbox to control your TV or playback unit...change channels or use any other action on the device's menu, just as if you were sitting in front of it with the remote control.

The geek part of me thinks this is extremely cool, and pouts because there's not yet a Mac version (it's in the works). The sensory-overloaded part of me wonders why we need one more thing to distract us no matter where we are. The practical side of me sees some interesting applications: being able to watch The Big Game while working on a project in the garage; watching local news while traveling far from home; and being able to cheat those stupid pay-to-watch TVs in airports.

You can buy the Slingbox at Best Buy or CompUSA. I have no idea about the actual availability, but based on the initial reports, I think Sling Media probably has a winner on its hands.

Technorati tag: Slingbox

TDF at a Glance

Via Newsdesigner (a very interesting blog about newspaper design) comes an overview and link to a 2.8 megabyte PDF that will pretty much tell you everything you need to know in anticipation of Lance Armstrong's quest for a seventh yellow jersey in the Tour de France. The graphic comes from The Oregonian in Portland, which ran a special TDF section yesterday.

It's a "doubletruck graphic," (whatever that is!) that gives some great information about Lance's bike and other equipment, his primary competitors, profiles of the race stages, and some insights as to race strategy for those who might be confused by the sometimes obscure rules and tactics in a multi-stage bicycle race. It's very well done.

Tip o'the chapeau to the most excellent if unimaginatively titled Tour de France 2005 blog. Of course, he knows what a doubletruck graphic is, so I have no room to talk.

Technorati tag: Tour de France

New Blog Discovery

While poring over every detail of the Gazette's referer log (yeah, like you don't do that for your blog) I noticed a visit from an unrecognized blog entitled Wild Olive Branch. Turns out it originates in the peachy state of Georgia, and the author comes across as an intelligent and likable guy, despite an apparent lapse in judgment during which he blogrolled the Gazette.

Stephen writes primarily about faith-related issues, and specifically about the Jewish roots of Christianity. But he also mixes in a healthy helping of humor.

I have to admit that his regular references to "praying at IHOP" threw me for a bit. I do some of that myself, but it's generally limited to blessing the scrambled eggs and pancakes. It took me a while to figure out that he's referring to the International House of Prayer.

The Inner Sanctum (Parte Deux)

John's Jim's [ed-argh!] post on the subject over at Serotoninrain reminded me that I've been remiss in updating you on the progress of my Corporate Headquarters Relocation Project (CHRP).

When last we visited the inner sanctum, where the Gazette is carefully handcrafted by a veritable army of pixels who are willing to sacrifice their very lives for the sake of...whatever..., it was housed in a giant and dark wooden monstrosity straight out of Charles Dickens' imagination.

Today, however, I'm pleased to report that we're now publishing from a bright and shiny new space, all frosted glass and powder-coated steel and with a view to rival that of Trump Tower penthouse dwellers.

And, in recognition of our fiduciary responsibilities to our shareholders (and in fear of SOX), we're pleased to report that the whole new shebang, purchased off the rack from our friendly neighborhood Staples, cost less than 25% of the original layout.

As before, in anticipation of the insatiable curiosity of Gazette readers, I've provided a more detailed annotated tour of the Inner Sanctum². Click here, but count the cost, because the resulting photo is 200kb or so. I think you'll find it well worth the bandwidth, however.

How many times have you seen this?

An announcement from Apple...

...followed by a response from Microsoft...

Of course, it must really chap Bill Gates' hide to have to admit getting behind technology, the very name of which is a tribute to Apple's innovation.

Quotes from today's Wall Street Journal

Technorati tags: Podcasting | Apple

MIT blogging survey

This graphic is becoming seemingly ubiquitous. I. Must. Follow. Crowd.

It's a blogger survey (only they insist on using "weblog" and its derivatives which, frankly, is sort of geeky, and not in an attractive way). You should take it, too. Just click on the graphic. Some poor schmoes' PhDs depend on it.

And, no, I'm not bitter that I wasn't among the Elite 5,000 who were actually issued a personal invitation to participate.

Spiders in West Texas: Too Much Information

Local naturalist Burr Williams has a lengthy post up on El Llanero about spiders in our area. He goes into excruciating detail about population densities and personal habits of these icky-if-not-downright-evil creatures.

Did I mention I'm an arachnophobe? Why, yes, I believe I did.

So please pardon me if I don't seem particularly appreciative of his primer on spiders in our area. When it comes to those eight legged freaks, I believe that ignorance is bliss, especially the parts about hundreds of tarantulas per acre and suppurating wounds. I'm willing to strike an uneasy truce; I'll give 'em the rest of the world, but there's a line they're be expected not to cross, and that line follows closely the border of my home's foundation. Cross that line and I don't care if their saliva cures everything from male pattern baldness to athlete's foot, I'll hunt 'em down and kill 'em. Assuming that I can find a long enough stick.

Is this it for The Fat Guy?

Scott has posted a dancing pig, a partial quote from The Guv, and what appears to be an official, if somewhat cryptic, letter of resignation from the blogosphere. Of course, he's also without a/c and it could just be the heatstroke talking.

Personally, I hope he does go away, because that will free me up to post all the mindless and illogical opinions I want without someone interjecting inconvenient facts into the discussion.

That's what's known as "reverse psychology," and it's been known to work with small children and heat-addled bloggers.

Usability Hall of Shame

One of the effects of my foray into website design is that I've gained a heightened sensitivity to design elements in all areas, from the perspectives of both aesthetics and usability. And what I've realized is that we encounter a lot of bad designs in our daily lives. These designs are often perceived only peripherally, impinging on our senses like a dull headache that's been around for so long that we no longer notice it directly.

Well, I'm tired of suffering silently as a result of dumb decisions on the part of people who should know better. Henceforth, I plan to document the offending products, processes or even people (in a generic way, of course) which add to the collective angst and stress of living in a modern world. Do I expect anything will change as a result of these mini-rants? No...but I'll feel better, in some small but important way. So, I present to you the Gazette's Usability Hall of Shame.

The initial inductees both come to us from the wacky world of telecommunications, from SBC and CellularOne, to be exact.

CellularOne is a multi-billion dollar corporation, and yet it has managed to create and maintain an online account management system that would be cutting edge if we were still living in, say, 1998. The website won't let you save your login information and you can pay bills online only via credit or debit card (as long as you have a Mastercard, Visa or Amex; no Discover, please. When it comes time to enter your payment information, the input field for the credit/debit card number has been designated as a password field, meaning that instead of being able to see the 16 numbers you're typing, you see a string of black dots. If you make a typo, you won't know it until the transaction is rejected. Note to CellularOne web designers: password fields are for passwords.

Let's move on to SBC, another multi-billion dollar corporation who cares about protecting customer privacy so much that they just sent out a letter letting us know that they really, really care. However, they're still going to share our "customer proprietary network information" with related companies unless we call a certain phone number by a certain date and follow the instructions given to us by the computerized voice on the other end of the line.

I decided to opt out of SBC's "policy of caring" and so I called the number, where I was instructed to enter my phone number, area code first, followed by the seven digit number...followed by the three numbers that follow my phone number as it appears on my bill. What?! Why did they think it was unimportant to mention that in the letter? Of course, I had to hang up and go find a bill, and start the process over (which, by the way, involved redialing six times because the tollfree number was now busy). Note to SBC letter writers: When sending instructions to customers, why not consider the revolutionary idea of sending complete instructions? Unless, of course, you really don't want people to use that nasty opt-out option.

Here's another note to all companies who deal with private citizens as customers: we don't like having to opt-out of something in order to protect our personal and private data. So don't do anything extra with that data unless we explicitly agree to opt in to whatever you have in mind.

OK...I feel better. Any other nominations for the Usability Hall of Shame? It's a pretty big edifice, although I suspect we could still fill it in a hurry if we concentrate.

Report from Iraq: A soldier responds to the skeptics

Editor's note: I'm late in posting this update from Sgt. Will, who sent it just over a week ago, but it's still relevant. Unfortunately.

From Sgt. Will, working in harm's way in Iraq:

There's nothing I can add to what Sgt. Will says, except to say "amen" and express continuing thanks to men and women like him who are risking their lives to bring to Iraq and Afghanistan the same freedoms we seem to daily take for granted here in the safe and comfortable confines of America.

If you'd like to show some tangible support for Sgt. Will, you might consider make a donation to the Sgt. Will Fund. More information and a PayPal donation link are found in the upper right column of this page.

Technorati tag: War on Terror

"Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be...PEs"

A Wall Street Journal article focuses on a problem that anyone associated with the oil business has understood for more than a decade:

Years of boom-and-bust cycles and the related downsizing and cost-cutting pretty much took the glow off the industry as an attractive career choice for college students. I know parents who had successful professional careers in the business but were loathe to recommend that their children follow in their footsteps due to the uncertainties. Couple that with the tens of thousands of oil and gas professionals who finally got fed up and left for other lines of work, and you get the situation we now find ourselves in.

This is a problem without a quick solution because of the time it takes to refill the pipeline (no pun intended) with qualified and experienced personnel. Figure four years for a degree in Petroleum Engineering, Geology or Geophysics, plus another couple of years to get some hands-on experience -- that's a long lead time to fix a situation that's already having measurable impact.

Of course, an interesting question is the extent to which the perceived supply crunch has its roots in the industry's historic "hunker-down" mode.

Conaway on Fox

Did anyone else catch Texas congressman and Midland resident Mike Conaway's appearance on Fox News' "Dayside with Linda Vester" around noon today? He and a Democratic congresswoman appeared on a segment discussing their recent tour of the Guantanamo Bay prison facilities.

It's the first time I've caught our new congressman on a news show like this, and I thought he acquitted himself well (although he might want to practice the pronunciation of "Guantanamo Bay" or simply stick with "Gitmo"; people are going to get a bad impression of the linguistic skills of Texas politicians! ;-). Not surprisingly, he sees no reason to either close Gitmo or to spawn yet another oversight or investigative committee, and he offered some logical reasons to support his position.

His Democrat counterpart (whose name and state I didn't catch; she may have also been from Texas) was actually a little more comfortable and well-spoken (she's not a freshman rep), but her arguments weren't compelling, other than a call for increased "transparency" as far as the government's intentions toward the detainees. I think that's a legitimate request, if it can be done without compromising our security strategies.

Issues aside, Conaway has the tools to become a sought-after interviewee on these types of programs, given a little more experience.

Technorati tags: Mike Conaway | Guantanamo Bay

TDF 2005: The Countdown Begins!

The 92nd edition of the Tour de France begins this Saturday, July 2 and, as usual, it's all about Lance. Can he pull off a 7th victory, a feat which is highly unlikely to be repeated in our lifetimes?

The 3,500 km race kicks off with the traditional Prologue time trial, a 19 km torture test leaving from the village of Fromentine, located on the east coast of France. The Prologue is not a strategic stage from a physical perspective, but it can send a critical psychological message. Lance Armstrong will have the advantage of starting last, as the wearer of the yellow jersey from last year's TDF, and if he wins this time trial it will be a mental blow to his challengers who keep hoping for some sign of age-related weakness.

Of course, Lance didn't win the Prologue last year, coming in second to Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara...and that didn't affect the final results at all. So, in my opinion, Lance has a lot to gain but not much to lose in the opening stage.

Unfortunately, I'll be out of town this weekend and won't be able to live-blog the first three stages, but I hope to get back on schedule next week, providing my usual mix of tired clichés and uncompelling insights. Fortunately, the race itself provides more than enough drama. I hope you'll watch what you can along with me, and then drop by here occasionally to share your observations.

My prediction for TDF 2005? I'm notoriously non-committal, and I haven't really kept up with Armstrong's pre-TDF conditioning and race results, but from what I can tell, there are no signs of obvious weakness in either Lance or his Discovery Channel team that can be exploited by his competition. I think that only bad luck -- a disabling crash or illness or a disastrous equipment failure -- will keep him from a 7th yellow jersey, and Sheryl will be Croweing a victory song on July 24th. And, frankly, there's no racer on the planet who does more to control his own environment, and thus the "luck" that goes along with it, than Lance.

This date in history

Monday, June 27, 1994 was an historic date in Midland, Texas, as we recorded our all-time record high temperature of 116° (that's 46.7° C for those of you forced to work with that weird scale!).

I remember it well, as I went for a bicycle ride just to see what it was like. That was when I was still working a regular 9-to-5 job (except it was actually more like 7-4) and thus was routinely riding in 90°+ temps. I thought I was pretty well acclimated to the heat, but after going out in 116 (coupled with 15-20 mph winds), I realized that it's probably not possible to get acclimated to exercising in that kind of temperature range.

I could dig up the records if I wanted, but my recollection is that I rode only about 12 miles or so, about 30% less than my usual daily route. I can remember that the hot wind was perceptibly skin-crackling and what began as ice-cold water in my plastic bottle was beyond tepid after less than a mile. The pop of tar bubbles as my tires rolled over our crushed graveled streets duplicated the feeling and sound of riding on an endless layer of bubble wrap.

My hat goes off those those souls who routinely work -- and excel -- in such conditions. I'm thinking specifically to those serving in the military in Iraq, and those serving here at home as firefighters.

By the way, we're anticipating a coooool 97° this afternoon. Nothing like a mild summer in west Texas!

The North Dakota Conservatory of Online Music

Julie's got a podcast. We knew she was a gifted writer. We knew she was a gifted artist. Now we know she's a gifted musician.

We think we hate Julie.

Just kidding.

Probably.

But, if we find out she's a gifted ballroom dancer, then, definitely...we hate her.

Picking on the Paper

From a story in today's local newspaper about growing old:

Fair enough. A real Roman centurion definitely qualifies as a "senior citizen," by a margin of a more than a few centuries. I simply didn't realize we had any of them in Midland.

And from the real estate section, in a description of the "home of the week":

The writer is obviously quite careful to avoid the appearance of exaggeration. We wouldn't want anyone to think that we're declaring that room to be absolutely unique.

Book Review: "Tekoa"

I just finished an odd little book entitled "Tekoa," authored by a cowboy poet and storyteller named Joe Herrington.

We found Tekoa last February in a bookstore in Santa Fe and were intrigued by the novel's setting (near Marfa, Texas), its protagonists (two Texas A&M seniors taking a spring break trip to the desert prior to their graduation) and the plot description which alluded to the mysteries of the Marfa Lights, alternate universes and imaginative adventures.

The book turned out to be something along the lines of The Hardy Boys Meet The Time Machine. If it was a movie, it would earn a easy "PG" rating, and the author's writing style is as simple and straightforward as you might expect from a west Texas cowboy (albeit one who works as a Media Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering). There's never any doubt that the good guys are going to triumph, regardless of the sticky situations they fall into. In fact, if the two heros were really prototypical A&M students, people would be telling MIT jokes instead of Aggie jokes, because they seemed to know everything and know how to do everything, despite their youth.

The attraction of the book comes in the author's obvious love for and knowledge about the desert and its denizens, human and otherwise. I can't recall the last book I read that included the cooking and eating of prickly pear "tuna." There's even a glossary at the end of the book to explain many of the terms used in the novel.

As a long-time west Texan and science fiction fan, I enjoyed the combination of the genres, even though I had hoped for more, well, grittiness. This is a novel that would be equally at home in a church or junior high school library. The author is a Christian and while he doesn't explicitly weave Christianity into the plot, the overarching "good vs. evil" theme is often described in spiritual terms. And, of course, Tekoa is a region (and town) in Israel which was mentioned a number of times in the Bible.

If you think of yourself as an urbane cosmopolitan and you prefer Manolo Blahniks to Luccheses, you might want to pass on Tekoa. But, if you have any interest in this beautiful region of the country and don't mind dialing back your imagination a bit, you'll find this to be a pleasant summer diversion. You might even learn something.

Technorati tags: Tekoa | Joe Herrington | Marfa Lights

Ways women are not like men: Episode #856

Me: "When do you want to go to Home Depot?"

Her: "Let me finish this, then I'll be ready. Are you going to clean up first?"

Me: "I don't understand the question."

Update (same day): Wallace's communications with his Bride are less cryptic but equally instructive.

Don't be jealous...

...simply because a good friend just drove up unannounced and handed me a couple of still-warm hand-twisted loaves of homemade bread that his lovely and gifted bride made.

Oh, OK. You can be jealous. ;-)

Tool Meme

Update (6/25): This meme resonated well with Clarence over at Can You Hear Me Now?, resulting in one post to mimic the meme, plus two additional posts to detail his achievements in making his own tools over the years. He's even created a photo album of some of those tools.

One of the pleasant surprises last weekend is that my parents and my brother and his wife lavished me with early birthday presents while I was in Fort Stockton. The Big Day is actually next week (the 28th, in case you're computing shipping time for that new Crossfire...but I'm willing to wait as long as the 30th), but we weren't likely to see one another before then.

Among other goodies, I received a 5 1/2" Craftsman cordless circular saw, complete with laser guide. This little gem is bound to be a big time saver since my household jobs are usually small enough that it takes as much time to haul out the big saw, string an extension cord and then reverse the process when finished as it does to make the cuts.

Anyway, all the guys were impressed while the girls made polite remarks before resuming their discussion about the latest catalog from Talbots. Now, I'm not trying to read too much into this, but it does seem to me that guys just naturally get more excited than girls about hardware and tools. I know there are exceptions -- on both sides of the aisle -- but, generally speaking, it's a valid differentiator of gender.

And it occurred to me that I've never seen a tool meme in the blogosphere. That's a crying shame, and someone should do something about it.

1. What's the last tool you bought? It was a 4 pound short-handled sledge hammer. It's not often that I need a sledge hammer, but when I do, nothing else will fit the bill...not the clawhammer, not the rubber mallet, not the phenolic mallet or even the ballpeen. And the short-handled sledge matches perfectly to the 50-pound anvil I bought a few years back.


2. Which tool do you enjoy using so much that you make up jobs for it? That would have to be the little 110 volt wirefeed (MIG) welder (another gift from mi hermano). Having worked around welders in the oilfield when I was in college, I always admired the way they brought a certain artistic eye to the shaping of even the most massive pieces of metal. And even though I don't have a tiny fraction of those skills (I once set my own pants on fire), there's just something special about putting electrode to steel and generating sparks. Plus, it keeps the neighbors wondering just what you're up to.


3. What's the most obscure and yet useful tool in your collection? That's a tough one, but I think the tool that's bailed me out of more tight spaces, literally, is my angled ratcheting screwdriver. They'll generate a surprising amount of torque for such a small tool, and they'll sometimes save you from having to completely dismantle a mechanism just to fix one part. (Like, when one doesn't necessarily follow the assembly instructions to the letter, but the problem doesn't become obvious until late in the process. Not that I would know anything about that!)


4. What tool do you use most often? This is easy. Hardly a day goes by that I don't find a use for the little cordless screwdriver that came with my 19.4 volt Craftsman cordless drill. Now, the cordless drill is a fine piece of, um, Craftsmanship, but I can stick the screwdriver in my pocket and it will do the smaller jobs that the drill would just overpower. Tim Taylor wasn't always right with his primal call for "more power."


5. Which tool do you admire most for its sheer craftsmanship? I answer this with a certain amount of melancholy, as the tool in question is no longer with us. It was a Japanese folding pruning saw, which I bought years ago from Garrett Wade. As with any good pruning saw, it cut on the pull stroke, so as to reduce binding. But this jewel of a tool sliced through branches so quickly and smoothly as to be effortless. I do believe that all the shrubs and trees in our yard breathed a collective sigh of relief when I managed to snap the blade. I've repressed the memory of how I did it, but the sadness lingers.


6. Bonus question: Box or bag? I grew up with toolboxes, and only late in life have discovered the utility of a well-constructed toolbag. If you must be annoyingly well-organized, go with the box...but if you must be well-equipped, the right bag will let you carry everything you need, and then some.

The idea of tagging someone for a meme like this is just too girly, so I won't do it. But if you're similarly inspired by things that shape, break, attach or otherwise modify other things, then feel free to pick this one up and work with it.

Deadbeat Client Revealed (Updated)

OK, this whole "use the blog to get back at someone who done you wrong" thing just isn't working for me. Hence, I've deleted what I posted yesterday evening, when I was typing instead of counting to ten, taking a deep breath and moving on.

This does not mean that the client in question should not be held to his obligations. But that's between he and I, and there's no useful thing to be gained by bringing you into it.

So, whatever you thought you read in this space earlier, well, it was just a dream. We now return you to our regularly scheduled Content Free™ blogging.

Blogathon 2005 Update: My Charity

While things seem relatively quiet over at the Blogathon 2005 website, I can assure you that progress is being made in planning the Gazette's participation. Among other things, I've selected a worthy organization to be the recipient of what I have no doubt will be some very generous pledges. And the recipient is...

...Midland Fair Havens, a relatively new (founded in 1995) local organization whose mission is to "equip single mothers and their children for self-sufficient living by addressing their educational, vocational, spiritual, and emotional needs in residential and non-residential settings." I've visited with DiAnn Koehl, the Executive Director, and received her enthusiastic agreement to let us do this for them (once I managed to convince her that all those weird things she'd heard about bloggers were, more than likely, exaggerations), so we can now make this official announcement.

I've also gotten an energetic endorsement from fellow Midland blogger and man-about-town Jimmy Patterson, who also happens to serve on the Midland Fair Havens board.

Now, I realize that when I first starting thinking about participating in the Blogathon, I mentioned that I was considering blogging on behalf of a global organization like World Vision or the Red Cross. Those are certainly worthy entities doing important work. But the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that this is an opportunity to make a difference locally. I don't know how much we can raise together, but whatever amount we're blessed with will be important and useful to Midland Fair Havens, and the families to which it ministers.

So, even if you're not living in Midland, I hope you'll still consider participating with me as a sponsor. In the end, you're helping people...probably people just like your neighbors or co-workers or fellow students, and that transcends geography.

We'll be saying more about the work of Midland Fair Havens in the days to come, but I wanted to give you the latest news so you can start thinking about your involvement. Feel free to drop me a note or leave a comment if you have any questions. And, just as a reminder, all pledges will be made through the Blogathon website, and all donations will be made directly to the intended organizations. Blogger hands will never touch pledge nor payment, and I think we can all be happy with that arrangement.

On a semi-related note, I'm finalizing plans for the big blog push. I can tell you at this point that there will be prizes involved, but you'll probably have to share my pain in order to claim them. And, yes, record covers will be scanned.

Stay tuned...it's gonna be a wild ride!

Technorati tags: Blogathon | Midland Fair Havens

Property Ownership Rights Lose a Little More Ground

Even though the US lost ground in last year's ranking of the world's "freest economies," its strong personal property ownership rights were cited by the Heritage Foundation as one of the nation's strengths. That assessment was surely struck a blow this morning, however, as the US Supreme Court has just issued a ruling supporting the right of local governments to take over privately-owned property in order to achieve economic development goals.

Historically, this right of "eminent domain" has been limited to instances where there was a clear public need.

From the above-linked report in the Wall Street Journal:

Thank goodness for the infinite wisdom and perfectly pure motives of all elected and appointed officials throughout this great land of ours.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor made the following astute observation in her dissenting and unfortunately minority opinion:

I can't help thinking that this will turn out to be a Very Bad Thing.

Technorati tags: Eminent Domain | Personal Property Rights | Fifth Amendment

Unocal: The Bidding War Begins

As expected, the China National Offshore Oil Company (Cnooc) has raised the stakes for Unocal, submitting an all-cash offer of $18.5B in an effort to stymie Chevron's current $16.5B cash-plus-stock deal. Here are some excerpts from the report in today's Wall Street Journal:

Wouldn't you love to make half a billion just for not doing a deal? That's the worst case scenario for Chevron, in the event that Unocal goes with Cnooc's bid. But, it also appears that $67/share may just be the starting point for the bidding. The real winners will be the Unocal shareholders.

Cnooc is quite sensitive to the potential "anti-foreign-takeover backlash":

Those of us who have been directly affected by corporate takeovers immediately recognize the phrase "seek to retain substantially all...employees," which is generally code for "most of them are history." However, Cnooc would presumably be more likely to retain employees than Chevron, given the lack of overlap with an existing employee base, especially in non-field personnel. Chevron has remained non-committal about its layoff plans, although it has already said that it would consolidate Unocal's headquarters into its own offices.

Cnooc's commitment to sell US-derived production to US markets seems to be window dressing, as selling that production to foreign markets is already logistically difficult, not to mention politically ill-advised.

Unocal remains coy about the new bid, and Chevron professes to be confident that its proposal is the best one.

My prediction? Unocal will end up selling to Chevron for around $70/share. I have nothing concrete to support that call, other than this seems to represent the fastest and cheapest way for Chevron to acquire new reserves. A $70/share bid equates to around $11/BOE (based on the published figure of 1.75B barrels of proved reserves), which still seems like a bargain given today's oil prices in the high $50s.

Technorati tags: Pure Resources | CNOOC | Unocal | Chevron

A Disaffected Moviegoer's Top 10

I feel a certain obligation to link to Jim's post of his Top 10 Movies, if for no other reason than I challenged him to do it.

Of the movies he listed, only two would likely make my list (if I were to make one, that is...I'm actually working on a meme with a more noble theme): the LOTR trilogy (I agree with Jim; it counts as one) and "The Empire Strikes Back." But, as I observed in a comment to his post, his descriptions of why he chose each movie are what make the list interesting...more so than the films themselves.

Thus, the other reason for linking to his post is more useful: it's a good read, especially if you share Jim's perception that Hollywood ran dry of inspiration a few years ago.

Midland's Workforce Grows by Two

The Kidsters, aka the Niece and Nephew, both landed summer jobs yesterday -- the first real job for each -- and will now join the ranks of the disillusioned taxpayers of America.

OK, that's a bit cynical, but I do think they'll have a some "deduction shock" when their first paychecks arrive and they see how many other fingers are reaching into the pot. Their grandfather is already practicing for his phone call to thank them for paying into Social Security on his behalf, an acknowledgement which I believe falls squarely into the sub-category of "Wounds, Salt in."

La Sobrina will be working at a local purveyor of fine toasted sandwichery, while El Sobrino is a barista-in-training at the local mega-bookstore. Both businesses are on our list of regular stops, so we'll be giving them lots of "encouragement" and "support" through the summer.

We're laughing about the Nephew's gig making coffee and related brews, since he doesn't like any of them. His first assignment tomorrow is to taste every product on the menu so that he can describe them to inquisitive customers. I would love to be around for his first (1) taste of espresso and (2) subsequent description of said beverage to a customer. Something tells me that diplomacy and salesmanship are due for a violent collision just down the road.

As for the Niece, she's already starting to look at price tags in a whole new light. Yesterday, while walking through the mall with MLB, she cast a loving glance toward some hot new shoes in a store window, and not-too-subtly hinted that they would really look good on her. MLB reminded her that she now had a job and could save her money to buy them herself, if they were that important. The Niece got a horrified look on her face and exclaimed, "oh, no...they're way too expensive!"

Heh. Welcome to the reality show we like to call "life."

John, meet Julie. Again.

Julie Neidlinger. John Hoeven. North Dakota blogger Julie Neidlinger. North Dakota Governor John Hoeven. Neidlinger. Hoeven. North Dakota.

There. That should just about do it.

Time Warner Book Group: Viral Marketing via Blogs

Update (6/22): You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Texas blogger who's been contacted by Time Warner to get a free copy of the book referred to below. I've heard from three others so far: Denise at Blue Sky in Texas, Rob at Snippets and Cowtown Pattie over at Texas Trifles. While this turn of events takes some of the self-congratulatory glow out of the "honor," it's still a compliment to the blogging community...recognition that blog buzz might really count for something. We'll see if the reality matches the expectation.

I received an email today from the manager of Online Marketing for the Time Warner Book Group asking if I was interested in reading and reviewing a new novel set in Texas. She had apparently found my short post about "The Kite Runner," and decided that I met all the qualifications to be a book reviewer: 1) I can read...or, at least, write, and 2) I command a vast audience now numbering in the high single digits (I found some new readers among distant relatives at the funeral today).

Seriously, though, I think this is an savvy marketing technique for TWBG, albeit a bit risky...and they deserve additional kudos for taking that risk. While I might question their judgment in including me on their list, they obviously recognize the potential of the blogosphere to provide meaningful buzz about products.

I'll provide more information once I have the book in hand (it's "in the mail"), but if you're a blogger who's also been contacted by TWBG, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Blog Slug

I feel like I've shirked my duties by not posting more, but it's really been a Monday, if you know what I mean, and tomorrow won't be an improvement. We're leaving town for a funeral and while it's a fairly quick out-and-back trip, I don't expect that I'll have time to write much, if anything.

And don't even get me started on all of these clients who seem to expect something tangible for their money! ;-)

In the meantime, feel free to frequent any of the fine establishments linked at the right side of this page. You'll quickly find that you're not missing anything by my absence, unless you're one of those lovably quirky folk who collect mental lint, and for whom this blog is the virtual equivalent of one of those sticky-side out masking tape rollers.

Later, amigos...

Overhyping

I knew I had made a mistake when I ran into local media mogul and blogger Jeff McDonald this morning at the grocery store and the first thing he asked (after "how was your weekend?" -- Jeff's a very polite fellow) was "so, what's the big announcement?".

Of course, I should have had a clue after reading Rachel's and Jim's comments on Friday's post, but I'm a little slow on the uptake.

So, I guess I need to put an end to all the speculation on the part of my readers, which has grown so as to number in the mid-single digits. Here it is, without any sugarcoating: Kinky Friedman has asked me to run for Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 2006, which he feels will give him an edge in his bid for Governor.

OK, not really. Everyone knows that the Governor and Lt. Governor in Texas are completely independent of each other and don't even have to be of the same species, much less from the same political party.

No, what I want to announce instead is that I am definitely positively for sure probably going to participate in this year's Blogathon. If that seems a little anticlimactic, keep in mind that (1) I never did actually commit to that undertaking even though I've posted about it several times recently and (b) I'm still a bit on the skeptical side that it's even going to occur. The Blogathon website is still not fully functional, to the point where bloggers and sponsors can sign up.

So, not only is my hyperbole overdone, but my timing is ill-advised. Nevertheless, I can assure you that if we do indeed proceed down the Blogathon path, there will be some items of special interest -- I'll save the details for another overhyped announcement -- that I hope will entice you to come along.

And, if all else fails, you can still write me in for Lieutenant Governor. It doesn't even have to be for Texas; any old state will do. (Rachel, does New Zealand have a Lt. Governor? And, if not, does it want one?)

Technorati tag: Blogathon

Bye for now

We're out of here, hauling a load of barbecue and all the fixins' over to Fort Stockton to celebrate Father's Day, so don't look for any new posts on this joint until tomorrow evening, at the earliest.

I do hope to have An Important Announcement up on Monday, if not sooner.

Anyway, you need to be outside playing. Here's an assignment. Haul out your bicycle, grab your digital camera, and take some photos of stuff that's laying around on the streets of your neighborhood. You might be surprised at what you would otherwise have missed seeing. But skip the roadkill; that's just gross.

Later...

I'm 0-for-2 in the Interface Customization Game

Never being one to let well enough alone, I've recently tried out a couple of customization projects on things that are working perfectly fine as they are. And while the processes were relatively painless in both cases, the results were unmitigated failures.

First, I decide to load Linux on my 3rd-generation iPod. Why? I dunno; I just like the idea of being able to soft-boot into Linux and see that little penguin appear on the display. Well, I also like the idea of being able to record better-than-CD quality audio to the 'pod, which you can't do with the standard Mac OS installation.

Anyway, I popped over to the iPodLinux Project, downloaded and ran the installer, and rebooted the iPod. Everything went exactly as described through the reboot...the penguin appeared and the pages of gibberishy text appeared and the screen went momentarily blank and then...nothing. According to the instructions, at this point an expanded iPod menu was to appear. It never did. I uninstalled and reinstalled the software. I rebooted in and out and back into Linux. Same results, every time. I finally uninstalled it and trashed the installer. I never liked that smirking bird anyway.

Then, tonight, I stumbled across these instructions for moving Firefox tabs into a scrollable vertical position on the side of the window. That orientation seems like it would be better suited to many open tabs than the default horizontal layout.

So, I found the userChrome.css file (which, for OS X, is in user/library/application support/firefox/profiles/[your profile]) and copied-and-pasted the magic CSS, quit and restarted Firefox, opened a multi-tabbed bookmark and...nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. A perfectly useless thick gray bar appeared on the left side of the window, but no tabs were displayed. Interestingly, they apparently were there, because when I quit Firefox, I got the message that I was about to close "x" tabs and was I really sure that I wanted to take such a precipitous action? So, I trashed the userChrome.css file. I never liked scroll bars anyway.

I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned here, but I'll be darned if I know what it is. Now, if you'll excuse me...I'm going to try to teach my cell phone to open my garage door.

Pass the ice, please...

So, let's recap.

It's 9:23 p.m. and 96°.

But the heat index is only 93, so we've got that going for us.

They're saying it's going to get hot tomorrow.

How long until November?

What's In Your Wallet? Never mind...we already know.

MasterCard International just released the following announcement:

According to a Wall Street Journal report, "CardSystems was hit by a computer virus that captured customer data for the purpose of fraud, said MasterCard spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin. ... MasterCard has begun notifying customer banks of specific card accounts that may be vulnerable to compromise, so that those banks can take steps to prevent against fraud."

Technorati tags: MasterCard | Security Breach

Schiavo Headline You Probably Won't See Anywhere Else

How sad is it that someone had to die in order to prove that they didn't have to die?

Far from validating the position of the "right to life of those we deem valuable" camp, the autopsy simply underscored the importance of erring on the side of preserving life.

Note: Comments have been closed for this post.

Technorati tag: Terri Schiavo

Love in ANY Language?

A few days ago, I posted the 23rd Psalm in Spanish, and several of you seemed to agree with my thought that Scripture can take on new meaning and beauty when viewed through the lens of a different language...even if you're not fluent in that language. I still believe that's the case, although I'm not quite sure what to make about this.

This collection of Podcasts (a high falutin' term for MP3 audio files) provides brief Bible studies or devotionals, each of which is introduced by the focus Scripture read in the, um, Klingon language. Far be it from me to dis the sizable Trekkie population, but this is an interesting melding of religions, if you know what I mean.

In John 10:16, Jesus says "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also..." I've interpreted this passage as a reference to Gentiles, those of non-Jewish races. I suppose that my interpretation could be too narrow, by several million galaxies.

Tip o'the hat to Nic over at Morfablog, which might as well be written in Klingon, considering how little Welsh I can read (as in "zero").

Technorati tags: Klingon Bible Studies | Klingon Podcasts | Bible Podcasts

Keeping Important Things Secure

Bruce Schneir's blog about all things related to security is worth dropping by on a regular basis because, face it, we all have stuff that we want to protect and Bruce is the go-to guy when it comes to doing that.

Take these two posts, for example. One explains a new registry by which Torahs can be individualized and protected without violating the Jewish law against adding any identifying marks.

And this one links to a combination lock designed to secure the lid of a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, thereby protecting it from unauthorized intrusion and consumption.

Technorati tag: Universal Torah Registry

You're psychotic; I'm logically cautious

I finally got around to watching "The Aviator" yesterday, thanks to NetFlix. If you having been paying attention, this epic movie (meaning that it's really, really long) brings to life on the big screen (or the 15" TV in front of our treadmill) the story of Howard Hughes, the reclusive (paranoid) eccentric (psychotic) billionaire (billionaire) who did a lot of wild and wacky stuff.

I was intrigued by the account of Hughes' self-consumption brought on by his obsessive-compulsive behavior. I can't understand how such a brilliant mind could also be so tortured by such seemingly trivial matters. I kept wanting to yell at the TV, "aw, c'mon, Howard; snap out of it...you're embarassing yourself!"

After the movie ended, I decided to edge and mow the lawn before the day got any hotter. I went into the garage and grabbed my hearing protectors from the nail on the side of the storage bin...and froze. There, on one earpiece, sat (stood? who can tell?) a small spider. On. My. Hearing. Protectors. The ones that go over my ears. On my head.

With a full body spasm I simultaneously brushed, blew and flung the hideous creature...somewhere? I didn't see where. For all I knew, I actually missed him, and he was now hiding INSIDE one of the ear cups, biding his time until I placed them on my head. Over my ears.

I spent the next...oh, it's not important how long it took...suffice it to say that I checked, re-checked and double-re-checked again every square millimeter of those cups. I squashed 'em real hard to make sure he couldn't survive, then I did serious reconnaisance for the remains. I found nothing. Not a smidge or a smudge. Obviously, I had been successful in flinging him from my presence, and the headset was safe.

Or...was it?

Could I risk it?
Could I risk it?
Could I risk it?
Could I risk it?
Could I...

Blogathon 2005 Update

Update to the Update: The Blogathon website is now activated and being filled with useful information.

I just received the following email from Sheana Director, who is serving as the Community Coordinator for Blogathon 2005. It's got some useful information for bloggers and potential sponsors alike:

If you're a blogger who wants to contact Sheana for more information, feel free to contact me and I'll give you her email address. Otherwise, just check the Blogathon website for the latest.

I did tell Sheana that we're hard at work coming up with a charter for a new 501(c)(3) named something like "Bloggers to Disneyland." And I'm volunteering to be the first test recipient, just to make sure all the kinks are worked out. No, don't bother thanking me; that's just the kind of guy I am.

Technorati tag: Blogathon

City on Water Usage: Do as we say, not as we do

Today's MRT has a report about water and energy usage in Midland, one of the regular stories that we see every year at the beginning of summer. The article quotes various "experts" who provide tips for conserving energy and water during the hot summer months. Here's one excerpt (emphasis mine):

These are such common sense suggestions that one must wonder why the city's Parks Department doesn't seem to be aware of them.

Our neighborhood park is Trinity Park, in northwest Midland. The park's automatic sprinkler system runs every morning. During one two-week period, it ran for 13 consecutive days, taking off one day, presumably in recognition of the almost 1" of rainfall we received the previous day.

That's a terrible waste of water. You'd think that the "experts" in the Parks Department would understand that not only is daily watering of bermudagrass not necessary, even during the heat of the summer, it's actually counterproductive in the long run. Less frequent watering causes the grass roots to grow deeper, making the lawn hardier.

The park's sprinkler system is also one of the prime cuprits in sending water down the gutter of Godfrey Street, a violation of the city's own ordinance.

And, to add insult to injury, the watering schedule at the park was mysteriously changed a couple of months ago so that the sprinklers run between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. (contrary to the suggestion of early morning watering to conserve the scarce resource). This is quite inconsiderate, as that is prime walking time for neighborhood residents, who now must dodge the sprinklers as they cover the sidewalks. During the school year, it's actually a hazardous situation, as elementary-aged kids on their way to school take to the streets in order to avoid the sprinklers and wet sidewalks.

It's great that Midland residents get occasional reminders and tips about water conservation. It would be even better if the City would lead by example.

PHP Woes

I'm so covered up with work that if I was a geologic feature, I'd be, like, under the earth's mantle or something. I've got seven active design projects in four cities and two states, plus a major add-on project to an existing site...and clients I haven't heard from in months are now showing up wanting site maintenance.

This is seriously infringing on my blogging.

Plus, I think I've got my mule in an antbed over a form I'm trying to process with PHP. It's got nested check boxes and I'm having a terrible time trying to figure out how to process it. It's relatively simple to process one checkbox array, or even a series of unrelated arrays, but it's a whole 'nother ballgame when they're conditional. If anybody has solved such a problem in the past, feel free to leave a hint or tip or link or full page of detailed code.

I'm getting too old for this script-kiddie stuff...

Has anybody heard...

...anything about the verdict in the Michael Jackson trial? I'm having trouble finding anything about it.

Technorati tag: Media Frenzy

"Digital Assets" and Your Legacy

Legacy Matters™ has a thought-provoking post about the importance of ensuring that your "digital assets" are properly dealt with in the event of death or incapacitation.

Some of the issues seems trivial ("Who gets your iPod and the music on it?") while others take on a significance that was perhaps hitherto unrealized ("Do you want your family to read your email? What are the usernames and passwords to your online accounts?").

Everything is more complicated in the Digital Age, even death. These are questions and issues worth considering.

Technorati tag: Digital Assets

Blogathon 2005

The date for Blogathon 2005 has been announced: Friday Saturday, August 6.

If you're unfamiliar with Blogathon, it's essentially a "blogging marathon for charity" in which bloggers agree to post more or less continuously for 24 hours in exchange for sponsorship as pledged by agreeable readers. All proceeds from the pledges go to a charity of the participating blogger's choice.

The event was last held in 2003 (2004 was a washout, for some unexplained reason). I was a minor sponsor for Julie Niedlinger's excellent efforts, and seeing her in action made me decide to consider being a participant myself. I've never done anything for 24 consecutive hours (not counting breathing), so I don't know if I'm up to this challenge.

Feel free to weigh in as to whether you think I should give this a try or not (keeping in mind that "go for it" votes are automatically added to the potential sponsors list! ;-)

Technorati tag: Blogathon

Santa Biblia

Despite several concerted attempts, my desire to learn to speak Spanish has come to nada. At best, I can string together bits of vocabulary (la silla es muy azul), and I've mastered a few critical sentences (Dondé es el baño?), but things like conjugating verbs might just as well be quantum physics.

Nevertheless, I love the beauty of the Spanish language. In fact, my favorite Bible -- the one I carry each Sunday to church -- is a bilingual version. Down one column is the New American Standard translation in English; down the other is La Biblia de Las Americas in Spanish. I'm better at reading Spanish than speaking it, and it helps to have the passages side-by-side so I can go back and forth to check on the hard words.

It also helps when the passage is familiar to the point of being second nature. In those cases, there's really no need to even glance at the English version, and I can enjoy the new (to me) presentation of the old familiar words.

Here's an example. I suspect that even if you don't know a lick of Español, you'll be able to identify this passage, probably by the end of the first line. But read through the whole thing, out loud if possible, and enjoy how millions of God's children read and hear His Santa Biblia.

Gracias, Dios, para sus muchas bendiciones.

Report from Iraq: In harm's way

Update: Sgt. Will's latest missive is now up on the NewsWest 9 website.

We haven't heard from Sgt. Will in several weeks and I was beginning to get concerned. But an email arrived earlier this afternoon and laid those concerns to rest...a bit. His assignments don't normally take him directly into the line of fire in Iraq, but a recent one that took place north of Baghdad was different. I'll let him take over from here:

"An interesting day." Heh. I saw two squirrels grooming each other yesterday, and thought that was "an interesting day."

Did you notice something in Sgt. Will's write-up? His descriptions of their objectives and tactics -- standard operating procedures, we can safely assume -- explicitly address civilian safety. In this case, that objective overrode even their ability to return enemy fire. Anyone who still has the misguided belief that our intervention in Iraq was about "the oil" and not about liberating people from an evil regime should carefully consider the implications of Sgt. Will's description of their mission.

He goes on to report that Mrs. Sgt. and Baby Sgt. are doing well back here in Texas. Your donations to the Sgt. Will Fund have been greatly appreciated as a tangible show of support for Sgt. Will as an individual, for his family, and for the mission to which he's committed.

Technorati tag: War on Terror

Unwiring Downtown Midland - A good first step

After reading this post about Intel's list of the "Top 100 Unwired Cities," MRT managing editor Stewart Doreen emailed me to say that he would try to get a story about any efforts to unwire Midland into this weekend's paper. He succeeded, with an informative and encouraging report that plans for a downtown-wide hotspot are moving along. The best news? It will be free.

I applaud the cooperation between the Midland Municipal Management District and Geospectrum, a local ISP, to bring this kind of service to downtown Midland. I also challenge the city and county of Midland to build on this initial effort. Similar hotspots should be established around every major public facility, especially those catering to tourists or travelers. The Petroleum Museum, Museum of the Southwest, the county exhibit and conference center now under construction, Scharbauer Sports Complex, Midland Memorial Hospital campuses, Midland College...all of these are prime candidates for wireless internet access, and their usefulness and attractiveness would be enhanced by providing it.

Midland's certainly got the brains, skills and entrepreneurial spirit to crack next year's "Unwired 100" list. Does it have the vision to get it done?

Sony's flash-based music player is a thing of beauty

I'm an unabashed iPod fan, but not so much that I can't appreciate a worthy competitor...and Sony has [finally!] brought such a product to the market in the form of the unimaginatively-named NW-E507, a 1-gigabyte flash music player packaged in a gorgeous mirrored skin overlaying a too-cool OLED display.

Sony still can't provide software in the same league as iTunes, and it definitely needs some help with its product naming, but this beautifully designed player should serve notice to Apple not to rest on its laurels.

Tip o'the earbuds to Isaac Schrödinger

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

If you're a connie-sewer of that dismal art known as "serious film," you can skip this post and go back to perusing early 20th century Prussian silent movies. But if you're a fan of action movies starring drop-dead gorgeous people who don't take themselves too seriously, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is just what the doctor ordered.

MLB and I caught a late afternoon matinee and had a great time with it, as did the rest of the audience in the almost full theater. It's funny and fast-paced, and to those who will claim that the plot simply requires too much suspension of belief to be enjoyable, I have just one word: "Hero."

And here's something of a surprise: it's a great movie for married couples to see together. It delivers a strong message about the importance of honesty and open communication in a marriage, even if it's delivered in a less-than-serious fashion. The scenes of the Smiths' marriage counseling sessions that opened and closed the movie were wonderful.

The press has done a number on Brad and Angelina -- are they or aren't they, ad nauseum -- but regardless of what you think about their lifestyles or personal eccentricities, they're both undeniably easy on the eyes and very comfortable with each other on-screen. At times, it seemed like Jolie was simply reprising her Lara Croft role without the British accent and braid, but Brad continues to run a close second to Tom Hanks as the most likable on-screen actor in the business.

A nice plus was the musical score, which featured a pleasing combination of world music of indeterminate ethnicity, classic R&B and pop.

Unlike with ROTS, where I was squirming in my seat before the conclusion, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" was good to the very end. I recommend it.

Technorati tag: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Hack the King

Daniel over at From Behind the Wall of Sleep thinks he may have hacked the Burger King "Revenge of the Sith" scratch-off game. He's 7 for 7 with his system, which sounds pretty convincing to me.

I'm glad to see he's putting his awesome cryptological skills to good use! ;-)

Pity the fool...

I just heard some fool on CNN Headline News compare breastfeeding in public to urinating in public. That is so wrong in so many ways that I don't know where to start. But, I know who does.

That guy better pray that TulipGirl doesn't discover his identity and location! ;-)

Technorati tag: Breastfeeding

[Yeah, I'm as surprised as you that a Gazette post would ever have "Breastfeeding" as a Technorati tag!]

Looking out my back door...

John Fogarty nailed it; there's a lot to be enjoyed in one's backyard if you'll take the time to observe it. One of the benefits of relocating my office to the game room in the back of the house is that I have an unobstructed view of the backyard through the glass storm door. Here's what has caught my attention this week (yeah, it's a slow newsday, but that's not bad):

• Just before lunch today, a hummingbird was working over the juniper "tree" in the back corner of the yard. I've never before seen a hummingbird attracted to a juniper -- there aren't any flowers -- but this bird spent about a minute (which is like a week in hummingbird time) going up one side of the shrub and down the other. Anyone have an explanation?


• I spent several minutes yesterday afternoon watching two squirrels groom each other in the fork of the pecan tree just off the patio. They would painstakingly go over each other's back and sides with their sharp little front teeth. One even lifted up his (her? I wasn't that close!) front leg for a little "armpit" grooming.


• I decided that the praying mantis egg casing on the handle of the broom that stays on the back porch is a dud. I think it should have hatched by now, if it was going to at all. On a related note, the one documented in this post fell victim to the painter's putty knife. The urban wild kingdom can be tough.


• I figured we were past nest-building season, but a pair of finches have renewed their efforts to develop the patio speakers into a housing addition. They can pile on the grass and twigs almost faster than I can knock it down.


• And last, but certainly not least, below is a photo of the sky over our next door neighbor's house, taken just a few minutes ago, around 1:00 p.m. local time. Those are clouds, but they bear a striking resemblance to the Northern Lights, don't they? Or, to a scene out of Poltergeist or Ghostbusters, where the paranormal activity is reaching its climax.

Local ballpark misses media attention

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article about minor league professional baseball in America, focusing on the way local teams and communities have gone "upscale."

The articles mention two Texas ballparks and teams -- Corpus Christi and Frisco -- both of which are Double-A teams competing with our own local Midland Rockhounds. Corpus Christi and Frisco each have new stadiums. Frisco's facility, Dr. Pepper/Seven Up Ballpark, seats 8,800, 50% more than our local ballpark, which is now named Citibank Ballpark.

Unless, of course, you visit the Midland Chamber of Commerce website, where it continues to go by the name of First American Bank Ballpark.

Apple + Intel = ...Intel?

Regular Gazette contributor (and Mac enthusiast) Brian has provided a link to yesterday's post by tech columnist Robert Cringely in which the writer opines that the Apple/Intel alliance will ultimately lead to Intel's outright acquisition of Apple, the dethroning of Microsoft, and the freeing up of Steve Jobs to make cool movies fulltime over at Pixar.

At this point in the game, I think it's entirely reasonable to appropriate the "Kinky Friedman for Governor of Texas" campaign slogan: "Why the Hell Not?" In a world that's becoming more bizarre by the moment, both Kinky and Intel might well achieve their goals.

From a purely financial perspective, an Intel acquisition is certainly doable. Apple's market cap is around $31B; if you assume a 20% premium for a takeover, that's still less than $40B. It's a hefty chunk of change, to be sure, but Intel's almost six times the size of Apple from a market cap perspective, has a very strong balance sheet and over $8B in cash (as of 12/31/2004). A cash plus stock deal like this happens practically every day in other industries. Now, whether the deal makes sense from a marketing or technical strategy is a whole 'nother question.

Technorati tags: Apple | Intel | Microsoft

Unwired Cities

Intel has released its third annual list of "Top 100 Unwired Cities and Regions in America," purporting to show which metropolitan areas have the widest wireless internet access (paid or unpaid). For the third consecutive year, Midland didn't make the list. Texas was fairly well represented, as follows:

3. Austin/San Marcos
23. Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington
28. Houston
41. San Antonio
75. El Paso
100. McAllen/Edinburg/Mission

If the Midland Economic Development Corporation wants to truly start putting Midland on the map, it would do well to address this infrastructure issue. I mean, anytime we get beat by McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (or El Paso, for that matter) in a tech-related area, there's something wrong with the picture.

Skype Captain

Update: If you're on my blogroll or one of the In Crowd (you know who you are!) and would like to communicate with me via Skype, send me an email message and I'll send you my username. I'm not ready to just throw it out for the world to see.

Motivated by Julie's account of taking the Skype plunge, I downloaded, installed and configured the free software (it's very similar to setting up chat software) and we were talking five minutes later. I have to admit that the concept is slick, although the actual process is less than perfect.

Julie said that my voice was coming through pretty clearly, but hers was cutting out badly on my end. She had called me first, so we hung up and I called her. That improved things a bit, but they deteriorated steadily through our short conversation. She was also hearing her own voice through her speakers, which makes me wonder if there's more than one way to configure a computer to use this service.

I'm skeptical (skypetical?) about the usefulness of this service. It feels really awkward to speak via your computer; I've never been a big fan of speaker phones, either. I'm also a much better communicator in print than in audio. My conversational skills are hit and miss, at best. A nice feature of Skype is that you can revert to traditional chat mode (typing) if the audio cuts out (or you lose confidence in your own voice or thought process! ;-)

On the other hand, it's undeniably cool to be able to audio chat across platforms and countries, and to put physical voices with the imaginary voices that inevitably develop after you've read someone's blog for a long time. And the price is hard to beat.

If you're unfamiliar with Skype, it offers free internet telephone services that are administered via your computer. The software works on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux and Pocket PC operating systems. You will need a microphone that's compatible with your computer, and it helps to have some good quality speakers. The Skype website can provide you with all the other info you need.

Technorati tags: Skype | VOIP

Snakes and Ants

In only his second day of blogging, local nature expert Burr Williams has already posted some intriguing information about the west Texas ecosystem, including an odd species known as the "blind snake":

I've never heard this before, and it piqued my curiosity so I googled "blind snake" and found this article at the top of the list. Here's an excerpt:

Burr and the author of the latter article, an instructor at Rice University, have apparently reached different conclusions about the relationship of the blind snake to ant colonies. It's worth noting that the Rice article is seven years old and thus may not reflect the most current theory about the potential symbiosis between the two species, and the author does admit that the behaviors are not fully understood.

Regardless, both articles are quite instructive about the behaviors of the little-known Texas residents.

This is good stuff, folks...it appeals to my inner zoologist!

Technorati tag: Blind Snake

Well, sure, when you put it like that...

In an implicit acknowledgement that the whole was less than the sum of its parts, James Lileks seeks refuge in Sith details.

It's not a bad strategy, of course. With few exceptions, the fascination of the Star Wars hexology (as my pal Mr. Freen calls it) has always hinged upon George Lucas' skill in crafting the throwaway scenes...those digital bits and pieces that keep you coming back in an attempt to perceive head-on what you sensed only peripherally the last time. As for Lucas, that's also not a bad legacy. How many directors can cast and maintain a grand vision without neglecting the individually insignificant details? In the sci-fi genre, I can think of only a few movies that come close; Blade Runner and Alien come immediately to mind.

As I stated earlier -- and Mr. Lileks confirms much more eloquently -- ROTS was an excellent 90 minute movie.

Technorati tags: ROTS | Blade Runner | Alien

Local Blogs: They come; they go

Almost simultaneous with the announcement of Jessica's Well's extended hiatus comes an intriguing new blog by local historian and biologist Burr Williams entitled El Llanero. Burr is the director of the Sibley Nature Center and what he doesn't know about the ecosystems and history of the Llano Estacado and the Chihuahuan Desert is probably not worth knowing.

You don't have to be local or even a Texan to enjoy Burr's observations about the beauty and complexity of nature. But if you live in West Texas, you'll want to add El Llanero to your bookmarks or blogroll and pay him a regular visit.

Technorati tags: Llano Estacado |