Discouraging.
Last night I was in the midst of composing this long, long post when in the middle of everything the browser just crapped out on me. Pffffftttttt, everything written just gone up in smoke. At the beginning of the week I was compelled to upgrade to the new blogger (which I am still not happy about) and lo and behold the ‘recover post’ button doesn’t show up at all anymore.
I can’t entirely blame blogger though, I am getting to the point where I just hate Safari. It crashes a lot on my machine and I find that just enormously frustrating. I have Firefox also and I continue to be amazed by its portability. The thing I really like about Firefox is that it will ask you if you want to restore a session after crapping out. Since I’m the kind of person who has plenty of windows and tabs open it is a big plus for me.
It’s just force of habit and lack of momentum that has stopped me from switching over to Firefox as a default browser - just the way things work with me I imagine.
In the period of just over a decade I’ve gone from Mosaic to Netscape to Safari. I’ve had and used Explorer and Opera on my machines but found I never really used them much.
At least it’s not like the days when an app crashing would force a restart so I guess I should consider myself lucky.
Apr 20, 2007
Apr 18, 2007
Culture of sensationalism.
Aside from the pictures, aside from the audio, aside from the words, aside from all the pop psychology and on air analysts who Monday morning quarterback a tragedy. Seeing all the inescapable coverage from the latest media circus and the incessant questioning about why some kind of intervention hadn’t taken place before such a horror came to pass. Hearing how signs were missed and how in the future what someone should see and alert law enforcement to the possibility of. The only thing I can think of is how sad it all is. Sad for the people who were victims, sad for their families but at the same time, sad as well for the family of this misguided person and sad for him too. What a lonely place to be and how much pain to have lashed out in such a violent manner, crying out to be acknowledged somehow - is there any other way to interpret mailing out those materials to a major news organization. There is no justification for such actions, for such a display of random violence but, with all scrutiny we are giving to this event, I question what is going on in our society that we can create these kinds of monsters. Monsters who feel so alienated, detached and ostracized - so disconnected from the world around them. Spree killers and serial murderers, is it America’s equivalent of a suicide bomber, I wonder?
Aside from the pictures, aside from the audio, aside from the words, aside from all the pop psychology and on air analysts who Monday morning quarterback a tragedy. Seeing all the inescapable coverage from the latest media circus and the incessant questioning about why some kind of intervention hadn’t taken place before such a horror came to pass. Hearing how signs were missed and how in the future what someone should see and alert law enforcement to the possibility of. The only thing I can think of is how sad it all is. Sad for the people who were victims, sad for their families but at the same time, sad as well for the family of this misguided person and sad for him too. What a lonely place to be and how much pain to have lashed out in such a violent manner, crying out to be acknowledged somehow - is there any other way to interpret mailing out those materials to a major news organization. There is no justification for such actions, for such a display of random violence but, with all scrutiny we are giving to this event, I question what is going on in our society that we can create these kinds of monsters. Monsters who feel so alienated, detached and ostracized - so disconnected from the world around them. Spree killers and serial murderers, is it America’s equivalent of a suicide bomber, I wonder?
I love it!
11:02 pm, tonight’s episode of Lost just finished and definitely one of the best moments is how they put little throwaway clues in the background for fans to catch. Tonight’s jewel (ranking right up there with the Dharma logo on the shark) was the picture on the desk of the abbot. Desmond in the process of leaving, is being told by the abbot of some great as yet unrealized destiny his life has in store for him and. As they cut back and forth between Desmond and the Abbot, on the Abbot’s desk there is a picture of him with Ms. Hawkins who in an earlier flashback explained to Desmond what his destiny held for him.
11:02 pm, tonight’s episode of Lost just finished and definitely one of the best moments is how they put little throwaway clues in the background for fans to catch. Tonight’s jewel (ranking right up there with the Dharma logo on the shark) was the picture on the desk of the abbot. Desmond in the process of leaving, is being told by the abbot of some great as yet unrealized destiny his life has in store for him and. As they cut back and forth between Desmond and the Abbot, on the Abbot’s desk there is a picture of him with Ms. Hawkins who in an earlier flashback explained to Desmond what his destiny held for him.
Speaking of sprees.
Last night, struggling once again to drag myself into the future, I availed myself of the convenience of iTunes and went off and got some ‘new’ music for myself. New in the sense I didn’t have it, not necessarily new in the sense of it being cutting edge current.
Anyway, I went out and got one song which I had heard, liked and after some research found out the name of the song and the group. The song I was looking for was Light & Day/Reach for the Sun by Polyphonic Spree. Well, it turns out they released an EP recently as well that covers Nirvana’s Lithium (click the preceding link to give it a listen) and I have to say, the cover is stupendous. Makes me want to go see them when they tour. The cover sounds a bit to me like Nirvana if the Beatles covered them, really terrific stuff and highly recommended.
Last night, struggling once again to drag myself into the future, I availed myself of the convenience of iTunes and went off and got some ‘new’ music for myself. New in the sense I didn’t have it, not necessarily new in the sense of it being cutting edge current.
Anyway, I went out and got one song which I had heard, liked and after some research found out the name of the song and the group. The song I was looking for was Light & Day/Reach for the Sun by Polyphonic Spree. Well, it turns out they released an EP recently as well that covers Nirvana’s Lithium (click the preceding link to give it a listen) and I have to say, the cover is stupendous. Makes me want to go see them when they tour. The cover sounds a bit to me like Nirvana if the Beatles covered them, really terrific stuff and highly recommended.
Things to remember...
...if you’re ever stopped in New Jersey for speeding (or any other moving violation).
Speeding is an excusable offence if you have a reason for speeding (like say you’re late for an appointment):
In Governor Corzine’s case it was the context was he was running late, late for a meeting between Imus and the Rutgers’ Women’s Basketball Team. Sounds like a real emergency for the state of New Jersey to me. Who knows what peril will befall the state because of the Governor’s absence at that meeting?
Let’s put it this way, you get nailed for driving 91 mph in a 65 mph zone and chances are they are going to take your license away. Take a look at this, pulled directly from New Jersey’s DMV site. You think the trooper was going 91 in a 65, I have a feeling he might have been going even faster but if he was it becomes an even bigger deal (looks at the points). Any driver in a similar set of circumstances could have been guaranteed to face some if not all of the violations below:
Hey, the other rub in all of this is the fact that the governor wasn’t wearing his seatbelt!
Seems to me, any driver other than a New Jersey state trooper driving a vehicle in that manner would wind up getting tickets up the wa-zoo and under these circumstance, you would think at the very least the guy should lose his job. I imagine the reason the governor has a State Trooper assigned to him as a driver is to afford him a modicum of protection?
Let us not forget, originally the accident was blamed on a mysterious hit and run vehicle involved in the accident:
D’uh!
Still, you have to appreciate the flagrant disregard for the rules of the road by the very people who are charged to enforce them.
...if you’re ever stopped in New Jersey for speeding (or any other moving violation).
Speeding is an excusable offence if you have a reason for speeding (like say you’re late for an appointment):
Speed must be put into context, “as to whether there was a reason to be going that fast at the time.”
In Governor Corzine’s case it was the context was he was running late, late for a meeting between Imus and the Rutgers’ Women’s Basketball Team. Sounds like a real emergency for the state of New Jersey to me. Who knows what peril will befall the state because of the Governor’s absence at that meeting?
State Police Superintendent Joseph “Rick” Fuentes said the trooper driving Gov. Jon S. Corzine did not realize he was going 91 mph last Thursday night...
Let’s put it this way, you get nailed for driving 91 mph in a 65 mph zone and chances are they are going to take your license away. Take a look at this, pulled directly from New Jersey’s DMV site. You think the trooper was going 91 in a 65, I have a feeling he might have been going even faster but if he was it becomes an even bigger deal (looks at the points). Any driver in a similar set of circumstances could have been guaranteed to face some if not all of the violations below:
Hey, the other rub in all of this is the fact that the governor wasn’t wearing his seatbelt!
New Jersey’s Seat Belt Law: (NJS 39:3-76.2f)
- Applies to all passenger vehicles including vans, pickup trucks and SUV's, that are required to be equipped with seat belts.
- Applies to all passengers, who are at least 8 years of age but less than 18 years of age, and each driver and front seat passenger of a passenger automobile, operated on a street or highway. All occupants are required to wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt system.
- Makes the driver responsible for proper seat belt use by all occupants who are under the age of 18.
Seems to me, any driver other than a New Jersey state trooper driving a vehicle in that manner would wind up getting tickets up the wa-zoo and under these circumstance, you would think at the very least the guy should lose his job. I imagine the reason the governor has a State Trooper assigned to him as a driver is to afford him a modicum of protection?
Let us not forget, originally the accident was blamed on a mysterious hit and run vehicle involved in the accident:
Police have said the series of events leading to the accident began when the driver of the red truck saw the SUV’s flashing lights, pulled too far off to the right shoulder to give it room and then jerked back into the roadway, causing the white truck to swerve and strike the governor’s Suburban.
Fuentes, who initially said last Thursday night that speed was not a factor in the accident, had a different analysis today.
“Speed is always a contributing factor in any accident. It goes to the heart of what damage you may have on the vehicle,” Fuentes said in a conference call with reporters.
D’uh!
Still, you have to appreciate the flagrant disregard for the rules of the road by the very people who are charged to enforce them.
Apr 17, 2007
Society of martyrdom.
If this craziness in Virginia jumped off two weeks ago, I think Imus would still have a job.
This week (and for the next two weeks probably) we will be treated to a litany of images and stories about what happened in Virginia. About how tough it is for the students to deal with, the meaning behind it all, the influence our society as a whole has in incidents like this occurring and of course trying to discern what could have been done to prevent it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s f**ked up, no doubt. Some kid goes off and winds up shooting a slew of people, it’s not something that happens every day (thankfully).
However, it’s not the first time something like this has happened and I have to say I have the feeling it won’t be the last. What I find unsettling more than anything though is how we are becoming a nation of reaction rather than action. How our focus turns inward rather than outward - wallowing in the drama of something doesn’t seem to me like a way to heal, it seems more like a way to perpetuate the drama of an event and to make it more than it is.
I couldn’t turn the dial on the radio or flip a channel on the TV without mention of this thing. If it was a reference to it, certainly that wouldn’t be as much of a problem but, today (unlike let’s say 20 years ago) we have nonstop coverage on competing channels.
I’ve got a lot more to say about the Imus thing but, ask yourself this: last week all the news channels we’re talking about the incredible scarring of the athletes of the Rutgers women’s basketball team over the words uttered by a 66 year-old, white man who had little or no impact on those women’s day to day lives.
I mean, it was EVERYWHERE!
Doesn’t all of that drama seem somewhat hollow in the light of yesterday’s events? How do the events of yesterday even compare to the other tragedies happening each and every day? If car bombs in Iraq blow up and kill over 60 people, why aren’t we trying to figure out the meanings behind that tragedy? Are those lives less worthy of our attention? How come those deaths don’t warrant their very own special graphic tag on all the networks or the incessant coverage that follows such an event?
I just get this sense of Bread and Circuses and I can’t say I attribute it to a specific political party or individual as much as something which is overtaking our society at our peril.
If this craziness in Virginia jumped off two weeks ago, I think Imus would still have a job.
This week (and for the next two weeks probably) we will be treated to a litany of images and stories about what happened in Virginia. About how tough it is for the students to deal with, the meaning behind it all, the influence our society as a whole has in incidents like this occurring and of course trying to discern what could have been done to prevent it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s f**ked up, no doubt. Some kid goes off and winds up shooting a slew of people, it’s not something that happens every day (thankfully).
However, it’s not the first time something like this has happened and I have to say I have the feeling it won’t be the last. What I find unsettling more than anything though is how we are becoming a nation of reaction rather than action. How our focus turns inward rather than outward - wallowing in the drama of something doesn’t seem to me like a way to heal, it seems more like a way to perpetuate the drama of an event and to make it more than it is.
I couldn’t turn the dial on the radio or flip a channel on the TV without mention of this thing. If it was a reference to it, certainly that wouldn’t be as much of a problem but, today (unlike let’s say 20 years ago) we have nonstop coverage on competing channels.
I’ve got a lot more to say about the Imus thing but, ask yourself this: last week all the news channels we’re talking about the incredible scarring of the athletes of the Rutgers women’s basketball team over the words uttered by a 66 year-old, white man who had little or no impact on those women’s day to day lives.
I mean, it was EVERYWHERE!
Doesn’t all of that drama seem somewhat hollow in the light of yesterday’s events? How do the events of yesterday even compare to the other tragedies happening each and every day? If car bombs in Iraq blow up and kill over 60 people, why aren’t we trying to figure out the meanings behind that tragedy? Are those lives less worthy of our attention? How come those deaths don’t warrant their very own special graphic tag on all the networks or the incessant coverage that follows such an event?
I just get this sense of Bread and Circuses and I can’t say I attribute it to a specific political party or individual as much as something which is overtaking our society at our peril.
Apr 15, 2007
Finding fun on a Sunday morning.
There is a whole subculture which I miss out on because of my age. I can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up with the stuff that’s available to a kid today. The dirty little secret of kids growing up in my day was finding someone’s tattered Playboy in the garbage and going out to the woods to look at the pictures fearing the absolute worst should we get caught.
Anyway, I started looking for something else and came across the latest YouTube sensation - a video of some German kid freaking out because of what appears slow connection speed. Well, as these things go, another person came up with the idea to marry to another YouTube sensation of the moment and the results are hilarious.
I give you (as titled by the author and not me) Angry German Kid vs. Douche Girl:
There is a whole subculture which I miss out on because of my age. I can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up with the stuff that’s available to a kid today. The dirty little secret of kids growing up in my day was finding someone’s tattered Playboy in the garbage and going out to the woods to look at the pictures fearing the absolute worst should we get caught.
Anyway, I started looking for something else and came across the latest YouTube sensation - a video of some German kid freaking out because of what appears slow connection speed. Well, as these things go, another person came up with the idea to marry to another YouTube sensation of the moment and the results are hilarious.
I give you (as titled by the author and not me) Angry German Kid vs. Douche Girl:
Apr 14, 2007
DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU DIRTY APES!
The FDA has said the affected foods contained wheat gluten contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in plastics and fertilizer. The recalled products represent about 1 percent of all pet foods, the agency has said.
Sundlof told lawmakers the melamine probably caused the deaths of 16 cats and dogs. The agency has received some 15,000 calls about other illnesses and deaths, but he said its main priority was the recall of contaminated food.
Just had something occur to me this morning, isn’t this the way the whole Planet of the Apes started:
Building upon the description given by Cornelius and Zira before the Presidential committee in the previous film, a terrible disease has killed off the world’s cats and dogs, leaving humans with no animals to keep as pets, except apes. In time, humans notice the Apes capacity to learn and adapt, thus they are taught to perform menial household tasks. By the year 1991, human society has become a sterile and more oppressive culture, with apes used as an outright slave labor force by humans.
Funny coincidence?
The FDA has said the affected foods contained wheat gluten contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in plastics and fertilizer. The recalled products represent about 1 percent of all pet foods, the agency has said.
Sundlof told lawmakers the melamine probably caused the deaths of 16 cats and dogs. The agency has received some 15,000 calls about other illnesses and deaths, but he said its main priority was the recall of contaminated food.
Just had something occur to me this morning, isn’t this the way the whole Planet of the Apes started:
Building upon the description given by Cornelius and Zira before the Presidential committee in the previous film, a terrible disease has killed off the world’s cats and dogs, leaving humans with no animals to keep as pets, except apes. In time, humans notice the Apes capacity to learn and adapt, thus they are taught to perform menial household tasks. By the year 1991, human society has become a sterile and more oppressive culture, with apes used as an outright slave labor force by humans.
Funny coincidence?
Apr 13, 2007
Transformation.
Last year I was working for a client and I met this very talented young woman. I liked her energy, her design sense and subsequently I would check out her blog from time to time. I had wanted to post this a few weeks ago to make reference to just how blown away I was by the photo but I had the incredible disappearing template happen so I just hadn’t gotten around to it. Click on the image and check out Indhira’s photo blog.
Last year I was working for a client and I met this very talented young woman. I liked her energy, her design sense and subsequently I would check out her blog from time to time. I had wanted to post this a few weeks ago to make reference to just how blown away I was by the photo but I had the incredible disappearing template happen so I just hadn’t gotten around to it. Click on the image and check out Indhira’s photo blog.
Apr 10, 2007
Bringing you one more step closer to an Orwellian future.
I came across this map during my travels among the electronic sand dunes of the internet. The scary thing about it is I have a feeling that not only is it not entirely complete but that it also underestimates (reports) the actual number of surveillance cameras in and around the city.
I came across this map during my travels among the electronic sand dunes of the internet. The scary thing about it is I have a feeling that not only is it not entirely complete but that it also underestimates (reports) the actual number of surveillance cameras in and around the city.
Apr 9, 2007
Notice something different?
Well, somehow the sidebar got corrupted the other day and I lost the code I had for the template so it will be a few days while I rebuild/reconstruct that info. I had made some slight changes to it but I hadn't deleted any code and the blogger people are woefully neglectful when it comes to anyone who refuses to upgrade (or in general which can hardly be surprising since the whole thing is free).
I had been thinking about changing the look of the blog anyway so maybe it was something which happened for a reason if only to prompt me in that direction.
Well, somehow the sidebar got corrupted the other day and I lost the code I had for the template so it will be a few days while I rebuild/reconstruct that info. I had made some slight changes to it but I hadn't deleted any code and the blogger people are woefully neglectful when it comes to anyone who refuses to upgrade (or in general which can hardly be surprising since the whole thing is free).
I had been thinking about changing the look of the blog anyway so maybe it was something which happened for a reason if only to prompt me in that direction.
Apr 8, 2007
It’s all in how you look at things.
Suppose just for an instant if you will that the planet Earth is a single cell. Earth as a cell in the greater body of what we term the universe. Humanity then might be viewed as a virus of sorts infecting that cell and then global warming a response by the cell to eradicate the infection?
Suppose just for an instant if you will that the planet Earth is a single cell. Earth as a cell in the greater body of what we term the universe. Humanity then might be viewed as a virus of sorts infecting that cell and then global warming a response by the cell to eradicate the infection?
Link love.
I’ve updated some of the links in the sidebar. One of them is a link to Vince Musacchia’s wonderful Soup2Nutz blog. Vince is someone who I’ve met a few times, he’s a really nice person and an incredibly talented artist - just take a look at the image below:
A lot of what I like about Vince’s work, is the almost effortless sense you get looking at his drawings. They look as if they are such simple and basic pieces but, it’s just that Vince is so gifted. The color, gesture and design of his work is all so exemplary it belies the hard work and knowledge that goes into making it. Take a look at his stuff, I am sure you will come away impressed!
I’ve updated some of the links in the sidebar. One of them is a link to Vince Musacchia’s wonderful Soup2Nutz blog. Vince is someone who I’ve met a few times, he’s a really nice person and an incredibly talented artist - just take a look at the image below:
A lot of what I like about Vince’s work, is the almost effortless sense you get looking at his drawings. They look as if they are such simple and basic pieces but, it’s just that Vince is so gifted. The color, gesture and design of his work is all so exemplary it belies the hard work and knowledge that goes into making it. Take a look at his stuff, I am sure you will come away impressed!
Apr 1, 2007
Happy April’s Fools!
April 1 is the golden jubilee of Panorama’s spaghetti tree story, thought to be TV’s first April Fool.
Click through, RealPlayer needed to watch.
April 1 is the golden jubilee of Panorama’s spaghetti tree story, thought to be TV’s first April Fool.
Click through, RealPlayer needed to watch.
Housecleaning.
Over the last few days I’ve spent some time just doing necessary maintenance on the computer. Lots of it is just plain and simple file management stuff. You’d be amazed at how quickly these things get out of control. Lots of clutter, clutter, clutter just gumming up the works and taking up space.
I’ve been burning files to DVD which on one drive managed to free up about 55gb of space! On the other drive, I have finally gotten around to organizing and burning all those podcast I subscribe to onto a disk. Who knew! Just by backing up podcasts, I managed to free up a good 12gb of space and counting!
Over the last few days I’ve spent some time just doing necessary maintenance on the computer. Lots of it is just plain and simple file management stuff. You’d be amazed at how quickly these things get out of control. Lots of clutter, clutter, clutter just gumming up the works and taking up space.
I’ve been burning files to DVD which on one drive managed to free up about 55gb of space! On the other drive, I have finally gotten around to organizing and burning all those podcast I subscribe to onto a disk. Who knew! Just by backing up podcasts, I managed to free up a good 12gb of space and counting!
Mar 31, 2007
Old, new again.
I came across this the other day - it’s at least 3 decades old if you can believe it. Dog-eared and water marred it sat aside off in a corner of the basement among many unsorted and long forgotten papers. This was penciled and inked by a friend of mine and later I colored it with (I think) China markers. I am figuring this was drawn around ’75 or ’76 and that would make the guy who drew it 15 or 16 and me 16 or 17.
Don always kicked ass when it came to drawing. Even though he is a year younger than me (which was a chasm of time as a teenager) he was way ahead of me in ability. At 15, he managed through our art teacher, to wind up working as an in-betweener for Zander’s when they were located over on Madison Avenue around 40th St. It was a spectacular summer for him. Don could draw rings around me but, somehow all that early success never materialized into anything more.
Don tagged along when I went up to show samples at Warren and he tagged along when I went up to Marvel to show samples but, he never managed to get his foot in the door. Other things wound up taking his focus. He moved to California, went into the service for a couple of years and by the time he got out, drawing had fallen by the wayside. I’ve got a few of his drawings around here if I look for them. He always talked about getting back to his drawing and maybe even doing storyboarding but it makes me think about bike-riding.
I think about bike riding in the sense of when I was a teenager I would take these long, long bike rides taking me from the Bronx on a meandering path up to White Plains and back. I just loved getting out of the house and being away from the neighborhood. Last time I road a bike was awhile back and it wasn’t easy at all. The memory of the bike riding was still there as vivid as ever but the truth is I hadn’t exercised those muscles in a long, long time. Kind of how I think Don would be if he ever got back to drawing again.
Too bad really, because he was so very good.
I came across this the other day - it’s at least 3 decades old if you can believe it. Dog-eared and water marred it sat aside off in a corner of the basement among many unsorted and long forgotten papers. This was penciled and inked by a friend of mine and later I colored it with (I think) China markers. I am figuring this was drawn around ’75 or ’76 and that would make the guy who drew it 15 or 16 and me 16 or 17.
Don always kicked ass when it came to drawing. Even though he is a year younger than me (which was a chasm of time as a teenager) he was way ahead of me in ability. At 15, he managed through our art teacher, to wind up working as an in-betweener for Zander’s when they were located over on Madison Avenue around 40th St. It was a spectacular summer for him. Don could draw rings around me but, somehow all that early success never materialized into anything more.
Don tagged along when I went up to show samples at Warren and he tagged along when I went up to Marvel to show samples but, he never managed to get his foot in the door. Other things wound up taking his focus. He moved to California, went into the service for a couple of years and by the time he got out, drawing had fallen by the wayside. I’ve got a few of his drawings around here if I look for them. He always talked about getting back to his drawing and maybe even doing storyboarding but it makes me think about bike-riding.
I think about bike riding in the sense of when I was a teenager I would take these long, long bike rides taking me from the Bronx on a meandering path up to White Plains and back. I just loved getting out of the house and being away from the neighborhood. Last time I road a bike was awhile back and it wasn’t easy at all. The memory of the bike riding was still there as vivid as ever but the truth is I hadn’t exercised those muscles in a long, long time. Kind of how I think Don would be if he ever got back to drawing again.
Too bad really, because he was so very good.
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