11.23.08

success

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:51 am by paul

I finally got all the parts I needed, and have re-assembled Jacquie’s old L6 as a working phone. I even have Sir Robin’s Song as the ring tone! I’m not sure what could be better, with the possible exception of the Fish License Sketch. But that doesn’t really get going for a little longer than is required of a ring tone.

Re-assembled L6

Re-assembled L6

I get a particular thrill out of keeping an old cell phone going, because of carriers’ awful habit of forcing you to upgrade at the slightest provocation.

11.20.08

commandments, III

Posted in work at 10:31 am by paul

I was sure I had already posted this, but a search reveals I have not. Here is another commandment:

Thou shalt not use mail to send data.

In my work for a Major Media Organization (Major Metro Media Organization?) we support the publication of horse racing results and betting lines. As a non-betting person I have little direct interst, but as it turns out, we receive all these via mail. Said mail gets piped through a processing engine, formatted in to tables, and then published.

The problems with this seem too obvious to even mention, but here they are anyway:

  • no security: anyone can send mail to the processor address, and manually set the correct “from”
  • line breaks wandering everywhere as people name horses whatever they woke up from dreaming about
  • transmission reliability: it might get eaten by your spam filter

One wonders how long it will be before a viagra spam just happens to be formatted enough like horse racing results to get past an over-worked clerk. It’s a real-world test of the infinite monkey theorem.

11.17.08

fortunately

Posted in fun, offline at 10:42 pm by paul

Fortunately is the title of a book by Remy Charlip. Basically, it follows a day of the ups, down, narrow escapes and unlikely triumphs of the protagonist. Perhaps you remember it? If so, you have probably noticed the same sine wave making itself known in all parts of your life. It’s supposed to start with “fortunately,” but for example:

Unfortunately, Jacquie cracked the screen on her cell phone.

Fortunately, replacement screens are readily available.

Unfortunately, I only ordered the LCD, when I needed the glass as well.

Fortunately, those are available too.

Unfortunately, I already have the phone disassembled:

Fortunately, I have spare, unlocked phone available.

And so on …

11.04.08

sfpd

Posted in offline at 11:33 pm by paul

Dear SFPD:

Would you please turn off your helicopter and go home? It is late, and I would like to go to sleep.

Thanks.

nader

Posted in and yet true, politics, unbelievable at 9:51 pm by paul

Ralph Nader just went on national TV, on Fox, and asked whether Barack Obama would be (from memory here) “Uncle Sam or Uncle Tom to the corporate interests.”

Wow, Ralph. That was perhaps the most ridiculous thing I have heard this election, just a little head of Gov. Palin reading “all” of the newspapers.

It was nice knowing you.

class

Posted in and yet true, politics, unbelievable at 8:42 pm by paul

Well, I’ve got to give props to Senator McCain for a classy concession speech. It was refreshing after he fought a dirty, underhanded, over-wrought campaign of fear, distrust, division and on occasion, outright hatred.

John McCain is a flawed and better man than all that. Flawed in that he let Steve Schmidt listen to Karl Rove and drive his campaign, primarily by naming is running mate. Better in that he knew it was wrong, and conceded as much in his speech.

I can’t say the same about the crowd in front of him. Asked, “What more could I have done to win this election”, the crowd answered “Reverend Wright”. Well, that was the perfect reference to all the things that went wrong with his campaign: he listened to his advisers and let them over-ride his instincts, and that was his undoing.

On the “concession call” they pledged to work together. Here’s hoping they can pull it off.

bradley

Posted in politics at 7:08 pm by paul

There’s been a lot of talk abotu the “Bradley Effect“, a reference to Tom Bradley’s 1988 loss in the California gubernatorial race in spite of a substantial lead in various polls.

My personal instinct is that Barack Obama — facing the double problem of darker skin and a “foreign” name, would need a 7% edge in the polls nationwide to pull off an electoral college victory.

As of this evening, pollster.com reports a 7.6% edge in Mr. Obama’s favor:

Pollster.com as of 7:03 pm, PST

Pollster.com as of 7:03 pm, PST

Good-bye, Karl. It’s been real.

11.03.08

break

Posted in fun at 9:39 pm by paul

Taking a break from All Politics All the Time, I listened to an episode of Radiolab today, about songs that stick in your head. Even by the high standards of Radiolab, it’s an interesting take and touches on:

  • (newly) deaf people with songs stuck in their heads, and the psychoanalysis thereof
  • trying to write songs that stick in your head, via an interview with the author of the tunes from Schoolhouse Rock
  • The strangely cross-cultural nature of songs that stick in your head; including the popularity of country music in sub-Saharan Africa, and the appeal of the accordion in Afghanistan.

Give it a listen; it’s worth your time.

11.01.08

CKOI

Posted in and yet true, politics, unbelievable at 10:18 pm by paul

Our friends at CKOI in Montréal have just pulled a most marvelous prank, convincing Sarah Palin that she is speaking with Nicholas Sarkozy on the phone.

Initial reaction: well, anyone can get pranked.

After a painful listen, several things are remarkable about this:

  • she repeats her talking points to the President of France
  • she calls him “Niko”
  • she gushes over him the whole time
  • she ignores a reference to “Nailin’ Paylin’”, the Hustler-produced tribute porn
  • she glides past his reference to how hot his wife is — in bed
  • she misses two references to Canadian politicians (the Prime Minister of Canada and the Premier of Québec), both with the wrong names

I have been struggling while writing this to not hit the caps lock key. You may thank me now.

I wonder what portion of the American electorate will see this as I do (further evidence that she is not qualified for the office she is pursuing) and how many will see it as — well as something else. I can’t quite imagine what that something else is, but I’m sure they will find it.

Coverage is far and wide: