Tags

"Tags are the distilled essence of smart ass commentary."

-- They well maybe, but I kicked you ass at Monopoly last weekend, so there!

I thought it said "Coins"

I thought it said "Coins". Now I'm not so sure. All I see now is "Colms". I believe that colms are the small bands of metal that anchor erasers to pencils - now why is there a store dedicate to selling colms in downtown Seattle?

Reunion

Just received an invitation to my 30th High School reunion. Well, "30th aniversary of 5th year graduation" reunion; I certainly haven't been to any High School reunions, which would make this the 1st. Yes, that sounds much better, this will be my 1st High School reunion.

All I can imagine is the reunion scene from Grosse Pointe Blank. I do hope no one gets killed.

Rapture

Come the rapture I want to be pretty sure that either the pilot or co-pilot of the plane on which I'm sure to be flying at the time is an atheist...

Brandweek

Never been quoted in Brandweek before. I was this week. Wonder if I can get quoted by a publication to which I already subscribe?

The Police

I saw the Police a few months ago in Seattle.
The last time I saw them was August 6 1979 at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester.
The backing band was The Cramps. Go figure.

Mmmmmm Chumby!

Chumby is a completely open system – hardware and software. The primary use for a Chumby device is to play a set of user-customizable widgets, small Adobe Flash animations that deliver real-time information. The animations also have the ability to control and interact with the low-level hardware, thereby enabling functionality such as smart alarm clocks that bring the hardware out of sleep, and physical user interface features such gesture recognition through squeezing the soft housing.

The hardware is based on a 350MHz ARM9 controller, has 64MB of SDRAM, 64MB of NAND flash ROM, a 320×240 3.5 inch touchscreen TFT LCD running at 12Hz, stereo 2W speakers, an audio output, an integrated microphone, two USB 2.0 ports, and integrated WiFi. Stock sensors on Chumby include a bend sensor for squeeze-based user interface features and a sudden motion sensor (accelerometer).

Chumby can run an SSD (As you can see from the screen snapshot above, I can easily connect from Windows via PuTTY to my Chumby). It also launches a small HTTP at boot time. I can easily add CGI scripts.

Chumby owners can selected from a large pallet of widgets via the Chumby.com home page. The widgets are scheduled and downloaded (over 802.11) to Chumby.

Thus far I’m very impressed; however I’ve only scratched the surface.

Can Can

Went to the show at the Can Can club tonight in Seattle. Great show. All the way through I kept thinking that the music employed during the show was very Stockhausian. "Stockhausen, Stockhausen, Stockhausen" my mind kept repeating throughout the show. I've not thought about him or his music for many years.

I get home, log on and find that he died today. Strange. And sad.

Amazon Kindle Debuts on Monday 19th Nov

Newsweek cover story this week about Kindle the new e-book reader from Amazon that is being launched at an event at the W Times Square in NY on Monday 19th Nov. Just in time for the holidays, Kindle is always-on for immediate download of books, newspapers and other sources.

Colin on Theremin

Just another average day at Amazon.com

Microsoft hates vegetarians

Well maybe 'hate' is a little strong, however.....

I received an invitation from Microsoft today to attend an executive briefing in an "intimate location". Salacious I thought. But no, the selected location is Ruth's Chris Steak House. Couple of problems with this: (a) I live in Seattle and the invitation is for the event in San Francisco (note to Microsoft: fix your geo-targeting) (b) I've been vegetarian for about the last seven years and inviting me to a steak house is not going to win Microsoft any points. I responded to the team responsible for managing the event, velocityliveevents@email.microsoft.com, thus:

Thanks for the invite. I respectfully decline. I would
have actually been quite interested in the event, however
your selection of a steak house for the event
is a poor choice for your vegetarian and vegan prospects.
of which Seattle and the Pacific Northwest has quite a few.
Including me.

10/20 Update: no response from Microsoft to my e-mail.
Perhaps when they told me in the invitation that I was specially
selected for their unique event they were only kidding....

Stanford Student? Come meet me on 9 October

The Stanford Computer Forum has invited me to an information session on campus. I'm presenting in Packard 101 on Tuesday 9 October 5:30 - 6:30pm. Free food, raffle and t-shirts! All that and me too!

Fun on the Field

Well the Seahawks won after some initial challenges with their defense. Being down on the field was amazing - really gives you an impression of what it's like to play in front of 68,000 screaming fans. One word: loud.

Seahawks Opening Game

Seahawks vs Buccaneers on Sunday, good. Sky box ticket, better. Pre-game field access, awesome! Watch out for me close to the end zone on the southwest side of Quest field on Sunday.

Maps for the Children

In response to the recent call to action by Miss Teen South Carolina, Maps For Us started a blog of important maps: Mapsforus.org

Please contribute. It's for the children. Please.

Steampunk Tree House

...imagine another sort of tree. Maybe there aren’t natural trees anymore. Maybe there are a few left in special National Maximum Security Parks. Maybe the memory of a tree is so far gone from living memories that people try to recreate what they imagine they’ve lost using another sort of romantic imaginary, one of machinery, scavenged gears, gathered belts, hunted steam pipes, gleaned gauges, rusty metal and gobs and gobs of steam. In short, though our natural world may change, the human drive to connect with it and one another remains, it is second nature. Enter the Steampunk Tree House!

Romania this week...

First full day in Romania today. I'm always wary of hotels that are named after organic compounds. My current abode, Hotel UniREA is no exception. About on par with a Cozy-8 it does have the benefit of being close to the office. The A/C emits pitiful breaths of tepid air rather like an asthmatic water buffalo about to expire. Watching Seinfeld dubbed into Romanian is the most entertainment I expect to get tonight. Still, at least I'm not back in the USSR. Pictures when I download them from my camera. Sleep time...

Dumb-as-a-Stump Award of the Week

Easily winning the Dumb-as-a-Stump award this week, and of little surprise to anyone, Network Solutions handily demonstrate why they are universally disliked. Not only are their registration fees the highest in the industry, their customer service is diabolically bad. Take for instance the e-mail I received from them today, August 14, 2007: "Act Now. Don't let your service expire" it blared. Gosh - I'd better renew in case I forget, I mused. Then I noticed the expiration date **June 26 2008**. Wow - nothing like getting advanced renewal notices. Doofi.

Slusho, water, zoom, happy, power, fish, donkey, frog

Slusho, water, zoom, happy, power, fish, donkey, frog

What would Jesus do?

From a Slashdot post today: "American Red Cross Sued for using a Red Cross". Quite a mundane story: "licensing rights.....blah blah.....exclusivity.....blah blah...". However there was at least one highly entertaining comment. Click on the image above to see.