headlines that frighten
alt="Love Sponge??" />
That was a headline on "My Yahoo" this morning. Needless to say, I didn't
click on it. :o
I guess the only question I can think of is... Why did they hire him (it?)
in the first place?
--------
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February 25, 2004
February 23, 2004
webcam setback
The hardware is all set to go. I can even control the iBook in the closet
on the second floor from my G5 in the basement. However, the webcam
software I bought to run the thing doesn't work properly in Mac OS 10.3
(Panther). The video image freezes after the first couple of frames, then
it continues to upload the same image repeatedly while still updating the
super-imposed clock. Stupid stuff.
Anyway, I'm testing out a new webcam application that will hopefully work
properly. If not, I'm out another 20 bucks and I'm stuck waiting for a fix
on one or the other...
mini dissection
On sale for only three days, and already someone has taken an iPod mini
apart and posted photos online [
href="http://www.ipodlounge.com/articles_more.php?id=3059_0_8_0_C">first
site,
href="http://www.ipoding.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album09&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php">second
site]. It continues to amaze me how people will spend $250 on a spiffy
new device like an iPod and then immediately take the chance of rendering
it completely useless.
How often do these people completely destroy their gadgets? All in the
name of web journalism, I guess.
When I saw the iPod
mini in the days after it was announced at Macworld San Francisco in
January, I was mostly unimpressed. Sure, it's smaller (but not
significantly so) than it's predecessors but it costs all of $50 less and
holds 11 GB less music.
Colors are nice, but Apple itself expects to sell mostly the silver color.
I actually think the buttons are better than the iPod biggie (I'm hoping
that monicker catches on). The Menu, Play/Pause, Forward, and Reverse
buttons are integrated in to the touch-sensitive scroll wheel. When you
push one of the four buttons, the wheel pivots inward and activates the
function of the button. Much cooler than the ugly row of buttons on the
iPod biggie.
--------
February 20, 2004
last ten
Last ten songs now updated with the current
playing track! I'm working on adding album covers too, but that is a lot
of manual work to collect all of the images, associate them with the
particular songs in iTunes, uploading the images to the server, and adding
the necessary code to the site.
Also, I want to officially annouce the return of the Bethesda web cam! I'm
going to relaunch the web cam (previously seen in the hours before we lost
power during Hurricane Isabel) on jlb.to.
Using Mike's old iBook, a new wireless card, a new power adapter, an extra
iSight camera, and EvoCam software, the web cam will point out of a
different window, but have basically the same view as before.
It will be online as soon as the wireless card and power adapter
(currently on order) make it here.
UPDATE: (Feb. 21, 5:39 AM) The album covers are up, though there
was some minor cursing at the screen before I found a simple fix for the
images drooping over the bottom of their little box at the top of the
page. You can click on them for a (much) bigger version. There might also
be intermittent broken images since I probably made more than a few
typographical errors on entering the image names in to iTunes.
I'm still not totally pleased with the format of the Last 10 Tracks page.
The table within the border is not the look I was hoping for, but that
bordered box contains all the text formatting, so I'll have to replicate
that in the table, in order for it to look consistent with the rest of the
site.
Also, even though I ordered the necessary bits and pieces for the web cam,
I decided to cannibalize my PowerBook's AirPort card and power adapter for
the web camming iBook. So, that should be done tomorrow-- er, today...
Depending on when I get out of bed, that is.
--------
aural pleasures and site updates
Changes abound tonight here on the jlb.to site. Music, quote, photo, and
more.
First, I added a thing at the top of the main jlb.to page that displays
the current song I'm listening to. Well, it works if I'm listening to
music on my home computer... It doesn't follow me in the car (where I
listen to a lot of the local AM news station anyway) or anywhere I take my
iPod or PowerBook (for now anyway).
Shortly, there will also be a list of the previous 10 tracks iTunes has
played for me. I usually listen to my entire MP3 library on shuffly play,
so the list of tracks will usually be rather random. I often skip through
some songs at the beginning, looking for something other than the dozen or
so tracks of
href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?artistId=61499">The
Who I have that, for some reason, always seem to be playing.
Also, you need iTunes installed
for the links to the song, album, and artist to work properly.
I also put a thing at the top of the right column that shows the
approximate times that this blog has been updated. Hence, "blogtimes."
I refreshed the quotation marks quote and put up a different photo over
there as well.
That photo is from Egg Harbor, Wisconsin on July 3, 2003, just before the
village's annual fireworks display. The photos of the actual fireworks did
not turn out so well as I was just holding the camera in my hands. Well,
maybe next year I'll get a tripod and a remote shutter and do it the right
way. Maybe...
Anyway, that about sums up the changes for tonight. It's quite a lot
(plust three new entries in the past couple of days!), so I'm calling it a
night and going to check out what Tivo has to offer.
--------
February 19, 2004
what is it that you do?
In a comment, Don asked, "What is it
that you do?" Well, let me tell you. First and foremost, I am a certified
member of the Apple Consultants Network. That means I am able to help
users of the Mac with technical support, installation, and just about
anything they might have problems with on their Macs. I'm currently
certified on Mac OS X 10.2 and Mac OS X Server 10.2, though I plan on
getting the 10.3 certification when the test is finally available.
On a more one-on-one level, my work is very much like Homer Simpson's
Compuglobalhypermeganet home business in episdoe
href="http://www.snpp.com/episodes/5F11">5F11. Comic Book guy, having
his nude photo of Capt. Janeway download interrupted by Homer's pop-up ad,
visits Homer. The scene goes something like...
Homer: Welcome to the Internet, my friend, how can I help you?
Comic Book Guy: I'm interested in upgrading my 28.8 kilobaud
Internet connection to a 1.5 megabit fiber optic T1 line. Will you be able
to provide an IP router that's compatible with my token ring ethernet LAN
configuration?
Homer: [stares blankly for a few seconds] Can I have some money
now?
So that's me. I sit and stare at people as they ask ridiculous questions,
then think to myself, "Can I have some money now?"
I also do some web design and I'm managing editor for the
href="http://www.planebusiness.com/">PlaneBusiness Banter, a weekly
airline business newsletter.
10-year
For those interested, Colnel Donald Seiler, class president of the Lincoln
High School class of 1994, the classiest guy I ever once knew and had a
class with (err, that was dumb) has set up a web site for our... class.
You have to register, but it's mostly painless. The part where he injects
the Sodium Pentathol stings a little, but you'll be web site-- er, um,
fine.
Apparently it's been 10 years since we were in high school. Frankly I
don't believe it. It seems more like 20 or 30 at least.
There, I've done my civic duty for the next few weeks. Now leave me alone
while I get my coffee for the day.
Though, I do have to wonder... Does Barbara Bundy-Jost still teach at LHS?
Grrroowwww...
February 17, 2004
sometimes i wish i could forget
Yeah, so I forget to post stuff here... For months at a time... Sorry.
It's not that I don't care to post things, it's just that I don't often
have a lot to say. And who's reading this thing anyway?
So here's something...
It's coming up on the one-year anniversary of the evil day on which I was
involuntarily separated from my full-time employment at the
href="http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/">Dog Penis.
Friday, Feb. 28, 2003 was the fatefull day. Little did I know, in the days
leading up to it, that the weasels were plotting to fire me, without so
much as a breath of what was wrong. I got an e-mail asking me to a meeting
to "discuss our future plans..." At the meeting, I was told (almost under
his breath, mumbling and stumbing), "Ahh... We can no longer offer you a
position here." Smooth.
Oh well. They got their's (paying my unemployment because they didn't keep
any record of my alleged wrong doings) and I got mine (three weeks of
severence, plus simultaneous unemployment benefits).
For the record, I was fired because I was late for work. But they didn't
keep any records of the exact times or days, and neither did I. The state
of Pennsylvania agreed with me that they weren't nice, though they agreed
with the company that they could fire me whenever they wanted for whatever
reason. But they still had to pay my unemployment. And my retirement
benefits for the two months I worked there in 2003. Morons. Had they fired
me in December, they could have saved around $1,500 in my bonus and IRA
contribution.
Later I learned that the so-called "executive board," the students who are
supposedly in charge of all things related to the business, were not even
allowed to have input or vote on my firing. Cool, huh? Yep. Three
individuals, including two students who had been in their jobs for two
months, decided all by themselves to give me the boot. Why do it that way?
Because the board would not have voted to fire me because, as a group,
they're a smarter bunch and realize the value of experienced full-time
employees.
Well, this is the last I'm speaking of the topic. On to bigger and better
things. (Genius-level ;) things, if I'd just get that interview...)