100 Years of Stories

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In a comment over on Slashdot, I saw this story about DaVinci's parachute design being tested (and working!) over 500 years after it was drawn. This is pretty cool, but I don't think I'd want to land with a 187 pound parachute over my head. I picked up my copy of Blizzard's Diablo II that I'd reserved at Software, Etc. I've been waiting for this game for a couple years, I'm glad it's finally shipping. I was mildly alarmed when the clerk took my copy of the game and sliced it open and pulled out the contents. He told me that a lot of them had only come with two of the three Compact Discs needed for the game. Thankfully, my copy had all three, but I was deprived of the feeling of removing that shrinkwrap, it just doesn't seem as new now...

I left a three-cent tip for the waitress at lunch today. We ate at Diamond Dave's, a Mexican restaurant. The restaurant was not remotely busy, her offenses were:

  • Took 15 minutes to ask us what we'd like to drink, and if we were ready to order.
  • Mixed up our drinks when she brought them, giving the wrong drink to the wrong person.
  • Mixed up our food when she brought it, just as above.
  • Took 15 minutes after we were finished eating to return with the checks, during which time one of the people had to leave to get back to work.
  • The checks were wrong. I had a taco salad and water. My bill included a lemondade that my co-worker had. We had to work it out amongst ourselves.
  • My co-worker paid with a credit card, I paid with cash, she brought me his receipt to sign and handed him my change.

    Now, my question is, did I overtip?

    We're starting to implement some wireless networking in our building. We've got an Apple Airport set up, and have gotten some PowerBooks connected to it via their Airport cards. I've gotten a Sony VAIO working with a Dell Aironet card and Windows 2000 to access the same network too. I wish our building wasn't made of concrete and steel, we'd get a lot more range out of the cards! Now I just need for Xircom to hurry up with their 802.11 Springboard Module for my Handspring Visor, so I can walk throughout the building and still be connected to the net. Macintouch has some more info about Palm computers and wireless technology as well.

    This morning, on my way to work, I was listening to KUNI radio (broadcast from two floors above my office). NPR is running a series during their Morning Edition program called 100 Years of Stories. The series features the stories of people over the age of 100, and this morning featured Roy Larkin Stamper of Oklahoma. While his story isn't available yet in RealAudio, it should be by the end of the day. The story of Ruth Ellis is already up, I caught that one a few weeks ago while sitting in the drive-through lane at McDonald's. All of these are fascinating stories, it's amazing what you can learn from NPR.

    • Keep an eye on your Mac

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    I didn't realize that Adobe had an LE version of Photoshop available. I assumed that you either got stuck with PhotoDeluxe, or you shelled out the bucks for Photoshop. I may have to look into this for home use, I don't use all the features of Photoshop (who does?) but I despise the interface that PhotoDeluxe uses. I really like this new theme. These were really a great idea, makes setting up a weblog much easier for a newbie.

    While testing out the new Google search box to your left, I entered my own name (we've all done it) to see what came up. Apparently I was linked to back in May by Brent Simmons. Maybe someone reads this after all.

    In the interest of honesty, I do get 3 cents per search from that box. Seeing as how Google will only send you a check after you accumulate $25 in fees, it may be a long time before I actually receive a check. Some quick math shows that to be 834 searches!

    I'm apparently also linked to on this page over at Kishore's ETP site. I'm not really sure why, but there I am!

    I read an interesting story over at Macintouch this morning:

    "Kevin," a technician with an Apple Specialist store in Maryland, warns of a rash of burglaries:

    "Last night some crooks tried to break in. They found a box on the side of the strip mall we are in, and cut all the wires that were marked with our address. Then they forced the door with a crowbar and went into to the first office to make sure the phones were out so our alarm would not be able to phone the police. To there suprise, they hadn't gotten our phone lines. When they heard the dial tone they must have skipped out quick because nothing was missing.

    This is where the plot begins to thicken. We have learned that they also attempted to break in to our Bethesda, MD location over a half hour away. They cut the lines and attempted to break the glass front door. They were again, unsuccessful. ... our boss learned that a store in nearby Towson, MD had been hit on Sunday night. Same MO, they cut the wires and forced the door with a crowbar. They only took brand new Macs. They even passed over digital cameras and camcorders right next to the computers. Last Tuesday a dealer in Conneticut was hit. A Mac dealer. Sounds like a pattern is developing."

    It must be terrorists, they're out to get those new G4's, because it's a "super-computer" and a "weapon" according to Apple's advertising. :)

    Human Genome Project

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    Are Windows 2000 and Windows Me users up a creek? That's what this article over at The Register claims. By eliminating any way for a user to make an easily bootable floppy disk, people will have to track down a Windows 95, 98 or a DOS machine to simply make a disk containing the files necessary to boot their machine to update their BIOS. I'm going to have to keep an old machine around for just this purpose, or dual-boot my workstation. In the article, Intel claims that they can't include the DOS files with their BIOS updates without violating Microsoft's copyright. You'd think they could work something out, over something as stupid as the three files needed to boot the system. Everybody and their dog is covering the Human Genome Project announcement this morning. While this probably won't have a great impact for at least a decade, it's almost certainly the most significant scientific event of my lifetime. I can say that, as I was born after the Apollo 11 mission. Read more at: Slashdot, CNN, and Fox News.

    I just read an interesting piece linked to from Slashdot. This article talks about some of the difficulties of building MacOS X on the BSD core, given the differences between UNIX security models and the security model of the Macintosh (there isn't one). A lot of users will probably be frustrated by having to log in as root to trash their file system, but I think it will certainly reduce support calls.

    The move from Windows 9x to Windows NT/2000 produces a similar effect. Many users feel that the system administrators are taking something away from them by denying them the ability to modify critical system areas, they never want to believe that they would be the ones who'd mess with some setting they shouldn't and wind up trashing the operating system. I've adapted an informal policy in which I'll give a user local administrator privileges, but if they break something, the extent of support they'll get from me is a reformat of their machine and a reinstallation of the OS.

    I really hope that MacOS X is a great success, but I know there will be a lot of difficulty for many of the advanced users in the changeover. A lot of them understand how the MacOS works now, they understand how to manipulate the arcane system extensions, they're used to having to disable some to resolve conflicts, they're used to being able to modify things in their preferences folder to fix a program that refuses to load. How will they adjust to the UNIX model? How will Mac application vendors adjust? I would think that supporting a *NIX over the phone would be a nightmare, as would finding someone willing to work for $6 an hour who actually understands how it works.

    After all of the growing pains are over, I think that Mac users will be better off, and Apple stands to capture the attention of people wanting a more powerful system. I just think the next year is going to be rough.

    Fantasia

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    For my birthday, my girlfriend and I went to see Fantasia 2000. Despite the fact that it was playing on the smallest screen at the Crossroads Twelve theatre, it was still a great experience. If you enjoyed the first movie at all, you'll like this one too. I could have done without a different celebrity introducing each piece of music, but it really didn't detract from the movie at all, just my minor quibble. One sequence from the original film, The Sorceror's Apprentice, is included, but the rest of the material is new, and quite well done. The movie was a bit shorter than I'm used to, it started at 7:30 and we were done at 8:40, but it was still a great time. I just wish I'd gotten to see it on an Imax screen.