Interesting analysis of Apple vs Microsoft

This discussion by Daniel Eran is worth reading.

Full disclosure - I used an Apple II in the early 1980s, (as a portable would you believe - I schlepped it on planes in a large plywood box), an Apple III in 1982/83, Macs all the way to 1990 -- and hated them all.
I now own Apple stock, my wife's machine is an iMAC bought by me, and my next system (pun intended) will most likely be an Intel based MAC. The performance of the MAC was shackled by its poor price/performance before it switched to Intel chips, and the OS sucked before they moved to the Mach kernel/neXt based based, 64 bit Operating System. Now that I can use Parallels to run my old apps, I am switching - as soon as the next Mac Pro is available.

The elections came and went...

I did my bit, and the counters get the correct answer - even though the Senate count was a bit of a cliffhanger. Now let's see what happens in two years.

The elections are coming...

TV news has become so opinionated and paradoxically content free that comedians are taking over as the most credible source of news. I discovered long ago that simply stating truths in the simplest possible language causes people to laugh. I built a successful (at least successful enough for me) career on this phenomenon. I made recommendations, people laughed, then went away and did what I said, never knowing why they did it. It just felt good to them.

Honesty always feels good, if a little funny.

The good humor induced by honesty could explain the lack of humor exuded by our current administration. They are not honest - and dishonesty is never funny.

The Daily Show exploits the humor in unadulterated truth; so do many of the late night talk shows. Click here to see Barack Obama (who is smart and funny and truthful) on the Daily Show. It is a six minute video.

Unfortunately the American voting public has not valued smarts, humor, or honesty in recent elections. Similarly, many democracies elect leaders with none of these qualities. Simply because a majority in a geographic region vote for a leader does not guaranty that the elected leader will have any laudable qualities.

Fall in Chicago

Botanic Gardens - but click on the picture to get the real fall in Chicago.

Not your father's colonoscopy | CRAVE : The CNET Gadget Blog

Everybody my age should appreciate this device.
Not your father's colonoscopy | CRAVE : The CNET Gadget Blog

It gets weirder

Before attending the CSO concert this evening, we went to the rehearsal in the morning and the pre-concert lecture. Both were very interesting; however, I learned more about the story behind the music than is good for anybody's mental health.
The concert included works by Dvorák and Janacek. Both of them continued this weeks Chicago tradition of psychopathic stories about psychopathic characters. I commented on "The Pillowman" and "Salome" earlier this week.

The Dvorák piece (The Golden Spinning Wheel, Op. 109) tells of a young king who falls in love with a girl. She is murdered and dismembered by her stepmother who sends her own daughter off to marry the king. The girl's feet, hands, and eyes are later sent along to the king’s castle. An old man finds the rest of her remains and undertakes a makeover process that involves a golden spinning wheel. After much mucking around, the king races to the forest where he finds the original girl alive and well after the makeover! "Although the King has the murderers torn apart by wolves, Dvořák’s ending is uncomplicated and unequivocally happy." In summary this is how Phillip Huscher (the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) describes the work. Honest. I could not make this up.

"Jenůfa is Janáček's tragic tale of repression, infanticide, and redemption" says the teaser on the CSO website. No kidding. We saw act II (no redemption yet). Here, the step-mother kills her daughter's illegitimate child who was fathered by her nephew whose older brother slashed the daughter's face because he was in love with her and he did not want his brother to be married to her while she was beautiful. As a reward, the step-mother offers the daughter to the slashing brother as a bride.

What has gotten into the producers of Chicago art this week? Halloween, maybe?

Talking about wierd art...

... tonight we went to the new Chicago Lyric Opera performance of "Salome" by Richard Strauss. Last Sunday we saw "The Pillowman" by Martin McDonagh at the Steppenwolf Theatre.

First things first, the Pillowman was billed as a "dark comedy". It is much more dark than comedy. The plot is a tad implausible - but not really. It explores the mind of the psychopath (all the characters are indeed psychopaths) and as a result it appears to be implausible - but that is what psychopathic minds are - they see the implausible as plausible. "The Pillowman" draws one into the minds of psychopaths and treats them as if they are almost normal, but a little odd.

I often said (when I was gainfully employed) that I did not know what I thought until I wrote it down. This blog entry is a prime example of that. I started off intending the slam "The Pillowman" as an over the top piece of writing that delivered neither insight nor amusement. By writing what I thought, I discovered that it did indeed deliver insight - but its amusement quotient is, to me, still fairly low. So, if you want insight with minimal amusement, go see "The Pillowman." Be warned - the writer is a poor editor - the work runs for 2 1/2 hours - way too long.

"Salome" is, of course, a classic. It is also a tad tedious. Some of the music is, well, musical. Much of it sounds like Strauss trying to be Wagner, but never reaching the gut emotional impact that Wagner delivers. The "Dance of the Seven Veils" for me always raises the memory of Peter Sellers and "The Dance of the Seven Army Surplus Blankets." This sort of dilutes the emotional impact of the moment. The Dilbert book "Bring Me the Head of Willy the Mailboy" also came to mind all to often. Despite being based on Oscar Wilde's play, Salome delivered no insights to me. I am a big time fan of Oscar Wilde's works, but the mix of Germanic music and Irish wit just does not work. Mercifully, it was over in 105 minutes with no intermission.

The Dilbert Blog: Good News Day

The Dilbert Blog: Good News Day
WOW is all I can say. Congratulations and best wishes to
Scott Adams

I was rained on today...

... which is not unusual - but what was unusual is that I was walking down my favorite trail (cell phone picture below)...

... listening to recent Podcasts. iTunes has a weekly podcast covering new music that they have added to their site. I listen to it to keep in touch with current pop music. Rod Stewart has made a recording of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Have You Ever Seen the Rain". As the chorus started, I felt the first drop of water on my face. Very odd.

Bio: First Memories

My Memory:
I am on a balcony overlooking a beach. A large warplane flies overhead, very noisily, very close. It makes me cry. With an open mouth I create a large blob of chocolate on my mother's white blouse. My mother is upset about the blob.

Factual Background:
I was born in a seaside town in the Cape Province, South Africa. I lived in that town for the first four years of my life, which was during the period now (2006) known as the "Second World War". Hopefully, it will become known as the "Last World War". This note obfuscates the name of the town to delay identity thieves.

I recently visited the town, and the view agrees with my childhood memory. I have never discussed this memory with my mother, so it not a memory that has been reinforced by repetition.

Bio: Preface - Autobiography

It has occurred to me that I have reached an age at which a memoir should be published. It has also occurred to me that nobody really wants to read my memoir, and that I am very unlikely to find a publisher that would pay me for a memoir. So I must publish it on a low cost forum - like here :-)

I shall begin publishing little bits of my memories here. My only justification for doing so is that I wish my ancestors had left me something that let me understand what they thought. These comments may be of little value now - but to future historians digging through internet archives they may provide some glimmer of what people (a person, plus whatever comments this blog attracts, if any) thought. They may also be interesting to my descendents.

The event that prompted me to start this was a radio show (or podcast - I forget which) on the topic of writing. The comment (obvious in retrospect) was that the best way to write 300,000 words was 1,000 words at a time.

I have no word count target - I just want to write what I remember. I do not want the only recorded memory of my life to be an inscription on a gravestone and a large volume of corporate and governmental records. Maybe nobody will read my account - but it will give me satisfaction.

To ease my future editing, I will prefix each memoir item with the characters "Bio:" followed by a possible chapter title. I do not expect chapter titles to gel for a while, so I feel free to change the entries over time.

Comments are solicited, welcomed, but may not be acted upon. These are my memoirs, after all.

Who needs a digital camera, anyhow?

I have recently added a Nikon Coolscan V to my scanner collection. I have been using a Konica-Minolta DiMage Scan Dual IV which I bought a while ago because it was cheaper than the Nikon. What a mistake that was. The DiMage works well enough, but the Nikon is way superior for my way of working. Three major advantages:

• Digital ICE removes dust automagically
• No need to mount slides and film strips in a holder. Just pop them in the front of the box.
• Digital ICE removes dust automagically
• The scans look way better than the DiMage when running on auto-everything. I prefer to work this way, and fix things in Photoshop afterwards. The Nikon scans need very little correction compared to the DiMage
• Did I mention digital ICE removes dust and scratches?

There are three kinds of mathematicians in this world:

1. Those who can count.
2. Those who cannot count.

Leica M6 + Nikon Coolscan V = Leica M8 - $4500

Iphigénie - Staged on a set made for Philip Glass

Last night we saw Iphigenie en Tauride by Gluck at the Lyric Operaa Theatre in Chicago. The performance was brilliantly staged and visually stunning, despite (or, more correctly, because of) the stark simplicity of the set and the costumes. Black and white, broken only by skin tones. The production made brilliant use of lighting and shadows to transform the three panes of blackboard panels into a larger than life son et lumiere show emphasising and punctuating the stage action.
A great start to the new season.

Abigail

Abigail
Originally uploaded by chmoss.

Abigail and her dolls.

Millenium Park skyline

Why I love Chicago

PEW (Picture Every Whenever)

This is the first in a new series I am starting to get myself over the photography blahs - you know - when you look at all your pictures and the best emotion they ever elicit is "Blah". They will have no titles, and no justification, other than I took it, I posted it.

Greece Travel Album

Some of our pictures from Greece are here

Back from Greece - and we went to the Circus

We are back from our visit to Greece - pics will be up soon. We took Jacob and Julia to the Shanghai Circus - remarkable gymnasts and trapeze artists, no animals.

Abigail had her Third Birthday

Abigail turned three and is very happy to have done so. Click on the link to see pictures of the party.

A Johannesburg blog

This blog shows photographs of the side of Johannesburg that is not usually presented in the travel pages, or seen by tourists. Note that these images are not taken in the bad slums - they are images of what used to be middle class living areas. I lived in Yeoville for several years as a child, and our first apartments after we married were in the same area.

Zen Thoughts to live by

• Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone.
• The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.
• It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbors’ newspaper, that’s the time to do it.
• Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.
• Always remember that you’re unique. Just like everyone else.
• Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
• If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
• Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.
• If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
• Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
• If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
• If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
• Some days you’re the bug; some days you’re the windshield.
• Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
• The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
• A closed mouth gathers no foot.
• Duct tape is like ‘The Force’. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
• There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
• Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your lips are moving.
• Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
• Never miss a good chance to shut up.
• Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

Mr and Mrs Magoo drive to Boston

So, on the last Tuesday in June we set off for Boston by car for a family Batmitzvah. We had planned to sleep in downtown Chicago overnight to avoid the morning rush-hour traffic. As we left our driveway at about 3 pm, both Mr and Mrs M. Simultaneously realized that we could get a head start on the trip by driving right though Chicago and sleeping somewhere in Ohio. This we did, after struggling though the evening rush hour traffic out of Chicago.

The next morning we set off bright and early. We stopped for an awful breakfast/lunch in some nameless and characterless decaying industrial city. This was unusual - we almost always can identify great little places to eat. It may have been an omen.
I do most of the driving, keeping Mrs. M in reserve for my drowsy time. I was getting tired, so she took over shortly after lunch.

We were tootling (its a word - look it up) along the New York State Thruway (sic) listening to a set of lectures on tape about ancient Greek History when suddenly traffic came to an almost screeching halt near Syracuse, New York. It took about 30 minutes to get to the off ramp to discover what was the problem. The Thruway was closed from Syracuse to Schenectady (about 120 miles) due to flooding. An inquiry at the toll booth confirmed that US 20 which runs almost parallel to the Thruway was also impassable. "Go South" we were advised, so we set off down I-81. Soon we came upon a sign that said that I-81 was closed from Exit 4 to the Pennsylvania border, and closed in Pennsylvania all the way to Wilkes-Barre (pronounced very oddly as Wilksbury).

No problem. Mr and Mrs M. headed up I-88 in the hope that we could get to rejoin the Thruway near Albany. About 32 miles in, near a town called Sidney, we came to yet another closure. The local gendarme directing traffic was not very helpful about where we should head. "Find a motel and sleep until its over" was his best advice. "The road ahead is washed away and two truckers died trying to get through".
Hmmm. Sidney - we have friends there - oops, that's in Australia, and its spelled differently. We were not that lost. A quick consult with a map gave us hope that we could go back down I-88 and take New York State Route 17 to I-84. SR-17 had to be open because it went though the mountains past Catskill State Park, where we used to camp in the summer. Nothing to flood there. I-84 became a magnet - we had used it many times before.

It was about this time that Mrs. M. called our oldest daughter and was given the comforting thought that we sounded like Mr and Mrs Magoo bumbling around the USA. This sympathetic comment came from a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specialized in Geriatric Care.
Anyhow, we retreated back down I-88 to SR-17, and found that it too was closed, with no passable bypasses around the closure.
Undeterred, we headed back down I-81 trying to get to I-84. We found that the previously closed section was now open and we took I-84 to Newburgh and tried to find a hotel. More hmmm -- hotels were a tad full - 200,000 people had been evacuated from Wilkes-Barre and Port Jervis, and some of them had opted for hotels rather than the public spaces that the authorities suggested.

We finally ended up in Fishkill, New York at 11pm.
All in all, our trip was only about 200 miles and 5 hours longer than it should have been - but time passes slowly for the Magoos.

Cell Phones Make Drivers as Bad as Drunks

LiveScience.com - Cell Phones Make Drivers as Bad as Drunks

Hands-free or not, drinking is less dangeraous than talking while driving.

As Abe Lincoln said: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt"

Its a dog's life

This is what happens when you take a Havanese for a walk in wet grass. Bernie is Karen's dog. 

Just for all who think Chicago is aways cold and windy

This was snapped a couple of days ago less than a mile from "The Loop", Chicago's downtown shopping and financial district. 

Father’s Day Gift Guide: Recommendations and Tips for the Best Presents

Just in case anyone needs to know:
ConsumerReports.org - Father’s Day Gift Guide: Recommendations and Tips for the Best Presents

Julia's dance recital

Julia (on right) worked hard to rehearse for her studio's annual recital. The rest of the snaps are here.

Seminordnilap

This is my entry for this Monday's Streetphoto forum bi-weekly Salon. The theme for this fortnight is "Seminordnilap". Sort of like palindromes, but backwards.
Other pics I considered entering are here, together with a better definition of the concept.

Jacob discovers that a camera is a chick magnet (or maybe not)

Yesterday I went to meet my grandson Jacob's class at a farm that allows city kids to meet farm animals up close and personal. When we arrived, he asked me if I had brought his camera with (I gave him one of my "obsolete" digitals a few weeks ago, and he is not yet accustomed to taking it everywhere). I said I had not, and he asked plaintively if I had one of mine that he could use. I cheerfully surrendered a Fuji F11, remembering how much I had enjoyed taking snaps when I was eight (using a Kodak Box Brownie).
I have posted all of his pics here. He did a much better job than I at capturing the spirit of the day.

A new alternative fuel?

Yesterday we pumped up our bicycle wheels and took advantage of the glorious spring weather by riding to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. At the garden I ate a bowl of oatmeal with milk, butter and sugar - cost $1.50 for about an 8 oz serving. Our total riding distance was about 11 miles. So, we got about 11 miles per bowl, which is equivalent to 176 miles per gallon of oatmeal.
This sounds great on the surface - but a gallon of oatmeal would cost $24.00.
A better measure would be cost per mile - the result is:
Oatmeal+Bicycle: $0.136
Gas +Automobile: $0.143
This is a wash - but oatmeal has less impact on the environment, so it wins overall.

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

My daughter Karen (on the right) and her friend Wendy.
We are very proud of Karen and Wendy. This weekend they took part in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Karen raised over three thousand dollars for breast cancer research and treatment. A heartfelt thank you goes to all who contributed to this total.
Karen walked a marathon and a half - 39 miles - over a two day period with her friend Wendy and over three thousand fellow walkers. In all they raised over eight million dollars.
Wendy's mother succumbed to breast cancer fourteen years ago.
Karen's donor page is here if you would like to make a donation.
For more pictures, click here or on the image on the left.

Stratford, Ontario

We visited Stratford, Ontario. Three days. Four swans. Four plays. Coriolanus, Much Ado about Nothing, London Assurance, The Glass Menagerie.
I preferred the swans.

Bush says "bring 'em on" was big mistake

Bush says "bring 'em on" was big mistake

Duh! So now we will be treated a series of "Born Again" confessions.

Sorry -- one does not get redemption by admitting stupidity.

Convergence and divergence on the waist

When I go out, I carry several waist-top technology items. My latest is a T-Mobile MDA - a Windows Pocket PC based cell phone. This device replaced a Treo 600, which was tortured by my grand-daughter until it died a horrible buzzing death. The 5 oz MDA has about the same power as the computer that was my main desktop three years ago. Its screen and keyboard are a tad - OK - several tads - too small, but otherwise it is comparable in everything except disk storage.
I am exploring the possibility that this device could reduce the load that I carry on my belt. Fully equipped for travel, the current waist load that I need/carry is:

• Telephony, messaging, e-mail, games and Internet access: T-Mobile MDA
• Bluetooth headphone for above
  
• Photography and video: Fuji F11
  
• Recorded material (podcasts, music and books): iPod Gen 4
• iPod headphone
  
• Binoculars - Zeiss 10x25
  
• GPS - Garmin eTrex
  

Including cases, their total weight is 2lb 6oz (1.08 kg in the rest of the world) or about 1.4% of my body weight. In my suitcase I need four different chargers plus spare AA batteries.

This of course excludes any SLR equpiment I want to have with me.

No wonder I can't take pictures anymore.

I have become addicted to podcasts - they almost work on the phone. A few more tweaks and I will be able to use the phone in place of the iPod for podcasts.

Clash of cultures

Is is clear that we are caught in the midst of long term confrontation between world views that have no possibility of reconciliation viewed from the perspective of the proponents of each world view. The views may be encapsulated as:

• The truth has been revealed to me and you will believe it or suffer somehow (Islam, Christianity)
• I have my beliefs, leave me alone (Judaism, Buddhism, Shinto, Tao, Hindu, Agnostic, Atheist, and Animist)
• Do what I say, who asked your opinion anyway (the political leadership of most members of the United Nations)
  

Unfortunately, Islam and Christianity now seem determined to fight it out, engulfing the rest of the world in the cross-fire.

Bernard Lewis has a cogent discussion of the issues here:
http://podcast.thestar.com/audio/thestar-2006-05-05-70165.mp3
This 35 minute presentation is worth listening to especially if you are interested in feminist issues.

However, his comments towards the end quoting historical views of Muslims regarding women do not support his case. Many similar comments from all world views could be quoted.

If you have listened to this, you will not be surprised to find that some folk don't agree with him. For example:
M. Shahid Alam: Bernard Lewis: Scholarship or Sophistry?
and from a perspective that is not quite as partisan
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0411.hirsh.html

What do you think?

Salon - Playing with the big boys

Salon - Playing with the big boys
Originally uploaded by chmoss.

This is my entry for this Monday's Streetphoto forum bi-weekly Salon. The theme for this fortnight is "Playing with the big boys". The adjudicators comment is:

"Interpret how you wish. I'm looking for photos that make me think, "DAMN! I wish I had taken that..."

This entry does not meet or exceed that bar but it is the best I have on this theme - so I will go with it.

What were they thinking Department - Coca-Cola BlaK

I tried a pack of Coca-Cola Blak - it appeared to be reasonable proposition. I like Coke. I like coffee. Maybe I could save some time by drinking both together.
Wrong - it is awful. Their speil is here:

Coca-Cola BlaK

Note that it is hard to type BlaK correctly. The "a" has a bar over it, and the first and last letters are capitalized

The Holocaust from the other side

Robert Scoble is a Microsoft employee and prolific Blogger. Sometimes he blogs on personal subjects. This recent post provides an illuminating insight into the Holocaust from the other side.
Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger » Disturbing family stories

Reality TV, Me, You and Government Access Programming

American TV now abounds with programs under the rubric of "Reality TV". I have no idea whose reality they are referring to, but it is not my reality, and probably not yours, if can read these words. I do not regard competitions based on:

Who can eat the most disgusting things
Who can sing crappy songs better than others
Who can perform movements called "dance"
Who can run/crawl/slither/slide/yawl/drop/leap/etc faster
Who can complete the x-athlon in less/more time or whatever

as having anything to do with reality.
The most riveting reality TV for me is the local channel that is called in my area "Government Access Programming"
Here is democracy in action. It is our local zoning board. It is our local planning commission. It is our city council. It is real people, with real concerns, trying to make things better for themselves. I may not always agree with them - but I could also be there arguing with/against them, in a forum where I will be heard. I can rant and rave for/against the foreign policy of the US, France, Iran, Israel, or any other country on this blog, and feel that I am "making a difference". But I m not making a difference. All I am doing is venting my spleen.
According to Wikipedia

"The spleen is a ductless, vertebrate gland that is not necessary for life but is closely associated with the circulatory system, where it functions in the destruction of old red blood cells in holding a reservoir of blood. It is regarded as one of the centers of activity of the reticuloendothelial system. Until recently, the purpose of the spleen was not known. It is increasingly recognized that its absence predisposes to certain infections."

WTF do they know? I lost a dear and valued colleague to a senseless accident on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie 30 years ago. Robin from New Zealand was sideswiped by a bad driver, his spleen ruptured, and died with no warning in the Mid-Hudson Valley almost 12,000 miles from home.
So think about stopping your own venting, stop watching "Reality TV", watch your own local government TV channel, find the cause that impacts you, and go out and do something to make a real difference, not a reality difference

Sad News

Ron Bokor - Nancy's wife, Andy's Dad, Lisa's father-in-law, Jacob, Julia and Abigail's grandfather, our mechuten, passed away.

He was diagnosed with chronic but treatable leukemia almost two years ago. However, lymphoma developed, and he was subjected to intensive chemotherapy. An infection developed after surgery to remove a node, and the infection could not be controlled - his defenses were compromised by the chemotherapy. Ron fought bravely but as it became apparent that the treatment was ineffective, he requested that treatment be stopped. His doctors concurred, and Ron passed away two days after he returned home.

We will all miss him.

At the Field Museum

Jacob and I spent last Saturday at The Field Museum. Highly recommended.

Over 700 people slept on the floor of the museum, in everything from basic sleeping bags to pup tents with air mattresses. We slept on the floor, which was little hard, despite the carpeting.

Dozin' With the Dinos
Sue the T. Rex is having a sleepover! Join us for a night of family workshops, tour and performances. Explore ancient Egypt by flashlight, prowl an African savannah with man-eating lions and take a stroll through the Royal Palace in Bamun, Africa. Then spread your sleeping bag amidst some of our most popular exhibitions. The event includes an evening snack and breakfast in the morning.

At last the president and I agree on something

On being asked "What was the most wonderful moment in your terms of being President so far?", President George Bush answered: "I would say the best moment was when I caught a seven-and-a-half pound large mouth bass on my lake."

It is sad, but that really may be the best thing he has done.

The full text may be found here:

Interview of the President by Kai Diekmann of BILD

Chief rabbi says : Buffalo meat kosher

Just in case you were wondering -
Jerusalem Post | Chief rabbi: Buffalo meat kosher

Half my images from our trip to Australia

At last - I have edited some of the images from my last trip to Australia.

The pics are here.

Ask E.T.: PowerPoint Does Rocket Science

This is worth reading - before you review or write your next Powerpoint presentation.
Ask E.T.: PowerPoint Does Rocket Science

My Left Wing :: A Liberal Translation

What they say - saves me saying it - incorporated by reference:
My Left Wing :: A Liberal Translation

The Torn-Up Credit Card Application - A Cautionary tale

The Torn-Up Credit Card Application: "You should probably buy a shredder today.
"

Michael McGuire at Watertower

McGuire showed some very intriguing panorama images. Some of them are collages, which for me lessens their impact. I like things that appear to be photographs to be closer to reality than a collage. Somehow, faking the image after the fact diminishes the impact on my soul. This is odd, because regular painting "art" is completely artificial and faked (hence art?) -- but can appear to be really real, and have great impact. Go figure. 

In the interest of fairness, Abigail and Julia are Jacob's sisters

  

Jacob, my grandson, age 8.

I was playing with my new toy - a Fuji Finepix F11 - and captured this image at ISO 800. Remarkable for this generation of P&S digicams - probably ho-hum standard for the next generation.

Good stuff at the Art Institute of Chicago

Last Friday I visited the Art Institute of Chicago. They had two fascinating exhibits on display - both worth a visit

From Darkroom to Digital: Photographic Variations is a show of more than 40 objects from the permanent collection features variants and alternative prints by Ansel Adams, Tom Arndt, Chuck Close, Patty Carroll, Frank Eugene, Gertrude Kasebier, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, and others.

Girodet: Romantic Rebel is the first retrospective in the United States devoted to the works of gifted French painter Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (1767–1824). The exhibition assembles more than 100 seminal works (about 60 paintings and 40 drawings) that demonstrate the artist’s impressive range as a painter as well as a draftsman.

Leica and the Nazis

In an article entitled Leica and the Nazis Andrew Nemeth notes:

Some German corporations didn't exactly distinguish themselves during WW2, with many fostering an unnaturally close association with the Nazi regime, as well as ruthlessly exploiting their slave labourers & employees.

I'm sure many of you have wondered: "Where were Leica in all this? How deeply did they get involved? Were they Good Blokes, or Creeps?"

Thanks to the efforts of Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith, George Gilbert and Norman C. Lipton, the good news is that in this particular case, E.Leitz did do the right thing. Not only did they treat their workforce reasonably well, but they also helped many Jews (and others) escape the depravity of the Thousand Years Reich - often at great personal risk.

New bill a potential disaster for working photographers

If you are interested in protecting the rights of independent photographers and other independent visual artists, read this and take action.

ASMP: "Urgent Call for Your Action on Orphan Works"

Under the proposed legislation, a person or other entity who wants to use a copyrighted work is required to make only a "good faith, reasonably diligent search" to locate the copyright owner. If, after making such a search, the user is unable to locate the copyright owner, he/she/it gets an almost free license to use the work. If the copyright owner never comes forward, the user gets to use the work for free. Even if the copyright owner discovers the use and demands payment, the MOST the copyright owner can get is "reasonable compensation," i.e. a reasonable license fee for the use actually made. There is NO possibility of statutory damages or attorneys' fees, even if the work was registered before the use was made without your permission.

So, under the proposed legislation, any organization can pick up a photo of yours and use it freely without your permission. All they have to establish is that they did not know who owned the copyright.

My 'puter had a brain transplant and an unclogging of the arteries

Until last week, my primary computer had a 1.8 Ghz Pentium 4 processor. A few months ago , I bought an Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor as a mid-life kicker. I carefully read the instructions, and decided that it was way too risky for me to attempt to install the upgrade myself. The instructions were something along the lines of "remove everything from the motherboard and gently pry the old processor out, taking care not to damage the motherboard".
I put the processor away - and then I noticed a sign at CompUSA - "Parts installation - $29.95". I asked if that included parts not purchased from the store - sure, I was told. Processor chip? I asked - "Sure" I was told. So, last Thursday, I dropped it off on the way to the city.
Yesterday, I picked up the patient, plugged in the three external hard drives, the printer, both scanners, the iPod, the network, the two phone lines, the speakers, and finally the power.
Bingo! It works, and felt snappier. Just to convince myself that it was not an illusion, I went to the Intel site to find the Processor Identification Utility. I came to this page:

http://support.intel.com/support/processors/pentium4/software.htm#id

and spotted the "Intel Application Accelerator".

The description said:

"The Intel® Application Accelerator replaces the ATA drivers that come with Windows* with drivers optimized for desktop and mobile PCs using select Intel® chipsets. It reduces the storage sub-system bottleneck, enabling the processor and other system level hardware to be more productive and efficient. It is not a requirement for your operating system to work properly."

Sounded like a good thing, so I went ahead and installed it (several steps and checks involved). If you try it, read ALL the "Readme"s and Release Notes to ensure compatibility with your system.
My system really hums now - - I won't need a new one until my major apps support dual processors and Windows Vista has had the bugs shaken out.

Red Lentil Soup - or, How to find happiness in the kitchen

The yummiest and simplest soup I have ever made is a red lentil soup, based on a traditional Jewish recipe. The TV program "America's Test Kitchen" (who advice I usually revere) recently derided and discarded red lentil soup as being too mushy. Pure Northeastern Yankee humbug!

The recipe I used is based on red lentils (1 packet - 16 oz), chopped onion (1 large), chicken or beef stock (7 1/2 cups) and cumin, salt and pepper, with a finish of lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, In its purest form, just simmer the main ingredients for about 30 minutes until the texture is right, add the lemon juice and olive oil, and garnish however you please (chopped parsley is good). Tastes good, looks blah.

To make it great, raid the pantry and fridge and add stuff. The best additions I have found so far are a can of chopped tomatoes (added after about 20 minutes of simmering) and about 12 oz shredded spinach (added 5 minutes before completion). The added colors, textures and tastes are sublime. This is what I cooked last night on the spur of the moment.

This, for me, was a breakthrough. Normally, if I cook something, I plan it with more care than the war in Iraq was planned -- about two days of thinking and making lists. Impromptu cooking is new for me - and very gratifying.

Yes, I know, every working woman does this every day - but I am handicapped - I am a man ;-(

Google throws out US data demand

BBC NEWS | Technology | Google throws out US data demand:
The US government demanded that Google produce data regarding search terms used by Google searchers. Google's response included a phrase that is emblematic of almost everything this administration does:
"This statement is so uninformed as to be nonsensical"
This sums up almost everything GWBs group has said about almost every one of its policy initiatives. I love it. Who said geeks can't write poetry?

Sorry - I could not resist this...

... even though everyone else is commenting. Usually this administration shoots itself in the foot. This time they could not even manage that! Also, I am wondering anyone would want to shoot quail anyway - he no longer wants the VP slot. Slates commentary is below:
Blind Spot - The vice president learns there is no "E" in quail. By Bruce Reed

Just how cold is Chicago?

Not as cold as it used to be. Read on for details of our current balmy winter...
WGN Weather Weblog: SUBZERO TEMPERATURES AT CHICAGO

Era Ends: Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams

So what will we do to fill up the time at weddings?
And our grandchildren will never understand telegram jokes :-(
E.G.
"A cartoon with the caption “Telegram Sex which showed the recipient reading from the slip of paper - DONT STOP DONT STOP DONT STOP STOP
LiveScience.com - Era Ends: Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams

Analog TV shutdown all but set for 2009 - Engadget

Analog TV shutdown all but set for 2009 - Engadget
So start thinking about dumping that box you have somewhere. My study TV is a 20 year old Magnavox. It will have to go :-)

Fear and Loathing and Digital Rights Management

If you have an iPod, and a PC, you need SharePod. This is why:
This morning I opened up iTunes and clicked on a podcast I wanted to hear. Not there. No problem - just listen to another of the thirty or more lined up to for my pleasure. Not there.
Concern!
Check on a music track. Not there. Try another music track. Not there.
Fear!
Open Explorer and look in the folder - empty.
Full blown panic!
Put earphones on iPod - music still there. No problem. About to pop iPod into cradle when memory strikes - DON"T DO THAT. The iPod synch is only one way. Synch now and the iPod is made to match the PC - i.e. empty.
All is not really lost - most of what I put on the iPod is from CDs that I already own - the problem is that I have about 15GB on the iPod - takes forever to load.
OK - go for a file recovery program. It finds nothing.
Go for Google - I find SharePod after many dead ends.
This nifty little program copies everything from the iPod back to your PC. After a couple of glitches caused by file names that are too long, I now have all my music files back on my PC.
Not quite yet. I had bought a couple of tracks from the music store just to see how it works. They have disappeared, as far as I can tell. Good work, Apple. Yay for Digital Rights Management.

The Avalon Project : Hamas Covenant 1988

The Avalon Project : Hamas Covenant 1988

Selfserving bigoted BS - a quote from the "Covenant" above:

"Article Thirty-One:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is a humanistic movement. It takes care of human rights and is guided by Islamic tolerance when dealing with the followers of other religions. It does not antagonize anyone of them except if it is antagonized by it or stands in its way to hamper its moves and waste its efforts.

Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions - Islam, Christianity and Judaism - to coexist in peace and quiet with each other. Peace and quiet would not be possible except under the wing of Islam. Past and present history are the best witness to that."

Free translation - if you are Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Taoist, Parsi, Animist, Shinto - or anything other than followers of the religion of Abraham, you are dead meat. Otherwise, if you are Jewish or Christian, you had better be prepared to live under Islamic rule - or we will kill you in the name of peace and quiet.

January 2006 was Chicago's warmest since 1928

... and I am not complaining. See the details on the WGN Weather Weblog: January 2006: CityÂ’s warmest since 1928

A poll shows 47% of the US population now thinks the US was right to invade Iraq

... and by definition, 50% of the population is of below average intelligence. Odd coincidence? I think not.

Also, the Iraqis have Democratically elected a party ideologically sympathetic to the Shiite lunatic regime in Iran.

Good job, George.

Matis Yahu - Hasidic Reggae hip-hop

For something completely different, listen to this:
Matis Yahu - Jokaroo.com

The Online Photographer: Zeiss ZF Lenses: It's Official

What he said:
The Online Photographer: Zeiss ZF Lenses: It's Official

This "announcement" is so underwhelming it boggles the mind.

iMac - Mea Culpa

I am guilty - I recently purchased an iMac - mostly because it has great industrial design, and fit into the space I had available. I confess - I almost fell for the great lie - Macs work better than Windows PCs. Subsequent posts will explain what problems I have had with the iMac - not worse than a PC, but clearly not better. Before I start on those, some of my Apple history is worth recounting - to establish that I am neither a Windowsphile nor a Macophobe.

I first used Apple computers in the early 1980s, some twenty years after I learned to program. I had an Apple II, packaged up in a large plywood box, with monitor and external disk drives, that I used to schlepp around airports to client sites all around the USA. VisiCalc and VisiPlot were my world.

I went off to Japan for a year, working on planning for big iron, just as the IBM PC was introduced. I used a Wang word processor in Japan the produce our reports.

On my return from Japan, I bought a Commodore 64 for home use. My objective was to understand these little machines at a deeper level. I coded a bunch of stuff in assembler, and got the hardware understanding I was seeking.

At work, I moved on to an Apple III, and build a large model of the operations of an insurance company that predicted staffing levels in various deployment scenarios. The moment of truth came when I had to save the spreadsheet on a 5 1/4" floppy drive, and it would not fit. Main memory was larger than external storage. Great planning, Apple.

Time passed, and my employer standardized on Macs for report production, and on Compaq for spreadsheets, etc. I used both - I was an equal opportunity geek. The Mac was good enough, but the monitor was so small that I could hardly read anything on the screen. And I could crash the Mac as often as my PC, if I installed enough new software -- which of course I did.

I moved on to a new job, new town, no Macs in sight. My eyes could not justify another of the little screens. My mind could not see why I would want to try to do so. As a "user" I left the Apple world for a while.

In the course of my then new working life I regularly met with senior folk in the technology world - many of them my kind of people - geeks with a need to earn a living. One of these was Steve Jobs. He was pitching his view of his operating system and its "object-orientedness". He made the assertion that his version of the OS itself was much more efficient in an object oriented world than any other operating system. I asked why that should be so. He looked at me with disgust, and replied "You just don't understand". I said: "Of course I don't understand. If I did, I would not have asked the question." He also seemed not to understand because he changed the subject and we moved on to other topics.

After the meeting, I heard him commenting to one of his aides "I don't do well with non-technical people". Yeah - right - I am non-technical - I wrote an operating system for the IBM 704; I was one of a team of four that built a time-sharing system that supported 30 simultaneous users on an IBM/360 Model 50 in 1 Meg of "core storage" (now called "Memory") - a machine that was orders of magnitude less powerful than the iMac on which I am now writing this post. I guess I am more technical than most.

Which leads up the my first iMac problem - why does it lose network connectivity every time it goes to sleep? I searched the web for an answer - I was heartened at first when I found a discussion of the problem and a suggested solution. I lost heart when I found dozens of discussions, each with different solutions. I have tried a few of the solutions - none of them worked.

I have been MacSuckered. Thank Turing that this is not my primary computer.

On the other hand, I think that Apple will emerge as a major player in the PC world if Windows will run on their new Intel based computers. They do have great industrial design, even if the software has a way to go. In the interest of full disclosure -- I own Apple stock :-)

Were the Missile Strikes in Pakistan Illegal? - The laws of war, explained. By Daniel Engber

Were the Missile Strikes in Pakistan Illegal? - The laws of war, explained. By Daniel Engber
This whole discussion misses the point, as do most of the discussions of issues like this. If we got the bozo we were going after, of course it is legal and OK - winners declare what is legal. If we missed, of course it is illegal -- it is never legal to kill non-combatants - or to be stupid.

Unfortunately, we, as a nation, have elected an incompetent administration.

Fortunately, we are a democracy, so they will be gone soon.

A new way of posting

To date, I have been circumspect in what I post. I think about it, dilute it, and duck real issues.

This is not in accord with my nature. From now on I will now post what I think, when I think it. If I have second thoughts, I will publish them later.

Why this new approach (as nobody asked)? I do not want to be seen as a spineless wimp by my descendents when they dig up this stuff from the archives.

32 by the Lake - A walk in without sun

The sun has not shone in greater Chicago for two weeks - so I went for a walk by the lake, anyway.

32 by the Lake - a photoset on Flickr