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November 03, 2005

Microsoft, VOIP, and Paris Hilton's Outfit

That title sounds like something sure to attract the spambots... oh well.

Don't blame me. Om Malik is the one that grouped those three together.

Microsoft is getting very very serious about VoIP. The company just announced that it is buying media-streams.com AG, a unified messaging software company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The acquisition of media-streams.com AG will allow Microsoft to tightly integrate VoIP with its Office System applications and servers—specifically its Real-Time Collaboration platform, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server. I am not sure how this whole thing is going to play out, since the press release is skimpier than a Paris Hilton outfit.

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Paying the "Rent"

You may have followed the political machinations surrounding the filming of the movie "Rent" at Treasure Island.

Well, the film is about to hit theatres... but you don't have to wait for my friend Jan Wahl because Elisa's friend Annette got into the sneak preview at Skywalker Ranch for the 42nd Street Moon Blog:

[Director Producer Chris] Columbus thanked recent films like "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago" for paving the way for "RENT" - this movie is a ROCK musical! Cavallo, known for his work with the Bay Area band Green Day (among other things), makes the music jump off the screen, giving it an edge that wasn't on the original cast recording. I also thought the costume designer (didn't catch his/her name though) did an awesome job. The film opens nationwide end of this month - don't miss it. Here's the movie's official website."

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Blogs and TV : Can They Co-Exist

KRON 4 Sports guru Gary Radnich and I have this routine we go through now. When he sees me he says with a big grin, "Hey, blogger guy. Tell these people to stop looking at blogs and to start watching TV." My response is usually along the lines of "Gary, tell those people to turn off the television and get a blog already."

It's not an issue for Jennifer at Jenguin who says she likes her tv. She gives us reviews of her favorite and least favorite commercials and a look at the soaps, beore returning to the computer and her blog.

Now I'm back at the computer and the TV is on the Sci-Fi channel, which is apparently showing episodes of Surface. Might as well catch up on this show too. It's the only one of the new crazy-alien-monster-invasion type shows that I've bothered to watch. Ok this guy who lost his brother in a diving "accident" is about two steps away from making a mashed potato sea monster in his kitchen...

Well Jennifer, we have some scary stuff on KRON 4 too... tho they're mostly infomercials.

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Posted by Brian at 09:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Whispers About Karl

There's a fascinating "behind-the-scenes" story in today's Washington Post (free reg req) suggesting there's talk among top Bush Administration aides that it may be time for Karl Rove to resign.

The Post reports:

If Rove stays, which colleagues say remains his intention, he may at a minimum have to issue a formal apology for misleading colleagues and the public about his role in conversations that led to the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame, according to senior Republican sources familiar with White House deliberations.

Dave at Davenetics is more surprised with the Post's lead that these are "private" discussions that ended up on the front page of the "WaPo".

Back in the day, this stuff would have never leaked out of W’s administration. Coverage of inside moves is starting to rival Brad, Jen and Angelina.

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Now THAT's Rich!

People have often said that I'm rich although no one has ever said (accurately at least) that I'm wealthy.

Thomas Crampton posting on the Joi Ito blog suggests if you're reading this, you're rich too.

Anyone with a university education and an income at or above the lower-middle class level for an OECD country is rich, I would argue. Being rich is more about having time and freedom to make choices about your life than bagfulls of money.

Well, I took the time to make this post, so I guess I'm rich after all.

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November 02, 2005

Blogger.com Users: I NEED HELP

I'm pegging this on top of TBAiT today in hopes someone can help me out. I'm working on a VJ piece for KRON. I need to talk to someone who has a blogger.com blog who would be willing to do a short on camera interview about why you like the service, thoughts you have about the new procedures you have to follow to post, etc.

If you can take 20 minutes for me to stop by, hopefully today (Wednesday) or at the latest tomorrow (Thursday) morning. Please e-mail me as soon as possible.

Thanks

UPDATE: We have a winner, or a victim, or a mark, or someone who has graciously agreed to help me out. Thanks everyone. I'm now letting this post float...

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Posted by Brian at 02:41 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Intentional Living

Marla Swofford is in an interesting place in her life. It's now been nine months since the birth of her most recent child... and that's given her some time to be contemplative about living the "Intentional" life.

Marla uses a flying analogy to illustrate her point:

Intentional living is so basic but much harder than running on auto-pilot. God's telling you to get in the cockpit because he wants to teach you to fly. But some of you would rather sit in first class, eating and drinking and being entertained. You mingle with the people in the other classes and call it service. You go on and on about how great the pilot is, but you won't go near the front of the plane. You've been relying on the intercom so long that you no longer recognize the pilot's voice and don't realize that your plane has been hijacked. I'm calling you on your cell phone to tell you to put on your parachute and jump out before you eventually crash and meet your maker face to face. It's time to find your way back to the airport, get in your private jet, and take those flying lessons! Don't worry, you'll still have plenty of time to move about the cabin...and the meals are outstanding.

No airline food here.

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Paying for the Apple Premium

Om Malik may be the only person I know wiser than KRON4.com Web Producer Erik Wong.

But while Erik still loves his iPod Nano (he doesn't even care if the display gets scratched as long as it works), Om is noticing more problems with hardware from our friends in Cupertino. Om is having troubles with his new Powerbook after installing extra memory in the thing.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that the continuing success of Apple is translating into more and more hardware problems. Madhu wrote in the other day pointing to mad problems with the G5. Nano, and before that the iMac G5 meltdowns. I may love like mad, but I love my dollars more, and if I have to experience the same trials and tribulations as the other guys, why am I really paying the premium.

Oh, BTW, Om's a busy guy... so if he hasn't e-mailed you, don't cry.

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Ahoy Matey, er I mean Craigey

Dr. Saddam from Tiger Cafe2 is back from helping the Katrina victims... and is now using Craigslist to help himself.

This week I dared walk the plank again. I tried posting a second "friends only" ad for a regular rollerblading partner. (The first ad introduced me to someone who didn't even own skates, who almost dozed off within five minutes out of her house.)

Go to his site to see her pic for yourself... hope you have some good skates, Dr. S. And I'm sure Craig Newmark is delighted to find out that he's your matchmaker.

Speaking of which, Craig's blog features this picture and the question, "Can you make a 'net router with pinecones.?"

The things you can learn from an ex-con.

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Posted by Brian at 01:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

104 Ain't Bad

Let's all give Joi Ito a little link love, now that he's fallen out of the Technorati 100:

Although I didn't conduct this experiment on purpose, it's interesting data. On the other hand, it would be interesting to see how much sheer number of posts vs interesting posts can increase rank and traffic. More posts means more pages to view as well a higher likelihood that someone will link to you.

The discussion in the comments focused on a recent change Technorati announced... that it only counts incoming links from the last six months... so that newer bloggers have a chance. Joi concedes in Comment Five:

Yeah, I think the shorter window of links counted does allow newer blogs to gain rank faster. I think this is a good thing

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Posted by Brian at 01:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Anti-War Protest to Interrupt My Lunch Plans

Okay, I'm only half kidding.. and I'm not complaining because I did choose to live a block from SF City Hall plaza... so I should not be surprised when protesters get in the way of going home for lunch.

Fortunately Andy at Calstuff clued me in on the need to change plans. He heard about a big anti-war protest that will start in Berkeley (bien sur) then ride the BART to the Civic Center stop for the big rally. Andy clicked us through to a UC Berkeley Live Journal entry.

WALK OUT of school! Don't go to work!

MEET AT 9 a.m. at Sproul Plaza for a short rally and parade of resistance
MEET AT 11 a.m. at the Downtown Berkeley BART station in order to convene at the Civic Center in San Francisco at NOON

Rally until 1 PM. March at 1 PM.
End Rally: 4:30 PM Civic Center Plaza.
Join with the "Dia de Los Muertos" procession at 24th and Bryant St at 7PM

Speakers:

Cindy Sheehan

Medea Benjamin, Code Pink
Jeff Adachi, San Francisco Public Defender
Chris Daly, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Paul Flores, Youth Speaks
Paul George, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
Mark Leno (statement)
Rev. Taigen Dan Leighton, Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Aimee Allison, Army Conscientious Objector (Gulf War
’90)/Counter-Recruiter,
Not In Our Name
Tim Paulson, Executive Director, San Francisco Labor
Council
Steve Pearcy, attorney and artist
Wilson Riles, Jr., Oakland C.A.N.
And A Special Message from Mumia Abu-Jamal

Gee, no early dinners for me either...

(DISCLAIMER: If any of you has no sense of irony, I am not equating the importance of the war and my lunch plans. Smile sometimes, it's good for you and good for the planet. -- Fortunately some of the people who left comments on the live journal page get this concept.)

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Posted by Brian at 08:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Laws and Sausage

The Germans have always had a lively political discourse, sometimes for the better, and obviously some times for the extreme worse.

James at Hobson's Choice has a very interesting analysis of the latest twists and turns in Berlin that have left an East German born conservative woman, Angela Merkel the new Chancellor. James goes on at length about the social conditions and pressures that led to the downfall of former Chancellor Schroeder.

What I found most interesting was the parallels James sees between the old reminants of the East German Communist Party and leftist movements in the US like the Green Party:

It would remiss of me to neglect the Left Party (formerly the Party for Democratic Socialism-PDS). This party was the former East German Communist Party, in fact, a political association of the most noxious imaginable character rather than a party. Ironically, it was East German dissident Gregor Gysi who took over his former adversary in the late 1990's and transformed it into the last unabashed defender of the traditional social welfare state. Oddly, it suffers the intense hostility of Germany's mainstream political establishment despite (or probably because) some very highly respected SPD leaders joined it. One is inclined to see parallels between the USA Green Party and the German Left Party. It was naturally out of the question in any coalition talks.

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Posted by Brian at 08:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Nothing Says "Party" Like a Room Full of Realtors

Conventions come to San Francisco (and Oakland and San Jose and Santa Clara and....) all of the time but unless you're driving past the Moscone Center on Howard (or, etc) you probably don't notice them.

Last week the National Association of Realtors was in town and fortunately we have an "in". East Bay Agent Andy Kaufman took some photos at the expo and has put them up on Flickr. He also gave us a good walking tour of the event (granted this is a half a week old, but I just saw the pics)

I had a great time down at the NAR Expo last night. I went there in search of new tools and technologies to help my business and ended up meeting lots of wonderful people. Sometimes REALTORs can be a tough bunch to be around and I admire the people that have to man those booths all weekend.

Before leaving, I made sure to grab my tickets, my wallet, my iPod and my fresh copy of Wired to read on the BART. I even made sure to post to MEBA, but I managed to forget my list of phone numbers which kept me from meeting up with my fellow KW Berkeley agents.

Thanks for the flickr link, Andy.

,

Posted by Brian at 08:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 01, 2005

Halloween in the Castro - The Neighborhood Boos Back

I got a very interesting e-mail earlier today from a resident of the Park Hill Condo Building at the back of Buena Vista park who was upset that Halloween revellers in the Castro made it hard for him to drive home last night.

Well, no kidding. If you live near the Castro, be prepared for congestion on Halloween night.

Of course, congestion is one thing. Urine is another.

Zephoria of apophenia lives in the neighborhood... and sat on the porch watching and listening to partier after partier using the street for a loo.

All of the crazy humans were using my dead-end street as a porta potty. They were pissing everywhere, all over my steps and my stoop. I must've watched 200 guys piss on my street. And then my neighbors came up with the most hysterical plan. They got a big bucket and poured it from the second story onto the next guy pissing on their steps. He was sopping and really pissed off. I was laughing hysterically.

You know what they say, better pissed off than pissed on.

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Writing a Novel in My Spare Time

I've been working on a novel for a couple of years. When I was in Sacramento I was part of a wonderful writers group that met every other week and gave us all artificial deadlines that forced us to actually write. If anyone knows of a group in San Francisco (particularly a group interested in mystery/suspense stuff) let me know.

I bring this up because today is the start of NaNoWriMo which has nothing whatsoever to do with Nanotechnology or the scratches your keys left on your iPod Nano.

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to get as many people as possible working together to write a 175 page (50,000 word) novel by midnight, November 30, 2005.

Linda at miw's musings is among the Bay Area Bloggers facing this daunting challenge.

I will be marking my progress and posting chapters on my lindawithapen journal. It's friends only, but if you leave me a comment on the first post, I can add you as a friend. This year, I will be writing a post-apocolyptic scifi novel. And away I go!

We wish you good luck and can't wait to read the manuscript when you're done.

Johnny at Intellectual Poison is taking this year off. (from NaNoWriMo, at least)

Not me, not this year, not with everything else going on and already many, many places ahead of NaNoWriMo in line. Sorry NaNoWriMo but you'll just have to wait until I don't have a million things to do all the time.

Anyone else trying NaNoWriMo? And I'm serious about finding a writing group to revive Dylan, Pavel, and my clan...

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Scratch and Sniff Nanos

KRON4.com Web Producer Erik Wong is a very wise man. Yes, he's a wise one of those too!

Erik is the proud new owner of an iPod Nano. So, I asked him just today if he had experienced problems with scratches on the display.

"No, I still haven't taken off the plastic covering," Wise Erik said.

I think Paul at One Digital Life would agree with Erik's wisdom.

Paul doesn't think highly of the lawyers that filed a class action suit against Apple for the scratches.

The dumb-asses have claimed that the Nano is a “defective product” because “…if users were to put their Nanos in their pockets with common items such as coins, keys, a money clip, or a credit card, the device would likely be scratched”. (snip) As cool as the nano is, in the end it’s just a small piece of plastic. It’s going to get scratched if you put it in the same pocket as your keys. This isn’t rocket science, it’s common sense!

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16 Posts Yesterday, Bupkiss today.

Or is that bumpkiss? I should consult a slang dictionary before I blog in which case I would discover the proper spelling is either bupkiss or bupkis. I didn't know beans about where it came from.

I had an interesting morning visiting with David Sifry of Technorati about something you will hopefully soon see on television and getting the guided tour of their SBC/AT&T; Park neighborhood offices. So I guess I better do the Technorati tags right for this post!

I just discovered I need to run home because I stupidly left my 250gb External Hard Drive there. I mean really, who goes outside these days without a portable hard drive? What do I think this is, the 20th century? How 0.0 of me!

More blogging soon to follow, I promise.... even if I have to miss that fake West Wing show tonight to do it...

UPDATE: Thanks to "Eagle Eye" Erik Wong, he discovered I placed an "l" in David Sifry's name where none belonged. In my 0.0 world, I would have fixed it and hoped no one noticed, but thanks to the wonders of RSS, more people are likely to see my mis-spelling than the correction. My apologies, David.

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Posted by Brian at 01:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 31, 2005

Monday Bay Area Photoblogging

I think I'm going to make Jackson West's tour of the Bay Area using Flickr Creative Commons photos tagged with the names of regional communities a regular Monday feature on TBAit.

It serves at least two purposes.

One: It's interesting as all get out.

Two: It's a cheap and dirty way for me to add heighth to the left side of the page, making it look like I'm actually working. (hey, 15+ posts today ain't bad)

So here we go:


Photo by
Mike D.


Photo by
Mike D.


Photo by
JP Puerta.


Photo by
Elroy SF.


Photo by
BreezyJay.


Photo by
Jimmy Neutron1.


Photo by
Etsai.


Photo by
Kev Bob.

Look for more, this time next week.

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Posted by Brian at 05:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

The No Sneeze Zone.

Fortunately looking at pictures of cats doesn't make me sneeze.


Once, years ago, I got assigned to cover the Dallas Cat Show. I could barely breathe when I walked out of there and my eyes were as red as a stoner leaving a Maui Wowee convention.


This fellow is looking at us from this past weekend's Farley Pet Festival. Check out the coverage from our friends at PotreroHillSF.


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Posted by Brian at 05:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A Story of Dave, Elizabeth, and a URL

Nothing says romance and passion like a well designed web site.

Don't believe me, just ask Dave Garr and his betrothed Elizabeth.

Niall Kennedy turned us on to this site in which DaveLovesElizabeth (dot com)

Go ahead take the tour, then read Niall's review:

I like the use of Google Maps to illustrate date locations and points of personal interest. The engagement process was heavily documented for friends and family who can follow along step-by-step and see pictures and video of her reaction to each stage. Very clever.

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Posted by Brian at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A Monday Tragedy Any Day of the Week

Jheka at The Daily Blitz is having some kind of technical trouble. His posts send out RSS feeds that hit our aggregator but they are very slow in actually posting to his site.

Fortunately, this post, whose title I saw this morning, has now emerged on the site. It tells the too tragic story of two families that have lost everything due to a simple human error.

There is a tragic story of disaster and grief and murder that, had it involved Americans, would have been front page news. Here is the story:

Russian citizen Vitaly Kaloyev had a pretty good life. He was an architect married to a woman that he loved and had two beautiful children, a boy and a girl. Then, on July 2, 2002, Vitaly's world was destroyed. On that day, two planes collided in midair. Seventy-one people died as a Russian Tu-154 filled with 45 schoolchildren plane collided with a DHL Boeing cargo jet over Bodensee in southern Germany. Vitaly lost his wife and both of his children in the crash, which, was the fault of Swiss air traffic controller Peter Nilsen, an employee of the Swiss Skyguide air control company, who failed to notice that the planes were on a collision course and ordered the passenger plane to descend on a path that took it right into the DHL plane (even though its anti-crash system indicated that they should climb).

After time spent searching in vain for his family and then mourning their loss, Vitaly made a decision to visit Peter Nilsen.

He had meant to talk to Nilson. To show him pictures of his wife and children. To ask him how it could have happened. How Nielsen could have made the mistake that destroyed his family. That was apparently the intent. To talk, to accuse, to yell ... to try to get some solace or answers or balm for the pain. Vitaly said that he had wanted an apology ... he did not get one.

When Kaloyev confronted Nilson on the terrace of his home in Zurich, in front of his own wife and three children, Nielsen did not apologize or explain or commiserate ... he rebuffed Kaloyev ... and Kafolyev saw black ... and stabbed Nielsen to death, there, at his home, in front of his wife and three children. He says that he doesn't remember doing it, although there is no dispute, even from him, that he did.

Read Jheka's post to see how the case turned out and if you agree about the appropriateness of the penalty.

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Posted by Brian at 04:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Om's Soap Opera Reviews

Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 for a variety of free thinking reasons, but one of them was his supposition that everything that could happen does happen in one of an infinite number of parallel universes. (Yes, that means there's a parallel universe where you have better things to do with your life than read TBAiT)

I suspect in one of those parallel universes, Om Malik's Broadband Blog is instead called Om Malik's Soap Opera digest.

I think that other Om paid our Om a visit on this post:

Ken Yarmosh, a paid consultant to Blogscient is upset that his client didn’t get a fair shake from Techcrunch because Mike is Gabe.memeorandum’s friend. Mike fires back. Will Scoble play daddy?

And will each confrontation end in all sides staring off into space?

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We're Spookier than The Old Country

Halloween is a big deal here but not in England or Europe.

Morgan McClintic on PR explains why:

It always catches me by surprise. Halloween is right up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas when it comes to celebrations and parties. Almost everyone dresses up on the Saturday night. People even dress up to come to work. I don't mean kids going to school dressed as Dracula, I mean adults going to work in full costume. And not even scary costumes but as Big Bird and The Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.

That's not the case in the UK. Halloween is a non-event. Some enterprising local kids will arm themselves with toilet roll, buy some plastic masks and call themselves Trick or Treaters (the trick being to put toilet paper over your lawn if you don't cough up the candy), but it really passes without notice.

Read Morgan's fascinating sociological treatise on the relative merits of Guy Fawkes Day for further elucidation.

Boo!

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Posted by Brian at 02:23 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Another Missed Opportunity

First I missed the opportunity to be in the Avenged Sevenfold video shoot a couple of weeks ago in LA... now SFist Eve clues us in on another missed chance at stardom: Jeremy Kasten's call for goth partier extras tomorrow.

...On Tuesday (November 1, All Soul's Day, natch) I am shooting a goth club scene and will need as many friends as I can get to play goth club-goers. There is no pay but you will be (very) well fed, the day will be less than 12 hours and you should be out by midnight, plus its downtown LA... not sooo far away, right? Did I mention that the food is plentiful and really good?

...You should wear all black and come looking as "goth" (or a version thereof) as you can.

If you are down for this you should call Rob Fegen (the production coordinator) at the office at (310) 204-2850 ex 246...I will put my people in front of the camera for sure.


So, if you're gonna be down in LA tomorrow, and are up from some gothic posturing, call the number above to become a part of film -- or, at the very least, Sci-Fi channel history. Who knows, this might be your big moment -- just remember us here at SFist when you make the big time, OK?

Remember me at TBAiT too, kay?

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Posted by Brian at 02:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Do It Yourself Voters Guide

Of course I have a vested interest to tell you all to go to the KRON4.com Voice of the Voter Special Election Guide to learn about the issues and leave your comments.

Obligatory self-plug aside, you might agree or disagree with the pics but Tommy at dodoskido's Voter's Guide takes a look at each of the statewide props. (The Gov is going to like most of your way of thinking)

Confused about the special election in California? I sure as hell am. I HATE TV commercials that try to convince me one way or another about the issues. The answer is simple, read the proposed laws for YOURSELF in Voter Information Guide.

I know it burns brain cycles and most people won't take time to read these before voting, but I think it's worth a look. The guide even has arguments for and rebuttals for each ballot measure.

You know what they say, Vote Early, Vote Often.. er... Vote Informed and Vote Once.

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Posted by Brian at 01:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Most Depressing Day of the Year

I've always thought it was today... not because of Halloween, that's just an unlucky coincidance this year, but because it's the first work day after the end of Daylight Saving Time.. and that means when you walk outside tonight, it will be dark.

Bummer.

Of course, Johnny at Intellectual Poison had his own reasons for looking forward to that extra hour of sleep:

Daylight Savings Rules!

Unless you have a 15 1/2 month old who doesn't know the difference and then it's really not so much of a big deal either way. But I can safely say that it was damned nice to wake up this morning, look at the clock and say "Ah, another hour, sweet!"

Or unless you have a mother in Texas that can't quite figure out the two hours time difference... no extra hour for me.

But at least the Cowboys won...

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You Know It Must Be Halloween...

...when Mad Dog of Doggie Style starts talking in Latin: "Lingua Mortua Sola Lingua Bona Est"

Mel Gibson, energized by a hit movie completely in Aramaic — a language nobody's spoken since about 500 BC — decided he was onto something. That's why the new movie he's about to start shooting, Apocalypto, takes place 600 years ago in Mexico and will be entirely in the extinct Mayan tongue of Yucateco.

(snip)

Don't be surprised to see Gibson continue his Dead Language Film Festival by releasing epics in Coptic, Pelasgian, Klingon, and Pig Latin.

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Posted by Brian at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

Self-Examination

No, this isn't about self-examination for abnormal medical conditions... this is the way some employers (thankfully, not KRON, yet) ask you to do an annual self-assessment that will help determine whether you're promoted or get a raise. When previous employers (my friends in Sacramento were exceptionally touchy-feely about these things) asked me to do this sort of thing, I was always reminded of the self-criticism sessions of the Cultural Revolution.

are you there god, it's me margaret dreams of offering a better answer on this year's self-evaluation.

there’s a section that says “List areas for focus in the upcoming year. Include thoughts on possible career development and job related training and education.” i wonder if fung shui classes are acceptable. i am afterall a cube dweller. if i am to be productive, i’d like to know that my cube is condusive to The Force.

To which I can only respond enigmatically: 1001552.

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Posted by Brian at 11:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Long Tail Camp

Blogger apophenia promises to make "connections where none previously existed."

In this case Zephoria connects us with a humorous site promoting Long Tail Camp.

The LTCers say:

Long-Tail Camp will start on November 11, 2005 at a location of your choosing. Just show up and start talking about the long-tail of whatever. There might not be a lot of people paying attention or even showing up but hey, it’s the long tail, what can you expect? We’re certain that Long-Tail Camp will be a huge success and expect it will be over in about 10-12 years, depending on the exact parameters of the distribution...

Zephoria adds:

Oh, and while you're at it, go Roll Yo Own Web2.0 Company that will guarantee VC attention. Mine is Blinkoious and we create a greasemonkey extension for bookmarks via bittorrent.

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Posted by Brian at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Does Food Frighten You?

It seems it should be us that frightens the food... since we're going to be the ones eating it... but that's what you get when you try to apply logic to human life. It just doesn't work.

Anyway, you absolutely must read this brilliant post from the folks over at the KQED Bay Area Bites Blog in which they went in search of the six scariest foods on sale at the Ranch 99 Asian Supermarket in Richmond. Now before you get the wrong idea, Meghan assures us that she's a big fan of the place.

I've long been a fan of Ranch 99, purveyor of fine pea shoots, crustaceans, galangal, kecap manis (a thick Indonesian soy sauce), and pastel-colored rice flour pastries that I grew so fond of when I lived in Thailand, and I delight in even seeing the packaging for "chicken paws" (feet), "free run chicken" and Confucious Family Liquor.

But this visit, the Sunday before Halloween, I was shopping differently: I was on a hunt for the six scariest food items I could find. And dammit, I was going to face my fears and eat them. And so was my friend Tristan who was visiting, who brought with him his usual penchant for talking about disgusting things he'd eaten and how disgusting the gas was that they gave him. We thought we were sooooooo sturdy. Nothing could possibly be as disgusting as our worst imaginings made them, right?

I urge you to read the taste tests for the six scariest foods:

6. Vermont Curry
5. Smoked Veggie Goose
4. Fried Gluten with Peanuts in Soy Sauce
3..Pig Ears in Soy Sauce
2. Preserved mudfish fish sauce

and Number One? I'll just show it to you:

and add the quandry Meghan and Tristan faced:

The oil heated in the wok and I peered at the package. The oil just started to smoke, and I plunged my fingers into the pink labyrinth and dumped it in the oil.

And it began to cook.

And it began to smell.

"Jesus Christ, there is NO WAY, I'm tasting that," Tristan shouted. The smell got worse, perhaps mixing with eau de fermented mudfish. "It smells just the way a cooked [blank] probably should smell," he cried above the hiss of the oil and the mass of sizzling pink-grey tubes.

At least the cat was happy.

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Posted by Brian at 09:22 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Berkeley Stinks!

No, KRON 4.com Web Producer Erik Wong hasn't yet succeeded in turning me into a Stanford fan (even if the Cardinal should have beaten UCLA this weekend).

Instead this is one of my favorite folks from UC Berkeley, Calstuff's Ben N. who alerts us to this news alert. Thank goodness this isn't smellavision.

A small odor hardly noticable on Friday along sections of Piedmont Avenue has turned into a sharp odor that will have students from Central California reminiscing over their last vists home. Last week, there were workers tearing up the street, and there is a possibility that a line was ruptured. Go city workers!

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Posted by Brian at 09:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

All Hallows Eve

I've always been of the opinion that I'm scary enough just the way I am, I don't need Halloween docorations.

Of course there are some things that are truly frightening about this Halloween. My friend Chris Murphy did a very interesting VJ piece with a family scoping out the sex offenders on the Internet before deciding which homes should get a "trick or treat" visit. One of our photojournalists turned VJ's Haziq Madyun did a very funny piece about how a kid might think going to a news conference warning his parents about dangerous candy.

Just Some people really seem to enjoy going all out for Halloween... dressing up as someone scarier than they think they already are (I guess it depends upon whom you ask) and even turning the workplace into a site of ghoulish horrors. This is a fellow named Jeff about whom 8pril says:

Some people go all out. Seriously, wow!

Now we don't know exactly where Jeff works or where he got the shoes for the bodies in his office decoration but we would recommend staying on Jeff's good side.

UPDATE: If I act goofier than usual today, it's because I'm still under Angie's Halloween Hypnotic Spell:

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Posted by Brian at 08:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Alito Bit of Controversy Already

What better way to kick off a new week, Halloween, and the run-up to an election than with a brand new Supreme Court nomination. This morning the President named Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the SCOTUS.

Mags at You Forgot Poland is among the Bay Area bloggers already weighing in on this pick:

This isn't about elected officials who are dedicated to public service; this is about the continuation of the conservatives' greedy power grab, and desire to infiltrate all three branches of government. What we have today is another example of Dubya kowtowing to his conservative base. Senator Kennedy said it best:

Rather than selecting a nominee for the good of the nation and the court, President Bush has picked a nominee whom he hopes will stop the massive hemorrhaging of support on his right wing. This is a nomination based on weakness, not strength.

So predictable. And quite frankly, I'm afraid. If Scalito gets the job (and I wouldn't be surprised if he does), our judiciary will be extremely right-leaning, Roe v. Wade will be overturned, and our country's cultural and political progress will devolve into a new Dark Age. I'm sorry to feel so pessimistic, but seriously, I can feel it.

Eric at and the Family Buick adds:

He's very conservative ("Scalia lite" according to some), white, Ivy League educated, sorta balding, kinda fleshy, and the only life preserver the Bushies currently have to throw themselves to change the debate.

(snip)

Ladies and gentlemen, start your fundraising and hellraising engines.

The blogging engines are also revving up on this one.... more surely to follow.

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Posted by Brian at 08:30 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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