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December 30, 2004
FCP Lunch at Benihana's
Bryan, Mike and I got together for lunch at Benihana's today, and were joined by Paul Claerhout and John A. Davis of DNA Productions, the creators of Jimmy Neutron. John formed the LHHS film club twenty-five years ago, and all of us at the lunch (except Paul) were founding members.
I asked John about his side project involving our first High School film (2112) and we exchanged ideas on how to make the DVD a parody of all the remake and director's cut discs out there. John suggested redoing some of the effects using today's technology, a la George Lucas' remake of Star Wars, but in a way that made it painfully obvious (and thus sillier). I offered to contribute all the media I created during the FCP Reunion of 2002, and offer any other help I could.
Mike Jones and John Davis
Nalynn and Bryan Holloway
John Davis and Paul Claerhout
Bryan and Mon (with Nalynn) Holloway
Posted by Steven at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
Moody Bluegrass
 | NPR did a story about a bluegrass rendition of The Moody Blue's classic songs including The Voice, Nights in White Satin and Rock and Roll Band. Unlike earlier country parodies of rock songs, this is actually a tribute and a fresh rendition of classic rock songs. The examples played over the air were surprisingly fresh, elegant and of course, oddly familiar. |
The project is miles away from the standard tribute. The Moody Blues, who got their start in Birmingham, England, turned out some of the first concept albums and were innovators in studio production techniques. Their sound has been described as "symphonic rock" because they supplemented electric guitars with string arrangements, synthesizers, and lush vocals with lots of reverb and overdubbing.Much of that fell by the wayside for the Moody Bluegrass album -- as a wealth of singers and instrumentalists converted the material into the bluegrass vernacular. The symphonic sound is now based on mandolins, fiddle, dobro, guitar, string bass, and banjo -- with some of Nashville's best voices chiming in with close vocal harmonies.
Joe Bob sez check it out.
Posted by Steven at 10:44 AM | Comments (1)
December 27, 2004
Girls and Manga
Check out this article about the rise of manga within American girl society.
Sales of Japanese comics - more familiarly known as manga (pronounced MAHN-gah) - are exploding in the United States, and much of the boom is due to efforts by comic book publishers to extend their reach beyond young male readers. Beyond all males, in fact."Manga producers in the United States have tapped into a new audience for comics - the female consumer," said Milton Griepp, the publisher and founder of ICv2, an online trade publication that covers pop culture for retailers.
In bookstores, the colorful, digest-size manga collections are usually next to the shelves of graphic novels, which feature iconic domestic characters like Batman and Spider-Man. Manga often celebrates strong female characters in adventure yarns or stories focusing on love and relationships. Titles are sometimes even categorized: for girls (shojo manga) or for boys (shonen manga).
The daughter of Anne's friend is creating a manga for TokyoPop that has nothing to do with Japanese culture. It's a sci-fantasy piece that follows the style of manga but otherwise has little to do with Japanese culture. The paradigm of manga is transforming in America to suit the local tastes and desires ... of girls.
Posted by Steven at 10:24 PM | Comments (1)
Kurzweil and Aging
The New York Times has a review of his new book about aging and longevity.
Joe Bob sez check it out.
Posted by Steven at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
December 26, 2004
Holiday in the Park redux
I took Alanna and the Schmalzried's German cousin Annika to "the Park" today.
We rode Titan five times before moving on to other rides. The park was so empty we just kept getting on again and again ... I was dizzy by the end.
On the way to the Shockwave, we stopped in front of the mock-Alamo and I took this shot of the girls.
I couldn't pass up this beauty shot of the Tower while taking a bathroom break.
I rode the Shockwave once, and the girls rode it twice more.
For the first time, Alanna and I rode the new Superman ride, the 300+ foot air ride.
After that, we did Runaway Mountain and then the girls went back and rode Titan twice more. I was wiped out when we left around 4:15pm.
Posted by Steven at 09:31 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2004
Xmas Dinner
My father and his wife Ana, and my brother John came to dinner tonite.
Anne prepared a wonderful feast of beef tenderloin and potatoes. For dessert she made a chocolat mousse that was overwhelming.
After dinner, we exchanged gifts. We gave Ana a DVD of Whale Rider and I gave my dad the quintessential father-son DVD (Field of Dreams) and Laurence of Arabia. We gave my brother John the first season of Land of the Lost, a 70's Saturday morning kid's sci-fi show that was developed by David Gerrold and featured episodes written by Larry Niven and D.C. Fontana. He was amazed at the DVD extras and I was tickled to hear Larry talking about an episode he co-wrote with Gerrold.
Posted by Steven at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)
Merry "Exes"-mas
I was surprised to see an article in the Washington Post about the trend of divorced parents reuniting over Xmas because of their children.
This year, when Vienna novelist Diane Chamberlain circulated her family's Secret Santa list, she added her boyfriend's name to the expanding roster of relations at their Christmas gathering: her ex-husband and his wife, her former mother-in-law, her three ex-stepdaughters and their partners, and a brand-new ex-stepgrandson, 9-month-old Nolan.For the past four years, Chamberlain's extended family has celebrated Christmas with a turkey dinner at her home, where it has sometimes been harder to keep track of which guests are vegetarian or lactose intolerant than of the complicated relationships binding the brood.
"Everybody is amazingly good," Chamberlain said. "I'm incredibly lucky."
Therapists and family experts say that as divorce and remarriage rates rise, holiday gatherings such as Chamberlain's -- in which divorced spouses reunite for the day to celebrate with new partners, children and stepchildren -- are becoming more common.
But the phenomenon is still rare enough that no catchphrase has been coined for it. A blended-family Christmas? Mingled Day? All-inclusive holiday?
"My partner calls it the 'Ex-Spouses-Only Party,' " joked Lisa Cohn, co-author of "One Family, Two Family, New Family: Stories and Advice for Stepfamilies."
Margorie Engel, president of the Stepfamily Association of America, said more divorced parents are choosing to reunite with their exes over the Thanksgiving turkey or the yule log for the sake of their children. Having one event is a lot easier on youngsters than requiring them to sit through a succession of split-family celebrations. Engel attributes the trend to the increasing number of states that require divorcing couples to take parenting classes and to the "critical mass" of divorced and remarried families in the United States. She estimates that 47 percent of marriages today are remarriages and that 65 percent of those create stepfamilies.
But such gatherings generally are successful only if the divorces are amicable, Engel said.
"It takes a couple who have recognized their marriage was not going to work but are still reasonable people and loving parents to the children," she said. "When you've got people who are still throwing spitballs or using the children to communicate . . . these aren't the couples who are going to do this grand gathering."
Planning -- including discussing the idea of a blended gathering with the children and setting price limits for presents when the number of people proliferates -- is key, Engel said. But awkward moments are virtually guaranteed.
California divorce mediator Jann Blackstone-Ford recently heard from one stepmother who was embarrassed during a family celebration with her husband and his ex-wife.
"He said, 'Honey, will you please pass the potatoes?' -- and two women reached for the potatoes," recounted Blackstone-Ford, who recently co-wrote a book -- with her husband's ex-wife -- about her extended family experiences, "Ex-Etiquette for Parents: Good Behavior After a Divorce or Separation."
I only took note of this because of long-time, dear friends who have been through divorce and have emerged still friends. I'm so very happy for them and the children they still share.
Makes me wonder where the so-called "family values" voters stand on this ...
Posted by Steven at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
Xmas Morning
We had the usual Xmas morning, with Leo awakening at 6:30am and being told to go back to bed until 7:30am. Lots of stuff was unwrapped, and a lot of silliness ensued.
I bought Anne an iPod mini for her big gift (ok, it's a tiny device but it was the 400 lbs. gorilla gift) and by noon she had filled it with her favorite songs. Alanna and Leo received a number of DVDs and PS/2 games, as well as stuff they were less than exhuberent about. I got an Elmo doll as a gag gift:
Refer to my Toronto blog for the genesis of this prank!
I still think my best gift this year was being home for Xmas.
Posted by Steven at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2004
Top 100 Toys from the 70's (British)
Check out this list of the top 100 toys from the 70's. Some were part of a retro-Xmas I did for Leo last year (Veritbird, 65-in-1 electronic kit, etc.) and some are surprising (like #2).
Where is the U.S. version?
Posted by Steven at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)
It's Tough Being Santa
Check out Kevin Drum's commentary on how much harder the job of Santa is today, thanks to the Hallowthanksmasyear Effect.
Posted by Steven at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
FCP Chinese Dinner
Several FCP alumni gathered in North Plano last night (despite the ice storm that hit Dallas) to share wedding photos and a silly tribute to Bryan Holloway (he was the "out of town guest") last night. Rik Jones introduced his wife Jo-i, and shared the gorgeous wedding album they made in Taiwan this last May. Bryan and Mon brought their daughter Nalynn, who was a delight to all the parents. Mike and Defang came with Andrew, who played with my son Leo all evening.
We ate at Ivy's China Cafe restaurant on Coit at Parker, which is an authentic Taiwanese restaurant.
Mon, Nalynn and Bryan Holloway, Mike and Defang Jones
Rik and Jo-i Jones
Posted by Steven at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
Don't Tell My Wife
Doctors in Norway claim to have come up with an innovative cure for snoring.
The cure involves stiffening the palate to stop the vibrations that cause snoring.The process involves inserting three tiny threads made from Dacron - a tough polymer used in the clothing industry - into the soft palate. The whole procedure last two minutes and is performed under local anaesthetic.
Don't tell Anne! She'll have me on a plane to Norway ASAP.
Posted by Steven at 09:25 AM | Comments (1)
December 22, 2004
Happy Solstice
Suffering from a general lack of religious faith to rub in people's faces during this time of the year, I have little else to celebrate beyond the fact that the Earth experiences the shortest day in the Northern hemisphere today ... aka the Winter Solstice.
So Happy Solstice!
Party like it's 10,000 BCE!
PS. Before calling me on the carpet about it, I confess that in three days my family and I will celebrate Shoppingmas.
Posted by Steven at 02:11 PM | Comments (0)
Mars Volcanoes
Looks like there may still be volcanic activity on Mars.
Images from the European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter indicate geologically recent volcanic activity in the summit craters of five Martian volcanoes, with some areas showing activity as recently as 4 million years ago. Though long in human terms, 4 million years amounts to the most recent .01 percent of Martian history -- a strong suggestion that the planet retains a capacity for volcanic activity.
Amazing.
Posted by Steven at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
Mathematica Lite
Check out this staggeringly powerful mathematical tool: Graphing Calculator. It was originally developed for the Power PC (Macintosh) but has been ported to Windows as well.
Read the saga of it's development within Apple Computer's office by non-employees.
I've wanted to move my Mathematica license from my color NeXT to a Power Macintosh (but haven't because of the cost), but now I don't have to because this program delivers all the core capabilities I was seeking to aid in helping my kids learn abstract math (algebra, trigonometry, and even The Calculus). It animates the graphing of symbolic (algebraic) functions in two, three and even four dimensions and has a bookmark and movie rendering capability. Best of all, the free version is staggeringly powerful.
Posted by Steven at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
HHGttG: The Movie (Update)
In case you missed it, filming for a motion picture version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is already complete, and the film is in post production. Here is a link to a website with photos of the cast and a careful explaination that this film is based on a script by Doug Adams but that the film doesn't follow the books slavishly.
Be glad. It's another take on Doug's seminal work, largely by Doug. I look forward to it.
Posted by Steven at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2004
Christmas with Louise
This is an article submitted to a 1999 Louisville Sentinel contest to find out who had the wildest Christmas dinners. This won first prize.
As a joke, my brother used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them. What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every Christmas morning, although Jay's kids' stockings were overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty. One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don't sell those things at Wal-Mart. I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown.
If you've never been in an X-rated store, don't go. You'll only confuse yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, "What does this do? You're kidding me! Who would buy that?" Finally, I made it to the inflatable doll section.
I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane during rush hour.
Finding what I wanted was difficult. Love Dolls come in many different models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could do things I'd only seen in a book on animal husbandry. I settled for Lovable Louise. She was at the bottom of the price scale. To call Louise a doll took a huge leap of imagination.
On Christmas Eve and with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to life.
My sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours. Long after Santa had come and gone, I filled the dangling pantyhose with Louise's pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. I went home, and giggled for a couple of hours.
The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him VERY happy but had left the dog confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more.
We all agreed that Louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional Christmas dinner. My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door. "What the hell is that?" she asked.
My brother quickly explained, "It's a doll." "Who would play with something like that?" Granny snapped. I had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut. "Where are her clothes?" Granny continued.
"Boy, that turkey sure smells nice Gran" Jay said, to steer her into the dining room.
But Granny was relentless. "Why doesn't she have any teeth?"
Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and no one wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, "Hang on Granny, hang on!"
My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said, "Hey, who's the naked gal by the fireplace?" I told him she was Jay's friend. A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise.
Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this might be Grandpa's last Christmas at home.
The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise like my father in the bathroom in the morning. Then she lurched from the panty hose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa.
The cat screamed. I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and Grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. My brother fell back over his chair and wet his pants. Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car.
It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember.
Later in my brother's garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of Louise's collapse. We discovered that Louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh.
Fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape, we restored her to perfect health.
Posted by Steven at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2004
A Car Talk Xmas Carol
Check out A Car Talk Christmas Carol for a hilarious, star-filled parody of NPR, Car Talk, and of course, A Christmas Carol by Mr. Dickens. Look forward to hearing the Magliozzi brothers, Daniel Pinkwater, and many other NPR announcers. This is a gem!
Posted by Steven at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
Another Viewpoint on Autism
Anne sent me a link to this story on the New York Times about how some autistic individuals (mostly high-functioning Asperger's Syndrome) don't want a cure for Autism as much as a new understanding in society about it, and a movement that they have fostered to seek to change the nature of the public argument.
Jack Thomas, a 10th grader at a school for autistic teenagers and an expert on the nation's roadways, tore himself away from his satellite map one recent recess period to critique a television program about the search for a cure for autism."We don't have a disease," said Jack, echoing the opinion of the other 15 boys at the experimental Aspie school here in the Catskills. "So we can't be 'cured.' This is just the way we are."
From behind his GameBoy, Justin Mulvaney, another 10th grader, objected to the program's description of people "suffering" from Asperger's syndrome, the form of autism he has.
"People don't suffer from Asperger's," Justin said. "They suffer because they're depressed from being left out and beat up all the time."
That, at least, was what happened to these students at mainstream schools before they found refuge here.
But unlike many programs for autistics, this school's program does not try to expunge the odd social behaviors that often make life so difficult for them. Its unconventional aim is to teach students that it is O.K. to "act autistic" and also how to get by in a world where it is not.
Trained in self-advocacy, students proudly recite the positive traits autism can confer, like the ability to develop uncanny expertise in an area of interest. This year's class includes specialists on supervolcanoes and medieval weaponry.
"Look at Jack," Justin pointed out. "He doesn't even need a map. He's like a living map."
The new program, whose name stands for Autistic Strength, Purpose and Independence in Education - and whose acronym is a short form of Asperger's - is rooted in a view of autism as an alternative form of brain wiring, with its own benefits and drawbacks, rather than a devastating disorder in need of curing.
This viewpoint is not shared by all, especially the parents of severely autistic children.
On e-mail lists frequented by autistics, some parents are derided as "curebies" and portrayed as slaves to conformity, so anxious for their children to appear normal that they cannot respect their way of communicating. Parents argue that their antagonists are showing a typical autistic lack of empathy by suggesting that they should not try to help their children. It is only those whose diagnosis describes them as "high functioning" or having Asperger's syndrome, they say, who are opposed to a cure."If those who raise their opposition to the so-called oppression of the autistic would simply substitute their usage of 'autism or autistic' with 'Asperger's,' their arguments might make some sense," Lenny Schafer, publisher of the widely circulated Schafer Autism Report, wrote in a recent e-mail message. "But I intend to cure, fix, repair, change over etc. my son and others like him of his profound and typical disabling autism into something better. Let us regain our common sense."
But the autistic activists say it is not so easy to distinguish between high and low functioning, and their ranks include both.
In an effort to refute parental skeptics, the three owners of autistics.org, a major Web hub of autistic advocacy, issued a statement listing their various impairments. None of them are fully toilet-trained, one of them cannot speak, and they have all injured themselves on multiple occasions, they wrote: "We flap, finger-flick, rock, twist, rub, clap, bounce, squeal, hum, scream, hiss and tic."
The horrible truth about Autism is that there are those whose lives are challenged by it, and those whose lives are scarred by it. Parents of severely autistic children are often far less sympathetic of other families with Asperger's Syndrome because their kids can function in society with far less personal care. Severe Autism remains a personal hell for most of these parents, and to be able to have a child who is just "Aspie" would be a great relief to most if not all. Clearly the severely autistic need a "cure" far more than the high functioning kids, but society needs to understand this condition and react appropriately, too.
Just as society has adjusted to treating women as full citizens, and has made great (but by no means full) progress with minorities, the process of inculcating Autism into the mainstream is a long, generations long struggle. Fortunately for the Aspies, quite a few famous people fit the bill as Asperger's, and this gives a certain elan to the condition that severe Autism lacks. We must bring both ends of the Autism spectrum into society, or we have failed both.
Posted by Steven at 11:40 AM | Comments (1)
December 19, 2004
One Step Closer
One of my long term predictions for this century is artificial life. Albert Libchaber is one step closer at Rockefeller University.
Researchers at Rockefeller University in the US have made the first tentative steps towards creating a form of artificial life.Their creations, small synthetic vesicles that can process (express) genes, resemble a crude kind of biological cell.
The parts for their "vesicle bioreactors", as they call them, all come from diverse realms of life.
The soft cell walls are made of fat molecules taken from egg white. The cell contents are an extract of the common gut bug E. coli, stripped of all its genetic material.
This essence of life contains ready-made much of the biological machinery needed to make proteins; the researchers also added an enzyme from a virus to allow the vesicle to translate DNA code.
When they added genes, the cell fluid started to make proteins, just like a normal cell would.
I suspect we'll see the first fully human designed single-cell life forms before 2010, and most will likely be cooked up in a computer (a very, very big computer) before any actual proteins are sequenced.
How long till true AI? I wonder ...
Posted by Steven at 09:43 PM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2004
I've Done This With My iPod, Too
Posted by Steven at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)
December 12, 2004
Holiday in the Park
I took Alanna, Alicia and Leo to the Park on Sunday. We got our 2005 Seasons passes so expect lots of visits to the Park this year. (For those not in the know, when I refer to "the Park" I mean Six Flags Over Texas).
We dragged Alicia around to all the rides that she'd never been on before -- some how despite being born in McKinney, she said she's never been to Six Flags. The coup d'etat came when she rode the Titan. We got in line and within fifteen minutes, a sensor tripped on the mid-course brake, stopping the ride. The ride ops closed the ride and most of the people in line bailed. We stuck around, and were rewarded when the ride reopened less than ten minutes later.
Alicia kept begging off the ride, but Alanna and I coaxed her into going on it. She was a trooper, even when it was at its most extreme, which is roughly from the top of the lift hill to the end.
Posted by Steven at 08:08 PM | Comments (0)
A Macintosh Family
This weekend I installed the iMac G5 I ordered from the Apple Store (refurbished for $300 off).
It's permanently in the loft, next to the Linux server, and has all our A/V input devices attached to it (e.g. flatbed scanner, film scanner, Canon digital camera and Sony Digital-8 camcorder). Alanna and Leo took to the new system very quickly, and she has already started putting together a DVD of the Spring 2004 DMS (Dowell Middle School) band concert. It's got an iSight camera so Alanna can video chat with her friends, and I can call home while on the road.
That's because I talked my new employer into letting me get a Macintosh notebook for my job. Alas, thanks to a budget designed around the Celeron pricing for PC laptops, I had to settle for the iBook 12". Surprisingly, it's turned out to be a really powerful, handy and energy efficient laptop. I added 512Mb to its 256Mb, and it will run several apps concurrently without incident. On the whole, I'd do it again. I had already decided I wanted the 12" PowerBook so the screen size has proven not to be a problem (and Exposé does wonders to deal with the smaller screen).
So after a 17 year hiatus, I have a new Macintosh (and my kids get one, too).
Posted by Steven at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2004
Depp Does Wonka
 | Ladies, Johnny Depp is soon to star as Willy Wonka in the remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Check out the trailer ... |
Posted by Steven at 11:45 PM | Comments (3)
Rensselaer Prof Spoofs Dow Chemical
An associate professor at RPI had a hand in pranking Dow Chemical with respect to it's involvement with the Bhopal chemical disaster of 1984.
Igor Vamos, a multimedia artist, is part of a two-man satire group known as The Yes Men that makes great sport of pulling the wool over corporate interests. Last Friday, Vamos' partner, claiming to be a spokesman for Dow Chemical named Jude Finisterra, told the BBC that the company would dole out $12 billion to victims of the Bhopal chemical disaster of 20 years ago.Advertisement
Ultimately, just two catches marred the startling revelation: The Yes Men don't work for Dow. And Dow is doing no such thing.Later, "Finisterra" said he was doing the "only reasonable thing for Dow Chemical to do."
It's pretty sad to realize that that even happened long enough ago that the children affected by it are now young adults, and some are living here and willing to protest the event (or at least keep it alive in the public's eye). We forgot about this tragedy in the U.S., but the Indians did not, and they shouldn't have to remind us about it ... we should give it the same solumnity that we do for the Murrah Building attack or even 9/11.
Posted by Steven at 10:27 AM | Comments (1)
December 09, 2004
Laptops: the Real Male 'Pill'
Check it out, dudes. Excessive use of a laptop computer on your lap diminishes one's fertility.
A combination of the heat generated by a laptop and the position of the thighs that is needed to balance the computer leads to higher temperatures around a man's genitals and over time can result in decreased sperm production, according to the study "Increase in scrotal temperature in laptop computer users," published in the U.K. journal Human Reproduction.Though further research is needed, teenage boys and young men should limit the use of computers on their laps, said Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, the leader of the State University of New York at Stonybrook research team responsible for the article. "It's possible that external protective devices could help," Sheynkin added.
And to think I didn't really need a vasectomy ... just a Powerbook. ;-}
Posted by Steven at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2004
Not So Dazed and Confused Anymore
This is rich. In the movie Dazed and Confused, Richard Linklater inserted three older acquantances from his stoner days in Huntsville into the film. Years later, they feel that the file paints them in a bad light and like all good Americans, they're suing to change the facts.
When we last saw them, Wooderson and Slater and "Pink" Floyd were stoned out of their gourds, driving into the East Texas sunrise in Wooderson's souped-up Chevy Chevelle, off on a sacred quest for Aerosmith tickets and smoking a breakfast joint as the Foghat song "Slow Ride" played and the end credits of "Dazed and Confused" began to roll.But that was a long time ago, man, and it was just a movie anyway -- a made-up story with actors playing Wooderson, Slater and Floyd. Right now -- 11 years after the movie came out -- the real Wooderson, Slater and Floyd are here, sitting at this long, shiny conference table in a Huntsville law office, looking older and less hairy and a bit peeved. They're explaining why they recently filed suit against their old high school acquaintance Richard Linklater, who made "Dazed and Confused" back in 1993, for "defamation" and "negligent infliction of emotional distress."
What a world.
Posted by Steven at 01:12 PM | Comments (3)
December 07, 2004
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Leigh Anne
Happy 34th Birthday, Leigh Anne!
Posted by Steven at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
Russian Mars Lab
 | Imagine 500 days in a can in Moscow. Russia is doing it to test cosmonauts' endurance on a 26 month round trip to Mars. Imagine living in a human aquarium for over two years with five other people who share the same sex as yourself. Yikes. |
A team of six men will be physically cut off from the outside world to test equipment intended to make them self-sufficient for long periods.Their capsule will consist of a bedroom, a kitchen and a laboratory.
The capsule's own equipment should make all of the oxygen they need, repeatedly recycle three tonnes of water and grow some food to add to five tonnes of supplies packed inside.
The experiment, to be based in Moscow, tests a plan to make long-range space travel and settlements possible.
But such a real Mars mission is not going to happen any time soon.
Posted by Steven at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2004
Loft Finished
This weekend Bob West came out and finished the counter tops in the loft.
For the last year, the loft work area was unfinished. I took two Container Store table tops (that used to be kid's desks) and reattached aluminum legs to them so that I could prop them against the central cabinet to form two worktops. The laser printer sat in the middle, largely unsupported by the melamine tops.
I called Bob's brother Jim (the architect) and asked him to for some ideas on how to move the tabletops to be alongside the cabinet at a more convenient height. He suggested I contact his brother, so I did.
We talked about the layout and the resources, and at one point decided to ditch the melamine for hardwood, but expendiency won out over fancy, and so this last Saturday he came over with tools and we mounted the tabletops as desktops (as you can see in the image).
I found a kitchen cutting board to use as the top cap for the central cabinet, which Bob mounted with just two wood screws. I drilled cable holes in the table tops and voila, had a finished work area in the loft.
I found two $8 lamps at Target, replacing the floor lamp and two strip lamps I had been using to illuminate the desk.
I put the Linux server and my WinXP desktop on the right with the KVM, wireless keyboard/mouse, and Sony 17" LCD screen that I bought when I went to Toronto. On the left is the new iBook 12" that Transcom bought me.
The tabletop scanner, film scanner and photo printer are on the left side.
Posted by Steven at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
Austin, Out of Control
Imagine my surprise, driving down TX 620 from the dreaded Interstate 35 in Round Rock to far, far north Austin. The little two lane country road is becoming an eight-lane behometh, complete with a monster flyover interchange at US 183.
Insane. Madness. This isn't my sister's Austin, let me tell you.
Photos when the sun comes back out.
Posted by Steven at 05:17 PM | Comments (0)
Transcom Austin
I'm here, in Austin. Well, really Cedar Park, TX. Just up the highway from TX 620 and US 183, next to the Lakeline Mall, and right around the corner from where my sister Leigh Anne and her husband Todd used to live. In fact, according to Cynthia Amaya, I'm one block from her ex-husband's (Richard Reis) home.
So, as they say, small universe. I'll just start spelling it 'universe' since despite it's 15 billion light-year span, it's clearly composed of only Dallas, Austin, Boston, Toronto and maybe Albany. Maybe.
I'm going to stay at the Fairfield Inn on North Mopac for this week. Call my cell or ding my AIM to reach me.
Posted by Steven at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2004
Snuffer's Coming to McKinney
 | As I drove past the new retail construction site on the west side of US 75 just south of Eldorado Parkway in McKinney, I spied the Snuffer's logo on the billboard listing new businesses moving into the plaza. |
Holy mole, a Snuffer's in McKinney.
The. Mind. Boggles.
I'll expect Anne to hold a wake soon.
Posted by Steven at 11:03 AM | Comments (1)
Start Again ...
Ok, yesterday was supposed to be the first day at Transcom (or whatever this company will become), but today is the real first day, such as it is.
One odd synchronicity: in addition to being almost in front of the building that DNA Studios is located in, and across SH 161 from Temerlin McClain where Mr. Jones works and down the highway from the DG Systems building where Melaine is ... I'm right next door to the AAA building. Astute readers will recall that ATI is next door to the CAA (the Canadian AAA) building ...
Hopefully tomorrow I'll go to Fry's with my new boss and we'll pickup a 12" iBook with 512Mb of RAM to use as my work machine. This will be interesting.
Posted by Steven at 10:46 AM | Comments (1)