Land of Oz

Pictures

The other night I happened across a photograph of what I think was one of my grandfather's wedding. It looks like they were taken October 2, 1915. They're in pretty good shape. A little scuffed and slightly faded, but all-in-all, very recognizable. They are roughly 7.5" x 9" mounted on heavy cardboard. There's twelve people in the picture to give you some idea of scale - a person's head is about .5" tall. The photos are in good enough shape to still be able to make out the buttons on the vests and rings on fingers. Surprisingly, there isn't a smile in the bunch.

Today we have several hundred photos that are stored in probably roughly the same space those three photos take up. And the chances that someone in 2096 will be able to view any of them is pretty unlikely. That's a big problem going from analog photography to digital photography that seems hardly ever addressed. How many of you have images on some outdated media that you can no longer read? I tried to check out a 3.5" floppy the other night, but it was formatted by a computer I no longer have - and how many folks out there can get their hands on an Atari ST right now?

I still have some software on cassette tape. While that's reaching, just how long will CD readers be available that read what you have stored? Not to mention how long before that media just fades away? I've seen more than one article that puts the lifetime of CD data well under 10 years - let alone 90 years. I've inkjet printed pictures less than a couple of years old that have faded into near obscurity. I had one glossy high-end print whose image pretty much disintegrated in less than 5 years.

It's easy to dig into an old shoebox and see photos of your parents and grandparents. How many of your kids and grandkids will be doing the same with old CDs?

Buttons

When I was a kid - many years hence - I'd move a switch on the TV and rotate a knob to select a channel and that was it. Occasionally, we'd have to add a pair of pliers with a rubber band when the tuner started acting up, but that was it.

Tonight I watched a movie on TV and had three remotes in front of me. The DVD player remote has 46 buttons - most with dual functions and four that call up various menus for me to wander through. The TV remote only has 36 buttons (it's pretty old) and only a couple of those bring up menus.

I didn't use the stereo remote which uses a touch sensitive lighted pad to control the stereo. (I had to perform internal surgery on this remote to disconnect the auto on sensor which was so sensitive it would turn the remote on when you walked into the room (or breathed hard) - and run down the batteries in a couple of days) Naturally they all have the supposed ability to control other products, but I have yet to manage to find a remote that actually does that. They all come with 300 page manuals printed with about 24,392 teensy-tiny unique number combinations that you're supposed to program so it will work with whatever item you have - and have you noticed that the model you have is never one of those 24,392 numbers?

Apple vrs. Microsoft

I've been reading an article/book. "In the Beginning was the Command Line" by Neal Stephenson. It's copy written 1999 and seems to be pretty ubiquitous online, but it brought up a very interesting point about the two adversaries that I'd never thought of before.

When you look at the two companies objectively, especially several years ago when Apple was the thing, you find that they're actually the exact opposite of what most advertising leads you to believe. Especially Apple advertising. Apple has always come across as this easy-going, happy-go-lucky iconoclast who just wants you to do things your way. The very opposite of the "big brother" mentality of Microsoft. In actuality, this is completely wrong. Think about it.

If you have Apple software, what can you run it on - Apple and only Apple. Yes, there have been a couple of Apple-like upstarts - Franklin comes to mind - but they were quickly mashed into the ground. Hardware's been the same way. If you wanted something for your Apple, it came from Apple. Yes, they came in goofy colors and melted down shapes, but they were still Apple. On the other hand, what can you run Microsoft on? Just about anything. Dell, e-Machines, Alienware, Compaq, HP, Toshiba, Samsung, and assorted no-names to numerous to even mention. Need a part for your Microsoft running machine? Same thing. I can go to Best Buy - and now even the local drug store - and buy something that will fit in my Microsoft running machine - and more often than not it'll run.

So through the miracle of advertising we have a company that lets you run just about anything from anybody built anywhere on their software as the evil Big Brother stifling creativity while the other company that makes your run their software on their machines using additions that only they approve the hippy-dippy, free-love feel-good company of turtlenecks and half-eaten fruits.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

The Olden Days

There's an interesting set of books out - reprints actually. They're Popular Mechanics Shop Notes from 1905 to 1930. Not only do they have a lot of nifty information and hints that are still good, but they offer an interesting view into pre-war (the war-to-end-all-wars war, not the following ones) life in America.

Driving was an adventure. The books are full of hints about how to fix your automobile and get it back home. Things like filling your flat with sand (lots of flats back then). Repair your car spring using a 2x4 and saddle straps scrounged from a local farmer. And don't forget those hints about keeping your acetylene head lights working brightly. One article was about predicting gas mileage. If you drive a one cylinder auto figure 30 mph, two cylinders, 20 mph, four cylinders, 15 mph and the big six banger getting 10 mph.

There's lots of short articles about guys building their own water heaters for the bath and how to make a transom ice-box for winter use. There weren't two or three prong outlets and plugs back then. Instead, you could use modify a lamp base to plug your electric item in. There was one obviously impractical way to build a vacuum cleaner using a big box and regular fan.

These are available from Lee Valley tools - which just happens to be a great company to deal with.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=42563&cat=1,46096,46100

Tonys

I went to a local restaurant today for lunch. It's a local franchise; there's about 6 or 7 places in the local area. This is a very typical Midwestern eatery. Simple food and big portions of it. The BLT is a good example. It's huge and about the only LT in it is what the pig was fed before he became bacon. Ok, not really, I think there's a slice of each buried under the piles of deep-fried bacon. I often order a hot turkey sandwich there and I always order the half-order - and I eat a lot.

Most of the customers are typical Midwestern blue collar types. Also big. I'm pretty big myself, but can go in there and almost feel skinny. It's not the kind of place you're going to find marathon runners chowing down in. However, and this is what inspired this entry, three women came in there for lunch today. Most women you see in there are like two or three women in one skin. These three weren't. They looked like they just stepped out of Playboy and poured themselves into tight jeans and blouses. These weren't college kids - they probably ranged from 20 - 40 in age. The oldest had a cell phone glued to her ear from the time she walked in until I left. I just can't figure out what they were doing in there - what did they eat for example? Talk about out of place. Unfortunately they sat at the other end of the restaurant and behind me, so I couldn't see too much. I had thought about picking up my plate and moving, but that probably would've been a little too obvious.

How to Apologize...

Yeah, right. This is about the Pope. First let me say that I think Muslims are way too easy to take offense at anything they feel is an insult to their religiion. Get a real life folks. If you can't take a little ribbing from those who are usually too dumb to know any better, you really need to lighten up.

Second, in this current atmosphere of religious fervor and considering volitile Muslims specifically, what the Pope said was really stupid. Sure, I know he didn't think up those actual words (criticism of the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus) that are making offense. But he did say them. And he didn't add any caveat to them. That's like me quoting Hitler about the Jews without qualifying that statement and not expecting anyone to take offense about that statement. Add to that fact that I'm pretty much nobody and the Pope's the diety assigned leader of a major religion.

On top of all that, you really have to love the apology he made:

(yahoo.news) "... I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims," he [the pope] told pilgrims at his Castelgandolfo summer residence.

Talk about not taking responsibility. I'm not sorry I acted stupid, but I sure am sorry you acted stupid. But then again, that's something to be expected of religions - irrationality.

Some thoughts

Mostly too short for a single entry...
Shopping
A the store today I finally saw ________ on sale. Not exactly what I was looking for, but he closest thing I've seen in months. I've continually kept an eye open for this item whenever I walk through a store. So I buy a pair of ________. The very next store I go to, they have an even better pair that are sold for only $1 more as their regular price - sigh... By the way, ________ could be just about anything, but in this case are sawhorses.

From WMD to Yelling
Poor old Saddam has really fallen on hard times lately. From almost ending the world with WMDs to:

[Yahoo News] On Thursday, the first witness, a 57-year-old Kurdish farmer, testified that Saddam aggressively told him to "shut up" when he pleaded for the release of nine relatives who disappeared in an offensive on his northern Iraqi village nearly two decades ago.

Security??
It's nice to know we are being protected from death by handwritten manuscript. I don't know about you, but hasn't this stuff gone too far?

[BBC News]American airport staff almost stopped Harry Potter author JK Rowling boarding a flight because she would not part with the manuscript for the final book.

Just a little funny
No big deal here, but while I was shopping at Lowes building supply, I watched "a little ol' lady" shopping for a table saw. She was probably in her 70s and was wanting to build bird houses. I know there's nothing wrong with this and more power to her, but I'm still trying to imagine that little grey-haired lady bending over a screaming table saw making little bird houses.

V

I recently watched a movie called "V - For Vendetta." It's a fairly new film based on a comic book - oops, graphic novel. It was pretty good. However, if you're a President Bush fan, you'll have a hard time enjoying it -- unless like some, you figure it's really about Maggie Thatcher in the 80s.

It's basically about a terrorist who works to overthrow the legitimately elected government of Britain through murder and mayhem. Of course, this is all good since the government is so obviously bad. Which brings up the question of how does one define a terrorist? And my answer is that it all depends on which side of the terrorists' activity you're on. If you were a tea exporter or Crown supporter in the 18th century, it pretty obvious that the bunch of radicals around Philadelphia and Boston should have been imprisoned with the key tossed - or is that have a rendition performed in defense of the Crown and Royalists everywhere?

It would be interesting to know how most Israelis consider her movement members from the late 1940s? How about French Resistance fighters from the 30s and 40s? After all the French government did fold after the German invasion, and wouldn't that make the Germans the legitimate party? And even stickier how about the Eastern Front during WW2? Who really were the bad guys? Troops led by Hitler who killed 8 million or troops led by Stalin who killed 20 million? Or how about the overthrow of the Iranian Shah? Was he really any worse than those who are now in power? Is a theocracy better than a republic? Do Christians really act any better than Muslims? Do you really want guy who figures some invisible being (who's views are interpreted as they see fit) should decide how you live? But that's wandering from my point.

The point being; who decides just what terrorism is?

Gun Control

I just had a pretty good thought this morning as I listened to the news on the radio on my morning drive. The news was the usual about shootings and dead bodies and school lockdowns and such. Why don't the police offer marksmanship classes and promote good shooting to the gang members? Hear me out. If the gang-bangers could shoot straighter there's two big advantages that I can see. First, they'd be a lot less likely to hit "innocent" bystanders and second, they'd be a lot more likely to hit each other - and is that really such a bad thing?

Yes, there are real innocent bystanders. However, I find it hard to believe there's such a thing as an "innocent" bystander outside a bar at 2 a.m. when 9mms start flying. Especially since most of the bars that do have these problems aren't all that hard to recognize and most of the time it isn't like the first time trouble has happened. At the Burger King drive through at 1 a.m. you should have a fair expectation of safety. Outside Bubba's Sportsmen Club at 2 a.m. in amongst the broken bottles and discarded rubbers, your expectations should be of anything but safety.

9/11

I suppose I'm almost mandated to enter something about 9/11 today. First of all, I do doubt it was some plot by the USofA government to do whatever it was they wanted to do. Unfortunately, I'm not 100% positive about that, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. Second, is that it was a bad thing that it happened and so many were killed. All that said, it's time to move on.

What really bugs me is every little government office using 9/11 as the excuse for poor service and complicated procedures. It seems that if you gripe to a local government office about the price of a dog license or how long it takes to fill out a form, they'll bring up the fact that it's so much more difficult because of 9/11. I'm also sick and tired of the USofA government using 9/11 as the reason for everything from jailing people with no proof of anything to monitoring my phone calls and library use.

Yes, there is reason to be more vigilant. That was true even before 9/11 happened. But it's taken on a life of its own. People need to use common sense. Just because some guy is dark, has a beard and talks on a cell phone in Arabic doesn't mean he's a terrorist getting ready to blow up the Big Mac. He could just be calling to order a Big Mac. However, if him, or some clean cut white guy is wearing a backpack and walking around the entrance to the Big Mac - or even Macdonalds at 2 in the morning, then they should be investigated.

Hmmm

Why is it that the simplest things often surprise me. We've taken a couple of longish trips since buying those tires last week. Once over about 65 mph, there was a noticeable vibration. Not arm thrashing, but definitely noticeable. This being a long weekend, Discount Tire was closed Sunday and Monday and today was the first day we could check back with them.

I called and with no hassles what-so-ever made a 3 pm appointment. We showed up and by 3:10 the car was inside and on the rack. About 15 minutes later our car was outside the door and the technician said that all four tires had been out of balance. Probably the Michigan roads he said. In my opinion, it was probably a bad day for the previous technician who mounted and balanced them less than a couple of weeks earlier. But anyway, at least they did find something wrong - no long stories about alignments and mud on the tires - and they did fix it. A quick test trip on the interstate nearby displayed no vibes and just a smooth handling car. We've got another long road trip coming up soon, so it will be nice to see how well they work.

I have to admit to be surprised that there was no hassles involved. They made the appointment, got me in and fixed the problem like real pros. The technician who worked on the car was friendly and seemed pretty competent. I wish more places were like that.