...more recent posts
We can always argue about motives, but the campaign against the general purpose computer is alive and well and going forward. Several major announcements occured while I was away including some insights into the grand plans of Microsoft in this area - now called Palladium (see Bob Cringely's I Told You So critique.)
(Etymological side note: Palladium - "From the Middle English Palladion, a statue of Pallas Athena believed to protect Troy..."
Well, if it was good enough to protect Troy then it - oh, no wait....)
Kuro5hin has a great overview of TCPA and Palladium. Cryptome has the full text of Microsoft's Digital rights management operating system patent. (They mean the digital rights of IP owners, not customers, although they do their best to conflate these two groups.) This is a shocking, but not surprising, end game gambit being played by the forces of control and dominance.
But my own personal view point on all this has gone from outraged to apathetic. Who cares what happens with this stuff? What's the worse case scenario? I can't watch a hollywood movie, or listen to Britney Spears unless I buy one of their "trusted" computers? Actually, I was looking for a way to ensure I didn't digest any more of their worthless crap. Or maybe it will be illegal for me to own a computer running linux? That will just give me the thrill of being a freedom fighter bravely putting myself in danger for my beliefs (things were getting a little dull around here anyway, plus, chicks dig an ethical outlaw.) Maybe they'll shut down the internet? That would probably be the only event that can get the ad hoc mesh WLAN alternative I'd like to see off the ground.
The forces for creativity and sharing have always already won. Sometimes there's just a little more to do than other times. But the busy times are often more fun. So bring it on mega-corp. Take your best shot. The force of your strike will just be redirected against you (because there is no us to strike - aren't you reading up on all this assymetrical warfare stuff?) Hopefully you'll knock yourself clean out.
Interesting analog dj turntable gone solid state digital hackery. (via /.)
I'm having the most frustrating problem on one of my client sites. None of the images are viewable in IE 5 on Mac OS X.
If I type the image URL into the address field in the browser I can view the image. But the same URL inside an img tag results in no image. How could that be?
Curiously, if the image is in the browsers cache it will display it. Clearing the cache again results in no image.
Anyone...anyone...Bueller?
Photos from Butte Montana are up. Butte is my favorite city in Montana. At the end of the 19th century it was the richest city in the West thanks to the huge copper mine it was built on top of. Lots of wealth was generated, lots of different people moved there (over 100,000 at it's peak,) and lots of big ostentatious (for the non-coastal west at least) building went on. It feels urban. Even to someone from NYC.
Today it is incredibly toxic (double superfund site.) The copper mine became a huge open pit mine, and is now completely filled up with water containing all sorts of nasty heavy metals. This one mine single handedly endangers the drinking water of the entire pacific northwest. Trees wouldn't even grow in the valley until very recently. The people are strange, even to other Montanans. MB called it a "ghost city." We all loved it.
If you're running Mozilla, you should install Mouse Gestures. They are awkward at first, but I can already tell I won't be able to surf without them once it becomes automatic. Here's a guide to what gestures control what actions in the browser. For instance, instead of clicking on the back button in your browser, just click and hold the mouse (no matter where you are on the page) and drag it to the left. Click and drag to the right to go forward. Mozilla is cool.
We had to take a mini vacation after getting back from the vacation. Just got home from a day and a half on Fire Island. That place is growing on me. It's the country for people who live in the city and don't really want the country. Sort of nice actually.
Going for a bite at Fresh now, and then tomorrow I'll finally get back to work.
No, really.
Really.
Diana, I made you an email account here as we discussed. You can get to it at digitalmediatree.com/webmail. Your name is 'diana' and hopefully you remember your password (lowercase as well.) Post something here if you don't and I can give you a hint.
Great seeing you. Let's stay in touch. Hi to Ron.
Here is a page that will contain all the links to photos from the Montana trip. Only the first set from Flathead Lake are up now. More to follow.
We stopped over in Minneapolis on the way home. Walking through the crowded terminal I started to get a little panicked. There were too many people around. I've never felt that before. I had a sudden desire to flee. Not the thought, but the physical desire. And I wasn't even back in NYC yet.
I wonder if some people feel that and actually can't go on. It's not like that for me. I just noticed the feeling with some interest and kept walking. No big problem. My social filters had atrophied, but I knew my urban defenses would come back up soon enough. It had only been two weeks. Still, I wonder what the transition would be like if I had lived out in the country all my life. I think New York would be oppressive.
And frankly, right now it is. But not because of the people. I'm already used to them. It's this heat. Oh my god. Last night we could barely sleep. This is some serious stuff. Not having an AC is pretty much unthinkable, yet that's our situation. Sort of like being in the sauna all day. The upside is that just surving seems like an accomplishment. Pesky things like work can be put off without the usual bit of guilt.
Not sure how to write about the trip yet. It was an important one for me. Maybe I'll just concentrate on getting some pictures up. I had a great time, for sure, but it already seems far in the past. It's harder than I thought to reconcile these different worlds. But it sure is fun to have the chance to try.
Heading for Montana. Be back on July 1. I'm praying everything stays running until then. I might get a brief connection in about a week, and if so I'll check in. Happy summer everyone.