Steve Pilgrim: Australia

A NIGHT AT THE BALLPARK

The Memphis Redbirds play the Tacoma Raniers in AAA baseball tonight at Autozone Park. We're taking the night to regroup with friends, family and the hot dogs.

9:30pm Update - A muggy night for baseball in Memphis. Redbirds won in 8th with a single by the DH with one man on, two outs and a full count.

There are 10 types of people in the world: those that understand binary, and those that don't. [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]

Sir Winston Churchill. "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." [Quotes of the Day]

NO SUPERSONIC MASS TRANSIT ANY TIME SOON

Model Jetliner Crashes in Australia [AP World News]

George Bernard Shaw. "Americans adore me and will go on adoring me until I say something nice about them." [Quotes of the Day]

THE RAT RACE AS VIEWED BY WOMEN?

Overheard Today.

Do I look like a people person?

This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.

I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.

Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.

If I throw a stick, will you leave?

You...! Off my planet!

Does your train of thought have a caboose?

Did the aliens forget to remove your anal probe?

Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.

A PBS mind in an MTV world.

Allow me to introduce my selves.

Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.

Well, this day was a total waste of makeup.

See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil!

Are those your eyeballs? I found them in my cleavage.

Not all men are annoying. Some are dead.

I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.

A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door.

Stress is when you wake up screaming & realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.

Can I trade this job for what's behind door #1?

Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?

Chaos, panic, & disorder--my work here is done.

How do I set a laser printer to "stun"?

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks. [C:PIRILLO.EXE]

"HE SPOKE WITH THE EXPECTATION OF BEING HEARD"

How the Writer (Kipling) Got His (Literary) Stripes. In his entertaining and sympathetic biography, David Gilmour portrays Kipling in all his complexity. By Alan Riding. [New York Times: Arts]

Oliver Wendell Holmes. "Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

HEY, KATIE! ANOTHER INSTRUMENT TO LEARN
(We miss you!)

Fake Didgeridoos Anger Aborigines Who Consider Instrument Sacred
By LEILA ABBOUD Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
FREELAND, Md. -- For thousands of years, Australian aborigines have painstakingly harvested the hollow branches of eucalyptus trees to make didgeridoos, their sacred musical instrument.

Aborigines walk through the bush in northern Australia, tapping on trunks to find those that termites have hollowed to just the right thickness, giving what is said to be the world's oldest wind instrument a sound quality somewhere between a foghorn and a trumpeting elephant. [Wall Street Journal]

A SERIAL ADVENTURER

Balloonist's Next Try: How High. Steve Fossett finally made it around the world in a balloon. Now, in a sailplane, he's going to try to set the world record for altitude. Kim Griggs reports from Wellington, New Zealand. [Wired News]

WISHING FOR AN iPHOTO FOR WINDOWS
Anyone know of a similar app for WinXP?

Top Ten iPhoto Tips. Yes, at first glance, iPhoto appears deceptively simple. But there's a Unix-compatible database lurking beneath that beautiful Aqua surface. This article gives you five "data in" and five "data out" tips that will help you get the most from this very cool iApp. [O'Reilly Network Articles]

EXCELLENT PHOTOGRAPHY

Welcome back Noah. Noah Grey is back with his incredibly elegant weblog, and his beautiful photographs. I am just now dipping my toes into the Black & White photo world. I've long been held by the rich hues of color photography, enamored of... [Burningbird]

DELAWARE LAW

didn't permit Warren Buffett's usual method of structuring these kinds of deals. Everyone involved wanted to do a convertible preferred equity deal with similar terms. Instead, under Delaware law, the deal had to be structured as junior convertible subordinated debt.

Because of the friendship and longstanding business relationship between Mr. Buffett and Level 3's chairman, Walter Scott, Mr. Buffett suggested that Mason Hawkins at Southeastern Asset Management be the lead investor.

All investors expressed an interest and willingness to consider further investment in the business. Expected uses of the proceeds will be for industry consolidation where the opportunity to buy a list of customers is available. They would transfer to the Level 3 network.

You can listen to the conference call about the deal here.

Buffett joins Level 3 investors. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and two other companies are investing $500 million in the network operator. Is a new round of consolidation in the cards for the networking industry? [CNET News.com]

SOMETHING WEBLOGGING IS DOING FOR ME
Learning to endure some filth and discomfort to uncover some gems

For much of the last 20 years, I've been a person who would (sometimes too) quickly assess whether another's point of view was consistent with my own or not. From that point, I had a tendency to then tune that person in or out for the rest of time. It was often a variation on the "what you are shouts so loudly, I don't hear a thing you're saying" school of thought. Examples include numerous liberal politicians who, once rejected over an issue, remain rejected without a hearing on all subsequent issues.

Early in this (almost) six month old experiment in weblogging, I took a similar position. Quickly, I thought I could assess whether a given weblogger had values I shared or not. However, as time has gone on, I've found that I've left some subscriptions in my news aggregator because I truly want to know what some of the "most read" people on the web are saying. I'm finding specific points of view where I agree with a person with whom I don't share a single additional value.

This approach now reaches beyond the individual to the subject matter. I've spent much of my life deciding what to put in my mind and what to leave out. Lately, I've succumbed to sites about subjects I have little or no interest in. It has been amazing. I've found some incredible resources just by cracking the mind open a little more. So far, there's been no lasting damage! Don't be misled. I continue to be rather guarded in what I elect to read, watch or focus on, but letting in a few contrary opinions hasn't hurt!

Thoreau and the Search: I've been sort of following an ongoing analysis of Thoreau's Walden Pond at In a Dark Time, a weblog of, I dare say, exceptional, value. Read the entry for the 4th of July. I would only quibble with this: How many millions of dollars are spent in psychotherapy to learn about the self? Foolish reliance on others to help us permits little progress. In the end we are the ones who must create change. If only we were strong enough to heed Thoreau's suggestion that we are all capable of exploring our own "streams and oceans." Yes, a foolish reliance on others is counter-productive. But a guide can be invaluable. Even a guide can only help, ultimately it is the one seeking who must do the work. Nothing worthwhile is ever won without effort. You must do the work. But know also, that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. [Time's Shadow]

TRYING TO LIVE A HEALTHY LIFE

I think this got started with Burningbird's post about anger followed by several responses. When time and sanity prevail, I'll take a look at these. Instinct tells me there are times when anger is the proper response, although some of these posts seem to be saying that's not the case. I'm assuming that documented evidence says those who remain relatively free of anger live longer. What will be interesting is whether or not any of these posts mention prescriptions as a solution to anger or the ultimate in anger management. Is the conventional psychiatric diagnosis and prescription, "you're angry-take some Prozac?" Does anger stem from depression? What's the difference in frustration and anger?

With the New York Times essay on fat, "Dave" quitting smoking and all of this talk about anger, I'm reminded of three things I've heard prescribed for successful weight management throughout a lifetime - proper food intake, proper exercise and proper emotional balance. Getting there in any of these areas isn't always easy. Managing emotional balance in the face of so many challenges can often be more difficult than the other steps. When something we feel strongly about (OS X-Windows, Conservative-Liberal, War-Antiwar, ProBush-AntiBush, etc.) gets trashed thoroughly by a TV commentator or a weblog or an associate, some people react quickly sending their blood pressure through the roof? Are they angry or not?

Another Voice on Anger: Michael Webb has written something on anger, far better than I ever could. Worth reading. [Time's Shadow]

THOSE NEEDING PROPER VISA HAD BETTER UNDERSTAND OUR ATTITUDE RIGHT NOW

Never Mind. New Zealand company backs Hussein stepson. The owner of a New Zealand cargo company who sent Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's... [Dailypundit]

Albert Einstein. "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." [Quotes of the Day]

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Duckling Rescue Service. On the way to work on Wednesday I stopped to help rescue several ducklings who had fallen into a sewer grate, and got my shirt very dirty. The mother duck was walking on the curb, and the ducklings were... [Caveat Lector]

AN ELLIS ISLAND DOWN UNDER

Australia's asylum plans clash with bird on the brink. A planned camp on Christmas Island would threaten the last breeding colony of one of the world's most endangered birds, say ornithologists [New Scientist]

GROUND WINDS DELAY LANDING

Fossett Finishes Global Balloon Trip. After becoming the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon, American adventurer Steve Fossett faces a new challenge - landing safely somewhere in Australia. [AP World News]

GREAT TOOLS AVAILABLE DOWN UNDER, TOO!

Handspring Treo 270 now available in Australia [MacCentral]

LANDING SOON
Balloon's designer mentioned

Balloonist Fossett in Final Dash. This time around for Steve Fossett, there has been plenty of fuel, no rogue nations to avoid and enough spare oxygen to keep the American adventurer on track in his bid to become the first solo balloonist to circle the globe. [AP World News]

HE'S GOING TO MAKE IT

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, JUNE 30, 2002, 6:00 p.m. CDT (JUNE 30, 2002, 23:00 UTC)Steve Fossett and the Bud Light Spirit of Freedom have rounded third base and are making a run for home. That is, the last 12 hours have begun the final leg of Fossett's solo bid to circumnavigate the globe by balloon. [Read more...]

FOLLOW UP
The Great Escape

Australian Cops Catch 14 Immigrants. Police hunting illegal immigrants who escaped in a mass breakout from a remote Australian detention center caught 14 more of them, leaving 10 still on the run, a spokesman said Sunday. [AP World News]