Ramblings of a Technology Addict

Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Tuesday Night Links

Here are some Tuesday Night Links!!
...O'Reilly's Mac Dev Center has done some of the most insightful work lately with regard to Mac Stuff, so take a look at their Macworld Photo Essay. Sigh. I wish I was this good with my camera. The movie's worth watching, too.
...Chris Pirillo has thoughts about a good idea for a self-updating contact file that's based on something similar to RSS. Sounds pretty damn cool. I know I could use one.
...Mike's in for Macworld New York. Are You In?
...Participate in the Blogger Lovefest courtesy of Courtney.
...Wil Wheaton points out Yahoo's Use of Web Beacons on their Yahoo Groups sites. I would highly recommend checking this out.
...Doc Searls talks about Apple's effective information control in the days prior to Macworld. He's right, no one got this one.
...Courtney asks, "Is it Art?". Yes. It is.
...Steven (whom I met at Macworld) talks about the new Apple disk images that solve some of his problems with the .dmg's.
...Ranchero points out that beta 9 is now available for NetNewsWire Pro.
...Frank talks about Iraq. Remember, he's satire.
...The Rosetta Project is sending up a message in a bottle. In space. Some people are pissed as to the content, since it's religious. Then again, we could've send the collected works of Al Gore...that woulda really sucked.
...I love the new Beetle ad with the ELO song in it. Especially the long version.
...Wired News talks about the news trend in Wireless antennae. Hide Them in Nature.
...Monitor Spanning in iBooks. Okay, if you have one, I have one BIG caveat: We killed one, as in had to back to the repair shop, killed it dead, doing this very trick. Do NOT try this without AppleCare protections, or a spare $300.
That's all from LA. Have a good night, everyone.
9:38:49 PM  comment []

Safe and Sound

Arrived this evening in Long Beach just after dark. The Long Beach Airport is a rather small one, there are no gates. Just an airfield. Even the baggage claim is open air. Went and got my car taken care of, ended up with a nice little Chrysler Sebring. Convertible. Amen, ladies and gentlemen.
The drive along the 405 and the 110 up to Downtown LA isn't terribly scenic in the dark, I'm afraid. Got to the hotel (downtown Marriott on Figueroa) safely and into my room. One hamburger and one bass later, here I sit. I know, I know...bo-ring.
Tomorrow will bring all sorts of things, lots of work in the office, which I'll detail here for all my geekfriends. Have a great night!
8:40:09 PM  comment []

Fun With Transit Codes.

My Journey so far, and up through Friday can be reduced to...
IAD -> OAK -> OKJ -> DAV -> RIC -> MOS -> EMY -> DAV -> OKJ -> OAK -> LGB -> LAX -> LGB -> IAD.
That's a mouthful!
3:44:27 PM  comment []

Leaving Davis...

Pulling out of Davis, the Amtrak Capital Corridor Train runs through the agricultural land of the Central Valley. Flat, arable and for the most part green in the middle of winter, these lands make up the largest wheat production in the United States. The not-so-distant Coastal Range (updated, thanks Dad) loom before us, dark and rough. Crossing under I-80, we head out into Rural California, while not wild and free, the fields are empty and the houses sparse. Copses of trees mark the roads and the homesteads of the farmers and those who live well outside the towns that dot the area. We pass through the new developments in Dixon, a town rapidly growing to the point where it will surpass its neighbor, Davis. We'll pass into Fairfield and Suisun City, and on to the port town of Martinez, right near the Carquinez Straits which lead the Sacramento River's Delta into the Great Big Pacific Ocean by way of the San Pedro Bay.
This is the magic part of California. Empty. Unsettled. Gold in the summer, as the hot sun bakes the grasses to a crisp yellow thatch. The Live Oaks providing massive shade beneath their branches. Green, though, in the winter and early spring, bright velvet grass line the rolling hills that are the demarcation lines for the Bay Area. The sheep and goats and cows grazing those hills, the C-130s in the air over Travis AFB. The Mustard Plants in the fields, creating a polka dot pattern amongst the grass.
It's places like this that I miss when I am living in the East, where towns all run together, sharing boundary line on the main drags. Places like Vacaville, with its sprawl of houses. Some people are nostalgic for New York, or Washington, or Boston, or Philly. They have their charm. But to me, they cannot be home. To me, the crennellations in the hills, the trees gathered in and around them like tufts of hair, the rolling beauty of it all, is what will spell home. This is the California I miss, grey and foggy, with incredible clouds, and the rusted out barns in disrepair, the tattered wooden fences, the palm trees and the scrub. I need these wide open spaces in my life, to provide me perspective.
When we were in London this past year, from the top of the London Eye, all you could see were bright lights, big city, spreading out like a blanket over the entire skyline. I don't want to live like that.
12:50:58 PM  comment []