Circadian Shift

2003-06-25T15:31:00.000-04:00

Am currently listening to Ontario Today on CBC Radio 1. Today's "Phone In" topic: improving your concentration and memory.

Couple points of interest:

Memory does not behave like a muscle, in that you can't strengthen your memory by doing "memory exercises".
Concentration, which is like the gatekeeper to memory (ie. you stand a better chance of remembering what you concentrate on), is somewhat like a muscle; you can improve your concentration skills through certain activities.

Real Audio of the show will likely appear in the archive later today, or tomorrow.

2003-03-10T20:02:00.000-05:00

Oh, all right. I'm getting impatient too.

I'm pleased to announce that this blog is moving to:

http://circadianshift.net

Although, the above link probably won't work for you while all the DNS servers play catch-up.

[12 March 2003 -- the DNS thingy seems to be kicking in, so the link should work for you; if not, there's always the alternate link below]

For those of you whose ISP is lagging, you can click this link to see the new site.

BTW, my apologies for the screwy archives here. That's just the way things happened.

[Addendum: Yes, I know saying "DNS server" is redundant. So sue me.]

2003-03-09T01:03:00.000-05:00

Soon. Very soon.

2003-03-07T18:38:00.000-05:00

Interesting blurbage on the use of tabs in web browser interfaces (via Slashdot).

2003-03-07T18:24:00.000-05:00

Two very cool music links, courtesy of Consolation Champs:

James also endorses The Mod Pop Punk Archives, which I have linked in the sidebar.

Today's acquisition from Sonic Boom: Laugh? I Nearly Bought One!, a compilation of tunes by post-punkers Killing Joke. For those of you unfamiliar with them, their sound is not unlike Joy Division, but more angry. And, like Joy Division, towards the end of their career they released a radio-friendly song that became an 80s retro mainstay -- the tune "Love Like Blood".

BTW, if you happen to spot the March issue of Mojo magazine on the newstands, they've got a lovely compilation of old and new punk tunes to go with it. Representing the old school are the likes of The Damned, The Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex, The Only Ones, and others. The only reason why I didn't buy a copy the instant I saw it is because I already have several of the tunes in MP3 format. But I may just break down and get it.

2003-03-07T08:06:00.000-05:00

Yeah, it's 8 in the morning, and I am awake.

As a change of pace from my usual dream, I dreamed that I was back in an office and someone tried to hand off to me a file folder of the kinds documents that I used to deal with in my days at the Soul Crushing Corporate Job From Hell. I got way pissed off and was yelling, "You are not sucking me back into doing that job again!" Then I woke up.

BTW, today marks the one year anniversary of my layoff from my last IT job. You probably don't have to be Sigmund Freud to realize what's been ricocheting through the back of my head.

2003-03-07T07:57:00.000-05:00

Whilst spelunking through the Circadian Shift archives, I decided to check in at Last Tram to Mancentral and see if there was anything new. There was this message:

This site is closing down.
EVERYTHING MUST GO.

Which means, for all you KLF/Justified Ancients of MuMu fans out there, "You have at least until 7th March 2003" to download this treasure trove of sounds (including many rare mixes of their songs in MP3 format), images, and whatnot before it all disappears into the ether.

Shit -- March 7 is today. Hopefully Mancentral can hang in there for just a little longer.

2003-03-04T18:04:00.000-05:00

New on Search Engine Watch: a look at Google's entry into the contextual advertising market.

2003-03-04T14:00:00.000-05:00

The Spring 2003 issue of strategy+business is available online (free registration required). Of interest:

Creating Chaos for Fun and Profit
Finding Sanity with Game Theory
and, someone who argues Why Open Source Stifles Innovation -- you may or may not agree

There's also a new mix available on Brilliantine available for your downloading enjoyment.

2003-03-03T18:46:00.000-05:00

Just happened to stumble across this on the "Recently Updated" list on the Blogger homepage:

excited utterances -- a bevy of knowledge management links and posts, with a heavy slant towards KM in law firms

Will have to add it to my bookmarks.

My afternoon sojourn outside The Hovel took me to my local Home Hardware store, where I acquired the "Benchmark Retract-A-Bit" and "Retract-A-Bit Mini" screwdrivers. They're very nifty (if you happen to like dorky things like that).

The Mini shall be put to good use over the next several days while I mess around with my two desktop PCs. I'm finally, finally going to rebuild my Windows desktop PC (having relied solely on my notebook for quite some time). Am also going to stick a bigger hard drive in my Linux box.

And I'm still working on my web sites. Was messing with my resume/portfolio site yesterday (ah, the joys of using CSS 2 for layout), but there's still much to be done.

2003-03-03T13:55:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, Mother Nature likes to give us a smack upside the head to let us know who's still boss. Damn, it's cold out there.

Believe it or not, this article appears on the InformIT website (free registration required):

Face-Off in the Gulf: Why Iraq, Why Now?
The journalists of Reuters look at the case for and against a war in Iraq, examining the Bush Doctrine, the chronology of events since the Gulf War, and why this is coming to a head now.

Also on InformIT, and of interest to the film/video enthusiast, is an article on the different types of shots you can use when making your own digital movies.

(You know, it's occured to me more than once that, despite the fact that this blog is subtitled "Reading. Computers. Film. Music. Insomnia.", I almost never talk about film -- a deficit that I will have to address in the future.)

Meanwhile, over at Builder.com (where registration may or may not be required -- depends on the article, I think):

Develop 'personal mastery' for effective project management -- this has absolutely nothing to do with that Seinfeld episode

Five rules for dealing with marching orders you dislike -- aimed at managers who have to implement policy decisions that they may not agree with

How to influence senior management -- the gentle art of flattery and persuasion

Also, md links to a site called I Want Media, for those who like to watch those who purvey information. I couldn't help but notice their catalog of layoffs in various media outlets.

2003-03-03T01:26:00.000-05:00

Linkage:

Fallacies and War (via Blogdex)

bonus companion link to the above: a guide/tutorial to the logical fallacies (also via Blogdex)

The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science (hell, why surf anywhere else when Blogdex is available?)

The New Totalitarianism: Cyber-hegemony and the Global System (via abuddhas memes this time)

If that's all too "meta" for you, how about an article on the demise of the metaphoric interface? (Yet another link cribbed from Blogdex.)

2003-03-01T20:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks to "J" for e-mailing me on this: Paul Gutman has posted an essay (115 KB PDF file) on blogging and employment law. Good stuff.

2003-03-01T19:57:00.000-05:00

Seeing as we are now in a new month, I've gone and thrown a couple more MP3s into CS: The Outpost:

"The Voice" by Ultravox (4,140 KB) [lyrics]

"Words" by Missing Persons (4,189 KB) [lyrics]

I don't know why Ultravox doesn't get more of a mention, whatwith all the renewed interest in 80s synth bands. To me, their 1980 album Vienna, particularly the title track and the song "Sleepwalk", puts them right up there in the synthpop pantheon with the likes of Gary Numan, the Human League, early Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark, and early Simple Minds.

And, yes, "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" is a good song, but I don't think it's one of their best; of course, the video, released in the days when anxiety over nuclear war was at its peak, made for prime MTV/MuchMusic fodder.

Fun fact: back in 1975, Ultravox lead singer Midge Ure was approached by some bloke called Malcolm McLaren to join some fledgling band known as the Sex Pistols. Midge turned them down. Whatever happened to that band?....

(More about Ultravox at their official web site.)

Anyway, the track I chose to post -- "The Voice" -- is from their 1981 album Rage In Eden, and fits in with what's evolving to be my theme-of-sorts for today.

Also in the same thematic vein is the Missing Persons' track "Words"; I rambled about Missing Persons before when I posted another track from them in January.

2003-03-01T13:16:00.000-05:00

New articles on Slate:

The Ugly Canadian: Is Canada's ruling party anti-American?

Dubyathink: Bush's Orwellian case for war

The latest blog highlighted on Blogger's homepage: Anne... straight from the hip. You have been warned.

2003-03-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

Yikes, it's March already. How did that happen?

Couple links for you:

Problem Behaviors in Cats -- "You cannot discipline cats as you would dogs. Dogs form social hierarchies that you can take advantage of by placing yourself at the top. Cats form social groups only by necessity and the arrangement is based on respecting territory, not by respecting the "top dog". Many mistakes made with cats are due to thinking that they will react like dogs." (via Neat New Stuff on the Net)

A treasure trove of writings by and about George Orwell (via Lactose Incompetent)

She is watching me. She knows. She knows.

2003-02-27T13:19:00.000-05:00

Altova, the makers of XML Spy, are now offering their Authentic 5 XML document editor as a free download. (Sorry, Windoze platform only.)

2003-02-27T12:58:00.000-05:00

Really, really, really gotta buckle down and work on my websites. In the meantime, here is some linkage for you:

The Empty Bowl -- "a webzine devoted to serving the cereal eating community" (via Media Dystopia)

a quick read on NASCAR and game theory (via David Crow)

the new Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 ruggedized tablet PC -- Drool! (via Gizmodo)

BTW, something has happened to Blam!Blog.

2003-02-26T21:51:00.000-05:00

For lack of anything else to say, here are a couple links to items I saw while watching CBC television last night:

On Marketplace, there was a piece on guarana drinks, which happen to be chock-full of caffeine, but thanks to some wierd government technicality, need not be labelled as such

On Disclosure, there was a piece about a huge storehouse of chemical weapons in Alabama

Must do laundry.

2003-02-26T13:22:00.000-05:00

There's a song I heard on Brave New Waves a few months back from a group(?) called LCD Sound System. In "Losing My Edge", the narrator/vocalist laments how he might not be as on top of current music trends as he used to be; his plaintive refrain is "I was there...." during various epochal moments in punk/new wave/alternative music history.

Tell me about it.

Monday night's Ladytron show went well, although I had a headache by the end of the night from all the cigarette smoke, and the noise (I had procured ear plugs for the event, but forgot to use them). I also couldn't resist playing Wizened-Old-Music-Curmudgeon by constantly applying labels to the effect of "Old Music Act 'A' meets Old Music Act 'B'" to all of the songs.

Of the first opening act (Phaser):

"Somone should tell them Smashing Pumpkins broke up already"

(Oh, OK, that was Graig's quote, but it could've been mine, dammit.)

Of the second opening act (Simian):

"It's Pink Floyd meets The Happy Mondays"

"Jesus Jones hacks a Speak & Spell"

Of Ladytron themselves:

"Gary Numan meets Siouxsie and the Banshees"

"Vince Clarke (of Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure fame) meets Blondie"

Etc., etc.

I'm also never going to be Ms. Fashion Queen, even on a good day, but this point was particularly brought home to me observing my fellow Ladytron fans. Women with skinny neckties (which, I archly noted to Graig, I was wearing 20 years ago), guys and girls with vertical hair a la The Cure, small round pins with band names on them (another 20 year old throwback) and even a couple Kraftwerk-meets-Chairman Mao buttoned up tunic-thingies.

At one point I was standing in line in the women's washroom and noticed one of the young fashionistas looking at me. I caught sight of myself in the mirror and observed:

faded green Giordano sweatshirt that I bought in Hong Kong ten years ago

black MEC polar fleece jacket from seven years ago

faded blue Eddie Bauer khakis of unknown vintage (double pleats)

brown leather lace-up boots made by Prospector (rounded toes)

Christ, I looked like a freaking soccer mom. Well, okay, maybe a soccer mom who drinks....

Anyway, I did actually have a good time at the show, and have an increased appreciation for Ladytron's music, having heard it performed live (synth bands never a compelling stage presence, but the sound had a certain energy to it that I never got from listening to their recordings).

If you're curious, you can listen to a few Ladytron tracks at Epitonic.

Further reading:

GAK's take on Ladytron's show in NYC last week

Jeremy's writeup of Monday's show

Carla's pithy summary

Zhan's report

Josie's writeup (for those of you who are cool enough to have a password)

I also note that while I did not get carded at the door, Josie did. We are the same age, but she is clearly much cooler than I.

[Addendum: Oddly enough, Graig had the opposite response to the show from me -- he thought the live act was more sterile than the recordings. Maybe it was the enthusiasm of the crowd that got me pumped, or maybe the fact that the speakers were so loud as to send a ripple effect through my entire body and make my ears bleed, but the live show definitely left an impression on me.]

2003-02-24T13:38:00.000-05:00

OMG, reading this sent a chill down my spine:

While I was at The Corporation (a pox on King Stan!) I wrote that it was like being in an abusive relationship; you get smacked around, but you keep coming back because your sense of self-worth is tied up in there, and you keep lying to yourself that the good times compensate for the bad, and that a bad relationship (or a bad job) is better than none at all. You reach a point when it becomes so deeply a part of your life, you can't imagine what you'd do without it.

-- Lactose Incompetent

Shit. Been there, done that. Stockholm Syndrome, ahoy.

Anyway, just wanted to check in and let y'all know that I'm still alive. Didn't do any work on the new blogspace over the weekend; had a bitch of a headache that set in Saturday night and didn't release its grip until today.

This evening, am going to see Ladytron play at The Phoenix, accompanied by other members of the local blogging posse. Yay.

2003-02-21T10:23:00.000-05:00

I don't. I really don't.

brought to you by lizvang.com

Blogwhore 2, brought to you by Shel, is in its final week; Liz has shown that she can whore with the best of them. Go, Liz!

BTW, new web space has been obtained by yours truly. I'm in the process of fixin' it up so it'll look all nice 'n perty, and all that. Will let you know when it's time for the big blog-warming.

2003-02-19T18:35:00.000-05:00

On a less bile-filled note, there is a gallery of vewy adowable puppy pictures available for your viewing enjoyment (via sam-i-am).

2003-02-19T18:19:00.000-05:00

I'd meant to stay up last night and read e-Business Essentials. Instead, I found myself re-reading Bridget Jones's Diary; Chapter 1 is available online for your perusal.

BTW, according to Helen Fielding, "fuckwittage" rhymes with fromage.

Meanwhile, over on Heartless Bitches International, The Morrigan is back after a very long absence with several new additions to her "I'm Not Bitter" column.

2003-02-18T19:54:00.000-05:00

Pardon me for one moment:

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!! AAAARRRGGHH!! AARRRRRRGGGGGHHH!

breathe

AAAAARRRGGGHH!! AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!! AAARRRRRRGGGGGHHH!

Thank you.

2003-02-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

Tunage links:

Brilliantine offers amazing "mix tapes" that delightfully combine artifacts from the 80s with present-day electro (props to Josie for bringing this site to my attention)

Canadian DJ Tommy Zee has house, trance, and other dance music sets available for download
Rare 1980s MP3 of the Week is currently featuring the 12" mix of Ministry's "Over the Shoulder"; if you haven't downloaded it yet, what's wrong with you?

Anyone remember the song "Moonlight Shadow" by Mike Oldfield? That's what I found myself listening to at 4 am this morning.

2003-02-15T14:18:00.000-05:00

Just because I'm such a glutton for punishment, I thought I'd try to fix my Blogger template again. No dice.

Yeah, I'm still planning a move to other webspace. It's in the works. Really.

2003-02-15T02:13:00.000-05:00

I just realized I never use my pens any more.

I have several fountain pens; some are nicer than others, none are particularly expensive. I prefer them over ballpoint or felt-tip pens when I have to write more than a few sentences.

The fact that my pens have fallen into disuse means that I have not been:

writing in any of my notebooks

studying anything and making notes

working on any projects

Then there are the reams of paper, notebooks, and sketchbooks that are here, unused. Not to mention the markers, pencils, pastels, crayons, and paints.

sigh

I reorganized all my CDs and books yesterday, so that I can actually find things when I want them. I went to make some lists of books to read, and that's when I realized that I didn't know where my pens were. I did find some of them (fortunately, the nicer ones) but the others are still hiding somewhere in The Hovel.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this little screed. I've also got some Roxy Music playing on the stereo ("Out the Blue" seems tailor-made for moody 2 am listening), so that's distracting me slightly.

Perhaps a wee break from blogging is in order.

2003-02-14T00:10:00.000-05:00

Yay, quiz time!

What Lizvang Personality Are You?
Uh, okay....

Thanks, Liz!

2003-02-13T13:24:00.000-05:00

I don't believe this vindictive self-righteous shit. Here's a choice quote:

"Anything we can do to hurt them without hurting us, I will support," Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.)

And this delightful anecdote:

"I was at a celebration of India's Independence Day," he told reporters, "and a Frenchman came walking up to me and started talking to me about Iraq, and it was obvious we were not going to agree. And I said, 'Wait a minute. Do you speak German?' And he looked at me kind of funny and said, 'No, I don't speak German.' And I said, 'You're welcome,' turned around and walked off."

If I hear one more time about how the U.S. saved everybody's bacon in WWII and therefore they deserve unquestioning support now, I'm going to scream.

In the early years of the war, the majority of Americans were opposed to sending troops overseas. It wasn't until after Germany's ally Japan smacked the U.S. upside the back of the head at Pearl Harbour that they undertook active involvement.

So, like, thanks, and all, but shut up already about WWII. Because you really weren't doing it out of selfless concern for the rest of the world, now, were you....

2003-02-12T12:55:00.000-05:00

Y'know, when your bed is all comfy, cosy, and warm, there's even less incentive to get up when you don't really have to.

For the inquisitive:

Via Badgett's Coffee eJournal.

There's a very nice post over on Blam!Blog.

2003-02-12T02:37:00.000-05:00

Awful lot of bloggers out there talking about/referring to Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. For those of you who lack the time/inclination to read the whole bloody book, there is a Tipping Point -- Net Version available for your perusal. (Via Mathemagenic.)

2003-02-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Good to see that Random Blog Quotes is back in the saddle again. They hadn't updated for quite some time.

Anyone who has ever dealt with cranky customers on the phone will enjoy the quote taken from this blog:

"Billy: Ma'am. I believe I have been very patient with you. I have done nothing but try to help you and explain the situation to you. I'd like to tell you that normally, we would disconnect a caller after they have used foul language twice. I'd like to let you know that you have sworn nine times and that I'm still here trying to help you.

Lady: Oh!? You've been counting have you?

Billy: As a matter of fact, yes I have ma'am.

Lady: Well! 9 times you said? Let me make it a nice round number for you how bout I swear 10 times. You're a Fucken Asshole.

Billy: Actually - ma'am - that would be 11.

Lady: *unintelligible mumble* *hangs up*"

Somebody, give that guy a day off.

2003-02-11T21:48:00.000-05:00

Linkage, ahoy:

Eight Technologies That Will Change the World -- not a new article, but my Business 2.0 newsletter saw fit to mention it again this week

Nine Unconventional Strategies For Reinventing Your Career -- one of the featured articles this week on the newly redesigned HBS Working Knowledge website

Monkeys Show Sophisticated Learning Abilities -- "researchers observed that the monkeys' learning process exhibited the same basic properties as human learning" (via Complexity Digest)

Changing or escaping the self -- "When we become self-aware we see who we are and what we would like to be. What do we do? Do we change who we are? Or do we escape self-awareness...." (via Follow Me Here)

Cybermethods: An Assessment -- "Methods of communication and action on the Internet, such as e-mail, encryption and hacking, can be broadly grouped into four categories: expressing, protecting, information gathering and interfering."

Had enough information overload yet? thought?horizon pointed me to a site called Minciu Sodas (I think I'd come across it before a long time ago). It's a big badass (and multilingual) portal to all sorts of projects and sites related to thinking, idea development, KM (knowledge management) and the like.

I've barely begun to explore, but one page that I did happen upon after following this way and that is this list of Software for Research (using Windows), cataloging all sorts of tools for sifting, wrangling, slicing, dicing, and spewing out information to your heart's content.

2003-02-10T12:47:00.000-05:00

This from my latest Anecdotage.com newsletter:

Anecdotage.com Presents... Harry Houdini

"On one of his European tours, the master magician and locksmith Harry Houdini found himself locked in by his own thinking. After he had been searched and manacled in a Scottish town jail, the old turnkey shut him in a cell and walked away. Houdini quickly freed himself from his shackles and then tackled the cell lock. But despite all his efforts, the lock wouldn’t open.

"Finally, ever more desperate but completely exhausted, he leaned against the door - and it swung open so unexpectedly that he nearly fell headlong into the corridor. The turnkey had not locked it."

Houdini, Harry Ehrich Weiss (1874-1926), American escape artist and magician [noted for his daring feats and penchant for showmanship]

Source: Harold Kellock, Houdini

I know there's a lesson in there for me somewhere. I just have to figure out how to apply it.

2003-02-10T01:08:00.000-05:00

Anyone out there remember the Sharp Mobilon TriPad PV-6000?

This bad boy ran on the WinCE 2.11 OS, and was like a cross between a PDA and a baby notebook, with a 640x480 screen and (slightly undersized) keyboard; the screen could flip around so that the unit (heh, heh -- she said "unit") could be used as a tablet.

Of course I wanted one, but it was not to be.

And it's a damn shame that the various sub-sub-notebook and slate gadgets running WinCE went the way of the buffalo in the year or so leading up to the launch of Microsoft's Tablet PC, but I digress. [However, more on this in the Addendum below.]

Anyway, Gizmodo brings news of a new Sharp C-700 which runs Linux. It too can be used like a baby notebook, and the keyboard also folds 'round the other way so it can be used as a tablet.

drool

Availability in North America is limited, but here are further details on the C-700 from Dynamism, who can import it for you.

[Addendum: WebWord posts a link to an article titled "Tablet PC: A solution searching for a problem"; check out the comments responding to the post, too. The now nearly-extinct WinCE-powered tablet devices would fill this segment of the market quite nicely. And they wouldn't be as bleeping heavy, either.]

2003-02-09T18:56:00.000-05:00

Just in case you are determined to clog your hard drive and overload your brain cells, Mathemagenic has pointed out a ton of interesting-looking papers from the IBM Watson Research Center.

I restrained myself and downloaded only the following:

What Kind of Work is HCI Work?

Arc Diagrams: Visualizing Structure in Strings

What Makes a Representative User Representative?

Social Construction of Knowledge and Authority in Business Communities and Organizations

Design as a Minority Discipline in a Software Company: Understanding a Community of Practice

Designing Learning: Cognitive Science Principles for the Innovative Organization

Aw, heck. Maybe I'll just sit on the futon, eat Doritos, and watch The Simpsons instead.

2003-02-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

One effect of Blogger template munching is that my site meter no longer works on the main blog page. I've no idea who's been visiting lately, which is kind of good in a way, since I no longer compulsively check my site stats.

The meter is still intact on most of the archive pages (as well as on The Outpost), so I do know when people visit there.

Not a lot to say. Started to write yesterday about a book that I plowed through in its entirety on Friday night. Maybe later. In the meantime, why don't you go visit some of the links on my sidebar.

I did want to share one tidbit with you. Just remember this the next time you and your family decide to stay at the local Bed & Breakfast: Ill-behaved children will be cooked and served for breakfast (via kottke).

2003-02-08T13:49:00.000-05:00

Was actually out of bed before noon, thanks to a phone call I received this morning (Hi, Dad!). OK, so it wasn't much before noon, but it counts.

Following my ramblage about Martha and the Muffins yesterday, decided to add another MP3 to Circadian Shift: The Outpost:

"Several Styles of Blonde Girls Dancing" by M+M (5,531 KB)

For now, everything I've ever posted on that site is still there (I went and paid for additional web space and banner ad removal), but eventually I'll hit my limit and will have to start taking some of the earlier stuff down.

2003-02-07T20:26:00.000-05:00

You know you've been in a certain CD store far too often when other habitues of the establishment recognize you. (Yah, I know one of the words in that sentence is missing an accent. Don't feel like looking up the correct HTML entity for it.)

Anyway, after being in the Yonge St. CD Replay a bazillion times, toying with buying a certain disc, I finally broke down and did it.

Then Again: A Retrospective is a fine, fine compilation of tunes from Martha and the Muffins/M+M, known and loved by many Canadian New Wave fans, but perhaps best known outside Canada for their 1980 hit "Echo Beach". My favourite tune on the disc: the Brian Eno/David Byrne-esque "Several Styles of Blonde Girls Dancing".

Oh, and the guy in CD Replay who rung up my purchase for me says he's married to Martha Johnson's cousin.

Couple links for you:

An Introvert's Lexicon (via MemeMachineGo!)

Instructions for Giving your Cat a Pill (via an e-mail from my brother, who credits Fark for the link)

Will be attending to domestic tasks chez Hovel this evening.

2003-02-07T14:29:00.000-05:00

This morning, I dispensed with the 'Snooze' button in favour of just turning off the damn alarm completely when it sounded. Any guesses on the results?

Meanwhile, somebody on Memepool has thoughtfully contributed this list of links related to napping:

Napping at Work is OK?

Caught napping: Germany's surprising Siestas

'To sleep, perchance to dream ...'

and, a frighteningly cheesy site for The Napping Company, Inc.; apparently the designer has been asleep since 1996

If you'd prefer to circumvent the napping instinct, perhaps you'd like to visit the Caffeine Archive instead (via Cup of Java).

Here's an interesting article featured in this week's roundup of Neat New Stuff on the Net:

The 8 A's of Information
The gathering, delivery and application of quality information is essential to sound decision-making. The process is complex, and requires expert knowledge and professional competence through a number of steps to ensure quality results. The process can appear deceptively simple and is often undervalued. Gaulin's 8 A's of information is designed to provide researchers and consumers of information with a simple model that clearly identifies which steps in the research process are the domain of the professional researcher and which apply to the information user.

If you'd really like to OD on information, go check out blogdex.

Lastly, for the geekier members of the viewing audience, two OS links:

Sun Releases Solaris 9 for Intel processors (via Slashdot)

the TRS-80 Level 1 BASIC Simulator (via Paramecium Parachute, where Greg relates his own tale of programming with the TRS-80)

Is sunny outside. Of course, it's also damn cold out there. No matter. Must go out, regardless.

2003-02-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Oops, I did it again.

The alarm(s) went off this morning, and the 'Snooze' button got another extended workout. Eventually I got up, had breakfast and surfed the net, then wound up "napping" again for another hour and a half.

It is now 3.30 in the afternoon, and I am still in my pyjamas.

Placing the clocks somewhere out of arms reach of the bed would be a sensible thing to do to prevent snooze-abuse. However it requires another empty horizontal surface within easy reach of a free electrical outlet elsewhere in The Hovel. Some rearrangement of the environs will be required.

To borrow a term from Q107 parlance, here are some "double-shots" for you....

Related to affirmative action:

a New York Times article (free registration required) that examines how the grouping of goods in a store influences consumer choices, and relates this to how people get grouped in certain categories (via Guide to Ease)

a post on how affirmative action in college admissions really impacts whites (not much) (via, er, somewhere...)

And, for you reluctant web-authors, a couple quick and dirty code resources:

an article on standards compliant XHTML that includes links to sites that let you use their code (spotted on one of the Digital Eve Toronto mailing lists)

Jeffrey Veen's Good Code Cache of web scripts

The sun is actually shining outside. Should probably haul myself into the shower then get dressed, and take advantage of whatever daylight remains.

2003-02-06T01:45:00.000-05:00

Y'know, I was all prepped for an early night. Got into my jammies at 11, watched The National re-run, then watched this wacked-out show that they have on CBC called ZeD. Flipped around the dial a bit, caught some of Mike Bullard's monologue, turned out the light just before 12.30, and tried to get to sleep.

Yeah, right.

Might as well mention a link I spotted on MeFi -- it's Einstein's Theory of Relativity, explained in words of four letters or less.

I'm gonna try the thing with the alarm clocks again tomorrow (today, actually). Hopefully without abusing the 'Snooze' button this time.

2003-02-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

Right. One more link, then I'm turning off the damn 'puter.

The Handy Guide to the Gurus of Management is a 13-part BBC Radio series, hosted by Charles Handy. You can listen to the episodes in Real Audio format, or download the transcripts as PDFs (thus providing more cloggage for the hard drive).

Link via Onepine Updates.

2003-02-05T22:13:00.000-05:00

More new stuff on Blackmask (although, I guess you'd want to watch out for that data overload thing):

An Essay on Conversation by Henry Fielding

instructions for building your own solar cooker

Project Mercury - A Chronology -- a NASA document prepared by James M. Grimwood, Historical Branch, Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, as MSC Publication HR-1

Actually, another read on the Mercury space program is Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, which I read a few months ago and really enjoyed.

Checking in on some of my knowledge management and innovation links, I notice that thought?horizon has started publishing again, after a long hiatus. Meanwhile, SynapShots has announced that it will cease publishing.

Then again, there's now a new Corporate Innovation Blog from Imaginatik Research (thanks to Intellectual Capital Punishment for the link).

2003-02-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

Had good intentions of getting up at a reasonable hour this morning and set up my alarms (yes, two) to aid me in that regard. Instead, gave the 'Snooze' button on Clock #2 a very long workout. sigh

Offline life is pulling me away from the computer, but here is some linkage for you in the meantime:

a Wired article on how we're saving far more data on our hard drives than we'll ever have time to review (via a comment left on Manifesto Multilinko)

a bunch of interesting looking marketing papers (in PDF) from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania -- of course, if you read the Wired article first, you might think twice before going apeshit and downloading them all (obliquely via IDblog)

on Slashdot, a review of Po Bronson's book What Should I Do With My Life? (you may remember last month's Fast Company article on this)

The Challenger Shuttle Disaster: A Failure in Decision Support System and Human Factors Management (via NASA's page of links about the Challenger disaster)

Lastly, the title of this 'toon explains it all.

2003-02-04T02:18:00.000-05:00

New on Blackmask:

The Space Shuttle Decision: NASA's Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle
"Congress, however, was deeply skeptical toward the proposed shuttle/station, as both the House and Senate came close to killing it in 1970. NASA responded to this near-death experience by placing the station on the shelf and bringing the Shuttle to the forefront. Its officials needed political support that could win over doubters in Congress, and they found this support within the Department of Defense."

This appears to be an interesting look at the early political decisions behind the shuttle program.

2003-02-02T13:17:00.000-05:00

Lot of people out there linking to this article:

Nasa chiefs 'repeatedly ignored' safety warnings
"But when I tried to raise my concerns with Nasa's new administrator, I received two reprimands for not going through the proper channels, which discouraged other people from coming forward with their concerns."

This sort of pointy-haired shit goes on in the workplace all the time. Somebody down in the trenches spots a problem and tries to warn the higher-ups that something could potentially go very wrong and things need to be fixed. Management smacks 'em down and tells them to not make waves.

Usually, though, people don't die as a result.

2003-02-01T12:45:00.000-05:00

There's a rather lengthy article in the New York Times (free registration required) on sleep disorders (link via Slashdot).

2003-02-01T03:44:00.000-05:00

Blogging might be sparse for the remainder of the weekend (I know it's been a bit haphazard of late), but I figure I better get these links out before I forget about them:

As a follow-up to the linkage about finding data on discarded hard drives, here are some disk sanitizing tips (via Neat New Stuff on the Net).

Over the last couple days, Lactose Incompetent has been regaling the readership with tales of dealing with an obnoxious cow-orker. I was going to link to the various posts, but instead Edward has gone and compiled them into a single PDF for your reading enjoyment.

Via my very-infrequently-read TECHWR-L digest comes word of a new book called Single Sourcing - Building Modular Documentation. There's a sample chapter available for download which discusses the process of transforming linear documents into modular chunks that can be re-purposed.

Damn, it's nearly 4 in the morning. How did that happen? Time for bed, I guess.

2003-02-01T03:10:00.000-05:00

We're only a few hours into February, but I thought I'd get a jump-start on this month's addition to Circadian Shift: The Outpost.

So, for your listening enjoyment, and to take the edge off this winter chill, I thought I'd offer up a bit of swooning mid-80s post-New-Romantic pop. Fireplace and velvet cushions are optional.

"Digging Your Scene" by The Blow Monkeys (3,856 KB)

According to New Wave Outpost, the song is available on a handful of CD compilations, but none that I've ever come across in a store -- this is my own transfer from a 7" single.

Again, I have to note that, while I think the quality is decent, I don't have high-end stereo equipment, so the recording may not perhaps be up to super-audiophile standards.

2003-01-31T21:30:00.000-05:00

Just in time for Chinese New Year comes this link to Chinese horoscopes (thanks, Josie!).

Unlike Accordion Guy, I have no quibble with referring to my Chinese zodiac sign as "sheep" (Joey prefers the more manly term "ram"); I do agree that being called a "goat" is less than ideal.

If I had to pick a favourite song about sheep, I'd go with, well, "Sheep" by The Housemartins.

2003-01-31T12:45:00.000-05:00

Went slightly insane at BMV Books yesterday, and acquired the following:

What Just Happened: A Chronicle from the Information Frontier by James Gleick (I read and really enjoyed Gleick's last book, Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything)

Philosophy Through Film by Mary M. Litch (a very nifty-looking book which uses examples from movies like The Matrix, Memento, and Total Recall to explore and illustrate basic questions in philosophy)

Film: An Introduction, First Edition by William H. Phillips (there's now a second edition available for the super-keen; however, the first edition is going way cheap at BMV)

Am really going to have to stay the hell out of bookstores for the next while. Really.

2003-01-29T17:15:00.000-05:00

Brett has taken me to task for not mentioning Saturday's Dufferin Mall Experience. It wasn't a conscious omission on my part; just that, somewhere between Saturday and Tuesday, I forgot to blog about it, and then by Tuesday, I had other stuff in my head.

Indeed, as is evidenced by the photo gallery, I did attend, and had a swell time. I rather took a liking to Alice, who stars in Brett's pictorial of the event. Hopefully Johnny O will forgive me for razzing him over being creeped out by her ("Aw. Is Johnny afwaid of the wittle dolly???").

Anyway, I was sufficiently amused by Dufferin Mall ("Toys 'r' Us! Walmart! No Frills!") that I will probably go back at some point in the near future. Maybe I'll pick up that book we saw called How Much Joy Can You Stand? (I dunno -- try me. I think I can take a lot of it.) Or not.

Meanwhile, Kim has kindly provided a link to instructions on converting your old T-shirts to underwear. I'm not that desperate yet, but hey, you never know....

Lastly, there are new 'toonz up at explodingdog and toothpastefordinner.

2003-01-29T01:53:00.000-05:00

Well, have downloaded and installed Opera 7.

The good news:

Opera 7 plays nicely with Blogger

The bad news:

none of my settings from Opera 6 were preserved (which means, among other things, that I have to go and dredge up all my site passwords again)

all sorts of wierdness ensued when I tried importing my bookmarks from other browsers; initial attempts at importing bookmarks from Opera 6 only transferred the "default" bookmarks (useful. not.) and none of the ones I made; importing Internet Explorer "Favourites" did work, but managed to somehow break the "Bookmarks" drop-down menu in Opera, which means that to access my bookmarks I have to open up the bloody "Hotlist" (which gobbles up valuable screen space) instead

Meanwhile, Media Dystopia has pointed me to a Towers Perrin report on the emotional connection that workers have with their jobs (the majority of workers hate their jobs, and management is utterly frigging clueless as to why -- quelle surprise). There's also a summary and video report from CTV News.

Incidentally, InformIT (free registration required) has added an article on The Value of Technical Leadership; much of it is applicable outside the realm of IT.

2003-01-28T20:38:00.000-05:00

Well, Opera has gone and released version 7 for Windows, and I will probably download it later tonight. It's been a little over a month since I made the switch, and I've stuck with it. I like Opera -- it's fast, and I like the way it handles multiple browser windows. However, I still have the same complaints as I did a month ago.

BTW, I've had to open up Internet Explorer to make this and other posts today. I'd been using Phoenix for posting, since it doesn't munge the Blogger interface up as much as Opera does. However, today, the "Post" button kept disappearing when I was writing up my blurbage about Geoff Dyer. No such trouble in IE. With any luck Opera 7 will cooperate with Blogger and I can go back to using just one browser.

2003-01-28T20:19:00.000-05:00

Blogwhore is back, and Liz is playing. Yay, Liz! Go, Liz, go!

2003-01-28T19:38:00.000-05:00

Just because, a link from the Circadian Shift archives:

How to say "Oh my god! There's an axe in my head!" in 102 different languages.

Whilst walking about this afternoon, swathed in multiple layers, as has been customary for the past while, I realized that I was actually too warm. Omigod, could this cold snap be on the wane?

2003-01-28T18:35:00.000-05:00

Was browsing in David Mirvish Books this afternoon, and discovered that Geoff Dyer has a new book out called Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It.

I read Dyer's book But Beautiful last summer, and was absolutely blown away by it. A series of portraits of various jazz legends, But Beautiful's prose was flowing, chaotic, spontaneous, lyrical, stunning -- just like good jazz itself. Dyer made it look so easy, but I can't imagine how hard it was to get the words down, just so.

I've also been meaning to read his book Paris Trance (one of the reviews on Amazon calls it stylistically similar to the writing of Nick Hornby and Alain de Botton, two other authors I enjoy), so now, with Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It, I have another Geoff Dyer book on my "to read" list.

2003-01-25T11:22:00.000-05:00

One of my less frequent sources for retro MP3s is About.com's 80s Music site. It's less frequent because I find it tends to be updated in fits and starts, and their lists of links to other MP3 sites needs to be updated.

But anyway, it was through them that I learned that there are several live Squeeze tracks available for download on MP3.com, including a few of my favourite songs from them, "Pulling Mussels from the Shell", "Another Nail in My Heart", and "Tempted". Enjoy.

2003-01-24T17:37:00.000-05:00

Some music linkage.....

I quite enjoyed Slant magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Music Videos (via blogdex).

UK-based Rare 80s MP3 has a new selection of tunes up, including the 12" mix of The Lotus Eaters' "It Hurts (There Must Be A Taste Of Murder In It)". Download it! Download it! Download it!

I realize I forgot to go outside today while it was still daylight. Oops.

Speaking of outside, I'm not sure if the weather is going to get warmer any time soon. Yesterday's minus 30 windchill was not fun. I noticed that, according to the Chinese calendar, we are in that part of the year known as the "Great Cold". No shit. (Thanks to Richard for the calendar link.)

2003-01-24T12:55:00.000-05:00

Well, The Hovel is looking much better ("Floor! I can see floor!"), but there's still a ways to go yet. And I still need to tend to my online space.

Some linkage for my "to read" list:

100 XML Acronyms -- everything from BEEP to XUL (via Column Two, which also has a couple presentations that I should look through)

Introduction to XFML -- I notice this is not on the aforementioned list of 100 acronyms (eek); anyway, XFML (eXtensible Faceted Metadata Language) is being touted as a lightweight alternative to RDF and Topic Maps for indexing and classification work

Content as Services -- "Most of the content management challenges facing businesses today have to do with content that is inflexible. To provide this missing flexibility, companies must add a layer of abstraction on top of enterprise content in order to isolate the content consumer from the content producer to give consumers the flexibility they require to locate content and producers the agility they need to change it as needed."

Meanwhile, Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is inviting the citizenry to engage in A Dialogue on Foreign Policy. There's a paper to read, links to other resources, and electronic forums for discussion. This is great, but why isn't the site getting more publicity so that more people know about it and can actually participate? The only reason I know about it is because Captain Graig helped in the site's construction.

And just because I can, I thought I'd give a plug to Anecdotage.com. A few months ago, I was walking along Bloor St. when I was approached by an enterprising young man trying to drum up readership for a new website and mailing list. We chatted, and I wound up giving him my e-mail address (entering it into the Handspring Visor with keyboard that he was toting about), and didn't hear anything about it again until last week.

Anecdotage provides interesting/funny/memorable quotes and stories from and about the famous and not-so-famous (more on the site's About page), and is worth a look if you like that sort of thing.

Lastly, congratulations to my brother are in order for the new addition to his household: a Sony Clie PEG-SL10.

2003-01-22T12:11:00.000-05:00

So, we're back. At least for now.

For those of you in the viewing audience who have been wondering what Blogger has been doing to my template, it's been stripping the attributes out of many of my tags, thereby rendering javascripts, hyperlinks, and image tags useless. When I pasted a "good" copy of the code back into the template, only some of the changes "stuck" (hence the return of blogrolls and archives), while many of the tags were stripped out again. Useful. Not.

Meanwhile, have been tending to offline life, as The Hovel requires some serious excavation work. Online, will be working on procuring a domain name and server space for an eventual move from the present Blogspot digs. And making the switch to Movable Type, with all the configuration hilarity that it entails.

Some linkage for you while I get my house(s) in order:

Dancing with Systems: What to do when systems resist change (via MetaFilter from a few days ago)

Conversational Terrorism -- sneaky rhetorical tricks that people use to win arguments (also via MeFi)

Omniglot -- very neat site about written language (via memepool)

February issue of Fast Company

February issue of New Architect

Am tempted to try and restore more sidebar code, but am afraid that the template will instead munge stuff that is presently working. Boo.

2003-01-18T23:15:00.000-05:00

Looks like others are experiencing Blogger woes today.

2003-01-18T19:47:00.000-05:00

Right. Template woes continue on Blogger. 'Twould appear that I got my blogrolls and archive links back. Additional sidebar images, weather widgets, etc. are still AWOL.

Blogging might be sparse over the next week or so, while I consider my options.

If anyone has any suggestions/recommendations re: good cheap web hosting that can accomodate a web-based blogging tool of some kind, I'm all ears (so to speak).

Regards,
jv

2003-01-18T19:36:00.000-05:00

Funnily enough, I made an offline copy of this site just a few days ago. Have scavenged the sidebar markup from that and pasted it into my Blogger template in place of the munged sidebar code. Hopefully, this will work.

2003-01-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

Goddamit!

Blogger has gone and messed up my template something fierce, which means that you won't see any of my blogrolls, links to the archives, or any images on the sidebar. Isn't it interesting that it did this right after I posted links to other blogging tools? Perhaps that was a sign.

I'll see what I can do to fix it later this evening, after dinner, when I hopefully find myself of better disposition.

Grrrrrr.........

2003-01-18T16:50:00.000-05:00

Ran across two directory pages to various blogging tools:

Weblogs Compendium (via Follow Me Here)

Open Directory Project's list of blog publishing tools (via KIPLOG)

BTW, new on Blackmask is Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

2003-01-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

I'm surprised that the Weather Network's Toronto forecast is two hours behind current conditions. As of 4pm, it was a bracing minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Farenheit) outside; minus 23 with the wind chill. At least the sky was clear and sunny, which made walking about this afternoon almost enjoyable.

The cheese meme spreads a little more.

2003-01-16T00:26:00.000-05:00

Think you erased all that data off your hard drive before getting rid of it? Think again. (Via Slashdot.)

Then, once you've got your data disposal problem under control, why not brush up on your propaganda techniques? (Via abuddhas memes.)

And remember, you should always fall to your knees and worship a librarian (via The Shifted Librarian). As Michael Moore can attest, you want them on your side.

2003-01-15T19:42:00.000-05:00

Damn, it's cold outside. Such are the joys of January.

The news came out yesterday that Toronto ~~moron~~ mayor Mel Lastman will not be inflicting his cheesy-ass self on the city's electorate for a third time. The ever-erudite GAK has kindly assembled a list of lowlights of Mel Lastman's mayorship of Toronto.

Meanwhile, over on JOHO: The Blog, David Weinberger poses a series of questions relating to morality and the architecture of the web. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

Other linkage of interest:

Designing for the Multiple Personalities of Users (via InfoDesign)

XHTML 2 and all that (via blogdex)

When self-image takes a blow, many turn to television as a distraction (via Moon Farmer)

And, 'twould appear that other people are picking up on the cheese meme. Coincidence, or a case of group psychosis?

And, lastly, might as well share with you news of my two latest acquisitions (thanks to a Chapters gift card I received for X-mas):

The second edition of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, aka "Polar Bear II" -- I already have "Polar Bear I", and waffled between getting this and Bob Boiko's Content Management Bible; I eventually settled on "PB-II" as I had read good things about it (it also happens to be twice as long as the first edition), and figured I'd better get my head back into IA space

A very neat little book called Platonic & Archimedean Solids -- I think I might break out my big container of K'NEX later on and build a few of these babies

[Addendum 16 January 2002: Well, the limitations of the K'NEX set were quickly revealed -- the angle variations offered by the joining widgets were best suited to constructing things resembling a truncated cube; even that requires a bottomless box of joining widgets and a greater variety of struts in different lengths]

I have enough funding left on my gift card to buy one more inexpensive book, or maybe a couple of magazines. Will have to see what strikes my fancy the next time I'm in Chapters.

2003-01-14T21:35:00.000-05:00

Seeing as Jeremy has been on a cheese kick, here's another link for your dining enjoyment:

Pikachu-shaped cheese snacks

(Link courtesy The Shifted Librarian.)

And, just because, two photographs:

ironic

scary (via digital ed)

Damn. I'm having a craving for brie. However, garlic and herb flavoured cream cheese is going to have to do.

2003-01-14T17:20:00.000-05:00

Sneezing with a mouth-full of Lean Cuisine's "Creamy Chicken Alfredo" is not a pretty sight. Trust me on this.

Why don't you go and read about cheese? (Gracias, Jeremy.)

2003-01-14T12:23:00.000-05:00

Because I know that many of you in the viewing audience have actual lives, and therefore don't surf the web as much as I do, I'm going to regurgitate some linkage:

All Consuming -- this is very cool; it keeps track of books that people mention in their blogs (except for people like me, who are not set up to ping Weblogs.com and/or can't be bothered to do it manually) (thanks to Richard for the link)

Another metablog site: Memeufacture -- sort of like blogdex, but going one step further and breaking down the links by topic, and other criteria (via, er, blogdex)

And why don't you go read about someone else's adventures in unemployment for a change (found this site via a blogdex backlink) (?)

It's a delightful minus 11 degrees Celsius outside (that's 12 degrees Fahrenheit for you American folk), but feels like minus 17, thanks to the windchill. Nonetheless, I must get dressed and go outside, as the sunshine is good for me.

2003-01-13T18:44:00.000-05:00

Misc. linkage:

The Subconscious Mind of the Consumer (And How To Reach It) [Addendum 14 January 2003: if the direct link doesn't work, try accessing the article via the HBS Working Knowledge home page]

Would You Really Follow a Manager into Battle? (via Brent Ashley)

Spears & Daggers: The Seven Deadly Sins of Free Content (via WebWord)

Whoever has been phoning me every morning shortly after 9am from the '902' area code should leave a message and/or knock it off.

[Addendum 14 January 2002: No phone call this morning. Let's hope it's a trend.]

2003-01-13T18:21:00.000-05:00

Other users of Blogger have been expressing their frustrations of late.

I sympathize. Blogger's archiving and template functions have been messed up since September, with no word of a fix in sight.

I'm really not about to kvetch too much, since I'm using it for free, and my site is hosted on Blogspot for free. I think Ev has done a great service to the web community by making this available to the unwashed masses. (The total number of Blogger users recently passed the one million mark.)

I'd love to give something back by upgrading to Blogger Pro and Blogspot Plus if I could be assured of increased reliability. However, even paying customers are having difficulty.

sigh I really hate to see a good thing go bad.

2003-01-12T15:00:00.000-05:00

Link for today: Extreme Cinema: The 25 Most Dangerous Movies Ever Made (via Moon Farmer).

New acquisitions:

Sorted! 40 Madchester Baggy Anthems

The Elements of User Experience

Sun is shining. Yay!

2003-01-11T14:03:00.000-05:00

Stumbled across a very cool looking resource called Meme Central (via this blog).

Meanwhile, Lactose Incompetent reports on yet another blogger in a big pile of goo after his employer discovered his blog.

sigh

(Started to write more, and then deleted it. Might post again later.)

BTW, are my parents reading this? Your ISP has been showing up in my site stats.

[Addendum 12 January 2003: Received a single-word e-mail from the parental address: "YES"]

2003-01-10T00:11:00.000-05:00

Hmmmmm.

Cory Doctorow's new book, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, is available as a free download in various formats, including Palm e-book (yay!) (via blogdex)

interesting 'blawg": Tech Law Advisor (via the Blogger home page)

As seen on tonight's broadcast of the CTV News: Doctors rate the 15 top-selling diet books

And just because: the lyrics to "Destination Unknown" by Missing Persons

Listening to the song again after I posted it online, it occured to me that it was a good tune to pick for the New Year. I didn't plan it that way; originally, I had another song in mind for the post, but couldn't find the CD-ROM with the MP3 on it.

2003-01-09T00:46:00.000-05:00

Couple anthropology links:

a chimp develops a simple vocal vocabulary (via Slashdot from a few days ago

cultural transmission among orangutans (thanks to His GAKness for the link)

[Addendum 09 January 2003: Additional linkage available via Complexity Digest]

Two other Slashdot discussions of interest:

best fonts for Linux browsers

advice for surviving a buyout

Also stumbled across this page of Pocket PC links.

Been reading bits of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which I bought just before Christmas. Very informative. I have to admit, though, that I was listening trance and techno on the radio at the time. May the ghosts of Sid Vicious and Johnny Thunders have mercy on me.

2003-01-08T09:28:00.000-05:00

Buncha linkage:

New on First Monday:

CIO Magazine's list of Big (and Not So Big) Ideas for 2003

More Than Good Intentions: Holding Fast to Faith in Free Will -- "We think of will as a force, but actually, Dr. Wegner says, it is a feeling — "merely a feeling," as he puts it — of control over our actions. I think, "I'm going to get up now," and when I do a moment later, I credit that feeling with having been the instigating cause. But as we all know, correlation does not equal causation." (NYT article -- free registration required) (via Complexity Digest)

I didn't get to sleep until nearly 5 this morning, and was awake again by 8.30. I'm gonna pay for this later, I'm sure.

2003-01-08T01:42:00.000-05:00

Looks like a couple of my regular sources for retro MP3s have taken the week off. (Another is officially taking a few months off, whereas a fourth hasn't updated in nearly a month.)

Speaking of which, it was about a month ago that I rambled on about posting my own retro MP3s on a monthly basis. Despite the rather underwhelming response (ie. none), I'm pretty sure there are at least a couple of you out there who dig the retro thing.

So, here's January's addition to Circadian Shift: The Outpost:

"Destination Unknown" by Missing Persons (3,392 KB)

This is another one of my own -- I stumbled across the CD of Spring Session M in Sonic Boom a few weeks back, and immediately snatched it up.

In my mind, Missing Persons was pretty typical of early 80s California New Wave/Synthpop -- bright, cheery, quirky, and undeniably hook-laden. There's a profile of them here.

Here's a fun fact: guitarist Warren Cuccurullo went on to join Duran Duran in the 90s.

2003-01-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

Right. Let's see if I can go a few days without rambling on about other people's pets, shall we?

There was a post and discussion thread on Slashdot a few days back which asks Are Digital "Margin Notes" Possible Yet?. Much of the discussion centres on the full version of Adobe Acrobat and the many info-wrangling features it offers.

Acrobat does totally rock (my favourite feature: 'web capture'), but there are a couple other tools which may be of interest to the digital information junkie.

Treepad has been around for years, getting its start as freeware, and since expanding into many different versions (the Lite version is still free). It organizes data (text, and other formats) into a tree-like structure, and is great for storing little bits and pieces of information that don't quite fit anywhere else. There's also now a long-awaited Linux version of the Lite package.

A similar application is something called Milenix MyInfo. There used to be a free version -- which I liked -- but no more.

Also useful, if you happen to have a PDA, are programs for making your own e-books. I like using Microsoft Reader on my Jornada PocketPC (there are also versions for the desktop and tablet PCs), as it lets me highlight add notes to the text. There's a plug-in for Microsoft Word that converts documents to Reader format. eBook Express is a free online app that will also convert text or html files (it seems to be down right now, but hopefully will come back).

For Palm users, TechTV offers a quick guide to making Palm e-books. There's also an extensive list of e-book creation tools at Memoware.

2003-01-05T18:31:00.000-05:00

More cute 'n furry animal pix and stories from GAK and Graig.

I don't have any pets of my own. My apartment, however, does resemble a hamster cage.

2003-01-05T18:17:00.000-05:00

Given that I found these two links on Mookie's site, I get the impression he doesn't like cats ('sup wi' dat?):

My Cat Hates You -- a rather surly assortment of puddy-tats

P.S. Your Cat is Dead -- promo site for new film co-produced, co-written, directed by, and starring (yikes) Steve Guttenberg (BTW, who's the 10-year-old that Guttenberg recruited to design the site?)

Forgot to leave the hovel during daylight hours today. Oops.

2003-01-05T16:55:00.000-05:00

More misc. linkage:

An interesting Survival Guide for 2003 from the Guardian, which mentions some neat concepts, like "interaction anxiety" (props to Richard for the link)

Some new stuff via my InformIT newsletter (free registration to view)
- The 24/7 Lifestyle: Time Management in the Home Office
- Agile Modeling
The newsletter also mentions an article titled "Should I Be Interested in MPLS Traffic Engineering?" My off-the-cuff response: "No."

A few handy Hints To Hiding Your Boredom At Work from ph8

And just because: DailyZen

Really should go buy some groceries, but don't feel particularly motivated to do so.

2003-01-04T17:48:00.000-05:00

Misc. linkage:

a non-technical article in Time on data mining (via Slashdot)

How to Write Like A Wanker (via diveintomark) (note to self: stop abusing the ellipsis)

Most Overrated and Underreported Stories of the Year (via MemeMachineGo!)

Got a question? Ask the Magic Coffee Mug. (via Badgett's Coffee eJournal)

new 'toonz at toothpastefordinner -- unfortunately, this one is all too often true

Have discovered that Diet Vanilla Coke isn't as good as regular Vanilla Coke. (Should I really have been surprised?)

2003-01-04T13:28:00.000-05:00

Given my recent rambling about Fast Company, I figured I might as well check in on a few other business publications....

Business 2.0 is highlighting a few of their better articles from the past year. Two that I liked are:

101 Dumbest Business Moments

Office Behavior: Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Also of interest is their series on How To Succeed in 2003.

strategy + business (free registration required) still has their Fourth Quarter 2002 issue online, but just in case you missed it before, check out their roundup of Best Business Books for 2002.

I'll admit, I don't really like Red Herring as much as the other "New Economy" business mags, but for the sake of completeness, I might as well mention their list of Top 10 Technology Trends for 2003.

Also, in the interest of completeness, if you've got the cash or can find it at the library, Harvard Business Review always provides a good read. Individual articles can be purchased online.

Or you can glean highlights from HBR and other Harvard Business School publications for free via HBS Working Knowledge. (I'll admit I haven't found the offerings at HBSWK very interesting lately, but you can always register to plunder through the archives.)

If that's not enough for you, you might want to give Darwin magazine a look. The quality is sometimes hit or miss, but I like the attitude. I do usually enjoy "Swift Kick", the column written by David Weinberger (of JOHO and Cluetrain fame).

2003-01-04T03:01:00.000-05:00

I'm still awake. Why am I still awake?

Those of you who don't have cats of your own may wish to indulge in the following:

Mr. GAK writes about his family's two cats, Peikko and Famke. Awwwww.

Kim provides this link to a virtual kitty for you to play with.

And here's a neat (and appropriate for me) word:

slugabed \SLUHG-uh-bed\, noun:
One who stays in bed until a late hour; a sluggard.
Slugabed is from slug, "sluggard" + abed, "in bed."

Thanks to JimBuck2 for the link.

2003-01-04T02:19:00.000-05:00

We've still got a few weeks to go until Chinese New Year, but the forecast has already been made for the upcoming Year of the Black Sheep.

If you happen to know your Chinese zodiac sign, you can get detailed Chinese horoscopes here.

(Thanks to Richard and to Donna for the links in the first paragraph of this post.)

2003-01-03T23:41:00.000-05:00

Misc. linkage:

The Coffee Science Information Center (via MeFi)

new e-book on Blackmask: The Social Cancer by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal

and a link from the Circadian Shift archives: "When life gives you lemons..."

BTW, shopping for pants sucks.

2003-01-03T01:05:00.000-05:00

Been a while since I bothered to check up on any of my IA links....

xBlog pointed me to this very neat looking Humane Web Text Generator. Admittedly, I wouldn't be entirely thrilled about having to learn yet another markup syntax; however, having these sorts of features incorporated into a blogging tool would be very convenient.

Meanwhile, elegant hack provides linkage to The History of Visualization, as well as a blurb on a surprising Apple Print Center feature.

2003-01-02T21:28:00.000-05:00

Here's another delightful bit of light reading:

The Internet Modern History Sourcebook

Lot of people out there linking to an article in the latest Fast Company called "What Should I Do With My Life?" (it's currently tied for 5th place on blogdex). If you haven't read it already, go take a look.

I'm pretty happy with the more up-beat tone that Fast Company has been taking with the latest issue, as well as the one from December.

I remember back in the spring (cf. the June or July issues), the tone was a lot more dour. Now the articles seem to project more optimism, albeit of the "bloodied-but-unbowed" variety. Works for me.

2003-01-02T16:57:00.000-05:00

Hey, folks....

Long time, no post. And no, I was not kidnapped by elves.

Uh, I really should throw something else together, but in the meantime, why don't you amuse yourselves with some math geekery:

Teaching with Original Historical Sources in Mathematics
Kickin' it, old school with the likes of Euclid and Archimedes. (PDFs available for download.)

More soon.

2002-12-29T19:59:00.000-05:00

Have been behaving myself during Boxing Week madness, which is a good thing. Purchased one CD yesterday (Utah Saints' first album) and one book today (Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language by Steven Pinker). I might go shopping for pants tomorrow (never a fun task), but that would be about the extent of it.

Meanwhile, some linkage:

The secret life of... tissues? (Via Randomness Personified.)

Apocamon -- The book of Revelations re-interpreted as manga (pointer to e-sheep via MemeMachineGo!)

Will try to post some actual content sometime soon.

2002-12-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

OK, I suppose this makes me look like a total freaking ingrate, but here goes....

Did anyone in the viewing audience pay to have the Blogspot banner ad removed from my blog? When?

Whoever/whatever the responsible power may be, thank you very much. I have to confess I didn't even realize until Brett mentioned something about it at the GTAB holiday party last week. Looking back now, I can't remember the last time I noticed if there was an ad on my page. It could have been months, for all I know.

Of course, that just goes to show you how well I can mentally block out that visual noise at the top of a web page. Those so-called e-marketing mavens don't get too many click-throughs out of me.

Anyway, thanks, again to whoever my benefactor is.

2002-12-28T09:17:00.000-05:00

Still playing with alternate browsers. Am doing this post using Mozilla, which plays with Blogger more nicely than Opera does, although it's still a little wonky.

Why all this playing with browsers? I've been brushing up on my CSS skills, which entails viewing pages in browsers other than the one that Micro$oft offers.

It's funny how you start noticing and remembering things about the software you use when you switch. Little things you take for granted, like placement of buttons, or how drop-down menus fold out, are suddenly just a bit different, just a bit "off" -- you're no longer surfing on cruise control.

I will say one thing about Opera and Mozilla -- they really are faster than IE, and less bloated (they aren't as big to download as IE is).

One really silly thing I've notice about Opera -- one of the browser settings is "Identify as Opera / Mozilla / MSIE" -- but the default setting is "Identify as MSIE". Duh! Wouldn't the folks at Opera want their software to identify itself correctly to servers, instead of propping up the competition? If people look at their site stats and keep seeing just "IE" being used by their visitors, won't they just keep assuming that's what everyone uses?

Whatever. Most of you have probably drifted off at this point to go read Fark or something, so I'll shut up now.

2002-12-27T22:10:00.000-05:00

Back in civilization again. (Granted, my parents have satellite TV, and there is internet access -- albeit slow access -- so it's not like I was really "roughing it" up there.)

Have gone and made Opera my default web browser, after using Internet Explorer for the last few years. Have quickly discovered:

I had an awful lot of passwords stored as cookies in IE which I now have to try and wrack my brain to remember (or use those "forgot password?" forms)

Blogger's interface is all screwy in Opera, so I've had to open IE again to make this post

I'd prefer not to break down and switch back to IE, but we'll see how it goes.

There's an interesting article over on Boxes and Arrows:

The Designers’ Outpost: Capturing and Interacting with Design History
"In a high-tech field like web design, we might expect to find computer-savvy practitioners accomplishing all their work with the click of the mouse and a stroke of the keyboard. However, in our studies of the early stages of web design, we found that good ol’ pens, paper, walls, and tables were the primary creative tools."

I'm inclined to agree -- nothing beats pen and paper as the quickest way to get the ideas out of your brain and into the world.

2002-12-25T12:03:00.000-05:00

X-mas day. Prezzies opened (we did that just after midnight), snow outside, and.... a 24000 bps modem connection, thanks to the decrepit phone lines out here in cottage country.

Got an e-mail from Sam via the GTAB mailing list -- there's an article up at Shift that covers blogger and Slashdot meetups in Toronto, and offers some insight into how Meetup.com works. (Or doesn't -- I could offer some commentary or observations of my own, but can't be bothered.)

Surfing around the Shift site some more, I happened across their blog, which pointed me to some videos of Spongebob Squarepants Jackass. Everyone's favourite little undersea invertebrate performs all kinds of wacky stunts that you kids should not be trying at home. (Alas, I will probably wait until my return to the city to download them.)

Been a while since I've done a gratuitous personality quiz post, so here goes:

what kind of junkie are you?

Lastly, as the holiday wanes, I look forward to no longer being inflicted by this song playing over and over again in my brain (thanks to Eraine for the link to the lyrics).

2002-12-24T13:17:00.000-05:00

Well, one of my bags is packed (the one holding clothing and prezzies) and I just have to pack up the notebook (ie. the thing I'm using right now). Will be journeying northwards to the parents' place for Yule. Supposedly there's already lots of snow up there.

Can strike off one more thing from my 10 Things to Do list:

~~1. finish doing all the laundry (not just enough of it at one time to get by)~~

Of course, the list started out as the "10 in 10", then became the "10 in 20". At this rate, I'll be lucky if it gets done before the New Year.

Hope everyone has a good holiday -- even the poor soul who came across my site a few hours ago via this search.