Vicious Much ado was made

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Vicious


Much ado was made about Microsoft's recent decision to
prevent browsers other than Internet Explorer from accessing
MSN.com. They later apologized and opened MSN.com
back up to all browsers.
Setting aside any ethical judgment of Microsoft (which was
universally condemned for their actions and whose apology
was judged disingenuous), you have to admire the aggressiveness
of that company. They are a mean survival machine, willing
to take on everyone, including the U.S. Government and
judicial system, by nearly whatever means necessary. They
live on the edge of illegal behavior, testing how far they can
go to ensure their dominance. Watching them take on
competitors is like watching a wolf set loose near a
flock of sheep.
Someday Microsoft will flame out, and I suspect it will
be spectacular to watch.

Waking Life Who is it

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Waking Life


Who is it that defends our country? I wonder what the
demographic make-up of our armed forces is. And how
it compares to the demographic profile of the United
States as a whole.
If China attacked the U.S. tomorrow, or some Chinese
terrorists flew some planes into the WTC, would I be
just as ready to join the army? Would I want to do so
more than I would otherwise?
What does it say to the rest of the world when their primary
interaction with our country is American cinema? Seriously,
when I think of how I interact with most foreign countries on
a day to day basis (thus I exclude the occasional vacation
as I can't afford otherwise) it's primarily through their movies and
occasionally through some of their citizens, traveling abroad.
Corporations have public relations departments to control
the perception of them by Wall Street, their investors.
Politicians and political parties are even more dependent
on public perception for their power than corporations, which
can show hard economic results to offset any subjective
assessments of their performance. I wish that politics
included some more truly concrete measurements for
political effectiveness and accomplishments. Because I've
seen what public relations is all about, and I've seen how the
press reacts to PR, and the process is horribly detrimental
to the truth. What we read or hear about politicians in
the press, from experts, from friends--it is like hearing a
person describe a courtroom artists sketch of a suspect.
What is it that causes so many sites to use mother's
maiden name as the question you have to answer to
retrieve your password? Is a person's mother's maiden
name really so hard to find out? Maybe it is. Someone
told me their mother's maiden name the other day and
I felt as if I suddenly had immense power over them.
If you didn't read that Chomsky article I referenced yesterday,
or maybe if you did and want to read more, a series of
interviews with him, conducted post Sept. 11, has been
published as an e-book titled 9/11.

The Dead We are fighting

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The Dead

We are fighting Osama abroad, but here at home we have to deal with anthrax-wielding lunatics. We have some sickos among us, and the nation needs to take some antibiotics. What is the equivalent of societal Cipro? Thanks for the link to Media Whores Online, which hard-core liberals will want to bookmark.
And before you offer your unwavering support for our government, you may wish to read this transcript of a Q&A with Noam Chomsky. He offers his usual astute but somewhat extreme observations about the current situation and how our government is able to define the moral
terminology of this battle against Osama. Not that Osama isn't a bad man that deserves to be spanked. But nothing is ever as clean as it appears, and by the time this is all over, everyone's hands will be dirty. Let's not pretend that there aren't lots of poor Afghans dying right now because we've cut off aid, or bombed the hell out of the land that they live in. To defend the way that we live, though, perhaps we must accept that type of moral arithmetic. Anyway, go read the article. Chomsky is nothing if not thought-provoking, even if he's impossible to debate and slightly insane.
Getting nostalgic for the early days of the web? Take yourself back.
Dubya popped up on the scoreboard during the seventh inning stretch of Game One of the World Series and once again said "make no mistake about it." In this case,
"Make no mistake about it, we will triumph over the evil ones." Something like that. Dubya, YOU make no mistake about it.
Finally visited Blogdex today. It crawls weblogs all over the web and has indexes for the most linked to websites among
weblogs. Interesting stuff from the all-time index:
Blogger is number one. Seems to be the most popular weblog software by far. I wonder if it was that mention in Wired magazine. That's how I first heard of it.
Lots of random weblog related community sites, indexes.
Then Google shows up. Not surprisingly. The search engine of choice for, well, everyone I know. One of the great user interfaces of this first era of the popular world wide web.
The Onion is next at number six. As the Simpsons starts to get long in the tooth, perhaps it is The Onion which has come to carry the banner for humor for those who like to think of themselves as cognoscenti of fine humor.
If you take the word of the community as gospel, then the king of personal weblogs is kottke.org, the top-ranked personal weblog.
Second to Blogger in popularity in the weblog software arena is Greymatter.
CNN.com is the highest ranked news site. Then come three sites I also use a lot: Salon, Memepool, Slashdot.org. Man, I'm like the average weblogger. I link to those sites all the time.
I just realized that song they play at the Mariners games when Kazuhiro Sasaki comes into the game comes from a Paul Oakenfold CD. Of course, he may have stolen, er, sampled it from someone else. It's off of Two Years of Oakenfold at Cream,
Disc One. Not sure what track #. Just in case you want to play it on those days when you need that extra motivation when being called down for breakfast.
My football cup runneth over. Stanford is #14 in the latest BCS rankings, and the Bears made a miraculous comeback today against the hated 49ers to move to 5-1. No one in Seattle really plays football. I miss going out on fall days with Nate, Rick, Vijay, Pavan, and all those folks to chuck the football around. The college days, with no pads hitting, the annual Rice Bowl, and the feeling of pain all over the body the next day. Of all the types of athletic pain I've felt in my life, nothing matched that. There's nothing better than hitting some weight-room sculpted meathead so hard he forgets his own name. My roommate Mark, who was no big weight-lifter, put a hit on some guy that gave him a concussion, and I still remember the sound of it so many years later.
I'm not sure how Stanford made it to #14 in the BCS. I remember a bunch of sites picked us to be last in the Pac-10 this year. We never have any Heisman caliber athletes, and we don't really crank out a lot of Pro-Bowl NFL studs. Teyo Johnson is perhaps our only truly freakish athletic talent. Our backup QB, and now starter, Chris Lewis, is raw, erratic. Throws a lot of interceptions. Our defense is not going to earn any nicknames. Must be good coaching.
In preparation for the novel I'm going to write starting Thursday, I've started transcribing James Joyce's The Dead again. Hopefully the ghost of Joyce's soul will inhabit me for a few hours a day. Enough to crank out 2000 words or so.
Bill bought a house. I wish I could pull the trigger. If I thought I'd definitely stay in Seattle another 3 years I'd do the same. Renting feels so 26.

What's the Word? I've thought

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What's the Word?


I've thought about getting a Mac for video editing. I'm curious,
though. If you don't want to pay for Microsoft Word on the
Mac ($350!?!) what is the default word processing application?
Is there one? A much cheaper alternative? I can do spreadsheets
and presos and image editing and stuff on my Windows PC,
but I have to at least have a minimally sophisticated word
processing app for my Mac. Especially if I get a laptop.
What do you know, readers?

Leggo my Cipro! Here's a

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Leggo my Cipro!


Here's a classic test of patriotism. It's easy to wave the flag
when terrorists kill thousands of your fellow citizens, and it's
easy to salute your brave police and firemen and emergency
personnel. Now the threat of anthrax has everyone feeling
nervous, and a few people I know are hitting websites to stock
up on Cipro, even if they are at low risk of contracting anthrax
and are currently as healthy as can be. We studied this in
econ--it's the tragedy of the commons.
If everyone in an interconnected network (I think we studied
this particularly as it applied to democratic, capitalistic
societies) optimizes for their own well-being, i.e. stocks up
on cipro, then the entire society's well-being is undermined,
i.e., people who really are sick with anthrax can't get
Cipro.
So don't stock up on Cipro unless you really need it. If you
somehow catch Anthrax, count on society to get you the
necessary medication. It's a bit harder than waving a flag,
but no less patriotic.

Germs ...of an idea for

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Germs


...of an idea for my novel for Nanowrimo are starting to grab
hold. Yes, that's a bad pun to use in these times, but in
fact the novel would have to deal with Sept. 11, in some ways.
I have the general themes and some of the short stories
that will support those themes. I need to start flushing it
out a bit.
Nowhere Girl is good. "Ever have the feeling you're an
accessory in someone else's life?" Yes!
New project at work is...involving. I have not yet synthesized
it all in my head. Sometimes the path becomes crystal clear,
but for now, it's all just murky and massive. I dreamed about
it last night.

Proof Does any car maker

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Proof


Does any car maker use cooler music in their commercials than
Volkswagen? Love that new one "Big Day" with the guy rushing
to break up the wedding.
Saw Proof tonight with Rachael. It was fantastic. Some
math, though it wasn't really about math. Very well acted.
Contained elements from Fermat's Enigma (elliptical curves)
and A Beautiful Mind (which I've just started reading in
anticipation of the movie).
I'm trying to read lots of books before the movie adaptions
come out. Not just A Beautiful Mind, but Harry Potter,
Lord of the Rings. It may end up just detracting from
the moviegoing experience, but I'm a firm believer that while
a movie can never do certain things which a book is better
suited to do (convey a person's inner thoughts, for example)
the medium of movies does other things much better than
books (a photo is much better than a paragraph of text for
describing physical appearances, locales). If a movie is
not the book, that is not inherently bad. If it is a bad movie,
then that is bad.
So many people I know are applying to schools. Rachael
pointed out that it's not uncommon in times of recession.
I'd be a much better student now than I was back in my
university days.

Fewer Happy Meals In times

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Fewer Happy Meals


In times of recession, even Big Macs suffer. We
knew that someday the growth would end. Could this be
that day, after over 99 billion people were served?
Reminds me of the article in the Onion titled something
like "Starbucks to open new location in men's bathroom
of existing Starbucks".
You know that this terrorist stuff is an accepted part of
everyday life now that people make jokes about Osama
bin Laden. In today's Onion:
Woman With Sore Throat Thinks It Might Be Anthrax
NEW YORK

Smallville From Variety: "Young Superman

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Smallville


From Variety:
"Young Superman tale "Smallville" proved to be more
powerful than a locomotive Tuesday, premiering to
some of the best ratings in the WB net's seven-year history.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the 68-minute
premiere of the critically acclaimed "Smallville"
(9-10:08 p.m.) attracted the largest audience ever
for a series preem on the WB (8.35 million
viewers) -- outdrawing ABC's comedies and Fox's
"Love Cruise" to finish third for the hour.
It also bagged the best 18-49 rating for a Frog net
series premiere (3.8/9) as well as the best score for
any episode of any series in the WB's history among
adults 18-34 (4.5/12), men 18-34 (5.0/14) and men
18-49 (3.9/10)."
I watched the season premiere. Fairly entertaining
show, more because of the storytelling than the
special effects or the acting (the lead, who plays
Superman, is pretty unexpressive). I guess I have not
outgrown the drama of teenage angst.

Random thoughts Maybe it was

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Random thoughts


Maybe it was Sept. 11, and the anthrax scares now, or maybe
an early mid-life crisis. I'm a budding skeptic. My mind bounces
from anthrax to playoff baseball to work and around and around.
It's difficult to think much further into the future. I think I'm in
danger of losing my long-term imagination.
When Bill house hunts, or Joannie prepares for marriage, or
Michelle seeks a job in Seattle, or Howie starts business
school, I can barely think out as far as Thanksgiving.
Went to the Mariners game today. I'm resigned to the idea that
the Yankees will win it all again, and it depresses me. Please,
someone beat the Yankees. Is there anything more dull than
seeing the highest paid team in baseball win year after year?
The series doesn't line up well for the M's. Today they had a
struggling Sele against a rested Pettite. Tomorrow they have
Garcia on 3 days rest against Mussina, probably the best Yankee
starter right now (and statistically, he might have had a better
year than Clemens if you disregard W-L record). They get
the edge with Moyer in Game 3, but just barely. Williams
seems to hit Moyer very well. I think the key to the series
is giving Pineiro a start against Clemens in Game Four. Pass
up Sele.
New project at work, and it is very challenging and time-consuming.
I think I'm ready for an uptick in intensity again, though these days
with the early darkness outside and empty offices earlier than
normal, late nights at my desk are a bit, mmm, secluded.
Installed Office XP at work b/c I needed the new pivot table
interface for accessing some data cubes. So far, I don't detect
very many striking improvements. Thankfully, my custom macros
and buttons in Excel were not lost. Outlook seems to run slower
and strange bugs pop up to nag me from time to time.
I might be out in NYC on business sometime in the next two weeks.
It would be fun to see James, and Karen might head out as well.
You know, it really is very easy to download movies off the
Internet. I've never really had the urge, as watching movies on a picture
the size of a playing card on a PC with the sound coming from a
pair of PC computers holds no appeal for me. But for kicks I decided
to try it out today and managed to find all sorts of current movies
out there.
There was an interesting article in the NYTimes Magazine recently,
an issue examining love in the 21st century. The article questioned
the modern conception of love and whether or not it truly is a thing
to be desired in its most popular forms (marriage, monogamy, etc.).
If more than one in two marriages ends in divorce, might it not be an
institution in need of some adjustment? Maybe that's the accepted
calculus of marriage, that if you hit .500 you're a success. In baseball
you strike out once it's okay if you get a hit the next time out. If
your first marriage ends in divorce and you remarry, happily, you're
a one-time divorcee. Maybe the problem lies in the romantic notion
that you must find sexual attraction and lifelong companionship from
the same person (when we know that the former has a finite life).
I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say. For a man with a somewhat
skeptical bent, I found the article intriguing.
Today is the first time since last winter that I can recall seeing
temperatures fall under 50 degrees. I read 43 degrees on my way
to work this morning. Car windows frost up, and I'm reminded so
strongly of rushing out on a fall day in Naperville, preparing to
play football on a large, empty field dusted with gold and orange
leaves.
In other words, not Britney Spears singing Hit Me Baby One More
Time but more like Travis covering Hit Me Baby One More Time.
Mellow, ironic, somewhat desperate, possibly drug-influenced.

Playoff baseball is great. Because

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Playoff baseball is great. Because of the way the sport is played,
initiated by a one on one confrontation of pitcher and batter, it
provides the type of focused drama that is lacking in, say, a sport
like football.
I'm usually not a fan of letting starting pitchers throw 120, 130
pitches (it's a common precursor to season-ending arm injuries)
but in the playoffs there's something noble about it. Matt Morris
and Curt Schilling both stayed out there past 120 pitches, and
both went out firing with their best pitches. Morris with his knee
buckling curve to strike out Grace, and Schilling with his 98 mph
gas to blow away Matheny. That's baseball's equivalent of the
running back who's had about thirty carries plowing over one
linebacker and dragging another two yards for a first down in
the fourth quarter.

Don't leave your best weapons on the shelf

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Okay, you're Lou Piniella, and you're looking to pick your playoff roster. You have to leave one of the following pitchers behind. Which would you pick?





































 
Innings pitched


WHIP


ERA

Pitcher A
75.1


0.94


2.03

Pitcher B
78.1


1.28


3.56

Pitcher C
163.0


1.42


4.25

Pitcher D
66.0


1.47


4.36

Pitcher E
110.1


1.43


4.73


Pitcher A is Joel Pineiro, and he got left off the playoff roster, presumably because he's young. Well, the Mariners felt that today, when Pineiro wasn't there and Lou had to go to pitchers C, D, and E, who combined for six innings pitched, 13 runs allowed.
The Indians and Cardinals ignored the old "youths are not battle-tested for the playoffs" and started two rookies, C.C. Sabathia and Bud Smith, because they had pitched well during the regular season. Both won today.
In a short series, how likely is it that you'll want to go beyond Nelson and Rhodes as your setup men for Sasaki? Not likely, unless you're getting shelled early, and even then, you should probably just ride Rhodes and Nelson if you want to survive. You don't need Paniagua. Yes, Pineiro is a starter, but you bet a manager would use Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez or another starter as a relief pitcher if they felt it would help. Pineiro should've been on the roster, and you could make the case he should have started Game 3.

Happy birthday Emily! Happy birthday

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Happy birthday Emily!


Happy birthday Emily! Where was Scully?
Emily has the coolest pictures of herself and her friends and other
things hanging all over her house. And all this old camera equipment
just sitting on shelves everywhere. I need to start hanging up pictures
like that around my room.
I seriously doubt I'll make it to the morning bike ride. I could barely
drive to Sammamish right now, let alone ride. This rainy weather
is horrible. I'm not even sure I can make it to the morning run. I'm
such a wuss dog this week.

Dread The FBI warns of

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Dread


The FBI warns of possible terrorist attacks in the next few days.
I've gotten e-mails from all sorts of people: don't go to malls on Oct. 31,
don't handle any letters from unknown people or from the Middle East,
don't drink water from the tap, and on and on.
It's somewhat contradictory to both "alert Americans to any credible
threats about future terrorist plans" without providing any details while
at the same time saying that "Americans should go on with their lives,
there's no reason people should live in panic." But those e-mails
I'm receiving, with detailed instructions, also inspire more defined
and perhaps no less credible fears. This is how it is to live in a
nation at war.

Vanilla Sky

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Trailer for Vanilla Sky, in Quicktime.
Recently watched the original film which this movie is based on. Open Your Eyes, by Alejandro Amenabar (The Others). Penelope Cruz plays the same character in both versions.
I somehow suspect that the Cameron Crowe version will be lighter. Hmm, maybe it's the use of Salsbury Hill in the trailer.
I don't think Penelope Cruz is necessarily the end all be all, but her accent is super sexy. Cameron Diaz--I'm not sure I'll ever be able to take her in a serious role (which is another reason I think this version will be a lot lighter than the original). Tom Cruise is a 2-D actor, a one-trick pony. He compensates for his limited range by having generic good looks and a lot of ambition. Hopefully he will not turn this role into "Jerry Maguire with a facial deformity."