» 2008 » February

Music is the product of muses, but it can be a muse in and of itself, a trait that I use a lot - when I’m writing, I’ll have music in the background that I don’t “hear”, but it’s there and keeps the words flowing for example.

Likewise, music can reach into our hearts, shaping our feelings. Soft quiet music helps with meditation, Iron Maiden gets the heart beating.

… Might not be great right now.

Microsoft’s woes with the long heralded but problematic replacement for Windows XP seem far from over.

Service Pack 1 (SP1), due for widespread release in mid-March 2008, has a worrysome knowledgebase article¹:

Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is an important update for Windows Vista. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) contains many security, reliability, and feature updates for Windows Vista. A program may experience a loss of functionality after you install Windows Vista SP1. However, most programs will continue to work as expected after you install Windows Vista SP1.

Junk mail tends to get skipped over around here pretty quickly, but I guess advertisers have finally figured this out, and will do anything to get people’s attention.

They certainly did with the copy of “Auto Selector” that arrived here the other day. Right on the front page, ignoring the large black GMC SUV covering most of it, is a picture of some black guy dressed up in some caricature of American Indian regalia, complete with obligatory mini-skirted-and-high-heeled girl beside him.

Underneath the picture however reads the text “Spotlight on Chief Zee” with a page.

Oh dear.

I discovered SoundClick has a widget that I can embed here that plays more Nakoda Lodge, so, here it is

Back in the depths of time (or at least in ‘Confirmation Of Faith’), I jumped feet-deep into the whole cyber-era with the introduction of the Starwolves to the Legion Universe. One of the devices mentioned was the ‘Halo’, a non-implanted system to allow protagonists to interface with the ships. The ‘Halo’, for those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the latest and greatest developments over the past 750 thousand years of a race of hyper-intelligent artificial sentiences, acted as the analog of Neural Cores, linking the temporary versions of the other implants together to provide a limited emulation of the cybernetic abilities full-blown implants offered.

Having looked around the ‘Net, I know I’m not the only one who thinks the survivors and family members of those killed during the street racing accident in Accokeek, Maryland, last weekend are kind of missing the point.

It’s been widely reported in the news that the brother of one of those killed wants the police to look into the driver of the car that hit the spectators, stating “I want justice done”, an opinion others share.

This idea of “justice” seems misplaced however.

1. Two car drivers were involved in an illegal street race.

By now, everyone has likely seen the video of, or at least heard about, the quadriplegic in Florida who was detained by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s department and dumped out of his wheelchair.

What’s less widely publicized in the media is the call in January of 2008 by Rod Liddle in The Times newspaper for people to do precisely what occurred.

It’s astonishing to me, there’s such an uproar about this one case, caught on video, but relatively speaking there is absolutely no practical reaction to Liddle’s column. I can’t understand the reason behind the silence in the UK from all “decent” people, when those same people are so vocal condemning what happened in Florida.

Yes, I’m doing what everyone else is, and blogging about Britney Spears.

Actually, it’s about an article on CNN’s In Session blog. In it, Bog Regan tells us about plans in California to create a new law restricting the paparazzi, and mentions “Britney’s Law”.

Now, whether or not the law is actually called “Britney’s Law” isn’t nearly as important as what the law does. It’s another attempt to rein in the outrageous and provocative behavior of these … “people”.

Luntz, Maslansky, is a “Strategic Research” company that does market research, focus groups and the like for corporations and politicians.  We’re signed up for their alerts asking for participants in these research projects, and they come in reasonably regularly.

Imagine our excitement at one received last week, for research being done (presumably) for Fox News:

You will be commenting on the presidential candidates for a cable news network. You will be shown on live television and then will make an appearance on the Hannity and Colmes show. This is your chance to get your opinion on one of the highest rated shows and networks on television and to be seen by millions of people.

The deserts of America are studded with aircraft boneyards, those places where old planes go to wither and die. Once soaring majestically over the earth, now reduced to decaying piles of metal, row upon row of once useful creations sit idle and forgotten.

It seems some bright sparks at MotoArt have decided to perform the ultimate in recycling, and offers items made from cannibalized parts of various aircraft.

Executive chairs, done out in red leather - with the original ejector seat frame and handles from B-52 bombers … Tables made from tailplanes (the horizontal stabilizer wings) of old world war two torpedo bombers … A computer desk curving around made from the engine cowling from an old DC-6 …