December 06, 2004
"In comes I, Old Father Christmas"
Still no snow this weekend, so we went to the Victorian Stroll in Troy.
Here's Christopher posing with Patrick Sisti, an old friend playing Father Christmas. Not only does Patrick have the look down pat, he has a friendly, generous nature that instantly reassures the most shy child.
"In comes I, Old Father Christmas. Be I welcome or be I not - I hope that old Christmas will never be forgot!"
Christmasarchives.com has lots of information on English Christmas traditions, including the non-fat, non-red, not-always-so-jolly Father Christmas.
November 24, 2004
Thanksgiving Photo Essay
Ran across this Thanksgiving photo essay at www.donaldsensing.com.
Thank you for the touching reminder of what we're really supposed to be dwelling on at Thanksgiving (and it's not football, not turkey, not preparing to shop on Black Friday).
We have so much to be thankful for this year, and, as we gather with family this holiday, I hope we'll keep in mind all the good things we've received and look for ways to share our good fortune with others.
Best wishes to you and yours for a safe, happy Thanksgiving holiday!
November 21, 2004
Library Contest Winner
We're very proud of Christopher, who was one of nine children recognized from among over 100 entrants in the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library's Design Your Own Bookmark Contest. Christopher's bookmark showed a cross section of an ant colony with the slogan "We Dig the Library." The winners had a little ceremony, where they got books as gifts and learned about writing and illustrating from children's book author and illustrator Slyvie Wickstrom. A lot of fun and very interesting.
As I've mentioned before, I think libraries are fantatisc places that help foster curiosity and a love for learning. The whole family visits the library regularly and it’s so nice to see Christopher enjoying the trips.
November 19, 2004
Hacking Writer's Block
Lots of ideas for getting past writer's block in this post from 43folders.com. And great responses in the comments that add even more food for thought. For me, writer's block = procrastination + distraction. When that happens, I try to tackle the work a digestible bite at a time so I can see I'm making progress and negotiate in breaks for reaching important milestones.
The suggestion about unplugging your router is dead on for me, and I even liked Andrew's comment that a computer with just a word processor can help. I've also found that I'm much more effective if I also turn off as much background noise as possible -- even instrumental music cuts into my concentration.
At least for my non-fiction work, being at a loss of what to write next usually just means I didn't prepare properly. I find it's a lot easier to start with a very fast and rough outline, which gives me a road map for where I'm going and starts my brain thinking about how I'm going to get there. If I get stuck on one section, I can always shift to another for a while and then come back.
November 13, 2004
Chromasia.com: Great Photoblog
David Nightingale's chromasia.com is a great photoblog! Enjoyed browsing the archives and really loved the photo he chose for his "about" section.
October 27, 2004
Congratulations, Red Sox!
After 86 years, even the Bambino was up there saying, "You can do it boys!"
October 22, 2004
Space Tourism - the Final Frontier?
A couple weeks ago SpaceShipOne won the $10M X Prize and proved private space travel was feasible. Now it looks like a quick trip into space may someday become the new elite tourist destination.
LONDON, England -- William Shatner wants to boldly go where he's only pretended to go so far.
The "Star Trek" star is among more than 7,000 people who have told Richard Branson they would gladly pay him $210,000 (£115,000) for a trip aboard his planned spacecraft, the entrepreneur said Friday.
Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro has signed up for a ride, and a Hollywood director who was not identified has booked an entire ship.
Trevor Beattie, chairman of the ad agency TBWA -- responsible for campaigns such as the "Hello Boys" Wonderbra campaign with Eva Herzigova -- offered to send a check as soon as the project was launched last month.
In all, more than $1.45 billion (£800 million) has been pledged -- years before the Virgin Galactic spaceship is even built, Branson said.
Branson, 54, is pouring $135 million (£74 million) into his latest commercial experiment, which promises to send the paying public 70 miles above the planet to experience six minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth.
Speaking from the Mojave Desert in California, Branson told the UK's Press Association he was overwhelmed by the response.
"We are extremely pleased because it just means in a sense that the gamble we took seems to have paid off," he said...
October 05, 2004
Congrats, SpaceShipOne
I was six years old back in 1969 when Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon. A year earlier, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey painted a vivid picture of a future where public space travel on (Pan Am) shuttles -- complete with stewardesses -- was routine.
Fast forward 35 years: now my son is six and there are still no robot butlers, flying cars in the garage or public access to space. We have made great strides in exploring our solar system and the larger universe, but access to outer space has been the sole domain of a very select few with access controlled by the budgets and interests of various governments.
So I couldn't be happier to see SpaceShipOne win a $10M dollar prize for demonstrating two successful flights of a private spacecraft capable of carrying passengers. While there's a lot of talk about the development of space tourism, I'm hoping private initiative and competition will create many more opportunities and drive costs down.
Perhaps before my first grandchild turns six, maybe some space trips will become as mundane as intercontinental flights are today.
September 27, 2004
Learning to Fly: A Lesson in Parenting
I'm learning to fly,
but I ain't got wings
- Tom Petty
Yesterday we took the training wheels off Christopher's bike.
He wobbled at first. We ran alongside, helping steady the bike and shouting encouragement.
Then suddenly he grasped the magic that lets a rider cancel gravity for a time and skim along, suspended over the pavement on two spinning wheels.
"Let go! Let go!" he yelled his face full of pride and joy, "I can do it!"
We let go.
And down the road he flew.
September 16, 2004
Max-ing out the Hard Drive
Hard drive space has been disappearing fast on our main home PC as we've been adding pics from the digital camera, movies from the DV camcorder and time-shifted TV video from the Leadtek Winfast card. So when I saw our local CompUSA had a good deal on a Maxtor 250GB drive, I decided it was time to add a little breathing room and at the same time replace my old primary drive on the PC.
Physically installing the new hard drive wasn't a problem, but it took the included MaxBlast partition copying utility *forever* to copy all data off the old drive and onto the new one (I know, time to get a decent drive imaging program). I also had to update my copy of atapi.sys so Windows XP could properly support such a large hard drive. None of it was hard, but it was all time-consuming and required a surprising amount of research to make sure I did the right things in the right order (for example a quick browse of the Maxtor documentation and Web produced conflicting directions on registry patches, bios updates, etc. that turned out not to apply to my setup).
Two days later and it's all working. However, I agree with Steve at furrygoat.com that most non-technical people would probably find this process pretty daunting. The SATA interface available for newer drives helps by eliminating some of the cabling and jumper issues, but seems to me that basic software tools for managing partitions should be part of Windows' disk management. Fdisk and xcopy are simply not enough these days to handle basic tasks like replacing a drive.
June 19, 2004
Bell Family Gets Bigger
Lauren Elizabeth Bell arrived at 5:13 a.m. on Friday, June 18th. 9 pounds, 4 ounces. 21 inches long. Mom and baby are doing fine. Lauren is beautiful, healthy and happy. Parents and big brother Christopher are ecstatic!
May 28, 2004
Cameras don't take good pictures, people do
I've been playing with our new Sony DSC-V1 digital camera and trying to get a better handle on adjusting depth of field (DOF). While reading that digital cameras typically deliver MUCH greater DOF than their 35mm equivalents (here's a good basic explanation of why), I started getting obsessed with my camera's features. Then I ran across these two articles (thanks to PhotoWhat) by Ken Rockwell and Noah Grey and was reminded I was focusing on the wrong thing: people take good pictures, not cameras.
May 27, 2004
Springfield on the Map
Just in case you ever get lost on TV, here's a map to the Simpson's Springfield: http://www.csupomona.edu/~jelerma/springfield/map/index.html
April 20, 2004
Kevin Kelly on Improving Your Commute
Kevin Kelly touts the pleasures of listening to books on tape at Cool Tools. I completely agree with his points: it's a great way to improve a commute; unabridged versions are a LOT better (libraries are key here unless you're willing to spend $50-100 per book); and a good narrator matters (I'm a big fan of George Guidall). I often find I get more out of listening to a book too, because it prevents my unfortunate tendency to skim!
April 06, 2004
Typewriter nostalgia -- would white-out by any other name smell as sweet?
Retiree prefers clack of typewriter over hum of PC | theledger.com
Though marginalized by general-purpose computers, here's an article about how typewriters can still be found here and there. As a kid I learned to touch type on a old manual Underwood myself, which necessitated really whacking the keys, a habit I had to un-learn in later years when I moved to electric typewriters and then personal computers and "daisywheel" printers. There's probably something positive to be said about having to "crystallize each phrase" before putting it down indelibly on paper -- but not by me! God bless the backspace.
April 02, 2004
New desktop in honor of spring
Spring trout season just began here in New York, and I used the event as an excuse to replace the old default Windows XP desktop background with something new. The fish -- a bluegill, not a trout -- is a 1908 illustration from the Illinois Natural History Survey (bluegill is the state fish of Illinois). A couple minutes in PhotoShop and I had a whole new outlook.
This test PC has an Nvidia-powered dual display so I can use two monitors as if they were one huge display. Very productive when you're dealing with programs that use lots of separate tool pallete windows. The Mac-like dock in the upper-right corner is the now-defunct free Y'z Dock -- one of the few dock programs that supports multiple monitors.
I'm not much of a desktop "modder," but it was fun to give the test system a little style. Setting this up was trivial and I can easily revert back to a standard configuration if I want.
But this was also a reminder about some of the arbitrary limitations built into Windows XP. For example, I purposely hid the few remaining desktop icons I have in this screenshot because I don't like how the icon labels look. You can have icon labels that blend perfectly into your background, as long as you want white text and heavy dark shadows around the text. If your background is dark, that works ok -- though I think the shadows are too thick and distracting even with my dark blue fish desktop -- but if you use a light background, icon captions turn into an unreadable mess. If you turn off "use shadows for icon labels," you have to have solid color backgrounds behind the labels which won't blend in nicely with your background. Ditto for choosing another color for icon caption text. I assume with the right third-party utility I could easily get around this limitation, but I'm still scratching my head wondering why Microsoft couldn't have made these user-configurable options from the start.
Maybe in Longhorn...
March 08, 2004
Spaulding Gray Dead at 62
The body of Spaulding Gray, monologuist and actor, was found yesterday in the East River. He disappeared two months ago. While the cause of death has not been confirmed, apparently he had long struggled with depression.
I saw him perform his "Swimming to Cambodia" monologue a few years ago, and was charmed by his wry self-effacing humor. It's hard for me to imagine past that public persona when I read about his tragic end. My heart goes out to his wife and children.
March 01, 2004
Dinner with Rudy
Had a really enjoyable dinner with my old roommate, Rudy Gabrielson, who had a few hours layover in Albany before a business flight home to Maine. It was nice to get together and catch up on the latest news. Rudy, who's a VP with FleetBoston, is one of the smartest, most insightful guys I know, and our conversations always leave me with something to think about. The Federal Reserve is expected to give their blessing to Fleet merging with -- or, more accurately, into -- Bank of America. So here's hoping BoA knows what a great employee they're acquiring!
February 20, 2004
Hubble Still Valuable
From James Glanz's article in the New York Times:
A dark, unseen energy permeating space is pushing the universe apart just as Einstein predicted it could in 1917, according to striking new measurements of distant exploding stars by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
. . .
The measurements raise new questions about NASA's decision, which is now being reviewed, to let the Hubble Space Telescope die a slow death in space over the next several years rather than attempt another servicing mission with the space shuttle. NASA's administrator, Sean O'Keefe, has said that a servicing mission would be too risky in the wake of the disaster involving the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Dr. Riess said he disagreed with the decision to shut down the Hubble.
"The Hubble is an invaluable tool in the studies," he said. "Nothing else can contribute this kind of data. I think to stop doing this science with Hubble would be a very unfortunate choice."
Here's hoping NASA rethinks this one. Hubble is valuable tool, and it's loss will delay some science for years.
January 04, 2004
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit Arrived Safely
According to NASA, the first Mars Exploration Rover Spirit touched down safely on Mars tonight! I'm hoping that success is repeated on January 24th, when the next Rover, Opportunity, is slated to reach the red planet.
December 29, 2003
Jay Rosen's "Thoughts on the Killing of a Young Journalist"
At one time, I considered a career in journalism. And, like many would-be journalists, I daydreamed about the adventure of being a foreign correspondent.
This memorial speech, PressThink: Thoughts on the Killing of a Young Correspondent, does a superb job of not only memorializing fallen journalist Sander Thoenes, but also gives a glimpse at the challenge, sacrifice and real importance of an increasingly endangered breed of journalism.
December 24, 2003
A wish for the holidays...
That you have a safe and happy holiday and start the new year off on a great note!
Oh, and while we're at it, how about that the Beagle 2 lands safely on Mars Christmas Day...
Among other things, the Beagle 2 will be looking for signs of life in the Martian impact basin, Isidis Planitia. There's a great site if you want to know more.
If it not only completed its six-month journey successfully, but also found definitive signs of ancient life on Mars -- what a Christmas present that would be!
British bookmakers have the odds at 25-1. The real odds are probably a LOT higher, but I'm still pulling for them!
12/31/03 Update: No joy so far. Beagle 2 is down but incommunicado. The Mars Express orbiter is moving to a new polar orbit that will have it going right over the Beagle's landing area, so there's some hope that it may pick up the signal.
December 08, 2003
Sony shutterbug
For the holidays, we bought our first digital camera, a Sony Cybershot DSC-V1 digital camera. It's small, super fast, and has enough bells and whistles to keep me scratching my head into the new year
October 30, 2003
Are Libraries an Endangered Species?
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm an ominvorous reader. So it's probably not surprising that I think free public libraries are among our greatest inventions -- giving everyone the opportunity to learn by sharing resources none of us could ever afford, collect or store individually.
I've got my five year old son hooked on reading too and I've really enjoyed exploring the stacks with him. I remember the first time I showed him the adult section on dinosaurs and he was astounded so many books could exist about his favorite subject. Libraries are a fantatisc environment to help foster curiosity and a love for learning.
All this has made me very interested in how libraries are faring as the world becomes more and more digital.
Some recent changes -- such as recent federal rules requiring libraries to provide reading lists to law enforcement officials (while keeping those requests secret from patrons) concern me because of their Big Brother aspect. Others, such as the requirement to filter Internet access, concern me less because many people have alternate ways to access the Internet.
But, what if technology itself started making libraries ability to loan out materials technically impossible or illegal?
A great resource is theshiftedlibrarian.com.
Here's a recent post. The last two sentences are pretty scary (bolding added to highlight). Would we really be that short-sighted?
On a more depressing note, make sure you follow the link above to Ernie's post and read up on the four DMCA exemptions ruling, too, because today our government again decided that we do not have a right to "fair use" of the digital files we purchase. Not surprising given the way the entertainment industry has framed the debate and paid for legislation over the last decade, but discouraging nonetheless.
If legislators were forced to vote today for the "right of first sale" of digital files, which is the exemption that has traditionally allowed libraries to circulate physical materials, I wonder how many of them would blindly sign it away without a second thought to libraries. If public libraries didn't already exist, would we be able to start them in this day and age? My guess is no.
October 07, 2003
R.I.P. Big Claw
Barely two months after joining our household, tragedy struck our pet fiddler crab Big Claw. Apparently, after molting sometime last night, he was attacked by his aquarium mate, Reddy the red-clawed crab. This morning there was nothing left but a few legs and a well-picked carapace. The two had previously shown little interest in each other, had plenty of room, and were about the same size, so this gruesome turn was unexpected. Makes me glad I'm not two inches tall!
August 29, 2003
Joe Zimmerman, Tschüs!
Seems like a day for goodbyes! My old roommate, Joe Zimmerman, should be winging his way back to Germany by now. He's been living there for several years with his girlfriend, Lona, but makes irregular pilgrimages back to see family and friends. Yesterday, Leslie and I had a pleasant riverfront lunch with Joe as he prepared to return home from his latest visit. It was great to see each other but over too quickly. Joe, we we wish you a safe journey home. Lona, hope you enjoyed your trip to Barcelona, and we hope to see both of you next time!
August 19, 2003
Crabby Houseguests
Two new additions to the household to replace our recently re-emancipated Eastern newt: a fiddler crab (named Big Claw by Christopher) and a red clawed crab (called, what else, Reddy). So far, they seem content to prowl their new plastic home, eating crab food pellets and occassionally stumbling onto each other and then waving their claws frantically. Found a couple links about taking care of crabs here and here.
July 09, 2003
Spirited Away by Anime
Maybe I've been watching too many cartoons with my son, but I really like some of the Japanese anime flicks. Recently, I saw a few really superb examples that are aimed more at adults: Metropolis, Cowboy Bebop and Spirited Away.
Metropolis turns Fritz Lang's epic of class struggle into a more personal tale of what it means to be human. Based more on classic Japanese graphic novels than the famous film, the new Metropolis does a great job creating a retro-sci-fi world that mixes the 1920s and the 22nd century.
Cowboy Bebop follows a mismatched group of future bounty hunters trying to prevent a madman from releasing a deadly plague. Pure escapism, but a fun to watch. The characters range from zany to uber hip, the action is as fast and slick as any John Woo movie, and the eclectic jazz/rock soundtrack is fantastic.
My favorite was Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki's story of a little girl who is separated from her parents in an abandoned amusement park only find herself trapped in a resort for wayward spirits. Every scene is filled with imaginative situations and characters and the art is simply stunning. It's not surprising that Spirited Away has been the top-rated movie in Japan for a while (knocking Titanic out of the top spot).