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Showing posts from 2002
WebmasterMac: Macintosh > Applescript > Sample Talking Computers AppleScript Years and years ago, there was a program using Apple Events that would get multiple Macs to play music in harmony. "Axel F" was the sample song, if that tells you anything about the vintage. Point being... the more things change, the more they stay the same! :)
Sauce : Products Amazing what three simple colors can provide. (This comes up because Apple just filed a patent for this same -- patented -- technology. So, who knows what they have up their sleve, and whether their pattent will be approved, and whether they'll license the Sauce technology, and...)
:::::___coin-operated.com___::::: STREAMINGMEDIA - 2002 Using water as an organic network between two computers. I wonder if this could have helped during a Y2K crash? Probably not... :)
Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country Okay, you're going to think I'm nuts... but this story (about "ratbots" -- rats with electrodes in their brain so researchers can control and "steer" them) reminds me of something I thought of years ago: aerial recon. by using large birds (like geese, maybe?) with video cameras and electrical brain stimulation to guide them. I agree that there are ethical issues... but it's better to put a rat or goose in harm's way than a human.
WorldNetDaily: CIA releases new 'Noah's Ark' documents Lots of folks out there hunting for lots of stuff...
Cambodia's 'Beer Girls' Learn The Dark Side of Selling Brew A very, very sad story I came across while following up on a lead for some debate research. It's a rough world out there...
Permaculture— Mulch Gardening More on mulch-based gardening.
xNO-TILL, MULCHED-BASED MARKET GARDENING We've always been looking for bigger and better ways to garden out in Ellsworth, and I'm thinking this might be the way to go. But I need to find more information to figure out how to keep weeds from taking over...
If the folks in my office think my stuffed cat is cool, I wonder what they'd think of this? Items matching ( furreal )
Dark Blue Affiliate Network Hmmm... good to see there's another way to make money on the Internet. :)
Official ArtBell.com Commemorative Discs I'm very tempted to get these. I was introduced to Art Bell years ago by my Dad, and he was quite an interesting nighttime experience.
BESTBUY.COM With any luck, I can buy this tomorrow. (Yes, indeed, I'm using my blog as a poor-man's bookmark. Sad, isn't it?)
CaringBridge - gregtolaas My memories of my first day of class at UST consist of two things: John Buri giving us a mercifully brief introduction to Honors Psychology and then sending us on our way... and Fr. Greg Tolaas handing out doughnuts as students streamed in. I'm glad to know he's alive and "as well as can be", and will keep praying for him with renewed vigor...
MIKE WENDLAND: Behind the scenes, spam's even uglier SPAMmers are bad, bad people. But you already knew that.
Mac Addicts to the Rescue WOW! This guy is GREAT! I hope the perp goes to jail for a couple decades...
Matthias's Marble Machines page If I ever have to pick up an absolutely, totally worthless hobby, this will be my first choice.
Building a megapixel digital camera from a flatbed scanner Frugality breeds creativity... or something like that.
Crosswalk.com Did you ever think that Iraq would be tolerant of Christian evangelization?
Iko Iko - Wind-up Sheep Cute! But I'm trying to find the one that appears in http://www.dvcreators.net/mai/mai.html...
David Hasselhoff is the AntiChrist An interesting example of created Bible twisting.
CPR Home It took a kinda convoluted path, but eventually I found out about this tool for "calibrated peer review". Looks like an interesting concept -- and helps reduce instructor workload! (Put those students to work! Make them do your grading and call it a project! :) )
Personal Technology -- Personal Technology from The Wall Street Journal. Things just keep getting smaller and smaller, don't they?
minnesota north star : home If you hate telemarketers as much as I do, and if you live in Minnesota, you'll want to visit this site...
Design a holiday greeting card @ KMARTBOXERS.COM!!! I can't believe this guy has his own web site!
The Blackboard folks say this is a good book: You can teach online
A new tool to play with at Microsoft LRN Toolkit
LILEKS (James) The Bleat You gotta read the Thanksgiving Bleat. We all need to be more thankful for what we have, for as long as we have it.
Macromedia - Contribute This looks like it has lots of promise... Hmmm...
Action Squad: Minneapolis Urban Adventurers WOW! This is SO cool!
MIKE WENDLAND: Spam king lives large off others' e-mail troubles I feel the same way towards SPAMmers as I do towards the 9-11 terrorists; you have to acknowledge their cleverness in achieving their goals... but it's still wrong! ("wrong" in the case of the former, "evil" in the case of the latter, but there's still merit to the analogy...)
Hang Six Here's a very interesting discussion of Jesus' "reduction" of the 10 Commandments. Hmmm...
beliefnet: User Addressing the What Would Jesus Drive question...
Amazon.com: Electronics: Segway Human Transporter -- First come, first served for delivery starting March 2003 Oooh! You can buy them from Amazon now! Only $5,000!
Wired News: Microsoft Spills Customer Data It happens to the best of monopolies, right?
www.macvspc.info Looks like an interesting resource in the Mac vs. PC debate!
beliefnet: Finding Your True Calling This looks interesting enough to read... just as soon as I have the time to get to it... which should tell me something.
beliefnet: Bush vs. the Televangelists Seems some folks aren't reading the Bibles they're preaching from. Or reading very selectively.
Wired News: Another Computer Bug: Ants in the Machine New slogan for the species: "Ants: Shorting computers since 1999". Ick! Ick Ick Ick!
Apple - Discussions - Ants! Oh, my gosh! I never thought of this! Ick! Ick! Ick!!!
Clio C-1050 - Superior flexibility in a mobile communications solution Think that this "pen computing" thing that Microsoft is talking about is a new thing? Wrong, wrong, WRONG! :) These Clios have been around for years...
Speaking of helicopters... a much cheaper version is the VertiBird - Yesterdayland Toys
RCTOYS.COM // Draganflyer III Gyro Stabilized Helicopter Oooh! Oooh! I WANT one of these!!! :)
macteens:::dot:::com | exclusives An example from the "It sounded good at the time!" department...
Taking the "Bait" Out of Rebates Considering how many companies play fast-and-loose with rebates these days, this looks like a useful site!
Unfortunately, James' "spit-take" comes a bit too late for our last debate topic. Bummer! LILEKS (James) The Bleat
CompUSA.com - Where America Buys Technology: Product Details about a PCMCIA FireWire card. I don't need it, but it would be nice! Good price, too. Would let me work with Visual Communicator on my PC...
I respect police officers -- I really do -- but there sure seem to be a lot of cases of cops running into innocent people and killing them. It used to be a Minneapolis-thing, but now it's moved down to our suburbs. (I know the intersection they're talking about very well...) Pioneer Press | 11/05/2002 | APPLE VALLEY: Funeral plans replace baby shower invitations
A very, very interesting article: One-Issue Politics, One-Issue Marriage, and the Humane Society
AlphaSmart, Inc., AlphaSmart 3000 Kinda cool, if you need cheap computing power...
My big fat wedding DVD / Latest software converts wedding video to DVD A good overview of digital video editing and burning to DVD...
Holograms in Motion More promise of really cool autostereoscopic 3D displays...
Now this is a site name! Derek would be proud! communistsquirrel.com :: weblog
One of the funniest Apple "Switch" ads, IMHO: ellenfeiss.net > the real reason to switch
Well, at least we know what it was... Yahoo! News - Russia: Gas Was Opiate Fentanyl
Hoping that this doesn't affect my friend who has just gotten a new G4... I couldn't resist quoting this turn of a phrase from the "documentation": As the Apple Turns: Bringing New Meaning To The Phrase "Psychotic Episodes." It's recently come to light over at MacFixIt that Apple has now determined that "loud G4 fan noise is due to a motherboard problem" which causes the Power Mac's variable speed fan to spin at the setting tagged in the manufacturer's documentation as "Deafen Me With Your Whirling Blades Of Colossal Cooling Power,"
TCPalm: Living Standard, but nonetheless interesting, account of the fact that students are bringing laptops to college.
Since I've got the topic on my mind... here's a really interesting site. Leftout: A Haven for Progressive Pro-Lifers
I disagree with the position, but at least I've encountered a site that finally approaches a pro-choice philosophy from the perspective of the woman as a known rights-holder. (The basic argument is "When in doubt, don't kill the thing that might be a human person" versus "When in doubt, protect the rights of the thing you know is a human person". I believe in the former, and think that the latter is the only philosophically-coherent objection to it; if both sides agree to those grounds, we can have a resonable debate.) Anyway, the information is available at Catholics for Free Choice
Mac In Tune ThinkFree Office A good review of an MS Office alternative for Macs...
As you know, I love James Lileks' writing, and today's is particularly entertaining. Here's a quote (technically, a "quotation") about Avril Lavigne (or however it's spelled); check out the entire article at LILEKS (James) The Bleat She?s in your face! If so, then one simple request: get out of my face. The desire to be in my face does not equal the right to be in my face; it does not even mean you have the qualifications to be in my face. Indeed: if you get in my face, I will get in your face, and we will have a contest of in-face getting you cannot win.
Salon.com Technology | Microsoft's media monopoly Microsoft, doing something anti-competitive?!? You're kidding!
I figured I'd better blog this, or I'd never remember it. Hit MP3.com and look up Amethystium, which is a really, really cool group. I liked them so much I downloaded their MP3s and burned a CD (perfectly legally, mind you -- that's what MP3.com is about!) Here are the lyrics to what I think is probably my favorite song... Obscure Lyrics Amethystium - Autumn Interlude (feat. Joyelle Brandt of Sonicjoy) Feels like I could reach up into dark October skies Scoop up seven of Orion's stars, hold them like shiny diamonds Then I turn and return to a world less than I'd like it to be Strange thoughts staring at the stars on an autumn's night Lyrics by Steven Hewitt.
DealsOnTheWeb.com You know, if I wanted to waste some money, this would be a cool thing to have. I'd rather do something PC-based so I could get the files out more easily... but it would be nice to have something in one self-contained box!
Sonystyle_Sony's DVD±RW Drive Are you as confused as I am about which DVD writing formats are supported by what? Okay, you probably aren't... but this is still cool!
Reader Report: Problems with Apple Rebates You know me and my hatred of companies that engage in rebate fraud. Well, here's a good tip for dealing with customer service reps who claim they're going to transfer you to their "supervisor". Get the name of the supervisor, and if you have any problems, remind the rep that their name is the one going in your records as the last human contact with the uncooperative company.
Daring Fireball: Microsoft Make-Up It's amazing what happens when a huge monopoly starts lying to a bunch of hacker types out there...
PlaybackTime | Your daily digital media news site Looks like a good site for us Mac fans! :)
If you ever wanted a key combination for a Mac, this looks like the site to check out! Doctor Mac | Macintosh Consulting
It looks like this is the best article on the subjetc: John Edward: Hustling the Bereaved; Investigative Files (Skeptical Inquirer November 2001)
John Edward A slightly less dramatic series of articles questioning John Edward's "abilities".
John Edward The moniker of "Satan's Puppet" is a bit extreme for my taste, but when I saw the USA Weekend cover photo of John it reminded me, "You know, I always wondered if this guy is for real; I bet folks have posted stuff on the web about him!"
Memorex Found 'em! Now, I just have to figure out 1) how reliable they are (both for long-term data integrity and use in a variety of CD players and CD-ROM drives) and 2) how I can get a cheap version! :)
Diversified Systems Group, Inc. - Media & Services - CD-R/DVD-R - Bulk CD-R/DVD-R - Prodisc You know, it's kinda cool that you can burn a CD that looks exactly like the "professional" ones. Very useful in a small-business setting! :) Now, I just have to find more information on these "black CDs" that I've been hearing about...
This was an interesting case at the time; when sued because a population can't participate in your event... cancel the event and prevent anyone from participating in any form. Here it is "in the news" again... American Indian women drop powwow lawsuit against St. Thomas
I was just at the old Gopher Ordnance Works today, shooting infrared photos (and I was stunned to discover that 160th street is now a huge steet going all the way to County 52) Anyway, here's what a Google search turned up... Action Squad: Minneapolis Urban Adventurers
Finally, after months of nail-biting concern, we've learned that Apple will keep .Mac names reserved awaiting the day when I (and thousands upon thousands of others) are willing to cough up the cash. More importantly, nobody can steal the names of companies who used to have @mac.com addersses.
Here's an interesting concept -- haven't read it yet -- for both our debaters and for folks in general... Understanding the Privacy Space
I remember listening to Dr. Nelson talk about this kind of stuff in the closing months of my college career, as I was taking classes on the "Philosophy of Mind". If you want a really interesting topic, this is it! (That is, if you're into philosophy...) Seminars offer peek at the 'biology of mind'
Creative Commons » Home This is an article about Rick Prelinger, who's the genius behind "The Prelinger Archives", which is a collection of old instructional films and such (including Duck and Cover!) This entire site -- creativecommons.org looks very cool. Good idea!
It's amazing what you bumble into during random Internet searches about debate topics. This one is particularly amazing, and I can't find any information about the suit; I suppose a couple e-mails would clear it up. Anyway, woman goes to prison, woman tells nurse she's pregnant, nurse injects her with Depo-Provera (a birth-control drug) anyway, baby dies. Not good. Honolulu Star-Bulletin Local News
Lost America Night Photography Living this guy's life sounds like fun.
Update: Aprilis Unveils Holographic Disk Media The next generation of technology has arrived!
A fellow Scanahoovian who's into infrared photography. Cool! Don W. Nelson Black and White Infrared Photography, Black & White, B&W Photography Black and white fine art and infrared photography.
I was looking to post Bret Fausett's article about copyright in the brave new world of the DMCA, but came across this instead from last month's New Architect magazine. So, I'm deep linking to it -- which is kinda ironic. You'll understand once you read it... New Architect: Into the Deep
Philips DVD Recorder - Introducing DVD R and DVDR 985! Here's another thing I wouldn't mind finding under the Christmas tree... but at ~$900, I think I'll wait a bit longer for the price to drop. :)
While pondering what phone number I should put on personal business cards (ones that are independent of St. Thomas) I started thinking about CollegeClub, which used to let you check your e-mail from a toll-free phone number. Here's Yahoo!'s section on the concept; unfortunately, after the whole dot-com bubble burst, it looks like the free services are pretty stripped down... Yahoo! Business and Economy > Business to Business > Communications and Networking > Telecommunications > Phone Services > Messaging Services > Unified Messaging
Lycos Finance | Sony Introduces Stylish All-in-One Desktop PC Looks like it might be interesting, though -- despite the promise in the release -- it doesn't appear to be available yet for viewing online... unless they expect you to pre-order it sight-unseen. (Or, more likely, they simply haven't updated their site yet...)
All you have to do is put these things in clothing... or maybe implant them just under the skin... Hmmmm... There's a thought! InformationWeek > Supply-Chain Management > Pinpoint Control > September 27, 2002
Skip Gibbs Company | Railspan® Bridges I can't believe there are entire sites and companies dedicated to this concept! Wow!
'Want to build a bridge' search at Google turned up some ideas for putting an old flatbed trailer or rail "flat car" across the creek at my folks' place to build a bridge across it. Just something to walk across, maybe drive an ATV. I'd been thinking about a little suspension bridge, but this seems easier... if I could figure out a way to get it down there. Hmmm...
????QR?PCG-QR3S/BP Looks strange? It is! I love Altavista's translation page; when I read about a Sony iBook look-alike that's only available in Japan, I followed the link to their site... and when I realized that I can't read Japanese, I tried hitting the link through Altavista's translator. I'm hoping that this link, which is one frame of the Altavista site, still works and isn't just cached on my computer or something...
BBC NEWS | Technology | Q&A: The Bugbear e-mail virus You know, if we all used Macs we wouldn't have these kinds of problems! :)
Photo Galaxy CD Hmmm.... I think this might have some potential for PowerPoint backdrops for worship music at Berean. I'll have to check the licensing, and figure out if the content is appropriate...
Wow... so how 'bout that stock market, huh? Yikes!
When science and ethics meet... a.k.a. "what is fatherhood, really?"... ABCNEWS.com : Duped Dads Fight Child Support
MacInTouch: Mac news, information and analysis Hey, I'm published! Today's Macintouch posted the updated info. I sent them about 3D displays. After today, you'll have to search their archives; "Eric Larson" should work as a search term. :)
CD Freaks.com [ Your independent CD-R/DVD news site ] - [ Review - Yamaha CRW-F1 ] There's been quite a buzz about Yamaha's "DiscT@2" feature that lets you burn graphics into CD-Rs. Here's a review with some honest info (that's a bit more accurate than Yamaha's PR).
If you're looking to spend a few hundred bucks on me for no reason, I wouldn't mind plaing with one of these. :) The TrackerPod would probably be useful for digitally recording seminars or such...
Yahoo! News - Sharp's U.K. Lab Develops 3-D Flat Screen This is something that DTI has done for years, but it takes a big name like Sharp to make it famous. All I want is to see one, since it's really hard to describe 3D features in words. (The theory with DTI's displays is the same as lenticular art; do a Google search for that and you'll get the idea.)
Why, oh why, do I have so many problems using HTML in this thing?!? Anyway, go to your local bookstore and buy "Fires of the Faithful" by Naomi Kritzer. I'll let you know what I think, as soon as I get it. :)
Run, don't walk, to your local bookstore and buy a copy of the new novel Fires of the Faithful . I haven't yet, but I'm going to, because I know the author and she does good stuff! :)
I had the chance to browser through Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church last night at Barnes and Noble, and I have to say I wasn't very impressed. The Amazon reviews who point out that it's just a bunch of essays about famous Christians are right. Not that essays about people are bad things... but not as hopeful as the title suggested.
"Digital Camera Modification (For IR/UV) FAQ" By Michael Jones There's one more IR-related blog entry, this one discussing Sony's still camera. My biggest complaint with IR is that I'm "stuck" with a 640x480 output. A megapixel still camera would solve that problem (as would one of Sony's megapixel Digital8 cameras... but you pay a lot for just a few more pixels). Anyway, the problem is that Sony cameras were used to "see through clothing" by mounting an IR filter to them and pointing them at scantily-clad folks in bright sunlight. Frankly, I think you'd have to be in pretty sad mental shape to get excited over a grainy green blob in your viewfinder when you could see more on the cover of Vogue or Rolling Stone... but it bothered Sony enough that they've "crippled" their Nightshot cameras so you can't turn down the exposure setting when in bright sunlight. So, pictures can get washed out. :(
The Art of Infrared Photography This is where I first got tipped-off to good Infrared Photography books -- among other things. Frankly, I don't even remember what search I did to find this... but it fit right into my desire to find something about better artistry in infrared.
Amazon.com: buying info: The Art of Infrared Photography You can probably tell I'm on an Infrared Photography kick at the moment. Just shot a bunch of stuff today at Minnehaha Falls. From what I can tell... I want this book! :)
Something I heard on "Dreamland" (a radio show) a couple weeks back that piqued my interest. I always wondered how quickly the effects of gravity traveled. Is it limited by the speed of light? And, if so, does that say anything about what gravity is ? Here's what I mean: If the sun magically disappeared right now -- POOF! -- it would take a few minutes (eight, I think) for us to see the light blink out, because that's how long it takes for light to travel from the sun to us. But would we feel an effect before then -- messed up tides, earthquakes, etc.? Scientists have been pondering this, to... Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Scientists attempt to measure speed of gravity
I'm coming to the conclusion that blogging my thoughts makes them even more incoherent than they are when witnessed in person. Sorry! This stuff makes sense to me -- really, it does. But I understand if it doesn't make sense to you. :) New homepage (splash screen, really) that needs some work, but it's kinda cool and shouldn't behave as oddly as the last one when hit with different browsers.
Okay, you know I don't like Lexmark (as evidenced by my Lexmarked site . But they continue to press on with new products; there latest is the Lexmark X85 All-In-One Print Center .
Infrared Resources If the images below look cool, you want to know how to do this... here are some resources.
Pixelagogo.com- Home of Cory Shubert Photography Infrared photography is still one of the coolest things I've come across! :)
A year and a half ago (April 2001) I signed up for some email lists from ZDNet. I gave them a specific address, tied to my domain, on the off chance that they'd sell my name to someone. They promsied then, and still promise today, that "This information will be used only by ZDNet and our advertisers, to help us serve you better and to allow us to keep our services free - thank you." This past August I started getting porn SPAM to that address. An e-mail to ZDNet has gone unanswered. Just today I found these e-mails are escallating to porn involving farm animals... so I think it's time for me to spend a stamp and send a real letter to these turkeys.
Heading off this morning to help set up a Contagious Christian broadcast at Berean. If this "youth version" is anything like the one I attended this past spring, it should be excellent. Bo Boshers on CCN Train your students to share their faith comfortably and effectively! And there's no better time than now -- After age nineteen, the chance of a non-believer coming to Christ drops to 6 percent. That's right: 6 percent. That means your students have a special window of opportunity to make a difference for the kingdom. And this lively, interactive seminar will give them the tools they need! Most Christian teens (and adults!) really want to share their faith, but don't know how. Just the thought seems scary. What's so cool is that God wants to use us the way we are-our interests, our personality, our strengths, and even some of our weaknesses. Your students will be amazed at how these are the very things the Holy Spirit can use to hel...
beliefnet: Bob the Tomato Quotes Plato What more do you need to know? :)
A friend whose judgment of cool technology I trust says that this is cool. I've gotta admit, I haven't even read about it yet, but... check out Antelope Technologies
The New York Times on the Web Jo, being a lot more clever than John, came up with a print news site. I detect a theme! :)
Well, it looks like you can really mess up your blog if you try to put in HTML and don't get it quite right; I was trying to get y'all to visit www.emlarson.com. Oh, well -- I guess I've still got some learning to do! :)
I've switched to a new template -- "Bold Lines" which seems to match my site (and my mood) a bit better. Let me know what you think of it -- visit www.emlarson.com and click on the feedback link in the site, if you ever want to get ahold of me.
Electromagnetic Bombs Could Throw Civilization Back 200 Years One of our debaters pointed out this link as an interesting example of individual rights (freedom of the press, in this case) in conflict with national security. And, the concept of a cheap "electromagnetic bomb" is a frightening one anyway.
CNN.com John Kinsella, being a brilliant but slightly uncreative person, recommends this as a "really cool site".
Marathon Computer - iRackDV Now this is a good use for old iMacs! Especially if you could find one with a bad monitor. A rack-mount computer, one unit high, with a CD-ROM drive? Very, very cool! You could max out the RAM and load up VirtualPC, so you'd have the best of both worlds. G3 only, unfortunately, but... nothing's perfect, right? :)
Yamaha :: Multimedia When I have money to burn (no pun intended - HA!) I'll gonna git me one of these! By getting fancy with their lasers, Yamaha has made a CD-R burner that can etch words or pictures into the surface of a CD. Cool!
Junked PCs Offer Data for Taking Considering how easy it is to un-erase a hard drive, this really, really is a problem. Yikes!
Heard about this book on the drive in, listening to Moore on Life... and it seems kinda interesting, considering that my non-Christian years were due to my observation of "christian conduct" in friends and neighbors. Haven't read the review yet, so maybe it's horrible, but... Amazon.com: buying info: Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church
Even more information on site blocking -- or site censorship, as the case may be... Net archive silences Scientology critic - Tech News - CNET.com
Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to... try to block internet sites. politechbot.com: State of Pennsylvania v. WorldCom -- court documents now online
Note that the current 'blog template (which might have changed by the time you see this, I suppose...) is "Omni Nectar". Very cool, IMHO!
For only 10 bucks, this looks like a good deal! Made with Macintosh, you know! Photo to Movie Photo to Movie 1.0 for Mac OS X Photo to Movie enables you to create a movie by zooming and panning over a photo. It presents a simple interface to specify the starting and ending frames and generates full quality QuickTime or DV Stream files (compatible with iMovie). Photo to Movie only runs on Mac OS X.
This amazes me; DVD-R media is down to less than $0.90 per disc! That's cheaper than videotape in bulk at Sam's Club! We still have the issue of not being able to view DVD-Rs in all DVD players... but things are looking better all the time! Shop4Tech is the source: Shop4Tech: The lowest price on cd-r media and more! Leda DVD-Recordable 4.7GB - 50pack (General Purpose) Bulk $0.89 each
I've been experimenting with making this blog appear in a frame on my main web site. Since the site (http://www.emlarson.com) is actually a frame that points to my personal space on work servers, my domain name provider doesn't recommend that I use frames. But, so far, it seems to work...
So far, this looks very encouraging! Lots of features, 'blog titles can be edited, as can all aspects of a user profile. So, I'm going to be playing with this a lot more! :)
This is a test blog; my first venture in to the world of Blogging! ---Eric