educating eric

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 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553585177/>Fires of the Faithful</a>. 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.