Blown away to hear Robert Palmer is gone. It's way too soon. His voice was unique, and will be missed.

Jib-Jab!

Fun with Flash, that's all there is to say. You need to turn off your pop-up blocker before you click the links, though.

Ah-nuld for president of the State of California

Capitol Ill(2)

Capitol Ill(3)

Is that Bazaar, or Bizarre?
I thought the Ebay commercials where they sing “I did it Ebay” to the tune of “My Way” were goofy. Now, they've outdone themselves with “Do you know the way to use Ebay” to the tune of “Do you know the way to San Jose”... If Burt Bacharach were dead, he'd be turning over in his grave. Maybe, instead, he's laughing his way to the bank – though I'm not sure you can get paid if someone uses your melody without the lyrics.

:::

Dreamscape
In the middle of the one dream I remember from last night, I'm hanging out in a little dorm-like room with David Bowie, shooting the shit and listening to music. When it's time to go, he morphs into Darrell, a musician friend of mine. Darrell says “before you go, I want you to see some of the new stuff I bought.” He takes me to his closet and shows me some brand new casual clothes, a back pack, and sneakers. They're a variation on the canvas lace-ups that C likes to wear all the time, and they're HUGE. I don't remember anything past that. So, doctor, what do you make of that?

:::

So smashed, they can't spell

Gotta love that spam sometimes. It's sooooo entertaining. Now that they're cracking down on telemarketers and RIAA has demonstrated that you can find file swappers, don't you think they ought to be able to write some anti-spam legislation with teeth?

:::

Java and suburbia

“A project done in Java will cost 5 times as much, take twice as long, and be harder to maintain than a project done in a scripting language such as PHP or Perl...This corresponds to the situation in which my friend, the proud owner of an original-style Hummer, got stuck in the sand on his first off-road excursion; an SUV can't handle a true off-road adventure for which a tracked vehicle is required.”

Harvard Professor Philip Greenspun created quite a metaphorical stir when he declared that Java is the SUV of programming languages in his blog. The programming community went wild, with additional comments spilling over onto places like iDevNews. Nothing like a good bar brawl now and again, and nothing starts a brawl like calling somebody's baby ugly.

I plan to watch this blog. After all, how can you argue with a site that claims “an interesting idea every three months; a posting every day?”

:::

... RIAA, friendship and prostitution (More good stuff from Greenspun)

“What is the point of Internet file sharing when people can, perfectly legally, copy as much music from each other as they could reasonably want?  Only a person with zero friends would want to bother with file sharing.  Which is why we can now say that the RIAA is the world's leading promoter of friendship!

“...Prediction:  RIAA will get a law passed making it illegal to email sound recordings.  To enforce the law the RIAA will have the right to read anyone's email at any time.  Encryption of email will need to be outlawed so as to thwart terrorists and music thieves.”

:::

Speaking of law,
The battle between Congress and the courts over the National Do-Not-Call list is starting to look like WWF Smack-Down. As quickly as Congress passes new legislation to make sure the list goes into effect, another judge moves to block it.

"This legislation got to the House floor faster than a consumer can hang up on a telemarketer at dinnertime."
- Edward Markey (D-MA)

amen.

I paid a visit to seoleuna.com. Found out that Seol and I are 94% similar, though that doesn't mean anything. The site has some very interesting experimental elements and a lot of atomosphere. My favorite so far is “A Thought Out Plan” under the Glance button. Seol is a native of Korea, so her English reads like poetry.

Some of the navigation is a bit flakey, but it's worth the trip. Make sure you turn off your pop-up blocker – it won't work right if you leave it on.

:::

www.donotcall.gov (or, 50 million consumers can't be wrong)

“This is the goofiest decision that I've seen in a long time...There is no question that Congress intended for the FTC to have this authority and will quickly make any correction that the court, in its arcane logic, deems necessary.” - Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

On Wednesday, In Oklahoma City, U.S. District Judge Lee R. West ruled that the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority by creating the National Do-Not-Call list! He said the FCC, not the FTC had that authority. However, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) introduced bills late Wednesday to give the FTC explicit authority to create and operate the list.

Today, the House voted 412-8 in favor of launching the list next week, as scheduled, after less than hour of debate. Tauzin quipped “We should probably call the bill 'This Time We Really Mean It Act' to cure any myopia in the judicial branch. The bill leaves no doubt as to the intent of Congress.”

Since June, the FTC has registered 31 million numbers via the web, and 11 million called 1-888-382-1222. Another nearly 9 million numbers came from existing state lists.

The FTC expects the list to block about 80% of telemarketing calls. Aapparently, the Direct Marketing Association didn't spend enough time or money lobbying Congress.

A small integration project dispels some preconceptions about OS X
Infoworld CTO Chad Dickerson hooks a Mac up to his network, and surprise! It's easy and it works better!

“I used the Mac running OS X to replace a PC client and Linux server; the level of functionality was raised; and I did more with less...I hardly struggled even for a second.”

:::

Yesterday at the U.N.

“He came before the international community and he could have made the case for more troops, for more resources. He didn't do that...He hasn't presented a plan to the United Nations. He hasn't presented one to this country or to this Congress. It was a missed opportunity, and that's very disappointing.”

- Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.)

“The United Nations has just weathered one of its most serious trials in its history: respect for the [U.N.] Charter, the use of force, were at the heart of the debate...The war, which was started without the authorization of the Security Council, has shaken the multilateral system.”

- French President Jacques Chirac

[...reserving] “the right to act unilaterally or in ad hoc coalitions ... represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years. My concern is that if it were to be adopted, it would set precedents that resulted in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force with or without justification."

- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan

:::

Wes Weighs in
“His new book, Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire (PublicAffairs, 2003), is, in effect, Clark's campaign manifesto...” - Bruce Nussbaum for Business Week

Looks like a good read.

:::

Al-Jazeera's own Wolf Blitzer?

The U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council temporarily banned the Arabic-language networks Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya from government buildings and news conferences Tuesday, saying the networks promote violence. Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout spoke to CNN anchor Kyra Phillips from Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday. more

... well not really. He's just a spokesman, but SNL got a lot of mileage making fun of Mr. Blitzer's name during the first Gulf war, and this guy's name is Jihad!

More interesting, is the way "governments" try to control spin by controlling media access.

:::

The California recall is on, and there are 135 names on the ballot! Oh, and the guy who got the ball rolling no longer thinks it's a good idea. Oops. Since Schwartzenegger will only attend the debate with take-home questions, I'm beginning to wonder if he can do anything without a script.

:::

As Goes Texas...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - After a four-month battle that included two Democratic walkouts, the Texas Senate tentatively approved a redistricting map Tuesday that would give Republicans more seats in Congress.

:::

Labor Day 2002
“Thank you for dialing in this holiday weekend. I hope you and your family are enjoying your time together. I have some extremely urgent and sad news to share with you today... Your employment ends immediately.”

- John Brinko, CEO of Consolidated Freightways
on a recorded hotline that seventeen thousand employees were told to call. [From the book "Thieves in High Places"]

:::

“An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind.” - Gandhi

:::

Milton Glazer
“ ...There is so little agreement about what art is... We know that in the presence of certain works we feel transformed. For me, art is anything above that threshold, whatever the category. We discover that a Persian rug or a work of Chinese pottery can be more transforming than an oil painting...

“...Artists like Giotto, Michelangelo, and Leonardo were also architects, designed uniforms, and did lettering. In their day there was no need for the extraordinary specialization that our culture seems to value. Specialization comes out of the needs of commerce. From a professional point of view, typecasting is a more efficient way of using people...”

- From the book "Art is Work"

R.I.P. Cousin “Sue”

I didn't get to know Sue first hand too well, but she and my Mom grew up together, and they were close. She was a great lady, and it showed: there was a huge turn-out for her memorial service in Chicago, where she lived for the last 20 years of her life, and the funeral service in Detroit was equally well-attended. She touched a lot of people. There were tears, but the ceremony was a joyous homegoing. The event served as a kind of family reunion. I saw members of my family that I haven't seen in years.

Cousin Rochell, Sue's sister

Cousin Sandra

A friend of Rochell's - She didn't want her picture taken at first.

:::

Still Motion
Driving to Detroit for the funeral, I had a chance to snap some interesting pics along the highway.

:::

Denise's birthday bashes
Denise's birthday is October 3, but we'll be celebrating for about a month, starting two weeks before her birthday. Friday, we went to T lounge, then got together with a group of friends at Slate for pool, food, and fun.

D's new chapeau

Then, Saturday brunch with Warren...

I think this was the passionfruit Margarita

:::

The Single Most Pressing Issue in the World

we have conflicting reports...

:::

Scene on the Street - NYC

The woman on the extreme left, in the background, is on her cell phone, too

A weakness for lattes

:::

Doing the math: a law professor breaks it down – Pay only $1 million for $9 billion in real harm.

:::

Someone's posted Dubya's resume. It's a decent compilation of some of his more “stellar” achievements. Not sure if I agree with all of them, but it's a good start.