Archive for January, 2004

2004.01.27

Cowinkydink

Cowinkydink. Noun. (kou eeng kee deengk)

A rare oracle in the form of a cow whose milk takes the form of ink. Milk-ink splatters on paper can be interpretted to prophesize either where you will run into someone you least expect or who you will run into where you least expect. It cannot tell you, however, who you will run into and where. The most common interpretation of milk-ink splatters are, “You will run into someone you least expect in a place that might suprise you.”

2004.01.27

Gay Marriage

Ed and I were talking while walking about politics. Walking is an excellent time for this particular topic, especially over long distances. I am wary of President Bush’s “threat” in the State of the Union Address of using the Constitutional Amendment process to define marriage if members of the judicial branch do not stop supporting in various way “gay marriage”.

One of my concerns is that, for a variety of reasons, marriage and social institutions of this sort have NO place in the Constitution. If passed it would be a disaster, similar to but not the same as the failed Amendment banning alcohol. It’s tantamount, in my opinion, to the government saying yellow is a Constitutionally banned color.

Ed’s solution was to encourage the legal definition of “civil union” which would allow homosexuals to be, in essence, married. All marriages would be civil unions, but not all civil unions would be marriages. This should stop the complaints of many of the fringe religious groups who vehemently defend the narrowly defined meaning of “marriage” as “a union of a man and a woman”.

This is something I could support: a legal and non-discriminatory definition of a civil union which protects couples, straight or gay, and provided the benefits of said civil union (tax benefits, health benefits, inheritence benefits, adoption, etc).

As an aside joke, I mentioned that Bush, if he really wanted to support the economy and get more jobs created, should fully support gay marriage. Imagine the weddings that would come out of the Castro or Christopher Street? Weddings are expensive enough, and many people make a lot of money off of catering, photography, event planning, accomodations, restaurants, travel, and other services. Those markets would grow and would hire more workers.

Well, I thought the idea of Bush outlining that plan to the Religious Right was funny…

2004.01.25

Something We Can All Agree On

Ann made an nice observation I’d never thought of but which is pretty much true. I’m not going to even attempt to quote her, so I’ll put it the way I remember her saying it.

With everything in the world people don’t agree on, everyone does agree on time. Everyone uses the same hours, minutes and seconds. It’s probably the one thing we all agree on.

And you know, she’s absolutely right. There might be a few pre-technology folks out there that don’t keep track of time at all, and of course the NASA Mars teams have to synch their clocks with Mars-time now, but for the most part, you can go anywhere in the world, adjust for your time zone, and know the time.

Next time someone says there’s nothing everyone agrees on, now you have something you can throw back in their faces.

2004.01.23

Extrapolating the Future, Part One

It’s a well known method of divining the future to look at historical and current trends and extrapolate where these trends might go. With that in mind I’ve taken the liberty of looking at a few things going on in the world right now and ignoring much of the realistic context. Using this method I will discern how these events will effect the future of mankind. Most everything that follows is from the American perspective (mostly because that’s where I live).

FACT

Ignoring the pussy-footing of the United Nations, President George Bush became the second President George Bush to invade Iraq and fight the regime of Saddam Hussein. George Sr. told us Saddam illegally invaded Kuwait and this turned out to be true. George Jr. told us Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction and this hasn’t proven true. America sold them to him, so where did they go? Some speculate the real reason for the invasion was an assassination attempt on George Sr. by Saddam, and George Jr. is getting revenge. Regardless, the Bush legacy continues in the White House against all odds.

PREDICTION

Once President Bush’s daughters grow up one of them will have a sex change -Barbara? Jenna?- and marry the other (they are from Texas…), become President and invade Iraq again when Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Saddam’s Information Minister, becomes elected President of Iraq. The premise of this “war” will that Mohammed is really Saddam after much plastic surgery and he is returning to power. The real reason will be a prank played on George Jr. at the private inaugural after-party; someone will switch the “snuff” for foot powder which will send George Jr. careening into the pretzel bowl… a dangerous and sometimes fatal combination.

COROLLARY

The Roosevelt name is overdue for a return to the Presidency. Theodore Roosevelt served the office from 1901 to 1909, and Franklin D. Roosevelt served from 1933 to 1945. Look for me to adopt the name and run for President in the near future.

2004.01.22

One Party Politics

I think a two party system is one party away from facism.I’ve been saying for some time now that the two party system that came to dominate American political life is dangerous. Then I read this article by Robert Kuttner and see that my feelings might have some support in fact. I would pull a quote from the article, but there’s just so much there. If you are a Democrat, read the article and get active. If you are a Republican, read the article and imagine what it will be like when the Democrats finally get the point and do the same thing to you. If you’re an independent, as I am, shake your head at the Democrats and Republicans and support a third party or form your own.

2004.01.21

Garageband Links

I was perusing Jason Clark’s website today and saw he is already using and writing about Apple’s new Garageband. I’ve barely scratched the surface! That’s ok… soon.

Jason also had links for sites relating to Garageband and/or making music on Macintosh computers. Sonic Cat is dedicated to Garageband in specific, and MacJams to music on the Mac. I have the feeling I’ll be perusing these sites regularly.

Now to get jamming…

2004.01.16

Ultraviolet

What a wonderful series. Often you get mini-series that are just tacky, with poorly developed characters and even worse plot lines. Ultraviolet I approached skeptically. In the end, though, the mystery revolveing around the motives of the vampires becomes clear, but not before we learn much more than I would expect about the main characters, their histories and their weaknesses. Nicely, the writing and acting is so natural (with the possible exceptions of Jack and Kirsty) you do not notice that the premise, vampires and thier goals, is completely ludicrous. If you like vampire stories, pick up the DVD and have a good time. For details on characters and terminology, check out the BBC site about Ultraviolet.

2004.01.09

SF Macworld 2004

Yesterday Sean and I went to Macworld. Overall I wasn’t too impressed with much of what was there, but then I’m rarely impressed with these conventions. Too many people in too close a space for my tastes.

That being said I did get excited about seeing Apple’s new GarageBand software, a natural extension of their iLife package which includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD. As an aside, someone asked me what the heck was up with the “i”. I have no idea, and you can quote me, iDoug, on that. This is Apple’s description of the new software:

GarageBand turns your Mac into an anytime, anywhere recording studio packed with hundreds of instruments and a recording engineer or two for good measure. It’s the easiest way to create, perform and record your own music whether you’re an accomplished player or just wish you were a rock star. And GarageBand is the newest member of the iLife family, so you can add your original music to your slideshows, your DVD menus, burn it to CDs or score your iMovie projects.

I only have a few questions, which really won’t stop me from getting the software once it comes out on January 16th (the date they quoted me). First, can I use any MIDI device through a USB MIDI interface? Second, can GarageBand control an external MIDI device? Third, how much control are we allowed over hand editing MIDI data? Fourth, can we create our own sound libraries within GarageBand? I guess there is a fifth question, and that is, if we use their instruments, loops, etc, for original composition, do we own our music? Does apple have to be credited? Does Apple have rights to our creation?

At first glance, from their GarageBand accessories page it would look like the program is a full MIDI interface. I am guessing it allows for different instrument libraries, too, based on the fact that the library has to reside somewhere and they are selling an expansion pack.

Sean and I saw a few other things of interest, but GarageBand was by far the most interesting thing for me.

2004.01.09

Are There Any Other Terrorists?

Has anyone ever noticed that when the news media announces we are going after insurgents or persons of suspicion, they are always suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda? What happened to the other terrorists? Are they laying low until we come to their name on the list? Or have all the terrorists in the world disbanded their groups, settled their differences, and joined Al Qaeda?

2004.01.07

State of the State

I listened to Governor Schwarzenegger’s State of the State Address on the drive home tonight. Whether you like him or not, he’s a very charismatic speaker, and not one to mince words. I like that. He said what he thinks needs doing to fix California’s budget problems with a bluntness you will rarely hear from any leader in these spineless political days. At the same time he exuded a hope, a hope for the future of California. I wish I could find the transcript, but it’s not online yet (what’s up with that? technologically challenged governments…).

One funny part was when he said he was going to sell the idea of doing business with and in California to the nation and the world. “If I can get people to buy tickets to see Red Sonja and The Last Action Hero, I can sell California.” Nice.

It will be interesting to see what, exactly, he proposes in his upcoming budget. Certainly there will be cuts and certainly the Democrats will not like many of the cuts.

The Governator also requested that people send him ideas on how to help, the more radical the better. Here’s a radical idea, Arnold: a flat income tax. FLAT. Everyone will hate it yet if everyone pays the same percentage of their income maybe we can sort things out. Another suggestion: make necessary cuts and increase a few taxes. Not heavily, but some. I can just hear everyone groaning now…