October 2005 Archives

Many years ago, I was very much in love with someone.  For reasons I'll probably never quite understand, it didn't work out.  My heart was broken, and it felt like my life was over.  Had it not been for an appropriately-timed radio commercial, it might have been.  Writing this poem helped me to work through some of that pain.

The good news is that today I'm married to an absolutely wonderful, beautiful woman who treats me with more respect, love, understanding, and consideration than I ever thought possible. 

This is a poem I wrote over 20 years ago in high school, about two good friends who seemed to be constantly competing with one another.  Though I intended no offense by it, I don't think they liked it much...

I guess I've pretty much always been a night owl.  This poem, written at least 20 years ago when I was in high school, sums up how I felt about the night in those days.

This recipe is the closest I've ever tasted to "Chinese Restaurant Quality" stir-fried shrimp with vegetables. The sauce is a light semi-transparent one.

Samosas are an Indian appetizer, commonly served in Indian restaurants. They are fairly easy to make at home, although they can be time consuming to assemble. To keep cooking time low, I recommend using egg roll wrappers as a substitute for actual samosa pastry dough, which is also time-consuming to prepare.

Here is a recipe for Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs my dad sent along today.  I believe it comes from my uncle Ray.  Dad says it should be a very good spaghetti sauce recipe.

This past weekend my wife and I celebrated our anniversary at the Glenlaurel Inn in Hocking Hills, Ohio.  Glenlaurel attempts to provide a Scottish country inn experience inside the United States.  Guests may rent cottages or "crofts" which are self-contained residences on the Inn's property.  Each croft is secluded from the others, providing both a private and a romantic location inside the property.  

 We stayed in the Drummond Croft, pictured below:

 As you can see, we had a very private location with our own parking space in front, much like being in your own little home for the night.

Each week, musician Jonathan Coulton releases a single on his web site.  This week's single is a cover of Sir Mix-a-lot's song "Baby Got Back" done in the style of a pop ballad.  

 As Coulton says on his blog: "In the proud tradition of many white Americans who came before me I hereby steal and white-ify this thick and juicy piece of black culture. Watch for my album 'Jonathan Coulton Sings Songs by Black People.'"

I don't think you can help but enjoy this one...

Here's the page:  http://www.jonathancoulton.com/

And the song: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/music/thingaweek/BabyGotBack.mp3

This past weekend I visited "The Wilds" with my wife, step-children, and mother-in-law.  If you've never heard of The Wilds, that's not too surprising to me because I hadn't heard of it until we received our Columbus Zoo membership as a gift from my dad.

The Wilds is a 10,000 acre wildlife preserve located in southeastern Ohio.  It's home to a variety of species from around the world, including zebras, rhinos, giraffes, bison, and many other animals.  The animals at The Wilds are specifically chosen to be herbivores, so that if they escape they pose little threat to humans or other animals in the vicinity of the preserve.

For some time now, analysts have been predicting that Apple will release a video iPod.  As Think Secret recently reported:

"While a video-capable iPod is in development, without the agreements nor infrastructure in place to deliver movies to customers through a store-like interface, Apple sees little value in releasing such an iPod at this time. Apple insiders have also said executives see consumers needing the capability to easily import the DVD movies they own to a usable format (similar to the encoding functionality provided for audio CDs with iTunes) in order for a video iPod to be truly successful. The complexity to date of accomplishing such a feat has meant only a minority of computer users have dabbled with watching full-length movies on their computer, with most of the, having acquired the content through file sharing services."

While it's certainly true that Apple's inability to secure an "iTunes-like" agreement with video content producers has had a lot to do with their decision not to release a video version of the iPod, that second part (making it possible for customers to import a DVD into it like they can import audio CDs into iTunes and iPods) is where the real stickler comes in.  What does the DMCA have to do with that?  Plenty. Think about it.

The RIAA legal stormtroopers are still at it.

They recently attempted to sue a woman for illegal downloading. She responded that she didn't perform the acts she was accused of, and that the account name they referenced was that of her 14-year-old daughter.  In response, they sued her daughter instead.

I work in the IT Division of a major Columbus, Ohio, area non-profit organization.  We have about 1,200 employees and, due to the nature of our business, most of them are computer users.  Since we handle the "front lines" of tech support (i.e., taking the phone calls, desk-side repairs, new system deliveries, and the like), we end up working with almost everyone eventually.  Some of the things we see are pretty amusing.  Some are a bit sad. During a recent meeting we were (I guess the right word is) "inspired" to recall a few recent ones.  Here they are...

NOTE:  I do not endorse, support, encourage, or engage in the illegal downloading of music through P2P networks or via other means.  This article should not be misconstrued as enticement to illegally acquire music or other content online.

In a move destined to further upset the music-consuming public, the Recording Industry Artists' Association (RIAA) has continued to file lawsuits against alleged Peer-to-Peer (P2P) music sharers and downloaders.  Armed only with its belief that a particular IP address was used to download or upload illegal music, and relying on ISP records to tell it which customer was probably using that address at the time, the RIAA is accusing people of illegally downloading music from P2P networks.  Never mind that these people don't have P2P software on their machines.  Never mind that they're even willing to have their PCs inspected to prove that.  Never mind that some of them don't know what a P2P network is or have any knowledge of the ID that the RIAA claims they were using at the time.  No, in the "court of the RIAA" you are guilty.  Not guilty until proven innocent, just flat out guilty.

Knowing that it has considerable economic muscle behind it, the RIAA is bullying people into settling lawsuits with it.  Even those who insist they've done nothing wrong are paying up, simply because it's cheaper to give in than it is to fight the suits in court.  Talk about "The Man" sticking it to "The Little Guy"...

Here's the latest example of the RIAA's bullying tactics from Wired magazine...

Fortunately, this woman isn't taking it lying down...

For a while, I watched local television personality Mike Rowe on WSYX doing the news.  I kept thinking he reminded me of someone, but I just couldn't figure out who.  Then one day, it hit me.  He looks like Jon Arbuckle of the Garfield comic strip.  I couldn't find a great picture of either of them that makes them look as much alike as I think they do, but this is close...

Jon Arbuckle (left) and Mike Rowe of WSYX (right)

 If you feel the need to make your own comparisons, here's a link to the official Garfield site, and another to the WSYX television site.  (And just for the record, in case Mr. Rowe or the Garfield folks see this, I mean no insult to either of them.  Jon is a well-loved cartoon character and Mr. Rowe is a much-respected local journalist and anchorman.)

I've had friends and co-workers in the past ask me about messages like the one I'm going to quote later in this article, asking me if it could possibly be legitimate.  The answer is a clear, definitive, NO!  But it's important for me to share how I reach that conclusion so that if you receive a message like this in the future, you'll know how to gauge its reality for yourself.

The letter quoted below is that of a spamming scam artist.  The scammer is usually someone in a third-world country who doesn't have a lot of money but can get access to a computer on the Internet.  They write letters like these to every email address they can get, hoping that just a few of the people receiving the letter will write back, so that they can make a few bucks off them.  Just how they'll make the money will be covered near the end of this article.  First, let's look at the opening letter.

I can't say that I'm one of the legions of Joss Whedon fans.  I watched a couple of episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in the past and while I found it OK, I can't say that it really did anything for me.  I've also watched several episodes of "Firefly", since my brother is a huge fan of the show and is convinced that it's one of the finest sci-fi series ever to air.  While it's certainly a lot better than Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, immensely better than Voyager, and better than all but the last couple of seasons of Enterprise, it's no Babylon 5, Blake's 7, or Star Trek the original series.  THOSE, in my opinion, were the finest sci-fi series on television.  I approached the Serenity movie with the expectation that it would be better than some sci-fi films and not as good as others.  I wasn't disappointed.