"Amendment I
clause 1: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
clause 2: prohibiting the free exercise thereof; . . ."

I take that to mean that if Corgress passes a law ordering Podunk High School to put up a Christmas Tree, that would be unconstitutional. (clause 1) But if they passed a law telling Podunk High School to take one down, that would also be unconstitutional. (clause 2)

The trend in America has been to greater tolerance and diversity, and of course that is the proper thing. However the trend to eradicate Christian customs in the process, especially those that have become close to secular like Christmas Trees and carols, is not right. Look at the growth of the other faiths in the country that didn't have a hold years ago. Were they dissuaded, hurt or their faith damaged by the Christian tradition of putting "Merry Christmas" in some classrooms? I tend to say no, but even if so, we should strive to have an equal footing for these other religions and faiths, not stamp out the traditions of Judeo-Christian heritage. That is equally unfair, unconstitutional and unwise. And this is coming from me, who has not been a part of organized religion most of my adult life.

There is some good news, though. I just save a bunch of . . No, No. . Here is a link to The Liberty Legal Institute, which funds lawsuits for those defending religious freedom from attacks of this kind. They have some cases that have gone in the direction of protecting freedoms against this anti-religion trend.

Spider Holes?

When they first reported Saddam was found in a "spider hole", I heard a commentator say he had never heard the word, and Martha hadn't either, but those of us who were in Vietnam had no trouble at all in visualizing it immediately. Of course the news shows have pretty much changed it to "rat hole" now for the masses who hate rats to better understand, I guess.

The spider holes and tunnels like those in Cu-Chi were infamous to those of us in Vietnam in 1968. The VC could pop down into these invisible holes and hide without a trace, and Americans finding them could scarcely believe a man could exist in a hole that small. The false entrances to some of them were horrible traps with sharpened barbed bungee sticks waiting.

I laughed when I looked on the internet for a picture or reminder of this, because they have made a real tourist attraction out of some of the Spider holes and tunnels. Come to tropical Vietnam, a wonderland and see actual spider holes and tunnels! Travel agents take notice. This link shows a map where the tunnels come within a couple of miles of where I was stationed near Ton Son Nhut.



I can see the souvenir shop now: Reclining GI Joe, Hanoi Jane Barbies, ant farms to simulate the tunnels?

Digital Zoom

I had to replace the Fuji camera (2mp,no zoom) I have had for a few years because it croaked. It had been a great one for me because it was easily slipped in my pocket, and I consequently almost always carried it, which I would not have done if I had to have the tourist camera around my neck routine.

It just died, and the regional repair center wanted 150 min just to look at it. Wow! As a consequence, I got a chance to study the market to see what was what at this point in time. I was either going to get (a) the best small one available out there with digital zoom that I could afford, or (b) the cheapest acceptable straight replacement I could get to replace my old one, exept add optical zoom.

I ended up getting (b) for budget reasons, (I cheaped out on Ebay, but got a great camera cheaper than a repair) but I had narrowed down high-end (a) quite a bit due to some new ideas. See below.

Sony has FINALLY, without as much fanfare on their part or reviewers, put some sense into DIGITAL ZOOM.

They have "Smart Zoom" that revolutionizes the digital and optical zoom. If they haven't patented it somehow, I predict all digital cameras will work this way soon, like they should have all along.

Regular digital zoom is no zoom at all. I will illustrate:

1. Suppose a whole house appears in your viewfinder, and you take a digital picture 1000 pixels across.
Then you use digital zoom to zoom in on the doorway, 300 pixels across.
That's all you get! A 300 pixel image, wasting all the other pixels.
It is as if you took the big picture and cropped off the fringe after you got it in the computer.
And that's what most people do, not using the digital zoom feature at all.

Enter "smart Zoom"

Simplified, this method can give you a zoomed image of the doorway packing all of the 1024 pixels into it, in reality expanding the cropped image area to fit the larger space instead of trimming off unwanted fringe.

The way Sony has implemented it, you need to have one resolution setting level above your present one to make this happen. If you have a 3mp camera, smart zoom happens at 2mp using the available ram from the higher res for the work. However, it is seamless between digital and optical - you don't have to choose - it uses the most available pixels for your picture possible based on the max setting you choose.

Talk about smart! That is the way I thought they worked when I first looked into cameras, and now, it is available, at least.

Everybody has different needs in cameras, but what was my choice for (a)?
These were MY criteria:
1. pocket sized
2. name brand
3. optical zoom
4. innovative, state of the art.
5. Best available without having features that run the price up without corresponding benefit.

Best camera available: Sony Cyber Shot DSC-V1 5.0 Mega Pixel Digital Camera (cheapest internet price 429)

I did a little searching and found out, as usual, more than most people want to know. Here is some edited info from megaone.com, who shows some old Yellowstone stereo images on their site.

At one time, Underwood and Underwood was the largest publisher of stereoviews in the world, producing 10 million views a year. The company was founded by two brothers, Elmer and Bert Underwood. The brothers developed a selling system of thorough canvassing using college students. They distributed stereographs for some other companies, and by 1887, they outgrew their original office in Ottawa, Kansas, and moved to New York City; By 1897 the company had a number of full-time staff and free lance photographers, and were publishing twenty-five thousand stereographs a day by 1901. The firm still canvassed and sold its own stereographs. Around 1900 Underwood & Underwood introduced boxed sets, with specific themes such as education and religion, and travel sets depicting popular tourist areas of the world. By 1910 Underwood & Underwood had entered the field of news photography. Due to this expansion stereograph production was reduced until the early years of World War I. Altogether Underwood & Underwood produced between 30 000 and 40 000 stereographic titles. In 1920 stereograph production was discontinued and Underwood & Underwood sold its stereographic stock and rights to the Keystone View Company. The negatives passed to Keystone which issued them with a "V" prefix.

The Keystone View Company was an early competitor to U&U, founded in 1892 by B. L. Singley in Meadville, Pennsylvania. This might not sound like an auspicious location, far from the photographic centers of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and originally the operation did indeed have a "backwoods," quality, turning out distinctly second-rate stereoviews and barely making the founder a living. But it rapidly improved and eventually became not only the world's largest but also the best view company. In the formative days Singley took all the images; later there were dozens of staff photographers, and was smart enough in the early 1900s, when stereoviewing was declining and other companies were in trouble, Keystone bought their stocks and incorporated them into their own holdings. Notable amongst many such purchases were the huge and varied inventories of B. W. Kilburn, the H. C. White Company, Underwood & Underwood.

By the 1920s the Keystone Company was the sole surviving major producer of conventional card-mounted views anywhere in the world. They had offices in London, Paris, Sidney, Capetown, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Part of this prominence was derived from the sale of World War I stereograph sets, as Keystone was one of the only publishers to secure permission to photograph battlefields and military operations. Unfortunately, permission was not granted until the end of 1918, just before Armistice, so many of the photographs depict scenes taken after the end of the war.

I have an old stereo viewer nicely made of wood and metal, you know the kind. We had always called it a Stereoptican, and I had thought, just from the folklore, it had been manufactured in Meadville, PA where my father grew up, and I went to college, but some of this is not right. I just read the metal stamped info on the viewer, and it says Underwood and Underwood, New York, Patented June 11, 1901. I see printed on some of the stereo picture cards that I have "Keystone View Company, Manufacturers, Publishers, Meadville, Pa, etc." so either they were competitors, or something. I will investigate this. Any input?

I do like stereo pictures. Early on, my eyes seemed to synch into viewing stereo fairly easy, for instance when viewing aerial photograph pairs in Geology, sometimes I could do it without a viewer. I have some pictures I took in Germany in 1970 in the Army where I took two pictures side by side in quick succession, then pasted the photos on a card to read in the viewer. They look pretty good, and have exaggerated depth because the distance between the pictures is more than the eyes expect. I thought I had lost the ability to do this, since I could never make those silly design hidden picture things work, even after staring and staring. Since then, I found that It was an eyeglasses thing, since I have a prism type difference between my eyes. These days I can look at a stereo pair like the one below and usually make it work with my bifocals. You have to get the right distance or zoom factor, and relax the eyes so they look at the images separately. The size below works for me.




These are from the Cheeney Co. in Manchester Connecticut in 1914, very interesting in themselves. This was reported to be the largest silk manufacturer in the world for years. The silk industry was hot, and was stealing business from Japan because Japan was still doing it manually, while U.S. industry started up industrially, able to rethink methods for volume and efficiency.(roles switched after WWII?) It says on the back that the big "ferris wheel" was used for "beaming off" the silk warp from this wheel to the loom roll at the bottom. It took very watchful eyes and skill to make sure no threads were dropped or crossed.

Save it, they will rise again?

I managed to escape Richmond with some currency.


For regular green (or angle-changing colored) currency, check out "WheresGeorge.com" I have had a couple of bills found and tracked.

A friend of mine, Paul, forwared one of those emails that at the end begs and tries to shame you into sending it on to other people. It is an interesting mentality there that I have not got a handle on yet. The assumption of the do-gooders writing these emails is that there is a virtue in the mere act of forwarding some message to many others. This virtue is separate from the content of the message. Just the act of forwarding to help others is assumed to be a good thing. I must be evil, 'cause I usually don't send them on.

On a separate theme, the email mentioned above was a long one lamenting the way everything has to be mandated safe today and noting that we all grew up with lead paint, bad cribs, had fights and accidents, didn't lock our doors, etc., and we came out O.K. I wrote him back the following email that I share with this blog;

Paul,
I just got a chance to read the email you fowarded to me all the way through. What a shame that our society has come this far, isn't it. They are trying to make it so safe and risk free that nobody will learn the hard knocks. I'm sure you were like me and had a classic risky childhood. I remember setting rat traps when I was in 1st grade! I mean those nasty wire ones that will snap your finger off. I remember climbing in the trees in back of our house as a kid, so high and on the tippy top of the tree when the wind was whipping me back and forth. . . I was loving it. I remember us three boys jumping on the tailgate of our station wagon (fake wood paneling on the sides) maybe on Friday afternoon when Dad drove down town about a mile to do his banking or whatever. We would dangle and drag our feet and the dog would be either following us or up there with us. I remember catching all kinds of snakes, A couple of us braver kids climbed up the rickety iron loop ladder inside an abandoned smokestack outside of town (The Saltblock) . Of course it was condemned and posted and our parents would have killed us if they knew. Some of the loops were loose, and the thing was a real tower. When we got to the top, the view was like you were in an airplane, we thought. You could see for miles. And it was so scary! You could actually see and feel the stack sway about a foot from side to side. Just an example, but the risky and sometimes stupid things that we did as kids made all the difference in the world at becoming independent and more resistant to the world's thorns that may pop up later in life. If we continue to sanitize and round all the dangerous corners to try to make everything risk free it will be a shame.

Desktop ink jet printers.
They have come down in price partially because the manufacturers can make more profit by selling the cartridges, which they thought they had a lock on. If they get more printers out there, they can sell more cartridges which have the real markup. I won't go into the whole debate, but I have always steered clear of the HP, Lexmark, and selected models of the others which build the print head into the ink cart. This forces you buy a new print head - cart combo each time, and they can patent or uniquely build the printhead so third party (read as cheap) replacements are not easily made, so the OEM will more likely sell the bulk of the ink, and the price will be in the stratosphere. So the understandable trend in all manufacturers is now to make as many models with proprietary carts as they can get away with. My advice is not to participate in this. Don't buy into those messy refill syringes, or trade in schemes either. Just get a printer that uses separate carts that have cheap replacements available. I know there is an ink chemistry element to this as well, but in practice, it doesn't seem to matter as long as the new one matches.

I mean really, I have two Epson printers. One is a ColorPrinterFaxCopierScanner thing and one just a printer, but they both take the same carts and I pay about $3 black; $4 color for ink carts that Epson sells for $25-$30. I have paid as little as $1 - $2!! see ad clip below. Of course they are from China, like everything, but I have been using this kind of ink with few glitches for years and years, and I am a high graphics and photographic user. This is the real cost of a printer, and there is a backlash going on rebelling against these higher than reasonable prices. If others want to zip down to the computer store and get a Black HP cart for $32 and a color for $43 (=$75!) and get no better value for that than I get for mine at $7, that's O.K. by me, but it's not right. The marketplace is bit by bit testing to see what threshold the users will put up with, and it will shake out, but I hope the users win, not the manufacturers.

Example actual ad:
Free Shipping Avail., Epson compatible black ink cartridge S02... $1.00
Free Shipping Avail., Epson compatible black ink cartridge S020189 for model(s) Stylus Color, 740, 760, 860, 1160 Epson compatible black cartridge for model(s) Stylus Color, 740, 760, 860, 1160 ref # S020189 SHIPPING IS 4.75 PER ORDER, ... CARTRIDGES FOR $49.00 AND GET FREE SHIPPINGWHOLESALE INQUIRIES WELCOME epson S020189c ...

----------==========**********O**********==========----------

If you haven't discovered RSS feeds, to get interesting things from the web quicker, you should try one of the feeders or aggregators. It is more in "real time" and you can focus on your interests so much quicker; the proverbial fire hose vs eyedropper story. I use the free one, Feed Demon. This thread on Optical illusions was a link from a feed. Am I nuts, or are these almonds rotating?



Actually there are a gaggle of illusions here that are worth the loading time to see. Note to Leah: The expanding cushions might be an idea for a Mosaic pattern.

Now for the segue to Segway?

I have to revisit the good ole Segway. Martha and I saw a demo of the thing at a local fair here, it was actually a glorified book signing tour for Steve Kemper, the guy whose book proposal leaked and prematurely exposed "IT" or "Ginger" to the world. My "personal transporter" arguments all started in my mind again.

I keep hearing myself saying what a terrific device it is. It makes you root for Kamen because it is a manifestation of the technology that is supposed to be our savior and master. I have a flash of the personal backpack flying men in a futuretown zooming to work in a kids' book I had in the '50's, and somehow I think if that didn't come to pass yet, at least people could be on Segways.

I overheard someone saying how expensive they are - $5000 on Amazon! Even the new "P" series just announced is going to be under 4K. These are not pocket change prices, but they certainly are not show stoppers if people decide that they need or want them. I have seen ads for racing bicycles for over 4k! We all know people who have sunk multi multi thousands in boats, PC's, pedigree dogs, so if people need or want it, people will but it. There is the rub.

Even the people who believe in it don't seem to be convinced yet that we can adapt our lives to IT, or that it fits a big enough need. Even the author Steve Kemper, while demo-ing the Segway to us at the fair mentioned that he didn't have one, "This belongs to my publisher, who lent it to me". Well this guy knows Bezos and Steve Jobs professionally, was one of the invited first group of people flown in to the Kamen Factory to preview it before it was even leaked to us common people, wrote a major book about the Segway, and doesn't have one. That tell us anything? I still want one.

=======
P.S. Kamen's Ibot, the fantastic rearing, stairclimbing non-wheelchair, which was one predecessor project for the software and gyros in IT is finally on the market, and deserves to be a success perhaps oven more than the Segway. Actually, I want one of those too.

I guess I should credit the sites where I gathered these, but for some reason I can't find the reference right now. I'll add it when I find it. I was almost fooled by the antiquity that supposedly resembled Bart, but then I discoverd the others, just cleverly and well made pseudo-artifacts.

Much has been written about the Alto, the computer developed in Xerox's PARC (Alto original price? $32,000), the graphical interface and mouse ideas eventually leading directly to MAC, and all PCs for that matter.

Here is a clip from Byte Magazine in 1981 describing some of the new devices and ideas:

The mouse is a small box with three buttons on the top and several ball bearings on the bottom. A slender cable connects the mouse to the Alto keyboard . . . The mouse is typically held in the user's right hand and rolled along the table on a soft piece of plastic that provides traction for the ball bearings.

Movement is detected by the motion of one of the ball bearings. The mouse reports changes in position to the Alto. From this, a cursor on the Alto display can be positioned. . . . Alto programs can be controlled with the mouse alone independent of a keyboard.

Then this paragraph that was like a fortune teller:

A stand-alone Alto is usable, but the best configuration is a group of Altos connected by an Ethernet system. Since the Ethernet system is a local network, a special device called a gateway was developed to allow local Ethernet networks to speak to other Ethernet networks or packet networks of other types. Many companies are researching network schemes that would allow packet transmission across cable-television lines. Since these cables are currently installed in many homes and buildings, it is not difficult to imagine a city with an "information grid," analogous to the electric-power grid that exists today. Combined with an electronic mail system (a prototype called Laurel is used on Altos today) the possibilities are staggering.

Update: Forgot to mention the coincidence that the digitized Bible resides at The University of Texas at Austin near my sister Meredith. I was overestimating the age, as well. I was thinking a thousand years; actually printed 1454 or 1455, 548 years ago.

We saw these strange round balls along the side of a side road in East Windsor Connecticut. They were hard and bumpy and most were about the size of baseballs - some like softballs.

Sadly my digital camera croaked, so here is a scan from my scanner - pretty good 3D picture for a flatbed.

It took Martha a while in the books to find out they were from the Osage Orange tree. The internet was little help until I knew the name - then there were a lot of neat references to this strange tree. Google and even Jeeves search engines just didn't know what to suggest when my search was "I found these weird bumpy green things off a tree" If you want info about these, here is one link.

When we stopped in D.C. a couple of years ago, Martha and I went to the National Archives building and remember the beautiful old things displayed there and the hodgepodge marble and mosaic floor and wall pattens and the spectacular dome in the main hall. I remember best my daring picture I took of the original Gutenberg Bible in a glass case. You can almost see on the right the plackard that said something about federal law and no photos being permitted.


Well now I see I could have waited. I am a little rusty on my antiquated Latin script, but the Bible now is digitized and available on line, along with some interesting explanations:

Ransom Center: Exhibitions & Events: Permanent Exhibitions: The Gutenberg Bible: Introduction

I put these pictures of the former Warburton Inn in our Talcottville newsletter this time. It makes me muse over how my appreciation of old buildings has changed for the better over the years. As a kid, I was an ace at rock throwing at abandoned buildings' windows. Not maliciously or habitually, I just didn't think it was hurting anyone (except me, if I got caught). This wonderful brick inn, with a chimney in each corner was built by Warburton, an English immigrant in about 1810. It must have had great echoes in the walls of being his house, then a quarters for his mill workers, then a stop on the old Boston Road, housing itinerants of all kinds in the heyday of the industrial revolution. There is an old story that Warburton early on, when his mill had a particularly good season, would keep an open keg of something out in front for all to sample. Now there's a friendly place! Makes me sad that they tore it down, bricks, echoes, broken windows and all in 1962.

Graphic image that was a demo that came with my 1984 256K Macintosh.
Meredith and I redrew it in MacPaint in my kitchen in Richmond.

There was a competition of sorts at UCONN to determine the Architect for the planned Fine Arts Building complex. One of the designs had caught my attention, and because I liked it, that must have been the deciding factor, because it was chosen. I forgave the fact that the Architect, Frank Gehry, was from LA. The design looks like a bunch of metal flakes or shapes strewn across campus. The other two finalists were not dull, but more conventional in design, so I'm glad they went for the flashy, wild one. It is bound to attract national attention as it develops, which is more than likely one of their goals. Here is the model of the proposal:

It was a dark and stormy night. . . . Well, it was dark, I know that. This was a summer day back probably ten years ago in Richmond, Virginia. My wonderfully non-conformist friend John Adams announced to us that we would surely want to come with him that night on a "Chicken Roundup".

My brother Scott happened to be visiting from Ohio, and we definitely were up for anything out of the ordinary, and we did get it that night. Out in the country, on a chicken farm owned by a notable name in chickens, there was to be, according to John's inside information, a roundup. As we found out, hundreds, possibly thousands, of white chickens were being raised in this huge building, open, with a dirt floor, with carousel like feeders throughout. When the chickens were a certain age or size or something, they had to be taken in trucks to the plant. But how do you get those birds to travel, you ask?

You back up a semi or two with cages on it. Then in the dark of night, with spotlights and action, these men swoop into the teeming clucking masses of birds grabbing clusters of them upside down by the legs, and stuff them brawking into the cages on the trucks. It was a festive night for us, witnessing this action as observers, rooting for a bird here or there to make a dash for the woods to escape, and I suppose somebody or other might have yelled YEE-HAW! It was a night to remember, the chickens didn't know what hit them, but we all knew it was the final trip for them.

Well, I just read a postscript to this story just by chance! Somebody has invented a machine to automate the chicken roundup! It still catches the birds by surprise, but it is much more humane than grabbing, dangling and stuffing. If they keep it up, they'll take the adventure out of everything!

»»»»»»»»»»] Dirge [««««««««««

by Kenneth Fearing (1902-1961)

1-2-3 was the number he played but today the number came
3-2-1;
bought his Carbide at 30 but it went to 29; had the
favorite at Bowie but the track was slow - -


O, executive type, would you like to drive a floating power,
knee action, silk-upholstered six? Wed a Holywood star?
Shoot the course in 58? Draw to the ace, king jack?

O, fellow with a will who won't take no, watch out for three
cigarettes on the same, single match; O democratic voter
born in August under Mars, beware of liquidated rails --


Dénouement to dénouement, he took a personal pride in the
certain, certain way he lived his own, private life,
but nevertheless, they shut off his gas; nevertheless,
the bank forclosed; nevertheless the landlord called;
nevertheless, the radio broke,


And twelve o'clock arrived just once too often,
just the same he wore one gray tweed suit, bought one
straw hat, drank one straight Scotch, walked one short
step, took one long look, drew one deep breath,
just one too many,


And wow he died as wow he lived,
going whop to the office and blooie home to sleep and
biff he got married and bam he had children and oof he got fired,
zowie did he live and zowie did he die,


With who the hell are you at the corner of his casket,
and where the hell are we going on the right hand silver
knob, and who the hell cares walking second from the
end with an American Beauty wreath from why the hell not.


Very much missed by the circulation staff of the New York
Evening Post; deeply, deeply mourned by the B.M.T.

Wham, Mr. Roosevelt; pow, Sears Roebuck; awk, big dipper;
bop, summer rain; bong, Mr., bong, Mr., bong, Mr., bong.

»»»»»»»»»»]<>[««««««««««

If you want to hear me read the poem in real audio click here.

Not to get to wordy here, but I saw an article on critical thinking, and realized that that is one of the traits I admire in people. There are many more traits that also are high on the list, like kindness, quirkyness, etc. but save those for later. What is critical thinking? Well, when we say about a new idea, "I'm ## years old, I ought to know my mind by now, so this is my final answer on that!" This is not critical thinking. (although I feel that way many times) Even if your views of things are stong and well developed, you should be willing to think again. Here is a clip from the paper I read: Critical Thinking: Peter A. Facione, Santa Clara University .

The approaches to life and living in general which characterize critical thinking include:
* inquisitiveness with regard to a wide range of issues,
* concern to become and remain well-informed,
* alertness to opportunities to use critical thinking,
* trust in the processes of reasoned inquiry,
* self-confidence in one's own abilities to reason,
* open-mindedness regarding divergent world views,
* flexibility in considering alternatives and opinions,
* understanding of the opinions of other people,
* fair-mindedness in appraising reasoning,
* honesty in facing one's own biases, prejudices,stereotypes, or egocentric tendencies,
* prudence in suspending, making or altering judgments,
* willingness to reconsider and revise views where honest reflection suggests that change is warranted.

Someone strongly disposed toward critical thinking would probably agree with statements like these:
*I hate talk shows where people just state their opinions but never give any reasons at all.
*Figuring out what people really mean by what they say is important to me."
*I always do better in jobs where I'm expected to think things out for myself.
*I hold off making decisions until I've thought through my options.
*Rather than relying on someone else's notes, I prefer to read the material myself.
*I try to see the merit in another's opinion, even if I reject it later.
*Even if a problem is tougher than I expected, I'll keep working on it.
*Making intelligent decisions is more important than winning arguments.

A person with weak critical thinking dispositions would probably disagree with the statements above but be likely to agree with these:
*I prefer jobs where the supervisor says exactly what to do and exactly how to do it.
*No matter how complex the problem, you can bet there will be a simple solution.
*I don't waste time looking things up.
*I hate when teachers discuss problems instead of just giving the answers.
*If my belief is truly sincere, evidence to the contrary is irrelevant.

A follow-up to a rant of mine a while ago concerning the government software efforts to scan the private email and web activities of citizens. Actually in place years ago, so called 'Carnivore' artificial intelligence software looked for word and phrases, combinations that "they" deemed criminal-like. This effort was given legs by 9-11. Who could disagree when we had the terrorists to fight? Ashcroft was certainly not worried about stepping on civil rights. Well, people did and do disagree! The bureaucrats have at least been alerted that we want privacy on the internet, and they have softened the software. They say.

I promise I won't go on about PC, politically correct, attitudes, because it is so easy to get outraged at the examples. We collectively have turned or are turning into a bland intolerant bunch of ninnies with no sense of humor, in the name of being sensitive and tolerant. If you want to laugh and/or cry, check out Tongue Tied , a blog.

Here is an example from that site about my old adopted home town:

The Robert E. Lee Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Richmond, Va. voted this weekend to change its name later this year for reasons that should by now be obvious to all, reports WRVA radio. . . . .

I thought I had seen the last of the stupid "Best viewed with Netscape" or similar banners that used to be the hallmark of the bottom of web pages back in the ancient internet days a few years ago. Of course web designers still have to worry about such things, trapping browser types behind the scenes or working out incompatibilities. We know that the web was not lucky enough to have settled on pdf, which would have made content identical on any platform, but instead is saddled with html's less predictable format, even though xml, java, php and the like make things snazzier. On top of this, only maybe 20% use older browsers now, making things more standardized.

My point is that the user, bless his soul, does not have to be warned of these things. What is he going to do? Turn back in shame, or trade up on demand? What was the point of these notices? If he or his company has for some reasonable or non reasonable excuse, stuck with Netscape 3.0 or IE3 or something believe me, he already KNOWS from experience that things are not going to look exactly perfect all the time.

Well, a college student in Virginia, for a class assignment, re-did the concert band web site I started years ago, and abandoned when I moved up north. They must have taught him from an old textbook, because right there on the first page, distracting from the otherwise fine design job he did, is:

Site requires Internet Explorer 5, Netscape 7, Opera 7, or Mozilla 1.3
If you do not have one of these browsers, click here.

I discovered Zeal.com. This is very much like dmoz Open Directory, as it is a human selected and maintained directory for the Web. It is kin to open source programming, since the power is with the masses, not corporate search engines or commercial interests. Unlike Open Directory, which has a hierarchy of specialized editors who must review and categorize everything for you, with Zeal you can become a contributor and start participating right away. You do have to register and learn the guidelines to get started. After this you earn points for good submissions and category selections, which are reviewed by more advanced "Zealots". You are given progressively more authority as you do good work. I think the presence of these types of diretories , feeding results to search engines, helps democratize the web and perhaps will keep the paid marketing forces from taking over.
Zeal.com - Share your knowledge. Set the standard.

Here is a great idea - maybe it will be the way it shakes out in some areas. I just heard of a guy who, while waiting for cable modem or DSL to be available to him, and then getting shocked by the monthly gouge, set up a better idea. He was lucky to have a neighbor who was already leasing a T-1 line (expensive but fast) for a home business, and he had a wireless network for his home office. He and several other neighbors were able to get this 802.11b wireless signal and they could access the web over his line. They contributed to the line charges. Home spun mini ISP?

For those who haven't tried this technology for yourself, it's amazing really. A $50 card in a laptop, or a PC wireless adapter would be all you need to receive. The sender needs an access point which is the base. Even if you have DSL or cable internet service, you could get the next door neighbor to help you pay for it by sharing the connection by wireless. There are antenna and signal issues, but you're all right within a reasonable area.

This stuff is easy! You can just get in the range of a network, say in the parking lot of a business or in a starbucks so equipped, as long as the network hasn't been clamped tight with security (and most have not) you can just jump on and get your e-mail, surf the web, IM, whatever. I just read an article that Home Depot had to shut down their network for a time after somebody tapped into their wireless network from the parking lot. In a city hotel lobby, I found I could 'see' 4 separate networks - I had no idea where they came from. Only one of these did not allow me to log right on the web. And not because I tried anything techie - just clicked on it.

As my mother in law ("Ma" aka Bette ) slips more and more in her ability to do things, we struggle each day to decide how to react to her problems. In her eighties, she is old beyond her years it seems to me. She can keep up with conversations to a great degree, and does pick up a lot about current events from the radio and TV, and calls and gets phone calls from a few friends and relatives regularly. She was on the verge of not being able to live in the house independently when we got here a few years ago. Now she is almost totally dependent, 'though. she is still the master of the house, and we are still just visitors. She does dress and care for herself still, and even though she gets confused and disoriented at times, does know basically what is going on, especially since Martha keeps her on track, lovingly doing things on demand to keep things as they were for as long and as much as possible. Even though she has almost no eyesight, she does daily duties as long as it is within her familiar territory and there are no surprises.

She would be shocked, I'm sure, by her previous self, if she realized how many of the hundreds of things she has totally forgotten about. Things that just a few years back had to be "just so", and done every day at the same time without fail, like adjusting the blinds, dusting her knick-knack mice and collectable door knobs. On top of this there are some things she does which I think she has forgotten why she does them. For instance she collects twigs in the yard, breaks them up and puts them in the wastebasket in the kitchen, to be taken out later. She remembers Wednesday is trash day, and helps take the trash and recycling to the street. Her one dedication is that she endlessly broadcasts birdseed in the yard, Johnny Appleseed style, going through 20 pound bags of birdseed sometimes twice a week. It is something to fill some time, she enjoys it and thinks it is vital, so who could stop her?

She is frail but smart enough to move appropriately slowly with baby-steps to avoid falls. She has had some depression, and we think some mini-strokes, but is usually stable and still functions fairly predictably. That is why it surprises us when she parts with reality sometimes. She sees imagined creatures in the yard, particularly at night. She sometimes insists that we look to see if we see them too. What do you say? When we say we can't see them, or say they must have just gone, she thinks we are mocking her or implying she is crazy. So we just try very hard ignore it and avoid the question so as not to hurt her feelings. "See them running right there?" she says, pointing with her crooked finger to moving targets out the door - making Z-like traces that would describe faster movement than any possible real creature could move. Of course there is nothing there.

She sadly also thinks - no, she "knows" - that the neighbors are watching her every day (of course they are not). Especially the neighbor boy (who we know is in college now and moved away several years ago). He is watching her even to the extent that he often is jumping back and forth from their roof to ours (30+ feet) to get a better look - in the dark, at night. We think there must be floaters in her eyes that are the starting point of these illusions, mis-interpreted by her mind so she takes them as reality.

Even in normal situations she can see very little - maybe just a little fuzzy dime sized area - and anything to her left seems to be invisible. It's hard to tell what she sees or doesn't because she doesn't admit readily that she can't see, or that she has a problem. She has improved a little on this, though, asking for help sometimes.

A specialist diagnosed her with a rare disease called Anton's Syndrome that seems to involve a degeneration of the blood vessels in the brain around the optic nerve in a very peculiar way. According to an article I found the internet, one frequent part of Anton's syndrome is deniability. For instance they told of one totally blind person who for years still believed strongly she could see. One way that this manifests itself in "Ma" is she trusts her failed eyes and perception totally when she should know that she can't see very well anymore. If it were I who couldn't see well or had reduced vision, I would trust the word of someone who could see to help me, not stubbornly insist that my perception was fine. Not so with this syndrome.


For instance she could be sitting at the little breakfast bar taking her pills. She knows which pill is which because they are in specific bottles and in the same place where Martha puts them for her. She will forget perhaps that she had picked up one bottle and moved it about 6 inches to the left. At that point she might be convinced that somebody took it from her because she can't see it. "Martha", she might say, "Have you been hiding my pills again? I wish you wouldn't touch my pills". or something like that. Even when we push her hand over to the bottle and she discovers it, it still doesn't seem to register in her mind that her head and eyes have been lying to her. Nothing is learned from this. She could not see it, therefore it was not there - - end of subject. She goes on as if nothing had happened.

In some ways I can understand this. If you saw something with your own eyes - an alien or something - you would probably be a believer since your senses have been truthful to you all your life. Why should you all of a sudden believe somebody else over your own perception? On the other hand, it is very hard for me to understand because I try to rely on science and logic, and you would think in such a fix my pragmatism would overcome an impossible event, but who knows. Very interesting.

Feul cell computer power! I have been reading about fuel cells for two years, and the prototypes and tests go on and on. All of a sudden there is this use on a smaller scale that really seems interesting and promising. 10 Hrs on a little methanol cartridge.

Fuel Cells in a Laptop?

I went to a new industry conference in Boston last month, Search Engine Strategies 2003. It was for my new techie specialty, Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. Quite an interesting and vibrant bunch of people were there. The reason for this blog is because while I was there, I ran into a luminary of computer lore that brought back memories. This bearded and familiar man said hello to me in passing and I kept thinking I knew him. A little later, I heard somebody mention Dan Bricklin's name. Flash! The light went on and I realised he was THE Dan Bricklin who started it all on personal computer software by creating VisiCalc in 1979!

By creating a useful application with his partner Bob Frankston, it gave "real" people reasons to buy expensive computers, not just the hobbyists and nerds. I remember his name and reputation from Byte magazine and all that back in the early days of computing that actually seem like last week to me. Here is Dan's blog: http://danbricklin.com/log/ if you want to read an interesting story or two. Dan has not been idle since those days, either, it seems, Having been a consultant to Lotus, with their 1-2-3 spreadsheet, the next runner to pick up the "visible calculator" baton. Then he was a pioneer in the pen tablet arena, which never took off, and created industry software, like Demo-it, and founded Slate and Trellis, among other things.

Here is a scan of a VisiCalc 5 1/4" disk sleeve I saved from those days. This may have been from the IBM version that we felt would not make it because it required a hard disk, which people would find too expensive.

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Here are a couple of flags that have croped up in our area in the last week: The huge house flag in Rockville, The tree in Manchester.

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Regardless of whether you think we should have arrived at the brink of war, it seems to me that this pre-war thing didn't shake out the way I was taught in the old cowboy movies and TV.

Remember the scene from the 60's: the bad guy and his cronies are holding a group of good guys and maybe a good girl or two at six-gun point in the front room of a log cabin in which they were previously at a table being forced to sign over the deed to the ranch.

Then a little diversion happens and a good guy grabs the gun. Everybody stands still like in a choir practice. The guy holding the wobbly gun barely looks serious, like he wouldn't or doesn't know how to shoot it, but the very fact that HE HAS THE GUN, the bad guys know it's over; they give up and the sheriff takes them to jail.

Now I know these were silly times in terms of drama, but even if you fast forward to realistic movies and TV and even on the street today, you see ad different scene. When our hero has the 357 pointed in the drug dealer's ear or conversely the crook pulls an oozie on the cop. When faced with what even clueless people would deem is overwhelming force, it should be over. The hero doesn't take out his finger nail clippers (that he has cleverly slipped by the weapons inspectors at the airport) and try to combat the 357 magnum, NO he gives up.

I mean, we expected Sadam and his gang to come out with their hands up, like the rustlers. They know the 'force' is not with them. I guess it is due to that old culture difference that he didn't understand it when we said, "Drop it! We got you covered. Come out with yer hands up, pardner!"

Well,we all have had the laughs at the mistakes made by so-called computer-illiterate or just plain stupid computer users allegedly calling in to tech support. Using the mouse as a foot pedal, the cd tray as a drink holder, holding a page to the screen to fax it, etc. Well Yuk yuk . . . . there is another side to this.

I have been on both sides, and believe me, the support end is not without fault. The help desk has a duty, it seems to me, to offer solutions that at least make sense. The good ones also get a sense of the level of expertise or the caller, and tailor the response accordingly. For instance if the user calls in about an advanced topic, like registry keys or security rights, they don't start with explaining where the start button is. In many cases the help desk simply doesn't listen or try to understand the real problem, so can not resolve it.

Here is the example that got me going on this.

I needed a remote control utility. I downloaded several shareware trial programs, and intended to buy the one that worked the best.

The best one disqualified itself. It had a window on starting that said "You have 30 days left in the trial period" ,"You have 29 days left in the trial period", "You have 28 . . ." I used it for a week, then suddenly it jumped to 9 days, and would not let me continue without "registration" i.e. paying. I sent them an e-mail as follows:

Subject: radmin evaluation
Sirs:
Just thought you should know I am moving on to another product because of the nonsense of your registration.
I have V2.1 for win9x on trial period, I have used it one week, but it won't let me continue. It comes up with:
Server side reports:
Your 30-day evaluation period will expire in 9 days.
Remember to register before then.

Then it locks me out. What's with that? do I have 9 more days or not?
rgb
The ignorant response from them?
Hello
This means that server trial perion will ent in 9 days. You should register it. (sic)
Best Regards
Denis Senin
Famatech Support
Duh? I won't even list the many problems with this reply, including the typos.

I saw a list on a blog somewhere that started me on this list of phrases. I tried to give them category or list name or something like "Rules" or " Familiar signs we didn't need to see" but they don't seem to have a natural name, so I'll just let them speak for themselves. The assignment for the peanut gallery is to help me with the list name and send me more to add to the list.
===========================================
Please leave area as clean as you found it when entering.
No animals were harmed in the production of this page.
Hold your applause until all have been announced.
Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Satisfaction guaranteed; return for full refund.
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
Nutritional need is not established in humans.
Product is sold by weight and not by volume.
Placing bag over head may cause suffocation.
If condition persists, consult your physician
Contents may have settled during shipment.
Do not fold, staple, spindle or mutilate.
Prices subject to change without notice.
Freshest if used before date specified.
Valid only at participating locations
If swallowed, do not induce vomiting.
Wash hands before returning to work.
Do not remove under penalty of law.
Bridge freezes before road surface.
No user-serviceable parts inside.
Push cap down and turn to open.
You need not be present to win..
No shirt, no shoes, no service.
You’ve been a great audience.
Part of a daily balanced diet.
Void where prohibited by law..
Apply only to affected areas.
Other restrictions may apply.
Close cover before striking.
Smoking or non-smoking?
No purchase is necessary.
Shake well before using.
Sign on the dotted line.
Consume in moderation.
Don't try this at home.
Tear along dotted line.
Pull down and tear up.
Your mileage may vary.
For internal use only.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Use only as directed.
Don’t feed the bears.
Press 1 for English.
Slippery when wet.
Scenic area ahead.
Limited Warranty.
Results may vary.
As seen on TV..
Post no bills.
Please flush.
Wet Paint.
Recycle
Quiet.

I heard a funny ad on the radio a couple of times. Radio Shack didn't mean it to be funny, but it is so much a sign of the times that it is funny to my way of thinking. They are shouting and making a big deal that they won't be asking for your name and address at the counter any more! This is their ad campaign? They openly state that it's something people hate, and they are great because they are stopping. Duh? They have been doing it for 10 years, and they only figured this out now?

Sort of like Microsoft announcing last year that the XP version of their Office products would not have that annoying stupid animated Clippie "help" feature that everybody hated. This was the focus of the whole introduction of the new product! They won't annoy you by default this year. (Of course you can choose to turn on that "feature" if you just have to be annoyed)

I have heard the motto,"Hit me real hard, since it will feel so much better when you stop". But I never expected companies would think that we will love them for stopping a bad practice that they shouldn't have done in the first place. Crazy times!

What's next. Dupont developing a public relations ploy that says,"We made Napalm and land mines in the past, but now we don't - aren't we great?"

Come to think of it, this "rehabilitation is great" theme has been shoved in our face by celebrities for years. If a big star has a hiatus in the career-itis, we just have to love them if they were at the Betty Ford clinic, or "had a cocaine problem, went to rehab, and now are better than ever. Certainly more worthy than the boring star who kept clean and sober for all that time.

This information is true. I used to lie all the time. Half the stuff I wrote was false, but I am not going to lie at all this year, so trust me!