2005 March

“Why has our technological expertise far outreached our psychological and spiritual development?” Michael Tsarion, joins us on the show.

Born in Ireland Michael Tsarion, an expert on the occult histories of Ireland and America, has made the deepest researches into the comparative mythologies of the world and into his own country’s ancient and mysterious Celtic Tradition. His presentations on Atlantis, Lemuria and the pre-diluvian epoch have been acclaimed by veterans in the field of paranormal research. In the tradition of Immanuel Velikovsky, William Bramley, Laurence Gardener and Erich von Daniken, Michael considers the consequences to civilization of extra-terrestrial involvement and seeks to clarify many of the quandaries that other “visitation” experts have overlooked. His book clarifies the disinformation about Atlantis and the lost continents of prehistory. It concentrates on the orchestrated chaos of modern times and reveals how the political and military machinations of the present have their roots in the ancient past. As well as stating the problems, Michael also furnishes us with solutions to the moral and social predicaments that have beset humankind for millennia.

Read more on Ancient Technologies Hour 1…

I take back what I said about Alaska Airlines. Rather, how I said it. There's nothing more frustrating than missing your flight, no matter the carrier. It's how this particular airline did or did not deal with the situation. Hiccups happen, and I'd just as soon have them spend the time fixing problems before it's too late. I've had to fly Alaska Airlines a lot since moving to Seattle, and while the experience pales by comparison to JetBlue, it hasn't been an overwhelmingly negative one.
When I'm not on a schedule, I don't really care how, when, or where a flight takes off – but if I'm on a mission, then everything that happens is mission critical. I know I'm not the only one who's frustrated with the system, and I know that as far as problems go, they could be a lot worse. Its no more one airline's fault than it is another's. I've been delayed before – and it sucks every time. I suppose my message to these terminals is: why not make us more comfortable why we wait?
A trip to the airport is tantamount to a trip to the dentist; you know it's probably going to hurt at some point. If you can't open up the Wi-Fi with your current service provider, find a new carrier – and they DO exist. With the money I've had to spend on parking fees, I've more than paid for the bandwidth. And don't tell me that your bottled water is really worth $4 a bottle. You've got a captive audience, but why do you make us feel captured? Pacify me with a power outlet and a connection to the Internet. It's not much, honestly – especially when I can't do much else while I wait.

Read more on Alaska Airlines, Part II…

Commenting on The Myth of MythTV, Lockergnomie Dan Gheorghiu writes:

I read your post about MythTV and PVR Drivers. Most of the popular new PVR cards sold for Windows XP MC are based on Connexant's “Blackbird” design, which hasn't had drivers for Linux or Myth.
We have been working on these drivers and released an alpha version at Plutohome.com. Pluto even has a self-booting kick-start CD that will automatically install & configure everything for you, including a ready-to-go Myth system. It's the fastest and easiest way to get a MythTV PVR up and running, and also installs Xine, Asterisk and our own software to give you the most advanced media & entertainment, home automation, security, telecom & computing system, controllable with your Symbian Bluetooth mobile phone, as well as PDA's and Webpads.
We're working hard to harden the drivers as quickly as possible and would like as much feedback as possible. These 2nd generation “Blackbird” cards are lower in price and offer better picture quality than the current models supported in IVTV, so be sure to check them out. Visit plutohome.com, click 'support', 'support site', and choose “CX88 Blackbird Drivers” from the projects menu.

I've heard great things about MythTV, provided you can get the sucker set up. I'll stick with MCE for the time being.

Read more on The Myth of MythTV…

I barely caught this mention the other day… which is actually an honor. According to a rough Google translation:

Keeping the proportions and independently from the parameters used by Average Magazines to make its Top 100, I made a list of 20 people who, in my opinion, are most influential within blogosphere (written in English) and its development, or by his blog, its projects, the analyses that of her has done or the promotional work of the same one. I do not include, sure to the seven bloggers that already they are part of the list elaborated by Post Average.

Indeed, I am thankful to be in this list, which also includes the following folks:

Read more on Thank you, La Coctelera!…

And the list just keeps getting better…

• JD Lassica
• Terry Heaton
• Chris Sloop
• Robert Scoble
• Eric Rice
• Kathy Gill
• Matt Westervelt
• Marc Canter

I'm not yet done sending invites, either. Stay tuned for our first set of Media sponsorships, too.

Read more on Gnomedex Participants: Round Two…

Blah

For dinner, we decided to return to Kozue (a restaurant originally recommended by Jeff Barr on the Seattlist). We were ready to order another small round of nibbles, but the chef had decided to close the bar without taking “Last Call.” Disappointed, Ponzi suggested we go get a Dick's. Burgers, folks – hamburgers, plain and simple. Well, Ponzi did get a Deluxe burger. I opted for a regular hamburger, contending that it would taste the same as one from any other fast food joint. It was time to prove myself wrong.
“Okay, now that I've had a Dick's burger, I gotta try one from McDonald's to do an immediate taste comparison.”
We drove home, stopping by a McDonald's to order a plain ol' hamburger. The Drive-Thru lackey seemed shocked, offended that we didn't want to order anything more. “Are you sure that's all you want?” Yes, we're sure. “You don't even want…” Just shut up and hand over the burger, buddy. From first bite, I could tell that I was eating an inferior treat. Though it had rehydraded onions and a pickle, the meat didn't taste like meat – which immediately set it apart from the truly genuine Dick's experience. That's one point for the Dickmeister. But I couldn't stop there!
Two blocks away sat a Burger King. Despite their creepy new television commercials, I thought I'd give 'em a go, too. In between the time we placed the order, and the time we picked it up – I got the strangest taste in my mouth. Boy, that McDonald's hamburger was backfiring something fierce. Dude, this was one nasty ass aftertaste! No wonder they sell Coke by the gallon. To rid myself of the sensation, I started to lick my leather wallet. That didn't really help, but at least I wasn't tasting whatever byproduct I had just purchased at .97 cents. Before I started sucking on something else, the Burger King burger was ready. Flame Broiled? Flame Blah. Sesame seeds on the bun? Big deal. It tasted the same – tasteless. But I couldn't stop there!
Wendy's was only a minute up the street, so it only seemed fair to give the red-headed stepchild of the fast food industry a fair shake. I could only get through half of the BK burger before wrapping it up and saving it for later (upon Ponzi's request). We ordered the junior hamburger instead of a Single, as that was the closest thing to the other burgers from tonight's taste test trip around town. I could smell char on my own breath, but I'm not sure if that was reconstituted char or true grill char. I didn't have much time to think about it, as the Wendy's burger was in my hands quicker than you could say: “Would you like fries with that?” My first impression: fresh, very fresh. The pickle and ketchup were still cold! My second impression: this is an awful lot of bread, and a pattie of pseudo-meat.
Dick's? You win, hands down.
Fast food restuarants? Go away.

Read more on Hamburgers!…

To prepare ourselves for this weekend's northern backwoods excursion, we decided to head into REI for a few outdoor preparedness whatnots. Hiking boots: necessary. Everything else: only necessary because they matched other things that Ponzi had in her closet. We now own half the store, I'm happy to report. I don't know if or when we'll ever go kayaking, but at least we own the right suit for it (should something ever happen). I don't go camping all that often… in fact, the last time I was camping, I was a Cub Scout. Er, Webelo? So, why start NOW?
Robert decided that it would be cool to go camping right before Gnomedex – to unwind, unwire. His momentary lapse of judgement has forced me to recon with my more rugged side – the side of me that folks seldom see. Ya know, the kind that doesn't mind roughin' it? Okay, so I don't really have an outdoors bone in my body. Do you see any tents in my garage?! Does it look like I could survive with nothing but water in my canteen?! No, but at least I have some nice new hiking shoes that match my jacket. Kinda.

Read more on Getting Outdoor Gear…

Based on a recent entry, Lockergnomie Mike Roberts had this feedback for our resident Technobabbler:

Fluorescent lamps differ from Incandescent lamps in a variety of ways. The life cycle of a fluorescent bulb is more a function of on-off cycles than operating time. The ballast needs to generate a very high voltage to start the lamp. The starter filament is what fails. On standard fluorescent lamps, you can notice a black ring that grows near the end of the lamp. That's from starting. Incandescant lamps have a tungsten filament which heats up emits particles when in use. The filament eventually emits enough particles that it breaks.
The next wave of lamps will be White LED replacements. It is already happening commercial and consumer applications. Traffic lights, tail lights, automotive interior lighting, LCD backlighting for PDAs, Cell Phones and even some lamptops. Once the economies of scale and technolgy improvement progress, LEDs will replace Compact Fluorescent Lamps.
Lighting as we all know it will change dramatically in the coming years.
Your electric bill may not notice a big change due to the fact that illumation is a small percentage of your overall energy consumption.

I can tell you this: our recent electric bill was the highest I've seen in a while. Time to turn off a few of these unused electronic devices, I'd say. If only there was an easy way to discover what's sucking up the most juice around here.

Read more on Compact Fluorescent Bulbs…

Garrett Fitzgerald gave lookyloos an eyeful the other day. The idea is to type each letter in the alphabet (as opposed to each letter in the cookie jar) into your browser's Address bar and share the first result. Here's what I have:
a.tribalfusion.com
batman.manyfacesof.com
c.moreover.com
daynah.php-princess.net
en.wikipedia.org
faculty.washington.edu
gigaom.com
help.lockergnome.com
iggy.gnomeblog.com
jamespo.org.uk
kb.mozillazine.org
leelefever.com
macromiracle.net
northernvoice.ca
odd-lot-thoughts.blogspot.com
p6.mgl.re2.yahoo.com
quotes.lockergnome.com
rad.msn.com
scoble.weblogs.com
tantek.com
us.lrd.yahoo.com
vowe.net
webstandards.org
xentient.com
[None for Y]
z1.adserver.com

Read more on What's in Your Address Bar?…

Per an email that was sent to me a few hours ago… here's the PDF:

This notice is to inform you about a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit entitled Holt v. Creative Labs, Inc., San Francisco Superior Court, Case No. CGC-03-418809 (the “Litigation”), the Court's certification of a settlement class in the Litigation, and of a hearing to consider the settlement. The Litigation concerns the first Audigy and Extigy lines of sound cards manufactured by Creative Labs, Inc. (”Creative”) which plaintiff claims were falsely advertised in that they did not process sound at 24 bit/96kHz for all functions: Audigy ES, Audigy Platinum, Audigy Platinum EX, Audigy Gamer, Audigy MP3+, and Extigy sound cards (all of these are called “Sound Card(s)”). Creative denies the claims made in this Litigation, and denies that anyone has been harmed or deserves compensation in relation to the claims. The Court has not made a decision on the merits.
If, on or after March 28, 1999, you owned a Sound Card for your own use (and not for resale), you are a member of the Settlement Class the Court has certified. Under the terms of the settlement, Settlement Class Members who file valid claims and attest to dissatisfaction with the audio processing capabilities of their Sound Card will receive a certificate good for twenty-five percent (25%) off the purchase price of any one Creative product, not to exceed sixty-two dollars and fifty cents ($62.50) off the purchase price. The certificate must be redeemed in connection with a purchase from Creative's website, www.us.creative.com, within one year from the date of issuance. Please see the complete Notice and Claim Form at www.audiocardsettlement.com for details regarding the settlement, the requirements for submission of claims, and how to submit a claim. If you wish to submit a claim, you must do so by September 22, 2005.

I own a few Audigy products. As a matter of fact, we just picked up a couple of new Audigy 2s for the studio the other day.

Read more on Audigy Class Action Settlement…

It's been about… eighteen months since my last spinal adjustment. Of course, it's been even longer since my last confession (which would be a Catholic joke). We got a chiropractic flyer in the mail last week – yes, direct mail marketing works. I knew my Atlas had been off kilter for some time, which winds up causing slight discomfort in my right ear. Flip, twist, pop – I'm feeling much better now.
I first started going to chiropractors a few years ago, when I was still living in Iowa. The subluxations were aplenty, and initial corrections kept me from having two vertebrae in my neck fused together (seriously, the X-ray was scary). I still have a twisted hip, and my spine is far from straight, but I'm aiming to re-enter maintanence mode to keep myself from getting too far out of whack again. It's not just the back, really – as I don't have a lot of back pain. To celebrate my reinitiation, I've crafted a nice Haiku:
It's now my Spine's time
to see the Chiropractor.
Feeling better now

Read more on Chiropractor…

Adam Curry – The podcasting buzz gained traction with Gnomedex 4, with Adam listening to us as a distant observer. This year, we're bringing him directly to you – up close and personal! Oh, you might remember him as the world's first VJ for MTV – and the man who registered MTV.com before the network knew what hit it. Adam Curry is not just a celebrity – he's a true technologist who is continually shaping this industry. From Adam, we might learn:

Read more on Gnomedex Keynote: Adam Curry!…

Buzz Bruggeman is a one-man social network. He seems to know more people than Marc Canter, and yes – that's a challenge. Over the past week, Buzz has digitally introduced me to a dozen or so folks who I've never met – or would otherwise never have the opportunity with which to interact. I've known him long before the first Gnomedex, but his greatest contribution to the galaxy (IMHO) is not ActiveWords. It's his friendship and blind determination to making connections for folks.
Buzz paid for a steak dinner when I was still living in Des Moines. It's time I returned the favor. I hope you'll get a chance to meet Buzz, and some of his influential friends, in Seattle this June.

Read more on Buzzmoo…