Thursday, November 28, 2002
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Heat - reduced by southerly change - yay
own blogger - the dream lives on
web comic - coming along as good as other updates
poems - on hold, pending more mind melting heat
gulf war - on hold, pending something to legitimise killing people
globalistaion - continuing unchecked
God's purposes - coming along just as He intended
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
But in other places it is cold.
Monday, November 25, 2002
Sunday, November 24, 2002
It's so hot I will write a poem ....
Hot by b
Hot it is, too hot I say,
It was very hot today.
Hot it is, too hot for me,
So hot that I just can not be.
Hot it is, too hot to breathe
The heat just makes we want to leave
Hot it is, too hot to think
My body crys out for a drink.
Hot it is, too hot too hot
I want to sleep but just can not
Hot it is, too hot you see
Not hot for you? Too hot for b.
Hot it is, it melts my brain
It's been a while since we had rain
Hot it is, I guess that's all
If you've a pool - please call.
Saturday, November 23, 2002
Friday, November 22, 2002
Thursday, November 21, 2002
The basic steps are:
/|
|\
'|
|'
^|
|^
X
||
and dance, dance even if no one else is there to see it
to help you get in the mood, try this midi file - no James I am not auto playing it when people load the page!!!!
Thanks to the noble one for his contribution of '| ha ha ha ha ha
Don't know why I am saying this, but I am thinking through the data dictionary for my own blogg comments database. Got the fields worked out, and over the weekend I will be working on those cute icons people do to indicate what the topic of the post is all about. Oh and the web comic is coming along really well - just like the update to Spot The Doc - really well.
This story talks about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act an broad ranging piece of legislation passed in the states which could easilt limit our freedom to play legally purchased CD's in the players we want to as well as making edittting software like iMovie illegal [the act includes provisions "which ban devices or services that are designed primarily to circumvent copy prevention technologies, that have only limited commercially significant purpose other than circumvention, or that are marketed for circumvention" - it is the word primarily which of course will be used to punish the innocent].
Whilst I agree with companies getting the money that is due to them I also think that us poor slob consumers should have the freedom to play music where and when they want AND be able to create and edit their own works if they choose.
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
I was looking back through my blogg - no, I haven't updated Spot The Doc, the links db pages still haven't changed, the inside out changed from the one previously mentioned, and I haven't extended the blogg comments to include inside out nor made my own blogg.
But what I am thinking is that in the next few days I might just start my own webcomic, i have always wanted to, no seriously, just like all those other projects mentioned above I am starting a web comic.
Who said that!!! What does it matter if i can't draw.
Good night.
So once again it has all worked out for good - and taught me a valuable lesson. Trust, easy to say, harder to live.
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
A friends MSN Name is "if I return to nothing?" - good thing to remember - although of course we don't return to nothing - we die and face judgment - but the things of this world don't follow through into the next. Except for our faith in Jesus. So why is it that when my engine dies and I have to replace it with a $1000 worth of reco second hand engine that I feel a bit stressed?
Another day of my life is almost over .... minutes I will never have again .... spent worrying about whether the kids will get their reports on time .... they will, I always come through.
Oh yeah, and the NSW government wants to pass a law to allow police to search types of things and people without a warrant if a credible terrorist threat is annouced. Plus they are looking for powers to hold people longer without charge. I don't think this is a good thing - although out of 3000 phone calls by people who watch channel ten news tonight 90% of those phone calls was to the "YES it is a good thing" number. Is it just me or do people have no idea. The presumption of innocence is a very important concept protecting us from the necessary, but possibly corrupting, power of the police, judicary and government. Ensuring that just rumours don't see people locked up without charge [let alone trail] and not that I quite see this as legislated racism, as I heard someone on radio claim today, I just don't see many coppers stopping every white anglo saxon male driving a jeep cherokee. During the course of persuing a "credible terrorist threat". Call me cynical - go on - click on that comment button and call me cynical.
Monday, November 18, 2002
Sunday, November 17, 2002
Saturday, November 16, 2002
Friday, November 15, 2002
I had a look at invertors [lets you get power to the computer via the cigarette lighter thingy in a car] and a decent sine wave invertor will set you back at least $300 - which is way too much - for now - it will be my next wireless purchase [unless Praetor wants his wireless PCMCIA card back] with a tail and antenna the next - but that will certainly not be until next year.
My new timetable for work sees me with 8 periods a week off - which I am looking forward to as it should make it a bit easier to do all the computer stuff which I do over and above my normal teaching. So that is a bit of good news - of course the best news is that we have just finished half the term and so there are now only 5 weeks to go and this year is over - which is another piece of good news, and next week is the last week of our school working on the 2002 timetable - from the week after that [Week 7] our school starts our 2003 timetable - which is the last bit of good news in a good news trifecta - my lift is here so I am off to WarDrive.
Sunday, November 10, 2002
The page begins with the Open Source Initiative commenting on what impact the memo has on them and the action they should take next in response to the memo.
At the bottom of the page is the actual MS memo.
As I have said elsewhere getting music for free without the copyright holders permission is theft, so if you are downloading music that you are not paying for and that the band/distributor/creator/copyright holder has not said you can use then you are a dirty drity thief - but the record companies are also a big fat bunch of very very very stupid people.
Whilst the "fact" [not sure where I can confirm it] that more blank cd's are sold than recorded cd's certainly is cause for alarm [although not every single CDR is used for music, in fact maybe most aren't but I have read other reports saying that there has been a decrease in unit sales - esp. amongst certain age groups] the response of the record companies to make protection that doesn't work on all players and then a] not label it clearly and b] not really care very much is stupid stupid stupid.
Now the reason these CD's don't work has something to do with the same reason some cd burners don't like certain cd-r's or cdrw's = there IS a standard for the CD players, but not the CD's or the Burners [I think, I know one of those steps is not standardised] thus leading to the situation where I could not use EMTEC cd's in my iMac and, no doubt, certain copy protected CD's being unusable in certain players.
The final line of The Register article says "[the record companies] really are looking forward to the day when you have no rights." - now that is absolutely emptyheaded self serving nonsense. What about the rights of the record companies, what about the rights of the band, what about the rights of the cd store owner? - cos lets be honest people who steal music are living everyday with the attitude that those people have no rights, right now, not one day but now.
Of course the record company response is heavy handed and heartless and all it does is alienate consumers - I don't like the big record companies, they are vile creatures who care more about their shareholders than the artists who work for them - but I care about the bands and I will not be a dirty thief and deprive a band I enjoy of what scraps the record company gives them. And certainly not in the name of hurting the record company or as some statement against copy control.
No matter how much of a stupid scumsucking bunch of losers record companies are they have a right to protect their copyright - but I think there are smarter, less customer alienating ways of doing it. All they seem to be doing is driving people online to steal more music.
See, they are big fat stupids ;)
Friday, November 08, 2002
Wednesday, November 06, 2002
Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Sunday, November 03, 2002
I have also been having some more dreams of setting up a Wireless Access Point - on a cooler day I need to get up on the roof and see what the line of site is off the antenna we have for the television. Of course I will also need to save my pennies, because none of it is cheap. But there is no harm in dreaming :)
Microsoft - you will go were we want you to go.
Saturday, November 02, 2002
It is nice to get to the point where I am comfortable with php that I had an idea "surely it will email me when people add a comment" and so I went to the online PHP manual and looked up mail - typed it in and YES!!! worked first time. Very cool.
I am excited about the whole PHP - it offers lots of possibilities - in fact I am considering moving off blogger for my blogg - cos I can't think of an easy way to get the current comment count on this page [atm I can't think of anyway at all in fact], other than may having a table for the bloggs and a table for the comments so I can display this page by drawing info from both.
What it means is that as long as MS gets in with it's anti-competitive activities before a competitor then no one can stop them - and since their plan is to own the desktop and the whole of the world it pretty much means they can keep on going about carrying out their plan without too much hinderance. They just have to be more proactive than reactive.
Friday, November 01, 2002
I think their idea [from other articles] is that the government is using the FUD to get more control over the internet and implement stringent copyright controls under the appearance of protecting against cyber-terrorism.