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2006

  • 1 min read

AllofMp3 Getting nervous

I've written about AllOfMp3.com before. I can't say other than it's a pirated music site. You can buy mp3's of music of all kinds, from a nice catalog, at ridiculously low prices (like $3 or less for a complete album.)

Some wags have suggested that AllofMp3 proves that people are totally willing to pay for downloaded music as long as the price is right. Yeah, like people are totally willing to pay for a BMW as long as the price is right. Other rumors have been that AllOfMp3 is always one step away from being shut down because the WTO has made closing down of AllOfMp3 a condition for accepting Russia into the organization.

So it's always living on the edge. Here's an extensive FAQ from the site where they explain why they consider themselves legal and not a pirated music site.

It's an interesting thing to watch. Don't ask me how I know, but today the site is up but "Downloading is disabled due to scheduled maintenance." Maybe D-Day is upon us?

Technorati Tags: mp3, music, allofmp3

  • 1 min read

Does a network enabled USB hub exist?

Ok, assembled masses: I've rearranged my office and now my USB connected printers are farther away from the computer and closer to an ethernet connection.

So, what I need is a USB hub which connects with an RJ45 rather than to a computer. I guess that would make it a Netwrok Enabled USB hub.

Can't find it on the web, but maybe it has a different name. Anyone know what I need?

Technorati Tags: networking, USB

  • 1 min read

Who comes to your thanksgiving dinner?

Kottke points to an amusing set of logic questions posted by "3 Quarks Daily" with the (silly - you'll see why) suggestion that it might make good dinner table conversation this Thanksgiving (in the US , of course 🙂

I won't repeat Kottke's quote of the Rope Burning Question, but you should check it out. The scenario is about two ropes which burn at different rates, but take always take exactly an hour, and you have a lighter. It ends with: "Now you are asked to measure a period of 45 minutes. How will you do it?"

I thought about it for about 60 seconds. Clearly the answer is: "I use a stopwatch."

I don't think that's the answer that Kottke or Abbas Raza had in mind, but that's the kind of crowd that sits around my table… You?

  • 1 min read

If you’ve ever had to carve the Thanksgiving turkey, this will be funny

Yes, every year some wag writes a funny article about carving a turkey, but this one is really funny! Among the many chuckles:

All conversation dies when he picks up his weapons. The festive warmth
that filled the room moments earlier is replaced by a merciless
judgment that records every failure of knife work like points lost in a
troubled double axel at the winter Olympics.

From the Boston Globe: Carving out his niche - The Boston Globe

  • 1 min read

Code Monkey: Funny

Came across Jonathan Coulton, the songwriter who embarked on a ridiculous challenge to write a song each week, for a whole year. Quite a crazy thing, but he pulled it off.

"Thing a Week is a project I've been working on since September 2005 in which I record and post a song a week as a podcast. It's a way for me to keep the creative juices flowing as freely as possible, and a way for me to push myself to take risks, work quickly and trust in the creative process. It's also a form of protest - I will keep doing this until someone pays me to do it." (from Thing a Week)

One of my all time favorites, that you gotta check out, Code Monkey…

"Code Monkey get up get coffee

Code Monkey go to job

Code Monkey have boring meeting

With boring manager Rob

Rob say Code Monkey very dilligent

But his output stink

His code not "functional" or "elegant"

What do Code Monkey think?

Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself

Code Monkey not say it out loud

Code Monkey not crazy, just proud"

Listen and well, depending on your sense of humor, laugh…

Technorati Tags: funny

  • 1 min read

Not sure if this is a good thing…

For those of you who avidly follow Curaçao politics, yes, all two of you, and I know who you are, do you think this is a good thing? I am not so sure…

"The Dutch government has signed an agreement granting qualified autonomy to the territories of Curacao and St. Maarten, paving the way for the formal end of the Netherlands Antilles." (from Radio Jamaica)

We'll see how it develops.

  • 1 min read

More Long Now Clockery

If you were intrigued by my previous post about the Clock of the Long Now, I came across a nice, philosophical and instructive article about it:

"But even if the Clock of the Long Now fails to last ten thousand years, even if it breaks down after half or a quarter or a tenth that span, this mad contraption will already have long since fulfilled its purpose.

Indeed the Clock may have accomplished its greatest task before it is ever finished, perhaps without ever being built at all." (from The Omega Glory by Michael Chabon)

Read it.

Technorati Tags: clockofthelongnow

  • 2 min read

Book of Pop!Tech: Clock of the Long Now

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=blogbridge-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0465007805&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

I just finished reading Steward Brand's book "The Clock of The Long Now". It's a quick, illuminating read, talking about the creation of a Clock and Library meant to last for 10,000 years, and how that thought and vision will affect the way we are. I recommend the book!

"Time and responsibility. What a prime subject for vapid truisms and gaseous generalities adding up to the world's most boring sermon. To spare us both, let me tie this discussion to a specific device, specific responsibility mechanisms, and specific problems and cases.

The main problems might be stated, How do we make long term thinking automatic and common instead of difficult and rare? How do we make the taking of long term responsibilities inevitable?" (from Clock of the Long Now")

Related to the book is the site of the Long Now Foundation, which has several projects connected to the idea of the long now, it is also worth taking a look.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=blogbridge-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0345341848&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrAlso referenced in the book is another book that looks very interesting, which I just ordered, sight unseen. It's called "Finite and Infinite Games" by James P. Carse. Here's the first chapter:

"There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing to play." (from Finite and Infinite Games)

Intriguing, ain't it?