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August 11, 2004
Our 13-yr-old son and I climbed to the top of Monument Mountain in the Berkshires a couple of days ago, despite my sloth and fear of heights, and I have the photographical evidence to prove it!
My son at the summit of Monument Mountain
Me at the summit of Monument Mountain
Although I hadn’t watched Jeopardy in maybe 20 years, a couple of weeks ago I watched a few featuring Ken Jennings, the million-dollar smart guy. Very impressive. And it struck me how they’re cheating…
Watch some reruns before Jennings was on. The questions were much easier. Having dumber questions favors any contestant who is outlandishly smarter than the others. So, while it’s not quite cheating, it does tilt the board toward Jennings and lets him run up $50,000 daily totals leaving the other contestants with nothing but a snapshot of Alex Trebeck and a tune they can’t get out of their heads.
My new Thinkpad X40 just arrived, so I have many , many happy hours of computer set-up to look forward to, including trying to figure out how to move onto my new laptop the stupid !@#$%-ing programs that only allow themselves to be registered to one computer, oh how I hate them.
I’ve just started the Windows File and Settings Transfer Wizard, a splendid utility that moves all your, well, files and settings to your new computer, which has never been known to work.
On the plus side, the X40 is lovely. Light ‘n’ loaded. And, while the keyboard of the X22 it’s replacing is IBMishly comfortable, the new one feels even better. And, the built-in wifi worked, just like getting a dial tone…
Ah, the Transfer Wizard is done and, guess what? It worked! I take back everything bad I ever said about it, except for the true stuff.
Now I’m watching two hours’ worth of mp3’s flying through the air…
Now, now how to get Thunderbird to recognize the profiles and msg data I moved over from my old laptop. So far, the obvious things haven’t worked. … Ok, edit “profile.ini” and hand-list the profiles you want Thunderbird to notice. Now, how to get the settings moved…Gave up. It’s easier just to enter the mail server’s address…Now to get my old msgs noticed. Hmm. Create a new account in TB. Copy and paste the content of the old folders into the new ones. (Worst that can happen is that I’ll have to reinstall TB. One of the little pleasures of being at the beginning of a rebuild.) The folders are in Documents and Settings/[username]/Application Data/Thunderbird, by the way…Ok, I’m not sure I got it exactly right. Create a new account and notice what name it gives the mail folder. Move the contents of your old folder into that one. Seems to work. But surely there’s a better way to do this. (Insert “Get a Mac” comment here. Thank you.)
Utilities and documents transferred the crude-but-effective way: Drag ‘n’ drop. Soon going to be time to install the Big Gun apps, and then spend hours tweaking and sanding. (One piece of good news: Outlook has left the building.
August 10, 2004
I’m on vacation, dialup, and my way out the door to go bowling with my son, but this msg came from Josh Koenig of Music for America. I haven’t taken a look at where the links leads, so the management disclaims any responsibility, etc…
http://www.musicforamerica.org/dickcheney
Back home. Viewed the video. It’s “Dick Cheney’s Alive.” Josh hasn’t let us down. Durn funny, IMO.
August 9, 2004
My son and I climbed Monument Mountain this afternoon, which is more like Monument Molehill, unless you’re 53, fat, and afraid of heights. At the top, as I cowered against a rock and used my cap to blot out the view, a teen-aged couple clambored next to me. The boy said, “I wish I had brought a chisel.”
It occurred to me that couples ought not to be allowed to chisel their names into public rocks unless and until they’ve tatooed themselves similarly. I mean, if you’re not willing to deface your own flesh, then…
My family loves Shakespeare & Co. up in Lenox where we’re currently on vacation. We’ve been going to its performances for about twenty years now. A couple of nights ago, we saw a preview of Comedy of Errors. (Hint: It’s the one with the two Dromios, no Rosalind, and doesn’t take place in Verona.)
Shakespeare & Co.’s performances are always lively, bawdy, and understandable. The troupe is first rate. Their performances IMO feel like Shakespeare as he was seen by his contemporaries. Yet, this performance wasn’t my favorite. Too much mugging, too broad, too hectic. Yes, it’s a farce with confusion piling on confusion. But there’s a difference between speed and timing. Nevertheless, saying it’s not one of the Company’s best leaves lots of room for goodness. The play is totally worth seeing. In fact, it was one of my son’s favorite performances. Plus, we saw the first preview, so it’s undoubtedly even better by now.
I have an overall gripe, though. When we first started going, the performances were outdoors at the Edith Wharton manor, on the edge of a forest. When sprites are supposed to appear from the forest, they actually appeared from the forest. The depth of the scene was well worth the swatting of the mosquitos. But, a few years ago, the Company was forced to relocate. They’re now ensconced down the road on 65 lovely acres of forest and meadow, yet they seem to have no plans to resume the sylvan stage. The Founders Theater is not such a great space – avoid seats with low numbers because they put you right at the top of the U that encloses the stage – and it’s inevitably indoors. Instead, the company’s director, Tina Packer (all hail!), is pursuing her obsessive dream of recreating the 16th century Rose Theater. Maybe that’ll be amazing. But the forest still beckons.
By the way, if you have a chance, go early and see Shakespeare and the Language that Changed the World, a 45-minute piece that celebrates his words. Very funny and sometimes moving. Bring the kids.
August 7, 2004
The ISO organization — the global purveyor of standards — has issued a new standard:
A new ISO standard offers a solution for organizations on those occasions when the customer is dissatisfied with a product or service — guidelines for handling complaints in a manner that gives optimal results for both the organization and unhappy customer…
…The standard gives complete guidance — including principles, issues for consideration and structural aspects — for the management of the overall complaints-handling process, with numerous checklists, sample forms and practical examples.
Next on ISO’s agenda is Standard 10003: How to smile like you mean it.
Thanks to Mike O’Dell for the link.
Reuters reports that a Swedish scientist claims that Ireland is the lost island of Atlantis. And The Weekly World News, the only American news journal that dares to tell the truth (except perhaps The Onion), last week revealed that President Bush plans on invading Atlantis to prevent them from developing WMDs. You do the math.
August 6, 2004
Saw the Bourne Supremacy last night. It is, as they say, a taut thriller with an interesting character at its center, played by an appropriately scowly Matt Damon. But, oh when will Hollywood learn to edit? The showpiece car chase is an unintelligible swirl of blurry car shots cut together so rapidly that perception outpaces narrative. Just as you’re about to figure out which car is the one that’s smudgily swerving to avoid which other car, you’re shown another car streakily swerving out of the way of some other indiscernible patch of color. There’s a reason why Monet painted haystacks instead of chase scenes.
Then there’s the mano a mano fight scene between two guys dressed in black that consists of one black patch doing things to another black patch until one of the black patches stops moving. As my nephew pointed out afterwards: You have to hand it to the Matrix for at least letting us know who was fighting whom…for example, the chase scene on the highway in Matrix II (or was it Matrix III, or possibly Star Wars 12).
I haven’t seen a movie this badly edited since Is Paris Burning? in which they film opposing soldiers heading towards each other from both sides of the action so that sometimes the soldiers running to the left are the Germans and sometimes they’re the French. But that was just inadvertently incompetent. The Bourne Supremacy is downright arty.
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