Mac Attack
By Brian | February 21, 2008
Last weekend, my friend Jeff Porten and I were in the same physical location, which basically means we got to stare at the same computer screen, rather than two separate ones.
In this case, I had an Excel spreadsheet to show him, which I had stored on my USB flash drive. I put the drive in his MacBook, and we were able to bring it up in Excel with just a couple of clicks. Excel threw a couple of warning messages at us, but the spreadsheet seemed to work fine, so we didn’t investigate.
Anyway, today I tried to use the flash drive on my Windows machine. Well, well, well…
I’ve got four hidden folders on the drive now, containing a total of 84 files that take up 17.5MB on the drive (to be fair, the spreadsheet has a bunch of bitmaps in it, so it’s 14MB on its own). The folders are named as follows:
| .fseventsd | .TemporaryItems |
| .Spotlight-V100 | .Trashes |
The one with the word “Spotlight” in it has 50 of the 84 files, all with inscrutable filenames, so I’m guessing the Mac tried to index my flash drive and stored the index on the drive itself.
The one called .TemporaryItems has several sub-folders, but eventually I come to a local copy of each bitmap in my spreadsheet, stored in .png format.
The other two folders are empty.
Everything deleted with no issues, and the spreadsheet still works, but it’s yet another example of how 100% compatibility is a false hope, as there’s always something that needs to be done whenever Jeff and I try to share/swap files.
No big deal for me, but I’m glad I’m not the guy on the other end of the tech support line when a novice user calls in asking if the Mac gave his flash drive a virus…
Categories: Tech Talk | 3 Comments »
Still an Andy Pettitte Fan…
By Brian | February 20, 2008
Given recent events in the baseball world, I thought I’d comment on what Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens have said and done over the last week or so. My perspective is that of a lifelong Yankee fan, and also as a father of two young boys.
I mention my kids because I’m very much of the opinion that sports, for adults, is entertainment. It’s a diversion from the things that truly matter in our lives – our families, our jobs, our communities, our politics, etc. As an adult, my interest in whether or not a professional baseball player cheated to win a World Series doesn’t amount to much more than idle gossip. It simply isn’t that important in the big picture. But kids view sports differently. Kids dream of becoming professional athletes. They emulate them. They watch their every move and listen to their every word. The athletes are, for better of for worse, heroes in their world. Superheroes, like Superman or Batman, but real enough to watch on TV and during the occasional trip to the ballpark.
My older son became fully aware of baseball right as it was becoming obvious that Jason Giambi had been taking steroids to achieve his unusual bulk and, consequently, his inflated stats. At the time, I encouraged him to look up to the likes of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, but steered him away from Giambi whenever I could. When he asked (and he did ask), I told him that Giambi was a great baseball player, but not a very good person, because even though he hits homeruns and wins games, he cheats.
And no one likes to play with a cheater.
My younger son is now at that age where he follows and roots for the individual players. And, of course, my older son is still fully fixated. Therefore, the widely publicized Pettitte/Clemens events present me with another dilemma. When the season kicks in, they will almost certainly hear about it and ask me what I think. And here’s what I think I’ll tell them:
Andy Pettitte is also not a smart person. He got hurt twice, and instead of listening to his doctor, he took medicine from someone who was not a doctor. That’s a very dangerous thing to do, and he’s lucky he didn’t get sick or make his injury worse.
But he didn’t cheat like Jason Giambi did. It’s true that taking the medicine was against the rules, so he did break the rules. But he didn’t take the medicine every day to make him pitch faster, strike out more batters, or win more games. What he did was wrong, but he wasn’t lying to his teammates every time he played in a game. Also, he admitted that he was wrong and said he was sorry. And that’s why his teammates supported him.
It’s hard to call what Pettitte did role model material, but at least based on what we know right now, he’s doing a pretty good job of showing kids how to handle things after you’ve made mistakes.
Roger Clemens, on the other hand, continues to surprise me. Back in December, I wrote this:
Instead of lawyering up, Clemens is adding the charge of “lying about steroids” to the one of “using steroids” that Mitchell delivered . . . For all of his on-field accomplishments, he’s counting on being proven (or believed) innocent at this point, because if he’s ever actually proven guilty, his actions today will do just as much to keep him out of the Hall of Fame as any drug he ever took.
Given Pettitte’s testimony to Congress, and whatever physical evidence Brian McNamee may or may not have, Clemens seems to be losing that battle. If it turns out he did use steroids or HGH, I will waste no time in telling my kids that what Roger did was even worse than what Giambi did, because not only did they both cheat, but Clemens also lied about it – loudly and frequently, and that’s the opposite of saying you’re sorry.
And good boys always say they’re sorry. Otherwise, they get punished.
Categories: Sports Talk | 3 Comments »
Castro goes out with a whimper, not a bang…
By Brian | February 19, 2008
Fidel Castro has resigned as Cuba’s President, turning the position over to his brother Raul.
Here’s what President Bush said about it:
The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy. Eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections – and I mean free, and I mean fair – not these kind of staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as true democracy. [If Cuba remains much the same], political prisoners will rot in prison and the human condition will remain pathetic in many cases.
Unless he knows something we don’t know (and that’s entirely possible, of course), I would think this is a giant missed opportunity. Why not invite Raul Castro to Washington, DC on his very first day in office, and then get him in a private meeting and explain to him the untold benefits (financial and otherwise) of forging a strong and lasting alliance with the United States. If he demurs, we’re no worse off than we were, except now we have the moral high ground. If not, Americans instantly have better cigars and a new vacation hotspot in the Carribean.
Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at George Washington University’s National Security Archive, believes the next U.S. President will probably take this kind of tack, but “the current U.S. president is unlikely to make any changes in a hostile position towards Cuba.” He doesn’t say why, but I think if history has taught us anything about George W. Bush, it’s that he really doesn’t like to change his mind…
Categories: Political Rantings | 2 Comments »
Paris bombed!
By Brian | February 12, 2008
OK, now that I’ve covered Dolly Parton and Harvard University, I simply can’t resist the first (and likely only) opportunity to mention Paris Hilton in three consecutive posts.
Over at Defective Yeti, Matthew Baldwin has one of his patented Bad Review Revues up, this one about The Hottie and the Nottie, executive produced by and starring Paris Hilton. Here are my favorites:
“It’s not like Paris Hilton to rise above her material, but The Hottie and the Nottie sinks so low that all she has to do is stand upright.” — Sam Adams, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Great actors make the craft look easy. In this Paris Hilton comedy, acting looks very, very difficult.” — Kyle Smith, NEW YORK POST
“How bad is this feature from deservedly unknown director Tom Putnam? How’s this?: It’s a blot on Paris Hilton’s dignity.” — Andy Klein, LOS ANGELES CITYBEAT
Click through and read the rest for yourself. It’s oddly satisfying. Or, if you like, click all the way through to Rotten Tomatoes, where the movie is currently scoring a whopping 7%, and check for new hi….er, lowlights!
Who says there isn’t justice in the world?
Categories: Movie Talk | Comments Off on Paris bombed!
Paris Hilton Speaks at Harvard
By Brian | February 11, 2008
Oh, wow – this story has so many ironic twists in it, I just had to post about it.
(Hat tip: Yvette Aikens)
First of all, Harvard’s Lampoon magazine declared Paris Hilton the “Woman of the Year.”.
Next, upon hearing about the award, Paris Hilton agrees to come to Harvard and accept the tropy in person. Apparently, she doesn’t know (and nobody told her) what the word Lampoon means.
Then, it’s raining on the day of the event, and about 200 Harvard students wait more than an hour in the rain to see her.
Next, Lampoon’s president, Chris Schleicher, is accused of pulling a prank. He has to stave off an increasing wet and impatient crowd by saying, “All of you can stab me if she doesn’t come. She’s really coming.”
But, of course, this is Harvard, so intelligent discourse eventually provides the proper perspective. First, we have Matthew Sussman, a 26-year old English major who says, “Someone just accosted me and said, ‘Why would you stand in the rain for Paris Hilton?’ But I think that she is an icon and we see her image multiplied numerous times and numerous ways.” Good point, Matthew. Good point. Matthew also added, “It’s also a dubious distinction. We don’t know if she is in on the joke or not,” proving that he’s not a total idiot.
Then Paris finally arrived and provided the student the kind of intellectual red meat you’d expect from such a weighty mind: “You guys are so hot. Harvard’s hot.”
I smell commencement speech…
Categories: The World Wide Weird | 2 Comments »
Dolly Parton postpones tour, blames breasts
By Brian | February 11, 2008
The title of this post is an actual headline at MSNBC.com (as opposed to, say, The Onion).
Here’s the pull quote:
LOS ANGELES – Dolly Parton’s breasts may be two of the wonders of the entertainment world, but the country music icon says they are a pain in her back.
Parton, 62, said on Monday she would postpone her upcoming North American tour after doctors told her to take it easy for six to eight weeks to rest her sore back.
“Hey, you try wagging these puppies around a while and see if you don’t have back problems,” the folksy singer-songwriter said in a statement.
Has anyone else noticed that the person most directly responsible for Dolly Parton’s famous breasts is . . . Dolly Parton? Especially now that she’s 62 years old, and the world has folks, like Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton, who promote their breasts by making “accidental” porno videos with their boyfriends, rather than just talking about them all the time?
Not that I’m suggesting Dolly needs a new marketing strategy. I’ve seen all I need to see, thank you very much…
Categories: Words about Music | Comments Off on Dolly Parton postpones tour, blames breasts
More Moon from Margaret!
By Brian | February 10, 2008
Anyone who has kids is surely familiar with Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon. Entertaining kids since 1947, and no one’s quite sure why…
If that includes you, then you’ll probably be interested to know that her sister recently found a “sheaf of yellow pages held together by paper clips” in Margaret’s attic, which turned out to be a sequel to the now-famous book.
The new book, entitled The Moon Shines Down will be available, including Clement Hurd-style illustrations by Linda Bleck, in November of 2008.
Goodnight, nobody. Goodnight, mush. And goodnight to the blogger whispering, “Hush.”
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | Comments Off on More Moon from Margaret!
What’s another meme between friends…
By Brian | February 10, 2008
Another request from Jason Bennion (I aim to please). This one’s called the 123 Meme.
1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.
Well, the book currently in my laptop bag is James Patterson’s 7th Heaven. To page 123 we go (if this gives away the murderer, I’m going to blame it all on Jason…)
Reluctantly, Conklin said, “My notes would be more of a verbatim account, but —“
“But still, you felt it was appropriate to throw them out? Is there a shortage of storage space at the Hall of Justice?”
OK, Jason, you’re safe for now. And yes, in Patterson’s universe, the place where all the San Fransisco cops work is called The Hall of Justice. I keep reading them because I’m waiting for Wonder Woman to return on her invisible jet with Aquaman, Batman & Robin, and the Wonder Twins (Form of: something completely unuseful in this situation! Shape of: something random and completely incompatible with what you’re forming! Someone find that damn monkey – he’ll ironically save the day!)
OK, tagging five people. This is problematic. I only know a small number of people who both read my blog and have a blog of their own. So I’m going to have to be creative here:
1) Jeff Porten
2) Mike Chenoweth (Thank God Jason didn’t tag him – gives me another name…)
3) and 4) Someone of Jeff’s and Mike’s choosing (see how now they have to pick six people? Pretty devious, huh?)
5) You. Yeah, you – the guy/gal reading my blog because Google brought you here and you just can’t look away. Like staring at a car wreck. Well, now you’ve gone and done it. You don’t even know me, and I’ve tagged you with a blog meme. You’ll be thrown out of the blogosphere forever if you don’t respond when tagged with a blog meme. It’s true! I read about it on the InterTubes…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | Comments Off on What’s another meme between friends…
Now that we’ve solved that problem, the Really Big Survey…
By Brian | February 10, 2008
Well now, how can I resist playing with my new toy? Here ya go, folks, 148 random facts about me that you didn’t know and never really cared to ask…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 4 Comments »
Post Breaks in Blogger – The Real Answer
By Brian | February 10, 2008
The other day, Jason Bennion posted a blog meme called the Really Big Survey, consisting of 148 random questions about his life. Then Ilya posted it as well. I was going to participate, but demurred because I don’t have Post Break logic in Blogger (you know, where the first part of the post is visible on the main page, and then you click through to read the rest?), so 148 questions would push every other post in the blog to the archives.
Then, I started thinking, “Well why the heck don’t I have Post Break logic in Blogger?” Enter my good friend, Google.
The most definitive entry on the topic was this one from Blogger’s own help pages. It gives very detailed instructions about adding the Post Break to your main page, and then hiding the rest of the post’s text until the user clicks through to the detail. I eagerly implemented the fix, but soon realized that by modifying the blog template the way they did, the Post Break link wound up appearing on every single post, whether there was more text behind it or not.
Since the convention is to put that link only on posts that have more to read, I deemed this result unacceptable. On the upside, however, the instructions gave me enough of an understanding of how the logic works to write it myself. And so, (drumroll, please…) if you’d like to know how to put Post Break logic in your Blogger blog…
Categories: Tech Talk | 3 Comments »