onfocus

I don't want to name any names, but someone in my house has wedding fever. I've never seen anything like it.

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Every few days I see a pair of deer hanging out behind our apartment. They're always very aware of my presence if I open the door to see them better. The other day we had a staring contest.



This past week has been amazingly clear and sunny.



It's been nice to see the stars at night. And the full moon.

Note to self: Photo-sharing sites prove popular.

Load of crap indeed. It seems like this sort of divisive posturing can only further hurt his approval rating.

This is a sad day for our collective culture and creativity. The Eldred challenge to the latest copyright extension was unsuccessful. I don't believe the framers of our constitution felt a "limited time" for copyright means 75 years after the death of the creator or 95 years for corporations.

This means we'll have to work even harder to explicitly place creative works in the public domain so we can have at least a portion of our shared culture that isn't controlled by corporations and commercial interests.

Lawrence Lessig, who argued the good side of this case, commented about the loss in his weblog.

Michael sent in a pointer to some waterproof bags for digital cameras. He has used one underwater and his camera is still working. They're a bit pricey, but better than MacGyver-ing something up every time you want to shoot in the rain, I suppose.

The biggest question I have after moving to the Pacific Northwest: Should I carry an umbrella or not? Since the move, there have been more rainy days than clear here and I've noticed that there aren't too many people with umbrellas. Sure I spot one here and there, but why aren't they everywhere? Why don't businesses have umbrella bins near their entrances so I can stash my umbrella until I'm ready to leave? Why isn't every store selling designer umbrellas, and why aren't street vendors shouting "umbrella!" from every corner? When it rains in San Francisco, you see umbrellas lined up—bobbing up and down the street—one in each hand. Oregonians seem to have a different relationship with the rain, and I feel self-conscious when I pop open my umbrella. I imagine that every long-time Oregonian turns when they hear that umbrella woosh and whisper under their breath how gauche, heads held high in the rain.

skp and I went out to the Oregon coast today. We visited Newport and Waldport, and toured two lighthouses. The gray, rainy day gave the lighthouses an eerie feel—especially since the power was out at Yaquina Head. Walking up to the top of that lighthouse, I felt my legs shake a bit as I saw the stairs spiraling below me. Waves were thundering against the rocks outside, and it sounded (and felt) like a sharp slamming door. We had a nice chat with the interpretive guide at the top, though, and I was just fine on the way down.

To keep my camera dry, I made it "waterproof" with a plastic bag I found in the glove box and a stretchy-hair thing (wrapped around the lens) that skp had. I'd like to find something like it that I can reuse in the future, but I don't remember seeing waterproof cases for camera bodies in any shops.


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I just uploaded a new version of snapGallery. The interface hasn't really changed, but now the default design is XHTML/CSS compliant. I've also added some simple categorization and metadata to make gallery-aggregating possible.

BlogFodder is go! It's a daily email that contains a phrase, idea, or question that could lead to a weblog post. The emails are archived on the website, and show up on the front page the day after they've been sent. I've been sending out emails since the 1st, and I've already spotted a few posts that mention a BlogFodder. I'm hoping people will use the Trackback features of the site so others can see their take on the fodder. (And maybe we can all find some weblogs outside of our normal reading patterns in the process.)

I wrote a form that lets people add a Trackback manually if their weblog tool doesn't support it. (Movable Type's API and MySQL support make it fairly easy to add features like this.) I'm also hoping the project becomes less broadcast and more participatory—with people sending in ideas that have inspired them to post (in addition to the posts themselves).

If you signed up here a week ago, I've added you to the mail list. If you'd like to be removed, either let me know or go through the unsubscribe process. Thanks for taking a chance on this project!

Another non-sci-fi story that sounds like it is: The Predator. "[The United States] has produced a weapon like no other this country has ever used: the Predator, an unmanned reconnaissance drone." The Simpsons predicted this years ago:

The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots. Thank you.

-- Military school Commandant, [4F21]

But the Predator isn't funny. Once they have computers completely controlling those things, machines will finally be able take over the world. I've seen it happen on Star Trek time and again. Have we learned nothing from TV?