Deeper stuff...

Here we go again. I really need to write more....and I will, whether here in this stinking computer or with pen and paper.

Just had a nice show last night...nice, but not perfect...still lots to do....lots to improve.....lots to give....

and there in lies the key...give what you have to give....and I think my gift to give is (at least I want it to be) music. I'm sitting here listening to Herbie Hancock (Manhattan Island off The Piano album via Pandora ) and realizing that I want to leave that sort of body of work....and I'm not even really a huge Herbie Hancock fan....but I like it and I know his contribution to music and I know that he's made a life out of sharing his gift. I'm also not saying that I'm that good of a musician....but I think I hear music differently than most folks, and that I hear all kinds of stuff in my head that I'm dying to get out....ever the "victim" of self-discouragement....that little voice inside me that says I'm not quite good enough....or "you don't have the time....or the money".....or maybe that ever present fear of "performing"....of becoming so transparent and opened and vulnerable that people will really see me for who I am...and that maybe they won't like me.

Truth is, I have no idea what I'm doing....both in general daily life.....and on the bigger scale/on this planet. I love my kids and my wife....and many folks around me....I love them so much it makes me sick (in a good way....like when I really stop and think about them, I'm so overwhelmed with emotion that I start to well-up with tears of joy....true joy....that sort of fleeting joy that is so pure you rarely recognize it and its gone). I'm surrounded by people I love and whom love me; I am blessed beyond imagination....yet for some fucked up reason, I find it nearly impossible to attain and indeed maintain any sort of happiness....I'm just a sad soul at the core I guess...or at least I've resigned to be one....at least while listening to great piano music on an overcast afternoon after an all night rain in June....

I like photography too. and maybe I'll try painting. and I wouldn't mind being a writer...or a film maker perhaps...the craft fascinates me.

I want a piano.....a good piano......and I want to play it everyday.....and record songs....and show then to people and have them like the songs and then they buy lots of cd's of the songs and I pay off the mortgage, and play the piano everyday and record a few more songs....then maybe take a break from the piano and build furniture or something for a while, or design and build a magnificent garden or something neat like that and then maybe play the piano some more or the violin or the guitar...I like them too.

To garden and work wood and spend as much time as possible with my beautiful chidren and wife and play music. Play music and listen to the rain.

New Life...

Can't get over it......time is precious........money is valuable......and the root......

50's Pulp Advertising Art

Plan 59

Fascinating stuff.... good for some mindless browsing.

Fair Use is Dead!

or alternate title: "Whats mine is no longer mine".....

Check out this article over at ars technica: A CD insert to make Sony blush. Glad I read this article...I was actually considering buying the Cold Play CD....not any more....f' 'em. Now, I'm all for paying the proverbial artist for the proverbial art....but the RIAA and other big players in what is being called DRM (digital rights management) have no idea...or at least seemingly don't care about (undoubtably to thier own eventual demise) the end user, their customer, their "bread and butter" as it were. None of the current technology-based DRM schemes in place or even in the pipeline (at least as far as I've read) consider the end user and his/her relationship with the artist creating the product.....I haven't figured all this out yet, but here is some more interesting (if not somewhat outdated) reading on the subject:

Scott McCloud's "micropayment" idea

and a response...


more later....

The $200 Christmas and "whats a stocking stuffer?"

Can it be done? Having had a challenging year (several, actually) monetarily, I've embarked on The $200 Christmas...meaning I'm attempting to get everyone who absolutely needs to get a gift covered with $200.....and that includes $50 in gas to get to my sister place in Wisconsin...So far, I don't think we're too far off.....basically we're doing very little gifting this year....which is not how I'd prefer things to be, but that is our current reality, and so we'll make the best of it. Just a few close family, the kids, and something for the babysitter.....that's it! I'll see how it all actually pans out.....200 bones doesn't go very far anymore....either way, it's more of a gimick to keep the cost of things in mind as we go through the holiday season....more of a control measure than an actual goal....

On a seperate, but related note...I've had it up to here with the inscecent holiday advertising suggesting that a fancy new MP3 player or cell phone or other similar $150 techno-gadget is actually a "stocking stuffer"....it's not....it's the freaking gift!!!! Hell, where I come from, even a CD or DVD isn't a stocking stuffer....it's "the gift". Chapstick, assorted citris fruits, fresh unsharpened pencils, and chewing gum....now those are good stocking stuffers!!!!! (I hope you guys are laughing a bit here....)

Anyway, keep smilin' and Happy Holidays!!!!!

Interesting Gecko based Avant-like browser

Orca it's called...based on Gecko engine, rather full featured interface modeled after Avant Browser (which uses IE engine...yuck!). Seems to be pretty quick and well put together...Currently in version 1.0RC 3. Definitely worth checking out. Firefox still wins for me (extensibility/customizable) for the moment, but some heathy competition is always good for the end user.

Check it out...fairly light install, and won't mess with anything else (or other browser settings, etc.) and has been fun to play with so far...also seems stable.

Full link (goes to Avant forum where you'll find a dl link):
http://forum.avantbrowser.com/viewtopic.php?t=12072&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Firefox F'd Up? and Alternative Browsers...

Not sure what others experiences are, but I've had LOTS o' issues with the recent release of FF 1.5....Not that I'm bailing...it's still the best option for a decent browser in a Windows environment, but the new release is BUGGY!!! (at least on my machine).... the thing CONSTANTLY crashes....almost everytime I use it, depending on what I am doing and/or where I visit. It has also, several time now, locked up internet from my nachine....as in screwed up LSP settings, requiring me to reset those with a Winsock and/or LSP fix utility......Overall, I tend to be rather forgiving of the mozilla team....they are under alot of pressure to perform...more now than ever before with the growing popularity of FF....much more than the "good ol' days" of pre 1.0. I got in when they were still at 0.3 I think....and the whole project had a different sense of community and excitment back then...I'm not judging that aspect of it though....they've made fantastic improvements since then. Just complaining a bit that the 1.5 release is more buggy than I'm used to. I should also put out there that I'm something of an extention freak and that I may have one or more extentions that may conflict with one another, so again, I'm not solely dumping on Mozilla here....i.e it's more likely a conflict in my local installation than a real serious issue with the base code or performance of 1.5. Still wish it worked better though....

Anyway, I'm writing this blog entry using Flock, which is actually a very nice tool (integrated features) for a "blogging browser". Based on the mozilla/gecko engine, super clean interface, integrated blogging and flickr and del.icio.us integration, make it a pleasure to use. And it's still extenable using most of the Mozilla extentions and Themes.....

Also, I've been using a stripped down version of the Gecko (mozilla/netscape) browser called K-Meleon. Super fast, basic interface, lean and mean browsing. And fun to customize via the config file editing....not for the shy, when it comes to messing with code, but a solid browser even if your not interested in tweeking it.

And as a final option, I still use the old standby IE alternative the "Mozilla Suite" browser....still a nice, extendable browser with familiar navigation and standard features built in.....and a lot less buggy and/or "experimental". The upcoming replacement for the MozSuite is the SeaMonkey Suite, currently in beta testing.

For more (alot more) info and exuastive discussion forums on FireFox 1.5 and any other Moz project, check out mozillazine.org.

technorati tags: browsers Firefox MozillaComputer related

WIL WHEATON DOT NET

Will Wheaton: child star turned blogger/writer...


Stumbled on to this this evening...very interesting reading (for me, a quasi-wannabe-thought it was cool, but was never ultra into it-Star Trek fan...mostly just TNG...a little Voyager and even less Enterprize, but lost interest/ran out out of TV watchin' time/had kids) from none other than the ever-so-popular (kidding) Wesley Crusher of the afore mentioned TNG.