March, 2008

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25
Mar 08

Quotes: Things go awry, writing, luck, panic, pray and copies

“It is good to develop the techniques that serve you well in pleasant times, but you will be left largely incompetent if you’re not prepared for the rough times. Things will go awry. This is the rule; everything else is the exception.”
- Andy Rutledge in Falling Down

“I suspect I have spent just about exactly as much time actually writing as the average person my age has spent watching television, and that, as much as anything, may be the real secret here.”
- William Gibson

“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
- Stephen Leacock

“I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
- Pablo Picasso

“There is a time when panic is the appropriate response.”
- Eugene Kleiner

“PRAY, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.”
- The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

“When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied.”
- Kevin Kelly in Better Than Free


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25
Mar 08

Highway Wikipedia

A friend recently linked to Minnesota State Highway 61, I’m guessing for some vacation planning. But I was surprised to see a Wikipedia web site for a state highway. Apparently U.S. Route 61 also has an entry in Wikipedia.

Most things don’t typically surprise me on the internet anymore. I mean, the Minnesotans for Global Warming caught me a little off-guard in that “well of course they have a web site” sort of way.

But state highways with their own sites? I mean it’s even annotated!

Maybe this Wikipedia thing is catching on as an encyclopedia. But what do you think? Is this over the top?


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24
Mar 08

VHS, DVD, and now the iPod

In traditional Wired fashion: my submission for their Wired/Tired/Expired feature.

Wired: iPod Classic or iPhone, with Composite AV Cable
Tired: DVD Player
Expired: VHS Player

I just recently picked up an Apple Composite AV Cable for my iPhone (not to be confused with the closely named but entirely different Apple Component AV Cable for your HD tv’s). This simple cable is seriously a thing of beauty. All of the sudden the iPhone isn’t just your “typical” tri-purpose phone, mp3 player, and internet device …. but also a portable DVD player with up to 10 hours of movies I can play on anyone’s TV – wherever we are.

This is wonderful when we are visiting relatives and the kids start to get restless. It’s just so nice.

If you are ready to ditch the DVD (you’ve gotten rid of the VHS, right?) you could go pick up a 160GB iPod Classic. At 200 hours of video, I’m guessing you’ll be able to fit your whole DVD library onto it.


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22
Mar 08

The Little Red Lighthouse

Had fun tonight reading Thomas The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift and Lynd Ward.


All the more so, because it’s actually about a real place.


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19
Mar 08

Dutch Uncle

I heard the term “Dutch Uncle” recently used in conversation. Not having heard it before, I looked it up in none other than Wikipedia.

Dutch uncle is a term for a person who issues frank, harsh, and severe comments and criticism to educate, encourage, or admonish someone. Thus, a “Dutch uncle” is a person who is rather the reverse of what is normally thought of as avuncular or uncle-like (which would be indulgent and permissive).


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