Posted on by mwhybark

Apple Torrrent

Cringely pulls some amusing speculation outta his piehole on why a) iTV has a hard drive and b) iTV, Mini, and the new-model Airport all are designed as stackable components. Where others would boldy solve the conundrum with cries of ‘design obsessives!’, der Cringler connects the dots via Unca Stevie’s recently declared jihad on DRM and foresees Apple edging out the cable companies via install-base numbers and cheap-ass hard-drives.

I’m not buying it, but the case is solid enough that someone is going to be shipping 200+ gb drives wrapped in networkable set-top boxes that cost nothing except a subscription promise by the end of the year. i think I’ll sign up for all of them, just to to strip-mine the drives and sell ’em on ebay for the first year.

Posted on by mwhybark

Yoornalista

I totally missed the memo, but TCJ editor emeritus Dirk Deppey has bravely picked up the banner of the sorely missed Journalista chez fanta. Several years ago, Dirk launched the site embedded in the upolished confies of the Fantagraphics website and within months, due simply to absurd internet diligence, had transformed the site into not only the single-best comics news-roundup site on the web, but in many ways, into the single-best topic-focused newsblog on the web. When he was rightly selected to head TCJ, the site was understandably suspended; now that’s he’s back at it, who knows what will happen. If Fanta doesn’t see how to properly capitalize on Deppey’s magnificent obsession, I am sure someone shall. I am sure that his TCJ stint has if anything sharpened his capacity for the job.

Dirk, what you do with Journalista is formally astounding considered simply from a blogging perspective. the fact that it is comics which inspires your labors is a credit to Fanta, and to you.

Posted on by mwhybark

I love coffee, I love tea, I love the Java Jive and it loves me

I received an email (presumably due to these blog posts) from the owners of Tacoma’s hallowed Java Jive at the end of January and promptly forgot to post it here.

Forthwith:

“I love coffee, I love tea, I love the Java Jive and it loves me”.

Those words have been the life story of the little Coffee Pot on South Tacoma Way for 80 years now.

I’m the grandson of Bob. My mom is Danette Staatz, I’m Rich Staatz.

Tacoma fire code and other factors have shut us down for the time being.

We have been in the Tacoma Tribune since January 25th and on, and all over the TV regarding this.

Volunteers have stepped in to help, i.e.: Blaze Electric pulled a permit with their own money the next day after the close. Tacoma Electric Supply has donated and gave reduced cost on supplies. Journeymen electrical contractors have been donating there time to demo and rewire the jive, family and friends/customers have been cleaning and getting rid of stuff. But we need more help.

We need: neon people, roofers, plumbers, carpenters, floor covering people, upholstery people, painters, etc.

We need cash donations or supplies to help renovate the Jive and get her back on her feet so she can keep on loving and caring for her customers for another 80 years.

I remember the days when I used to tend the bar back in ’93. The Jive was still the Jive with all its branches and stuff and it felt so alive, people really cared about it. They weren’t ripping up seats and writing things that were rude and uncalled for.

I see the Jive being something you could bring your kids or grandma too without a blind fold and still be a blast for all. God…I can’t seem to get the Simpsons nights out of my head, those were some good times. J!!

BTW:

Tacoma Fire Dept made us take down all the branches and other decor that made the Jive unique. We will be putting some back up, but not all, after fire coating them.

We LOVE the Jive with all our hearts, and that feeling is mutual with most of the people who’ve been there.

The Jive has been a good friend to all who came through her doors.

Like my grandpa Bob use to say “there’s no free lunch here” but then would give the shirt off his back to help someone out of a jam, maybe even to a fault (if you were around, you know what I’m talking about). Moms the same way and yes even to a fault.

The Jive needs help out of a jam! Lets make her proud again!!

Donations to “Bob’s Java Jive” can be made at any:

Washington Federal Savings Bank or HomeStreet Bank

Anything helps!!

Thank you!!!

Bob’s Java Jive

2102 South Tacoma Way

253-475-9843

Posted on by mwhybark

Aggregation aggravation

I have been publishing private iCal feeds to iCalx.com for years now, and have been wrangling iCal, iSync, and Google calendar to play nice over the past few weeks. I have my gCal feeds directing into iCal and thence to the phone with no difficulty, but there is no obvious way that I can see to direct public or private iCal feeds into Google Calendar as subscriptions. One may easily import to Google Calendar, but it appears to me that the ‘add calendar by address’ feature does not work as one might hope, limiting Google Calendar subscriptions to calendars hosted under Google Calendar.

This is aggravatingly counterintuitive to me, as the beauty of the iCal subscription format is clearly the ability to simply use transparent URLs.

I suppose that something happening at iCalx could be interrupting the data-pass, and that I could set up a local-file-system mirror of the .ics files such that I could keep an eye on the entire data transfer, but the reason I wanted to set this up was not to experience the joy of debugging data-piping, but to enable polymorphous data-entry on any of my primary device platforms – web, Mac, or handheld. My time budget to accomplish this, including research time, is consumed, and I’m irritated.

Posted on by mwhybark

Clever Hans

Damn Interesting : Clever Hans the Math Horse

The researchers also found evidence that hounding a horse with questions he can’t answer leads to painful horse-bites.

Finally, a clear explanation of this story.

In other news, I am pleased to report that the newly reopened megasupermarket around the corner from the house offers, among other things, a pyramidal display of several varieties of Vietnamese-style thousand-year-old eggs. Huzzah!

I’m sorry, was that a hair-related question?

Posted on by mwhybark

Transterm

Visor: “A Quake-style drop-down Terminal.”

An HUD-style transparent terminal for Mac OS X. Me wannnt.

No word, alas, on what to do when you meet the Big Boss.

(shhh… no promises, but I think my writing engine is spinning up again)