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Monday - 10 December 2001

Manic Monday. As usual, this will be a short one because I need to prepare for class tonight.

X-Mas Tree Rx. So it's the second week of December and is your Christmas tree beginning to look a little droopy? Are the needles beginning to give up the fight and dropping to the floor faster than you can say Taliban? Well, has Nick Lusk have an invention for you - St. Nick's Safer Tree Water System. As the MorningPaper(tm) describes it, the system acts as an intravenous-style water delivery system [they seem to like the word system - ed.]. You drill a half-inch wide hole, one inch deep into the trunk of the tree, then you insert a hollow plastic plug, which in turn is attached to surgical tubing and thence [did he just use the word "thence"? - ed.] to a reservoir that relies on gravity to deliver the water. The price, $19.95. But wait, there's more [no there's not. - ed.].

Merge This. The urge to merge [Quick!, send the kids out of the room - ed.] is rising again as Paris-based BNP Paribas SA, already the owner of First Hawai'ian Bank, seeks to buy United California Bank. If the deal goes through, UCB will become part of Bank of the West, a subsidiary of Honolulu-based BancWest Corp. Got all that? And if you think this (bank mergers overall, not necessarily this merger) is a good thing, I have some ocean front property on the Big Island I could be persuaded to part with. What? That molten red stuff pouring across the property? Don't worry about it. Think of it as a way to expand your property, for free!

Fear and Loathing in Honolulu. Hunter S. Thompson, yes, that Hunter S. Thompson, is in town with Sean Penn, yes, that Sean Penn, to do whatever it is he does when he writes a story. In this case, he's working for espn.com and doing research for his column (see it here and here). According to the papers, Thompson, author of "The Curse of Lono" (known most for the phrase "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.") and Penn are are also here scouting locations for a possible movie version of "Lono."

As you may know, the book was based on an article Thompson wrote for Running magazine about the 1980 Honolulu Marathon. As an aside, the article was also later excerpted in Playboy magazine [although who knows how many actually read the article - ed.]. I'm not sure I would go to see a movie based on the book, but the book ain't that bad, as long as you like Gonzo journalism. (See the Amazon reviews of the long since out of print book here) YMMV.

Speaking of the marathon, congratulations to Tammy and to all who finished!

Aloha!

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Tuesday - 11 December 2001

ViewSonic VE150m. InfoWorld's Brian Livingston is talking about getting the best image out of that new LCD monitor you got (or will be getting for Christmas). So I was particularly interested in this week's column (see it here) in which he asks Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, about what LCD monitors he recommends in the sub-$400 range (the current sweet spot in LCD monitors). His answer, in no particular order are:

KDS Rad-5, NEC LCD1530V, Samsung 570V, and Viewsonic VE150. The slightly pricier ($419) Viewsonic VG151, with a digital as well as analog interface, is "excellent for the price," he says.

<pat_on_back="on"> As you may remember, the Viewsonic VE150 is the monitor I chose for our office at work. Not only because of the exceptional price, but also the features and, of course, the very good screen.</pat_on_back> YMMV, but given the expertise of Mr. Soneira, I'm sure any of the panels on his list would provide a good choice. Disclaimer: Soneira is not making a judgment as to what kind of failure rate any of these monitors will have, just which displays a good image for the price.

Blue is Cool. Okay, I give up, all two of my faithful readers (and one new one!) say they just can't live with the browns and reds. So how about the blues and yellows? Be the first on your block to see the results here. [Heck, you may be the first on your continent. I was going to say planet, but that would be mean. Oops, I guess I just said it - ed.]

Winners and Losers. I've been thinking about the proposed Microsoft settlement and it occurs to me (and others) there are, from one point of view, two winners and one loser.

First, the winners. Obviously, MS and Intel. MS dumps old PCs and software much like cigarette companies gave out free samples, get people hooked and you have a "customer" for life. Intel wins because once the students who will be getting this stuff learn how to use Windows, running on Intel processors, they will likely stay with the combination and eventually upgrade, thus increasing sales for both companies.

The loser (other than the students? - ed.]? Apple. The Sunnyvale company has but two small niches left. Graphic arts and elementary schools. Flood schools with millions of dollars worth of WinTel software and hardware and you squeeze Apple 'til you have juice.

The answer to this, assuming you feel this is a problem? To be honest, I don't know. It seems to me, to use a chess term, that Apple is forked. Of course, as far as I know, this settlement has not been approved yet so there is time to amend it.

And now, something completely different. Hi there, just a note to let you know our brains at work has been down most of the day; if you responded to something from us earlier today and were expecting a reply, it isn't going to happen. Have a nice day. - Apologies to Dan Bowman.

Aloha!

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Hump Day Wednesday - 12 December 2001

Help. I've been trying to get to fellow Daynoter Phil Hough's site, without success, for some time now. For some reason, I can get there by telneting to my provider in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then running Lynx to Phil. But if I try to get to Phil from here in Hawai'i, all I get is the following error:

Failed to connect

The host 192.84.78.30 could not be contacted. If this persists, you should contact the administrator of the remote site.

If I ping Phil's site from my provider, I get 212.67.202.241 as the IP address. But when I type in that address here into my browser, I get the following error:

The URL you entered hasn't been configured on our redirection server.

This is most likely to be caused by an incorrectly configured DNS server for the domain which you are using.

212.67.202.241

Well, knowing how the network is setup here, I am perfectly willing to believe that our DNS is not correctly configured. But why the problem now when I've had none before? Heck if I know. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

The Fat Lady Sings. I've been a long time supporter of the Opera browser but the latest version is causing me all kinds of problems. In one case, when accessing www.pcmag.com, it consistently blew up. Yes, that site sucks dust bunnies through a small straw with all its embedded tables and flashing ads and pop-up windows, but still, I've never seen this kind of problem with the earlier versions so I am very disappointed to say I have reinstalled the last stable version (5.12) in place of 6.0. I guess I should have been more suspicious when Opera ran about a two week long beta "test." In two weeks, you can't find a whole lot so I guess this may be why so many people are reporting the same type of problems. Sigh. I hope version 6.1 fixes things and I can get back to using the newest version...

Thought for the Day. Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government purposes are beneficent...The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning, but without understanding. -- US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

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Thursday - 13 December 2001

Wild and Wet. The weather that is. What else did you think? We're having one of our rare winter storms [Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Center Bureau, make the check out to cash - ed.] where the wind and the liquid sunshine fly from all directions at once. My poor umbrella gave up when the wind came swirling around and up, breaking one of its ribs. Oh well, it's only money.

The Fat Lady Lies. Well, at least she stopped singing. After having re-installed Opera 5.12 in place of 6.0, I started to have the same problems with the browser blowing up. In fact, I was also using IE and that too was blowing up. Obviously, something common to the browsers is causing them to fault. What that is I don't know for sure. This may mean I have to do another deep cleaning, even though I did one in October. Oh well, it's only time.

Is Your Son a Taliban Terrorist? It may come as a surprise to some, but your very own child could be a terrorist! That's right, you could be unknowingly and unwittingly harboring a real live terrorist. Don't think it couldn't happen to you because it has already happened to that poor father of John Walker, so pay attention.

1. Has there been a dramatic change in his style of clothes, hair, or music? In other words, has he stopped listening to P Diddy, the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy/Big Daddy/Who's Yo' Daddy and instead listens to some guy's voice coming out of a loud speaker at the top of a minaret? If so, this is an outward manifestation of your child succumbing to peer pressure (see below) and is a warning sign that he is in danger of becoming a terrorist!

2. Is he hanging out with a bad crowd? Your son may try and tell you that the guys in the robes and turbans carrying AK-47s are really kwel duuudz. But you have to take a close look at them. Do they walk around with their guns with the safeties off and set to "automatic"? If so, this is a clear sign that your son is hangin' with the wrong crowd.

3. Has his personality or attitude in life suddenly changed? That is, did you formerly have to grab him about the ear to get him to go to work flipping burgers at McDonalds but now he gets up early every morning and faces to the East? Often parents just see this as normal teenage behavior and write it off. Don't make this mistake otherwise you might overlook one of the most obvious signs of your child's being a terrorist.

4. Does he keep referring to strange sounding places like Mazar-i-Sharif? Know that this is not Omar Sharif's older and lesser known brother. Know that Kandahar is not the sound your cat makes when she is coughing up fur balls and Tora Bora is not the sequel to that Pearl Harbor movie with Toshiro Mifune. And Al Qaeda is not Vinnie Qaeda's second cousin from New Jersey.

5. And finally, the most important thing you can do to see if your son is a Taliban Terrorist, check to see if his computer has an AMD processor!

Aloha!

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Aloha Friday - 14 December 2001

It's Friday!

Jingle Bells. While I don't do marathons anymore, we still do the Honolulu Advertiser Jingle Bell Run (this link here will expire at the end of the day). It's a charity fun run that tours downtown Honolulu with special emphasis on seeing the Christmas decorations in the trees and on the buildings.

The run ends at the famous Aloha Tower near Honolulu Harbor. In the harbor itself will be a parade of decorated boats. This is always a highlight and it amazes us how inventive some people are.

Zen and Power.

There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.

One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!"

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!"

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!"

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it - a huge, towering rock. "How powerful that rock is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a rock!"

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the rock?" he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter.

Aloha, Grasshopper

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