North Western Winds

Dogs playing ball in the sun

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:11:39 -0700

My wife took these pictures of our dogs playing ball with a new standard lens for her DSLR. I think they’re terrific, so I’m sharing the Flickr link here.

"Among the glaring errors in the report: A professor is listed in BP’s 2009 response plan for a..."

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:15:00 -0700

“

Among the glaring errors in the report: A professor is listed in BP’s 2009 response plan for a Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a national wildlife expert. He died in 2005.

The plan lists cold-water marine mammals including walruses, sea otters, sea lions and seals as “sensitive biological resources.” None of those animals live anywhere near the Gulf.

Also, names and phone numbers of several Texas A&M University marine life specialists are wrong. So are the numbers for marine mammal stranding network offices in Louisiana and Florida, which are disconnected.

“The AP report paints a picture of a company that was making it up as it went along, while telling regulators it had the full capability to deal with a major spill,” Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., wrote in an e-mail to the AP. “We know that wasn’t true.”

”

- AP IMPACT: BP spill response plans severely flawed - Yahoo! News

Attacks on BP Are Excessive, British Investors Say - NYTimes.com

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:14:20 -0700

Attacks on BP Are Excessive, British Investors Say - NYTimes.com:

Are you angry? No? Reading this will fix that.

Viruses are boring? Guess again

Fri, 28 May 2010 18:42:28 -0700

Viruses are boring? Guess again:

This is a fascinating look at the Conficker virus by Mark Bowden, who also wrote Blackhawk Down. That’s also worth reading.

Teaser quote:

“The [writer’s] understanding of Windows’ operating system, and how it worked in the kernel, needed [a] kind of a domain expert, and they had that kind of ability there. And we realized as a community that we were not dealing with something normal. We’re dealing with one of two things: either we’re dealing with incredibly sophisticated cyber criminals, or we’re dealing with a group that was funded by a nation-state. Because this wasn’t the kind of team that you could just assemble by getting your five buddies who play Xbox 360 and saying, ‘Let’s all work together and see what we can do.’”

How to Triple-Boot Your Mac with Windows and Linux, No Boot Camp Required - Triple Boot - Lifehacker

Wed, 05 May 2010 16:23:00 -0700

How to Triple-Boot Your Mac with Windows and Linux, No Boot Camp Required - Triple Boot - Lifehacker:

Gosh, where was this article two weeks ago, when I needed it? I succeeded, but only after pouring over out of date and poorly written forum posts. I got everything but the swap file for Linux. I wonder if that’s still doable without a re-install?

My current Ubuntu desktop. There is still a lot of tire kicking...

Sun, 02 May 2010 16:16:00 -0700

My current Ubuntu desktop. There is still a lot of tire kicking to do (music, photos) but I am getting comfortable here doing the most common computer stuff - web, mail, social media. Installing it was the trickiest thing about it but that is not Ubuntu’s fault - I have a triple booting machine and that is what made the install a bit of a climb. If Ubuntu was the lone OS, putting it on the system would have been a breeze. The other wrinkle has been sound. I finally have it after days of searching forums, mashing the terminal and rebooting… and it’s still tiny.

There’s no doubting the promise here though. At the very least I can extend the life of older computers and I have two non MS options now.

Pacifying a supervisor who is a Habs fan.

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:20:28 -0700

Pacifying a supervisor who is a Habs fan.

Roller Derby at MSA, captured by an iPhone.

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 09:50:12 -0700

Roller Derby at MSA, captured by an iPhone.

My wife’s new haircut. Pretty cool, huh?

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 08:58:43 -0700

My wife’s new haircut. Pretty cool, huh?

Lord of the Rings comes to Blu-ray

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:18:00 -0700

Lord of the Rings comes to Blu-ray :

Two of my favourite things are coming together at last. But… I have the extended editions on DVD and I know how much better they are. There’s no way I’m going to pick up the theater cuts. Not. Going. To. Happen.

So, yeah, that’s disappointing.

Just think, they’re probably going to do the same baloney when Star Wars comes to Blue Ray.

Media moguls, you are odious.

The Sandra Bullock Trade

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:14:24 -0700

The Sandra Bullock Trade:

There’s a lot of good sense in this editorial by NYT’s David Brooks. Relationships are more important than careers or money and our institutions - schools and governments - are scared to death to talk about it. They keep focusing on increasing material production as a neutral common good. There is nothing that is neutral and everything comes at a cost, ie. longer work days and commutes diminish families.

Brooks:

The overall impression from this research is that economic and professional success exists on the surface of life, and that they emerge out of interpersonal relationships, which are much deeper and more important.

The second impression is that most of us pay attention to the wrong things. Most people vastly overestimate the extent to which more money would improve our lives. Most schools and colleges spend too much time preparing students for careers and not enough preparing them to make social decisions. Most governments release a ton of data on economic trends but not enough on trust and other social conditions. In short, modern societies have developed vast institutions oriented around the things that are easy to count, not around the things that matter most. They have an affinity for material concerns and a primordial fear of moral and social ones.

Things that blow about MS Office

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:03:00 -0700

Things that blow about MS Office:

Look at that wasted space at the top of the screen. Compare with iWork here.

On OS X you can hide most of that in the menus at the top, ie. ‘file’, ‘edit’, ‘view’, etc. Just keep the most used ones handy. Simple. Clean. Less intimidating.

Daring Fireball points out that the save icon is STILL a floppy disk. When did you last use one of those? Macs have not shipped with floppies for years.

MS is like a guy that’s so fat he can’t get off the couch.

The only thing that’s worse is when others - are you listening Open Office? - use the same stupid set up so they won’t confuse anyone.

OO, the fat guy’s ugly cousin.

Lucid Lynx looks promising

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 10:54:37 -0700

Lucid Lynx looks promising:

The next release of Ubuntu - aka Lucid Lynx - is looking pretty promising. I really like the direction Canonical is taking here. Have a look at the pretty pictures and maybe give it a look when it is available at the end of April 2010.

Drinking bottled water is like smoking while pregnant

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:23:12 -0700

Drinking bottled water is like smoking while pregnant:

I’ve always thought bottled water was dumb. It’s nice to see my inner cheapskate validated here.

"And there’s the final nail in this absurd 3D show: The eyeglasses. Simply, watching a $200+..."

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:03:40 -0700

“And there’s the final nail in this absurd 3D show: The eyeglasses. Simply, watching a $200+ million dollar movie with $.03 crappy plastic glasses is just silly. They are not only optically poor but they take almost a full stop of light out of the image. That’s almost half the amount of light! None of the prints or projectors I have seen 3D movies in properly compensate to counteract that loss of light. When I saw Alice In Wonderland at one of the industry screenings—where you think it would be dialed in just right—the image was still painfully dark. The situation in a majority of theaters out there is as bad or worse. In the end, do it right or just don’t do it. Or more importantly, for all the studio execs out there, just because we can doesn’t mean we should.”

- The Movie Studios’ Big 3D Scam - movie studios - Gizmodo

Books in the Age of the iPad — Craig Mod

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:01:00 -0800

Books in the Age of the iPad — Craig Mod:

A book designer thinks about books going electronic. His insight is as obvious as it is missed by most: content is king. Some forms of writing will not skip a beat in the transition and others will need print to be fully appreciated.

A lament for the bookshelf - The Globe and Mail

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:24:20 -0800

A lament for the bookshelf - The Globe and Mail:

This guy’s thinking about his books struck a chord with me. As a former English student and bookworm I had my own wall of books to deal with.

I finally gave most of them away last month. I was sick of trying to find a place to put these things that I seldom looked at. Another motivator was the announcement of the iPad. Books, I told myself, were about to join music in the modern age. I am a little sentimental about this but mostly I’m looking forward, thinking of all the trees and spines and wall space that will be saved.

I worry that reading will be more shallow as a result of having Facebook and whatnot on the same device but mostly I’m excited about having a variety of things to read in a small, light device.

"Overheard in the tire store… Girl #1: “I’m so bloated.” Points to belly...."

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:47:14 -0800

“

Overheard in the tire store…

Girl #1: “I’m so bloated.” Points to belly.

Girl #2: “I know.”

”

Tea will be late

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:03:39 -0800

Trying to make tea when I’m in the office is just asking for trouble. I’ve boiled the water three times now. This is not the first time this has happened.

Cell phones show human movement predictable 93% of the time

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:30:55 -0800

Cell phones show human movement predictable 93% of the time:

This predictable movement is not really surprising. People have to work, and then there are responsibilities at home.