Click here to see some pictures I took with my new camera.

Took a trip to Rome, New York on Memorial Day weekend. Snapped some shots of my dad playing with his tractor and a tractor trailer that had overturned!

On Friday I took a canoe trip on the Charles River and snapped some pictures.

My sister's twins turned two years old and had a party. My father took the shots and built the page. Go Dad! They apparently rented a inflatable house for the kids to jump around in. Nifty!

As a big fan of AOL's instant messaging system, I found the article "My Two Cents on AOL's Blockings" very interesting. It explains when they have blocked clients and why.

Here is a picture of me during a camping trip with my father and his brother in May of 1970. I was four years old.

"[...] open source has the potential to bring the software industry back to the marketplace; following a decade in which one company determined what innovations would take place, when and at what price." ZDNET: Microsoft's spin on linux

First annoying Microsoft says something stupid

"Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer," Microsoft's operating systems chief Jim Allchin said, "I can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business."
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2001/02/15/unamerican/index.html

RedHat, a Linux vendor, Responds,

"I'd argue that a worldwide monopoly, enforced by business practices that a federal judge has found to be predatory and anti-competitive probably has more to do with killing innovation than anything the open source movement could ever do." Red Hat's CEO
from http://www.zdnet.com/sp/stories/news/0,4538,2689856,00.html

Richard Stallman rules! He says,

"The Free Software Movement was founded in 1984, but its inspiration comes from the ideals of 1776: freedom, community, and voluntary cooperation. This is what leads to free enterprise, to free speech, and to free software. "

Try out Voice of the Web. I have been helping to hack it for months now and it is ready!!

This Boston globe article ECONOMIC PRINCIPALS Gates vs. the poets kicks ass! Amazed that a print paper understands these issues.

IBM, it is now the policy of that company, announced by its president, [...] every new piece of software written at IBM must be issued under an open source license, unless the development managers can make a specific business case why that should not be.

About 400,000 people now use aggregation services that gather financial information, up eightfold this year, Marenzi says. With major banks and Web portals joining the fray, he predicts the total will double by year's end and reach 8 million by 2004.

[..] Microsoft defended its statements in court by saying its reference to defining the standard "is mere puffery upon which consumers cannot reasonably rely and, therefore, does not constitute false advertising." Whyte [the judge] then examined the legal basis of puffery, or "puffing," as it has been defined in earlier false-advertising cases. Whyte noted that "puffing" is an exaggerated, generalized or ambiguous claim and not "a statement of specific fact upon which a consumer would reasonably rely."

From this story

See his latest entry A few shots on the twins new birthday swings to see what I mean!

"Voracious Reader at Tender Age of 3 A tousle-haired Shakespeare fanatic who consumes as many as a dozen books on an extreme range of topics daily, Joy still browses in the local bookstore, even after becoming Amazon.com's second-largest individual customer."

I am overjoyed when I read a book a month. Sheesh...

My sister's twins are Christmas ready.

3 more baby pics right here

Ok, where do I find parties like that? I hope my next job is in a bigger box.

FYI!!! This is (NOT) an actual radio conversation between a United States Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and Canadian authorities off the coast off Newfoundland in October, 1995. (The radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10/10/95 as authorized by the Freedom of Information Act.)

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS, AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH...I SAY AGAIN.....THAT'S ONE-FIVE DEGREES NORTH.... OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP!!

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Ok, that story is pure urband legend... Not too suprising, but someone did actually check;

I updated my Links to be the sites that I currently check daily... the old list was pretty beat.

                                                [ FYI, someone emailed me this, I didnt create it. -- lllike PLEASE ]

                                                Start with a cage containing five monkeys. In the cage, hang a banana
                                                on a string and put a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey
                                                will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the Banana.  As soon
                                                as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold
                                                water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same
                                                result --aaall the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon,
                                                when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will
                                                try to prevent it.

                                                Now, Turn off the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and
                                                replace it with a new one.  The new monkey sees the banana and wants
                                                to climb the stairs.  To his horror, all of the other monkeys attack
                                                him.  After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to
                                                climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

                                                Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with
                                                a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The
                                                previous Newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again,
                                                replace a third original monkey with a new one. The new one makes it
                                                to the stairs and is attacked as well.  Two of the four monkeys that
                                                beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs,
                                                or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

                                                After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys
                                                which have been sprayed with cold water have been
                                                replaced. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.
                                                 
                                                Why not?
                                                 
                                                Because that's the way it's always been around here. And that's how
                                                company policy begins....
                                                

MICROSOFT LINUX, say it isnt SO!

Another reason I was surprised to like this film is, I knew most of what was going to happen (ie. I saw the trailer). So I was surprised how much time I spent after the film mulling over all the things that were in play. The movie certainly provided some mental entertainment beyond just the smooth visuals and decent acting, it provided some paradoxes and situations that kept me thinking through stuff. Nifty.

Getting rid of Jerry's games put me into a spring cleaning mood. I finally got rid of all the boxes of books that I had lying around. The books are now sorted into four sections:

• Books to donate to the library (1 box)
• Reference Books (1 box)
• Books I enjoyed and want to keep (1 box)
• Books I should read (3 boxes)

So If I were now to set out and read a book a week (a blistering pace compared to my current rate of a book every month or so), I would be done in about 2 years. Woo Hoo!

• My hands need a rest (I have some RSI issues)
• As a consultant I can afford to take a few months off
• My brother Pete says, "I am rich powerful and lazy like the rich of the world"
• My brother Pete and house-mate Matt were looking for jobs and I envied their job free lives.
• Because I hate getting up on Monday's to go to work.
• I miss summer vacations.
• Because I can.

Here are some shots of my family and me at Christmas. Kooky!

I was expecting the Film to be a light hearted satire of the movie making business, but it was much darker film. It definitely did draw out the Hollywood scene, but the main character, played by Tim Robbins, was hard to identify with. For most of the film, he is "trapped" in a situation that he is unable to resolve. The situation slowly grows to nearly consume all his attention and then slowly wanes. For much of the film, he seems caught in a kind of low grade panic. The film does do this interesting thing of constantly reflecting upon itself (like the opening scene being one big shot.) Overall it was an enjoyable piece.

I didn't like part of the films ending, so I was pretty pleased to hear it discussed in the supplemental material. After hearing the producers thoughts I can at least appreciate why that part was done the way it was.

• run my wrists under cold water every 2 hours for 30 seconds (to reduce swelling)
• take Ibuprofen every day for 2 weeks (to reduce swelling)
• stretch every 30 minutes (raise palms in a stop sign motion and move hands forward slowly straightening my elbow, then repeat with fingers pointing downward) (to keep tendons from shortening?)
• finger stretch (hold palm flat and upright, use other hand to hold three fingers flat then curl remaining finger to palm. Repeat for each finger of both hands except thumbs.)
• She recommends using the "no hands mouse" to rest my tired tendons...

I rented 2 DVDs today. "Wag the Dog" and "The Player", two films I have been meaning to see. I didn't get time to see them tonight. We (Frank and Matt) stopped off for dinner at John Harvards. I tried a "Milk Stout", which sounds really gross, but was pretty tasty. Sweet and smooth. After dinner we stopped over at the Hong Kong Restaurant/Bar/Club to play some darts and have a drink with many straws...(Frank had never had one.) I kicked butt at darts and won both games!

I was hoping that the DVD version would have some extra gaffes or an interview with Rowan, but no luck. It only had the trailers.

Saw the movie Boogie Nights staring Marky Mark (or Mark Wahlberg). It was a trip. Toto this isn't Kansas anymore. It was similar to pulp fiction in that the film told the stories of many characters.

The DVD was pretty cool. It contained about 11 scenes that were cut from the film. The DVD also had a sound track where the director, Mel Smith, talks about the film. It is cool to hear the thoughts and intentions of the director. It gives extra depth to the film and the craft of film making.

The doctor agreed to send me to occupational therapy. I will be seeing a Hand Therapist, Elaine LeCroix, hopefully soon. (UPDATE: Scheduled for Oct 14th)

Here is a Blast from the Past Check out this news paper article from when Jerry and I were little kids... sweet.

• Sun's Jini product page
• New York Times - New product from Sun Microsystems Allows Supercomputing at Home
• San Jose Mercury News - New Sun technology to extend PC power
• info world - Sun to let Jini spec out of the bottle
• News.com - Sun software to link peripherals

The attorney said, "well do you have any grounds?" The farmer said, "Yea, I got about 140 acres." The attorney said, " No, you don't understand, do you have a case?" The farmer said, "No, I don't have a Case, but I have a John Deere."

The attorney said, "No you don't understand, I mean do you have a grudge?" The farmer said, "Yea I got a grudge, that's where I park my John Deere." The attorney said, "No sir, I mean do you have a suit?"

The farmer said, "Yes sir, I got a suit. I wear th to church on Sundays." The exasperated attorney said, "Well sir, does your wife beat you up or anything?"

The farmer said, "No sir, we both get up about 4:30."

Finally, the attorney says, "Okay, let me put it this way. "WHY DO YOU WANT A DIVORCE?" And the farmer says, "Well, I can never have a meaningful conversation with her."

As you can no doubt see, I have finished the paperback book on the right. I thought it was a pretty amazing read. It was just so weird to read Ben Franklin's own words. He talks about setting up shop in Boston and traveling to and from London. It is remarkable how down to earth the living legend was. In all of his writing, he is amazingly humble... Perhaps I could learn from him. Nah, I don't need any improvement. :-)

Check this out , an excellent article by Dave Barry about Windows

I tried race walking today... Race walking is just like regular walking except you do it really fast... This causes a lot of hip swing and rapid arm movement, which in turn causes you to look and feel like a goof. But a race walk workout is as effective as a jogging/running workout with much less chance of injury. (Much lower impact) I might try changing 1/3 of my daily run to incorporate race walking...

Brian and Linda Romano are visiting this weekend. They arrived this evening. They also brought thier mutt, Elvis. Jerry and Gail are going to play tour guides on Friday and show them around a bit... Fun fun...