dsandler.org

Finally, Chris Tate has provided a detailed look inside his fascination with fountain pens including links to many reputable on-line sources for instruments and paraphernalia.

iQue’s two functions – G.P.S. and Palm organizer – the whole is indisputably greater than its parts. Even the calendar function is tied in: if you tap in a 7 o’clock dinner meeting at Joe’s Organic Pizza, the iQue promptly displays directions.

David Pogue loves Garmin’s iQue 3600.

From: Todd Stadler
Subject: On Bush’s speech
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 00:43:49 -0700

Dan,

I’m not sure if you’ve already been told about this or not, but as to [the diary entry from yesterday]:

“Yes, I am mindful that we’re all sinners,” the president said Wednesday when asked for his views on homosexuality. “And I caution those who may try to take the speck out of the neighbor’s eye when they’ve got a log in their own.”

Um, what?

Bush was referencing Jesus’ “sermon on the mount”, from Matthew’s gospel. Specifically, the section on judging others and hypocrisy.

Although I would say he didn’t exactly do it elegantly (clearly, or you might have understood what he meant), it’s meant to be a warning against judging other sinners when one has sins of one’s own that need to be dealt with first.

You’d perhaps be surprised how many somewhat-subtle references to Christian scripture show up in Bush’s speeches.

Thanks for pointing this out, Todd. My biblical knowledge is weak – truth be told, I never read much of the sequel.

Most of his Biblical and religious references are even less subtle. That was part of what I was reacting to. Moreover, I bristle at the way that he uses obfuscation – Biblical obfuscation, nonetheless – to hide and smooth and patch over the unspoken phrase:

“Homosexuality is a sin. Gays are sinners because of it.”

Which is in fact the logical reduction of his response to the query, “what are your views on homosexuality?” I am sure that while he takes the customary approach of claiming himself in the set of all sinners, he certainly does not feel that having a wife and children is a sin.

For a “straight shooter” he’s remarkably clever about what he says on a semantic level (even if he frequently bungles it in syntax).

Another thing you don’t want to eat a lot of is bromine. Of course, it’s what makes Code Red Mountain Dew red.

Chew on this.

“I think it’s very important for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts, to be a welcoming country,” Bush added. “On the other hand, that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on an issue such as marriage.”

Emphasis mine, of course.

“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, and I think we ought to codify that one way or another,” Bush told reporters at a White House news conference. “And we’ve got lawyers looking at the best way to do that.”

Also, this just sounds like an SNL parody:

“Yes, I am mindful that we’re all sinners,” the president said Wednesday when asked for his views on homosexuality. “And I caution those who may try to take the speck out of the neighbor’s eye when they’ve got a log in their own.”

Um, what?

Whoo! There’s a storm blowing in. Dry as a bone so far, but the wind is really something! The pictures don’t really ccapture the clouds of dust and random building materials blowing down the street…

Lexiques de termes et mots du monde des blogues: Jargon Carnetier, Dicoblogue Hyperlié. J’admets que mon compréhension des carnets francophones est toujours limité par ma connaissance des idiomes modernes!

Erin is starting up her television synopses again!

I don’t have time to read the entire accuracy.org annotated responses to the 2003 State of the Union address, but you should.

Looks like I’m not the only one receiving PayPal spoof emails. PayPal have just sent out their newsletter, and the first item of business is security from scammers. And they have a new email address to report abuses:

Help us keep the community safe for everyone. If you receive a suspicious email, please report it to us at spoof/AT\paypal.com.

Argh, more Python reading: the Python Web Framework Shootout!

Python 2.3’s Python Packages Index (PyPI) has introduced me to the Roundup issue tracker and Python Task Planner, both by the PyPI guy!

Delicious! Python 2.3 is out, full of new goodies like a new command-line option parsing module, some much-needed boolean value helpers, a new suite of date/time types, and new distutils integration with a central package index.

Origin of “X is hard; let’s go shopping!” – from jwz and Everything2.

Me? I’m biding my time for the day when unironed dress shirts, vintage Old Navy jeans, tshirts wrinkled from being folded in the dresser, and pants wrinkled from the hanger become fashionable. Then I will be money. So, so money.

Jason Kottke on fashion.

Ahh, Bill Maher is back. “Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, finally a candidate who can explain the Administration’s positions on civil liberties in the original German.”

Uh, what? This is another Dimensional Warp Generator spam, but it’s totally different:

From: “” [withheld]
Subject: Dimensional Warp Generator Needed m yo vau
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 03 04:21:48 GMT

Hello,

I’m a time traveler stuck here in 2003. Upon arriving here my dimensional warp generator stopped working. I trusted a company here by the name of LLC Lasers to repair my Generation 3 52 4350A watch unit, and they fled on me. I am going to need a new DWG unit, prefereably the rechargeable AMD wrist watch model with the GRC79 induction motor, four I80200 warp stabilizers, 512GB of SRAM and the menu driven GUI with front panel XID display.

I will take whatever model you have in stock, as long as its received certification for being safe on carbon based life

forms.

In terms of payment: I dont have any Galactic Credits left. Payment can be made in platinum gold or 2003 currency upon safe delivery of unit.

Please transport unit in either a large brown paper bag or box to below coordinates on Monday July 28th at (exactly 3:00pm) Eastern Standard Time on the dot. A few minutes prior will be ok, but it cannot be after. If you miss this timeframe please email me.

Twenty-three inches in from the outside edge of the corner at the South West Corner of Cummings Ave. & Village Street in Woburn, Mass. is at Latitude 42.4845467 & Longitude -71.1576157 and the ground is 101.3′ above sea level. WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRANSPORT ITEM BY REGULAR MEANS OF TELEPORTATION. THEY ARE MONITORING AND WILL REDIRECT THE SIGNAL!! (NOBODY HAS BEEN ABLE TO TRANSPORT ANYTHING SO FAR WITHOUT THE TRANSFER BEING DEFLECTED). I DO NOT CARE HOW YOU HAVE TO GET IT HERE, JUST DO IT IN A WAY THAT NO SPYING EYES WILL POSSIBLY BE ABLE TO REDIRECT THE TRANSFERENCE. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU BE ABLE TO MONITOR THE TRANSFER.

Although those coordinates are a secure guarded area, these channels through email are never secure. Unfortunately it is the only form of communication I have right now.

After unit has been sent please email me at: [removed] with payment instructions. Do not reply directly back to this email.

Thank You

Roundup of more unsettling news stories this morning. BBC: Wolfowitz: waiting for “murky intelligence” to solidify is too time-consuming. Washington Post: FDA approves use of HGH for healthy – simply short – kids.

Bizarre article from the SF Chronicle providing tips for individuals to help avoid litigation by the RIAA. “For starters, legal experts advise file-sharers to stop sharing any unauthorized files. That action could, though not necessarily, eliminate the need for more costly legal steps if a file-sharer learns he or she has been caught in the Recording Industry Association of America’s copyright infringement dragnet.”

Hey! How long has there been a Houston Craig’s List?

Tom Tomorrow meets H. G. Wells.

Attention, Thomas Liebich, desser2000@earthlink.net, of Schubertgasse 12, Vienna 1090, AUSTRIA, owner of client-support.biz.

You are a total cock.

Your spam email, purporting to be from PayPal, asks unwitting users to log into PayPal using the attached form in order to prevent their accounts being deleted. Your email requests credit card information from the recipient, and posts the results to your website, client-support.biz.

Those morbidly interested will find a doctored version of this email here. It has been doctored to avoid posting the results to any website at all.

You are a petty criminal, preying on the unsuspecting and trusting. New users of the Internet are not able, without practice and guidance, to differentiate authentic communications sent from reputable sources, and fraudulent scams such as yours.

Please crawl into a dark and filthy hole and disappear. Thank you.

IGN.com: “15 Must-Have GBA Games: The games you need to own if you’ve just picked up a Game Boy Player.”

There’s an interesting thread on the ‘dot about work habits, concentration, procrastination, etc. Alan Cox (of Linux kernel haquing fame) chimes in. One contributor has a compelling argument for why ADD/ADHD may be substantially overdiagnosed, if not entirely fictitious (“It is going to take a lot of convincing to prove to me that we are not just making excuses about why our kids can’t concentrate in school, yet they can come home and concentrate on kicking my ass on Half-Life.”). Many contributors return to valuable techniques like visualizing, clearly, the initial steps of a daunting task; regular exercise and other daily routines are also common recommendations. There seems to be some consensus behind the “caffeine only in moderation” argument (I tend to fall in with this line of thinking, myself).

Classic videogame fonts. (Still way behind on my links.)

Counting Crows and John Mayer, Friday, July 25, 2003

Graham Colton opened with a generous six-song set and a radio-friendly southern rock sound. Slide guitar + R.E.M. guitar hooks = Dan loves it. R.E.M. sound + hottie frontman = Erin loves it. Extra points to Graham for wearing a Breeders T-shirt. Buy their album now, while they’re still indie!

Counting Crows played next. An extended, downtempo, country-tinged version of “Rain King” started off the set; the setpieces were similarly low-key – tastefully swirling gobos and black-and-white pictures of Americana projected on scrim (itself lowered over the backdrop, painted with rolling fields and a roiling sun overhead), with twinkling candelabras strewn across the stage. “Mr. Jones” was a predictable offering, probably in the rotation to help out the thirteen-year-olds wondering who these dudes are. “Yellow Taxi” made an appearance in the middle of the set (quite a crowd-pleaser). Adam Duritz felt the need to chit-chat with the audience from time to time (explaining how his father had been a professor at UH, and how he had lived in Houston and El Paso, and that’s why he’s “another boy from Texas”).

Adam: Don’t worry, John’s gonna play next, you’re gonna love him, and he’s not gonna just ramble on, talking about nothing like I am.

Audience: [cheers]

Adam: Shut the fuck up!

Audience: [cheers and applause]

Adam: Assholes. You know, John’s gonna come out here, and he’s gonna kick your ass.

Counting Crows’s set was entirely too short. (Adam talks about the set length, touring with John, etc. in an entry on his website from last week.) Other highlights included “Long December”, a very nice “Omaha”, “St. Robinson in his Cadillac Dream”.

John Mayer took the stage last, with a small touring band: three (seasoned-looking) musicians. Technically he was not the headliner, yet it was obvious – when comparing the number of fans standing and singing, butane lighters ablaze – almost everyone had come to see John. They played a nice, solid set, with an encore finish of “1983″ including a little bit of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” set in-tempo. John tossed off a little falsetto “Bennie! Bennie! Bennie!” during “No Such Thing” that was, by all accounts, entirely lost on much of the audience.

Memo: try to figure out who the teaser band is, playing before Mayer / Crows.