scottsimpson.net

grr macromedia

So Macromedia Dreamweaver doesn't allow me to save files on a network drive. I.E. I can't safe files directly to where they need to be. I have to work on them on my computer and upload them manually. This makes sense ... because all webpages are hosted on desktop computers. Get it together, Macromedia. And while you're at it, make Flash, Fireworks, and Freehand at least minimally usable. Good job on Contribute though. A diamond in the rough.

small steps for fat people

Well, it's good to see that my tax money is being spent to help fat people that don't know how to stay fit take small steps toward being healthier. Did you know your tax money was going into a nutrition website? Take a look at the front page of it, too... it talks about how many calories 'moderate housework' burns. Yikes. 'Avoid laborsaving devices' is one of the 'small steps' listed. What, you mean like computers? Here's one that outdoes all of them: walk to the gym, eating an apple. Oh, look, I did something that works better and takes up less resources than the government. Surprised? I'm not.

Some objectionable 'small steps':

7. Eat half your dessert. (or try skipping the nightly Banana Split, fatty.)
10. Skate to work instead of driving. (they won't let me rollerblade on the freeway because it's hazardous to my health)
18. Drink diet soda. (how about skipping soda altogether?)
24. Skip seconds. / 88. Don't take seconds. (but we get seconds on the rule?)
30. Ask your doctor about taking a multi-vitamin. (studies have shown that asking your doctor things burns up to a calorie a minute ... just be sure to not actually take that multivitamin...)
48. Keep to a regular eating schedule. (as long as it's based on when you're hungry, not just the clock)
78. Eat before you get too hungry. (yeah, watch that clock, eat when it says to, not when your body tells you to...)
79. Don't skip breakfast. (but make sure it's not a donut or other icky sweet thing)
80. Stop eating when you are full. (um, come on, people... does the GOVERNMENT HAVE TO TELL YOU TO DO THIS? listen to your mom.)
89. Try your burger with just lettuce, tomato and onion. (how about skip the burger?)

Some good 'small steps':
1. Walk to work.
2. Use fat free milk over whole milk.
6. Eat leaner red meat & poultry.
8. Walk instead of driving whenever you can.
9. Take family walk after dinner.
11. Avoid food portions larger than your fist.
12. Mow lawn with push mower.
13. Increase the fiber in your diet.
14. Walk to your place of worship instead of driving.
15. Walk kids to school.
16. Get a dog and walk it.
31. Go for a half-hour walk instead of watching TV.
43. Park further from the store and walk.
44. Ask a friend to exercise with you.
45. Make time in your day for physical activity.
54. Play with your kids 30 minutes a day. (or more, god forbid...)
62. Explore new physical activities. (safely...)
63. Vary your activities, for interest and to broaden the range of benefits.
64. Reward and acknowledge your efforts.
65. Choose fruit for dessert.
90. Try a green salad instead of fries.
91. Bake or broil fish.

I think that does it for my rip on the government this morning...

i may not have spent long at oxford, but i know where cardiff and glasgow are

In at least one case, controllers mistook the Scottish city of Glasgow for Cardiff in Wales. (full story)

Well, first their computers keep failing (must be running windows) and then they have moron air traffic controllers. For those of you unfamiliar with United Kingdom geography, I've attached a map showing just how close Glasgow and Cardiff are:

...Windows Media Player 10...is being released as a technical beta program aimed at enthusiasts and early adopters for testing and feedback. (full story)

Version TEN?! It's a media player ... does it really need that many features? (Before you start arguing about Mac OS X, operating systems are completely different... it took 2600 builds to get Windows XP right, and I'm not sure how many kernel builds it took to get Linux or Solaris or Mac OS quite right... but software is different)

iTunes is on version two-point-something, Winamp is on three-point-something, Real Player shouldn't be used by anyone. Nor should Windows Media Player if it's taking them this long to get a file player right.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite leader, has given tacit approval to the country's new U.N.-appointed interim government. (full story)

Well, maybe one of the reasons Iraq failed as a state was because of religious meddling in politics. Hmm? How would Americans react if Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson or L. Ron Hubbard were looked to to legitimize a presidency? If the global community wants to create a stable democracy in Iraq, they need to add a word to their vernacular: secular. Religious states fail. Religious states with deeply divided populations are doomed to perish. Everyone knows there's a majority of one party in Iraq that will dominate any election, regardless of how 'fair' it is. This will cause problems. Americans and Western Europeans have the luxury of being able to sort of ignore their beliefs when someone of a different faith is elected to office, because we strive to keep religion out of politics. (sort of a case of 'what people do behind closed [church] doors is their own business) Hear that, Mr. Bush? we strive to keep religion out of politics. And those who don't keep religion out of politics are kept out of office.

"There is a fine (DRM) balance that nobody has struck, especially with physical CDs," said Mike McGuire, an analyst with the GartnerG2 research group. "If there's somebody who's making 25 copies for the world and finds they can't do that, then few people will probably complain. But if someone finds they can't make a copy for their kid so he can play it in the car, you're going to have a lot of people returning broken CDs." (full sotry)

I'm going to say this one more time and I hope everyone's listening. If I buy something, it's MINE to do with as I please. I cannot sell it as my own, that's illegal. I cannot use it to fiscally enrich myself. But if I want to listen to a CD in the car and the same music in iTunes, I'll be damned if I'm buying two copies of something. I have a coffee cup that goes with me from my car to my desk. I do not have two coffee cups. That would be silly. And I'm sure that the Starbucks corporation isn't in dire financial straits because I chose to pirate my coffee mug for use at work.

Record labels are seeking a way to let consumers make a limited number of copies of their music--enough for a car, a vacation home and a friend, for example--without allowing for uncontrolled duplication. Under the current system, each copied CD can itself lead to an unlimited number of additional copies, cutting substantially into sales, they say.

You know how you get people to stop making so many copies of CDs? Put the price somewhere near the fair market price. It can't possibly cost $18.99 to produce a CD. Artists get a microscopic slice of that sum anyway. If you want to support an artist, go to their concert. I've sort of considered writing up this letter that talks about piracy and sending it to artists. I'd include probably 50-75% of the market CD price in cash in the envelope. Or maybe a Starbucks card or something. The letter would discuss that music pirates aren't interested in causing financial harm to artists, and that piracy actually spreads an artist's name (I never would have discovered that I enjoyed listening to Dave Matthews, Marilyn Manson, DJ Tiesto, or a number of other artists had I not heard them as mp3's in the music collections of my friends)

You know something's up when the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) resigns citing 'personal reasons' just days after the nation discovered that a former golden child of the Pentagon leaked crypto secrets to an 'enemy' nation. (I don't have problems with Iran, I'm sort of wondering why the US does) I'm sure this will make a very interesting book in due time.

Song that's stuck in my head today: Theme from Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego ('she'll run a scam in Scandinavia, make Antarctica cry uncle...')