K-Squared Ramblings

Line Items for 2008-12-31

• Weird: Zunes all over the world froze up at the same time overnight. http://tr.im/2sau #
• Comment win: “like she was going to rip his arm off and beat his spleen to death with it. Not him; just his spleen” http://tr.im/2sbj #
• Just a quick store run - yeah along with everyone else in town. #
• More holiday creep! I still need to mail Xmas gifts to people I missed! It’s still 2008! http://phodroid.com/mbxyga #

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Line Items for 2008-12-30

• RT: Cool short movie: Mac vs. PC - Transformers style! http://tr.im/2qsv #
• Oh, and yesterday? I *spotted* Venus in daylight. I hate not being able to fix typos. #

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Moon and Venus Above Palms

Moon and Venus Above Palms, originally uploaded by Kelson.

Video Linkblogging: Mac vs. PC

Found this fun short movie: Mac vs. PC. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. It’s been done a million times. But how many times have the Mac and PC been Transformers? There’s a strong element of Terminator in there, as well.

(via Major Spoilers, though it apparently hit Digg a week ago)

Line Items for 2008-12-29: Walking, Venus

• Walking to lunch. Vacant lots actually GREEN! http://phodroid.com/a8bcz8 #
• Spotted Venus at 1 in the afternoon! Thanks, Sky Map app! #

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Line Items for 2008-12-23: Christmas Shopping

• I like “Carol of the Bells” as an instrumental piece. Sung with lyrics? Not so much. It feels tacked on. #
• Clever UI design on ATM: w/ fast cash, it won’t give you the cash until after you take your card. Usually I grab it fast, so I never noticed #

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Line Items for 2008-12-22: The Mall

• Must remember: just because the mall is the CLOSEST place to grab lunch doesn’t make it the BEST place, esp. 3 days before Christmas. #

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Eliminating the BS

Signs spotted while shopping:

Iglot sounds so much like igloo that it should be a kind of building. “Take it round back to the iglot.”

If only there were a way for this to say “Teh Aid,” it would be perfect.

Recent Reading: Flashforward

Earlier this month I read Robert J. Sawyer’s novel, Flashforward. It’s about what happens after, during a scientific experiment, the entire population of the world blacks out for two minutes and sees a vision of what they will be doing twenty years from now. It focuses on the question of free will, and looks at the different ways people might react to learning exactly what their future has in store.

Like most of Sawyer’s stuff, It’s a good, fast read that makes you think. It’s also been in the news lately, since ABC is developing it as a TV series to pick up the Lost audience as that show wraps up, and they’ve been announcing casting for the pilot.

I’ve posted a review of Flashforward at Speed Force.

Line Items for 2008-12-21: Christmas Shopping

• Need to sleep. Found myself typing “Satan Claus” by mistake. #
• Symptom of car culture: I almost feel like I have to justify crossing the street on foot to go to another store instead of moving the car. #
• Sun Halo. All you have to do is look up once in a while. http://phodroid.com/bvvxyg #
• Linens & Things: Nothing left to sell but the shelves… http://phodroid.com/qwbsxc #
• Almost. Walk2ed around a corner and they do have SOME stuff left #
• Virgin megastore is closing too, but they’ve still got lots of stuff. Incl 5000 copies of Serial Mom. #
• Replica toys: I get the nostalgia factor, but at the same time it’s a weird idea. #
• Going out of business sales seen today: 4. Mervyns, Linens&Things,Virgin,Steve&Barry’s. #
• And the more stores I look at, the more “What You Own” competes in my head for the ubiquitous Christmas music. #
• Amazon’s wishlist needs a generic option. Like “I want an 8GB Micro-SD card” rather than “I want THIS Micro-SD card specifically!” #

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Even Santas Have it Tough

Presumably this institution is designed to serve the needs of Santa Clauses who subsist on Ho-Hos.

Line Items for 2008-12-20

• Ugh. How does seeking to nullify 18000 marriages fall under “protecting marriage?” http://tinyurl.com/48xs2l #
• How long before a bunch of fundamentalists decide that straight marriages without kids are anti-family and seeks to nullify mine? #
• Can we get a moratorium on covers of “Last Christmas?” Actually, can we get one on the original too? #
• Once more unto the breach… #
• Funny how easy it is to spot a cover by Darryl K Sweet. It makes me want to mash up Xanth, WOT, and every other fantasy series he’s covered #
• I can’t see giving someone Countdown to Final Crisis as a gift. Maybe a gag gift? #
• Someone EXPANDED The Red Balloon into a full-length film???? #
• Nothing says Christmas like 50s xmas song played on a mall stage by a guy with a ukulele. Now he’s singing Over the Rainbow. ???? #

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Line Items for 2008-12-19

• I like hearing so many different kinds of music at Christmas time. Except when they play the same songs over and over and over and over and #

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Saddleback Snow - Two Days Later

Saddleback Snow - Spectrum Wheel Two Days Later, originally uploaded by Kelson.

I’ve added a few more pictures to my Snowline photoset showing the unusual amount of snow in the local Santa Ana Mountains.

There’s a few more from Thursday, plus a couple of pictures I grabbed Friday morning, like the one shown above.

Update: Here’s one more, from a batch of photos I took at lunch today. More at Flickr…

Line Items for 2008-12-18

• Just got back from seeing “The School of Night” in LA. Good play. Awful drive. Must sleep. #
• Saddleback & Orange County snow photos: http://tinyurl.com/4tvu9o #
• They’re taking the balloon up! Would be the perfect day…but I don’t have time! #
• Finally succumbed to the promise of a Flickr Pro account #

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Woodbridge Snow View

Woodbridge Snow View 1, originally uploaded by Kelson.

Saddleback and the Santa Ana Mountains got an amazing amount of snow yesterday, and I went out to a couple of spots this morning to take photos. Check this Flickr set for more.

Line Items for 2008-12-17

• Ugh. According to the website, EVERYTHING at Rubio’s contains soy except the chips, salsa & guac. But is that soy oil, lecithin, or protein? #

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Line Items for 2008-12-16

• Back from San Diego. Catching up on a weekend’s worth of email, LJ, Twitter, blogs, etc. #
• Running system restore on my Windows box at work. Just how I wanted to spend Monday morning. #
• Dear HaloScan users: Please do not use the Javascript-only pop-up for your comments links. I can’t open that in a new tab. #
• Grr. Dialog boxes should not pop up while typing. I hate accidentally saying OK or Cancel. Who runs only one app at a time these days? #
• Just got buzzed by a bird on the way to the car. #
• Snow! LA’s Misty Mountains aka San Gabriels. Will post better pix soon. http://phodroid.com/zedcdp #
• *sigh* Looks likeTwidroid blurrified the pic. Take 2 on snowy mountains, uncropped this time http://phodroid.com/ypqz26 #
• I don’t know why yesterday’s Real Life is so funny: http://tinyurl.com/5zm6ln #

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Misty Mountains: Another San Gabriel Snow Panorama

Last January when I caught a view of the entire range of the San Gabriel Mountains absolutely covered in snow, I figured it was a once-in-a-lifetime sight. Sure, they get snow every year, but they usually don’t get that much snow.

Amazingly, I got to see something similar again today. In a way, even better, because this time the sky was clear, providing better light and an unimpeded view.

After yesterday’s rain and a prediction of more showers today, I was surprised to see empty blue sky this morning. While driving over a bridge I looked out the window and saw the mountains just coated with snow. As soon as I dropped Katie off at her office, I made a beeline for that spot near The District in Tustin that (for now) offers an unimpeded view of the mountains that dominate the skyline (on clear days) of Los Angeles County.

By then a few clouds had begun to swirl around in the distance.

San Gabriel Snow (Section 1), originally uploaded by Kelson.

I couldn’t tell at the time whether Saddleback had any snow or not, since it was still backlit (this was around 8:20 or so in the morning), so I didn’t take any pictures of it.

Here’s a panorama of the mountain range. Click on the image below to see the full thing.

5 Things I’ve Learned About Twitter

For the longest time, I figured Twitter was little more than a social toy. But after signing up two months ago, I’ve completely changed my view. Here are five lessons I’ve picked up.

1. There are many ways to use it.

Twitter asks the question, “What are you doing?” Some people answer that, and post things like, “eating dinner.” Some people ignore it and post other thoughts. Among the uses I’ve seen:

• Running commentary throughout the day.
• Random thoughts.
• Announcements, particularly bloggers announcing new posts, or news sites announcing new articles.
• Hey, look at this link I found. (The classic linkblogging post.)
• Conversations with other users.
• Even a story told one line at a time.

It can replace a blog, or complement it.  Mine started out just as another feed for updates, but I quickly realized I could post small stuff on Twitter and save the blog for the long posts like this one.

I’ve seen some people who post 20 times a day, and others who post once or twice a month.

2. Writing short posts can be liberating.

You don’t need to think of a catchy title. You don’t need to worry about structure. You don’t need to worry about fully developing an idea. And the rapid-fire nature of the site gives you a sense that you’re only worrying about now. No one expects you to be profound. All you have to do is jot down your thought and fire it off.

3. Writing short posts can be frustrating.

One of my high school teachers used to quote this adage: “If I had had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” It’s easy to ramble. It’s hard to edit. And it’s really easy to run into that 140-character limit, especially if you’re including a link (even if you use a URL shortening service like tr.im).

Sometimes I think what I want to say is short enough to fit, but I find myself spending several minutes trying to rephrase it, use shorter words, cut out unnecessary phrases, and, if I have to, abbreviate words just to cram it into that tiny space.

On the plus side, the result is usually very concise.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thoughts on Heroes Volume 3: Villains

So, volume 3 of Heroes, “Villains,” is done. I liked the start of the season, but by the end it had gotten to the point where I was alternately ready to jump for joy and throw things at the screen in the space of the same episode.

I love the parts with Hiro, Ando, Daphne and Matt (except when Matt’s overdoing the “I saw you in the future and we’re in love!” bit). If they could make that into a show, I’d have no complaints. But the rest has slowly gotten bogged down in a mix of technobabble, melodrama, and an endless face-heel revolving door. “I’m evil!” “No, you’re good, I’m the one who’s evil!” “Wait, I thought it was my turn!”

Some specific comments, with spoilers, after the cut: Read the rest of this entry »

San Diego Weekend

We went to San Diego this weekend for a company event. The drive down on Saturday was quite nice — much faster than any of the times we’ve driven down for Comic-Con, for instance. It took us only an hour and 20 minutes to get to Old Town San Diego, and that was with taking the wrong exit and driving two miles inland just to be able to cross the river.

We had lunch at El Fandango in Old Town, then wandered around the shops for a bit. By now we’ve seen most of the exhibits and museums. But the San Diego House of Coffee and Tea is a must-visit stop, if for no other reason than to pick up some Highlander Grog. We also grabbed some hot coffee to walk around with, since it was gloomy with occasional drizzling. (I later noticed a sign in the Gaslamp area that said “Umbrellas $9.95. When Raining, $19.95.)

They had set up period tents and wagons around the grounds, mostly in the courtyard with the flagpole made from the ship’s mast. One of the shops we visited was the mineral & gemstone store, which I’ve always liked visiting even back when I was a kid. And right up front, they had the hugest trilobite fossil I’d ever seen, around a foot long.

After a few hours, we drove into downtown San Diego and checked into the Omni Hotel. I’d never stayed there before, but it’s highly sought-after among attendees at Comic-Con because it’s right across the street from the convention center. Our room had a view of the end of the convention center, which will shed a little light on the size of the crowds. Read the rest of this entry »

Yellow Clouds at Sunset & Herringbone Moon

Yellow Clouds at Sunset, originally uploaded by Kelson.

Last Thursday evening, this was the view from one of the office windows.

Herringbone Moon, originally uploaded by Kelson.

Later that night, I took this photo. Or rather, these photos, since it’s a composite of two, one which picked up the herringbone pattern of the clouds and one which picked up the moon and the corona surrounding it.

Line Items for 2008-12-13: AltBrowser, San Diego

• Finally updated http://altbrowser.net - now I get to sleep. Tomorrow: company Christmas party #
• Old Town San Dirgo. Nowhere will you find a more wretched hive of…oh, wait, that’s somewhere else. #
• 1 hour 20 min to San diego - not bad. #
• Coffee! Mexican mocha in the drizzle. And Highlander Grog for later. #
• View from hotel (if it works) http://phodroid.com/f87w9n #
• Now imagine that open area FULL of people lining up to get in to Hall H at Comic Con. #

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Alternative Browser Alliance Update

Just a quick note: I finally got around to updating the Alternative Browser Alliance website. Not the full rewrite that I was planning to do two months ago, but at least it’s now current on things like Google Chrome, Firebug, Dragonfly, etc.

I’ve also released that site under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license, which should simplify matters for translations.

Finally, as a compromise between a full blog and little notes on the home page, I added another Twitter account, AltBrowser, where I’ll post not just site updates but random bits of news, comments, tips, etc. related to the topic.  I don’t have time to maintain yet another blog.  And I’m not convinced the net needs one.

I still hope to do that major rewrite, but this should bring it mostly up-to-date.

Line Items for 2008-12-12: HTML Validators

• W3C Validators in trouble: apparently running the tools is hideously expensive and they’re low on funds. http://tinyurl.com/6lz5q3 #
• I usually use the WDG Offline Validator as a first line, but the W3C’s tools is incredibly useful. http://tinyurl.com/6lxbre #

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Line Items for 2008-12-11: Twhirling

• Need to get voice back in shape. Can’t sing along to chorus of “Piano Man” at pitch. #
• So #Twhirl can’t connect to Twitter without updating, but the update won’t run on the latest AIR available for Linux… *headdesk* #
• Installed AIR and Twhirl on Windows box. Disturbed that the Flash plugin in a browser can DO that. #

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Line Items for 2008-12-10: Scenic, Updates, Linking In

• Clear day. Think I saw section of Catalina off in distance between buildings on freeway. Definitey spotted Downtown LA from hill in Irvine. [Edit: not exactly, but still plenty far] #
• Arg. Still can’t update Office. Wonder if it’s the IE8 beta. Time to download patches manually, I guess. #
• Hey, a Farscape podcast linked to my post on the trip to see Gigi Edgley fire twirling! http://tinyurl.com/5opevc http://tinyurl.com/6389ja #
• #WordPress 2.7 RC1 and RC2 will only self-update to the latest nightly build. Also, RC2 is helpfully telling me I should update to 2.6.5. #
• Ah, now they’re all offering to upgrade to #WordPress 2.7 final. #
• is finally caught up on laundry. (Yeah, horribly exciting, I know.) #
• Serious stab at cleaning up inbox: 550+ messages down to 320. Also first stab at updating/syncing contacts (so many out of date entries) #

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Running on WordPress 2.7 Final

I have now updated this blog (and Speed Force) to WordPress 2.7 Final — using the built-in updater. It takes a while, but it’s entirely automated once I tell it “Install” and enter my FTP info.

The built-in plugin installer is very convenient as well.

The Flash 10 upload bug is fixed!

As with Speed Force, I’ve dropped the plugin I was using for avatars in favor of the built-in feature. It still generates Wavatars for those of you who leave your email address but don’t have Gravatars, but it seems to generate them differently, so you get a new and different monster

All my plugins work as far as I can tell (official plugin compatibility list), but there are a couple of glitches:

WP-Super-Cache doesn’t seem to be deleting expired pages on schedule. And the spot for the convenient clear-cache-now buttons for that and WP Widget Cache doesn’t exist anymore, so if I do need to clear them out I need to go to the plugin’s settings page — which is what I had to do until a month ago anyway, so no big deal.

Also, Twitter Tools doesn’t seem to be able to pre-check the “Notify Twitter about this post” checkbox. But the important stuff works.

I’m still getting used to the new admin layout, but the only thing that really bugs me is there doesn’t seem to be a quick way to get to scheduled posts from the dashboard.

Other than that, so far so good. As always, let me know if anything seems broken.

Seeing LA From Irvine?

It’s an amazingly clear day morning today. So clear that I suspect I saw part of the outline of Catalina Island off in the distance, between trees and buildings, on the drive to work. So clear that I decided to drive up to the park at Quail Hill in Irvine where I once spotted what I think thought was Downtown Los Angeles at a distance of ~40 miles (same as the “contrast” shot in last year’s Spring Haze post). And this time, I had a better camera.

First, here’s the view from the camera, at 3x optical zoom, to give you some context.  This is looking northwest from the park.  (It occurs to me I could probably have checked the direction with my phone’s GPS info.)

Everything’s flattened out near the horizon.  Near the right you can see the MCAS Tustin blimp hangars, with Santa Ana beyond them. The area I’m looking at is too small to see at web size, on the left side right near where the hill cuts in front of the horizon.

Here it is zoomed in and enhanced.

I gave it a shot with the digital zoom out to 12x, but it was way too fuzzy.  It worked out better just to crop the file and look at its native resolution.  Someday I’ll save up and get a nifty digital SLR that will save raw images instead of JPEGs, and let me swap out lenses for serious telephoto work, but for now, this is what I’ve got.

Actually, looking at the picture, I’m no longer convinced that it’s actually downtown Los Angeles.  What I can see doesn’t look clustered enough, and the buildings look shorter than I’d expect.  But I can’t think what else has a bunch of buildings tall enough to see at that distance and in that direction.

It could be that only the tops of the building are visible, in which case that black rectangle bordered in white, roughly in line with the top of the light pole, could be the top section of the Aon Center, the second-tallest building in the city and the one that’s mostly black with white corners and white around the top. But in that case the US Bank Tower (the tall round one) must be completely faded into the haze.

Or it could be Century City, which is a few miles to the west of Downtown LA, and has a couple of similar buildings (black with white outlines).  If that’s the case, though, downtown should be somewhere to the right and taller, and I just don’t see it.  And Century City would be closer to 45 miles, rather than 40.  Maybe the smog’s just thicker around downtown? Edit: This does seem more likely (see comments).

Anyway, I took some more pictures to make a panorama, which I’ll stitch together at home when I have a chance and see if it’s worth posting.

Line Items for 2008-12-09: Freezing

• Ack! It is FREEZING in the server room! (This is a good thing!) #

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