:: W4B photography's companion blog ::

:: Saturday, September 25, 2004 ::

Klingons for Kerry
Future Politics: Hopscotching blogs and I came across this article from the Willamette Week Online. Apparently Klingons prefer Kerry. Which I find interesting if you were to dissect their views. Bush would have been a more logical choice. And Kerry perhaps more Federation-esque... Found via a new read: #!/usr/bin/girl

BBC on Rutan
Geek alert: BBC article on Dick Rutan the Scaled Composites X-Prize guy. His SpaceShipOne prize flights are set for 29 September and 4 October.

iPod Gadgets
Geek alert: How about Lasers and flashlights for your iPod...

AOL does something good
Geek alert: Sher pointed me to this Globe and Mail article. For an added fee, which seems reasonable to me, AOL uses can have a RSA encryption gadget that will act as another layer of security between you and your internet connection. A second numeric password is generated and synched so without the password on the box, you can't access your AOL account. I'd like to know how would this work with always on Broadband connections? Sher: I signed up for the Daily Tech emails from G&M.

Tele-Pollster Helpful Hint
Misc Tip: For some reason over the last couple of days, two separate polling companies, one Decima Research, called my number and wanted me to participate in a long survey. Now, I participated in some market research back in the early 90's when the mom of a girlfriend of mine was a recruiter. It paid well: $50 or more for a couple of hours of work. Since then, I don't give my opinions away for free.

I also came up with something clever you can tell the caller to get them off the phone without being rude: "I am sorry I work for a polling firm (or market research company) and it would be a conflict of interest to participate in your survey/poll." It works like a charm. They politely thank you as a brother in arms and the call is over. If they ask who you work for - it's never happened - just let them know you would rather not disclose that information to a competitor... :)

Of course, my dad used to just ask if it was a survey and slam the phone down hard. But I feel for these people trying to eek out a living as much as I value my time.

Star Wars DVD set
Entertainment: Bought the Wide Screen version yesterday and watched Episode IV: A New Hope. Nice bit of nostalgia. I was reflecting when watching it and after as the credits were rolling and the instantly recognizable John Williams score was playing, that I once had a record somewhere or a tape that had the StarWars sound track. Amazing how things have changed.

When StarWars came out in 1977 - that's 27 years ago!! - there were no real video tapes or rental stores - VHS had not beat out BetaMax for market share. Record sales were strong, 8 tracks were on the way out and audio cassettes were on the way in. Walkmans and their ilk didn't exist. It was well before CDs. DVDs were a two generations away - we had to suffer through giant platter sized video disks first. And the idea of re-working a movie to the extent that Lucas has done, by adding in CG effects and essentially new characters to help his back story was unheard of in a meaningful way. Not to mention home theatres that can take advantage of THX sound... Times they change.


Carpe Diem

:: Mike Wood 11:57 [+] :: 0 comments
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