Limbs of no body

Dave Winer posted the article Limbs of no body by Mohsen Makhmalbaf on Scripting News. As the intro states it is a long article by web standards but is an incredibly vivid description of Afghanistan from a first hand account.

I believe that before we decide to go to war against Afghanistan because their self proclaimed government protects terrorists we should at least be aware of who we're going to war against.

The Day After

It's hard to believe that it was only yesterday that the terrorist attacks occured as so much information is being broadcast around the world, it seems almost as several days have passed.

Online, perhaps the best source I've found of grassroots information has come from Dave Winer's Scripting News. Dave has done a tremendous job of providing information for us to reflect and try to take a moment to grasp what has happened and where we go from here.

Long Conversations

From the that's odd department. A girl and guy have been standing on the corner across from my building talking for over two hours. Actually the guy is talking and being very animated with his hands. You'd think if he were that interested in chatting with her he'd at least offer to grab a drink at Demetre's across the road. What, perhaps you think she's not interested!?! :-)
Update: 2 hours, 30 minutes total.

Linux in U.S. Schools

Wired has an article on Linux being used more and more in U.S. schools due to the low cost of purchase (free) and reduced maintenance (remote volunteers). Total cost of ownership must be considered but one teacher points out that one third of his school knew Windows, the other third Mac and the remaining third were "not computer literate", so he'd have to train two thirds no matter which way he went. If anyone knows of Canadian schools doing this let me know.

Gnotella

I've rediscovered the Gnutella client Gnotella which is now at version 1.0!

This first major release is incredible compared to the betas. Non-firewalled clients have a great response time and searching in much more efficient than the old days of P2P networks.

I've downloaded the entire Paul Simon Graceland album over the past two nights. I'll have to buy this CD, as I'm enjoying almost all the songs. Love the African backups.

Servers, Work, and Late Nights

Today Charles and I put in 6 servers, 1 media bay, 1 switch, 1 monitor / keyboard tray, 1 console switch and a mess of cables into our rack at Q9. It took 8.5 hours from pick-up of the machines to pack up at Q9. Not bad really but tiring. Our demo is incredibly fast now due to all the new equipment and an incredibly well connected hosting facility.

It's another late night as I update content on web sites and tie up loose ends. I believe this is the third "past two a.m. night" this week.

Paying for Digital Content

Dave Winer mentioned today that the New York Times has changed their layout to include mostly Reuters and AP articles, which as Dave mentions, may allude to an upcoming subscription requirement.

Dave also mentions that he can't point into subscription services. For various reasons I assume this is because one, he either doesn't have a subscription or two, he feels that he shouldn't point as his readers might not have a subscription.

I personally wouldn't want to subscribe to all the possible content sources that are available online, however it is possible for content providers to offer micro-payment services on a per-article basis. Content providers could offer either a summary or better yet the first third or half of an article and offer the remainder for a small price using either PayPal or the other available micropayment services.

Now micro-payments are an entirely separate discussion but offer various options for readers. You can pay on a per article basis, per topic (general news, business, sports, etc), or a network of publications could offer a unified discount package.

Perhaps content marketers knows what I would rather not believe. Readers are used to subscriptions. Anything else is either too complex for them, or not profitable.

Birth of another web log.

Several weeks ago I completed the first iteration of my form manager. (yet to be documented and available for download) As a result I'm going to try and construct my site largely around the itea of a web log. Yes it's trendy, but I like them and it will allow me to use my web site to rant and spew from the virtual pulpit a lot easier than if I were to edit XML and HTML files.

Stay tuned!

Unionville Cheesecake

Thank my mom and the good people at the Unionville House Restaurant for this easy and impressive dessert.

Crust

  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

Filling

  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla

Topping

  • 1 1/2 lb. apples (about four macintosh apples)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Method

1.To make crust: Cream together butter and sugar. Add flour and mix well.
Press onto bottom and 1 1/4 inches up sides of 9-inch springform pan.
2. To make filling: Mix together cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and vanilla; blend well. Spoon mixture onto crust.
3. To make topping: Core, peel and thinly slice apples. Arange apple slices on cookie sheet or sheet of aluminum foil. Combine sugar and cinamon; sprinkle over both sids of apple slices. Arrange apple slices in overlapping pin-wheel fashion, over cream cheese filling.
4. Bake in preheated 450 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees F and continue baking for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature for about 3 to 4 hours before refrigerating. Chill until serving.
Yield: 8 servings.

Paella

"it's a melange of fish and meat." - George, Seinfeld

This is my claim to cooking fame so far. It takes quite a bit of prep work, but it's well worth it.

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 diced onion
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1 1/2 cups arborio rice (the kind you make risotto with)
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup saffron stock (1/2 cup boiling water and 1 tsp saffron, no need to try dissolving saffron, leave saffron strands in)
  • 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper (or to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp paprika (or to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp rosemary (or to taste)
  • 3 bay leaves
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup white wine (optional)
  • 1 tomato (chopped)
  • veggies (I use zucchini, brocoli, and red peppers cut into bite sized pieces)
  • meats (I use 2 chicken breasts, 2 sausages both cut into bite sized pieces)
  • shellfish (I use shrimp and mussels pre-steamed for flavour in butter, garlic, green onion, and white wine)

Use a saucepan that can hold all this. (The bigger the better as a deep and small pan won't boil off as fast)

  1. prepare ingredients
  2. heat saucepan to medium and add olive oil
  3. place onion and garlic and fry till slightly brown
  4. add sausage and brown
  5. add chicken shortly after sausage and cook through
  6. add tomato and veggies and steam
  7. add arborio rice and stir together well
  8. pour in chicken stock and mix
  9. pour in saffron stock and mix
  10. add spices (cayenne, paprika, rosemary, bay leaves, salt and pepper)
  11. add wine
  12. bring to low boil and let simmer for 20-30 minutes (stir several times in between)
  13. uncover and simmer until most of the water is absorbed or boiled off (stir a few times to keep rice from burning to bottom of pan)
  14. add seafood and steam for 2 minutes if pre-cooked. Steam longer, say 2-4 if not pre-cooked.
  15. scoop and serve. rice should be a bit mushy like risotto is supposed to be.

Add a sprig of rosemary to garnish

enjoy!

McAfee Virus Scan

My choice for a good Windows virus scanner. McAfee has the ability to run in the background, check email, downloads and run a full scan through a scheduling system. The software also has an upgrade button to check if you have the latest virus definitions and will guide you through downloading and updating your list. Make sure when you install it to choose Custom Install and install the portion that scans email and web downloads.

Mussels in Tomato Sauce

  • 1 pound of mussels
  • Fried Onions
  • Bay Leaf
  • White wine (1/2 cup
  • )

  • Two cloves of garlic (chopped)
  • Parsley
  • Basil
  • Thyme
  • Oregano
  • Tomatoes, chopped
  • Salt and Pepper


1. clean mussels, beards and all
2. put water in pot
3. put in white wine
4. put in garlic
5. put in parsley, basil, thyme, oregano
6. put in tomatoes
7. put in salt and pepper
8. cook for 10-15 minutes
9. Put in mussels, simmer (15-20 minutes) (swish pot every once and a while)
NOTE: Put in a little half and half to be creamy.

Email Viruses

Some email programs, alright, Outlook, have the ability to execute attached scripting code. This is not to be confused with standard attachments which are files that the user must voluntarily execute. This scripting code, known as Visual Basic if used properly can help users of Microsoft Outlook attach programs to email that can interface with other Microsoft products such as databases, spreadsheets, etc. However Visual Basic is powerful enough to do some damage to your computer as well, although most "email viruses" thankfully only send out copies of themselves to every person in your mailbox. Embarrassing yes, but at least you didn't loose your documents. This time.

The following links from Microsoft are for patches relating to each of the various versions of Outlook. These in conjunction with a virus scanner that checks incoming email should keep your machine as virus free as possible.

Outlook Express File Attachment Issue
Outlook 97 Email Attachment Security Update
Outlook 98 Email Attachment Security Update
Outlook 2000 Email Attachment Security Update

As I mentioned, these are not the same as file attachments. You should also install one of the above virus scanners to ensure that any file you receive through email or download and run is scanned.