Today I had the great pleasure of meeting TJ (of Better Living through Chemistry fame) and his lovely wife Cindy at the Common Man in Concord for a pre-Blog Free or Die get together. There was good food, drink, and conversation to be had. So where were y'all? By the way, in case you're wondering, TJ and Cindy really are as cute as BLTC leads you to believe.

I think the Common Man is going to be a go for October, but I'm leaving that up to TJ -- and anyone else who has a strong preference. The only thing that bummed me was the lack of wifi.

Me: Noticing no signal, "Excuse me, do you have wifi here?"

Waitress: "What's wifi?"

Oops.

On a different, sadder note: A regular commenter on TJ's blog, Mr. Fabulous of Pointless Drivel recently got fired for blogging. Unbelievable. That's one of the reasons I have a work blog and a (semi-anonymous) personal blog, and ne'er the twain shall meet. It pays to be paranoid.... Good luck Mr. Fabulous!!!

As you may have noticed, I'm trying to get coComment integrated on Grain of Salt. Currently it is "kinda sorta" functioning: Items will wind up on your Conversations page, but the comment count does not seem to be updating. I'm working on it.... In the meantime, my apologies. And if you have any insight as to what I'm missing, please let me know.

UPDATE: I think it's working. I was missing a few brain cells.

...You come across things like WebUndies.com, the self-proclaimed "home of the best selection of fun boxer shorts and underwear on the internet." At least it has gag-gift potential....

I finally heard back from Microsoft regarding that whole potential violation of my privacy thing. After having six weeks to sort things out, they said:

We haven't been able to reproduce the problem in house except for once. We're still looking into it. We may want to have you work with one of our testers to run a netmon trace if you're up for that.

I'm not sure I can be bothered at this point. But I'll leave it up to y'all: Am I up for it? Convince me that it's worth it.

In the "I would have already known this if it weren't for the fact that I'm too busy to sleep let alone keep up with my feeds and gosh I need a life" department:

Last month, Mark Pilgrim started vlogging. Dive Into Mark is like The Show with Ze Frank only slower, geekier, and with bunnies. Oh, and Mark hasn't started playing chess with his viewers -- at least not yet. Definitely worth a look.

Thanks to Mark, I even have a new all-time-favorite quote:

Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning "can't install Debian."

I just came across MiMMS:

MiMMS, formerly called "mmsclient", is a simple client to download streaming audio and/or video media from the internet using the MMS protocol (i.e. from mms:// type URLs, generally found in asx files). Downloaded streams can then be replayed offline at your leisure, using any compatible media player of your choice.

Very handy! Info from the Debian site.

UPDATE: Something else to add into the mix: ffmpeg2theora, which lets you convert your downloaded media into Ogg Theora.

Even though I kvetched about the high price I was paying to restore a civilized temperature to my humble abode, I suppose $3000 is not that much to pay for A/C -- at least not in light of this how-to which includes the following requisite equipment:

• Bag of ice cubes
• Shallow container
• Fan
• Salt water

tips like:

try the towel method. Hang a wet towel from two chairs to hold the ice. The melting ice will wet and chill the towel and the fan will blow that cold air on you. Place a container under the towel to catch the melting ice water. You can use a thread to connect the bottom of the towel with the container to avoid the annoying dripping sound.

and such sage advice as:

• A bath or shower that is very cold might not be suitable for people who have various medical conditions. To be safe, take a cool or slightly warm shower.
• Be careful that you keep the fan and its cord at a higher level than the melting ice water. Don't want to cause an electric accident.

Via Rich Burridge who has my sympathy.

If you're a Ubuntu user wondering how to access the wide range of multimedia content that's out there, then Alexander Grundner's how-to is a must-read!

The only thing I'm still having trouble viewing is The Show with Ze Frank.

Excellent news:

San Francisco - A federal judge today denied the government's motion to dismiss the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) case against AT&T for collaborating with the NSA in illegal spying of millions of ordinary Americans. This allows the case to go forward in the courts.

[...]

EFF filed the class-action suit against AT&T in January, alleging that the telecommunications company has given the National Security Agency (NSA) secret, direct access to the phone calls and emails going over its network and has been handing over communications logs detailing the activities of millions of ordinary Americans.

I just realized something: Now that Robert Scoble (aka the Scobleizer) has moved on to bigger and better things, it is much easier to hate Microsoft. I guess the humanizing effect achieved by having a likable evangelist is not only powerful, but transitory....

Time to go install StarOffice.

TJ is apparently getting antsy. Looks like there's going to be an informal, pre Blog-Con get together on the 29th. I think I can make it. What about you?

As regular readers of Grain of Salt know, Office 2007 has been trying desperately to get past my firewall and send my full name back to Redmond -- a practice in stark contrast to the assurances given in their privacy policy.

While they were quite responsive and concerned initially, it's been six weeks with no improvement: Outlook and OneNote keep trying to phone home -- and if anything, they're trying much more frequently, sometimes several times a day! Ya know, I don't find this stuff amusing anymore. So I'm opting out of CEIP. I think you should as well. Especially if you don't use ZoneAlarm and myVAULT to keep track of when your personal information is being transmitted behind your back.

And I did yesterday too. Who cares? I know.... The thing is: Now that I have A/C again, I figure I should resume using my treadmill regularly. You see, I get into these workout moods, and I'm good for a few weeks, but then I get out of the habit. I don't know about you, but I find that exercise (or, more accurately, lack thereof) is a slippery slope: Missing a few days justifies missing a few weeks, which in turn justifies missing a few months.... Ideally my desire to live a long and healthy life would be sufficient motivation to exercise regularly, but apparently this is not the case. If I had an "exercise partner," someone who was also committed to staying fit and healthy, someone who could guilt me into exercising because they were exercising and I was not, I'd be more likely to stick with it. But I don't have that either.... So I'm telling you, gentle reader, that I'm doing this in the hopes that making a commitment in writing to exercise regularly will cause me to stick with it for a change.

Any chance of forming an Exercise (Free) or Die blogger group? I think I really need someone to guilt me into this.

That's right, two What to Drink entries in one week! You see, a couple of weeks ago I went to Harrington's in Chelmsford, Mass. If you take your beer seriously, if you're always on the lookout for a great microbrew or import, if the thought of drinking a Miller or a Budweiser fills you with disgust and horror -- assuming your brain can even fathom the possibility -- then it's WELL worth the drive: To my knowledge, there is no equivalent in New Hampshire. (If I'm wrong, do please leave a comment!)

As I discovered the last time I was there, Harrington's has at least one guy on staff who REALLY knows his beer. He spent a fair amount of time going over their offerings and gave me some great recommendations based on what I had already selected. Thanks to him, I learned about Berkshire Brewing Co's Coffeehouse Porter. He also indicated that, contrary to a rumor I heard, there is no indication that Unibroue is dumping Terrible (Harrington's had plenty of it BTW). Alas, for the life of me I cannot remember his name. The next time I go down, I'll see if I can figure out whom I spoke with, write down his name, and blog it because you should talk to this fellow if you really want to know what to drink.

Now on to today's recommendation, Stone Imperial Russian Stout:

a dark decadent beer that is one of the most lauded brews in America. Rated as one of the top 10 beers in the world on the two most popular beer rating websites, Ratebeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com, it certainly does have a following. "There's no question that Stone Imperial Russian Stout is revered among enthusiasts," states Stone CEO Greg Koch.

I agree! Definitely add this one to your list!

What can be better than an awesome, dark, decadent beer, you ask? An awesome, dark, decadent beer that comes from a brewery that embraces RSS. Stone Brewing Company has three feeds: two for information/updates and one for a vlog! What more could a geeky beer aficionado ask for?

MCM's The Pig and the Box teaches children an important lesson about the evils of DRM. It's very well done, and it even has a surprise ending! Via Boing Boing.

Yesterday I got a letter from the CDC indicating that I had been specially selected to participate in a three-minute survey. They'd be calling; alternatively, I could call them. So today I call the number. They look me up and transfer me to a very nice person who informs me that they are conducting a survey related to health issues of African Americans and Hispanics. "Oh really?" I ask (I happen to be white). Oh well, might as well play the game.

Survey-Taker: "Are you the person to whom the letter was addressed?"

Me: "Yes"

Survey-Taker: "How many adults, aged 18 and older, live in your household including yourself?"

Me: "One"

Survey-Taker: "Are you African American or Hispanic?"

Me: "No"

Survey-Taker: "Oh. Thank you for your time."

Couldn't the CDC have talked to the Census Bureau for the purpose of locating people who are actually African American or Hispanic before spending time (and money) to send out notices, hire survey takers, and conduct the surveys? I wonder what their candidate selection methodology was and what their success rate has been. Oh well, our tax dollars at work....

Scientists in Japan are working on a way to transmit smells:

The new device, developed by scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, analyzes smells through 15 sensors, records the odor's recipe in digital format and then reproduces the scent by mixing 96 chemicals and vaporizing the result.

Creator Takamichi Nakamoto says the technology will have applications in food and fragrance industries where companies want to replicate odors. But it could also be a boon for the digital world, allowing smells can be recorded in one place -- by sensors in a mobile phone, for instance -- and transmitted to appreciative noses halfway around the world.

Hmmmm.... Methinks "appreciative" must be a euphemism. I mean, let's face it: How are you going to use such a gadget? To send someone you care about the sweet scent of the flowers you're bringing her, or the brownies you're baking just for him? I don't think so. You are going to text-message your friend expressing your extreme unhappiness at having to wait in line/ride the bus/whathaveyou within spitting distance of someone who smells like this (insert scent attachment here). You are going to open your fridge, find something totally disgusting, and rejoice in your new-found ability to truly do the discovery justice by presenting it in all its glory electronically to some poor unsuspecting soul. And I shudder to think of this technology in the hands of MySpace users and spammers. Brave new world indeed. Still, I'm buying one when it becomes available -- and I'm looking forward to a smell-recorder, mind-reading-computer mashup.

I really like porters, and I really like coffee. So imagine my delight when I came across Berkshire Brewing Co's Coffeehouse Porter.

This dark ale combines the taset of real organic coffee with out popular Drayman's Porter. The robust coffee flavor comes vis a special coffee extract made for us exclusively by Dean's Beans, New Salem, Ma.

I tried it yesterday. Great stuff!

Last week we learned why one shouldn't eat a hot dog -- or perhaps more accurately we were given the most convincing argument yet. This week the Greeley Tribune is back with more nasty hot dog news (as if there is any other kind of hot dog news, but anyway....):

Flora, 89, and her sister, Rose Carlton, 90, who died earlier this year, mailed a hot dog back and forth as a gag gift through the years. They sent it to each other for Christmas, and if one would visit the other, they'd hide it in the house.

The sisters started this in 1952.

For 54 years, they mailed and hid and smuggled the same Oscar Meyer hot dog between their homes.

You know, this reminds me of something I once heard -- and perhaps we all heard in one form or another as children: If you swallow gum, it sticks to your ribs for years rather than being digested. I wonder what happens to the hot dogs you eat.... On second thought, I don't want to know. I'm glad I'm a vegetarian!

Regarding mind-reading computers, Phil (of Phil McCracken's Permanent Home fame) commented:

Just imagine a computer that reads your emotions with the same dependable performance as Microsoft Windows.

Ya know, I never thought about that.... But it's a very good point.... Okay, Phil, you're on! I picture my mind-reading computer:

• Complaining that my attempts to process how I'm feeling constitute an illegal operation
• Phoning home with my feelings -- in an anonymous fashion of course, just to perfect analysis
• Leaving my feelings wide open to critical, malicious attacks and then trying to patch things up in the hopes that it's not too late
• (Mis)representing my feelings to others
• Repeatedly insinuating that my feelings are not genuine and insisting that I prove otherwise
• Taking pot shots at other services that might help me better manage my feelings while at the same time:
• Charging me an arm and a leg in order for me to access my own feelings

Hmmmmm..... Sounds like a dysfunctional relationship and the subsequent therapy sessions. Put another way, the mind-reading computer can't be Windows-based. What about Google Mind Reader? Any takers?

The other day I blogged about getting A/C on Tuesday. Well, today is Tuesday and I'm dropping $2300 for a brand new condenser or compressor or whatever the giant air conditioning box is called. It's being installed now. Yea!

Unfortunately, what the fine HVAC folks neglected to tell me when I spent $82 for them to come out, pronounce the existing one dead, and give me a write-up for the $2300 replacement, was that this thing called a coil was also dead. How much is one of them you ask? Apparently $675. Now I'm up to nearly $3000. Grrrrrrr. Why couldn't they have told me this before? Did they not bother to check (i.e. incompetence), or did they assume that I would not drop the money if I knew it would cost this much (i.e. greed)? Either way, this bites....

So much for Dom. Now I will have to celebrate with beer. The cheap stuff. Maybe even stuff that comes in cans. Ewwwww.

In the cool-but-creepy news department, CNN reports:

An "emotionally aware" computer being developed by British and American scientists will be able to read an individual's thoughts by analyzing a combination of facial movements that represent underlying feelings.

"The system we have developed allows a wide range of mental states to be identified just by pointing a video camera at someone," said Professor Peter Robinson of Cambridge University in England.

Very interesting.... I wouldn't mind if my computer refrained from displaying error dialogs on those days when I'm feeling especially cranky. Nor would I mind if it automatically adjusted the volume: lowering it when it detects I'm having a migraine, and raising it when it notices my eyes constantly glancing upward at the all-too-thin barrier between my condo and that of my upstairs neighbors. I'd probably get more work done if my PIM were to display a friendly reminder when it became apparent that my Ritalin had worn off. A smart RSS aggregator that only displayed the articles it knew I would want to see at the moment would be great. Heck, if my aggregator could do that, surely my email could be similarly filtered, and my IM and VOIP clients could hide my online presence from anyone I didn't feel like talking to. My media player would always play music and podcasts suitable for my current mood. Recipe/cooking sites would show only the food I wanted to eat and was willing to cook. The Sports and Entertainment sections of all the news sites I visit would be automatically stripped out because my computer would just know it needed doing....

But why stop there? If I had smart appliances and environmental controls, my mind-reading computer could cause coffee to be brewed when I look sleepy, be sure I have enough ice made when I look thirsty, and pre-heat the oven when I look hungry -- assuming I am in the mood for something that requires the use of the oven, which my mind-reading computer would surely be able to detect. My thermostat would always be set to just the right temperature, and the lights would always be set to just the right brightness. The Roomba would vacuum and the Scooba would mop simply because I willed them to do so.

Hey, this might be cool enough for me to get over the creepy, Orwellian aspects of a computer that always knows how I am feeling.

(Robinson) and his collaborators believe the mind-reading computer's applications could range from improving people's driving skills

I suppose there's a need for that: waking up sleepy drivers, playing calming music to road-raging drivers, turning on GPS for lost drivers, and killing the ignition for stupid drivers.

to helping companies tailor advertising to people's moods.

Huh? You mean this cool technology is really about generating more advertising revenue? Why is EVERYTHING these days about advertising? I blame Google.

"Imagine a computer that could pick the right emotional moment to try to sell you something...."

If you insist.... Okay, here's what I'm picturing: my computer in cahoots with the computers of giant corporations attempting to take advantage of my being in a good mood in order to make yet another buck. Knowing my luck, it would also rat me out to the gatekeepers of animal charity solicitation hell. "Psssst, " my computer would hiss to the PETA computer, "she's feeling generous today." On second thought, maybe this isn't such a hot idea after all.... Unless....

Imagine a computer that could tell that it would be a pretty foolish thing for it to display any ads whatsoever because its owner happens to be on the brink of going completely and utterly postal from all of the online ads she's been bombarded with over the years. Now THAT would be a smart computer.

The problem with living in a home that is 20+ years old is that all of the original, expensive stuff has a life span of approximately 20 years. In the past couple of years I have had to purchase a new fridge, a new oven, a new furnace, and a new water heater. Now it's the A/C unit's turn to die. Well, actually, it died a couple of years ago. But I just couldn't be bothered to deal with it last summer.... For some reason this year I simply cannot stand the heat and humidity. So when the HVAC folks told me in a rather somber voice that it would cost $2300 to replace, my response wasn't my usual "Oh dear, I'm living on the salary of a private-non-profit employee." It was, "I don't care. I have credit cards. How soon can you come out?" They are coming out on Tuesday. On Tuesday I will have A/C again. On Tuesday I will locate my winter attire because I'm cranking my new A/C unit down as low as it will go just because I can. On Tuesday I will buy champagne. The good stuff. Maybe even Dom. On Tuesday I will get a decent night's sleep. I cannot wait until Tuesday!

In the Way to Protect Market Share department, Microsoft announced yesterday that they would support ODF after all -- although not without taking a pot shot at the competition:

The Open XML formats are unique in their compatibility and fidelity to billions of Office documents, helping protect customers' intellectual investments. Open XML formats are also distinguished by their approach to accessibility support for disabled workers, file performance and flexibility to empower organizations to access and integrate their own XML data with the documents they use every day. In contrast, ODF focuses on more limited requirements, is architected very differently and is now under review in OASIS subcommittees to fill key gaps such as spreadsheet formulas, macro support and support for accessibility options. As a result, certain compromises and customer disclosures will be a necessary part of translating between the two formats.

Why can't they just take something positive (i.e. supporting ODF and facilitating consumer choice), announce it, and leave it at that?

Regardless, I'm starting to lean more and more towards running Linux on as many of my machines as I can -- and StarOffice/OpenOffice on the ones where I still need to keep Windows. After all, you can't beat the price. And open source apps don't try to phone home with your personal information.

I really need to check out all of the NH Bloggers. Janice at New Hampshire Blogging even makes doing so easy. It's just a matter of taking making the time to do so.... It's on the list to do before NH Blog-Con. In the meantime I will rely upon my usual methods of fate and checking out the blogs of people who leave comments.

Melody left a comment and as a result I have now found another cool NH blog. And not just any ol' cool NH blog, but a cool NH blog with vegetarian recipes! Check out Melomeals. Subscribed!

In her profile Melody indicates that she'd be vegan if it weren't for cheese. Cheese is my primary weakness in that regard as well. If they can make decent fake meat, why can't they make decent fake cheese?

As a vegetarian prone to squeamishness, I believe that the only thing potentially more foul than eating animal flesh is eating ground up, unidentified animal bits (AKA hot dogs). So it's not like I need to be convinced not to eat a hot dog. But you might.

Five years ago, on July 4, Carroll was grilling some hot dogs for a family gathering, and he dropped one of them on the ground.

Josh Severin, a family member, quickly picked it up, and instead of merely brushing the hot dog off and putting it back on the grill as most men would do (remember the 5-second rule), he stuck it, lengthwise, on the radio antenna on Carroll's pickup truck.

That hot dog, after five years, after 80,000 miles, after rain and storm and sleet and hail, is still on that antenna.

And it's not a pleasant sight.

It's shrunken, this wonder hot dog, and it has turned black and kind of fuzzy and hard.

Ewwwwwww....

... there must have been enough preservatives in it to prevent it from simply rotting away and falling off.

How can you eat these things???

... I kept thinking the birds would eat it ...

Birds aren't that dumb....

He said he'll leave the wonder dog on the antenna until it finally falls off, but it appears it's become part of the antenna now.

Again I say, ewwwwwww....

Read the full story. And consider giving Boca meatless sausages a try.

Check out this video. I wonder how long it took to create and edit it....

Via Ze Frank.

This weekend I spent considerable time wrestling with Ubuntu on my laptop. In the end I won -- I always do! -- but the experience reminded me once again why Linux is not in danger of mass adoption by John and Jane Q. Public: Most end users don't like configuring their systems; they want things working straight out of the box. Most end users aren't going to look for a how-to and take the time to implement it; instead, they'll conclude immediately that Linux sucks -- and they'll tell all of their friends. While out of the box ease of use (or lack thereof) isn't the ONLY barrier to mass adoption, it is a big one.

What we need is pre-configured systems designed specifically for the Johns and Janes of the world. Well, it turns out such creatures already exist. What we REALLY need is a variety of aggressively marketed pre-configured Linux systems. Currently John and Jane have to go out of their way to stumble across Linux (let alone be curious/brave enough to give it a try) which is a barrier as significant as the ease-of-use factor. Hopefully that will change with the introduction of the Mini koobox. From the looks of it, it's the Linux equivalent of the Mac Mini. Very cool! I'm not sure I need yet another computer, but this definitely looks like something worth checking out. The price and size is certainly right for those considering adding another computer to their home. Hopefully it will convince more end users to give Linux a try. In fact, why don't YOU give Linux a try? After all, all of the hard work (i.e. configuring the system) has already been done for you by the Koobox folks.