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The Olympics have been incredibly entertaining this year. I didn't pay a great deal of attention to the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens games, but I've been glued to the set this time around. Originally I planned to just subscribe to the NBColympics.com 'favorite videos' RSS feed but two things ruined that plan: a) the competition was too good to wait and b) it requires a Windows machine or an Intel Mac.

So that has been the only technical travesty of these games. Microsoft will find some way to screw you once again. Apparently they paid for the rights to provide the online video, so used it to push their latest .NET platform instead of the well-established industry standards in cross-platform online video (e.g. Flash/H.264 like YouTube). I can put up with waiting for primetime broadcasts and have mostly managed to avoid seeing headlines that spoiled the action.

Phelps is certainly the greatest Olympian of all time. But don't forget 32-year-old Jason Lezak, whose clutch relay swims won two of those golds. The moment of the Games was when he beat the French dude Bernard, who smugly figured his team had, as promised, "smashed" the Americans.

Another great moment was when Constantina Tomescu, the Romanian, pulled ahead in the middle of the woman's marathon, building an unchallenged lead and cruising alone to the finish. She's a 38-year-old mom! And of course, following the theme of "middle-aged" world-class athletes, there was swimmer Dara Torres at 41 picking up several medals.

I tuned out a lot of the gymnastics except for the team finals, Shawn John doing incredible leaps but Moscow-born Nastia Luikin having better finishes. The age of the Chinese gymnasts appears to be finally getting some IOC investigation, but I doubt anything will come of it.

So I figured out a reason to use twitter. No, not publishing random thoughts--anything worth a tweet is too infrequent. And not describing my daily whereabouts--there's little utility in that. What I'm doing instead is a fitness activity log. Not that anyone will care, but it does a) provide me a log which is useful for training and b) give some extra motivation vis-à-vis the mere possibility that my friends and co-workers might check it out.

The Yes Men are prankster activists attempting to show the harm caused by global corporatism. They first became known for a fake GW Bush campaign site, for which the real GW famously said "There outta be limits to freedom."

Their movie has some truly hilarious pranks. The clips are on YouTube (of course!) but require some intros, as they are missing the long lead-ins which make them much funnier.

In the first, they pose as WTO representatives at a conference in Finland. After a presentation favorably comparing the use of third world sweatshops to slavery (among other outrageous statements), they whip out a demonstration, a futuristic business suit that allows managers to watch their workers by means of a giant phallic extension with a TV screen embedded in it, the Employee Visualization Appendage.

Amazingly, the stuffed shirts at the conference never catch on that they are being pranked. Here's the clip.

In another, they give a talk before an economics class to introduce a new plan to feed starving people in the Third World and at the same time make lots of money. After generously feeding the entire class with McDonald's, they show a video of the concept which is called "ReBurger." Let's just say that it would give new meaning to the phrase "ordering a number two." Here's the clip. Shocked and disgusted, the class ultimately does realize it is a joke.

This week I finished Replay, a three DVD set of Rush concert films: Exit... Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure, and A Show of Hands. I saw them live about 12 years ago; they just wrapped up another tour.

Of the three discs, Exit... is by far superior. The remastered sound quality is great. The highlight has to be Xanadu where Geddy and Alex both break out double neck guitars. The clip is available on YouTube, of course the quality is atrocious there, but you can get a feel for the real thing. A comment on YouTube says "these guys put more work into this one song than some bands do in their entire careers!" Probably true....

With the second and third discs (from the 80's) the sound is more homogenized, more filtered, less raw. Grace is notable for Alex's fashion victim pants and white blazer, frequently blowing out the camera. There are less shots of Neil on drums also. Overall, it was a bit disappointing. Show suffers from rapid-fire editing, especially (again) of Neil, who never appears for more than a split-second with the exception of his solo. Their slower, softer side of Rush during this period (Power Windows and Hold Your Fire) makes for a less energetic show (though I personally like many of the songs).

Rush in Rio is another recent DVD of theirs; it captures a really amazing show from a few years back. But once again, the sound quality is less than terrific... I'm looking forward to seeing R30 next!

I've been trying to get caught up on the TED talks podcast. Here are some micro-reviews of the best talks I've watched recently, a follow-up to my first post on the subject.

Richard Dawkins

Though there are no new ideas in this talk, Dawkins pulls together quantum theory and evolutionary biology to explain how narrow our slice of reality really is.

Aubrey de Grey

Makes a well-reasoned case that 'Ending Aging' is challenge that biomedicine can, and should, tackle.

Keith Barry

Magician / mentalist Keith Barry was stupendous. I'm still trying to figure out how he did those tricks. In the one at the end where he's smashing the paper cups, I'm gonna take a stab and guess that from his angle, he can see which cup has a nail under it. When he's driving the car blind-folded maybe he has driven the exact route so many times, gradually decreasing his vision, that he gets to where he can do it. I could be completely wrong of course....

Nathan Mrhyvold

I didn't think I'd like the former Microsofter and intellectual property miner. But I was really blown away with the diversity of his interests. You've gotta admit that he lives an amazing life. And hey, check out the whale penises.

Susan Blackmore

Lays down a solid foundation for memetics in this highly thought-provoking talk.

Peter Diamandis

Just a real brief slideshow of Stephen Hawking's zero-G flight, which was cool to see. Hopefully there will be a talk from him on the X-Prize or space entrepreneurship at some point.

George Dyson

Shows some amazing log entries and photos of the first real computer hackers, in the 1950's at Princeton.

Mark Bittman

Although he admits to not being a vegetarian, he puts forth a damning case on the industrialization of food, especially the wastefulness of the beef industry. Although he comes off sounding like the stereotypical self-righteous Leftist, it's hard to argue with his conclusions.

Hook graphical widgets to shell scripts and you have a powerful but under-utilized class of applications. Systems programmers are typically writing code that does not need user interaction. Software developers are typically writing larger-scale programs in languages with rich widget libraries. But the domain in between does have some important uses, for instance small-scale programs that need input from non-technical operators, or need to alert them as tasks succeed (or fail).

I was reminded of this the other day when looking for a really simple Twitter client, just something I could click from the desktop or taskbar, input a string of text and be done. The one I found was a single-line shell script that used kdialog. I added a line to catch errors. Here is the complete script.

#!/bin/bash
curl -u username:password -s -F status="`kdialog --inputbox 'what are you doing right now?'`" http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml http://twitter.com/account/end_session
if [ $? != 0 ]; then kdialog --error 'Twitter could not be updated'; fi

The next day I happened to read about a Python module that provides similar functionality for Mac OS X; it's called EasyDialogs. So I made a Mac version (my first real Python program). Here it is.

#!/usr/bin/pythonw
import EasyDialogs
import os
ret = os.system('curl -u username:password -s -F status="' + EasyDialogs.AskString('What are you doing right now?') + '" http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml http://twitter.com/account/end_session')
if ret:
     EasyDialogs.Message('Twitter could not be updated.')

Either can be made executable and linked from the dock/taskbar for quick launch. Check out the tutorials for kdialog or EasyDialog for a better idea of what the possibilities are (complete with many graphical examples) using the standard widgets such as file choosers, checkboxes, etc.

This is the second in a series of posts about my favorite albums over the years: the first (in no particular order) I wrote about was Robert Plant's Now and Zen.

This time it's Porcupine Tree's Stupid Dream, released in 1999. I wasn't even aware of Porcupine Tree until a few years later when I heard them on Radio Paradise (which in turn, I only happened to discover by picking up an issue of Linux Journal, which highlighted the netradio station's use of free & open source software). I bought a bunch of their albums and searched the file-sharing networks for the rest. What first captivated me was the science-fiction themes in a few songs. Later, getting into their early work, it was the lysergic lyrics that borrowed from and extended upon 60's classics like Sgt. Pepper's. Later still, it was the harder rock sound of albums like 2004's In Absentia. With many long songs and unconstrained musical changes, Porcupine Tree hearkens back to progressive rock bands like Pink Floyd or Yes without sounding dated.

Stupid Dream puts it all together beautifully. Mature lyrics that go far deeper than their early Alice-In-Wonderland psychedelic stuff. Songs that shift tempo from low-key ambiance to great power chord jams. A consistent quality throughout that keeps you hooked in.

Even Less

With this topic, songwriter Steven Wilson certainly doesn't seem to show sadness, remorse, or guilt, but instead perhaps a dull acceptance that life goes on, why some people choose to leave it may always be a mystery, and maybe there's a kind of pride buried in that acknowledgement. I just realized upon hearing an NPR story the other day that the song concludes with part of a real "numbers station", a global phenomena of cryptic shortwave broadcasts, known in at least some cases to be encrypted broadcasts to spies abroad. Nice touch!

Piano Lessons

Like Another Brick in the Wall, this song lambastes authority figures who work to destroy creativity in their pupils and instill conformity by driving out originality. But he never gave up on his "stupid dream" to become somebody, even if (he now realizes) it is something of a commodity ("I come in values packs of ten, with five varieties!"). Welcome to the machine indeed. Sardonically humorous and thoroughly British.

Pure Narcotic

"You keep me listening to the Bends..." I think some of the lyrics on this album may have been inspired by Thom Yorke's oblique style of writing for Radiohead. A lot of the lyrics in the songs that follow haven't crystallized for me... but they're musically delicious.

A Smart Kid

Returns to a science-fiction theme visited in some of their earlier songs, particularly Radioactive Toy, the sole survivor on a post-apocalyptic Earth. But his song-writing shows vast improvement here, painting the picture of an epic narrative with very few words.

Stop Swimming

Wikipedia suggests that this "was heavily inspired by one of Steve Wilson's favourite bands, Talk Talk." Cool, they are one of my favorites too, for what [little] that is worth. Talk Talk evolved from an Eighties sound, lumped with Duran Duran, into avante garde "post-rock" soundscapes, and ultimately gave up making music due to the ice-cold reception of their fans, label, and critics. Thankfully Porcupine Tree did not take that route.

I'm going to write a series of posts about my favorite albums, in no particular order, just a randomized assortment of those albums that, for whatever reason, stuck with me over the years. They may not be the best by any more objective measure, or even the best by the particular artist, but they're ones that I never grow tired of hearing.

First up is Now and Zen by Robert Plant, released in 1988. I got it on tape in 1989... eventually I wore out the cassette from repeated listening. Plant's solo work has always been overshadowed by his popularity in some 70's band whose name I forget. (That's a joke, folks). But it deserves an unbiased listen, particularly this album, perhaps his strongest (admittedly, I have not listened to the last few). Even now, twenty years later, it still sounds pretty crisp (of course, rock music hasn't evolved much in that time). It coupled a modern rock sound with smart use of synth/keyboards without sounding "Eighties" (not that it would be a bad thing). And the lyrics are masterful. Every track is great.

Heaven Knows

The use of keyboards and an angelic choir give this a modern sound, like the rest of the album. The lyrics abound with clever twists. Plant often writes lyrics that are sexual in a smart way. And who else name drops the Ton-Ton Macoute? "What kind of fool am I?" ... something I have often asked and never answered!

Dance on My Own

A buzz-bombing synth bass swoops down and the backing vocals kick in. Nice, short guitar solo. I could definitely relate to the persona in this song, a teen so crazed with desire he doesn't know what to do. The solution? "Dance until I drop... move until I stop." Good advice from the elder statesman/Rock God.

Tall Cool One

This was a big hit back then, primarily because it sampled a bunch of classic Zep riffs, it becomes increasingly Zepp-ified leading to a final riff explosion. But apparently it was meant to send a not-too-subtle message to Jimmy Page... hammered in with the "Lighten up!" refrain. Back then it was my least favorite song on the album, but it has grown on me since then.

Ship of Fools

This got some airplay back in the day on rock radio but wasn't a huge hit. It's a beautiful song, composed as a lullaby, filled with dreamlike, timeless, mind-expanding lyrics like "at my feet eternity draws ever sweeter plans for me." I've always meant to find out if it borrows anything from the novel of the same name.

Why

"She wants it bad..." but we don't know why. I ain't complaining!

Helen of Troy

Asking why again... don't question it, Bob! I especially like the "the world is waiting here for you" chorus.

The Way I Feel

I'm not quite sure what emotion he's going after here, perhaps the edge of melancholy or regret, but it's a nice song nonetheless.

White, Clean and Neat

Cool use of samples from what sounds like documentaries of 50's suburban life. It captures the disparity between America's clean-cut image at the time and the impulses propelling rock-n-roll to the forefront of popular culture... "Beneath her skirts, between the clean, white sheets, it's such a long way from the streets."

Walking Towards Paradise

This track didn't appear on the tape version of Now and Zen, so it is totally new to me; I don't feel like I missed much.

A comedian visits the Large Hadron Collider experiment at CERN. "Massive bosons blew my unit." The descriptions are amazing.

I grew up in a very religious (fundamentalist Christian) household; a faith-based approach to everything was encouraged on a daily, if not hourly, basis. But to their credit, while my parents presented their beliefs with absolute certainty, they did occasionally suggest coming to independent conclusions. Genesis 1 was probably one of the first things I learned to read and it introduced a lot of perplexing questions, such as: what did God do for eternity before deciding to create a universe? And (later), why did He create the Earth before the rest of the universe, it would seem more natural to work from the top down.

But most importantly, at the same time I learned that there were many different religions, with completely different Truths. It just did not seem possible that one specific group (ours) could happen to be the right one (with all the others damned to Hell)! This thought spurred a growing skepticism in me. This grew very strong as all the questions I asked led to circular answers, and everything that could possibly be claimed as evidence (anecdotes of answered prayer or other miracles) could be claimed with equal fervor by other faiths.

But at this point, I was still very young, and decided to give it all a try, to be diligent and do everything those around me were doing (in 3rd grade I started at a Christian school started by our Church). I memorized the ten commandments and prayed daily. I was told that eventually I would feel something, occasionally described as "a still, small voice." And yet, as the months turned into years, the only words ever forming in my mind were my own. My skepticism deepened.

But I hit upon the "argument from design" (though I had no idea that it was called that). The natural world was too intricately wonderful to not have a super-intelligent designer. So there was at least one basic principle I could agree on: the existence of God.

My new bike is a Trek 2.1. It'll be 15 years ago this November from when I last did some major road biking (the El Tour de Tucson, a 111-mile circumnavigation of our fair city). That was on a heavy, all-aluminum Raleigh road bike. The 2.1 is a serious step up.

First I rode Trek's "entry level" road bike, the 1.5, which has Shimano Sora shifters, where the 2.1 has Shimano's Tiagra brand. The Sora has little thumb down-shifters, while the Tiagra has it all smoothly integrated in one component. The rear derailler in the 2.1 is the Shimano 105; another step up. It also has a little bit more carbon composite so your forks, seat post, and seat stays are carbon. All together it seemed worth the $150 premium over the 1.5 and I'm elated with it so far. My longest ride so far was ~16 miles (a round trip out to the base of Mt. Lemmon). It's so incredibly light-weight, yet powerful... I am honestly not fit enough yet to really go all-out on this bike!

The compact style of cranks is a nice innovation, though I wasn't sold on it (marking me immediately as a complete newbie to road racing) initially till I calculated that it actually had a broader range of gear ratios, though shifted slightly towards the higher (racing) end. The front cranks have gears with 50 and 34 teeth, e.g. it's a double instead of a triple. The rear cassette has 9 gears ranging from 11 to 27 teeth. So you have less total gears (and hence less weight), but distributed more evenly with less near-duplicates. If I upgraded to the Shimano 105 on the front, I'd have 53 and 39 and hence a 6% faster top speed (53 ÷ 50). But let me tell you... I am not ready for that! On a ride down from Saguaro East (low rolling hills, no steep descents), I could barely drop it into the highest gear (53/11) and I was freaking f-l-y-i-n-g!

It is a joy to ride this bike. It's also more shock absorbent than anything I have ever rode (the carbon, no doubt).

Okay, not really. But the results from a Stanford biology team are pretty astounding; they show that in a certain species of worm, aging is accounted for primarily by genes. The press release sums up the implication...

If aging is not a cost of unavoidable chemistry but is instead driven by changes in regulatory genes, the aging process may not be inevitable. It is at least theoretically possible to slow down or stop developmental drift.

Of course, this may or may not be the case in humans. And if you switch off the gene drift, it may not necessarily result in extended lifetimes, aging damage may predominate in our species.

Psycho by Puddle of Mudd is a fun, catchy, great, crunchy song that sounds a lot like Nirvana. Give it a listen... the louder the better. Unfortunately I couldn't say the same for the rest of the album (Famous, 2007); the other songs are mediocre at best.

An in-depth look at the quasi-legal pot industry in California. My favorite part? The author freely admits to toking up with his subjects. It's nice to see a token element of the old new journalism... a breath of fresh air as it were... ahem!

From the news-that-sounds-like-Monty-Python department comes a Bush administration idea to undermine birth control services, a crucial part of public health measures. It would define birth control as a form of abortion. There can be no doubt that this comes from the right-wing social conservative ideologues hired at all levels by the Bushites, showcasing their deep irrationality.