Truman Capote, a skier, who knew?

"I don't like to ski with other people around because I don't want to be conscious of them. Skiing gives me a terrific sense of freedom. I would define freedom as not having to be around other people."

- Truman Capote

from Amazing but True Ski Stories

How crazy are Tour fans?

As you follow the Tour de France, you see all kinds of pictures. I'd want this set-up if I was waiting on the course for the riders to fly past.

I'd add a beach umbrella, a black box to surround the screen, and a cooler. Then this set-up would be perfect!

This guy is really quite bright.

You can see more sparkler fun here.

Camping thought for the day

How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire,
but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

An updated truism

"Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use
the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks"

. . . unless they're on a Windows PC without virus protection. Then they'll be calling you quite soon to fix it.

WiFi Mooching Ethics and Law

After finally getting my first laptop with WiFi capabilities (a sweet little 12" PowerBook with as much horsepower as my old PowerMac) I had to wait a few days for my refurbed Airport Express WiFi hub to arrive. While I was waiting, I thought I'd check and see what, if any, WiFi networks I could detect from my home.

Well it turns out there are two networks out there. This begged a second question. What are the ethics of accessing someone else's WiFi network? I asked Geo for his expert opinion and he indicated it is a no-no. Even if the network is as wide open as a barn door sans cows.

A few days later I was excited to receive my Airport Express and get connected. It was quite easy to and securing my network was simple, too. Noone will have to resist the temptation to access my network. Thanks Apple! And now thanks, to Mike Potter's timely advice, noone wil be able to see it either.

Well, I bring this whole story up because this topic is covered in a CNet article today, FAQ: WiFi Mooching and the Law . Apparently, there are still a lot of questions that are yet to be answered.

For now, I will steer clear of the mooching and stick to the using the office, home, coffeeshop & hotel WiFi. Or mooching from friends.

Enjoying Mars . . .

I've discovered Mars . . .

. . . Mars Hill Church, that is, podcasts in the iTunes Podcast directory. The messages on Genesis 37 & 38, are quite apropos to the current chapter of moi. Food for action.

Go for a boring trestimony. (You'll have to listen to the Genesis 36 message to get it).

If you don't use iTunes, you can get their Podcast feed here.

If that doesn't work for you, try going here.

Crazy Armstrong stats

Can you tell that I'm getting stoked for the Tour de France?

Discovery Channel has several vignettes called "Chasing #7" and the mention that Lance's resting heart rate is 35 BPM, that's 20 lower thank most people's and and his heart is 1/3 larger than the average man's. That's nuts! No wonder he can crank those pedals!

See the vignettes here. (If you click on the pictures at the top you can avoid repeating the advertisement over and over.)

Pros and cons to competitiveness

Lance Armstrong's three axioms:
1. Evaluate everything on a binary scale.
2. Attack rather than defend.
3. Block out the negative.

While these principles make Armstrong a fearsome competitor, they make him an exceedingly difficult human being. Armstrong divides the world into friends and enemies, and while he is brutal toward his enemies (a trait many Americans saw for the first time when, in a meaningless stage of the Tour de France, Armstrong vindictively chased down an Italian rider who was suing Armstrong for defamation), he can be even nastier to his friends."
The complete review of "Lance Armstrong's War".

Shark Attack

Another excellent post by Seth Godin.

Executive summary: The bad news is, we aren't concerned about things in proportion to thier true significance.
For example, more poeple are killed in deer accidents than shark attacks. The worse news is, it's difficult ot change perceptions, too.

Read the enire post here.

Apple's latest innovation

Check out this write up by David Pogue at the New York Times on the latest iPod innovation from Apple.

The iPod you'll be itching to get.

Top 100 Movie quotes

Check out this list of top 100 movie quotes.

American Film Institute's Top 100 Quotes From U.S. Films

You may know them even if you never saw the movie. One in that category for me was:

36. "Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.

Another note on forwarding e-mails.

If you do not go to this site and tell 10 friends about it, you will have bad luck and indigestion for the next 3 month.

Tee hee!

A doll geeks will enjoy.

Barbie USB drive

You have to see it to appreciate it.

Another reason I love being on a Mac.

After switching to Windows for a few years, three years ago I switched back to Apple first using an iBook, and now a PowerMac. It's easier to solve problems, when they do occur, and easier to get answers when you don't know what to do. I guess I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Consumer Reports: Which manufacturers did the best job of answering questions quickly and correctly

Reversing the declining interest in the performing arts

There is a great post on Seth Godin's blog about an orchestra in a town of 50,000 that is experiencing tremendous growth.

Thinking Outside the Bachs

These ideas apply to the arts in Lansing. Children's Ballet Theatre, and the dance community in general can invite more people into our world?

Prearrange your tombstone message.

Check out this site wher you can generate your own tombstone, All those authoritative deep thinking types tell you to reflect on what your's will say. Forget that. Don't rely on an untrustworthy second party. Write it yourself.

Tombstone Generator

Fear: Good or bad motivator?

Is it or isn't it.

Last week I posted a link to an article that pointed out fear was a poor motivator for change. Now. Seth points out that fear of loss is the best motivator for change. Which is it?

Here are the two pieces and my original post.

Stagnation is Easy, Change is Hard, Seth Godin

Fast Company - Change or Die .

How's fear as a change agent?.


Could it be both. Fear works to maintain the status quo. Thus if you want to get change from others, make an ultimatum that threatens the status quo. If you want to change yourself, get help dealing with your fears and leap forward.

Never, ever, under any circumstances buy anything from Primus.

Those of you who know me, excluding my family, know I am a calm person. Well one telecommunications company seems to have the gift of working past all of that,

Never, ever, under any circumstances buy anything from Primus. They are a telecommunications company that bought out an Iowa company I originally signed up with fir long distance years ago. In my experience, they are at best politely incompetent and at worst, crooks. I don't want to relive all of my experience with them here, but basically they have overcharged me for years, fail to make promised corrections to problems and seem incapable of stopping billing after we cancelled services withe them a month and a half ago.

If your ever bored and want to watch me turn red, and raise my voice sometime, you can ask me for the details.

I'm off to see who takes complaints about telecommunications service providers to. The FCC, the President, The head of the UN?

Learn the ways of the grape, he must.

I'm no wine snob, but while traveling through New York a couple summers ago we happened upon a little winery in the finger lakes region on Cayuga Lake, just up the road from Cornell University. Much to my suprise, I discovered three wines there that I actually liked. You see, shortly before this my doctor advised me to start having a glass a day for medicinal purposes. Well I was suprised to find some medicine that I liked. We bought a few bottles. Consumed some myself and shared others with friends.

Unfortunately, when my small supply ran out I came to the realization I could not order more from the winery. Michigan lawe prohibited it. Until now, that is. Today the Supreme Court ruled that Michigan and New York laws that prohibit purchasing wines from other states were a no-no. This good news for those of us who want to order wines from out of state.

Supreme Court sides with wineries.

I'm off now to see if GooseWatch Winery is going to register to ship to Michigan.

For any who are concerned about this new habit of mine, you can relax, because for budgetary readons I have converted to grape juice. Supposedly, the unfermented grape has similar benefits and costs less.