jr conlin's ink stained banana

Tonight i heard a very interesting piece on NPR talking about Neo Radio. No, sorry, this has nothing to do with Keanu Reeves, ("It's 72 under partly cloudy skies, Mr.– Annnnnnderson.") it's a movement by some FM stations, to emulate Public Radio stations. Basically, what they're doing is not talking up or down the music, cutting back the commercials, increasing the number and variety of songs, and having personable DJs. Kind of like what you get on… oh… NPR.

It also turns out that NPR is growing in audience while commerical radio is bleeding listeners like the first guy in line at a Vampire buffet.

As a die hard radio fan, hopefully it will catch on. And since it's actually making money, it probably will.

i present, without further comment, H.R. 3920, Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act of 2004, which will allow Congress to overturn decisions of the Supreme Court.

Hey, it worked for the Soviets, so it's got to be good, right?
(damn, that's a comment, isn't it?)

DAMN! another comment.

i know he's only 17, and as such, quite confident of his knowledge of all things. And for that, i'm not going to report him to the Lassen school district, (in Susanville, CA) for using their equipment for abusive practices.

Instead, i will add a little skeleton to his closet.

You see, Mr. Cooke decided to post a story to our forums. It's not a particularly good story. In fact, i'd note that Mr. Hussein is probably quite happy that he didn't write it lest it wind up as yet another charge of crimes against humanity. i'd also note that he was the one that created the poll entries. i'd also note that the "book" he refers to is a mighty twenty seven pages. A hair less than Mr. Clinton's recent tome, or even a number of pamphlets i've picked up at the mall, but i'll concede that twenty six pages is enough to qualify as a book in some circles.

We made some suggestions about how we felt the story could be improved. He, apparently, felt that we simply didn't recognized his unparalleled genius, manners and grace, and instead unleashed a torrent of vitriol that has not been heard since third period recess at Happy Meadows Elementary. (Note to the future employer of Mr. Cooke. You may consider using different terms for the various satchels of manure your temporary lackey is proposing to, since his vocabulary appears to be greatly lacking at this stage.)

Oh yeah, that's right. You see, with the general permeation of search and the Internet among the general populous, and the advent of things like cached pages and the Wayback Machine, things like Mr. Cooke's soon to be regretted posting have a bad habit of cropping up now and again, particularly during pre-interview screenings, editorial reviews, and various other folks interested in the dealings of our lives. This is why i'm always pleasant and cordial in any public forum, because i know these sorts of things tend to come back at bad times.

Oh, to be young, dumb, and full of piss and vinegar, again.

Wait, no, it's far easier to ruin your life now than it was twenty years ago, nevermind.

Random bits of wonder:

• Someone has finally put together the long awaited tech hotline and phone sex combo that the market has been demanding. Now, at long last, you can finally get the answer to whether you should use ISAM or INODE tables for your distributed feed management system, as well as know what she's wearing. [via]

  i'd also note that i don't believe that Mr. Milholland was being particularly "supportive" of the idea, but i'm sure the folks at AskTheTechGirl.com will take whatever publicity they can.

• in addition, now you too can be one step closer to being a Boise Superhero, although, as Justin points out, i'm not really sure what the USB plug is for, or the LEDs. All i can think is that you attach it to your iPod and join in the fun at the local raver club.
• and finally, Microsoft is bringing us one step closer to 1984 by bringing us a webcam that follows movement. Considering that the original Connectix lapweb cam still is a notable hit with folks in the extreme amature porn business, i'm guessing that i can figure out what "movement" this will probably be tracking.

  eeeeeeewwwww
  This is what i get for not actually reading the whole article.
  Turns out that the camera system Microsoft developed takes a picture of you, and remaps it slightly so that you appear to be looking at the camera, not the screen. You can also alter the image's background (oddly, reminicent of that other 1984 device, the Amiga) , and a few other bits of spiff. i seriously doubt that this will somehow look as smooth as Star Trek, but it's cool none the less.

  And far less sticky than i thought.

As part of his cross country book signing tour, the ex-Pres stopped by the local Barnes and Nobel. Anne Marie informed me that we were going to drive by, at 8:30, when the festivites started.

Having been married to her for this long, i knew enough not to argue. Instead i just grabbed keys and handed her the camera.

Oddly, traffic wasn't as bad as i thought it might have been. Probably because we came the way that most folks wouldn't. Even if we ddin't know where the bookstore was, it was pretty obvious from the antenna farm.

Right about when we started to see the crowds, naturally, things came to a sudden stop. The back parking lot (normally pretty empty) was filled to capacity, and there was a new hole in the fence.

Of course, the closer we got to Steven's Creek, the slower traffic started moving, or stopped moving, depending on your point of view. And that's about when we saw the bulk of the crowd that knew it wasn't getting in.

To call it a circus, would probably belittle any number of circuses, although it was actually pretty civil, with folks cheering everytime someone walked out with an autographed book. And a bit surreal, there wasn't a single protestor. (Well, no one in a blue dress or carrying a box of cigars or anything.)

Of course, Anne Marie kept saying how she can't believe he was "right there". i pointed out that he was even closer when we were in D.C. and his motorcade drove by, but apparently that just wasn't the same.