November 2005 Archives

Until late yesterday afternoon there was a problem if you viewed this blog using Firefox and tried to go to an individual entry page. I'd stripped the ugly '.html' from the end of links, but not completed the tweaking of the server settings to make that work as it should. That's now resolved, and just in time to celebrate the release of Firefox 1.5.

While Microsoft fool around trying to make sure turn-of-the-decade technologies finally work in the 2006 release of their web browser, the Firefox developers have once again raised the bar for web browsers. The new version not only provides a smoother browsing experience, it also offers up a number of new features that give the web developers amongst us plentiful opportunities to experiment.

If you can upgrade/switch, please do.

After much procrastinating, Kari and I recently invested in iPods. I got one of the new video iPods and, much to her delight, we found a reconditioned pink ipod mini for Kari. And naturally we wanted to be able to listen to them in the car.

Having discovered that Griffin's original iTrip doesn't work with the 5th generation (video) iPods (despite the "works with all iPods" sticker still on display) we decided to try out the Monster iCarKit, a combined charger and radio hookup which boasts the ability to plug in a mobile phone charger and iPod simultaneously.

Not only did it not provide the promised power for our iPods and charger, but our attempt to use the kit has left our cigarette lighter socket somehow stretched and entirely useless. The mobile charger which once fitted snugly now flops around uselessly. Needless to say, we got our money back from Target. We now wait to see how easy it will be to get them to repair the car...

It has come to my attention (thanks to Kari and Harv) that some people subscribed to the atom feed from this site aren't seeing updates come up in their newsreaders.

When I changed the blog's templates I also upgraded the atom feed to the (now standard) Atom 1.0 format, the latest and greatest syndication format. Some older newsreaders have trouble with the format so if you somehow ended up here but didn't see an update in your newsreader you may want to check for an update, and/or request that the writers of your software catch up with the standards.

Watching Good Night, and Good Luck a couple of weeks ago was something of a cathartic experience. George Clooney's writing and directorial skills came as a pleasant surprise, but the film's main draw for this viewer was the way it tapped into an ongoing frustration with the self-censorship of much of the mainstream media, particularly in the USA. While direct links between the McCarthyism that is the film's conflict and modern times should only be drawn cautiously, that period offers a historical lesson that has been forgotten all too quickly.

But those planning to watch the film would do well to subsequently read this two part piece at slate.com. The writer raises many questions about Clooney's choice of material and structure, leaving an impression that the filmmaker's approach was to use a similar cut and paste technique to that Edward Murrow utilised in his programs about McCarthy. The film stands despite the criticism, but probably shouldn't be taken without some awareness of it.

Through Google Maps Mania I came across The Starbucks Challenge. It's an effort to use the web to hold Starbucks to their promise of providing fair trade coffee at the customers' request.

The idea is that you request a cup of fair trade coffee, and blog about the response you get, posting an appropriately tagged link on del.icio.us. They pull all those postings together, plot them on a map and communicate the results to Starbucks management.

Something to try next time Starbucks is the only option, as it was for us on Thursday (aka Thanksgiving) when all other coffee shops were closed and coffee and WiFi were required.

Andrew Bird's "...and the mysterious production of eggs" has justifiably become one of the year's most acclaimed albums (it only has one competitor as my favourite) and his recent set at UICA came close to measuring up to its high standard.

The album draws much of its strength from its eclecticism, balancing on the edge of the freak-folk movement but with a welcome injection of jazz and swing influences, and it was quite a surprise to see only two people on stage. Through judicious use of sampling and a versatile keyboard, Bird and collaborator Martin Dosh built a rich sound based around Bird's violin (plucked and bowed), keyboard, guitar and percussion. While relatively stationary on stage—when singing and playing multiple instruments, there's not much opportunity for movement—Bird's an expressive performer, reinforcing and exposing the songs with his facial expressions.

I need to start exploring his back catalogue.

There's plenty of audio available here, including an MP3 of the album's catchiest number, "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" and a selection of radio sessions.

For anyone looking for an update following Tuesday's election, Right To Life West Michigan's nuisance calls didn't achieve their intended purpose and Rosalynn Bliss won 52% of the vote to become the new Grand Rapids 2nd Ward City Comissioner.

Some may remember a blog entry a few months ago about a phone call from West Michigan Right To Life. Those with particularly good memories may remember that the call ended with me asking to be removed from their contact list.

Seems their memories aren't quite so good. I just sent the following letter to the Grand Rapids Press.

Sir,

I was disappointed this evening to receive a telephone call from a rather under-informed caller, seeking my vote for Shaula Johnston for City Commissioner this coming week. The caller was from Right To Life West Michigan PAC and was calling to inform me that Ms. Johnston is "the right to life candidate."

As a passionate believer that measures are needed to reduce the rate of abortions in our society I was interested to learn more of how Ms. Johnston would use a position as City Commissioner to impact the number of abortions taking place in Grand Rapids. Unfortunately the caller was unable to provide details of any policies Ms. Johnston would promote and could only offer that she may have an impact "if she's elected to a higher office" and that there are various pro-choice organizations supporting Rosalynn Bliss. Rather than allow me to ask any further questions, the caller hung up while I was speaking.

Needless to say, I was unimpressed that an organization like Right To Life should take such a cavalier approach to electoral politics. Naturally these callers are not members of the Johnston campaign, but a little knowledge of her policies would not seem out of place. Based on the curtailed conversation I had this evening, I would urge your readers to be careful not to take the endorsement of a single group as evidence that a candidate is "pro-life" but rather to explore whether either candidate has policies that would promote stable families and reduce the number of abortions taking place in Grand Rapids.

yours,

James Stewart
Grand Rapids
2nd Ward Resident

I've been wondering for a while why I'd developed such a blogging inertia. One clear reason seems to be a desire not to spend all my time taking cheap shots at administrations on both sides of the Atlantic that seem to be doing a fine job of destroying themselves.

Like many, I had feared that with Harriet Miers out of the way, the Bush administration would go for an extreme ideologue for their next Supreme Court nominee. What I had not counted on was the linguistic pragmatism of so many of the commentators. Listening to NPR yesterday was a sad experience as politicians from the right fell over one another in describing the nomination of Samuel Alito as a gift "to conservatives."

Now certainly, the nomination is unlikely to be welcomed by anyone who doesn't appreciate the 'conservative' label, but when did the ruse end? When did those same politicians give up and stop referring to 'the american people'? A naive part of me had clung to the hope that there was some self-delusion in their associating a hyper-conservative agenda with the welfare of the american people. No, they were working for a small base of power-brokers and this change of language suggests that there are few qualms.

The first place I heard Alito's name associated with the nomination was in some speculation over at TPMCafe. That piece also refers to the increasingly infamous "Gang of 14," the cross-party group of senators who increasingly hold sway over whether nominations are approved, thrown out, or filibustered. Some see that group as the potential source of a new centrist coalition that might begin to throw off the shackles of the unabashedly right-wing Republicans and inept Democrats, bringing new life to the stultified political process. Maybe?