Enhancing my Geek Credentials

So I spent all weekend re-designing the look of my blog. I have to grudgingly admit that, in spite of their abysmal past performance, Blogger has done some very nice things in the beta version of their next blogging system release (which I am now using for this blog). I will probably continue to tweak things here and there, but I hope you like the new look. At least it will be pretty to look at if I spend all my time making cosmetic changes to the blog but am too lazy to add new content. (Note: Stay tuned shortly for part 3 of the ever-compelling saga of my coming-out story).

Today's Holidays:

• International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
  

Slick

When I saw this video today, I thought it was very cool and was about ready to share it with all my friends, but then I investigated a bit and found out that it has apparently been around since at least 2003. So I guess I'm a bit late to the party. Still, since I had never seen it before, I figured maybe there are others who have not either, so here it is for your amusement (click on any of the pictures to open the video page).

According to the site, this video, shot as a commercial for Honda Accord, took 606 takes, cost $6 million, and took 3 months to complete. It was shot in real time with no CGI involved. Very cool.













No doubt some of the crew members of the commercial are now strapped down in padded cells.

So, after a long, hard day at work, all you want to do is crash in bed...

Wouldn't you like to find this waiting for you when you got home?

Just Desserts

This is great. A girl in New York left her T-Mobile Sidekick II cellphone in a taxi cab and the person who found it decided to keep it and not return it. So the girl's friend put together this web page and decided to try to publicly shame and humiliate the people who wouldn't return the phone. It is well worth reading through the entire page. Very entertaining and satisfying (like an evening spent with me).

Pandora

This is one of the cooler sites I have seen on the internet in quite a while. If you are not already familiar with The Music Genome Project, it is an absolutely incredible project begun about 6 years ago to assemble a database analyzing music to an extent never imagined before. Those involved in this project have listened to and analyzed music by over 10,000 artists, cataloguing every conceivable aspect of their music (in their terminology, the music's "genes").

Until now, this database and concept had been quite fascinating for me to think about, and as a musician by training, I would love to cuddle up in front of a warm fire with that database. However, I wasn't certain how it would be put to practical use. But then a friend of mine showed me Pandora, what is certain to be only one of the first of many amazing uses of the research.

Essentially, Pandora is an internet radio (currently free and ad-free, but eventually it will include advertisements for the free version with the option to avoid ads by subscribing to the site). But it is radio designed to help you find music that you will like. You enter the name of an artist or album that you like, and the program creates a streaming radio "station" that plays music that is "genetically similar" to your selected artist or album. For example, I typed in one of my favorite groups, Bond, and the program played music by Bond, Tiesto, Moby, and others. A number of the groups I had never heard of, which is one of the cool things about the program, because it introduces you to music that you may not have heard of before but would likely be interested in.

Even more, you can tweak the programming by giving feedback. If you give a song a "thumbs up", the database will try to emphasize music that is similar to that song. If you give a song a "thumbs down" it will ban that song forever and try to avoid similar songs. If you just get tired of a song, you can put it to sleep, and the station won't play it for a month. You can create up to 100 different stations. And you can add more than one artist/album to a particular station.

Try it, I can almost guarantee you will be hooked!

Freaky

I saw this article on my friend Guy's blog, and as he says, this robot will very likely visit you in your nightmares tonight. Watch the video clip and tell me this isn't something out of a sci-fi/horror flick.

Googling Myself

After having spent 6 hours doing mind-numbing work sitting at Caribou Coffee, I knew I was bored when I decided to Google my own name just for kicks. The motivation for this was primarily curiosity about what I would find since I was inadvertently outed to my best friend from college recently when he googled my name and that of my former boyfriend Alfred and found a tribute that I had written to Alfred after his passing. So I was curious what other things were out there on the internet about me.

To my surprise, I found out that, in addition to being a notable Yoga guru and a successful job interview coach, I am actually a black man! And a hot one at that! Actually I remember seeing this particular model's pictures a long time ago, but forgot that he shared my name. I wonder if he has found my modeling pictures and is secretly lusting after me as well?

Sigh of Relief

Yes, this does not help my text messaging addiction one bit, but at least the money I spent on my wonderful Blackberry phone a mere 3 months ago is not going to waste! Also, I would have missed the new friends I have made at the Texters Anonymous meetings.

Settlement ends Blackberry case

Blackberry devices are used by three million people in the US
The maker of the Blackberry e-mail device has reached a $612.5m (£349m) settlement to end a dispute that could have closed the service in the US.
Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM) said on Friday that the deal with American software firm NTP represented a "full and final settlement".

NTP, which had claimed RIM stole its technology, had tried to get the Blackberry service shut in the US.

The portable device has three million American users.

'Unfettered right'

"All terms of the agreement have been finalised and the litigation against RIM has been dismissed by a court order this afternoon," said RIM.

"The agreement eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions relating to damages or injunctive relief.

"NTP grants RIM an unfettered right to continue its business, including its Blackberry-related business."

The settlement brings to end four years of legal dispute in the US between the two companies.

RIM said it had already put aside $450m for a possible settlement with NTP, and that the additional $162.5m would be recorded in its next quarterly report due in April.

The overall $612.5m settlement compares to the firm's total cash reserves of $1.8bn.

Last year the firms agreed a tentative settlement, but the agreement subsequently collapsed, taking the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Earlier this month, the US government asked a federal judge to hold off from a possible shutdown of the Blackberry service, because of the system's popularity among key government employees.

RIM had argued that a shutdown of Blackberry services would impair critical public services.

The Blackberry now has 4.3 million global users.