September 2010 – Page 2

Zoo Station rocked Mountain View Arts & Wine

Mountain View is home to the Shoreline Amphitheater and so hosts many, many concerts. Living just the other side of 101 from it we can often stand in the yard and listen to washed-out, blurry music. Going to a show with 20,000 or so folks, though, is something I’m rarely interested in doing and so I’ve never gone there. If Springsteen or U2 ever changed their location strategy away from arenas and stadiums, that’d be another story.

Mountain View also hosts an annual Arts & Wine Festival on Castro St. and we went to this year’s over the weekend. The Festival has three or four bands on the ‘main’ stage by City Hall each day and this year we went to see Zoo Station, a U2 tribute band–TS1 is a huge U2 fan.

These guys were great! The lead singer, Bonalmost, has charisma to spare and, arguably, the hardest task in singing like Bono. The Sledge has his original’s enigmatic presence down pat.

This year was definitely a comeback year for the Festival overall. The booth count was way up from the last couple of years, stretching all the way from El Camino Real to Evelyn, and while I don’t have an attendance number for sure the crowds were much thicker (we actually went both days). Had some tasty fried calamari for lunch Saturday and a wonderful sweet, light southern style pulled pork sandwich Sunday.

Twitters for 2010-09-13

No, but your critics are from moronistan RT @gruber: Criticism of ugly ball caps = treason #
Zoo Station rocking at MtnVw Art Fest, get yr ass down here http://zoostationsf.com @zoostationsf #
Still rockin' with @viv080 to terrific @zoostationsf (can't upload photo, damn) #
@Fahrni He signed with the Texans a week or so ago in reply to Fahrni #
@whump seven minutes to Bieber, #goosebumps in reply to whump #

Twitters for 2010-09-12

@Discographies 18-19 nostalgia rules! in reply to Discographies #
@igrigorik "504 Gateway Time-out", site is ig'ed 😉 in reply to igrigorik #
Awesome! RT @chriseppstein Announcement: Compass & Lemonade merging w/new Sprite API: http://bit.ly/8ZGzv3. Welcome @hagenburger 2 team! #
Street fest! (@ Books Inc) http://4sq.com/6d4v2U #
Remembering Ruth, who left us for the Broadway up above 9 years ago today. RIP my friend. #
MtnVw Arts & Wine Fest is huge this year, got cute miniature Springsteen Telecaster guitars #
I just unlocked the "Swarm" badge on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/brHfiD #
Cuz there're more than 50 awesome fools like me here RT @billsaysthis: I just unlocked the Swarm badge on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/brHfiD #
@kitt if you have time, take Opera House backstage tour–it's amazing in reply to kitt #

Twitters for 2010-09-11

@mtnygard Link should be http://github.com/danielwellman/bane /cc @david_a_black in reply to david_a_black #
@pragdave RSpec book ever coming? 😉 in reply to pragdave #
Awesome! RT @pragdave @billsaysthis Waiting for RSpec2 and Rails3 was hard on all of us… But the RSpec book is in production now #
Too intellectual! @jzawodn: Spam subject: "The 8th wonder of the world in your pants" #
@ozjimbob why do we need a discussion group about a discussion group? in reply to ozjimbob #
@mvvoice Oh I hope not! in reply to mvvoice #
RT@ideabing Startup Of The Day: Kachingle.com http://ibng.me/aDZs2I (and the 1st one too!) #

Twitters for 2010-09-10

I joined 2 other(s) at Blog http://kachingle.com/s/1507 #socialpayment #crowdfunding #
5 stars to Twitter's titans @theMattHarris & @mccv @PayPal along with @PayPalx Evangelist & @kachingle for #tmeetup http://meetup.com/u/1PHt #
The Scary Fear http://youtu.be/sbzahj8FsKs /via @dangerousmeta #
@kmartino I play a lot with my wife's and it is fun, more so than an iPhone in reply to kmartino #
@eladmeidar Twitter dev evangelist at last night's #tmeetup said they were struggling with geo for imaginary places like WoW and Israel 😉 in reply to eladmeidar #
Are there any video sites that allow javascript so one could post a video along with a JS widget? #lazyweb #help #video #

Playing with Foursquare

Twitters for 2010-09-09

If Fox is so pro-America, why is a corp sib doing business with North Korea? http://bit.ly/bWU11c #moneytalks /cc @dfarber @foxnews #
@aaronsw I slightly favor Before and After Science & Taking Tiger Mountain plus lurve his Fripp collaborations in reply to aaronsw #
@gruber FTS goes well with Eugene Robinson's WaPo OpEd: Gov. Barbour's civil rights fairy tale http://bit.ly/cDDIjG #fts in reply to gruber #
Wonder if any of my RawSugar buds worked on it: "Ahh, Google's autocomplete feature built in Haifa, Israel." /via @Scobleizer #
@mathowie This is the reason I keep renewing my home warranty 😉 in reply to mathowie #
Kachingle demoing at Twitter Meetup (@ eBay Town Hall w/ 3 others) http://4sq.com/9gA4uM #
I just unlocked the "Explorer" badge on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/aTVCK1 #
@ufez you crazy, mahan, you crazier than @therealgarybetman #
$685 for Jimmy Page's photo autobiography http://nyti.ms/9SJnWT #zeprules #
Interesting demos at #tweetup of @badgeu and Twitter Bios #userscript #

Twitters for 2010-09-08

DOS on DOPE, ROFLMAO to the nth degree http://bit.ly/daVcyQ #nerdhumor #
@AndrewMueller @chrisabutler Wow, "as long as they get what they want" is an incredibly slippery slope & orthogonal to values #scrm #sm76 in reply to AndrewMueller #
@chrisabutler @AndrewMueller Ends don't justify the means, is what I meant to express #scrm #sm76 in reply to chrisabutler #
@gruber Nanotech in reply to gruber #
@Fahrni Did someone drop his MBP in a ditch or something? in reply to Fahrni #
@kitt really wanted to be there, good luck with the Aussies! in reply to kitt #

Twitters for 2010-09-07

I joined 5 other(s) at poupous geheimes laboratorium http://kachingle.com/s/1360 #socialpayment #crowdfunding #
@whump HootSuite works for me for the free in reply to whump #
Another #ridiculous #job post requirement: "You dream in RSpec." #TDD is great, I'm all for it, but if you dream in RSpec you're #insane #
I joined 2 other(s) at Mr. Media TV Interviews http://kachingle.com/s/1505 #socialpayment #crowdfunding #
Peter Thiel: In the long run, no good bets against globalization, The Optimistic Thought Experiment http://bit.ly/bFmUKR #awesome #mustread #
Yeah, Oakland's mayor is responsible for the murder rate #megwhitmanNeedsToWatchTheWire #politicalidiocy #

Twitters for 2010-09-06

@BryanJacobson6 You like the acoustic version? To me it was like someone rubbed itching powder over the amazing original! in reply to BryanJacobson6 #
Amazing, #rightwing #morons downvoted my comment on a Scorsese article out of view http://yhoo.it/9a5DTV #hypocrisy #canthidefromthetruth #
Stargate Atlantis "Vegas" was a damn good #sf TV episode! #

Twitters for 2010-09-05

Agree, @JFahrni (cc @fahrni) what I meant was more or less the same as you, just felt like the script was a draft and not final & polished in reply to JFahrni #
@chadfowler When were you last in the Vegas airport?? in reply to chadfowler #
Indeed, @StevenJV, @Fahrni since all had to do was say he went & saw with his own eyes, same rhetorical impact but no lie involved #doofus in reply to Fahrni #
@kitt hope you enjoyed, we can almost hear here at the house 😉 #

Twitters for 2010-09-04

I just ousted himani a. as the mayor of Hacker Dojo on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/2KHDXO #
LOL @beaulebens – @viv0810 and I are too, gonna hit @bbqkalbi before seeing The American in reply to beaulebens #
@beaulebens Come back to MTV and join us #partyfriday in reply to beaulebens #
@JFahrni Uh oh! #somuchfortonightsplan #
I joined 13 other(s) at The Gapsite http://kachingle.com/s/1402 #socialpayment #crowdfunding #
RT @viv0810: Eating dinner with @billsaysthis at @bbqkalbi #
@bbqkalbi you need to open 5 minutes early not late #gotamovietosee #
@bbqkalbi came out after 5 minutes and said 10 more! #fail (@ Sunny Bowl) http://4sq.com/6QOyDB #
The American (@ Cinemark Century 16) http://4sq.com/7N7QzZ #
@Fahrni @JFahrni @LFahrni we didn't hate it but it felt like a prep sketch an artist made before the painting #notquiteallthere #

Twitters for 2010-09-03

I joined 57 other(s) at The Kachingle Blog http://kachingle.com/s/1013 #socialpayment #crowdfunding #
@nambu why autotranslate only for search and not elsewhere? #featurerequest #
RT @kachingle Kachingle Tweets! Kachinglers, Medallions & @kachinglecom all can now tweet http://t.co/AwYOMYb #socialpayments #crowdfunding #
How did Ev+Co let it get to this? Compromising Twitter's OAuth security system http://t.co/ZRxjTP4 via @arstechnica #security #fail #
Thx! @dangerousmeta @splorp Now can you tell me how to get back the colorful icons in the navigation column?!?! in reply to dangerousmeta #
@qrush gem webhooks sweet, would be nice to add an option to pass a gemfile instead of repo or domain #featurerequest #tweetmeupdates #
Hey @fsctv, @comcast says I can't get yr HD in 94043 because yr net won't allow them to carry, is that true? #sucksforme #

The Summer I was almost 50: Time won’t let me

Which is this Summer, which is almost over, and lately I’ve thought about the passage of time. 50, what I number! I’ll hit it next Spring, not quite there yet. This morning Stevie Wonder’s great Reggae Woman came on the radio as I was driving TS1 to work and I realized that came out 36 years ago. Born to Run turned 35 last week.

35, 36 years, those are long chunks of time. But what does it mean? Or rather, is a long passage of time something our puny human minds can truly comprehend? I can put two similar colors next to each other and see the difference. I can listen to different bunches of white guys doing the same song, say KISS or Bruce and hear the difference. Those links go to versions of The Crystal’s Then She Kissed Me, by the way, since I love rock and roll covers of pop tunes.

Time is (qualitatively) different and to answer my own question I don’t think we’re set up to grok it. The reason may lie in the very deep cosmological theories, some of which appear to say that time is actually an illusion or at least a second order phenomena emerging from the way our limited senses interact with reality. On the other hand the problem might be simpler, that unlike most everything else we experience we cannot directly see, hear, touch, smell or feel time. The real answer would be interesting to me but isn’t needed here.

Think back to some experience you had ten years ago. Summer of 2000, before the reality of the dotcom implosion hit. I went to Italy with my Dad for two weeks, we had a terrific time and I still enjoy recalling visits to Agrigento and Pompeii.

Now think about something that happened to you 30 years ago, Summer 1980. I was between freshman and sophomore years of college, home in New Jersey before transferring to USC, working for Harry M. Stevens at Giants Stadium a few nights a week and for Murjani weekdays.

Bill at Segesta Dad at Pompeii
For me both these experiences are a long time ago but honestly I cannot qualitatively separate them. Intellectually I know 20 years passed between them and I can think of the things that happened during that span but unlike the Springsteen and Kiss versions of the song I cannot really feel any difference along the time axis.

50 years is a nice round number and I hope to experience many more years, no doubt, but I don’t expect this to change even if I make it to 100.

Does time feel the same to you?

Twitters for 2010-09-02

BillSaysThis http://kachingle.com/k/11 kachingled $5.00 to 32 sites http://kachingle.com/kh/11 #socialpayment #
@repopular #feature request: add last updated at after repo author link: g-gem by technicalpickles (May 19, 2008) #
@ifindkarma Great article on TC dude! #
I joined 3 other(s) at YouGame http://kachingle.com/s/1499 #socialpayment #crowdfunding #
I joined 2 other(s) at Florian Meßner http://kachingle.com/s/1496 #socialpayment #crowdfunding #
Wow, did not realize how many 3rd party extensions have been made for #Devise http://bit.ly/aNEHbk #ruby #ror #
@chriseppstein You did pay for those three devices, right? And #appletv will play other content as well… in reply to chriseppstein #
@chriseppstein That isn't the point as your player doesn't have all features aTV does (plus you aren't necessarily the target market) in reply to chriseppstein #
.@screwlewse @chriseppstein people who don't already have three devices that can show Netflix Instant on their TVs in reply to screwlewse #
.@typaldos http://kachingle.com/k/1 Kachingler 16 at Bill on the Kaching… http://kachingle.com/s/1394 http://kachingle.com/m/1394 #

Twitters for 2010-09-01

Patrick Smith http://kachingle.com/k/1164 Kachingler 16 at Bill on the Kaching… http://kachingle.com/s/1394 http://kachingle.com/m/1394 #

Month: September 2010