BillSaysThis

Wonder if the Domino’s folks considered charging $6 a pie in their new promotion…

Scary, don’t you think?

Sure, Bruce, go out on tour with R.E.M. in support of Kerry/Edwards, for sure I approve. Play your heart out, raise large sums of money and educate people about the need to vote, and to vote Bush out. But none of these shows, in fact none of the Vote for Change shows at all, are in the Bay Area. Sometimes living in a nearly pure Blue state sucks, doesn’t it?

Later… Springsteen penned an OpEd essay for the NY Times today.

August J. Pollak: Just So We’re Clear, a very clear web cartoon on the real B/C re-election strategy

Hard to pass up a movie with Elena Eleniak and another hottie (Julie Du Page), late on a Sunday night with nothing much else on, and TiVo often knows what I like, so I watched Betrayal (issued on DVD and cable as Lady Jayne: Killer). Sadly, Eleniak never so much as took off her shirt and Du Page only got down to her panties and bra once, early on.

This is certainly a ‘B movie’ and the kind of film that makes you wonder about the business judgement of film company executives; in any case, director Mark Lester has certainly made a career out of such decisions. Here we have a basic plot: mafia hitwoman (Du Page) has the chance to grab a briefcase holding $1 million, she does but somehow hooks up with Eleniak and teen son for a road trip to Texas, the mafioso and a corrupt cop find where they’ve headed and the day is saved, sort of, when FBI agent James Remar makes his play.

not recommended

<SF history lesson>Most science fiction–explicitly including the fantasy-based subsets/sister genres–revolves around one or two scientific concepts that don’t exist in the present or violate some known physical law. Faster than light travel is perhaps the most common example of the latter while non-human intelligences are good examples of the former. In the first decades of SF, say until just after WWII, most of the concepts were so new that more complex literary aspects such as, oh, plot and character development were secondary or irrelevant. Think Doc Smith and the Lensmen series.

Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Kornbluth, and Bester were leaders of the first major evolution in the field, looking not just at technical innovation but at how those innovations might impact society and individuals. How does a galactic empire manage tens of thousands of worlds to which it communicates only slowly and sporadically? Where do religion and advertising fit in a world of science? And, of course, many other such questions.

Finally science fiction reached a level of development, beginning with the British New Wave, where technology became the secondary factor and just a different setting for exploring the human heart and its interactions. Though not all authors have made the jump, or at least some haven’t bothered, content to put some pet personal idea on display.</SF history lesson>

James Hogan struggled, coming not long after the New Wavers, with this change. Thrice Upon a Time, a very early novel of his first published in 1980, shows clear signs of it. Large tracts of the book are little more than expositions of scientific discussion, on the nature of time and the universe–he even includes an illustration of how one of his characters has come to perceive this. All of the characters are tissue-thin except Murdoch Ross, our protagonist, and even he only becomes more interesting around the midpoint of the story.

I can almost see Hogan getting all excited one night at the dinner table, trying to explain his theory about time, based on some then-unexplained result of an (unmentioned in the book) science experiment that could possibly give rise to a method of communicating with the past. Then thinking, in the wake of Three Mile Island and other incidents, what if something with a nuclear reactor went seriously wrong? Here’s my story hook to tell about my time machine!

In the end Thrice is somewhat interesting because his ideas are interesting but the literature (literary?) aspects of the book never really do come together. Long peaens to the beauty of Scottish countryside and a romantic subplot aside, in the end Hogan never really finds a way to do more than ask the biggest question of all posed by a time machine that can change the past: Who has the right to decide what changes will be made?

not recommended

All,

I’m starting a new project which will be using the new MSFT C# Express beta for the programming, but am stumped as to what to use for the persistent storage and would appreciate hearing any experience you might have had in the space.

This application will be single user/local install, not working against a database server. In the old days I probably would have used DBF files or possibly Access but now I’m not sure. The C#E beta comes with the SQL Server Express beta, of course, but I’m not sure how that will get packaged up and installed by end users.

The other option I’ve been thinking about, since the amount of data is fairly small with the largest table possibly having 5,000 rows and even that would be a stretch, is to put everything in XML files since these can be accessed with the same code as a database.

In either case I would also appreciate suggestions on tools to use to create the database or XML Schema. Since this project is not intended to produce commercial software and I’m once again ‘working for myself’, cheap or free is preferable. Apparently, the only graphical tool available from Microsoft for doing this at the moment is only supplied with the Visual Basic Express beta–call me silly but why (other than inflexible deadlines and poor planning) would this be so?

Thanks much,

Bill

LittleSteven came home last night and let me tell you that reinstalling software, getting all the updates off the web, restoring files and preferences and such SUCKS. Now that almost everything is in place, a real backup process will be added so that next time this isn’t nearly as tough. I hope.

Some cool movie trailers:

• Batman Begins (June 2005 release)
• Blade Trinity (December release)
• When Will I Be Loved (September release)

And in an excellent stroke of counterprogramming, Paramount will release South Park’s The Passion of the Jew episode on DVD on the same day as Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, August 31.

Suggestion: Apple should add an RSS feed for the Trailers page.

Real Madrid has claimed the nickname Galacticos for its collection of stars but since Roman Abromovich bought the club prior to last season and unleashed his checkbook, Chelsea has just run ragged buying players. Hell, they bought so many players last year that at least one of the players (Alexi Smertin) was immediately loaned out to another squad.

Having watched their first two ChampionsWorld matches, I think every other EPL club is going to need their best performances to get a win against the Blues and, especially if Viera ends up going to Spain, there is a decent chance for them to repeat Arsenal’s once in a century feat and go undefeated through the season. Just look at the roster!

Sure the Anfield Boys put an even worse beating on Celtic than Chelsea managed, and probably have a slightly more dangerous strike force, but I tell you now I fear Chelski.

Office System 2003 SP1 may be out but it still doesn’t fix one of my pet bugaboos: when using the space bar to read longer than one screen email messages in the Preview Pane, Outlook often mistakes the middle of the message for the end and skips to the next one.

OzzFest hit the Shoreline Ampitheater today. The show starts at 9 a.m. but I do wonder how many of these metalheads can get up so early and if they can, how do they stand the loud pounding noises coming from inside their heads…

There were five packages of flour tortillas laid out on a table in our breakroom this morning. With a bag of diner jam containers next to them. That’s what everyone wants first thing, tortillas with grape jam. Oh yeah.

Glue advice: ThisToThat.com

NSFW: Natural Big Boob blog (looking at the ‘blogroll’ this is clearly part of some kind of porn webring, though other than Google juice I’m not too sure of the point). But glue might come in handy for them.

Gotta love FoxSportsWorld for bringing every game of the ChampionsWorld Series to us live and in repeats. So far there’s been three matches and I’ve watched them all. Chelsea over Celtic 4-2 on Saturday was a good game where you could see some of Roman’s millions paying off and a good young Celtic striker trying to show he can be the man with the departure of longtime star Henrik Larrson to Barcelona. Manchester United and Bayern Munich was less of a game than 90 minutes of kicking the ball up and down the field, though I blame the Germans since they had a real team on the pitch and not a bunch of teenagers; expect Sir Alex to have a very different lineup Wednesday when the Red Devils take on Celtic.

But the real joy for me was this afternoon, getting home just in time to see my beloved LFC take on (yes, they’re playing a lot) Celtic. What a blast, five goals against a supposedly quality opposition.

True, Celtic had plenty of youngsters on the field, including a 19 year old in goal, but most of the Reds’ scores would have just as likely gone in against regular keeper Marcus Hedberg as well. Our goal was kept by Chris Kirkland and he only had to make one real save the entire match–the only ball he let in was a fairly tough PK from that terrific young striker (Craig Beattie). Kirkland has a lot to show if he wants to keep the starting spot over Jerzy Dudek after missing most of the last two years from injury, perhaps Rafa is giving him that time on this tour.

The first two scores came early from my favorite players, John Arne Riise and Michael Owen, the first on a 30 yard free kick Riise blast and the second a 40 yard beautiful through ball over the defensemen’s heads from Riise to Owen who lobbed it over Marshall on one touch. The Scots never really got any offense going in the first half, with commentator Giorgio Chinaglia constantly calling for them to pick up the pace.

Wholesale changes for LFC to begin the second half, except for (continuing disappointment) Harry Kewell the whole front side changed out. Cisse and Pongolle took over up front, Murphy, Gerrard and Salif Diao came on in the middle. Henchoz replaced Hyppia in the back. And there was no let up in the pressure and pace, Cisse banged a ball off the far post inside of 90 seconds and did score minutes later on a give and go from Danny Murphy. Henchoz got the fourth when Celtic forgot to mark in the box on a corner and Cisse finished the matter with another off a Murphy cross from the right.

Don’t want to put too much weight into two exhibition matches but I like what ‘Pool has shown so far. Two more matches on this side of the water and then home for the 14 August season opener and Champions League qualifiers. Benitez was up and directing play right to the end, according to Chinaglia, and that has to be good.

The leavers who are no loss: Emile Heskey, Markus Babbel, Bruno Cheyrou (loan), El Hadji Diouf (probable) and Anthony Le Tallec (loan). Heskey is muscular but not a speed man and was never able to convert his physicality into enough goals; Diouf couldn’t even push Heskey off the field for playing time and is simply not suited to the wing where he got most of his playing time last season. Cheyrou showed a few sparks last year but at 25 is getting too old to break into the first team. Babbel was simply surplus and Le Tallec wasn’t going to get enough playing time this season and at 19 years old needs it to continue growing into his potential.

In: Djibril Cisse, Josemi (Jose Miguel Gonzalez Rey). Cisse showed tonight he will give Milan Baros a hard time for the ‘other’ forward spot. Baros, mind you, played quite well in the first half but hard to argue with two goals and two near-misses. Florent Sinama Pongolle also showed he is more useful than Le Tallec, Diouf or Heskey and will spell the first three as needed. The Reds will have an awesome strike force if these four stay healthy! Josemi is an unknown quantity, not quite signed yet, but presumably is slated to partner Hyppia in central defense; where this leaves Stephan Henchoz I’m not sure.

So let’s consider a potential regular 4-4-2 starting squad:

Goalkeeper: Kirkland, at least for now

Center Defense: Hyppia and Josemi, with Igor Biscan as primary sub

Fullbacks: Riise and Finnan, though I’m not that impressed with Finnan and could see Jamie Carragher getting plenty of play, and Djimi Traore may push as well

Defensive midfielder: Dieter Hamman

Center midfield: Steven Gerrard

Left wing: Harry Kewell

Right wing: Danny Murphy

Strikers: Owen and Cisse, though Baros may yet leave because of it

Some players who seem to have outlived their usefulness: Salif Diao, like fellow Senegalese natinal teamer Diouf, was possibly the least of the team tonightnor does Vladimir Smicer do anything for me. I could also easily see Kewell going, perhaps in the January transfer window if his play doesn’t improve. Riise was a winger earlier in his Anfield days, still has pace and excellent passing skills, and I’d love to see him getting a chance on the left with young Jon Otsemboor coming on in the back.

A word of caution: even though this team looks to break out of the gate and has firepower to score many goals, the competition at the top of the EPL will be as stiff as last year, with all the other clubs except Arsenal making significant signings and since the Gunners were of course undefeated in the last campaign, why would they? Could be a very scary year all around with injuries and career years determining the final standings.

For your comparison: MovableType 3.1 and the recent Blogger update (no rev number I could see, but also discussed in detail here and here).

Annoying note: There does not seem to be anyway on the current Blogger home page or any other one to read the Blogger News blog archives. The Blogger Developer blog has archives but hasn’t had a new post since January 22, 2004.

An excellent movie, an excellent sequel in the true sense of the word. A new directory but the same writer give a different energy but a continuing understanding of the characters and problem space. The Bourne Supremacy looks to be tops at the box office, giving Hallie Berry’s Catwoman the thrashing it clearly deserves.

Matt Damon so blows away his buddy Ben Affleck and this effort is no different. Joan Allen is very impressive as a CIA executive who thinks she has Bourne’s number and Brian Cox returns as the sleazy Ward Abbott; Julia Stiles made a good career choice to return even though once again she has a fairly small but all grown up part. Karl Urban doesn’t say much, which is probably good since he isn’t really Russian even if he does play quite the murderous one here.

Director Paul Greengrass brings Bourne the sharp, distinctive visual style he used in his debut feature, Bloody Sunday, and it seems like an evolution past the MTV cliched quick cuts we’ve all come to know in the last 20 years. As opposed to, say, Steven Soderburgh’s Traffic from a couple of years ago where color filters were supposed to be innovative, Greengrass and his editors use their technical chops to bring out Bourne’s inner confusion and strength.

As good as the original? Oh yeah!

absolutely recommended

Pam won her firm’s annual karaoke competition last night singing the lovely song to which my sister and her new husband had their first dance as man and wife. Synchronicity or what?

End of History intellectual Francis Fukuyama has a very interesting review of a book that posits solutions to modern problems by two “unreconstructedly Marxist” theorists, solutions that Fukuyama calls imaginary, unworkable and unconnected to the real world. The New Left Review has a different perspective on the work. While I would never dream of reading the actual book, the reviews do some thought provoking: what planet do these two fuckers live on?

I watched The Lords of Flatbush this afternoon–blame TiVo–but it was just so bad I can’t be bothered to write much of anything about it. The script was sad, the acting crackled like wrapping paper being torn off an unwanted gift and the faux-’50s soundtrack was, well, faux. Not as if there aren’t a zillion tunes that were real hits in the era. Let’s just say that Grease wthout being a musical was what this flick wanted to be and American Graffiti and American Hot Wax were contemporaries that were worth watching.

ugggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Wondering why so many people are frustrated by the difficulty in even getting an interview to work at Google? I see many requests for contacts and other information from folks on the ProMatch and JHTC mailing lists, but I don’t think there is much to be done for most of them. Lawsuit charges Google with age discrimination gives some insight:

During his tenure at Google, Reid said he gathered evidence that Google purposely avoids hiring older workers. Just 2 percent of Google’s roughly 1,900 employees are under 30 years old, according to the suit. The average age of Google’s male workers was 29.7 years old and the average age of women was 28.4 years old when Reid left.

Of course there is also the firm’s penchant for hiring only people with higher level technical degrees even for non-technical positions. An MBA, especially a 17 year old one like I have, probably doesn’t seem to add much value in this perception.

Note that this is not to say I’m in any way unhappy at Intransa. Rather more aimed at the experience I had hunting prior to joining up there. Hell, I even have a couple of well-placed contacts inside who couldn’t get me in for an interview for specific openings for which I was well-qualified and I do believe my age was a factor.