The Wolf's Perspective

48 Weeks - macgeekbear

2007-07-08T16:43:30Z

Well it only took me forty eight weeks to realize that I missed Livejournal. I wasn't keeping up with you guys and I wasn't keeping up with my own blog... I just kinda let it all slide nice and easy.

It's a brand new day. As such, I also have a brand new Livejournal account: macgeekbear

I've added most of you to my new friends list, if I missed any I'm sure you'll show back up and we'll get that remedied.

Update

2006-08-04T22:48:36Z

Since a few LJ users have written to me over the past couple months asking where I've been, I just want to post a reminder that my new blog is not on LiveJournal. My new website/blog/mediacast is at: http://web.mac.com/macgeekguy

If you have an RSS feed reader, you can subscribe to blog at: http://rss.mac.com/macgeekguy/iWeb/Site/Blog/rss.xml
There is also an RSS feed for the Media of the Week page at: http://rss.mac.com/macgeekguy/iWeb/Site/Media%20of%20the%20Week/rss.xml

Have a great one!
RJ

Inspired (in more ways than one) by Hrnybear

2006-04-04T21:26:31Z

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern		95%
Spider-Man		75%
Hulk		75%
Superman		70%
Batman		70%
The Flash		70%
Wonder Woman		47%
Iron Man		45%
Robin		42%
Supergirl		37%
Catwoman		30%

Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

New Site

2006-03-22T03:16:28Z

Yay! It's about time. I've been screwing around with the new site... still don't have it all attached to the domain and all, but it's as good as it's going to get for awhile. So without further ado...

US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

2006-01-27T22:49:20Z

Alright, so I don't have time to get my blog in order before sharing this one... I figured its' pretty important to get the word spread. Those bastards.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm

"A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks."

RSS Reader question & update

2006-01-19T18:04:16Z

Hey there guys!

It's been awhile since I checked in... so first a big howdy and a hug to everyone.

Second, I'm curious if you guys could make some suggestions for a good (and free) RSS reader for Windows. Seeing as how I'm stuck on a PC at work for most of the day... I need to see about finding a better program to view my feeds. To date I've been using Abilon... but my gut tells me there's probably something better out there... any suggestions?

Also on the subject of RSS... my new blog/site is coming along nicely. I was hoping to go live at the beginning of the year but wasn't really happy with what I had lined up on the first. Since then, the new iLife suite came out and let me just say... EVERYTHING that I wanted to do with my blog has now suddenly been made nearly effortless. So I'm hoping to go live on Feb. 1st. I will issue an announcement when I do. :)

Have a great one! Oh and if you have a suggestion for me - the PC RSS reader, I'd appreciate it!

RJ

Farewell (mostly)

2005-10-24T04:05:40Z

I'm mostly leaving LiveJournal to start a new blog. URL to be posted. If you've got a fairly new install of Quicktime please feel free to check out my video farewell message. wwabbit doesn't like the camera angle... but it was tough enough to find the time and motivation to do this one! ;)

Song of the Day: Sorry to Myself

2005-10-19T20:41:56Z

You know, being in a wonderfully healthy place in my life right now... it's funny when a song sneaks up and reminds you what a total schmuck you've been to yourself in the past. One did today... and it's as many of my song of the day quotes are, from Alanis Morissette... it's called Sorry To Myself. And yes, it's available on the iTunes Music Store if you feel like checking it out. :)

---
Sorry To Myself
- Alanis Morissette

For hearing all my doubts so selectively and
For continuing my numbing love endlessly
For helping you and myself: not even considering
For beating myself up and over-functioning
To whom do I owe the biggest apology?
No one's been crueler than I've been to me
For letting you decide if I indeed was desirable
For my self-love being so embarassingly conditional
for denying myself to somehow make us compatible
for trying to fit a rectangle into a hole
To whom do I owe the biggest apology?
No one's been crueler than I've been to me
I'm sorry to myself
My apologies begin here before everybody else
I'm sorry to myself
For treating me worse than I would anybody else
For blaming myself for your unhappiness
for my impatience when I was perfect where I was
Ignoring all the signs that I was not ready,
For expecting myself to be where you wanted me to be
To whom do I owe the first apology?
No one's been crueler than I've been to me And
I'm sorry to myself
My apologies begin here before everybody else
I'm sorry to myself
For treating me worse than I would anybody else
Well, I wonder which crime is the biggest ?
Forgetting you or forgetting myself...
Had I heeded the wisdom of the latter
I would've naturally loved the former
For ignoring you: my highest voices
For smiling when my strife was all too obvious
For being so disassociated from my body,
for not letting go when it would've been the kindest thing.
To whom do I owe the biggest apology?
No one's been crueler than I've been to me
I'm sorry to myself
My apologies begin here before everybody else
I'm sorry to myself
For treating me worse than I would anybody else
I'm sorry to myself
My apologies begin here before everybody else
I'm sorry to myself
For treating me worse than I would anybody else
---

OMFG

2005-10-19T17:49:16Z

Is your printer spying on you?

Secret print code lets US secret service keep tabs

By Paul Hales: Tuesday 18 October 2005, 15:07

RESEARCHERS hired by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) say they were able to break a code hidden in tiny tracking dots that some colour laser printers secrete in every document they print.

Read more (in a new window) at: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27027

I swear I didn't alter it! ;)

2005-09-26T20:38:44Z

<td align="center">

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com</td>

Green Day Rocks

2005-09-25T08:38:29Z

Went to see Green Day tonight. Wow. Just, WOW.

They are just so freaking amazing.

Funny how my answer got longer and longer. lol

2005-09-21T02:42:04Z

(technical difficulties... please standby)

Happy Birthday!

2005-09-19T17:23:53Z

Happy Birthday lonespiritwolf2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Virus update

2005-09-19T15:53:56Z

In case you aren't keeping count for yourself... Symantec has reported that there have been Ten Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty Six (10, 866) new Windows viruses and worm variants in the first half of 2005.

The count is still zero (0) for Mac OS X.

In case anyone was counting. ;)

Two new ways Microsoft is pretending to be Apple.

2005-09-14T01:36:53Z

"What are Gadgets? Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web. Examples might include a weather gadget running on your desktop or on your homepage, an RSS Gadget that pulls in your favorite feeds, or an extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business." If you're curious, you can see their screenshots at: MS Gadgets

Actually, no... I really didn't wonder, cos it's already being done with Dashboard Widgets which have been a huge hit in Mac OS X Tiger - which has been shipping for months now. Also available in a different form in Yahoo! Konfabulator (which look similar to dashboard widgets but use a different technology underneath and have been available for a couple of years).

Oh and I hope you liked the brushed metal appearance in iTunes - cos Microsoft has made that idea their own too. If you upgrade to Microsoft Office 12 for Windows - that's exactly what you'll get. You can preview the "new" look they unveiled for Office here: Office 12 New Look

Fortunately, the brushed metal look is SO last year and Apple has already dropped it starting with iTunes 5.

Can they even BEGIN to form a somewhat original idea in Redmond?

I'll also take this opportunity to remind you that because of time constraints - several features which were promised in Longhorn have been cut from "Vista" - they don't even have their security and other truly needed features done yet and they're promising new stuff real quick just so they can catch up with the Mac. If MS weren't so busy trying to play catch up, or more accurately, match up... with the Mac, maybe they could get their OWN stuff to work... oh and perhaps give a crap about the security of your userbase.

It's almost creepy if it weren't so tragic. I feel like I'm watching Single White Female only with OSes.

Someone needs to tell Ballmer and Gates that you can't lead by following, no matter what your sucker, I mean, market share might be. ;)

iPod nano

2005-09-13T06:51:19Z

I got it!

Yes, I got my iPod nano today. They were out of the black ones but the white one is just as cool. I friggin' LOVE this thing.

I've been like Goldilocks. Last fall i got a 20 GB iPod. I loved it. The iPod shuffle came out and I had to re-evaluate my listening habits and it was then I realized that I just don't listen to that many different albums and something smaller would be nicer for my ride/walk to work everyday. I'm a creature of habit and have my favorite songs. So I got an iPod shuffle and loved it. I missed my screen though... especially for podcasts. The iPod nano came out... and let me just say, this unit is perfect.

I felt like a heel having a 20gb iPod and a Shuffle. Having two iPods didn't make sense and felt awkward. The multiple iPods have been my way of trying the various types of porridge to see which one was right. I tell you, the iPod nano is JUST RIGHT. Fortunately I think I've already got buyers lined up for the other two (having three iPods is just plain greedy). hehe

But anyway.... the color screen is amazing. The resolution is high enough that while technically smaller than your standard iPod, things look crisper on it. Photos pop.

It slides easily into the coin pocket on my Levi's - fits better than my shuffle did in fact. Also, since you put it in there upside down (the headphone jack is on the bottom), you naturally discover that if you press gently you can actually control the volume right through the denim on the touch sensitive click wheel.

If you haven't seen one in person yet, you need to. They're incredible little units. You can't understand how small, light, easy to use and simply spectacular these machines are. I think they've finally perfected the portable audio player for those of us who don't need more than 2 GB (though there's also a 4 GB available) of music at once.

Helping tolkiencub spread the word

2005-09-12T23:04:16Z

Story link: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article311818.ece

Cover-up: toxic waters 'will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade'
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Correspondent

Published: 11 September 2005

Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger.

In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health.

The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analysed. "Inept political hacks" running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.

His intervention came as President Bush's approval ratings fell below 40 per cent for the first time. Yesterday, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, turned the screw by criticising the US President's opposition to the Kyoto protocol on global warming. He compared New Orleans to island nations such as the Maldives, which are threatened by rising sea levels. Other US sources spelt out the extent of the danger from one of America's most polluted industrial areas, known locally as "Cancer Alley". The 66 chemical plants, refineries and petroleum storage depots churn out 600m lb of toxic waste each year. Other dangerous substances are in site storage tanks or at the port of New Orleans. No one knows how much pollution has escaped through damaged plants and leaking pipes into the "toxic gumbo" now drowning the city. Mr Kaufman says no one is trying to find out.

Few people are better qualified to judge the extent of the problem. Mr Kaufman, who has been with the EPA since it was founded 35 years ago, helped to set up its hazardous waste programme. After serving as chief investigator to the EPA's ombudsman, he is now senior policy analyst in its Office of Solid Wastes and Emergency Response. He said the clean-up needed to be "the most massive public works exercise ever done", adding: "It will take 10 years to get everything up and running and safe."

Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions," Mr Kaufman said. "All the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys - which don't do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001."

He said the water being pumped out of the city was not being tested for pollution and would damage Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi river, and endanger people using it downstream.
---
Once again, you will find the original story link at: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article311818.ece

Failure

2005-09-11T19:24:12Z

So, has everyone already tried googling the word "failure" yet?

If you haven't, I'd encourage you to do so now. I think that speaks volumes.

A cute joke someone sent me

2005-09-06T15:42:57Z

Okay, I'm not one to pass jokes on very often, but I really liked this one:

Why women should avoid a girls night out after they are married!..

The other night I was invited out for a night with "the girls." I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, "I promise!" Well, the hours passed and the margaritas went down way too easy. Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home.

Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hall started up and cuckooed 3 times. Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times. I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution, in order to escape a possible conflict with him. (Even when totally smashed...3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals 12 cuckoos = MIDNITE!)

The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, and I told him "Midnight". He didn't seem pissed off at all. Whew! Got away with that one! Then he said, "We need a new cuckoo clock." When I asked him why?, he said, "Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said, "Oh shit.", cuckooed 4 more times, cleared it's throat, cuckooed another 3 times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted."
---

Following tolkiencub's (Akasha) lead

2005-08-31T19:46:47Z

You scored as Blade. Thats right you are the booty kicking you cross me and I will stomp a mudhole in your butt type sexy and a great fighter with mad fgihting styles

</td>

Blade

100%

Spike

58%

Louie

58%

Armand

50%

Deacon Frost

50%

Dracula

50%

Akasha

42%

Marius

42%

Lestat

33%

Angel

Whose your Vampire personality? (images)
created with QuizFarm.com</tr>

Lyrics of the day...

2005-08-31T17:39:10Z

"Tender When I Want To Be"
by Mary Chapin Carpenter

I have a heart that's proud you bet
I have a mind that won't forget
And I have arms that are strong and yet
Tender when they wanna to be
Well you can be the will that finds the way
And you can be the one who saves the day
But show me tender when it's time to say
Exactly how it ought to be

And I never would've known it darlin'
If I hadn't known about you
You said everyone can be a rock and roll like a river too

Well something happens when you find someone
Who makes you feel like you can do no wrong
No you don't have to take the whole world on
Just be tender when you want be

And I never would have known it baby
If I hadn't known about you
You said everyone can be a rock and roll like a river too

So let the waters carry us away
Wave goodbye to the old parade
Baby when we're unafraid
To be tender when we want to be
All the waters wash our cares away
All that we can see are better days
Don't ever let me hesitate
To be tender when I want to be

Gay Lumberjacks?

2005-08-31T16:36:07Z

So from this netscape "news" article about America's 10 most dangerous jobs... are we to assume that Gay Lumberjack is one of them, based on this picture? ;)

Random Einstein Quotes

2005-08-29T23:53:25Z

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Albert Einstein

"Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." - Albert Einstein

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." - Albert Einstein

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." - Albert Einstein

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind." - Albert Einstein

"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree." - Albert Einstein

Sleep schedule blues...

2005-08-28T11:23:34Z

So it's 4am and I'm wide awake.

Friday night we had a couple we met online over and had a lot of fun. The younger cubs we were hanging with were real sweethearts and we spent the evening eating pizza, drinking beer and Jaeger while listening to music, watching Strangers with Candy and Drawn Together episodes.

It was a lot of fun, but then after we all finally crashed at around 5a, we all got back up around 9 or 10 am. We ate cereal and hung out some more and then they headed out. Follow that with a fair sized hangover and a couple of naps during the afternoon and my sleep schedule is way out of whack.

Lot of fun to hang out with a really cool couple, but what can I say... I'm gettin' too damn old for this kind of stuff. hehe

Bush Bush Revolution

2005-08-25T18:27:54Z

Let me just say, if you haven't seen today's rocketboom and you're a fan of cute bearded guys, well get your butt over there! ;)

They show this guy who did a Dance Dance Revolution type game where you stomp on the faces of our current administration and put them in jail. It kicks ass.

Did I mention the pure woofage factor? I present to you a screen capture:

Rocketboom is always a fantastic show to watch and Amanda Congdon rocks. For those of you who wish to view it on the web, go to rocketboom.com

For those of you who want to subscribe to the video podcast (vlog) via the iTunes Music Store, here's a link for you too!
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=73329586