Another Day, Another Year Older

12 Comments »March 20th, 2008

Today is indeed a depressing day. Another mile on my odometer. The striking of my biological clock, lets out a sad groaning tone - it’s my Birthday!

“Personally I think birthdays and anniversaries are like menstrual cramps, a regular pain in the ass that’s somehow connected to birth.” - Hugh Elliott

1993 Just Called, AT&T Wants Its Technology Back.

3 Comments »January 14th, 2008

AT&T’s vision of a technological future, as seen from 1993, largely came true; but not in the totalitarian telecommunications controlled scheme it envisioned… thank God. Watch the video, have a laugh, then sit speechless as you realize we are now living in the world depicted in this ad. “You are”.

The Sad Tale of How I Murdered My iPod

No Comments »February 28th, 2007

There are moments in life when the challenges of a busy schedule, encumberences, distraction, and stupidity all converge at one terrible moment resulting in tragedy. That is what happened to me last fall during my morning commute. As I hurried out the door with hands and arms full of gadgets and wares, embarking in my vehicle, I failed to notice that I had inadvertently dropped one important item on the ground.

Having sped off for work and returning later in the day, I noticed a small metallic object laying in the driveway near where my truck is normally parked. “What the heck is that?” I half wondered. No sooner had that inquisitive thought entered my simian brain when I came to a horrible realization…“Oh my God, it’s my iPod!”. Yes, that shiny piece of metal laying lifeless on the pavement was my dear departed music player, crushed by the full weight of my Ford Ranger. Obviously the poor little fellow had fallen out of my grasp as I was entering my truck and had landed directly in the path of my tires, which did a fantastic job of making the already slim iPod a lot thinner than designed.

So, that’s the story. My fifth generation iPod has been gone for about three months now and I have fallen back to an ancient fourth generation iPod Photo. Waiting for the day when Apple will announce a new and improved model worthy of my Ben Franklins. Hopefully soon.

A Trip Down Fast Food’s Memory Lane

No Comments »February 24th, 2007

Does anyone remember Burger Chef? This fast food chain was started by brothers Frank and Dave Thomas (creator of Wendy’s) back in the 1960’s, and was later acquired by General Foods as an experimental venture into the fast food market, which ultimately failed. The chain was later sold to Hardee’s who then converted the franchise into Hardee’s Restaurants. Bet you didn’t know that.

Burger Chef existed long before my time. I was only a wee little lad when this business was in operation, but I do vaguely remember the Burger Chef that existed in my old hometown.

Anyway, I stumbled upon this video on YouTube for a Burger Chef Star Wars ad that once aired on TV in 1977, which should give you an idea of how old this chain was.

Technorati Tags: Fast Food

Starship Exeter

No Comments »December 6th, 2005

Cyberspace…the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Exeter. It’s mission…to pick up where the original series left off. To employ amateur actors in various classic Star Trek plot recreations. To boldly go where no campy homemade sci-fi film has gone before! Ok, so it’s not Leanord Nimoy and William Shatner at the helm of the Enterprise, but if you can look beyond the hammy community theater style acting, believe it or not, Starship Exeter is actually quite impressive. In fact, the first piece in the series, entitled “The Tressaurian Intersection”, looks and feels so authentic, visually, it could almost be mistaken for an original Desilu production…I kid you not. The sets are especially impressive. The bridge and starship corridors are exact duplicates of the original sets designed by Matt Jeffries from the early series. The CGI-based U.S.S Exeter looks just like the real McCoy…uh, excuse the pun.

Episodes from the series are available free for download from the studio’s site. Transer them onto your video iPod or PDA for viewing on the go. As I said, the acting is very amateurish…but what do expect from a group of Star Trek enthusiasts with limited acting skills on a low budget?

Link

Farewell To A Great Pioneer

Comments OffFebruary 28th, 2005

This is rather off-topic, but I have just learned that Apple legend and Mac user interface pioneer Jef Raskin has died of Cancer at age 61. This is truly a great loss to the computing industry. Though Raskin has long since retired, he was a true pioneer who made great contributions to the world of personal computing, even in small ways. He helped design what would become the Macintosh user interface, and many conventions still used today on modern operating systems. I relished some of the stories he recanted of his early days designing the Mac user interface, such as a heated argument he had with Steve Jobs over the use of user dialog widgets, like the classic “Ok” and “Cancel” buttons, shaped like rectangles with rounded edges. Jobs was dead set against them, insisting instead on straight edged rectangles like those found in Windows. But Raskin stuck to his guns and even showed Steve where such shapes appear in the natural world, like highway interstate signs.Fascinating stuff.

Though his life has ended, his contributions will endure for generations to come. Thanks for everything Jef.