Rorschach.net

Apologies to _mac_ for using a Beastie Boys lyric as a title.

Convergence is a buzzword from the dot-com 90’s that was part of the promise of the Internet. The idea the communication is digital, all 1s and 0s, and you could have your phone, web, TV, movies, music, shopping, books, chat, video-chat… basically all media provided through a broadband connection to your home. It’s taking a little longer than expected or hoped by the dot-com investors, but it is still coming. The brass ring of controlling all media and all communication is too big a prize to leave to purely market forces and so the war begins.
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Unfortunately everyone has to take an active role in protecting themselves when they have a computer connected to the Internet. For all the commercialism and business occurring on the Internet it’s still pretty much the wild west out there so you need to take some precautions or else you’ll get taken. This could have direct effects on you and your information and also your computer could be used to affect other people.

Industry and the government have put together a pretty good website called OnGuard Online that provides the basics to practice safe computing. It’s non-technical so it’s a good link to send to your non-geek relatives. Everyone who uses the Internet should be familiar with the concepts on this web site.

Wired reports about some undoubtedly activist and un-American judges in Texas and New York stating that tracking you through you cell phone requires probable cause.

It’s not that the technologies themselves are bad. I think in times of need these sorts of things could be helpful for public safety. But I don’t trust the government or any large authoritarian organization (read: companies) to only use this ability for good. The temptation is too great as evidenced by the recent exposure of privacy violations of the PATRIOT Act.

Be sure to turn off your phones while driving in Missouri .

KC Star article on the same subject. (Registration required)

I’ve got to admit I’m pretty hooked on this new PC game. It’s a bog standard first person shooter, but it’s set in areas that you’re familiar with (office buildings and industrial sites). The weapons are varied and have the right “feel” of dealing damage. The killer is the AI though. You’ve got 3 to 6 bad guys (not spiders, wolves or mutated beavers) all taking cover, flanking you, and communicating. The set pieces where the battels occur are all pathed out for the AI so they know where they are and where they are going. Even on my 2 year old rig it still looks pretty good with excellent use of shadows and physics and enough exploding plaster to add a “fog of war” to the game.

Really worth your time if you’re into such things.

We’ve changed the theme of the website to something a little more ornate. Unfortunately it’s horizontal scroll limited. That’s a pet peeve of mine. I control the browser and if I want it to fill the full horizontal width of the screen then the websites should conform to that darnit. But most of the really spiffy themes are limited.

Anyway, you should see a set of themes we’re trying out on the sidebar. Feel free to mess around with them. We’ll be trying out some more themes in the next few weeks to find something we like. Let us know your favorite!

There are Halloween decorations up in the yards in our neighborhood and haunted houses being advertised on TV – but it just doesn’t feel like fall. The trees are still green and our “cool” fall days have highs in the low 70’s. I think it will be hard to remember to pull out the Christmas tree – let alone our lower ceiling heights may present us with a challenge of actually putting it up at all.

In spite of my difficult adjusting to a land without seasons – things are going well. We’ve finished painting about half of the interior of the house and hope to have it all complete by the time our Thanksgiving guests arrive. Roe has stopped itching and escaping – for now and we’ve begun to interview dog sitters for our trip to the Keys in December. We’ll see whom Roe picks to stay with him for a week. They actually water not only the dog – but also the plants. The service will also get the mail and stay the night at our house so it seems like a rather interesting arrangement.

Paul & Barbara visited a few weeks ago and we went down to Mexico for the first time. We found great pottery and really should have taken a bigger car. There is a two-level fire bowl with a chimney that I want to go back and get for the backyard. It would be nice when we’re using the hot tub to have a fire. I replaced many of the broken pots from the move. The boarder crossing wasn’t too bad – worse on the way back – but all in all the bargains were worth it.

It seems our extended family keeps on growing. We heard last night that Adam and Abigayle are expecting their first child in May so Paul and I will be Aunt and Uncle on both sides of the family. Having a “child” of a different kind was my brother Kent who acquired a new puppy named Snotty this week. To bad he can’t hop on the plane and meet cousin Roe at Thanksgiving time.

Paul’s work choir performed last week and so ended Paul’s 10-week choir experience. Spouses weren’t in attendance so I’ll take his word for it that it went smashingly well. He’s continuing to enjoy his job – and be appreciated by his team who got him a funny boss’s day card last week. I am a bad employee and was to busy working to REMEMBER it was bosses day but with 3 weeks left until my boss heads to China for a 3 week business trip regarding our new projects – I am swamped trying to do my work AND get our new marketing packages ready. The good news is, I’ll be all done when my family arrives. I’ve decided that we probably need to buy a small second fridge or freezer before then though. Mom always keeps stuff in the garage at the holidays but it won’t be cold enough here.

That’s all for now – love to you all.

Welcome to the new site… looks like the old site. Thanks to my brother for giving up some of his server space.

Any picture links are messed up because I upgraded the gallery software and currently in the process of transferring pictures from the old server. Sorry for the inconvenience.