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November 2007
Geekadelphia launches
Geekadelphia, a project by local blogger extraordinaire Eric Smith launched yesterday. It's bound to be a regional favorite in no time.
Karl at Friday, November 30, 2007 | Comments (1) | TrackBack
When did Star Trek and Star Wars Jump the Shark?
TechRepublic.com: Sci-fi rant: When did Star Trek jump the shark?:
...there was the Borg Queen, and that ruined everything.The Borg were originally defined as genderless, faceless, nameless, all-consuming man-machine hybrids with which you could not negotiate, could not overpower, and only by sheer luck and creative individuality could you ever hope to defeat-temporarily. That is until First Contact, for which the producers needed a conventional villain for the "dumb audience," so we get Alice Krige gothed up in H.R. Giger fetish gear going all creepy-vampy on Data and retconning Locutus of Borg from a terrifying perversion of our beloved Captain Picard into a spurned cyborg concubine that Miss Borgy needed to acquire some V'ger-esque spark of humanity.
The Borg Queen single-handedly diminished the Borg from a personification of everyone's secret fear of the dehumanizing power of technology and conformity run amok into two-bit techno-zombie henchmen of everyone's un-fondly remembered codependent ex-girlfriend. (It's worth noting that in First Contact, the Borg assimilate you vampire-bite style, rather than through the slow, tortuous process seen in "The Best of Both Worlds." These are B-movie monsters now, not powerfully terrifying metaphors for identity-stripping monoculture.)
TechRepublic.com: When did Star Wars jump the shark?:
...Phantom Menace came along and, with all due disrespect to Jar Jar Binks, gave us the single worst Star Wars moment in a rapidly expanding history of awful Star Wars moments: Midi-chlorians.Jedi, you see, aren't made, they're born. They're of the blood, nobility, maybe even a master race. If your midi-chlorian count isn't high enough, don't even bother to apply. Anakin Skywalker was basically the equivalent of a can't-miss basketball prospect from the mean streets of Tatooine who got a Jedi Academy scholarship despite being a punk. Yeah, that's going to resonate with all the athletically addled dorks who used to idolize the franchise.
Yoda wasn't awesome because he was a zen-master adept who spent centuries honing his communion with The Force, but because his little frog-pig body was jam-packed with psionic parasites. That single slap in the face to Star Wars fans was the first of many attempts by Lucas to expand and explain the mechanics of his franchise, and in the process he knocked out the foundations of what was once the coolest character concept in all of sci-fi. Thanks, George.
Fun, worthy of argument :)
Karl at Tuesday, November 27, 2007
In Passing: Quiet Riot's Kevin DuBrow dead at 52
Metafilter: cum on feel the noiz - Quiet Riot's Kevin DuBrow dead at 52.
It was Quiet Riot on Solid Gold that introduced me (well.. re-introduced me) to Metal and Hard Rock. His MySpace page is filling up with condolences.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that Quiet Riot deserves the evolutionary credit for 80s Metal, from Ozzy's 80s success, to Guns N' Roses.
Thank you Kevin DuBrow.
NYTimes: Kevin DuBrow, the Leader of Quiet Riot, Dies at 52
LATimes: Singer for 1980s heavy-metal giant Quiet Riot dies
Blabbermouth: Classic QUIET RIOT Broadcast To Re-Air Today - Nov. 27, 2007
Karl at Tuesday, November 27, 2007 | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Happy Anniversary Richelle
Sweetheart, if you're reading this, just wanted to say how much I love you.
Karl at Tuesday, November 27, 2007 | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thanksgiving 2007
It's been a challenging year. The herniated disk (I'm still suffering with it). The Comcast.net reenginerring and relaunch effort (we launched successfully and they promoted me the same day Mom was diagnosed with cancer). Handling various stability issues with Philly Future that nearly killed the site. Being with Mom as she ended up in the hospital more and more (look on the archives here - a pattern emerged from back in 2005). Learning to be a dad.So while it's been a struggle - I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and every day.
This is my last post on Mom for a while. I mentioned I would share some pictures and Richelle did prepare a terrific slideshow for her memorial service, but I think this recent one says it all.
Karl at Wednesday, November 14, 2007 | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I Fooled Myself
In the past, I fooled myself into thinking I could not miss what I did not have.
I grew up without a father.
Looking at many I grew up with, sometimes I thought I had it better. I had quite a few friends with dad issues that haunt them to this day.
But now, upon reflection, it feels like I've simultaneously lost a Mom and a Dad.
What a strange thing to write. I must be entering the so called 'anger' phase.
If only life were that sequential, I could expect the emotions to wash over me, to pass me by on my way towards 'acceptance'.
But our lives aren't really like that are they? They happen, in a cosmic kinda level, at something resembling all at once, and our minds attempt to give it order and structure, if there are such things, they are beyond our current understanding.
All I know is that Mom did exist, and she left a legacy in me, in her other sons. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren.
I'm rambling on my blog. Not like me at all. I'm trying to reach for something in writing I can't quite get to yet. And my guitar is failing me on some level.
So good night folks.
Karl at Tuesday, November 13, 2007 | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Halloween Pictures
It may have been the day before Mom's funeral, but she wouldn't have wanted us, especially Emma, from having some holiday fun. We may have been harried making arrangements for that Thursday, but we had a good time. I feel particularly blessed to live where we live - a true blue old fashioned Philly neighborhood. It's a great place for Halloween.
Karl at Tuesday, November 13, 2007 | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The NYTimes gets into Blog Aggregation!
TechCrunch: NYTimes Blogrunner v. TechMeme.
They are using a technique I had originally suggested while I worked at Philly.com to handle the enormous legal and quality concerns - use a third party aggregator service like Blogrunner.
Bravo to the NYTimes :)
Karl at Wednesday, November 7, 2007 | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A Great Example of Networked Journalism
EarthTimes.org: "Consumer Reports Names Their All-Star Appliances":
"Our brand-repair histories are culled from approximately 450,000 respondents reporting on nearly 2.5 million appliances," said Robert Markovich, editor at Consumer Reports. "Choosing a reliable brand will boost a consumer's odds of getting a reliable model and in the end often save consumers money."
You can even say the report was 'crowdsourced'.
Now if only we could collate a list of safe and fun toys that parents would want to buy.
Karl at Wednesday, November 7, 2007 | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Why It Matters
We maybe on the eve of a new war (USAToday: Poll finds Americans split on taking military action in Iran). Do *you* think you're doing all you can to inform your fellow citizen of facts or opinions? Do you think it matters? Do you think people are informed enough to weigh in on this? Why do you think that is and who gets the praise or the fault?
Karl at Tuesday, November 6, 2007
How Can This Be?
The greatest book about the Web, bar none, is David Weinberger's Small Pieces Loosely Joined. I think the book nailed the nature of the Web, and the motivations behind how we use it and why it has become such a large part in our lives. So when I quote the following, I really believe it. It's one of the things that motivates me to continue in the line of work I am in.
David Weinberger: Small Pieces Loosely Joined - Kids Version:
So, here we have two worlds. In the real world, people are kept apart by distance. Because of the vastness of the earth, different cultures have developed. People live in separate countries, divided by boundaries and sometimes by walls with soldiers and guns. On the Web, people come together - they connect - because they care about the same things.The real world is about distances keeping people apart. The Web is about shared interests bringing people together.
Now, if connecting and caring are what make us into human people, then the Web - built out of hyperlinks and energized by people's interests and passions - is a place where we can be better at being people.
And that is what the Web is for.
Taking that as gospel, and taking the following as the truth most of us agree on (most folks still think Saddam had something to do with 9/11), can it be that the Web as an information platform has failed? And if so, what can be done about it?
Salon: Michael Massing: "What Orwell Didn't Know::
Orwell had expected advances in technology to allow the ruling elite to monopolize the flow of information and through it to control the minds of the masses. In reality, though, those advances have set off an explosion in the number and diversity of news sources, making efforts at control all the harder to achieve. The 24-hour cable news channels, the constantly updated news Web sites, news aggregators like Google News, post-it-yourself sites such as YouTube, ezines, blogs, and digital cameras have all helped feed an avalanche of information about world affairs. In Iraq, reporters embedded with troops have been able via the Internet to file copy directly from the field. Through "milblogs," soldiers have been able to share with the outside world their impressions about their experiences on the ground. Even as the war has dragged on, it has given rise to a shelf-full of revealing books, written by not only generals and journalists but also captains, lieutenants, privates, national guardsmen, and even deserters.In short, no war has been more fully chronicled or minutely analyzed than this one.
...Yet even amid this information glut, the public remains ill-informed about many key aspects of the war. This is due less to any restrictions imposed by the government, or to any official management of language or image, than to controls imposed by the public itself.
...In his reflections on politics and language, Orwell operated on the assumption that people want to know the truth. Often, though, they don't.
Karl at Tuesday, November 6, 2007 | Comments (3)
Back to work
Getting back to work after Mom passing away is a weird and strange. I'm still busy reconciling everything in my head and heart.
Funerals absorb so much of your time that you don't get a chance to think about things until after they pass.
I'll share some pictures later, but one thing that became apparent from the slideshow that Richelle put together was that she was, most likely, happier now than she had ever been in her entire life.
Ya know, there are two stereotypes of old people who have had extreme levels of tragedy and struggle to deal with in their lives.
One, the wizened old soul who rose above such tribulations and became a font of information and history.
The other, the poisoned heart, who can no longer see the good in much anything, and rails against the unjust nature of our world - especially to him or herself.
Mom grew into someone resembling neither of these.
Instead, as she aged, she became more childlike with each passing day. When I say this I don't mean unknowledgable - no I mean more aware of wonder. Of laughter. Of surprise. Of the importance of deep hugs and never staying angry and unreconciled. And of never saying goodbye, but of saying see you later and I love you.
It doesn't seem fair that it took so long to get to this place, and then to have her snatched away.
But at least she did get to this place. That I was there to witness it. And I will be there to share it with my daughter (I hope).
Karl at Monday, November 5, 2007 | Comments (2)