The next time you read about the Europeans sticking their well-bred noses in the air over something the U.S. has done, remember this. I don’t personally care much for Farrakhan and his band of stooges, but he has a right to express his beliefs. If the U.S. tried to ban a European from coming here on the grounds that have been used to keep Farrakhan out, there’d be all sorts of international press decrying our exclusionary tactics, racism, and detachment from world issues. Combined with the Le Pen hijinks in France, I guess we’re seeing Europe’s true colors.
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Doug
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Doug
Apologies for the lack of new stuff here the past few days; I’m not dead, I just look (and feel) that way.
House hunting is frankly kicking my ass. We looked at four more houses Saturday, and we think we’ve found one we want. It isn’t really what I was after, but it dawned on me last night that what I really want isn’t something I’m going to find - a Wright-style Usonian house. I’m going to have to build it, and I’ll have to be rich to do it, which I’m decidely not, at this point.
It’s a nice house, though, with a very open floor plan and most of the features we want. Now comes the really fun part - putting the offer together, finalizing the financing, and listing our current house on the market. That consumed the rest of the weekend, and significant chunks of today, and we’re still not done. We have some minor maintenance things to do to the house as well, not to mention packing up some stuff and generally getting the house ready to show.
Then there’s the waiting, which is particularly frustrating. I remember now why we don’t engage in this process more frequently.
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Doug
Tonight was the first night in a week or so that it’s been clear and dry enough to see all five planets that are currently in the sky. Around here, even if it isn’t cloudy, high humidity can scatter the light pollution so much that only very, very bright objects are visible.
I went outside, and I could see ‘em. So I went I pulled out the binoculars. Then I woke up my daughter, bundled her up, and went outside again. She saw a moon of Jupiter for the first time tonight.
When she’s twenty, she may not remember tonight, but I bet I will.
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Doug
Robert Cringely’s infant son Chase died of SIDS this week - literally in Bob’s lap, as he was writing e-mail. In response to this crushing event, Cringely is dedicating a substantial part of his life and resources to organizing an “Open Source” project to study SIDS and hopefully, learn to prevent it.
There have been few advances since 1995, and this very lack of progress has led to reduced interest in SIDS research. Yet my unblanketed, backsleeping little Chase died anyway, so I think there is much that could still be done. The old, broken-down engineer in me says it is time to build something.
I don’t know about the rest of you with infants out there in blogspace, but I know when our kids were infants I was terrified of SIDS. Despite it being relatively rare, SIDS is one of those things I as a parent felt powerless to guard against - I could take the recommended precautions, but even then, there are no guarantees. It could still happen.
The mystery, the impossibility of prevention, the terrible possibility of losing one’s child for no discernible reason, the guilt, and now, since so many past SIDS deaths have proved to be child abuse, the potential suspicion of the community makes SIDS seem so medieval a thing. How is it that our children can be stricken down by what might as well be an elf-stroke?
Reading Mr. Cringely’s story made me sad, but I applaud his determination to try and do something. Some will scoff and wonder what a writer/geek can do to combat a scourge like SIDS, and will say the he’s just trying to assuage his grief by channeling his energy into this project. That may be so, but it doesn’t mean he won’t succeed. I wish him luck, and I can’t think of too many more worthy causes for a man to devote his life to.
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Doug
I saw Monty Python and couldn’t help myself:
which “monty python and the holy grail” character are you?
this quiz was made by colleen
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Doug
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Doug
It’s a cold, wet, soggy day here today. Rain is coming down in buckets, and unlike the past week, it’s unseasonably cold in my part of the world, making it an ideal time to sit inside and catch up on some things. Yesterday the kids were over at their cousins through the day and over night, so Terri and I enjoyed some rare “adult time.” That was wonderful, but I was away from the computer for most of the day.
So, some items of note:
In response to my request for macro and text-insertion software, Dave offers AutoCompleter. AutoCompleter is a slightly different take on what I’m trying to do, since it tries to auto-complete everything you’re typing. The principle limitation for what I’m trying to do is that it’s a Cocoa-only application, and I’m doing most of my writing in Tinderbox, which is Classic. Still, it’s worth a look, particularly for automating some of my e-mail chores.
Dave also talks about Type Theory yesterday, something that is near and dear to me. In days past, Type Theory instruments and concepts were a major part of my work, and occsionally very useful, too. I myself am one of the rare and dreaded ENTJ types. Dave talks about learning to put the tendencies of his type in check; my learning has had more to do with, to use a cliche, “Using my powers only for good, not for evil.” I’ve had to learn to step back, and not be the leader and organizer in social situations, and to not submerge myself completely in work, to the detriment of the rest of my life. Most importantly, I have to work hard to recognize value in those who march to a different drummer and don’t fit well into organizations, and those who have trouble grasping the “big picture.” I won’t lie; it is a struggle every day to do so.
This is one of the reasons I’ve often taken the role of an independent consultant; by placing myself in a role where my type-related abilities can be used in an advisory capacity rather than a direct capacity, I’m less likely to end up engaging in the more negative aspects of my type-related behavior. Sometimes this worked, and other times I created an even worse situation by becoming a sort of Cardinal Richelieu figure for my client. These days, I try and stay engaged in a direct capacity, and operate from a principle-centered stance. I have become a somewhat left-of-center, libertarian, ENTJ. Try that one for some cognitive dissonance.
Eric points out that he and I have similar reading interests. Indeed we do, and I’ve very much enjoyed exchanging views with him via blog and e-mail the past few days. I envy Eric his career as a librarian and his constant exposure to new books!
I’ve been considering setting up a second blog, probably using Tinderbox and/or Radio, specifically to discuss books. Maybe this could be a collaborative project?
Hal, you are right to cry “Run away! Run away!” regarding house hunting. When you have the specific requirements/desires we do, it’s even more of a nightmare. We’ve determined that there’s an eight square block area in all of Central Indiana where we want to live. Nothing let setting oneself a challenge, eh?
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Doug
Number of houses visited so far: 8, plus one drive by.
Number of houses we liked and would work for us: 1
Number of houses we liked, and sold before we could offer: 1
Tonight’s excursion was essentially one big disappointment. The first house was just nasty. The second was alright, but needs some significant maintenance. The third house, was lovely, in the village area of Zionsville, had some great Arts & Crafts features, a beautiful wrap-around porch, great kitchen, and hardwood floors…and was really a two bedroom, even though it was advertised as a three bedroom. The house we drove by sounded great, and may even be wonderful inside…but turns out to be the lone holdout in an area that has recently been totally built up, and is surrounded on three sides by low value “Vinyl Village” homes.
Back to the drawing board.
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Doug
In response to my request for leads on some macro software, Alwin suggests that the cheapest and most direct solution is to just use AppleScript. He’s probably right about that; I keep promising myself to get down and dirty with AppleScript, but never seem to make the time to do so. Maybe this’ll give me a concrete project to work with.
He also suggested TypeIt4Me, which looks like it would do what I’m after, and at $27, is priced right. I’ll definitely investigate it.
In the meantime, my own search uncovered Keyboard Maestro, which handles text insertion as I requested. Another useful feature is the task switcher, which works the way a task switcher is supposed to work, rather than the way the Dock works. KM can present tasks as a stack, and a single key combination allows you to switch back and forth between two applications, rather than forcing you to cycle through applications based on their dock placement. Keyboard Maestro is only $20, which is even nicer.
I’ll play some and report back. Thanks very much for the suggestions, Al!
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Doug
I’ve been looking for a piece of software for OS X that will allow me to associate a set of keystrokes with a string of characters. The idea here is to set up macros that would allow me to insert commonly used text strings into things I write without having to type the entire string. I’m particularly interested in using this for blogging; I want to be able to program a macro with a commonly used hyperlink, and be able to insert this with just a couple of keystrokes.
It looks like Quickeys X will do this. However, I’m not that interested in macros for launching applications, etc, and I get the impression that’s what Quickeys is really all about. I’m not keen on paying $75 for something when I’m only going to use 20% of the features. If you have any alternative suggestions, please mail me and let me know.
