:: Life of Dave ::

:: Monday, January 28 2008 ::

We went on the London Eye this evening, after a day spent wandering the city. Great good fun had by all. We also partook of a tasty curry in a restaurant which had 'bunk bed' style seating. As one does.
:: David (18:55 in Michigan, 0:55 in Paris) - Comment

:: Sunday, January 27 2008 ::

We safely made it, the wedding was lovely, and the adventure continues. More later!
:: David (12:34 in Michigan, 18:34 in Paris) - Comment

:: Thursday, January 24 2008 ::

I'm almost embarrassed at how few people are on this flight. We've boarded, and there's definitely more empty seats than full. London Gatwick here we come.
:: David (20:39 in Michigan, 2:39 in Paris) - Comment

Poor Soc Gen! The French bank where I had my account fell victim to a Nick Leeson lookalike (so much so that the Globe and Mail contacted Nick for comment), but a much more effective one - he managed to lose more than seven billion dollars before anyone noticed.
:: David (11:05 in Michigan, 17:05 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[1]

If we're doing Michigan news today (and we are, in part) then the big news is that the mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, has been caught lying under oath by a Detroit newspaper. It's the classic 'I did not have sex with that woman' case, and they were worse than some at hiding it. As it turns out, the other place the mayor appears to have perjured himself was in relation to the firing of a city employee.

The city of Detroit is broke in a way that no city of its size should ever be. It's been mismanaged to beat all. Hopefully with the disposal of the mayor, some fresh, qualified leadership can take over.
:: David (10:46 in Michigan, 16:46 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[1]

You may or may not know / remember that I used to live in an apartment complex called Harbour Club Apartments in Southeast Michigan, back when I worked for Ford Motor Company. On my way to pick Sasha up at the airport last night, I drove past said apartments, and to my surprise one of them was on fire. Not a little fire. One of the buildings was completely engulfed. I first drove past just before the fire trucks arrived, and it was clear they were far too late. Driving back with Sasha, the flames were shooting out of the roof into the air. The Ann Arbor News managed to get someone on the scene, who filed this report, with pictures.
:: David (10:27 in Michigan, 16:27 in Paris) - Comment

:: Tuesday, January 22 2008 ::

Wow - I knew the Fed would have to do something, but cutting interest rates by three quarters of a percent? That's some serious preventative action Ben is taking. Didn't help at the opener, though - the market fell 400 points in two minutes.
:: David (9:52 in Michigan, 15:52 in Paris) - Comment

Right now, Sasha is meeting with a host of folks, and will be for the rest of the day, in hopes of possibly getting a job. Happy thoughts appreciated.

I will be sitting on the other side of the interview table today, but happily I do not anticipate ten hours of interviewing, so Sasha wins that contest.
:: David (9:35 in Michigan, 15:35 in Paris) - Comment

Well, the markets abroad have been ugly, to say the least, and it's fairly well clear that today will not be a good day to own stock (sigh), but nevertheless headlines before the opening bell that say Dow Industrials Are Set to Drop 500 are not nice to see. It'll be interesting to see how the day goes - might be a good time to think about getting into stocks, or at least putting some more money into your mutual funds!
:: David (8:14 in Michigan, 14:14 in Paris) - Comment

:: Monday, January 21 2008 ::

Random trivia: he started life as Michael Luther King, Jr., but later changed his first name to Martin. So says the biography of him on the Nobel prize website. He also "traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times" between 1957 and 1968. In addition, he was "arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times". An article on CNN notes that "[a]t the time of his death, King was working on anti-poverty and anti-war issues. He had spoken out against the Vietnam War in 1967, and was in Memphis in April 1968 in support of striking sanitation workers." I imagine at the time he seemed like the most dangerous individual on the planet to those in power.
:: David (11:11 in Michigan, 17:11 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[1]

A study recently came out that I found interesting for a couple of reasons. The basic findings were that mobile phones disrupt sleep patterns in people who use them before bed.According to the BBC, the study was actually funded by mobile phone companies, which makes me think the evidence must be pretty strong. The second reason I found it amusing was because of the industry reaction:

Mike Dolan, executive director of the Mobile Operators Association, said the study was inconsistent with other research.

He said: "It is really one small piece in a very large scientific jigsaw. It is a very small effect, one researcher likened it to less than the effect you would see from a cup of coffee."

Now, I personally am not that bothered by a cup of coffee before bed, but I know lots of people who are, so it wouldn't have been my first choice of comparison if I were trying to minimize the effects....
:: David (7:24 in Michigan, 13:24 in Paris) - Comment

:: Sunday, January 20 2008 ::

I was surprised this evening to see that the first service pack for Microsoft's new Vista operating system has been released. It's installing as I type this, so if all goes quiet for a while, you'll know it's because my computer stopped working after it was installed. Maybe now the operating system will cease to suck (as much).

Speaking of which, did you all notice it was the 10th anniversary of the Monica Lewinsky / Bill Clinton thing? According to wikipedia, the famous 'I did not have sex with that woman' speech was on the 26th of January, 1998.
:: David (22:40 in Michigan, 4:40 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[1]

Wil Wheaton alerted me to the fact that the library of congress has put a host of pictures up on flickr. It's such a cool way to grant access to lots of old photos, and it's also interesting because it shows how important the meta-data that goes with old images is. Many of the pictures they have posted have nothing more than a name, which, at the time, may have been enough. But now it's just a random picture of a random person. They ask people to fill in the blanks. It's a wonderful use of the technology, and I hope the first of many.
:: David (0:13 in Michigan, 6:13 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[1]

:: Saturday, January 19 2008 ::

A report on Gizmodo alerted me to a story in Forbes, which is based on info from a moderately reliable source: the CIA. The story asserts that the software which controls major infrastructure items like power plants and the like is vulnerable to outside hacks. It is asserted that at least one attack has resulted in a multi-city power outage somewhere outside the US. A related story (also in Forbes) offers one possible explanation for why these attacks haven't already happened everywhere: the complexity of the system means even if someone is able to hack in, it may not be clear what they need to do to take the system down. Having worked with similar system, I find that explanation believable. Nevertheless, just like the recent news on hackable planes, you wonder why they made the system accessible to the outside world in the first place.
:: David (23:22 in Michigan, 5:22 in Paris) - Comment

:: Friday, January 18 2008 ::

Just in case you needed another reason to think the American health care system is broken, try this: the consumerist is reporting that a credit rating system is in development to assess people's ability to pay their medical bills. The concerns raised by this are, I think obvious, and include the question of whether you would receive lower quality care if your credit rating were low.
:: David (11:15 in Michigan, 17:15 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[3]

:: Thursday, January 17 2008 ::

So I've been working on getting my blog working with OpenID (you can see my progress here - it will allow you to login, and nothing else), and it looks like I'm just in time. According to TechCrunch, Yahoo will begin using OpenID starting January 30th.
:: David (17:36 in Michigan, 23:36 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[2]

Creepy. I drove past a house this morning which had been taped off, and three police vehicles were parked in front of it, and I thought to myself how weird it was. Now I read that there was a fatal shooting there, which at this time remains unsolved. Blech. The article notes that it has been over a year since the last shooting here, though it doesn't mention when the last murder was.
:: David (9:28 in Michigan, 15:28 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[2]

:: Wednesday, January 16 2008 ::

Holy cow. Slashdot is reporting that MySQL has been purchased by Sun Microsystems. Sun Microsystems is a computer maker that focuses on mid-grade and high-end server systems, and is famous for having said they were "the Dot in Dot Com." MySQL is a database program that powers a huge number of well-known web sites. With this purchase, the CEO of Sun might be correct in bringing back a reworking of their catchphrase. As he put it "We're the Dot in [web] 2.0."
:: David (10:10 in Michigan, 16:10 in Paris) - Comment

Suddenly the capybara doesn't seem so large (though a stampede of them is still impressive!) - the BBC is reporting the discovery of a fossil which is believed to have belonged to a one ton rodent. "The remains of the one-tonne beast, found in Uruguay, indicate that it would have been as big as a bull." But it would have been, I bet, cuter.
:: David (7:15 in Michigan, 13:15 in Paris) - Comment

:: Tuesday, January 15 2008 ::

Time once again to try to break the blog! I've added a swanky new editor to the comment form, so go ahead and try to add a comment to this post, and let's see what breaks, shall we?!
:: David (23:42 in Michigan, 5:42 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[7]

Bonus points to the Associated Press for this little nugget:

A planned visit to Romney's boyhood home in Bloomfield Hills was scotched because it is boarded up after its owners twice faced foreclosure.

Seems to me like it would have been a great backdrop - a nice statement on where the state of Michigan is right now.
:: David (16:49 in Michigan, 22:49 in Paris) - Comment

:: Monday, January 14 2008 ::

The gadget world is up in arms over a prank at the Consumer Electronics Show. Seems one of the tech sites took a universal TV turner-offer with them, and went on a killing spree. They've posted a video of the results, along with an apology.
:: David (15:46 in Michigan, 21:46 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[3]

Over the weekend Sasha and I went to our favourite wine and cheese shop to acquire our usual crazy fare. We purchased several cheeses, including one that was mind-bogglingly expensive, but only one bottle of wine. I commented to Sasha that we may have to find a new wine shop, because the wine prices at our shop have gotten quite out of control (thirty dollars, to my mind, should not be the starting point for wine). But a new study may explain why the prices are so high - it makes the wine taste better. Sadly, this apparently only works on the untrained palette, so we have to pay the cash without getting the benefit....
:: David (11:23 in Michigan, 17:23 in Paris) - Comment

:: Sunday, January 13 2008 ::

Just in time for us to go on another holiday, I have posted the photos from our last trip, to New York and Washington, DC.
:: David (15:52 in Michigan, 21:52 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[1]

So we're headed to a wedding in a couple of weeks, and we just recently visited the webpage for the place. The address is One Whitehall Place, and rather than tell you about it, I'll point you to the location's website.
:: David (15:46 in Michigan, 21:46 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[1]

:: Friday, January 11 2008 ::

I discovered another thing not to say during an interview. 'Put out or get out'. Actually, I think I knew that already, I'd just never really thought about it until I heard it.
:: David (14:03 in Michigan, 20:03 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[3]

Apparently at least one person has decided the best way to vote Dem in Michigan is to screw with the other side. The Daily Kos has pointed out that since Dems don't get a vote in Michigan this year, they should vote Republican, specifically for Mitt Romney, so the Republicans spend all their money battling each other.
:: David (13:58 in Michigan, 19:58 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[2]

:: Wednesday, January 9 2008 ::

Our friend Jason has been working the New Hampshire primary like there's no tomorrow, trying to keep the environment on the agenda. Now that the primary is over, he's writing down all the crazy stuff that happened. You can read all the fun on his blog. It sounds like last night was quite a riot.
:: David (9:40 in Michigan, 15:40 in Paris) - Comment

:: Tuesday, January 8 2008 ::

Sasha thinks the BBC has been waiting for an opportunity to use this headline, or one like it: Trinidad's music pirates of the Caribbean. As you may have guessed, it's about music pirates... of the Caribbean. It's interesting in a way, because one would theorize that many of the new business models for music would work better in a small place. I wonder if they aren't, or if they just aren't being tried.
:: David (23:32 in Michigan, 5:32 in Paris) - Comment

:: Monday, January 7 2008 ::

Safely home, and back at work. It was quite a drive yesterday, but we made it, and the cat was happy we did. Now we just need to restock the fridge and throw out the masses of junk mail we accumulated, and we'll be ready for 2008.
:: David (16:07 in Michigan, 22:07 in Paris) - Comment

:: Saturday, January 5 2008 ::

It's been really interesting - all over DC there are large posters saying that the Washington Post hates its workers, and pointing to a website to learn more. The background is somewhat surprising - I would have assumed the Washington Post was unprofitable, but it seems to be doing OK. But it appears to be making plenty of cuts anyway - in the wrong area, I would speculate - generally speaking such public labour disputes are not in a newspaper's best interest.
:: David (23:32 in Michigan, 5:32 in Paris) - Comment

So, Windows Vista has completely 'updated' the interface they use with mobile phones. It's swanky, it's new, and it completely erased my contacts. All of them. Gone. So if I don't call you, it's because I can't. This makes me sad. So what I think you should do is hop over to my contact page, grab my mobile number (if you don't already have it), and call me, so I can save your number. Alternately, you can send me a mail with your mobile number in it, which will allow me to find it later, when I do this again on the next version of Windows. Moral of the story: install Ubuntu when you decide to stop using XP.
:: David (15:48 in Michigan, 21:48 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[3]

Now if we could only get US companies to offer something like this: a Japanese company is offering a 'pet stipend' for employees with pets.
:: David (10:44 in Michigan, 16:44 in Paris) - Comment

Quite a full day yesterday - we visited the zoo, and got to visit with their newly hatched (ish) kiwi while the keeper told us all about kiwis. Then Sasha headed off to an interview and I headed to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, to see how money is printed. Oddly, photography was forbidden inside, so there will be no pics forthcoming. Then it was off to the National Portrait Gallery (American edition) to see... pictures of people. Then dinner and off to bed (until the alarm)
:: David (1:12 in Michigan, 7:12 in Paris) - Comment

Would it really be a gathering of academics in a dorm-like structure without a 1 AM fire alarm? False, of course. I almost looked forward to the parade of shame on the front lawn, but thankfully it was called off before we had to head out in the cold.
:: David (1:02 in Michigan, 7:02 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[1]

:: Thursday, January 3 2008 ::

I understand the first of the primaries is happening today, in Iowa. Whoopie. The big news, to my mind, is hundred dollar oil. And special kudos to the man who intentionally overbid, just to say he was first. That's a story to tell your grandkids.
:: David (13:39 in Michigan, 19:39 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[3]

We're gearing up to head over to the hotel, where Sasha will have her first interview later today. Think happy thoughts, if you please. I'll be bumming around DC for the next three days, before we pack it all into the car and head back to town to get started with the real business of 2008.
:: David (9:07 in Michigan, 15:07 in Paris) - Comment - View Comments[4]

:: Wednesday, January 2 2008 ::

I posted too soon - I was looking for other commentary on the museum, as I had heard it was controversial. One view can be found in a paper in The American Indian Quarterly, written by Myla Vicenti Carpio. The author asserts (in part) that "[c]onspicuously absent from the museum's presentation is a clear critique of colonization and its impacts on Indigenous lifeways, religions, and cultures." It is also asserted that the museum doesn't give enough contextualization, something we had noted as we went through.
:: David (0:44 in Michigan, 6:44 in Paris) - Comment

We headed over to the National Museum of the American Indian today. Last night at the New Year's party (unexpectedly moved to where we were staying, which made life easier)(Happy New Year everyone, by the way) we met a woman who worked with the museum, and she convinced us to head over there. It was an excellent choice, as the Museum was quite interesting. It appeared as though, for the most part, all the exhibits on the various tribes were designed for the most part by the tribes themselves. On the top floor they had the creation myth as told by a number of different tribes. They also had a large statue given by the Oneida, presumably major donors, which raised our eyebrows a little. On the third floor was an excellent look at the present and future of several native tribes. Some appear to be in surprisingly good shape, while more are on the brink of ceasing to exist.

The museum seemed to do an excellent job with the subject matter, and we spent the entire time we had in DC at the museum before coming back to the apartment for more card playing.
:: David (0:33 in Michigan, 6:33 in Paris) - Comment