I Like Airplanes AND Software

And I sure am glad that my airplane doesn't have much of any software keeping it airborn.

Mmm, Tastes Like Science

Oh to be a 21st century ichthyologist! Gone are the long, lonely nights at sea and the perils of the deep. Now all you have to have is a passion for shopping in dank, smelly spaces.

ps. I suggest that all future studies on global climate change be conducted at the beach.

pps. I got to use the word ichthyologist in a sentence. That's 5 bonus points.

Wheeeee!

Apparently the Nintendo Wii is a porn portal. I wasn't planning to buy one, but now it seems irresistible.

If At First You Don't Succeed

Today's Fresh Air has a captivating (and terrifying) interview with Seymour Hirsch on the administration's Iran policy. My take-away so far is that politics in the middle east are so convoluted that there is absolutely no action that we can take that doesn't somehow contradict our national interests. Of course all politics is compromise, but these situations are serious enough that they would seem to argue for us to step back and disengage on many fronts.

Among the interesting things that I learned while listening: when they invaded Iraq, the administration allied with the Shia, which makes sense because Saddam's Baath regime was predominantly Sunni. Some intelligence analysts warned that because Iran is a predominantly Shia state, there was a risk of Iraq falling under Iranian influence. The administration, on the other hand, believed that the memory of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s (in which we openly supported Saddam and the Iraqi Sunni) would keep the Iraqi Shia closer to the new Iraqi government and away from Tehran. As we all know, the administration has now changed course and is telling anybody who will listen that Iran is fomenting terrorism among the Iraqi Shia. This seems to me another case of the administration creating a theory and making plans under the assumption that it was true, rather than using any sort of real-world evidence. Remember being "greeted as liberators"?

Another interesting tidbit: members of the Joint Staff have threatened to resign if the administration does not remove the "nuclear option" from its contingency plans to bomb Iran. In fact, the Times Online has reported that there are a number of top military leaders who have threatened resignation if we even attack Iran. Good for them, I wish I had some leverage to get my voice heard. Hey, Phil: if CoreStreet attacks Iran, I'm going to quit.

Watch My Life!

If you feel like knowing what happens in my life even before I do (or if you want to see all the photos from 3 years ago that I never bothered to post to my web site), you can subscribe to my Flickr photostream here.

FREE Super Saver Shipping

or, You Always Get What You Pay For

In late January I ordered a new Canon SD700 IS camera to replace my venerable SD400, which died an unpleasant death over Christmas break. As usual, I ordered from Amazon, and not being in any particular rush, I chose their free Super Saver Shipping option. I've had good luck with Super Saver Shipping; some packages arrive within a couple of days. This one, however, did not.

A couple of weeks after ordering, I checked the shipment tracker at Amazon and was amused to find that my camera had been shipped promptly from an Amazon warehouse in California (the state that I live in), and that the next tracking record had the package arriving in Minnesota (nowhere near where I live). The package went out on a truck in Minnesota on 2/13 and after that, silence.

A few days ago, tired of waiting, I notified Amazon that something was fishy. They decided that the package was lost and shipped me a new one, this time via UPS and not USPS. The replacement camera arrived yesterday and seems great. More on that later.

Today, the original shipment finally arrived, looking slightly the worse for wear:

Here's the final shipping route from USPS.com:

• Delivered, February 23, 2007, 12:49 pm, PALO ALTO, CA
  
• Enroute, February 23, 2007, 12:31 am, RICHMOND, CA
  
• Enroute, February 13, 2007, 1:32 pm, SAINT PAUL, MN
  
• Enroute, February 08, 2007, 12:55 pm, RICHMOND, CA
  
• Electronic Shipping Info Received, February 05, 2007

I'm glad that the replacement arrived first; I wouldn't have been too happy to see my expensive new camera in that state. One can only imagine what happened during shipment (theories are welcome).

NPRcasting

Yesterday, Sean blogged about his increasing reliance on podcasts to pass the vast amounts of free time that he has now that Flurry is on cruise control. Short on listening material, he asked for suggestions, and I felt compelled to come to the rescue.

• This American Life is far and away my favorite NPR program. It can't really be described (try explaining Blue Man Group to your mother), but it's well worth your time to check it out if you're not already a regular listener.
• Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is a great way to entertain yourself and to test how well you've been paying attention to the week's news. My favorite section is always the limericks.
• Car Talk, sadly, isn't free. Yet.
  

Of course both of these programs are produced weekly, so they're not going to fill your morning commute every day of the week, but they'll make your Mondays happier.

Yukon Ho!

A mere 6 months after returning from Alaska I have managed to get my photos online. I haven't done any retouching or removed any of the terrible ones, so you're seeing the complete, unfiltered trip as recorded by my trusted SD-400, which has since gone to sleep with the fishes.

Photo Sharing 2.0

I broke down last night and spent the $25 required to upgrade to a Flickr pro account. I've been torn between continuing to use my own personal web site for photo albums, or moving towards a sharing service. In the end, despite all the infrastructure I put into place on my site, it's just much easier to work with a service, and I've found Flickr to be the best, so I made the move. I still plan to use my site for my favorite shots, maybe a gallery of actual quality photography vs. simple photo sharing. We'll see how that goes.

For now, let's explore some of the features of Flickr that I could never hope to replicate on my own. Today, we'll discuss different ways to explore my photos.

1. Tagging. You can't be Web 2.0 without supporting tagging. Want to find all of my photos that I tagged lighthouse? There you go!
   
2. Geotagging. While this feature isn't unique to Flickr, it's the first time I've used it, and I think they've done a great job with the implementation. Want to see all the photos I've taken in Maine? No problem!
3. Calendar. Want to see all of the photos that I took in February, 2007, laid out in a nice, clean calendar? Sure!
4. Combined. Sure, geotagging is neat. And yes, viewing on a calendar is great. But what if I want to combine them and see where I took photos in February, 2007? No problem, Flickr does it!

Now of course, tagging and geotagging require me to put in some effort when I upload my pictures. Tagging is probably going to stay that way, but camera manufacturers are already beginning to embed GPS receivers in their devices, so automatic geotagging is becoming a reality! Unless you take pictures in the subway. Then you're just hosed.

If you're actually viewing this blog, and not reading this post in an aggregator, you'll always be able to see my three most recent Flickr photos over on the right. If you're using an aggregator, why not add me as a contact and subscribe to your Friend's Photos?

I fought the weather...

...and the weather won. I'm stuck in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, trying to get back home to the bay area. There are no seats available today or tomorrow, but hey, waiting standby for a dozen flights promises to be a good time. I'll keep you posted.

United's detailed description of the first flight I'm trying for is as follows:

Time enroute: 4 hour, 38 minute
Meal: null
Entertainment: Movie

I guess I'll need to get dinner before we leave if I get on this one...

Oh Tony...

Three Super Bowls in four years, and Bill Belichick didn't credit God with any of them. Hooray for the separation of church and football.