WMATA approves 3rd party iPod system maps

Unlike NYC or San Francisco, the DC/MD/VA metro system sees the value of these iPod compatible maps and their legal department is actually open to third party distribution of the map within very understanding parameters. The DC metro system, though it is far from perfect has many of the other public transportation systems in this country beat. Glad to see it has a more progressive view towards electronic distribution of its maps.

What is Google up to?

Apparently I'm not the only one with positive feelings about moving forward with a renewed lunar initiative. Google seems to have a great deal of interest in this as well.

• Google's Out of This World -MSNBC.com


• Moon Google(zoom in on these maps for a revealing truth about the moon)


• Google Copernicus Center hirings

Either way this is a lot more interesting than Google Talk...

Canyoneroooooo

The Canyonero as any Simpon's fan knows is the SUV that Homer bought, without knowing it was the female centric F-Series model, and ended up giving to his wife Marge. I just got back from lunch at the little shopping center down the road and there were plenty of HUGE SUV's and mega pickups to be seen. For some people I can understand the need. If you have kids, sure I can definitely see the benefit. Plenty of other careers aside from parent also call for a vehicle of this size. But I know that for every person with a real need for such a vehicle there is some turkey who just wants one because its a big status symbol of some kind.

No matter what the reason for having these rolling battleships is, I don't care. I can get along fine with them. As long as the person behind the wheel can drive and park the damn thing. I swear half of the people behind the wheels of these things don't have a good bearing on where there vehicle is and heaven help any car, person, tree or curb that happens to be in the way.

A few months ago, my wife and I watched as a woman tried to park a vehicle that might as well have been the fictious Canyonero. The thing was bigger then some small buses. For some reason, instead of realizing her abilities with the vehicle and parking farther out where she had room to move, she decided to back into a tight little corner space. It must have taken her 15 minutes before she realized it wasn't happening. Now the vehicle was full of kids, must have been 8 of them. So she obviously needed something to take her own version of the Van Trap family around town. But honestly I think another license classification needs to be made for people who want to drive these things.

I'll finish this entry out with lyrics to one of my favorite jingles to come from the Simpons:

Can you name the truck with four wheel drive,
smells like a steak and seats thirty-five..

Canyonero! Canyonero!

Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down,
It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown!

Canyonero! (Yah!) Canyonero!
[Krusty:] Hey Hey

The Federal Highway comission has ruled the
Canyonero unsafe for highway or city driving.

Canyonero!

12 yards long, 2 lanes wide,
65 tons of American Pride!

Canyonero! Canyonero!

Top of the line in utility sports,
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!

Canyonero! Canyonero! (Yah!)

She blinds everybody with her super high beams,
She's a squirrel crushing, deer smacking, driving machine!

Canyonero!-oh woah, Canyonero! (Yah!)

Drive Canyonero!

Woah Canyonero!

Woah!

September 2005 Comic Book Wrap-Up

The summer has come to a close and with many of the mini-series from Marvel and DC are coming close to finishing up. This summer has been filled with fantastic mini-series from both of the main corporate publishers, DC Comics & Marvel. As far as my dollars are concerned, DC was the clear winner. They're strategy of having multiple mini-series serving as a lead up to a upcoming maxi-series is a fantastic marketing ploy and offered up some interesting stories for us fans. Of all the "Infinite Crisis" countdown mini's, Villians United had to be the one I looked forward to the most. I've always been a reader whose enjoyed the stories and series that focused squarely on the villians as the main characters. When I was a kid I loved Marvel's occasional super-villian team-ups or the occasional story that focused on a villian like the Joker or Dr. Doom.

Villians United through out its 6 issue run has served up an interesting mystery and has given readers the glee of seeing pages filled with a who's who of DC's stable of villians, in my opinion the most colorful variety of characters in comics. The artwork has been consistently solid and the writing has been strong. The characters all seemed true to their past selves, with the notable exception of the Catman, whose change in personality is one component explored in the series.

Other notable series from DC that have also been fun to read include the new Green Lantern Corp series that started last week. Seeing the Green Lantern Corp's return to the DC Universe is actually more exciting to me then the return of Silver Age Lantern, Hal Jordan. I always enjoyed the assortment of characters in the GLC books. I'm still adjusting to the artwork in the series by Patrick Gleason, but I love the writing stylings of Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons. The first issue is promising, I'm hoping it will continue to build from this positive start and maybe lead to a permenant series. With so many characters and potential storylines I can easily see it being a vehicle for the other popular GL characters.

Other books from DC that must reads, include my long-time favorite from the Vertigo line, Fables and back in the superhero world the first story arc in JSA Classified has been increasingly intriguing as the clues behind Power Girl's origins are revealed along with their possible connection to the upcoming Infinite Crisis.

These are fun times to be a DC Comics reader and a comic book reader in general. There is a high-level of talent both in writing and artwork that hasn't been present in the industry for a long time. If only they could bring the prices back down to 60 cents or even a buck, then I'd be totally happy.

It's almost m'birthday

I'm actually in a decent mood, so no rants or grumpy old man complaining today. I'm looking forward to the weekend, since Sunday will be my 32nd birthday. Tomorrow the wife and I are heading up to Cumberland, MD to take a ride on the scenic railroad through the mountains. I love trains, especially steam engines, so this is a great birthday treat for me. A few years back we went to Strasburg, PA where they have a fantastic train museum and a great steam engine ride through the Amish farmlands. The train ride in Cumberland is a bit longer and comes with a meal. Since it's my b-day, my Lady sprung for first-class seats, very nice :-)

After this week at work, I could definitely use a relaxing ride through the mountains. I like my new job, but whew this was a tough week!

Folks have asked me what I want for my birthday, what do I want? what do I want? I'm actually in a place right now where I don't want much. At least nothing special, nothing I couldn't just get for myself. Spending a day with my wife doing something we enjoy sounds like a good present to me.

Take me to the Moon...

I really hope that future administrations & Congress give the support needed for NASA to follow through on it's plans for a Moon landing by 2018. In my less then educated opinion establishing some of sort of facilities on the moon will be the key to our future space exploration whether they be manned or unmanned exploration missions. So much fuel and power is needed to push vessels through the Earth's atmosphere alone, being able to launch & refuel vessels from the Moon would be such an asset to the program.

The process of setting up a facility on the Moon would also be valuable for future colonization efforts. I've been frustrated for awhile that with the closing of the Apollo program the Moon has been all but ignored instead of maturing to a next level. I've been disappointed with the progress made on the space station project and I've continually angered by the management of the shuttle program.

I'm a space nut, in addition to being a total geek. Even though most of the world has forgotten about them for now, I still like checking in on the two rovers on Mars seeing what new footage they have pulled up. All the while loving the fact that these machines have outlasted even the most optimistic projections for their lifespan on the planet. Being able to take in an alien world is just incredible, continously learning new things about the planet, has me dreaming about the potential for colonization or alien life (no matter how primitive in form).

I'm not optimistic that I'll see space colonization in my life time, which is unfortunate. But with technology in robotics, computers, and even propolsion, advancing at such a fast rate maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to hope so.

Arrr...It be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

All you lubbers might not know it, but tis International Talk Like a Pirate Day! All you bilge rats hold your grog up high and toast this day. May it grow with every year! Aye, tis a good day indeed.

TUAW - Apple's Big iPod/iTunes reveal

The Unoffical Apple Weblog, summed up nicely very similar feelings to my own regarding the new products presented by Apple. Don't get me wrong, I'm a long-time Apple/Mac so I don't want to come across as a basher or hater. Apple billed this event to the press as the second coming of the iPod, the start of a new revolution comparable to the introduction of the original iPod. With that kind of build-up, these new product don't come close to living up to that level of hype.

ah well

Katrina Survivors' Blog

An interesting blog & web cams maintained by folks at Intercosmos Media Group who have stayed camped out on the 27th floor of their office building to maintain their web servers after Katrina blew through New Orleans.

MRR Tech News Snooze

I'm a tech & gadget junkie so of course I follow stories even remotely involving tech closely. This has been a slow few days for tech news, but there are still things going on that baffle or bug me.

In the "bugs me" category is Creative's declaration that it will take legal action against Apple and possibly other digital music player producers who have used a similiar software file organization design. Companies who to flex muscle in the tech arena through legal action instead of through innovation just seems to be "fighting dirty". It was damned sloppy of Apple's legal department not to patent their music player software sooner. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out, I'm sure Apple will have evidence of previous work that pre-dates or is independent of Creative's claim. That's more my attorney brother's territory of knowledge then my own, but from what I know of crazy US patent laws it could go either way. It should be interesting.

In the baffles me category, is the current software offerings coming from Google. First there was the new Google IM. I understand having an IM app, adds to their well-rounded suite of offerings but the 'Net needs another IM service like a hole in the head. Internet usage has matured to the point that folks have settled into and built networks into the services they like already. The Google chat IM seems like very little, very late.

Another Google offering to Mac users is a little app that notifies you when new messages arrive in your gmail account. What a useless little throwaway, it's not even worth the effort. With the pop support offered in Gmail you can feed the e-mail for that account right to your favorit e-mail app. I just don't see the value added by this little mini app.

Labor Day Weekend

I'm back at work today feeling refreshed and feeling good. With me in this pleasant mood, I don't have any "rants" to unleash today. Quite the opposite. During the three day weekend, the Lady and I stayed home instead of taking a trip to the beach or something along those lines.

On Friday night going well into the wee hours of Saturday morning we assembled our new queen sized bed. Something the Lady found on overstock.com. It's a great bed, a matte black metal frame and you couldn't beat the price. The assembly instructions sucked like a Hoover, but we overcame & triumphed. The advertised half-hour for assembly time definitely wasn't an accurate estimation on the part of the company. The mattress and box spring came on Saturday and we were in business. This is an upgrade for us in bed size and it makes a considerable difference. Plus the mattress is fantastic, my back hasn't felt this good in years.

Sunday morning we had brunch with another couple at Georgia Brown's near MacPherson Square in DC. This was the first time any of us had dined there and it went way beyond any of our expectations. We'd heard it was good, but we didn't realize how good. I've had many kinds of french toast at a variety of restaurants & locations. Georgia Brown's had some of the best I'd ever tasted. It was very good and different from any I'd had, especially in a buffet setting. There was a chocolate fountain in the dessert area where you could dip strawberries, cakes, and other treats for a great fresh dessert.

I can't even begin to list all the items. Suffice to say, everything was good. The operators of the restaurant wisely staggered the reservation times so that the buffet never had a long line or was overwhelmed. There was also a live jazz band that started playing around 11am, which was also great. They really added to the experience.After that brunch the restaurant also has a full selection of entree for you to select from to take home for dinner later on in the day. All included in the initial price. It was an experience that I can't wait to repeat.

Sunday we roamed around the area doing a little shopping. I picked up a couple CD's at Tower, a Led Zepplin album that I'd wanted and couldn't download from the Apple music store and a cheap Coltraine album. Later that night I BBQ'd a batch of chicken for dinner and lunch during the week...it turned out great.

I hope all the readers of this blog had a great Labor Day weekend.

Katrina Aftermath

I can't stop watching the coverage or reading about the ongoing situation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent days of flooding have reduced the city to a watery hell of anarchy, death, disease and desperation. While taking in the information about the current plight of New Orleans, I'm filled with a great deal of anger and heartache. My anger is directed to many parties, specifically I have anger towards people taking advantage of the situation to pursue their illegal activities, anger and disbelief at whoever is responsible for the sniping at National Guard and copter rescue personnel, and anger to the Louisana state government & federal gov't.

How could Louisana not have an adequate emergency plan in place? Why hadn't more precautions been taken? Meteorologists have been predicting increasingly strong hurricane seasons for many years now. At least five years ago experts researched & presented the reprecussions a major hurricane on the city and state. I'm shocked and dismayed by the lack of preparedness and the make it up as we go mentality that seems to be managing the current efforts.

Through the years 2002-2004, every year I'd had the opportunity to visit New Orleans for one reason or another. It was most often attached to a convention or a business trip, but I had plenty of opportunities to explore and take the city in. The city has such an strong soul that I formed an attachement to. The music and food are fantastic, which shouldn't come as a surprise. But I really fell in love with the history & culture of the city, the beautiful decay of the architecture in the French Quarter, and the southern elegance of the Garden district.

I don't have an idealized tourist's view of the city. I'm well aware of the crime problems present in there, the constant struggle with poverty that many in the city and throughout the state have to deal with, and corruption that has been present in the state government. I come from Washington, DC, I definitely realize that no city is perfect. But flaws aside, this was a beautiful city to me. One that I looked forward to visiting year after year.

The surreal images of familiar landmarks such as Canal Street looking very much like a canal or the bodies & desperate survivors outside of the convention center are just mind boggling to me. It is difficult to process that these streets and places that I walked through have been changed so drastically. My prayers are with all of those effected.

Though my blog has a considerably limited audience, I still want to place a link for the America's Second Harvest website. This food bank network is putting a call out for donations of money or time to help those in need after this terrible disaster.