radio show: Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me

Sep 26 2000 0 comments

Things sure have changed since the early 70s.

Sep 26 2000 0 comments

Daily Condition:

In CD Player: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville

My condition: Trying to adjust to my new glasses. Compared to my lithe, gossamer pince nez, these feel like welding goggles. The pince nez are in the shop, getting new lenses fitted.

Sep 22 2000 0 comments

Derek Recommends:

radio: This American Life

art - news - documentary - literature - entertainment - all - none. They even admit it on their website, the show is almost indescribable. Best experienced, and in their wonderful grace the TAL people have RealAudio versions of most everything they've done online.

Sep 21 2000 0 comments

Daily Condition:

In CD Player: soundtrack Run Lola Run

my condition: Tired. Looking forward to furniture shopping after work.

Sep 20 2000 0 comments

9/20/00 Privacy & Cybercrime Summit

Since I'm a licensed insurance agent, I get a lot of notices of a variety of seminars & classes on important info. A couple days ago, I got one notice which attracted me more than "state government law revisions 1999" or anything like that. Free for all, and not limited to just insurance agents, today I attended a Privacy and Cybercrime Summit, sponsored by the state Attorney General's office, with the office of the State Insurance Commissioner. The summit consisted of four sections -- the first two being panels of experts in electronic privacy, the first panel specific to the financial world, the second being medical. After a generous 1-1/2 hour lunch, things restarted with an Identity Theft context; first, the Chief Agent of ND BCI showing how information can be found & misused, and second, The director of Consumer Protection with the Attorney General's office spoke about how to protect against identity theft.

The first two panels had an excellent cross-section of influential people. Ed Mierzwinski, of the US Public Interest Research Group, was the token fearmonger, making paper tigers and painted devils for all to fear, retaining a very conservative and fearful outlook of the future of information sharing. To his left was Lawrence Thompson, a ND resident who was a victim of "identity theft" in the loosest sense, consisting of fraud on his bank accounts by an ineffective idiot. These two were the only people that I felt did not need to be heard from; Ed at least demonstrated a common uninformed viewpoint, and happily his comments were discredited by other panelists, especially Ken Reynolds of the Association of Banks-In-Insurance. The rest of the panelists all brought forward a variety of rhetoric regarding the benefits, drawbacks, problems, and simplification due to free exchange of data and reduction in personal privacy. Continue reading…

Sep 17 2000 0 comments

Derek Recommends:

drug: Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride

sure,CD-1 mouse infant mortality during the dosing period (i.e., gestational day 11 through 14) was 8.6% (3/35) in the high dose group, but at least it helps chear up my itchy, runny nose!

Sep 17 2000 0 comments

There's a commercial I see often. I'm not sure what it's for; hair-regrowth medication, antihistamines, preventing herpes outbreaks, not sure, I know it's a medication. Can't remember which one exactly. That classic rock song "After Midnight" is playing in the background, as men & women frolick.

Probably the reason I don't remember anything else about the commercial is due to one scene in the middle of the commercial. There's a guy standing in the water, with a girl on his shoulders. Then, he flips her over, and the film cuts away just as she goes in, backwards and head-first.

The reason I grimace, that the 1-second scene has made such an impact on my mind, is that the water barely comes up to his waist. I can only imagine the neck injuries sustained in that instant after the camera cuts away, when the headfirst-woman's skull hits the sandy bottom.

ok, he's probably standing on a box in much deeper water, but it's still a disturbing scene)

Sep 16 2000 0 comments

Ah, the little cylindrical Fisher Price people with ball-shaped heads. I played with many in my youth, never choked on one, but the new Fisher Price people are bigger than a child's esophagus (and, in my opinion, less play-worthy). Man, those Little People were fun!

As you've read in an earlier message, my parents keep everything. After a quick visit last week, I came home with as many classic Fisher Price toys as possible. My daughter has been playing with them non-stop since they were unpacked. Little farmers, little elephants, that strange anthropomorphic black dog (comparable in size to the humans), little horses, and a little barn which moos when you open it. After she goes to bed, it's my turn!

Sep 15 2000 0 comments

Derek Recommends:

place: Circle B Ranch

Cowboy dinner theatre may sound hokey, but it's not in the least. Excellent food, fun entertainment, and great music just make up a great evening.

Sep 6 2000 0 comments

I participated in a survey a few months ago, and the findings are quite interesting.

Sep 5 2000 0 comments

Derek Recommends:

film: 1984

By someone who has not seen the film, I was warned "it won't be as good as the book. They never are."

In the case of 1984, the two are not mutually exclusive. Had I not read the book, the movie would not have made sense. It seems as though this cooperation of media was intended. There are innumerable subtleties which are explained in the book, but are left unsaid in the movie. The movie does not explain what happens - that's why you read the book. The movie shows the contents of the book. On the whole, the film was very true to the book, with minor differences (the passing of Goldstein's book, for instance). The film was not entertainment: it was demonstration, it was expression of Orwell's thoughts. The things which make you wince as you read them make you wince as you watch, the parts which force you to think make you think again. Knowing the outcome is irrelevant. And, for that, I recommend the movie to anyone who has read the book, especially if it was forced upon you in the name of education.

Everyone else should read the book anyways.

And, the soundtrack full of prototechno music from the Eurhytmics was excellent.

Sep 4 2000 0 comments

9/4/00 The road to Emmaus

After rearranging furniture, a print of The Way to Emmaus ended up being moved to the wall above the dining room table, filling the void where there had been tall bookcases. My daughter & I were sitting, eating lunch, and she suddenly asked, "Who are those guys?"

I answered, "That is Jesus, and two of his friends."

"Who's Jesus?"

Such a question is to be expected from a toddler. Possibly even more so from my daughter. Long ago, I made the choice to raise her without religion. That is not to say, as an atheist. There is a distinct difference. Continue reading…

Sep 3 2000 0 comments

I've been reading other blogs, trying to see why a site like "stile project" would ever attract attention. Or most other blogs, for that matter. Some blogs attract enormous amounts of traffic; but, why?

I think the difference between me and the other blogs are:

a: I don't vent personal opinions;
b: I don't relate overly personal bits of my life.

I don't feel a need to do either of these, so that's why my site is laid out this way. My opinions are pretty much restricted to computers, music, reading material, and the like, but not much else, nothing significant. I do well with my personal life on my own, so blabbing about it to the online world doesn't have much satisfaction for me.

So, I write about the things I see, the things I experience, bits of the world around me, in hopes that those bits make up a whole, in the end.

But, that doesn't attract visitors, so why do I do it?

Hmmmmm........

Sep 2 2000 0 comments

Sep 1 2000 0 comments

Derek Recommends:

film: SE7EN

This has to be one of the greatest movies ever. It follows much of the structure of greek tragedy, it has a self-contained story, and amazing cinematography all make this the best movie I have ever seen.

Sep 1 2000 0 comments

Daily Condition:

In CD Player: Self, subliminal plastic motives -- Rescued from the $2 bin at a thrift shop, it caught my eye. Pleasantly catchy, just enough creativity to make it listenable, it's pretty good, but not neccesarily great. Well worth the $2.

My condition: looking forward to the 3-day weekend.