Type: rss
Encoding: UTF-8
Title: beatnikblog
Link: http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog
Description: drowning in relativism.
Creator: 

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Item: Erotic cleft
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=16>
Date: 2005-02-21 06:42:05 UTC
From *Jennifer and the Master: A Unique Erotica*, a hardcore S&M book 
(opus really), the only book on my desk: 

Within the living mirror, the beholders fondle the erotic cleft between 
them. 

This book was left inexplicably at our doorstep on Valentine’s eve, and 
thus far no one has taken credit. 

Blah blah blah[1]… 

- Grab the nearest book. 
- Open the book to page 123. 
- Find the fifth sentence. 
- Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these 
instructions. 
- Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do 
what’s actually next to you.

[1] http://www.inkstain.net/fleck/archives/001577.html

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****************************************
Item: Masculine Feminine, NYC
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=15>
Date: 2005-02-16 08:13:16 UTC
[A] 

The Gates[1] were overwhelming in their magnitude. The best part was 
when you happened upon an angle or view where you could see 40 or 50 of 
these things all at once in a curvy row. And then wait for the wind to 
blow. They seemed to keep reminding me of women’s dresses. The bright 
orange felt like summer, and momentarily made me forget about my bones 
chattering. I would love to see those bright colors contrasted with pure 
white snow on the ground. 

I arrived at about 7am on Saturday and took the A-line in to Manhattan, 
which takes forever. I was worried about arriving late for the 
unfurling, since I was perceiving that somehow all the gates would be 
opened at once. Luckily (I guess) the many groups of people doing the 
opening took their sweet time, posing for cameras, and joking around. 
They are paid and bonded for insurance purposes, so no, you can’t open 
one of the gates, mister. 

After a few hours of wandering around, and not being able to feel my 
fingers, I go to the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (40 minute 
line wait) to take in a grander view. There were a few good angles, but 
trees obscured a lot. I think it would have been best to go to the roof 
of that very tall building in New York I forget the name of. 

Spent a few hours in the MET looking at beautiful art students painting 
ugly versions of beautiful paintings on the walls. Around this time I 
ran completely out of steam, since I hadn’t slept at all on the red-eye 
flight out. After a few failed attempts to hide in some cozy museum spot 
for a nap, I was out to Times Square to find a hotel no matter the cost. 

Everything was booked. Angry and delusional I vaguely recall badgering 
the desk clerk at The Plaza about the absolute necessity of dorm beds. 
Eventually, a friendly lady at the 5th hotel I tried wrote down a list 
of the 4 lowest priced (crappiest) hotels in Midtown, which usually 
tended to have openings. The second YMCA on the list turned out to be my 
savior, and 20 minutes later I was taking a $70 nap. 

The Y was fine, if you don’t mind prison-style showers, and sleeping in 
your clothes ‘cause you don’t trust the sheets. 

Later that night I met up with an old friend studying in the city, and 
we went out for a night of dinner(s) and revelry. Lesson learned: make 
reservations. Places where you don’t need a reservation to eat probably 
deserve not needing a reservation. The wine was good however. 

Whirlwind tour of Soho, Upper West Side, Midtown, as seen from the 
inside of bars and taxis. Every place in Soho we went seemed to theme 
itself based on color and drown you in its tinted lights. Reds, purple, 
pale green. 

… (details) … 

Wake up on friend’s couch. Walk around central park for a few more 
hours. Almost adjusted to the cold by now, but never the wind. Oh Christ 
The Wind. Lots of happy smiling Valentine’s couples out and about, which 
gets on one’s nerves after a time. 

Fail at trying to find a too-expensive hair salon open on Sunday. Fail 
at going to Cafe “the best pastries in New York” Pagard on Lexington and 
73rd, also closed. Fail at finding a copy of Spring Snow at two Midtown 
booksellers: “Mishima is too, err, intense for this part of town". 

I give up and go shopping. NYC is understandably pretty streamlined for 
shoppers, so I have no problems rerouting a few paychecks. 

A quick $20 taxi ride to LaGuardia, at little incompetent-airline 
two-step, and I’m back home in S.F. by 10pm. All-in-all a pretty 
successful and fulfilling spur of the moment trip. Next time I’ll try to 
bring a change of clothes.

[1] http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/gates.html

[A] 
http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/sharedMedia/TheGates/update/tuesday/_H1U1064T.jpg

Feed: beatnikblog
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog>
Filed under: Life
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Item: Where did I steal this from?
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=14>
Date: 2005-02-15 07:03:02 UTC
Compare…[1] 

Have you ever sent yourself an email containing an attached file so you 
could work on it somewhere else - at home, work, school, or at the 
client’s office - anywhere other than your primary computer? … 

Then iFolder is just for you. You’ll be supprised how easy it is to 
simply save your files the way you always do, and have them 
automatically synchronize in the background while you work. 

and contrast…[2] 

Have you ever felt the frustration at not being able to locate a website 
you wanted to check out, or find an email you found interesting, or 
remember an idea about the direction of the political landscape in 
post-industrial Australia? 

Time for Tomboy. We bet you’ll be surprised at how well a little 
application can make life less cluttered and run more smoothly.

[1] http://www.ifolder.com
[2] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/tomboy

Feed: beatnikblog
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Filed under: Tomboy
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Item: Healthy software
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=13>
Date: 2005-01-13 08:01:32 UTC
A few months ago, when Tomboy[1] was the flavor of the day, some dude 
from CNET asked me a few questions. I believe he died in a freak 
accident (picnic, lightning) because nothing ever came of it. 

But one of the questions was related to something Seth wrote[2]: 

*Is it sufficient to have a useful little app like this referenced on 
various Web sites, or does it need to be part of an open-source/Linux 
package to attract mainstream interest? Has this been one of Gnome’s 
weaknesses against KDE?
*
It really doesn’t make that much of a difference. I think that in the 
minority desktops, good software tends to get used no matter what. But I 
do think it’s only a matter of time before Tomboy or something like it 
is on every Linux desktop. 

This is unfortunate because people tend to care more when software is 
simple and solitary, with a few authors they can personally connect 
with. When a piece of work joins an overarching project it naturally 
becomes dehumanized and taken for granted. 

Personally I like the idea of my software being spread by word of mouth. 
It gives me warm fuzzies to think that everyone that has my software has 
it because they want it. 

There are a lot of lessons to learn from the Mac community here. Their 
community’s culture seems to engender interest in new ideas, friendship, 
and a really warm and fullfilling relationship between developers and 
users. 

This is a direction I’d like to see our Free Software focus on more. 
It’s no coincidence that the Tomboy website looks like that of any 3rd 
party Mac application.

[1] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/tomboy
[2] http://gnomejournal.org/article/5/experimental-culture

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****************************************
Item: Happy News
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=12>
Date: 2004-12-26 10:21:01 UTC
I’ve just begun using Sage[1] again. It is my all-time favorite website 
syndication reader. 

[A][2] 

My reading really dropped off when I had to give it up for a newer 
unsupported Firefox version. 

Well, it’s back. The new version even supports scaling images to fit 
into the brilliant newspaper-style layout. Yay!

[1] https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=77
[2] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/img/sage-rocks-big.png

[A] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/img/sage-rocks.png

Feed: beatnikblog
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****************************************
Item: Anti-Viral Development, contd.
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=10>
Date: 2004-12-09 18:27:58 UTC
*Jeffrey McManus[1], manager of Ebay developer releations replies[2].* 

Jeffrey. It isn’t a one-time fee. It’s a per-user $100 fee, plus a 
multi-phase disconnected registration process that cannot be automated. 
How much of a percentage drop in purchases could you expect if Ebay 
charged $100 for a user’s first purchase, no matter what? 

*NO ONE* (in their right mind or otherwise) is going to go through this 
trouble. 

It’s also important to realize that the only people who would use this 
application are already giving Ebay their money. 

Really, what do you have to lose by opening up the read-only methods for 
all to use for free? I mean, it isn’t[3] as if[4] people[5] aren’t[6] 
screen-scraping[7] already[8].

[1] http://mcmanus.typepad.com/grind/
[2] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=9#comment-125
[3] http://manatee.mojam.com/~skip/triumph/ebay.html
[4] http://torque.oncloud8.com/archives/000099.html
[5] http://news.com.com/2100-1017-253443.html?legacy=cnet
[6] 
http://dev-forums.ebay.com/thread.jsp?forum=3007&#038;thread=100000430
[7] http://sourceforge.net/projects/ebayagent/
[8] http://www.jbidwatcher.com/

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****************************************
Item: Anti-viral Development
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=9>
Date: 2004-12-09 09:24:47 UTC
I started working on an open-source applet that would monitor your 
active Ebay bids and flash when someone out-bids you: 

[A] 

And I can use the multiple Ebay APIs to get the data and avoid 
error-prone screen-scraping to provide a reliable user experience! Man, 
this will be useful… 

People who want to use your application can join the [Developer Program] 
themselves and insert their own set of keys to enable the application. 
Since they will presumably want to use it against live data, there will 
be a charge for them. 

Uh-Oh. [1] 

Ebay’s reasoning for this is not monetary[2], rather that they want to 
promote efficient 3rd-party applications by charging developers large 
subscription fees[3], and requiring thorough registration and app 
certification. 

Of course the only option for most developers (open or proprietary) 
given these restrictions is to screen-scrape, completely defeating the 
stated purpose[4] of the Developer Program. 

It’s amazing that a large company, built largely around a viral business 
model can be this hypocritical.

[1] http://dev-forums.ebay.com/thread.jsp?forum=3&#038;thread=100000780
[2] http://dev-forums.ebay.com/thread.jsp?forum=3&#038;thread=100000534
[3] http://developer.ebay.com/DevProgram/membership/services.asp
[4] http://developer.ebay.com/DevProgram/membership/index.asp

[A] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/img/ebay-applet.png

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****************************************
Item: How to get rid of telemarketers
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=8>
Date: 2004-12-01 22:04:38 UTC
*“Hello. Todd?”* 

“No, this is Alex.” 

*“Oh, is this another household member?”* 

“Yeah, do you want me to take a message?” 

*“Maybe you would be interested in helping to support the city’s 
Firefighter League?”* 

“Uhh, you’re talking to the wrong household member. I don’t have any 
money.” 

*“It would only be a small…”* 

“No, you don’t understand. I sleep on the couch.”

Feed: beatnikblog
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****************************************
Item: Screwed by a bitmask
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=7>
Date: 2004-11-15 19:42:00 UTC
[A] 

Since moving to Southern California, and since I am nearly penniless, I 
have decided to take a temporary service-industry job at a small 
business in town. To pay for food while I look for some interesting 
programming work[1]. 

So after applying to several places and taking the first offer (Pier 1 
Imports, $7.50/hour), I’ve been hassled for the last two days with the 
proving of my identity… 

On the INS’s Form I-9, used to establish employment eligibility, Section 
2 regarding the presentation of forms of identity reads: 

*Examine one document from List A OR examine one document from List B 
_and_ from List C* 

For me, this translates to: 

A || (B && C) 

Since I had presented a valid U.S. passport (List A) and a Virginia 
Driver’s License (List B), I believed I was in the clear. 

Today however, I learned that according to this manager’s 
interpretation, I am not. Instead I must present a form of 
identification from List C. Namely a Social Security Card I do not have. 

You see, the manager who has been handling hirings for over 10 years, 
reads the above instructions (disregarding all the form’s other visual 
queues) as: 

(A || B) && C 

This misinterpretation means 10-12 days of waiting for the Social 
Security Department to create a card for me. Which means at least 
another month before my first paycheck.

[1] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/resume-current.pdf

[A] http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/wp-content/pier1-logo.gif

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****************************************
Item: Wanna see something amazing?
<http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/index.php?p=6>
Date: 2004-10-26 00:54:45 UTC
[A][1] 

Go Play[1], and remember to save. 

It’s WebNote[2]! 

(Thanks to Danah[3] for the clue-in).

[1] http://www.aypwip.org/webnote/zephoria
[2] http://www.aypwip.org/webnote/
[3] http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/

[A] http://www.zephoria.org/images/aypwip.jpg

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