Schinckel.net

Address to Namber: schinckel.net is smoke.show.study.stop.mysteryrobot.com

From Nambers.

The new plan for writing a novel. Use the random link feature of Wikipedia to get ideas - and the ideas must be weaved into the story as they are found. No skipping pages, or other tricky stuff. I can’t wait - NaNoWriMo 05, lookout. (It must be better than my last year’s effort).

I’ve made little secret of the respect I have for people who elope. This is the place to go: Graceland Chapel. Vegas, Baby!

I kinda like the Finder’s column view. I would like to be able to browse within archives, though. Kinda like Windows does. Like my old Amiga used to do, with the ARC: filesystem installed.

I read the document referenced on some blog I read (Sorry!) and noticed how glowing it was of LimeWire. Now, I seem to recall LimeWire installing several things on my PC when I installed it - and one of them still exists in the Add/Remove software section. Then I noticed the line down the bottom of the document:

Disclosures This article builds on paid consulting I conducted for LimeWire. I thank LimeWire for their willingness to let me share my findings with the public.

Hmm. I’m not at all suspicious.

I really like RSS as a technology. For the uninitiated, instead of checking a web-site to see if something is updated, or having an email account, you have an XML file that keeps the most up-to-date data in it, and this file can be downloaded (if it has changed since the last check) and the new entries can be easily displayed. I have about 55 feeds I currently subscribe to, including:

• Adelaide Airport, Australia Weather
• CSTA (Central Scorpions Touch Association)
• New Scientist
• Dilbert
• MacOSX Hints

As you can see, they vary between news sites, blogs, cartoons and weather reports. The great thing about them is that, unlike email, if you miss a couple of days, (depending on the feed length) you just skip that stuff, and go onto the newer entries. Of course, for some things email is still more appropriate. What I’d really like to see are the following:

• A feed for my bank account: a list of latest transactions. This would enable me to keep a close check on how much money I’m spending, and allow me to spot fraud fairly quickly.
• A feed for new (for instance) books at the library that I might be interested in.

The difference between the like-to feeds is the individualisation. RSS now allows for authorisation on feeds, this would allow me (and only me) to access certain feeds, while, if I am too busy (on holidays, for instance) I just miss that news. Still, I’m waiting for my libraries to actually email me when a) my books are overdue, and b) my reservations have come in. Surely b) would save them a heap of money: since they post out notices in the mail whenever a book arrives…

An interesting point I just discovered in The Hacker Crackdown: Apple used the FBI in the early 90s to find a leak or leaks - someone who stole code about QuickDraw - and effectively dealt with it internally. No charges were laid against the person who published the details, only the employees/contractors who stole the code. Compare this with the recent legal action taken by Apple against that guy from ThinkSecret, or MacRumours or wherever. Whether Apple has taken action against the original source is not obvious, but clearly action is being taken against the public ‘reporter’. Perhaps the current ease of publishing such information to a wider range of people, who can actually make use of the data is responsible. Or maybe, you’ve changed, Apple…

The Wave Magazine - The Bay Area’s Best Entertainment Magazine… Ever.: http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=24184 Yay! I’ve only scored 5 of the possible 10 top dorkiest things to do - of course, most of them I don’t do anymore. Bonus points for anyone who can guess which 5 I have done at some point in my life…not that anyone reads this thing, anyway.

Boing Boing: Replica 1949 Bell Black phones for $60: Ho-hum. I bought Jaq a red phone looking very much like this about 8 years ago!

When multiple users are logged into MacOS X, only the lowest uid user can use the ScanGear scanner!