Pascale Soleil: creativeTechnician

Lileks kicks Windows booty

There are millions of happy customers who'd throw themselves in front of a bus rather than switch platforms. But as I've said before, the keyboard-map problem is fascinating to me and the techs because there is no reason it should be happening. In fact, it can't. I'm accessing a local program, not one on the network. There is nothing in the start-up procedure that overwrites old preference files. There is no reason that replacing the keyboard map should make the OS unable to find the parent program. This is where computers meet the realms of philosophy: if a thing is impossible, yet appears before you, then it obviously is not impossible. Yet it is not possible for it to be possible. All those philosophers who wondered if it was possible for God to create an object He could not move are missing the point. If God is running Windows, then He will just get an error message informing Him that the object does not exist. And, being God, He will have known in advance He would get that message. Just as I know every day I will get the error message. Use Windows, and draw closer to God! The cursing tends to even things out, though.

Since when does the NY Times run advertorials?

Okay, this annoyed me pretty badly. For years now David Gelertner ~ computer scientist and Unabomber victim ~ has been flogging his idea that the "desktop" should go away in favor of an interface whose underpinnings are chronological. I think that might work great for some people (like Gelertner, whose office is apparently a morass of towering piles of paper), but it definitely wouldn't be helpful as a primary interface for me. Would it be helpful as an option? Sure (6 Degrees, etc.). But the validity of his (wretched and incorrect) idea is not what has me so irked. No, it's that the NY Times decided it was okay to have him author an article essentially hawking his own damned software. Where oh where was the editorial judgment on this one? And as if THAT weren't enough, he goes into a long rationalization on why they decided to build their incredibly wonderful and innovative systems on top of Windows.

Windows is no tool for the future and doesn't claim to be. Technology's future can't possibly be based on treating computers as if they were hyped-up desks and file cabinets - passive pieces of ugly furniture. Computers are active machines, and information-management software had better treat them that way. But Windows can play a central role in giving the future a leg up. It can supply a stable, ubiquitous platform for the future to stand on. We built our system on Microsoft Windows because Windows is a reliable, solid, reasonably priced, nearly universal platform - and for the software future, "universal" is nonnegotiable. We need to run the system on as many computers as possible and manage the maximum range of electronic documents. Of course, another operating system, Linux, is also clamoring for attention. Linux and Windows are both children of the 70's: Linux grew out of Unix, invented by AT&T; Windows is based on the revolutionary work of Xerox research. In technology years, these loyal and devoted operating systems are each approximately 4,820 years old. (Technology years are like dog years, only shorter.) Each is nonetheless still solid enough to be a good, steady platform for the next step in software. But Windows is the marketplace victor and has now won a decisive legal imprimatur. There is no technical reason for us to move to Linux; why should we switch? Why should our customers? Some argue for Linux on economic and cultural grounds: Microsoft, people say, has driven up prices and suppressed innovation. But this is a ticklish argument at best: after all, over the decade of Microsoft's hegemony, computing power has grown cheaper and cheaper. Innovation has thrived. Our software is innovative; it has not been suppressed. On the contrary, more and more people get interested. Operating systems are the moldy basements of computing. We used to live down there, but are now moving upstairs to healthier quarters. We rely on the courts and antitrust laws to keep Microsoft from abusing its enormous power. We need Microsoft itself to be the universal stepladder that lets us climb out of our hole and smell the roses.

I challenge you, O Faithful Readers to enumerate the errors of fact and judgment in the above paragraphs. All I have to say is:
Credibility total: 0 [Update: Now Scripting News is pointing to Aaron Swartz pointing to Gelertner's article. The only significant difference between my article and Aaron Swartz's seems to be that he doesn't think Gelertner's ideas suck.]

Everything New is Old Again

What's up with the Retro Radio look, you ask? I will refrain from boring you with the whole saga. Suffice it to say that right after I achieved happy happy joy joy with DSL my weblog went to hell (not that I think there was any connection between the two events). A radio.root update failed, making it impossible to update. The things I did to correct the problem compounded it instead. I lost all my custom templates. I've had it with the Radio black box. You'll have to put up with this generic look until I get it together to build my own weblogging environment. I'll be using Filemaker, NetWireNews, and probably Fetch for FTP. I may change commenting systems (I had been using YACCS, although this current Userland template uses the Userland server system). In any case, I'll soon be in an environment where I'll be able to take the reins. When that happens, all my pages will be moving to the both2and.com domain. That means any links you have to items or archive pages will be wrong. I'm really sorry about that. You'll be able to make them right by swapping "http://www.both2and.com/" for "http://radio.weblogs.com/01001595/". But all this is some days or weeks a way. I'll let you know. Thanks for bearing with me. And sorry for the very uninteresting look. I'm now officially behind in EVERYTHING.

DSL Rocketh

What it goes to show is, you have to make a huge pest out of yourself. Nicely. You have to be willing to spend hours on hold, crack jokes with the tech folk, and generally have The Patience of a Saint. You must call every day at 11 pm and just sit there repeating the same stupid troubleshooting procedures even though YOU KNOW they won't work any better the umpeenth time than they did the umpteen-1st time. Also, you mustn't speak too soon, and you must ask that the trouble ticket remain open for 24 hours lest everything go south overnight. But may I say in the meantime: WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!!

DSL, as if

Okay, I was going to restrict myself to mere updates of the previous "Doing DSL" post. But there's only so much flashing of amber and green, of endless hours on hold listening to tasteful classical and jazz music, and interactions with tech support whose assumptions clearly range from "She's probably a bored housewife" to "Maybe she has actually done some wiring as she claims." After the last call, which came to an unsatisfactory conclusion at 11:45 tonight, my restraint has been overwhelmed with peevitude. I will, however, give a shout-out to my Earthlink tech man Gene in Harrisburg, PA who at least has a decent sense of humor and was sympathetic to my plight without being smarmy about it. Not that I feel somehow that this will lead to improved results or anything. My line is apparently marvelously noiseless and swift, so if I do actually ever manage to hook up with the server, well, it should be all greased lightning after that. Perhaps I'll wake up tomorrow morning to a glorious steady green glow of connectivity. Hope springs eternal. Yeah, right.

Killer App for .Mac

I submitted this idea to Apple awhile back, but I'm getting impatient, so I thought I'd share it with you lovely people as well. I think we can agree that, even if their version 1.0 software often leaves a bit to be desired, Apple ultimately does a great job with bundled basic consumer software (iTunes, iPhoto, even iCal). So what would get people to sign up in droves for the somewhat pricey .Mac service? Really good weblogging software. (iBlog, anyone?) Think about it: it's a natural. Everyone wants a blog. Everyone wants nice spiffy templates designed by some of the best in the business. Everyone wants to have an excuse to use all those megabytes of webserver space. Apple currently provides pagemaking facilities for .Mac, but they could be so much better. How cool would it be to have all this stuff available in a nice intuitive weblog package right "out of the box," as it were? Integrated with iPhoto and iCal as a bonus, it could be a knockout. So, those of you who subscribe to .Mac, won't you please go and add your $.02 in the suggestion area?

You Know You Want It

Okay, maybe you don't. But I'm still cranking it out anyway: another Dennis chunk hits the web.

Onward

More Dennis is available.

More things I don't understand...

...but wish I did. I love this attitude though:

Everything sufficiently beautiful is connected to all other beautiful things! Follow the beauty and you will learn all the coolest stuff.

That comment comes from the website of John Baez, who is a mathematician and physicist. I wound up there following a link from boing boing about the Voynich manuscript, which is apparently one of Baez's many interests. He also looks at the ongoing Bogdanov uproar in the physics community. Those topics I can just about get the gist of. By the time I started looking at what he does for work, and hit "spin foam models," my eyes were rolling back in my head and I gave up in defeat. More "Instant Humility".

British Blues Radio

Wow. I've just discovered another bonus of being a Mac user: I'm listening to British Blues Radio, one of the built-in iTunes internet radio stations. I'm making quite the fool of myself at my desk, groovin' and movin'. I'm impressed by how good the sound quality is over the fast connection. And not many commercial interruptions either.

Installment 1

Yes, I have begun. And may God have mercy on my soul.

NaNoWriMo 2002

Tomorrow the marathon commences. My tome is tentatively entitled: Dennis or Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. You'll find a reliable link to the work in progress at left. I cannot guarantee that the material will emerge in a narratively linear fashion, in fact I can pretty much guarantee that the raw stuff will come out in random order. Read at your own risk and PLEASE do not make any critical comments. It'll be hard enough to crank out the words without being reminded that it sucks. Updates to the Wayback Journal will probably suffer during November.

The Rabbit Speaks Sooth

Apropos of "Reclaiming My Life: A Declaration of Intent" come these words of wisdom from the Rabbit.

Sure, sometimes I'm jealous of certain friends, and sometimes some friends are jealous of me, but those feelings have nothing to do with anyone's successes - they're merely an indication to us that we're resisting our callings, or wasting our talents. Everyone is pathetic and insecure now and then. The happier among us know that such feelings usually indicate that it's time for a change. What could you do that would feel like a worthwhile accomplishment, if only to you, and why aren't you doing it?

Yeah, what she said.

Robust Technology

You know it's time to call it a night when your iBook does a back-flip off the bed onto the floor, slamming itself shut face down and putting an unfortunate crimp in the powerplug. You know you're a freakin' addict when you fail to take the hint, open the poor abused iBook right on up again, and continue as if nothing had happened. You know you're livin' lucky when everything still works, from the sticky-outy 128 MB USB flash drive, to the keyboard, to the Airport net connection that didn't skip a beat. Technology that doesn't break: god love it.

Let's Talk

This is good news.

America Online will allow its next version of AOL Instant Messenger to communicate with ICQ, a surprise move that will connect the company's two popular instant messaging services, reports c|net. "We're implementing the test in response to the growth of AOL in Europe, ICQ's leadership in Europe, and some consumer feedback from AOL members who wanted the ability to exchange instant messages with ICQ members," said AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley.

I expect iChat will get to go along for the ride. [via MacMinute]

BLoD: Red Bull Gives You Wings

Or not. As the case may be. I've recently become a Red Bull fan, but I have to ask: What were they thinking? They sponsored a human-powered flight competition. One competitor's response when asked about his Rube Goldberg contraption, "But will it fly?"

It depends on your definition of flying. It will fall gracefully.

I think that's now my new motto. In any case, make sure you look at the gallery of pictures. [via Wired]

Doing DSL

Well, now, I ordered DSL from Earthlink for my home, since I'll be giving up my office next month. I should be able to set it up with my Airport and have my Cube and my iBook wirelessly broadbanded. They've already sent me my set-up kit, which I've already set up. The little blinking light on the modem says a DSL connection is indeed available. But I'm not getting a connection PPoE to Earthlink. Yet. I'll give it to the end of the week and then scream bloody murder. [Update: I will officially be screaming bloody murder tomorrow. Blinkety-blink, my ass. We are not amused. Especially as they have switched my billing over to DSL and I'll probably be charged a fortune for my dial-up use.] [Another update: The screaming has commenced. I have tracking numbers, I've taken names. Of course there has been no literal screaming. I do not scream. I am excruciatingly polite. The tech contact says all should be resolved by Wednesday. We shall see.] [More: Another conversation with yet another tech person this morning, after getting a message to call at 8:30 pm last night. Well, at least they're behaving like they're on the case. A curious note ~ each of the guys I've spoken with has an incrementally heavier Texas accent. For some mysterious reason, this inspires confidence in me. Anyway, this chap says the problem is at the router level (bad port binding, or some such), and told me to check back in 4-6 hours. Will do.]

Reclaiming My Life: A Declaration of Intent

This is all about me, me, me. Those of you looking for links to interesting material or stimulating intellectual discussion will want to move on. No hard feelings. For years, I have sought to earn a living doing what I love. I have been ~ among other things ~ a professional writer, a photographer, a web designer and developer. I have put my intellect, such as it is, and my creative energies up for sale. Again and again I have burned out in one occupation and moved on to convert a current enthusiasm into a profession. I have relentlessly sought to get paid for doing what I enjoy, only to have the pleasure gradually drain out of it until it became a task, an obligation, and finally an intolerable burden. I grew up in a family where the creative and intellectual life were held in highest esteem. There was a great deal of unspoken snobbery around the value of earning one's living in those high pursuits. A fair amount of it was smoke and mirrors; if we'd actually had to survive on income generated entirely from creative efforts we'd have starved. My mother had family resources that allowed us to live a middle class lifestyle. And both of my parents taught to provide us with regular income. But as a child I didn't realize those things. I bought the family mythology hook, line, and sinker. I was also the subject of a lot of speculation by people who expected me to go far: one high school evaluation (not written for my eyes, but that's another story) said "I expect Pascale will distinguish herself in print within ten years." I was given prizes, fellowships, awards ~ each one upped the ante that much more, made me feel that even more was expected of me. I have relished the cachet of being an "artist/outsider" in a society that both admires and disdains people who play outside the rules. I have taken satisfaction in supporting myself (albeit modestly) as a self-employed creative. I have enjoyed the license of being different, and yet part of the professional class. I have sold my brains, I have sold my ideas, I have sold my vision, my persuasiveness, and my enthusiasm. And I have turned my best impulses into a commodity which, ultimately, has become a practice I despise. Today, I find myself once again at a crossroads. For me, the fun has gone completely out of my current business. I'm good at it. I have happy clients (although the current economy has made them scarcer than I'd like at the moment); my word of mouth report is excellent. And I'm miserable. I want out in the worst way. As always, I've looked at my current interests and considered them as possible foundations for a new career. My participation in the life of my church, for example. Perhaps I should go to seminary? My jewelry-making class: maybe I should become a jeweler? No no no. I'm not going to make the same mistake again. I'm going to guard the activities I love with zeal. I'm going to keep them the hell out of the marketplace. I need to keep some things sacred ~ sacred and fun. It's time to find a way to earn my living doing something that doesn't require my best energies, my heart's blood. I need to find a livelihood where my relentless perfectionism doesn't drive me to excel to the point where I keep getting promoted, acquiring more and more responsibility, so that ultimately my work eats my life. I want to go to work, do the work with focus and dedication, walk out the door at the end of my shift and live my life. I want a job where I don't feel called to fix everything, to solve all the problems. November will be my last month in my office space. I will finish this one last current web contract and wrap up any loose ends in my business. I will seek and find work that I can leave at work at the end of the day, preferably something that requires little to no intellectual or creative effort. In November, I will participate in NaNoWriMo. I will do the things I enjoy without trying to figure out a way to get paid enough for them to live on the proceeds. I will stop caring whether or not my livelihood looks interesting or prestigious. If my friends are embarrassed by my work, then the heck with them. I have nothing to prove anymore. I'm smart, I'm creative ~ I don't need for my paycheck to validate those propositions. If it freaks my family out, too bad for them. I know how to survive on a modest income, and god knows there's plenty more I can cut back on if I need to. I already have everything I need to lead a happy and meaningful life. (It would be nice to have health insurance, sure, but I'll survive.) I'm getting off the achievement train. I'm no longer going to look to the marketplace for my success, even the rarified marketplace of the arts. I'm giving up on the concept of "making my mark." It will be enough for me to be valued in the lives of my friends, to contribute in some modest way to the betterment of my community, and to enjoy the passage of time. If I make something wonderful, great. It will have been made because I enjoyed making it, and other people will know about it because I felt moved to share it with them. If I wind up selling some of it, that will because people want it and it will help support the process of making more, NOT because I need it to survive. I am going to play more, and worry less about whether what I'm doing is important. I can't emphasize enough how difficult it has been for me to get to this point. It feels as if I'm rewriting my entire identity. I'm letting go of a huge chunk of my self-image, and it makes me feel naked and vulnerable. It's also a huge relief. Wish me luck. [I'd like to acknowledge three people from my life online who have, perhaps unwittingly, helped me reach this juncture: Mad William Flint (aka Michael Wilson), Sour Bob, and Commander Dave (Dave Rogers). I am also blessed with good and kind friends in my daily life who I know and trust will love me no matter what I do. I also want to extend a deep gassho to my parish community and to my therapist, Kat. Thank you all.]

Yeah, I should be concentrating on my tasks at hand...

But this has annoyed me so badly that all my good intentions are out the window:

A request. Please don't tweak the little white-on-orange XML icon. I'm seeing variations out there. That's not cool. Before we started promoting it, there was no such thing. It's value is diluted by varying it. If you don't like it, do something completely different. But a little change here and there, and eventually its value is gone.

Oh PLEASE! It's a godawful ugly little icon and always has been. 90% of Radio users are not designers and/or can't be bothered to spend the time to tweak it. Those who do are just improving the visual landscape for everyone else. What value exactly is Dave referring to? It doesn't do much by way of "branding" for Userland, so that can't be it. It screams "ugly-orange-here-I-am," but unless you already know why XML might be useful to you (and let's face, most newbies might be looking for "news feed" or... perhaps "RSS") it's not helpful at all. "That's not cool." Give me a break. His little icon isn't cool. Throwing a hissy fit over the evolution of a teeny-tiny .gif graphic isn't cool. If he wants to make a big trademark issue over it, he will truly be joining the ranks of the massively uncool. Yeah, they promoted it. Yeah, it's catching on to the point other people decide they want something recognizable yet less butt ugly (like for example these from Antipixel). He should be proudly rejoicing instead of complaining. May I politely (yeah, right) suggest that Dave get down off it? (To further register my protest, I've swapped in the Antipixel version, even though I still hate the orange.)

Compensatory BLoD

Kevin of fury has just made it up for me for spreading the "O.J. Simpson reconsiders the possibility of his own guilt"-meme (to which I do not deign to link), by providing me with my Belly Laugh of the Day, courtesy of Strongbad's Email. Be forewarned, it's a Flash file.

Allow and Support

There's a wonderful write-up of a Chick Corea concert over at runs with scissors. The description is vivid enough to make me wish I'd been there. My life could definitely use a dose of live funk right about now. There's also mention of a Q and A session after the concert., in which the band talks about how their parents helped them to become musicians. The repeated refrain is "allow and support." What are a great motto for parents! Obviously it can't be the only principle, but how much better an emphasis than "deny and undermine."

Which visitor are YOU? (Not a quiz.)

Okay, what I want to know is: why are there twice as many people visiting my site using Netscape 2 than Netscape 4 or IE 4? And if there was ever an indication that Netscape is a dying breed... see any Netscape 6 there? Send your condolences now. (What, no iCab, no Opera, no Mozilla, no Chimera? I'm bumming. Let your browser declare its identity!) Sixty-three percent of my visitors are using some Microsoftian OS. I feel for you. (Surfing from work, perhaps?) Thirty-one percent are using a Mac of some kind, although I'm really not clear on the distinction being made between MacPPC and MacOS. It can't actually be that 14% are running pre-PowerPC machines. I don't believe it. I think it's more likely that "MacOS" means "MacOS X," which would be a serious proportion of y'all that are not only fashion forward but equipped with a fine and geeky OS for the future. Five percent Linux. Y'all have my props. 1% Unknown. Yeah, baby, damn! Preach it! Roll yer own OS. I'd like to hear from you, you maverick you.

Go Moby! Go Moby!

Moby is one of the clueful ones.

Moby has started a book club as part of his current World tour. He wants fans to bring along second-hand books to swap....He told The Sun: 'When someone finishes a book they put it in a little box and when someone else wants a new book they look into the box and find one. Ozzy Osbourne used to snort ants. Led Zeppelin had sex with hookers on private planes. And I start a book club. Because one can only snort so many ants and have so much sex before one starts to long for the comfort and companionship of a book.' [Ananova, via LISNews.com, via The Shifted Librarian] In case you're interested, the musician also keeps an online diary.

[via Seb's Open Research]

The Problem with the Userland Approach

Here it is in a nutshell:

Thinking about thinking. That's the difference between outliner users and everyone else. They think about thinking. They're aware of their own process. Only people who think about thinking get to a place where they can invest in being more efficient in their thinking. Maybe "only" is too strong a word. Some people say they don't think in outlines. Yeah yeah. But hanging information on a hierarchy makes it easy to forget it and focus on new ideas and relationships. It's a good way to relax intellectually. ";->"

The problem is that Dave Winer thinks he knows the best way to think, and the best way to think about thinking. And so he makes software for that. Which is fine. Except if, in fact, most people don't care to do their thinking this way he'll either not sell enough software, or people will buy software that sort of does what they want. Or the interface will be perfect for people like Dave who've been working with this way for 25 years, but not so great for everyone else. Dave Winer is his own best user. That's lovely for him. But it's a dubious proposition on which to develop consumer software. (And let's all just enjoy the breathtaking arrogance behind the notion that outline users are the only ones who think about thinking. Note the token back-pedal on "only." Everyone raise a hand who thinks that the wink means "just kidding, other people do just as good as a job of thinking about thinking as I do.")

Note to Self

There is absolutely no point in having a neat-o keen-o piece of technology ~ like my spiffy 128 MB USB flash hard drive ~ if you're going to LEAVE IT AT THE OFFICE when you need it with you at home. Sheesh.