Dispatches From FOH

DEMOfall06 - Evergreen Creative Crew

2006-09-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

DEMOfall06 - Evergreen Creative Crew
Originally uploaded by Rob Lee.

The DEMOfall crew.

Rob and (not) Bono

2006-09-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

Rob and Bono
Originally uploaded by Rob Lee.

This is what I miss when I stay in the ballroom to watch Youtube videos....

Vista in the Wild...

2006-09-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Vista in the Wild...
Originally uploaded by The Chris That Eats Like A Meal.

The Jands Vista T2 that is the heart of the DEMOfall lighting system.

MojoPac

2006-09-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

So far this is my favorite new product from this morning's session. This thing is called MojoPac and it lets you copy your computer to any portabl data source (ipod, jumpdrive, flash card) and take it with you anywhere and turn any PC into your PC. You connect your source to the PC you are at and it loads up you desktop, programs, documents, GAMES, etc and away you go, working on a clone of your home PC. Games run at full speed too.

Sweeeeet.

I'll let you know my thoughts after I try this thing out at the break.

Its DEMO time!!!

2006-09-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

Its DEMO time!!!
Originally uploaded by The Chris That Eats Like A Meal.

DEMOfall, featuring lighting by your exhausted author, is now under way...

Would you like Flies with that?

2006-09-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Fucking gross
Originally uploaded by The Chris That Eats Like A Meal.

Stay the hell away from the wyndham san diego... That's a roach at the bottom of a small cup they put pickles in to serve with the burger Alicia had tonight. And that shit didn't just fall in on the way out; it was squishy with pickle juice...

They offered to comp my meal. big fucking whoop...

Insomniac Olympics

2006-09-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite songs ever...

Dean still has a posse...

2006-09-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

So I did a quick search on Flickr and found this:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=howard+dean+%22has+a+posse%22&m=text

Apparently the 'Howard Dean Has a Posse" stickers my friend Austin and I came up with back in '04 made the rounds rather nicely.

Rawk!

News of the weird...

2006-09-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

From the AP via BoingBoing :

Pa. Mom Pleads Guilty to Giving Teen Pot

By Associated Press
12:41 PM PDT, September 12, 2006

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- A woman facing drug charges admitted in court that she smoked marijuana with her 13-year-old son, often to reward him for doing his homework.

Amanda Lynn Livelsberger, 30, pleaded guilty to several misdemeanor drug charges Monday in Adams Country court and will be sentenced Nov. 27.

She admitted she had been smoking marijuana with her son since he was 11 and said she had also smoked with two of his friends, ages 17 and 18.

Livelsberger pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of corruption of minors, possession with intent to deliver drug paraphernalia, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of a small amount of marijuana with intent to distribute. The plea agreement did not stipulate a sentence.

To quote Almost Famous, "...Eleven?!?"

Work is tough...

2006-09-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Work is tough...
Originally uploaded by The Chris That Eats Like A Meal.

This past week I was working on the Mrs. America Pageant shoot. We got rained out during rehersal so we decided to head to the pool for a little relaxation while we waited out the storm. As I was already in my suit, I decided to have a swim...

Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.

2006-08-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. #1
Originally uploaded by The Chris That Eats Like A Meal.

Pictured is Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., our new sugarglider. It is beyond cute...

The interconnectedness of all things

2006-08-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

So apparently either the Pirate Bay crew are big Z-Trip fans or Z-Trip is a big Pirate Bay fan. Whichever it is, their merch seems to be kissing cousins. Notice the Jolly Analoger both shirts share?

Oh yeah

2006-07-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, I have a Blog. I should probably post to this more often. hmm

GrandMA Training

2006-07-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

GrandMA Training
Originally uploaded by The Chris That Eats Like A Meal.

Seth at Clearwing put together this awesome 2 day GrandMA seminar. We all learned a lot about this desk and it was good to see old friends.

The Baby

2006-07-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Baby
Originally uploaded by The Chris That Eats Like A Meal.

So after 3 hours at the dealer, I brought home the new Chris and Alicia ride. So far we both love it and the AC is cold as can be! Heck yeah.

It's sooo pretty

2006-03-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

Hail Xenu...

2006-03-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Trey Parker and Matt Stone's response to Comedy Central's pulling of the episode 'Trapped In The CLoset' from the rerun schedule:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for Earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!

-- Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu

Petty Crooks? Not in the White House!?

2006-03-11T22:13:00.000-08:00

The "If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in College" of the 21st Century

Ex-White House aide arrested in alleged refund scam

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former adviser to President Bush was arrested this week in Maryland and charged with swindling two department stores out of more than $5,000 in a refund scam.

Montgomery County police said Claude Allen, 45, was arrested Thursday and charged with carrying out a felony theft scheme at Target and Hecht's stores. He was released on his own recognizance.

Conviction on the charges can result in a 15-year prison sentence.

Authorities accuse Allen of going to stores on more than 25 occasions and buying items, taking them to his car and then returning to the store with his receipt where he would carry out the alleged scam.

"He would select the same items he had just purchased, and then return them for a refund. Allen is known to have conducted approximately 25 of these types of refunds, having the money credited to his credit cards," a statement from Montgomery County police said.

The items ranged from a Bose theater system to a photo printer to clothing to small items valued at $2.50, police said.

Allen resigned without explanation in early February as Bush's top domestic political adviser. Allen had long been a darling among the conservative right -- and Bush had even nominated him to be a federal appeals court judge in 2003, but Democrats blocked the move.

In announcing Allen's resignation, Bush called him a "trusted adviser" who helped "develop policies that will strengthen our nation's families, schools and communities."

"Claude is a good and compassionate man, and he has my deep respect and my gratitude. I thank him for his many years of principled and dedicated service to our country," Bush said in a statement issued on February 9.

According to police, on January 2, a Target manager at a store in Gaithersburg observed Allen in the store with an empty Target bag in a shopping cart.

"The man was then seen selecting merchandise throughout the store and placing items in the Target bag. He put additional items in his cart. The man then went to guest services where he produced a receipt and received a refund for the items he had just selected from the store shelves. After receiving the refund, he left the store without paying for the additional merchandise in the shopping cart," the police statement said.

He was apprehended by the store employee, and police were contacted.

"Through the police investigation it was learned that Allen had been receiving refunds in an amount exceeding $5,000 during last year," the statement said.

Allen made $161,000 in his role as Bush's top domestic policy adviser, according to government records.

"It's dark in here, and we may die..."

17

2006-03-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

The average American drinks 17 gallons of CocaCola per year.

And we wonder why we have a naional obesity crisis...

Seriously, 17 gallons?!

Gross.

A Dark Day For OSx86...

2006-02-17T17:50:00.000-08:00

Looks like the OSx86 project has been hit with a DMCA takedown notice this week. Their forums are gone, but the website remains online. I'm not sure what Apple hopes to accomplish here as the necessary patches to get OSX to run on a PC are already out there. Its not like they can put the genie back in the bottle...

has anyone seen my jaw? I seem to have dropped it.

2006-02-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I see something so cool all I can do is stare in amazement. Today I saw one of those things. my friend Seth snet me a link to a video of some of the work that Jeff Han is doing at NYU. Jeff is working on what he calls Multi-Touch Interaction Research, basically engineering touch screen systems that can process input fromm multiple fingers. It is some mind blowing stuff. I hope the day we interact with computers like this is not far off. Check out the video of this technology in action here.

I'm soo happy, soooo haaappppyyy...

2006-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

So if for any reason you missed the Daily Show on Monday night, here is a link to the video page the folks over at Crooks and Liars were good enough to post. I had this on the DVR and finally got around to watching it last night. I was laughing so hard I cried.

DEMO Photos

2006-02-16T06:50:00.000-08:00

Crew Stage Jump
Originally uploaded by Rob Lee.

It's DEMO 2006 photo time! This photo is from my friend Rob Lee's Flickr site.

This photo is from my Flickr site.

Another Show, Another Early Morning....

2006-02-16T05:41:00.000-08:00

Ugh. The early days are back with a vengeance. Don't get me wrong, DEMO was chocked full of early days, but there we were always busy right out the gate. Something was guaranteed to happen every 6 min no matter what (unless it was during one of John Patrick's fascinating Future Scan panels) . The show I'm currently on is a completely different story. From what I can gather so far, it looks like its going to be a bunch of talking head stuff about intellectual property law. I'm sure I'll pick up some interesting stuff, but its really hard to stay on your toes during a 3 hour opening session that is nothing but legal jargon. I'm happy to be here, don't get me wrong, but the glutton for punishment in me longs for the crazy schedule of DEMO. Oh well, only 7 more months until the next one. Look for more updates in the coming days as I have 3 more days of this show and then it's off to Chicago to babysit a tradeshow booth for 9 days. So long rest of February, I hardly knew ye.

Lazy Man's DEMO Post...

2006-02-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

News Coverage of DEMO here.

Back to work...

Like We Always Do About This Time...

2006-02-07T07:36:00.000-08:00

The lights are on...

The music is bumpin...

Its DEMO time!!!

Full Tilt Boogie...

2006-02-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

Rehearsal day 2 is officially under way for DEMO 2006. I haven't really had a chance to watch too many presentations as I have been up to my eyeballs in programming. So far though, its looking like a really cool show. More soon...

DEMO: Countdown to Fun...

2006-02-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Well, its officially here. Tomorrow begins the marathon setup for DEMO 2006. I'm not going to post any pictures until Tuesday night (to preserve the surprise of the setup we have in store, you see) but I will be posting updates at night after each day of load in. I couldn't be more excited that the show is finally here. The prep of all of the lighting gear over at Clearwing Productions over the last two days has gone great and should mean a smooth load in. Big ups to Seth Scott, Dave Temby and the crew over there. Had our first face to face meeting with the folks at the hotel and it went great. They seem really eager to make sure this goes off smoothly which does wonders to put my mind at ease. Off to bed now as tomorrow is a 6am call.

Its Coachella Poster Time!!

2006-02-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

DEMO Lineup

2006-02-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hot on the heels of last night's post about the official Coachella lineup comes the official DEMO 2006 lineup. The marketing folks dropped this today:

DEMO 2006 demonstrators
Accomplice Software Palo Alto, CA http://www.exelogy.com/
America Online, Inc. Dullas, VA http://www.aol.com/
ASTAV, inc. Palo Alto, CA http://www.astav.net/
Avokia Toronto, ONT, Canada http://www.avokia.com/
Azos AI, LLC. Gainesville, VA http://www.azosai.com/
BiggerBoat Beverly Hills, CA http://www.biggerboat.com/
Blurb, Inc. San Francisco, CA http://www.blurb.com/
Bones in Motion, Inc. Austin, TX http://www.bonesinmotion.com/
BroadRamp, Inc. San Antonio, TX http://www.broadrampcds.com/
Cesura, Inc. Austin, TX http://www.cesura.com/
CNET Channel San Francisco, CA http://www.cnetchannel.com/
Digislide Holdings, Pty Dry Creek, SA, Australia http://www.digislide.com.au/
Ltd.
Eeminder, Inc. Hermosa Beach, CA http://www.eeminder.com/
EQO Communications, Inc. Richmond, BC, Canada http://www.eqo.com/
eVoke TV Corp. Bechtelsville, PA http://www.evoketv.com/
Extricom, Inc. New York, NY http://www.extricom.com/
Fortify Software Palo Alto, CA http://www.fortifysoftware.com/
Front Porch, Inc. Sonora, CA http://www.frontporch.com/
GarageBand.com San Francisco, CA http://www.garageband.com/
Grass Roots Software Grass Valley, CA http://www.grassroots-sw.com/
Gravee San Francisco, CA http://www.gravee.com/
GuardID Systems, Inc. Hillsborough, CA http://www.guardidsystems.com/
iGuitar, Inc. Poughkeepsie, NY http://www.iguitar.com/
Interprise Solutions USA, Beverly Hills, CA http://www.interprisesuite.com/
LLC.
Iotum Corp. Ottawa, ON, Canada http://www.iotum.com/
IPswap San Francisco, CA http://www.ipswap.com/
IronPort Systems, Inc. San Bruno, CA http://www.ironport.com/
Jitterbit, Inc. Alameda, CA http://www.jitterbit.com/
Kaboodle, Inc. Santa Clara, CA http://www.kaboodle.com/
Kosmix Corp. Mountain View, CA http://www.kosmix.com/
Krugle, Inc. Menlo Park, CA http://www.krugle.net/
LocaModa, Inc. Somerville, MA http://www.locamoda.com/
LogLogic, Inc. San Jose, CA http://www.loglogic.com/
Mi5, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA http://www.mi5networks.com/
MooBella, LLC. Taunton, MA http://www.moobella.com/
Mp3Car.com Canoga Park, CA http://www.mp3car.com/
my people, LLC. Birmingham, AL http://www.mypeople.com/
NetworkStreaming, Inc. Ridgeland, MS http://www.networkstreaming.com/
NewsGator Technologies, Denver, CO http://www.newsgator.com/
Inc.
Nexidia, Inc. Atlanta, GA http://www.nexidia.com/
OpenConnect Systems, Inc. Dallas, TX http://www.oc.com/
Panoratio Database Images, San Francisco, CA http://www.panoratio.com/
Inc.
Pay By Touch San Francisco, CA http://www.paybytouch.com/
PayWi Corp. Portland, OR http://www.paywi.com/
Persystent Technologies, Tampa, FL http://www.persystent.com/
Inc.
Plum San Francisco, CA http://www.plum.com/
PolyVision Suwanee, GA http://www.polyvision.com/
RawSugar Palo Alto, CA http://www.rawsugar.com/
Riya.com Redwood City, CA http://www.riya.com/
Sharpcast, Inc. Palo Alto, CA http://www.sharpcast.com/
Shimon Systems, Inc. San Jose, CA http://www.shimonsystems.com/
SimpleFeed, Inc. Palo Alto, CA http://www.simplefeed.com/
Smilebox, Inc. Redmond, WA http://www.smilebox.com/
Sprout Systems, Inc. San Diego, CA http://www.sproutit.com/
StrikeForce Technologies, Edison, NJ http://www.strikeforcetech.com/
Inc.
TagWorld Santa Monica, CA http://www.tagworld.com/
Tested Technologies Corp. Westborough, MA http://www.testedtech.com/
The Multiverse Network, Mountain View, CA http://www.multiverse.net/
Inc.
Tiny Pictures, Inc. San Francisco, CA http://www.tinypictures.us/
Transparensee Systems, Inc. New York, NY http://www.transparensee.com/
Ugobe, Inc. Oakland, CA http://www.ugobe.com/
Vivid Sky, LLC. Saint. Louis, MO http://www.vividskyco.com/
Vizrea Seattle, WA http://www.vizrea.com/
VSee Lab, LLC. San Jose, CA http://www.vseelab.com/
Yahoo! Sunnyvale, CA http://www.yahoo.com/
Zimini Elmhurst, IL http://www.zimini.com/
Zingee, Pte Ltd. Sydney, Australia http://www.zingee.com/
ZinkKat, LLC. Cary, NC http://www.zinkkat.com/

Quite a list huh?

Let the fun begin...

Official Coachella Lineup!!!

2006-01-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

The official Coachella 2006 lineup has been posted here. Sadly missing are the Smashing Pumpkins, but in there place: a little band from LA called TOOL !!

Here it is:

Saturday, April 29th
Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros, Common, Damian Marley, Atmosphere, Carl Cox, My Morning Jacket, Ladytron , Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tosca, Cat Power, Animal Collective, HARD-fi, Derrick Carter, Devendra Banhart, She Wants Revenge, The Walkmen, The Juan Maclean, Audio Bullys, Imogen Heap, Lady Sovereign, Deerhoof, The Duke Spirit, Editors, stellastarr*, Lyrics Born, Matt Costa, The New Amsterdams, The Zutons, Platinum Pied Pipers, White Rose Movement, Chris Liberator, Colette, Joey Beltram, Hybrid, Wolfmother, The Like, Living Things, Nine Black Alps, The Section Quartet, Infadels, Youth Group, Shy FX & T Power, Infusion.

Sunday, April 30th
Tool, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Paul Oakenfold, Scissor Sisters, Matisyahu, James Blunt, TV on the Radio, Sleater-Kinney , Mogwai, Coheed and Cambria, Gnarls Barkley, Coldcut, Phoenix, Digable Planets, Amadou & Mariam, Little Louie Vega, Mylo (DJ Set), Seu Jorge, Wolf Parade, The Go! Team, Kaskade, Metric, Art Brut, Dungen, The Dears, Jamie Lidell, The Magic Numbers, Los Amigos Invisibles, Jazzanova, Michael Mayer, Mates of State, Gilles Peterson, Gabriel & Dresden, The Subways, Minus the Bear, Be Your Own Pet, Giant Drag, Kristina Sky, The Octopus Project.

Slow blogging day

2006-01-31T21:54:00.000-08:00

With DEMO 2006 preparations in full swing, I'm finding I don't have as much time as I'd like to update the 'ol blog. Fret not! Frantic updates will return as soon as I am parked back behind a lighting desk. Until then, they will be a bit more sporadic. Check back here for updates on the DEMO preproduction and load in process. We load in on Saturday so watch out for some pictures and whatever the heck else I can come up with.

Just duck.... and cover

2006-01-30T07:09:00.000-08:00

So in my bi-monthly browsing of No Mutants Allowed looking for any good news about Fallout 3, I found this link to a great online cold war era civil defense museum. If you were ever a Fallout junkie or just interested in the history of nuclear disaster preparedness, check this place out. The AV section is particularly cool.

In other Fallout related news, Boing Boing has a post about a new anti radiation drug that bears a striking resemblance to RadAway.

We can dance if we want to...

2006-01-29T08:57:00.000-08:00

Words can't do this justice. Just trust me:

http://www.dancingpaul.com/

Cover me when I run, Cover me through the fire

2006-01-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

For not knowing disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, W has sure done a bang up job of protecting him from prosecution up to now. Turns out Bush quashed a probe in Abramoff's shady dealings in Guam in 2002 by demoting the US Attorney prosecuting the case. Oh, and never mind the (purported) signed photos of the two together and the fact that Abramoff was named to Bush's 2000 transition team... he never knew Jack Abramoff.

A bit from the Guam story:

A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.

Is this a conspiracy yet?!? If not then what will it take to make it one? Some burglars in the Watergate hotel? Or will the removal of the current Abramoff prosecutor do?

Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone...

2006-01-29T06:28:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like civil liberterians have been dealt another defeat this week with the news that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a case against the secret law that requires people to show ID at the airport. At issue, at least in my mind, was not whether or not one should have to show ID at the airport, but wether or not the law that requires you to should be avaliable for anyone to read. Right now the law itself is classified for 'security reasons' meaning that it is not to be found anywhere in the public record in its entirity. This sets a frightening precedent in my mind. If this law can be declared secret, then what is next?

From the CNN article about the decision:

Gilmore's lawyer, William Simpich, said he is weighing whether to appeal.

He said government regulations should be disclosed in writing to the public. While millions of passengers willingly show their IDs at airports, Simpich said there is no way to know whether the regulations call for impermissible searches because the government, and the court, won't make them public.

The court rejected the argument, saying airport signs and airline workers give adequate notice that an ID is required.

The court noted that the secret regulations allow passengers to fly without providing an ID if they submit to searches. The court dismissed assertions that such searches are unreasonable.

And here is the kicker: The response from the DOJ:

Justice Department lawyer Joshua Waldman argued that demanding identification "promotes the right to travel by protecting everyone's safety."

I came here for an argument! Well I'm sorry but this is abuse...

2006-01-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

I used to be on the fence about his whole podcast revolution that seems to be sweeping the nation. It seemed kind of pointless to me, that is until I discovered this little gem over at IGN. They have a weekly podcast featuring Ken P. and ATHF's own Dana Snyder, better known as Master Shake. If you enjoy, the rambling, often belligerent and abusive dialogue of Master Shake, then you won't be disappointed by this 30+ min exercise in time killing.

This is your brain. This is your brain on compassion. Any questions?

2006-01-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

This month's Wired magazine features an article on a University of Madison-Wisconsin study of the brains of Buddhist monks. If the results of the study are to be believed, deep meditation can actually change the way your brain works.

From the article:

In June 2002, Davidson's associate Antoine Lutz positioned 128 electrodes on the head of Mattieu Ricard. A French-born monk from the Shechen Monastery in Katmandu, Ricard had racked up more than of 10,000 hours of meditation.

Lutz asked Ricard to meditate on "unconditional loving-kindness and compassion." He immediately noticed powerful gamma activity - brain waves oscillating at roughly 40 cycles per second - indicating intensely focused thought. Gamma waves are usually weak and difficult to see. Those emanating from Ricard were easily visible, even in the raw EEG output. Moreover, oscillations from various parts of the cortex were synchronized - a phenomenon that sometimes occurs in patients under anesthesia.

The researchers had never seen anything like it. Worried that something might be wrong with their equipment or methods, they brought in more monks, as well as a control group of college students inexperienced in meditation. The monks produced gamma waves that were 30 times as strong as the students'. In addition, larger areas of the meditators' brains were active, particularly in the left prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for positive emotions.

I'll kick you ass... at Dance Dance Revolution

2006-01-28T07:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, I won't but kids from West Virginia might soon. Apparently DDR has been added to Gym class in some W.Va. schools in an effort to combat soaring obesity rates among children. Let the Jock/Nerd mashup begin. I see the first video of this being quite surreal. Imagine an entire Gym full of coal miner's daughters and sons dancing to Captain Jack. Will eurodance music make a stateside come back in appalachia? Only time will tell.

Proper news coverage here

Don't F**K With Chuck

2006-01-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder about how Chuck Norris came to be the cancer curing, stunt man killing , bad ass he is today?

Find the answer here.

Google comprimises principals in record time UPDATE

2006-01-28T07:16:00.000-08:00

The SF Chronicle is reporting today that Congress has invite Google and Yahoo up to the hill to explain themselves in:re censorship of web search results on their Chinese portals. From the Chronic(What?)al article:

First up on Capitol Hill for Google and Yahoo is a briefing Feb. 1 in front of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Members are expected to probe the firms about the measures they take to block sensitive information in China and the amount of pressure they are under to do so by the Chinese government.

"We don't know to what extent that they have been under pressure and what they have done to resist that pressure," said Lynne Weil, a spokeswoman for Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, who co-chairs the caucus.

Another unwanted consequence of the War On Drugs...

2006-01-28T06:51:00.000-08:00

There are reports in the media today that members of the Mexican Army may be running protection for drug smugglers. Apparently this past Monday, Texas Border Patrol agents were pursuing 3 vehicles suspected of running drugs. The vehicles crossed into the Rio Grande in an attempt to flee back into Mexico and were met by heavily armed men in Mexican Army uniforms who, rather than apprehending them, provided cover fire for them. Already, Rep. Tom Tancredo from Colorado is calling for a militarization of the border in response to increasing lawlessness. I have two questions regarding this proposal. 1) Where are all of these troops going to come from and 2) How many more millions of Tax dollars is this going to cost us?

Heads Up!

2006-01-28T06:37:00.000-08:00

Engadget is reporting today that researches at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a new flavor of OLED technology that can become completely transparent when not displaying content. How freaking cool is that? I can't wait for day that I can design an apparently glass set for a show that, at the press of a button transforms into one big display. It would be a bitch to light tho...

Now THAT is a waste of time....

2006-01-28T06:16:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Silicon Valley has an amusing post today about a Pew Internet and American Life Project study that concluded that the Internet is actually a useful tool for communicating with friends and family. WHAT?! The devil you say...

Hard Wired HSI!!!

2006-01-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

The hotel came through with the HSI drop so it looks like I'm back in business. W00t!

Another early day

2006-01-28T04:28:00.000-08:00

Man, the work day seems to be starting earlier and earlier... ugh

No WiFi? That makes me a saaad panda

2006-01-27T22:02:00.000-08:00

Damn. No free WiFi at the hotel I'm at this weekend. They promised a wired drop tomorrow. We'll see. Doesn't matter too much as we should be done by noon, but that's still 5 1/2 hours of listening to some schtick about dosage levels of some ADD drug... I don't have the attention span to listen to that.

Common Cause sends out net neutrality call to action...

2006-01-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

Common Cause, a nation wide 'nonprofit advocacy group' has issued a call to action for its members in response to the telecom industry's increasing pressure on Congress to allow it to double dip for internet connectivity. Basically ISPs want content providers (read: web sites) to pay a premium for the privilege of customers, readers etc, reaching their websites without delay. Google has already drawn a line in the sand concerning this proposed cyberextortion by big telecom carriers, saying it will never, ever pay up. Hopefully more content providers will do the same. From the Common Cause e-mail:

You think the Internet will always be the great freewheeling information superhighway you've grown to love? Well, think again. Media giants want to privatize our Internet.

TTelecommunications companies like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress for the right to control where you go on the Internet, how fast you get there, and how much you pay for the service.

Go here to see what some brazen telecom execs had to say, and to send them a message about how you feel about the Internet. Please forward this message to friends and family. If we generate heat at this stage in the debate, it could really pay off as telecom legislation works its way through Congress.

f successful in Congress, these companies would open the door to violate what techies call "net neutrality." It is the principle that Internet users should be able to access any web content they want, post their own content, and use any applications they choose, without restrictions or limitations imposed by their Internet service providers (ISPs).

Net neutrality is the reason this democratic medium has grown exponentially, fueled innovation and altered how we communicate. We must make certain that for-profit interests do not destroy the democratic culture of the web.

But some big telecommunications executives just don't get it. For them it is all about their bottom lines. They already charge us higher prices for slower connections than their counterparts in other parts of the world.* Now they say that they should get to double-charge for Internet access - collecting fees not just from us, but also from websites like Google and Yahoo.

And what about websites like CommonCause.org or your favorite blog that can't afford to pay up? They might be left in the slow lane of the information superhighway.

Common Cause is ready - with your help - to fight the telcom giants in the halls of Congress. A major rewrite of telecommunications law is on the agenda this spring. We need to push back hard at the telecom lobbyists who want to write Internet freedom out of the law.

Our first step is to send a strong message now to the big industry execs. Tell them that the principle of net neutrality needs to be honored, and that Internet service providers (ISPs) should not play gatekeepers.

The Common Cause action page can be found here and it features handy links to the e-mail addresses of the big teleco CEOs so you can tell them exactly what you think of them and their hairbrained, cyberextortion scheme.

Oh, and the Common Cause action page features this amusing graphic:

One tunnel to rule them all

2006-01-27T06:25:00.000-08:00

U.S. and Mexican Authorities have apparently discovered the longest, most advanced drug trafficking tunnel to date. Running between Tijuana and Otay Mesa, CA, the doob tube runs 2,400' and is 60' underground in some places. It features electric lighting, concrete walls, and a pump system to keep from filling up with water. At the Mexican end of the tunnel agents found 2 tons of the greenie green and another 100 keys at the US end. As much of a 'victory' as this is for drug enforcement agents, I'm willing to bet there are at least 2 tunnels just like this one elsewhere along the border. The only thing the 'war on drugs' will ever successfully do is create a very profitable black market for drugs that puts money in the hands of cartels and drains huge sums of tax dollars trying to combat it. I learned this in my freshman year econ class in HIGH SCHOOL for heaven's sake. Nothing any government can do can ever suppress the simple formula of supply vs. demand. Until there is no demand for drugs, there will always be a supply of drugs, plains and simple.

Links to proper media coverage of the tunnel of love...

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060126-9999-7n26tunnel.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/national/27tunnel.html

and even the Chinese picked it up:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/27/content_4107000.htm

Slow day for updates...

2006-01-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

Its been a hectic day in Chris land so sorry for the lack of updates... more to come tonight.

Daily w00t for Thursday...

2006-01-25T22:20:00.000-08:00

Today's Daily w00t is a real champ for the home theater PC owners among us. This Gyration optical mouse has a motion sensor built into it so this it can sense movement even when not on a surface and move a cursor accordingly. Cool stuff.

From the description:

Thanks to its patented motion-sensing technology, you can lift it up off of the table and mouse through the air with the greatest of ease. Along with its ample 30-foot range and lack of line-of-sight limitations, this mid-air mobility makes the Gyration ULTRA the ideal mouse for your big screen TV, presentation projector, or any other great big screen that you can click stuff on.

This baddie is flying off the shelves for $25. Disco.

More Control!!!

2006-01-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

FOH at the Novartis Exjade show I programmed this week. Sean Dolan was the LD and man, what a super nice guy to work with. We rocked out 200+ cues in the first day of programming, basically the entire show. We had some issues with the Flying Pig Systems Hog iPC console, but a quick software update fixed most of them. While the 'desktop' process crashed several time during programming, we never saw a single hiccup in stage output and a quick restart of the 'desktop' task from the process manager got us back up and running in about 90 seconds each time. The thing is still a little buggy but I hear a major software relase is on the way that should fix all of the currrent issues. The current release software version is 1.3.9 build 803.

White House back to good old accountability dodging tricks

2006-01-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

Turns out that, surprise surprise, the Bush Administration is reluctant to allow a complete, unfettered congressional probe into the post-Katrina debacle. Purportedly off limits to investigators are communicatios between Bush and his closest aides.

From the ABC News report:

The Bush administration says some key White House officials and documents are off limits to congressional investigations into the failures of the Katrina disaster.

Democrats, like Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, are fuming.

Lieberman is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is conducting the investigation.

"A lot of federal government employees who we've interviewed, they've been told by the White House that they can't answer any questions about communications they had with people at the White House," Lieberman told ABC News. "Now, that's stonewalling. For the administration to simply tell people in the federal government they can't talk to our investigators about any of the conversations they had with people at the White House is unacceptable."

Is the rest of the country concerned yet?? I mean what the heck is it going to take??

Perhaps this study conducted at Emory University holds some of the answers. According to the results of the study, strongly partisan individuals, be they Red or Blue, will ignore facts that go contrary to their beliefs if once they have made up their minds.

From the press release:

The participants were asked to evaluate threatening information about their own candidate while undergoing fMRI. The scientists say what they found was striking.

"We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning," said Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory who led the study. "What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up."

Coachella Update

2006-01-25T07:59:00.000-08:00

Also confirmed for this year's Coachella is legendary DJ duo Coldcut. Coldcut are best known as the founders of Ninjatune Records and as the developers of the VJamm video manipulation software. Coldcut are often credited with pushing envelope of the cut up musical style they helped to define along with DJ legends Double D and Steinski. This not an act to be missed as these boys don't cross the pond too often.

I survived the black death

2006-01-25T07:25:00.000-08:00

Ever want to remind people how rusty their latin truly is? Then why not go out into the world sporting a shirt from seizetheshirt.com? Their prices are a bit high, but some of their slogans are just damn funny.

RIP Nice Guy Eddie

2006-01-25T06:19:00.000-08:00

Various news outlets are today reporting the untimely demise of actor Chris Penn, who in my mind, will always be Nice Guy Eddie.

From the Independant Online story:

"Chris Penn, the brother of Sean Penn, was found dead at his Santa Monica residence, authorities said.

Police discovered the actor's body around 4pm local time yesterday, Lt. Frank Fabrega said. Police said he was 40 years old. There were no obvious signs of foul play, Fabrega said."

More here

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...

2006-01-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

So yesterday NASA let it be known that 2005 was the hottest year on record. I guess I won't have a problem getting that perfect, all over tan this year. Greenhouse gases have been cited as the cause, se we'll wait and see how long it takes the Bush administration to attribute it to something else in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence.

From the Reuters.uk story:

"Over the past 30 years, Earth has warmed by 1.08 degrees F (0.6 degrees C), NASA said. Over the past 100 years, it has warmed by 1.44 degrees F (0.8 degrees C).

Shindell, in line with the view held by most scientists, attributed the rise to emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and ozone, with the burning of fossil fuels being the primary source.

The 21st century could see global temperature increases of 6 to 10 degrees F (3 to 5 degrees C), Shindell said.

"That will really bring us up to the warmest temperatures the world has experienced probably in the last million years," he said."

So much for a lower electric bill this summer...

No daily W00t today...

2006-01-25T05:59:00.000-08:00

Sadly, there will be no Daily W00t post today. The Pioneer Home Theater system over there today sold out at 6am CST. Maybe tomorrow...

What a nice day...

2006-01-25T05:57:00.000-08:00

Ahh, there is nothing quite like starting the day already in overtime...

Confuzzled...

2006-01-24T21:53:00.000-08:00

What?

You best respect Big Momma...

2006-01-24T21:36:00.000-08:00

...if you are an elephant that is. It seems that the heirarchical structure of groups of female elephants is determined by age and size. This news comes from the journal Animal Behavior.

From the breakdown over at the Discoverey Channel:

"The study, published in the current issue of Animal Behavior, presents some of the first data on dominance and the social lives of adult, wild female elephants, Loxodonta africana. Females of this species hang out together in family groups for most of their lives.

Humans may shrink as they get older, but not elephants.

"Female elephants never stop growing, so age and size are almost always linked," said Elizabeth Archie, who led the research.

"Female elephants have two formidable weapons: their tusks and their huge body size. Tusks, horns and teeth are common in many species, but when these weapons are driven by a powerful animal that weighs thousands of pounds, the results can be fatal," she said."

Apparently big momma elepahnts have a 'zero-sass' policy in place...

Google comprimises principals in record time

2006-01-24T20:08:00.000-08:00

Hot on the heels of Google's noble stand against the feds in this country, comes news of capitilation to the demands of the feds in China. In order to gain a Chinese operating liscense for the new search site 'google.cn', Google has agreed to censor search results. From the AP:

"Online search engine leader Google has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the internet's fastest growing market.

The Mountain View, California-based company planned to roll out a new version of its search engine bearing China's web suffix ".cn," on Wednesday. A Chinese-language version of Google's search engine has previously been available through the company's dot-com address in the United States."

This sure seems like doing evil to me...

Oh Google, I had such hight hopes for you rising above this kind of thing. I expect this from Microsoft and Yahoo, but not you. *shakes head disappointedly

Boo this, Man. Boo this!

2006-01-24T18:48:00.000-08:00

So I'm sitting here in the 13th hour of a workday that began at 6:30am and I've just found out the group we have been waiting to rehearse before going home, has decided to go out for dinner and drinks and rehearse when they get back. LAME AS HELL!! Looks like it will be another 16 hour day...

Smashing Pumpkins to headline Coachella 2006

2006-01-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

That's right. Read it agian. Got it? Good. Just saw this story confriming the Pumpkins and this one confirming Depeche Mode. Now I'll bet that presale sounds REAL sweet.

Rumors of a Portishead reunion persist, bolstered by the appearance of a new MySpace profile for the band this week. I'm not holding my breath, but...

Dumbass...

2006-01-24T12:28:00.000-08:00

So have you heard the one about the 20 year old that hijacked millions of PCs and then rented his army of zombie machines to the highest bidder for nefarious purposes? As much as I want this to be a setup for a REALLY lame joke, it's not. It actually happened. And the kid got caught. And now has to give up the BMW HE PURCHASED WITH MONEY FROM HIS ENTERPRISE. I'm shocked. I'm shocked this guy thought he wouldn't get caught. You have to figure that anyone who knows enough to set this kind of thing up also knows how easy it is for the MAN to find you...

Dumbass...

More info here.

Jands Vista, What!

2006-01-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

With DEMO 2006 (my favorite show of the year) coming up, I thought I'd do a post about the bangin' new lighting console that will be driving the show.

Meet the Jands Vista T2:

This little number is the future of lighting control. It runs Linux under the hood and handles data input via a Wacom Tablet PC screen and pen. Goodbye number punching, hello drawing my looks with a pen. It replaces "cue lists" with "clips," which bear a striking resemblance to video editing timelines. I'll be posting more about this sexy beast as I spend more time on it next week getting ready for next Saturday's marathon load in. For now, I reccomend the geekier of you check out the console's vanity page here. I hear a vanity Wikipedia entry is coming soon.

Government plot to build retina scan database of all gradeschoolers...

2006-01-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

Well, not really but over at Personal Tech Pipeline they are running a story about NJ schools that are installing a retinal scanning system to control access to buildings.

From the article:

"The platform provides entry-access controls, visitor management and the capability to scan a driver's license from 50 states and automatically import the information into the database. "The file size created when the camera takes a picture of the iris to match it against records in the database is about 512 kilobytes," said Raymond Bolling, co-founder of Eyemetric Identity Systems, a spin-off of New Jersey Business Systems Inc., which specialized in biometrics identification."

Read the rest of the article and shudder at the potential for abuse here:

http://www.personaltechpipeline.com/news/177103027

Coachella Bitches!

2006-01-24T06:41:00.000-08:00

Coachella pre sale kicks off this week. If you want to find out more, jam over to the Coachella Myspace profile and become their friend. Sweet, sweet information, including the presale password, will follow. The official lineup will be posted next week. The questions is, with the festival being as much fun as it is, do we even really need to know the lineup?

Oh, and the Coachella Movie opens tonight...

W00T!

2006-01-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

Today's Daily Woot!:

From the description:

"The year was 1995, a time of titans and dreamers. A nation breathed a sigh of relief when the arrest of public enemy Kevin Mitnick finally brought his brutal campaign of terror to an end. Musical legends like Boyz II Men and Hootie & the Blowfish electrified a generation. And UN peacekeepers withdrew from Somalia after establishing the freedom, order, and prosperity that nation enjoys to this day.

Relive those golden days of yore with this plug-n-play EA Sports two-pack. Both NHL '95 and Madden Football '95 are stored right inside the controller, so no console is necessary – just a TV with RCA inputs. If classic gaming is all the rage around your dorm these days (and by "classic" we mean "low-res"), well, they don't get much more classic than these two Sega titles. Pong, maybe. And Asteroids."

Jam over to W00T and pick these baddies up for $10...

groggitude

2006-01-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

Man, there are some days where I say to myself "its too damn early".

This is one of them

2006-01-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

Its the first post!! w00t!