President Bush held a press conference to reassure us the nation was not headed into a recession. That's good to hear, except he admitted he "hadn't heard" (http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/8293) the price of gasoline was inching up to a $4 a gallon average, which is kind of important to our gasoline-reliant economy. So basically, Bush, who hadn't heard all our expenses are going up, believes the economy won't sink. Man, are we screwed. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
I saw this USB hub on Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/361471/usb-runner-hub-reminds-you-of-your-lateness) and just could not get the jkOnTheRun (http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/) logo out of my head. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
If there was any question as to whether I support my fellow former kama'aina (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kama%CA%BBaina), former President Bill Clinton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Clinton) dispelled my last doubt by pointing out that Hawaiian-made Barack Obama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama) is pro-robot.
Apparently Obama believes our space program should focus less on manned flights and more on robotic missions, as pointed out by Bill (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/27/bill-hits-obama-over-hug_n_88769.html) when speaking about the differences between Barack and Hillary. I don't know if anyone normal would be swayed by that, but it works for me because I [heart] freakin' robots. (http://markandtanya.blogspot.com/search?q=Robot) If a vote for Obama is a vote for more robots, count me in. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Despite being a pen-centric inking app, Inkseine (http://research.microsoft.com/InkSeine/) from Microsoft Research wasn't lighting a fire for me like it has for so many of my fellow inkers. It looks great, but the "notebook metaphor" isn't for me. That said, I've been really interested in InkSeine's tools and interfaces, so I could not resist downloading it to get the Floating Tool Ring (http://community.research.microsoft.com/blogs/alpineinker/archive/2008/02/26/kick-start-that-tool-ring.aspx).
Turns out this little bubble is an independent app that can work with any other application. It only does two things but those two are very useful to me.
First, the camera icon enables a screen grab of a rectangular area and copies it to the clipboard. I do this with the Snipping Tool (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipping_Tool) to turn my inked Journal entries into jpegs. However, the Snipping Tool offers other options, which means more steps. The Tool Ring offers no other options, which makes it a better choice for my regular usage.
Second, the curly arrow is actually a scroll dial that enables scrolling in any window. I've loved dial control since the Energy Blue (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/games/learnmore/stratton_powertoys.mspx) skin for Windows Media Player was introduced. I even created dial controls for an early version of Build 52 (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/Build52.html) (dropped after I added press & drag). Dials work great with the pen, and I'm quite pleased to have this option available.
The only thing I don't like about FTR is the name. In fairness, it wasn't intended as a separate app, so it didn't need a good name. Also, its two functions are unrelated, which explains the vagueness of its current name. And it's not even a ring; as Bobby Lee would say "It's like... a bubble". And since bubbles float, calling it a "bubble" makes sense. Tool Bubble? Pen Bubble? I'd say "Ink Bubble" but it's not necessarily linked to ink.
Wait, how about "The Scrubble"? Okay, it does screen grabs and scrolling, both starting with "scr". Fuse that with "bubble" and you get "scrubble". And it's one letter away from "scribble", which points to its ink roots (and holds obvious appeal to me). Whatever it's called, big thanks to Ken Hinckley (http://community.research.microsoft.com/blogs/alpineinker/default.aspx) for delivering it. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Chris at Wizage (http://www.wizage.net/?p=256) gave it a shot on his UMPC and showed off one of the strengths of ink -- writing in a character-based language.
So yesterday I was upset about the false claims regarding Obama and bombs (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/02/did-obama-invent-internet.html). Today, I'm shaking my head over why anyone even cares if McCain had an extramarital affair (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/20/john-mccain-affair-links_n_87690.html). Whether it's true or false is irrelevant; that it is major news is what pisses me off.
Unless it involves a relative, I really don't care who anyone sleeps with, assuming all parties are consenting. It has no bearing on what I think of a person as a professional (unless that person was a marriage counselor), and that includes McCain.
That said, an affair with a lobbyist is a potential conflict of interest. If the focus was on that aspect, then at least there's a professional impact, but you know that ain't gonna happen (again). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
One thing that really pisses me off is the persistent belief that Al Gore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore) said he invented the Internet. In reality, those words never came out of his mouth, but the claim was repeated so often that it became an accepted belief.
Well, here it comes again, this time as claims that Barack Obama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama) wants to bomb Pakistan. Laying out the lies are President Bush (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W_Bush) (no surprise there) and straight-talkin' John McCain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain). In fairness, Bush is an idiot and McCain is really old, so they might not know they've lying, but that doesn't change the fact that Obama never said he wanted to bomb Pakistan. Of course, Gore never said he invented the Internet either, and we know how that turned out. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
A topic on the GBM forum (http://tinyurl.com/2w67nl) reminded me of a sad thing I saw in Starbucks a couple of weeks ago. A guy was working in Excel on his ThinkPad laptop while also flipping through handwritten notes in a paper notebook and a stack of annotated printouts of spreadsheets. Ugh.
I would have shown him the light, but I was device-less that day, and he seemed quite busy moving from laptop to notebook to stack.
Regardless, seeing that cumbersome load of paper made me more appreciative of my single item setup. My tablet may have a 14" widescreen and weigh five pounds, but it's a lot easier to carry than a laptop, a paper notebook, and a stack of loose pages. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Archiwiz at To fit or not to fit! (http://archiwiz.blogspot.com/2008/02/ripting-build-52.html) has posted a double sample of Ript (http://www.ript.com/) and Build 52 (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/Build52.html). Looking forward to seeing more. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Just got a ping from Joel Walker informing me that he's figured out Build 52. The successful results are on his blog, Texas Walker (http://texaswalker.blogspot.com/). He's also using Ript (http://www.ript.com/). (No samples of that yet.) [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Dealing with a thin sheet of ice over everything and dainty little icicles today. Personally, I would prefer a thick layer -- easier to break into chunks and it doesn't stick -- but at least there's no chance a falling icicle will kill me. Photos at Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/sumocat666/IcyWednesday). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
