Results tagged “Current Events” from ScottandMargo.net

I hate doing these kinds of things because it feels like I'm just running around following the crowd. This particular thing is going around the Lotus Notes/Domino community.

I do tend to get some odd results on these things though. This is no exception.

I'm learning to play guitar these days. I'll have to remember this if I ever have an album to do.

The game goes like this:

Band name from Wikipedia random page, the album title is the last four words from the final quote on the random quotes page and the art should be the third image from the Flickr Interestingness / Last 7 days page.

Just in time for Lotusphere, Lotus911 has released BleedYellow as a resource for the Lotus community....those of us that bleed Lotus yellow.

It'll be interesting to watch this evolve. As it is, it's a good way for Lotus software enthusiasts to meet and exchange ideas and learn from each other. I hope that eventually it will become a place where non-Bleeders can come and see that Lotus software isn't as ugly as it used to be and learn about why those of us that do bleed yellow love this software so much (the reactions to the news of Notes coming to the iPhone last week show that Lotus and the Lotus community still have a long way to go with that).

via Chris Whisonant, Chris Blatnick, Ed Brill, Duffbert, the Connections Blog and probably some others that I haven't seen yet.

I have ben thinking of what to write about Ideajam since it came out this week. When I started thinking, I figured it would be easy, but it turned out to not be as easy as I hoped.

The idea behind IdeaJam is simple enough...it gives members of the Domino community to post ideas for projects, changes, improvements, etc and allows other community members to comment upon and promote or demote the idea.

With a bunch of smart, active users, IdeaJam could be really fertile ground which could grow great projects at IBM, various business partners and would-be open-source developers. From where I sit, it's a great way for the community to give feedback on what they want in a more direct way than normal.

For me, personally, it's a way to keep connected to the Domino community now that I don't work with Lotus software in my new job. I've been thinking of ways to contribute to the community over the last couple of weeks. I haven't had any great ideas on my own yet, but participating in IdeaJam is at least a small contribution in the mean time.

I hope IBM and the Business Partner community see it as the opportunity that it is.

I'm also really curious to see how the IdeaJam framework works outside of the Domino community when Elguji puts it out as a product. While I think it's a great idea, I'm wondering how big a population it takes in a corporate setting to reach critical mass for it to drive itself.

I'm watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning (Tivo'd it). So far, I've learned that Broadway is just awful.

Legally Blonde, Young Frankenstein and Xanadu??

It's been pretty obvious that Hollywood is out of ideas for years. Apparently, Broadway is too. Wow.

I've been gone the last week and a half or so. Will have another couple posts in a bit but I have some catching up to do.

At least I have decent mail filtering.

Technorati Tags: Blogging

I was feeling pretty good a couple of weeks ago when I chemically unclogged the master bathroom sink. A couple days ago, Margo went to get something out from under the kitchen sink to find everything soaked. Great. A plumbing leak in the kitchen.

Me being a gadget guy, I start thinking that it's a good reason to get one of those new disposals that can take a pineapple (the Insinkerator Evolution Excel). Sweet. Oops....lowest price I can find on it is $270 and highest was $500. Ouch.

I get back under the sink to see if maybe the problem is something other than the disposal. Running water isn't leaking out anywhere. When I turn the disposal on, water comes shooting out of a hole in its side. Great.

So I'm ordering a cheaper disposal tonight and when it comes in, I'm going to try to install it. I have a plumber ready to take care of it if I can't get it together. When I first bought this place, I never thought I'd have to learn plumbing.

Technorati Tags: Housekeeping, DIY

Looks like the FDA extended the deadline for comments on the proposed chocolate changes another month to May 25th so there's still plenty of time to comment.

Guittard set up a site called Don't Mess With Our Chocolate that takes it from the point of view of a maker of fine chocolate. There's a lot more information there on the issue.

Update: I caught a link to this site from Slashfood.

Updated Update: This is entry #200 on the current iteration of this site. Go me. I still have a backup of some of the older stuff that was lost in a previous cutover that I will get to adding this year. Nothing hugely interesting, but adding it for completeness.

Technorati Tags: Current Events, Food, Politics

Wow. Slashdot picked up the possible chocolate change.

Someone put in more effort than I did and got the FDA page for the change and a link where you can send in your comments by April 25th.

I'm not up for turning this space into a political soapbox but I'm posting the links in case someone reading this stuff loves chocolate and doesn't read Slashdot.

Technorati Tags: Current Events, Food, Politics

So the Grocery Manufacturers of America lobbying group is trying to get the FDA to change the rules for what defines "chocolate" in America. The new rules would allow manufacturers to substitute cheaper vegetable oil for cocoa butter. I would think that would kind of make chocolate not chocolate anymore, but that's just me.

Here's a Gristmill posting on the subject. I agree with its author that we're better off patronizing small producers of high quality chocolate than sitting around and sucking it up as the mass produced chocolate gets worse and worse. It amazes me how much better even mass produced European chocolate is than most if what we have here.

Try an experiment sometime. Find a European version of the Kit Kat. Around the DC Metro area, there's a chain called World market that usually has them. Taste test the European version of the Kit Kat against the American version. Big difference, huh?

Oddly enough, when I noticed this issue I just got done picking up a couple different varieties of hot chocolate from a producer called Vosges. One is an Aztec-style hot chocolate with chipotle and the other is a Paris-style chocolate chaud. I've heard that they're both fantastic. I'll post a follow-up entry once I have a chance to try them out. I think I have a Swiss Miss packet around that I could do a head-to-head with.

Technorati Tags: Food

We can put a robot on Mars. Why can't we put robots in a mine? We're in the future now and people still die in mine collapses. WTF?

Rescuers Dig for 2 Men After Mine-Wall Collapse - washingtonpost.com

Technorati Tags: Current Events

I don't really have much to say on this that hasn't already been said.

My sister was an engineering student at Tech until she graduated last year. She spent a lot of time in the room in Norris Hall where most of the killings happened. I don't know what I'd do if she was there today. A couple of her sorority sisters were shot but fortunately not killed.

We're praying for the improved condition of those that are injured in this incident, both physical and mental injuries. While I'm grateful that my sister wasn't caught up in this mess, there are 33 families out there that can't say that.

Technorati Tags: Current Events

Every year, information on the internet becomes completely unreliable.

Well, more unreliable than normal. You always have to filter and think about what you read but today, even people I trust start posting stupid crap. I'm better off just marking everything read when I do an RSS refresh tomorrow night.

Looks like a good guitar practice day.

Technorati Tags: Blogging

I've been trying to think of something to say about what went down over on Kathy Sierra's Creating Passionate Users blog the other day but I just can't do it.

It just goes to show that there are a lot of messed up people out there and the internet can give them an audience where previously they would either just be ignored or locked up.

zabuni at Metafilter points out that it's more proof of Penny Arcades Internet Fuckwad Theory though.

I hate letting someone speak for me on my own site, but I'm making an exception today. Though in this case, I don't think the fuckwad in question started off as a normal person. I hope this issue gets resolved soon. I'd hate to see Ms. Sierra's current state continue because of some asshole out there somewhere.

Business & Technology | Starbucks launches Hear Music record label:
via Slashfood

So is this part of Starbucks' new strategy to re-find its soul?

Things like starting a label and signing Sir Paul take time so it's my guess that this is another way Starbucks us losing it instead. It kinda makes sense given that part of the "Starbucks Experience" is the music played in their shops. The Hear station has been on XM for a while...I even had it in my presets before I dropped my subscription.

I'm still waiting for a coffee-related change that shows they're serious about getting that lost soul back though,

Technorati Tags: Food, Marketing, Music

As always, no fuss, no trouble. 10 minutes in and out on the way to work (I pass my polling place on my commute anyway). Was too early for the political party reps to show up, I guess.

We have been using the WINVote machines in Fairfax county for the last several years. I've never had any problems. Shrug.

Lovely. I'm posting about politics on Halloween. sigh.

As important as the 2004 elections were supposed to have been, I don't recall being contacted by either party during that whole cycle.

As of yesterday evening, I have been contacted by the local Democrats and Republicans about their respective candidates. In the Virginia senate race, George Allen is the Republican incumbent and Jim Webb is the Democratic challenger. I live in the 10th congressional district so for the House race, the Republican incumbent is Frank Wolf and the Democratic challenger is Judy Feder. Both races are polling pretty close and with the Republicans needing every seat they can keep to maintain their hold on congress, it's been a very active campaign so far. Lots of ads. Lots of nasty negative flyers in the mail on both sides.

Now, I guess they both feel the need to actually reach out to the politically boring suburbs. I've never been interested in discussing politics with people. Especially these days with as angry as people tend to get with opposing points of view. I'm not a member of any political party either, so I tend to view elections like college football games...the competition is interesting but I don't have anyone to root for.

What's interesting to me is the different approaches of the two parties.

Saturday morning (11-12 sometime) someone comes knocking on my door. It turns out to be a probably local Democrat campaigning (mostly) for Judy Feder...campaign flyers and talking points in hand. I'm still absorbing my caffeine at this point so I'm less prone to chatting than normal so when he asks me what issues I'm most concerned about for this election cycle, I said something like "nothing, I'm good, thanks". He expressed his disbelief that I wasn't worried about the war (I am, but not in the way he's expecting), or healthcare (I have a job and insurance, thanks), or the economy (seems to be working alright to me, but I'm not an economist). Margo pipes up with the Northern Virginia complaint that our Democratic governor hasn't done a very good job with spending our tax dollars in our area but that was brushed off as not being important since that's not up to congresspeople (true, I guess). I stuck with my "everything's great, good luck" routine til he decided it was time to go.

I was a little annoyed by what I took as his disbelief that I didn't see the world the same way he did, but I do give him credit for at least trying. He was humping door to door trying to talk to people about the Democratic congressional candidates and either try to change minds or count what kind of voting trends are happening in my area.

Yesterday evening, I got a phone call from the Fairfax GOP. Margo answered the phone, but they asked for me so I got the phone. The volunteer quickly started in on her script about how important this election is and why I should be voting for Republicans. It was probably 2 minutes of script, then she thanked me and hung up. No pause for questions, no asking me what I thought or who I was going to vote for.

So now I've seen their pre-vote ground game. Very different approaches. I'm curious about what the differences means to the local party structures and what they're expecting to gain (or not lose) from these contacts.

Next week should be fun to watch.

Technorati Tags: Politics

I watched what I think is the most recent South Park episode this afternoon: Mystery of the Urinal Deuce

(sometimes it's hard to tell when something came out when you love your TiVo as much as we do)

The episode went into the 9/11 conspiracies out there that the government was behind the attacks and how stupid it all is. I got a different lesson though (maybe because I already knew that conspiracy theories are stupid).

If I post something on the internet that's stupid enough, and then wrap it up in enough false intellectualism and paranoia, maybe Trey Parker and Matt Stone will notice and put me in an episode and kill me twice too. That'd be cool. I've always wanted to be in a cartoon. Actually, I have a print out on my fridge from the South Park Studio already. All I need is animation and voice. And a stupid idea to turn into a conspiracy theory.

Technorati Tags: Politics, Television

On 12 Jan 2005, WHFS cut over from its "alternative" format to some kind of Spanish dance music format. It's an end of an era...and other cliches I'm not going to try to use.

Margo and I met at WHFS' HFStival in 1996, so in a sense, the station's responsible for bringing us together. We stopped going in 1998, I think. The bands started to kinda suck and we got tired of drunk, rowdy 15 year olds.

WHFS is the #1 preset in both of our car stereos. Margo listened to them more than I did for the last few years. I caught the Sports Junkies when Howard got boring and when there wasn't anything else on. I've also become less tolerant of commercials in recent years and have retreated to talk radio. Over the summer, I got XM in the car and haven't spent any time listening to WHFS since.

So, it's kind of a bitersweet thing for me. Boradcast radio sucks and this is just another manifestation of suckage...taking a once-great station screwing it up for a few years, then taking it off the air. On the other hand, WHFS is indirectly responsible for a lot of the good things in my life.

On balance, I think I'm sad to see it go but don't think I'm angry enough to want to do something about it. Let them see what happens with El Zol. Maybe it'll work for them.

Too long of a title. Too bad.

Spent the week in Orlando doing the Disney and Universal studios thing. More on that later. Spent the entire week without computer access, no reading papers and almost no TV news.

Found out on Friday that Dimebag Darrell was murdered in Ohio. That sucks. I've spent a lot of time listening to Pantera over the years. Not as much since 1994 when Far Beyond driven came out. I really liked that and Vulgar Display of Power and Cowboys From Hell. I wasn't that big on The Great Southern Trendkill or Reinventing the Steel. I saw them in concert the first time with Slayer and BioHazard sometime in 94-95, and a couple more times later at the vasrious Ozzfests that I've attended over the years. I bought a lot of issues of Guitar World Magazine in the 90's to read his articles...even though I've never gotten the hang of playing guitar. I haven't thought a lot about him or his band in recent years but it still sucks to go like that, and from what I've read by the people around him, he'll be missed a lot.

There was also a stabbing at the USDA last week. Normally, violence in DC isn't that big of a deal, but it's unusual to have it happen in federal office buildings. This incedent in particular happened in the stairwell next to where Margo worked, and the victim made his way down the hall and collapsed into the office across the hall where she worked. Wierd.

That's all for now. I'll get into the Disney things (and maybe update the above with links) later. I need to get going on putting the Christmas tree up.

Holy crap! It's been a long time since I've touched the site. I haven't done any of the things I'd planned and promised to do with it. Nothing. Actually, I'd even let the domain name lapse for a couple of weeks. That's just sad.
I have a lot of excuses. Some good, some bad. While there are a lot of things that are more important than keeping up a website, it's still a resource that I'm wasting. While I can't say that I'm definately going to get to everyhing I was planning, I do intend to pay more attention to the site.

Technorati Tags: Blogging