ThinkBlog

If you’re having trouble with the Digg RSS feeds under Thunderbird ever since they upgraded the system to “version 3.0″, it’s because you have to be logged in. The trouble? Thunderbird supports no way to log in and cookie support is blocked by default.

However, according to MozillaZine, all you have to do is copy your cookies.txt file from your Firefox profile folder to your Thunderbird profile folder, then add the following line to prefs.js (in your ~/.thunderbird directory):

user_pref("network.cookie.cookieBehavior", 3);

(Be sure to have shut down Thunderbird before making this change; it writes all preferences on close to the JS file.)

In the debate between Digg and Slashdot, Digg users are prickly about it … but both have their strengths. Here’s a comment I posted a few days ago in response to another comment.

Slashdot’s maturity and complex threaded/moderation model lends a greater feel of community.

That said, having been a long time (since about ‘99) lurker at Slashdot, I’ve hardly ever posted a comment, because I feel so underqualified. There ARE many more industry players there, and experts in every field. This means that “me too” posts get modded to oblivion, and you REALLY have to say something insightful, informative, funny, or what have you, in order to not be picked apart. And even then, you’ll say something from an expert voice and get +5 Insightful; the guy that comes up after you will counterpoint and make +5 Insightful himself, from an opposite point of view. The dregs, you don’t even see if you put your view level at +1 or +2.

That makes it more intimidating for lesser geeks like myself to post comments there–but it’s also wonderful, because the comments are so good that you come away from Slashdot discussion feeling more informed on the issue.

At Digg, it’s a little different. I feel qualified to post here. My experiences in comp sci, programming, psychology, and philosophy all combine to make me feel qualified to whatever extent to post on something like, for instance, this. The community itself is younger, more raw, less refined, and that’s a good thing for n00bs and even intermediates who want to climb the ladder of knowledge to expert level.

The difference is like that between a good Scotch on the rocks and a fruity mixed drink. Not everyone has a taste for the Scotch, and why wait? The refinement of Slashdot means déjà vu, having to wait for articles that Digg sometimes picks up, but it also means getting the inside track on expert opinions along with a smattering of inside jokes and community feel. The quick, democratic pace and tone of Digg means that there are duplicate stories, lots of “me too” comments, lots of misinformation, but that’s the cost of having more news, more quickly.

Hence, both Digg and Slashdot feeds remain in my RSS aggregator!

Yes, I’ve dropped off the face of the Earth. But I’ll be back. Seven semester hours in a month, four of which was a lab class, was perhaps a mistake. But I’ve been making notes. And I’m about to drop some bombs. Including some site changes (which of themselves will be less bomb-like and more firecrackerish).

Raise your hand if the Fourth of July (or whichever day of celebration in your country involves the grandest expenditure of Class C fireworks in a single night) is your favorite holiday!

::raises hand::

Backs to the Future from PhysOrg.com

New analysis of the language and gesture of South America’s indigenous Aymara people indicates they have a concept of time opposite to all the world’s studied cultures — so that the past is ahead of them and the future behind.
[…]

This is a highly interesting phenomenon.  We’ve always taken for an axiom of psychology that peoples all over the world have used the position of “forward” to conceive of the future and “rearward” for the past.  What, then, of these peoples of South America, who defy this axiom?

Technorati Tags: cognition, language, South America, tribe

After a three week saga, that involved a taxi, a stolen sidekick, a girl from Corona, a man from Manhattan, and thousands of Internet fans, the stolen sidekick saga concludes.

If you’ve been following the story on ThinkBlog, you can now read the Digg comments and the New York Times article.

read more | digg story

This song was the catalyst for a revelation I had late last night. More on that later; meanwhile, enjoy the song, and the video (warning: if you haven’t seen Blade Runner, this might contain spoilers. But you HAVE, right? ).

(I’m tek1024.)

Many of you know my great respect for William Gibson’s works, and that I derive hope from the fact that he’s a native South Carolinian.

Back in September of last year, he announced on his blog that he would no longer be blogging while writing a book. I believed him, and dutifully removed the feed with chagrin from my RSS aggregator while doing a little “fall cleaning.” Turns out he couldn’t stay away, so I caught up on the archives. In there, I found the following tidbits quite interesting:

He wrote the black Buzz Rickson’s MA-1 flight jacket into existence. Seriously. Get the story straight from the horse’s mouth here. Here’s a short explanation from Technovelgy.com.

In March, he posted a review of V for Vendetta thus: “More thumbs up than a Chernobyl pianist. Superb. Splendid. Heartening. Go see.” This has changed my opinion of whether the film was worth it; a Xangan had talked poorly of the movie, but when the father of cyberpunk fiction says a movie is good….

Read Time Machine Cuba by Wm Gibson at InfiniteMatrix.

F:F:F —my autographed hardcover of Pattern Recognition (2003) would have been significantly more “filled in” had I seen this while reading: “These images are intended to give a sense of place to locations in William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition.”

Most of you who follow this sort of thing know by now that Bill Gates is reversing his roles between Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; in his words, “Right now and for the next two years, my full-time job is here at Microsoft, and my part-time job remains the Foundation. Beginning in July 2008, I will switch that, to be full-time at the Foundation, while remaining involved with Microsoft as Chairman and an advisor on key development projects on a part-time basis.”

NeoWin.net has the full email, which is echoed in blockquote at the end of this article (if you’re on the main page, click “more…” at the bottom of the post).

Guy Kewney posted an insightful write-up on this at TheRegister, in which the critical line seems to be, “As chairman, without needing to worry about whether Vista will be 18 or 30 months late, his influence could paradoxically be far greater. As a Captain of industry, his guidance is far more than just “some geek with money” - he understands the law and what is possible, and what is not, better than any of his contemporaries.” BillG goes from son of lawyers to hardcore programmer to chairman of a multibillion-dollar corporation—and finally to a wielder of political power greater than the power of two lawyers like his parents. (Cf. also Kewney’s response to readers’ responses to his article.)

Meanwhile, I’m intrigued by the sentiment that has arisen not only at Digg and Slashdot and other major cybercenters of geekdom, but all over the Web—kind, almost tender words from people whose vitriol toward “Gates’ corporate imperialism” had previously been unmatchable (and betimes unreadable). Why the switch? I think it has a lot to do with the feeling of losing one’s most formidable opponent—old gods having battled one another across the centuries and lands stand, hands on hilts; one bows, turns, and walks into the ancient mist. Of course, the sentiment is incomplete, or should be, since Gates isn’t dead and neither is MS, but many hardcore Linux geeks realize this is the passing of an era.

When I read Gates (© 1993, 1994 by Stephen Manes & Paul Andrews) over ten years ago, I was fascinated by the idea of a few geeks (hackers, even!) getting together, sleeping under fluorescent lights of your old rented office building, working for twenty hours at a clip on programming the Next Big Thing, ordering in pizza and making mid-day beer runs. Especially coding the “rest” of DOS on a plane on the way to show it off (true story). When something happens of this magnitude, as it must, it must remind some old Linux geeks of the young William Henry Gates III, hacker.

But it’s also a warning. Now, MS becomes faceless: the funny, obnoxiously ubiquitous “Gates of Borg” picture is replaced by a simple sans-serif logo. As Linux gains more prominence on the desktop, especially through Ubuntu and Fedora Core, it has a long battle ahead of it.

(more…)

You all know that I make it a point not to blockquote great swaths of text unless it’s lyrics or something really good. Well, this falls into the latter category, at the very least; and I’m not certain it doesn’t fit the former bill as well. I’m biased, but there’s a good reason. The more Spurgeon one reads, I’m convinced, the more one loves him. I can’t wait to smoke a cigar with him in heaven.**

I’ve been shamefully stumped in an argument with a friend before, as to why we should memorize Scripture; and according to my own standard, I hadn’t a leg to stand on. Here’s a greatly encouraging argument from the old Baptist himself. (The standard is, “If you cannot explain yourself coherently for holding an opinion, then that opinion should not necessarily be taken seriously by others and must be re-evaluated until a conclusion can be reached.” Give or take.)

“He hath said.”
–Hebrews 13:5

If we can only grasp these words by faith, we have an all-conquering weapon in our hand. What doubt will not be slain by this two-edged sword? What fear is there which shall not fall smitten with a deadly wound before this arrow from the bow of God’s covenant? Will not the distresses of life and the pangs of death; will not the corruptions within, and the snares without; will not the trials from above, and the temptations from beneath, all seem but light afflictions, when we can hide ourselves beneath the bulwark of “He hath said”? Yes; whether for delight in our quietude, or for strength in our conflict, “He hath said” must be our daily resort. And this may teach us the extreme value of searching the Scriptures. There may be a promise in the Word which would exactly fit your case, but you may not know of it, and therefore you miss its comfort. You are like prisoners in a dungeon, and there may be one key in the bunch which would unlock the door, and you might be free; but if you will not look for it, you may remain a prisoner still, though liberty is so near at hand. There may be a potent medicine in the great pharmacopoeia of Scripture, and you may yet continue sick unless you will examine and search the Scriptures to discover what “He hath said.” Should you not, besides reading the Bible, store your memories richly with the promises of God? You can recollect the sayings of great men; you treasure up the verses of renowned poets; ought you not to be profound in your knowledge of the words of God, so that you may be able to quote them readily when you would solve a difficulty, or overthrow a doubt? Since “He hath said” is the source of all wisdom, and the fountain of all comfort, let it dwell in you richly, as “A well of water, springing up unto everlasting life.” So shall you grow healthy, strong, and happy in the divine life.

**(This sentence not to be taken literally, as it’s a theological metaphor. I joke with friends that, whereas other lesser pleasures are only a shadow and a type of heavenly pleasures that surely we must experience There, cigars are actual manifestations of heaven here, whereby an alchemical process known mostly to Cubans transmutes hand-rolled long-filler tobacco into something divine. However, such is the stuff of geek humor. Thank you.)

One Romanian company has taken spamming Google to new heights. Learn how they got over 7 billion spam-filled pages into Google in under 1 month.

A friend of mine actually pointed this out to me earlier, from a post on Digital Point forums.

read more | digg story

Boing Boing: William Gibson on NSA wiretapping

William Gibson featured on Open Source Radio back in mid-May.

More on Gibson later.

This post dedicated to you, if you need encouragement.

Yeah, the rain came independence day
With an old flag, washed and raised
And the chid sang, all fall down
No one heard it, not a sound

Yeah the rain came, turning gray
And the jury went out to play
“Doesn’t matter,” someone said
“There’s tomorrow, go to bed”

(I be)—No drama—(happy)—no trauma, down in the jungle
Down in decay
(I be)—Getting older—(happy)—getting over
Something is different
Something has changed

In the jungle where the beat is strong
Nothing’s shocking, loud is long
Like the middle of a dream
I was woken when I screamed

I could never go back to that old prison of my youth
“Move forward,” someone said,
“you can make it—
“Watch your head”

(I be)—No drama—(happy)—no trauma, down in the jungle
Down in decay
(I be)—Getting older—(happy)—getting over
Something is different
Something has changed

And when your world comes crashing down (uh huh)
And there ain’t nothing you can do about it (ain’t nothin’ you can do about it)
And when everybody’s done you wrong (mmm, nothin’ right)
And your feeling torn down (feelin’ all torn down)
Now the Kingdom of everything’s within (of everything!)
And to love yourself is not a sin (love is not a sin)
And if there’s a Light inside, it’ll shine—
And if there’s a Light inside, it’ll shine

(I be)—No drama—(happy)&151;oh!, no trauma, down in the jungle
Down in decay
(I be)—Getting older—(happy)—getting over
Something is different
Something has changed

Something has changed

© 1998 King’s X — King’s X — Tape Head (1998, Metal Blade Records) — “Happy”

This song has encouraged me when I’ve been down, opened my eyes to the beauty of experiencing whatever it takes to get wisdom and be unafraid of growing older, and kicked my ass into gear when I’ve started listening to the jury who refuses to judge and the people who tell me to go back to bed. It’s not often we hear of youth being spoken of as a prison, but that was my experience—not that my childhood wasn’t wonderful, but that youthful pains and heartbreaks are always more intense because of a powerlessness to do anything about it or to know how to cope. For King’s X, this is an album about moving on and shutting ears to what the crowd wants. For me, it’s about wisdom, graceful aging, and never, ever giving up, even when “your world comes crashing down.”

If you need a good word today, I humbly submit to you this lyric, this word. If there’s a Light inside, it’ll shine: move forward. You can make it, but you’ve already grown, so emerging from the seeming stooped doorway of this present moment into the next, watch your head.

Abs Diet Recipes

“Abs are made in the kitchen.” Setting aside any goals to get below 10% body fat (needed for “cover-model abs” or whatever kind of nonsense have you), you can still benefit from these recipes.

I love to cook. I love to cook for other people. But I rarely make the time to for myself. Also, some people are under the mistaken impression that you need sixty-plus grams of sugar in a smoothie for it to be “good.” No, you need a teaspoon of honey, a handful of ice cubes, just under a cup of oatmeal, and some fresh fruit! Anyway. Take from this what you can. You can impress your friends, your spouse, or just yourself—without guilt.

See the Slashdot post here.

Props to grammar fascist for the report:

“The AP wire reports that Japanese medical researchers have developed a DNA-based vaccine that reduces the brain plaque beta amyloid without the severe brain inflammation that plagued successes in 2002. From the story ‘The deposits have been cut by between 15.5 percent and 38.5 percent in mice, with no major side effects, researchers said Monday in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences […] If all goes well, this type of treatment might be available for people in six or seven years, [lead researcher Yoh Matsumoto] said.’”

(The head scientist in the psycholinguistics lab in which I’ve been working for the past year and a half is in the midst of some major studies on Alzheimer’s and language processing, so this is a topic near and dear to us all in the lab. Not to mention that I’m more scared of Alzheimer’s than I am of Parkinson’s.)

In high school, if I let fly a curse word, or any sort of vulgarity, people looked up with quizzical horror. When did I lose that?

When I play video games, when I can’t get the computer to work right, you name it. I have a mouth.

This one also comes thanks to Christopher, since he completely called me out on it. He was amused; I was not, to think that I was letting fly when we’d gotten together to partake of the Nintendo, drinks, and a movie. I tell you what, figuring out that you enabled ide-scsi on the wrong IDE DVD+/-R drive in your Linux box and that you have to tweak the settings by hand and reboot to the right kernel—ex post vino!—will really help you express what’s on your mind. It was a good reminder to shut up and pray more, at least….

Those of you who know my opinion on praise & worship music (1, 2) will think this falls into a similar vein, but the credit for the topic is actually not mine, but a good friend.

We were sitting over a cup of coffee and he brought up the fact that when we sing contemporary praise songs, we end up just repeating the word as though it were some sort of talisman, a mantra, something with multiple mystical meanings to describe a feeling: “Oh God we praise you!, Lord, praise be to your name!”

Now, that’s all well and good, but when do you get to the actual praise? What has the Lord done? Who has He revealed Himself to be to you? Who is He outside of your own personal (exceedingly finite) experience? THAT is praise, not repeating the word “praise” over and over. Thanks, Christopher, for the good reminder.