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Sunday
Aug222010

Hey, what's this song, Skynet?

DateSunday, August 22, 2010 at 20:51

I really like how the current iPod Shuffles speak the name of the track using VoiceOver.  I found I wanted the same feature in iTunes while working this morning, so I took 45 seconds and whipped up an AppleScript to do the same thing.

So, while iTunes is playing, I just bring up Google Quick Search Box (son of Quicksilver) and start typing "What track" and Skynet tells me.

Ok, I guess I have to explain the Skynet thing? See, a while back I bought a third party Text To Speech voice from CereProc.  The voice is called Heather and is Scottish.  It sounds vaguely like Shirley Manson.  Shirley Manson, in addition to being awesome, is the lead singer of Garbage.  More relevant to matters at hand, though, is that Shirley Manson played a terminator in the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Where was I? Oh, yes... the script.

tell application "iTunes"
	if player state is playing then
		set trackTitle to name of current track
		set artistName to artist of current track
		set ourString to "... " & trackTitle & ", by " & artistName & "."
	else
		set ourString to "iTunes is not currently playing anything."
	end if
	set origVolume to sound volume
	set sound volume to 33
	say ourString
	set sound volume to origVolume
end tell

Sometimes I forget how nifty AppleScript can be...

Authorr3v | CommentPost a Comment |
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Monday
Jul122010

My Portrait by Audrey Bishop

DateMonday, July 12, 2010 at 21:43

My portrait.My twitterfriend and fellow skeptic, Jillus, tweeted about an artist who's working on a project called 200 Portraits.

The premise is as simple as the title, really.  Audrey, the artist, planned to complete 200 portraits. All she needed were subjects, really. (Though I think she could probably use a paypal donation or two as well.) So, she asked people to send pictures.

I took a look at her work on the project so far, and liked it. I've never had a portrait done, (besides self-portraits and theme park characterturists), so, with that in mind, I sent her my favorite photo of myself.

I really quite like the result, though I think I look a little more irritated than usual.

What? I'm not always irritated! Am not! You know what? Piss off!

Er... Anyway, as of this post, Audrey is only on 28 out of two hundred, so she might still need pictures and therefore there might still be time to get a very cool portrait AND help out an artist. Check out her site.

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Sunday
Jul042010

I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost... but a MILLION at TAM8?!

DateSunday, July 4, 2010 at 14:30

They're mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. Apparently.

"For too long, paranormal skeptics have mocked people with a curiosity about ghosts, spirits and the afterlife," proclaims someone on the internet who calls himself Doc Paranormal. (For the record, Doc Paranormal sounds like a cheap rip off of Dr. Strange. Marvel lawyers should look into this.) "The Million Ghost March has been conceived as an opportunity to turn the tables on these unimaginative naysayers. It is a march to defy logic," he continues.[1]

This "event" is to be held during TAM8, the annual skeptic's conference in Las Vegas. Apparently, in 2008, they held the first Million Ghost March, also during TAM. It is said that it was so successful that TAM had to change venues the following year! Now, I was at TAM6 and the only spirits I came in contact with were of the distilled variety.

Say, can poltergeists cause hangovers?

"Perhaps fearful of another Million Ghost March, skeptics are holding this year’s convention at the little-known South Point Hotel & Casino." Hah. We faked 'em out good. We moved it LAST year. It took them over a year to track us down, apparently. Maybe they should hire some dowsers or something.

According to another release, Doc Abnormal states, "Yes indeed, ladies and gents–as of July 1st, an amazing 923,985 spirits have signed on to participate in the 2010 Million Ghost March."[2]

923,985! Holy ectoplasm, Dr. Venkman, that's a lot of slimers!

Or not, if you think about it. Consider how many people have been alive and now aren't. Doc Abnormal can't get more than a million? I'd think if we're going to be impressed, we're going to need numbers a lot higher than that. (Not to mention some proof.) The number IS up from the last event in 2009 though. They had only 870,000 that year. The Doc reckons that it's because this year it's a multi-venue even, and the ghosts can "demonstrate in the communities they currently haunt, rather than traveling to Las Vegas."[2] Really? Ghosts have travel issues? Visa problems or just busy schedules?

"Only mad dogs and paranormal skeptics would attend a convention in Las Vegas’s blazing July heat."[2] Oh, I see. Ghosts don't have air conditioning.

Well, at least the have some big names. "Many celebrity ghosts have committed to the Million Ghost March, including the recently-deceased Michael Jackson, Ronnie James Dio and Brittany Murphy."[2]

What? No Patrick Swayze? Would that be too on the nose?

Sorry, I'm not linking to that crap, but here's some reference URLs:
[1] http://www.ghostvillage.com/news/2010/news_06142010.shtml
[2] http://www.askdocparanormal.com/?p=1200

Authorr3v | CommentPost a Comment |
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Friday
Jun112010

Accuracy Is Important

DateFriday, June 11, 2010 at 19:39

Verity. It's not just for pedants any more.

Yesterday, I got into a small difference of opinion with Tim Buckley via Twitter. He draws the popular web comic Ctrl+Alt+Del. I've been reading Tim's comics for years and they're pretty enjoyable. Usually his work is about the shenanigans of his characters, video game jokes or some such similar fodder.

CAD20100611.jpgOn Friday, he posted a comic about the AT&T security breach in which hackers obtained the email addresses & ICC-IDs of a ton of iPad 3G owners. Click the comic to go to the CAD site and read it full sized. 

This is, of course, an analogy to the BP oil spill in the Gulf. The comic has what I feel to be a pretty egregious error in it though. The pipe that's leaking emails is labelled Apple. This is highly misleading and implies the blame belongs to Apple.

I decided to point that out to him via Twitter. He wasn't very receptive to my commentary, but not because he disagreed about my point necessarily. It seems that he just disagreed whether or not it mattered.

Here's the conversation...

@r3v: @timcad That pipeline in today's CAD should say "AT&T" you know...

@TimCAD: @r3v Not really. Their vulnerabilities caused the leak to happen, but the leaked emails were still iPad owners, not general AT&T customers

@r3v: @TimCAD That's a strange conclusion. AT&T is what leaked, not Apple or the iPad. In this scenario, if the data is the oil, AT&T is BP.

@TimCAD: @r3v You're mistaken. iPad owner account emails are what leaked. The cause of the leak is irrelevant to the image.

@r3v: @TimCAD Right... the iPad owner account emails are what leaked. The oil. AT&T is the pipe they leaked from.

@TimCAD: @r3v The pipe is just a pipe... it carries oil (or in this case, email addresses). Who the pipe belongs to is still not relevant to the joke

@TimCAD: @r3v It's what's in the pipe that matters and that's what is displayed in the comic.

@r3v: @TimCAD I get your joke. But it's also commentary, even if inadvertent, which is why I wish your analogy was accurate.

The conversation stopped there. Possibly because, like myself, he had figured out that we weren't going to convince each other of anything or he got bored. Who knows. It's pretty clear we weren't getting anywhere, though.

So, while I have an obvious bias towards Apple and prefer not to see it get undeserved bad press (hey, there's times we deserve it), it's the conversation that I find interesting. He said, "[i]t's what's in the pipe that matters and that's what is displayed in the comic." But the pipe itself is also displayed in the comic, and it's clearly labelled... and it's clearly labelled incorrectly.

I think it's interesting that he didn't care that he had something blatantly wrong because it wasn't the point, or joke, he was trying to make. Even intended as humor, the comic is commentary, and it's inaccuracy turns it from a joke to a lie. That kind of thing bums me out.

Accuracy is important.

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Thursday
May202010

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day

DateThursday, May 20, 2010 at 12:47

If you don't know what Everybody Draw Mohammed Day is about, then try Google or Wikipedia.

You can not earn respect through violence and intimidation. It just doesn't work. It makes things worse and on the internet, it makes things exponentially worse and it does it at an incredible speed. This is something that the extremists do not understand. They probably never will.

It's a shame that there are so many peaceful muslims the world over who will be insulted or offended by this day. It's a shame that I have friends who may be personally offended by my involvement. It's a shame that this sort of thing divides rather than unites.

So, why be a part of this? Why contribute to this blatantly disrespectful act? Because I feel like we have no other choice. I think it's the only way to clearly demonstrate that we will not be silenced by threats of violence and fear-mongering. By terrorism.

It seems self-evident to me, but it still must be said: I will not be governed by your religion.

With that, and all due apologies to my muslim friends and the three stooges, I present my Everybody Draw Mohammed Day picture:

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day

Cheers.

Authorr3v | Comment1 Comment |
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