Max: Pedal Tone Bass Line

Max: My Bass Line

Watch me kickin' it on Youtube.

HRM Max I, by grace of Psychological Instability, King Of Maxland: Micronation

Micronation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Max: British "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" Adverts

Apple UK: "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC." Smashing, isn't it? - Engadget

Jericho: I'd give my left testicle for this kind of discipline.

Max: Recommends

Best of Bootie 2006 CD

It's free.

Max: Just Call Me Bill

I am: William Gibson The chief instigator of the "cyberpunk" wave of the 1980s, his razzle-dazzle futuristic intrigues were, for a while, the most imitated work in science fiction.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Max: Charles Stross' Writing Tips

Charles Stross on writing

Unless you're already an A-list writer who can pull advances in excess of $50,000, you'd better either pump out an average of 1000 finished (polished, edited) words of prose per working day, or go looking for a day job. There are roughly 250 working days in a year (I'm assuming you take a couple of days a week off, and have vacations and sick leave), so that's 250,000 words, which is about two ordinary-length novels and a couple of short stories. Some writers do a whole lot more than 1000 finished words per day; some do fewer. If you do fewer and you're at the low-to-middling end of the pecking order, you will not be able to earn a living at this career. Many writers do 250,000 words a year and still can't make a living. They may have part-time jobs, to make ends meet, or a full-time job and do the writing thing in the evenings and at weekends. It's a treadmill.

In addition to writing you will:
# pore over copy-edited manuscripts, correcting editorial mark-ups
# write
# grovel over galley proofs, looking for typos
# write
# keep track of your expenses and petty cash and do all the 1001 things that any small business person has to do to keep HM Revenue and Customs off your back
# write
# enthusiastically deal with the press and interviewers, no matter how small or obscure the outlet — publicity is always a priority unless you're big enough to hire a PR manager
# write
# deal with correspondence to your editor(s) and agent in a prompt, professional manner because if you ever get yourself a reputation for being difficult to work with you are so screwed ... (luckily editors and agents know that only lunatics and eccentrics want to be full-time writers, so no small amount of their time is dedicated to insulating you from the demands of other publishing folks, and vice versa)
# write
# persuade your bank to accept cheques drawn on currencies they've never heard of
# write
# learn more than you ever wanted to know about international double taxation treaties and the associated exemption forms
# write
# answer your fan mail (if you're lucky enough to have fans)
# did I say "write" often enough? I meant "write, even when you're sick to the back teeth of it, when the current project is an interminable drag, when you can't even remember why you ever agreed to write this bloody stupid book, when your hands ache from RSI and your cat's forgotten who you are and your spouse is filing for divorce on grounds of neglect".

Speaking of Charles Stross, I highly recommend The Atrocity Archives.

Max: DIY Laptop

mini-itx.com - projects - itx laptop

For very little money, I have created a 2GHz processor laptop with 1GB Ram, and an ATI Radeon 9200 128MB graphics card. OK, so it is a PCI graphics card and could be faster, but everything is upgradable - I could slot in a motherboard with PCI Express in the future.

I am going to add this to the list of things I am going to do when I am no longer broke.

Edit

I just found this today.

Max: .0000001 Mega-Pixel Camera

BBC NEWS | Technology | Single-pixel camera takes on digital

Researchers in the US are developing a single-pixel camera to capture high-quality images without the expense of traditional digital photography.

Being developed by a lab at Rice University in Houston, Texas, the single-pixel camera is designed to tackle what its developers see as the 'inefficiencies' of modern digital camera.

It currently resembles an old-fashioned pinhole camera and is the size of a suitcase, but assistant professor of electrical engineering Kevin Kelly told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme that it is only 'the beginning of things.'

'Hopefully it will get smaller,' he said.

Max: The Latest

The state has reversed the appeal on my unemployment. Now not only do I not have that meager income, they are talking about making me pay back what I have already received.

My Brother-in-Law came home today to find Shabby -- his beloved chow-mix, whose belly I was scratching just few days ago -- mostly paralyzed and the vet is saying there is a 70% chance that he won't recover.

Outside of that, I start a new anti-depressant tomorrow. It had better bring reinforcements.

Max: These Presidents Today...

Israeli President charged with raping ministry worker

President Moshe Katsav of Israel is to be charged with rape and abuse of power, the Justice Ministry announced yesterday.

Lawyers for Mr Katsav, whose seven-year term of office ends in August, said that he intended to fight the charges and would respond today. “The President believes that everyone will see that he is the victim of false charges,” David Libai, his lawyer, said. Some of the complainants were motivated by revenge after being fired from their jobs, he added.

Max: Huh?

Attorney General Denies Right to Habeas Corpus

AG: “There is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution; there’s a prohibition against taking it away.'

Arlen Specter: “Wait a minute. The Constitution says you can’t take it away except in case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless there’s a rebellion or invasion?”

AG: “The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn’t say that. It simply says the right shall not be suspended” except in cases of rebellion or invasion.”

AS: “You may be treading on your interdiction of violating common sense.'

Wow. Newspeak is fun.

Max: Because Your Ass Needs Rocking

Cult - by Slayer



? - by Metallica

Jericho: Fire in the Sky!

I'm not ashamed to admit I teared up while watching this. I'm a stupid, old, broken geek.

Max: This Is Fucking AWESOME

Iran gets military gear in Pentagon sale - Military Affairs - MSNBC.com

The U.S. military has sold forbidden equipment at least a half-dozen times to middlemen for countries — including Iran and China — who exploited security flaws in the Defense Department’s surplus auctions. The sales include fighter jet parts and missile components.

In one case, federal investigators said, the contraband made it to Iran, a country President Bush branded part of an “axis of evil.”

Max: Life At Low G, cont

I will finish this damn story! You can go hunting for previous posts or read the whole thing (so far) here.

I was vaguely aware of Andy and Cassie talking. I felt an arm around me every now and then. Mostly I was just thinking about my comp. I thought about how I had carefully customized, hacked through legally mandated lockouts and made it into something more precious to me than my left arm.

After a while, I started to look around me. Andy were sitting next to each other on the floor. They glanced at me as I glanced at them. I then turned and looked at the vidscreen. The next thing I knew, my foot was through the vidscreen and Andy and Cassie started talking in loud, anxious voices. I was too busy to pay attention. I widened the hole in the screen so I could get to the electronics and wiring behind. I then slowly, methodically, started dismantling the components of the vidscreen.

"So, what are you doing there?" Andy asked

"Taking the vidscreen apart," I replied.

"Any reason why?"

"Probably."

"Neat. Well he's lost it."

"Let him do it," Cassie said. We probably aren't leaving here alive. If that makes it easier for him..."

Eventually I had dismantled as much of the vidscreen as I could without tearing into the walls. So I started tearing into the walls. The internal walls of the room were separated from the concrete walls behind. It wasn't easy going. This really wasn't my thing, physical action. But over the course of a few hours I had several cuts and blisters. I also had almost all of the wiring out of the wall - I wasn't so out of it that I was going to mess with hot electrical lines - and neatly organized on the floor. Most of the inner wall was also stacked neatly around the edges of the room.

"Feel any better?" Andy asked.

I just sat down and stared at the wiring.

"The door seems to have electromagnetic locks," Andy observed. "Couldn't we open the door by yanking the power line?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"That's weird," Cassie said. "In a company that is so uptight about security would have such easy access to wiring and such an easily defeated locking system. It could be trap."

"Well we certainly don't want to fall into a trap," Andy replied.

"There goes your chance for a last blow job before we die." Cassie seemed uncharacteristically hurt by Andy's comment.

"I still have him," Andy replied, pointing to me.

I grabbed some of the thinner but better insulated lines, bunched them together and walked over to the line feeding the lock on the door. I was able to work them behind the line. Making sure I wasn't touching anything but insulation, I pulled on my wires. I expected the line to be hard to yank out. In fact, it can out on my first tug. As the wire came loose, the door swung open.

An armed security detail was waiting for us.

"Come this way," one of them didn't so much say as threaten.

"Is small talk still a security threat?" Andy asked.

Their answer was a quick stun blast. All three of us were on the floor and I felt like a elephant had taken a beer shit inside of my head.

"Get up and come with us."

So we did.

They led us to a room similar to the one I had just dismantled. The main difference was a well dressed, well armed woman was waiting for us.

"Please sit," the disembodied voice that has shown our apartment complex burning down came out of her mouth.

Before I could say anything about my comp, we were hit with another stun blast.

"I would recommend learning to follow orders quickly," her voice swam into my head. We all managed to climb up on the couch.

"First, let me offer my condolences on your deaths. I know that your passing must have been difficult for you."

It would seem I was the only one who found this a confusing way to start a conversation.

"That's why they torched our apartment. We, meaning either clones or some other bodies burned with it."

"What about my comp?"

"You will be issued a new one. One that you will only use according to Incremetech policy. You are all now Incremetech employees. congratulations."

All of a sudden, I was very confused as to whether Cassie's plan was working or not.

"You will be taken to quarters where you will be given orientation material and await your first assignment."

We were ushered out and led to the transport that had brought us there.

Max: Awesome

I might have died Wednesday night and no one gives a fuck.

Max: Pain In The Chest

Wednesday night, I was working on my computer when I started to feel what I thought was cramping in my back. I got up to stretch and was suddenly light-headed. I went to lie down. As I was lying there, I realized that my pain was not in my back but in my side and dead center in my chest. My first thought was, "This has just got to be a pinched nerve or something." My second thought was, "I'm gonna fucking die tonight."

Without another thought, I had my pants on and was telling Laura to take me to the hospital. After years of watching medical dramas on TV, I figured I would walk in the door and be thrown straight on a stretcher as they warmed up the defibrillator. Instead, the girl at the front desk calmly took my information, told me to call the billing office as soon as I got my bill so I could work out some sort of arrangement and then finally handed me off to a nurse who took my vitals.

I was then led to a room and hooked up to a bunch of wires hooked up to the machine that goes, "PINNNNG!". A few blood tests and a few hours later, the pain had subsided. The only thing they found wrong with me was that my potassium level was 2.3 when the minimum is supposed to be 2.5. They gave me a couple of potassium pills, lectured me on losing weight and sent me on my way.

Right now my recumbent exercycle is just to my right, taunting me with the fact that I should be exercising. I know from experience that a month of riding it every other day will leave me feeling a lot better than I do right now. I know I need to as well as eat better.

I would rather do the bike and do that liquid diet. I am a sucker for instant gratification. But my wallet can only afford old fashioned dieting.

Either way, I just got reminded just how mortal I am. And I don't like it.

Max: Sheeple

Texas-based pizza chain accepts pesos, takes heat

A pizza chain has been hit with death threats and hate mail after offering to accept Mexican pesos, becoming another flash point in the nation's debate over immigrants.

Some politicos tell you that the brown people are going to destroy your Christian way of life. You believed it. And now you are shitting yourself over the currency a private business chooses to accept. It's none of your damn business. They can accept whatever form of payment they want. Get the fuck over it.

Max: Senator Sununu (R) Just Says "No" To Broadcast Flag

Sununu says FCC should not regulate technological innovation.

The "broadcast flag," an infamous copy-protection scheme aimed at halting redistribution of over-the-air television content via the Internet, could face new setbacks if a Republican senator from New Hampshire gets his way.

U.S. Sen. John Sununu said this week that he's drafting legislation that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from "requiring or imposing a specific technology, technological standard, solution, or product on industry," with an eye toward the anticopying regime.

Max: Drugs Kill

Sort of.

Albert Hoffman, discoverer and user of LSD, turned 101 today.

Max: Best Mashups of 2006

Best of Bootie 2006

Max: The Land Of The Free

Max: Oh My

Evil Dead the Musical.

An interesting (to me) side note, the choreographer played Cat in the US Red Dwarf pilot.

Max: The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth

As long as they kick ass and take names.

The leaders of BattleCry claim that their religion and values are under attack, but amid spectacular light shows, Hummers, Navy SEALs and military imagery on stage, it is BattleCry that has declared war on everyone else. Its leader, Ron Luce, insists: “This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the ‘forceful’ ones—will lay hold of the kingdom.”

Max: Methspresso

Meth Coffee, a rebel coffee company in San Francisco, opened for business today with the launch of its hard- hitting coffee roast for energy addicts and caffeine freaks. Meth's super- caffeinated beans are amplified by the addition of yerba mate, a powerful natural stimulant and antioxidant used by shamans of the Amazon for boosting stamina and mental clarity. Boasting an intense buzz and cocoa-tobacco finish, Meth Coffee is fresh-roasted within 48 hours of shipment to jumpstart workaholics, thrill seekers, artists, and subversives seeking an exciting new fuel for their endeavors.

Max: Skeleton Dance

Max: Big Brother Is Watching

Max: I Will Choose Free Will...Or Not

Is free will a comforting myth?

"We must believe in free will, we have no choice," the novelist Isaac Bashevis Singer once said. He might as well have said, "We must believe in quantum mechanics, we have no choice," if two new studies are anything to go by.

Early last month, a Nobel laureate physicist finished polishing up his theory that a deeper, deterministic reality underlies the apparent uncertainty of quantum mechanics. A week after he announced it, two eminent mathematicians showed that the theory has profound implications beyond physics: abandoning the uncertainty of quantum physics means we must give up the cherished notion that we have free will. The mathematicians believe the physicist is wrong.

Max: Looking For LGM

Eavesdropping on the Universe

"Soon, we may be eavesdropping on signals from Galactic civilizations," says theorist Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "This is the first time in history that humans will be capable of finding a civilization like ours among the stars."

Max: Toy

Max want!!!

Max: Mouth Agape

Max: Middle East Of The Future?

Would the Middle East be better with new borders?

International borders are never completely just. But the degree of injustice they inflict upon those whom frontiers force together or separate makes an enormous difference — often the difference between freedom and oppression, tolerance and atrocity, the rule of law and terrorism, or even peace and war.

The most arbitrary and distorted borders in the world are in Africa and the Middle East. Drawn by self-interested Europeans (who have had sufficient trouble defining their own frontiers), Africa's borders continue to provoke the deaths of millions of local inhabitants. But the unjust borders in the Middle East — to borrow from Churchill — generate more trouble than can be consumed locally.

While the Middle East has far more problems than dysfunctional borders alone — from cultural stagnation through scandalous inequality to deadly religious extremism — the greatest taboo in striving to understand the region's comprehensive failure isn't Islam but the awful-but-sacrosanct international boundaries worshipped by our own diplomats.

Jericho: I've been converted, it was quite a shock!

This week didn't remotely turn out the way I had hoped. The first week of the year is a typical time of change. I had hoped to start my diet, get back to the gym and buckle down to do some writing. Tuesday, the 2ND, was the first day of this and I started off strong dieting all day at work. By the end of the day, I had a terrible sinus headache and I went to bed early. I stayed home from work Wednesday and Thursday with severe sinus pressure, headache and throat soreness. Friday, I was back at work in spite of still feeling terrible. I was trying to get back on the diet and hoping to do the gym thing over the weekend. I went to bed about midnight.

I was awake at 2 AM, pulled out of a dead sleep. My heart was racing. Some of you might remember I had an incident of this in September. I went to the bathroom and it was still beating very fast, very hard and irregularly by the time I was done. I woke Steph and told her I was having a problem. We waited a minute to see if it slowed on it's own. It didn't. The last time this happened, everyone said they could have done more to diagnose if they had gotten to see it as it was happening. They were about to get their chance.

Steph and I jumped in the car. The heart was still doing its thing and I had some numbness in my left arm. We sped into Downtown Seattle and went directly to the ER at Virgina Mason. We arrived by 2:30 and the heart was still going to town.

This ER experience was different from my last. This time things were much more casual and laid back - the difference between the night and day crew? Whatever it was, I preferred it - it felt less like I was being attacked. They quickly got me on a heart monitor and ran an EKG. They took blood. My heart was up in the 130 range. When I go to the gym, I try to stay below 130. They gave me calcium in my IV drip, hoping to slow my heart rate. It did, but not enough.

I asked what was wrong, they told me I had Atrial Fibrillation. They described the problem and it seemed to make sense, it also seemed to fit with the past. Of course, they also talked about the fact that it can lead to stokes and other badness and I wasn't very happy. I was also told that people can walk around for days, even a week in the condition I was in and not have a stroke. Strokes are usually seen only after 24 to 48 hours, by this point less than two hours had passed. That made me feel marginally better.

A little later they gave me more calcium, again, my heart slowed but not as much as they would have liked. We waited. Then we waited some more. Round about 6 AM I was still up over 100 and they were looking for other alternatives.

They told me that they could do an Electrical Cardioversion. Essentially, they hook me up to the defibrillator, the metal paddles in all the medical shows, and give me a shock in an attempt to "convert" my heart back to a normal rhythm. They would do this under general anesthesia. This sounded crazy to me. Steph looked a little scared. But, my ass hurt from being on the ER bed/workbench for nearly four hours. My chest felt really weird and we were both really tired. It didn't seem like there was much other choice.

So, they glued pads to my chest and back - I would get the shocks through these. They gave me a shot of Lidocaine into my IV and then a shot of Propofol. We began the small talk. He asked me questions, like, how were my holidays? I said fine. I began to tell him that I get the giggles when they give me Novocaine for my ingrown ...........

........ it was over. It was OVER. I was awake and I felt 300% better! My heart was beating normally and I was giddy. I was laughing, why the hell hadn't we done this four hours ago?!?! Well, they wanted to do something less drastic, duh, but it was over and I felt a ton better.

They have no idea what caused this. Could be caffeine or another stimulant - like the ones found in all the sinus meds I had been taking all week. Probably not MSG, which I thought might have caused my last incident. This would be a pretty major reaction to MSG. Could be all the stress at my job, I'm doubting that isn't at least exacerbating the issue. This could also just be years of caffeine overuse (I'm looking at you, Max) and my genetics intermixing to finally screw me over.

Either way, I'm on an aspirin a day and a Beta blocker - probably for the rest of my life. Either way, by 8 AM, we had left the hospital and were on our way back home. I need to talk with a cardiologist in the next week and then talk with my doctor to coordinate diet and exercise. I'm worried about Beta blockers provoking Type 2 Diabetes - but that's the subject of another future post.

In short, no need to worry - I'm Fine. In fact, I'm better - at least we know what's going on and are taking precautions against it happening again. Not that I really wanted to spend five or so hours in the ER, but that can't be helped.

Hopefully, next week will be better.

Max: Pwn Y0\/|r /\/\/\c

The Best Unknown Mac Apps

Max: Thomas Jefferson Hates America

Muslim Congressman Sworn In On TJ's Koran

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he'd take his oath of office on the Koran -- especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values.

Yet the holy book at tomorrow's ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We've learned that the new congressman -- in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

I love it when the founding fathers stick it to the right-wing nutballs.

Max: The Land Of The Free

Bush Claims Right to Open Mail

The New York Daily News today reports on a signing statement President Bush quietly issued two weeks ago, in which he asserts his right to open mail without a warrant.

Signing statements have historically been used by presidents mostly to explain how they intend to enforce the laws passed by Congress; Bush has used them to quietly assert his right to ignore those laws.

Max: New Years Day

Bleh.

It's been a hell of a year. I lost my job and have been out of work for over six months. I conquered my depression all too briefly before it came back with reinforcements. The people I care about seem to only get more distant.

Outside of that, things have been fairly shitty.

2007 started with my DVR dying and filling my house with a stomach-churning burnt-electronics smell.

I think I may resolve to sleep through 2007.