Aaron Weber

Inevitable Mistakes You Saw Coming

You ever see something coming, and know it’s a horrible idea, and it’s going to happen anyway? Like the release of the (ghostwritten) “in her own words” story of Amber Frey and Scott Peterson to inevitably negative reviews: “As compelling and dramatic as a coiled dog turd baking in the summer sun,” says Flak Magazine. You knew, from the moment she appeared on the national stage, that the book would be written, and published, and advertised, and bought. And that nobody would think it was a good idea, but that they’d do it anyway. Because that’s what is done.

Or maybe A Charles Dickens Theme Park, where, presumably, entry fees will be collected directly from your pockets by charmingly malnourished orphans. Oh, nobody on the board of directors thinks it’ll make money or bring people in to Kent, but they can’t quite bring themselves to criticize the legacy of Dickens– or the ideas of the guy who proposed the project, since he’s someone’s boss or uncle or father-in-law. The fact that an abandoned, burned-out Dickens theme park, populated by homeless teenage alcoholics, really will be Dickensian, never really came up. Huh.

Ethicaler than Thou

Novell is one of the year’s top ten most ethical companies. Finally, recognition that I am, in fact, holier than thou!

Late to the party

Why did nobody tell me that Ducati released new versions of its classic cafe racers from the 70s? They started doing this like a year ago– new engines (larger, of course and somewhat unfortunately, in my opinion) and new technologies, but the same classic styling of the old bikes. Way out of my price and power range, but sweet bikes nonetheless.

Return of Classic Games

I like World of Warcraft as much as the next geek, but writing to a limited platform is a real test of creativity and I’m glad to see it in place. A lot of people have lamented the end of the gaming industry, death by expensive art and expensive graphics– but there’s no reason you can’t write a good game with yesterday’s technology. It might well be better. (And if it’s brilliant, then the big studios can pick it up and flesh it out for mass distribution in a high-polygon-count edition).
My guess is it’ll be a lot like independent movies or bands getting signed by major studios: do an album or a movie or a game on a budget with limited equipment, sell out some shows, get a few hundred thousand downloads, and someone in A&R will come over and offer to help you sell your soul. Not easy, not simple, not direct, but not the death of gaming by any means.

Lying for a living

Being a technical writer is not a glamorous or well-paid profession, although it requires the sort of knowledge and attention to detail which can be of use in more glamorous and/or remunerative professions. That is why I am not surprised to see that those who have an ideological interest in lying to children are those who flock to the field, and why I am not surprised to see this sort of blatant lie showing up in our classroom materials.

All I can say is, the right is making it a full-time job just to teach children which lies they’re learning in school. A six year old can tell that most advertisements are lies, but they have to get to about sixteen before they realize they’ve been lied to in school all their lives.

Best Evolution Screenshot Ever

This is the best Evolution calendar screenshot ever. I have six different calendars and four different task lists, all color-coded. It’s awesome.

I have succumbed to pencil-sharpening syndrome, wherein one organizes the work instead of doing it.

Secretly Ironic Awards for Technology Journalism

My schedule is hectic beyond words this week but I want to take time out for the periodic Secretly Ironic Awards for Technology Journalism:

The Junket Award goes to someone who attended Brainshare during a warm spell but came away with the impression that it was “icy,” because he appears to have spent the conference skiing in the nearby mountains: Eric Doyle for the Guardian. He manages to be condescending, insulting, and inaccurate, all at once. Congrats on the trifecta, buddy!

And the Bring-a-Pencil award goes to Elizabeth Millard of Enterprise Linux IT (a.k.a. CIO Today), which (before correction) managed to discuss the brand of Novell Linux Desktop while calling it “Novell Desktop System,” obviously confusing it with the Sun Java Desktop System. She also managed to ignore the “SUSE LINUX” in “SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server” while pointing out the increase in Novell branding on Open Enterprise Server, and overlooked the “Powered by SUSE LINUX” tagline on every copy of Novell Linux Desktop. The much-heralded death of journalism seems to have been caused by a lack of taking some notes and doing some fact-checking. This article gets a special bonus for consulting the notoriously misleading Yankee Group hack Laura DiDio.

To both of you, congratulations: you are the reason that journalists have a bad reputation.

A novel, a history, and a bottle of wine

The novel “A Carnivore’s Inquiry” is an acceptable mystery with a dirty, violent bent. The twsit ending isn’t one I saw coming, but should have.

“The Great Mortality,” a history of the black plague, occasionally repeats itself– but then, the plague repeated itself several times. The book is readable and informative, while providing macabre entertainment and a reminder than none of my troubles are really all that bad.

“Veritas” 2003 Claret, Monticello Vineyards: Like many high-end Virginia wines, this is quite good, but probably not an excellent value. Not aggressive or tannic, but much deeper and more complex than I’m used to. It was better after being left out for half an hour while I packed.

Science Man!

We’ve been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture,” said pastor Ray Mummert, who is apparently neither intelligent nor educated. He seems to have the same definitions of words as the Heritage Foundation, where “an increasing number” can still be 0 and “evidence” may or may not imply the word “fabricated.” Yes, we are under attack by the intelligent and educated. We need to defend our freedom, our freedom from reality.

… and bust

Know how on roller coasters, you get closer and closer to the top of that first hill, and you think, here it comes! Here it comes! Closer! Closer! A little bit more! And you anticipate the feeling in your gut, and it seems endless?

I’m watching people do this who think that drop isn’t coming at all. And it might not come any time soon. But I think it’s soon.

Even the normally cheery New York Times sounds gloomy, and this week I read an article in the Wall Street Journal which pointed out that influential investors such as CALPERS (the California state retirement fund, one of the country’s largest institutional investors) are selling off significant amounts of stock in REITs and home-builders, as well as dumping a lot of their direct real estate holdings.

Closer! Closer! Here we go! Not quite yet! Almost!