Hallelujah

SUMMER'S DONE!

Well, if the weather forecast is any indication, it looks like this summer is finally history and none too soon if you ask me. Days in the upper 60s or lower 70s, chance of rain (of course, the day I will be wheeling myself to the doctor -- bet it rains) but the heat is gone.

I'm back to sleeping nights and hopefully things will settle down. I've picked up a stack of puzzles on the cheap from Goodwill and a garage sale. It's been years since I worked puzzles and I forgot how much I enjoy them, but then they do take up the entire dining room table. It's hard to understand, but this apartment has always felt small and tight. I can't imagine setting up a card table for the puzzle. Where would I put it?!?

I'm probably watching fewer movies these days and even though I do have trouble with my eyes, I'm eagerly trying to read more. I continue studying Shakespeare though Macbeth is taking a long time since there has been a lot written about Macbeth. I guess Hamlet will also take a few months to work through. Hmm, maybe that will be my next definitive ranking -- The works of Shakespeare From Best to Worst.

Still, the dog doesn't get the exercise he wants and needs. My legs have been doing better than they were, say, a year ago, but recently trouble sleeping has lead to a huge increase in weakness and pain. It all stems from that 12 hours of sleep a night...

And that's really why I'm happy summer's gone.

The Problem With Today's Web

I've really thought quite highly about the site that this post is from. It helped connect a small group of bloggers in a way no one really is interested in doing -- locally. However, like everything, it takes time and lots of effort and rarely seems to pay off.

It's not like ORBlogs wasn't in it for the long haul. Five and a half years seems like forever on the web today, but as each new technology comes along and every couple of years one bubbles to the top as the next big thing, then it seems like all the other stuff is left for the spammers to devour.

Clearly, Paul only deserves kudos for what he tried to do and while many are happy to jump into -- what's that new crap like FakeBook called? -- what about the rest of us who aren't ready to gobble up everything we are fed by the international marketing machine that runs Planet Earth today? He seems to sum it all up better than I could.

So what will happen to all the little people who made the web -- you know, we were the Person of the Year a couple years back -- the most exciting way for an individual to speak his mind and for people from all over the world to see what she might have to say.

But alas, even those of us who resist most are forced to change no matter how much we might fight. THAT seems to be the truth about life today.

ORblogs is Closed

Thank you for reading and contributing to the site. ORblogs has stopped gathering post excerpts from Oregon blogs, though the current weblog directory will be available for another 30 days.

When I started ORblogs in March 2003, there weren't many good ways to find bloggers living in a particular area. And because I had recently moved to Corvallis, I wanted to learn what I could from people living near me. The site personally put me in touch with bloggers across the state, taught me a lot about Oregon and its cities (including Corvallis), and I hope the site did the same for others. I feel ORblogs served an important role for Oregon blogging by gathering independent voices across all spectrums into one place where everyone shared a common geography.

I'm shutting ORblogs down now because the site continues to grow and the job of maintaining the site at the level I feel is necessary to keep it valuable has grown with it, putting it out of the bounds of a hobby. I wasn't able to make ORblogs self-sustaining financially (let alone turn it into a job), and I can no longer devote the time to the site that it needs to grow. Blogging has changed significantly in five years, and blogging is no longer a hobby for many—it's a job. Commercial blogging isn't as interesting to me as the personal web and that factored into my decision as well.

Thanks again for making ORblogs what it has been over the years. Please take a last look through the directory, find your favorite Oregon blogs, and subscribe to them in your newsreader if you haven't already. There are some spectacular voices in Oregon blogging that I will now have to read another way. I still believe it's important to read locally while I read globally, and I hope you agree and continue to make the effort.

— Paul Bausch (9/4/2008)

My Ranking of Bond Films to Date

From Russia With Love Stuns Goldfinger,
Octopussy Miffed

Being a Bond fan most of my life, I have watched most of the canonical Bond films at least twice (Die Another Day is the only film holding this dishonour) and most of the films more times than I can remember to count. Therefore, I have the right, nee the responsibility, to release my definitive ranking of James Bond 007 films to date. Please, please, no thanks are needed and while I encourage other aficionados to publish rankings of their own, I could care less if you think me the world's greatest prat because I like The Living Daylights more than Thunderball. So keep the flames where they belong, down on Stark Stret, but fee free to ask if you really are curious why I feel the way I do.

Note: My rankings are as of today and possibly subject to change upon continued reviewing of source material. IMDb Rankings are as of 17 September 2008 and will change and may be quite different than what you see when you visit their webpage three years hence. Inclusion here is not meant to indicate approval or any other such nonsense and all that legal-like drivel that websites are keen to throw at users.

My Rank	Title	Year	Actor	Director	Own	My Rating	IMDb Rating	IMDb Rank
1	From Russia with Love	1963	Sean Connery	Terence Young	VHS	9	7.5	3
2	Goldfinger	1964	Sean Connery	Guy Hamilton	both	9	7.9	2
3	Tomorrow Never Dies	1997	Pierce Brosnan	Roger Spottiswoode	DVD	9	6.4	17
4	Casino Royale	2006	Daniel Craig	Martin Campbell	DVD	8	8	1
5	Dr. No	1962	Sean Connery	Terence Young	DVD	8	7.3	4
6	On Her Majesty's Secret Service	1969	George Lazenby	Peter R. Hunt		8	6.9	9
7	Living Daylights, The	1987	Timothy Dalton	John Glen	VHS	8	6.6	14
8	Licence to Kill	1989	Timothy Dalton	John Glen		8	6.5	16
9	World Is Not Enough, The	1999	Pierce Brosnan	Michael Apted	VHS	8	6.3	18
10	You Only Live Twice	1967	Sean Connery	Lewis Gilbert	VHS	7	7	8
11	Spy Who Loved Me, The	1977	Roger Moore	Lewis Gilbert	DVD	7	7.1	5
12	For Your Eyes Only	1981	Roger Moore	John Glen	VHS	7	6.8	11
13	Diamonds Are Forever	1971	Sean Connery	Guy Hamilton	VHS	7	6.7	12
14	Live and Let Die	1973	Roger Moore	Guy Hamilton		7	6.8	10
15	Man with the Golden Gun, The	1974	Roger Moore	Guy Hamilton	DVD	7	6.6	13
16	GoldenEye	1995	Pierce Brosnan	Martin Campbell	DVD	7	7.1	6
17	Thunderball	1965	Sean Connery	Terence Young	VHS	7	7	7
18	Octopussy	1983	Roger Moore	John Glen	VHS	6	6.5	15
19	View to a Kill, A	1985	Roger Moore	John Glen	VHS	6	6.1	20
20	Moonraker	1979	Roger Moore	Lewis Gilbert	VHS	6	6.1	19
21	Die Another Day	2002	Pierce Brosnan	Lee Tamahori		6	6.1	21
	Quantum of Solace	2008	Daniel Craig	Marc Forster
	Bond 23	2010	Daniel Craig	Marc Forster

Most consider movies listed above as James Bond 007 Canonical Works. For the sake of inclusion, here are two non-canonical works, both which I have only bothered to watch a single time.

My Rank	Title	Year	Actor	Director	Own	My Rating	IMDb Rating	IMDb Rank
22	Never Say Never Again	1983	Sean Connery			5	6	22
23	Casino Royale	1967	David Niven			5	5.1	23

And yes, I know there is yet another version, usually considered non-canonical from what I can tell, but I've yet to see the 1954 Climax! (or Climax Mystery Theater in the US) version of Casino Royale. Alas, my local library does not yet have a copy and I believe I want to see it before I dole out my $20.

Digital TV Conversion Not Worth $20

Posted originally to TechDirt here:

I was able to use my coupon a couple of weeks before it expired but there was absolutely no choice involved. Only two retailers offered boxes locally: Radio Shack and Best Buy. I only bought the Best Buy one because the salesperson was moderately helpful there rather than condescending at the other shop.

I hooked the thing up without reading any directions and yes, it was to my old 'rabbit ears' style antenna from last century. It seemed to work just fine, so I thought I would be okay. I tape PBS shows for background noise and some for actual viewing. But for some reason, it seems like the channel on the converter box changes, so I spend lots of time double checking that it's pointing to the right channel - I never had to do that before.

But what really galls me is sometimes the signal is okay (and only drops sound momentarily). But other times, usually when the weather is clear, up to 80% of a show can be lost -- no sound and of course the picture is worse than the poorest quality jpeg. I've been told "it's to be expected."

Since it works fine some times, I doubt a new antenna would help. Maybe we just need better planning laws to keep people from erecting buildings one night that get in the way of the transmission and then tearing them down a couple days later???

I'm baffled why the quality is so damn inconsistent on a single channel. End run is I'm out $20 and get to watch 20% of what I used to -- now that sounds like progress to me!

And no, I'm not going to pay even $15/month (Comcast's cheapest local plan) to get a better signal. But it seems pretty clear to me, they have offered 12% of the population a half-assed solution thinking it will be all that's needed to get 100% of the American public subscribing to TV via cable and satellite. They won't really be happy until everyone is paying for TV twice -- once for a subscription, and then again when we purchase all those products and services that are so heavily hawked during the shows.