Still Haven't Decided What To Do

Blogger FTP Ends in April

To be honest, this is such a HUGE pain in my ass, like almost everything on today's Internet, I am nothing but angry at Google for shafting users yet again. Even if I didn't have concerns about turning over a part of my website, it's words and images, to some amorphous, non-human corporation that is bent on conquering the Internet, why the fuck do I want to have to screw around with something that currently does everything I need to do.

First is migrate this, then agree to that, now I have to give them access to my underwear drawer!

I am currently looking at an option that I will run on my local computer, it will output blog-like webpages, and then all I have to do is upload the folder like I would any other update to my website. I maintain the control I want, and then don't have to constantly relearn how to use some ever-improving tool each time I want to use it.

I'm sorry, but I have no interest in "the cloud". I'm sick of upgrading this or that. I don't have the money to give to these greedy corporations so why the fuck should I bother?!?

IMDb Only Wants Rich Western Input

IMDb, considered by many to be the pre-eminent movie and tv Internet site has added "additional authentication" requirements for those wishing to contribute, regardless the number of years they have been contributing and ignoring any lack of complaints or disputes.

Authentication can only be completed via cell phone text messaging or by tying one's IMDb account to an Amazon account (with a purchase in the prior year) or by supplying IMDb with one's credit card information. No other options are offered to allow those without a credit card or cell phone to continue to participate.

Clearly, IMDb only wants input from Rich Westerners at this point.

World Map Showing Number of Movies I've Seen per Country

78 DOWN, ONLY 124 TO GO



Some time ago, I decided to try and see a movie from each country in the world. Not an easy task, since there are many poor nations without a local movie industry -- but this is still a work in progress.

And since I like maps so much, it only seems logical that I would try and show this information graphically. So here is my first go at it.

Some notes about the map:

1) I'm not sure that the map exactly matches the list of 'countries' I've been using at this point. I haven't checked every little dot to see if it is a recognized 'state' or not. So, if you look closely, you will see that I've seen a movie from the Palestine and Israel both but French Guiana is part of France and shows how many movies I've seen from France. I've based my list on First Level Internet Domains -- think .US .UK and .JP. I also follow Wikipedia's List of Sovereign States for emerging states like Kosovo, Montenegro, Timor-Leste and the like. So, for me to include a state in my list, it has to have both a country code and be internationally recognized as being independent or largely self-governing. But don't worry, there are going to be things that don't work for some people out there -- like Hong Kong and Taiwan listed separately from China.

2) I used this Wikipedia map as my base -- someone else actually drew the map and I've just coloured in the countries according to my scheme.

3) Dealing with extinct states is a bit tricky. I have counted but not shown the following countries: Soviet Union (7 movies), Czechoslovakia (3 movies), E Germany (1 movie) and Yugoslavia (1 movie). However, Germany (44 movies) includes the W German state as well as Unified Germany prior to and post partition [mostly because I've been lazy and haven't wanted to do the research to break it all apart].

4) Generally, I follow IMDb's country classification. However, this causes problems since IMDb lists countries based on amount of financing. For example, The Cup (1999) and Travellers and Magicians are both joint Bhutanese and Australian films but with slightly different classifications in IMDb. Rather than trying to track both, I generally assign a single country to a given movie. In this case, since the latter is primarily about Bhutan but had more Australian financing, I classified it as a Bhutanese film. Okay, it's not perfect, but it's my list.

5) Travelogue type films (think Globe Trekker or Rick Steve's type stuff) if included on my list (mostly so I don't re-request if from my library) and documentaries (think PBS as well as movie style documentaries) about a country are always listed according to where they are produced. Thus, even though I've seen a 1 hour documentary about Kenya as well as British movies set in Kenya, I've yet to seen a Kenyan film. However, this again can be tricky since many African films have relied quite heavily on financing and production facilities in more developed states (France, US, UK, Germany, etc). Again, if the movie shows life in Chad and is about Chadian people then even though the financing is French, I classify the film as being Chadian.

6) Excluding 5 above, I generally don't worry if a given piece of work was released as a feature film in movie theatres somewhere on the planet or was made for TV (including entire TV series and occasionally single shows from a long-running series where I cannot get or don't want to watch the entire series) or even released only on VHS/DVD -- I watch them all. I tried for a while to include movies I've seen on PBS, but generally, I only include things that I've seen on DVD/VHS. This mostly affects the number of things I've seen from the US and UK, but I've also watched an entire German and Polish TV series and they were counted for my statistics.

TV Converter

DTV SUCKS

Well, it's been something like a year since I got my first Digital TV Converter Box. Since I have two TVs and was able to get a second coupon, I bought a second box as well.

Interestingly though, about 2 months ago, the first box started to change channels by itself. I wasted so many hours trying to figure out what was wrong with the damn thing but couldn't. Finally, I swapped the two boxes and the oldest box still changes channels by itself in the new room.

Now the new box is having trouble as well. Frequently it loses sound and so all I get is a steady stream of beeps that continue for hours, days, weeks...

In addition to that, I now get all sorts of snow-like interference which somehow seems to be connected to the interface between the device and the antenna. I can get it to go away, but it always returns and often is so bad as to make the picture completely unwatchable.

Then of course there are the constant problems with the poor picture. One day it's crystal clear, the next, there is no signal. Change channels and you have to monkey with the antenna, so I don't bother watching any other channels. I just want to leave the antenna set so I can get the channel I usually watch, but this is no guarantee that I'll be able to get anything but a bunch of stupid little blocks on the screen.

So, $80 later, I can honestly say that I'm in much worse shape than if we had left TV alone. Like I said back then, I shouldn't have spent the money. I don't really need fucking TV and I'll be damned if I am going to pay for the shit. My gut reaction was to NOT spend anything and not care that I'd no longer be able to watch TV. Well, $80 later, that's exactly where I'm at anyway.

FUCK TECHNOLOGY

Blogger Pain in MY ASS

BLOG POSTS MAY END

Like everything these days, it needs to be improved. Even if that means it has to stop working for those using it.

Blogger has announced that they will no longer be supporting the way I use the service to update this blog. I am trying to read through all their crap to understand what I can do while maintaining some control over what I write. Of course, it gets increasingly technical and difficult to figure out and they really want me to give them my URL and toast the rest of my website.

FUCK THAT!

I'm getting so completely frustrated with the difficulty in using much if not most of the Internet these days that I'm really losing interest fast in even trying. We hear talk about a Digital Nation -- a nation where only those who pay $40/month for a cell phone and $40/month for an Internet connection will be citizens and don't forget the constant upgrades and new equipment much be purchased yearly and every couple of years.

I wonder if anyone is even bothering to say we need an alternative model or if we are just going to wake up one day and realize 1/3 of the country simply isn't connected any longer?

I hate the technology companies. All they really care about is taking money. I absolutely refuse to give them anything more than I really want to. I no longer buy any software because I'm so fucking sick and tired of it never being good enough.

I'm in a really shitty mood today and it all has to do with shitty technology. Fuck it and fuck the technoworld.

Website Saved?

I'm not exactly clear on the details but my website and email may have been down some time from Monday - Wednesday, October 26-28th. For some reason my domain renewal was delayed. However, I'm glad to say that it looks like this has been remedied and the website, blog, domain, and email saved for at least another year.

While I still need to see confirmation on the Whois Database, I'm certain this will be forthcoming.

I apologize for an inconvenience, annoyance, misplaced hopes or other feelings this may have caused. I've still got plans for my website and have no intention of relinquishing it as long as I have a say in the matter.

What Hillsboro's Mayor Really Needs to Know

But couldn't be bothered hearing.

I am reading with utter horror Mr Willey's comments in the October 16th Argus. I am a Hillsboro resident, taxpayer, and voter and MR WILLEY DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME! I've tried to communicate repeatedly with the Mayor and City Council and it's clear, they don't care what citizen's think. They have their own economic and social agendas they are going to ram down the populace's collective throat.

Here are Hillsboro's most pressing problems:

1. Racial/Economic Segregation – There is a rich, mostly white Hillsboro and poor, mostly Hispanic Hillsboro. They don't mix. They don't really want to mix and it's very much a two-way street.
2. Hillsboro is a community of Rabbit Warren Neighborhoods designed around and for automobiles – pedestrians beware. If you are don't have a car, you are simply not wanted in Hillsboro.
3. City and County leadership, if it can be called that, are an 'old boy's club' of moneyed interests that are always looking out for themselves and their buddies at the expense of the citizens. I mean, what was the Fairgrounds Giveaway really other than easy money for developers? And what are these political junkets to Latin America and Europe but free vacations for Hillsboro's 'elected' officials? And don't even get me started and the tax breaks and corporate giveaways to 'attract' big corporations just long enough for the free tax ride to expire and the jobs to mysteriously vanish. What has this city done to keep the doors open at Hillsboro's small business employers? NOTHING! And every time I go out to visit one of these stores, I'm greeted with a going or gone out of business sign. But of course how many millions were spent on the Taj Mahal (aka the new city hall) so the Mayor and City Council could have a Starbucks in the building. We see where this government's priorities are – you wear them on your shirtsleeves.
4. City and County leadership is living in some never-never-land where they somehow see this area bucking the trends of our larger region and being some Los Angeles style oasis of urban sprawl and suburban decay. We need leaders who fight to keep the crappy transit system we used to have, not to bend over and take it when TriMet says Hillsboro no longer needs weekend or evening bus service in the neighborhoods. Portland and its neighborhood associations fought and kept much of their proposed cuts. But not Hillsboro. No, they want a new freeway and one train and one bus is good enough for all 100,000 residents.
5. Technology is not the panacea. More factories will not make Hillsboro better. After all, it seems your beloved Solar World might be the place where the noxious fumes originate that make the nighttime air disgusting to breath. Some of us do value things like parks, farms and wild areas and I would really rather eat food produced locally than more corporate junk food brought in from Indonesia or Brazil at the expense of what's left of this planet's tropical rain forest. Did you ever bother to think this is just as important to me as jobs, jobs and more jobs – and please give the exact number of Hillsboro residents (not transplants) who have been hired by Solar World. And how many have been imported from other states and countries? And how many are driving in their car alone each and every day from Portland, Wilsonville, Vancouver, or Vernonia?

Get a clue! Pay attention to what citizens think and at least try and communicate with voters or you will have an opponent in the next election. We desperately need a real discussion of issues in this city.

But don't come off all high and mighty, like you have all the answers when all you really are is the guy who got be Mayor because – was it because you cut a deal so you'd get to run unopposed or was there really no one in this City willing to step and take a bit of responsibility? I find the latter a bit hard to believe so that seems to only leave the former.

Why I Didn't Visit Downtown Portland Businesses Yesterday

Dear TriMet

Today I had two hours to kill while waiting in downtown Portland. In the past, I would have traveled 1/2 block to the nearest corner, hopped on a bus, and spent the time, and maybe a bit of money, at Pioneer Place or one of the many other businesses in Downtown Portland.

However, now that I either have to pay to ride a bus downtown a couple of blocks or have to travel eight times as far to get the train for free, I chose to stay at the office and read a book I did NOT buy in Portland.

Thank you TriMet for saving me from spending money with downtown merchants today (and honestly, many days in the future). I'm going to make sure they know they missed out on business each and every time your Fareless Square destruction affects how I spend my money.

By the way, I'm in a manual wheelchair, so each and every extra block comes at a price worth much, much more than you seem able to comprehend.

Why Web2.0 Sucks

Digital Divide Still a Problem

Since the much ballyhooed second phase of the Internet has been foisted on both those who love and those who despise it, one thing seems sure, the real benefit is for those who make the big bucks.

Oh sure, any idiot can sign up for a MysPage account and fill it up with lots of flashing, moving text or maybe a Blooger account is more their style since it makes it really easy to dump a string of 50+ 29 Meg photos in a single page -- a page which never actually loads, even on computers with a decent Internet connection.

But hey, if you just change everything around every other month, no one will notice that they aren't really getting anything from the "new and improved" Internet. And in the era of 140 character text-bites, string together a series of soundbites and you have a modern conversation. But don't u 4get ur stupid abs or ur in ds & while were at it forget punc 2 just type and if u spel a wurd wrong it just means that ur reader is 2 stupid 2 understand right its kinda lyk entertaining babys or kats -- bright flashing colors keep interst 4 5 sex & then they move on2 da next viral craze & aitn dat wut da Net is allabuot2dayanywayheyicansayevenmoreifileaveouttheyspacesfuckyouifyoucantreaditright -- IT'S WEB2.0, All Style and No Substance! Oh wait, to be really Web2.0, I need to make a video of myself saying this while flashing all sorts of hand gestures...

It seems like every few months I get this message that I need to upgrade either my version of PDF or Flash or Shockwave. But what makes it really fun is to do that, I first have to upgrade to a "supported" operating system and of course THAT requires the purchase of a new machine. So, in other words, to take advantage of all the 'interactivity' that makes Web2.0 so 'wonderful', one has to buy in to the endless cycle of consumerism. Not only do you have to pay $30+ to access the Internet, but you also have to buy a new computer and operating system every 3 years or so.

And what really happens to your last computer, I mean, if you can't use it any longer? You are responsible and give it the appropriate agency for recycling right? Then it's dumped into a container and shipped overseas where industrious people will first find a way to access everything stored on your hard drive. Don't worry, just because you can't pay someone to make your hard drive work doesn't mean that they won't figure out a way.

After that, everything gets partitioned out. What can be sold on the streets of the 3rd World is. The rest is sold for scrap were some child will lose the rest of his or her life by melting off the plastic in a fire or submerging other parts into acid baths for pennies a day. All they are trying to get is the base metals which can be sold by their employers for currency. Who knows, maybe the gold in your wedding band came out of someone else's computer and a 10 year old girl in India is dying today because she was trying to earn money for food.

So why isn't your 10-year-old piece of junk being donated to a school or used by a local charity? For exactly the same reason you got rid of it in the first place! If it didn't do what you needed -- surf the Net, send text messages, and display uToob videos -- why do you think it will suddenly do it for someone else?

But the same people who drive huge SUVs, pickups and mini-vans and start whining when gas goes over $3/gallon are often the same people who can't live without their uToob videos and MysPage account. Yes, many are also young, and unable to think for themselves -- "all my friends have it and if I don't I won't have a social life." Gee, that's what I said when I was 10 and we didn't have a TV or when I was 15 and didn't have the money for whatever clothing was 'must have' that day.

As long as people keep purchasing, the beast continues to be fed. What if people in the developed world just refused to upgrade any more? What if they just continued to make what they have work? Well, the most obvious thing is developers would start to wonder why so few people were buying or downloading their latest 50 Meg Upgrade which actually does less worse than before. They know a lot about their users hardware and software and if enough people don't upgrade, they'll get the picture. And even if they don't, I promise you enterprising programmers will come right along and will write BETTER software, software that will continue to work on all computers out there.

Also, I encourage people to let webmasters know that they would like to visit the webmaster's website, but they can't because the webmaster has set the bar way to high. While some won't give a rat's ass, others, like your local government website, will notice. If they hear from enough people who can't use the website because they don't have a fancy enough computer, they will have to change how business is done.

After all, an April 2009 Pew Internet & American Life Project study suggest only 63% of Americans have broadband at home. And while many see local libraries as filling the gap for the remaining 37%, just how much can one do at a computer terminal without speakers and where one is limited to an hour or two at the most each day?

It's time for Nancy's daughter to launch a War on Needless Upgrades!

Washington County Park = Oxymoron

It's amazing that the 5th most populous county in the Pacific Northwest only has three minor areas set aside as parkland outside of city parks departments and the large, east county Tualatin Parks District.

• SCOGGINS VALLEY PARK/HENRY HAGG LAKE
• METZGER PARK
• EAGLE LANDING

Of course Henry Hagg lake largely exists as the source of Hillsboro, Forest Grove, and Cornelius' water supply. I do congratulate local scouts for taking the initiative to protect and start development of Eagle Landing. No idea how Metzger Park ended up protected and not developed. After all, that seems to be the only thing the Washington County Commission seems to understand.

Could it be commissioners don't profit from development of parkland wereas maybe housing, commercial and industrial developers offer some sort of 'other' compensation to Washington County's elected officials, like campaign contributions? I wonder what other types of benefits commissioners get -- free vacations? free cars? free college educations for kids? All have been popular with politicos in year's past.

And given the current lack of leadership the commission displays on anything other than development -- and they seem to be leading the drive in the Metro area for the defeat of the Urban Growth Boundary and Public Transit west of Beaverton, it's no wonder that the area continues to suffer.

But what else can we expect from Portland's "All Flash and No Substance" county?