Cowboy Mouth
I took Titus with me to see Cowboy Mouth perform live at the Roxy Theatre here in Atlanta on Halloween Eve. I was first introduced to the Mouth at ASMS as the band was somewhat of a local band–they’re from New Orleans, as Fred LeBlanc is quick to let you know. Cowboy Mouth has a unique brand of upbeat Southern rock and the live experience is all about raw energy; I’ve only been to a couple other concerts, but nothing I’ve experienced quite compares. By the end of the show I was thoroughly exhausted, but I was quite glad I decided to come.
Electronic Voting
We began discussing electronic voting and electronic democracy in my Computing & Society class this Thursday. Each member of the class was asked to find an article on one of the topics and share it with the class. I found an interesting article by Jason Kitcat that appeared in Communications of the ACM in this month’s issue. Kitcat formerly developed GNU.FREE, an open source electronic voting system. In his article “Source Availability and E-Voting” he explores both sides of the source availability debate surrounding electronic voting systems while adding reflections on his own personal experience with GNU.FREE.
Neat New Software
Wallpaper Master
This neat utility allows you to rate and categorize wallpapers and switch between them at specified intervals; and it does it better than any similar utility I’ve found.
Free Launch Bar
I found this gem through the gfxOasis customization community. This utility builds on the convenience of the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows by adding submenus, titles, separators, and a host of other customization options that greatly enhance the toolbar’s utility.
New Wallpapers
Titus and I headed back down town for our second and final day of DragonCon. Klingons and fairies were nowhere to be seen as you could feel the conference winding down. Even so, I felt like the day’s events proved to be among my best experiences of the *Con.
- 10:00 AM–11:30 AM, Inside Star Wars Characters [MOTF]
- 11:30 AM–1:00 PM, Famous Unsolved Codes [EFF]
- 1:00 PM–2:30 PM, Garrett Wang, Voyager’s Harry Kim [TREK]
All of the events that we attended were great, but I was particularly impressed with the presentation of Famous Unsolved Codes by Elonka Dunin and the witty ramblings and recollections of Garrett Wang on the Trek programming track. I’m uninitiated in the art of code cryptography, but Ms. Dunin presented in such a way that made the topic engaging and accessible.
Well, I’ve attended my first DragonCon and I can only say that I wish I had checked it out sooner. It’s a welcome break from the ho-hum, day-to-day metropolitan Atlanta life. As you are surrounded by wizards and storm troopers, you can only feel like this is one place where anything goes and no one is going to judge you. It really is pretty neat, though I did feel underdressed.
Titus and I arrived at the *Con shortly before 10 AM and registered for a two day pass. We laid out all the events we wanted to go to and proceeded to hit them one by one. Here is a breakdown of what we chose:
- 11:30 AM–1:00 PM, Cryptozoology [X]
- 1:00 PM–2:30 PM, Fighting MPAA Lawsuits [EFF]
- 2:30 PM–4:00 PM, (Un?)Trusted Computing [EFF]
- 4:00 PM–5:30 PM, Back to the Future [CLSF]
- 5:30 PM–7:00 PM, How Comic Book Characters Evolve [COMX]
- 7:00 PM–8:30 PM, The FCC Takes a Stand in the Copyright Wars [EFF]
We actually stayed until 10 PM, but I watched subbed episodes of Witch Hunter Robin in the Anime Video Room while Titus attended “My So-Called LiveJournal(.com)” across the way. The “Fighting MPAA Lawsuits” session was cancelled (presumably by Francis), so we found time to get lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Atlanta. The *Con is hosted at the Hyatt Regency and the Marriott Marquis, so lunch was only a short walk down the block. In between sessions, we found time to browse some of the cool fantasy works in the art gallery and survey some of the shop vendors. There’s a little bit of everything to suit one’s various fancies.
A few weeks have passed and the world has changed. For the better? I think not but everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Taking military action against an opponent who has made no open acts of aggression is not justifiable. For that matter, when is war ever justifiable? So why are we doing it? Is Saddam Hussein a bad leader? Yes, I won’t argue with that, but we never have the right to go around unseating people in power that we don’t like or perceive as a threat. We’ve done it before and it sure isn’t any more justifiable now than it was then.
That is my first and, hopefully, last rant on current events. I’ve been very neglectful of this page in the past few months. I still haven’t made that Blackbox section and my entries seem to be slipping from weekly to biweekly. What can I say? Writing these long entries can seem like a chore at times and I’m a lazier guy than I would like to be. Such are my failings.
My parents were in town for a couple days last weekend. We had dinner Friday night at a very nice, and more than a little expensive restaurant called Ray’s on the River Seafood House. I had the 14oz. Angus New York Strip and it was excellent; easily the best meal I’ve had all year. After dinner, I went back with my parents to their hotel to spend about half an hour before heading out again.
My parents were staying at the Sheraton Suites Galleria on Cobb Parkway near 285. The hotel room was very nice and my dad confided in me that he had gotten the room for only $40 from Priceline.com. I was impressed.
After the break at the hotel we headed out again to find the Cirque du Soleil, the main event for the evening. It’s not a circus in the traditional sense. It’s more of a play/opera/performance art show. All in all it’s hard to describe but the net effect is truly amazing. I had my doubts going in but I wasn’t sorry that I went when it was over. It would probably be a good place to take a girl on a date.
My parents left on Saturday, which also happens to be my Dad’s birthday, but not before we did some more stuff around town. I got up early so I could meet my parents outside of my apartment at 11:00 AM. From there, we took my car to the Georgia World Congress center, the site of the Atlanta International Auto Show. I’m a part-time auto enthusiast for those who don’t know. What followed was an outing that I thoroughly enjoyed—probably moreso than either of my parents because the place was absolutely mobbed. People were constantly pouring in and out of the three escalators that served as the gateway to the show floor. Every major auto manufacturer from around the world was there to show off all the latest models and plenty of spiffy concept cars. One of the most notable concepts was the Ford F-150 SVT Lightning Concept—home to a massive 500HP engine, enormous 20-inch wheels, and some of the biggest Brembo brake calipers I’ve ever seen. Very cool.
If you can walk around and see all these new cars, then it must be even cooler to sit in them and see what they’re like, right? Right. Many of the companies present had their production models open such that you could actually sit in them and get a feel for what the cars are like. I got to sit in a Subaru Impreza WRX, a Nissan 350Z, an Infiniti G35 Sport Coupe, a Chevrolet Corvette, and an Acura RSX. I came away most impressed by the Subaru and the Infiniti. Meanwhile, my parents were more interested in luxury sedans from Audi, BMW, and Jaguar. My mom has always wanted a Jaguar for some reason. I wasn’t terribly impressed by any of their stuff.
There were a few disappointments. Some notable new cars and concepts like the Cadillac Sixteen, the Honda NSX Hybrid, the Volkswagon Phaeton, and the Ferrari Enzo were no where to be found. Also, not all of the manufacturers (read: Porsche) seemed to catch on that it might be a good idea to let people check out the cars from the inside as well as the outside. I can understand this for concept vehicles but not for production cars. All in all, though, it was a lot of fun.
Dad picked the Nuevo Laredo Cantina for lunch on my recommendations. It was also packed and we ended up waiting about fifteen minutes to get a table. I had two tacos and my parents both had burritos. They decided that it was better than our favorite Mexican restaurant in Dothan, La Bamba. I’m glad they enjoyed it.
