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Wednesday, August 9th, 2006
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10:00 am - My last day in Austin
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So the movers are here right now packing up all of our random pieces of junk and clothes. It's kind of an odd sensation, to have your house teeming with guys who are pawing through your stuff.
So today is officially my last day in Austin. I head out tomorrow for the great out-west called California. I've really enjoyed my time here in Austin, I've been here for 5-something years. It's been a wonderful time, lot's of things have changed for me since I've been here. I can't really put it into words at the moment - probably because there's a lot of loud banging in the bedroom—what are they doing in there?
Anyway, I've loved it here. Plain and simple.
I hope to be back someday, if not to live at least to visit. I don't know if I could willingly move back to the Texas heat anyway :)
I want to tell everyone who knows me, and my friends who read my LiveJournal, that it's been really good knowing you all. I sincerely hope that we will connect again. Change is the only constant in the universe.
So that's it really. Cupertino, here I come.
-Moe
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| Thursday, July 27th, 2006
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5:21 pm - California Cat Haters
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So, we are about to relocate to California (for my job) and we're facing a real serious and troubling dilemma. No place takes more than two cats, and we've got four.
We're planning on moving to the Cupertino area and every single apartment complex and individual home will only accept two cats maximum (on top of charging exorbitant deposits and additional monthly pet rent per pet).
Suddenly I feel like a pariah for loving and owning cats. It's horrible. We can't get rid of any, I mean, they're our family. And I really, really, want to avoid lying and sneaking the additional two into a place. But it's seeming more and more likely that will be what we have to do.
Does anyone have any experience either in California w/ multiple cats/pets, any advice, or just general "Gotcha's" about sneaking additional pets into an apartment complex?
I've never lived in an apartment before, so I don't know what kind of risk that would involve.
Thanks!
current mood:  anxious
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| Sunday, July 23rd, 2006
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11:16 pm - Lucy and Gypsy
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| Sunday, May 21st, 2006
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7:34 am - Kittens
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| Friday, March 17th, 2006
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10:24 am - Real Life Simpsons Intro
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| Tuesday, March 14th, 2006
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5:48 pm - Go Harv!
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| Thursday, March 2nd, 2006
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10:57 am - whoa... I mean seriously... WHOA!
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This is crazy. It's exactly what I've been dreaming of ever since I started web design. A program that lets you see what code is affecting what element on a single webpage. Beautiful.
http://www.culturedcode.com/xyle/
Damn. I'm completely geeking out over this.
-Moe
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Friday, February 24th, 2006
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7:35 am - 33lb Chinese Cat?
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7:21 am - This could suck...
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| Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006
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8:12 am - Stop with the "Sherpa" Boots already.
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| Tuesday, February 14th, 2006
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1:27 pm - Oh and this one too
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1:23 pm - This is awesome
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| Wednesday, January 25th, 2006
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7:14 am - wtf?
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White House Declines to Provide Storm Papers
New York Times
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 - The Bush administration, citing the confidentiality of executive branch communications, said Tuesday that it did not plan to turn over certain documents about Hurricane Katrina or make senior White House officials available for sworn testimony before two Congressional committees investigating the storm response.
( more... )
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/politics/25katrina.html?th&emc=th
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, January 23rd, 2006
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11:39 am - A work not to be missed
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I read a lot. A whole lot.
Often I find myself disenchanted with a book within the first 50 pages. Actually, I can usually tell by the first paragraph whether I'm going to like the author's style of writing or not. Unfortunately I'm more often displeased by a book, and nit-pick it unendingly, than I am truly satisfied.
This is not however, the case with "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke. As soon as I read the first sentence of the first paragraph, I knew that I was going to love this book. Susanna Clarke has a wonderful, elegant writing style, that is not often found in recent works.
At first the heft of 800 pages of fiction might seem a bit daunting, but once you get into this book, 800 pages will seem far to short. While other authors rely heavily upon verbosely describing the surrounding environment, Clarke leaves much to your own imagination and focuses on character interaction. Subtle hints and passing phrases are what remind you that this is indeed a period piece, the reader is not subjected to paragraph after paragraph of descriptive sentences. This adds immensely to the realism of the book, even when the world Clarke creates is entirely magical.
Again, read this book. Without fail. It's wonderful. I'll even lend you my copy if you don't want to drop the $15.00
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
-Moe
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(comment on this)
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7:49 am - Bin Laden tapes: Fact or fiction?
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Bin Laden tapes: Fact or fiction?
Osama tapes foster pro-war rhetoric
by Al Jazeera
http://aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/conspiracy_theory/fullstory.asp?id=291
January 21, 2006
Al Jazeera
In the past year, Zawahri has been issuing tapes, and Bin Laden has been careful not to appear
The audiotapes of OSAMA BIN LADEN have become an important medium between AL-QAEDA network and the outside world. If authentic, these tapes could enable BIN LADEN to convey his opinions to his enemies and followers, issue threats and even claim responsibility for terror attacks carried out by his group. It is obvious that the usefulness of such tapes cannot be questioned, but how can people be sure of their origin and authenticity? Little time is dedicated to such examinations. But an analysis can really influence the way we judge similar evidence in the future.
There is no reason whatsoever to believe that these audiotapes are authentic. While they are always followed by reports of scientific voice analyses, these studies have been invariably done by CIA experts. In fact, only one occasion was an independent analysis done. And while American officials were certain of the tape’s authenticity, Swedish scientists were convinced that it was fake.
Consider yesterday’s audiotape, in which BIN LADEN warned that AL-QAEDA is planning new attacks against the United States, but offered a conditional “long-term truce”, which the White House rejected. Hours after the tape's release, CIA officials said it is a “genuine message” from BIN LADEN. “Following a technical analysis, the voice on the tape is believed to be that of OSAMA BIN LADEN,” said a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official. On the other hand, several experts doubted the tape's authenticity. “It was like a voice from the grave“, said Bruce Lawrence, a Duke professor, who analyzed more than 20 complete speeches and interviews of the AL-QAEDA chief for his recent book “Messages to the World: The Statements of OSAMA BIN LADEN.”
Other officials draw a similarity between the tape and the latest U.S. missile air strike on the Afghan border that angered the Pakistanis for killing more than 18 civilians. The U.S. said that its strike was aimed at targeting BIN LADEN’s deputy, AYMAN AL-ZAWAHRI. It even claimed that the attack killed top AL-QAEDA officials, though the Pakistanis insisted that only civilians were present in the hit area. "It seems that there's some relationship between this tape and the (U.S.) strike (in Pakistan), both in the content and the timing. Over more than the past year, ZAWAHRI has been the one issuing tapes, and BIN LADEN has been very careful not to appear at all, and now all of a sudden he's deviated from that," said Kenneth Katzman, Terrorism Analyst At Congressional Research Service, In-House Think Tank Of The U.S. Congress.
In several occasions, no evidence was provided to support claims of the authenticity of such tapes. The media and politicians seem little concerned about such issues. Moreover, the fact that AL-QAEDA adopted new tactics since this unverified medium emerged was never discussed. For example, the network have never claimed responsibility for any attack before the taped messages. But since their introduction, AL-QAEDA has taken responsibility for several attacks, including those against German tourists in Tunisia, Israeli tourists in Kenya, and the Madrid bombings. The group even released a taped admission of involvement in the 9/11 attacks despite all their previous pre-audiotape protestations to the contrary.
Moreover, nobody ever tried to explain why BIN LADEN focuses on the U.S.‘s global interests rather than his own troubles in AFGHANISTAN. Since 9/11, it seemed that BIN LADEN preferred to target U.S. forces in IRAQ than in AFGHANISTAN. Strange also is why AL-QAEDA would use an audiotape message to threaten France, Russia and Germany, even though all three countries opposed the Bush administration’s “WAR ON TERROR“ to BIN LADEN’s alleged new pet project, IRAQ .
Never addressed as well is the timing of the release of such audiotapes. One of the previous audiotapes was released just two days before the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Its message actually preceded BUSH's first UN appeals on IRAQ by a few days, as well as similar lobbying before the U.S. Congress. Another tape emerged a year later while BUSH tried to win financial aid from Asian countries for IRAQ’s reconstruction. This one also came before a donors’ conference in Madrid just the following week.
Some analysts were quick to point to the perfect timing of the latest tape. They suggest that if the speaker really is BIN LADEN, then the tape will certainly boost support for BUSH. In addition to cooling down the anger provoked by the CIA’s strike in Pakistan, opposition to IRAQ WAR is growing, midterm elections are coming up and international pressures are mounting on Iran over its NUCLEAR PROGRAM.
The content of such tapes is equally alarming as their timing. The push for IRAQ WAR, for example, won support when a BIN LADEN audiotape helped to cement U.S. claims of links between AL-QAEDA and SADDAM HUSSEIN. This tape was released in February 2003, while the U.S. lobbied heavily for a second UN resolution on IRAQ, and just a month before the war began.
Some analysts say that if yesterday’s tape was of BIN LADEN’s, then it also proves another thing; THE WAR ON TERROR didn’t end terrorism and wouldn’t prevent further attacks on the United States. In a CNBC interview, Vice President Dick Cheney said that the tape is a reminder that a “serious threat“ to the United States remained. The audiotape would also assert the statements made by DEMOCRAT Nancy Pelosi, who said after the July bombings in London that President BUSH's "fight them there, not here" strategy plainly wasn't working.
Even after the case about the authenticity of such tapes has been made, some may still wonder if it really matters whether they are real or not. It most certainly does. While the audiotapes purportedly sent out by BIN LADEN were seldom at the forefront of the debate to launch WAR, they were key factors in creating a climate of fear in which pro-war rhetoric grew. And it is precisely for this reason that these tapes require the same level of analysis as any other piece of evidence used to convince the world about the war.
current mood:  angry
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
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7:48 pm - Shoe pollution
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While the emergence of skateboarding as a recognized, and somewhat reputable sport, has brought a number of positive changes-small city-owned parks being built around the country for example, but it has also brought attention to the fact that skating is a very profitable industry. And with that has come a whole host of imitators, low-quality-mass-producers, and most notably, the marketing imaginations of major shoe companies.
When I was coming up as a skater companies like Nike, Reebok, New Balance, and others viewed skateboarding as a "passing trend" and not one worth investing in. Adidas seemed to be the only major company at the time that seemed to nod at least partially in the direction of the skate scene. But even that was more of a word of mouth campaign, rather than a true product line. There certainly weren't whole divisions of these companies dedicated to skateboarders.
This left skateboarders with very few options in the late 80's through early 90s. Airwalk and Vans were pretty much the options that we had to choose between if we wanted true skate-shoes. Until it seems Etnies came on the scene that is.
Once Etnies became a true competitor for the shoe market, a whole host of skater-owned small companies emerged from all corners of the planet. Each with their own unique branding, and style. Companies like Es, Emerica, Lakai, iPath, and Globe to name a few, stepped in and stepped up to fill this void.
What this allowed was for true market opinion to direct the style and direction of each company. There weren't millions of dollars to invest in pumping ad campaigns or elevating pros to Jordan-ian status.
Out of this time came some amazing developments in the way skate shoes are made, and manufactured. I mean, it wasn't all that long ago that skate shoes were relegated to 1970s technology with solid rubber soles and little to no additional padding or support. There certainly wasn't the level of engineering that we see in today's skate shoe. Which brings me to the advent of skateboarding as a market influence in the big leagues. DC shoes. I don't think that it takes more than simply that name drop for you to know what I'm getting at.
DC was one of the first (if not the first) multi-million dollar per year shoe company who's sole focus was on the skateboarding market. I believe that the success of DC is what grabbed Nike and Reebok's attention.
The most amusing thing to me about the marketing strategy of both Nike and Reebok is how similar it is to their basketball shoe campaign. Both of the companies are the first to offer riders multi-million dollar shoe deals. The amusing thing is the discrepancy between this marketing style and that of the skater-owned companies. Where skater-owned companies would throw product down to a wide variety of riders, and offer a few a small monthly stipend, Nike and Reebok both came in and picked a pro that they felt could become the "Jordan" of skateboarding (Paul Rodriguez and Stevie Williams respectively) and sunk a huge amount of marketing money into the soles of these two individual skaters.
And failed miserably.
That is at first. I don't believe either company understood the sheer amount of anti-corporate sentiment that they would encounter. It was like the guy who used to kick your ass in high school showing up drunk at your party years later and pretending that the two of you are old friends. Neither company was well received.
Nike however, appears to have some marketing sense about them and have been able to overcome this and are actually becoming a respected force in the skateboarding world. It helps that they quickly abandoned the mega-star approach and started dropping product on everyone from major pros or minors in the industry, to sponsoring up-and-comers. As a result I see 2 out of every 5 kids on the street wearing Nike's skateboarding brand "Nike SB" shoes.
Whereas Reebok, apparently is either slower in the uptake or literally sunk all of it's marketing budget into Stevie William's ride. To this day, I've never seen anyone, outside of Stevie in his print ads, wear a pair of Reeboks flagship in the sea of skateboarding, i.e. the "RBK" brand. I've never even seen them on the wall in a shop!
Don't misunderstand, this is in no way a knock against Paul or Stevie. They are two of my favorite skaters. Actually it was Stevie's crazy-smooth style that influenced my own skating for many years.
I guess the point of this post is this: Skateboarding is it's own entity, and remains true to it's rebellious origins. It never will fit into the conventional mold of society because skaters themselves are too creative, crazy, or just down right pissed off to subscribe to the image set forth by pop-culture.
Admittedly I do own a pair of NikeSB shoes now, though I kick Circa or Lakai whenever I'm actually skating. They just skate better.
-Moe
current mood:  amused
current music: Thievery Corporation - Lebanese Blonde - The Mirror Conspiracy
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1:28 pm - Shameless plea :)
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| Sunday, January 1st, 2006
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3:43 pm - My kids, Elise and Lucy: Best Friends
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| Saturday, December 31st, 2005
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6:41 pm - New camera and Elise pix!
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| Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
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4:08 pm - meme
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Stolen from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) anricat who stole it from samanthanoir
X] I have a Job
[X] I have a car payment
[X] I have a house payment (or rent)
[X] I've made a house or car payment late
[ ] I've had a car reposessed
[X] I know my credit score
[X] I have kids (one kid)
[ ] I have kids by more than one person
[ ] I pay child support
[X] I'm married
[ ] I've been divorced
[ ] I'm 30 or older and haven't been married
[X] I have toys from my childhood that are older than half of myspace
[ ] I remember when David Lee Roth left Van Halen.
[ ] I saw "E.T." in the Theater
[] I know who shot J.R.
[X] Fraggle Rock.
[X] "Where's the Beef?"
[ ] I've found grey hairs
[X] I have aches and/or pains for no apparent reason
[X] I've uttered the phrase "Kids these days..."
[X] I've uttered the phrase "When *I* was a kid..."
[X] I think current teen fashion is laughable, but I own something from the 80's or early 90's thats equally retarded.
[ ] I know off the top of my head who Crockett and Tubbs are.
[X] "Capital Gains tax", "401k", and "Homestead exemption" all mean something to me.
[X] I wanted a Delorean.
[X] I remember when it was just "Star Trek"
[X] I had a Trapper Keeper
[X] I know what "Reaganomics" was.
[X] I remember when Michael Jackson was Black
[X] I've voted before
[X] I've eaten BooBerry cereal
current music: Boards of Canada - Aquarius - Music Has the Right to Children
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