Cruftbox: My Box of Cruft

I got the phone call today that I have been waiting six months to get.
My Toyota Prius has arrived!
I’ll pick it up tomorrow morning. Pictures to follow ASAP.
Woot!

OK folks, with the summer heat arriving, it’s time to discuss air conditioning. There is a major misconception I’d like to clear up.
Let’s review how air conditioning works. Basically, an air conditioner is a heat pump.

Using a few important thermodynamic principles, air conditioners are machines that move heat from one area to another. Typically, they move the heat from inside to outside.
The part of the air conditioner that gets cold in this process is know as the evaporator coil. Warm air from inside blows over the evaporator coil. The heat goes in and gets pumped outside and the cold air returns inside.
Fairly straightforward, no? Air conditioners really only work at one speed. When they are on, the pump heat out. When they are off, they don’t do anything.
Here’s where people get into trouble.
Modern electronics in thermostats and car air conditioners now allow people to dial in the temperature they want. The air conditioner (or heater) is turned on or off to adjust for the desired temperature.
It seems people think that if they turn the knob way down that the air conditioner will work much better. Typically, you see people turning the thermostat as low as it will go to get it cold. This does nothing to help the cooling.

Turn the dial or knob to the temperature you want and leave it alone.
There are a few cases where there you can have variable air speeds blowing over the evaporator coils. This is what ‘Max AC’ is if you see it in your car. Maximum airflow.
Guess what, your thermostat understands if it has variable airflow and uses it when it makes best sense. Believe it or not, the people that design air conditioners know more about how to make air conditioners work than you do.
So, please people, don’t turn that dial down to sixty degrees unless you work in a meat locker.

A while ago I made a weblog for anonymous posting-> Anonyblog.
Anyone can go there, log in and post whatever they want. The username/password are right on the front page.
I expected that people would rant about other people, work, and things that piss them off. There has been some of that, but by far the most posting thing is about how sad people are.
Post after post about how things suck in their life. Take a look at the searches people are doing to stumble onto the site.

Where do you have to be in life to search for ‘am i insane’ on Google?
Such pain and sadness out there. And why are they afraid to share it with others? Why are they anonymous in their pain?
As an extroverted type, it’s hard for me to understand people dealing with their issues in this introverted way.

I saw on Slashdot that the site for the Firefly movie is up and running.
In case you missed Firefly when it was on the air, it was a sci-fi TV show that blended wild west style plots into a future space universe. Good stuff. I bought the DVDs of the first season and really enjoy them.
The site has a lot of stuff for fans to participate in the promotion of the movie. It’s good to see a movie production actively working with their fans rather than ordering them to take content down. Fans are rewarded for their internet involvement with real prizes and items. The proverbial win-win situation.
For example, the Firefly folks are actively encouraging the fans to make banner ads and display them. Here’s a fan made banner I like, that the movie company is happy to be displayed.

How kick ass is that?
Talk about ‘getting it’, these guys are totally using the net and weblogs in particular to promote their movie. How do they do it? Release control and allow fans to use the movie content. The producers are obviously looking to connect with the blogosphere and are willing to give up some control in doing so. Them Creative Commons people should drop them a line and get something like a Recombo license up there…

I’m a bit confused here people.
Last Tuesday I bought a copy of the new Beastie Boys album, To the Five Boroughs. I had heard there was talk of it being protected with DRM software. Posts on Boing Boing and Slashdot fed the meme into the blogosphere.
When I got back to the office, I tried ripping it to my desktop. The album riped fine using Windows Media Player on a stock Compaq desktop machine. No problems at all.
When I got home I ripped it to our media server. Again, no problems. I used Musicmatch Jukebox to do the ripping. I’m hardly using r33t haxx0r tools to get around any copy protection.
So I don’t see anything that even remotely looks like copy protection on the CD.
I took a look at the disc and it does have the Macromedia director based ‘Enhanced CD’ software on it that autoplays when load the disc. All that does is allow you to watch a Quicktime video. I don’t see any DRM software being installed.
I scoured the net to find any details of the ‘silent install’ and what the ‘secret DRM’ does. Besides many a slashdot-style screed against DRM and the Beasties, I didn’t find one technical explanation of exactly what the ‘secret DRM’ is or where it is located on a hard drive.
I did find many, many people saying that they were able to successfully rip it. I didn’t see anyone saying they had trouble ripping the CD.
Now, I’m probably wrong, but it seems to me that there is no ‘secret DRM’ on the new Beasties’ album and the that techno-blogosphere has whipped itself into a lather over the non-issue.
Someone please prove me wrong and point the details on the secret ‘silent install’, but until then, I consider the ‘Beasties DRM = evil’ meme a false and unproven one.
Did anyone out there that bought the album have any problems ripping the CD?

It was a good weekend.
On Saturday we went to a kid’s birthday party and had a great time. As usual in Los Angeles, there was a pinata and the girls made out like bandits. Here’s their loot:

This morning I woke up and was greeted by the girls and their gifts. Very sweet. I even got a chance to talk to my father today. He’s been in Sri Lanka doing charity work for several weeks and I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get in contact with him. He’s doing well and I’m anxious to see him.
We played around outside and I took the training wheels off Mira’s bike. She had no problem riding a two wheeler. We rode around the neighborhood, played with some friends and generally goofed around.
Later in the afternoon, we went up to Bailey Canyon for a picnic and a hike. We ate at the base of the park and girls started to get excited about the hike.

We headed on into the wilderness looking and talking about everything. We saw plenty of lizards and other wild creatures. The girls were digging the tromp through the underbrush and could have gone farther before we turned back. We will definitely be doing more hiking soon.
On the way out, we saw a few deer munching grass nearby.

A good day to be a father.

Tonight I watched Hero, a Chinese martial arts movie that is getting released by Miramax in US theaters this August. The trailer runs if you go to see Kill Bill 2.
I picked up a DVD at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. It’s the Chinese version that happens to have English subtitles. I can’t read the menus on the DVD, but I was able to get the movie to play.
And what a movie it is. Hero is simply fantastic.

The director, Zhang Yimou, previously made the noted films Raise the Red Lantern and Shanghai Triad. His skill is evident in the masterful art direction and filming of the movie. He makes amazing use of color and scenery to evoke a feeling of China’s past that is rare to see. In one scene, he uses leaves and wind in an amazing way that has never been seen before on film.
Technically, the film is impressive with top notch Chinese martial arts battles and superb Yuen Wo Ping style wire work and fight choreography. If you like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s fight scenes, these are even better.

The cast is the absolute top people in Chinese action cinema. Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang, Daoming Chen, and Donnie Yen. You won’t be disappointed by their acting or physical performances.
For the plot, I’ll simply quote the promo info:

At the height of China’s Warring States period, the country was divided into seven kingdoms: Qin, Zhao, Han Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi. For years, the separate kingdoms fought ruthlessly for supremacy. As a result, the populace endured decades of death and suffering.
The Kingdom of Qin was the most determined of all. The Qin King was obsessed with conquering all of China and becoming her first Emperor. He had long been the target of assassins throughout the other six states. Of all the would-be killers, none inspired as much fear as the three legendary assassins, Broken Sword, Flying Snow and Sky.
To anyone who defeated the three assassins, the King of Qin promised great power, mountains of gold and a private audience with the King himself. But defeating the killers is a near impossible task. For ten years no one came close to claiming the prize. So when the enigmatic county sheriff, Nameless, came to the palace bearing the legendary weapons of the slain assassins, the King was impatient to hear his story. Sitting in the palace, only ten paces from the King, Nameless told his extraordinary tale.

And so the movie begins. Even though I have the DVD, I must see this movie in the theater. I suggest you do as well.

I flipped open the newspaper this morning as was suprised to see so much drama in Lakerville. Overnight, two major things happened. First, Phil Jackson will not be the coach of the Lakers next year. Second, Shaq wants to leave the Lakers in a trade to another team. I expected the first, not the second.
Coach Jackson is taking the fall for the Kobe/Shaq personality trouble that refuses to go away. So be it. Phil’s made $30 million in the last five years, he was paid well to be the scapegoat in the end.
Shaq on the other hand is a different story. I like Shaq the player and lockerroom sound bite creator, but Shaq the business man is a problem. For all the good he’s done the Lakers, at this point, he’s become a problem. Instead of riding the gravy train a bit longer, he’s got to rock the boat, simply because he can.
Take a look at the salary structure of the Lakers:

Player	2003/04 Salary
Shaquille O’Neal	$26,223,215
Kobe Bryant	$13,497,500
Gary Payton	$4,897,000
Rick Fox	$4,549,500
Devean George	$4,545,000
Derek Fisher	$3,000,000
Stanislav Medvedenko	$1,500,000
Karl Malone	$1,475,833
Kareem Rush	$1,096,000
Horace Grant	$1,070,000
Bryon Russell	$1,070,000
Brian Cook	$752,800
Jamal Sampson	$563,679
Luke Walton	$366,931
Jannero Pargo	$194,156
Maurice Carter	$40,770
Ime Udoka	$24,462
TOTALS:	$64,499,915

To put this more visually and understandable, here’s a simple graph:

Notice that of the cost of Shaq is more than 15 of the 17 players on the Lakers. Kobe makes HALF of what Shaq makes. It’s out of whack.
Shaq is probably the most dominant player in the game now, but he’s 32 and fading. For all his skills, he’s not in top shape and isn’t playing in every game. He’s got a few more great years ahead of him, but you need to compare him to Kobe. And to top it off, next year his salary goes up by FIVE million dollars.
Kobe is 25. If he stays out of jail, the next five years will be Kobe’s best ever. He is the best player in the NBA, PERIOD. Offense, defense, speed, health, Kobe’s got it all. Best of all, he handles pressure as well as anyone in the league. And he’s getting better.
So if you are the management of the Lakers you can see that giving Shaq an INCREASE, which he’s been asking for, is nearly impossible. The money just doesn’t work. Shaq, for all his skill, costs too much to field a great team going forward. With his guaranteed increase and the desire for even more money, where will the Laker Management find the cash under the salary cap? Who will they cut?
For all the drama facing the Lakers, Shaq has made it easy for them. By leaving, the Lakers will probably get three top players in trade for Shaq. The salary cap problem is broken, and the team can coalesce around rising Kobe. The Lakers will become a team of speed and multiple shooters, like the Pistons who just spanked the Lakers.
Yes, the Lakers will have to face Shaq on another team, but the way to play Shaq has been made clear. Speed is the thing that Shaq cannot handle now. He simple is going to get outrun and outshot on a team without a partner the caliber of Kobe.
I’ll miss the Big Aristole, but it’s his pride that is doing the damage to the Lakers, not Kobe’s lack of sharing.

Last night I went to dinner and met Hossein Eslambochi, the CTO and CIO of AT&T. It was a speech/dinner with other media tech people from companies like Sony & Tribune. I spoke with Hossein briefly and he’s a bright, truly technical person. Unlike many ‘buzzword and hand waving’ types, he understands the underlying technical issues and can talk intelligently about them. A rare ability in the modern world of CTOs where MBAs often take precedence over engineering types.
Hossein gave a brief talk about AT&T and what they are doing these days. Much of is was standard mom & apple pie customer focus talk, but he did give his Top Ten Trends. I thought you all might be interested.
10. Information mining will transform the way we do business
          Personalization and customization will become the norm.
9. Home LANs will proliferate
          Use of home LANs for telephone service, dual cellular/wifi phones
8. Wireless & wired lines will converge – accelerating virtualization
          Seamless connectivity
7. Security is critical
6. Death of Locality
          IP based environment eliminates the role of geography
5. Convergence of communications & computers will be a reality
          Convergence of phone & computers will outshine convergence of television & computers
4. Sensor networks will be everywhere
          All items and people will have IP addresses and be tracked
3. Wireless internet will be big
          Not what we are used to, more like 40-50Mb/s everywhere you go
2. Broadband will be common
          As common as telephones are today
1. IP will eat everything
          90-95% of the worlds communications will be via IP traffic
I don’t agree with everything, but the everywhereness of net connectivity is reassuring to hear from AT&T, the people would actually have to carry it out. With them sticking to standards based technology, hopefully the future will arrive with an abundance of choices instead of difficult choices between incompatible systems.

I was checking my referrer logs and saw a link from Disarranging Mine. I took a look and found an interesting tidbit of information.
Marie had stumbled onto my weblog and noticed even the small detail of my copyright notice at the bottom of the page. She made an excellent observation that my dates were wrong and showed how to keep them up to date.
I implemented the change and am quite happy. Thanks Marie, you rock.