I want to go to Coachella. In years past the line ups have been good, but not enough to get me to deal with all the planning needed... but this year... woo doogie. I'd like to see:

Day One
• Weezer
• Wilco
• Sage Francis
• Four Tet
• MF Doom
• Boom Bip
• Jean Grae
• Buck 65

Day Two
• Nine Inch Nails
• New Order
• Black Star
• Arcade Fire
• Roots Manuva
• DJ Krush
• Aesop Rock
• Sixtoo
• Subtle
• Beans
• Matmos

...and I'm sure there's more. I just don't know it yet.

There's a lot of talk about how well the Mac Mini can play back HDTV recorded through the EyeTV 500... And a lot of resulting argument. There's also been some confusion about weather DVI output has any effect thanks to this Engadget How-To.

Since I'm considering getting one, I went straight to Elgato:

Thank you for contacting Elgato Systems.

We don't have a Mac mini for testing purposes, so I can comment only on earlier Macs with similar specifications.

EyeTV 500 will display video on a G4, but to display full resolution, full frame rate HDTV, you'll need a Dual G5.

Thus, the Mac mini should display video from EyeTV 500, but it will most likely not be in HDTV resolution. What matters is the processor strength, and the graphics card type, and not what display you have attached. If your Mac is too slow, then HDTV resolutions won't be shown - the recorded files will still be in high resolution, however.

That said, a few users have reported that they were happy with EyeTV 500 performance on the faster mini, but I don't know if they paid attention to actual resolution or frame rate. We won't get ours for testing until a few weeks from now.

So the Engadget How-To is incorrect. The Mac Mini has a hard time with HDTV regardless of how you output. But it might be alright if you have the faster mini and your only watching slow moving TV (as opposed to say HD movies).

Good to know...

When you work at a small company you see everyone constantly. You eat lunch together. You use the same bathroom. When someone gets sick at least 2 other people are going to get it too... All within the week.

At a company of thousands it doesn't come as quickly. First there are far off rumblings of teams being down a few men. Then meetings get canceled because those people you only see in meetings are both out. Finally it starts hitting your team with a sneeze and a flurry of "Working from home and resting up emails".

I imagine this what the plague was like. But with less Dayquil.

More pictures here, there, and everywhere.

overcoming violence without using violence:
Schwarzenegger Allows Rare California Execution - Reuters

When are we going to join the majority of the rest of the world and abolish state assisted murder?

After some deliberation I decided to go with the Sony Ericsson T637. While far from perfect (an elite class in the cell phone world) it does get the job done within a very compact package. My old Nokia feels like a frying pan compared to carrying this little fella around.

In order to fit into it's tiny form, sacrifices had to be made with the physical interface. The tiny thumb stick is too small for any activity longer than a one off flick. I've naturally started "grabbing" it between by fingernail and thumb. So far this is the best way I've found to get reliable extended movement. The curve in the smooshed together buttons keep your fingers from hitting more than one key at a time, yet they feel like you need to be extra careful so that you don't. ...I hope I'll get over that hesitation in due time.

The graphical interface can best be described as larger and cleaner than my previous Series 60 Nokia. An effort is made to keep things simple. While it's a much appreciated approach, it doesn't work so well when you do need to display more complex information... Such as a large, heavily annotated address book. Like all phones I've seen, the menu layout and labeling reek of slap it in there style. The Entertainment menu has two submenus: Games & More / Other Games. The stopwatch is located under the "Organizer" menu. Sailing Clicker can be found under "Connect" / "Accessories". ...And so on and so forth. Luckily, the simple approach means there's not much to remember - Once you find the stopwatch the first time, your not likely to forget.

The camera is typical low-res camera phone bad... Which is good enough for snapping quick shots of your daily business. I kinda like the results when you set it to black and white and leave the night mode on all the time.

All in all, I like it... But don't love it... Which is about what I've come to expect from any consumer gadget that doesn't include a little apple on it.

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

- Martin Luther King (1929–1968)

mediation distance - i am making a film. i taped myself depressed despondent rambling crying last night. editing this footage, i am no longer experiencing my emotions in real time. and it helps.

Justin made the footage avaliable online. I don't really know what to say about it right this moment.. but I do know you should watch it...

Following a link from Tony, I found my self on Annika's site reading her 100 things about me post. Number 64 caught my eye:

64. i am an unrepentant hawk, who has studied the works of Gandhi, King and Merton. i admire these men very much. The trouble, as i see it, is that Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Osama Bin Laden and Yasser Arafat do not.

This is a good representation of the majority view of non-violence today... "Sounds great, but it isn't practical." This perspective is painfully flawed and the root cause of untold suffering in our world.

Someone like Osama Bin Laden does the horrible things he does because he believes that the United States is causing a great level of harm due to it's aggressive (including violent) imperialist behavior. He hopes to create a level of fear that will change these ways. In turn the United States does the same... fear of retribution as a means to curtail unwanted behavior. While the faces my shift, the cycle continue infinitely (Saddam became a problem due in part to the weapons and training the U.S. gave him so that Iraq could act as a proxy in fighting Iran and backwards and backwards and backwards).

There is no honor in killing the people that disagree with you until an environment for disagreement no longer exists.

There is no real change brought about through fear.

The truth about Hawks is that they're all a bunch of pussies. They are unwilling to take the abuse Gandhi and his followers did in the name of their ideas (Can you imagine George W. Bush fasting for 21 days in the name of Democracy? In the name of anything?). They lack the conviction that would allow them to see past the short term gains of beating said ideas into others. They lack the faith required to see that, as Gandhi often said, non-violence works because it taps into a fundamental truth buried deep within all human beings.

These are not flaws of the people in question, but rather a reflection of the culture we live in. Western society has perverted the definition of strength. It has all but destroyed genuine faith - Replacing it with a list of systematic steps required to play a part. Check off the list and your done. We're ever increasingly creating ourselves as false idols.

95. i try to put up a strong front at all times, but i secretly long for someone with whom i can let my guard down.

96. If i ever find that one person, I'm afraid i may break down and cry in his arms for a very long time. They will be tears of relief and joy as much as anything else.

There's little in the way of a mental leap to see the association between putting up a giant front in the world at large and putting it up in the personal world at small.

In a society that explicitly teaches us not to see our true selves, Gandhi's principle of satyagraha (truth force) is a gigantic leap. Before you can have the faith required to see the beauty in others, you need faith in yourself ...That's fucking scary. It means facing up to the true nature of things... Looking the paradox of control dead in the eye... Realizing that making your way in the world is in fact harder than commercials make it out to be... and you can't simply close your eyes and whack everything with the biggest stick.

It should be noted that I don't know Annika and I don't mean to pick on her personally. I've run into her blog in the past and enjoyed it, even though we have a lot of differences. It just so happened that today it clicked with a variety of things that have been bumping around in my head since the election.

Yesterday I skipped the daily trip to Mountain View so I could have lunch with some good folks at MacWorld. It's amazing how much more convenient the convinces of living in a city are when you work in it too. Work was done, lunch was had downtown, multiple errands were checked off the list, a shelf was hung, and I still had the energy to go out and grab a drink with Marc Brown and some of his San Francisco friends - All without the usual feeling of rush that routinely fills my weekdays.

5 photos in all

I should remember to buy these...

• Themselves and The Notwist: 13+God
• BoomBip: Blue Eyed In The Red Room
• Buck65: This right here is Buck 65
• Aesop Rock: Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives
• Sole: Live from Rome
• Airborn Audio: Good Fortune

Let's meet at 12:30pm on Tuesday the 11th at the top of the South Hall stairs at Moscone Center. Everyone is welcome (you don't even need a Macworld pass). Bring a friend and if you live in the Bay Area come out for the event and link this invite. - shellen.com

I'm there - Lane too!

The Cingular pre-paid plan is what I need. It's 0.25 cents a minute, pay as you go. My last bill would have been around 7 dollars. Except it only works with mediocre phones that cost $80 and up. None of which include a camera.

For about 17 dollars less than I'm paying now and a 2 year commitment, I can get a brand new Sony Ericsson T637 for free. That satisfies the camera requirement, and saves me some money, but it's still considerably more minutes than I need.

Lane is getting the T637 (switching plans will save her a bit each month). I guess I'll just wait and see how I like her phone, then decide between the two.

This afternoon I had lunch with Mr. Marc Brown and some other fine folks from Buzznet. As you might expect, the camera phones were out in force. Except for mine... I didn't have it with me.

I've never been a big phone person... I don't like talking on them much. Something about the disconnect it creates has always bothered me. I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is... Other than I'm weird.

Less than two years ago I finally gave into the cellphone craze. Mostly because I was excited about the potential of having a camera and a phone together in one tasty package. I took pictures like crazy. I really like the ability to snatch little low quality pictures on a whim. I never got into the phone half though. I rarely use it. Lately it's left at home more often than not... My latest bill had less than half an hour of usage:

Nights and weekends: unlimited / 5 mins used
Included minutes: 200 mins / 21 mins used
Mobile data: 1mb / 0kb used

I clearly need a new plan. And maybe a new phone too... Something that has a camera but is very small so it's easier to carry around. I should look at the options I have now that AT&T and Cingular have merged.

When you look closely, you see that people of the present are none other than people of old, and the functions of the present are none other than the functions of the past; even going through a thousand changes and myriad transformations, here it is just necessary for you to recognize it first hand before you can attain it.

- Foyan (1067-1120)

My very good friend Katharine from back in the high schoolish days of Denny's soaked boredom has finally started a blog.

Check it out: insidepockets.blogspot.com

From left to right: Katie, Katharine, Me (with skateboard pillow), Aaron

I haven't seen TV news in years - unless you count a few episodes of The Daily Show swiped from the internet (you shouldn't). This is on purpose. I didn't have any high hopes going into the 60 Minutes episode about Google... Especially considering no one has referred to it as anything other than a "fluff piece". So why watch? Because it's 20 minutes devoted to the place I work. I can't not be curious. And I really wanted to try and read Shellen's lips ^* while he was onscreen chatting up Goldman.

It was still bad. Great for Google... But bad for journalism. I don't have a problem with "Getting to know you" type pieces. They don't need to disguise someone as a tragic hotdog clown and infiltrate the Google campus to make me happy. But a big benefit in getting to know any corporation is in learning about some of the issues they face that effect society as a whole. The close-up sidewise glance hard hitting follow-up "But that's not what Bill Gates thinks?" zinger question - That wasn't answered and never would be. Come on. How about more discussion of the morality issue? ...Something beyond how dare Google be full of negative comments about 60 Minutes. The moral role of Google is a fascinating topic. How about a follow up question there? Or maybe even a real question to start? Sure it's a big topic. I'm not asking for it to be thoroughly vetted. Just that you bring it up. Then give it a little context, so people can discuss it on their own.

Unless of course Leslie Stahl is really an alien sent to this planet to slowly destroy us through her mysterious powers of inflection. In which case, do carry on.

^* Spoiler: He was saying "Dan Rather ate my balls".

If your using Internet Explorer or a newsreader your missing out on some nice touches that came along with this sites redesign.

Maybe.

On such thing is the use of CSS to add little site icons to the end of links for resources I often point to. Like so:

I wasn't sure about these from the start, but decided to leave them in for a bit and see what happens.

What's happening is they are annoying me. Before I dump them, I'm curious to see if there's are consensus. Since my new design doesn't currently allow for post comments, I set up a QuickTopic (they aren't kidding about the quick part). Please let me know: Are they useful or a pain in the ass?.

Thanks.

I've seen a fair amount of Northern California since moving out here. It's always been under sunny and dry conditions - Except for Point Reyes. It was hard not to wonder what it might have looked like under brighter and drier conditions. It reminded me of Andy Goldsworthy and how (in Rivers and Tides) he talks about the way creating his sculptures out on the hills near his home is different from working other places in the world. After decades of living in the same area, he's become intimately familiar with the subtle changes between seasons and the ways those subtleties have changed throughout the years. There is a similar effect in cities. Businesses come and go, effected by and effecting the longer term broad make ups of neighborhoods. Fashion and all the things that effect it change through the year and through the years. It's all nature, yet it's different. There's a considerable level of added complexity in the city - The way the water level of a stream effects the area around it versus the effect created by the many months long project to replace all the electrical cabling under the streets around my house. I'd hesitate to call the city changes more superficial, but the those changes in the country are certainly more grounded.

That grounded simplicity is, for the first time in my life, making the possibility of living outside a city more appealing.

Tomorrow I dust off the ole laptop bag and head back to work. It's been a wonderful eleven days off... both busy and relaxing... full of good friends, food, places, and other such things. For the first time in a very long time I feel physically and mentally rested... Ready to take on new things, rather than cringing at their weight. I may go as far as to say inspired... but I'll hold off on that one till after the early morning alarm clock.

Last week, we made our way up North to check out the Point Reyes National Seashore. Even on an overcast day, it's beautiful. The last few days had been rainy, which gave everything a lush muted vibrancy, topped off with a dense sky of various shades of grey, and a low ridge of white fog.

I couldn't get enough of it.

Since it was all wet, sitting down and soaking it all in for awhile wasn't on the itinerary. Instead, I took a ton of pictures. You can see them all here. Goldman also has a few online too.

I'd love to go back and camp for a few days, once the weather is nicer.

...has arrived.

Best Albums

• Subtle: A New White
• DJ Krush: Jaku - the hip hop vampire track with monsieur Lif makes me wet my shorts
• DJ Signify: Sleep No More
• Air: Talkie Walkie - the first Air album I've really been into.
• Headset: Space Settings

Best Album I didn't like in `03 but loved in the `04

• Aesop Rock: Bazooka Tooth - what it lacks in previous sensitivities it makes up for with craftmanship

Best Album of `03 that I didn't hear until the end of `04

• Adrian Sherwood: Never Trust a Hippy

Best Album I couldn't wait for and then couldn't get into

• Wilco: A Ghost is Born - The only album I bought on the day of release in the `04. I've made it through the whole thing all of 4 times. Not that it's bad... It's not you... It's all me.

Blogs that consistantly brought it

• Waxy: Waxy's Links
• Tony Pierce: The Busblog

Best Playstation Game

• Katamari Damacy
• Katamari Damacy
• Katamari Damacy

Best GameCube Game

• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Best Movie I Saw at the theater

• Garden State

Best Movie I stole on the Internet

• Napoleon Dynamite

Best Movie I saw on DVD

• For All Mankind - those fools went to the moon
• Rivers and Tides

Best play turned movie starring Natalie Portman in a thong

• Closer

Best play not turned movie I saw in `04

• Tom Stoppard: Arcadia

Best TV Show I saw on DVD/Stole from the Internet because honestly, fuck TV

• They were all pretty mediocre.
• What happened to you Six Feet Under??!

Best Non-Fiction

• Steven Johnson: Mind Wide Open

Best Fiction

• William Gibson: Pattern Recognition

Hello January. We've met a good solid 28 times now. Sometimes with great celebration, sometimes just in passing, and often empty handed. This time, I have a single resolution for you: Increased awareness.

2004 was the year I fell off the wagon and landed in a rut.

2005 will be the year in which that metaphor is extended in a better direction. Picture it however you like... Maybe it's a slow tale told silently in black & white. Or maybe it's fast and furious, with wide eyed close-ups and an exhilarating wagon chase. Whatever... Just make sure you include a bit of dusting off somewhere in there. And a zafu. That's all I ask.