This mirrors my previous post on the subject. What is to stop the enforcement of eminent domain by local board members for any arbitrary reason?
Beautiful.
June 29, 2005
June 28, 2005
For those with iPod envy…
Josh Schulz has crafted a nifty little script that will convert all of your iTunes Playlists (even the smart ones)into good ol’ standard MP3 Playlists (M3u format). What does this mean?
For those of you that have rio music players, or iriver, or any other standard-compliant mp3 player, you can use the resulting playlists to synch up all (except songs purchased from the iTunes music store) your music to your mp3 player, and enjoy all of the benefits of iTunes management (such as smart playlists).
An example:
Rhya, who has a 256MB rio cali, can create a smart playlist that contains any song with an artist containing “Petty” or anything with a genre of “Oldies”, etc., etc. Then, she can limit that playlist to choosing songs out of all of that music at random to create a list of songs that doesn’t go over 256MB. We set Josh’s script to run every morning, and when she wants to jump on the elliptical, she has a bunch of songs that she knows are good, but are constantly changing ready in her MP3 player.
Awesome. Since Josh has the API down, maybe I could request a script that I think would make some peoples’ lives easier:
Anyone that deals with iTunes knows that deleting songs is a pain in the butt. Seriously. You have to right-click on the song, pick something like “show original file…”, delete the file, then right click on the song again, then select “clear”. This sucks.
Imagine this. Josh creates a script that if a song exists in the Library with an unchecked box (this attribute must be at the Library level, not simply unchecked in a playlist), the song is deleted, and the entry cleared from the Library. I could go through my music, uncheck things that I wanted deleted, and wait for the scheduled job to run.
I’m sure this would be a piece of cake for someone that has such a command of the API (hint hint).
June 24, 2005
You must build the iron before you pump it.
As I had mentioned in a previous post, Rhya and I had set out on a couple little projects. Rhya gathered up a bunch of stuff and took it to her parents’ house to take part in the Bloom Family Garage Sale. I’m happy to report she raked in over $300 to put towards a rocking chair! Good Stuff.
I, on the other hand, had the daunting task of turning one of our basement rooms into a weightroom. It was a long two weeks, seriously. I ‘ve captured it in pictures.
Now, let me talk about the Weider c670 for a second, a sort of mini-review. In the short time that I’ve had it, I’m pretty impressed. I feel like I can sling the weights around on it without being too careful, and everything feels like it is solid and well-manufactured. Except, that is, for the bench. The backrest on the bench wobbles, because the adjustable portion of it doesn’t fit into a tight sleeve. I find that absolutely unacceptable. I’m in no way going to trust it to give me solid support when I’m lifting heavy weights. I’m either going to find a way to fix it, or use the bench that I already have (which is funny…it is a weider product, and probably cheaper, but rock solid).
Other than that, I’m definitely impressed. the cables work well on the lat machine and pec deck, and the extensions to the bench (leg extension and preacher curl) are very easy to put on. I’ll post an update to the pictures when I get the room finished (still need to hang some pictures — think Cubs, Testosterone, and Sigma Chi) and an update to the post when I’ve used it for awhile.
Could be one of the Worst Rulings by the Supreme Court EVER
CNN.com – High court OKs personal property seizures – Jun 23, 2005
I think there have been some awful rulings in the history of the supreme court, so I’m probably exaggerating a bit, but I am shocked and appalled at the lack of respect that the Supreme Court has shown for private property.
Make no mistake, this is not an appropriation of private property for public use, this is a granting of one’s private property to another private entity.
The implications of this are staggering. Who’s to stop those with more resources from acquiring any land they wish? I hope no one wants to put an office where my house is!
Here’s a choice quote for you:
“The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including — but by no means limited to — new jobs and increased tax revenue,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.
This is a dangerous precedent.
June 22, 2005
Del.icio.us and Linkblogging – Take Two
To most of you who know me, I tend to be a pretty quick-adopter of new technology. However, I’m here to make a confession. I’m actually pretty slow. What am I talking about? My buddy Josh tried to clue me in months ago to this social bookmarking website called delicious. Basically, you can create bookmarks on this site, tag them with whatever relevance they have to you, and access them from anywhere.
Big deal right? I know that is what I thought when I first heard about it from Josh. However, I totally missed the one HUGE feature: It creates RSS feeds of any lists that you create. So now, if I want a media file to end up on my iPod, I just mark it mmlisten, and it eventually shows up (by the way, if you want me to hear something, just mark it with that and I’ll get it). Read discussions here and here for more details. Or, if I want something to show up on the linkblog at the right, boom, I just mark it mmlinkblog. And even more beautiful…..it makes sharing seamless. Want to know what I think is cool in the fitness arena? It is updated real-time with any links I come across. Or, to see anything that I’m messing around with, go here. Of course, you can pull down the RSS feed of any of this with any aggregator (like Bloglines).
I do wish there was some way that I could through some comentary around what I collect over there, as some stuff I keep around to try, then find out it sucks. Josh has a great idea about this on his site. Check it out. For now, I’ll maybe just tag some things with adjectives, like sucks. You won’t be able to tell why I don’t like it, but it is a step in the right direction, till Josh gets over being lazy and writes his RSS CMS.
June 18, 2005
Princeville Heritage Days – Parade
Rhya and I met most of my family (poor JP had to work) to watch Dad drive his newly restored 1943 Ford 2N War Model tractor in the 2005 Princeville Heritage Days parade. It was an awesome time, and we have pictures!
June 7, 2005
Three Upcoming Projects
Rhya and I have separate projects that we are beginning this week. Her mom usually has a big garage sale, where she and some of her friends scour their homes for goodies to sell. Rhya has jumped into the fun this year and collected stuff from our home and from my family. I’ll try to get a picture of all of the wonderful things she is taking up to her Mom and Dad’s tonight.
Meanwhile, I’ve got two big projects that I’m working on. I’ve decided to take an interest in my yard. Last year, between moving in and working on other projects, I kind of let it slide. Then, I was in Germany and traveling during the early Spring, so now is really the first time that I’ve been able to take it on. I’ve seeded a couple dead patches and fertilized the front lawn, and it is starting to come around, but I’ve been holding off on the back because of the dogs. Now that Rhya is going to Rockford and taking them with, I’m going to do the same to the back yard. Should be green and lush in no time (or another year…which ever is later).
In addition, I’ve decided to take some time off from poker. With how nice the weather is outside, and all of the projects I have in my head, I think a good 3 months off will do me good. With all of the playing that I’ve been doing, I haven’t taken the time to read some of the poker books that I’ve had in my queue, and I’ve been letting my training slip (ok, slide). So, I’ve taken out some of my poker winnings and bought some new toys. I bought carpet for one of the basement rooms, so I’ll be installing that this week. In addition, I’m buying a portable dishwasher for Rhya, a new squat rack, a weed wacker, and an ipod shuffle. I’ll try to post the transformation pictures of the new weight room as it comes along. However, I have to:
- clean out the room
- paint the walls
- finish tearing out the linoleum
- carpet the floors
- assemble the equipment
And who knows what else. Should be a good time!
June 2, 2005
Get out your brooms!
Thank you LA for helping us get over .500
Somebody find Brandon…and get him a cry towel.
