Did someone say housing bubble?
The number of canceled listings in Massachusetts has nearly tripled since 2001, a sign that one of the hottest real estate markets in the country is beginning to cool down, said real estate specialists. It ”tells you is the market is softening. Demand is declining,” said Karl Case, professor of economics at Wellesley College.
Is anyone else going to the Taste of Cambridge tonight?
Yes, I realize that the Do-Not-Call list does not legally restrict you from calling me. That does not mean, however, that calling me is a good idea.
You see, I consider listing my phone number on that list as something that, whether you’re legally required to respect it or not, would at least be polite to take into account when calling. This particularly applies on Saturday morning, when you called just as I was lazily considering the merits of getting up or just lying in bed for a while and relaxing.
That in itself wasn’t enough for you, though. No, of course not. Even after I explained that I didn’t give to organizations that solicit me by phone, you continued with your script. I know you weren’t a recording, since you commented on the fire engine sirens in the background at one point.
At that point, I had no qualms at all about simply hanging up on you.
When I was younger, I often noticed that the radio would play a song that reflected my mood, or something I’d been thinking about. (I did figure out that it was a selection effect; after all, I didn’t notice when the song didn’t match.)
Now, of course, we have iPods (and radio stations run like iPods), so it’s pretty random (or not).
Well, yeah, except for the additional selection effects. Not only is there the “I only notice when it’s noticable” effect, there’s the “skip to the next song when this one doesn’t match my mood” effect and the “start picking songs that match my mood using iTunes” effect (especially if I start using Party Shuffle to build an ad-hoc playlist).
This does mean that, at times, sorting my iTunes library by last played date will let me see what my moods have been like for the past few weeks. It also means that if you’re watching my iChat status message, you can sometimes tell what kind of mood I’m in. (One or two similar songs in a row? Probably shuffle play. Half a dozen angry ranty songs? I’m grumpy.)
Today I bought a DVD/CD set of a concert. Well, actually I bought a DVD with a “bonus audio disc”, because Philips would have been crotchety about calling this non-standard thing an audio CD. (Of course, Amazon and Best Buy describe this item as “DVD/CD Set” and “[CD & DVD]” respectively…so I would have a reasonable deceptive description case had I bought it online from either.)
I got it home and, before opening it, noticed the verbiage on the packaging. It had system requirements (Windows yadda yadda yadda, plus “Mac: OK”) and a URL for the copy-protection folks who came up with this scheme.
Before opening this and making it I dutifully went to their website, which explained that the “discs aren’t currently compatible with iTunes or iPod” but that there was “a way for consumers to move content into these environments, despite the challenges noted above.” That link led to their “contact a tech” form.
I did so, and got this response (with the obvious changes in my name, the tech’s name, and the name of the disc purchased).
“If you have a Mac computer you can copy the songs using your iTunes Player as you would normally do.”
That, apparently, is what “Mac: OK” meant in the little system requirements box.
With that reassurance from the DRM vendor, I opened the package and successfully imported the songs. Had that not been the case, I would have returned the unopened package to the store, explaining that I thought I was buying a DVD & CD, not a DVD & useless circular mirror made of plastic.
In this case, therefore, the sale was made only because the DRM was completely ineffective on my chosen platform.
While I’m not the first one to think of this, it’s clear to me that there is an extra surviving Jedi after the events of Revenge of the Sith.
I’m referring, of course, to the only known Droid Jedi Knight, R2-D2.
Let’s look at the evidence:
Right at the beginning of SW:ANH, he rolls through the middle of a firefight without being hit by either side (and protects C-3PO while he’s at it).
After that, R2-D2 manages to land the escape pod on Tatooine, practically next door to Obi-Wan’s place. He then mind-tricks the Jawas into picking him up and finding C-3PO, before delivering them to the Lars family moisture farm, where (just coincidentally) Luke Skywalker is waiting. When Owen Lars buys the wrong droid, a little Force blast takes care of things; R2 can continue his mission.
Then he wanders off to find Obi-Wan, detects the Sandpeople (with his sensors, or the Force?), hides in a crevice when they attack Luke, and then Kenobi arrives. (Maybe a little Force communication?) In Mos Eisely, he hides again (mind tricks on the Stormtroopers?). On the Death Star, he mind tricks the Stormtroopers again in the control room. Then, of course, he helps Luke out in the Death Star attack.
In TESB, on Dagobah he escapes from the swamp monster with what looks like a forceful spit-out, but could have been a Force jump. (Oh, and once again, with an entire planet to choose from they land next door to the one Jedi? What are the odds?) Threepio is broken up when R2 can no longer protect him. Then, on Cloud City, R2 conveniently runs into the rest of the group as they’re headed to Fett’s ship. During the escape, he gets through the secured door, and later fixes the Falcon’s hyperdrive.
ROTJ includes more mind tricks in Jabba’s palace, the famous Hidden Lightsaber trick, zapping an Ewok with what could be electricity or could be Force Lightning…
His ability to hack any computer? Droid Mind Tricks.
The prequels add more evidence. All those extra capabilities, like flying, that he didn’t have in the original trilogy? Stuff he had to hide when the Jedis went underground.
R2-D2 is a Jedi. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
Where the theater used to be is going to be a Barneys New York. On the temporary wall that’s in place so they can do construction was this:
So, the question I have is: “what does luxury humor taste like?”
(The answer will probably be “chicken”.)
The Python appscript module brings AppleEvent support into Python, making it possible to communicate with many Mac applications from Python code.
Unfortunately, like many things, it has broken under Tiger.
Fortunately, the fix is easy.
What broke?
The Python install on 10.4 looks for packages in /Library/Python/2.3/site-packages/, where the 10.3 install looks in /Library/Python/2.3/. Appscript Installer 1.01 installs its libraries in /Library/Python/2.3/.
How do you fix it?
Go to /Library/Python/2.3/. Move the following into the site-packages directory:
That’s it! Now your Python code can once again use appscript.
There have been a lot of posts around the blogosphere (as well as some Wikipedia monkeying) calling the new pope “Pope Palpatine I”. However, to stick with the double-name scheme used by the previous two popes, and to recognize his service to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a better name is required.
I propose “Pope Palpatine Vorbis”.
John Scalzi, with the cooperation of his publisher (Tor), is making an electronic version of his novel Old Man’s War available to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as he notes on his blog.
If you qualify, he has directions on how to get it there.
If you don’t, consider thanking Scalzi and Tor for supporting the troops by buying a copy of the book (currently out in hardcover). It’s good. (This offer has pushed me over my “don’t generally buy hardcovers” plan.)
