Shut Up, Bill Clinton January 15, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in General Incoherency, Rants.Tags: clinton, obama, politics
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I never thought I’d find myself thinking that, but damned if it’s not true these days.
I’m not one for choosing sides on the political spectrum these days, but I don’t make any bones about how I felt about Bill Clinton while he was president: I thought he was a remarkable leader and an excellent public speaker. And while you can love or hate the man for any number of reasons (and there are plenty on both sides), one thing you couldn’t dispute was the man’s formidable presence and elocution. I mean, just look at the fumblings of the man we’ve had since.
Lately, however, I think Bill needs to take that mouth of his and either shut it, or direct it to helping Hillary’s campaign rather than attacking Barack Obama at every opportunity. Last week he bitched and moaned to the press that Obama wasn’t getting “enough scrutiny” and derided the man’s rise as the “biggest fairytale” he’d ever heard. Now he’s gone and compiled a list of 80 ‘attacks’ Obama has apparently made upon Hillary’s campaign. Sounds like the whiney ramblings of a yes-man if I ever heard them, and that’s really such a distance for a man like Clinton to fall.
Oddly enough, these remarks and criticisms from the former president didn’t commence in earnest until right after the Iowa caucus, where Hillary lost to Obama. Great timing there, Bill.
The real irony here is that I see a lot of surface parallels between Obama and the former president. They are both eloquent speakers and have the capability to be overwhelmingly inspiring. They are both agents of change. Hell, we’re even getting references to Obama’s drug use as a young man (remember, “I didn’t inhale,” there, Billy?).
And yet, here he is, disparaging the man at every opportunity.
I guess a campaign really can bring out the worst behavior in a man, no matter who you are. Or once were.
182,500 So Far January 13, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Weblogs, Writing.Tags: 182500, new year, Nighthunter, resolutions, script
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So at this point, I’m slightly behind on the 500 words-a-day thing. As of just before this post (which counts), I’m at about 480 words a day, and hoping to break myself back up into the 500-level within the next day or two. So far my eligible writing has consisted of blog posts, continued work on the Nighthunter script, and various writings of prose, poetry, etc. that will likely never see the light of day. 
Ineligible writing has included letters of recommendation for people, proposals for work related items and programs, and some online “assignments” that I do for continuing education. All things considered, I’ve been doing a lot of this stuff.
Still, I’m very pleased with my progress so far. When you consider the following, my 480-word-per-day streak is pretty remarkable:
- The amount of ineligible material I’ve also written;
- That I’ve been sick (and I mean seriously ill) for a good portion of the last week;
- That I’ve made about 10 pages worth of progress on the script since the New Year; and
- I’ve also been in the process of trying to locate housing for the near future.
Once I’m actually able to barrel down and get my life in some semblance of order, I should be able to maintain some healthy writing levels in no time!
Ah, the little things that make me happy…
What a Week… Ugh… January 10, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in General Incoherency, Rants.Tags: allergies, asthma, bronchitis, flu, insomnia, meds, sickness
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Last week I went to the doctor to get some medicine to clear up some bronchitis. Over the weekend, I get hit with the flu while on those meds, and spent much of the next few days unconscious. When I finally go back to the doctor, he informs me that my asthma is acting up for the first time in YEARS and prescribes me more medicine. I’m getting close to full functionality again, only to find that one of the new meds is keeping my up for long periods at a time (yaay pumping up the heartbeat!). So, hopefully that just means I’ll be more alert while I finish this bout of illness off for good.
I swear, I am renouncing illness for the year once this clears. Any diseases that come near me henceforth will be summarily executed on site.
Yeah. If only it were that easy…
AMPTP May Have Money and Power, But No Public Sympathy January 5, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Television, Writing.Tags: AMPTP, DGA, SAG, Scrubs, WGA, writers strike
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What I’m about to say may sound ludicrous, considering that I’m desperate to see more of the final season of Scrubs, but…
I hope the writers’ strike continues. Or that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers breaks because of it.
Take whatever side you want in this debate, it’s plain as day that the writers have pretty much won the public relations side of the conflict. Not only are they utilizing their talents to produce plenty of amusing and informative (and, of course, biased) videos explaining their side of things; not only are the picket lines of striking writers (and often, famous actors beside them) drawing plenty of sympathy from the general public struggling to understand why their favorite shows aren’t on TV right now; not only have the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild already made implicit gestures of support to Writers Guild America; but most importantly, the writers as a whole have actually made an effort to communicate their side of the story themselves, and not through the spokespersons, negotiators, and lawyers that we typically expect to come from gigantic, faceless corporations.
It’s just not possible to feel much sympathy when a spokesman for a multi-million-dollar conglomerate (or consortium of them) essentially tells everyone that they have to protect their bottom line for the future good of the industry. I mean, talk about an answer that says absolutely nothing! “We have a greater insight to the future of this industry than the people who work in it, and you just have to trust us,” is what they may as well say, along with, “We will be here FOREVER, and we’re just going to wait you out.”
Such a lazy stock answer also conjures visions of rich old white men sitting in a board room somewhere, drinking their wine and telling their board chairmen to protect their money and lifestyle no matter what the cost to the little folk. And of course, the chairmen don’t want to deal with the public scrutiny. The answer? Send a lawyer with a stock answer; it’s not like people don’t already dislike lawyers.
I’m no professional writer, and in this climate I’m not sure I’d want to be one in this industry. But I do sympathize with creative professionals who need work as well as the capability to protect the rights to their intellectual property down the road. So my stance on the strike isn’t difficult to figure out. But I doubt even the most rabid supporter of the AMPTP can make a convincing argument that they’ve done everything they could to reach out and make themselves look good, or at least sympathetic, to the public, the writers, and the rest of the industry.
And I think that’s a big part of why the writer’s have held out so long and done as well as they have against the money-laden machines they oppose.
Word Processor, Part Deux January 5, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Web/Tech, Writing.Tags: lost file, MS Office, MS Word, OO Writer, OpenOffice, script
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Well, it looks like I’ve finally recovered re-typed the work I lost in yesterday’s MS Word debacle. The script isn’t exactly the same as I’d previously written, but it’s close enough that I feel good about it. Hopefully I won’t have any more file saving issues.
In the mean time, I’ve started using the OpenOffice word processor program, Writer, for my script. It functions in mostly the same ways that Word does, but is an open source version with some slight differences. It opens and saves programs in Word format if you wish, which already makes it a lot more flexible than Microsoft’s product.
I don’t claim to know much about open source software, but I’ll say this much: if OpenOffice is to Microsoft Office even half of what Mozilla Firefox is to Internet Explorer, then I won’t have any problems leaving Microsoft and not looking back.
Your Word Processor Did WHAT?! January 4, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Rants, Web/Tech, Writing.Tags: flash drive, lost file, MS Word, script
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I had an extremely frustrating encounter last night. Preliminarily, I blame MS Word.
After writing another couple of script pages for my graphic novel, I saved it to my flash drive. Then, I went to save another copy of it on my computer’s hard drive, but instead clicked ‘Save’ by accident, initiating another save on the same document. I immediately got an error message (something to do with file permissions, I believe) and lost the entire document from my flash drive.
No prior draft, no warning, no nothing. The document was simply gone, erased from the flash drive. Thank goodness I’d thought to keep a copy on the hard drive.
A little research told me that this isn’t an uncommon problem, but that there are also no ways to recover documents lost in such a way. I can re-visit the script on my hard drive (breathes a sigh of relief), but the pages I was working on last night are gone.
All because I (accidentally) saved twice in a row.
I’ll re-type and recover the pages, more or less. I remember enough of the script not to worry too much about the minutiae of how it was composed. It’ll take a little extra effort to maintain 182,500, but hey, it’s early in the game. Just push through and do a little extra writing.
Still, I’m pretty upset with Word. It’s just left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth. Somehow, the punishment just doesn’t seem to fit the crime.
Alright, MP3 Player NOT Going Back… January 2, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Librarianship, Web/Tech.Tags: Chip, ebooks, mp3 players
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A big hearty thank-you to Chip, who showed me how to change the settings on the player itself to a mode that would accept e-audiobook files. This arms me with another important piece of knowledge in terms of helping out patrons who want their e-audiobooks to be truly mobile. And, of course, now I can start listening to The Gunslinger!
Help With 182,500 January 1, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, General Incoherency, Web/Tech, Writing.Tags: 182500, spreadsheet
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I’m wondering if there’s a more efficient way of keeping track of my word counts for this year. When I last failed attempted this feat, I tried keeping notes on an Excel spreadsheet, which wasn’t terribly difficult, but a little cumbersome. I’d like to see if there’s a way I can better automate the task and still keep accurate tabs on my progress.
Any suggestions?
MP3 Player Going Back January 1, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Librarianship, Web/Tech.Tags: DRM, ebooks, iPod, mp3 players
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One thing I can’t stand, as an information professional, is a surprise brought on by a lack of information that I should have had from the get-go.
I’ve been wanting to get an mp3 player for quite some time, and I knew pretty much from the start that I wouldn’t be going with an iPod of any type. Main reason: they work with iTunes files only, they have a well-known lack of battery life after a certain point, and the digital media providers that my library contracts with have stated that iPods will NOT play their files.
Seeing as I planned to use my mp3 player to download and listen to e-audiobooks through these services, I made sure I got a player that was: 1. not beholden to any one proprietary playback format; and 2. equipped with a file converter of its own. That way I had a good deal of flexibility in dealing with the formats issue.
After downloading an e-audiobook from one of the services, acquiring the license, and transferring it to my mp3 player, I encountered a most unpleasant surprise. It wouldn’t play the audiobook. My COMPUTER could play it just fine, but somehow the license didn’t make the jump to my mp3 player when I synched them up. Windows Media Player informed me that it was because my device was “unable to play subscription files.”
What?
It turns out this was a firsthand introduction to the issue of digital rights management (DRM) that I’ve read about so many times. Don’t get me wrong, I figured it would come into play eventually, given that I was downloading freely and legally a copy of material that, ostensibly, is made to profit the publisher creator. What I wasn’t figuring on was having to confront it from the point of purchase.
Apparently, neither were the salespeople. I went back to the store and asked them about the issue after explaining what happened, and while they could point me to at least one player that could allegedly play subscription media, it clearly wasn’t an issue that came to their attention very often. After listening to my story, I was very sympathetically told that I should probably return the player and look for another one.
I guess what I don’t understand is why this isn’t a bigger issue for consumers. Based on what I’ve discovered so far, the more popular players won’t play these kinds of files. And yet, they’re the best kind I would think the public would be interested in: free (with a library card, of course). I looked up mp3 players in Consumer Reports, and couldn’t find anything that really dealt with the issue of DRM capabilities in their findings.
Many patrons who have mp3 players that come to my library want to know how to download these titles, and I, as a big fan of portable information technology, am always the first one out of my seat to show them how it works. But without a readable, current, and easy-to-find list of players that support the services, it could become a headache trying to put the ‘portable’ into that phrase (“Well, ma’am, at least you can listen to it on your computer at home!” 
).
If anyone knows where I can find information that would help me stay on top of this issue, please feel free to let me know.
