Public Dog

Wingnuts on Obama's Nobel win...

2009-10-09T13:24:00.002-05:00

Wingnut sez: You're either with us or against the terrorists!

Macca on Letterman

2009-07-16T11:27:00.001-05:00

The man sure could sing

2009-06-27T04:42:00.001-05:00

The Central Hotel. Wow.

2009-06-26T06:07:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, after completing a bus tour of Belfast I took a train back to Dublin.I booked a room at Dublin's Central Hotel. Color me impressed; I'm in a nice big room with a great view, big bed, and free wifi in the rooms. All right next to the Temple Bar area. After I woke up, I even decided to extend my stay. All at less than $100. WooT! With this extra time not traveling I'm going to fix

When life gives you Bacon, make Baconnaise

2009-06-24T16:17:00.002-05:00

So I've been out of the country for about a week now; sorry for the lack of updates, but there is pretty spotty (free) wifi out here.I started out in Dublin, and have since worked my way up the coast to Belfast. As a whole, I've enjoyed the trip. But my Bike Friday folding bike has some issues. 1) Homeland security screwed up my shifters somewhat, giving me use of only 4 upper gears on my

The first mile...

2009-06-19T03:07:00.000-05:00

Or time to stop feeling like a fraud.

Goodbye America. Hello Dublin

2009-06-18T07:00:00.003-05:00

So I arrived in Dublin today. Dublin is confusing, as always...I'm pretty sure I'd lose myself here, if I wasn't attached.On the flight here, I was placed in first class. It was awesome, but it's still tough to sleep on a plane. So I'm pretty lagged.Today the plan is to walk around and take some pictures, reacquaint myself with Ireland's rules of the road by rereading some of my 'Cycling

Long time, no post...

2009-05-08T10:59:00.003-05:00

Here's a new video I discovered through a coworker...It's her son! Really awesome:

Star Trek

2009-03-08T12:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, now I'm excited.

Video of American Flight Patterns..

2009-03-07T01:25:00.002-06:00

Linked from here.Beautiful, even if it is an animation of a broken system.

2009-03-06T23:41:00.001-06:00

Of all the songs on U2's new 'No Line on the Horizon' album, I think I like the title track the best:Nice melody, and the lyrics are pretty good....or so I think.

God Bless Patrick Stewart, In All He Does

2009-03-04T00:10:00.000-06:00

Should the Govt Bail Out AIG? No.

2009-03-02T16:29:00.004-06:00

Why? Take a look at this. It's AIG's dividend payout for the last 6 years. In the last quarter of last year, it was 22 cents/share. That's the largest dividend they've paid out, or at least the largest in the last 6 years.If a company can pay out a dividend of 22 cents, more than they have ever done, they don't need a bailout.Updated:I guess it gets a bit different when the Govt owns 80% of

Billy Bragg-You Woke Up My Neighbourhood

2009-01-16T21:50:00.000-06:00

Billy Bragg |MTV Music

FreeNX is totally the way to go...

2009-01-13T08:13:00.003-06:00

I've been working from home quite a bit lately (it's cold outside!) and have been looking for the best way to connect-I need low latency and would prefer built in security (so I don't have to muck around with ssh forwarding) and a mac client.FreeNX is the way to go. Fast, secure, Mac Client.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T12:25:00.002-06:00

Wishing you a year you finally get all the shake in the cup.

GM Bailout Just Money Down the Drain?

2008-12-07T22:28:00.002-06:00

So, some federal legislators are balking at the auto industry bailout-far more than the financial bailout. They're saying it won't fix the system.If so, why did so many of them think the financial bailout would work? Shoot, I remember reading in the NYT a few weeks ago that most banks were taking the money and rather than using it as intended to unthaw the credit market, just sitting on it.

If Citibank is too big to fail....

2008-11-24T09:23:00.004-06:00

Doesn't that just mean it's too big? I hope Obama, when he gets in forces these banks to split up as one of the conditions for a government bailout. It seems like the status quo has too many eggs in too few baskets.NYT ArticlePaul Krugman Blog Post

Fox Newz says Palin didn't know Africa was a Continent

2008-11-06T13:05:00.002-06:00

Wow.But check this one out, same data but on Bill O'Reilly's show:He thinks someone we can teach basic civics to is still qualified to be VP. Maybe VP of their high school class, but VP of America? Come on. Hell, she most likely spells it Amerika.

Election Day: Under Pressure

2008-11-04T15:38:00.001-06:00

Queen |MTV Music

2008-10-24T11:34:00.001-05:00

JRuby-based war files. They're great, and it allows me to get away from memcache-backed sessions(and use java based, non-crappy sessions), but now in development I'm back to a java like development workstyle:code....war...wait.....deploy....wait....test.....code.And, of course, fairly regular application server restarts.

Al the Shoe Salesman

2008-10-22T17:48:00.002-05:00

Obama has a tax calculator on his web site, and they got Ed O'Neil, aka Al Bundy, to fill it out "in character".....funny, informative and not at all negative.Makes you wonder why McCain can't do something like this. Oh yeah, because he....can't.

Can America Afford the Illusion of Exceptionalism?

2008-10-07T23:28:00.003-05:00

As always, the election season gives us an opportunity to learn about how our fellow citizens think about our country, our path forward, the road behind, and the nature of country.I bleed Democrat...but I can understand the Republican ideals of limited government. Granted, I believe it's not 100% optimal for growth, but at least it has it's own internal logic.But I don't think I'll ever

It's a Great Time to Invest!

2008-10-06T22:38:00.001-05:00

Princeton Economists on the Bank Hoo-ah

2008-09-28T18:59:00.000-05:00

Wanna watch the first Obama/McCain debate?

2008-09-27T17:10:00.001-05:00

The NYT has a page up, with the full video as well as footnotes on what the candidates are saying. Watch it here.

Just Like 9/11, No One Saw it Coming...

2008-09-24T20:28:00.001-05:00

Oh, maybe they did.Say, have you seen that barrel of tar I had sitting around here?

Robert Reich

2008-09-24T13:17:00.001-05:00

I've linked to his blog before, but Robert Reich, the Clinton Secretary of Labor, has posted some interesting thoughts about our wall street bailout on his blog.http://robertreich.blogspot.com/

2008-09-17T17:12:00.001-05:00

Dog Days

2008-09-15T15:45:00.001-05:00

A fantastic video from the NYT:http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=dd8d41770945c6b1d0b7f3d7efae02b4197beecd

RNC 2008: Democracy Immobilized, Republican Inaction?

2008-09-02T11:50:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0UUsdCx3Qg

Common Lisp: Preserve Case

2008-08-28T16:09:00.001-05:00

Sweet! I found a way to preserve the case of symbols entered into the repl!

Technology and Globalization: A Nation Security Issue?

2008-08-27T10:27:00.001-05:00

No Child Left Behind is a joke

2008-08-06T12:24:00.002-05:00

My town's school district, despite having the highest proficiency in both math and reading in the state of Minnesota(with scores of 84 and 90%), failed No Child Left Behind this year.Bushies. What a joke.

Word For Word Podcast: How the rich get richer

2008-07-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

New Paul Record Out/Old Paul Documentary

2008-07-22T11:01:00.002-05:00

Paul Westerberg has a new record out.

2008-07-18T09:07:00.000-05:00

A NASA photo via wikipedia.

2008-07-15T17:27:00.001-05:00

From an email today: I was wondering if I could pick your brain a bit regarding learning to program, in general. [Some PHD] has me teaching two people RoR and neither is terribly interested, nor does either have any experience._________________________________________________________________________I pointed them to the "Little Schemer," but since they'll only be here for a few weeks we need to

The Who, as Played by The Flaming Lips

2008-07-14T14:47:00.001-05:00

The Flaming Lips Rehearsing from Irreversibility on Vimeo.

Old 97's/Rhett Miller-Question

2008-07-09T00:57:00.001-05:00

I loves this song.

Everything is a Lisp

2008-07-09T00:36:00.003-05:00

Tonight I found a library that bundles an Actionscript 3/ECMAScript 4 compiler(that itelf is written in Actionscript 3/ECMAScript 4) into a library for Flash and Flex. It's not done, but it sure is cool.Here's a blog post on it.

RTMP bucket

2008-06-30T18:08:00.001-05:00

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_16458&sliceId=1http://osflash.org/documentation/rtmp

AMF-

2008-06-25T23:02:00.001-05:00

At home I've been working on an AMF serializer/deserializer for common lisp. It feels like I'm finally getting some traction with lisp-I'm actually starting to understand some code people post to usenet/etc.next step: rule the world.

FISA Bill-Speech by Senator Christopher Dodd

2008-06-25T11:17:00.005-05:00

If you haven't been paying attention, the House and Senate are on the verge of passing a bill that provides the Executive the ability to run warrentless wiretaps(circumventing the FISA court and it's retroactive warrant system, it seems) and provides retroactive immunity for the telecom industry's shannegans. This is an industry that cooperated with the Bush Administration in the current,

A nice post about Red5 from their mailing list...

2008-06-20T14:54:00.001-05:00

So what is Red5 ?As a non java-geek it's like to explain it to my collegues like this (in english that should be understandable for a 12-year-old) :Red5 is a piece of javacode that runs on a server and listens on a port for commands. Since it's java you can run it on near every platform (Unix (like Linux) , Windows , OS/X). It's no binary, it's a class that is execute by Java that needs to be

OMG-Battlestar Galactica + Alt-Country's Old 97's!?

2008-06-14T10:45:00.001-05:00

It's like PB + J!

Jayhawks-Blue

2008-06-11T09:39:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted a video in a while:

The Server Side of Flash/Flex: Options and Armchair Evaluations

2008-06-04T23:53:00.003-05:00

I've got a project I've been working on privately for a while now(six months!?) that requires server integration. My app needs (secure)video streaming and AMF(think an Adobe-controlled, fast binary web service specification).To those ends, I've been evaluating Red5 and pyamf.Red5 is an open source product that provides both of these features(plus shared remote objects). Pyamf, as it's name

Red 5 Tutorial

2008-06-04T18:56:00.004-05:00

I think this guy is doing a presentation at Flashbelt here in the Twin Cities in MPLS(I can't go). Red5 looks like an awesome project but it's documentation seems fragmented and incomplete.These look like good video tutorials....

Republican: The Pill

2008-05-21T11:06:00.001-05:00

Republican: Please Consult a Dr. on FunnyOrDie.com

A Lisp Talk by Peter Seibel

2008-05-13T17:21:00.001-05:00

Pretty Sweet.

This is funny. Not work safe

2008-02-05T22:11:00.000-06:00

I love Xah Lee

2008-01-24T10:42:00.000-06:00

I've always kinda lurked in usenet but for the last 6-7 months or so I've been lurking in comp.lang.lisp (it's a programming language). A frequent poster is this nutjob named Xah Lee. His posts are horrible. They add nothing to the discussion, they are filled with the most insane boasting, and they make no sense whatsoever. But I love them. They are usenet car wrecks.Here is Xah Lee's site.

Fuck you Dave Thomas

2008-01-16T14:29:00.000-06:00

Ruby on Rails Dave Thomas(not Wendy's Dave Thomas):The fact that you don't have have any of the options for date formatting in your Programming Ruby is a fucking letdown. Sort of like your book. You treat Ruby like a glorified version of Perl, ignoring most of the closure goodness.So fuck you. And for good measure, fuck you David Heinemeier Hansson. I hate your fauxhawk and your framework

American Gladiators is back on TV?

2008-01-16T09:15:00.000-06:00

Oh my God is it 1990 all over again does this mean I have to listen to Vanilla Ice? Has TV really gotten that bad? Don't people have anything better to do than watch this crap, they're all fat but watching 'roid freaks on TV? I can't wait to see the XXL sized Halloween costumes for your fat spawn.I've got a little brother's girlfriend staying at my house the next couple of weeks....she had the

2008-01-10T12:19:00.000-06:00

Interesting blog post from the Luddite at wired.com, on Ron Paul.Strict Libertarians are neat in concept, not neat in the White House.

Paul Krugman has the best fucking blog.

2008-01-09T13:18:00.000-06:00

The economist/columnist's blog is a gem when it comes to interpreting the economy.

Oh my God....

2008-01-07T19:28:00.001-06:00

You JUST KNOW this will be awesome.

I KNOW I don't know how to do anything...

2007-12-26T12:54:00.000-06:00

But I really wish I could.Enter TechShop. I wish there was a place where I could learn how to do stuff as well as do stuff like this; maybe someday they'll open a facility here in Minneapolis.

Petra Haden

2007-12-17T23:05:00.000-06:00

I have a record she did a couple of years ago where she covered The Who's "The Who Sell Out". Here's a version she and her band did of Journey's Don't Stop Believing.

I'm posting from the future....

2007-12-11T11:32:00.000-06:00

Yes, as you can see I've joined the smartphone revolution.--Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

JBoss Seam is a s(t)eam(ing) pile

2007-12-03T21:54:00.000-06:00

For the last 6 months at work, I've been using JBoss Seam. It's a framework that integrates JSF with EJB. Stateful session beans serve as controllers and JPA entities or hibernate entities serve as domain objects. What attracted me to the platform was that it (appeared) to solve a number of problems:The Object-Form element problem. That is, if you had a drop down in a page where a user had to

Judging us by our medical system, we're third world.

2007-11-18T17:22:00.000-06:00

Patients Without Borders, NYTThis article talks about how charity medical groups (Remote Area Medical in particular) that used to operate internationally are beginning to see a huge need in America for their services.We're a rich country. Something is going wrong when the American health care system is grouped with Guyana's, India's, and Tanzania's.

2007-11-17T22:30:00.000-06:00

I might have posted this before, but in case not:

2007-11-17T22:22:00.001-06:00

This is an awesome version of Bowie's "Life on Mars?"

2007-11-17T21:52:00.001-06:00

Lennon singing Yer Blues on Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus

2007-11-17T21:48:00.003-06:00

Another good one-

Grandpaboy, Hot Un

2007-11-17T21:07:00.000-06:00

Have I ever posted this? It's fun :-)

JBoss Seam: Lessons Learned

2007-11-15T16:23:00.000-06:00

6 months ago I was so excited to be able to use my new favorite web framework at my new job.6 months later I couldn't be more disappointed. This framework is difficult to debug at it's weakest points(when it evaluates the JSF EL embedded into components) and isn't nearly as powerful as I thought it would be. It forces the interface of the application to closely shadow the relationships between

Did you know....

2007-11-02T23:45:00.000-05:00

That you can now watch Al Gore's "interactive" TV channel online? Well...now you do and here is the link.Better than YouTube 'cept less Music Videos. But it does sometimes have crap reports you might disagree with (or not think that important ) like: Are iPods breaking apart society because we no longer talk to weirdos on the bus?

Follow up on my last post: Supercapitalism

2007-10-25T10:31:00.000-05:00

In my last post ( and it's update ) I was having trouble articulating ( within my allotted 15 minutes ) what exactly it was I was feeling and why: Why Democracy and capitalism aren't necessarily complementary, and how that capitalism is now threatening our democracy and the common good. Luckily, Robert Reich ( a professor of economics and a former Clinton labor secretary ) wrote a book on the

Government buries an Airline Safety Study.....because it makes airlines look unsafe

2007-10-22T10:52:00.000-05:00

This AP story is on a NASA study that shows dangerous in air incidents occur more often than thought...and how and why the government is trying to bury it.Why did they shelve it? Because it would result in a decrease in airline consumer confidence and thus their profits.Why would the government protect the airlines over it's own citizens? Airline deregulation took place over 30 years ago. Or

Response to Katherine Kersten's Oct 3 Column-Critical Mass

2007-10-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

A while ago I sent this in as a letter to the editor. It didn't get published so I'm posting it here.In Katherine Kersten's October 3th column she discusses Critical Mass: a monthly bicycle ride through downtown Minneapolis. In her column she defines Critical Mass as a loosely organized group of people, and she is right to do so. However, the unconsidered side of her definition is that

Another Twins Stadium Doozy from the Star Tribune

2007-10-17T06:50:00.000-05:00

This editorial credits Carl Pohlad for overcoming "one significant hurdle after another" in his quest to build a new Twins stadium.I suppose this is correct: he has overcome hurdles to get us to build this thing but I'm not sure it's the compliment the author wants it to be, considering the major hurdles have been us Hennepin county taxpayers(who when polled didn't support the stadium) and

The Mike Society Foundation's Diabeetus Mission

2007-10-15T20:18:00.000-05:00

Some people hope to use the web to save lives. I write web-medical software so I know them. But deep down, I believe the internet is for stuff like this:Eh, it might save lives. Diabeetus. Know the facts.

Supercool wind power generator

2007-10-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

Check out this video. This is the full article.

Birthday Bash

2007-10-10T13:56:00.000-05:00

On October 20th, I'm having a b-day party.6:00pm is dinner at Fujiya7:30pm is bloodsports with the Minnesota Rollergirls at the Roy Wilkins AuditoriumAfter that, maybe head over to LoTo.I'm thinking of getting a hotel room or bringing it to my place after LoTo...wild times!

Paul Westerberg: Dyslexic Heart

2007-10-01T23:19:00.001-05:00

And the Replacements singing "Kiss Me On The Bus"The PW homepage has some links to a few songs performed a little while ago at First Ave....I'll post those Friday.

Woman Arrested for Bringing Suspected Bomb into Boston Airport

2007-09-22T16:56:00.000-05:00

Image from this Salon Blog.And is this it? Do Police Even Know What a Bomb Looks Like?To some extent, I don't even think this is an issue of police overreaction-this is an issue of society being so ignorant of math and science that we don't even know what something harmless even looks like. Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law of Prediction is that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is

Is it too Late for an Erin Brockovich Reference/ Non Sequitur?

2007-09-18T06:44:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I met a U of M law student who, while drinking a glass of tap water, talked about how he wanted to go into environmental law. Y'know, on the oppressed corporate side. Because business has just been SO burdened by environmental regulation. Because I was a guest in his friend's house, it took all my powers to keep my mouth shut. But I did ask him if he was pursuing a career at

Don't worry Minnesota Sport Fans...

2007-09-15T19:41:00.001-05:00

The Gophers might have disappointed you, the Vikings will disappoint you, but Minnesota's Team, St. John's University, never will.SJU: 3-0. Ranked 4th in the nation.

Hello Olga

2007-09-11T21:54:00.000-05:00

The new director of the Walker Art Center is super foxy. And single! And rich!

Dublin Spire

2007-09-11T09:42:00.000-05:00

Today the online magazine Slate has a little slideshow comparing the proposed 9/11 memorial to the Dublin Spire.Here is the link.

Cha Cha Changes

2007-09-03T22:43:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a good week. Stressful but good.Tomorrow, I'm buying a new car. A truck, actually. My first new car ever and my first car period in about 2 years if you don't count the motorcycle. I'm a little worried about the cost (my payments + insurance = $400 or so) but I think my income can support it. So long as it doesn't eat too much of my paycheck, it should help me to do lots

Cars are depressing

2007-08-30T16:55:00.000-05:00

One of the main reasons I switched jobs was because it made car ownership less of a pipe dream...but the cars I want. Damn. When did an economy car start costing 13 Large?All I want is something small built with quality that gets good gas milage. It doesn't have to come with very many options; air conditioning being my only real requirement.Ford Rangers are like 14k, ditto Chevy Cobalts(

I just learned the end is nigh.

2007-08-30T10:32:00.000-05:00

Read The Book!

Favoritest Chat EVER

2007-08-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

My friend Sam and I just had this chat. It's awesome because we even got a little bit meta and talked about how this was an awesome chat. Enjoy!me: lunch, tomorrow.st. paul.time?Sam: I might be having lunch with gary hayden-sofio. or not. depends on the weather.me: if you didn't notice, the dude has two last names. does that factor in to your equation?what is he hiding?but my last name.

Max Roach Drum Solo

2007-08-23T23:12:00.001-05:00

Damn dude.

"Come to Me" by Thinland, From the Album "Songs for Strippers(And other Professions)"

2007-08-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

Neat video, but it kinda might not be work safe for the more restrictive workplaces.Interesting imagery, and the music is very taut. Sexy, too!

A condo(not mine) for an adult diaper? It Depends.

2007-08-23T11:13:00.000-05:00

Check out this link.It makes me wonder if I shouldn't offer one of my neighbors a diaper for their one of their larger, nicer units....that would be sweet.

Another Nick Coleman column on the bridge collapse

2007-08-22T13:22:00.000-05:00

Here is the link.

Motherfucker Bob Dylan...

2007-08-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

He and Elvis Costello are doing a joint tour, and it starts out in Duluth on September 22.Duluth? Awesome! So, Mike, what's your problem?It's Duluth Fucking Georgia.View Larger MapDammit Bob.

Keepon dancing to Spoon's "Don't You Evah"

2007-08-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

This is awesome.

What brand shredder does Karl Rove have at Home?

2007-08-19T17:10:00.000-05:00

I bought a shredder last night and it didn't last through the first hour. Damn. Now I gotta go back to Target.

The Mike Society Foundation: Planning for FY 2008

2007-08-19T16:08:00.000-05:00

As many of you know I'm the Founder, Chairman, President, as well as chief beneficiary of the Mike Society Foundation.Given the positive economic developments our primary fundraisers, we here at the foundation are pleased to begin planning the next year.But with greater ability, comes greater responsibility. And there are certainly many needs within the core Mike Society Foundation demographic.

Sleep......

2007-08-16T00:42:00.002-05:00

Sleep is for the wicked....so I'm going to bed.I've been staying up way to late this last week.

More Fuck YEAH!

2007-08-16T00:39:00.000-05:00

I also finished the Aeneid. Started "Anna Karenina."Fuck YEAH!

Fuck YEAH!

2007-08-15T16:38:00.000-05:00

Today is payday here at the U....a very happy event for all.But for me it's especially sweet-it's my first full U of M check and it turns out they are $350 more than my MnSCU checks after taxes. I feel rich enough to buy new clothes and a car, a new piano and guitar, a trip to Ireland and a big huge smile.Those that say more money doesn't make happiness are those that never went without...or

Favorite new quote....

2007-08-14T23:07:00.000-05:00

I overheard this today:"I am quite thrilled at the concept of gangs of gay people roaming the streets, killing at will. It's like a bad 70's sci-fi movie, only fabulous."

John Gunyou: New motto: Buck passes through here

2007-08-13T16:47:00.000-05:00

John Gunyou: New motto: Buck passes through hereWell said, sir. I think the 35W Bridge Collapse is Pawlenty's Katrina.