Erik Emery Hanberg

A Lifestream Experiment 
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July 19, 2009

This month's Wired was great!

I greatly enjoyed this month's issue of Wired. The content is not live on the webernets yet, but I can recommend most of the issue. Especially:

  • the article about the DOJ's eye on Google
  • the ionosphere controlling HAARP in Alaska that can artificially create Northern Lights
  • beer made from dinosaur-era yeast frozen in Amber (Jurassic Pint indeed!)
  • Silicon Valley CEO's trip to Baghdad
  • And an interesting story about Dilbert creator Scott Adams, who lost his voice for 3 years.
Many other good things abound in the pages, but these 5 stories really stood out. I really love it when a magazine is good cover-to-cover. Sometimes The Atlantic and Vanity Fair are able to pull it off. Glad to add Wired to that list.

Meanwhile I'm reading Free, written by Chris Anderson, Wired's Editor in Chief. Free on the Kindle this week only! Will post on that soon.

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Filed under  //   books   technology  

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July 18, 2009

Quiet Saturday night with a Frisko Freeze sundae and "Bottle Rocket"

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Filed under  //   movies   notes from home  

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July 18, 2009

Picked 1.5lbs of blueberries. Now at the Les Schwab for 2 new tires. Then into Port Townsend for lunch!

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July 18, 2009

Spending the afternoon on a farm near Port Townsend berry picking. Sweet. Also got a flat at the gate. Not sweet.

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July 17, 2009

New invention at the Lake: Reeses Peanut Butter cups on smores instead of chocolate. Thanks, Mary!

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July 17, 2009

Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others

But no, apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by this author from people’s Kindles and credited their accounts for the price.
via pogue.blogs.nytimes.com

I love my Kindle, but this is bad news for everyone. It makes me wary to buy anything when this can happen.

And, as David Pogue notes: "You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony? The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were “1984” and “Animal Farm.” "

Oy.

#AmazonFail

UPDATE: Amazon has promised to never do this again.

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Filed under  //   books   technology  

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July 17, 2009

At the Movies: HP6

We went out to Gig Harbor last night for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

It was a fun adaptation. Generally speaking, all the choices they made were good ones.

... Except one.

SPOILERS BELOW!

In the book, when Draco has Dumbledore at wand-point, Harry has been petrified and covered by his invisibility cloak by Dumbledore. Because of this, he can't interrupt the proceedings.

In the movie, Dumbledore simply tells Harry to stay out of sight no-matter-what. That's it? Harry Potter, who seldom does anything he's told, sits idly by? I was not convinced. Further, the choice of the movie robbed Dumbledore of the chance to protect Harry instead of arming himself against Draco.

And finally, it led to the next decision, which was for Snape to see Harry there and let him be. He just didn't appear to be that bad because of it, which takes out one of the central questions of the series: is Snape good or bad?

END SPOILERS

Nevertheless, it was still a very good adaptation that focused on the right aspects of the book instead of jumping from set-piece to set-piece in an effort to check off all the relevant scenes. Good fun.

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Filed under  //   movies  

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July 17, 2009

Bigger, Better Stadium Thriftway

Great news for the local neighborhood!

"According to the TNT, Mike Hargreaves, the owner of the Stadium Thriftway, is planning a 6000+ foot expansion. The move will take over some space currently used by Premier Collision (who will be moving to a nearby facility) and will allow for many additional services including a larger fresh seafood counter, expanded cheese selection, and an expanded deli among may other improvements."

Via Exit133:

http://www.exit133.com/5399/stadium-thriftway-bigger-better-and-a-large-pile-of-fish

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Filed under  //   St. Helens Neighborhood   Tacoma  

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July 15, 2009

John Dillinger, Bank Robber

We saw Public Enemies tonight. I thought it was a pretty good film. Long, with some slow parts, but also with some fun parts too. Johnny Depp is always fun to watch, and his Dillinger is really good. Billy Crudup's Hoover is fun too.
 
Michael Mann's choice to shoot in video feels like a misstep. It just didn't work for me and I regularly felt it was jarring me out of the picture. It had the wrong look and vibe.
 
Glad I saw it. But looking forward to many other movies on my list.

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Filed under  //   movies  

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July 15, 2009

Who robs cave fish of their sight?

I was interviewing for the job while my college roommate was visiting last week. He asked about what City Club did and I told him they were a civic organization.

"Like the Stonecutters?" He asked. Yes, Joe. Exactly like the Stonecutters.

In fact today's Port Commission Candidate Forum looked a lot like this:

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Filed under  //   Tacoma   television  

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