HOW-TO on getting DVD content onto your Series2 TiVo.

[HT to Lifehacker.]

The talented and dashing Brad Cavanagh—whose main fault is that he’s a Canucks fan—has put together some nifty PHP to grab data from Last.FM and output it on your Web site. I’ve got plans to implement it elsewhere soon.

Somewhere, Dad is laughing.

[HT to Marc Orchant.]

If you don’t follow sports, you don’t know that Air Force Academy head football coach Fisher DeBerry opened his fat mouth this week and stuck both feet in it:

On Tuesday, in discussing last weekend’s 48-10 loss to TCU, DeBerry said it was clear TCU “had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did.”

“It just seems to me to be that way,” he said. “Afro-American kids can run very well. That doesn’t mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can’t run, but it’s very obvious to me that they run extremely well.”

DeBerry first discussed the topic Monday, telling The Gazette of Colorado Springs the academy needed to recruit faster players and noting, “you don’t see many minority athletes in our program.”

Yowza. Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post wrote a great column about DeBerry’s gaffe for today’s edition, and I want to highlight a few paragraphs early on [although, if this stuff interests you, you should read the whole thing]:

DeBerry has nothing whatsoever to apologize for. I understand that any kind of categorization, especially along racial lines, can be risky. One of DeBerry’s former black players (who loves his coach) e-mailed me this week to point out that any such comments put the speaker on a very slippery slope, and that’s certainly true.

But our fear of any discussion involving race should not eliminate common-sense observations. Since Jason Sehorn retired from the NFL a season or so ago, how many white starting cornerbacks are there in the NFL? The answer, as far as I can find, is zero. And even if I missed one or two, fact is that a position based largely on speed is 99 percent black in the NFL. That’s not the same as making a presumption about the intelligence or character of cornerbacks, black or white. It’s fact, jack. DeBerry didn’t offer any cultural or empirical evidence about cornerbacks; he just said he would like faster ones, and as the NFL demonstrates, the fastest ones are black. That isn’t even debatable.

I’ve heard some black dissent, but mostly I hear objection being raised by white administrators and media colleagues, a sort of misplaced white liberal guilt, if you ask me. Oh, there’s plenty of bigotry out there that needs to be identified, but DeBerry’s statements aren’t among the top 1,000 on the list.

Wilbon seems likely to have read a book that long ago shaped my thoughts on the subject: Jon Entine’s Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It. Entine’s book gets into the physiology of why some Africans make great distance runners, while others make great sprinters. I remember Entine getting a lot of negative press at the time, mainly because he knew he was breaking a taboo in writing his appropriately-titled book. I reviewed it for TOTK.com [unfortunately, that article is long since gone, I fear], and I remember Entine actually emailing me on the subject, glad that I had gotten his point.

Entine’s point was pretty simple: while human beings are human beings, quite a species unto their own, there are variations within the species that have to do with the human body’s capacity for physical output. The only way that you really get past the prejudice and the bigotry is to escape, as best you can, into the cold light of scientific knowledge, embracing the facts and getting over the stereotypes that clowns like Jimmy the Greek perpetuated.

Eventually, did DeBerry say the wrong words? Mostly, no—he stated facts. Where he did get his ass into trouble—and rightly so!—was an implication that the Air Force Academy can’t adequately recruit African-Americans. The higher-ups in Colorado Springs don’t take kindly to that assertion, and understandably so. I’ve been close witness to Air Force’s men’s hockey program for the last few years, as we’ve been a conference rival of theirs. They have issues with recruiting, too—it’s hard to find young men who want to be cadets first and hockey players second, which is really the issue with athletic-oriented recruiting at the service academies. Additionally, Frank Serratore has a limited pool of recruits, as USAFA is only allowed to admit two Canadians a year. Joke all you will about hockey being a Canadian game, but they do have a great pool of players, one that Frank can’t tap.

DeBerry went over the line in breaking the taboo, but that happens all the time. Intimating that you can’t get non-whites to come to Colorado, though, is the far worse sin, for it implies things about the Academy and African-Americans that just aren’t proper.

Wicked cool: giving users the ability to annotate audio. See, text is far more easily searched than speech, and audio is pretty much impossible to scan unless you’re already familiar with it, leaving you with a 1:1 ratio of clip time to scan time. That doesn’t scale, but technology to allow user annotation sure would.

This would be wonderful for all those podcasts and interviews that I do with Derek … you could have a transcript alongside the audio, and allow people to use this stuff to point to anchors. Sweet.

I’ve been enjoying the iTunes Art Importer, but it crashes on me from time to time. I had the “can you do that?” thought this afternoon to see if I could pull up album art in a Web browser, click and hold on an album image, then drag it into iTunes for Windows. Sure enough, you can: to get it to go for multiple tracks of the same album, start by going to the Library, selecting all the album, right-clicking to get the context menu, and then selecting Get Info. A menu will pop up, and you’ll see where to drop the art. Helpful for indie albums that aren’t in Amazon’s database.

Now, this might seem completely obvious to some of you, but I didn’t know you could do that, and I figure that maybe some other poor schlubb out there is in my boat. Let us row together …

Om Malik has a bunch of great pointers to a big discussion in the Web 2.0 [:twitch:] world: who owns the crowd’s collective wisdom and content? It’s all pretty interesting to read, and while the naysayers are right that most of us, well, couldn’t give a damn about how our attention is used, some of us should, because this stuff is important. [Why is it important? People learn about you and learn to market to you based on what you pay attention to. As technology allows us to get more granular data about attention, things will get more personalized---which is both good and bad. I argue that we need to maintain some control on our attention, wisdom, and content only because ceding control to others means that we're automatonic.]

Dougal points to The One True Layout, which is a bit presumptuously named [given my hatred of superlatives and my disdain for self proclamations ...], but still seems damn cool.

After reading Alex’s entry about page titles, I’ve flipped the wp_title() and the bloginfo() callouts on my single-entry template. The title will now appear first. On this entry, it will be: Page Title Inversion @ The Indiana Jones School of Management. I think that works better.

Note that wp_title() has a default separator of » that will trip you up if you don’t know it’s there, and the separator shows up before the post title. [Not good, I say!] If you put make it wp_title(”), though, you won’t have a separator at all. You’ll need to hardcode a separator between wp_title() and bloginfo(), though.

Dear Internet Message Board Denizen:

If you’re frustrated with everyone’s inability to realize when you’ve switched from serious to sarcastic to not giving a damn, here’s a hint: your communication skills, they suck.

While this might not be a big deal to you, it is to some of us. It’s not that we’re sensitive [because we are], it’s just because we care.

:sigh:

Love,
Geof

P.S.: Responding with anger? Yeah, that doesn’t help things at all.

After reading Ars Technica’s speculation on what all Google Base might do, I think I have an idea for what I’d use it for: export of tour date information for the indie sites I’m (very, very slowly) building. If the idea is to leverage and get your data in Google’s hands easily—and that’s one thing it could be useful in doing—then by all means, I’ll pump the data into their hands. But I’ll still own it on my end, too.

It’s all speculation, though, until they actually launch and enough geeks read the stuff to figure out what it’s good for…

My new music workflow is pretty simple: put the CD through the Great CD Preservation Project meatgrinder at home, rip again at the office [but only because I can rip faster than I can upload-download], listen at work.

I have two iTunes smart playlists designed for new music: Recently Added [any song imported into iTunes in the last seven days] and Top Songs of the Last Month [four- and five-star songs imported in the last month]. I use a third smart playlist, Unrated Songs, to let me quickly rate new stuff.

What I’m finding, though, is that I’m sometimes … overly enthusiastic with ratings. Stuff that gets a five-star rating really only deserves a four, and stuff that deserves a three might get a four. Now, this over-rating on my part usually occurs when I’m in a good mood and/or really like the artist—especially if I’m new to them!—and want to really like the music. Four- and five-star rating can end up being a habit, and … then I end up with skewed results.

Ideally, this is what I’m going for in terms of what the ratings indicate:

• Five stars: OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SONG PLAY IT OVER AND OVER!!!
• Four stars: This song is really good. I could listen to it pretty regularly.
• Three stars: This song is good.
• Two stars: Ehhhh … skip.
• One star: Never play this song again!

[Yeah, I end up un-checking one-starred songs so I never hear them again.]

An example: “Dry Lightning” from Bruce Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad. It’s a nice song, but in my book … not five stars. I rated it as such, though.

I’m wondering what strategies make sense for managing this better. [If you're saying to yourself, "Geof, you're overthinking this! This crap doesn't matter!" ... thanks. Now, go look at something else.] If you’ve got ideas, I’d like to hear them … somehow, re-rating my fours and fives doesn’t seem like a simple process.

If, like me, you get a lot of utility out of Bad Behavior, support Bad Behavior 2 financially! Michael made a compelling argument for me to support him financially, which I’ve personally found is all people really need to support you. [That's a whole other entry, really.]

I brought Michael 5% closer to his goal. I hope there are 19 other folks like me who want to homestead the noósphere.

As with his excellent dissection of what was wrong with STS, which I really loved, Maciej Ceglowski has written an excellent essay on the Vision for Space Exploration, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, and the real impetus behind a Moon and Mars Shot. As before, one minor niggle:

O’Keefe, you may recall, was the political genius who cancelled the Shuttle mission to upgrade the Hubble telescope, the most beloved piece of scientific apparatus in the world, on the grounds that it was too dangerous to fly anywhere but to the Space Station. Since the Hubble is one of the most useful tools ever to come out of NASA, and the Hubble upgrade is the only Shuttle mission that genuinely requires a manned crew, the decision didn’t go over well with anyone. But rather than back down, O’Keefe had the audacity to ask for over a billion dollars in funding to develop an alternate plan. We will save the Hubble, he said, with robots. But we must hurry.

I’d agree with the bolded bit only if you argue that ISS isn’t a necessary function. You can’t do ISS robotically—we just don’t have the capability to do the complex EVA activities that ISS requires with robots. Even the stowage of stuff in the MPLMs really can’t be done by robots given the dexterity issues.

But other than that, Maciej is very much on the mark. The re-use of Shuttle components is probably more important than he’d think—we’ll get some significant cost efficiencies from not having all the non-recurring design engineering costs—but given that they’ll be integrated differently, there’ll still be all sorts of fun involved.

And yes, … this promises to be a lot of fun. I think I’ll have to ask corporate what I can discuss.

I’m always amused as to how often those who clamor for respect do not show it in kind to those from whom they demand it. I have ways of dealing with it, though. Because it amuses me, a selection of quotes on respect:

There is no other way of guarding oneself against flattery than by letting men understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth; but when everyone can tell you the truth, you lose their respect.”

– Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. 23

I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.

– Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it.

– Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to William Carmichael and Wiliam Short, 30 June 1793

Il n’existe que trois êtres respectables: le prêtre, le guerrier, le poète. Savoir, tuer, et créer.

– Charles Baudelaire, Mon Coeur Mis à Nu [1887], XV

I might have a thumper of a headache today—it’s showing indications that it might dissipate before evening, though—but I’m overjoyed by the fact that it’s 63F in the upstairs of my house with no input of my own. No, wait … it’s 62.5F!

I figure that I’ll fire up the heat sometime in November, but for now … it’s awesome weather if you’re a polar bear like me. [Yes, I'm wearing shorts. No, I'm not cold.]

Man … cheap air travel makes traveling to see UAH play too tempting! We have this week off, and the boys play next week in Rochester against RIT before coming home to face Niagara. I could fly HSV to ROC for $225. Must … not … buy … tickets …

Michael Heileman begs us to pay attention to noteworthiness. This brings up the time-worn question: in whose eyes is it noteworthy? Peter Welle’s John Larroquette Project has a Best Of… category that Peter hand-selects. Is that the way to do it? Should we use something like a measure of popularity, like Alex King’s award-winning Popularity Contest plugin?

Me, I’m just prone to link backwards to old entries and leave that as it is; frankly, I can’t be bothered to hand-pick stuff as Peter does [although I appreciate that amount of editorial care]—I’d rather be writing, really. However, I also know that what many writers feel are personally wonderful efforts are the entries that no one ever responds to, so while the concept is great, a plan for implementation is, perhaps, lacking … at least on a universal end. It’s probably best that There’s More Than One Way to Do It. :shrug:

I was asked by someone last night—I won’t say who, to protect the innocent—if I was going to run for President of the UAH SGA next year. I tried not to laugh at the person’s suggestion, but it is pretty laughable. Why? Look, I was Executive Vice-President. I had a President who almost got thrown out on his keister. Some people considered me the de facto President that year. You know what? That job sucks. You couldn’t pay me to do it, and they sure wouldn’t pay me enough to do it.

Not only do I not have the time, but I do not have the inclination, at least not right now. I am far more enjoying being at the bottom of the organization—getting people riled up and getting them to think about what we’re doing and how we can do it better—than I ever enjoyed being EVP. A well-motivated member of the Assembly can do far, far more to effect change than the SGA President has, purely because the Assembly has the power of the pen and the power of the purse.

The only reason I’d ever consider doing the SGA President thing is in terms of a study in leadership and management. [And yes, studying leadership and management is why I'm back in graduate school, and I consider this second SGA experience to be a part of that process.] But not right now.

TUAW approves of the iPod nano Lanyard, and so do I. I’ve broken it out as I’ve done some shopping and around-the-neighborhood walking, and it’s been great. I’ve got a big neck—21″ collar—and this thing has no problem for me.

It’s pretty awesome … I’m not sure I’d run with it on [at least not outside my shirt; maybe between a T-shirt and an undershirt], but it’s pretty great.

.net Looks On

Originally uploaded by gfmorris.

I’m a day late, but it doesn’t mean I love y’all any less. [I mean, my package to y'all got there a day early ... it evens out, eh?]

Yes, the lovely and wonderful Mr. and Mrs. Cozart share many traits in common—undergraduate degrees, lefthandedness, coloring, musical taste [1], theology, good humor—and they also share a birthday. [That even beats Amy and Jeff, who have a four-day gap between their birthdays. And yes, happy belated to you, too, Miss Domesticat.]

Happy birthday, kids.

[1] Yeah, except Brandon likes Wilco.

Michael Sippey highlights a nugget from the 43 Folders discussion list:

First, double click the e-mail (or hit enter) to open it in a separate window. Then put your cursor on the subject line and start typing. That’s it. You can add your own reference - date, project number, whatever - or change the subject line completely. Whatever is going to be meaningful to you. Use as many words you like. When you’re done, Ctrl+S to save.

Oh my. As Michael says, “Go nuts.” Very few of my co-workers are good at titling emails, and … this will make my life much, much easier. [Why? I'm the guy who keeps archives of all of his email, and people know that, so they ask me for help pulling up data when they need it.]

My voice is still for war.
Gods! can a Roman senate long debate
Which of the two to choose, slavery or death?

– Joseph Addison, Cato, II, i

UAH has some serious network issues, and we’ve been arguing around the edges of the problem. It’s time to argue write through the center of the problem—get all the parties together, address all the grievances, find the roots of the problems, and mete out solutions.

It starts Monday. It should have started three or four years ago when we talked in back rooms and in hallways about a technology fee … but it never happened.

Now, it will.

Evan Williams notes that there’s going to be plenty of room for variegation in what people consider a podcast, and he’s right. We’re already seeing this at the alma mater, as podcasting is the hot button topic in the community, as UAH students have been asked via a referendum yesterday and today to take money that’s been set aside for a campus radio station—which we’ll never get, thanks to the fuckers at the FCC—and diverting it to technology upgrades to support podcasting.

But look at the list of things that have all been talked about as podcast material:

• Faculty lectures.
• Student Government and Association for Campus Entertainment [campus programming board] promotional advertisements/short audio news releases. ACE will probably use podcasting to promote bands and comedians, and include audio of the incoming acts in their productions.
• College-level weekly announcements.

That’s just scratching the surface, too. We’re going to see podcasting from being the concept that people already have in their heads as a podcast to more of the origin of the term—leveraging MP3s and content syndication delivery mechanisms for the asynchronous publication of content. The term Weblog was originally to be a log of what you saw on the Web, and it sorta ended up being a log published on the Web—whether that log was your thoughts on theology, links you were reading, or your daily discussion of your lunch’s contents or the stinky turds your cats left in the litter box last night.

Viva la revolución … or somethin’.

The Lifehack.org folks are trying to put together a compendium on sleep, and they’ve created a Sleeping Reference trying to point to various research on sleep, etc.

All I know is that I really hated the alarm clock this morning, and I know it’s because I was wide awake at 0200, to the point that I went out to the office to do a few things and read my overnight email. Probably an unwise choice, but laying there wasn’t getting me to sleep, either.