zen.org Communal Weblog

Today is nobel day, so remember to fly the Swedish flag. Also, Wangari Maathai offically becomes a Nobel Laureat today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee says so.

Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment. Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa. She has taken a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women’s rights in particular. She thinks globally and acts locally.

Said Professor Ole Danbolt Mjøs, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. I love environmentalists.

This evening I was finally able to sit down and hack a little more on jPodder, Christophe Bouhier’s cool Java podcast client, now at version 0.7.2. With little tweaks it’s able to run under Linux enough so I can try fiddling with things and see where bugs appear. And most of the wrinkles are smoothed out to compile the .java files down to Java bytecodes without platform dependencies (sounds weird, doesn’t it?). Cool!

Today I discovered The Bitterest Pill, a really fun podcast by a stay-at-home/”shut-in” dad. His topics aren’t all about parenting (politics, music, women in business suits, you name it) and the end result is a great mix of tales and tidbits in a really easy-to-listen style. One of my favorite shows included a brief discussion comparing Sesame Street and Blues Clues. No mention of Dora’s helpful use of Spanish, but that could be for another show—that and another topic: why on Max and Ruby do you never see an adult taking care of Max? It’s always Ruby, the slightly-older sister, tasked with what their parent(s) should be doing…

Elana and I put together a new edition of our podcast The Accidental Cook. Over about 23 minutes we talk about lots of things including breakfasts and how to make the best cinnamon rolls ever, Jamie Oliver’s stew, and the start of the holidays.

The level of exhaustion I felt (our son was up at 5:30am) comes through really well in my babble. Elana makes sure to give shout-outs to some friends and has a unique way to innocently say “hi” to Dawn’s boyfriend Adam Curry.

Production notes are available in two formats: OPML and HTML.

According to Google News, and in particular a cool article in Rolling Stone, Motley Crue is doing a reunion tour next year. Going from Florida up the East coast in February, then working their way out West in March.

Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Smokin’ in the Boys Room r00lz. Word to the 31337 Crue!

Dan Gillmor has a really funny quote from someone during a past visit to Microsoft.

The magazine section of Tower Records in Dublin on Wicklow Street (I haven’t looked at the one in Easons on O’Connell Street) periodically has copies of 2600 Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly and Blacklisted! 411 Magazine. I’ve not seen or heard anything about Blacklisted! 411 in a long, long time until suddenly there it was on the magazine rack near various PC magazines. After the treat of sushi at Aya (the only sushi in this half of the country) behind Brown Thomas, I often go into Tower to see if there’s a new copy of either one. I wonder if stores elsewhere in Ireland carry stuff like this? The two magazines are never there at the same time. In fact, when I first found Blacklisted! 411 I was paranoid that Tower had decided to drop 2600, proven wrong when it was on the shelf a month or two later.

I haven’t gone to any of the monthly hacker get-togethers for 2600 up in Dublin. I worry that I’d be at least 10 years older than anyone else. Hmm, I bet there are plenty of folks my age and older who have the same concern that makes ’em chicken out. In particular, there are plenty of folks in the 1980s War Games-driven generation that still enjoy talking about cool hacks and newly-learned tricks. I’ve met plenty attending the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference and even just in idle conversation with folks I’m contracting with or friend-of-a-friend meetings.

Actually, there are a bunch of meetings I’m interested in but have a hard time trying to go to them due to parenthood constraints including the pub meetings of the Irish Linux Users Group and the Irish Free Software Organisation. Maybe when P is a little older?

余艾蕾 and I have never had our own Christmas tree before. This year, because of Zoë, we wish to get one. Being the environmental extremest I am, I did some Internet research. Here are my conclusions.

The worst thing you can do is get an artificial Christmas tree. While they do prevent a tree from being cut down every year you have it, on average they don’t last for more then ten years. While artificial tree companies offer up to a fifty year guarantee, the discarded PVC tree will still be decomposing for hundreds of years after its final holiday use.

The next worst choice is a cut tree. Often these are sprayed with pesticides and other artificial stuff to keep the needles on it, but if one can find an uncoated one these will decompose well.

A permanent potted evergreen tree is a good choice, it seems these are popular in Holland, but in the United States the only pine I could find that was marketed to remain in a pot was the Norfolk Pine. The Norfolk Pine is a beautiful house plant all year around, but it is very delicate. They should be kept away from kids and pets, not a good choice with a cat and a baby. The Japanese Black Pine has been used as a Christmas bonsai tree, but can only be inside in winter for a couple days. Tree growers know what other evergreen trees grow well in pots, but don’t wish to offer them because they want to sell you a freshly cut tree every year, stupid capitalists.

By far, the most ecological choice seems to be called the living Christmas tree. Buy a tree for the yard, use it as a Christmas tree, keep it inside until spring, plant it in the yard. One more oxygen producing tree is a wonderful idea! I have a small yard, no more room for more trees let alone one tree a year. Also, what should a city dweller do?

I think I’m left with a cut tree. I hope to find a potted evergreen that that can take some roughhousing, but that looks bleak for this year.

The tree lighting issue is a no brainer, every environmentalist likes LED lights, less energy, less heat, no broken glass. I’ve looked in three stores and have not found them yet. ☹

Though 余艾蕾 has had Zoë on a music keyboard, yesterday she showed her first interest of being a human at a computer keyboard. So I dug through some Debian Jr. stuff and came up with Tux Typing. I think she liked it, the only problem was that the space bar is pause.

If anybody has any suggestions for a computer program that just does stuff on the screen related to random pounding on the keyboard I would like to hear about it. Apart from an occasional spat of Freeciv and the web I never see any graphics on my screen, so I really have no idea what is out there.

Tofu mends broken bones and teeth

A material made from the vegetarian food tofu could help repair broken bones and teeth, UK scientists believe. The de-fatted soybean curd would act like polyfiller to fill in defects. It has the added advantage of encouraging new bone to grow as it biodegrades and releases natural anti-inflammatory agents. (click on the link to read the rest of the story)