I never visit the J-Walk Blog without finding something interesting. Today it was sleevefaces. 
There are hundreds of these. Too many to browse in one sitting and the J-Walk’er picked a couple of good ones. Dog lovers might enjoy this one.
SOLD: Marantz PMD660 Digital Recorder
I’m selling I have sold my beloved Marantz PMD660 Digital Recorder. It’s in mint condition, I just want something smaller. You can see all the specs on the 660 here and if you happen to be in the Jefferson City area, I’ll let you take it for a test drive.
The PMD660 sells for between $450-500, and I’m starting at $225. If there are any budding podcasters out there, this would be a good recorder. You can reach me at stevemays@gmail.com.
UPDATE: That didn’t take long. And we have found it a good home with a podcaster who wants to crank out more programs. More on that later.
If I didn’t have bad luck…
Kennett (Missouri) police recently assisted a U. S. Marshal in apprehending 66-year-old Pearl Elizabeth Martin, who escaped from a Georgia prison. In 1969. How did they track Ms. Martin down? Last Wednesday afternoon, she backed into a parked Kennett police car that was parked in the Kennett City Hall parking lot. A computer check eventually revealed that she was wanted for the escape 40 years ago.
Decorative fluorescent light diffusers
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Fluorescent light diffusers are those plastic panels that cover the fluorescent tubes in the ceiling of your office or cube. The clever folks at Sky-Scapes have created some cools scenes to add a little fun and/or beauty to that space above your head.
You can get blue sky with clouds; jets streaking across the sky; ocean scenes that make it appear you are under water… or you can have your favorite Dilbert character peering down at you.
Not sure I can get approval for my office but I’ll post a photo if I do.
Can getting it wrong be okay?
Terry Heaton speaks to the “accuracy” of stories reported online. His case in point was the early –and inaccurate– report that Heath Ledger died in the apartment of Mary Kate Olsen.
“What people are seeing now is an old-fashioned process — reporting — as it unfolds in real time. If the public wants its information as raw and immediate as possible, it’ll have to get used to a few missteps along the way, and maybe even approach breaking stories with a bit of skepticism, like a good reporter would.
So a part of the “process” of news is mistakes, and the ethical question is does it matter in a world of news-as-a-process? I’m not so sure it does, as long as mistakes are corrected — just as, I might add, they are corrected in the news gathering process in professional newsrooms.”
Flip Video from Davos08
Jeff Jarvis is attending Davos08 (a “World Economic Forum), where “small video cameras are the hot thing,” and he’s posted a short video clip (with the editor of a big German newspaper) he (Jarvis) shot with one of the little FlipVideo cameras.
These things –which are cheap and the video isn’t too bad– seem to have been designed for making it easy to shoot video and put it up on the web. The camera even has a little flip-out USB connector you just slot into your computer.
From the image on the website, it looks like there are just three buttons on this thing. I was skeptical until I saw the video Jarvis posted. If you’re looking for something easy and fun, this might be it.
The doctor will iChat you now
My former family physician was/is a very wired guy. Very web/tech savvy. That was handy because I could shoot him an email when I had a question and he’d respond. When he hung up his stethoscope, I gave up any notion of finding another doc similarly disposed.
I’m pleased to report that my new doc (who must remain nameless) is equally geeked out. So when he suggested we might try a “virtual office visit,” I was surprised and delighted.
We did a little trial run this morning (not him or me in the photo). I had a few questions and he answered them. It was like sitting in his examining room. Of course, there will be times when he’ll need to lay on hands but for a lot of doctor-patient communication, video chat works fine.
Is this the future of medicine? Who knows. Certainly not for everyone. But for the right physician and the right patient… it’s a pretty efficient use of resources and time.
Einstein: “A horse for single harness”
“My passionate interest in social justice and social responsibility has always stood in curious contrast to a marked lack of desire for direct association with men and women. I am a horse for single harness, not cut out for tandem or team work. I have never belonged wholeheartedly to country or state, to my circle of friends, or even to my own family. These ties have always been accompanied by a vague aloofness, and the wish to withdraw into myself increases with the years.
Such isolation is sometimes bitter, but I do not regret being cut off from the understanding and sympathy of other men. I lose something by it, to be sure, but I am compensated for it in being rendered independent of the customs, opinions, and prejudices of others, and am not tempted to rest my peace of mind upon such shifting foundations.”
Excerpt from an essay by Albert Einstein (Living Philosophies):
Josh Brolin to play W in Oliver Stone movie
Oliver Stone’s next move is “Bush,” a film focusing on the life and presidency of George W. Bush. Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) will portray W. In an interview in Variety, Stone says he wants to present a “true portrait of the the man.”
“How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world? It’s like Frank Capra territory on one hand, but I’ll also cover the demons in his private life, his bouts with his dad and his conversion to Christianity, which explains a lot of where he is coming from. It includes his belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States, and his coming into his own with the stunning, preemptive attack on Iraq. It will contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors.”
I think Oliver Stone is capable of making a good (or great?) movie. I loved Platoon and Wall Street. JFK, not so much. But it sounds like they’re trying to get this movie in theaters by November and that makes me a little suspicious. Why not wait until the guys is out of office?
PS: Bet W loves the choice of Josh Brolin (“Damn! It’s like lookin’ in a mirruh!”)
Chainsaw attack at homeless shelter
“A man with a chainsaw attacked four people at KNLJ Channel 25 Saturday, leaving two critically injured. Police say twenty-eight year old Matthew Watkins is originally from the St. Louis area and authorities say he’s been staying at the homeless shelter that sits on the grounds of the T.V. station for the past couple weeks.
When deputies arrived on the scene just after two o’clock p.m.Saturday they found the suspect wielding a chainsaw. Deputies then arrested the suspect at gunpoint.”
I only mention it because it happened just up the road in New Bloomfield. (For the record, I didn’t write the last sentence in the first ‘graph.)
Update: “One of our staff members apparently had a mental breakdown – I guess you could say he went ballistic,” Tom Branham, an employee, tells the Fulton Sun. “First he was running around poking people – he poked a guy in the neck with, I think, a pencil – then he came after people with a chainsaw.” [USA Today]