YouTube – Rick Wakeman Solo

And here I was, all this time, thinking Jordan Rudess (from Dream Theater) was all that and a bag of chips. I’ve listened to quite a few of Yes’s songs in my time and never knew Rick Wakeman could play this fast and accurate! Watching the video, I just sat there shaking my head in disbelief. Hopefully this will impress all of you, too.

First, I started Esoterik Graphics. A site mainly to display all the art and pics I was creating with Bryce 5, Photoshop and Terragen. I created it with Microsoft:Word (not the greatest of web builders) since I didn’t want to spend any money on stuff like Front Page and Dreamweaver. Plus, I didn’t know anything about HTML, CSS, or Javascript. Man, I was so proud of that site and what I accomplished with it. Too bad I didn’t keep it up.

Then I stumbled onto Blogger.com a year ago. Wow! It’s literally been a year’s worth of postings… this one will make #156! I found another creative outlet with this blog. Plus, some of what this blog enabled me to do was learn simple HTML like underline, write really small, hyperlink and some other things. I learned it from a tutorial site. See where I’m leading with this?

Then I got some nasty itch to visit more tutorials and, afterwards, had this big idea of creating a Photo Gallery with my new knowledge. I especially loved what I was learning about tables and frames. That site was done entirely in code while I was barely learning HTML. No Word, no WYSIWYG editor… just me, a keyboard, and an instructional book. It turned out very well. Not flashy, just functional.

Now we come to why I haven’t written here in a week. My wife and I belong to a bird enthusiast club, the Arizona Seed Crackers Society. It turned out that their former website administrator had to leave the club, thus no longer work on the site. I simply said “Hey, I’ll do it!” and that was it.

I love a challenge. www.seedcrackers.com is the result and, like the others, I built it from scratch. So far, it’s better than my previous efforts. It’s what everyone (hopefully) does… live and learn. And improve!

Cheers!

… its use can be for ultimate benefit of mankind… or ultimate detriment of mankind.

I haven’t been living under a rock, so I know all about RFID chips, especially since the company I work for has been using them for inventory tracking for a few years now. That, in it of itself, is not a problem. I believe I’m completely objective when it comes to this technology being used for tracking and security, along with the fact that RFID is still relatively in its infancy. A taste of things to come, to be sure.

Do any search on Google, Yahoo, AOL, Lycos… whatever. Type in “RFID” in regards to clothing, currency and, more recently, security and implants. I won’t post any links here. I won’t spoonfeed info on this to everyone. I’m sure you all have been reading/watching the news lately. I encourage people to formulate their own opinions and thoughts on this matter. My only prevailing thought, when I see all that was before and what is now forecasted by our own society, is this:

Saints preserve us. God help us all.

Maybe I’m being a worry-wart… but I’ll be keeping a wary eye on this.

Update: I did say that I don’t want to “spoonfeed” information to everyone. However, here is an un-biased detailed report on a proposition for RFID policies by privacyrights.org. It seems to cover all bases, and I’m hoping no one finds any loopholes in it.

Well, I hope everyone in our circle of family and friends is having a good V-Day. Christine had a really good day today! Her work celebrated today and she got a couple carnations, balloons, candy and other little goodies. She came home to me for the real surprise. Over a couple of days, I designed a custom V-Day card using my mad Photoshop skills. Yesterday, I bought the V-Day dinner (crab-stuffed salmon filets) to make tonight and also a movie (Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride) she always wanted. She was absolutely amazed when she saw the card, delighted with getting the movie (we haven’t seen it yet), and now she and I are satiated from the dinner I whipped up. She also got me a cute, comical V-Day card which I love.

Couples everywhere should heed the following advice, us included: celebrate your love, not just on Valentine’s Day, but every day of the year. Always keep your hearts soft to affection and steeled against resentment. Don’t let a day go by without giving a loving kiss and hug. Be thankful for the life that shares your life.

Multi-Touch Interaction Research (Link)

Watch the video on the linked page. If you look closely at parts of the presentation, you may notice it’s being driven by Apple’s OS X.

This could very well go hand-in-hand with the iPod rumour I wrote about in my last entry. I’m not thinking just for iPods, though. Current PDA’s and cell/smart phones using this technology would be killer. Let’s not forget about possibly having a desktop with no keyboard, mouse or tower… just a screen. Yes, I know there are tablet PC’s already, but just imagine what Apple would do with this refinement of technology.