November 2002 – Page 8

Voting Suggestions?

November 2, 2002August 13, 2005 Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

Tuesday is voting day. And, being relatively new to the area, I haven’t yet made up my mind about who I’m going to vote for. So, if you feel strongly about a particular candidiate, please add a comment below. Even a one-line comment along the lines of “Please vote for candidate xx because he feels yy about issue zz” would be fine.

I’ve already found a few voters’s guides, and those do help a bit:

The WFAA comparison of political races includes US House of Representatives, Senator, Governor, and Attorney General.
And, Issues 2002 lists “Every Political Leader on Every Political Leader”.

One issue that interests me is each candidate’s stance on the War on Drugs. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find much in that regard.

According the Dallas Morning News’ “how to read your voter card”, I believe I’m in Congressional District 32, State Senate District 16, State House District 108, Justice of the Peace / Constable District 3, School District DA02, and City District DA13 (if any of that helps).

I’m also in precinct number 1210, so I’ll have to find out where the polling place is for that. Oh, here we go — Election Day Locations.

“28 hour Days”

November 1, 2002August 13, 2005 Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

From the recent Slashdot story on work attire is this post about 28-hour days:

On one of my first big projects, we ended up working so much that our “days” extended to about 28 hours. We would work for 20 hours or so, sleep 6, waste an hour or two getting to and from work and eating, showering, etc. As a result, our hours rotated and we had to distinguish between “yesterday” and “virtual yesterday.” […]

Yikes, that would just about kill me. But, it does bring a whole new meaning to the term “death march” ;).

Workrave Typing-break Reminder

November 1, 2002 Ashley Bischoff6 Comments

Workrave is a free (GPL) app for Linux and Windows that reminds you to take typing breaks (with configurable timing, of course).

I found out about it from the Gnome-announce mailing list, of all places. Obviously, their focus was on the Gnome/Linux version, though I’ve used just the Windows version so far. Unsurprisingly, because the Windows version is based on the GTK toolkit, it’s still very… Linux-looking ;).

If you care about preventing RSI, it couldn’t hurt to give Workrave a try. By default, it comes configured to suggest a 30 second “micro-pause” break every 3 minutes, and a 10 minute rest break every 45 minutes (those numbers are from memory, but I think those are about right).

I’m not expert on typing-injury prevention, but that seemed awfully frequent to me (?). If anyone can speak to what kind of numbers are suggested in the scientific community, let me know (for all I know, perhaps that’s how Workrave derived its defaults, but I’m not sure). In the meantime, I’ve configured to the micro-break interval for 10 minutes, which seems a bit less intrusive.

Script Doctors

November 1, 2002 Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

It's well known that scripts are often tweaked by script gurus after it’s written, sometimes to appease a star or director, or sometimes just to prop up a shoddy script. These are the script doctors.

The process happens to varying degrees on most studio “tent pole” films, from the 32 writers who contributed to “The Flintstones,” perhaps the most notorious writer pile-up of the last decade, to the 17 on “Charlie’s Angels” to this summer’s spectacle “Spider-Man.” That film featured a rare solo writing credit for David Koepp, and uncredited writing primarily by Oscar winner Alvin Sargent (“Ordinary People”) and a smidgen by “Con Air’s” Scott Rosenberg, who cheerfully admits that most of his work, “a kind of 'Bonfire of the Vanities’ approach,” was left out of the movie. […]

Hmm, usually a plethora of script doctors is a bad sign, but I’m told that Spider-Man turned out pretty well (I haven’t seen it yet).

Seagal Sunday on TBS

November 1, 2002August 13, 2005 Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

It looks like TBS is having a Steven Seagal marathon on Sunday with what they call “Seagal Sunday”. Starting at 11am CST, there’s Above the Law, Hard to Kill, On Deadly Ground, Marked for Death, and Out for Justice.

If you’re a fan of absurd action flicks, that may seem like a lot to program into your TiVo/VCR. But, many can be eliminated:

Above the Law (1998) is legitimately good (by Seagal standards). One IMDB reviewer says it’s “still Steven Seagal’s best”. (I’ll be recording this one)
Hard to Kill (1990) is just a “Lame Revenge Story”. (skip!)
On Deadly Ground (1994) isn’t all bad, from an action-movie standpoint. But, it’s also an “Eco-action movie that preaches a mixed message”. (your call)
Marked for Death (1990) and Out for Justice (1991) are “the worst of the early Steven Seagal movies.” (skip, skip).

So, with one (or maybe two) movies worth watching, maybe it’s not much of a marathon ;). But, I’ll still look forward to Above the Law, at least (and On Deadly Ground isn’t bad either, if you haven’t seen it yet).