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November 18, 2006
Dude Radio?
First of all, let me state up front that Kelly is my best wife - ever. There is no second place. She totally rocks. This week she granted me 77 hours of bird-less bliss. (Thank you Darling. The kindness of boarding your four sometimes lovable, but often totally annoying critters has not gone unnoticed. It has been wonderful, and I am very grateful. Four stars. Of course I miss you. :)
So, what did I do with all of this glorious free time? I delved into the world of Internet radio! See, an ex-coworker, (and actual friend) Bill, came by with questions about the technology and the market. Unfortunately, I have learned that I'm totally out of touch with the mainstream. I wasn't much help describing the audience for Internet Radio. I mean, all I know is that I tune in Radio Paradise pretty much every day. Don't you? Doesn't everyone? (I also contribute to RP, and you will too after you listen for a few days.)
Anyway, I've always preferred to be the guy "behind-the-scenes". (I guess that makes me an "E" - an "enabler". That's probably why I love System Administration and networking in general.) So, when the idea of running our own Internet radio station came up, I did what I think I do best - I began researching what it would take to actually do this. What software is available? How is bandwidth allocated? How much does it cost? What about the web site? How many listeners can be supported for nothing? Are there Open Source solutions? Will this run on one of my Linux servers? What kind of resources are we talkin' about, anyway? More importantly, Is there payola in Internet radio, and can we get some?
Which brings me to Bill Tobin. I have known Bill since somewhere around 1989, when I started at Conam Nuclear. I could say a lot about Bill, the nuclear industry and having 6 months a year off, but I'll save all that for a later post. The one thing I'll say for sure is that Bill has the best taste in music of anyone I know - and the most eclectic music collection. That's why his will be the best Internet music station ever. Simple as that.
Stay tuned...
(By the way, I found answers to all most of the questions about Internet radio and some surprises too, which I hope to detail in subsequent posts right here.)
Oh - on a totally unrelated note, we had the garage cleaned this weekend. This is the first time in eleven years that I have seen the garage free of automobiles.
Posted by thedude at 5:50 PM | Comments (3)
November 7, 2006
Redesign Complete
Now that IE7 will be distributed through Microsoft's automatic updates, I feel it's safe to incorporate PNG transparency into my site design. If you see a white box where the header should appear on this page, please upgrade to IE7 or better still, use a different browser! (Opera, perhaps?)
Posted by thedude at 9:22 AM | Comments (5)
November 5, 2006
Chris Picks His Top Five Weather Books
Can you even name five weather books? Didn't think so. Well Chris Burt has no trouble naming his favorites in Saturday's Wall Street Journal. Chris' short reviews are so interesting that I now want to go out and buy all five!
Posted by thedude at 5:08 PM | Comments (0)
Housing Explosion!
Coming to your neigborhood soon. At least if you live in Oakland! Buildings like this are springing up everywhere. I'm very happy to see some of the new structures feature fun, creative color schemes. The blaze orange and powder blue looks great! I wonder if all this construction will lead to a housing glut in the Easy Bay. Doubt it, but there are an awful lot of dwellings set to come on line soon.
One of the images is the front of the office I work in. You do know which one - don't you?
Posted by thedude at 2:16 PM | Comments (1)
November 4, 2006
Magic Light
Kelly will undoubtedly be upset that I posted this, because as anyone can clearly see, the loft is a "total mess!" Sorry Kelly, but I just wanted to share with my friends and family the light that came into our home at 4:01 PM today. Our loft lighting has been different every day of the last 11 years - mostly due to seasonal changes, but also due to the construction around us - and I totally love it.
Posted by thedude at 4:23 PM | Comments (1)
One More Book Under the Wire
This weekend is your last chance to get 50% off on $100 or more worth of books at MyPublisher. I made one more quick book this morning and ordered 12 copies for 75 bucks with shipping. You really should try it. It's fun! There is no cheaper way to see a bunch of your favorite shots side-by-side. And, as I've said before, the printing quality is excellent.
For fun, thedude likes to include a panorama in each of his books. This means one shot has been split in two and the image halves have dropped onto a single spread. See it there? Cool? Yes.
Posted by thedude at 2:28 PM | Comments (1)
