Bye bye Blogger . . . This blog has moved. If your browser does not automatically redirect you in a few seconds, click here to go to the new site.  ¶ 11:55 AM

  Damn Creepy Robot There is a lot of buzz today about Sony's new "running" huminoid robot the QRIO. I first read about it on Slashdot and I thought, sounds pretty cool. Just a bit a go I was at the BBC news page and I watched a video of it. The thing didn't really run in the traditional sense but did seem to technically have both feet leave the ground.

I decided to go to the Sony website and read a bit more about it. The website looks cool, but the text has a really creapy feeling about it. Take this part for example:

As the world becomes progressively more complex, we thought how wonderful it would be to have a navigator that gently changes with the times.

Now on the face, that sounds nice, but when you read a bit more in to this statment, it can seem a bit weird. Do we really need a robot companion to make us feel more at ease with a complex world.

An entertainment robot that lives with you, makes life fun, makes you happy.

Oh, I see, the robot makes you happy. This makes you forget the problems of a complex world. Phew.

QRIO is eager to be friends with people.

Thank god, I thought he might be one of those evil robots from the Matrix or Terminator.

Maybe I am reading a bit to much into this. Maybe the strange feeling I get is because the script was translated from Japanese to English. For now I will be happy to keep these robots at arms distance.  ¶ 9:36 AM

  'Tis the Season Over at Blue Hole, Big Al is hosting a guest blog event celebrating the 12 days of Christmas. I was asked to do one and ended up getting the 8th day of Christmas, which will fall on Sunday, Dec. 21st. Now as Big Al explained, normally the 12 days of Christmas are celebrated after Christmas, but in this case it is more fun to do them before Christmas.   ¶ 2:12 PM

  Dick Cheney is a killer, but you already knew that. I am referring to our Vice President's trip to a "hunting" club in Westmoreland County PA this past Monday in which the Dick and his 9 friends killed a total of 417 pheasants in one day. The Dick shot 70 pheasants on his own, but apparently he hadn't had enough of a slaughter. So a little later he went duck hunting and killed an unknown number of mallard ducks.

Just to be clear, I am not strictly anti-hunting. I think that certain animals (pheasant and ducks included) can be hunted without a serious harm to the environment. I also think that many hunters are responsible and are very concerned about the environment. Unfortunately, there are a number of "hunting" clubs across the nation (including Oregon) that cater to the Dick and his ilk. They raise the game in captivity and then right before the hunt release them. The hunters then go out and slaughter them at will.

The kind of person that enjoys going out and killing 70 pheasants in one day has to be pretty messed up. This is the guy who is probably the most directly influential vice-president in modern times and is only one pretzel away from being the commander-in-chief. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the Dick's behavior given his record, but I think that this is shameful and disgusting.

Here is a link to the overly cheerful Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article that broke this story: Cheney in region for a day of small-game hunting

Here is the Humane Society's response to Dick's behavior: Cheney's Shooting Spree at a PA Canned Hunting Facility  ¶ 11:52 AM

  Pictures from Mexico If you want to see pictures from Megan and my trip to Mexico, you can now look at my online album. Also, you can see pictures from a party Megan and I threw back in late october at it's album.

Both these are hosted at my new domain. I hope to start using this domain for my resume, portfolio and blog by the end of the year, but that is looking incresingly unlikely. I also bought another domain for my other blog, but still haven' t had the time to create a decent MoveableType template for either.

Anyway, sorry for the over 3 month gap in blog postings.  ¶ 10:34 AM

  In Voluntary Support One of my favorite sites MacSurfer has the following note prominently posted today:

FROM: Phil Pearson, Editor-In-Chief
TO: 500,000+ Loyal MacSurfer Readers
SUBJECT: Subscription Request

A brief intrusion... In order to improve MHN's salaries, add features, and enhance our website interactivity, I'm making a polite request to our dedicated fan base. Preferring not to limit content, I need a strong response from the majority of you to help fund MacSurfer, so think of it as an IPO investment or magazine subscription. (We're exceedingly more useful than MacAddict or Macworld, right?) Amid great personal and financial sacrifice, I think I've presented a helluva news site and fantastic daily resource for near on 8 years. Now it's your turn to reciprocate. To keep matters simple, and avoid net privacy/security issues, all you need to do is send a check payable to "Phil Pearson" for a yearly subscription to:

1 Year MacSurfer subscription: $25
1 Year MacSurfer/TechNN subscription: $35

I have no problem with MacSurfer asking for some support from it's fans since it does provide a site that I like to visit and is very informative. I was a little suprised to not see a similiar request at MacSurfer's sister site TechNN.

I do however feel that there are a few things that MacSurfer could do to increase the value of hte site and better justify the cost of the "Subscription".

• Redesign: Since I first visited MacSurfer about 3 years ago the site has seen only minor changes to its layout and design. I know that this design is functional and simple, but frankly it is also ugly. A site that is functional and simple need not be ugly. There are plenty of examples of compartively simple sights that look very nice (for example Daring Fireball). MacSurfer's audence is very design savvy thanks to the attractive and useful design of the Mac UI. Another large portion of the audience are graphic designers and design professionals.
  
• No Ads for Subscribers: A few other sites have moved towards this model (notably Slashdot) and I think it is a pretty good trade off. In fact MacSurfer had a similiar system in place until July 2002
  
• Daily Wrap-up: I would love to see MacSurfer send out a e-mail everyday at 5pm EST with a wrapup of the top Mac related stories of the day.
  
• Forums: These could either be public or subscriber only, but would likely become a place for MacSurfer users to congregrate and discuss the latest issues and news.

With these improvements MacSurfer would be a site worthy of a $25/year subscription. Until then I think that I will just donate a few dollars to help keep the site running.  ¶ 1:08 PM

  Transit Mall Revitilization Open House I was able to leave work early yesterday and stop by the second of TriMet's Open Houses for the Transit Mall Revitilization. The open house was held in the board room at the Port of Portland Building next to the Chinese Gardens. Inside the boardroom was about 7-10 displays showing various aspects of the proposed revitilization. There was also a small theater area were a TriMet employee showed the virtual "fly-throughs" of two of the three proposed MAX alignments. In the center of the room was a large table covered with a map showing the entire run of the transit mall along with the proposed MAX stations. Those attending the open house were encouraged to leave there comments on this map, fill out a comment card, or simply talk to one of the many city and TriMet employees circulating throught the area.

I personally talked to a couple of the TriMet/City employees. In the area focusing on the amenities on the Transit Mall (i.e. Trees, benches, shelters, etc.) I expressed my concern about the lack of wind shelters on some of the newer shelters (such as those near PSU). I also mentioned my wish to not replace some of the older larger trees with new smaller trees and also to increase the total number of trees in the south side of the transit mall.

Later near the large map in the center of the room I talked to a city employee about the lack of any mention of bicycle traffic in the plans I had seen. He basically said, that since the Transit Mall did not contain a bike lane they hadn't integrated bikes into their plan. I feel like this is really short sighted since I see a ton of bicyclist use the Transit Mall, and this will be much more dangerous once the MAX is on 5th and 6th. I suggest that they improve the bike lanes on 4th and Broadway and find ways to encourage bicycle traffic on those streets.

I also asked this employee what would happen to the transit mall during construction. He said that while this was still yet to be decided, there were three ideas. The first would have the busses use 4th and Broadway instead of 5th and 6th during construction. The second would make 5th a two way, bus-only street while 6th was under construction and then reverse this while 5th was under construction. Finally, there might be a highbrid of the two ideas.

One of the most interesting parts of the open house was the large showing by members of The Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates (AORTA). There was one gentleman who was passing out a AORTA flier and many members of AORTA milling about the open house. AORTA advocates creating a subway-style underground lightrail line throught downtown portland that would stretch from Lloyd Center to Goose Hollow and include stops at the Rose Quarter, Union Station, Burnside, Pioneer Courthouse, and Portland State. They feel that this would provide long term savings and better service throught downtown. I am happy that the group was a the open house, but I felt that they were a bit to loud and more than a little obnoxious. During the showing of the virtual "flythrough" it was difficult for many members of the audience to hear the TriMet employee over the loud discussion between advocates of the subway.

As I mentioned before there are three different proposals for the alignment of the MAX tracks along the Transit Mall. The first, called the Left Side Stop, whould have the buses on the right side of the rode, the MAX in the center and car traffic on the left except were there was a MAX stop. In these areas the sidewalk would extend out over the left lane and provide an area for the MAX stop. The second, called the Island Stop, whould have the busses on the right side of the rode, the Max in the center and a continous car lane on the left. At MAX stops the bus lane would swerve farther to right leaving an island MAX stop to the right of the MAX track. The final, called the Right Side Stop, would have the buses on the right, the MAXin the center and a continous car lane on the left. At stops the MAX track would swerve into the buslane and the MAX station would be on the right side.

Of these plans I really favor the Left Side Stop for a couple of reasons. First, it keeps the current feel of the Transit Mall. It also happens to be the cheapest option because it doesn't require you to tear up all the curbs. Also, one of the features I like the most about the Transit Mall is that it doesn't have to many cars on it. The other two plans add a continous car lane to the transit mall and increase the likelyhood of a car/bus or car/MAX accident.

I suggest that anyone interested in the future of the transit mall, the future of MAX and the future of downtown Portland comment on the proposals as soon as possible. I heard time and time again from TriMet/City employees at the open house that many aspects of the plan are not yet "set in stone".

For more background on the Portland Mall Revitilization visit TriMet's page about it and read the Portland Communique's excellent story from Tuesday July 8th. I especially recomend watching the virtual "fly-throughs" available in Quicktime format at the TriMet website.   ¶ 12:35 PM