alex chiang: web 6.0

Interesting day yesterday!

First, I had an impressive come-from-behind miracle victory at the horseshoe pit. Francis had ostensibly won the game with 15 points. It was my turn to throw, and with only 11 points, things were looking grim. Amazingly, I threw a ringer on my first toss, and that gave me hope. I buckled down and threw two more points, finishing with 16. Francis was pissed.

Next — yet another reorg at work. I’m pretty happy about this one, though. I’m working for a different manager and will probably get more interesting assignments as well.

Third — I was rear ended. That sucked, although it sucked much worse for the girl who hit me. Both her airbags deployed (releasing a noxious stinky gas), and her front end was wrecked. The hitch attached to my van absorbed most of the force, which is good, although my frame was bent, which is bad.

Finally — I drank absinthe last night. Yikes — that stuff packs quite the punch, although the second shot didn’t hurt as much as the first. Apparently, we didn’t quite drink it the way one is “supposed” to. Oh well. Anyhow, I didn’t feel any hightened sense of clarity. Here are some links to absinthe.

Tivo is taking over my life. But I kinda like it.

In other news, my brand new Airport card is not working in my cube.

Here’s feedback I sent to Apple regarding their use of CDDB vs. freedb. It’s a bit pretentious, but I think that’s the appropriate tone to take in order to get them to pay attention.

Here’s a link to enable freedb on Mac OS. Unfortunately, iTunes uses the CDDB2 protocol, and is therefore incompatible with freedb.

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I’m a PC user who switched — kudos to your marketing team. One of the most compelling reasons for doing so was the ability to use iTunes, which is a neat piece of software.

I noticed that when I connect to the internet to get CD tracks, iTunes uses Gracenote’s CDDB. I looked for an option that would let me tell iTunes to use freedb instead, but couldn’t find one.

The reason I wanted iTunes to use freedb is purely political. In this day and age, with ever increasing restrictions on consumer’s freedoms in the context of digital media, I believe that politics ought to be a significant factor in determining technological implementations. The tradeoff between liberty and technical superiority ought to be biased towards the former.

Gracenote built its business upon the backs of consumers who generously populated the CDDB in the spirit of community and sharing, only to have their contributions encumbered with restrictive licenses.

As a consumer, I do not wish to support this type of corporate behavior. And that is why I am asking for the freedom of choice.

Regards,

Alex Chiang

It’s May 10, and we are currently receiving an inch or two of snow in Ft. Collins. I love this state.

My newest purchase, and it is sweet. At 450 Mhz, it’s now the fastest computer I own (yes — I am a computing Luddite). I named him huey (see if you can figure it out), and I’m running OS X — a desktop unix that finally doesn’t suck.

I’ve managed to escape the hated state of Texas, escaping to a far superior state, Colorado.

If you think you need my new contact information, send email.