Cable Science Network. This might just get me to actually want cable TV again.

As seen on the Straight Dope.

You know, the web designers of sports.yahoo.com apparently wouldn’t know a Mac if you beaned them in the nose with an 17″ TiBook. I can’t think of any other explanation for them only supporting the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, a browser which hasn’t had a major update since it was released in 2001. I’d suspect backroom dealings with Microsoft, but even the Microsofties have abandoned development of the browser, so what would be the point of restricting access to modern browsers like Safari and Mozilla?

In the past year, the only improvement I can find of the audio streaming broadcasts Yahoo provides is that Windows Media Player for Mac is now actually able to open the streaming files, rather than claiming that the “codec is not supported.” Granted, being able to open the files is infinitely better than not being able to open them, but now the challenge is to find the magic sequence of links that takes you to the file itself. I find a page with a list of games available to listen to. I click on the audio icon next to “North Carolina vs. Illinois”. Do I get to listen? No. I get: “Follow North Carolina all season long!” Advertising their broadcasts. I click on “You are already signed up for College Pack”, which is the only available link on the page. I get a page with a list of games available to listen to. Looks familiar. I keep this up for ten minutes or so trying to see if there’s a link I’ve missed somewhere. Eventually I give up.

With about ten minutes left in the game, I go back and try logging out and logging back in again. Bingo. Media window comes up. As usual I have to reload the page twice to get the stream to actually start playing, and there are no player controls anywhere in the window.

I ain’t paying $4.95 a month for this crap. [edit 5/31/04: This is, sadly, a complete lie. I eventually caved. But I wasn’t happy about it, dammit!]

I wonder if Yahoo has exclusive internet broadcast rights? Seems to me that UNC, which, by the way, pioneered live internet streaming broadcasts, should be able to offer it too. I’d forgive all of UNC’s various administrative sins and humbly join the General Alumni Association if they’d make basketball games available free as a benefit. Hear that, GAA? You know my price.

Memo to self: Never tell strangers where you work. Not that I’m worried they’ll come a-stalkin’ me, it’s just that I’d really rather NOT get into a conversation with someone about their own special theory of physics. This morning’s theorist seemed normal enough at first. There we were, standing at the bus stop, chatting about the improving reliability of the bus system. He asks where I work, I tell him, at the planetarium. So he mentions the program on NOVA last week, about string theory. By this time we’re on the bus sitting down. It’s not until then, when I’m bound by politeness to remain seated in an adjacent seat, that he reveals his theory:

E=mc^infinite

This is, of course, because Jesus is the light of creation (or whatever) and God is infinite. Therefore light is infinite. Whatever.

It occurred to me later that the implication of this is that the first, tiniest nuclear weapon would have annihilated the entire Universe with its infinite energy. Had I thought of this at the time, I’m not sure I would have mentioned it anyway. I typically prefer to nod politely, say nothing and then take some time later on to feel really depressed. I did try to reason with him that Jesus’ light as described in the Bible (which I suppose it is) is not necessarily the same thing streaming through the window right now, that one’s spiritual, and the other’s physical. Didn’t make much of an impression, I’m afraid. Some days I wish I were any good at debating, but I’m not at all. Usually debating just irritates me, and leaves me feeling sour for days on end. So I typically don’t bother.

(Which is not to say I didn’t have a little fun taking on the impossible task of debating the late noted Usenet kook, Alexander Abian way back when. It’s far easier over the ‘Net, when you have the luxury of time to come up with a good response.)

P.S. I don’t want to give the impression that the “Life in Nashville” section of this blog is solely dedicated to bashing people who don’t believe the same things I do. A) There are plenty of rational, normal people around here, (as I see it), and B) I fully intend to write about other elements of life around here. Haven’t quite gotten to my treatise on the bus system yet, but it’s coming sometime soon I’m sure.

So, Mac geek that I am, I went to the Panther party at the local Mac dealer Friday night to get OS X 10.3. Backed up the whole system and installed it after work on Saturday. So far, I haven’t encountered too many bugs, though I did notice the Finder has trouble scrolling horizontally if you’ve got a QuickTime movie or sound file playing as a preview. Although it’s slick and has a lot of nifty new features, sadly I can’t think of any compelling reason to recommend we buy it for our computers at work… at least not yet. I’m sure some reason will appear before 10.4 arrives.

So anyway, it means that I’ve got Panther on my G4. As for my old 6500/250:

Well, I’m all moved in. (Have been for over a week, actually) Still having the occasional problem absent-mindedly walking to the wrong apartment, only to notice that there doesn’t seem to be anything inside it.

A tradeoff in the skywatching category: from the old apartment, just by the arrangement of the neighboring buildings, gave me a nice view of the ecliptic. Now I can’t see anything in the east, but I’ve got a nice low western horizon. Of course below that horizon it’s all highways, shopping centers, streetlights and lovely fundie billboards, so it’s not that great. But I’ll get some nice sunsets, thin crescent moons, and the occasional planet to see.

It’s official: I’m moving. Yes, this weekend I’m packing up all my worldly belongings, and relocating them approximately 112 feet to the north-northwest. From the lovely 1 bedroom apartment at point A to a slightly lovelier (by virtue of having two bedrooms) apartment at point B.

What can I say? It was a decent deal and I could probably use the extra space. Maybe for once I’ll be able to keep my accumulation of junk confined to the one extra room and keep all the others clean.

Naah.

Yeri has linked to me, so I shall link back. Yeri/Jerry is responsible for the little drawing of me that has graced nearly every incarnation of my personal web site ever since he scribbled it on a message board in Alexander dorm at UNC lo so many years ago:

Sadly, the aforementioned vandalism has been removed. Pity.

I possess neither the courage nor the stupidity to risk life, limb, and liberty to pull this off, but my hat’s off to whoever did.

‘Course, there’s always the possibility that whoever did this is merely a fanatic of a different stripe than the weirdos who put up the billboard. The answer may never be known. I’m just waiting to see if anyone will bother to undo this little alteration.