Author: DOuG pRATt

News Leak

From today’s online Boston Globe:

Former Governor King is dead at 81

By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff

Edward J. King, whose victory over incumbent Governor Michael S. Dukakis in the 1978 state Democratic primary was one of the great upsets in Massachusetts political history and set up a storied rematch, when Mr. King lost to Dukakis four years later, died today from injuries he suffered during a fall earlier this month. He was 81.

In 1978 I was a young reporter and announcer for a small radio station in Western Massachusetts. I interviewed gubernatorial candidate King, and I couldn’t believe he was a Democrat, because every position he took was pure Republican. Having met Governor Michael Dukakis — the master of detail — several times previously, I was not impressed by King, who was short on specifics.

Before leaving, King used the station’s little half-bathroom. After he was gone, the secretary, a woman named Dana, was very upset. “Do you know what he did?” she asked in an outraged tone. “He didn’t lift the seat and he left it wet! Can you believe that?” For me that clinched it. King was no Democrat. 😉

Flash in the Pants

Thirty years ago — OK, let’s make it 40 — Flash for me referred to a comic book character I liked. Now Flash is all about memory sticks. I started with a modest SanDisk 128-MB model:

But then I need a bigger fix, so I graduated to 1-GB:

That 1-gigger saw a lot of use and abuse, mostly at work. Eventually, all three of its caps broke, but not before it survived a ride in the washing machine and the dryer, while forgotten in the little “fifth pocket” of my Eddie Bauer chinos. Previously, I’d worn it around my neck, along with my employee badge, but the little piece of plastic for the lanyard broke, so into the pocket it went.

Now I have a 2-GB Flash drive, which even at USB-2 speeds takes some time to back up:

But now it seems that in the rush to meet demand, some USB flash drives are failing:

http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/859798/651604/33969/2/

Fortunately, these things are ridiculously cheap. The research firm IDG is quoted in that article. They’re literally next door to the building where I work, but other than some of their people parking in our garage and eating in our cafeteria, we have no contact with them.

Searchers Far and W-I-D-E

Clicking here will open a previous posting in a new window.  Start the video clip there and let it run a bit before starting the one on this page.  You’re watching an example of how some widescreen movies are actually cropped regular format movies.

See how the composition of the uncropped version seems to have empty space at the top and bottom?  Some old comic strips did something similar to this.

Click here.

This posting is mostly an excuse for me to play with wide format video capturing.  But it also provides an opportunity to show a bit more of The Searchers.  I’ve spliced together four scenes that represent what I feel is the core of the movie.  Ethan’s search for his … niece?