Hollywood East comes to Boston... or not

Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray has better things to do... What?!?!

The Boston Globe reported today on the progress of a legislative bill to increase tax breaks for Plymouth Rock Studios, a.k.a. Hollywood East. Former executives from Paramount Pictures have been planning construction of a massive $420 million studio located less than an hour south of Boston, expected to have over 1.2 million square feet with 14 stages AND "50,000 square feet of the world's most advanced Post Production facilities"!!

The Massachusetts House of Representatives discussed the bill this week, and its destined for approval in the state senate next, but according to the Globe, Senator Therese Murray is blocking the additional tax incentive by claiming that its "not at the top of her agenda". The Senate's not even going to think about it.

Taxachusetts, er, Massachusetts has been hemorrhaging residents for years because there's not enough high wage jobs and out of control housing costs (a problem that continues in the area despite the nation-wide housing crisis). Hollywood comes to Boston and wants to drop a huge chunk of change, but now Senator Murray's too busy to help give the state a massive shot in the arm?

The opportunities for creative professionals in film, photography, audio, animation, and other computer specialists would be a boon for the state, and New England. According to Plymouth Rock Studio's website:

Plymouth Rock Studios will employ over 2,000 skilled professionals and generating billions of dollars in direct and indirect economic benefits to the Plymouth area and the Commonwealth.

And where is the brand spanking new Massachusetts Creative Economy Director Jason S. Schupbach in all this? He should be in Senator Murray's office tearing her a new lobbying on behalf of Plymouth Rock.

Geeze... Massachusetts, please get a clue!

  Smashing Copyright on Stunning Photographs

Smashing Magazine recently published an article, in blog format, titled Really Stunning Pictures and Photos. The article begins with the presentation of text advertisements from Google Adsense in the main column, and a row of image-based advertisements in the menu column. Further on the article begins as a brief introduction that heralds the effort involved in Photography as a craft and a very brief notice that all photographs are copyright of their respective owners.

The publication then seems to flagrantly and egregiously disregard all respect for copyright by actually displaying copies of photographs hosted on their website that have been scraped off well known photo sharing websites such as Flickr and DeviantArt. While it's very flattering to have a magazine or well known person or organization use one's photo, perhaps an ego trip sometimes, we as photographers shouldn't let third parties arbitrarily steal or borrow creative work or intellectual property by using it without consent or without proper credit.

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  Interactive Google Map of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail

The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail is a proposed development in Massachusetts that will convert a former railroad bed into a 25 mile, multi-purpose trail stretching from Chelmsford to Framingham, passing through the towns of Westford, Carlisle, Acton, Concord, and Sudbury too . The trail is logistically broken out into three phases, each to be developed sequentially as fund-raising and litigation with abutters move along in parallel.

The BFRT website is chock full of useful information for to help support the building of the Rail Trail. The map which diagrams the route and its 3 phases is rather vague unfortunately. I decided to diagram the bicycle path's proposed route using Google Maps instead, which allows for precise plotting, zooming, and both map and satellite views.

View Larger Map

I would love to see the whole network of rail trails in Massachusetts developed to encourage bicycling for sport and commuting since the roads are so very hazardous here. For starters, a connector trail to join the BFRT with the Assabet River Rail Trail would extend the trail network to Marlborough, Hudson, Maynard, and Stow. It would be a dream to also connect it to the Minuteman Bikeway that runs from Bedford to Cambridge and provides access to the Alewife subway station and Boston.

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  Morf Transit - The Burlington Vermont Welcome Wagon

While in Burlington Vermont this weekend, I setup to do an HDR image on Church Street, the pedestrian thoroughfare with cross traffic at every block. An HDR image at night requires several long exposures taken in sequence.

While in the middle of the sequence, this driver from Morf Transit taxi service pulls up to wait for a client and stops right in front of me, although there was plenty of space in front of and behind it.

For 5 minutes I wait patiently with my wife beside me, just chuckling to ourselves over his parking tactics. No bigggie..

After 10 minutes I'm wondering if I should just move closer to the church in the distance and start over. The driver begins honking his horn to notify his clients that he's ready.

At close to 15 minutes of waiting the driver continues honking, and rolls down his windows to get some air. I took this opportunity to request if he wouldn't mind pulling forward a bit, and the conversation goes roughly like this:

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  Is there anyone behind the curtain at TurboLinux ?

Recently I tried to purchase the Japanese version of TurboLinux Server 10 but in the process ran into nothing but dead ends. TurboLinux is reported to be the most popular distribution in Asia and is based in Japan. Although their primary website is in Japanese at http://www.turbolinux.co.jp, they do have an English version available through a US website http://www.turbolinux.com.

The US website offers only English versions of TurboLinux, and their online store is simply a redirect to their US distributor BlueSquad. Additionally, Distrowatch indicates that the distributor Source One Network is leading vendor.

Finding that neither BlueSquad nor Source One offered the Japanese version of the product either online or by direct contact with their Sales, I decided to just call the mothership itself. That was a futile effort since the phone number listed for their US office in San Francisco is completely wrong. Three times I called to verify the number while pissing off who ever was picking up each time.

Great, so their phone number is misprinted. What next? Well, I sent a fax to their fax number requesting a call back, and I submitted their online feedback form. Twenty four hours later and no response from either.

What really irks me is that the US TurboLinux office is at 600 Townsend St and the Adobe (former Macromedia) office is 601 Townsend St. directly across the street!! But here I am in the Adobe office in Newton, MA and unless I could coerce a colleague in San Fran to take a short stroll I was out of luck.

Almost... My last resort was to co-opt my Japanese collegue down the hall to navigate the Japanese TurboLinux Website. With his help, we were able to successfully make a purchase after much wheel-spinning and wasted time.

  Completed Certificate of Java Development at Boston University

This week marks my completion of the Boston University training program for the Certificate of Java Development. This is the first half of a Master of Java and J2EE Certificate Program. The Java program alone consists of three courses at the Introduction, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. Each course ran 3 hours on two nights a week for four or five weeks. This totals about 85 hours of lecture over three and a half months. Here are some key thoughts about my experience in the BUTrain Java Certificate program:

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  Sonic RecordNow! BSOD, drvnddm.sys, Direct Access Component problems

My Windows XP SP2 laptop has been crashing during shutdowns while referencing drvnddm.sys in the blue screen memory dump. It was also producing a pop-up system error shortly after logging in stating

Direct Access Component has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

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  Developer's API Enhancement Request for Stop & Shop Grocery Store

To the Stop&Shop Website Architect or Website Project Manager:

I would like to access my shopping history. I know that Stop&Shop maintains my history via my Stop&Shop card number in order to tabulate accumulated savings, etc...; however, I would like to be able to review my purchase history to look for trends regarding the products I buy, such as dollars spent per unit time, dollars spent per product category, frequently purchased products, favorite products, and so on.

While it would be fantastic if Stop&Shop provided a web portal where I could analyze my shopping history, I realize that is a very tall order. A short term solution that would benefit many technologically adapted customers would be availablility of shopping history in an XML format, requiring authentication/login to maintain privacy. A nice idea would be to be able to login to the website and have a simple rss feed referencing each monetary transaction (total purchase) where the contents of a transaction item would contain transaction details including individual products and quantities as well as price, vendor/SKU, and total cost, method of payment, etc... Not only would this help costomers analyze shopping history, but they would be able to build wish lists or favorite product lists for future shopping excursions.

Stop&Shop could also publish a Developer's API describing how to access the data in different formats so that web application developers could build their own portals to help Stop&Shop customers better understand their shopping habits and plan for their next shopping requirements.

  How Many ColdFusion Titles Does Your Local Book Store Carry?

Over the weekend I passed by the Barnes & Nobles in Burlington, MA across from the mall, so I stopped to check out the latest titles in their vast Computers section, which spans about 8 bookshelves, each about 12-20 feet long and 5-10 rows high. This is an enormous amount of books for a generic book store just devoted to General Computing, Web Programming, Web Design, Graphic Design, Macintosh, Databases, XML, Perl, Java, C/C++, Windows, Unix/Linux, and more.

I poured over the titles looking for ColdFusion books, through the Java/J2EE section, past the ASP and PHP sections, on to the Web Programming section and even into the General Computing section, but there was no sign of the familiar blue and white covers, a popular color scheme in CFMX related books. Disappointed, and already thinking up a rant blog entry, I turned the corner and stumbled into the Web Design section. There among a towering but narrow shelf that was 10 or more rows high, saturated with Flash and Dreamweaver books, I finally recognized what I was looking for. Just below center were a tiny handful of ColdFusion books, including the CFMX Bible, the CFMX WACK set of books, the O'Reilly book, and a couple other titles I don't remember. Right next to it was a single Macromedia Flex book.

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  Bad Medicine: Kevin Trudeau Fraud 'Natural Cures'

During an investigative report earlier this year, I heard about the fraudulent practices by "infomercial scammer" Kevin Trudeau who published bogus health information in a book called Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About. I was very surprised when my regularly scheduled Tivo recording of a Saturday morning program was actually replaced with a half hour infomercial from this clown who makes outrageous claims about Science and medical research to foster the adoption of his book and take your money.

I'd just like to take a moment to point out that this huckster is cited by the National Council Against Health Fraud, and you should not believe his claims.

Misleading infomercial driving sales of junk book. Infomercial scammer Kevin Trudeau, who signed a court-approved consent agreement prohibiting him from selling health-related products (except publications), has continued his longstanding patters of deception by selling a book called Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About. In a frequently aired infomercial, Trudeau falsely claims that government agencies and the food and drug industries are conspiring against "natural cures" and that people who want such information should buy his book. Although the infomercial suggests that the book makes specific recommendations for specific problems, it actually does not. In the book, Trudeau claims that the FTC censored the entire chapter titled "Cures for All Diseases." However, Daniel Kaufman, the lead attorney in FTC's most recent case, told Dr. Stephen Barrett that as long as Trudeau is not promoting brand-name products, he still has the First Amendment right to claim that various methods or product ingredients are beneficial. Frequent airing of the infomercial has driven the book to the #8 position at Amazon Books, but many of the buyers are highly dissatisfied. As of February 2, 2005, more than 60% of the 188 posted reviews have characterized the book as a ripoff. Trudeau has been the target of several FTC regulatory actions and has served time in prison for credit card fraud. Infomercial Watch has posted a detailed analysis of the infomercial.

See also:

• Federal Trade Commission: Kevin Trudeau Banned from Infomercials
• Consumer Affairs: Kevin Trudeau
• Ripoff Reports: Complaints about Kevin Trudeau

  Curiosities abound at MXDJ

Steve Erat - Industry Blog ... Really?

Looking at my blog referrers, I found this one popping up quite frequently today:

http://mxdj.sys-con.com/read/rss/100.htm

When I clicked on this link I was taken to a blog aggregator that displayed a list of images in the left menu, and to my surprise, there was a rather low-res graphic of me, with a banner "Steve Erat - Industry Blog". Really? Industry blog? Hadn't thought of it that way before. To me its just my personal blog. In fact, it says so on my TalkingTree banner image.

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  Let Jennifer Wilbanks Be

Give me a break already. What an oversensitive pack of wussies we've become if people are seriously considering prosecuting the so called "runaway bride" Jennifer Wilbanks, whose story has been sensationalized though the headlines of all the major news networks. I think the popular media is perpetually in a frenzy, looking to produce overhyped stories that lead to showcase trials which the American public sadly loves to consume for pure entertainment value.

Watching CBS News this morning, there was a debate between some witch lawyer from Boston and Gloria Allred, a self-styled victims'-rights advocate. The witch was salivating over the prospect of prosecuting Jennifer and compared her to serial killer Jeffrey Dawmer and Andrea Yates who killed her children in a fit of depression.

Let Jennifer go home, settle down, and think about what she's done. She freaked out about getting married, nothing more. Enough already, send the media home, and kick them in the ass on the way out the door!

In a related "we're all a pack of wussies" story, Boston news has recently highlighted a man who spanked his child with a belt, 3 slaps, for chronically not doing his homework. Clearly the father and son generally have a good relationship, and this man was not abusing his son, and even the law permits spanking your child within a reasonable amount if the parent thinks its warranted. But the child got scared the next day and called his mom, the father's ex-wife, and she called the police and got a restraining order.

Again... Give me a break!

I had many relatives grow up with tough love and they've all turned out fine. Yikes! Get over it already lady! The law which this guy supposedly broke was obviously intended to protect children against serious child abuse and extreme corporal punishment. You can see from the interviews of the child that he loves his father and gets along great.

  Using the the wireless network at the Concord Public Library

Today was my first experience using the wireless network since the library has reopened. I didn't ask anyone for instructions and just assumed I'd figure it out knowing that at least Windows XP would scan for available SSID network ids. Using my little WiFi Finder I discovered that the Periodical Room had the strongest signal at full strength, and the study in the corner beyond the Emerson statue had good reception but less than the periodical room. In the remainder of the library I could not detect a signal at all, including the Thoreau Room and the Rotunda. I chose to read in the study since I was looking for the quietest area and there are several walled desks lined up across the wall to limit visual distractions.

I'll spare you the detailed description with getting on the wireless network, but here's a few hightlights:

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  Bad Review for SmartDisk FireLite portable external hard drives

Last year I purchased a very portable external hard drive, the SmartDisk FireLite 40 GB USB model. Over the course of the year I used it somewhat regularly, perhaps maybe a couple dozen times. Up until this past fall I was satisified with it, so much so that I ordered another one for my wife, but an 80 GB model.

Just about that time I noticed my Firelite started giving me a few fits... It has an LED light that turns purple if it can connect at USB 2 speed such as when connected to a Windows XP workstation, or green if it can connect as USB 1.1 speed when connected to a Windows 2000 machine. If it has a connection the light is steady, and if it has trouble where Windows won't show the drive for the Firelite device then the light blinks rapidly.

Well, more times than not the light was blinking on mine just about the time I ordered the one for my wife. I thought it was just me. I tried Linux as well to mount it as /dev/sda1, for example, and even under linux it sometimes blinked and couldn't connect.

While using Windows, I'd plug into the USB port and Windows would give me an error:

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  Inactive Boston CFUG

I'm a big fan of local user groups in the Boston area, and I find I'm almost perpetually disappointed with the difficulty Macromedia has in finding stable managment of Boston ColdFusion User Group. For years it was managed by Steve Casco, and meetings were sparse and typically focused on some technical product rather than addressing broad concerns within the ColdFusion arena. Then it disappeared entirely for a couple years with no word on what happened or when it would resume.

Later, in 2003 PaperThin stepped up to the plate to reinvigorate the meetings, and PaperThin's Ron West did a great job at recruiting excellent speakers that addressed general concerns of CF developers.

But the BCFUG website has been frozen in time since October, and I've been checking the site frequently to see if a new meeting has been planned. In fact, since my internal presentation went so well, I've been hoping to build on the momentum by trying a speaking gig at the BCFUG.

I just inquired about the state of BCFUG and I've learned that PaperThin no longer manages the group and Macromedia is currently recruiting for local leadership. I expect it will be some time before our local BCFUG fires up again, but at least it gives me some time to think about preparing some talks.

- Bored in Boston.

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