August 29, 2005
Shave and a Haircut
So as my long time feline buddy Chaos ages, he has been less and less thorough with grooming himself. That job usually falls to Amy and I, but with the arrival of Sam we've had less time to help him with these tasks. That combination of events means a fair bit of matting for the old guy, so off he went to be shaved at the vet recently. He looks like a goofball/alien/creature with his new 'do - puffy around the head but stubbly everywhere else. You be the judge.
Posted by jetrotz at 07:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 10, 2005
Stream Podcasts to your Mobile
Now you can stream a podcast to your SprintPCS phone using Pod 2 Mobile's Pod2Mob software, which is currently in beta. The company says it only works with SprintPCS because "they have the best data package," which allows for unlimited data transfer - handy for streaming long-winded podcasts.
(via Dave Winer's Scripting News via TUAW.com]
Posted by jetrotz at 12:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
Brown-Bag Your Way To Half a Million!
Over at personal finance blog Hello, Dollar! they've got a great post about how bringing your four times a week can eventually earn you half a million dollars.
So let's see, four days bringing lunch at $2 plus one day out at $7 equals $15 per week. Eating out every day would cost $35 per week, so I save $20. $20 a week! That's over $80 a month -- that covers my utility bills right there. Who couldn't use that?
40 years and the miracle of compound interest turns that into $581,826! Nice!
(via Lifehacker)
Posted by jetrotz at 07:48 AM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2005
More (digital) cowbell
Digital cowbell: "Cory Doctorow:
The Rad Monkey VLC800 is a digital cowbell that simulates the sounds of 12 popular analog cowbells through a high-quality digital signal processor. Will Ferrel and/or The Moody Blues should pick one of these up pronto.Link
(via Red Ferret by way of Boing Boing.)
Posted by jetrotz at 12:20 PM
May 14, 2005
Bikers, Beer & Babes Babies
Last weekend, our neighbors Michael & Rachel organized the annual Rosalia/Cameron Street block party. Neighbors from all over Grant Park attended the festivities, and Sam had a great time at his first post-utero musical event - a local blues band. Check out the gallery of photos here.
Posted by jetrotz at 06:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 14, 2005
An angel sent from God
Atlanta breathed a sigh of relief after Brian Nichols gave himself up on Saturday. He added another victim to the death toll - a US Customs agent he surprised working at his home in Buckhead. The Atlanta Journal Constitution interview with the woman he held for seven hours Friday night into Saturday morning is amazing. The single mother who lost her husband in a knife fight several years ago knew exactly what to say and do, and even chose to delay tipping off the police when she thought a confrontation would ensue, believing instead that he would let her go on Saturday morning. Read the story here.
Posted by jetrotz at 07:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 11, 2005
Courthouse Shooting
Today's shooting that killed three took place about a half-mile from CNN Center where I work. I drive by the courthouse on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive every morning on the way to the office, and would have likely been right there at 9am when the gunman fired six shots across MLK and killed one of the victims, a sherrif's deputy, right outside the courthouse.
I had an a 9am meeting today, and came in early to prepare, avoiding the scene.
The brazen gunman wrestled the weapon away from one of the deputies in the courthouse while in a holding area, then shot and killed Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland W. Barnes and his court reporter, 43 year-old Julie Brandau. After he'd escaped the building, he shot and killed the other officer (Sheriff's Deputy Hoyt Teasley), and carjacked at least two or as many as three vehicles in his efforts to escape, and currently remains at large. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter was pistol whipped and carjacked in the mayhem by the suspect.
UPDATE:CNN is now reporting (and showing) video of the suspect carjacking the AJC reporter in one of Turner's parking garages, caught on a security camera. Not the one I routinely park in, but right next door. Really quite frightening.
Photo by The Associated Press
Posted by jetrotz at 12:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 17, 2005
Friends in High Places
Digital marketing powerhouse Digitas/Modem Media announced today that my friend Cella Irvine would become their Chief Administrative Officer, reporting to their CEO. Cella is a long-time digital media vet, having led Microsoft's Sidewalk operation in NYC for many years, up to it's purchase by Ticketmaster/CitySearch. She went on to work for insurance giant Marsh, Inc. Anyway, she's a brilliant and wonderful person, and should do well in her new role. BusinessWire news release on her new gig is here, and a Clickz.com news story is here.
Posted by jetrotz at 01:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 07, 2005
Morning News Gets New Digs
The Savannah Morning News has moved into it's new home. Like many businesses, they have outgrown their old facility. Working for the News-Press in the late 80s and early 90s, we felt very much a part of city, sitting in the midst of everything. The annual St. Patrick's Day parade passing by out front. We were only a stone's throw from City Hall. Moments from the ports, the police barracks, and all sorts of other key Savannah institutions. But while it's sad that the paper is moving out of their 100+ year location in downtown Savannah (my hometown), it's clearly a great new facility, and the costs to add these types of improvements on the old building would have been prohibitive.
Savannahnow.com coverage here
Slideshow here
VR gallery here
I particularly liked seeing this image of the building as it appeared in the 1930s, with delivery trucks lined up on Bay Street - exactly where I used to park as a young photographer, ready to dash out to cover breaking news anyplace around town. We didn't see too many Model-As, however, or railroad tracks on Whitaker or Bay!
Posted by jetrotz at 01:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 05, 2005
Heidi, meet Seal
So my old pal Heidi Klum is gonna marry Seal (via CNN.com). So, let me clarify that. Heidi and I shared a hot tub (along with her then-husband and a bunch of other folks) in Mexico a few years back when I was on assignment for a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot. She's really down to earth, and was most fascinated by the IPIX technology we were using, including getting into the spirit of things and posing on both side of the picture, as IPIX VRs are two 180-degree images spliced together. So 'snap' Heidi poses on one side, Heidi moves to the other, and presto! Two Heidis, one panorama. I'd link to one of these, but SI.com has put most of the old Swimsuit content behind a subscription wall.
UPDATE: You can still see the VR! Here is one, courtesy of MSN Search's cache. LINK.
Now I think Seal is a great musician. Although he has become quite a commercial success, and some of his stuff is a bit too pop for my taste, I think his first disc from the early 90s is great, and remind me of some Peter Gabriel stuff.
Anyway, Mazel Tov to the happy couple!
Link: Heidi Gallery at SI.com
Link: CNN.com story
Posted by jetrotz at 01:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
When Does $350 Million Equal 42 Hours? (from pseudorandom)
Frank Boosman points out that, according to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, the war in Iraq has cost $130 billion to date or $198M per day. That makes the amount committed to date by the U.S. to tsnuami relief ($350M) equal to 42.27 hours of Iraq war costs. Hmmmmm.
Posted by jetrotz at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 01, 2005
Back from Vaca
Just back in Atlanta from a holiday trip to Florida. I'll resume posting shortly. Gosh, this page looks blank without any posts for the past week! Sorry.
Posted by jetrotz at 10:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 23, 2004
AP Complicit? Let's not jump to any conclusions
Salon.com has a roundup on the recent hullaballoo (pay subscription or brief commercial viewing required for access) around the AP photographer who captured that brazen daylight execution of several Iraqi poll workers last week. Conservative bloggers (e.g. "Wretchard" of the Belmont Blog Club, whatever that is) have suggested AP's complicity in these events. Perhaps, they say, the photographer knew what was going to happen. Huh? How do they jump to this conclusion. Unlike my earlier post surrounding Kevin Sites catching the apparent execution of a wounded combatant, this case could be more questionable - but the facts don't really support this speculation. Rather than point a finger at the old leftist media, this case shows how unstable Iraq remains. Cold blooded daylight assasination in the middle of public streets - looks like we have a ways to go with this whole 'democracy' thing over there.
Posted by jetrotz at 12:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 21, 2004
Poster Resurgence
The website of the Ephemera Society of America discusses the newly active American poster market, resurgent in the past ten years. The number of poster auctions conducted in the United States increased from two in 1990 to at least eight in 2002. There are now vintage poster fairs in several major U.S. cities, and collectors worldwide are seeing new value in American creations in this category, especially American posters produced between the two World Wars. World War pieces, such as Norman Rockwell’s patriotic World War II quartet shown in my mom's poster retrospective at Savannah's Telfair Museum in 2002, The Four Freedoms, fetches over $3,000. Read more here.
Posted by jetrotz at 04:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Scary Santa
Face it. For a certain type of kid, Santa is a horrifying character. Huge boots. A beard hiding most of his face. A huge, angry, red suit. Questionable breath. Well, with some Santas. Anyway, the Orlando Sun-Sentinel has published the results of a reader contest for the best photos of children scared of Santa. Click here to see the gallery.
Posted by jetrotz at 03:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 17, 2004
Grumpy Santa
The JibJab.com guys are at it a gain - now they have released 'Grumpy Santa', another of their Flash-based animations. Instead of skewering the American political process, they highlight Santa's tough times. Striking a deal with Yahoo.com, JibJab has made this into more of an industry - including a book, premium downloads, etc. - but for balance, do promote a program to give toys to childeren in Iraq. Click here to see the movie.
Posted by jetrotz at 01:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NYTimes Firefox Ad
In an unprecendented effort for an open-source project, Mozilla.org placed a two-page advocacy ad in the New York Times on Thursday, December 16th. I have been using Firefox for at least six months now, and find that it behaves much more reliably for me on the Mac - other browsers seem to be crushed by various Flash animations. Link to a full-size image and the press release here.
Posted by jetrotz at 01:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 15, 2004
CNNfn Signs Off
CNNfn, the Financial News Network and sister to CNN, CNN Headline News, CNN espanol and CNN International, is signing off at 2pm ET today. The network suffered from the same issues that doomed CNN/SI, my old employer - the turn around in how distributors paid for programming, and the slower-than-expected rollout of digital capacity to take on niche networks like this. CNNMoney.com will, however, continue to publish online. Managing editor Allen Wastler has this retrospective. But Myron Kandell summed it up best as he signed off on behalf of all the staff -- 'It was just one of those things."
Posted by jetrotz at 01:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Come Clean
Those wacky folks at the ad agency Porter + Bogusky (creators of Burger King's Subservient Chicken) have a new campaign, this time for Method Soap. This site features a confessional of sorts, and users can view others confessions. User-submitted confessions can also be streamed to a downloadable screen saver. Nice stuff, and awfully quirky - but in a good way. Visit the site.
Posted by jetrotz at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 12, 2004
Candelight Tour
686 Rosalia has survived the first night of the annual Grant Park Candlelight Tour of Homes. Or should I say that Amy, Joey, Chaos and Ned have survived? Either way, the house looked great, and the visitors were so nice - it's really made us appreciate our home even more. Tomorrow, we start work on the nursery! Stay tuned for stills and video from the tour - I'll post those as soon as I get some time. For more on the tour, visit the GPNA Web Site. General info here. Rundown on all the homes here.
This is the write-up from the GPNA web site: The previous owner/investor spared no expense in turning this once dilapidated eyesore into a beautiful, cozy abode. Slate and limestone tile in the bathrooms, three restored fireplaces with mantles, a new kitchen, and Brazilian cherry hardwood floors are just a few of the features added during the extensive renovation.
Posted by jetrotz at 10:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 09, 2004
Run like Dash!
In keeping with the annual lists of toys which might be hazardous to the tykes in our lives, here's a list of toys you may not have heard about, but should avoid. Steroids are for grown-up ball players, not wanna-be super heroes!From National Lampoon.
Posted by jetrotz at 01:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 03, 2004
Mall Mayhem Infographics
You know those safety info cards in the seat pocket in front of you on the airplane? The ones you sort of stopped looking at like ten years ago since you fly way too much? There is, I think, a certain charm to those graphics, telling you what to do if everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Anyway, here's a set of infocards explaining how to riot at your local mall. Nice, eh? Via Consumer Whore. LINK.
Posted by jetrotz at 02:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 02, 2004
ArtPad: A Masterpiece in Minutes
Unleash your inner Da Vinci. Head over to Art.com and try out their ArtPad, a slick little app built in Flash that allows you to paint a lovely picture. Click here to see my handiwork.
Posted by jetrotz at 02:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 30, 2004
Exploding Lava
Do not, do not, repeat DO NOT under any circumstances attempt to 'jump start' your Lava Lamp by heating it on a stove. Mortality may ensue, as with this sad case in Kent, Washington. Unbelievable. LINK (via Boing Boing).
Posted by jetrotz at 03:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack