This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter).
Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon
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Bring on the Pirates!
 Pirate Party Wins and Enters The European Parliament
(Ernesto, TorrentFreak, 7 Jun 2009)
When the Swedish Pirate Party was founded in early 2006, the majority of the mainstream press were skeptical, with some simply laughing it away. But they were wrong to dismiss this political movement out of hand. Today, the Pirate Party accomplished what some believed to be the impossible, by securing a seat in the European Parliament.
With 99.9% of the districts counted the Pirates have 7.1 percent of the votes, beating several established parties. This means that the Pirate Party will get at least one, but most likely two of the 18 (+2) available seats Sweden has at the European Parliament.
OK, so this is very tiny in the big scheme of things, but it is a good sign. May they continue to have electoral success in the future.
And if they ever show up on a ballot I have an opportunity to vote for, they almost certainly have my vote.
US Swine Flu death rate rising nicely over the last few weeks.
Of course it is still very low, and considerably lower than the world death rate, which is itself not that high and still dropping.
 Sam and Ivan talk about:
- Stealing Ivan’s Stuff
- Big Graduation
- Bye Bye GM
- TV Moments
- New Media in Crisis
- Sotomayor
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Note: For those using the “View in iTunes” link, it often takes iTunes quite a few hours to show a new episode after the episode is posted here. So if you are looking for the podcast very soon after I post this, use one of the other methods to find the new episode. For those who are subscribed, your Podcast software should pick up the new episode next time it checks for new episodes on its own, or you can always force a refresh. For those using the XML feed directly, the new episode is now there.
 It was time for another Doctor Who, and this time it was time for The War Machines, a First Doctor Story from 1966. Actually the last of the First Doctor stories that is available (mostly) intact, since all the rest after this were lost when the BBC decided to trash a bunch of old stuff to make space.
This was four 20 something minute episodes, and it took us three weeks to watch it, because we kept falling asleep. So yes, this story sort of sucked. Well, it had its moments I guess, like they all do, but basically it sucked. There was the usual slow pacing of the stories from this era. There was the usual really bad special effects. And you expect all that of course. But it also had things like being the only story in the 46 year history of the show where The Doctor was actually called “Doctor Who” on screen… because the writers screwed up. Oops. I’d say even out of the First Doctor stories, which are most definitely not my favorites, this is one of my least favorites.
There was one really good bit though, which was one of the DVD Extras. Now, I often don’t watch these, but I did this time. One of the extras is actually a documentary about how this story was reconstructed. Because this was actually one of the stories that at one time was “lost”. But over time, bits and pieces of it were found from a variety of different sources, including edited copies that had been used for broadcast in various countries, as well as audio recordings made by fans straight off their televisions. The little documentary goes through how these various bits were found, then how they were combined in order to reconstruct the original episode, basically as it was originally aired… the exceptions being a few seconds here and there where they only had audio, so they “patched” the video with generic shots from elsewhere in the episode to make it seem like things were continuous and nothing was missing. There were also bits about how they dealt with the differing quality of the video from the different sources. It was fascinating stuff. Uh… way better than the episode itself.
So… if you’re watching all of these for completeness like I am, you will of course watch this. If you’re just looking for something fun to watch though, you can probably just skip it.
I did a deposit to my bank recently. I forget the exact amount, but I was surprised when I got in the mail a note saying that the amount on my deposit slip did not match the amount of the actual deposit, but they noticed the error and fixed it. Too bad, because apparently they had me trying to make a deposit of over $9 million dollars. I wish I had made a deposit like that. I really would appreciate that.
However, the explanation is of course more simple. Whoever processed the deposit put my account number into the deposit amount. Oops. (I know it wasn’t me, as I use a standard form for any deposit I make with the account number pre-filled.) Anyway, oops.
They could have just given me the $9 Million. I would not have complained.
Sam and Ivan talk about:
- High School Reunions
- North Korea
- Auto/Econ Update
- More Phone Talk
- Wilderness Republicans Again
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Note: For those using the “View in iTunes” link, it often takes iTunes quite a few hours to show a new episode after the episode is posted here. So if you are looking for the podcast very soon after I post this, use one of the other methods to find the new episode. For those who are subscribed, your Podcast software should pick up the new episode next time it checks for new episodes on its own, or you can always force a refresh. For those using the XML feed directly, the new episode is now there.
As I’ve done after the last couple of books I’ve finished, I’ve gone and looked to find out how many of the last 20 books I’ve read are available on Kindle. Last time it was 7 out of 20. This time it is up to 9. The book I just read is available, but in addition some of the previous books I’d read that were not available before, now are. So we’re up to 45%.
I’ve been saying since the Kindle 1 came out that I’ll “officially want one” once this ratio was greater than 50%. We’re getting close. But not quite there yet. :-)![]()
 Author: Robert Frump
Started: 24 Jan 2009
Finished: 9 May 2009
341 p / 106 d
3 p/d
So, I finally got around to reading this book… by someone I know, by a person I used to work for… Now, it took three copies of the book to get this far. I think my first was the hardcover, and I’m pretty sure I had it signed by Bob. But during one of my moves it got stuck in storage. Now, eventually I got to one of Bob’s OTHER books in my reading pile, but then realized I hadn’t read this one yet, so I ordered a copy of the paperback. Then I got about a quarter of the way through it, and accidentally put it into a backpack full of some markers and a bottle of water with a loose cap… result, book with blue pages. Now, it dried, and I kept reading it for awhile longer. Then, I lost it. I didn’t know where it was. I waited a few weeks for it to turn up. When it didn’t, I ordered a third copy. Of course, days after the third copy arrived, I found the second copy… but I finished reading using the third copy, since it wasn’t blue.
Anyway, the book itself… I didn’t know what to expect, not having read any of Bob’s books before.
This is basically the story of a marine disaster, and the investigations which followed, eventually leading to some reforms in the American Merchant Marine fleet. The first part of the book is the tale of the sinking of the Marine Electric. Bob draws out the stories of not just the crew aboard the ship, but their families as well. As the story unfolds, he brings in stories of earlier incidents as well. At times these can be very poignant. After this, the book transitions into the drama of the investigations into what happened, basically indicting most of the American Merchant Marine industry, and the government agencies that regulated it for extremely lax safety practices.
Bob tells a compelling story and pulls you through the events. And teaches you a bit as you go. I certainly didn’t know any of this history before I read the book. :-) If there were two things I would say on the flip side… one would be that by the fourth or fifth time there was a “but this was not the first time this had happened, there was also the case of the SS Magoo in 1953” I could almost hear Wayne and Garth doing the little sparkly back in time memory thing… and second would be that when I read “In a conversation with the former Philadelphia Enquirer reporter…” I am not fooled. I know that is you Bob. Might as well break out the first person at some point. :-)
Anyway, good interesting book on a topic I have not read about in the past. I look forward to… eventually… catching up on Bob’s other books as well.![]()
[2009 Dec 5 20:18 UTC – Fixed typo in start date]
Sam and Ivan talk about:
- Microwaves
- Broadband
- Republican Future
- Terror Prisoners
- General McChrystal
- Graphic Pictures
- Looking Forward or Looking Back?
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Note: For those using the “View in iTunes” link, it often takes iTunes quite a few hours to show a new episode after the episode is posted here. So if you are looking for the podcast very soon after I post this, use one of the other methods to find the new episode. For those who are subscribed, your Podcast software should pick up the new episode next time it checks for new episodes on its own, or you can always force a refresh. For those using the XML feed directly, the new episode is now there.
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