WombatNation

A thief recently scraped the registration sticker off the license plate on my car. The California DMV charges $17 for replacement stickers.

I just hope whomever stole it puts it on their plates and then gets pulled over by the police for some other infraction. Then they will get to explain how the DMV’s computer system shows their license registration is not update, but they somehow happen to have a current sticker. Hopefully, that will get them a trip to jail.

Update 6/14/2007: After another quick visit to the DMV office at the Oakland Coliseum, I picked up a replacement sticker for $17. I also took the opportunity to get a clear title for my wife’s car. Even though we paid off the loan about nine years ago, the financing company’s name was still listed as a lienholder on the title. Getting the title correctly reissued cost $15. Altogether, I was in the DMV building for only 15 minutes. Of course that was possible only because I had already downloaded and filled out the replacement sticker form.

If you’re still using DRM’d audio formats, you owe it to yourself to check out Ogg Vorbis. It’s not just a pretty name anymore. The FSF has set up the PlayOgg.org website to promote Ogg Vorbis (audio) and Ogg Theora (video) as high quality media formats unencumbered by patents and restrictions on your rights. There is also a great article on Ogg at Wired.com for Windows and Mac users. The article explains how to get Ogg support in iTunes and how to rip to Ogg Vorbis. I use Grip and oggenc on my Linux desktop to do all my ripping. I use Amarok on the desktop and laptop as my primary audio player.

Years ago I started to rip my CD collection to MP3. I quicky switched to Ogg Vorbis after experimenting a bit and discovering that I could get much higher quality audio files at about the same file size by using Ogg Vorbis. My wife bought me an iAudio X5L about a year ago, since it supports playback of Ogg files. Unfortunately, the iPod I bought her recently doesn’t play Ogg. I’m tempted to install RockBox on it so it will play Ogg files, but maybe I will wait at least until the warranty expires.

I may actually give Rockbox a try on my iAudio X5L. While I’m pretty happy with the X5L, the user interface is far from intuitive. Perhaps even counter-intuitive. The sound quality is great and the battery life is incredible.

More info at Xiph.org, Vorbis.com, Theora.org, Wikipedia article on Ogg.

Tonight my wife and I attended a benefit for the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland featuring a menu designed by Alice Waters and music by Kronos Quartet. We’ve donated annually to Creative Growth for many years and purchased several pieces of beautiful art there. For over 32 years Creative Growth has offered fantastic creative opportunities for adults with developmental, physical, mental and emotional disabilities. In the first photo you can see some of the art created by Creative Growth students. In the next two photos you can see some works by Judith Scott hanging from the ceiling.

The menu included (I’m guessing on the contents of the appetizers that were passed around):

• Fava bean spread on toast
• Green garlic and goat cheese on toast
• Fried artichoke with a cream dip that I think contained dill
• Acme breads and sweet butter
• Slow roasted wild salmon with frisée, pickled beets and citrus vinaigrette
• Soupe au Pistou – Provencal vegetable soup with lamb shank, garlic, and basil
• Strawberries with crème fraîche ice cream and sugared cookies

The food was wonderfully complemented by Murrieta’s white meritage, red meritage and zarzuela from Livermore Valley. Everything was great, but I was absolutely blown away by the Soup au Pistou. It’s one thing to prepare a soup like that in a restaurant with a professional kitchen, but to prepare a dish that stunning in a makeshift kitchen to be served almost simultaneously to about 300 people is quite a accomplishment. Very fine work by Olive Green Catering. Also, thnks to Monterey Fish Company, Murrieta’s Well Winery, and Prather Ranch Meat Co for donating food and wine for the event.

After the meal, Kronos Quartet performed for about 40 minutes. The second piece they played was composed by John Zorn. I think it was from The String Quartets. They also performed a piece by an India composer that was hauntingly beautiful. The final performance was a magnificent rendition of “Flugufrelsarinn (The Fly Freer)” by Sigur Rós. You can hear Kronos perform Flugufrelsarinn for yourself on the NPR website. It’s the last song in the first hour of the show.

After reading an article about Charles Wang and the “culture of fear” he allegedly instituted at Computer Associates, I fondly remembered a day over ten years ago when I overheard an amusing story about him. At least it was amusing to me. I didn’t have to work for him. I was working for ViewStar in Alameda in the building next to the one where I now work for Voxify.

On the day that CA had apparently announced the acquisition, two employees of the ASK Group (the ASK Group had acquired Ingres in Alameda a few years before) were waiting with me at a bus stop by our respective buildings. Charles Wang didn’t show up on site, but he had sent a video presentation. One of the ASKers said to the other “I think he was okay, although I was a little bothered when he said, ‘The important thing to remember is that now you work for me.’”