The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard – Page 173

San Francisco – Saturday

Saturday I made my way in to San Francisco.
The plan was to meet my friend Kevin who had recently taken a job with McAfee and moved to the Bay Area.

Kevin guided me in via cell phone with some help from his heterosexual life partner, Glen.

We set off in search of food and I got a quick tour of the city.

Got brakes?

Let’s build a city on the side of a mountain in an earthquake prone region!

This has drawbacks I will discuss in a bit.

We ended up down at Fisherman’s Wharf where we ate seafood at a place called Tanatino’s which had a nice scenic view of the marina.

From there we trucked around and saw a few things and then headed over to Ghiradelli’s for ice cream.

Yum!

It was time to get Kevin and Glen home so we headed back toward the apartment.
Kevin mentioned that we should go to the top of this scenic overlook so I could get some pictures.

I was thinking “Sure, let’s drive up there.”

It turns out you can only drive so far. Then you climb.

Glen said he had to get on back and he would drop us off. Kevin said it was only a few blocks away from the apartment so I sucked it up and went for it.

Turns out the view WAS worth the sound of my own heart beat pounding in my ear.

Click these to REALLY see the magnificence

You could see from downtown on to the ocean. It was breath taking.

It turns out that Kevin’s idea of a “few blocks” was, in reality, about 12 downhill blocks and 3 really steep uphill blocks. I was pretty beat when it was all said and done.

I did take time to cross The Golden Gate Bridge before heading back to my hotel in San Jose to crash.

Truly this was a day in which I benefited greatly from knowing the way to and from San Jose.

Long live the new flesh

Seeing as how it’s anniversary time and all you’ll excuse me for waxing nostalgic.

After a caller to the radio show made a comment about my previous radio program from years and years ago I got to thinking that it has been WAY too long since I have seen David Cronenberg’s film Videodrome.
I wonder if it still holds up.
I should look for it at BB or Netflix.

The current radio show I do now evolved from my late night talk show I called Radiodrome which was a play on this movie title. It was an overnight (pre Art Bell) talk show with music that addressed some very bizarre topics.

The suffix “drome” in Latin means racecourse or field and is derived from Greek dromos which means racecourse.

It is used in words to describe a facility or a all encompassing space where something takes place.

Like a velodrome is a structure for cycling events or an aerodrome is defined area intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure, and movement of aircraft or hippodrome which is place set apart for equestrian and chariot races.

I envisioned this show as an all encompassing place for a radio experience to be had. It was a lot of fun.
The shirt I had made for it was designed by my good friend James Keene.

Note the dial on the radio is tuned to 90.1 which is the channel the show was on. The slogan was “Old Fashioned Radio With A Beat”…

Sometimes I really do miss doing the ultra-creative and weird radio.
But the only place for it is overnight and I just don’t have the stamina for it anymore.

Maybe I will find a way to get back to it someday.

How did a lion get riches? … It was the olden days

Before the Internet and the infernal Intraweb there were BBS’s.
Electronic bulletin boards that were hubs of free speech and pirated software and some very cool turn based “door” games like Trade Wars 2002.

This is what we computer nerds used to interface with our brethren all across the globe.

In my time I have known quite a few of the Houston based underground including Chris Goggans aka Erik Bloodaxe of Legion Of Doom fame. I read Phrack and cDc religiously.

In 1991 I was approached by a group of people to participate in an online “zine” called The Worldview (Der Weltanschauung). It was an eclectic group of folks and we had some very good times.

My “Nom De Plume” was The Reverend Scott Free.
We believed we were going to change the world.
Perhaps we did. It’s hard to say. Those were heady times. Reagan had been the prez for 8 years and we were under the stewardship of Bush Sr. and the first Gulf War.

These “zines” were distributed all over the world using very basic modem technology. One BBS would call another and download the issue and then pass it on.

I was pleased to discover that our little enterprise has been archived at a number of web sites like the one linked here: The Worldview (Der Weltanschauung)

It’s really odd to go back and read some my old political rants.

My paranoia and hyperbole are very apparent in my first rant in issue number 2 which came out on May 4 1991. You can read it here:

http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/WORLDVIEW/wview1.2

Yowza!

11 years and technology still bytes

Houston’s longest running, award winning, advice giving computer show is celebrating 11 years on the air in Houston, Texas.

Join the cast, crew and fans of Technology Bytes this Friday, July 14th at Dean’s Credit Clothing for a party of epic nerd proportions.

Again this year we will be graced with the legendary space jazz ensemble Drop Trio laying down their own funky groove as we get our geek on.

Map located here

The party gets underway at 7:30 and goes till we’re done.
Did I mention there’s no cover? I didn’t? Oh…well then…

NO COVER!

Keep in mind that Dean’s is a full service bar…

Upside: alcohol
Downside: 21 and up

If last year’s party is any indication, this will be an awesome way to spend your Friday evening.

Jennifer the Intern sums it up in one word:

All fans past, present and future are invited to come out.

—

The promo that’s been running on KPFT to hype this event is here.
It’s another hilarious phliKtid production, check it out!

World Cup loser

I was actually rooting for France until Zinedine Zidane (aka Zizou) let loose with one of the most un-sportsmanlike acts I have ever seen in a professional sporting event. I have tried and tried to like the French, honestly I have. But they always manage to demonstrate the most unlikeable behavior.

On the plus side, last nights antics have made for a wealth of humorous animations.

This is my favorite:

I’m still trying to imagine the post game interview

[Sports program interviewer] How could this happen? Did you not take into consideration that your actions would cost you, your teammates and your countrymen a chance to take home the World Cup trophy? The single most prestigious trophy in sports today?

[Zidane (in very thick French accent)] I cannot help it! I am French! Vive le asshole! (smacks cameraman with a running shoe).

*EDIT*

This is a close second on the animations:

And thanks to Bill Shirley for this link.

San Jose – Friday

Still marvelling at the geek landmarks. Dwight Silverman remarked on me being such a tourist. Bah! Who cares? I embrace my dorkitude!

Look! It’s Earthlink!

That whole building must be filled to overflowing with Internets!

Friday night I opted to shed my nerd skin and cruise into downtown to check out the nightlife.
I found a place called The Blank Club.

It’s very similar to the Austin Continental Club in size. Had I been there a few days earlier I could have seen The Reverend Horton Heat in about as intimate a venue as you could imagine…with none other than Throw Rag opening.

On this night the touring act on stage was a very old school type ska band called the The Aggrolites. Very enjoyable!

I doubt I’ll find myself in San Jose again in the near future but if I do, this is a good venue to know about.

California uber alles

I have arrived, safe and sound, in San Jose.
Yup, there’s a nerd loose in the silicon valley.

It’s amazing to see all the geek institutions. The office I am here to work in is housed in the Quantum building. They don’t make hard drives anymore, they sold that off to Maxtor. But still! I had a Quantum Fireball hard drive in my old machine back in the day!

Driving around I had to stop and snap this picture:

I can’t explain it but it just struck me as so very cool to see this.

Maybe tomorrow I can get a picture of the Intel building.

New job, same as the old job

It’s official. All the paperwork has been signed.
The merger/acquisition is complete.
With no effort on my part I now work for a different company than I did last week.

Of course there will be changes. Some I know about, others I don’t. No announcements have been made regarding any of this so the waiting game continues and the rumors are flying.

This is my fourth merger so I pretty much know what’s coming. And, to a certain degree, I know where I stand which is comforting. My co-workers who have not yet experienced a global reorganization are understandably nervous and apprehensive.

It’s hard to believe that I have been here for 5 years. This is the longest paying job I have ever held.

I’m off to our California office tomorrow to assist with some things there. I get the weekend to myself so I will head off to San Francisco for clam chowder and a chance to see the sea lions at Pier 39.

Oh yea, and Ghiradelli Chocolate.