Kurt's Thoughts

I think most computer users have no idea where ZIP files came from, the terrible war behind the ZIP standard we know today, and how it evolved.

It’s chronicled in an incredible documentary called “BBS:  The Documentary”.For those of you who didn’t get to see this amazing documentary, (I ordered it as soon as I heard about it) it’s really, really good. If you were at all part of the “BBS revolution” back in the 80s, you’ll really smile when you see some of the topics they go over like Fidonet, PCBoard, Mustang Software, 2600, X/Y/Zmodem, Operation Sundevil, etc. They even talk about Blue Boxes, Phrack Inc., and the FBI’s arrest of Knight Lightning.

AMAZON:  http://www.amazon.com/BBS-Documentary-Jason-Scott/dp/B0009NN6EA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9630540-7928131?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1176340357&sr=8-1
($50 for a 5 disc DVD set)

ARC VS ZIP
Again, one of the stories is the epic battle between ARC and ZIP (aka SEA vs Phil Katz). The back story on this fight is a really interesting tale about intellectual property theft, smear campaigns, and ultimately things I didn’t know about that era until I saw it. Fortunately, Thom Henderson, one of the 3 people that made up SEA and the creator of ARC, was interviewed for the documentary and talked about the issues he had with Phil Katz (who BTW died in 2000) and the way things happened.

Thom Henderson also wrote a small story about his thoughts on the ARC vs ZIP battle and Phil Katz here:
HTML: http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html

VIDEO CLIP
Additionally, the ENTIRE video portion of the ARC vs ZIP documentary is available for download in .WMV in case you want to see what the 3 DVD disc set of “BBS: The Documentary” is like. The video is 20 minutes long and certainly worth viewing for no other reason than personal education.

And if you were truly around during the early days of bulletin board systems when file swapping & FidoNet were the norm, you’ll likely think fondly of this time.

DOWNLOAD: http://www.esva.net/~thom/arczip.wmv

We have discussions internally within Microsoft about products on specific discussions lists just as any company does (although we’re quite liberal about it – we have discussion lists for everything under the sun.  Discussion lists for Xbox owners, discussion lists for Verizon Motorola Q owners, discussion lists for graduates of UCLA, discussion lists for marathon runners, discussion lists for musicians… etc. etc.) and one of the bigger topics recently on the Xbox discussion lists has been Guitar Hero 2.

There’s so much glee around this game, I think we’re going to overload the Exchange Servers.  Here’s a sampling of some of the chatter I’ve read about Guitar Hero 2 on Xbox 360:

My only complaint is that after I play for an hour or two, I look away from the TV and my vision continues to scroll. The first time it happened I thought “Hmm… that’s probably not good. I should stop. … Nah, it will probably go away when I fall asleep. Just one more song.”

—————–

<nothing else – just this photo>

—————–

Me and my lady have been playing it all afternoon and it’s fantastic.  She actually turned on the home theater to play by herself….that’s a huge milestone!

—————–

Why don’t the credits mention how easy this game is after a bottle of gin?

However, who out there is really playing this game in expert mode? Come on now. Expert mode is stupid and ridiculous, as in if you can pass expert mode and don’t play a real guitar you are stupid and ridiculous.

—————–

Your brain just needs to get the hang of processing the information.  What’s really interesting is when you realize that you’re no longer even seeing them as just notes but as entire patterns, and you’re not even thinking about it, just doing it.

—————–

You do know that hammer-ons and pull-offs can only be done on certain notes, correct?  The ones without the black lines around the top of them can be done that way – the rest cannot.

—————–

I then went by the Fred Meyer in Totem Lake and picked up a couple controller extension cords (6” if you’re in Spinal Tap, 6’ for the rest of us) for $5.  Useful for those of us who are too old to rock standing up and need to use the couch.

[…a moment later, someone else posted…]

Speaking scientifically, it’s impossible to “rock” while sitting on the couch.

—————–

Yes, and all the Audio settings go to 11. There are some really nice touches in the game.

Tilt axis motion is coming to the Xbox 360.  So to get gyroscopic tilt motion control, all you need to do is get this add on.

On the upside, this is going to be a great add on that won’t add any cost to the existing Xbox 360.  If you want it, you can get it, and it’ll implicitly work with any games that already use the joystick for controls. 

The downside is that there won’t necessarily be any games designed specifically for it.  But then again, there really aren’t any games specifically designed for the Sony PS3 SIXAXIS controller as far as I know.  Not in the same way that the Wii has games designed for it.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnd5O2P2uD0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eengadget%2Ecom%2F2007%2F04%2F06%2Ftilt%2Dsensitive%2Dtiltboard%2Dmodule%2Dgoing%2Dbig%2Dfor%2Dxbox%2D360%2F
• http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/06/tilt-sensitive-tiltboard-module-going-big-for-xbox-360/
• http://www.adamthole.com/?p=23

THE OG GYROSCOPIC CONTROLLER:  THE SIDEWINDER FREESTYLE PRO
For the record, Microsoft had a gyroscopic game controller LONG BEFORE Sony Playstation or Nintendo Wii did.  We just developed it for Windows and it was called the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro that works with your hand/arm movement.

So no, Nintendo can’t possibly have a patent on gyroscopic game controls, being that we released the concept before they did.

I arrived at work this morning and as I’m checking my mailbox, our mail clerk says, "Hey – you gotta this out."

The One Thing PC users Can Do That Mac Users Can’t
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

OMG… laughing… too… hard… can’t… type!  If you think that’s funny, try reading the comments left on YouTube around Maddox’s videos.  It’s priceless!  I’m gonna be in a good mood for the rest of the day.

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Week of Vista Bugs
If you think that’s good, check this one out:  Recently a web site popped up called "The Week of Vista Bugs" which purported to release one Windows Vista bug every day for a week to prove it’s falliability.

So of course the irresponsible participants of the media crossposted it like the lemmings they are.  It seems that even some of the most reputable news sources are willing to cross post and talk up anything that might cause controversy in the name of clicks and subscriptions.

And that’s exactly what this site was apparently trying to prove:  The media has an irresponsible glut of reporters and bloggers that are willing to post anything without verifying the accuracy of their claims or do any sort of research to validate a source. 

In an explanation of what they were trying to do (out the media), they reveal the site as a hoax:
https://www.securinfos.info/english/the-week-of-vista-bugs-the-truth.php

Judging by the cross linking, I’d say they were QUITE successful.  You have morons at certain big publishers who just HAD to post something about the site in their blogs and articles, then see them scrambling to blurt out after being outed that, "Yeah well, we knew it was a fake." 

So if it was test of the media’s credibility, and it’s something that they don’t want to encourage for fear of perpectuating the idea of "pentesting" the media, why the hell did you write about it then?  Because to them:

CREDIBILITY < CLICKTHROUGHS

I was watching Carlos Mencia’s Mind of Mencia – it was his season premiere and despite all the hub bub about his joke stealing, I still have to watch because… heck, it’s comedy.  Anyway, Carlos signed off the episode saying to Richard Jeni that he knew that he was up in heaven making God laugh.

I stood up and said, "Wh… wha… WHHHHAAT?"

I quickly typed in RichardJeni.com, a web site that I’d visited several times before… just not recently… because I really loved that guy.  I would without hesitation say he was probably my favorite comedian of all time.

Richard Jeni passed away from an apparent suicide.  And for the first time in a very long time, while reading the words that his family placed on his web site, I cried quietly.

HOW I KNOW RICHARD JENI
Richard Jeni, as I’d said before, has been my favorite comedian.  And it’s more than just because he was a hilarious guy & a brilliant performer.

In 2000, Microsoft had our annual national sales meeting in Miami.  It was an hot, poorly run, unremarkable event, and frankly one of the reasons I to this day hate Florida.  The convention center was overcrowded, the clubs were pretentious and being that I was from out of town and had no hook up, it took C-notes to get into anywhere worth getting into, and even then, it wasn’t enough without the right look or the right crowd.

But there was one thing that I’ll always remember:  Richard Jeni opened the final night of our event.   We’d hired him to do 30 minutes of stand up in front of 7000 people – 7000 people drinking, talking, eating… did I mention drinking?  And he was supposed to grab everyone’s attention and get people in the mood to party.

Let me put this into perspective here:  These are 7000 Software Salespeople.  This has got to be a comedian’s nightmare.  I mean, first of all, half the crowd’s a bunch of geeks.  The other half are slick salesfolk that are more raucous than the average frat house.

But Richard started doing his latest material and got the crowd laughing.  And laughing.  And laughing some more.  Finally, the audience was fixated on him as he ripped a hole in Los Angeles natives calling them vain and pretentious, which frankly left our geography all in stitches, being from Los Angeles.  He left the stage to thunderous applause and the show went on.  We didn’t see him again for the rest of the event.

HUH?  SO HOW DO YOU FIT IN?
Well, on the way back to Los Angeles, I found myself in an airport eatery near my gate.  I’d ordered some snacks to eat and was waiting in line to pay for it all when I noticed an individual a little taller than me with dark sunglasses on. 

"Uh, excuse me?  Are you Richard Jeni?"

He smiled, took the glasses off and said, "Yeah… yeah, I am."  I muttered something embarrassing about how I was a big fan, and asked him about whether he was on his way to LA too, and he said that he’d just finished doing a corporate "gig" in town and was going back home.

"Oh!  Yes, I know – I’m with Microsoft and I was at your performance!  It was absolutely fantastic."

He said, that he was glad I liked it.  It was an easy set for him and he thought it went pretty well.  Then he said:

"Hey – do you want to sit down with me?"

A CHAT WITH THE PLATYPUS MAN
Now, this is what threw me.  Most actors & entertainment folk I know, would have just gone off on their merry way and thought to themselves, "Another fan.  Whew.  Glad I didn’t have to take too much time with him."  (In fact, I ran into someone recently of D-list fame that really didn’t want to give me the time of day and seemed quite annoyed that I’d recognized and dared to speak a word in public to him)

But not Richard.  He actually wanted to talk to me.  And little did he know at that moment, how much that meant to me.  Y’see, I’d been following Richard Jeni since I was in college – which was a lonnnng time ago.  He used to have bits on Short Attention Span Theater on Comedy Central where they’d show maybe 2 or 3 jokes in a sequence of 30 seconds then switch to another comedian.  (Hence the Short Attention Span part.)

I watched so much of that SAST stuff, I knew his early stand up very well.  And I also knew he had a TV show that was cancelled called, "Platypus Man".  The premise was simple:  Man was awkward and evolved from different experiences.  He is ridiculed for being out of place and odd looking and that’s very much like the platypus.

In any case, I asked him if he minded doing corporate gigs like ours and he said that it was actually something he liked to do because it was easy money and he just had to do his bit once and that was it.  Fly in, perform, fly out, that’s it.  (I later discovered that he REALLY liked corporate gigs – his schedule was littered with them.  He must have had a helluvan agent!)

I don’t think Richard wasn’t quite prepared for my "reiteration" of his earlier bits.  Mid sip of my coffee, I launched into a recitation of one of his earlier bits about how flight attendants sometimes translate instructions into multiple languages on airplanes and how they constantly say the words, "At this time" after and before every sentence they say.  It’s like a filler phrase they use to prep themselves for the next thing they’re going to say to the cabin.

Richard seemed delighted that I remembered that bit – so much so that we started doing the bit together("… por favor, kiss your butt, buenos noches"), vocalizing each word together and concluding with "AT THIS TIME".  And we both laughed at the absurdity of two middle aged guys telling each other one guy’s jokes in the middle of a cafe.

Our flight had arrived, and so we got up to leave.  I bid my farewell to him and told him I’d look him up at his next gig which you’d always see on http://www.RichardJeni.com. 

I NEVER DID SEE THAT SHOW
I was supposed to see him a gig he was doing in the South Bay, but I never made it.  I was really disorganized then and I just forgot about it.  I wish I’d gone.

So now Richard’s gone. 

I’ve got a rather cynical view of most entertainers.  My experience with them hasn’t been particularly good.  I’ve supported entertainment companies for a long time as a salesperson and I can say that most of the folks I’ve met haven’t been particularly nice.  Many of the things you hear about celebrities is true and generalities are made about these folks because, in general, they’re right.

But Richard was different.  I didn’t know the guy very well, but in my mind, I remember Richard Jeni to be a nice guy, with an observant eye for comedy, and a kind heart.

Richard:  I know you’re up there somewhere making God laugh like Carlos says, and if it means anything, this guy wants to say, "Thanks for the memories… uh… at this time."

While on my last trip to Vegas, it dawned on me that I’ve never seen a discussion online about playing on casino credit, which is unusual considering it’s a sure fire way to make sure your play is noticed.

Credit?  Isn’t that bad?  Do you really want to play on "credit"? 

Well, it’s not really credit but rather something similar to a secured Mastercard.  It’s actually a personal check that you’ve written to the casino against a real bank account with the full funds in it that’s been verified by the casino with your bank.  This implies that the casino has the ability to inquire about specific funds in your bank account and that’s true.  They verify that you’ve got the money you are applying for before you get the green light.

Why would you want to do this?  Easy. 

• It’s more convenient.  Instead of withdrawing cash from your bank account, or getting a credit advance from your credit card at ridiculous rates, which not just have the casino loan you the cash and if you make the cash back, you pay back your loan.  If not, the casino takes the cash out of your account – no muss, no fuss.
• It’s a record of your play level.  If you get authorized for $50,000 in credit, it’s a signal to the casino that that’s the level of play – or the amount of money – you’re willing to gamble with/at.  Appropriately, your gambling is rated and viewed in the appropriate light by casino management.  A person that’s playing at the $50k credit level (and actually playing at those levels) is certainly more valuable to a casino than someone playing at the $1K level.

Here’s how you do it:

1. APPLY FOR CREDIT
   Go online (or call the casino) and apply for credit before hand.  Casinos like the Venetian have applications online that allow you to apply for credit over the Internet.  They’ll expect some key pieces of information such as the bank you do business at, the amount of money you’d like to have on credit, the bank ACCOUNT in which you have these funds, your personal information like your address, etc.

   The most important piece of information you can give them however is your Player’s Club card number.  This is also known as your CompCard.  This associates your credit with your rated play at the tables and is important to linking your bankroll to your casino play, so be sure to have a Player’s Club card number before applying.

   Note:  Some places may ask for your Social Security Number.  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE THIS TO THEM.  There is no reason for them to have your SSN so by God, don’t give it to them.  They usually want this to check your background but there’s no reason for them to have this:  They can check you out through other means other than your social so don’t enter that into any form or provide that information over the phone EVER.

2. WAIT FOR APPROVAL
   You will normally get a confirmation of your credit in the mail, telling you about how much you’ve been approved for and what to do next.

   Usually, if you have the funds in the bank before you’ve applied, you’ll be cleared for play and all you have to do is show up to the casino at that point.

3. CONFIRM YOUR CREDIT APPLICATION
   Once you get to the casino, you’ll need to go to "casino credit".  This is usually a office or booth that is near the cashier that will look you up in their computers and verify that you’ve in fact been approved for credit play.  They’ll draw some paperwork and have you sign it.

   At this point, usually all you’ve done through the paperwork is agreed to "pay them back" if they loan you some cash.  Nothing’s actually happened yet – although you may want to check the paperwork you signed before you sign it.

4. ASK FOR A MARKER
   Once you’re ready to play, simply go to a table and either ask to see the pitboss or ask the dealer for a "marker".  A "marker" is essentially a secured loan:  It’s a check that they’re having you write, payable to the casino, for whatever amount you’d like to play with.  They will ask you how much you’d like the marker for then draw up the "check" for that amount.  Once you’ve signed the check, they’ll give you the chips for whatever amount you’ve asked for.

   Remember:  They don’t cash that check in until either the day’s over or you leave the hotel at the end of your vacation, (depends on the hotel) so nothing will be drawn against your account unless you leave the casino without paying.  If you wish, you can "buy back that marker" after you’re done playing.

   NOTE:  Once you start playing, it’s generally expected that you’re going to PLAY IN THEIR CASINO.  This is the weird part:  It’s conceivable that you might play a little, get up from the table, and then cash in the chips and go play somewhere else.  This is frowned upon by the casino being that you’re playing with money on the credit they’ve extended to you.  Frankly, it’s a trick for moving money into Vegas without actually transporting cash into the city that I’ve learned from other players but it’s not something that I’d recommend being that you could piss some people off… and remember:  They’re always watching.

5. BUYING BACK YOUR MARKER
   Once you’ve finished playing, you can buy back your marker.  This can be done in two ways.  The first way, and most common way, is to simply go to the cashier, provide your Player’s Club card, and have them look up your marker.  They’ll ask you to provide funds equal to the marker’s value, then they’ll go back into the "cage" and retrieve the check that you signed. 

   These markers/checks are stored in the back of the casino usually about an hour after you’ve played.  It’s possible that you’ll ask for a marker, then complete playing before the marker leaves the pit.  This is the second way you can buy back your marker:  Simply ask for the marker back and hand over the chip value equal to the marker.  The pit boss will usually do the transaction right there eliminating the need for you to go to the cashier.

So there you have it:  That’s how to play with credit in Vegas.  It’s an easy way to get cash into Vegas without actually carrying it on the plane making the process a lot safer as well, and it’s a great way to keep a record of your play with the casino. 

Incidentally, I’m told that there may be a way to leverage this system to write off your gambling losses being that it’s all on-the-record.  This would be very interesting and once I get the details on that, I’ll post them.

I hate that state.  I hate their retirees.  I hate their businesses.  I even hate South Beach and their ridiculous bars, clubs, and really lousy pice o’ crap convention center.  Y’all are on crack – you’ve got nothin’ on LA.  Hell, I had to support the Walt Disney Company for 6 years as a vendor, and besides making some of my better friends at the "Great Mouse", I had to travel out to Orlando… a hot, sticky, muggy, locale that was prone to flash torrential downpours that would last exactly 10 minutes:  The exact 10 minutes in which you as a vendor are moving your demonstration gear from the Walt Disney parking lot to the building, arriving with whitepapers soaked, and equipment waterlogged.

And most of all, I hate Florida universities.  I hated Miami for beating our football team in 1998 and I hate Florida State for beating us in the WhateverBowl in 2006…

BUT I REAAAAAALLLLLY HATE THE FLORIDA GATORS.  This isn’t just a small level of hatred.  We’re talkin’ Duke Blue Devil levels.  We’re talkin’ Sacramento Kings levels.  We’re talkin’ USC Trojan levels. 

Florida beat UCLA – again – in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four to win the National Championship.  And I am forced to admit: 

You friggin’ Gators have a hands-down better team.

It’s said that on any given day, one team can beat another.  The standard deviation in play & luck is so wide that it’s conceivable that one big team can get beaten by a little team.  But that just wasn’t in the cards for us this year.  UCLA had a great team without a doubt carried through the tournament not on the wings of a single unstoppable player as in 1995 with Bruin great, Ed O’Bannon (all Bruins should at this time bow their heads in reverence for the great Eddie O) but on the backs of their nearly impenetrable defense.  Even Florida will admit that they were stymied in the first part of the game by our absolutely raucous 40-minutes-of-hell defense in which there were nearly 10 turnovers committed by Florida with crowded passing lanes and panic-inducing double teams that we’ve become known for.

But we had to play a perfect game to beat Florida.  The inside out talent of Florida was frankly astonishing.  They don’t have the same quality defense at UCLA does, even though they do slow down opponents. 

What they have are better players.

THE PERIMETER
Lee Humphreys, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green… in order to stop these guys, Arron Afflalo, Darren Collison & Josh Shipp would have to play stick-um defense.  Instead, Arron got into foul trouble with 3 fouls each after only 5 minutes of play in the first half, effectively taking him out of the game.  So naturally we had only two on-ball defenders to cover 3 lights out 3-point shooters.  Big surprise:  Corey Brewer, the player Arron Afflalo our best defensive player was supposed to cover, had a team high 19 points with 6 three-point field goals.

THE KEY
Meanwhile the inside would have to be dominated by a combination of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Alfred Aboya, and Lorenzo Mata against the all-star group of Al Horford, Chris Richard, and Joakim "Butthead" Noah.  And for most of the game, they did.  They did a very admirable job locking up the inside, keeping Joakim Noah in particular, below his season average – a stark improvement over last years final game where Joakim Noah ran roughshod over the Bruins.

But again, the referees called 3 fouls after again only 5 minutes of play on both Lorenzo Mata & Luc Richard taking them out of the game for the most part.  Ben Howland literally started playing players like Ryan Wright to get some breathing time for Alfred Aboya and the remaining other players.

THE REFEREES?
It could be asserted that after a measly 5 minutes of play, when you call 3 fouls on 3 starting players of a given team, leaving 35 minutes left in the game for each player to accrues 2 fouls before they’re ejected, that’s a little slanted.  It just cripples a defense from making good blocks and solid defensive moves. 

To put this into perspective, 3 of UCLA’s 5 starting players only played for 1 half of basketball.  The other 20 minutes, they had to sit down while other 2nd & 3rd stringers played for them. Ryan Wright, James Keefe, and Michael Roll… reasonably good players, yes, but they’re not starters for a reason.

YOU GOTTA OVERCOME… YOU JUST GOTTA
But the bottom line is that the best team simply has to overcome these obstacles no matter what the issue.  And UCLA, while I believe they performed admirably, couldn’t do that against a Florida team that just plain executed flawlessly.  When their interior got locked up, their backcourt shot – AND MADE – 3 point shots.  I mean, they really made them:  What do you do when the opposing team shoots 41% from the arc when your team doesn’t shoot more than 39% OVERALL, and that includes 3 point shots?

So I tip my hat to the University of Florida Gators Basketball team.  They’re the best team in the nation, and I told my friend from Ohio State, "I’m sorry buddy – but your Buckeyes are gonna flatout LOSE."

And lose they did.  To a team that we proved could be stopped in one area, but they’d just change their game to play better in another area.

Oh yeah… and Arron:  Please come back.

I preordered my copy of Guitar Hero 2 for Xbox 360, and sure enough it arrived in the mail along with not one, but TWO guitar controllers – the unique only-on-Xbox360 white-with-beige Gibson "Xplorer" guitar which isn’t just cooler than the red guitar that the PS2 has, it’s fret buttons have clearly been adjusted for more comfortable play.

AND there’s a really cool feature coming only for the XPlorer – a Wahwah pedal!  That’s right… there’s going to be a Wahwah pedal accessorie to allow you to adjust your guitar mid-song.  What’s the big deal you say?  Well, it means that there’s going to be new songs that take advantage of this upcoming accessory and that means that Guitar Hero 2 ALREADY HAS THE CODE IN IT for the wahwah pedal.  Either that or there’s going to be an update for the game that will enable the wahwah pedal which you’ll download likely over Xbox Live.

Either way, it also means that there’s going to be downloadable songs for this new accessory and that’s WAY cool, because as we all know, PS2 doesn’t have any of what I’ve discussed so far:  No Xplorer Guitar, no wahwah pedal accessory, (much less expandability for a wahwah pedal), no updatable software, no downloadable songs…

And look at the OTHER STUFF that ONLY the Xbox 360 version has:

1. 10 new songs that the Playstation 2 version doesn’t have, in addition to the original songs
2. 1080i high definition graphics to accompany the awesome 5:1 digital stereo audio
3. Leaderboards, or "online rankings" that automatically stack rank you against not just the other players in the world, but your other friends that are playing Guitar Hero 2 – and these rankings are per song, per career, and per difficulty level!
4. Downloadable themes and picture packs to accompany the downloadable songs that the PS2 doesn’t have
5. Multiplayer!  Rock out cooperatively with another player or compete head-to-head with someone else.
6. Practice Mode… so you can play without affecting your career scores.  And you can slow down the song so that you can get that solo riff correct that’s been kicking your ass during your career mode

Without a doubt, this game is an absolute MUST BUY for anyone that owns an Xbox 360.  It’s head and shoulders better than the PS2 version and it’s just plain a lot of addictive fun:  Dare I say it, it’s as addictive as HALO, and those are so big shoes to fill.

No wonder XPlay gave it a 5 out of 5… and Xbox Magazine gave it a 9.5 out of 10.  (They wanted XboxLive Coop & Head-to-head modes which aren’t in the product… yet.  I’ve heard that it might get added as a downloadable feature which would be wicked cool.)

 Our beloved dog, Sheepa, has been ill.  He’s been lethargic, not smiling, and most of all – he’s had urinary problems that resulted in him having to "go" every 4 hours.

He’d awake in the mornings clawing at our door to go out… and recently the poor guy hasn’t made it all night – we’d find a puddle in the kitchen sometimes and this is even when we take him out at 2:00AM and wake up at 5:30AM for another walk.

Yes, he’s kind of an old guy.  We adopted him when he was 10 years old approximately because no one else wanted him because he was such a mess and so beligerent.  As you can see, he’s a truly lovable dog that’s very affectionate and just needed a chance from someone to show that he could be a really good dog.

Well, he’s about 12 now and so there was a lot of drama at the vet.  They did a rectal exam to check for prostate issues which was okay.  Then he got checked from liver issues & diabetes and none of those came up positive after doing blood and urine labs. 

This was a problem because this could still mean one of 3 things:  He might have failing kidneys at worst, he could have kidney or bladder stones which would be second worse, and then he might just have a bacterial infection which we could probably knock out using antibiotics.

So finally they did a cultured bacterial lab which looked for bacterial growth in hi urine and sure enough, he had an infection:  They said E. Coli and some other bacteria.  (My wife couldn’t remember the other one) Nonetheless it was good news because he might be okay if we give him some meds, which we’re starting today.

This bothered me because I have no idea how he got an infection.  We give him fresh canned food every day in a clean bowl, he NEVER EVER EVER gets left overs or table scraps, and he gets fresh water from a steam cleaned bowl every day.  I mopped the floor with disinfectant just to make sure but I’m really angry because there’s no reason for him to have suffered from something like this.  The only thing we could think of was that he ate something outside that we didn’t know about.

Need to watch him more closely…

Revenge is a dish best served cold. – Klingon proverb

• To my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Snyder, that gave me consistent "S minuses" for neatness…
• To our office manager that annually berates me for the condition of my cubicle…
• To my parents who said that if I didn’t improve my neatness, the family wouldn’t go to Disneyland for summer vacation, then made good on their promise when I came home with Mrs. Snyder’s dreaded "S-"…

…well, how ya like me now?

Are You a Slob? Good, You’re More Productive (Reuters)
Karen Jackson would be the first to admit her desk looks like a disaster area.
Her stacks of papers and photographs are so sloppy that the Texas schoolteacher won first place in a contest to find America’s messiest desk.
Sponsored by publisher Little, Brown and Co., the competition promoted "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder," by Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman, a new book that argues neatness is overrated, costs money, wastes time and quashes creativity.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2105584,00.asp

NEATNESS IS OVERRATED
I’ve always told new employees that if you have time to clean up your cube and organize your desk, you clearly don’t have enough to do.  Every spare moment should be spent either face-to-face with your customers, on the phone with your customers, or doing things to help your customers. 

Organizing your damned CDROM library or restacking your computer book shelf does not fall into this category.  Imagine telling your customer:  Gee I’m sorry My Fortune 500 but I couldn’t do any proactive research for you on technologies X, Y, and Z this week because I was too busy reorganizing my drawer of status reports and organizing the corkboard in my cubicle.

I’ve heard some say that "if you can’t find things, you can’t be productive" and I think that’s a complete crock.  I’ve never met anyone that spent hours trying to find something that they were "missing" because ultimately, people just don’t throw things just anywhere:  It’s alway organized in some way or placed in a somewhat narrowed down location in their workspace.  In fact, even if it WAS lost somewhere in a cubicle, who cares?  How long would it take you to search from something in an 8’x8′ piece of floor space anyway?

I’ve been a mess my whole life.  My former manager was a total mess as well.  Well, he retired at the age of 38.  My financial advisor says I can retire when I’m 45. 

How’s that for productivity, Mrs. Snyder?  At the same age you were slapping that school ruler on my desk forcing me to rewrite my book reports with "neater handwriting", I’ll be on a beach, sipping a pina colada, dragging sand all over the place, making 20% on my portfolio. 

At that point you can call me messy & unproductive all you want.

Think you’ve had a bad day?  Imagine if you were this guy.

Oops! Techie wipes out $38 billion fund
Keystroke mistake deletes data for Alaska’s oil-funded account
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17702021/from/ET/ 

We actually helped them through the recovery process.  We get a small plug in the article.  Check it out.

I ran on the New York Times Reader the other day on my Windows Vista laptop. 

I was greeted with a message that said:
The NYTimes Reader beta is ending at the end of March" and at which point it would no longer be free.

Okay.  I’m a capitalist in every sense of the word and I’m also a salesperson.  I can respect the need to make some money on the development of their reader.  Paying for a copy of the NYTimes Reader makes sense to me.  So I read on.

It then said, after March 31st, the usage of the NYTimes Reader would be a subscription fee.

Huh?  Wait.  A subscription fee for the software and New York Times’ content?  I mean, it’s not like the software actually revises & evolves much at all, nor do they have a massive dev team working on it.  In fact, during the beta it never really changed one bit.  All it was was a cleartype reader that downloaded XML data from their news site – information that was free anyway through http://www.nytimes.com.  Okay, whatever.  As long as it’s not that big a deal, fine.  I’ll pay it.  After all, they’re clearly compensating for the elimination of advertising and that’s certainly worth a few bucks.

It went on to say, that the subscription fee would be $14.95 a month.

SHEER HIGHWAY ROBBERY
WTF?!?  $14.95/month?  Are you guys at NYTimes high?  That’s $180 a year!  I might as well have the damned newspaper physically delivered everyday First Class mail to my house for that rate, which I most certainly won’t do.  There’s more than adequate sources of news on the Internet, including NYTIMES.COM, much less LATIMES.COM and other sites.  The cost of delivery 365 days a year for physical copies of the NYTimes is $320!

Existing NYTimes subscribers get to use the Reader for free.

Well, damn I hope so because at $180, that’s just highway robbery and if you planned on charging existing subscribers that same fee, I might want to go an throw tomatoes at your building just for being stupid.

SAME COST AS WINDOWS VISTA
To put this into perspective, WINDOWS VISTA ITSELF COSTS $180 for our a brand new copy of, "Home Basic", and an upgrade of our top-of-the-line product, "Home Premium" is $180 as well.

Oh the irony:  The cost of a stupid Reader is the same cost as the actual PC operating system that’s required to use it.

IT’S NOT LIKE IT WAS BUILT ALL BY THEIR LONESOME
And let’s be clear here folks before anyone thinks that they "went through hell and back again" to create this reader:  The New York Times didn’t develop this reader anywhere nearly on their own.  It’s my understanding that Microsoft provided the basic structure of the reader along with Microsoft-funded partner assistance and provided a ton of integration work & technical support as well.  I’ve even heard that it was our partners & creative folks that provided the clean interface look and feel that the reader is known for.  And I won’t lie to you:  We used this reader as a case study & a reference application… look at the power of Windows Vista… NYTimes has made a great tool through it.

And now the New York Times wants to charge an ungodly amount of money for it.  Are you kidding me?  I understand that it doesn’t have advertising and as a result there has to be some compensation for NYTime’s product – the news doesn’t get written about for free.  But there’s just NO WAY as a casual reader I or anyone I know is going to buy this thing on it’s own at half the price of a real subscription.  If you really want the New York Times, you’ll get it delivered and get the reader for free.

And that’s a shame.  Because while I respect the effort put into the NYTime Reader, I respect the partnership between Microsoft & the New York Times, and I respect the value of their news product, setting a value on their content that is 50% of their normal subscription rate for content that is wholly available for free (albeit with ads) on the web is simply ludicrous.

The removal of advertising from NYTimes news content, plus the new user interface for the reader is simply not worth $180/year.

A DIFFERENCE IN PHILOSOPHIES
Maybe I was misguided and presumed too much. 

I thought the folks at the NYTimes would have been smart enough to understand the role the Internet has in growing volume, while lowering prices.  Usually when companies provide tools on the web to access traditionally physical based information or products, it’s to expand their readership, grow their marketshare, or market their brand name – not reinforce their existing installed customer base and reinforce their existing price structure.

At Microsoft, we’ve consistently maintained the same price across our consumer Windows product for example:  $99 for upgrades, $180 for full versions.  It’s grown 5 fold in features, it’s increased its support for platforms, it’s dramatically improved its speed, stability, and security, and it’s remained at the same price.  Why?  Because our volumes grow and we develop other products to sell in addition to Windows.  And that’s how Microsoft grows it’s revenue.  High volume, low cost, increased product set.

So how is this different from NYTimes wanting to "improve the existing feature set" of their subscription paper product?  One big difference:  Microsoft has a natural monopoly on PC operating systems.  Growing our customer base beyond 5% a year is just not possible and overall, it’s most certainly not a growth area for us, whereas the NYTimes has primarily New York as a current customer base… they still have the other 49 states to cover and grow into.

I suppose one could make the claim that they did expand their readership through the Beta:  They expanded the awareness people had of their publication, the balance of the writing, and the overall quality of the product.

And while I respect their right to set whatever price they want on their product, to then say to all these casual users:  Now you have to pay an ridiculous fee for the same thing you were getting free  on the web, the same content you were getting free through the beta, and at 50% of the price of the physical medium… folks, that’s just unreasonable.  Unreasonable on a level similar to the kicking and screaming that music publishers have around DRM.  And we all know what’s happened to them since then: 70% drop in music purchases, 90% of all music used is pirated, the majority of MP3s are legitimate rips from existing CDs and Tower Records went out of business.

LOOKING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL
Imagine in the same vein, someone producing a utility that simply robotically screen scrapes the NYTimes based on it’s existing layout and provided a similar look-and-feel to what the reader does.  It’s very much possible and it wouldn’t require a $14.95/month subscription to use.

Maybe the NYTimes will come around in 6 months or so when usage of the Reader is dead… except for their existing customer base which might use it for free but since they get the paper version, it’s arguable they’ll use it regularly.  They’ll declare the software a failure and that "there wasn’t any demand for the product".  Those that had been following the evolution of the Reader will call the NYTimes idiots knowing that the $180/year price tag was obviously the real adoption blocker, at which point they might even decide to lower the price of the tool.

But until then, I’m saddened by your approach, NYTimes.  You guys had the world’s focus and all the marketing associated with Windows Vista.  You had a great tool at your disposal and a competitive edge over other mediums and right now you’re just throwing it all away.

p.s.  Forbes Magazine’s Windows Vista Reader for their web content remains free.  Also Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Windows Vista Reader for their web content also remains free.  Both are created by Identity Mine – a 3rd party Reader development company.
http://www.identitymine.com/readers/

Okay – I thought this blog would be just a flash in the pan thing that I visit once then never look at again.  Then I read this entry and nearly pissed myself:

Screw Daylight Savings

March 9th, 2007

I’m not playing ball this year. You can spring ahead if you want, but my ass is staying right here. You must not know ’bout me. If you think I’m setting my clocks ahead, or going to bed earlier you better check yourself.

When Monday morning comes you might call me late, but you’re the one who’s retarded.

And the Winter Solstice can get fucked too.

Then he has another post that has this on it:

Pakistan: Tough on lawyers

March 13th, 2007

I’m not a big fan of beat-downs at public protests, but the Globe and Mail caption on this pic almost made me piss my cubicle.

He’s not just a blogger:  He’s my HERO.  Mr. Munroe – you sir, are the man.

I generally hate forwarded emails.  This one however had me chuckling.  It reminded me of the kind of stuff I used to get back in the BBS days:  Lists of things you could do to your school to rebel.  Things like, "Leave little slips of paper lying around for the administration to find that say, ‘Tuesdays the day’", and "Carry a screwdriver around with you and slowly dismantle the school."

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity 

1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars.  See if they slow down.
2. Page yourself over the Intercom.  Don’t disguise your voice.
3. Everytime someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
4. Put your garbage can on the desk and label it, "In".
5. Put decaf in the coffeemaker for 3 weeks.  Once everyone’s gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
6. In the memo field of all your checks, write, "For smuggling diamonds"
7. Finish all your sentences with "in accordance with The Prophecy".
8. Don’t use any punctuation.
   As often as possible, skip rather than walk.
9. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
10. Specify that your drive-through order is "to go".
11. Sing along at the Opera.
12. Go to a poetry recital and ask why the poems don’t rhyme.
13. Put mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.
14. Five days in advance, tell your friends that you can attend their party because you’re not in the mood.
15. Have your co-workers address you by your wrestling name, "Rock Bottom"
16. When the money comes out of the ATM, screen "I won!  I won!"
17. When leaving the zoo, start running toward the parking lot yelling, "Run for your lives!  They’re loose!"
18. Tell your children over dinner:  "Due to the economy, we’re going to have to let one of you go."

This is just fantastic.  This guy’s awesome.  I’m equally amazed that someone else hasn’t done this before and posted it to the Internet.  This might create a trend… and the best part is the memo.

So of course the next step is to try to hunt down this Randall Patrick Munroe, right?  That’s naturally the first thing I did when I received this in my inbox.  And sure enough…

http://beerandnews.wordpress.com/2007/01/03/checkmate-randall-patrick-munroe/#comment-458

Talk about adding to the hilarity:  Look at all the sliderule-types in the comments section:  I used to get beat up in school for making comments similar to what’s written. 

I mean, I’m a definitely a geek and sometimes I would classify myself as a nerd (especially when I’m rambling on & on about the differences between illegally defined track-based and precision data placement CDROM copy protection or the percentage edge obtainable in a Vegas strip casino on a 6:5 payout game with surrender versus a 3:2 without… blah blah blah… gettin’ the picture?)…

…but the comments on Randall’s page for this check?  PURE DORK.  They’re actually analyzing the equation and critiquing him on his math.  Here’s a sampling:

————–

noob mathematicians ;-p the total is essentially 0.

e^([pi]i) = -1
just like ln(-1)=[pi]i

i, indicates an imaginary number which has a few different calculations than real numbers. You can do it by hand, or just say ’screw it’ and use a TI-83 or equivalent.

∑1/2^n = 1

Even though beginners will translate it as .999… that number is a fallacious number, and is thus translated as 1. (Just like 2/3 is equal to .666…, 3/3 = .999… AND 1)

And finally, when dealing with money, anything less than a cent, can NOT be rounded up to a cent. It is in fact rounded down.

Plan and simple, he gave them a check for nothing… and is refusing to pay his bill.

————–

The “i” imaginary number is factored out. e^ix = cos(x) + i*sin(x) (Euler’s Law); since sin(pi) = 0, the “i” is factored out — and cos(pi) = -1. Then the series shown does not equal “1″, but rather pi^2/6 (it’s a power series expansion). What you’re left with is:

0.002 – (pi^2)/6,

or roughly -$1.64. Which tells me that Mr. Munroe must have had a credit of $1.64 on his account… 🙂

————–

That check is made out incorrectly. The numerical part on the right side is acceptable, but the “Dollar Line” is totally unacceptable because that line is supposed to be written in word form, and not a repeat of the numerical value. Verizon should have refused to accept it and maintained a balance due on the account. HOWEVER, the whole idea is terrific!

If you love animals, and want to see a MASSIVE 65 ADOPTION GROUP festival with more animals than you can imagine that all need homes, please come see us this Sunday from 11AM-4PM in Burbank at the Johnny Carson Park.

MORE INFORMATION:  http://network.bestfriends.org/losangeles

MAP:  http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=34.153047~-118.329277&style=r&lvl=14&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=3393279&sp=Point.pprymh545b0y_Johnny%20Carson%20Park%20%28park%29%2c%20Burbank%2c%20California%2c%20United%20States___

1. Blackjack tables that pay 6:5 on natural 21s are all that you’ll find in a BJ player’s version of hell.
2. Any table with a continuous shuffling machine should be avoided like the plague*.
3. Your comps from the casino are roughly one average bet per hour. 
4. Be prepared to "go on a bathroom break" or "answer a cell phone call" when the table goes cold.
5. Casino credit is the best way to play; pre-apply for it through the casino web site.
6. Always plan a show, a dinner, and a daily activity each day in Vegas:  It clears your mind.
7. If you vary your bet more than 4x, be prepared to only play in 1 hour stints.
8. Never "reset" your bet to a minimum on shuffles.
9. All a casino needs to do to rip you off is remove a few 10’s.
10. Tokes (dealer tips) should be placed on top of your bet, not in front. 
11. Keep a basic strategy card with you on the table at all times; take the time to refer to it if don’t know the correct call.
12. The best drink while playing 21 is Red Bull on the rocks:  It looks like whisky.
13. If you’re going to play like a marathon as an advantage player, try to play by yourself.
    If you’re going to play opportunistically by selectively joining games, try to play with a few others.
14. 10-10-3-10-10-8-9-6-7-2-1-5-4 is the order of a ‘cooler’ deck.
15. The discard case is transparent red to prevent card marking.
16. Quietly sneaking chips off table is a good practice… but it’s frowned upon by the casino.
17. If you’re planning for comps, assume you’ll lose the money once you step off the plane. 
18. If you’re playing for money, assume you’re going to win the moment you step off the plane.
19. Comps are based on your length of play & your average bet – not your win/loss record.
20. Always order a non-alcoholic cocktail; never play tired or drunk.
21. Always have a ‘safe harbor’ to go to in a casino, where you can relax quietly if you’re lost.
22. Come with a mix of cash for tips & traveler’s checks for other things.
23. If you win more than $10K, it’ll be reported by the casino to the IRS as taxable winnings.
    If you lose more than $10K, the IRS will have no idea so you can’t write it off as a loss.
24. If you have $1000 chips, it’ll need to be reported by the pit boss before you can go to the cashier.
    Additionally, the pit boss doesn’t "clock you out" immediately after leaving a table so wait a while to grow your comp time.
25. Always make your initial bet a big one to get recorded as one end of your average bet.
26. You should always be able to make around 100 bets on average with your total bankroll.
27. You have a limited bankroll while the house has an unlimited bankroll.  This is why, when the house has an edge, ultimately the house always wins.
28. Blackjack is either a lot of frivolous fun, or it’s hard work & drudgery.
29. All big losing streaks can be healed by one of the following:
    1. Big comeback wins
    2. Cocktails & good friends
    3. High roller treatment & a good loud Vegas club
    4. The Hard Rock Pool & YK-35 at Nobu’s
30. Be kind to your dealer:  He/she is often the one who determines what your average bet was.
31. Always hit 12 against a 2 or 3; Always stand on 13.
32. Go to Vegas between conventions; schedules are available from LasVegasAdvisor.com.
33. Never take insurance.
34. Ben Mezrich’s books make the pursuit of Blackjack far more romantic than it really is.
35. If the limits are too high, ask a pitboss to lower them when action’s low.
36. Play with superstitions, but don’t believe in them. 3rd base does NOT control the game.
37. Don’t hate the dealer – hate the shoe.
38. The first rule of the Playboy Club is you DO NOT PLAY BLACKJACK AT THE PLAYBOY CLUB.
39. Tip a pool boy $20 the day before to reserve a chair at the Hard Rock Pool.
40. The more decks in the shoe, the more of an edge the casino has against you.
41. Sometimes it’s more fun to read about Blackjack at bjinsider.com than it is to play it.
42. High limit dealers are often the friendliest.
43. If you don’t like smoke, don’t play.
44. RFB comps on the strip require around $200-$300 of play a day.
45. Never play at any any Blackjack game using MindPlay MP21 tables**.
    This means the entire Flamingo Las Vegas.
46. A single deck table with exactly 4 players is by far one of the best games to play.
47. The Internet knows how bad the edge is at your favorite casino at Trackjack.com.
48. Blackjack players are as bad as sports fans as evidenced by the BJ21.com forums.
49. Most books on Blackjack regurgitate the same stuff over and over again; ask before you buy.
50. Professional Blackjack players are just geniuses far beyond our comprehension & even they’re making diminishing returns, so the sooner everyone learns this the sooner we can all just get on with our lives.

* There’s one exception to this rule:  If you have a "Naturals pay 3-1 coupon" (usually for a Downtown Vegas casino) you probably want to play on a CSM.  This is because, these coupons only last a half-hour or an hour and you want to try to get in as many hands as possible during the time allotted & CSMs eliminate the time for shuffling.

** MindPlay tables are electronic tables that optically scans the cards & the chips being wagered.  The casino knows exactly what cards are being played and precisely what you’ve bet.  To quote Stanford Wong, "The easiest way to tell a MindPlay table is by the recessed "well" to the dealer’s right. After shuffling or removing the cards from the shuffling machine, but before dealing, the dealer will insert the cards into this "well." Inside the "well" is a scanner that reads the marked cards, enabling the MindPlay device to know the exact order of the cards before they are dealt. A normal table does not have this recessed "well." In addition, you will see a black contraption that is used to hold the dealers first two cards."

OMFG.  Anyone that’s been following the game console wars simply has to watch this video.

  http://images.soapbox.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swf
Video: The PS3 Song – "How to kill a brand"

In case, you have any doubt about whether Sony deserves a ribbing like this, may I remind you of all that’s happened over the last year?
http://kurtsthoughts.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!97895BBB8AD10F37!373.entry

I’ve been sick over the past 5 days with a wicked cold that’s made it hard for me to even drive to the pharmacy to get meds.  It’s so weird how run down and tired you get just walking from the car to the pharmacy (which by the way is waaaaaay in the back of store, which you really can’t appreciate how lousy the placement of the pharmacy is until you’re sick and you have to go all the way to the back on your lonesome)  Thank God for spouses.

So while I was perusing the aisles at Ralphs, I noticed that not a damned thing contains psuedoephedrine.  Y’know, the stuff that dries up your sinuses so that you can breathe?  It’s a nasal decongestant that is (or should I say, WAS) found in Sudafed, Actifed, and other over the counter medications.

But not more.  There’s absolutely nothing out there now on the shelves that uses it.  I didn’t think this would be that big a deal until I bought $14 worth of the "new generation" of sinus & ‘runny nose’ meds which contact a pseudophedrine replacement in them called "phenylephrine" only to discover that they DON’T WORK FOR @#$%. 

No – I’m serious.  I did the f-ing Pepsi challenge on this phenylephrine crap relative to my last package of old generation Actifed which had psuedoephedrine in it.  The results? 

• Time until clear sinuses with Phenylephrine (Actifed/SudafedPE):  NEVER
• Time until clear sinuses with Psuedophedrine (Actifed/SudafedPE):  7min-10min.

After tearing up the "Internets" (as Kevin Pereira would call them) I discovered the reason:  Apparently, folks that make crystal meth buy and use large quantities of cold medication to produce… well… crystal meth. 

And because it’s a ghetto, low cost, drug (it’s apparently like the "moonshine" of drugs:  It’s available in large quantities and thus everyone can get it if they know the right people however only folks that frankly can’t afford better make it/use it) they’ve imposed a  statewide ban on psuedoephedrine much to the dismay of those of use with cold viruses – like me.

I WANT MY PSUEDOEPHEDRINE!
It turns out that you CAN get psuedophedrine.

If you’re like me, you never default to asking for help from store employees on topics that actually require thought.  You’d instead prefer to work with an ATM or a computer or something that frankly doesn’t require the frustration of human contact.  My tolerance for ineptitude is exceptionally low when I’m ill.  Unfortunately, this tactics loses in the end because if you apply it at the pharmacy, you’d never know where the psuedophedrine went to. 

It turns out it’s behind the counter at the pharmacy.  You can get it with out a prescription however you have to provide an ID, and a credit card… and you have to sign a log book before you can get your meds.  There is also a max on how much you can buy:  2 packages per person per day or a max of 3.6 grams per day.  My wife smartly bought the Sudefed 12 hour which is a quadruple dose (120mg) of psuedophedrine per capsule.  The regular crap is 30mg/capsule.

There was an article in the Washington Post about this:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thecheckout/2006/09/putting_the_fed_in_sudafed.html

I guess, I’m not that pissed.  I just wish this was better advertised.  I mean, I went to two different stores and I never saw a damned thing about this change in active ingredients.  Normally, I’m not one to complain, but that’s probably because, normally I take my meds, I get well, no problem.

This unfortunately doesn’t work if the meds are ineffective.  I’d even gone so far as to double dose on that phenylephrine crap and it still didn’t work.  Who the hell buys this new crap anyway?

Normally, I wouldn’t post something like this but it’s so tremendously beautiful, I thought those of you with Windows Vista machines might like it.  A customer pulled this image off of an article he found on FARK.COM and he couldn’t find it again (otherwise, I’d link to the original).  It’s an extremely high resolution photo above the clouds and it makes a beautiful background.

My customer pointed out that if you look really carefully, you can make out stars in the sky if you zoom in.

If you want to download it, it’s 6MB compressed as a ZIP file here.