Jul 28, 1998, 11:45pm

Well in my amazing consistency, I wrote a rant last week but didn't find the time (read here, couldn't be bothered) to upload it properly. At the bottom of this new rant, you'll find a link to the previous one. Sorry! I am lame, I know it!

Lots of stuff going on in the last few days. Lately, I've been involved in various usenet threads in van.general, the main discussion group for Vancouver area people. I've been having these ongoing arguments with a guy calling himself "human" (faked name and email address of course) who believes that pretty much all feminists are evil. I get the feeling this guy wants to go back to the 50s... the 1650s when women were all, as a rule, subservient to men. I strayed away from the "fight" because the guy was going a bit insane with his insults and commentary, but I answered one of his more rational posts last night. If you have access to the van.general newsgroup, check it out.

Speaking of usenet, those who know me on the Net for a while now know I used to be pretty veracious in my postings in my own local usenet circles. In fact, I used to get into these massive flame wars with the SpankMonkey, which makes it all the more ironic we are friends today. As Dave said in the past, I finally said something he agreed with, so we struck up a tentative truce, then became friends.

My history on Usenet goes back to early 1994. Christ, has it been that long now!? Back in 94 and 95, I was considered a bit of newbie, and because of this the "old guard" (of which Dave is one) didn't have much respect for what I said. Which of course made me spew out more fire and brimstone in my posts at times. I used to enjoy my Usenet spats back then, but about a year or two ago I kind of gave up on it because honestly I was becoming a bit obsessed with it all. Now after a lengthy layoff, I'm sort of back in the scene, at least my local one, and to be honest it just doesn't have the same kind of "zing" for me. Maybe it's because of this human guy - I have real fears that this guy could turn into the next Marc Lepine, the guy who killed 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in '89.

I'm not saying he will do it, I'm just thinking his thoughts parallel those of Lepine too much to not worry about them. And now I have some fears that my own goading and (at times) belittling of him might actually contribute to any possible downturn in his thinking. Because of this and other reasons I've sort of pulled myself out of the discussions.

One thing this renewed venture into usenet has shown me is this - there are people out there who not only disagree with you but they could also be potentially dangerous. I certainly don't want to be a contributing factor to a person's actions that might be dangerous, so it makes me really think more about what I'm posting now.

But enough of that stuff. I got the NEW Hip CD last week! YEEEEHAAAAA! It's like Christmas in July!!! Jean actually bought it for me - the morning it was first available for sale, and put it on my chest as I was sleeping. Sweet girl, her! {g}. The Tragically Hip RULE!

This new CD is especially interesting in that it is a bit of a departure from their normal "sound". There are several songs on the CD that sound like traditional Hip songs, but more than a few have quite a different sound. Robbie's unique usual guitar sounds are absent on some songs, replaced by quite a different guitar. It took me about a week, but I think I like it. A lot.

And for some news about this site. As you may or may not know, I recently posted a short photoessay on the first night of the 4 night Vancouver Fireworks competition. Check it out if you haven't already.

And I'm working on building an interactive photo album. I recently did one of those "adult type" sites for a client (no, don't bother asking the URL - the money was good enough!) and I came up with a cool and new way of presenting images - one I haven't seen anywhere else on the Net so far. Since I more or less invented it, I'd probably incorporate the design into my own little online photo album.

But I'm still not sure if I'll do it or not. One thing I hate is looking at other people's photo albums, at least those of people I don't know much or at all, because I don't have any of those shared experiences. A lot of my digital photos spewing out of my PhotoPC 600 are pictures of people I know, places I've been and a combination of the two. I did do a series of late night photographs of the neighborhood I live in but I planned to use them for a future story on Kitsilano. A lot of them turned out well and the ones that didn't will look ok after a little PhotoShop massage.

I'm also thinking about doing some more panoramas. I've actually done a few since but haven't taken the time to webbify them yet. Maybe what I will do is take some more but plan them this time for an artistic or touristic look at my city. Maybe some shots at my fave hangout places, maybe some scenery shots of Vancouver etc etc. I have had some good feedback so far about the rather lame panoramas I have up currently, so much better planned and executed panos might be hit, what do you think?

And that's about it for today. If you want to read the previous unposted rant, here it is. And as always, thanks for stopping by!

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Mixelania

Photos from Algonquin Park
Photos from my trip to Algonquin Park this fall with my Mom and two brothers.

War Stories

Making Snow for the Fortress
One of the worst jobs I ever had... till I got out.

Webiffied

Tools I Use
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iPod and iTunes Offline

iMark's iTunes and iPod isn't iPlaying anything right iNow.

Most Recent Songs

Fiddlers Green by The Tragically Hip

Around The Bend by Pearl Jam

Here With Me (Rollo's Chillin' With the Family Mix) by Dido

With arms open wide by Creed

truffle pigs by Matthew Good Band

In the News

Burundi and Beyond - NY Times
Great article by Peter Meehan - provided some background.

St. Petersburg Times
Side mention in an article about good machines

AP Story on Espresso
Background and information provided

NY Times - Grinders Article
Especially proud of this one - got the reporter to focus on grinders

Globe and Mail
LOL - showing bad reporting, dude says I'm an American-based site!

The Olympian, WA
Talks about my love for the El Sal Siberia Pacamara

Seattle Times - Clover
Interviewed for comments on the Clover brewer

NY Times - How it Works
Background and information for various espresso machines

Time Mag Article
Just a brief mention, article about roasting beans.

NY Times
Front page article about consumers getting into specialty coffee.

Washington Monthly
Quoted reference to what I wrote in an article at CoffeeGeek.

USA Today - Barista Jam
Intereviewed for my thoughts on what the epitome of espresso is.

WSJ Article
The Wall Street Journal has interviewed me 3 times. This is the first time my name got in a story.

Reuters Interview
Interview with Reuters, Jan 2 - this is the USA Today version.

My Other Stuff

CoffeeGeek
Launched Dec 22, 2001, this is THE online community for espresso and coffee fanatics.

CoffeeKid Website
It's all new, as of March, 2002. My personal coffee obsession site.

WebMotif Services
My company's site - needs an update!

Amazon WishList
Hey, if you feel the need to buy me something, check here!

Daily Visits

enGadget
Great gadget site run by the guy who used to do Gizmodo.

Google News
This is how I get my daily news fix.

DPReview Forums`
The most active forums for digital photography online today.

Daily Zen
Need my Daily Zen fix!

Jalopnik
A blog about car stuff. Vroom Vroom.

MoCo Loco
An industrial design blog. Very cool stuff.

Friends and Family Plan

Beata Blog
Beata's got her own blog! She updates it most days.

Riddla on Flickr
Matt Riddle's flickr account, updated regularly

Irdy Photos
Irdy, my friend from Jakharta, on Flickr

Recent Acquisitions

Canon EF 24-105 f4 L Lens
The best lens I've ever owned. Super sharp and quick.

Canon 5D
A full frame dSLR, with luscious colour reproduction.

Alzo Digital Lights
Some amazing florescent cold lights for product photography

Canon Xsi dSLR
Amazing technology and image quality in a tiny package.

Canon 40D
Latest prosumer camera from Canon - a much better upgrade than the 30D

Fujitsu P1610
Great 2.2lb computer that does most of my travel / writing needs

28mm f1.8 Lens
A great lens for closeup work and full picture photography

Foodsaver Advanced
Finally got the right tools for freezing green coffee.

Canon 50mm 1.4
Most amazing lens I've ever owned. Produces stellar photos.

Canon 10-22mm
Super wide angle (full frame fisheye) zoom for my Canon 20D