I’ve looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It’s love’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know love at all

Only the phoenix arises and
does not change.
And everything changes. And
nothing is truly lost.
- Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman”

So, with that in mind, here’s a song for everyone:

Speaking of the sky, one of the classic luxuries is to look up and watch the clouds flirt with the sun. It’s even better when you have a megapixel phone camera to capture a moment.

I won’t cry when the silver lining shows
But you’re right
You understand
You ride with both hands
- Mew, White Lips Kissed

Let me focus on the booze. No, booze is too pedestrian a term for the wonderful elixirs the Ds so graciously offered me and Warm. For example, I had some of the nicest Bloody Marys in a while. Also, it was refreshing to have a Bloody Caesar because I think Clamato (tomato with a dash of of clam broth) make a divine base for a cocktail.

Especially interesting was one of the most unusual Scotch Whiskeys I’ve ever tried - Nikka, which is incredibly flavourful, unexpectedly strong, and a startling maroon colour. Wow!

Stand by for pictures once I get the Ds to email them to me!

Read more about it here on Being Warm’s blog.

The first photo has different lighting from the one used in the newspaper, and the second one has the same lighting but is a closeup. Both are from Reuters.

You can read more in this Associated Press wire story.

My favourite vampire TV series of all time is Forever Knight, which ran from ‘92-’96. I think it’s by far the most stylish, best cast, least corny, and most human ever made. Here’s a really tasteful montage from the series set to K’s Choice’s very appropriate song Not an Addict:

Here’s a droll soundbite from Lacroix (played perfectly by Nigel Bennett):

Humanity is delicious, is it not?

And here’s a song I can say with some certainty none of you readers will remember - Lori Yates’s The Hunger, from the soundtrack of the series:

You must give in
You must give in
A game that you can’t win
The Hunger

Let me help.

• Macheads should download Wiretap (It’s shareware but unregistered versions are still perfectly functional; just with fewer options)
• Windows users should grab freeware Stationripper, OpD2d, or one of these.
• Lovers of Linux flavours can try Streamripper, which seems to already be part of the FreeBSD standard distro.

All the programs work in roughly the same way - you start the program, stream your audio, and press Record. Whatever plays on your computer’s soundcard gets recorded. Voila.

Audio is intercepted as it leaves your soundcard, but before it reaches your speakers. Those of you worried that someday soon, this avenue will be cut off to you, probably needn’t fret. A few years ago, my buddy SH and I were discussing ideas for a newspaper technology story when he pointed out that no matter what kind of DRM (digital rights management) is slapped onto your PC, audio still has to come out from an analog audio jack. Plug in any form of audio recorder - even one using primitive cassette tapes - and you can record your audio. Nothing short of a complete migration to digital audio cables will change that, so rest easy for now.

The Net interprets censorship as damage, and routes around it.
- John Gilmore (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

USB is so convenient I’ve almost forgotten the bad old days of traditional serial cables and parallel ports.

If only our bodies were that easy to disconnect and reconnect. I used to be a swimmer jock back in school, but in the years since, I thoroughly unjocked (yes, I just invented that word). These days, I’m busy rejocking (yes, another new word) while the good ‘ol metabolism still has a vague memory of healthier days, and hasn’t yet succumbed to Alzheimer’s.

Well, not exactly the same thing, since I already had both Mac OSX and Windows XP running natively on the computer. It’s just that now I have Mac OSX running on Windows running on a Mac. Now that’s meta!

Can you spot which one’s the “real” Mac OSX?

Well, I won’t tell you, though I will point out that Neverwinter Nights 2, the latest greatest Dungeons & Dragons RPG, is running on the second screenshot.

And, for good measure, here’s an extended screen capture across my two screens (I’m running a dual display setup):

A big thanks to FlyakiteOSX for making this happen, and all for free. There’s actually a way to do the same thing to OSX, but I’ve definitely had my fill of topsy turviness for a while, so I’m not going to try it.