This week's sign that the Apocalypse is upon us...

I want a Mac.

That is the very first time in my life that I've found myself lusting after one of Apple's computers. And after going so long calling them "Macin-craps" too. But, it's true: I would love to have a Mac computer.

Now, I am and always will be, I guess, a Windows user. Ever since Windows 3.1 well over ten years ago. For me, it's just plain fun to get into the guts of Windows and tinker with stuff, the way we used to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files in old-school MS-DOS. And it's just too practical for me to stick with Windows anyway. It's what I know how to use the most.

But in spite of all that, at long last... I'd love to own a Mac. Because as good as Windows is, there are some things that Mac can do just as well. And I'll now admit, maybe even better.

What finally did it for me is Garageband, a Mac program that lets even music-illiterate types like me make some pretty astounding audio tracks. We have Garageband loaded on a G5 Mac at our TV station and I'm really impressed with it. So much so that for the past few weeks I've been trying my darndest to find a Windows equivalent that does the same thing.

But alas... there isn't one.

And Macs also run Final Cut Pro, which I'm amazed at what some of the other guys at the station can do with this software package. When I was putting Forcery together I used Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 for the editing and After Effects 6.5 for all the visual effects. If I'd been working on a Mac loaded with Final Cut Pro, I could have streamlined the entire process so much more smoothly.

I'm starting to seriously consider eventually getting a Mac, because if I'm going to pursue filmmaking any more it might be well worth getting a multimedia platform as well-suited to so many production tasks as the Mac is. I can see where it would make a huge impact on my work.

If my friend Deborah ever reads this she's going to be laughing her head off, because she's long been telling me how good Macs are... and I've finally come to believe her.

So that might be something I'll be looking into getting in the not too distant future. And I'm sure it will work just fine alongside my Windows XP machines, or Vista if Microsoft ever gets that piece of bloatware off the ground. That's one thing I've always admired about Macs though: they don't have the excess baggage that every new iteration of Windows seems to bring with it. Sometimes less is more.

Okay, I've made my confession. Now it's time for me to go to work and do penance at the iMac that holds all of our station's TV commercials :-P

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50,000

A few minutes ago I went to this blog to check on something and noticed the meter...The Knight Shift has now hit fifty thousand visitors! Not the most visits I've ever seen for a blog - heck the Drudge Report gets a few million a day - but for a humble little blog like it is, it's a pretty neat milestone to have reached. Thanks to everyone who helped it achieve this.

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U.S. government sends Blade Runners to look for Replicants at Knoxville airport

Don't you just hate it when real life starts to imitate the movie Blade Runner too much?

Here's the story from the Wall Street Journal:

Which Travelers Have 'Hostile Intent'? Biometric Device May Have the Answer
By JONATHAN KARP and LAURA MECKLER
August 14, 2006

At airport security checkpoints in Knoxville, Tenn. this summer, scores of departing passengers were chosen to step behind a curtain, sit in a metallic oval booth and don headphones.

With one hand inserted into a sensor that monitors physical responses, the travelers used the other hand to answer questions on a touch screen about their plans. A machine measured biometric responses -- blood pressure, pulse and sweat levels -- that then were analyzed by software. The idea was to ferret out U.S. officials who were carrying out carefully constructed but make-believe terrorist missions.

The trial of the Israeli-developed system represents an effort by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to determine whether technology can spot passengers who have "hostile intent." In effect, the screening system attempts to mechanize Israel's vaunted airport-security process by using algorithms, artificial-intelligence software and polygraph principles.

Neither the TSA nor Suspect Detection Systems Ltd., the Israeli company, will discuss the Knoxville trial, whose primary goal was to uncover the designated bad guys, not to identify threats among real travelers. They won't even say what questions were asked of travelers, though the system is generally designed to measure physical responses to hot-button questions like "Are you planning to immigrate illegally?" or "Are you smuggling drugs."

(snip)

How is this not the Voight-Kampff test from Blade Runner?! Here's the user's end of the machine:
And here's the description of the test from Wikipedia:

The Voight-Kampff is a polygraph-like machine used by the LAPD's Blade Runner units to assist in the testing of an individual to see if he or she is a replicant. It measures bodily functions such as respiration, "blush response", heart rate and eye movement in response to emotionally provocative questions. In the film two replicants take the test: Leon (played by Brion James) and Rachael (played by Sean Young). In Blade Runner, Deckard tells Tyrell that it usually takes 20 to 30 cross-referenced questions to distinguish a replicant. With Rachael it takes more than a hundred.

Description from the original 1982 Blade Runner presskit:

"A very advanced form of lie detector that measures contractions of the iris muscle and the presence of invisible airborne particles emitted from the body. The bellows were designed for the latter function and give the machine the menacing air of a sinister insect. The VK is used primarily by Blade Runners to determine if a suspect is truly human by measuring the degree of his empathic response through carefully worded questions and statements."

There's no word yet on how many "skinjobs" have been nabbed in Knoxville so far.

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Peter the YouTuber gaining a devoted following

A few days ago I posted a YouTube video featuring a 70-ish man making some "geriatric gripes and grumbles". Well in the past week or so since that first video, which he titled "first try", Peter - aka "geriatric1927" - has gained a massive following especially from the younger crowd that dominates YouTube. He's now posted eight videos of himself so far. He talks about growing up before World War II, entering the British armed forces as a radar mechanic, meeting and marrying his wife, his lifelong love of motorcycles, the passion for blues music that he shares with his audience... he's definitely one of a kind in the world of Web 2.0. Here's one news story I found about him and here's yet another. I'm highly recommending checking this guy out if you haven't already.

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"I want to ride my bicycle..."

So... I got a new bicycle.

Lisa and I spent the past few weeks looking for one (although the extreme heat we've had lately put a damper on that for awhile). She brought her bike with her a few weeks ago when she came back from visiting her parents in Georgia. And there's a great bicycle/jogging trail that goes by our place. So of course being a good young married couple that does everything together, she made me get one too so we could go ridin'.

We finally found a good one today at the Super K-Mart in Greensboro, made by Mongoose. So we went out for a "test drive" on the trail this evening after dinner. And I really need to figure out the gears on the thing 'cuz my legs got a way horrid workout going uphill the hard way. But I think this is going to prove to be a very wise investment in the long term. It's great exercise, and it's going to help me work toward a goal that my friend Chad has convinced me to go for: running a full marathon, like he's done twice now.

But that's a ways off still. I gotta train first and start a real running regimen like he's got. In the meantime, I'm trying to get "Bicycle Race" by Queen out of my head :-)

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Best YouTube video I've seen in awhile

You've just got to watch this. He's a first-time YouTuber:

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Report on my campaign: "I am NOT a committee!"

I've been thinking about making reports here whenever things warrant them, about my running for Rockingham County Board of Education. Not so much to toot my own horn but just to give other people who've never run for office an idea of what exactly is involved with trying to get elected. So far I've filed the paperwork to be on the ballot, sent out a press release, and created a website for my campaign.

This morning I filed the paperwork pertaining to my political campaign committee. By law I must have a committee with a treasurer, even though that committee and treasurer is actually just me. I shouldn't have to file any more stuff between now and the election, unless I somehow wind up spending/raising more than $3,000. In the meantime all I have to do is keep meticulous records of everything that gets raised or spent. Which so far the expenditure just a little over $65, the bulk of which was registering knightforboard.org as my website domain name.

So I needed to come up with a name for my committee. It had to be something unique. I tried to make it something both practical and memorable. I made attempts to find something that would turn into a neat acronym, but came up with nothing. For awhile I seriously thought of naming it "The Vote Knight for School Board Committee (There's No Real Committee)"... but this is a serious thing so I didn't do that.

In the end, I settled on Knight for School Board 2006 Committee. Just something plain and simple. And short enough to hopefully fit on one line at the bottom of the screen when I start doing the TV commercials.

Tune in next time, when Our Hero talks about the intricacies and hurdles that come with looking for contributions.

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