Jason Griffey

…with doing random genealogical searches on part of my family history. Not really sure why, just decided to start poking around one day.

I need to get all the details from my father, who has a real genealogical tracing of his mother’s family, the Lyons family. Here’s the somewhat cool skinny on the family…

Originally French, Edgar de Leon moved into Scotland in the 11th Century to oppose his uncle Donald Bane. Successful, he was awarded lands in an area called Perthshire, which would later become named Glen Lyon. The family dwelt here for some centuries, until in 1372 Sir John Lyon (called The White Lyon because of his complexion) was given the thanage of Glamis by Robert II, and was so highly regarded that he married the Princess Joanna thus making the Lyon family a royal one. The family has descended from them.

Interesting facts about the family:

• They were a Sept of the Clan Farquharson.
• They called the Castle Glamis home.
• The Castle Glamis is the setting for Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
• One of them, Janet Douglas nee Lady Glamis, was burned at the stake on the castle hill at Edinburgh on 3 December 1540.
• In 1606 the Ninth Lord Glamis became the Earl of Kinghorne, Viscount Lyon and Baron Glamis.
• In 1677 the third Earl of Kinghorne obtained a new patent of nobility, being styled thereafter Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne Viscount Lyon, Baron Glamis, Tannadyce, Sidlaw and Strathdichtie.
• In 1775 Matthew Lyon and his wife Mary landed on the shores of North Carolina.
• Who is the youngest daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore? You guessed it…HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Glamis was her childhood home.

So many things over the last few days….Halloween (big bust, only three trick-or-treaters). My sister and brother-in-law came over, and we watched The Ring and Ginger Snaps. Ginger Snaps is a lesser known film, but very good. It is in the style of Whedon, where monsters become a metaphor for teen issues, but it was really entertaining.

Today, the best new that I got was that the Redskins lost. Why? Because in every case where the Redskins lost the sunday prior to election day since 1936, the incumbent has lost.

The new iPod Photo by Apple. It comes in both 40 and 60 gig sizes, and integrates with iPhoto. Comes with software onboard to attach to a TV and display photos, complete with soundtrack of your choosing. 65k-color screen, 220 by 176 pixel resolution, Click Wheel, and 15-hour battery life.		The Limited Edition U2 iPod. Seriously swank.
These iPods all have serious drool factor. The 60 gig is delightful (I never, ever thought I would fill up the 40 gig I got for graduation, but the sad truth is that it’s full). The photo abilities I could take or leave…if it auto-sync’d with different digital cameras, or had a built in media card reader…that would be killer. As it is, it is really, really pretty, but the storage is what I’m about. I suppose I’ll wait patiently a year or so for the 100 gig model.

photos courtesy of Apple

This day is called the feast of Crispian: He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’ Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’ Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

From Henry V, by William Shakespeare

Ok, gang…I’ve chronicled my old laptop woes, and have recently remedied the need for a new one (yes, I was completely self-indulgent and went with the Dell).

However, this then means that I have an effectively dead laptop to toy with. So I call upon the knowledge of my readership: what to do with a dead laptop?

Facts: the problem seems to be motherboard related. The screen, HD, memory, drives…etc. are all fine. The HD could be yanked and throw in an external enclosure, but that’s too easy. I’d LOVE to find a use for the screen….anyone?

…to our Vice President, Dick Cheney. I don’t need to fully explain my contempt of this man. But when he says things like:

“The biggest threat we face now as a nation is the possibility of terrorists ending up in the middle of one of our cities with deadlier weapons than have ever before been used against us — biological agents or a nuclear weapon or a chemical weapon of some kind to be able to threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Cheney said.

“That’s the ultimate threat. For us to have a strategy that’s capable of defeating that threat, you’ve got to get your mind around that concept,” Cheney said.

Well, Mr. Cheney, there are, contrary to your views, actually TWO methods of dealing with this situation. One is to get your mind around “defeating that threat” and the other is to get America back in a political position where half the world doesn’t hate us. That, sir, would be John Kerry’s plan. Better than any sort of defeating your enemies is not have those enemies at all. The fact that Bush and cronies have put this country in a position where we are hated for good reason by seemingly half the globe is proof enough for me that they are the biggest threat to this country, and need to go.

Vote Kerry.

John Stewart is my hero. Not only is he hilarious, but he seems brazenly unafraid of saying what he feels. His appearance on Crossfire is amazing, if only because of the platitudes one expects from any show on TV these days. To confront the hosts in the manner he did…well, it was brilliant. Best quote of the show:

CARLSON: I do think you’re more fun on your show. Just my opinion.
STEWART: You know what’s interesting, though? You’re as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.

To see the clip, you can Bittorrent it, or stream it from iFilm.

Second best exchange:

STEWART: See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now, you’re helping the politicians and the corporations. And we’re left out there to mow our lawns.
BEGALA: By beating up on them? You just said we’re too rough on them when they make mistakes.
STEWART: No, no, no, you’re not too rough on them. You’re part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it. . . hacks.

EDIT: Another stream here, and the CNN transcript here.

EDIT: On “The Daily Show” on Monday following this altercation, Jon closed his opening monologue with:

“They came back at me pretty good. They said that I wasn’t being funny. And I said to them…I know that. But tomorrow I’ll go back to being funny, and your show will still blow.”

I love the World Wide Web because I can subscribe to Eli’s blog via RSS, which gathers her updates and makes sure I don’t miss anything. Said update today linked me to a great article in Library Journal, which had a link within it to a great page of snarky librarian clothing. I especially want to point this one out for my christmas list. Oh, and this sticker, as well.

Today everyone’s favorite search engine, Google, released Google Desktop an indexing/searching tool for the individual PC. From the Google Desktop page:

Google Desktop Search is how our brains would work if we had photographic memories. It’s a desktop search application that provides full text search over your email, computer files, chats, and the web pages you’ve viewed. By making your computer searchable, Google Desktop Search puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails, and bookmarks.

After downloading Google Desktop Search, you can search your personal items as easily as you search the Internet using Google. Unlike traditional computer search software that updates once a day, Google Desktop Search updates continually for most file types, so that when you receive a new email in Outlook, for example, you can search for it within seconds. The index of searchable information created by Desktop Search is stored on your own computer.

There are several things that immediately came to my mind when looking at the product. One is whether or not it is reporting back to Google homebase about content. The privacy policy assures us that it is not, but I’d love to see an independant examination of the code. They do list two specific instances when search terms used in a desktop search may be sent to Google proper, so that’s something to be aware of.

The indexing is done as you go, with the Desktop applet running in the background. The installation takes 500 Megabytes of hard drive space, which seems massive overkill for what is effectively a text index. Then again, there is the ability to cache webpages as you go (only with IE, of course) which would add considerably to the size. Currently, Google Desktop only indexes the following filetypes:

• Web pages you’ve previously seen in Internet Explorer
• Email you’ve sent or received via Outlook or Outlook Express
• IM chats you’ve had using AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
• Files in Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint as well as plain text