Barnson.org

The long-awaited seventh version of one of the best text editors on the planet, Vim, is finally out!

OK, I’m a nerd. Fine, whatever.

The killer features I’m excited about?

• Branching Undo. You don’t realize the usefulness of something like this until you write a full paragraph of your blog, then undo it. Then you write a replacement, including multiple undos, and realize that the previous version was just better. Now you can go back to that undo, branch to it, and re-do the branched undo! Sweet!
• Built-in completion for the programming languages I use most. I’ve been using scripts to do this a long time, but it’s nice to see intelligent parsing and placement built-in.
• Tabbed editing. Any user of Firefox can tell you, tabs make you more productive, period.
• Improved Unicode support. Those of us who use Vim as our editor for gmail, and happen to want to use, oh, say, gnupg, will appreciate this.
• Integrated browsing of remote directories, tar archives, etc.

Anyway, I’m stoked. I use vim at least 2-3 hours every workday (usually more!), and improvements are welcome.

Absolutely hilarious and ballsy to do this to the leader of the most powerful nation in the world when he’s 5 feet from you.

Watch my namesake from Comedy Central absolutely skewer Bush right to his face. And do it well.

Note: You’ll need the Google video player (I think, or maybe just Flash) to watch.

My $.02 Weed

I found this interesting notice posted on the notice board right underneath the requisite FMLA and minimum wage laws banners in the break room. I’m sure it’s old news for some of you, but I was entertained by it 🙂 I thought it was serious until I started reading the examples…

Memo From Human Resources: Swearing at Work

Dear Employees:

It has been brought to management’s attention that some individuals throughout the company have been using foul language during the course of normal conversation with their co-workers.

Due to complaints received from some employees who may be easily offended, this type of language will no longer be tolerated. We do however, realize the critical importance of being able to accurately express your feelings when communicating with co-workers. Therefore, a list of 18 New and Innovative “TRY SAYING” phrases have been provided so that proper exchange of ideas and information can continue in an effective manner.

1) TRY SAYING: I think you could use more training.

INSTEAD OF: You don’t know what the f___ you’re doing.

2) TRY SAYING: She’s an aggressive go-getter.

INSTEAD OF: She’s a ball-busting b__ch.

3) TRY SAYING: Perhaps I can work late.

INSTEAD OF: And when the f___ do you expect me to do this?

4) TRY SAYING: I’m certain that isn’t feasible.

INSTEAD OF: No f______ way.

5) TRY SAYING: Really?

INSTEAD OF: You’ve got to be sh__ing me!

6) TRY SAYING: Perhaps you should check with…

INSTEAD OF: Tell someone who gives a sh__.

7) TRY SAYING: I wasn’t involved in the project.

INSTEAD OF: It’s not my f______ problem.

8 ) TRY SAYING: That’s interesting.

INSTEAD OF: What the f___?

9) TRY SAYING: I’m not sure this can be implemented.

INSTEAD OF: This sh__ won’t work.

10) TRY SAYING: I’ll try to schedule that.

INSTEAD OF: Why the f____ didn’t you tell me sooner?

11) TRY SAYING: He’s not familiar with the issues.

INSTEAD OF: He’s got his head up his a__.

12) TRY SAYING: Excuse me, sir?

INSTEAD OF: Eat sh__ and die.

13) TRY SAYING: So you weren’t happy with it?

INSTEAD OF: Kiss my a__.

14) TRY SAYING: I’m a bit overloaded at the moment.

INSTEAD OF: F___ it, I’m on salary.

15) TRY SAYING: I don’t think you understand.

INSTEAD OF: Shove it up your a__.

16) TRY SAYING: I love a challenge.

INSTEAD OF: This job sucks.

17) TRY SAYING: You want me to take care of that?

INSTEAD OF: Who the h___ died and made you boss?

18 ) TRY SAYING: He’s somewhat insensitive.

INSTEAD OF: He’s a pr_ck.

Thank You,

Human Resources

I have been working for the government for many years now. My wife sent me this email that gave me a laugh today so I thought i would share.

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity.

To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside-down, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

The Russians used a pencil.

Your taxes are due again – enjoy paying them.

~ How true it is ~

Sigh… this is what happens when I get too bored during a Shakespeare rehearsal.

SCENE. The Yavin System. Before Death Star

Alarum. Enter WEDGE, LUKE, and various other PILOTS

WEDGE:

Once more into the trench, Red Team, once more; Lest Yavin be destroyed by our delay. I know you all to be the best of men: Right gentle in your hearts, desiring naught But peace and order for this galaxy; Yet since the Empire calls us out to war, Now don the inner aspect of the rancor: Let me hear snarling, raging, fervent roars To cow the hearts of your imperial foes. And know this fierce, portentious Rebel yell Will sound across the blackest reach of space, Pouring into the gaps between the stars To fill this hallowed sector to the brim With bold defiance ‘gainst the tyrant’s press. This Star of Death, so I have heard, is called Sometimes the Emperor’s Eye, whose cruel gaze Might pierce the heart of each terrestrial sphere And so transmute our homes to dust and ash. O kinsmen! Brothers! Hold true to your vows That no more Alderaans might ever fall As subjects to such horrid alchemy. For we alone are left in all the world To be the stalwart guardians of the light, The spears against the enemy’s iron flank, The heralds of a New and glorious Hope.

Keep your formation close to me, Unwavering, even though my purpose holds To skim the surface of this grey sea And slip into the narrow road to hell. I know you sit like riders in your pods, Who strain upon the start. The race is on! Now gun your engines, watch your six, and prep Your targeting computers for the strike. We’ll blaze a path in fire to the stomach Of this beast and leave destruction in our wake. So hearken, war-like, to my call, And May the Force be with you all!

Exeunt

Well, I may be coming to a crossroads I have anticipated for some time. I may well be doing a gig in th ecoming weeks that will get me the opportunity to join the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG).

For the unitiated, SAG is a union that an actor must belong to if he expects to do any on-camera work that will go beyond local videos, low budget films, or training movies. The catch-22 is that one must almost always belong to SAG to get work in these kinds of projects, but that one must be involved in these projects before they are eligible to join SAG.

Well, its my turn, I had a right-place-right-time moment, nailed an exclusive audition and I have the gig.. I will be SAG eligible.

In the long term, very good thing, but I have a lingering concern that I will now be “playing with the big boys” – i.e. I will be auditioning for less work against better people. In many ways, independent films have been my mainstay – and I have that distinct fear that once I can do many fewer indies, I may find myself like some in the DC area after joining SAG – with a dry well, so to speak.

Still, I also feel like its time. I’ve spent 5 years out of college, done 8 films, 4 TV commercials, 4 industrials, 2 Video games, and 5 or 6 training videos, not to mention extra and stand-in work on Major film and TV projects – and well, I know my around a set.. I can find the craft-services table.

If I do join, I will likely be afforded fewer opportunities – but those opportuinities will be to do things on a grander scale.. and that could be really cool.

Its a change, and we fear change – especially with the Baby on the way – and well, this seemed like the place to talk about it.

PS: If anyone wants, they can see me in Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” the next 2 weekends in Manassas (info at www.vpstartcrow.com ) , and can email me if they are interested in seeing me as a killer in the June 3 Baltimore premiere of “Dead Hunt” (also did the music for that one).

Over a two-year period, Gary McKinnon hacked into Pentagon, NASA and military systems

Interesting Article

I ran across an article which was just too thought-provoking to leave alone:

Is Jesus the next killer app?

For those who don’t want to dive into the whole article, it basically focusses on the exploding market of multimedia and high-tech devices for use in church services.

Now, I’ve been aware of this for a little while. The LDS church recently spent $512 million (IIRC) to build a massive conference center in downtown Salt Lake City replete with state-of-the-art lighting, presentation, and digital recording technology. I’ve heard of other sects spending smaller, but still substantial amounts in order to preserve the attention span of their audiences.

Maybe I’m just a jaded skeptic, but this seems, to me, to be a sign of competition. Churches have noticed their declining numbers (a small percentage of the US self-identified as being non-religious 30 years ago; today, that number is 12-15%), and have to fight to gain the attention of increasingly attention-deficient viewers. Marketing people long ago figured out what attracts and keeps the eyeballs of viewers, and those channels to the primitive parts of our brains are so abused by marketeers that it takes ever more “glam” to keep us glued.

Now we can have presentations webcast, podcasted, burned to DVD and delivered to our doorstep on the weeks we don’t worship. We can ship a sermon around the world, as a friend of mine recently did for me, so that people can sample what worship services are like in our home town before moving or visiting. For around $30,000, the smallest church house can have a multiple-camera rig manned by volunteers which can preserve in order to proselyte.

What does it really buy? It seems as if churches that are jumping on the multimedia bandwagon are growing. Many churches which resist such advances find their congregations in the USA dwindling, or only expanding due to a prodigious birth rate.

Does the price of spreading one’s Good News require a substantial investment in glitz these days? Do you think it’s a case of “adjust or die”? Could it just be a case of “keeping up with the Joneses”? Or could it be that the price of technology has finally dropped to a point where it’s affordable, on a small parish budget, to drop a few bucks to improve the quality of the sermons and music?

First there’s the old classic:

“Happy birthday to you, You live in a zoo You look like a monkey And you smell like one too!”

Or the new one I just dreamed up yesterday,

“Happy birthday to me, I am thirty-three Getting fat, slow, and hairy, Happy birthday to me!”

So if you had to sing the most insulting birthday song you could think of, what would it be? Within the usual decency limits of the site 🙂

I know I’m not a usual post started, but I have info that I wanted to share. Most of this is because I just got back from a 9 day trip to Greece with my new fiancée last week. Rather than typing all the proposal details, I’ll steal Justin’s format from earlier this month and share 10 things I learned.

1) Engagement rings need at least 3 days to be sized. (oops) 2) Hiding a ring from your girlfriend is not as easy as you may think. 3) Airport security will let a ring in your jacket pocket go thru the x-ray machines without pulling it out. (whew) 4) It is possible to go thru customs and run across the Frankfurt airport in 15min. (barely) 5) Failure to make complete #4 can result in having to spend 11 hrs waiting for the next flight. (several members of our group) 6) Sidewalks in Greece are NOT level. 7) Tour directors will do anything to avoid Greek hospitals. (even if stitches may be needed) 8) Once you find the “perfect