Every which way

I encourage all waffles users to download my greasemonkey script: https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/ktcreeron/web/secureWaffles.user.js

It forces waffles into using a secure http connection, which is always a good thing.

Next up, I encourage everyone to check into the upcoming Archie Shepp & Richard Davis concert at the Overture Centre on 22nd February. Check youtube for samples to see if it's up your alley.

Other recommendations:
Get yourself ahold of Jeff Buckley's Grace Legacy album. Buckley is one of the best vocalists in the last 10-15 years, and few have heard of him. Picking up a copy of any album by 'Ours' or Whiskeytown (Ryan Adams's former group) are heavily recommended.

Other ideas I've been tossing around:
-Voice recognition for iTunes & Windows Media Player
Why haven't Microsoft & Apple integrated voice recognition into their programs? There are addons available using Apple's built-in speach recognition engine for OSX, but on the Windows side of the coin, there's not much available. Just google 'voice recognition itunes windows' or 'voice recognition windows media player' and you'll see what I mean. It seems to me that the company that integrated voice recognition would become a dominant player in the home server/media center market (a booming market see: Windows Media Center, Windows Home Server as cases in point). If anyone wants to e-mail M$ or Apple, and tell them to get their shit together, be my guest.

-Integration as an overarching trend
Thanks to XML and all that metadata shit that fills up my hard drive, everything seems to be working with everything else these days, and it's pretty flipping fantastic. I just wish there were more expressive languages to connect all the islands. I want a quick & easy non-sucky, non-glitzy text integration of my last.fm and my facebook profile. Is that really so much to ask for? Also, facebook apps suck. I don't care about your scriptaculous scores.

-Technology judges
After talking to professor john white (dual appointments in Biomedical & Electrical Engineering) re: patent law, the following occurred to me: the legal system is rife with ip lawyers who possess b.s. / m.s. / PhD's. Their patent cases are heard before a judge. How many of these judges have the credentials to decide these cases. Men of such stature who are 'great legal minds' are perhaps not 'great scientific minds' who can differentiate between scientific journals, trade pubs, etc. Could a court system be setup where patent cases could be heard by qualified judicators (also, that word isn't in firefox's dictionary).