Quote of the day: What changes your mind?

When thinking changes your mind, that’s philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that’s faith.
When facts change your mind, that’s science.

John Brockman, founder of the nonprofit Edge Foundation, Inc.

My Brother, Opera Singer, in the New York Times

My brother John made his premiere in The Barber of Seville at the Met Opera, in New York.

From the review in the New York Times:

Jennifer Check (Berta) and John Michael Moore (Fiorello) were both first rate.

Not too bad for a first roll, huh? Next month I get to see him on stage--can't wait.

As I said before, you can hear him here.

As an aside, I coded some cool features in the NY Times Reader.

They never wrote about me though.

*sigh*

Wonderfully Beautiful Moments...

Sitting in Online Coffee on 1st in Seattle.

A class of (what looked like) 1st graders walks by in their cute, colorful rain coats with hoods.

For some completely random reason, the teachers brings them up to the glass of the coffee shop...within inches of my seat.

She knocks on the glass and points to someone across the room from me.

All the little kids smile and wave...noses pressed to the glass.

Wonderful. Perfect.

Who says rainy days aren't beautiful.

My Morals, Your Morals

Via Lauren, (from whom I shamelessly copy):

Via Andrew Sullivan, an interesting survey that assesses your attitudes about five basic “moral foundations” and allows you to compare your answers against others who have taken the test and self-identified as “liberal” or “conservative.”

Andrew took the survey to try to confirm or deny his assertion that he’s “still a conservative,” in spite of the stance he’s taken against Bush and his war.

I didn’t have too many doubts about which side of the issues I’d end up on…

This is my score. I'm green. Blue and Red are self-explanatory.

Like Lauren, I'm not surprised.

I really want to throw this at my 'conservative' friends and see how they come out.

We unlocked the iPhone

My buddy Sean and I grabbed lunch today (he's back from India, where he's cranking on his start-up).

The process took a while, but we found a great resource to walk you through: How to unlock the iPhone using the anySIM program.

The phone is not mine. It's for a friend of Sean.

In the end, I was able to call his T-Mobile number and it rang on the shiny new toy from Apple.

Cool.

Live Writer Beta 3: Rockin' even more

Check it out, Live Writer now supports uploading images to Blogger.

XHTML support, insert videos, these guys are on a roll.

I'm a happy customer.

Keep it up, kids!

Reverend Kevin Robert Moore

Congratulations! You are now a legally ordained minister for life, though you may relinquish your credentials at any time. YOU HAVE BECOME A MEMBER OF THE PRESTIGIOUS CLERGY. You have earned a title worthy of admiration and respect.

Let it be known on this date that in accordance with the laws of the Universal Life Church Monastery, as ordaining officer, I, Brother Martin, do ordain you into our ministry. From this day forward, you are entitled to all of the rights of an ordained minister. You have the authority to perform marriages, baptisms, and all other ceremonies of the church. You are an independent minister of this church. This is a position that carries with it a burden of responsibility; please respect others and comply with the laws of the land.

Your legal name and 5 minutes on http://www.themonastery.org/. (I actually had no idea when i signed up that they are based on Broadway in Seattle! Perfect!)

This is pretty brilliant, actually, because they are definitely going to get me to spend $20 to get a certificate.

Who wants to get married?

If I lived in Springfield

The Simpsons Movie site let's you build your own Springfield-like character. I like ducks.

Editorial: The flash experience is really nice, but the whole register/login/save thing was a pain in the neck.

I am Seattle Traffic (.org)

I went to a meeting at work today about the future of the 520 bridge.

While waiting 10 years doesn't sound all that good, I did pick up a brochure I found very entertaining and enlightening. The source:  

http://www.iamseattletraffic.org/

I love people who are proactive about these types of issues.

The "Tenets of Traffic Zen" I found quite inspired. My favorite: Merge Gracefully.

All vehicles involved in a merge are ideally traveling the same speed with enough gap to fit each other perfectly. Think of it as teeth in a zipper. If one of the teeth of a zipper stuck out and waited until a few other teeth on the side passed, it would not work. Likewise, you must not stop when merging (unless all others are stopped as well). You must let others in. They need but one car length, and you have plenty to spare. Allowing them in front of you will mean they will not have to be confronted by a less enlightened driver, which could cause you grief you have no control over. Even if the merge happens behind you, you are being selfish, and you would not wish the same upon yourself.

Brilliant. Kudos!

SIFF 2007 Redux

Last time I went to a SIFF film (I think) was in 2000, when I was an intern out here.

This year, thanks to some friends, I went to see two films.

Bad Faith (Mauvaise foi in French) was pretty good. Jewish girl gets pregnant by her Muslim boyfriend. They have to tell the parents. Hilarity ensues.

Outsourced was done by some guys in Seattle. Quite funny. It was cool to have my buddy Dhruv there, since he "got" all of the jokes and references. Seattle call center manager has to go to India to train his replacement. Hilarity ensues. Good flick. Check out the trailer on YouTube.