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Frozen, Victorious

N. Harrison Ripps — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:29:25 +0000

Bastion shook his head, and the ghastly images faded away. Glancing up, he could see that the others were watching him. No one was shocked or concerned; they wore their professional detachment like masks. He blinked, glanced up at the cold winter sun through the tree canopy, and then back to the dead forest floor.

Signs, patterns, stories. Two people had come this way, one supporting the other. Bastion read their desperation and their determination in lurching footprints that broke the frozen carpet of leaves. He read it in the dried pools of blood. A cold sweat had sprung up on the back of Bastion’s neck, but he made a broad sweep of his hand and began walking again, deeper into the woods. Taking the cue, the others started walking as well, spread evenly in a line perpendicular to Bastion’s course.
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HDTV, Comcast, and Spite

N. Harrison Ripps — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:48:58 +0000

For a few decades now, cable-company-provided “antenna service” has been a win for cheapskate consumers like my wife and me. While it only gave you the same channels you could get with a pair of rabbit ears, it gave them to you with near-perfect reception; the feeds were not subject to weather, distance and impediments the way the broadcast signals were. But now that broadcasters have gone digital, you no longer need a perfect signal to get a perfect picture. Without getting into the science too deeply, digital broadcasting gives you HD plus error correction information that enables your TV to “guess” about the periodic micro-fragments of the broadcast that it may miss.

The non-techie bottom line is that unless you can’t live without cable channels or your house is more than 70 miles from the nearest receivable TV tower, you probably don’t need cable anymore…
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© Harrison for emichron.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Comcast, Consumer Division, DTV

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Rest in Peace, Ted

N. Harrison Ripps — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:40:09 +0000

I wrote this eulogy for Ted Nilson and read it at his funeral service yesterday. The service was well attended by friends, family and neighbors. He will be sorely missed.

I thought Ted would appreciate it if I started this remembrance with a quote from a politican. The trick was to find something from a politician that Ted and I could both agree upon. But I think found one. President Woodrow Wilson said that “There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.”

Like many men in his generation, Ted’s service began very literally in World War II. Ted was a sailor with the U.S. Coast Guard, and Ted and I spoke many times about his deployment in the South Pacific. Whenever we talked about it, Ted would try to impress upon me that his role wasn’t terribly heroic. Well, I’ve always respected Ted’s humility, but I’m pretty sure we can say without exaggeration that serving on a ship in the middle of a war zone is dangerous.

With assistance from the G.I. bill, Ted earned a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees in the field of health education. Ted earned his second masters from Harvard, and often liked to remind us that “you can always tell a Harvard man, but you can’t tell him much.” For 31 years, Ted served in various capacities in education and health policy, most notably as the executive director of the Maine Lung Association.

In the balance of his working years, Ted chose a career path upon which he served his country, and served to educate and to improve the quality of life of others. I think Woodrow Wilson would have been proud to know him.

On a personal level, the thing that always struck me the most about Ted were the things that he and I had in common. The obvious similarity would be our tendency to make speeches. Both of us were often moved to verbosity by everyday occurrences, and thankfully were both wedded to women who would tolerate the occasional dissertation. But the other thing we had in common was a certain heightened awareness to the profound value of those simple, everyday kinds of moments.

On many occasions, as we gathered around the table for holiday dinners, Ted didn’t just want to say grace, but also to say something about that moment. He wanted to call everyone’s attention to the happy miracle of our gathering. And even if Ted didn’t always exercise perspicacity in pursuit of a toast’s pulchritudinous loquaciousness, I think we all understood what he was really saying. Ted was saying that he loved his wife and family dearly, and that being together with them was the finest thing he could have.

Ted was particularly enthralled with his grandchildren. I remember him talking sports and playing cribbage with Matt on many occasions. And he was pretty crazy about his Nilson girls. At one of the first Nilson family gatherings that I attended, I remember sitting with Ted on the back porch of Ken and Cathy’s house. He looked at his granddaughters and then at me and asked: “Have you ever seen a lovelier bunch of blond-haired beauties? On second thought, don’t answer that.”

Another great politician and writer, Benjamin Franklin, said that “Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.” We are very much in Ted’s presence today. Let’s remember him for his service and dedication, and also for his dry wit and kind heart. We love you, Ted, and we’re going to miss you very much.

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Getting under Microsoft’s Skin

N. Harrison Ripps — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:34:27 +0000

People who know me well know that I’m particularly fickle when it comes to computer operating systems. I think this is probably a specific manifestation of OCD, but one that safe to tolerate as it has not actively reduced my ability to enjoy real life Recently my fascination with OS flavors has led me to start toying around with Windows 7, and my brief experience with it has led me to believe that the threat of upstart operating systems like Linux and the as-yet-unseen Google Chrome OS is only a small part of Microsoft’s current nightmare.
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© Harrison for emichron.com, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: atom, cpu, netbook, windows 7

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My Dinner; Let Me Tell You It

N. Harrison Ripps — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:31:16 +0000

Yesterday was kinda hectic; Sundays are my day with the kids as Annika racks up several yoga classes. I woke up without goals, but the Spring air filled my lungs and suddenly I wanted to be cleaning and organizing. That’s a bit like shoveling snow in a blizzard with my kids around. And eventually, as I attempting to sort, stack and chuck my way through the chaos, there was the question of dinner. There again I didn’t have a plan, but Annika mentioned that there was lamb sausage in the freezer and I could put together something around that.

Read on for my rare display of culinary genius!
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