As to the particulars of when and where, as soon as we've got that all sorted out we will let you know.

It's a tiny bit geeky to setup, but it is worth it.

iPhone Remote running the Now Playing iTunes controller.

When you first start the application it will ask you to choose a name and password that the website will ask for before allowing a browser to use the iPhone Remote web application. The authors of the application suggest that you use a name and password different from your Mac login, for security reasons (the password appears to be encrypted/hased, but I'm not sure how secure it is).

To connect to iPhone Remote from your iPhone, open an HTTPS connection to port 5010 on your Mac. Most people should be able to open System Preferences from the Apple Menu and then click on Sharing. Under the field for Computer Name there should be a sentence that reads Computers on your local network can access your computer at: The text that follows should be your computer's name with spaces replaced with dashes and .local at the end.

So, assuming your Mac's name is "My Mac" you should type the following into Safari's address bar on your iPhone:

https://My-Mac.local:5010/

When you connect, Safari will give you a warning message about the website's security certificate. This is normal for a self-signed certificate, and you should tell Safari to continue and then log in.

When you finish logging in, the default web page shows the following buttons (iPhone Remote "tapps" applications):

• Applications - Shows the contents of your Applications folder and allows you to launch applications from your iPhone
• Camera - Allow you to control your Mac's built-in camera (I guess, I don't have one and the button doesn't do anything on my Mac).
• Documents - Shows the contents of your Documents folder and allows you to look at some kinds of documents on the iPhone (anything Safari would be able to open on its own). For iWorks documents, you can navigate inside the document's package and view the document's Thumbnail.
• Files - A browser of your home folder. It does a good job of showing custom icons attached to folders and files and has the same file preview abilities as Documents.
• Remote - A basic iTunes remote control.
• Screen - Remotely view your screen and click, drag and type on your Mac from the iPhone. Very cool, but a little awkward.
• Scripts - If you have any AppleScripts saved in the Script folder in your Library folder, you can run them from this menu. This might be the most useful part of iPhone Remote, if you are handy with AppleScript.
• Spotlight - Search your computer using your Mac's Spotlight search software.
• Terminal - This button gave me an error message on my Mac (running Mac OS 10.5), but I assume it is supposed to give you command line access to your Mac.

The author's of iPhone Remote have included the ability for folks to create their own services that create new buttons in the menu and offer expanded functionality. I've tried out Now Playing, which gives a nicer iTunes remote control (with album art and the ability to access playlists) and Uniremote, which is a remote control that has been adapted for several different applications.

The iPhone Remote project is hosted on code.google.com as Telekinesis.

Also, I've written up a little rant on guitar equipment in the Wayward Packet on rock and authenticity, if you can bear to hear me go on and on about all that, go ahead and give it a read. Maybe next week I'll rant about guitar tablature on the Internet, who knows.

Sadly, the song's got no real guitar part in it and the damn thing starts out in the key of F major — which means barre chords in standard tuning, which are a bit difficult for a hack like me to play. Hopefully The Little Goth One will take the lead and swing out some great violin, otherwise we're sunk. Does anyone play bass around here, sax maybe? No?

Oh well, that's the challenge of it all, eh? Good times.

In the mean time, instead of practicing my F#maj's, I've been toying around with the fiddle intro to the song (the first seven or eight seconds) arranged for guitar — which is the kind of one note at a time guitar wankery I'm really best at. If I get to the point of actually bothering to set the mics up, I'll post an mp3 or something.

And oh yes, I know Save Ferris used a guitar on their cover of the song, but that version is even faster and it loses the violins (and I do want to jam with TLGO, the crazy kid).

Oh, joke of the day:

I like my women like I like my scotch, 18-years-old and mixed up with coke.

Happy Mothers Day!

• Learn how to play standing up
• Learn how to play at least one real song the whole way through

Because, for serious, sitting down all the time just doesn't bring the rock and saying "Okay the rest of the song is really fast and hard to play ... do you guys want to hear the intro again?" gets kinda old after a while.

So, for those of you who actually read all this and know how to get in touch with me -- what should I play?

Hey -- not that I'm actually going to practice today ... the weather is nice, so I've got the windows open and I'd hate to torture the neighbors :-)

I joke that I've sold the old truck for gas money, but that probably isn't far from the truth. When I'm just driving around town the Bronco seems to do okay, but out on the highway (especially that day we were late for a meeting), the Bronco does tend to encourage aggressive driving. Not that I'll ever mistake it for a sports car, but that 5.8 liter engine still sounds nice when it opens up and starts drinking gasoline like a drunk drinks cheap wine.

Wait a minute, is it time for my second childhood yet? Oh well ... I just tell people I got a big car because I volunteer with orphaned seals on the weekend, and we needed something to carry the other volunteers and aid equipment. If they don't buy that I start on about wanting something to go to gigs with.

So I've started to clean up the Toyota and putting some thought into how to write an ad to sell her.

So, now what to say in the ad? I've been thinking of some possibilities:

Toyota Pickup, One Ton, 1987 — 2WD, 196,000 miles, 4 cylinder, EFI engine with bedliner and towing hitch. Recent inspection, but needs some work, paint starting to fade. Asking $600, please call XXX-XXXX after 5 p.m. or email XXXXX@XXX.com.

Toyota Pickup, One Ton, 1987 — 2WD, 196,000 miles. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly! The Good - famous Toyota build quality, fuel efficient 4 cylinder EFI engine, bedliner, towing hitch (with lights hookup), recent inspection. The Bad - leaks fluids, AC and stereo don't work. The Ugly - Paint job fading, some dents and rust spots. Asking $600, please call XXX-XXXX after 5 p.m. or email XXXXX@XXX.com.

Or for more of a Craigslist feel:

Looking for Good Karma? — 1987 Toyota One Ton Pickup is looking for a new home. This little 2WD truck has the famous Toyota build quality in a small, friendly package with 4 cylinder EFI engine, near-sedan ride height, bedliner and towing hitch. Look for "Toyota Hilux" on Wikipedia for more information on the brand. At 196,000 miles, the dings and fading paint are the signs of a survivor, not a victim. The somewhat spartan interior is dog friendly. Prospective owner will need to be attentive to fluid leaks in this aging vehicle, but good care will keep this truck running for many more miles. It has recently passed the state inspection — and pre-1996 means a less-expensive inspection! Asking $700, please call XXX-XXXX after 5 p.m. or email XXXXX@XXX.com.

I'm going to try the local paper first, although Compton thinks I might get more money if I take it to Triangle Craigslist. Looking around I do see a 1985 Toyota listed for $2,300 — but it does seem in better shape than mine. So if I don't get any good responses locally, I might try Craigslist as well.

I've just gotten back from the Bronco's shakedown cruise, a run out to Cedar Island, NC — right were they stopped building bridges and still rely on ferries.

So am I a gas guzzling idiot or a rational, fun-loving American?. Well, both ... duh.

Goldsboro to Havelock was pretty routine and the traffic wasn't too bad for a pre-season Saturday afternoon — although the traffic got heavier as I neared Havelock. The Bronco did well with the highway driving, although the tire noise was a little noticeable. For music, I had my iPod connected through a cassette tape adaptor, and that worked well.

Around Havelock I disregarded Google's advice and continued on US 70 instead of turning off on NC 101. So I had to bumble along with the traffic through Havelock and Morehead City and Beaufort. Slog, slog, slog past ugly strip development and boxes of ticky tacky.

What finally made the trip worthwhile was finally getting out of the Beaufort area and heading North through coastal US 70.

US 70 turns into an old-style two lane highway that twists and turns as it follows the coastline. You get stretches of pine-walled nothing-but-road broken up by picturesque vistas of the sound and small villages that have yet to be ravened by modern coastal building trends.

The scenery continued as I turned off 70 onto NC 12, which leads up to Cedar Island. There are some great straight sections that cut through the marshes and some nice curves — including a curving bridge. Some times along the marshes there will be a few exotic looking (to a suburban kid like me, anyway) fishing birds. The scenery was a welcome change and I had to fight the urge to play tourist.

At the end of the road (almost literally) the hotel, the Driftwood Motel (embedded music, sorry), was very much the authentic old-style NC coastal experience (this is kind of hard to describe, but you know you are at the beach and not some city somewhere).

The staff was pleasant and the rooms were clean and comfortable in an old-fashioned way. To make up for not having the restaurant open, the manager gave me a basket with some bagels, muffins, coffee filters and a can of orange juice. Then he moved a microwave into the room so I would be able to heat the bagels.

I went to the ferry's office to see if I could get over to Ocracoke and then back again that day, but of course found that time and tide wait for no man. There was a ferry leaving in a few hours, but it wouldn't be back until the next day.

Which left open the question -- where to go for dinner?

I really should have just found a pizza place or something by the side of the road, but I hated to get so close to Beaufort's Front Street and not stop by. So after a walk around the area and a short rest, I climbed back into the Bronco and headed for Beaufort.

Beaufort is an interesting blend of part actual city, part tourist trap and part functional port. Front Street is the heart of that mix. Boats from all over either anchor in the water off Front Street or tie up at the marina, so you have an interesting blend of locals, inland tourists (me!), and recreational boaters from all over. An added attraction is the older homes (some now bed and breakfast inns), some dating from the 1700s.

I ended up at the Spouter Inn for dinner, which has its own bakery and a manager that looks and sounds a bit like former President Clinton.

They also have a decent beer and wine selection and great dinner rolls. I had a bowl of clam chowder and a seafood pasta dish with alfredo sauce, both of which were executed very well. Neither were exactly what I expected, but the surprises were pleasant.

After dinner I drove back up to Cedar Island, retired early and woke early. I did indeed heat one of the bagels, left the key in the room as instructed, and headed back home.

On the return trip I did take NC 101 and that was a much better experience, bypassing Beaufort, Morehead City and most of Havelock.

If you are interested in reading more about North Carolina's highways (rural and otherwise), check out NCRoads.com and North Carolina Highway Begins/Ends.

And if the observer creates, and if nothing is new under the sun, who or what are we all plagiarizing?

Perhaps the laws of physics, as they actually exist and beyond what we can comprehend, are really just some gross hack — lashed together for a rigged demo — that we are stuck with now, just like we are stuck with SMTP.

That is a lot to think about, but we should remember:

He is Babycakes

We are Babycakes

He is the World

I may never become a musician, but I have to recommend messing around with an instrument and/or music software. At the very least it will give you some idea of how difficult it must be to get a good song recorded, even for lo-fi and punk bands. There are a lot of variables to control or play with and you could spend the rest of forever trying to get something "just right."

As for me, well I'll just bang out 14 seconds worth a half-dozen times, pick the best take, call it a ring tone and post it. :-)

But, of course, Jefferson wasn't around for World War II. So what was Jefferson writing about? The Revolutionary War, perhaps, with Valley Forge and George Washington?

"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. ... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

We was writing in a period of pre-Constitution America about the Shays' Rebellion. An armed tax revolt against the government of Massachusetts and the Confederation, an insurgency against our young nation.

And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them.

The letter shows an interesting attitude towards insurgents, and a very interesting recommendation of tactics to use against an insurgency. Can you picture anyone, Democrat or Republican who would voice such an opinion today?

But Jefferson, as a revolutionary himself, understood that one of the worst fates that could overcome America would be public apathy. A people grown used to comfortable living, or who have lost faith in a better future, might find it easy to trade liberty for a promise that they would be protected.

In these days of high-definition cable TV, Internet can you imagine America fighting another War of Independence?

There are a few things I have planned, like talk about my little M-Audio audio interface and my new Fender Jaguar and maybe even post some ring-tone length tracks of me trying to play guitar.

I've also added a little sticky to the right of the front page, so you can get to the other websites in the RouseWorld family (OMG MySpace!).

So bear with me, but I really do plan on updating this thing in 2007.

And of course I couldn't just download an obnoxious ringtone, heck where is the fun in that?

Where there were a few gaps between my Apple computer's software and the new phone (at first I couldn't synchronize the address book and calendar or send/receive SMS messages from the computer) the website mobile.feisar.com had everything I needed.

But anyway, back to the ringtones.

I cranked up my usual rig — a Washburn HOB-E electric guitar running through a Boss ME-50 multiple effects board to a vintage Silvertone "amp" (really an old home mono radio and record player) which is miked by a Shure PG-57. The PG-57's signal gets sent to a Griffin iMic (USB audio input) attached to my computer running Apple's GarageBand.

Yes, I could have just run a cable straight from the guitar to iMic. Yes, I know, my way sounds cumbersome, I'm just weird like that.

So what about the finished product? Please give a listen to the Smoke on the Water riff and a bit of When the Saints Come Marching In.

Neither song is perfect, but it was fun to do. If you like, please send suggestions for more ring tones to play. I'd like to do the Margaritaville riff as well, as soon as I can get that to sound right — I can't really use my metal settings for that one.