Thursday, November 30, 2006

New Uses for Useless Objects


If you're anything like me and my music collection, you have done the following:

1. Organized all your CD's into a binder which is more convenient for travel/mobility/work etc.

2. Ripped all of your CD's to MP3's on your computer/IPod/Other Device, and no longer need them.

This means you have tons and tons of jewel cases sitting around unused.

Voila! The CD jewel case greenhouse.

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Those Crazy Canadians


From Yahoo Odd News:

Town poses nude in pothole protest

OTTAWA (Reuters) - People in a small town in Western Canada are so fed up with the rotten state of their main road that they came up with an unusual form of protest -- a calendar that shows them posing nude in the potholes.

One inhabitant of Leader, Saskatchewan, is shown sitting in a canoe that is perched in a pothole. Another has his dignity preserved by a well-placed camera while a third man covers up with a strategic hubcap.

"The initial impression when people open the calendar for the first time is 'Oh my God!' It's pretty dramatic," said Wayne Elhard, the local member of the provincial legislature.

Leader, a town of just 1,000 in a largely farming area of southwest Saskatchewan, says it can't afford to fix all its roads.

"The potholes are not small, one-foot diameter potholes. They are many feet across and sometimes they're as deep as a foot deep and sometimes they will stretch for yards (meters)," Elhard told CBC television on Wednesday.

He said that, over the summer, local authorities had covered the worst stretch of the main road with gravel to improve safety.

"It's been a constant problem. We've raised it with the (provincial) government every opportunity we had ... all to no avail, frankly," he said.

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An Inconvenient Giggle


Gore on Leno, talking about An Inconvenient Truth:

If you play this in slow motion, global warming is not nearly as scary.

We're planning another version, sort of a Global Warming Gone Wild. We're thinking about calling it Global Warming Uncensored: "Hot Glacier on Glacier Action".



I kid you not. Who knew he was so funny?

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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Bye Bye Answers, Hello Questions


From the Associated Press:

Google to Abandon Answer Service

Google Inc. doesn't have all the answers - a fact underscored by the Internet search leader's decision to abandon a 4-year-old service that hired researchers to field questions on everything from school homework to sports trivia.

The retreat, announced in a notice posted on Google's Web site late Tuesday night, represents a rare victory for rival Yahoo Inc.

Google's service required its users to pay a researcher anywhere from $2 to $200 to chase down the answers to minutiae like "How many tyrannosaurs are in a gallon of gasoline?"

The Mountain View-based company collected a 50-cent commission on each question, with the remainder going to one of the roughly 800 researchers who have responded to questions since Google co-founder Larry Page conceived the service in 2002.


Ok folks, you've seen my linkeriffic posts. I'm thinking I should pick up where Google left off. Ask me a question.

(and all yarn donations are accepted)

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Epidemic my A$$


I don't know if y'all have had occasion to go to the pharmacy lately, but it being flu season and all I'm sure some of you will know what I'm talking about.

*knocks on wood*

Thus far this season, I don't seem to have been plagued with colds or the flu. But I do go to the pharmacy for monthly meds and it is becoming increasingly common to have this experience:

Some poor, disgustingly sick individual appears at the counter next to me. He oozes germs. I instinctively hold my breath as I'm a germaphobe. He coughs/sneezes/spews more germs into the air and points at the cold/flu medicine which is now behind the counter. The clerk sees him and grabs a package of whatever he is pointing at. Then the clerk makes him fill out a form including his name, address, telephone number, first born child and who know's what other information. I feel sicker by the minute. After 5 minutes of argument from the sickie (who doesn't know the law) and the poor pharmacist (who is just doing her job), the sickie leaves the counter having sold his soul to the FDA for some temporary relief from ague. I'm still breathing the germs. And the world is safer from methamphetamine addicts for this interaction.

Don't believe me? The FDA says so.

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Political Funny


Bush: US Committed to Finding New Synonyms for Civil War, Launches Operation Noble Euphemism

President George W. Bush said today that he would not allow a civil war in Iraq to erupt on his watch, and said that in order to prevent that from happening the United States would aggressively search for new synonyms for the phrase "civil war."

In order to seek out the most sanitized alternatives to that phrase, the president announced that he was launching an ambitious new mission called Operation Noble Euphemism.

Showing his trademark steely resolve, Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House that the US was prepared to hunt down every last thesaurus on Earth and would not quit until the job was done.

As if to demonstrate the high priority he was placing on finding new synonyms,
Mr. Bush said that the government would spend $12 billion, most of which had been previously earmarked to find Osama bin Laden.

But critics of Operation Noble Euphemism were skeptical of its outcome, particularly after the White House unsuccessfully launched a slogan contest last month to replace the phrase "stay the course."

That contest, which was announced with much fanfare, was abandoned after a leak revealed that the top contender was "slog through the mire."

White House spokesman Tony Snow attempted to quiet those critics today, saying that "the United States is committed to finding a lasting euphemism for civil war in
Iraq."

Mr. Snow refused to say which if any euphemisms were under consideration, but did say that the White House had already ruled out "Shiitepalooza."

Elsewhere, getting obese children to exercise can improve their sleep habits, according to a study published today in "Yeah, That'll Happen" magazine.


This humorous tidbit stolen here.

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Tuesday, November 28, 2006

TV really is educational!


Also known as "Biblical References I Don't Understand."

From House tonight:

"I'm going to need thirty pieces of silver."

A big resounding huh?

From Bartleby's New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy:

The money Judas Iscariot received for betraying Jesus to the authorities. He later threw the money into the Temple of Jerusalem, and the chief priests bought the “potter’s field” with it, to be used as a cemetery for foreigners.

‡ This money is referred to as “blood money”—money received for the life of another human being.

‡ “Thirty pieces of silver” is also used proverbially to refer to anything paid or given for a treacherous act.


Am I the only one who didn't recognize this one?

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Say WHAT?!?!


State bill proposes Christianity be Missouri’s official religion

Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state's official "majority" religion.

House Concurrent Resolution 13 has is pending in the state legislature.

Many Missouri residents had not heard about the bill until Thursday.

Karen Aroesty of the Anti-defamation league, along with other watch-groups, began a letter writing and email campaign to stop the resolution.

The resolution would recognize "a Christian god," and it would not protect minority religions, but "protect the majority's right to express their religious beliefs.

The resolution also recognizes that, "a greater power exists," and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, "justified recognition."

State representative David Sater of Cassville in southwestern Missouri, sponsored the resolution, but he has refused to talk about it on camera or over the phone.

KMOV also contacted Gov. Matt Blunt's office to see where he stands on the resolution, but he has yet to respond.


Oh Missouri... you should change your name to Misery. I attended college in St. Louis and though I have some affinity for the state, I can't believe that you're promoting religious persecution. The great thing about America is that we aren't pressured by an "official religion;" we were founded by people who wanted to ESCAPE religious persecution. What in the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks are you doing taking us back over 200 years? You're just as bad as those Kansas-support-creationism-ban-evolution guys.

Edited to add: Well this article is actually from March 2006, so I'm sheepishly apologizing for my tardiness in catching this one. However I can't seem to find out what happened to it. Hopefully the bill went the way of the dodo. That is...extinction beyond all resurrection. No pun intended.

ETA: The current status of this bill - "03/30/2006 - Dropped from calendar - Rule 43 (H)," found here thanks to Shari.

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Lovely Knitting



Ooo I could so make one of there. Pattern here.

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Selling Out


As you may have noticed, my right-hand bar is becoming increasingly cluttered with advertising and buttons. I thought I'd take a moment to speak to this.

I'm a sell out.

There, that was easy.

Seriously though, I read tons of wonderful blogs written by women (and men!) who have that special spark it takes to build a great readership and to generate some amount of income from ads. This isn't a lifetime goal for me, but it sure is nice to bring in a few extra bucks here and there.

Google Adsense was an experiment I tried with a friend of mine. He was very successful at it and I hoped I could be as well. To date I've made a bit of money, but it isn't really paying the bills.

Amazon.com Associates Program looked like a neat thing to me. Basically they way their program works is that I get a small portion of whatever people I refer to them buy. So far the only one who has found some neat books through this is me, and when I order I seem to get a small amount back in comission. I don't know whether this is technically a legal use of the box, but on the other hand, Amazon keeps feeding me good looking books that I wouldn't have bought otherwise, so I guess they win in the end. If you feel like sharing with me, access Amazon through my link and I'll get a small portion of your purchase for referring you. (This is also know as the "Poor me, final semester tuition, textbook fund.")


Finally, down at the bottom I've started with Project Wonderful. This is a new unique project that sells ad space on your site based on your statistics and an online auction formula. People bid on your ad space. The more traffic you get, the higher your stats, the more people bid. And you make a small profit from their bids. So far I haven't quite figured out how it works, or whether or not it will be lucrative, but I'm always up for beta testing a new product. And it's a major time suck at the office since I recieve new emails and bids and questions every hour.

So that's me, the sellout.

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Monday, November 27, 2006

Little Boy Blue and the Man in the Moon


More eye candy here.

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A word of caution to us multitaskers.


To do two things at once is to do neither.

-Publix, circa 42 BC


Clearly he couldn't make his stones Alt-Tab.

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Oops. (aka the Flaws of Capitalism)


Chinese student arrested after making 150 million yen selling items for online RPG

KUMAMOTO -- A university student from China has been arrested for illegally engaging in business activities outside the restrictions of his student visa, police said.

Wang Yue Si, 23, came to Japan on a student visa in April 2004. He started selling items such as weapons and currency for online games through an Internet auction site in April this year, without obtaining the appropriate residency status.

Wang, living in Kumamoto, has admitted that he sold the virtual goods for about 6 million yen, in violation of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.

A bank worker became suspicious when Wang regularly sent money back home to China and alerted police in August, prompting Kumamoto police officers to investigate the student.

Police suspect that Wang has sold a total of 150 million yen in virtual items and sent more than 100 million yen to China.

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Damn Straight.


USC makes jump to No. 2 in BCS, ahead of Michigan

NEW YORK -- Southern California is a win away from returning to the national title game.

The Trojans moved into second place in the Bowl Championship Series standings Sunday, passing idle Michigan on the strength of a 44-24 victory over Notre Dame and closing in on a matchup with undefeated Ohio State in the title game.

USC plays crosstown-rival UCLA on Saturday and a victory would likely lock up the Trojans' third consecutive appearance in the BCS title game. The Trojans have already locked up the Pac-10's automatic BCS bid, but playing in the Rose Bowl would be a letdown for USC this season.

"I think we're a pretty good team right now," USC coach Pete Carroll said after beating Notre Dame. "We'll play anybody, anywhere."


The rest of the article is on ESPN.com.

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Sunday, November 26, 2006

Of love, and food, and knitting, and family.


This has been a wonderful holiday weekend, if not a little short for my tastes. Primarily, I wish I hadn't had to put Wes back on a plane a few hours ago.

So far I have eaten myself silly, seen a few movies (Babel, which was excellent!, and The Mists of Avalon, which was an older movie I seem to have missed, but enjoyed greatly), and cuddled with my sweetheart.

Oh yeah and there was a little bit of knitting.

Tonight I finished a blanket for my nephew for Christmas. I also started on another pair of slippers, a new charity blanket (pinwheel!) and a few other things. Yes I have knitting ADD.

A final thought: this horoscope seems a little fitting, given that at this moment I'm trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Are you fully appreciative of all that you have to offer to the world? It's time to love who you are and what you can do. Once you do, you'll find that your abilities expand even further. Take stock of your gifts.

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Happy Holidays!


As I'm preparing to go off and enjoy time with my fiance and my family, and eat myself silly with Thanksgiving favorites, I thought I'd leave you with a bit of humor.

To the right, Bush is "pardoning" the turkey.

And a quote:

"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence."

-Erma Bombeck


Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Top 10 Girl Geeks



1. Ada Byron: Charles Babbage may have invented the programmable computer, but it was Ada Byron (later Ada Lovelace) who is widely credited with writing the first real program for it. She translated Luigi Menabrea's notes on Babbage's machine from Italian, and added her own ideas on how to calculate Bernoulli numbers using the contraption. These notes came to represent the first piece of computer software ever written.

Byron also saw potential in Babbage's machine that even the inventor himself never fully imagined. She suggested that the device might "compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity and extent". Bands who've used ProTools probably agree with her.

2. Val Tereshkova: Tereshkova began her life working in a textile factory and ended it as the first woman in space. It was her membership of a local parachute club that put her in the running when the head Soviet rocket engineer felt suddenly compelled to shoot a woman into the heavens. Tereshkova didn't begin her life as a geek, nor was she particularly geeky when she flew into space. After returning to earth, however, she graduated as a cosmonaut engineer, became a doctor of engineering and flew in the Russian Air Force. Tereshkova was pronounced a Hero of Russia, but perhaps the greatest honour bestowed is that she has a crater on the far side of the moon named after her.

3. Grace Hopper: Hopper was the quintessential geek. Not content with inventing the Mark I Calculator, she wrote the first compiler (broadly, a piece of software that converts text written in a programming language into more efficient machine code). Her invention was called COBOL. Hopper's contribution to the world of computers cannot be underestimated: she pioneered the idea of using programming languages that bear some relation to the English language, and then using a compiler to convert these into a form that a computer can rapidly digest. While this idea seems obvious to any modern programmer, in Hopper's day it was a completely original philosophy. She also famously discovered a moth causing a computer to malfunction -- the first recorded case of a real computer bug.

4. Daryl Hannah: A huge movie buff in her youth, Hannah showed all the early signs of a hardcore geek. Said to have been extremely shy, and diagnosed as 'borderline autistic' according to the All Movie Guide, Hannah is a fiercely intelligent actress. She's starred in some of the most important geek movies of all time including Blade Runner and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. In Blade Runner, Hannah played a replicant named Pris, a "basic pleasure model", who Harrison Ford's character, Deckard, hunts down and kills. Hannah has also designed two board games -- 'Love It or Hate It' and 'Liebrary'. You don't get a whole lot more geeky than that.

5. Rosalind Franklin: Franklin was an expert in the structure of DNA and viruses and a keen crystallographer. Her uncle also once attacked Winston Churchill with a dog whip (for unrelated reasons). She went to Cambridge University, but wasn't given a full degree because girls weren't allowed them at the time. Franklin used X-rays to work out the structure of DNA, eventually discovering that helical crystalline DNA (don't ask) did not exist. This meant that she was able to scoff in the faces of other scientists who had mistakenly identified this type of DNA -- and she went so far as to write a comical obituary for the erroneous DNA. Many people believe she was owed a Nobel Prize, but unfortunately she died of cancer before the nominations.

6. Mary Shelley: Shelley shut herself away with a group of writers and intellectuals in a shack near Lake Geneva. Here they embarked on a ghost-story contest, but Shelley failed to find inspiration and went to bed in a huff. That night, however, she dreamt the plot of Frankenstein, the tale of a scientist who brings a monster to life using parts from "the dissecting room and the slaughterhouse". Shelley imagined a science far ahead of her time and her Frankenstein character remains the archetypal geek gone mad.

7. Lisa Simpson Simpson is possibly the world's most famous geek. Admittedly she's fictional, but doesn't that just make her all the more incredibly nerdy? Although Simpson is only 8, she has an IQ of 159, and has been observed to be fluent in Italian, Chinese, Spanish and Swedish. She is an outcast at school on account of her prodigious talents, and often finds it difficult to relate to kids of her age. Simpson's greatest invention is the perpetual motion machine and she is also an expert piano, accordion, bass guitar and baritone saxophone player. In the future, Simpson is expected to become US president.

8. Marie Curie: An expert in radioactivity (though not its long-term consequences), Curie used to walk around with her pockets stuffed full of test tubes containing radioactive isotopes. She worked in her shed with some of the most dangerous substances known to humanity, and is the only person to have won a Nobel Prize in two different scientific disciplines. She discovered the elements radium and polonium, but so that others could share in her discovery, she did not patent the process she used to isolate the radium element. She died in 1934 due to massive radiation exposure.

9. Aleks Krotoski: Krotoski is widely respected as one of the top girl geek writers. Currently writing reviews for the Guardian and working as a presenter for the BBC, she is an expert in the social psychology of virtual worlds. Krotoski has always been a staunch supporter of girls in gaming, and is said to be working on a white paper titled 'Women in Games'.

10. Paris Hilton: Photographed numerous times clutching her PSP, and famous for having her Sidekick hacked, Hilton is, in her socialite heart, a geek. Hilton attended the gamer's Mecca, E3, and even stars in her own mobile game, Diamond Quest. Hilton is continually fraternising with fellow geeks in her show The Simple Life, where she often befriends nerdy boys still living with their parents. Hilton popularised the pink Motorola V3 phone and has starred in one of the most downloaded Internet videos of all time. She might look trendy on the outside, but inside this girl is all binary.

Stolen from here.

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Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Potential Adult Content Ahead


1. Whoever thought this was a good shape for a product?
2. It's Dora - what the hell were they thinking?
3. I hope today's children are pretty ignorant - they say they grow up fast these days.
4. In case you want one it's here. I don't want to know.

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Tuesday-is-it-weekend-yet-Funny: aka Gone Fishin'

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Monday, November 20, 2006

Doctor Humor


For my father, who gets up too early to stay up late and watch Jay Leno's Headlines.

From a health expo brochure:

"Is there a face lift in your future? Ask the Gynecologist."

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New Wares


The brainchild of WineGuy and me. Available now at my shop.

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Curious.


Asking Yahoo: What is the most common birthday?

Answer: We found several references to this question on the Web, all pointing to the same source: a survey of 12,576 Americans conducted by Anybirthday.com.

Answers like this one from the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star cite the study's finding of October 5 as the date the most people (in the U.S., anyway) are born. The 2001 report claims approximately 968,000 living Americans entered the world on that date. (The original web page announcing these results is no longer online, but we oh-so-cleverly queried the Internet Archive Wayback Machine and found it.)

So why October 5? Just a random date? Perhaps, but Anybirthday has a theory: To be born on this date, a baby would most likely have been conceived on New Year's Eve.

The survey also found May 22 to be the least common birthday. As yet, no guesses as to what it is that happens in late August (nine months prior to that date) that routinely turns so many people off. Perhaps it's just too darn hot?


Well I would have guessed some time in September was the most popular, but I would have said February 29th as the least popular.

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Atheism is the new Black.


This excerpt courtesy of Scott Adams, Creator of Dilbert, Genius Extraordinaire.

Atheists: The New Gays

Is it my imagination or have the atheists come out of the closet (in the United States) since 9/11?

Prior to 9/11, it would have been career suicide for a public figure to come right out and say God is a fairy tale. Now it’s a feature of popular culture. You can see it on cable of course, in shows such as BullSh*t, Real Time, The Daily Show, and Southpark. But it’s also a feature of network TV. The main character on House is written as the most brilliant human on the planet, and he’s an atheist. The new show 3lbs has a similar character. I can’t remember anything like that ten years ago.

Famous atheist Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion is #5 on Amazon.com. Sam Harris is right up there with his books The End of Faith and Letters to a Christian Nation. They aren’t selling in numbers anywhere approaching the top religious books, but they are best sellers. When was the last time two books promoting atheism were best sellers at about the same time?

I think the hidden benefit of Islamic extremism is that it freed the atheists from their closets. The old mindset in the United States was that almost any religion was good, and atheism was bad. But since 9/11, atheism has moved above Islam in the rankings, at least in the minds of Christians and Jews in the United States.

Ask a deeply religious Christian if he’d rather live next to a bearded Muslim that may or may not be plotting a terror attack, or an atheist that may or may not show him how to set up a wireless network in his house. On the scale of prejudice, atheists don’t seem so bad lately.

I think that in an election cycle or two you will see an atheist business leader emerge as a legitimate candidate for president. And his name will be Bill Gates.

By then, Bill Gates will have done so much good for the world through his charitable works that combined with his business success he’ll appear more qualified than any other candidate. His early bachelor life and some of his business practices will come back to haunt him if he runs, but he can still win with this simple slogan: “Who would you rather have on your side?” He’ll confess to all of his past imperfections and say that presidents are poor choices for role models. He’ll advise you to look to your parents for role models while you let him run the country.

I doubt Bill Gates is considering a run for president right now, largely because it’s so hard to make a difference from that job. His charities will have more impact. But I think he’ll someday realize that the world needs a rational thinker in the top spot and no one else can win.

At least you’d know he wouldn’t be in it for the money or to speed up the Rapture. He has my vote.

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Sunday, November 19, 2006

Itty Bitty Wittle Baby Hat


Today was a movie day. My sister got into town this weekend for Thanksgiving, and today we went to the movies with Knitmeister S. We saw Stranger than Fiction which was fabulous. Emma Thompson, Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhall were great, and the movie was alternately hysterical and touching.

Then sis and I ran a few errands (talked her into a skein of yummy yarn to make a hat) and came home to knit and chat. We pay-per-viewed The Breakup to go with our Thai food. I have to say that I wasn't really prepared for this movie. It was really hard to watch - some horrific fights and ultimately a sort of sad ending. I thought Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn were good in it, but it was more of a downer than I'd expected.

Finally tonight I finished some work on a school project and popped in A Prairie Home Companion for a few chuckles. Almost time for bed and then we get to do it all again (tomorrow being Monday... blech!)

At least it's a short week with lots of great food and, even better, my honey gets here on Tuesday night!

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Saturday, November 18, 2006

Just Knittin'

A few of my upcoming features...

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Friday, November 17, 2006

Made for me.


A hat for the likes of me.

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Friday Funny - Thanksgiving Style.


RIP Big Bird

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Awakenings


"You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book...or you take a trip...and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure.

That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children.

And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song and it awakens them and saves them from death.

Some will never awaken."

-Anais Nin

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Thursday, November 16, 2006

Imaginarboreum


Found here.

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Los Angeles no Longer a Tropical Paradise


aka YOU DONE TOOK MY PALMS.

L.A. to replace iconic palms

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- It's official: The tall, skinny palm trees that have come to define Los Angeles will be replaced with native species as they die of old age and disease.

The City Council on Monday agreed to replace the trees with oaks, sycamores and other native species that provide more shade and are native to Los Angeles.

The news will likely disappoint legions of fans who say the palms have become synonymous with the city's beaches, warm weather and movie stars. The palms were brought here 100 years ago or more from Latin America and other exotic locales.

Large numbers of palms are dying of a fungal disease, and tree surgeons don't know how to stop the bacteria that gets into the soil. Because new palms will likely fall victim to the same ailment, it doesn't make sense to replace dying palms with more palms.

The change goes into effect as the city begins Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's goal to plant 1 million trees in Los Angeles.

Residents and business owners unable to stand the thought of Los Angeles losing its palms can still buy their own and plant them on their property.

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Save the cheerleader. Save the world


My favorite new TV show this season, hands down, is NBC's Heroes.

A teaser couresty of TV Rage:

Some People Are Born To Be Extraordinary.

They thought they were like everyone else...until they woke with incredible powers. In Japan, a lowly office worker can teleport at will. In New York, a struggling artist can paint the future. In Los Angeles, a discontented beat cop can hear the thoughts of others. Heroes chronicles the lives of these people, and the lives of others like them – whose destiny just might be the saving of humankind...but first they must come to grips with their newfound powers.


I'm not traditionally into superhero stories. I'm not even that enthralled by the new comic book hero movies. But this show has my attention.

Each week focuses on a few of the heroes - normal people across the United States who are finding out they have power. The cheerleader Claire who can survive anything. The Japansese tourist Hiro who can bend time. The split personality Nikki. Nikki's son Micah who can make broken things work again. The telepathic detective Matt. The senator who can fly, Nathan Petrelli. His brother who can emulate the power of whoever he's with, Peter Petrelli. Isaac, the heroin addicted painter who can paint the future. Eden, the girl who can make anyone do anything. Tina, the waitress with the incredible memory. The Haitian who can wipe minds clean. Sylar, the evil man who is hunting the Heroes and killing them one by one. Mr. Bennet, Claire's father who seems to know more than he says.

Each week we learn a little bit more about the characters, and they learn a little bit more about themselves and each other. And we hurtle towards the nuclear explosion that they are trying to prevent.

Each episode is chronicled in a comic.

So far, I haven't found anyone who isn't in love with this show.

Well maybe SOMEONE.

Garbage Disposal Maker Sues NBC Over 'Heroes' Scene
Company says its product cast 'in unsavory light'


The company that makes In-Sink-Erator garbage disposers is suing NBC, claiming that an episode of the new show "Heroes" makes the product look bad.

Appliance maker Emerson filed the lawsuit in a St. Louis federal court Monday, seeking to block rebroadcasts of the "Heroes" pilot. In the episode, a high-school cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) who has the ability to withstand injury sticks her hand into an In-Sink-Erator while it's running, mangling her fingers (which return to normal within a few seconds).

Emerson's suit claims the scene "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product" by suggesting that serious injuries will result "in the event consumers were to accidentally insert their hand into one."

The suit, however, is more about NBC's use of the In-Sink-Erator name than the content of the scene, the company says. "It's a trademark thing," spokesman Dan Callahan tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

NBC hasn't commented on the suit.


Keep watching.



Save the cheerleader. Save the world.

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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Demotivation: Geek Style


This and other geek/gamer posters here.

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Wednesday Funny = ROFL LMAO


Once upon a time, there was this guy we knew. His name was Billy.* Billy was a fun guy, liked to hang out and stuff. Then one day, something happened which changed Billy's life forever. He was IMing with some friends when he read a very funny joke. He typed "LMAO" as a response, but then it really fell off. It's true: Billy L'ed so hard his A fell O.

And now Billy's life is much more difficult. He can't sit in chairs properly. When he shops for pants, he always has to ask if the store has an A-less department. And just forget about going swimming. It's such a difficult life. We try and help him as much as we can. Sometimes, though, we L behind his back. His A-less back.

Available here.

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An unexpected phone call.


I got a strange phone call this morning. It was from the managing director of the organization where I worked my first post-college REAL job. She offered it back to me. This gives me feelings of unparalleled glee.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to take the job. It was a great training ground, but not something I'd go back to now. Pay scale aside (it's non-profit and they couldn't match my current salary), I'm not even sure it's a field I want to be in again. And yet, there's a thrill that after 4.5 years, when my third successor is moving on, they're still calling me to offer me first rights of refusal.

Now if only I could find a job that I DO want to take.

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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Slightly late, but worth the wait.


The photos are late, but this is Charity Blanket #2.

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Monday, November 13, 2006

Disturbing Pic O' The Day

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Still Alive


The end of last week was pretty disheartening for me. I'm not going to go into the details, but suffice it to say that I found out that there isn't going to be a career for me in my current organization. Slightly worse, I'm being asked to do a lot of things that I've never been asked to do before, and most of them aren't good.

On the other hand, I think this was the kick in the pants that I needed to start taking control of my career and figuring out what my next step is. Given that I've made that choice, all of a sudden the work issues don't seem so hard to bear. Today I have been really productive. There is just something about knowing that I have a way out now that makes me want to get my work done, keep my head down and wait for the right time to leave.

So essentially that's the long way of saying, I'm looking for a new job and I'll take any suggestions I can get.

More updates tonight when I can photograph my knitting from the weekend.

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Friday, November 10, 2006

If you don't have anything nice to say,


Don't say anything at all.

I'll be back when I'm feeling nicer.

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Thursday, November 09, 2006

It's like a Hospital around here...


"The [your work name here] stunned the world Thursday by harkening back to times of old. A Quarantined sign was placed on the door and the [organization], plagued by the stomachus emptius virus, closed its doors until further notice. Employees who weren't ill were instructed to remain indoors, consume large amounts of Vitamin C, Echinacea and Zinc to avoid the virus at all costs. Those squeamish about puke should remain a large distance from the [organization] until further notice."

Have I mentioned how much I HATE flu season? I think I'm going to hide out until further notice. This is a puke free zone. We're on Seinfeld's vomit streak, no black and white cookies admitted.

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Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Blankie #1


Photo of yours truly in the yarn store with Charity Blanket #1. This is a first for me: 36" x 36" in 5 days!

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Cooking Humor


Credit goes here.

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I shoulda had a V8.


Some interesting stories of people who had great ideas and got shot down... only to succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

Excerpt:

Toy firm could have had the Monopoly

IT'S the biggest-selling board game in the world, but Monopoly's inventor had a hard time trying to get it into shops.

Unemployed salesman Charles Darrow, from Pennsylvania, created the real-estate game in 1933. But when he approached Parker Brothers to see if they'd be interested in marketing his creation, they pointed out 52 errors - including the fact it took too long to play, and turned him down.

He put it on sale himself at $4 a set - and the toy company was forced to buy him out a year later when it became a huge success.

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Needle Candy


More needle goodness here.

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Remembering Rummy


Since Rumsfeld is on his way out, and given my love of ridiculous quotes, I figured it was high time to pay tribute to Rummy and his words of wisdom.

Memorable Quotes by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

"I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started."

"We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead."

"I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said."

"Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said."

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

"Well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, I suppose, as Shakespeare said."

"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty."

"I don't do quagmires."

"I don't do diplomacy."

"I don't do foreign policy."

"I don't do numbers."

"If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly."


More delectable morsels here.

This entry brought to you by the Los Angeles Liberals for Liberating Rummy (i.e. Me, a.k.a. one pissed off Democrat)

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This obviously ain't me.


My daily horoscope:

First thing in the morning, you're flying high and acting flirty as all get out. But later on, you feel more like a wearing pair of cozy slippers and sipping a warm beverage. Just go with it. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Now if I were writing it, it would look this way:

Even though you passionately hate mornings with the fire of a thousand hells, you will drag yourself out of bed and go to work because that's what responsible adults do. While there you will complete amazing feats that require extraordinary genius. After work you will follow your one true passion (other than your fiance who sadly is in another state) and go knitting. You will enjoy camraderie, humor and lots and lots of yarn. Finally you will arrive home, content that you are one day closer to weekend. You will ignore all household chores and looming homework and choose instead to knit some more in front of the tv. Despite your best intentions, you will get sucked into the boob tube for several hours and then fall asleep curled up in bed with the blanket grandma knit for you.

Now THIS would be a horoscope I could get behind.

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Tuesday, November 07, 2006

A Modest Proposal.


And I'm not talking about Swift's essay.

Today was election day as I'm sure all Americans know. I have somewhat mixed feelings when I say I didn't vote.

Technically, I tried. I moved in August of this year and I thought when I completed my DMV change of address form and checked "please register me to vote" I would get a ballot. About a week ago I realized that I hadn't seen anything, and didn't know where to go to cast my vote. Research on the matter didn't help much.

But if you're really asking, I just didn't see the point this year. Our Republican Governator won by a landslide and there's nothing my vote was going to do to stop it. I confess I was mostly ignorant of the other races. And I can never figure out what the propositions are REALLY about.

But this isn't really meant to be a discussion about how I'm one of the apathetic Americans. It truly is about an idea.

In an era when we live our lives by our internet access, where we file everything from our tax returns to our financial aid applications (for those of us who are students) to our bills online, it is surprising to me that the powers that be haven't come up with a way to cast an electronic vote.

Yes, I realize we're talking major server power, and complications from different time zones, but we're also talking voter volunteer error and electronic machines that can be opened with hotel minibar keys, so let's not blow our stacks too soon.

Think about it - you could register to vote online. You could receive some sort of electronic signature file that would be unique to you. You could cast your vote at a predetermined date and time. And there would be no counting. We could have real time results as servers calculated the data.

Sure there would be a bit of fraud. Like there isn't now?

Sure there would be some people who couldn't log in to vote. Like equipment doesn't malfunction now?

Sure there would be some people with no internet access. Why not set up "Cybercafe voting"? Or booths for those who still wished to cast a ballot the old fashioned way.

Just THINK ABOUT IT for a bit.

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Hot damn I need a vacation.


Today's debate: The United States Virgin Islands.

Discuss.

Oh? You wanted background? Ok here goes.

One of my bosses is travelling to the US Virgin Islands for a conference in December. I am in charge of making his travel arrangements. Flight debacle aside (no direct flights, transfers and ferries between islands...), I seem to have hit a little roadblock. I have to file a travel request and designate each trip as domestic or international travel.

Now I did a little research here.

From Wikipedia:

"The United States Virgin Islands are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. The U.S. Virgin Islands consist of the four main islands of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Water Island, and many smaller islands. It is the only part of the United States where traffic drives on the left."

Just in case you needed to know where to drive. But I digress.

I realize that the Wikipedia is an often-disputed source.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

"Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia compiled by a distributed network of volunteers, has often come under attack by academics as being shoddy and full of inaccuracies. Even Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, says he wants to get the message out to college students that they shouldn’t use it for class projects or serious research.

Speaking at a conference at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday called “The Hyperlinked Society,” Mr. Wales said that he gets about 10 e-mail messages a week from students who complain that Wikipedia has gotten them into academic hot water. “They say, ‘Please help me. I got an F on my paper because I cited Wikipedia’” and the information turned out to be wrong, he says. But he said he has no sympathy for their plight, noting that he thinks to himself: “For God sake, you’re in college; don’t cite the encyclopedia.”


Message received. Loud and clear. So I called in a second opinion.

From the CIA World Factbook:

History: During the 17th century, the archipelago was divided into two territorial units, one English and the other Danish. Sugarcane, produced by slave labor, drove the islands' economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1917, the US purchased the Danish portion, which had been in economic decline since the abolition of slavery in 1848.

Dependency Status: Organized, unincorporated territory of the US with policy relations between the Virgin Islands and the US under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs, US Department of the Interior.

Chief of State: President George W. BUSH of the US (since 20 January 2001); Vice President Richard B. CHENEY (since 20 January 2001)

Head of Government: Governor Dr. Charles Wesley TURNBULL (since 5 January 1999)


Alrighty then. Good old Georgie is in charge. I decide to go with domestic.

But apparently I am wrong. I am told to file for international travel. WHAT?

Further Research:

The US Census Bureau charts the population.

Do we need passports to go to the US Virgin Islands? From the US Department of State:
Q. Will travelers from U.S. territories need to present a passport to enter the United States?

No. These territories are a part of the United States. U.S. citizens returning directly from a U.S. territory are not considered to have left the U.S. territory and do not need to present a passport. U.S. territories include the following: Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.


Therefore I conclude that the US Virgin Islands, as they are considered a part of the United States, should not be considered foreign travel.

If you want to argue that they aren't states, that's fine. Neither is Washington DC. Do you consider that foreign travel?

Not contiguous you say? Well neither are Hawaii and Alaska.

DISCUSS.

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