| December 2006 | ||||||
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Sunday, December 17, 2006
Things I learned from the latest James Bond movie:
-Only white people matter.
-Don't shoot low when in Venice.
-MI5 uses Sony Vaio laptops.
-For big fun, shoot propane tanks.
-Veruschka looks great, even now after all these years.
You might be asking yourself, where did all the entries go? That's a good question. There was a little problem (my fault) with one of the Greymatter scripts (which are excellent by the way). I will be reconstructing the entries over the next week or so.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
There has always been a bit of a cult surrounding bound notebooks, the ones which make you look not like a kid going to geography class, but more like Victorian romance character going to takes notes on the flora and fauna of Ceylon. My little home town of Port Townsend made a variety of these overpriced notebooks, and many a self-indulgent housewife has logged her spiritual growth in such tomes. It's all a bit silly, but many of the notebooks were very cute. Personally I recommend fine bath oils for real self-indulgence.
Now there are Moleskine notebooks. They seem just fine, but I honestly think the things are practical for very few people. I was really annoyed when Rick Steves recommended them for journaling on trips explicitly dissuaded people from using spiral bound notebooks.
Here's are the problems I have with such notebooks. You can't rearrange the pages, and they don't stay flat. You're travelling someplace and you notice what a delightful hotel you're in. You write about in your journal. You go out to dinner and then you make an entry about a restaurant that you really don't want to go to again, and you wryly describe how annoying the waiter was. Now you realize that you would like to make some more comments about the hotel and add a drawing, but now these comments and the drawing will be two entries away from your original hotel entry.
Moleskines and other notebooks of that type don't open flat. It makes for less convient entries; as my pen approaches the far right side of the left page I get the feeling of walking near a ditch with slipperly sides. Spiral bindings, as ugly as some find them, don't cause this gullying between the pages. It is also nice to be able to read your own notes hands free while sipping tea or consulting a map.
Some (like Rick Steves) point out that you want nice notebooks which will look good in a bookcase, not some ugly spiral bound thing. Very well, if you really must take a Martha Stewart approach to this, bind your notes yourself. It's really not that hard. You'll be able to use different papers for different things (note, drawings, watercolors, diagrams), you can custom make your cover, you can brag about how cool you are.
Don't be a Moleskine snob. Don't be a snob at all. Moleskines are made by an Italian company, but then again, so are Fiats. And Hemingway and Van Gogh did not use these notebooks; they used notebooks similair to Moleskines, but not Moleskines.
You will find blogs devoted to Moleskine notebooks. Interestingly one problem that many people have with these little books is that they don't have a use for them! It sounds like it takes some people a long time to fill theirs up, so I guess the high price point for these things isn't too much of a problem.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Some time ago I mentioned Jail Cam. I found it strange that they set up a webcam allowing people all over the world to watch bookings taking place in TN. Well now they have a chat system up allowing Jail Cam viewers to chat about what they see.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Gregory wasn't a nice player with Izze, so he is with the other birds, the sighted birds, Soren, Ludvig, and Marie. I think it's been a little hard for Gregory. He usually hangs out on the top perch and avoids spending much time on the ground level where the hens have their nests. Today I was noticing he was hanging around me as I was washing dishes, then it occured to me that he wanted a bath. I filled up the bathroom sink and with a little coaxing was soon bathing with abandon.
He grunts at us a lot.
Monday, September 19, 2005
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I've starting making Gregory wear a little flightsuit. Someday he might forgive me!
Sunday, September 18, 2005
I have a really interesting new member to my pigeon family. For those of you who do not regularly visit pigeons.com will need a little background reading.
I wasted little time in offering to care for Gregory. I went to Bremerton to meet Rich and Linda. Nice couple with fun stories of life in the country. We had fun chatting at a Starbucks near the Bremerton ferry dock. Rich had purchased a nice carrier for Gregory's trip to Seattle at a garage sale. He even added a little carpeting to it. All in all it was a nice travelling cab for the Gregory.
The ferry trip to and back was actually really nice. Here is Gregory and my husband as passengers to Seattle.
I can't say Gregory felt totally at ease with the situation.
I fed him and gave him some water, and he did seem to have an appetite.
I've been hoping that Gregory and Izze (a blind pigeon) can be cagemates. They're not fighting. As a matter of fact, they don't seem to interact at all. I think Izze has learned to accept that there is lots going on around him that he doesn't understand. At first he seemed worried about the sounds of another pigeon walking near him and occasionally flitting about, but then he just seemed to relax and accept it. Gregory for his part hasn't paid any attention to Izze. I know that there is a good chance that his arrangement won't work, so I'm going to be keeping a close eye on things.
Gregory is an interesting one. I think he (maybe she?) misses you Rich! I've noticed that Gregory will often peck at our hands, but at the same time seem very attached to us wanting to stay on our shoulders. He gets very uneasy in his cage sometimes and clearly is lonely for human company. I open the cage door, reach in, he pecks my hand, runs up my arm, and hangs out on my shoulder. Part of him probably misses Rich and Linda and resents Scott and me for taking him away. At the same time I think Gregory likes human company and he gets worried when he is not near us. Yes, Gregory is an interesting one.
Thursday, September 1, 2005
Michael Dyson is right, Bill Cosby really has dropped into old-fuddy-duddy land with his talk about black society. He talks about blacks having a 50% dropout rate. He's simply wrong. He gripes about the way kids talk, dress, and basically comes across these days as a crotchety old guy. He says he can't understand all that black slang and he is darn upset about it. Do Scotsmen with thick accents get his blood boiling as well?
Oh well. He has become old, real old.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
"Digital Computer" . . . can there be any other type of computer? Yes! Analog computers have been around in one form or another for hundreds of years. Arguably the old slide rule was an analog computer of sorts. How about analog electronic computers? Yes such things existed! In truth most complex electronic devices in our homes have analog electronic computers in them, but they are usually just called "op amps" by engineers. I stumbled across a website with some potentional: Doug Coward's Analog Computer Museum. Interesting stuff, and still useful for some things.
Sunday, August 7, 2005
Izze (my new blind bird) seems to be enjoying the summer. Here are some pics. His health is good, though I wish he would gain more weight, but he seems active, curious, and in good spirits. He pecks at his food a little, but he really doesn't eat on his own. I feed him by hand. He drinks on his own, which is really important. Some have mentioned on pigeons.com that head trauma can cause problems with eating, almost like causing the birds to forget how to eat on their own. The vet thought Izze's bleeding eyes were probably caused by a blow to the head, so maybe he is still -- not to be mean -- not right in the head. That being said, he's sane enough for me. He likes lounging in the sun, "helicoptering" to exercise his wings, pecking at bits of paper and towels, and he seems to like the occasional bath. He usually eagerly hops onto my hand when I reach into his cage and give him a gentle touch on his chest.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
How would you pronouce "Green Cine". I would say something like "Green Sin-Nay" or something like that. Anyway, it's suppose to be pronouced "Green Scene".
What is Green Cine? Simple answer -- it's a Netflix with lots of independant films, anime, and x-rated material, including lots of hentai. Their website is functional. Their service is good. The prices are reasonable. And they have a great anime selection. The only problem I've found is that I've discovered I can get tired of watching anime.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Pigeons.com is not a very fancy looking website; the graphics are a bit corny, and they don't strive for a sophisticated look. The site is however very nicely designed for users, and it's really given me some help and support.
Rather than tell the story over again, you can read all about Izze on the pigeons.com forum.
Sunday, June 5, 2005
Let's face it, we live with lots of Acronyms. Some of these acronyms are convenient abbreviations. Who has time to write out "United States of Amer . . . " -- I'm tired out already. Other acronyms are simple bad English: "C U 2 nite." Let's not be prudes; sometimes bad English is OK. I know there are some who are sure that bad spelling, and sloppy linguistic shortcuts will cause society to fall, but it won't. Trust me, it won't.
But there is an odd thing I've discovered. Some Acronyms are not really acronyms because they don't literally stand for anything. For example URS no longer stands for anything since the company outgrew the original name. SQL doesn't really stand for "Structured Query Language"; it doesn't stand for anything except the name of a database language. I expect these false and orphaned acronyms will only become more common.
Curiously looking up SQL on acronymfinder.com gave in the results for SQL not only "Structured Query Language (database query languages)", and "Standard Query Language (less common)", but also "Long-Finned Squid (FAO species code)." Now how this works I can't imagine. And what does "FAO" stand for?
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
This game is one of this strangest . . . THE STRANGEST game I've ever enjoyed. My husband showed it to me, and I'm proud to say that I quickly beat his high score by a considerable margin. Beat this score boys!
Yes, yes, the instructions are in Japanese. Be patient. You'll figure it out.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
I added a review for The Cat Returns. You Tim Curry fans will like to know that the King of the Cats is voiced by the cult actor. If you hate Tim Curry, watch the anime in Japanese.
