9 - 2002 | ***Dave Does the Blog

The Organization Man II

I’ve been trying to organize my life, at least a little. I have hobbies. Way too many hobbies. Lots and lots of hobbies. Many of which some people could pursue…

I’ve been trying to organize my life, at least a little.

I have hobbies. Way too many hobbies. Lots and lots of hobbies. Many of which some people could pursue full-time. Since all I have to pursue them in are, mostly, my evenings, it’s far too easy to completely neglect one or more of them for months, even years.

So … a new regimen. (And, yes, it’s pretty pathetic that I need to allocate out my personal time like this.)

Mondays — WIST (quotations database — working on the db, sifting through quotations, looking up citations); Comics (cataloging).
Tuesdays — RPGs (plotting my own, working on character sheets, painting figuress, doing character logs); Genealogy.
Wednesdays — Writing (creative); Web (work on pages, sift/upload pictures); set up the Thursday Thumb-Twiddler; assist with the Washing.
Thursdays — Clean the breakfast table; Bills.

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are all too unstructured to commit to anything. If I have time for any of the above then, great. Otherwise …

I’ve tried to set it up so that I have a choice on any given night, if I’m feeling creative, or just want to do something organizational. I’ve also tried to keep the creative energy needs of Mondays down to a minimum.

We’ll see how it works. Some of the above projects have been neglected for way too long.

The Organization Man I

Over the weekend, Margie and I both did some reorganizing of our various RPG character sheets, notes, etc….

Over the weekend, Margie and I both did some reorganizing of our various RPG character sheets, notes, etc.

Continue reading “The Organization Man I”

What is the sound of one brain sizzling?

Well, if you put your ear up to the monitor, you’ll know. A teacher wanted to increase her students’ vocabulary. Bully for her. Our vocabulary binds our ability to express…

Well, if you put your ear up to the monitor, you’ll know.

A teacher wanted to increase her students’ vocabulary. Bully for her. Our vocabulary binds our ability to express thought, and in many ways binds our thought itself. The more words you know and can use, the more nuances of language you can control, the better you can think and the better you can pass that thought on to others.

The teacher, unfortunately made a grave error. She forgot that there are stupid people out there.

People who can’t use a dictionary.

People who think that because a word sounds vaguely like another word, they must mean the same thing, or at least should be treated that way.

People who could use a frickin’ vocabulary lesson themselves.

The word? “Niggardly.” It means stingy, ungenerous, scanty.

That you’ve already figured out where this is going is probably a bad sign. one parent of one of the fourth-graders had a conniption.

Although the word means stingy, Akwana Walker said it was inappropriate to use it because it sounds similar to a racial slur. She said she doesn’t think fourth-graders can distinguish between the two words.

“My daughter told me what that word was, and I told her not to complete that part of her homework,” said Ms. Walker, who is black.

The teacher, under direction from her principal, has apologized. The kids have learned that it’s not enough not to use bad words, but you shouldn’t use words that sound like bad words (like “buck” or “sit” or “punt”). And, of course, they’ve learned that you can claim to be offended and get everyone in the world to fall all over themselves apologizing and taking corrective action.

The student has been moved to another class. The teacher has issued a public apology, and has promised never to use the word again in class. A counsellor will speak with the students.

Ms. Walker wants the teacher fired. Ridiculous? Not given how the district has already caved on the matter.

Norm Shearin, deputy superintendent for the New Hanover County Schools, said Friday the principal is dealing with the situation.
“Our position is that it was an inappropriate action in terms of using that word at that grade level, in that context,” he said. “… It was a bad choice.”

(via VotC)

Alternative suggestions

No doubt you’ve heard about the rib-tickling proposed “Reality TV” show, a _hillbillies_dc_1″>revival of the Beverly Hillbillies, but with real “rural, lower-middle class family” (complete with granny) learning to live…

No doubt you’ve heard about the rib-tickling proposed “Reality TV” show, a alternative suggestions. Glad to see we agree on the third one.

Though now that I think of it, that’s actually close relative to Green Acres. Which, it turns out, is also in development as a Reality TV show.

Thank God I have a large DVD collection.

Today’s Milk-spurting-out-of-nose Humor Moment

Run, don’t walk, here….

Run, don’t walk, here.

Is it April 1st over there?

Greece has banned all video games. That includes Solitaire on Windows, games on cell phones, DVDs that have games as PC-readable extras, etc. And, yes, folks are getting busted for…

Greece has banned all video games. That includes Solitaire on Windows, games on cell phones, DVDs that have games as PC-readable extras, etc. And, yes, folks are getting busted for it.

The law was passed to prevent illegal gambling. According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, “The police will be responsible for catching offenders, who will face fines of 5,000 to 75,000 euros and imprisonment of one to 12 months. The blanket ban was decided in February after the government admitted it was incapable of distinguishing innocuous video games from illegal gambling machines.” One online report said that even watching a film on DVD — many of which contain promotional games linked to the movie — had resulted in an arrest and a 10,000-euro fine.

Yeah, because the police can’t tell if it’s legal or illegal, we’ll just make it all illegal. What, they’ve been taking notes from the RIAA?

What a bunch of goofballs.

(via Reenhead)

Priorities

Because, remember, it’s all about the fans, right? (via Rey)…

Because, remember, it’s all about the fans, right?

(via Rey)

When every second counts!

In This Era of Technological Wonders, All Mankind can be Proud that Top Scientists have Once Again Pushed the Envelope of Man’s Mastery Over the World, Achieving What Once was…

In This Era of Technological Wonders, All Mankind can be Proud that Top Scientists have Once Again Pushed the Envelope of Man’s Mastery Over the World, Achieving What Once was Only Dreamed Of, But Now is a Shining Reality: a condom that only takes three seconds to get on.

Willem van Rensburg who patented the design told Die Burger that his wife would never forgive him if he discloses exactly how the idea was born.
He told the paper: “Struggling in the dark with the packaging has a tendency to dampen a man’s ardour – likely to deal a fatal blow to the ego.”

Science Marches On, Tall and Proud, Driving Forward in the Pursuit of … well, never mind.

(Actually, this is pretty keen, if it encourages folks to use ’em, rather than not.)

Talkin’ about a Constitution …

Swell. Almost half of Americans (1,000 folks surveyed, margin +/- 3%) think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. Oops. Can I say that? Mercifully, the…

Swell. Almost half of Americans (1,000 folks surveyed, margin +/- 3%) think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.

Oops. Can I say that?

Mercifully, the Founders made it tough to amend the Constitution — not impossible, but tough. Just for times and impulses like this.

(via Blather)

The Name’s the Thing

It’s the Tuesday This-or-That….

It’s the Tuesday This-or-That.

Continue reading “The Name’s the Thing”

Leggy

Which Legolas are you? Oh, yeah, baby. (via SFAD)…

Which Legolas are you?

Oh, yeah, baby.

(via SFAD)

Interests

Is the widely-touted international disapproval of possible US military action against Iraq founded on a higher moral stance than the US position? Or is it merely a matter of competing…

Is the widely-touted international disapproval of possible US military action against Iraq founded on a higher moral stance than the US position? Or is it merely a matter of competing self-interests? SDB suggests the latter.

The Russians oppose an attack on Iraq because they hope to profit from a relationship with the existing government. The Europeans oppose an attack on Iraq because they fear their own unassimilated Arab minority populations. The Arab nations in the vicinity oppose an attack because they fear that their own governments may be affected. A lot of other small nations oppose an attack mostly because they fear the idea of the US using its now-unmatched military might in its own interests.
That’s all quite reasonable; they’re probably all legitimate concerns. But they’re all parochial; they’re all self-interested. Our parochial, self-interested position is to want to make an attack.
It’s perfectly understandable why they want us to put their interests above our own. But that doesn’t mean it makes sense for us. Why, exactly, is their parochial self-interested position supposed to mean more to us, and more closely guide our policy, than our own?

(In a completely separate vein, he has some interesting and sound observations on engineering and the World Trade Center investigation.)

Listening to consumers? Frickin’ radicals …

Major music labels are backing off of copy-protection schemes being embedded onto CDs, fearing a consumer backlash. How … refreshing. Still, the rhetoric war continues. Though the labels are slowing…

Major music labels are backing off of copy-protection schemes being embedded onto CDs, fearing a consumer backlash.

How … refreshing.

Still, the rhetoric war continues.

Though the labels are slowing their drive for the technological locks, their desire for them has not diminished. Earlier this week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported that CD shipments dropped 7 percent during the first half of 2002 compared with the previous year. The organization blamed the drop on music downloading and CD copying.

Yeah, a major recession wouldn’t have anything to do with that. Nor CD price increases. Let alone (say it ain’t so) the idea that maybe people don’t like what’s being produced.

Nah, it must be Evil Pirates, Twirling Their Mustachios (and Goatees) As They Plot the Downfall of Western Civilization. That’s the ticket.

One group that’s bought into the theory, though, are music stores, which are furious that the labels are (in the US, at least) backing off of copy protection. Especially since, of course, electronic music distribution makes music stores about as necessary as buggy whip shops.

The buggy whip manufacturers, in the meantime, are biding their time, waiting for more solid protection technology, and for the current consumer furor to die down. Stay tuned.

Got the moves

Looking for some snappy new martial arts moves? Look no longer, but go visit the Verbal Kung-Fu Generator. Every fifteen minutes, five hundred new moves are generated. Woo-hoo! vicious animal…

Looking for some snappy new martial arts moves? Look no longer, but go visit the Verbal Kung-Fu Generator. Every fifteen minutes, five hundred new moves are generated. Woo-hoo!

vicious animal twist
inverted lotus punch
fang of the scholar hands
transcendent hummingbird slash
enlightened wolf sword
mystic chopstick spin
evil monster nerve pinch
accurate sage hands
strange moon slash
dreaded cricket antagonism
unfathomable grasshopper feet
valorous secret style
dreaded dream fright
wicked monkey neck-snap

(via BoingBoing)

Elder Kitten

Today is Mist’s 11th Birthday (Observed). An estimated four weeks or so after birth, I found him in a storm drain, emaciated and bedraggled and infested and sick and infected…

Today is Mist’s 11th Birthday (Observed). An estimated four weeks or so after birth, I found him in a storm drain, emaciated and bedraggled and infested and sick and infected and all that bad stuff. A trip to the Vet ER ended up with his right eye cauterized (which hasn’t stopped him from climbing, leaping, or catching frickin’ hummingbirds); said eye became cancerous a few years ago, and had to be removed, giving him a permanent wink (we decided the little kitty eyepatch made him look too tyrannical).

He’s a rather persnickity kitty, rather anti-social, but has mellowed with age. He remains lean and relatively active. Happy Birthday, Mist!

Clever Kitten

Katherine continues to progress by leaps and bounds. She drew her first recognizable letter on the shower glass door this morning: “Q” which she identified by name, too. Which was…

Katherine continues to progress by leaps and bounds.

She drew her first recognizable letter on the shower glass door this morning: “Q” which she identified by name, too. Which was a little surprising, since she’s focused most of her attention so far on “M” (“Mommy!”), “D” (“Daddy!”), and “K” (“Me! My letter!”).

Looking at her Sesame Street game, and seeing a picture of a doctor, she said, “Doctor Kane!” (who is her pediatrician).

Her day-to-day dialog keeps getting more sophisticated. “How are you Katherine?” “M’all right.” She’s been doing Please and Thank You for some time (and I’ll tell you — there’s nothing that will win over a store clerk or waitress faster than hearing that).

Clever girl.

Whoosh!

This weekend has turned out to be a huge RPG fest for us. Friday night was Doyce’s normal Star Wars campaign. Today we play Oriental Adventures. And yesterday ……

This weekend has turned out to be a huge RPG fest for us. Friday night was Doyce’s normal Star Wars campaign. Today we play Oriental Adventures. And yesterday …

Continue reading “Whoosh!”

Can we at least wait for the first decade to be over?

In this weekend’s USA WEEKEND newspaper filler, the cover story: … “The Five Most Important Buildings of the Twenty-first Century!” Never mind that two of them were built in the…

In this weekend’s USA WEEKEND newspaper filler, the cover story: … “The Five Most Important Buildings of the Twenty-first Century!”

Never mind that two of them were built in the Twentieth.

Anyone who proclaims anything, even something so apparently seminal as 9/11, as the most anything of the Twenty-first Century before at least AD 2050 deserves a serious rapping on the knuckles. Sheesh.