I mean … developing and releasing carnivorous, self-powered robots into the wild? Anyone? Hasn’t anyone ever read any books or seen any movies that would indicate some obvious conceptual dangers…
I mean … developing and releasing carnivorous, self-powered robots into the wild? Anyone? Hasn’t anyone ever read any books or seen any movies that would indicate some obvious conceptual dangers here? Come on, people!
Oh, wait, I have a great idea! Let’s build them so they can reproduce, too! And grow more intelligent! That’s the ticket!
(via Idler Yet)
This morning, Margie and I were chatting on the phone. “Oh, the drywaller called.” This is the drywaller who was supposed to come to our house today and tape and…
This morning, Margie and I were chatting on the phone.
“Oh, the drywaller called.”
This is the drywaller who was supposed to come to our house today and tape and mud and texture the wall. I waited for the other shoe to drop. He’s decided not to take the job. He’s been struck blind and is becoming a monk. He’s retiring, effective yesterday. He laughed at me and said nobody will ever do our drywalling.
“He just wanted to check to make sure today was okay, and he’ll be here later this morning.”
Phew. At last, something going right.
Then, a few minutes ago, Margie IMed me.
“Just got a call from the drywaller – his truck just broke down and he’s afraid he won’t be able to make it today.”
Quoth Charlie Brown, “I just can’t stand it.”
He is rescheduled to show up on Friday. Unless, of course, he’s swallowed by the Earth, or a roc snatches him up from the front driveway and carries him away to feed her young, or martial law is declared, or something else irksome happens.
Hmmm. According to this CSM test, when it comes to foreign policy I am “most likely” a Realist. Realists … Are guided more by practical considerations than ideological vision Believe…
Hmmm. According to this CSM test, when it comes to foreign policy I am “most likely” a Realist.
Historical realist: President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Modern realist: Secretary of State Colin Powell
I’m not sure I agree with all of the above, but it’s probably closer to me than the other four categories (Isolationist, Liberal, Neocon).
(via the Flea)
This is so on my Christmas 2005 wish list. Just so you can start saving your money now … (via BoingBoing)…
This is so on my Christmas 2005 wish list. Just so you can start saving your money now …
(via BoingBoing)
Because I’m sure there was one in there somewhere. With the exception of Friday afternoon’s SCatWoT screening, this was the All Religious Stuff, All The Time (Plus Food) weekend. Our…
Because I’m sure there was one in there somewhere.
With the exception of Friday afternoon’s SCatWoT screening, this was the All Religious Stuff, All The Time (Plus Food) weekend. Our parish was doing a Faith Alive weekend, except that it wasn’t, because they don’t do FA in parishes with an interim rector, they do something called “Faith Stories,” which is, evidently, something of a pale reflection of the main event. I dunno.
Anyway, it was alternately passably interesting and occasionally inspirational and a fine getting-closer-together sort of thing, marred only by the lower-than-expected turn-out. That I was the only Vestry member there (until Saturday evening) was both irritating and commented-upon, and I’m considering how to diplomatically raise that to the others. We are, after all, the elected leadership of the parish, and if we’re not there to lead …
So that was Friday night, and Saturday morning, and Saturday night (with a break Saturday afternoon, thank heavens). Pot luck dinner the first night, donuts and fruit and Margie’s Raisin Bran muffins and the like Saturday morning, and Everyone Bring More Dessert Than We Can Possibly Eat on Saturday night (yummy flourless chocolate cake from Margie).
They had a separate program for the kids (all two of ’em, including Katherine) during the adult program, and Kitten had a blast, as well as, from what I heard, being impressive as all hell with her cleverness.
Sunday morning? Church. Sunday afternoon. My game.
Well, no, not my game, since, in checking the calendar Saturday evening, I discovered that we had a Vestry Social Get Together And Do Something Other Than Talk Business gathering, over at someone’s house starting mid-afternoon. Rats. I’d missed the previous one, and really felt I needed to attend (you know, that whole Leadership idea?). Margie had other things to do (though she did make a yummy berry cake dessert for the cause), and Katherine came with me. It was, in general, a good time, good fellowship, bocce ball, etc., and not particularly churchy, save for the underlying reason we were all there. But by the time it was over, I was about churched-related-activitied out.
This week — two evenings devoted to churchy stuff. Plus our Hungry Flock dinner on Saturday. And, of course, church on Sunday. And scheduling a time to meet with the delegates to the diocesan convention in two weeks (which delegation I’m in charge of). Yeesh. Don’t I know I’m supposed to compartmentalize all this stuff into a neat little 1.25 hr/wk package and ignore it the rest of the time?
No, but seriously, I’m past discovering why most Vestry members start to get that eager experession in their faces as their terms come to an end. I have a year and change left in mine, along however long the rector search process takes. After which, yes, I expect to take a welcome break from the “time” part of my stewardship.
The trick right now is how to avoid getting one Very Large Further Scoop of Time Commitment dolloped out onto my plate. One which I really should do, but am seriously shrinking from (except for the “if not me, then whom?” part of it).
In other news …
Several months ago, the stopper in Katherine’s bathtub broke — the little thing that you flip the lever for and it stops the drain. I tried replacing it, and had problems getting the right length of chain so that the little lever would move properly. So I replaced the whole get-up with a foot-operable valve in the drain, click-click. Which, like any suction cup thingy, appears to need replacement on a regular basis. Bah.
So I decided what we really needed to do was replace it with a weight-based cover, like Jim and Ginger have. And we spent a goodly part of both Saturday and Sunday afternoons trying at our local Home Depot (x2), Lowe’s, Expo, and Great Indoors, to find one that (a) matched what I was looking for, and (b) was the right size.
No joy.
So I need to hit HD one more time and go with a compromise unit, dagnabbit.
Meanwhile, the mini-blinds in our master bedroom have suffered a major failure, such that the weighted bottom bar is no longer fully attached. So we bought some cheap replacements (still to be installed) so that we can fill in with them until we finish our room redecorating plan.
Speaking of redecorating, the drywall guy will be in today, finally doing the drywall taping/mudding/texturing in the dining room. Huzzah! Only almost a year after we did the work … (And kudos to Margie for actually doing the scheduling, rather than waiting for me to get off my butt to do it.)
On the down side, the Paint Police Lady never made it to the house last week like she was supposed to, so we haven’t made any progress on that. And the folks who were supposed to call us with a quote on the back doors didn’t, so no progress on that. And we looked at garage doors at Lowe’s and were singularly unimpressed, so no progress there.
Rrg.
Kitten’s been suffering from allergies over the past week or so, and woke up Saturday wee-hours with a bad dream (which, no doubt, involved hacking and coughing and wheezing), so that didn’t do our sleeping any good — Margie in particular, as we gave in and let Kitten crawl into bed with us, and she lived up to her feline nickname and took up two-thirds of Margie’s side of the bed.
Last night we had high winds, which were disturbing, and Margie’s allergies were kicking in, which kept her up quite a bit, so early bed time tonight.
And that was our woo-woo exciting weekend.
Spiffy multipage article on the Bond flicks, complete with individual reviews of each movie. Aside from the author’s disdain for Timothy Dalton (which I appreciate even while disagreeing), good stuff….
Spiffy multipage article on the Bond flicks, complete with individual reviews of each movie. Aside from the author’s disdain for Timothy Dalton (which I appreciate even while disagreeing), good stuff.
In theory, the Five Hundred Miles to Nowhere project awards ducks for every 10% of the goal, or 50 miles. My own Walk to Nowhere project isn’t really aiming at…
In theory, the Five Hundred Miles to Nowhere project awards ducks for every 10% of the goal, or 50 miles. My own Walk to Nowhere project isn’t really aiming at 500 miles, only 160 (but, see below), which would make 10% only 16 miles. Nonetheless, I want to take on the 50 mile threshold for ducks.
So … quack! 
Yes, I have actually walked 50 miles (according to my pedometer) since I started this a couple of weeks ago. Indeed, my average miles per day is 4.36, rather than the 1.37 miles per day needed to meet my goal. And if I were walking 4.67 per day, I’d actually hit 500 by the end of the year.
That almost smells like a challenge …
In case of fire, what would you grab and save and do (aside from get out safely)? In case of impending threat (brushfire approaching), what would you grab in the…
In case of fire, what would you grab and save and do (aside from get out safely)?
In case of impending threat (brushfire approaching), what would you grab in the twenty minutes the sheriff gives you to evac?
In case of disaster, where would you and your family meet up. Who, outside of the area, would be the common contact?
In case you were hit by a bus, who would know your account numbers, what bills need paying, who to call?
In case you and your spouse/SO were hit by busses, who would?
If you have online accounts and passwords, would they be accessible to someone who needed to get to them? How do you ensure that, while making sure they remain safe?
Thoughts I’m considering at the moment. Not because of any particular new concern, just because they’ve been brought to my attention.
To say that Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a mere trifle is to misspeak, for there is nothing mere to it. It is a massive candy shop…
To say that Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a mere trifle is to misspeak, for there is nothing mere to it. It is a massive candy shop of trifles, trifles everywhere, elaborately decorated, lovingly presented — and ultimately empty of anything but the blissful experience of having consumed them.
Visually, the movie is everything that a lover of pulp magazine tropes could love. On this, alone, the movie merits viewing on the big screen. Robots of every shape and size menace and march. Aircraft of different sorts soar, zoom, and more. Cities, both modern and hidden, are art deco wonders. Every scene looks like a cover of Amazing Science Fiction Stories during the 30s, with airships and rocket ships to boot.
That the visuals are so incredibly rich can help mask that there’s not much more behind the curtain. The action is relentless, though more to move us on to a new scene with new wonders. There’s some recurring humor, some decent acting by the principals, but, frankly, Indiana Jones (which is what most often came to mind) looks like Citizen Kane compared to the depth, characterization, or plotting of SCatWoT. Things just happen, with the barest veneer of rhyme or reason. A freaking pantheon of deus ex machina outs serves merely to keep us from wondering for more than a few seconds how Our Heroes will survive. (Sometimes they don’t even bother with that — folks get captured, then escape, all off screen with the barest of explanations). Characters appear and disappear (and sometimes reappear again), places are visited and departed, with nothing (not even the the final scene) providing any sense of closure — which makes the film seem to end almost abruptly, it’s biggest weakness.
Indeed, it’s amusing that one of the ongoing bits is Gwyneth Paltrow‘s spunky reporter (out-Lois Laning Lois Lane in all categories) and her unwillingness to take one of her last few photographs for fear that they’ll encounter something even more wonderful — because they always do, which seems to be at least half the purpose of the film, the other half being a homage to every cool thing from that era of SF magazines. Plot almost gets in the way, and is just an excuse to show off how amazing the fx are. And they are, to an extent that you end up not caring why the bad guy is doing X, but then turns out to be doing Y.
To that end, there’s enough plot lacking, and enough action and settings and just sheer incredible stuff to have made a whole trilogy of movies, if not more. They get around that by merely trimming all the characterization and motivation and story to the absolute bare minimum — the better to wow you with the next CG-generated wonder. We never really learn anything about Sky Captain (played with pluck, charm, and determination by Jude Law), what he does, how he came to have his island full of toys. The backstory presented could be written in a short paragraph or two, for all the characters. But as soon as that thought comes to mind, it — oh, my God, look at those really cool robots with the snaky tentacle arms!
Like I said, it’s like a candy store full of trifles. Afterward you might find yourself wishing for something with a bit more substance — some meat, or potatoes, or even something salty rather than oh-so-sweet. But while you’re shoveling it into your mouth — er, eyes — it’s a fabulous time.
(No spoilers here, but probably some will crop up in the comments. It’s not like I can say it will spoil any of the story, but it might spoil some of the surprises.)
Minor sanity bubbled briefly to the top in Washington, as Rep. Joe Barton, the the head of the House Commerce Committee (which has regulatory oversight of the broadcast industry), has…
Minor sanity bubbled briefly to the top in Washington, as Rep. Joe Barton, the the head of the House Commerce Committee (which has regulatory oversight of the broadcast industry), has rejected requests to have his committee dig into the CBS phony memo scandal.
“A news organization’s responsibility is to facts and truth, but the oversight of network news generally is a matter best sorted out by the viewing public and the news media,” he said. “I do not personally believe these documents are legitimate, and it seems clear that the press and the two presidential campaigns are properly dealing with that issue.”
Indeed. The ratings slippage for CBS News (already running third, and now dropping further) is more of a just punishment for what happened than whatever the government could do. Further, having the government “investigate” a journalistic organization in that fashion could only have a chilling effect on journalism in general, which would not be a good thing.
They’ve already shot themselves in the foot. Ordering a firing squad wouldn’t help — and would only, in fact, garner CBS sympathy.
Without getting into political venom-spewing, I have to say that I find the idea of a “Republicans for Voldemort” shirts to be a real hoot. On the other hand, since…
Without getting into political venom-spewing, I have to say that I find the idea of a “Republicans for Voldemort” shirts to be a real hoot.
On the other hand, since I’ve no desire to see money passed on to Moveon.org, I’ll have to give it a pass. YMMV.
While the tech companies argue over which next-generatoin DVD format is likely to be the “winner,” and media companies try to push as much as they can on the current…
While the tech companies argue over which next-generatoin DVD format is likely to be the “winner,” and media companies try to push as much as they can on the current DVD before getting everyone to buy (the same) stuff in the new format, the whole removable format concept is going the way of the dinosaurs.
Good. The longer it takes, the less chance any format of DVD has of having a place in the future of home entertainment. Don’t look now, but the price and size of hard drives have fallen like a rock, while capacities have soared, with no slowdown in site.
Which leads to the question — What is the best way to distribute content? DVDs which will be limited in capacity to 9.4gbs on a single DVD for another year, and then after that 50gbs on a single disk for years to come after that, or rewritable media that can hold 2gb already in a device half the size of a pen, or in a hard drive that can hold 200GBs plus in a drive the size of your cell phone?
With electronic delivery of media, the idea of CD racks and DVD shelves, etc., suddenly sounds like having a carriage house or a coal chute …
(via BoingBoing)
Fair warning that Sunday is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Which doesn’t mean this….
Fair warning that Sunday is International Talk Like A Pirate Day.
Which doesn’t mean this.
Keen. Downloadable PDFs of different sorts of graph paper. Squares, hexes, points, metric, asymmetric, whatever. Very cool. (via KoDT #95)…
Keen. Downloadable PDFs of different sorts of graph paper. Squares, hexes, points, metric, asymmetric, whatever. Very cool.
(via KoDT #95)
Allow me to roll home now … Wednesday evening: CIO and one of his direct reports arrive. A drink at the Marriott bar, then a faboo steak dinner at Luke’s,…
Allow me to roll home now …
Wednesday evening: CIO and one of his direct reports arrive. A drink at the Marriott bar, then a faboo steak dinner at Luke’s, complete with wine. I headed home at 10ish, as the party broke up.
Thursday: Still full. Took the guests to the Coors Brewery in Golden for the “VIP Tour,” a 90-minute version of the regular tour wherein you get to actually go behind the scenes, pick up germinated barley, peer into the bottling line, see the filtering plant (and drink freshly minted beer right out of filters). Hard hat, safety glasses, and steel-toed shoes (or slip-ons) required. Much fun, followed by a couple of beers at the tasting room afterwards. Back to the office. Nice lunch from Einstein Bros. brought in for a big IT meeting. After lunch, the CIO dragged we managers off to Hops for a couple more beers, before he headed off to the airport, and I finally got a chance to get some work done.
Maybe I’ll just drink some water tonight.
On the plus side, the CIO thought the trip was great, and it’s always good chatting with him. And he’s promised to hang around for three days next time, so that I can get him down to the house for some Margie cooking (something of a challenge there).
On the negative side, I was about five hours late with my weekly report.
On the not-so-negative side, that report goes from my boss (who is on vacation) to the CIO, so it’s not like I didn’t have a good excuse …
An (ongoing) cautionary tale. If you create an online form to let people request service appointments … make sure that it doesn’t send bounce messages back to the requester because…
An (ongoing) cautionary tale.
Yeesh.
The CIO is in town, so I’m pretty booked until this afternoon — at which time, of course, I’ll have to get done all the work-related stuff I didn’t get…
The CIO is in town, so I’m pretty booked until this afternoon — at which time, of course, I’ll have to get done all the work-related stuff I didn’t get done this morning. And I’ve got Kitten Pick-up at 4:30, a Paint Police appointment at 5, and a regional meeting on the bishop’s task force to attend at 6:30.
I might even get to see Margie somewhere in all that. So expect me when you read me.
A fun article on companies and websites that sell stock pieces for games you might have lost, or entire vintage games themselves. Neat….
A fun article on companies and websites that sell stock pieces for games you might have lost, or entire vintage games themselves. Neat.
A new round-up of déjà vu research. Stop me if you’ve heard this one … But Dr. Brown and others argue that it is not necessary to invoke hidden conflicts…
A new round-up of déjà vu research. Stop me if you’ve heard this one …
But Dr. Brown and others argue that it is not necessary to invoke hidden conflicts or unusual brain conditions to explain many cases of déjà vu. Normal, healthy brain function suffices. For one thing, déjà vu appears to be more common when people are exhausted or stressed, conditions that are known to cloud short- and long-term memory (and that may also accompany jamais vu, the opposite experience of staring at familiar words or objects and having no recollection of them).
[…] Psychologists have long known, too, that people register impressions and images well before they are aware of what they have seen. The brain sends visual signals through at least two circuits, which move from the retina through the brain to the visual cortex via different routes.
It is an exquisitely tuned system, but common experience suggests many ways its functioning might be thrown off. The classic example, from Dr. Edward Bradford Titchener, a founder of the field, is when a person is about to cross a busy street, glances both ways and then is distracted by a shop window display: “As you cross then, you think, ‘Why, I crossed this street just now’; your nervous system has severed two phases of a single experience, and the latter appears as a repetition of the earlier.”
[…] But the point, psychologists who study memory say, is that people take in a rich banquet of information without noticing it, or noticing and simply forgetting where it came from. It is entirely possible to read an Anne Rice novel and years later, after having forgotten the book, find that a first visit to New Orleans seems like a glimpse into a former life. Or to see one of the bar scenes from the movie “L.A. Confidential” and later walk into the Formosa Cafe for the first time and catch your breath.
That familiarity can come from internally generated images or impressions, too.
Interesting.
Thinking about the link from Portugal, I went out and checked my eXTReME Tracking counter and gathered up some info on the far-flung places around the blog people have visited…
Thinking about the link from Portugal, I went out and checked my eXTReME Tracking counter and gathered up some info on the far-flung places around the blog people have visited my site from. Here’s the country data (bearing in mind the large “unknown” list, which is by IP only, and also bearing in mind that “.com” (etc.) are not 100% certain to be all-American)
(By the way, if you do visit here from some Distant Land, feel free to leave me a comment. Always curious as to what brings people here.)