Katherine’s been suffering from congestion during the evenings. This has led, alternately, to bad dreams and wakefulness. Which means she’s been pitter-pattering into our rooms on a pretty regular basis…
Katherine’s been suffering from congestion during the evenings. This has led, alternately, to bad dreams and wakefulness.
Which means she’s been pitter-pattering into our rooms on a pretty regular basis at, say, 3 a.m. And/or 4. And/or 5. And/or 6.
Needless to say, that’s not been restful for any of us.
Katherine has gone through the Toys ‘R’ Us catalog, and I’m busy entering in her Christmas list into her Amazon Wish List. In so doing, I am appalled (saddened/intrigued/amazed) to…
Katherine has gone through the Toys ‘R’ Us catalog, and I’m busy entering in her Christmas list into her Amazon Wish List.
In so doing, I am appalled (saddened/intrigued/amazed) to discover how many of the pictures of Little Kids in the catalog are perceptibly younger than Katherine.
Here’s a clue to spammers — when everyone is sending out spam that say “Hi!” or “Hey!” as the subject, (a) people will quickly learn that these are spam and…
Here’s a clue to spammers — when everyone is sending out spam that say “Hi!” or “Hey!” as the subject, (a) people will quickly learn that these are spam and delete/filter them unread, and (b) folks will get still more irked at spammers. (I’m finding I’m having to be very careful about e-mail I send to strangers to ensure that they don’t see it as spam, but recognize it, from the subject line, as legit.)
Not that I expect you to worry too much about (b), but (a) should mean something to you.
My Reading hotel supposedly has wireless broadband down in the common rooms, and I’ll have some sort of tie-in from the offices — while I’m in them, and while I’m…
My Reading hotel supposedly has wireless broadband down in the common rooms, and I’ll have some sort of tie-in from the offices — while I’m in them, and while I’m not in meetings — but I’ve no idea beyond that how much access to the Net I’ll have.
I am going to try to pre-post some things here on at least a daily basis, so there will be reasons to visit. And I’ll be keeping track of my travels, so eventually you’ll all be regaled by the zany antics and dramatic happenstances of my voyage.
UPDATE: The fact that this post is present means that I figured it out. Two tips:
I know what I need to do, and I have at least several posts already in mind. Now I just have to do them.
It’s not easy being dead. But, evidently, there’s quite a call for it on CSI. The autopsy scene with Alexander proved a snap for Boye, who had experience as a…
It’s not easy being dead. But, evidently, there’s quite a call for it on CSI.
The autopsy scene with Alexander proved a snap for Boye, who had experience as a body in a short film — and one other time “if you count when I was undead as a vampire in a high school play,” she said.
What happened to Boye’s character before she got into Dr. Woods’ tender hands was a different matter. Boye rattled off what she faced during early morning shooting at a Los Angeles area botanical garden. “It was freezing and I die in this very skimpy lingerie,” she said. “And I’m dragged across the road and then vomited on and then buried and then vomited on again and then unburied and then laid out in a body bag in 40-degree weather,” she said.
Despite that, and the head cold she ended up with, Boye called the experience “so much fun. … I don’t get icked out easily.”
What she found difficult, besides trying not to shiver from the chill while lifeless, was a surprising empathy for her character. “I was laying there for so long and so exposed. There’s about 75 people standing around, and I’m just in my underwear, and I started to really feel like this dead body — which was very violated and very much forgotten about.”
The makeup artists take a cooler, analytic approach: Given the inventive deaths the “CSI” writers dream up, they must figure out how to realistically render a variety of corpses.
And how, sometimes, to make it a bit less realistic …
(via Mariann)
I tend to overprepare certain aspects of travel, particularly business travel. What I am most loathe to have happen in business trips is to find myself with Nothing To Do,…
I tend to overprepare certain aspects of travel, particularly business travel. What I am most loathe to have happen in business trips is to find myself with Nothing To Do, whether on the plane, the airport, or hotel room (though in travel to the UK I can almost always find something interesting on the telly — either a good show or something fascinating to watch).
As a result, I tend to overprepare and overpack. I might bring 80h of entertainment for about 10h of downtime. So what’s on tap for this trip?
So, I think I’ll be able to keep myself busy. I could probably keep myself busy for a month, but, fortunately, it won’t be that long of a trip.
Mars is suffering from global warming, and scientists aren’t sure why. (via GeekPress)…
Mars is suffering from global warming, and scientists aren’t sure why.
(via GeekPress)
Since I’m going to be there next week, I’ve added WUnderground links for both London and Edinburgh. And I’m definitely bringing my overcoat and hat. Heck, I might even bring…
Since I’m going to be there next week, I’ve added WUnderground links for both London and Edinburgh. And I’m definitely bringing my overcoat and hat. Heck, I might even bring a scarf.
ABC is showing Saving Private Ryan tonight for Veterans Day. Good for them. Steven Spielberg will not let a cut version of the film air. Good for him. Some ABC…
ABC is showing Saving Private Ryan tonight for Veterans Day. Good for them.
Steven Spielberg will not let a cut version of the film air. Good for him.
Some ABC affiliates, though, are bowing out of showing the movie — though ABC has aired it before. They’re concerned over what the FCC might do. Not that there’s worry over the infamously violent and bloody introductory scenes. No, the concern, in this post-Nipplegate era, is how the FCC will react to the use of the “F-word.”
“It would clearly have been our preference to run the movie. We think it?s a patriotic, artistic tribute to our fighting forces,? Ray Cole, president of Citadel Communications, told AP Radio. The company owns WOI-TV in Des Moines, KCAU-TV in Sioux City and KLKN-TV in Lincoln, Neb.
Other stations choosing to replace the movie with other programming include Atlanta?s WSB-TV, WFAA-TV of Dallas, WGNO-TV of New Orleans, WCPO-TV of Cincinnati, WSYX-TV of Columbus, WISN-TV of Milwaukee, WSOC-TV of Charlotte, N.C., WVEC-TV of WMUR-TV of Manchester, N.H., WHAS-TV of Louisville and KVUE-TV of Austin, Texas. They are owned by a variety of companies, including Cox Television, Tribune Broadcasting Corp., Hearst-Argyle Television Inc., Belo Corp. and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
?We regret that the FCC, given its current timidity in dealing in this area, would not grant an advance waiver, which would have allowed stations like ours to run it without any question or any concern,? Cole said.
That, boys and girls, is what’s known as “a chilling effect.”
(via SEB)
ICANN has, for reasons unknown (well, more on that below) decided to make it ever-so-much-easier for folks to hijack your Internet domain. Use to be, if someone sent in a…
ICANN has, for reasons unknown (well, more on that below) decided to make it ever-so-much-easier for folks to hijack your Internet domain.
Use to be, if someone sent in a transfer request — “Hey, I’ve bought Hill-Kleerup.org from Dave, so transfer it over to my server and ownership, please,” then ICANN policy was to require positive confirmation of this from the registered domain owner — i.e., they’d try to get hold of me, and, unless they heard it from me, they wouldn’t do it.
Now, though, to make things easier on registrars (and churn up those transfer costs), they’ve changed that policy. Now they’ll try to reach you for five days — and, if they don’t hear back a “No,” they’ll assume the transfer is okay with you, and process it.
Failure by the Registrar of Record to respond within five (5) calendar days to a notification from the Registry regarding a transfer request will result in a default ‘approval’ of the transfer. In the event that a Transfer Contact listed in the Whois has not confirmed their request to transfer with the Registrar of Record and the Registrar of Record has not explicitly denied the transfer request, the default action will be that the Registrar of Record must allow the transfer to proceed.
Bad e-mail address in your domain registry? Off on vacation? Too busy to check your e-mail? Computer problems? Spam filter inadvertently blocking that registrar’s e-mail alerting you to the transfer, or other message rules inadvertently routed the message into a different folder? So sorry — someone else now has your domain. Don’t worry, though — I’m sure they’d be more than happy to sell it back to you. For a reasonable transfer fee. Unless they’re getting more traffic having it redirect to their domain …
What other sort of “ownership” or “registration” can you think of where anyone can claim that they “own” it now, and if you don’t pipe up to say otherwise (after a token effort is made to get your attention), it’s handed over to them? Yeesh.
Kottke has some suggestions:
1. Make sure your contact information listed with your domain registrar is up to date. If a transfer request comes in for a domain you own and your email address on file with them no longer works, you won’t hear about it until your domain name redirects to big-hot-mammas.com.
2. Don’t go on vacation for more than 4 days or have someone check your email while you’re gone. Impractical, but whaddya gonna do?
3. Make sure your spam filters aren’t filtering out email from your domain registrar.
4. Some domain registrars allow you to “transfer lock” your domains. Do so now. According to one disgruntled register.com customer, register.com has no such feature at this time….you’re on your own, sucker!
5. Complain to ICANN…here’s some contact information and their Board of Directors.
I’ve done #1 (and discovered, yes, an obsolete e-mail address), #2 isn’t terribly practical, I’m trying to take care of #3, I’ll be looking at #4 (the most important), and as for #5 …
We’ve had a good run of contractors this past summer doing work on our house. So, for teh record, here they are, and props to them all. If you’re in…
We’ve had a good run of contractors this past summer doing work on our house. So, for teh record, here they are, and props to them all. If you’re in the Denver metro area, give ’em a call:
Just trying to clear off some of the junk on the breakfast table. Really. So … graphic novel reviews in 40 words or less. I’ve decided to change to a…
Just trying to clear off some of the junk on the breakfast table. Really. So … graphic novel reviews in 40 words or less.
I’ve decided to change to a 5-to-1 scale, rather than a 3-to-1 (which was too coarse a granularity, I was finding).
Review code format: [writing (5-1, faboo to mediocre) / art (5-1) / suitability for jumping on as a new reader (5-1) / suitability for hooking a non-comics reader (5-1). ]
Supreme Power: Powers & Principalities (Marvel MAX) [4/5/3/3] (collects #7-12)
w. Joe Straczynski; a. Gary Frank
Hyperion takes on his government handlers and Doc Spectrum — and a very hot, very crazy Zarda. Plus, is there a meta serial killer out there? It’s all a lot better and twisted than it sounds. Not your father’s JLA rip-off.
JSA: Savage Times (DC) [4/4/2/1] (collects #39-45)
w. Geoff Johns, Derek Goyer; p. Leonard Kirk, Patrick Gleason
Mythic wars in ancient Egypt and plenty of long-running subplot development going on here, especially as some of the heroes begin to wonder what they need to do in order to fight for justice. The most solid team title around.
Real Life: The Complete Year One Collection (Starline) [3/3/5/3]
w/a. Greg Dean
First year of the webcomic. Geeky fun, cleanly designed and amusingly executed (and, here, lovingly annoted). And it’s all real — or least inspired by reality. He says.
Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers (DC Vertigo) [5/4/3/4] (collects #19-21, 23-27, Fables: The Last Castle one-shot)
w. Bill Willingham; p. Mark Buckingham, P. Craig Russell, et al.
It’s war between the Adversary and the Fables of the Mundy world. Can the Big Bad Wolf and Snow White lead them to victory, or detect the conspiracy amongst them before it’s too late? Witty and delightfully modern myth-making.
Roomies: Year One (Cafe Press) [2/2/5/4]
w/a. David Willis
Another webcomic, from its college era roots. Not much you haven’t seen in other college strips, but it gets better later on (and evolves into It’s Walky, then back now to Roomies).
Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Face & The Brute (DC Vertigo) [4/2/3/3] (collects #5-12)
w. Matt Wagner; a. John Watkiss, R.G. Taylor
Long-overdue collections from 93-94’s noir title. Wretched art in these early issues, but bold, unsparing, psychotropic views of the underside of 30s New York, from racism in and around Chinatown to the lairs of the rich and bloodily ruthless.
General Protection Fault: Mating Call of the North American Computer Geek (Plan Nine) [3/2/5/3]
w/a. Jeffrey T. Darlington
Another webcomic, a bit more conventional in these beginning strips than UserFriendly but of the same mold. Off-beat programming jokes, leavened with other genre geekiness, and a hint of future drama as the strip matures.
Same Difference & Other Stories (Top Shelf) [4/4/5/5]
w/a. Derek Kirk Kim
Poignant, intelligent, and beautifuly crafted “twenty-something” short tales by this Korean-American artist. In turns hilariously witty and quietly touching, one of the “Best Books of 2003” (Publishers Weekly).
You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every book ever published. You are a fountain of endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and never fail to impress at a party. What…
You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every book ever published. You are
a fountain of endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any question people ask, and have thus been nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their grammar and insult their paperbacks.
What Kind of Elitist Are You?
The new CG movie The Polar Express is getting some early “creepy” reviews. From having seen the trailers, I think it’s as much a matter of a somewhat stiff drawing…
The new CG movie The Polar Express is getting some early “creepy” reviews. From having seen the trailers, I think it’s as much a matter of a somewhat stiff drawing style turning into a stiff animation style (that, and trying to pad out a very thin book into a full-length film). But other folk are blaming the “Uncanny Valley” (discussed here before):
Though originally intended to provide an insight into human psychological reaction to robotic design, the concept expressed by this phrase is equally applicable to interactions with nearly any nonhuman entity. Stated simply, the idea is that if one were to plot emotional response against similarity to human appearance and movement, the curve is not a sure, steady upward trend. Instead, there is a peak shortly before one reaches a completely human ?look? . . . but then a deep chasm plunges below neutrality into a strongly negative response before rebounding to a second peak where resemblance to humanity is complete.
In other words, folks like the Incredibles are cartoony enough to be adorable, but the not-altogether-realistic denizens of the Polar Express are just a bit … off, and, therefore, creepy.
… this dispute is a lot more entertaining to read about….
A early trailer/promotional short for next summer’s Fantastic Four movie has been “leaked.” A melange of first unit shooting, some early SFX, storyboards, animatics, and interview clips. It doesn’t necessarily…
A early trailer/promotional short for next summer’s Fantastic Four movie has been “leaked.” A melange of first unit shooting, some early SFX, storyboards, animatics, and interview clips. It doesn’t necessarily look like it’s going to suck, though it’s way too early to tell one way or the other.
(via Progressive Ruin)
One of the most contentious social issues in the US has been what to do (if anything) about health care, insurance, and rising costs. Over the last few years, that’s…
One of the most contentious social issues in the US has been what to do (if anything) about health care, insurance, and rising costs. Over the last few years, that’s focused on drug costs. This article from the New Yorker is chock-ful of interesting tidbits about tidbits to add to the debate:
In other words, if producers, prescribers, and consumers of medication could be trained to act more rationally, at least some of the problems with drug costs in the US would be taken care of. And isn’t that a pretty thought?
(ObDisclaimer: My employer does major engineering/facilities contract work for some pharma-bio corporations, and my wife works for a major HMO.)
(via Andrew Sullivan)
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the…
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
   In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
   In Flanders fields.
   — Major John McCrae (1872-1918)
The poem “Flanders Fields” was written in 1915 by John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, the day after the funeral of a friend and former student, Alexis Helmer. McCrae fought on the Western Front in 1914, but was reassigned to a French hospital. His asthma exacerbated by poison gas exposure, he died of pneumonia and meningitis while on active duty in 1918.
So I’ve found, in recent past, that I’m enjoying special projects a lot more than Managing the Group sorts of activities. The latter can be rewarding, especially when something gels…
So I’ve found, in recent past, that I’m enjoying special projects a lot more than Managing the Group sorts of activities. The latter can be rewarding, especially when something gels and works out nicely, but, overall, I’m finding one-off assignments a lot more satisfying.
Which is why I raised my hand when the Boss asked for a volunteer for a project. Not that I don’t have a lot else on my plate, but it sounded interesting. And, it turns out, it is — assisting a Senior Veep in identifying software that can be used by the top execs to track and evaluate possible merger and acquisition prospects. Talk about high visibility. And said Senior Veep is in the Reading, UK, office, which, it so happens, I’ll be visiting next week …
Parent-Teacher Conferences with Ms. Dana this evening. The quick summary: Kitten is a joy to have in the class. I didn’t get the impression that this was mere rhetoric. She…
Parent-Teacher Conferences with Ms. Dana this evening. The quick summary:
She goes in for her annual progress review on the speech stuff next month.
All in all, a very nice conference to have had to go to.