Got restless around 4:00a. Tossed and turned a lot. Forty minutes later, decided to get up. Got into work, threw together a batch of coffee, hit the button, shuffled off…
Got restless around 4:00a. Tossed and turned a lot. Forty minutes later, decided to get up.
Got into work, threw together a batch of coffee, hit the button, shuffled off to my office.
Got a weird login error starting off. Netware server is down.
Got a call from Margie, at 5:45a. Kitten is up.
Went to get coffee. Discovered I’d failed to put a pot under the filter. Coffee now reaches from coffee maker most of the way across the room.
Yeah. It’s Monday.
At some point, you stop gasping, stop joking, stop tittering, stop staring, and just feel sorry for the guy. (via Randy)…
At some point, you stop gasping, stop joking, stop tittering, stop staring, and just feel sorry for the guy.
(via Randy)
Well, we blew off most of the errands today, encouraged to do so by Katherine nodding off at breakfast. Instead, while Kitten snoozed, Margie and I worked on the Mulch…
Well, we blew off most of the errands today, encouraged to do so by Katherine nodding off at breakfast. Instead, while Kitten snoozed, Margie and I worked on the Mulch Problem.
I used much newspaper, most of the eleventy zillion stray leaves in the front yard, and 42 cubic feet of red cedar bark mulch to cover a huge swath of the front grass (out to where there will be steps going up from the sidewalk next year), plus over in front of the new fence. Those were areas I’d planted bulbs yesterday, but they were also home to raggedy lawn, so hopefully the mulch will thwart the latter, not the former.
We’re off to dinner and doorbell hunting. A productive day (even if No Writing Has Yet Occured).
UPDATE: Got the doorbell. Got dinner. Got a headache. Bleah.
After bailing out of US Bank to the conveniences and joys of Safeway Select Bank, and getting all our balances transferred and automatic withdrawals withdrawing and so forth … imagine…
After bailing out of US Bank to the conveniences and joys of Safeway Select Bank, and getting all our balances transferred and automatic withdrawals withdrawing and so forth … imagine our unbounded joy to have received this letter today (well, yesterday):
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the parent company of Amicus FSB, which provides financial services under the Safeway SELECT brand, has determined that its US electronic banking operations are not meting expectations. After careful consideration, we at Amicus FSB have made the decision to file an application with the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) to close Amicus FSB.
I.e., the ever-so-convenient bank in our grocery story is closing. Dagnabbit.
The accounts — those with $1000 or more — are being acquired by E*TRADE bank. But it doesn’t sound like E*TRADE is buying the physical outlets. No idea what’s happening to those. The ATMs will stop accepting deposits (but will still give out money) until the accounts are transferred, etc.
So, regardless, all the automatic deposit, automatic withdrawal, automatic this-n-that keyed to our checking accounts will be kaput, regardless of who we choose.
How sucky.
Not quite sure where the hours went yesterday. It was my day to sleep in, which accounted for the hours to about 9 (Kitten arose slightly before 6). Ran off…
Not quite sure where the hours went yesterday. It was my day to sleep in, which accounted for the hours to about 9 (Kitten arose slightly before 6).
Ran off en masse on errands. A potential In-Law Project around Thanksgiving is replacing the cruddy, shoddy, single-paned French doors in the breakfast room. Margie suggested we check out the prices on what we want at a supply place that sold us the closet doors we put in upstairs.
Found the address, went cruising up that way. Get off the freeway at Broadway, go down to Mississippi … oops, traffic’s closed that way, due to undefined construction in the viaduct. Okay, down several blocks to Iowa, cut across to Santa Fe, turn right on Mississippi … and nothing.
Loop around again, turn left on Mississippi, go some blocks — there it is!
It’s closed!
Actually, it’s “We’ve Moved.” Which is amazing, since it’s a huge complex of buildings and lots. Must have cost a bundle to move.
Punch line #1. The place is now about a 5 minute drive from our house.
Punch line #2. They’re closed on Saturday, anyway.
Also hit up Lowes. Wanted to get an estimate on said doors. Unhelpful lady at the Help Desk informed us that we’d need to schedule an appointment with the installer ($25), would I like to use a credit card?
Maybe not so much.
Did pick up a new doorbell (another Project).
Kitten was going from fractious to Chaos Incarnate, so we simply went to the grocery store (picking up an Eggnog Latte from Starbucks for Margie, a Pepperment Mocha Frappacino for me, hot chocolate for the Kitten), then home. More errands today …
Once Kitten was down for nap (it’s about 2:30 by this time), I went out to do mulching work in the front yard.
Oh, wait — can’t mulch until I plant bulbs. Plant, plant, plant. We always buy about 500% more bulbs than we actually need, but this year it’s justified, as we’re converting (over the winter) some large swaths of lawn into garden, both around the new fence and next to the driveway. So there’s more than enough space for bulbs.
And more than enough bulbs for the space.
And then I realize I really need to finish double-screwing the fence pickets so that I don’t have to do it walking atop the mulch I’ll be laying down on the hillside. So that (incompletely) takes me to 5:30p.
At which time it’s when I have to get cleaned up, since we have our Hungry Flock church progressive dinner thang to do.
And that gets us home around 11p, after I walk the sitter home, at which point we crash.
And Kitten, who went down then, too, wakes up a few times overnight, and then finally decides to get up at 6a.
It’s amazing how unmotivated one can be at 6a.
So here I am, not having read any blogs, read any NaNoWriMo stuff, or written anything for over 24 hours. And today’s no better — church (chalicing and lectoring), brunch, undone errands (looking for a game for Katherine, possibly a video, too; the weekly CostCo run; looking for doors and/or doorbell buttons at Great Indoors and Restoration Hardware), then picking up some real mulch, finishing screwing with the fence (though the gates will be an In-Law Project), doing the mulch thang (lay down some newspaper across the new soon-to-be-ex-lawn areas, held down by bricks, raking the several hundred cubic feet of leaves that have fallen in the last few weeks on top of that, sprinking the top of that with cedar mulch), etc.
And, somewhere in there, all the other normal hasserei of Sunday. Plus a possible pre-vacation meeting, trying to watch Friday’s Firefly, and getting to bed at a reasonable hour.
And this is the weekend, a time of rest and relaxation, right?
Yeesh.
Pre-School Kids Protest Possible War in Iraq. Though most students at the rally could not even name Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, many seemed certain the pending U.S. led war in…
Pre-School Kids Protest Possible War in Iraq.
Though most students at the rally could not even name Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, many seemed certain the pending U.S. led war in Iraq is about oil.
Celia, age 6, who could not spell her hyphenated last name, told the crowd President Bush “wants to make war because he wants oil.”
… Later, when asked if she could name the president of Iraq, Celia, stumped, turned to a friend and asked, “Is it a boy or a girl?” Her friend, equally puzzled, responded, “I think it’s a boy.”
Noah, who declined to give his last name, also age six, asserted the looming war is not only about oil, but also “other things, like Bush wanting land.”
“It is like us squashing ants,” he said.
With city officials looking on, the children sang a song about “peace in the world-that means no fighting.” They held colorful homemade signs calling for peace and no war. One boy had a blue bumper sticker emblazoned on the front of his t-shirt that read: “War in Iraq: NO.” Another held a sign saying, “No War on Children.” With her mother holding a bullhorn, one child shouted a chant for peace across the City Hall plaza, as if taking cue from UC Berkeley students on Sproul Plaza.
Oh, yeah, didn’t I mention this was in Berkeley?
(And what’s with the “declined to give his last name” bit?)
In related, equally-meaningful news …
Pre-School Kids Protest Going To Bed ‘Right Now’
Pre-School Kids Protest Brussel Sprouts, Spinach
Pre-School Kids Protest IRS Code Section 347(c)
Pre-School Kids Protest Lack of 24 Hour ‘Barney’ Channel
Pre-School Kids Protest Designated Hitter Rule
Pre-School Kids Protest Scary Thing In Closet
(via Blogatelle, who adds her own fine commentary)
In one week, I got my Amazon pre-order for Attack of the Clones and The Fellowship of the Ring. And last week, I got Spider-Man. And we still even have…
In one week, I got my Amazon pre-order for Attack of the Clones and The Fellowship of the Ring. And last week, I got Spider-Man. And we still even have Beauty & the Beast on the shelf, waiting for us to watch it.
Yeesh.
Of course, if Katherine didn’t do things like wake up at 5:45a, rarin’ to go, then we wouldn’t feel the need to be in bed by 9p — and we might actually get some of these watched.
(Bitch, bitch, bitch …)
I’ve been wildly remiss in these things since … well, since last Thursday. But since I do one myself, I’d better get caught up….
I’ve been wildly remiss in these things since … well, since last Thursday. But since I do one myself, I’d better get caught up.
Iraq continues to play cat-and-mouse, engaging in amazing twists and turns to avoid the ultimate loss of war. Having garnered months more time during US/UN negotiations on what a Security…
Iraq continues to play cat-and-mouse, engaging in amazing twists and turns to avoid the ultimate loss of war. Having garnered months more time during US/UN negotiations on what a Security Council resolution would look like, it has offered grudging acceptance of its terms.
That’s the clever thing to do, of course, since the US clearly is primed to beat the snot out of Iraq, and that’s the one outcome Saddam Hussein knows he can’t win in. What will be interesting to see, as the UN inspectors plan their return, is how much Iraq tries to get away with. How well have they hidden things, since the spotlight focused again? How underground are their labs? How cleaned out are the likely targets of inspections? How many games can they play with a possible hair-trigger response?
And, knowing about the response if Iraq does play games, how willing will the UN inspection crew be to actually report non-compliance? And, given that, how eager will the US be to provide intelligence info this time out to the UN, not knowing how it will be used?
More interesting times ahead. And the longer Iraq can drag things out, the more difficult it becomes to keep up the pressue on him.
Stay tuned.
Here’s an interesting profile on Nancy Pelosi, probably the next Democratic leader in the House. What’s interesting is less of a focus on her particular political ideologies (already she’s being…
Here’s an interesting profile on Nancy Pelosi, probably the next Democratic leader in the House. What’s interesting is less of a focus on her particular political ideologies (already she’s being painted by the GOP as being off to the left of Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown), but on her canniness in politics, in getting things done, on making the process work.
It may be an interesting couple of years in the House.
So yesterday I got a message from one of my regular readers that, in upgrading to .6 of Chimera (a Mozilla browser for OS X), the page layout had gone…
So yesterday I got a message from one of my regular readers that, in upgrading to .6 of Chimera (a Mozilla browser for OS X), the page layout had gone all wonky here, with all the content mooshing into the left-hand column.
I think I replicated the solution that Doyce came up with when on of his pages went through something similar. So I throw it out there to you folks:
1. Have you seen this problem?
2. If you were seeing it, has it gone away?
One of the great classic commercials was set in a Medieval monastery. A monk laboriosly caliagraphs a manuscript, then takes it to the Abbot for review. “Very good, Brother Dominic,”…
One of the great classic commercials was set in a Medieval monastery. A monk laboriosly caliagraphs a manuscript, then takes it to the Abbot for review.
“Very good, Brother Dominic,” the Abbot says, slowly reviewing the pages. “Very good.” The Abbot gathers the manuscript together, and hands it back to the beaming monk. “Now, I’d like … 200 more.”
Brother Dominic’s expression is just about what you’d expect.
So I’ve been slowly getting some feedback and input and assignments. The Big Boss has been sending me terse but supportive attaboys. The Mr. Consultant Man has been feeding me things to do, then sending back glowing responses, each time with an Abbot-like, “So now take a stab at …” Such as this assignment to design the Document Repository of the Future:
Now how about taking a shot at a requirements document for the environment we dicussed… Assume base Products of [high end database portal] and [mystery product I’ve just heard mentioned by name]…also assume it would be a distributed environment where by adding additional capacity should be as easy as plugging it in…Nodes should find each other and reconcile docs…Also assume that a document naming scheme would be based on allowing documents to “self-route” to the appropriate repository..
Use both sides of the paper if necessary.
I have no idea if the intent that this be a six month project, or a two day white paper. And, yes, I suppose I should find out. I guess it’s encouraging that this is thought to be within my abilities (and responsibility), unless it’s a setup for failure, but it still seems a bit on the vague side for my own liking.
The beat goes on.
Stan “The Man” Lee is suing Marvel comics for a cut of the pie on the Spider-Man movie profits. In so doing, he joins a raft of other comics creators…
Stan “The Man” Lee is suing Marvel comics for a cut of the pie on the Spider-Man movie profits. In so doing, he joins a raft of other comics creators from the 50s and 60s who have tried to make a little money on creations they made, generally as “work for hire.” Such suits have rarely been successful, except to the extent that they’ve produced a moral suasion to rectify the extra-legal injustice.
(Remember that, next time media companies go on about Intellectual Property as being necessary to protect creators. Creators are generally screwed by the financiers, and those are the folks that IP law tends to protect. Not that there isn’t some justice in doing so, of couse, but let’s not let the matter be over-sentimentalized.)
Of course, as Art Buchwald could have told him, Lee’s being a fool to sue for 10% of the Spidey movie profits. No matter what happens, that movie will never actually show a profit on paper; no movie ever does, so as to avoid taxes (and payments to folks who negotiatiated a share of the profits).
What’s sort of interesting about this was that a few weeks ago, I watched a rather unfocused 60 Minutes II segment on Marvel comics in the movies. Lee was on screen for much of the time, waxing eloquent and enthusiastic about Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Hulk, and so forth, all current or future movie projects. He’s been a hell of an ambassador for Marvel, grossly underpaid just for all the goodwill he produces.
Then the interviewer asked him about whether he was making any money off of Spidey (nope, not one thin dime). And then pressed him about how he felt about it. Clearly he was unhappy, but just as clearly he wasn’t inclined to air the dirty laundry in front of the nation. That’s generally been his MO; he gets treated with respect, he gets to work on behalf of the characters he created and loves, and he doesn’t bitch about Marvel.
Perhaps what pushed him over the edge was seeing the cuts back to Avi Arad, one of the high Marvel honchos, on the set of Daredevil, telling the reporter that Lee had, of course, been compensated “fairly.”
That comment might come back to haunt him.
The number one problem with the revised abuse-handling policy being voted up on by US Catholic bishops is that it should have been the policy all along, at a minimum….
The number one problem with the revised abuse-handling policy being voted up on by US Catholic bishops is that it should have been the policy all along, at a minimum.
The number two problem with it is that it’s too little, too late. Inserting references to due process, to waivers to be “certainly” granted by the Pope, of “commitments” to undictated action by bishops, all depends on the bishops being trusted by the laity to handle these matters diligently and quickly.
The problem is, too many of the laity don’t trust the bishops, because they know the Church has been dragged, kicking and glowering, into taking the matter seriously — and that the Vatican has shown more interest in making sure that the laity knows who’s in charge here. Hence getting lay review boards out of the disciplinary picture, and refusing to impose any punishment on bishops who don’t follow the policies.
The policy to be adopted is better than nothing, and probably more than many of the Vatican powers want. What the Church may really need is probably too draconic for anyone’s taste.
But that’s what happens when you squander trust — it comes back to bite everyone on the butt.
Most women have the best sex inside of marriage. Two thirds of married women say the best sex they’ve had is with their husband, compared to 13 percent who say…
Most women have the best sex inside of marriage.
Two thirds of married women say the best sex they’ve had is with their husband, compared to 13 percent who say it was when they were single and just nine percent when having an affair, a survey by British health magazine Top Sante said Tuesday.
Most women are pleased with their partners’ bodies, weight, and, particularly, their “manhood.”
And here I always thought Margie was exceptional in her opinions, not just part of the crowd. Ahem.
Between catching up from the last parental visit, a big upsurge in stuff going on at the office, and, of course, NaNoWriMo, things are a wee bit slow here at…
Between catching up from the last parental visit, a big upsurge in stuff going on at the office, and, of course, NaNoWriMo, things are a wee bit slow here at ***Dave Does the Blog. We apologize for freeing up so much additional Internet bandwidth, and will endeavor to do better in the future.
Click-thru licenses on software are an annoyance. Nobody reads them. The only thing they read is which button they need to click on — “Yes” or “OK” or “I accept”…
Click-thru licenses on software are an annoyance. Nobody reads them. The only thing they read is which button they need to click on — “Yes” or “OK” or “I accept” — so they can finish up installing whatever it is they want.
Problem is, that means you accept whatever is in there, and basically give them permission to do whatever they want to your computer, no more questions asked.
Which may be problematic but likely not too bad a thing when you’re talking about the latest gammaware from Micro$oft, but quite another when you are accepting a license from FriendGreetings, and the agreement allows their software to send an e-mail out to everyone in your contact list, inviting them to join FriendGreetings, too.
Of course, that provision is hidden away in the lengthy license, but, hey, you “signed” it, right?
The most insidious aspect to this is that, because you agreed to it, the anti-virus software manufacturers need to be very, very careful about their reaction to it. Folks are clamoring for Symantec and Network Associates to upgrade their software to block this “Trojan Horse,” but the AV companies know that they could get sued by FriendGreetings if they are too vigorous in their efforts to block what is, technically, a legitimate, user-accepted piece of software.
The bottom line? Don’t accept software downloads that you are not certain of, or where you don’t know the company involved. That seems obvious, but with click-through licenses reaching the level of background noise, it’s a caution worth restating at least one more time.
Folks in the US sometimes take the First Amendment for granted. But, I’ll tell you folks, it’s that sort of thing that makes it — well, not impossible, but a…
Folks in the US sometimes take the First Amendment for granted. But, I’ll tell you folks, it’s that sort of thing that makes it — well, not impossible, but a lot more difficult to get crap like this happening here.
The Council of Europe has amended its cybercrime treaty to devise criminal penalties for those who dare to express unpopular ideas for public consumption with any manner of computer equipment. The measure specifically targets so-called ‘racist and xenophobic material’, and would apply to any controversial Web-site, or even a mean-spirited posting to a BBS or an e-mail newsletter. …
The venerable Eurocrats have decreed that, “‘racist and xenophobic material’ means any written material, any image or any other representation of ideas or theories, which advocates, promotes or incites hatred, discrimination or violence, against any individual or group of individuals, based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, as well as religion if used as pretext for any of these factors.”
In other words, if the authorities decide that your electronically-expressed opinion expresses hatred toward others, it’s a crime. Well, it’s a crime if it’s hatred based on race, color, descent, nationality or ethnicity. It’s okay to hate someone based on religion, as long as it’s not a “pretext” for hating their ethnicity. It’s also presumably okay to express your hatred for someone based on their being left-handed, handicapped, gay, Republican, or being a Madonna fan. This year, at least.
Does this strike anyone as being the slightest bit — odd? Quixotic? Scary?
Special mention is made that part of this protocol is to nail folks who either deny or endorse the Holocaust. Unless, one presumes, the endorsement is based on condemnation of the Jewish religion, vs. Jewish ethnicity.
This stuff is, by the way, tucked into the “economic crimes” category, under “cybercrime.” The EU’s “chirpy press release” on this can be found here (where we find the US is welcomed to sign on to the protocol, never mind that irksome little 18th Century dross known as the US Constitution), and the actual new treaty protocols can be found here.
UPDATE: Well, I was busy all weekend, which is why I didn’t see the SDB commentary on this. As usual, much more thorough and much more thought-out a job than I could possibly manage.
Katherine has taken to crawling on the floor and miaowing for Kitty Treats, just like our other two cats. She gets Goldfish instead, of course (though she’s been known to…
Katherine has taken to crawling on the floor and miaowing for Kitty Treats, just like our other two cats. She gets Goldfish instead, of course (though she’s been known to eat actual Kitty Treats), which she then eats off the carpet.
It doesn’t bear thinking too much about, but it’s damned cute.
And then, yesterday, she grabbed Nona’s hand and pulled her to the couch. “Read me story!”
“Why don’t you tell me a story.”
“Okay. Boy live far away. Girl live far away. …” And the story grew from there.
Okay, think about that. Her internal world, her imagination, her abilility to process what she’s heard and shuffle it around and make something new and then actually articulate it, have all grown to the point where she can tell a story.
What next, NaNoWriMo?
You’d think HBO would be pleased as pigs in poop that The Sopranos is so popular. You’d think that HBO would be wildly ecstatic that folks have to have their…
You’d think HBO would be pleased as pigs in poop that The Sopranos is so popular. You’d think that HBO would be wildly ecstatic that folks have to have their weekly Sopranos fix. You’d think they’d be having screaming orgasms that folks are so interested in their show that local bars and restaurants flip the channel to HBO on Sundaywhile it’s on.
They’re screaming all right. Bizarrely enough, though, they’re screaming cease-and-desist.
What a bunch of maroons.
(via BoingBoing)