Tech

Tech-focused ramblings. Computers, blogs, and whatever else fits.

On This Day: Jul 23

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 25 posts previously published on July 23rd

  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
    • Unclack for macOS: Unclack is the small but mighty Mac utility that mutes your microphone while you type. No more getting called out for clacking your way through a Zoom meeting on your clicky keyboard! ➡
  • 2020
  • 2017
    • Standing in line to introduce Prairie to the wonder of Spam! ➡
    • Happened across a @badassteachersa event at Westlake as we work our way to the Seattle Center today. Good speaker on the mic right now. ➡
  • 2016
    • While I went in with low expectations, #StarTrekBeyond handily and quite enjoyably exceeded them. Far and away the best nuTrek film. (205/366) ➡
    • Well…now we know how animal crackers are made! ➡
  • 2014
    • Well…this was an interesting experiment. It’s been years since I tried going clean shaven, so I gave it a shot. I’m thinking this will last just as long as it takes to grow back (Prairie is quite happy about that). For fun, though, I got shots of the stages: goatee (normal, to return soon), trucker ... Read more ➡
    • Sucked into the vortex! Oh no! Where will I end up? ➡
    • Into the wormhole…. #RollWorld Image @RollWorldApp, #TinyPlanet #PhotoSphere #StereoGraphic ➡
    • Downtown Seattle as a tiny planet. #RollWorld Image @RollWorldApp, #TinyPlanet #PhotoSphere #StereoGraphic ➡
  • 2009
  • 2006
    • Just a little warm… Okay, so it's not the 100-plus that other parts of the country have been getting, but still. Ugh. Yesterday was a record-setting 97, apparently, and it _felt_ like it. Every fan in the apartment is going strong, and we still don't really want to move any more than we have to. ➡
  • 2004
    • Terror in whose eyes? Undercover federal air marshals on board a June 29 Northwest airlines flight from Detroit to LAX identified themselves after a passenger, 'overreacted,' to a group of middle-eastern men on board, federal officials and sources have told KFI NEWS. ➡
    • Goodbye Georgetown I got a new job within The Company! It doesn't start for a couple weeks yet, but it's a good'un: Monday to Friday 8am - 5pm, three blocks away from my apartment. Lots of rambling about the position and potential future plans. ➡
  • 2003
    • Remembering Binky Can anyone find me the famous picture from around 1994 of Binky the polar bear prancing around his cage in the Alaska Zoo with the Australian tourist's sneaker hanging out of his mouth? ➡
    • Bush family values Lie, lie, and lie again. And if that doesn't work, then lie some more. ➡
    • About those Hussein brothers… Some major questions are popping up about the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein. ➡
    • No Iraq/al-Qaida link The report of the joint congressional inquiry into the suicide hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001, to be published Thursday, reveals U.S. intelligence had no evidence that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks, or that it had supported al-Qaida, United Press International has learned. ➡
    • Wish you were here… Wish you were here ➡
    • TypePad Beta Yahoo Group Looks like there's a TypePad Beta Yahoo Group getting started. Just another way for all of us TP'ers to keep in touch. ➡
    • KMFDM Kylie Minogue Fans Don't Masturbate ➡
  • 2001
    • A Talitribe party So Friday evening I got a call from Holly seeing if I was up to heading out for another party with her group of friends. Not very hard to answer -- I'm still unemployed, so have no set schedule, and I had a lot of fun at the her birthday party...so it was a go, as far as I was concerned. ➡

On This Day: Jul 22

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 40 posts previously published on July 22nd

  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2020
    • Captioning Key: Guidelines and Best Practices for Captioning Educational Video ➡
    • On This Day: Jul 22 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from July 22 ➡
  • 2018
    • Prairie brought me a gift from my nieces (whom she was visiting while I was at the Norwescon retreat)! It’s a glow-in-the-dark slime ball. Named Jerry. ➡
    • Morning of the final day of the @norwescon #nwc42 exec retreat. Found a good mug left behind on a prior year. ➡
  • 2017
    • Book thirty-two of 2017: The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Actually finished a couple days ago, just remembered to take my post-book photo.) ➡
    • Book thirty-one of 2017: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Actually finished a couple weeks ago, but was caught up in moving and forgot my post-book photo.) ➡
    • Watched the Renton River Days parade, now exploring the local historical museum until we’re ready to go out in the sun again. ➡
  • 2016
    • Out for a night gothclubbing at the Merc! (204/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • Training session on the other end of campus today. Nice to see our fountains going! (Pretty sure they usually are, I’m just not usually down this way.) ➡
  • 2014
    • Prairie needed the car today, so I was a (responsible, of course) bike commuter. ➡
    • Confrontation on a #tinyplanet. #RollWorld Image @RollWorldApp, #TinyPlanet #PhotoSphere #StereoGraphic ➡
  • 2010
    • I love my Roku Readers Digest condensed Cliff's Notes executive summary version: Do you have a Netflix account and a reasonable (1.5 MB/s or better) broadband connection? Then you should have a Roku player. That's it. ➡
    • Thoughts on Inception As good as it is, I don't find _Inception_ to be a perfect film. Some of the things that bothered Prairie bothered me as well as I was watching it. Interestingly, some of these very things end up making more sense -- or, at the very least, become less troubling -- when viewed in the light of one of the more interesting interpretations of the film. ➡
    • Links for July 19th through July 22nd Sometime between July 19th and July 22nd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! ➡
  • 2009
  • 2007
    • Finite Incantatem We're done -- Prairie finished her copy mere minutes before I finished mine. In brief -- we approve. Highly. ➡
  • 2006
    • Best Phone Call Ever Xebeth just called. She's a little hoarse from the tube they had down her throat, and feeling a bit beat up and bruised, but she's definitely pulled through. ➡
    • Trampoline Taken at Gas Works Park on the fourth of July. Completely randomly, someone brought out and set up a trampoline, then started letting kids play, three at a time. ➡
  • 2005
    • Housekeeping I've finally gone in and made a few slight tweaks to my about page, adding a short list of other sites that I participate in and a few other bits and pieces here and there. ➡
    • Okay…who washed their car? For the past week, we've had gorgeous high-70's to low-80's sunshine throughout Seattle, with more predicted through the weekend and on into next week. So how come I woke up to grey skies, rain, and 'possible thunderstorms,' according to Weather Underground? ➡
  • 2004
    • The 9-11 Commission Final Report Here's a little light reading for your summer doldrums: The 9-11 Commission Final Report. ➡
    • Good reason As far as me and the vice presidency is concerned ... I spent a number of years in a North Vietnamese prison camp in the dark and (was) fed scraps, and I don't know why I would want to do that all over again. ➡
  • 2003
    • Man-U 4, Celtic 0 That. So. Rocked. ➡
    • BOO-YAH! My manager just came up to me and handed me a ticket to the Man-U/Celtic game tonight! Turns out his girlfriend has to cancel, and since we were talking about the game earlier...I'm in. ➡
    • My MovableType/TypePad History The point to all this? No point at all, really. Just kind of cool knowing that I've been doing my small part to help the Trotts take over the world almost since the beginning. Not quite from the very beginning, but pretty durn close. ➡
    • Manchester U vs. Celtic Tonight's the Man-U vs. Celtic game here in Seattle. One of the few times I wish I could go to see a major sporting event. ➡
    • Is this right? Somehow, I find it hard to believe that Qusay and Uday would have been in a villa with nothing but a teenage boy and a single bodyguard for company. Wouldn't they have been far better protected than that? If it was just the four of them, how could three men and a boy hold off two hundred plus American soldiers for six hours? ➡
    • Democracy in Action I'm not diving into it full-bore right now (gotta get ready to go to work), but the GWU Democracy in Action site looks to have a ton of good information on all aspects of the upcoming election cycle. Definitely worth browsing through. ➡
    • Ah, the memories… I miss the days when computers weren't as powerful as they are now. Not because I'd like to go back to the days of 286's and Motorola 68000 processors (ick), but because the limited resources forced programmers to weigh features against bloat, to code for small sizes as well as functionality, and so on. ➡
    • Welcome back, John Robb John Robb, whose site disappeared a couple weeks ago, has reappeared at a new address. ➡
    • English English is the preacher's language, because it allows you to talk until you think of what to say. ➡
    • Dean leads in California A major step forward for Howard Dean today — he's currently leading the polls in California! ➡
  • 2002
    • Another one bites the dust So that's two of my friends within the past month that have gotten married…any more I should know about? ➡
    • Sunburnt, but it was worth it Well, okay -- girl watching. Summertime in Seattle is such a nice time for finding eye candy, and yesterday was gorgeous -- cloudless with a projected high of 88 degrees. Lots of eye candy! ➡

On This Day: Jul 21

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 27 posts previously published on July 21st

  • 2023
    • 🎥 Barbie An impressive veneer of completely over-the-top ridiculousness laid over a remarkably aware, intelligent, and subversive core. ➡
    • Year 50 Day 80 _Barbie_ is _excellent_. If you’re even remotely curious, it’s worth your time. ➡
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • Just (finally) watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and wow, does that film deserve every accolade it’s received. A great film, and absolutely gorgeous – that animation work was incredible, and just as groundbreaking as I’d heard. I’m a fan. ➡
  • 2018
    • Just back from a nice 30 minute, 1.4 mile morning walk, and can smell breakfast cooking (bacon!). Not a bad start to day two of the @norwescon #nwc42 exec retreat! ➡
  • 2016
    • Just another day at the office. (203/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Tired. Not long before bed, I think. ➡
  • 2010
  • 2009
    • Your Cellphone Can Kill **If I can tell that you are talking to me on a cell phone while driving, _I will hang up_ after asking you to call me back later.** I don't care if you're friend, family, job recruiter, Trent Reznor, or Barack Obama. Do _not_ call me while driving. It's stupid and dangerous to yourself and anyone around you. ➡
  • 2006
    • Keeping Our Fingers Crossed Word from R as of about 4pm today is that Xebeth is 'okay' -- out of surgery and in the ICU. From the sound of it, while she's not out of the woods, she's not in immediate danger at the moment. ➡
    • Malignant Hyperthermia I haven't mentioned this before -- and debated even putting this post up -- but Xebeth, who I recently reconnected with and has become an extremely dear friend to both Prairie and I, has been battling malignant hyperthermia for some time now. ➡
    • FD’s Flickr Widget As may be obvious by the photos shown in the banner, I've been working on playing catch up with my photos off and on over the past few days. Fourth of July photos are coming soon (gee, what, two weeks late?).... ➡
  • 2004
    • iTunes cover art in iChat user icon? I want an iChat/iTunes plugin that would set my iChat icon to the cover art of the currently playing track in iTunes. ➡
    • Metadata goodies Apparently, Gracenote — maintainers of the CDDB (which iTunes and many other audio players use to provide track information upon insertion of a CD) have many additional possible data fields that can be used, according to this comment sent to Macintouch. ➡
    • Eyes everywhere Domino's Pizza has a 'two-for-Tuesday' buy one, get one free deal, so I've gotten in the habit of picking up a couple medium pizzas on Tuesday nights. What with things like caller ID on the phone systems and computer databases, I've gotten very used to whoever takes the order already having my name and address based on my phone number. ➡
  • 2003
    • Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Y'know, I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but after seeing the trailer for Spy Kids 3 before Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend, I kind of want to see it. ➡
    • Geeking about Dean I really wonder if there are people on the Howard Dean campaign who are tied in enough to the 'geek' side of the blogosphere to realize how big of a deal it could be that Dean is getting mentioned prominently by Doc Searls, Robert Scoble, and Tom Negrino. ➡
    • TrackBack spam? Grrrr… Well, here's a first (for me, at least) — I just got TrackBack spam. ➡
    • A few new Canadians I've known quite a few people who have at one time or another, with various degrees of seriousness, talked about moving to Canada as they got more and more disgusted with how things were going in the US. Now, enough people have decided that this sounds like a good idea that it's actually making news. ➡
    • North Korea The whole North Korea nuclear thing is freaking me out, precisely because we seem to be doing nothing at all about it. Not good. ➡
    • In general… …what's the point? ➡
    • TPBETA 1505 My own little concept for marking my spot as a TypePad beta tester. A small badge, with 'TPBETA' on the left, and '1505' on the right. 1505 is the ID number for my TP blog -- obviously, the older the blog, the lower the ID number will be. ➡
    • Is the day over yet? Today is just dragging on, and on…and on. ➡
    • Sixteen Legs ;) The first pic (that I've heard of, at least) of the villain in next summer's Spider Man sequel — Doctor Octopus — hit the 'net yesterday. ➡
    • Sixteen Questions Howard Dean has published a list of sixteen questions that President Bush needs to answer, and has created a petition to sign asking that Bush address these questions. ➡
    • Durn furriners 'I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq,' said Wolfowitz, who is touring the country to meet U.S. troops and Iraqi officials. ➡
    • Practice makes perfect 'This is the future for the world we're in at the moment,' he said. 'We'll get better as we do it more often.' ➡

On This Day: Jul 20

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 24 posts previously published on July 20th

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • I’m on a boat! Heading out to the @norwescon Exec retreat weekend to dive into planning for #nwc42! ➡
  • 2017
    • The latest additions to our #cah #cardsagainsthumanity collection! ➡
  • 2016
    • Feeling scruffy and amused at the ever increasing grey in my beard. (202/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • At the final “meet the parents” event for this summer. 90° and breezy…not bad in the shade, at least. ➡
    • ‘Black Lives Matter’ vs. ‘All Lives Matter’ TL;DR: The phrase 'Black lives matter' carries an implicit 'too' at the end; it's saying that black lives should also matter. Saying 'all lives matter' is dismissing the very problems that the phrase is trying to draw attention to. ➡
  • 2014
    • Living dangerously – swinging in a kilt! ;) ➡
  • 2009
  • 2007
    • Silencio! Due to time's slow march around the globe, Muggles across the world are already diving into the final year of adventures at Hogwarts, and while Prairie and I will be receiving our copies tomorrow, due to a prior engagement we won't actually be able to read them until Sunday. ➡
  • 2006
    • What now? 'So, what'cha gonna do _now_? You've run out of Internet.' ➡
  • 2005
    • Podcast 06: ToriMix v2 I'm posting a series of mix sessions I did a few years back. This is ToriMix v2 (46m 37s, 53.36Mb). Download, drop into your .mp3 player, and -- hopefully -- enjoy! ➡
  • 2004
    • As the Apple Turns RSS feed I'm tossing this up here because until today, I had never, ever, ever seen nor heard of any mention of an RSS feed for everyone's favorite Apple-flavored soap opera, As the Apple Turns. However, in a typically off-the-cuff mention, the heretofore super-secret-ninja-RSS-feed address has been leaked (and leaked by no less august a personage than the AtAT team themselves). ➡
    • Uninspired So…as long as I'm a bit lacking at the moment — any questions, curiosity, or comments from the peanut gallery? No particular topic, anything goes. I'm just curious to see what might pop up if anyone actually responds. ➡
  • 2003
    • Convert Kmph to Mph Note for Americans, that the speed is kilometers per hour not miles. To convert you multiple by 5 and divide by 8 then add 32 less the number you first thought of and then cross out the answer and write "really fast for an old car" or something like that. ➡
    • TPS Syndrome Am I suffering from TPS: TypePad Snobbery? You know it, baby! ;) ➡
    • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl It's an absolute blast, start to finish. ➡
    • Live Comment Previews The 'Live Comment Preview' hack that I use on The Long Letter has now been implemented here on Eclecticism. ➡
    • Turn down the heat! On the downside, I haven't wanted to leave the apartment — once temperatures hit the mid-80's to 90's, I'm quite content to lay in a near-comatose puddle on my bed. ;) However, this being the weekend for the Bite of Seattle food festival, I couldn't very well stay indoors in the shade all weekend. ➡
  • 2002
    • So true… I like to have a martini, two at the very most -- after three I'm under the table, after four I'm under my host. ➡
    • Best of times, worst of times I've been thinking about the weddings I've been at or involved in lately. It got me thinking back to one of my favorite weddings that I've been part of -- which, unfortunately, led to more problems than I ever wanted to have to deal with. ➡
  • 2001
    • Neighbors, and a new desk The landlord stopped by my apartment to see how I was getting along, and it turned out that he had some more old furniture that he was willing to give to me. So in addition to the couch he gave me last week, I've now got an absolutely ginormous table in my place. ➡
  • 1998
    • [From Usenet: 7.20.98 2300] Truthfully, the disc surprised me...a lot of the remixes are pretty good. Those songs can acutually get decent when you strip out the vocals and tweak the remixes enough... ➡

On This Day: Jul 19

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 21 posts previously published on July 19th

  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2020
  • 2017
    • Forgot to post this earlier, but the sunset as we were leaving the park was really pretty. ➡
  • 2016
    • Not long ago, it was a torrential downpour. Now it’s sunny and quite nice. Insert fickle weather joke here. (201/366) ➡
    • Forgot my photo yesterday. As penance, a silly Snapchat filter. (200/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Out at the Merc! ➡
    • Something unpleasant has happened to the fountain. Ick. :p ➡
    • “It’s ‘meat’ flavor!” “What kind of meat?” “Um…” “Steak? Hamburger? Sausage?” “…meat. Just meat. That’s all you need to know.” ➡
  • 2011
  • 2007
    • Dance Off 2007 is Coming! This year's Dance Off is coming soon -- just two weeks away! This year it'll be held at the Crocodile on August 2nd at 8pm, and it'd be a good idea to buy your tickets now, as last year's show sold out. ➡
  • 2004
    • Oh, snap! It’s getting kind of hectic up in this piece. At this point, according to observers, both statesmen decided—by seemingly unspoken mutual consent—to abandon the gutter patois of the common carnival worker and to resort instead to an eminently more quotable (but, to those not versed in the vagaries of hip-hop idiom, more confusing) exchange of viewpoints. ➡
    • There’s no such thing as too much music My one major accomplishment of the weekend was finally completing a project that I've had going on for months now: importing every CD I own into iTunes. Quite a task, when after years of being a complete music junkie (compounded by a few years of DJing), I've built up a CD collection of 1,142 albums! ➡
    • Up, up and at ’em Guess it's about time I should poke my head up around these parts again, huh? ➡
  • 2002
    • Gay men get all the chicks A strip club's a strip club -- bored girls get onstage, get naked, and wiggle. I'd be more entertained if any of the girls could actually dance decently, or do an actual strip tease (rather than one song 'clothed' and one song naked). However...that just doesn't seem to be the case. ➡
    • Blast dab fraggin’ pakaloomer Be creative with your curse words. Dropping a simple F-bomb is a cliche and, frankly, it is beneath you. If you're going to swear, do it with style. ➡
    • More scary gov’t agencies The DARPA Information Awareness Office (IAO) will imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate and transition information technologies, components and prototype, closed-loop, information systems that will counter asymmetric threats by achieving total information awareness useful for preemption; national security warning; and national security decision making. ➡
    • Advice to Ashley your whole life you're going to be pursued and eventually conquered and dominated by a variety of well-meaning men, take this opportunity to turn the tables and you be the one who does the corruption. and trust me when i tell you that you've got all the tools. ➡
  • 2001
    • Family, blondes, and jargon The Jargon File is a compendium of slang and jargon from the hacker community that has been an ongoing project since roughly 1981 -- a full 20 years now! ➡
  • 1998

On This Day: Jul 18

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 17 posts previously published on July 18th

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2014
    • Boozin’ it up after a long week, ready to head out tomorrow for a weekend in Seattle! ➡
  • 2009
    • Links for July 16th through July 18th Sometime between July 16th and July 18th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! ➡
    • Amazon Kills Pocketpedia I saw the writing on the wall a couple of weeks ago when Delicious had their iPhone library app pulled for this same reason, and now Pocketpedia has been killed. ➡
  • 2007
    • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix As Prairie and I have spent a couple days thinking back on it, we're both pretty satisfied with this latest entry, and what few issues we have with the film fall pretty solidly into the realm of nitpicking, rather than actual issues. ➡
  • 2005
    • Eclinkticism returns Assuming I've managed to figure out the right combination of shell scripts, SSI includes, CRON jobs, and other associated voodoo, the Eclinkticism linklog in the sidebar should be up and running again. As before, it's just a dump of the most recent items I've added to my del.icio.us account, so feel free to add that RSS feed to your reader if you like. ➡
    • Bag’n’Pipe Hoppers One of the local street performers I enjoy running into is the Bag'n'Pipe Hoppers. Actually two performers who team up together from time to time -- Don P. Scobie on bagpipes and Jesse Bishop (or Bishnutz) on drums -- their combination of traditional Scottish piping and modern hip-hop beats is always fun to stumble across. ➡
    • Acid bath ...somewhere, in the back of my brain, I'd decided that it wasn't really water, but streams of acid running down the street that would eat through the bottom of my shoes and into my feet if I accidentally stepped into one. ➡
  • 2004
    • The New York Times posts a Mea Culpa It's always nice to see one of the 'big boys' admit that maybe, just maybe, they could have dug a little deeper into the goings-on in the months before we invaded Iraq. ➡
    • Pictures of Noah Kevin just sent me pictures of Noah! At this point, I'm required to do the 'proud uncle' thing and display them to the world. You, of course, are required to expound upon how beautiful and perfect he is, even though at this stage, all children pretty much look like Winston Churchill. ;) ➡
  • 2003
    • Alaska Jack Concurrently with today's announcement that Alaska Airlines has contracted with Jack Nicholson to act as spokesperson for the airline in all of their television and print advertising in 2004, the airline also revealed an upgrade to the traditional and distinctive Alaska Native image on the tail of their jets. ➡
    • Hoaxing Bambi The jury's still out on this one, but I'd be willing to bet that the Hunting for Bambi 'business' (in which men dress up in camo, grab paintball guns, and go running through the woods 'hunting' naked women) is nothing more than an elaborate spoof. ➡
    • 9-11 Quiz How much do you remember about the events surrounding Sept. 11th, 2001? ➡
    • Need help? Got a question? Can't find an answer? Take a quick peek at Help!Blog, maybe someone can help you out. ➡
    • Straight out of a movie The British scientist named as the possible source for some of the disputed Iraq intelligence has been found dead in the woods. ➡
  • 2001
    • The job hunt commences Not a whole lot going on at the moment, beyond getting into job searching. Yesterday I e-mailed my resume to a hiring rep for Kinko's, and turned in an application and resume to Suncoast. Aside from that, things have been pretty slow. ➡

On This Day: Jul 17

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 24 posts previously published on July 17th

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • “The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is constructive-destructive, and you’ve cast your lot with the destructive people. Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society.” — Steve Jobs to Rupert Murdoch, in 2010. ➡
  • 2017
    • Picked up some really dark (and oh-so-stylish) sunglasses for Prairie and me for the eclipse next month. Got a slide-on lens filter for my camera, too. With a little luck (and clear skies), we’ll be able to see the eclipse! ➡
  • 2016
    • Book thirty-three of 2016: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente. 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (199/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Going old-school for today’s #throwbackthursday shot. This is what happens when you’re born in the early 1970s (thanks, parents)! ;) But then, that shirt could be a passable TOS Starfleet command uniform shirt…though I don’t think the pants would fit the dress code. ➡
  • 2007
  • 2006
    • We Have Power Apparently there are two breakers on the troublesome circuit, _one_ of which had popped -- which meant that for half of our apartment, outlets that should have been getting 110v were only getting around 80v. ➡
  • 2004
    • My Depeche Mode collection For Rebecca, for comparison purposes, and for Jonas, because he made fun of me for dancing to Strangelove at the Vogue a few months ago. ;) ➡
    • Okay, okay, I’m awake, I get it I do remember having a long, very involved dream revolving around discovering that Lloyd Alexander had written a series of companion novels to his Prydain Chronicles: two collections of short stories, and a full trilogy of three almost Harry Potter-length novels set about sixteen years or so after the end of the Prydain Chronicles. ➡
  • 2003
    • The skyline is back One minor change to the site design here — I moved my shot of the Seattle skyline that I use over at The Long Letter to this weblog also. ➡
    • Squirrel Monkeys Let's see what the government might have chosen in its effort to protect American lives from ruthless, technologically sophisticated terrorists. ➡
    • Most literate cities Here's something cool: The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has posted a study of the most literate cities in America. Seattle got number two! ➡
    • Two more Two stories: first up, one about what Prairie deemed the 'Passing Judgement on Poor Women With Bastard Children Act'. Secondly, more of Bush's prior supporters are realizing that, to quote some old famous dead guy, 'something smells rotten in Denmark…'. ➡
    • It's been addressed. Ari Fleischer's replacement, Scott McClellan, must be hating his life right about now. ➡
    • Google's presidential endorsement Go to Google. Put 'who will be president in 2004?' into the search field (no quotes). Hit the 'I'm feeling lucky' button. ➡
    • Thoughtcrime 'In this post-911 era, it is the absolute responsibility of the FBI to follow through on any tips of potential terrorist activity,' Paris says. 'Are people going to take exception and be inconvenienced by this at times? Oh, yeah. ... A certain amount of convenience is going to be offset by an increase in security.' ➡
    • Pashazade / Effendi / Felaheen Something else for my reading list, courtesy of Thousand Faced Moon, who I found by wandering through TypePad's list of recently updated TypePad blogs. ➡
    • Metallica smokes too much crack We're not saying we own those two chords, individually -- that would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music. ➡
    • Why did the chicken cross the road? Douglas Adams: Forty-two. ➡
    • Keith Richards + Pepe Le Pew = Jack Sparrow? But he says the main inspiration for this character was Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards with a bit of everybody's favourite cartoon skunk, Pepe Le Pew, thrown in for good measure. ➡
    • The Passion But then, don't all films about Christ cause controversy — especially before they're released, when nobody can actually make an informed decision about any aspect of the film? Ugh. But anyway. ➡
    • Morally deficient Threat rating: Medium. Your total lack of decent family values makes you dangerous, but we can count on some right wing nutter blowing you up if you become too high profile. ➡

On This Day: Jul 16

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 31 posts previously published on July 16th

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • Apparently young crows sound like squeaky dog toys when they caw. The one regularly around our house definitely doesn’t have the hang of it yet, but boy is it trying! ➡
  • 2018
    • Book twenty-nine of 2018: Arkham Woods, by Christopher Rowley. 🌟🌟🌟 ➡
  • 2017
    • Linkdump for June 25th through July 16th An automatically generated list of links that caught my eye between June 25th and July 16th. • On ‘canon’ in fandom • Call “revenge porn” what it is: sexual abuse • As Chinese, Iranian and Indonesian As Apple Pie • Now Everyone Really Can Code Thanks to Apple’s New College Course • How Does X-Men's Charles Xavier Leave His Own House? ➡
  • 2016
    • Book thirty-two of 2016: Devil World, by Gordon Ecklund. ⭐️⭐️ (198/366) #startrek ➡
  • 2014
    • Prairie says this one is spooky and creepy…but since she laughed at my first shot and said it looked porn-y, I did this instead. You have nobody to blame but her for this. ;) ➡
  • 2008
    • Links for July 16th from 13:09 to 13:51 Sometime between 13:09 and 13:51, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • A Word for That • A twist in high-flying mystery • Register to Vote in Washington State • Robin Williams comedy filming in Wallingford • NASA/JPL Climate Time Machine ➡
    • Links for July 14th through July 16th Sometime between July 14th and July 16th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Recent Volcanic Activity • July 16, 1945: Trinity Blast Opens Atomic Age • Joss Whedon Waxes Dr. Horrible • Aurora Feint • Cube Runner ➡
  • 2007
  • 2006
    • Broken Home Guest Post By Prairie: Botched repairs on an exploding water heater end up disabling half of our apartment. Prairie recounts her adventures over the course of the day dealing with everything. ➡
  • 2005
    • Potter potter potter… And with that, it's done! Our copies arrived about 11am this morning. After opening the box, we packed up picnic supplies and headed down to the Arboretum, spread out a blanket under the shade of a Madrone tree, and got to reading right about noon. ➡
  • 2004
    • Bumbershoot 2004 lineup The Bumbershoot 2004 lineup has been announced. Sweet. Quite a few big names catch my eye and will be fun to see, but I'm also looking forward to discovering a few new acts that I might not have heard of otherwise (I find at least one or two more each year). ➡
    • Noah Avery Hanscom Noah Avery Hanscom was born this morning, the Feast of Sts. Helier, Plechtelm, and/or Steven Harding Tenenan, at 3:56 AM (Memphis time), weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz. ➡
    • Yawn While I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad if I did this every day, when I'm used to closing the store down at 9pm and going to bed around 2am, getting up at 5am to open the store in the morning — especially after working the usual closing shift the night before — is not very fun. ➡
  • 2003
    • Dean support in Washington Dean is supposed to be here himself on Monday, August 25th, though, as part of the 'People-Powered Howard Sleepless Summer Tour', and I may just see if I can escape from work early that day to show up. ➡
    • Losing a voice Seattle's two newspapers, the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post Intelligencer have been operating under a joint operating agreement for the past few years. The Seattle Times now wants out of the JOA, however, and it's looking more and more likely that Seattle may soon become a one-paper town if the Times gets its way. ➡
    • Internet based campaigning Doc Searls has started keeping an eye on Dean's campaign lately, and he takes a good look today at some of the tech issues the campaign might face as they continue to gain momentum. ➡
    • Lie Clocks Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock.Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move. ➡
    • Go Tigers! I think if I'm ever walking down the street in Seattle and see some cute young thing walking along with Ichiro's face staring at me — twice — from her chest, it'll be questionable whether I can turn around before I bust out laughing. ➡
    • Plain text in Apple's Mail program defaults write com.apple.mail PreferPlainText -bool TRUE ➡
    • Go Dubya! President George W. Bush is set to break two records previously set by his father. ➡
    • What are we doing over there? I know that, despite Bush's insistence that the war ended weeks ago, we're still in a combat situation in Iraq (at least, that's how I'm interpreting our one-soldier-killed-per-day average). I'm sure that in such a situation, not everything is going to be sunshine and roses. But even so — what the hell? ➡
    • SoundTrack Could you do me a favor and point Rick to this webpage? You might want to give him a drool cup first, though. ;) ➡
  • 2002
    • He’s dead, Jim Hey Kid! Yeah, you! Steal this tombstone and hide it in your room to impress your friends! ➡
    • Even more on TIPS Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. ➡
    • Preliminary WTC plans unveiled Today the first preliminary plans for rebuilding on the WTC site were unveiled. ➡
    • Homeless for a week If this was a dead end situation (like any real person out here) it would really start to feel bleek at this point. ➡
    • This doesn’t inspire confidence Is it just me, or does the fact that this image comes directly from a US government website looking at patents and trademarks related to 'Homeland Security' not make me feel comfortable? ➡
    • More Amazon goodies At the moment, off the top of my head, I'd say that for every 5 items they recommend, I'm likely to already own 3 of them (at least with music -- the ratio for DVDs and books is somewhat less). Quite interesting. ➡
  • 2001
    • Bring out the gimp! In this case, unfortunately, the gimp is me. I've been holed up in my apartment for the past few days, nursing a banged-up knee -- hence the lack of much in the way of updates here. Bleah. ➡

On This Day: Jul 15

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 30 posts previously published on July 15th

  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 74 Wandering around Capitol Hill as I wait for the Mercury to open its doors. ➡
  • 2022
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Book twenty-eight of 2018: Stories From the Twilight Zone, by Rod Serling. 🌟🌟🌟🌟 ➡
    • How Vertigo foreshadowed ‘catfishing’, AI and #MeToo: “Sixty years since it was released, Vertigo resonates powerfully in the age of the internet, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.” Just watched Vertigo again two nights ago, and this article is spot on. ➡
  • 2016
    • Apparently it’s #nationalicecreamday – so we’re celebrating! ➡
    • Well, this is odd. Got back from lunch to find my building without power. Guess I’ll just sit here in the dark for a while. How very goth. ;) (197/366) ➡
    • Chucks of the day (45/45): grey high tops with red, blue, and white graffiti tag style “Converse” wrapped around the heel and onto the side. And this wraps up this project (for now, at least) – after 45 pairs, I’ve made it through my Converse collection. Not too shabby! #chucks #converse ➡
  • 2014
    • Ever caption I try to come up with for this one sounds like I’m depressed. I just liked the effect I came up with. ➡
  • 2010
    • Links for July 14th through July 15th Sometime between July 14th and July 15th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Colonoscopy: It’s Time to Check Your Colons • How the Old Spice Videos Are Being Made • What, if Anything, Is Big Bird? • “Fleeting Expletive” Ban Lifted ➡
  • 2009
    • A Goodbye Renda Horn brought a lot of joy into this world, both through her many years of music and work with the choir and just by the simple virtue of being herself. My heartfelt condolences go out to her family, many friends, and the many, many kids and parents whose lives she touched. She'll be missed. ➡
    • Back To the ’80s! Chances are you're either going to love me or hate me for posting this. Personally, I think this is great -- my tolerance for cheezy pop is really high -- but there will be no hard feelings if you blame me for wanting to brillo pad your brain clean after watching this. :) ➡
    • Links for July 14th through July 15th Sometime between July 14th and July 15th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Why America Is Flunking Science • Psychotic Letters From Men: Customer Disservice • How to Scan a Cat and Other Subjects • Pinboard - Antisocial Bookmarking • Spectacular Dream Yachts to Set Sail ➡
  • 2005
    • Everything old is new again A random comment on a Flickr photo led me to do some digging, and after reading a summary of Seattle transportation efforts, all of a sudden it's no surprise that we've seen such ridiculous controversy over our light rail and monorail plans. ➡
    • Phrase Origins Mom forwarded this to me today. I can't personally vouch for the accuracy of everything in here, but it all sounds pretty reasonable to me, and there's some fun tidbits in here. ➡
    • Twelve hours to go… ...or a bit more than twelve hours, actually, for Prairie and me. Since we pre-ordered our copies (yup -- one for each of us) through Amazon, they'll show up sometime tomorrow. ➡
  • 2004
    • Mac OS X Panther Hacks I just wanted to toss out a quick congratulations to Phil, who with the release of O'Reilly's Mac OS X Panther Hacks, is now officially a published (co-)author! ➡
    • In the not very distant future… One sunny day in 2005 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Ave, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the US Marine standing guard and said, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.' ➡
    • I’m (almost) an uncle! Emily started labor last night, and so Kevin just called to let me know that he's flying back to Mississippi to be there for the birth of his baby! Apparently things are still early in the process — the hospital sent Em home last night after she went in — so chances are good that Kev will be able to be there for the birth. ➡
  • 2003
    • Tablet PCs I just had someone ask me what I thought about TabletPCs. Honestly, I haven't given a whole lot of thought to them. I have, though, been a fairly regular reader of Robert Scoble's for a while now, and he's big into the TabletPC thing, so I just pointed them to his site. ➡
    • That's it, I'm moving The pseudo-porn attractions of hot pants and bared midriffs are simply grotesque compared to the unostentatious (but hardly demure) eroticism of the kimono. ➡
    • Pings? Why is it that when using a desktop blogging client (I've noticed this behavior in three so far: UserSpace, Kung-Log, and NetNewsWire), pings don't seem to be sent when a post is published? ➡
    • Too much going on… Well, it looks like the US is finally starting to wake up to the fact that the Bush administration hasn't exactly been entirely truthful with the American Public. About damn time. ➡
    • Move, you momos So why do none of you move enough to let me by? It doesn't do any good for me to move to one side or the other, I'm still faced with a wall of corporate momos that I can't get past. Would it kill you to leave a little space for people walking the other direction? ➡
    • News to nobody Something I just discovered, thanks to a comment at Etherfarm. If you're running Windows XP, on-screen text legibility can be drastically improved by switching on ClearType. ➡
    • Random is fun There's something wonderfully surreal about listening to my iPod on the way to work, and going directly from Coolio's 'Ugly Bitches' to 'American Wake (the Nova Scotia Set)' off of Bill Whelan's 'Riverdance' soundtrack. ➡
    • About that homework Marilyn Monroe's 'My Heart Belongs to Daddy' reminded me strongly of a Björk song, but I couldn't think of which one. I've tracked it down — have a listen, and compare and contrast. I'm quite curious as to whether Björk may have had this in mind when she recorded 'It's Oh So Quiet'. ➡
  • 2002
    • More on TIPS Facism is a term thrown about too freely, and I don't believe we're at a point that its use is justified -- but an oppressive and intrusive government, however you want to label it, does not ride into town wearing the uniforms and waving the flags of recognizable evil. ➡
    • Wanna join the secret police? ...the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. ➡
    • It just works I'd been with Microsoft for so long, who are complacent and hoard their customers, that I'd forgotten what it's like to use an operating system built by people who want it to cooperate with the rest of the world. ➡

On This Day: Jul 14

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Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 29 posts previously published on July 14th

  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • It’s @norwescon picnic day! ➡
    • A Landmark Legal Shift Opens Pandora’s Box for DIY Guns: Ugh. Defeating restrictions against 3D printing guns may be legally and technologically interesting, but in my eyes is also ethically and morally reprehensible. This is a disturbing story. ➡
  • 2016
    • IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a spinny chair must be in want of an occasional spin. (196/366) ➡
    • Chucks of the day (44/?): black lightweight fabric (a little shiny…nylon?) high tops. #chucks #converse ➡
  • 2014
    • At least it cooled off. It’s only 92 now! ➡
  • 2010
    • Links for July 13th through July 14th Sometime between July 13th and July 14th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • “Fleeting Expletive” Ban Lifted • Mayor McGinn Proposes Letting Bars Stay Open Later, or All Night • Reviewing the History Channel's World War II shows as if they were genre fiction TV • Soccer fans shun hookers for art's sake • Embattled Marysville School Board member resigns ➡
  • 2009
    • Links for July 10th through July 14th Sometime between July 10th and July 14th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • The 15 Creepiest Vintage Ads of All Time • Top 10 Myths _about Mythbusters_ • Watchdog Group: Dozens of Active-Duty Troops Found on Neo-Nazi Site • The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin: A Round-Up • DateLine ➡
  • 2008
    • Links for July 14th from 11:50 to 17:00 Sometime between 11:50 and 17:00, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Blackbird that can mimic the sound of ambulance's siren makes family's life hell • Citizen Camera • McCain encourages adoption, unless you're gay • Building demolition based on old Japanese game • FoxTrot does Webcomics ➡
    • This is Journalism? I'll freely admit that, while geeky, I'm not one who will stand in line for hours for an item I can get faster and easier if I wait a few days. I'm less concerned with 'firsties' than with my own convenience. That said -- I _love_ the fact that the customer in this video actually calls the reporter on his idiotic 'reporting.' ➡
    • Goodbye (and Good Riddance) Alfaretta! On Eighth Avenue and Seneca Street, the wrecking ball is halfway done leveling this old brick building.... 8th and Seneca. I used to _live_ at 8th and Seneca, in an old brick apartment building. I don't suppose... ➡
    • Links for July 9th through July 14th Sometime between July 9th and July 14th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • The Greatest Sideshow Video Ever Made • A Web of Geeks, Every One of Which Knows a Lot about Something • iPhone BookShelf • Snack Foods That Sound Like Sex Acts • Wonderlic Test] ➡
    • Two Phrases ...how egotistical does one have to be to automatically assume that their respect is _so fucking important_ that one must jump through multiples hoops in order to _earn_ it? How about we give people respect because they are _humans_ with _lives_ and _feelings_ just as important as our own? ➡
  • 2006
    • 300 Multiple Choices The idea for using server response codes as SMS shorthand that's going around right now is cute, but I still prefer an idea I from January of '04, when I ran across the idea of applying server response codes to dating. ➡
    • Mt. Ranier from Discovery Park This is my current desktop background, too. Could be sharper, but not bad for being handheld using my old $40 all-manual zoom lens. ➡
  • 2005
    • Playing with MT 3.2 Beta I'm spending a little bit of time playing with the just-released public beta version of Movable Type 3.2 on a separate weblog. ➡
  • 2004
    • Photographers Protest at the Ballard Locks How wonderful. I can't claim total inspiration for this, as all I did was point to the article regarding Ian Spiers' run-in with Homeland Security while photographing the Ballard Locks, which brought it to the attention of Myk O'Leary of Life, it is a Travesty. After reading that article, however, Myk is organizing a peaceful protest at the Ballard Locks. ➡
    • Men and Sex From Dr. Joyce Brothers — how much do you know about men and sex? ➡
    • The TSA: Security, or petty thieves? This inspector found a lighter that I was given by my step daughter for our first Father's Day together. It was a cigar lighter that did not run on Liquid Fuel, but gas. He looked at it and exclaimed, 'Wow I have always wanted one like this'. Then proceeded to tell me that he had to confiscate my lighter. ➡
  • 2003
    • Great minds think alike (and so do ours) It does matter, dad. I'm glad it matters to you, I'm glad that, thanks to you, it matters to me — and I'm glad that, even with all our disagreements, you're my dad. ➡
    • Homework Bring Marilyn Monroe's "I Belong to Daddy" in to work tomorrow so I can let Bethany hear it and compare with some of Björk's work. ➡
    • What's going on? All of a sudden, the right-hand sidebar, rather than displaying on the right side of the page, is being shoved underneath the left-hand sidebar, after all the main content — at least, that's what's going on in IE6 on the PC. ➡
    • Greek Mythological family tree Now, the Newmans' work has been published by the University of North Carolina Press as 'A Genealogical Chart of Greek Mythology: Comprising 3,673 Named Figures of Greek Mythology, All Related to Each Other Within a Single Family of 20 Generations.' ➡
    • Stubble fun Silly advantage to having a shaved head: that sixteenth of an inch stubble makes a great impromptu scrub brush! ➡
    • Filler X: useful people, Y: girls with nice breasts, Z: filler. ➡
    • Batteries Note to myself: Pick up a 9-volt battery for the smoke alarm on the way home tonight. That painfully loud chirp every five minutes or so is getting really annoying. ➡