Tech

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

On This Day: May 27

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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 20 posts previously published on May 27th

  • 2023
  • 2020
    • 📚 twenty-six of 2020: Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore ⭐️⭐️⭐️ A smart aleck demon and its long-suffering keeper, quirky locals in a tourist town, and a touch of Lovecraft on the California coast. Entertaining and amusing, if not “laugh out loud” funny. ➡
    • On This Day: May 27 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from May 27 ➡
  • 2019
    • Status check: I’m now 20% of the way through my project of reading (or re-reading, for those I’ve read before) every Hugo Best Novel award-winning book. 📚 ➡
    • Book thirty-five of 2019: Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1960 Hugo Best Novel Finally, a Heinlein Hugo winner I enjoyed! He still has issues with women’s roles, and I’m not on board with all the political philosophy, but it’s still a good read. ➡
  • 2018
    • “The Deep Note, the distinctive synthesized crescendo that is THX’s audio trademark, is one of the most iconic sounds in all of film. For the effects firm’s 35th anniversary, they’ve now shared the sheet music behind the sound.” ➡
  • 2017
    • Seeing one of Prairie’s tutors get married today! #travlinn #adventureisoutthere ➡
  • 2016
    • Out goth clubbing at the Mercury! (148/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • When homeworking, it’s nice to have enough screen space to have four documents and the assignment web page all visible at once. 27″ iMac + 20″ second monitor is a nice combination. ➡
  • 2014
    • Apparently I was taking an arty black and white shot when the Enterprise started to beam me up. Or something like that. ➡
  • 2008
    • The Mist Short review: for the first 120 minutes or so, while we had some quibbles with the decisions made, it's a remarkably faithful adaptation of the original story, and we were really enjoying it. Unfortunately, the last five minutes of the film _completely_ ruined it for us. ➡
  • 2006
    • Beware the Ick No Folklife for me this weekend; instead, I spent all my free time in bed, battling the Plague. Meh. Not _nearly_ as much fun. ➡
  • 2004
    • Life in Fallujah today This is the democracy and freedom that our soldiers are dying for… ➡
    • How to make friends by telephone Many people are linking to this 1940's era booklet on the then-newish telephone system and commenting on how amusing it is. As for me, after flipping through the pages, I'm struck by how much more bearable many phone conversations these days would be if people would keep these pointers in mind. ➡
    • Gore’s speech at NYU Excellent speech given by Al Gore at New York University yesterday (it's a shame that this Al Gore wasn't the Al Gore campaigning against Bush in 2000). This is a long one, but it is really worth watching, or reading, in its entirety. ➡
  • 2003
    • Apple updates iTunes, web explodes Today, as I took the odd moment here and there to keep an eye on happenings in the web world, I was somewhat startled to watch Apple provoke absolutely ridiculous amounts of stürm und drang with an update to iTunes. ➡
    • The Matrix runs Windows I can't believe that nobody has done a 'Which OS does the Matrix run on?'. It's obviously Windows though. ➡
    • Bad Erotica Contest She had never known a man like Julio before. When he came and boldly sat next to her, the musky scent of his manliness turned her from tigress to gentle kitten. She belonged to him before his supple buttocks pressed aggressively against the tattered faux-leather covering of the barstool. ➡
    • Book recommendation: Cheaper By the Dozen This post on BoingBoing reminded me of a book I haven't read in years, but that I _loved_ when I was a kid, and can highly recommend: Cheaper by the Dozen. ➡
    • From the ashes of Auschwitz THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber. Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal, The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported yesterday. ➡

On This Day: May 26

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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 23 posts previously published on May 26th

  • 2024
    • The Abyss 🎥: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: You have to look with better eyes than that. ➡
  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 24 I keep explaining to people that I'm very understated and subtle about my interests. ➡
  • 2022
    • 🎥 Spider-Man: No Way Home An impressive bit of multidimensional storytelling, especially given that neither of the prior incarnations had anything like this in mind. ➡
  • 2020
  • 2017
    • A toast, to long awaited endings and beginnings, as we leave CWU behind us, and prepare to leave Ellensburg behind us and rejoin the west side and the Seattle area! ➡
  • 2016
    • 1/3 of the way into Terminator Genisys, and this is…not terribly impressive so far. (147/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Three day weekends really should be the norm. ➡
  • 2009
    • Links for May 25th through May 26th Sometime between May 25th and May 26th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • California High Court Upholds Same-Sex Marriage Ban • 'Buffy' in for Feature Relaunch • 14 Cars Damaged During WA Couple's Stripping Game • May The Force of Others Be With You • Is It OK to Run an Illegal Library From My Locker at School? ➡
  • 2005
    • No kidding? See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. ➡
    • Semen I'm not sure what amuses me more: that someone would take the time to write 'semen' out with chewed gum, or that I'd spend the time to turn it into a cutout. ➡
    • Little Fluffy Clouds As soon as I got off from work I made a quick swing through home to drop off my bag, then spent the next two hours wandering around, people watching and taking photos. ➡
    • Mom Visits! I got to spend a nice few hours yesterday with Mom as she passed through Seattle on the tail end of a quick trip to see some family and friends scattered around the lower 48. ➡
    • Record warm temperatures today through Friday… Mid-80's today, predicted high of 89 tomorrow. Uff-da! Me? I love it. Summer's back! ➡
  • 2004
    • Descent 2 for Mac OS X: FREE! I'm not much of a gamer. Never have been, likely never will be. Generally, if I get into a game, it's for a few minutes at a time, and either brainless but fun point-and-shoot or brainless drive-around-in-circles racing games. ➡
    • What a deal! While on my lunch break today, I heard the sounds of Queen's 'We are the Champions' emanating from the television mounted in the corner of the burger joint I frequent daily. I looked up to see shots of middle-aged men running down the street, jumping into the air, and pumping their arms in jubilation. Then the subject of the commercial came on. ➡
    • Vivir con miedo, es como vivir a medias! A life lived in fear is a life half lived. ➡
    • So much for that idea So, that was my morning adventure — an aborted and unsuccessful attempt to form better impressions of the Democratic nominee for the 2004 election cycle. Hopefully I'll have another chance before November rolls around (and if I do, I hope it goes better than this one did). ➡
  • 2003
    • Photographer's rights This could be very handy, though I won't be printing it out and reading it fully until tomorrow — The Photographer's Right — your rights when stopped or confronted for photography. ➡
    • Politics in the Matrix? The way the Matrix Reloaded points out the multiple layers of control built into society is perhaps the most potent of the messages it carries. Its one thing to make people aware of the first layer of control. Its far more powerful to make them aware of the way that a built in 'resistance' can be used to solidify the power structure. ➡
    • Santorum gay rights benefactor? U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, R-Pa., has become a 'major donor' to New York's biggest gay rights organization, thanks to a gay comedian's off-Broadway show. ➡
    • Songs, A-Z Well, I didn't read the rules of this game after I saw Dyanna's list, so this list might seem a little odd. ➡
    • Black Hawk Down Overall, I think a healthy dose of cynicism is a good thing, but this time I seem to have taken it a bit far. ➡
    • Memorial Day Weekend This weekend, I explored Ape Cave, saw the south face of Mt. St. Helens, hiked along Lava Canyon, and played on a rope swing! All in all, a very good weekend. I hope yours was as enjoyable! ➡

On This Day: May 25

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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 12 posts previously published on May 25th

  • 2024
    • Dune: Part Two 🎥: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Absolutely gorgeous, from start to finish, landscapes and production design both. ➡
  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Linkdump for May 13th through May 25th An automatically generated list of links that caught my eye between May 13th and May 25th. • George Takei Accuser Scott Brunton Changed His Story of Drugs, Assault • when i say ‘don’t make jokes about rednecks and hillbillies’, that doesn’t mean i think you’re being racist against white people • Dear NRA, It's Time to Take Away Everyone's Gun • The respect of personhood vs the respect of authority • How the 50-mm Camera Lens Became ‘Normal’ ➡
    • Solo was fun. My current high-water mark for “new actors inhabiting characters without just mimicking original actors” is the nuTrek films (esp. Urban as McCoy); while nuHan isn’t quite that good, he wasn’t bad. Lots of fun moments and nods to the rest of the series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ ➡
  • 2016
    • Bachelor night number two: pizza and another superhero movie! (146/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Picnic lunch in Riverfront Park in The Dalles as we head up the Gorge on our way back to Ellensburg. ➡
  • 2007
  • 2005
  • 2004
    • A Portrait of the Author as a Young Man I recently found a stack of old ID cards from my high school days in a drawer, a discovery that led to an interesting mix of amusement and horror as I flipped through them. So what do I do, but take them to work, scan them all in, and bring them back here to expose them to the world. There's something seriously, seriously wrong with me. ;) ➡
    • Alaskans against CAPPS II Washington DC bureaucrats think we need their permission before we can get on a plane. We think they're wrong. They don't understand that up here in Alaska, we use airplanes the way you use taxis. And that's why we, a group of Alaskans, are turning to the US District Court for help. ➡
    • Kerry in Seattle tomorrow Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry will be in Seattle at a free public appearance on Pier 62 tomorrow morning. ➡

On This Day: May 24

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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 May 24th

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Every day, there’s a little bit more. Slowly, quietly accumulating. Drifting in, wafting slowly behind us as we walk by. It’s like the world’s cutest horror movie. ➡
    • In accordance with the GDPR-driven updates to privacy policies all over the place, I’m endorsing and appropriating Konstantin Kakaes’ excellent privacy policy update for my own use. Please read this and keep it in mind for all communications with me. ➡
  • 2016
    • First night of Prairie gone for a conference, and I’ve already reverted to my oh-so-healthy bachelor cooking ways. :D (145/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • Kitty wants cake! ➡
    • Our hotel room includes a Black Forest Cake dessert. Yum! ➡
    • Cocktails for two before dinner. ➡
  • 2014
    • Hanging out with the family by the river on a pleasant evening. ➡
    • At Prairie’s dad’s place along the Lewis River for a collective May birthdays celebration. ➡
  • 2010
    • A tiny bit on the Lost finale I've only had a few hours to process the _Lost_ finale, and I was asleep for most of them, so this is still a little unformed and right off the cuff. Still, right off the bat, I'm a bit of two minds on how it all wrapped up... ➡
  • 2009
    • Links for May 19th through May 24th Sometime between May 19th and May 24th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Agatha Christie: Agatha Christie Breaks a Third World Record • Rules for Time Travelers • Klingon Anti-Virus • Star Trek: What It Teaches Film Makers About Special Effects • Dollar ReDe$Ign Project ➡
  • 2006
    • Upcoming Photothingies After a few days of grumbling and plotting devious ways of kicking my manager (severely, repeatedly, in the shin), my schedule has been reworked so that there are no more conflicts. So. Upcoming things where I will be wandering around, camera in hand.... ➡
  • 2005
    • Spielberg’s War of the Worlds Some interesting tidbits in Wired's look at the upcoming Spielberg/Cruise version of War of the Worlds that caught my eye. ➡
    • Writing Assignment I actually think this is an old joke that I've heard before, but it got a good laugh out of me today when Thom posted it... ➡
  • 2004
    • Disney Propaganda (I want this!) Oooers — anybody want to get me a late birthday present? ;) ➡
    • We’re Not Gonna Take It Currently playing on our in-store Muzak system: Twisted Sister's 'We're Not Gonna Take It!' ➡
    • Something for DeAnna Assuming you make it here to Seattle in time and have the time and money once you get here, there's a production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Re-bar through the end of July. ➡
    • Showgirls commentary track While I've never had a chance to catch it, for a while now local Seattle writer David Schmader has been hosing screenings of the infamous Showgirls, providing a running commentary skewering the film in what I've heard makes for an absolutely hilarious showing. ➡
    • Republican lightbulb joke How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to replace a lightbulb? ➡
    • The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Iraq It seems we have our own local Earthly variant of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, reacting to the Abu Ghraib scandal with the belief that if we didn't see it, it wasn't there — and banning digital cameras in Iraq. ➡
    • The library is really cool I did manage to spend a little time looking around the Seattle Library this Sunday with Prairie and Hope for their opening day festivities. I think this was the first, and quite likely only, time I've ever seen a line to get into a library! ➡
  • 2002
    • North to Alaska Just when I'd reconciled myself to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to afford to head up to Alaska this summer like I'd been planning to see James and Stacy get hitched, what do some of my friends do but chip in to help me out with the cost of the plane ticket. ➡
  • 2001
    • Mars needs a facelift! This just in -- It seems that our nearest neighbor in the Solar System, and most possible target for future colonization, is in dire need of a facelift! ➡
    • Some silly fantasy series Grrr...Calling LOTR (Lord of the Rings) 'some silly fantasy series' is the same as referring to the Sistine Chapel as 'some medieval graffiti' or The Republic as 'simple moral commentary'. ➡
  • 1996
    • [From Usenet: 5.24.96 2300] A shareware utility called Drop*PS (the * is really a bullet) will work wonders, as long as all you want to do is print. Drag the .ps file onto Drop*PS, and it sends the postscript data directly to the printer to interpretet it. Nice 'n simple... ➡

On This Day: May 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 27 posts previously published on May 23rd

  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 21 I've read enough William S. Burroughs to recognize those symptoms! ➡
  • 2020
    • 📚 twenty-five of 2020: Star Trek S.C.E.: Foundations by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dillmore ⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Trek “expanded universe” novel; three short stories and a framing story, all of Scotty’s interactions with the early S.C.E. and tying into TOS episodes. ➡
    • Difficult Listening Hour 2020.05.23: Bombtime! I've apparently fallen into the habit of doing some sort of themed set every third week. This week started when I realized how many songs I had with 'bomb' in the title. ➡
    • On This Day: May 23 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from May 23 ➡
  • 2016
    • Not a bad day at all for a Monday. Here’s hoping that’s the start of a trend. (144/366) ➡
  • 2015
  • 2014
    • Funny little dollar store eyeball ring. Too small for my fingers, but amusing. Looks like a friendly little alien to me. :) ➡
    • Hard at work at Law and Justice! Except that I actually sit at a computer all day, and never need to touch the law books. But still. It works for today’s picture. :) ➡
    • Fun Feet Friday: Darth Vader socks! ➡
  • 2010
    • Links for May 21st through May 23rd Sometime between May 21st and May 23rd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • After Keeping Us Waiting for a Century, Mark Twain Will Finally Reveal All • Cripple Crab Crutch • The Swinger • 10 Days in a Carry-on • The Pirate Bay | Cracked.com ➡
  • 2006
    • The Perils of Being Blogged Must make this quick.... Out in the [doctor's] waiting room- I am typing away on blog and then zoom to your site to see what's new, when guy next to me goes- 'That's the numbnut from Microsoft- right??' ➡
    • Up, Up and Away… A 'time panorama]' -- seven shots combined into a single panoramic image capturing this kitesurfer's jump. ➡
  • 2005
    • Episode III: Pros and Cons Mike messaged me on iChat this evening after getting back from watching Star Wars Episode III. Our conversation ended up touching on most, if not all, of the points I've had wandering around in my head and was planning on using for a more in-depth review than the one I gave previously. So, with his permission, I'm reposting our conversation here. ➡
    • Love Battle Ideologies and slogans are going to be battling it out in the Seattle area next month. In the (far) right corner: Love Won Out, a 'national campaign to treat homosexuality as preventable.' In the left corner: Love Welcomes All, a counter-conference organized by PFLAG. ➡
    • Local Innuendo Headline from a story in today's Seattle PI: University of Washington among top-endowed colleges ➡
    • 2005 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films Dori's got a very handy list of this year's Sci-Fi and Fantasy films that are likely to be potential Hugo Award nominees. Some I've seen, most I've heard of, but there were a few listed that I didn't know about -- including a new Terry Gilliam film! ➡
    • Apple and Intel There's a lot of rumbling in the Mac world today thanks to a Wall Street Journal article reporting rumors of Apple talking to Intel about using their chips. ➡
    • Recap Still alive, still here, just haven't been very talkative. Quick weekend recap, though... ➡
  • 2004
    • I’m so glad I don’t drive Gas really does cost an arm and a leg these days. ➡
    • Draft targeted to resume in spring 2005 There have been rumors about this for a while now, but it's been looking more and more likely all the time, and now the first major steps have been set in motion. ➡
    • Shrek 2 We also saw Shrek 2, which was a far more enjoyable experience than Troy. ➡
    • Troy Prairie and I saw Troy this weekend. That wasn't supposed to be a comedy, was it? ➡
  • 2003
    • Can we clone Sen. Byrd? Another excellent speech from Sen. Byrd. Can we please get more politicians like this man in office? ➡
    • US takes control of space The nation's largest intelligence agency by budget and in control of all U.S. spy satellites, NRO is talking openly with the U.S. Air Force Space Command about actively denying the use of space for intelligence purposes to any other nation at any time — not just adversaries, but even longtime allies, according to NRO director Peter Teets. ➡
    • SARS from space? Here's an interesting theory: could SARS have come to us from outer space? ➡
    • Starring Howard Dean 'Cool idea!' 'Ick — Windows only (sigh).' 'Oh, wait — Quicktime videos too!' ➡
  • 1996
    • [From Usenet: 5.23.96 2300] Was wondering if anyone had attempted an install of NetBSD on a mac...? --and-- Anyone attempted a firewall system like this...? ➡

On This Day: May 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 22 posts previously published on May 22nd

  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 20 How you'd usually find me on weeknight evenings if you broke into my house, which would be creepy and unappreciated. ➡
  • 2022
  • 2021
    • The Body’s Most Embarrassing Evolutionary Marvel: “To peer into the soul of a sea cucumber, don’t look to its face; it doesn’t have one. Gently turn that blobby body around, and gaze deep into its marvelous, multifunctional anus.” ➡
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Happy #WorldGothDay! The top two shots are me at about 22 (1995) at my first DJing gig at City Lights in Anchorage, AK; bottom left is at about 25 (1997) at Gigs Music Theater in Anchorage; bottom right is at 45 (2018) in “undercover goth” work mode. Remember: goth has no age limit, there’s no ... Read more ➡
  • 2017
    • Chucks of the day (54/54): new style (padded) classic red low-tops. #chucks #converse ➡
  • 2016
    • Book twenty-two of 2016: Dead to Me, by Mary McCoy. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (143/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • This must be the most hilariously college student treat I’ve seen in the cafeteria here. Like Rice Krispie treats, only with Captain Crunch (I think). Looks…horrible. ➡
  • 2014
    • I’m sadly lacking in photos (that I haven’t already posted) worthy of #worldgothday, so in lieu of a photo, here’s a #throwbackthursday sketch given to me in 1998 by Jon Hannah, back when I was doing the alt/goth/industrial DJ thing at Gig’s (and/or the Lost Abbey). On the original, text underneath reads, “A DJ’s life ... Read more ➡
  • 2008
    • Heterosexual Questionnaire There are multiple versions of this floating around on the 'net, and I've run across the concept before, but I saw this particular version for the first time this week in my Women's Studies class, where it got a lot of laughs and some good discussions going. ➡
  • 2007
  • 2006
  • 2003
    • With stripes! We just saw the zebras mating, thank you, very exciting. It was like the Heimlich — with stripes! ➡
    • Okay, enough with the buttons! Need a button, Kirsten? ;) ➡
    • Pathologicopsychological Too many projects, not enough time… ➡
    • Alaska questions Patriot Act 'When we stand on this floor and we salute that flag, the final words that we use are 'One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,'' said Sen. Robin Taylor, R-Wrangell. 'I take it deadly serious when we start removing groups of people from 'justice for all.'' ➡
    • More buttonmania Mena, if you weren't married to Ben already, I'd propose after seeing this! ;) Just beautiful. ➡
    • Winerism of the day Movable Type's new TypePad service is unveiled. It appears to be what UserLand had working (for free) in 1999. ➡
  • 2002
    • The Last Temptation of Christ If I'm understanding this correctly, the heresy lies not just in the belief that Jesus could be tempted, but that there was a risk that he could give into that temptation. My question, then, is just this -- isn't that the way it would need to be? If there were no possibility of Jesus giving into the temptation and renouncing his spot on the cross, then what would be the point? ➡
    • Hooray for slow work days Things here are slow enough that I'm spending a little time bouncing around, and found something quite interesting -- the top 100 books of all time, as chosen by 100 writers from 54 countries. ➡
  • 2001

On This Day: May 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 15 posts previously published on May 21st

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Here’s a nice collection of photos from the Kilauea eruption going on right now. Gorgeous and awesome — in its formal “extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear” meaning. ➡
    • The Coup Has Already Happened Sad to say, this sounds about right to me: The coup has already happened. ➡
    • I know a lot of people are allergic, and I’m sorry about that, but I have to admit to really getting a kick out of the cottonwood “snowstorm” going on right now. That stuff is everywhere! ➡
  • 2017
    • Family game night? #lego #starwars #milleniumfalcon #hansolo #chewbacca #bb8 #rey #finn ➡
  • 2016
    • Getting my rocks off in our front driveway this morning. ;) We moved about three tons of rock to cover what used to be a scraggly dead patch of our backyard, and managed to get it done before lunch! And now, the collapsing. (142/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • There are probably people out there to whom this looks more familiar than my actual face. ➡
  • 2004
  • 2003
    • Buttonmania! I've reworked my sidebar a bit, using buttons I found on Steal These Buttons, via this MeFi post. Hopefully it's not too much — I haven't seen it yet, so I'll find out after this post goes up. ➡
    • Navigation – left or right? I had the standard left-justified navigation for a while, and at one point had a three column layout with sidebars on both sides of the page, but in one of my redesigns I decided to go with the current right-justified navigation, and plan on sticking with it.I had the standard left-justified navigation for a while, and at one point had a three column layout with sidebars on both sides of the page, but in one of my redesigns I decided to go with the current right-justified navigation, and plan on sticking with it. ➡
  • 2002
    • Birthday presents! I've got some very silly parents. I'm sure that this is just an entirely mindblowing revelation, for anyone who knows me well, or has met them. I got my first box of birthday presents from them a couple days ago. Two items, both of which made me laugh a lot. ➡
    • Why I don’t give my phone number to people who fry anymore. The only reason Mikhail Gorbachov would be the 7-11 buying a pack of smokes at 3:45 in the morning is beause you dropped five hits of acid at midnight and have in fact seen Willy tryin' to hold up the store again. ➡
  • 2001
    • Back to the usual Kirsten and Jamie picked me up at the Fairbanks airport, and we headed back to Kirsten's dorm at UAF, where the three of us stayed up talking and bs'ing until way too early in the morning. But then -- that's the point of vacations, right? ➡

On This Day: May 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 25 posts previously published on May 20th

  • 2023
  • 2021
  • 2020
    • This is so frustrating: The Abyss is one of my personal favorite films, but all indications are that there’s a good chance that the old, non-anamorphic standard definition DVD may be the only physical release we’ll ever see, and even a digital HD release is an open question. ➡
    • 📚 twenty-four of 2020: E.T. the Extraterrestrial by William Kotzwinkle ⭐️⭐️⭐️ An odd adaptation, likely done from an earlier draft of the script. I never realized E.T. was quite so romantically enamored with Elliott’s mom! That got kinda weird a few times. ➡
    • On This Day: May 20 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from May 20 ➡
  • 2017
    • Got a good haul of #lego #minifigures today – 12 bags, and no duplicates! Got the ones I wanted the most (highwayman and both retro sci-fi guys), and the ones Prairie wanted (the baker and butterfly girl), plus more. ➡
    • Came down to Yakima for a nice long walk and picnic by the river today. ➡
  • 2016
    • Waiting to see if the new #StarTrekBeyond trailer goes online after it debuts at the #StarTrekFan event in LA, while friends are at the @empmuseum #StarTrekEMP party in Seattle. And I’m here in Ellensburg. (141/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • We are once again allowed to leave the country! First time since 1996 for me. Now…where to go? (Probably Canada in the near-ish foreseeable future.) ➡
  • 2014
    • Prairie’s left early this morning for Seattle for a conference until tomorrow evening, so I have a couple days of riding my bike to and from work. Gorgeous weather for a morning ride! ➡
  • 2010
    • Links for May 18th through May 20th Sometime between May 18th and May 20th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • New Social Networking Site Changing the Way Oh, Christ, Forget It • The Ragbag - F(x) = ½X + 7 • Who You Gonna Call? • Article Asking for More Comprehensive Sex Education Cut From Catholic-School Newspaper • The Big Caption ➡
  • 2008
    • Silliness: Medical Notes An e-mail from Mom. Normally I don't pass these kinds of things on (via e-mail or the web), especially when they're already posted on Snopes (this one is listed as 'Undetermined'), but this one had both Prairie and I in stitches (no pun intended) as we read through it. Lots of good arguments for the importance of clarity in writing in here! ➡
    • Eight Point Three I have no idea how I ended up on their radar, but I've just been rated an 8.3 on Blogged.com, some form of directory and rating site for weblogs. ➡
  • 2006
    • Is Pixar a ‘boys only’ club? Honestly, I'd never even thought about this until Prairie brought it up after we watched one of the trailers for Cars, when its predominantly male-centric theme got her started thinking about the rest of Pixar's oevure. Just where are the girls in Pixar films? ➡
  • 2005
    • Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith In brief and spoiler-free: I know Episode I stank, and Episode II was better, but still nowhere near what we'd all been hoping for. Episode III, while not perfect, is _far_ better than either of the prior two prequels, and -- believe it or not -- stands as a worthy addition to the series. ➡
  • 2004
  • 2003
    • XXX A willing suspension of disbelief is one thing, but when the fight scenes in both Matrix films pay more attention to the laws of physics than the stunts in XXX, it's really not a good sign. ➡
    • Then I have to go When I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool, or witty — or at all. I can usually make a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away. ➡
    • Reclaiming the Public Domain The idea is a simple one: Fifty years after a work has been published, the copyright owner must pay a $1 maintanence fee. If the copyright owner pays the fee, then the copyright continues. If the owner fails to pay the fee, the work passes into the public domain. Based on historical precedent, we expect 98% of copyrighted works would pass into the public domain after just 50 years. They could keep Mickey for as long as Congress lets them. But we would get a public domain. ➡
  • 2002
    • Frikkin’ Major Tom!!! I got to go to another concert last night -- Peter Murphy! It was an absolutely incredible show. He focused mostly on songs from his most recent album, Dust, but also tossed in a few of his more popular songs from other older albums, including both 'Crystal Wrists' and 'Roll Call'. ➡

On This Day: May 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 29 posts previously published on May 19th

  • 2024
    • The Latter Fire by James Swallow 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: A somewhat predictable primary antagonist, but balanced with a very interesting major threat to all parties. ➡
  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 17 Getting older? Inevitable. Wiser? I hope so. More mature? Not if I can help it. ➡
  • 2022
  • 2020
  • 2016
    • I’m too sexy for my yogurt. ;) (140/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • More goodies! The movies are birthday presents from Prairie’s mom (we’ll have to let her know what she got me), the book I’ve had on preorder for months. Our plan is to find time to watch the Jurassic Park trilogy before seeing Jurassic World. No real reason for the Pirates series other than that we ... Read more ➡
    • Just got a nice present from one of the graduating LAJ students. She did the bird etching herself. :) ➡
  • 2014
    • Hanging out in Prairie’s office as she finishes up the day. Not grumpy, just being amused at the white patches on my chin. :) ➡
  • 2010
  • 2009
    • Still Awkward After All These Years Yesterday I was interviewed by a reporter for ABC News who was working on an article about AFP and the reactions from people who've stumbled across their photos on the site, and the article went live this morning! It features both of the shots of our family that are on AFP, and my part of the article comprises a fair chunk of the last third or so. ➡
    • Links for May 16th through May 19th Sometime between May 16th and May 19th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Geek Girls Network Interview: Shannon Flowers From Seattle Geekly • Zoo's Penguins Finally on View • Fox Abandons Experiment to Air Fewer Ads • It's Terminal: A Dozen Scenes of Early Office Computing • Reinventing Star Trek's VFX ➡
  • 2007
    • Wamu Sees All! Last September, I put these eyes on a small sign at the driveway in to the Northgate Washington Mutual bank. Last night, as I was walking home from work, I noticed that eight months later, they're still there. This makes me rather ridiculously pleased with the universe. ➡
  • 2006
    • Let’s Go Fly A Kite I took advantage of yesterday's gorgeous weather to stop by Carkeek Park. This guy was practicing with a mid-size kite -- larger than normal, but not large enough to go kite surfing with. Lots of fun to watch! ➡
  • 2005
    • Feed types Looking at the Google AdSense for Feeds announcement, Scoble takes a moment to rank the various basic types of feeds that can be produced now. Dead-on, I'd say. ➡
    • Hi there! It's raining pretty decently right now, so I ducked into the Convention Center on my way home for lunch. Walking past the lower level shops on my way to the elevator, I spotted a girl in the beauty salon sitting with a pomeranian propped up in her lap. ➡
    • May Meetup May Meetup report, I've got a doppelganger running around town, and Star Wars fans are fun to photograph. All in all, not a bad evening! ➡
  • 2004
    • If only I had a bit more under my belt As much as I enjoy being something of a 'jack-of-all-trades' in my computer experience -- lots of experience across a wide range of fields -- the downside is a lack of comprehensive knowledge in nearly any field. ➡
    • Bad code! No biscuit! Sorry, guys, but if I'm seeing three cringeworthy examples of bad HTML code within the first couple seconds of visiting your page, you could have a program that makes BBEdit look like Microsoft FrontPage and I wouldn't be able to take it seriously. ➡
    • Good point I'd rather be shot than vote for bush at gunpoint. After all, i can recover from a gunshot wound in, say, a couple months. Voting for bush, well, that takes four years. ➡
    • Silly quiz time! Old school punk! You just say what you have to say regardless of what everyone else thinks! You're one of my most favourite types of music…. You're raw and uncut! You're surrounded by hype…just don't let it make you go insane… ➡
    • iRaq There's an interesting bit of anti-war postering going on in New York right now… ➡
    • Mac OS X vulnerability News broke across the 'net over the past day or so that there is a verifiable, serious security threat under Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) involving Safari and the Help viewer application. ➡
  • 2003
    • Bush's hydrogen plan According to this Kalilly post, Bush has figured out how to seem environmentally conscious while still screwing over the planet. ➡
    • Patron Saint of… There's a good chance that dad knows that Francis Xavier is the patron saint of the archdiocese Indianapolis, Indiana. He might even know that Therese of Lisieux is the patron saint of the diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska. ➡
    • Geeze, that's a big-ass cube. One trillion pennies would form a cube 273 feet to a side. That's roughly half the height of the Washington Monument. The cube would weigh approximately 3,125,000 pounds. Now, just to boggle your mind a bit further: multiply that cube by 100 times, and you'd have the number of pennies that the Department of Defense can't account for. ➡
    • Water shutoff Oh, this is good -- our building has a 30-day shutoff notice from the water utility posted on the front door. ➡
    • Getting personal An interesting article in the NYT today about the pros and cons of getting personal with weblogs, something I occasionally struggle with. ➡
    • Ari Fleischer resigns I informed President Bush last week that after 21 years of doing nothing but government and politics...that I have decided that my time has come to leave the White House. And I will leave later this summer, most likely in July. ➡

On This Day: May 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 26 posts previously published on May 18th

  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 16 Gave two presentations today for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). ➡
  • 2022
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Well, this is a horribly depressing statistic: More people have been killed at schools this year than have been killed while serving in the military. ➡
    • ‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens: Santa Fe, TX, 5/18/18. Parkland, FL, 2/14/18. Sutherland Springs, TX, 11/5/17. Las Vegas, NV, 10/2/17. San Bernardino, CA, 12/3/15. Roseburg, OR, 10/1/15. Charleston, SC, 6/17/15. And on, and on, and on… ➡
  • 2016
    • Playing with a new image editing app. Obviously, I need to come up with wittier words. (139/366) ➡
  • 2015
  • 2014
    • My not-infrequent “it’s almost bedtime and I haven’t posted my daily photo yet” pose. Go me! ➡
  • 2010
    • Links for May 14th through May 18th Sometime between May 14th and May 18th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Mount St. Helens, 30 Years Ago - The Big Picture • Lost Has Already Given Us More Answers Than Battlestar • The Geek Alphabet • Adobe, You Brought An Advertisement To A Gun Fight • State Patrol Warns: Tickets on Cell Phones Begin June 10, No Exceptions ➡
  • 2006
  • 2005
    • Back again… No clue why, but for some reason my DSL modem apparently froze up somewhere around 3pm this afternoon. I've reset it and we're back up and running, but it looks like my site was effectively down for about two hours. ➡
    • Top 12 Things A Klingon Programmer Would Say Seeing as how old school programmers think like Klingon programmers, I believe that it can be reasonably assumed that all old programmers are Klingon. ➡
  • 2004
    • Battling the blahs There's a certain odd irony in that spring, when the days are getting longer, temperatures are getting warmer, and the world is getting greener also tends to be something of a difficult time for me. (Warning: long, rambling, self-indulgent, and quite possibly slightly whiny babbling follows. You've been warned...) ➡
    • Moving towards reinstating the draft It may not be much longer before the draft is back in action — inactive Army reservists are getting notified that they're next on deck to be called back to service. ➡
    • White House clearing national policy with apocalyptic fundamentalists It was an e-mail we weren't meant to see. ➡
    • Spitting Image returning? One of the best discoveries I made when visiting England during the mid-80's (sometime around 1985 or '86, I think) was Spitting Image, a BBC political satire show using latex puppet caricatures of political figures. Now it looks like Spitting Image may be coming back! ➡
  • 2003
    • ACLU report on post 9/11 suppression of dissent I haven't read this yet (it's pushing 2am, and bed is sounding better and better all the time), but the ACLU has released a report on the suppression of dissent in the US since Sept. 11th, 2001. ➡
    • Howard Dean interview There's a good interview with Howard Dean over at LiberalOasis. Dean continues to talk a very good line — I only hope that if elected, he follows through. So far, I've yet to see anything to convince me he wouldn't, but it's quite hard to tell at this point. ➡
    • Almost perfect This babble brought to you courtesy of the fact that as I've been posting rather sporadically for the past week, I need some filler posts on the main page so that my site doesn't look too tweaky. ➡
    • The Matrix has me! I've been in complete Matrix mode for most of this weekend — saw the sequel Thursday night, watched the original yesterday with Prairie, and then went back to see the sequel again tonight. ➡
  • 2002
    • More fun with conspiracies So -- here we have conclusive evidence that the US knew about the 9-11 attacks not just weeks or months, but years before they happened -- there are hidden pictures of both the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks hidden on the new $20 bill! ➡
  • 2001
    • Off to Fairbanks! Well, my rides on the way. Don't know if I'll be updating at all while I'm in Fairbanks, so this may be my last post for a few days. If so -- see y'all (whoever you may be) when I get back! ➡
    • How Hollywood sees us ...all of you are just simple-minded dumbasses with tiny brains and limited exposure who are so used to 'checking your brains at the door' that your gray matter has devolved into a state of gummy disuse. ➡
    • I can’t chicken out now… More and more it looks like my target date for leaving really is going to be June 15th -- I'm (quite intentionally) making sure I've got all my loose ends tied up here, and that it's difficult for me to back out, just in case I get a last minute case of the heebie-jeebies. ➡
    • Getting things ready Most of my time when I'm not at work has been caught up in two pursuits: sorting through everything I own and determining what to keep, what to get rid of, and what to try to sell; and kicking back for an evening of watching DVD's when I can't deal with my room. ➡