Tech

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

On This Day: Dec 23

by

Since I 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 December 23rd

  • 2023
  • 2020
    • The Year in Photos 2020: How will we remember this pivotal year in human history? Many of us won’t want to, but in doing so we risk repeating what got us into this mess in the first place. ➡
    • LG 27UK850-W: An Acceptable 27-inch Display for the Mac: I occasionally toy with the idea of moving to a Mac Mini + monitor setup to replace my current 27″ Retina iMac, but finding a good monitor that’s not too expensive is difficult. This one is a maybe? ➡
    • On This Day: Dec 23 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from December 23 ➡
  • 2019
    • Happy Christmas Adam! December 23rd. Comes before Christmas Eve and is generally unsatisfying. ➡
    • The end of formal nights on cruises: This past summer, when Mom took Prairie and me on an Alaskan cruise, the formal dinners were part of what we were looking forward to, and while we did enjoy them, we were a little disappointed to see that so few people were really living up to the ... Read more ➡
  • 2017
    • Book fifty of 2017: Rogue, by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin. 🌟🌟🌟 #startrek #tng #section31 🖖 ➡
    • Day five! #cah #cardsagainsthumanity ➡
  • 2016
    • Book fifty-seven of 2016: Merry Christmas, Alex Cross, by James Patterson. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Prairie read this yesterday, and said that since it’s a Christmas book, I should read it too. It’s more of a short story or novella, just 100 pages, and just as high quality as you’d expect a Patterson holiday short to be.) ➡
    • Fresh baked ginger molasses cookie (with cream cheese frosting) almost as big as my head! ➡
    • Done! Off campus, and not back for ten days! Happy holidays! (358/366) ➡
  • 2008
    • This Weblog is ESTP According to Typealyzer, which analyzes the content of a weblog and places it within the Myers-Briggs personality matrix, this weblog classifies as ESTP (Extroverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving), 'The Doers.' ➡
    • Links for December 18th through December 23rd Sometime between December 18th and December 23rd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! ➡
  • 2005
    • Registered It's official -- I'm registered for classes. Just two for now, but it's a start. ➡
  • 2004
    • Skinheads I Have Known Back in the mid- to late-'90's, Anchorage used to have a fairly active skinhead community. I can't say how they might have compared to similar groups in other cities, but as far as Anchorage went, they were well-known, and fairly hard core. Twice, I ended up having a couple of memorable run-ins with the Anchorage skinhead crowd. ➡
    • What do you write about? …I try and find a way to make the words fit. I try to bring my life into focus. I bite my fingernails and try to tell people the contours of the jagged edges. You know. Like that. ➡
    • The End A year and a half ago, I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As of tonight, nineteen months and a lot of DVDs later, I've seen every episode, from Buffy first arriving in Sunnydale to her final look forward into a new, changed world. ➡
    • Gridlock I am so glad I live mere blocks away from my job, and don't have to worry about driving anywhere. Downtown Seattle has been gridlocked all day long with Christmas shoppers…it's been absolutely insane every time I've had a chance to poke my head out of the building. ➡
  • 2003
    • When snow in Anchorage makes the news… …you know it's been coming down pretty heavily. Just another reason why I'm glad I left Alaska! ➡
    • Seattle Incidents Here's a little page that could get addicting, in a somewhat voyeuristic sort of way — a continually refreshing live list of Seattle 911 'incidents'. ➡
    • NYPD cop busted for blogging A NYPD police officer is under investigation because of what he wrote on his weblog. However, where when I landed in hot water due to my blog it was due to a single stupid mistake, this guy appears to have been bragging about grossly abusing his position as an officer of the law. ➡
  • 2002
    • The center of Anchorage It's good to know that even if it doesn't have quite the status that it used to, in some ways, VINL is still definitely the center of Anchorage. I spent years hanging out at this diner in midtown Anchorage, and met quite a few friends there over the years. So, when tooling around Anchorage on a slow Sunday night, what to do but stop by? ➡

On This Day: Dec 22

by

Since I 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 December 22nd

  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2020
    • Octopuses Observed Punching Fish, Perhaps Out of Spite, Scientists Say: “In new proof that 2020 has been a crappy year basically everywhere, scientists have captured video evidence of octopuses randomly punching at fish, possibly for no reason other than being spiteful.” ➡
    • For a while I wasn’t sure I’d make it—concentrating on reading has been difficult this year—but with nine days to spare, I’ve completed my Goodreads challenge of 52 books this year. Sure, it’s lots of Star Trek, and I neglected my Hugo Best Novel project, but I hit my goal. 📚 ➡
    • 📚 fifty-two of 2020: Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse ⭐️⭐️⭐️ A fun YA fantasy monster fighting adventure based on Navajo mythology. Part of Rick Riordan’s project to use his clout to to highlight marginalized voices and cultures, which I very much respect. ➡
    • On This Day: Dec 22 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from December 22 ➡
  • 2019
    • 📚 sixty of 2019: The Wanderer, by Fritz Leiber. ⭐️⭐️ 1965 Hugo Best Novel Veers wildly between interesting concepts (a planet the size of Earth appears in Earth’s orbit, affecting tectonics, tides, etc.), and incredibly dated plots that do not age well. ➡
    • I’ve been avoiding Star Wars reviews, as I don’t get to see Ep. 9 until next weekend, but I took a chance on this one by John Scalzi (because he promised it would be spoiler-free, and I trust him to follow through on that), and thought it was an interesting viewpoint. ➡
  • 2016
    • Bedtime! Just one more day of work to get through, then holiday break! (357/366) ➡
  • 2008
    • Snowpocalypse Photos My (still in progress) set of photos from this winter's bizarre weather can be found right here. I've got another day's worth of shots to put in when I get a chance, but that may not happen for another few days or so. ➡
  • 2005
    • Program on the emergence of civilization. I have no idea what prompted someone to leave this comment on my site, or what relation (if any) they think it might have to the post that it was added to...but it's just long and bizarre enough that I think I'll keep it. ➡
  • 2004
    • Gallimaufry Terrance resurrects an old meme as a weekly thing. The rules are simple: put your entire music playlist on random, and post the first ten songs your music player comes up with. ➡
    • Book of Blogs II Earlier this month, I linked to a blog anthology project by Tvindy. I liked the idea and nominated a few entries for inclusion, but as more is better: as readers, are there any posts that stand out in your mind as particularly noteworthy, for whatever reason? ➡
    • Post-Melodramatic Stress Disorder Okay, okay, I'll admit it — I actually like The Phantom of the Opera. In my defense, though (if a defense can even be mounted), I couldn't help it. I've been brainwashed! ➡
    • Our King’s older than yours. This was going to be a linklog post, but then I decided I wanted to give it a little more visibility. With all the current blathering about Christmas being 'stolen', I thought today's Something Positive strip was especially funny. ➡
    • A Republican Christmas 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the land, not a critic was stirring, for stirring was banned. ➡
  • 2003
    • The gift that keeps on giving (…as long as you replace the batteries, of course.) ➡
    • Got it, got it, need it, got it, not a chance, need it, got it… While I'm still partial to the 'Old School' purity tests, Kirsten pointed out a page that bills itself as the 'ultimate' purity test, and I had to give it a shot… ➡
    • Famous Faces …wasn't everyone in Seattle in a band at some point? ➡
    • TypePad User Group I've been hanging out on the TypePad User Group for a while now. It's a great little resource for TypePad users -- entirely unofficial, but a good place to go as a first resource for figuring out issues with coding and maintaining TypePad weblogs. ➡
    • Tower ghost filmed Closed-circuit security cameras at Hampton Court Palace, the huge Tudor castle outside London, seem to have snagged an ethereal visitor. Could it be a ghost? ➡
  • 2002
    • Clubbing in Alaska Why I'm glad I don't have to rely on bars in Alaska to go clubbing: three words — The Electric Slide. ➡
    • Belief, faith, and the church On top of it all, I count my beliefs as mine, and other people's beliefs as theirs. If they want to talk about it fine — but I'm not about to attempt to convince them that I'm 'right' and they're 'wrong', and I expect the same respect from them. ➡
    • Don’t fly pregnant A husband and his pregnant wife were attempting to fly out of Portland to go to a friend's wedding when they were both pulled off for extra 'security screening'… ➡
  • 2001
    • Back in Anchorage I've got to say, that was the most all-out terrified I've ever been -- one drop I might have made it through with just being a little frightened, but when it kept happening over and over, I really started to freak out. ➡
  • 2000
    • Congratulations Kevin and Emily! I just got a visit from my dad, and it seems that my little brother proposed to his girlfriend Emily last night on Winter Solstice -- and she accepted! ➡
  • 1995

On This Day: Dec 21

by

Since I 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 December 21st

  • 2025
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2020
    • Shortest day of the year — but from here on, things just get brighter. Let’s hope that applies figuratively and socially as well as literally. Happy solstice all; blessed Yule to those who celebrate in that manner. ➡
    • On This Day: Dec 21 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from December 21 ➡
  • 2019
    • Out for the Seattle Symphony’s performance of Handel’s Messiah. The last time I was at a performance of the Messiah, it was as part of the choir, along with both parents (also in the choir) and my brother (in the orchestra). It’ll be nice to be in the audience with Prairie for this performance! ➡
  • 2018
  • 2017
    • Book forty-nine of 2017: Cloak, by S. D. Perry. 🌟🌟🌟 #startrek #tos #section31 🖖 ➡
  • 2016
    • Book fifty-six of 2016: Faces of Fire, by Michael Jan Friedman. 🌟🌟🌟 #startrek #tos ➡
    • Books aren’t all that get collected at our house — the movie collection keeps growing too (only three of the just over eight shelves are visible here)! Looking forward to seeing if Santa brings any additions. ;) (356/366) ➡
    • Rogue One Mini-Review and Machete Order Thoughts A brief review of Rogue One, and some thoughts on why I don’t think it should be part of the Machete Order. ➡
  • 2015
    • Know what I never had to do last winter? Shovel. Know what I’ve done four times so far, with more to come? Shovel. Ugh. ➡
    • Snow, snow, and more snow. It’s a pain to deal with, but very pretty. ➡
  • 2014
    • So Prairie decided to make some Christmas cookies…. :D ➡
  • 2013
    • All set for a pleasant afternoon with homemade Christmas tea time treats; fudge, cookies, and banana bread that’s fresh out of the oven, cider, and a Star Trek novel. ➡
  • 2012
    • Norwescon 36 DJ Wüdi will be DJing the Thursday Night Dance at the upcoming Norwescon 36 science fiction and fantasy convention in SeaTac, Washington! ➡
  • 2011
    • Trolling Middle Earth Where today, 'troll' is almost universally understood as the second of the above quoted definitions -- a person solely out to provoke annoyance -- I've always preferred the first definition. In _that_ sense, a properly constructed troll is something I've always respected. ➡
  • 2006
    • Unhyphenated? My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Count-Palatine Michael the Unhyphenated of Fishbourne Sneething ➡
  • 2005
    • …was blind, but now I see Back again, new and improved -- after swapping out my old, dead video card with a brand-spankin' new Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Special Edition, my Mac is back up and running. ➡
  • 2004
  • 2002
    • Brrrrrr Officially, it's 21 degrees here in Anchorage. Unfortunately, the side of town that my parents live on is always colder than the 'official' record — and their thermometer in the front yard is reading 8 degrees below zero at the moment. Yikes. ➡
    • Heading north In just about an hour, I'll be catching a bus to the airport, and heading up to Alaska to spend the next week with my family in Anchorage! ➡
  • 2001
    • I’m shocked. Really. Excuse me? Your marketing scheme for your new high-end ultra-reliable ultra-secure server operating system is to freely admit that your previous high-end ultra-reliable ultra-secure server operating system shipped not just with bugs? ➡
    • New blog software – MovableType I switched my weblog software from NewsPro over to Movable Type. Took me a bit to get everything set up and configured right so that it didn't require re-coding this entire page, but everything seems to be up and working now. ➡

On This Day: Dec 20

by

Since I 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 December 20th

  • 2025
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
    • When Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg, and actor iris menas reexamined the 64-year-old musical, they found a trans character in plain sight. ➡
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • Clubbing: ‘I can’t bear the idea that there is an age at which you should stop’: I’m 46, and while I don’t get out as often as in my 20s (can’t do 3-4 nights out a week anymore), I have no intention of stopping. It’s too much a part of who I am and what ... Read more ➡
    • This edit got removed (and re-added and re-removed until the page was locked down), but for a while, this existed. Here’s a link to the archived version of this revision. ➡
    • Apple’s Best Show Is an Alt-History Cold War Epic About Moon Missions With Women: I’m really looking forward to finding the time to dive into For All Mankind. ➡
    • SmugMug has been working hard to revitalize Flickr, and is now offering a 25% discount for new signups! I’ve been active there since Sept. 2004, and while my use has ebbed and flowed as it’s had its ups and downs, after uploading over 18,000 photos, I’d hate to see it disappear. ➡
    • Obviously, I’m not a best-selling SF author, but if you adjust for that, John Scalzi’s approach to recognizing his own likelihood of making problematic mistakes in his past, present, and future and accounting for such very much matches my own. ➡
  • 2016
    • Star Wars time! (355/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Bizarre but kind of entertaining: two flatbed trucks decked out with Christmas lights, with a bunch of people riding on them, and with speakers blaring Christmas songs driving around the neighborhood. Just ’cause. Merry Christmas! ➡
  • 2013
    • Sidewalk graffiti in Ellensburg. ➡
  • 2009
  • 2006
    • Weekly World News Best discovery of the past couple weeks: the Weekly World News (sorry, Seattle Weekly and Stranger, but _this_ is my favorite weekly newspaper) has an RSS feed. ➡
    • Bachelor Days Prairie's off on a train down to visit her family down in Vancouver (south), so I'm on my own for a couple of days. ➡
  • 2005
    • The Twelve Days of Christmas Today, mom sent me a neat bit on the origin of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I'd not heard this before, so never knew that the song wasn't secular -- in fact, it's actually a 'coded' catechism song. Neat to find out about that... ➡
    • I’m blind! Well, crud -- it appears that the video card on my computer just died. ➡
    • Professionalism If you worry about equipment, you're an amateur; if you worry about money, you're a professional; if you worry about the light, you're a master. ➡
    • Lens Lust Last night during a slow point at work I found a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 to pop onto the store's D70s. Oh, wow..._such_ a nice lens. I spent a good half hour shooting randomly around the store and experimenting. _Man_ that lens has a nice shallow depth of field. I want! ➡
  • 2004
    • Anyone in Denver? I don't have any definite details yet, but it appears that sometime in mid-February, I'll be flying down to Denver (on the company dime, no less) for a couple days of meet-and-greet and 'team building' events with the other FM staffers in my group. ➡
    • Private Party I just got back from The Vogue's holiday potluck party — apparently an annual event, though this was the first year I've been invited. I've got to admit, it's kind of cool to walk up to a club with a sign that says 'Private Party — Vogue Employees and Guests Only' and be able to walk right in. ➡
    • Quick Review: ‘Salem’s Lot This past weekend, Prairie and I rented a recent TV miniseries version of 'Salem's Lot. In the end, it was one of the more disappointing adaptations I've seen, simply because it seemed to start so well — to have it take such a drastic turn for the worse was more frustrating than if had simply been bad through and through from the start. ➡
    • Odd Movie Combinations I saw a couple movies in my Netflix New Releases feed that made me laugh today…some days it really seems like we've run out of original ideas. ➡
  • 2003
  • 2002
    • Bye-bye Sen. Lott! Bowing to harsh criticism from fellow senators and the Bush White House, Trent Lott resigned as Senate Republican leader Friday after colleagues worried about the repercussions of his racially insensitive remarks openly lined up behind Sen. Bill Frist. ➡
    • michaelhanscom.com I'm now the proud owner of www.michaelhanscom.com. ➡
  • 2001
    • That’s more like it Two more projects coming up -- the first is going to be changing the .cgi I use to post news to Moveable Type. Secondly, finally going through the rest of the site and actually getting all the pages using a consistent look. ➡
    • Site fixed, new addy, and LOTR Just got back not too long ago from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. In a word -- incredible. ➡
  • 2000
    • Mononoke, eye candy, and John Doe Well, seeing as how my life has one very happy coincidence that payday and video release day both happen on the same day every week...Tuesdays are my usual day to go out and get movies. Picked up quite the trio today, too. ➡

On This Day: Dec 19

by

Since I 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 December 19th

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
    • Book fifty-seven of 2018: Night of Masks, by Andre Norton. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ➡
  • 2017
  • 2016
    • Bonus picture: I am also now a card-carrying member of the #EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation)! ➡
    • I was greeted at the door with an after work cocktail (pumpkin spice rum eggnog) and bread about to come out of the oven. Prairie enjoys playing 1950s housewife when she’s off work (as long as she gets to choose which parts of the 1950s to emulate). (354/366) ➡
  • 2008
    • My Movie Rating System For no particular reason that I can come up with, I was thinking over how I rate movies, and attempting to quantify the basic reasoning for each star of a five-star rating system. I think I've pretty much nailed it down. ➡
  • 2007
    • An Early Christmas As I briefly hinted at earlier today, Christmas came a little early for us this year. Prairie has all of the details over on Domesticism, but in her own words... ➡
  • 2005
    • I’ve got the blues… I've been wanting to move away from the stock template included with Movable Type 3.2 for some time now, but just haven't been able to find the time and energy to tackle the project. Today I actually managed to find both at once, and here's the result. ➡
    • Meanwhile, back in Anchorage… I'm torn as to which got a bigger grin -- the snowman itself, or the Mystery of the Missing Corncob Pipe. ➡
  • 2004
    • Stupid Practical Jokes This reminded me of a couple stories I was told by a teacher I knew in high school. The man had a somewhat odd sense of humor and a fondness for pranks, which landed him in trouble from time to time -- and to be honest, I'm somewhat surprised he never got himself fired. ➡
  • 2003
  • 2002
    • Options Scripting languages have more options than bisexuals…. ➡
    • The Two Towers While…LotR:TTT admittedly cannot stand entirely on its own as a single entity (and I would hate to be someone in the unenviable position of attempting to watch LotR:TTT without having first watched LotR:FotR), as the second chapter in an epic saga, it is far and away an absolutely incredible achievement. ➡
    • Own yourself Own your name. Buy the domain name, get yourself linked to, and put up a page. Make it a blank page, if you want. Fill it with disinformation or gibberish. Or, just reveal the parts of your life that you feel represent you most effectively on the web. But if you care about your privacy, and you care about your identity, take the steps to control it now. ➡
  • 2001
    • Argh… Well, I was experimenting a bit with the layout of the site, and managed to more or less hose things fairly well. I'll try to get them straightened out as soon as I can, but not sure when that'll be. ➡
  • 2000
    • [From Usenet: 12.19.00 0228] Just a quick note that I'm working on starting a new website tracking local Anchorage musicians, who's playing where, things like that. ➡

On This Day: Dec 18

by

Since I 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 December 18th

  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • Impeached Two for two ➡
    • Thanks to micro.blog’s ability to import Instagram archives, all 1,512 posts, from my first on 12/14/13 to my last on 12/31/18, are now on my blog (all tagged as from:instagram, on the chance someone wanted to browse back through them all). Nice to be out of that walled garden! ➡
  • 2016
    • Book fifty-five of 2016: Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ➡
    • A pleasant way to start the day, reading in the library by the Christmas tree. (The book is #HiddenFigures, about the black women scientists behind America’s aeronautic and space flight industries.) Photo by Prairie. (353/366) ➡
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2005
    • The VP is out of control! While I _know_ it's just two headlines smooshed together, the sudden image of Dick Cheney going completely feral and lashing out at anyone around him was enough to give me the giggles for a few minutes. ➡
  • 2004
    • Made it! Well, we survived! Man, that's a lot of movie. When all's said and done, it was a lot of fun, and all agreed that it was well worth doing, and definitely something that should be done again. ➡
    • Getting ready… Just some general ramblings while we putter around and get ready for the day… ➡
  • 2003
    • Jose Padilla held unconstitutionally, says US 2nd Court of Appeals We also conclude that Padilla’s detention was not authorized by Congress, and absent such authorization, the President does not have the power under Article II of the Constitution to detain as an enemy combatant an American citizen seized on American soil outside a zone of combat. ➡
    • Annoy the ultra-right-wing! The American Family Association is currently running a poll to determine how people feel about the legalization of marriage between people of the same sex. ➡
    • Walmart has an online music store?!? I had no idea this was even in the works, but it appears that Walmart has an online music store now. ➡
    • M/A/R/R/S: Pump Up the Volume Pump up the volume, pump up the volume, pump up the volume, dance! Dance! ➡
    • BlogDating Nothing wrong with a little mental nookie! ➡
    • ToySight ToySight is hands down one of the coolest games for the Mac that I've seen yet. It's a collection of several small mini-games and 'toys' that you play by using your iSight camera as the controller! ➡
    • About airplanes There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky. ➡
    • That's gotta hurt… I turned around just in time to watch a car skid to a stop in the middle of the street with sparks flying out behind it, as its front left tire went rolling and bouncing across the road. ➡
    • 9/11 could have and should have been prevented For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented. ➡
  • 2002
    • Well, of course! Lott said he would survive any challenge to his post as majority leader, and Tuesday he picked up the support of a few GOP senators, including Alaska's Ted Stevens, who vowed to 'defend my friend.' ➡
    • Caught by the Zeitgeist Last October I ran across a website claiming to be a protest against the latest installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, 'The Two Towers'. Over the past week and a half or so, as the release date for LotR:TTT has grown closer and closer, that entry on my site has suddenly been getting a highly unusual amount of interest. ➡
    • Who’s protecting Eli Lilly? There is now substantial evidence that due to the mercury content, Thimerosal may be the cause of autism in many, many children, and Eli Lilly has been facing a number of lawsuits from parents looking for some help in caring for their children that were affected by the drug from this company. ➡
  • 2001
    • Two quick things One silly that popped into my head: why is the plural of box 'boxes' when the plural of ox is 'oxen'? You just have to love the English language, don't you? ➡

On This Day: Dec 17

by

Since I 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 18 posts previously published on December 17th

  • 2023
  • 2021
  • 2020
    • 🖖 Discovery S03E10: I’m glad that’s wrapped up. As pretty as the Mirror Universe is, torture is one of my least favorite plot devices, and that just dragged on and on. Those two episodes could have been one. But at least Carl was a fun treat! Now back to the plot, please? ➡
    • On This Day: Dec 17 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from December 17 ➡
  • 2019
    • Pro-Impeachment Rally What do we want? Impeachment! When do we want it? A few years ago, quite frankly, but I’ll be satisfied with now. ➡
    • Impeach and Withhold I really hope Pelosi and the House Democrats have the fortitude to do this: Impeach and Withhold. The key here is that there is no requirement that the House immediately send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. This is Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s final card to play. So here is a modest proposal: the House ... Read more ➡
  • 2016
    • Apparently I was feeling a little Steve Jobs-ian with today’s wardrobe choice. (352/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • At least Alaskans know how to clear our cars off. None of this lazy foolishness that I see all over the place here, that leaves both headlights, the rear windshield, and half the front windshield covered, with piles of loose snow on the roof poised to blow back onto the person driving immediately behind. #notthatimopinionatedaboutthesethings ... Read more ➡
    • So much pretty snow! That I have to brush off the car. #grumble #leftAlaskabecauseofthis #winterbelongsontheothersideofawindow ➡
  • 2014
  • 2008
  • 2003
    • Some slight design tweaks I've done a little light fiddling with the design here in order to clean up some details that had been bugging me. ➡
    • Safari 1.1.1 (v100.1) The single most exciting improvement for me in Safari v100.1 is that we finally have tooltip support for title elements! ➡
    • Linkdump I'm generally not a huge fan of 'linkdump' posts, but if I want to get these posted before having to run to my bus… ➡
  • 2002
    • Goodbye Gore, hello… Now that Al Gore has decided to step out of the ring for the next presidential race, the field looks pretty wide open. I don't really know much about any of the other potential Democratic candidates, so it was nice to see a quick rundown on the current possibilities. ➡
    • I’m Karl Barth We reject the false doctrine that the church could have permission to hand over the form of its message and of its order to whatever it itself might wish or to the vicissitudes of the prevailing ideological and political convictions of the day. ➡
  • 2001
    • Six months in Seattle! I think it's official -- I've managed to duck the Hellraiser chains that drag so many people back to Alaska when they try to leave. ➡
  • 2000
    • Mulder, Scully, Carey Grant, and Max Schreck Just thought I'd put up a quick note of the new movies I picked up this week…I may start doing this from time to time as I add to my already extensive collection. This weekend I picked up two that had come in while I was off on vacation, then one today that we rarely get into the store, so I figured it was worth grabbing when it showed up. ➡

On This Day: Dec 16

by

Since I 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 December 16th

  • 2023
  • 2021
    • Jean and Jorts As Metaphor For Disability Accommodations. ➡
  • 2020
    • 📚 fifty-one of 2020: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sure, Asimov’s gender politics don’t age particularly well. But he was always a brilliant and breezy writer, and for all his faults, he’ll always be a favorite. This collection of robotic puzzlers is always enjoyable. ➡
    • On This Day: Dec 16 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from December 16 ➡
  • 2019
    • An Alarmingly Deep Dive Into the Science of Baby Yoda: “But whether the Yoda is Baby Yoda’s true daddy isn’t what fascinates us every time we tune into The Mandalorian. What keeps us coming back for more is trying to figure out what in the actual hell Baby Yoda is supposed to be. […] We ... Read more ➡
  • 2018
    • Book fifty-six of 2018: Gigantic Worlds, edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ➡
  • 2016
    • I made dinner! Well, I helped. We had French dip sandwiches, I made the au jus. From a powdered mix. Okay, I stirred hot flavored water. (351/366) ➡
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2004
    • 32.4 Days After adding as many of the 100 overlooked films to my Netflix queue as I could, my queue is now 389 discs long. Assuming an average of two hours per movie, that's 32.4 days of movies lined up. Something tells me that that's going to take a while to get through. ;) ➡
  • 2003
    • MiddleEarth mania, week two: The Two Towers And speaking of LotR, I just realized that I'd completely forgotten to say anything about seeing LotR:TTTEE at the Cinerama on Saturday. ➡
    • It's almost time… I'm whining. ➡
    • Another star for Clark Just not another star on his collar. Rather, the four-star General's newest star is none other than Madonna, who expressed her support for Clark's campaign in a CNN interview. ➡
    • The cost of Longhorn [Longhorn], according to Microsoft chief architect Bill Gates, will cost more to develop than it did the US government to put a man on the moon. ➡
  • 2002
    • Blogs: 1, Lott: 0 It's been really fascinating over the past week or so to see Senator Lott's comments create such a stir (and rightly so, I'd say) — primarily because it's entirely possible that his comment just may have gotten swept under the rug had the 'blogosphere' not started voicing their outrage. ➡
    • Giant sea sparrows? No giant sea sparrow is known to be endangered by the eating habits of goats. ➡
    • You’re owed $20 If enough people file claims that the disbursement would end up less than $5 per claimant, then the entirety of the settlement fee would be donated to not-for-profit, charitable, governmental or public entities to be used for music-related purposes or programs for the benefit of consumers who purchased Music Products. ➡
  • 2001
  • 1994
    • [From Usenet 12.16.94 0626] As far as I can tell, after being a fan of both Queen and nin for quite a while, I'd be willing to bet that all that 'sample' is, is holding down the fast forward button on a cd player and panning it back and forth during the goofball experimental middle section of GDML. ➡

On This Day: Dec 15

by

Since I 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 19 posts previously published on December 15th

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • US Finally Giving Boot to Official Foot Measurement: “The change started in 1959, when the federal government mandated that everyone use the international foot but allowed surveyors to keep to the old U.S. survey foot for a while. That temporary reprieve has lasted 60 years, but it will finally end in 2022.” ➡
  • 2016
    • I am now an official card-carrying member of the #ACLU. (350/366) cc: @aclu_nationwide ➡
    • That’s two days this week I spaced on my photo. At least Snapchat had an Edward Scissorhands filter to play with! (349/366) ➡
  • 2013
    • On our way back to the burg. Prairie’s driving, so I get to take silly selfies. #roadtrip ➡
    • Saw this on a wall as we were walking around yesterday. Remnants of climbing plants that had been removed, the paths of the vines can still be seen. ➡
  • 2008
  • 2007
    • Done with Hawaii I was beginning to doubt that I'd ever find the time to finish this project, but I'm _finally_ done with the pictures from our trip to Hawaii last summer! ➡
  • 2006
    • Congratulations H and P! Prairie’s sister and her boyfriend just got engaged -- to each other, even! ;) ➡
    • Post-Storm Report All in all, nothing major to report, as far as we're concerned. Elsewhere in Seattle, though, it's far different. Flooding, mudslides, downed trees, three people dead (one a woman who drowned in her basement apartment) and one million people without power. ➡
  • 2004
    • He had a piercing stare… This is hands-down one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time — eyeglasses without rims, bows, or even a bridge. They're attached via a bridge piercing. ➡
    • Well, it sounded good… That camera I won? Nevermind. Turns out that that was the prize for the account manager. I, as the valued employee who interacts with the customers on a daily basis and provide the customer service that gets such high praise, get the hearty thanks of the company for a job well done. ➡
    • Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika Very cool: an early 1950's pictoral map of the United States of America, apparently issued by the US Government to introduce our country to the people of Germany, most of whom knew little of us outside of what they'd picked up from GIs in their country during World War II. ➡
    • Popular Public Potties According to the PI, our new space-age public restrooms are a success. I've still not used one of these things — but then, I'm still convinced that they're eating people. ➡
  • 2003
    • Spider-Man 2 Teaser A disappointingly low-rez but very cool teaser trailer for Spider-Man 2 just hit the net. ➡
    • Billy Idol’s ‘Cyberpunk’ The future has imploded into the present. With no nuclear war, the new battlefields are people's minds and souls. Megacorporations are the new government. The computer generated info-domains are the new frontiers. Though there is better living through science and chemistry, we are all becoming cyborgs. ➡
    • 0 is also a number Does anyone know how to access and rip the hidden tracks on the X-Files Songs in the Key of X soundtrack CD on a Mac? ➡
  • 2000
    • Back again Got in (late…damn airlines) from my vacation last night, and am currently enjoying my last actual unscheduled day, as far as I know. I may not be on the schedule at my weekend job this weekend, but this being the Christmas shopping season, I'm not betting on that, and just working on the assumption that this is my last "day of rest." ➡

On This Day: Dec 14

by

Since I 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 32 posts previously published on December 14th

  • 2025
  • 2023
  • 2021
    • I am pleased to see that we have differences. May we together become greater than the sum of both of us. ➡
    • Preparing for My New Office NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D. ➡
    • The Micropedia of Microaggressions – the first encyclopedia of microaggressions.: The Micropedia aims to collect everyday microaggressions and highlight their harmful impact through source-based definitions and real-world examples. ➡
  • 2020
    • AI Weirdness • 2020 headlines: “Midway through 2020, people started suggesting that I train a neural net on 2020 headlines, and I was skeptical that there would be enough weird ones to make a decent project. Then 2020 continued to be 2020.” ➡
    • ‘Plaguecore’ and the Rise of Tumblr’s Dress-Up Culture: “Young people are weathering the pandemic by posting photos of themselves in 17th-century plague-doctor outfits.” Discussed here (with lots of links to Tumblr posts): plaguecore, cottagecore, and dark academia. ➡
    • On This Day: Dec 14 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from December 14 ➡
  • 2019
    • Meeting’s done, time for the Norwescon holiday party! For which, of course, I brought out my most seasonally appropriate suit coat. ➡
    • Gathering the troops for this month’s Norwescon planning meeting. Just four months to go until this year’s con! ➡
  • 2014
    • Christmas cookies! #nomnomnom ➡
  • 2013
    • Stuffed full of tasty tasty Ethiopian food. #QueenofSheba ➡
    • Me: “Don’t jump, Santa!” Prairie: “Why don’t you care about the snowman?” #morbidxmasjokes ➡
    • The chase is on… #looff #carousel ➡
    • Carousel! ➡
    • Love the ice patterns on the rocks. Taken from the SkyRide tram. #spokanefalls ➡
    • The Spokane falls are gorgeous! ➡
    • Debating playing with Instagram again. Took this on Friday back in Eburg. ➡
  • 2007
  • 2006
    • Stormpocalypse ’06 Looks like the strongest storm in 13 years is going to be hitting Seattle tonight. Yesterday hit hard enough to knock out power at our apartment for a few hours in the morning, with other outages reported across town. Tonight, though, is predicted to make yesterday look positively balmy. ➡
  • 2005
    • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe So. Very. Good. Some small quibbles here and there, to be sure, but on the whole a marvelously successful job of translating the book to the screen. Hurrah! ➡
    • iTMS Affiliation is a pain in the butt While I love the idea of iTMS affiliation -- and if I got more traffic, it might even bring me more than a few pennies here and there -- I've got to agree with Scot Hacker that the whole shebang is really a pain to deal with. ➡
    • Poseidon In my version of the movie, the survivors of the capsized ship would make it to the surface, find a life raft, and make it to shore only to discover that the wave had been generated by a huge meteor or asteroid crashing into the ocean not far from their ship. ➡
    • My favorite random facts about… There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures Vin Diesel allows to live. Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas. The last man who made eye contact with Mr. T was Ray Charles. ➡
  • 2004
    • Found slides from 1979 Most of what I find is general office and printing stuff, some of which I can use for my job, some of which I can't. Yesterday, however, I found an old box of slides. I can't be sure when they were taken, but the date stamp on the slides from when they were developed is April of 1979. Most of the slides were horribly overexposed and unuseable, but seven of them were good. ➡
    • LotR:TYEBEE update A reminder e-mail with directions and details has been sent out to those of you who expressed interest in attending my little Lord of the Rings: Till Your Eyes Bleed Extended Edition deal on Saturday. ➡
  • 2003
    • CSS geek humor Last week, CSS guru Eric Meyer and his wife Kat had their first child, Carolyn, which resulted in a large number of congratulatory posts using css-ish puns. ➡
    • Profile of a Spammer Ever wonder about the people responsible for cramming your inboxes full of offers that you neither want or need? ➡
    • US Political Regions Commonwealth Magazine, unsatisfied with the standard blue (Democrat) vs. Red (Republican) political reporting of elections past, has proposed an interesting division of the country into ten seperate political regions. ➡
    • Emperor Norton You are Joshua Abraham Norton, first and only Emperor of the United States of America! ➡
    • Security: Mac OS X vs. Windows Last week, a minor firestorm erupted when PC Magazine columnist Lance Ulanoff wrote a ridiculously inflammatory article gleefully declaring that, 'the Mac OS is just as vulnerable as Microsoft Windows.' ➡
    • Saddam captured – what now? Of course, me being me, I have to wonder where things are going to go from here. Two things immediately stick out in my mind. ➡