Difficult Listening Hour 2020.01.30

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Week two of my unplanned, unrehearsed, seat-of-the-pants goofing around. As a way of getting back into practice and doing something regularly, I’ve started doing regular Twitch broadcasts on Thursday nights. These are the results. Anything goes.

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On This Day: Feb 1

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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 16 posts previously published on February 1st

  • 2024
  • 2022
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • Book eleven of 2019: Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories, by Vandana Singh. #PKDickAward nominee. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📚 One of the best collections I’ve read in a long time. Fascinating, sometimes haunting stories, not a dud in the bunch, and a definite pleasure throughout. ➡
  • 2016
    • I know exercise has benefits. It’s just hard to remember that some evenings. (32/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • Always a little amused at how much difference a few minutes trimming and shaving can make. ➡
    • This bin at Fred Meyer was like some kind of plush horror film. As Teddy sunk ever deeper into the writhing mass of giant pink caterpillars, he cursed the cruel gods that had fixed a permanent grin on his horrified, screaming face. ➡
  • 2010
  • 2007
    • Nobody Likes a Quitter As we enter this first day of February, I've now officially been one month entirely without cigarettes. ➡
    • Harry Potter, Year Seven: The Deathly Hallows The publication date for the next -- er, that is, _last_ -- Harry Potter book has been announced. Don't expect Prairie or I to answer calls or be available in _any_ way this July 21st. Our day is planned. ➡
  • 2005
    • Stating the obvious I brought up the Flickr page for photos tagged with 'alaska' tonight to show it to Prairie — lots of gorgeous shots of my home state — and had to laugh at the “related” tags that Flickr automatically generates. ➡
  • 2004
  • 2003
    • Space Shuttle Colombia lost My heartfelt condlences to the families of the seven astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia, which was lost today during reentry. ➡
  • 2001
    • DJ Wudi strikes again! For the third year in a row, I'll be DJ'ing at UAA's Dance Marathon benefit fundraiser for the Providence Children's ICU. ➡
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📚 eight of 2020: The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward nominee

An excellent conclusion to a fascinating trilogy. Wrapped everything up nicely, satisfactory ends for all the characters, and a very interesting take on alien invasion.

On This Day: Jan 31

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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. Here are my past posts for January 31…

There are 17 posts previously published on January 31st

  • 2024
    • Year 50 Day 274 A pseudo-sequel to last week’s shot from the optometrist’s office, I guess? ➡
  • 2021
  • 2020
    • 📚 eight of 2020: The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward nominee An excellent conclusion to a fascinating trilogy. Wrapped everything up nicely, satisfactory ends for all the characters, and a very interesting take on alien invasion. ➡
    • On This Day: Jan 31 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from January 31 ➡
  • 2019
    • 🖖 #StarTrekDiscovery S02E03: Meh. I’m all good with Tilly’s snarky space fungus, but all the Klingon stuff dragged. It was like this episode was half season two, half season one, and that wasn’t a good thing. My least favorite S2 episode so far. Fingers crossed for next week. ➡
  • 2016
    • Book six of 2016: Crux, by Ramez Naam. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward pre-nominee. #rameznaam (31/366) ➡
    • Four new #Lego figures today, including #leftshark! ➡
  • 2014
    • Almost forgot to do a picture today. So you get a creepy eyeball shot because I’m tired and lack creativity. ➡
  • 2008
  • 2005
    • Toy Story 3 having problems o one wants to direct 'Toy Story 3.' That's the word in Hollywood's animation world, where the third installment of the incredibly successful Pixar series has no director, writer or, possibly, stars. My sources in the animation biz tell me that Disney, which will make 'Toy Story 3' without Pixar, cannot find a director to guide the project. ➡
  • 2004
    • CBS needs to work on their definition of ‘issue’ ads CBS can't decide whether they'll run controversial advertising or not. ➡
    • Go Judy! An absolutely beautiful article at The Nation looking at the media's inability to cope with the fact that Judy Dean is exactly what she appears to be — a normal, well-adjusted independent woman in a healthy, loving relationship with her husband who doesn't want to abandon her medical practice to be trotted out at every political opportunity during the campaign season. ➡
    • 411 Length Required Recently, ThinkGeek started selling HTTPanties — a set of panties with either '200 OK' or '403 Forbidden' emblazoned across the front. Cute idea. ➡
    • The Howard Dean Aerobics Program Need some exercise? Just go to a Howard Dean appearance should he come through your town. I swear, with the number of standing ovations after every major point Dean makes, his supporters are up and down more often than your average Episcopal congregation! ➡
    • Miracles never cease As it turns out, last week our building was apparently purchased by a new leasing agency, so we weren't sure what sort of deals or possibilities might exist with the new management. We finally got confirmation on the new setup, and I'm not going to be able to get a free months rent for renewing my lease. ➡
  • 2002
    • Concrete Blonde review posted I just got e-mail from Dean, the webmaster of a Concrete Blonde fansite. Earlier this morning I'd e-mailed him about my little writeup of last night's show, and he went ahead and posted it on his site! ➡
    • Still in Hollywood I've been to shows where the band is too busy performing to really make a connection with the audience. Johnette is anything but that -- the kind of artist that you can, and do, actually believe when they talk about how much they're enjoying being there, how much fun they're having performing, and how much they love the audience that night. ➡

On This Day: Jan 30

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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. Here are my past posts for January 30…

There are 21 posts previously published on January 30th

  • 2024
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Book six of 2018: Nigerians in Space, by Deji Bryce Olukotun. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ➡
  • 2016
    • Another in the “oh, right, I need to post a photo, better play with filters” series. (30/366) ➡
  • 2015
  • 2014
    • Back at work. Mostly dug out of my email backlog. Hungry, and still half an hour to go before lunch! ➡
  • 2009
    • Social Networking Name Fail When deciding on a name for the new Harry Potter themed social networking site, was MyLeaky _really_ the best they could come up with? It sounds like a a support site for incontinence sufferers. ➡
    • Links for January 29th through January 30th Sometime between January 29th and January 30th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Do Humanlike Machines Deserve Human Rights? • On the Flickr support in iPhoto ‘09 • Google School: Find Images by Exact Dimensions, Make Wallpaper Search a Breeze • White House Unbuttons Formal Dress Code • Create Your Own Original Star Trek Story ➡
  • 2006
    • ENG101: Analysis: A Blogger is Just a Writer With a Cooler Name I got my first paper back in my ENG101 class today. The only comment given by my teacher was, "superb," and I got a 3.9/4.0, or 95/100 -- it would have been perfect, except that I forgot to include a 'memo of self-reflection.' Oops. Still, I think I can cope with the final grade. ➡
  • 2005
    • New camera! The day finally came when I had enough funds available to replace the camera I lost nearly a year ago. My new toy: a Canon Powershot A95. ➡
    • You just can’t sing in the supermarket… What a blast. This world needs more random silliness in it from time to time, and we had a lot of fun being part of this particular bit of randomness. Much giggling and many smiles from everyone in the group and from whatever customers happened to be around in each store -- just the thing for a grey winter day in Seattle. ➡
  • 2004
    • Howard Dean in Seattle tomorrow Town Hall, Seattle: Saturday, January 31 , 3:00 PM: Howard Dean, former Vermont governor and Democtratic candidate for president, will discuss his health-care plan and take questions from the audience. ➡
    • I love the British Less than you seem to imagine is spent on 'junkets for Bunterish lickspittles' and 'dancing whores', whilst far more than you have accounted for is allocated to, for example, 'that box-ticking facade of a university system'. ➡
    • iSight issues Mike recently posted about some of the pros and cons to being the owner of an iSight — pros including the simple fact that the iSight is simply a damn good camera; cons including the Mac-only nature of iChat and the somewhat less-than-satisfactory mounting options that come stock out of the box. ➡
    • Lord of the Rings dating tips Some people will go to any lengths to get a ring; others, having had one for awhile, will go to any lengths to chuck it into a volcano. ➡
    • Where I’ve been… United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany (twice), Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece ➡
  • 2003
    • The Hanscom Family Today brings the debut of a project I've been working on for the past week or so — The Hanscom Family Weblog! This is (will be) a collaborative weblog, by and for the various members of the Hanscom family. ➡
    • Time to get nekkid! Here I've been doing my best to keep this weblog of mine fairly solidly PG-rated, with the occasional slip into PG-13, and now I find that if only I'd shown some skin, I might have been eligible for the First Annual Nude Weblog Awards! ➡
    • Vonnegut weighs in on Iraq I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup detat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka Christians, and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or 'PPs.' ➡
  • 2001
    • Bleah The worst part about the whole thing, though, was on top of battling the flu and feeling like crap, plus I spent all of today battling really strong hiccups too. Not a combination I'd recommend. ➡
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Bouncing back and forth between watching The Expanse (I’m halfway through season one) and season three of Enterprise, where they’re traveling through the Expanse (no relation) is at times a bit jarring. 🖖

On This Day: Jan 29

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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. Here are my past posts for January 29…

There are 27 posts previously published on January 29th

  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
    • Happy Birthday A really unexpected and sweet little thing to have happen to us today. ➡
  • 2021
    • 📚 5/2021: Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, Vol. 3 edited by Elizabeth LaPensée and Michael Sheyahshe ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The latest in this series of comic anthologies written and illustrated by indigenous creators drawing upon their cultures to create SF/F short pieces. ➡
  • 2020
    • Bouncing back and forth between watching The Expanse (I’m halfway through season one) and season three of Enterprise, where they’re traveling through the Expanse (no relation) is at times a bit jarring. 🖖 ➡
    • On This Day: Jan 29 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from January 29 ➡
    • Schoolhouse Rock 2020 …every time you sit out an election, every time you don’t show up because you think it doesn’t matter, someone else is happy that you didn’t show up, so they can make that decision for you. Vote! ➡
  • 2019
    • While I’m very glad the Klingons look more like Klingons and less like vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer this season, I have to admit to being amused that when they gave L’Rell hair, they entirely reshaped the back of her head. Looks like she lost about 1/4 of her skull. 🖖 ➡
  • 2016
    • Book five of 2016: Windswept, by Adam Rakunas. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #PKDickAward nominee. #adamrakunas ➡
    • Either “Yay Friday!” or there are orange and blue portals just out of frame at the top and bottom of the photo. Your choice! #aperturescience (29/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Home! And boy, the weather here sure is a far cry from what we’ve enjoyed during our week in San Diego! ➡
    • On the ground in Seattle. I’d totally forgotten our airport had a train system between terminals! ➡
    • On our way home, about two hours until departure. Glad we could come, but it will be good to get back to our house. ➡
  • 2011
  • 2004
    • Blogger Code B9 d+ t+ k+ s u f+ i o x+ e+ l c-- ➡
    • Weblog Review From a suggestion by Doc on the TypePad User Group, I'm submitting my site to The Weblog Review. I have no idea how long it will take them to get around to me, but in the meantime, I'll just hope that they have nice things to say. ➡
    • Microsoft vs. the web After you install this software update, Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer do not open HTTP or HTTPS sites by using a URL that includes user information. By default, if user information is included in an HTTP or an HTTPS URL, a Web page with the following title appears: Invalid syntax error ➡
    • Pickled Dragon found Everyone else is convinced it's a hoax, but just for fun, I think I'll enjoy playing with the idea that this pickled dragon could be real. ➡
    • The ‘Dean Scream’ – in context In an unusual media 'mea culpa,' however, Diane Sawyer followed up on her interview with Howard and Judy Dean by taking a look at not just the footage that was broadcast all over the world with a direct-from-the-microphone audio feed, but at footage taken from within the crowd itself. ➡
    • Blasphemy I'm probably the last Mac blogger to mention this, but I just couldn't let it pass by. There are special circles of Hell reserved for people who do this… ➡
    • Fire! Going to my window, I looked down the four stories to the street and saw fire trucks all over the place -- one heading down the street to the west of our building, another diagonally across the intersection of 8th and Seneca, a Fire Department blazer parked on the lawn of Town Hall, and I could see reflections from another set of emergency lights in the window of the building across the street. ➡
  • 2003
    • Which OS am I? I stay away from a lot of the 'Which [random entity] are you?' tests floating around these days, but this one made me laugh: Which OS are you? ➡
    • Does the name Janus ring a bell? The US intends to shatter Iraq 'physically, emotionally and psychologically' by raining down on its people as many as 800 cruise missiles in two days, and yet, facing its most chronic shortage in oil stocks for 27 years, the US has this month turned to an unlikely source of help - Iraq. ➡
    • Commentary on the SotU Some good stuff is starting to pop up around the 'net regarding Bush's State of the Union address last night. Quoted: Scott Rosenberg via Dan Scoble, William Saletan via BackupBrain, Salon news, Demented Kitty, The Raven via Scott Rosenberg, Shelley Powers. ➡
  • 2002
    • More tidbits Another collection of links that I stumble across during the day. This is an easy way for me to temporarily 'bookmark' places I can't dive into while at work, but don't want to completely forget about by the time I get home. As before, feel free to peruse. ➡