Difficult Listening Hour 2020.01.23

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

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On This Day: Jan 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. Here are my past posts for January 24…

There are 32 posts previously published on January 24th

  • 2024
    • Year 50 Day 267 Yes, it's a cheesy touristy t-shirt, but… ➡
    • My First Mac To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh, lots of people on Mastodon are posting their #MyFirstMac stories. Of course this is something I'm going to join in on! ➡
  • 2021
  • 2020
    • Well…If you’re going to steal, steal from the best, right? Or, in the words of Oscar Wilde: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. ➡
    • Samsung Galaxy Fold review: The future is an ugly disappointment: “Should you buy a Galaxy Fold? NO! God no. Are you crazy? The sky-high price, durability issues, nascent form factor, and new screen technology should rule the phone out for just about everyone.” ➡
    • Star Trek: Picard: Why Trekkies are the greatest fans of all: “So much sci-fi and fantasy is ugly and dystopian; Star Trek places great faith in humanity. As the film and TV academic Gerry Canavan has observed, ‘The idea of Star Trek is that the future might be good; we might be good; we might ... Read more ➡
    • Difficult Listening Hour 2020.01.23 As a way of getting back into practice and doing something regularly, I've started doing (hopefully) regular Twitch broadcasts on Thursday nights. These are the results. Anything goes. ➡
    • On This Day: Jan 24 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from January 24 ➡
  • 2019
    • Star Trek: Discovery S02E02: 👍 I really liked the extrapolation of Clarke’s Third Law; it was new to me, but WikiPedia says that particular variation is also known as Shermer’s Last Law. Michael assuring Pike she wouldn’t make him laugh was the best line of the episode. 🖖 ➡
    • Book seven of 2019: The Way to the Stars, by Una McCormack. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📚 🖖 16-year-old Tilly must deal with an overbearing mother, boarding school ups and downs, and choosing between what’s expected of her and what actually interests her. A fun, light Trek YA novel. ➡
  • 2018
    • Book five of 2018: Freeware, by Rudy Rucker. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ➡
  • 2017
    • Book ten of 2017: Were-, edited by Patricia Bray and Joshua Palmatier. 🌟🌟🌟 ➡
    • Prairie and I printed out a small stack of #womensmarch postcards to start sending to our representatives. Taking action doesn’t stop once the rally is done. This is a start. ➡
    • My #PKDickAward books are in! I’ve got until April 14 to get through this stack. No problem! ➡
  • 2016
    • Sunday is apparently feeling sepia-ish. An uneventful day today. (24/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • A different and more honest shot of the great Ellensburg whirlpool I posed earlier. Not nearly as impressive when you can tell it’s just an overloaded culvert! ;) ➡
    • So…Ellensburg. About the giant whirlpool that’s about to suck us all down into a watery vortex of doom…. It’s of some concern. ➡
    • “You’ll never catch me, copper!” #lego ➡
  • 2014
    • Today’s socks: Space Invaders! It’s harder to find fun socks for guys, but we’ve found a few for me here and there. ➡
    • Our room has a view of the swimming pool…and I-5. ;) ➡
    • Good morning! About half an hour to boarding. Still too early to be up and at ’em, but less grumpy now that we’ve found breakfast. ➡
  • 2011
    • Last Den of Sin Here are a few shots from Friday night. Everything was shot without flash -- I had my flash with me, but never got around to putting it on the camera. I haven't been able to go completely flash-free at the club in _years_...no matter how I pushed my D70s, it just couldn't quite handle the low light of a goth club. The D7000, though, doesn't even pause. This is fun. ➡
  • 2009
  • 2006
    • Pimp my A95 In the end, much amusement was had, and my little A95 went through a lot of quite silly experiments. This is the kind of stuff that happens on a slow day in a camera shop. Can't say that I'm complaining. ➡
  • 2005
    • Weird 'I' before 'E', except after 'C'. And unless the word is 'weird'. Why is that? I constantly get it wrong, and it drives me up the wall. ➡
    • Happy Birthday Macintosh! I'm a bit late to the party on this one, unfortunately, but the Macintosh turned 21 years old today. Even better, there's one heck of a birthday present to the Mac community out on the 'net now: the long-lost video of the original introduction of the Mac by Steve Jobs. ➡
  • 2004
    • Orkut Much of the buzz this past week that I utterly and completely ignored has been about Orkut, Google's entry into the social networking trend. I've never been too hot about these things — they seem kind of silly, reducing friendships and acquaintances to the level of Pokemon characters (collect the whole set!). ➡
  • 2003
    • Happy B-day Mac On this day in 1984, the first Mac went on sale. ➡
    • Over my head I'm having a hell of a time getting Image::Magick (a command-line set of Unix tools for manipulating graphics) installed and working on my system so that MovableType can see it. Been banging my head against this for most of the last two days, without much success so far. ➡
  • 2002
    • Enterprise: Dear Doctor Never having watched Quantum Leap very often, I'm not overly familiar with Scott Bakula's acting, and this was one of the first times I really thought I got to see more than a variation of the 'excited kid out playing in the universe' that Archer has been so far (something I chalk up a bit more to the writers than to Bakula's performances as yet). ➡
    • Flaming down Broadway I hadn't known this before, never having seen the Torch relay before, but it's not done with one runner from start to finish through each town. Rather, they have multiple runners, each one carrying a torch for a short distance, at the end of which the flame is passed on to the next runner with their own torch for the next leg. ➡
    • Karl got fat! Er…phat? Um… This is one of those things that mom would kill me for admitting, but I've occasionally thought that getting a motorcycle would be a lot of fun. ➡

Star Trek: Picard S01E01 Remembrance

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Star Trek: Picard S01E01: As wonderful as it is to see Jean-Luc on screen again, and as gorgeous as the episode was, I do have some slight reservations. But this is just episode one, and they had a lot of groundwork to get in place. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the start. 🖖

Spoilers after the jump…

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On This Day: Jan 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. Here are my past posts for January 23…

There are 22 posts previously published on January 23rd

  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2020
    • Star Trek: Picard S01E01 Remembrance As wonderful as it is to see Jean-Luc on screen again, and as gorgeous as the episode was, I do have some slight reservations. But this is just episode one, and they had a lot of groundwork to get in place. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the start. ➡
    • On This Day: Jan 23 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from January 23 ➡
  • 2019
    • Linkdump for January 11th through January 23rd An automatically generated list of links that caught my eye between January 11th and January 23rd. • A meteor hit the moon during the lunar eclipse. Here’s what we know. • DuckDuckGo Taps Apple Maps to Power Private Search Results • To save the sound of a Stradivarius, a whole city must keep quiet • An Idea for Electoral College Reform That Both Parties Might Actually Like • he oral history of the Hampsterdance: The twisted true story of one of the world's first memes ➡
  • 2018
    • A full set of 2018 #pkdickaward nominees to read before the award ceremony at #nwc41. Better get started! ➡
  • 2016
    • Book four of 2016: Nexus, by Ramez Naam. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #rameznaam #PKDickAward pre-nominee. (23/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • I wore my dinosaur socks today. Raaaaawwrrrrr!!! ➡
    • Ahhh, the SeaTac DoubleTree – our home away from home! ➡
  • 2007
    • Drama and Disappointment As I mentioned Xebeth and her situation a few times on this site, I've gotten a few inquiries as to her current situation, as it's been a while since I've mentioned her. This is why. She's not dying -- but, I'm sad to say, it appears that she's not well, either. ➡
  • 2006
    • Attention Tomato Scouts! Not only is Jason gracing us with a free song every week (starting this week), but the old, mostly broken, overrun-by-spam guestbook has been replaced with a new, not at all broken forum. And there was much rejoicing. ➡
  • 2005
    • Note: Contains Nudity This is one of the funniest things I've seen today: Netflix' summary for a movie titled 'Sexmission'... ➡
    • Stop! The Windows Error Message Generator allowed me to recreate (to the best of my ability) the single funniest and most exasperating error messages I've ever seen on a Windows machine. ➡
  • 2004
    • Read this. Any attempt at an introduction or pullquote wouldn't do this justice, so just go read it. ➡
    • Most-blogged books of 2003 Another list post, this time, All Consuming's list of the most-blogged books of 2003. As before, books in bold and prefaced with » I've read. ➡
    • The real State of the Union I found this link purporting to be a remix of this year's State of the Union address (much like one from last year), but given the content of the snippets used, I think that it's just another take on last year's speech. It's still bizarre and often laugh-out-loud funny, though. ➡
    • AOL Presidential Match Lane pointed out the AOL presidential selector today, so I wandered over to take a look. It's quite similar to the Presidential Candidate Selector that I pointed out last July, though the results were a bit different (of course, the possible candidates are different now, and there has been more time for all of them to fine-tune their policies and messages). ➡
    • iTMS RSS feeds For any of you RSS/Newsreader junkies out there: you can now create customized RSS feeds from the iTunes Music Store. New releases, just added, top sellers, just the categories and information you want. Quite nifty. ➡
    • Lizette& album available I've mentioned the band Lizette& before. When I got up this morning, I found a comment from their drummer, Alex, letting me know that their album is (finally) now available for order through their website! I've been waiting for this one for a while. ➡
    • Plot vs. Monster of the Week The more I watch of Buffy, I'm starting to notice one definite similarity between my enjoyment of that show and my enjoyment of the X-Files. ➡
  • 2003
    • If it feels good, do it. I am committed to defeating, not only the good work of charities, but the values that will bring lasting peace. And we have a great opportunity during this time of war to lead the world towards suicide, and murder. ➡
  • 1997
    • [From Usenet: 1.23.97 0000] I am curious as to how well it presents the principles of taoism. What I read I liked, and have kept with me since then, and I'm becoming more interested in exploring this further. ➡
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📚 six of 2020: Rosewater, by Tade Thompson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Really neat blend of alien invasion, psychic abilities, and the Nigerian setting. As with 2017 #PKDickAward nominee After the Flare by Deji Bryce Olukotun, I really enjoy the non-Western setting and influences.

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It’s this year’s Philip K. Dick Award nominees (plus two, as one nominee was the third book in a trilogy)! 📚

Ada Hoffman, The Outside
Megan E. O’Keefe, Velocity Weapon
Susan Palwick, All Worlds Are Real
Sarah Pinsker, Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea
Tade Thompson, The Rosewater Redemption
Sarah Tolmie, The Little Animals

On This Day: Jan 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. Here are my past posts for January 22…

There are 33 posts previously published on January 22nd

  • 2024
  • 2022
  • 2021
    • The Complete List of Trump’s Twitter Insults (2015-2021): “This list documents the verbal attacks Mr. Trump posted on Twitter, from when he declared his candidacy in June 2015 to Jan. 8, when Twitter permanently barred him.” ➡
  • 2020
    • 📚 six of 2020: Rosewater, by Tade Thompson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really neat blend of alien invasion, psychic abilities, and the Nigerian setting. As with 2017 #PKDickAward nominee After the Flare by Deji Bryce Olukotun, I really enjoy the non-Western setting and influences. ➡
    • It’s this year’s Philip K. Dick Award nominees (plus two, as one nominee was the third book in a trilogy)! 📚 Ada Hoffman, The Outside Megan E. O’Keefe, Velocity Weapon Susan Palwick, All Worlds Are Real Sarah Pinsker, Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea Tade Thompson, The Rosewater Redemption Sarah Tolmie, The Little ... Read more ➡
    • On This Day: Jan 22 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from January 22 ➡
  • 2019
    • Edgar Lots of people on Twitter and Facebook getting all excited about Edgar, and every time, the first picture I have in my head is from Men in Black. (I think they’re actually talking about sports. Glad they’re excited, it’s just not a fandom I’m a part of, and it’s been making me laugh this afternoon.) ➡
    • Book six of 2019: A Man of Shadows, by Jeff Noon. ⭐️⭐️ 📚 An odd book, with elements that reminded me of other media I’ve enjoyed (the film Dark City, Michael Ende’s Momo), but which ultimately didn’t satisfy me. Hoping I’ll like the #PKDickAward nominated sequel more. ➡
  • 2016
    • This is how this newspaper proof of life thing works, right? Right? #doingitwrong #neverescaping (22/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Ack! Getting sucked in to the computer! Ooh, maybe I’ll get to meet Tron. See you on the Grid! ➡
  • 2009
    • Why 1984 Won’t Be Like ‘1984’ Twenty-five years ago today, Apple's '1984' commercial broadcast. ➡
    • The New Me Last week sometime, I was brainstorming with ways to personalize the design of my site a bit while still working within my limited artistic and design sensibilities. On a whim, I emailed Shari to see if she might be willing to sketch a version of me that I'd be able to work into the design somehow. ➡
    • Obama and Open Government It's reports like this one from the EFF that go a long way towards boosting my confidence in the next four (eight!) years. I think I'm going to like this guy. ➡
  • 2006
  • 2005
  • 2004
  • 2003
    • Jobs for everyone I doubt this is very serious (or likely), but apparently someone has set up a grassroots movement to elect Apple CEO Steve Jobs president! ➡
    • State of the Union Some people think it's more important to give a big campaign contribution than to vote…that it's "the American way" to buy access and influence with big money…that it's OK if public policy is sold to the highest bidder. Some even think that the only real democracy is in the marketplace, where we all supposedly vote with our dollars. ➡
    • Small World Back when I worked at TimeFrame, I worked with a 'gentleman' by the name of J.C. Truly a piece of work, this guy was — I mean, I hate to call the guy a prick, but the only reason he'd ever wear a tie would be to keep the foreskin from snapping up over his face. ➡
    • Singing my own song I've always tried to do my best to sing my own song. Some days I do better than others, of course, and it's easy to get lost in the chorus, but at least I can always keep trying. ➡
  • 2002
    • That’s a big cockroach! I swear, that cockroach is going to pick up my stereo, put it on his shoulders and just crawl right out of there one of these days... ➡
  • 2001
    • Why I collect movies Every so often I get people expressing amazement, wonder, or just shaking their heads in confusion when they see my DVD collection, either by checking the listing here on my site, or coming by my house and seeing the bookcase full of discs. ➡
    • Apt Ringers? Dead Pupil? Two new ones today -- one of which I've never seen, and the other I've only seen part of. Yes, I do this on occasion...luckily, very rarely come up with a real dud. ➡
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Childhood me would have loved this Star Trek train set (on pp.130-131)—aside from it being O-scale, where my train set was HO-scale.

Adult me is amused, because on several levels, it doesn’t make much sense. But I like it anyway.

On This Day: Jan 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. Here are my past posts for January 21…

There are 24 posts previously published on January 21st

  • 2024
  • 2022
  • 2020
    • Childhood me would have loved this Star Trek train set (on pp.130-131)—aside from it being O-scale, where my train set was HO-scale. Adult me is amused, because on several levels, it doesn’t make much sense. But I like it anyway. ➡
    • On This Day: Jan 21 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from January 21 ➡
    • The Brother Always Dies First Two cinematic theories: Black male sexuality puts a ceiling on possible earnings; and black men are expendable, while white characters are not. ➡
  • 2017
    • Got back to town and found the #Ellensburg rally in support of the #womensmarch events! We hit two protests in one day! ➡
    • Signs! #womensmarch #yakima ➡
    • So many people, even on this side of the state! We’ve heard others guessing around 2,000, which wouldn’t surprise us! #womensmarch #yakima ➡
    • Make vaginas great again! #womensmarch #yakima ➡
    • Gathering for the #womensmarch in #yakima! ➡
  • 2016
    • Proof of life! ;) Some of my contacts have expressed concerns that my daily photo updates were a ruse, and asked my captors to include a newspaper in a photo as proof that these are being taken on the appropriate day. So here I am with this week’s issue of the CWU Observer (the only ... Read more ➡
  • 2015
  • 2014
    • Got the last of the P. K. Dick nominees in the mail today. Adding it to the to-read stack! ➡
  • 2013
    • Gigs Music Theater 1998 Since I archived the Gigs Music Theatre website as it was when the club shut down, I still have the last 'top requests' list that I posted, back in 1998. Looking at it the other day, it struck me that it could make for an entertaining playlist.... ➡
  • 2009
    • Links for January 21st from 08:43 to 17:23 Sometime between 08:43 and 17:23, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • US Democracy Server: Patch Day • Gregg Nations’s Job - Keeping ‘Lost’ on Track • The Inauguration of President Barack Obama - The Big Picture • 88 Lines about 44 Presidents • Obama inauguration stops traffic - web traffic, that is ➡
  • 2005
    • Gallimaufry 5 The weekly music meme: ten songs at random from my music collection, plus assorted rambling. ➡
  • 2004
    • Mars Dead or Alive If you've got an hour to kill and a broadband connection, the NOVA program 'Mars Dead or Alive' is freely available on the web! ➡
    • Pictures from Mars Very cool webpage automatically collecting and displaying the newest images from Mars. ➡
    • Preliminary Birthday Wishlist This is really early (my birthday isn't until May 3rd), but I'm starting to put together a birthday wishlist. Admittedly, just about everything I've come up with so far is definitely on the 'wish' side (as in, triple-digit prices), but I can dream, right? ;) ➡
    • A look at the Iowa caucus experience Lane and Tina have both posted their impressions of the caucus session for their corner of Iowa, on Eat Your Vegetables and Kickass Sociology, respectively. Some interesting comments, especially as I'm planning on hitting the local precinct caucus for my area of Seattle in early February. ➡
  • 2003
  • 2002
  • 1996
    • [From the archives: 1.21.96 0639] I actually have been doing some occasional work on my pages lately, just haven't done much in the way of recording it here, just because few of them have been very major. ➡