June 14, 2004
Tunes To Enjoy and Ponder
If you haven’t ever heard Living on the Ceiling, one of my favorite 80s songs, by Blancmange, one of my favorite 80s bands, you should go listen to it over on Jockohomo, one of the MP3 blogs I’m semi-following. Go now, because the tunes come down in a few days.
Also, this Nickelback mashup, which brings a whole new meaning to “sounds just like their last one”, is pretty amazing (via Music for Robots).
Permanent item link | Filed under : Music | Comments and Followups (1)
The Wait to Vote
I read this article on the effect of the naturalization backlog in New York with bitter amusement. I seem to remember that one Bill Clinton acted to speed up naturalization so that new citizens could vote, and was roundly excoriated for risking national security for partisan political gain. Because, you know, there’s not any problem with it taking 18 months or more to adjudicate an application for citizenship, except when you’re campaigning. (I’m looking at you, George Bush.)
Permanent item link | Filed under : Civil Liberties , Immigration | Comments and Followups (0)
Review: Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). I’ve heard a lot about how Hidden Fortress was a major inspiration for Star Wars. This is the where the serial half of Star Wars comes from, complete with opening crawl, repeated excursions into the Death Star, er, Ming’s palace, and spaceship chases.
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June 13, 2004
Things Not To Do
Don’t ever let your cat rename your hard drive to something with a leading space. It breaks a lot of things, and it’s a pleasant way to waste a couple of hours figuring out why all your applications are broken all of a sudden. Corollary: don’t leave your laptop open when you go to bed.
Permanent item link | Filed under : Apple | Comments and Followups (2)
June 12, 2004
Things I Never Thought I’d Be Grateful For
Target is opening a store in Jersey City at the end of next month. I’m beginning to run into a variety of foods that are hard to get up here—not just regional foods like Tex-Mex and remoulade sauce, but basic stuff like Orville Redenbacher popcorn—and I’m hoping that Tarrrjaaay, that fine French emporium, will carry some of them.
The Orville that nobody carries is the real popping corn, which I prefer to the microwave stuff. I’m one of the three people left in the world who has an electronic (oil) popper. The microwave stuff not only is less tasty to me, it also is a lot more expensive, given how often I like to eat popcorn. I’m not normally a kitchen gadget gal, but the popcorn popper is one the things I’d really hate to give up.
Permanent item link | Filed under : Food , New Jersey | Comments and Followups (7)
Maybe Next Year
N.J. Renaissance Kingdom. This year, we’re booked up all the weekends it’s on. One quibble: how can it be a “Renaissance Kingdom” when Arthur is King?
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June 11, 2004
WISH 100: The Last Great War Story
I’ve really enjoyed doing WISH. I’ve met a lot of cool people and gotten turned on to a lot of cool blogs doing it, and I’m sad to see it go. But it’s time for me to turn my attention to some new projects, so this is the last WISH.
I’ve refrained from asking this question for as long as I’ve done WISH because every WISH is sort of about this topic. In almost 20 years of gaming, I’ve found that almost no gamer can resist it, too. So I stopped resisting and took a dive on my saving throw, and this week, I’ll ask:
Tell me your favorite war story. Why is it your favorite? What does it show about your character or the game/campaign you were playing? What does it exemplify about why you like gaming?
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Monday Mashup 41: Hoosiers
Last week’s mashup, which I inexplicably missed, was Hoosiers.
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June 10, 2004
When I Said Plain Text, I Meant Plain Text
If you copy text from a web page into an email message and send it without wrapping text, Eudora for Mac doesn’t strip out HTML from the message, even if your settings are set to “send plain text mails only”. I’m sure this bug has something to do with Eudora’s flowed text misfeature, which is the biggest downcheck to an otherwise excellent email client.
I know how to turn on HTML when I want it. Can Eudora please help me turn it off when I don’t?
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Fat Ass Gamer Food
Found while surfing: A Weight Watchers guide for fat ass gamers. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and there’s some useful information about various forms of fast food, if you’re on Weight Watchers. (The rest of us will just sit here and be appalled at the number of points in fast food vs. real food.)
Personally, I don’t see how it can be a useful list for gamers without a lot more snack foods in the list (how many points is a big bag of Doritos worth?), but maybe that’s just what my friends ate when we gamed in college.
Permanent item link | Filed under : Food , Gaming | Comments and Followups (6)
Unsurprising Correlation
I have noticed that now that I only have to manage two pieces of equipment and remote controls that I’m a lot less likely to let my Netflix DVDs sit.
Permanent item link | Filed under : Computers and Gadgets , Technical Writing and Usability | Comments and Followups (3)
That Didn’t Come Out Right
You know, while I understand the issue about Accenture being based in Bermuda and not paying US taxes, I think I’m equally, if not more concerned about border security information being handled in countries not bound to the US’ privacy laws.
OK, let me stop and think about that one again.
In any case, I’m not sorry that the US VISIT contract for Accenture is being held up in the House. Maybe they’ll use this time to figure out whether the system’s goals are even doable or write some specs or something. Naaaaah.
Permanent item link | Filed under : Civil Liberties , Immigration | Comments and Followups (0)