Friends

shannachie

09:46 pm - Eureka!

Woohoo! Sometimes I love the internet!

I re-found a poem and poet. Or rather, I found the poet to a poem that has stuck in my head for the last 35 years and I could not place it.

On eof my all time favourites.

"A planet doesn't explode of itself," said drily
The Martian astronomer, gazing off into the air --
"That they were able to do it is proof that highly
Intelligent beings must have been living there."

-- John Hall Wheelock

erinwrites

03:39 pm - New wedding post

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

This one focuses on Adam and his faboo caricatures!

(Photo by Debbie)

Go here for more!

mdlbear

12:38 pm - Travels with Plink and Cthulhu: further notes

Went to a good party last night at the invitation of webmaven, who's on the program committee. Sold a CD to Julie Steele, a recent O'Reilly employee and Guy's daughter. Fun conversation. Several good conversations, but confirmed that I can only handle one or at most two people at a time.

The attendees at this conference, and cons in general, are getting younger and more decorative all the time. Especially the women; I'm greatly encouraged by the increasing number of women in open source.

The elevator music in the hotel was the stuff I was hearing in my teens. Scary.

 ;;; LISP using a distributed hash table.
 (defun cons (car cdr)
         (put (concat car "." cdr)))

(assuming hash returns a hex string and (put s) stores string s in a distributed hash table at a location given by its cryptographic hash, and returns the location. You don't have to take out the garbage for a long time. If the DHT implements a time-to-live, you can implement a mark-and-wait garbage collector by simply refreshing everything you can reach once in a while.

If I'd known ahead of time that Colleen was planning to take her walker, I'd have planned on renting a car and printed out maps and directions ahead of time. As it is, there's no real problem except that we'll be using the Mac instead of a printout.

angilong

12:20 pm - for sale...

Plz to BUY MY HOUSE somebody now okthx!

hsifyppah

11:44 am

Bwahahaha. So I get a call today from another pharmacy, where the poor patient of my Dr. Crankypants from yesterday has gone to get their prescription instead. The other pharmacy needs from me the details of the prescription so THEY can try to get a refill from Dr. Angersocks. I say, hesitantly:
"Listen, I'd just like to warn you about this doctor..."
"OH GOD I KNOW! Isn't (s/he) HORRIBLE? I used to work in (Doctor's local area.)"
"Oh man, I'm glad it's not just me! I'm sorry you have to call them today."
"Yeah, me too!"

HEE. So I'm feeling way better today now that a personal attack has been transformed to a malevolent weather feature. As soon as I hung up I noticed that my neck is behaving itself today too. Yay! And 7.5 more hours until I leave for Seattle-town for Monkey Brains Quest: Episode 1.

mdlbear

10:06 am - Travels with Plink and Cthulhu: random travel notes

I've been having breakfast in the hotel this trip rather than the Continental breakfast at the con: protein and potassium are my friends.

I'm really glad I've developed the habit of keeping my room key in my right-hand pants pocket. I hardly ever leave a room without my pants. I have been known to leave without my shoulder bag. Recently.

The Red Lion at the convention center is undergoing extensive renovation. Sure, the carpets have been torn up most of the weekend. OTOH, the WiFi works perfectly in the rooms; this is the first year that's been true.

I've been trying to figure out how many years I've been coming to OSCon. This must be the fourth; first year I believe I was in the Inn at the Convention Center, and I've been at the RL at least twice before. I see LJ tags for OSCon 2006 and 2007. OK, also posts in 2005, and apparently none in 2004.

I've taken to wearing a luggage strap as a belt. Infinitely adjustable instantly, and no metal at all. Needs a way of temporarily attaching something that looks like a buckle when I want to be dressy.

The San Jose airport is also being extensively renovated; Terminal C has been rejiggered to put all of the shops inside the security zone. Finally. They also have free WiFi. Finally.

I still hate the Mac. The apple key, which exists only because they're using a one-button mouse, is exactly where I expect the ALT key to be. Emacs uses Alt-Q to rewrap a paragraph, and Alt-W to copy a selection. Fortunately you can configure the terminal to ask before closing a window or a tab, so as long as I run emacs in a terminal window and not the native version, I'm comparatively safe. (It also took me a long time to figure out how to configure the terminal to treat option as alt.)

The Mac laptop's keyboard is still wretched.

The food has been very good, though I don't like the fact that breakfast has been being served downstairs in the exhibit hall instead of upstairs outside the room where the keynotes are given.

I've been taking realtime notes (in a text file, using emacs). It would have been possible to turn that into real-time blogging using a couple of well-designed scripts and makefiles, but that will have to wait for the next time.

daisy_knotwise

10:19 am - Serendipity...

dek9 has been kind enough to pass along out-grown clothes from her daughter to my girls. Since she has way better taste than mine this has been a fine thing.
This morning I was poking through the closet looking for something to put on Lady Godiva. I came across a pair of cropped jeans in a 2t size that Dawn had bought on clearance and T had outgrown before she had a chance to wear. (Have I mentioned that the sizing of childrens' clothing is random and irrational?) They looked about the right size so I pulled them out and tried them on her. They fit perfectly. I turned them over to look for more tags and stickers (there seem to be a great many of tags and stickers on clothes these days.) and the butt was embroidered with flowers in EXACTLY the same colors as the shirt I had already put on her.
I bought that shirt at a totally different store, also on clearance,
because it was a 24 mo size bodysuit. (All part of my effort to keep clothes on the child.)

So now she has an outfit!
Sheer Luck!

GHR

Current Mood: pleased

capplor

09:28 am - Good news on the Net Neutrality front

This is from the Crooks & Liars page, but it has some interesting links.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/24/every-single-democratic-senate-challenger-supports-net-neutrality/

cadhla

08:12 am - Book for sale (Australia fund)/shipping memo.

Next up on our chopping block: a near-new copy of Cory Doctorow's Eastern Standard Tribe. I have found it extraneous to my needs (and to the storage capacity of my bookshelves, which is becoming somewhat strained). This little slice of glory can be yours for five dollars + shipping costs (which usually comes to around four bucks). Also, it will then be out of my house, and my currently-displaced copy of Fire and Hemlock will thank you. Profusely.

And here's the shipping memo: I have acquired foam core for strip-packing, which is a good thing, and will be mailing all pending 'With Friends Like These...' strips on Monday. If I have a taker on Eastern Standard Tribe, I'll be mailing that, too.

Whee!

Current Mood: chipper

madfilkentist

10:24 am - Metropolis

This isn't definite yet, but it's becoming a real possibility. We're discussing a showing of Fritz Lang's Metropolis at Arisia, with my providing improvised keyboard accompaniment for the movie. I did that for Une Voyage dans la Lune a couple of years ago; the difference is that this is ten times as long.

"Improvised" doesn't mean I'll go into the room and totally wing it, of course. It means I'll have a set of musical ideas prepared and practiced, but not worked out note for note. So it will be a one-of-a-kind performance.

cadhla

06:45 am - With Friends Like These... #60: Shoulder Angels 101.

First, the strip:

With Friends Like These... #60: Shoulder Angels 101.

Second, the footnotes:

Meet Amy! This is her 'With Friends Like These...' debut. All dialog has been fervently approved by the people on whom these cartoons are based. Kate has decided to reply to anything stupid I say by ordering me to put on pants. It's good to have tolerant friends.

This was disturbingly fun to draw, and consequentially got inked faster than anything else in recent memory. Although, to be fair, #59 traveled all over New York with me.

Just as an FYI, I am currently running a strip sale. This batch includes such gems as 'part three in my ongoing authorial tutorial' and 'Seanan does horrible things to Vixy' (every other strip). This strip has already been added, as the sale is currently ongoing. Drop by, browse, and help keep me in art supplies.

Current Mood: quixotic

ericcoleman

08:14 am - And I'm on the road ...

or just about to be

Just a little less than 8 hours in front of me. This is the longest drive I do.

I set up set lists yesterday ... I'm doing two completely different shows for a total of almost 30 songs. Yes I have my cheat sheets set up.

If you're bored ... I will certainly be bored today ... so give me a call.

And hopefully see some of you at Conestoga

phillip2637

08:12 am - Every Picture

Some time ago I commented about missing the 12" album covers of vinyl records in their role as art. Thinking about it, I decided to make a list of a few that were special examples for me. I haven't gone through my record collection in detail or any of the "greatest covers" lists on the net, and I've avoided some of the most famous imaginative graphics. These are just some that come to mind as special images that would lose much of their attraction at CD insert size.

( A list )

To the other ancients among you, feel free to add favorites.

ohiblather

08:11 am - My new cards, swoony technonerdboys, and dancing

Photo by Walter.

eli_the_insane

09:06 pm

Brrrr the weather. Supposed to get worse before it gets better....

Less than a week to go....

Feel better, wharekumara!

sibylle

09:44 am - Four.

pondside

12:08 am - Mix Sounds Great

After two days work with Wynn I've got the first 10 songs on CD to live with overnight. Fine tuning and bounce on the others in the am and then on to the Master.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: optimistic

pondside

12:05 am - Whoops, I actually made a hotel res without asking for wireless...

My first sentence when booking a hotel is ALWAYS "do you have wireless internet"? I didn't this time. I'm booking for a smart show and shine in Pitt Meadows and had my mind on driving, training and other car'ish things. When I saw the look of horror on mystic_winds face I knew I had committed a grievous error.

:)

Current Mood: chipper

cflute

11:05 pm - thankful Rockin' Awesome thursday

Fifteen hours of nearly unmitigated Good Things, including:
- a full night's sleep (for the first time in months!)
- gluten free brownies
- chores well done
- important new things learned and skills practiced
- an early birthday present (thank you, love! *kiss*)
- asking for help, and getting it
- timely research
- text messaging
- tasty snacks
- water aerobics (first-ever class was an inspiring success. *waves* to harmonyheifer)
- yummy dinner
- Christmas in July, BBW edition
- learning a new song

And a few miscellaneous things:
- passing notes in class
- holding hands
- shuttle service
- finding the right yarn [1] to finish an old project and [2] to start a new one
- hugs from the children

Current Mood: cheerful

vixyish

10:12 pm - from the crazy mixed-up files

Oh right--

There's something else I was gonna say, but I figured it should have its own post.

Now that I has a SHINY NEW RED KITCHENAID, I don't really need my old one. I'll put it on FreeCycle if no one here wants it, but I figured I'd give the folks I actually know the first chance.

Offered, free to good home: One used white KitchenAid tilt-head stand mixer, model K45. Has bowl, and has the flat beater, whisk, and dough hook attachments. Still runs, but is quite a few years old; a gear or two in there is audibly slipping (at least I think that's what that quiet intermittent clicking is). Fishy can comment on the feasibility of fixing it oneself (he didn't think it likely). Also, its rubber foot pads are on their way to disintegrating (it leaves bits of rubber stickily on my table in hot/humid weather). Has made many a happy batch of brownies and cookies and bread dough in its day (just made brownies with it on Saturday!). :)

We live in North Seattle. If you want it and could pick it up either in the Haller Lake area during the evening, or in the Greenwood area during the day, that'd be extra groovy.

Anyone interested? Edit: CLAIMED! Within minutes of posting, too. Don'tcha love LJ? ;)