Wednesday, May 30, 2007
News From the Family Front - Part II
Well, I found out yesterday that my mother's broken leg is going to require surgery. Apparently, hers is a compression break of 3.5 cm. A compression break of 2 cm or less, they don't do surgery. A break of 4 or more, they do. So hers is right in the middle. If she doesn't have surgery, she runs a real risk of developing arthritis. No surgery would mean 6 weeks to 3 months of recovery. And surgery would mean . . . 6 weeks to 3 months of recovery. So surgery it is. She goes in tomorrow morning. She hopes to be out tomorrow night, but everyone is saying that's not likely to happen. While it sucks to break your leg for the summer, at least it is the summer. My mother is a first grade teacher (braver than I), and having a broken leg during the school year would be even worse. And hopefully, her recovery will be closer to 6 weeks than 3 months!
Friday, May 25, 2007
News From the Family Front
I just found out my mother broke her leg yesterday. At least they gave her plenty of pain medicine (read: "happy pills").
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Madame Pele
| Lapakü ka wahine a`o Pele i Kahiki `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Eli`eli kau mai `Eli`eli kau mai `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Ühï`ühä mai ana`o Pele I ka lua a`o Halema`uma`u `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö `Oaka ë ka lani noke nö E Pele E Pele e He inoa no Pele | The woman Pele abounds actively in Kahiki The heavens flash on and on The heavens flash on and on May a deep respect come to us May a deep respect come to us The heavens flash on and on The heavens flash on and on The raging of Pele can be heard In the pit of Halema`uma`u The heavens flash on and on The heavens flash on and on O Pele O Pele In the name of Pele |
I'm Not Entirely Sure How I Feel About This
I was scanning the New York Times online today when I came across this article. It's about a new museum which is getting ready to open in Kentucky. The thing that's different about this particular museum is that it's a museum based entirely on Creationism. And they make no secret of this fact. The name of the museum is the Creation Museum.
Now, I'm not one to try and tell people that their beliefs are wrong. I simply don't work that way. I don't happen to believe Creationist theory, but other people have every right to and they have every right to build a museum to share their beliefs. But . . . as a historian (even a rogue one), the idea of a Creationist natural history museum is slightly odd to me. And as a pagan, I am always a little leery of hard-line Christian ideology - too much bad blood on both sides over the millennia. And before anyone asks, I'm not planning on sharing my particular religious/spiritual ideologies. I feel that religion is particular to the individual, which means it's very difficult (if not nearly impossible) to truly convey those ideas to another in any way that they can actually understand. But that's a whole other rant for another time - perhaps.
Anyway, back to the Creation Museum. Even if I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it personally, I can make a few comments professionally. First, I'm interested in seeing how many visitors it will get a year. According to the NYT article, they say they are expecting a quarter million visitors in the first year. That's about 685 people a day. (By way of comparison: the Smithsonian Museums had about 23 million visitors in 2006 - over 63,000 a day; the Denver Museum of Nature and Science had 1.48 million - 4,055 a day; and the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum has about 550,000 a year - 1,500 a day). I would say that the Creation Museum has a good chance of meeting their goal in the first year - and only in their first year. They will be something new and different, and people will be more interested. After that first year, however, their numbers will go down as the people who came just to see it because it was new and different stop coming. I simply do not see them maintaining that level of interest beyond that. Second, I am very afraid of the potential academic and professional backlash they may get. Academics and professionals are not always the kindest people when it comes to disagreements on foundational theories and ideologies. And I can see this getting real ugly, real quick. Third, the museum seems to be making a big deal of the fact that they received enough in donations to allow them to open without any debt. I applaud them for this. But I would caution them that, like their visitor numbers, they should not be counting on this continuing. It's expensive to keep a museum open and running. Normally, a great deal of this cost goes to developing new exhibits to keep people coming in. With something like Creationism, which doesn't really change all that much, is this going to be an issue? I really don't know, although I still think that they will have to make some changes over time just to keep people coming back.
Regardless of how things go for them, I'll be curious to see what happens.
Now, I'm not one to try and tell people that their beliefs are wrong. I simply don't work that way. I don't happen to believe Creationist theory, but other people have every right to and they have every right to build a museum to share their beliefs. But . . . as a historian (even a rogue one), the idea of a Creationist natural history museum is slightly odd to me. And as a pagan, I am always a little leery of hard-line Christian ideology - too much bad blood on both sides over the millennia. And before anyone asks, I'm not planning on sharing my particular religious/spiritual ideologies. I feel that religion is particular to the individual, which means it's very difficult (if not nearly impossible) to truly convey those ideas to another in any way that they can actually understand. But that's a whole other rant for another time - perhaps.
Anyway, back to the Creation Museum. Even if I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it personally, I can make a few comments professionally. First, I'm interested in seeing how many visitors it will get a year. According to the NYT article, they say they are expecting a quarter million visitors in the first year. That's about 685 people a day. (By way of comparison: the Smithsonian Museums had about 23 million visitors in 2006 - over 63,000 a day; the Denver Museum of Nature and Science had 1.48 million - 4,055 a day; and the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum has about 550,000 a year - 1,500 a day). I would say that the Creation Museum has a good chance of meeting their goal in the first year - and only in their first year. They will be something new and different, and people will be more interested. After that first year, however, their numbers will go down as the people who came just to see it because it was new and different stop coming. I simply do not see them maintaining that level of interest beyond that. Second, I am very afraid of the potential academic and professional backlash they may get. Academics and professionals are not always the kindest people when it comes to disagreements on foundational theories and ideologies. And I can see this getting real ugly, real quick. Third, the museum seems to be making a big deal of the fact that they received enough in donations to allow them to open without any debt. I applaud them for this. But I would caution them that, like their visitor numbers, they should not be counting on this continuing. It's expensive to keep a museum open and running. Normally, a great deal of this cost goes to developing new exhibits to keep people coming in. With something like Creationism, which doesn't really change all that much, is this going to be an issue? I really don't know, although I still think that they will have to make some changes over time just to keep people coming back.
Regardless of how things go for them, I'll be curious to see what happens.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
General Updates
Well, once again, I'm back. Things have finally settled down some now that the semester is over. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'm inactive or anything. I still have things which need to be taken care of. I'm spending time this summer working as a subcontractor for the big name in historic preservation in the region. This woman has cities like Vail and Aspen asking her to help them write their historic preservation ordinances. She doesn't even sit down for a meeting unless she's getting paid at least $150 an hour. This, children, is called resume building! In addition to the hours I'm working for her, I also have a few hours a week for The Overlord, continuing to do some web design and maintenance. On top of that, I'm going to be spending time preparing grant applications. I would really like to get enough money from various people to research and write my dissertation in a year, beginning next fall (next summer will be spent getting married, honeymooning, and taking comp exams - I think that's enough!). Oh yeah, I would also like some time with my fiancee, Journey - funny thing, that, wanting to see the person I plan on spending the rest of my life with.
In other news and happenings, Journey and I went to a roller derby bout this past weekend, which was awesome. I should explain that the roller derby we go to watch is NOT the staged kind they used to show on late-night cable in the '70s. This is a real competition, and these girls take it very seriously. If you're in the Phoenix area, you might want to check it out (here's their web site). We had the chance to watch the traveling team, the Tent City Terrors, play the Carolina Rollergirls. The TCT are the best skaters from around the state, including Journey's sister. For those of you outside Arizona, I probably should explain the "Tent City" thing. The Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, established "Tent City" as a way of dealing with overcrowding in the prisons. Basically, he got a bunch of Korean War military tents and set up a camp for the overflow of prisoners. He also makes the inmates wear pink underwear. (here's an old CNN story on Tent City.)
Anyway, playing off this (admittedly) rather bizarre situation, the travelling roller derby team decided they would be known as the Tent City Terrors. They have the traditional black and white stripes, accented with pink. The bout against the Carolina Rollergirls was one of the best and fasted I've seen. The hits were hard and a few girls ended up skidding into the crowd! In the end, the TCTs won by 3 points, so it was a good night.
And way to go Phoenix! We're ranked #6 in the nation for rude drivers! Not that this is of any great surprise to those who have driven in Phoenix, of course. Even I, I must admit, have been known to do things to contribute to this ranking. Although, in my defense, most of the time, the other person deserves it. I take special pleasure in trying to block out the drivers who are trying to cut ahead of everyone else in construction zones. If the signs are clearly telling you that a lane is closed ahead, you need to go ahead and move over. Don't try to cut around the rest of us like your more important. When I see people trying to do that, I'll try to block them out or not let them in . . . if I can do it safely - I have no interest in getting in an accident or getting shot, both real possibilities around here.
Well, now that things are returning to a more reasonable pace, I'll try to be back on more often!
In other news and happenings, Journey and I went to a roller derby bout this past weekend, which was awesome. I should explain that the roller derby we go to watch is NOT the staged kind they used to show on late-night cable in the '70s. This is a real competition, and these girls take it very seriously. If you're in the Phoenix area, you might want to check it out (here's their web site). We had the chance to watch the traveling team, the Tent City Terrors, play the Carolina Rollergirls. The TCT are the best skaters from around the state, including Journey's sister. For those of you outside Arizona, I probably should explain the "Tent City" thing. The Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, established "Tent City" as a way of dealing with overcrowding in the prisons. Basically, he got a bunch of Korean War military tents and set up a camp for the overflow of prisoners. He also makes the inmates wear pink underwear. (here's an old CNN story on Tent City.)
Anyway, playing off this (admittedly) rather bizarre situation, the travelling roller derby team decided they would be known as the Tent City Terrors. They have the traditional black and white stripes, accented with pink. The bout against the Carolina Rollergirls was one of the best and fasted I've seen. The hits were hard and a few girls ended up skidding into the crowd! In the end, the TCTs won by 3 points, so it was a good night.
And way to go Phoenix! We're ranked #6 in the nation for rude drivers! Not that this is of any great surprise to those who have driven in Phoenix, of course. Even I, I must admit, have been known to do things to contribute to this ranking. Although, in my defense, most of the time, the other person deserves it. I take special pleasure in trying to block out the drivers who are trying to cut ahead of everyone else in construction zones. If the signs are clearly telling you that a lane is closed ahead, you need to go ahead and move over. Don't try to cut around the rest of us like your more important. When I see people trying to do that, I'll try to block them out or not let them in . . . if I can do it safely - I have no interest in getting in an accident or getting shot, both real possibilities around here.
Well, now that things are returning to a more reasonable pace, I'll try to be back on more often!
Friday, May 04, 2007
Another Semester Down - Two to Go
Well, I turned in my last assignment for semester yesterday evening. This puts me half-way through my PhD course work! Two more semesters - one year. At this point, right at the end of a particularly long semester, that feels like a hell of a lot. More on that later . . . maybe.
This is really just an update to say that I'll hopefully be back to posting on a regular starting next week. First, I need to get some rest - I'm too damn brain-dead right now to write anything good.
See you next week!
This is really just an update to say that I'll hopefully be back to posting on a regular starting next week. First, I need to get some rest - I'm too damn brain-dead right now to write anything good.
See you next week!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Not Dead (Yet)
No, I'm still alive. It's just that last push at the end of the semester. One class completely done with, one more I'll finish up tonight (I write this in the few minutes I have before going to that one). My last class I'll finish up when I submit a research paper on Thursday. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more frequently after that!
Friday, April 13, 2007
Hitting the Nail on the Head (So to Speak)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Take a nation of do-it-yourselfers, add a ready supply of cheap nailguns and what do you get? About 37,000 nailgun injuries a year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Really? No kidding. Of course the people getting hurt are the do-it-yourselfers. People who use pneumatic nailguns for a living have experience. DIYers don't. But, I really don't blame the rising in injuries on more people buying nail guns.
Since 1991, nailgun injuries have risen about 200 percent, the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease.
"This increase likely corresponds to an increase in availability during the 1990s of inexpensive pneumatic nail guns and air compressors (to power the nail guns) in home hardware stores; however, no sales data are available for confirmation," the CDC reported.
But when the CDC looked at who was getting injured, it became clear that the number of work-related nailgun injuries had stayed stable since 1998. It was consumer-related injuries that had soared.
~from CNN.com (here).
I blame it on those home-improvement shows on television. They make it look like any idiot with a hammer, a flannel shirt, and a tool-belt (you have to have the tool-belt) can completely remake their home in a weekend.
No. You can't. You don't know what the fuck you're doing.
And doing damage to yourself or house with a nailgun is bad enough, but these DIYers are also messing with things like their electrical and plumbing. A few words of advice for any of you thinking on taking on an electrical or plumbing project: IF YOU DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE DOING, CALL A PROFESSIONAL! Putting a nail in the wrong place - like your hand - may be a pain (bad pun, I know, but I couldn't help it), but messing up with your electrical or your plumbing can be REALLY bad. A mistake with either of these can cost you thousands to repair - if your lucky. And a mistake with an electrical project can easily kill you.
I worked at Home "Despot" for a while before getting into grad school. Part of that time was spent in the Electrical Department, because I had had some training from having worked as a theater tech for much of high school and my undergrad years. One day, we had a guy come in with a problem. He been trying to install a steam room in his house like he had seen on some DIY show (for a while, this was a really popular thing to do in our area). He got it all built fine, had read up on what he needed to do with the electrical, and gotten all the wiring installed just fine. He had reached the step where you put the pull-out breaker in the subpanel. He inserted the pull-out and got a big arch, lots of yellowish smoke, and that great ozone smell. Now, I don't know if you've ever seen one of these pull-outs, but their basically a black plastic handle with two large, flat copper plates. The idea is that you can pull this out and instantly break the circuit it there's a problem, instead of having to run all the way to your main breaker-box. Sounds simple enough.
Well, this guy brought in the pull-out he had used and it looked something like this. He wanted to know what had gone wrong. Our first question to him was "Did you turn off the power from your main breaker-box to the subpanel?"Answer: "No. I thought that's what this was for." Well, yes, in the end it kind of serves that purpose, but you still have to turn off the power BEFORE you try to shove two pieces of copper in place to complete the circuit. We told him he was lucky to only end up having to replace the pull-out. He very easily could have been seriously injured or even killed. He just got this kind of dazed look on his face and said that maybe he would call an electrician to come out and finish things up. Good idea, buddy.
So, when I hear that people are putting nails through themselves, I don't blame the the store for selling them the nail-gun. I blame these "This Old House" knock-off shows and their Bob-Villa-wannabes for convincing people they can so this shit on their own.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Comments and Rants on Various Sports Topics
HOCKEY:
Well, the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin today. And unfortunately, the Colorado Avalanche are out of it. We made a good run at the end of the season, but Saturday's game against Nashville ended our hopes of going to the playoffs for the 12th straight year. On the plus side, however, the Avalanche have already signed captain Joe Sakic to a new one-year contract. Not much else to say on the Avs right now, so on to other hockey news . . .
GOOD! Bertuzzi is a thug and I'm happy anytime he gets hurt and has to sit out. Normally, I'm not one to wish harm on others. And I don't actually wish harm on Bertuzzi - I'm just not sorry when it happens. Personally, I still think that Bertuzzi should have been permanently banned from hockey and jailed for his March 8, 2004, attack on Avalanche center Steve Moore. So, I'm sorry, but I have pretty much no sympathy for Bertuzzi having a concussion. Think of it as a little bit of karmic payback, you fuck.
Here are my predictions for the first round of the playoffs:
* Buffalo Sabres over NY Islanders in 5 games
* NJ Devils over Tampa Bay Lightening in 4 games
* Atlanta Thrashers over NY Rangers in 6 games
* Pittsburgh Penguins over Ottawa Senators in 7 games
* Detroit Red Wings over Calgary Flames in 4 games
* Anaheim Ducks over Minnesota Wild in 5 games
* Dallas Stars over Vancouver Canucks in 6 games
* San Jose Sharks over Nashville Predators in 7 games
FOOTBALL:
I like the suspensions handed down by Roger Goodell yesterday. Both "Pacman" Jones and Chris Henry have a long string of problems off the field and repeated run-ins with the cops. I'm glad that someone in the NFL is finally standing up and saying that players simply cannot act like the rules don't apply to them. Now to clarify things here, Jones and Henry are under the old personal conduct policy, which is (partially) why they have been allowed to continue to have so many problems without major punishment from the NFL. Goodell and the NFL have instituted a new personal conduct policy, which will apply to players coming into the league beginning this year.
The schedule for the coming season is supposed to released sometime later today.
BASEBALL:
Things in baseball I really don't care about which almost everyone else around here seemingly does:
* The D-backs winning six straight - whoopee-fucking-do.
* Barry Bonds. Took steroids (probably), and lied about it (probably). Put an asterisks next to his name when he breaks Hank Aaron's career home-run record.
* Daisuke Matsuzaka's "gyro-ball".
* A-rod.
NASCAR:
Things in NASCAR I really don't care about which almost everyone else around here seemingly does: the whole damn "sport".
Well, the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin today. And unfortunately, the Colorado Avalanche are out of it. We made a good run at the end of the season, but Saturday's game against Nashville ended our hopes of going to the playoffs for the 12th straight year. On the plus side, however, the Avalanche have already signed captain Joe Sakic to a new one-year contract. Not much else to say on the Avs right now, so on to other hockey news . . .
"This is the time of year the Red Wings need Todd Bertuzzi. But, they could be starting the playoffs Thursday against the Flames without the power forward. Bertuzzi, who suffered a concussion last Thursday, missed a second day of practice Tuesday. And coach Mike Babcock didn't sound encouraged." - from SI.com.
GOOD! Bertuzzi is a thug and I'm happy anytime he gets hurt and has to sit out. Normally, I'm not one to wish harm on others. And I don't actually wish harm on Bertuzzi - I'm just not sorry when it happens. Personally, I still think that Bertuzzi should have been permanently banned from hockey and jailed for his March 8, 2004, attack on Avalanche center Steve Moore. So, I'm sorry, but I have pretty much no sympathy for Bertuzzi having a concussion. Think of it as a little bit of karmic payback, you fuck.Here are my predictions for the first round of the playoffs:
* Buffalo Sabres over NY Islanders in 5 games
* NJ Devils over Tampa Bay Lightening in 4 games
* Atlanta Thrashers over NY Rangers in 6 games
* Pittsburgh Penguins over Ottawa Senators in 7 games
* Detroit Red Wings over Calgary Flames in 4 games
* Anaheim Ducks over Minnesota Wild in 5 games
* Dallas Stars over Vancouver Canucks in 6 games
* San Jose Sharks over Nashville Predators in 7 games
FOOTBALL:
I like the suspensions handed down by Roger Goodell yesterday. Both "Pacman" Jones and Chris Henry have a long string of problems off the field and repeated run-ins with the cops. I'm glad that someone in the NFL is finally standing up and saying that players simply cannot act like the rules don't apply to them. Now to clarify things here, Jones and Henry are under the old personal conduct policy, which is (partially) why they have been allowed to continue to have so many problems without major punishment from the NFL. Goodell and the NFL have instituted a new personal conduct policy, which will apply to players coming into the league beginning this year.
The schedule for the coming season is supposed to released sometime later today.
BASEBALL:
Things in baseball I really don't care about which almost everyone else around here seemingly does:
* The D-backs winning six straight - whoopee-fucking-do.
* Barry Bonds. Took steroids (probably), and lied about it (probably). Put an asterisks next to his name when he breaks Hank Aaron's career home-run record.
* Daisuke Matsuzaka's "gyro-ball".
* A-rod.
NASCAR:
Things in NASCAR I really don't care about which almost everyone else around here seemingly does: the whole damn "sport".
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Sometimes Things Just Suck
Sorry for the rather prolonged delay between posts. I've spent most of the last week having a shit-load of fun . . . yeah, right.
Last Wednesday (March 28) night my truck was broken into. They got away with my laptop, my portable hard-drive, my palm pilot, and one of my digital cameras. Somewhere between $1,800 and $2,000 worth of stuff. Yeah, there were many, many, MANY of those words your mother always told you not to say. (Of course, my grandmother always just to say that you didn't want to say those words too often, because sometimes there's nothing else left to say, so you have to save them up for those times.)
So, I have have been spending the last week or so alternately dealing with the insurance company (who replaced the window, but said I was out of luck on the stuff inside the truck!) and trying to get caught up on my work. On the latter, things could have been worse. I have a CD back-up of all my files from the beginning of last month, so I have all the old stuff. The more recent stuff, however, is another matter. Usually, I would just carry around the portable hard-drive, backing up that information onto my laptop at home on a very regular basis. On this particular Wednesday, however, I was at a workshop and had decided at the last minute to take my laptop along - my note taking is faster and more efficient when I type them than when I hand write - so both pieces were in the same location at the same time. Fortunately, my professors were cool and gave me some time to get caught up. I was supposed to turn in a rough draft of a research paper that Thursday - but since it went away with the rest of my stuff, that wasn't going to happen. Luckily, I had printed out a hard copy of the paper on Friday (March 23), so I didn't have to recreate the whole thing, but all the work I had done over the weekend and during the first half of the week was gone. FUCK! In many ways, this pissed me off the most. This fucker has cost me time and work, in addition to the material loss. But the material loss is just that, material. Things can be replaced. The time and work? No so much!
Things are getting back to normal at this point. I have a plan (sorta) to replace the laptop soon and I have already replaced the palm pilot. Those two are the most important to my day-to-day functioning, so they need(ed) to be replaced first. The portable hard-drive was a convenience more than anything else. I still have an older flash-stick and I can always borrow one of The Overlord's spare portable hard-drives for a bit if I need, so that one can wait a few months. The camera - it was a REALLY nice camera and is one I will definitely replace. But . . . I have another digital (it's just older and not as nice) and I still have my SLR cameras. Replacing my lost digital can wait even longer, then. The last thing this bastard got was the bag all my stuff was in. It's the cheapest piece and it's the easiest to replace, so I'll wait a pay-check or two to take care of that one.
The long and short of it all? My stuff is gone and I probably won't get it back (the Tempe Police took a report over the phone and . . . that was it), I've been busting my ass to get caught up as best I can, and am slowly replacing the material stuff.
Last Wednesday (March 28) night my truck was broken into. They got away with my laptop, my portable hard-drive, my palm pilot, and one of my digital cameras. Somewhere between $1,800 and $2,000 worth of stuff. Yeah, there were many, many, MANY of those words your mother always told you not to say. (Of course, my grandmother always just to say that you didn't want to say those words too often, because sometimes there's nothing else left to say, so you have to save them up for those times.)
So, I have have been spending the last week or so alternately dealing with the insurance company (who replaced the window, but said I was out of luck on the stuff inside the truck!) and trying to get caught up on my work. On the latter, things could have been worse. I have a CD back-up of all my files from the beginning of last month, so I have all the old stuff. The more recent stuff, however, is another matter. Usually, I would just carry around the portable hard-drive, backing up that information onto my laptop at home on a very regular basis. On this particular Wednesday, however, I was at a workshop and had decided at the last minute to take my laptop along - my note taking is faster and more efficient when I type them than when I hand write - so both pieces were in the same location at the same time. Fortunately, my professors were cool and gave me some time to get caught up. I was supposed to turn in a rough draft of a research paper that Thursday - but since it went away with the rest of my stuff, that wasn't going to happen. Luckily, I had printed out a hard copy of the paper on Friday (March 23), so I didn't have to recreate the whole thing, but all the work I had done over the weekend and during the first half of the week was gone. FUCK! In many ways, this pissed me off the most. This fucker has cost me time and work, in addition to the material loss. But the material loss is just that, material. Things can be replaced. The time and work? No so much!
Things are getting back to normal at this point. I have a plan (sorta) to replace the laptop soon and I have already replaced the palm pilot. Those two are the most important to my day-to-day functioning, so they need(ed) to be replaced first. The portable hard-drive was a convenience more than anything else. I still have an older flash-stick and I can always borrow one of The Overlord's spare portable hard-drives for a bit if I need, so that one can wait a few months. The camera - it was a REALLY nice camera and is one I will definitely replace. But . . . I have another digital (it's just older and not as nice) and I still have my SLR cameras. Replacing my lost digital can wait even longer, then. The last thing this bastard got was the bag all my stuff was in. It's the cheapest piece and it's the easiest to replace, so I'll wait a pay-check or two to take care of that one.
The long and short of it all? My stuff is gone and I probably won't get it back (the Tempe Police took a report over the phone and . . . that was it), I've been busting my ass to get caught up as best I can, and am slowly replacing the material stuff.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Wikipedia Birthday Meme
Carried on from Sheep Days.
1. Go to Wikipedia, type in your birth month and date, but no year (ie - January 1).
2. List Events on that which interest you:
3. List a few birthdays:
4. List a death:
5. List a holiday or observance (if any):
6. Tag some other bloggers:
1. Go to Wikipedia, type in your birth month and date, but no year (ie - January 1).
2. List Events on that which interest you:
- 1040 - King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth
- 1877 - Thomas Edison makes the first-ever recording
- 1914 - The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon
- 1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Festival opens
3. List a few birthdays:
- 1769 - Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French (d. 1821)
- 1771 - Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist and poet (d. 1832)
- 1925 - Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist
- 1945 - Gene Upshaw, NFL player
- 1958 - Craig MacTavish, former Canadian ice hockey player/coach
4. List a death:
- 1057 - King Macbeth of Scotland (nice little bit of irony for you there!)
5. List a holiday or observance (if any):
- Egypt – Flooding of the Nile Day
6. Tag some other bloggers:
- neh - join in if you want, I'm not going to force it on anyone
I Hate Having To Do This
Today I find myself having to cheer for a team I absolutely hate - the Detroit Red Wings. I am an Avalanche fanatic. Ever since the team came to Colorado in the 1995-96 season, I have been a loyal fan and supporter. A couple of years ago, during the NHL Lock-Out, I had serious problems adjusting to a lack of hockey. Naturally, part of being such an Avs fan means that I hate the Red Wings. It's a rivalry which goes back to that first season and has never really abated (although I think much of our hatred has shifted to the Vancouver Canucks, after Bertuzzi's hit on Moore). Anyway, I'm going to be forced to root for the Wings tonight. They're playing the Calgary Flames, who are currently 4 points ahead of the Avalanche for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. I really want the Flames to lose . . . but that means rooting for the Wings.
sigh . . . the things we have to do for our teams.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Follow Up To "Take Back Our History"
Well, House Resolution 1255, which I posted about last Friday, went to the House floor today. And it passed! Final vote was 333 for to 93 against, with 7 no votes. Want to see how your rep voted? Here's the full roll call. I want to thank those of you who took the time to contact your representative and tell them how important this kind of action is.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Take Back Our History
"I firmly believe that ... presidential papers, except for the most highly sensitive documents involving our national security, should be made available to the public." ~ President Gerald Ford
The Presidential Records Act (1978) stated that Presidents and former Presidents had to make their presidential records available to the public 12 years after their final term in office. There were of course certain circumstances under which records could be withheld longer (such as on-going matters of national security), but there was a process by which this happened which ensured that the people would have access to the records of their president.
On November 1, 2001, President Bush issues Executive Order 13233, which, in the words of Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), "carved enormous loopholes in the Presidential Records Act." What this executive order did was to give the President to the unchecked power to withhold any records and/or other materials indefinitely after their final term in office. Not only that, but their heirs could withhold them as well. And as a final coup de grace, the order gave this same power to the vice-president! Personally, I find this deeply disturbing - as should anyone who wants to prevent the tyranny of the state.
Well, there is presently an opportunity to tell Bush that we will not accept this kind of thing. Just yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1255, the "Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007." This is a bill which would revoke 13233 and set a time limit on how long Presidents can withhold this information. But we have to act NOW! This bill will coming up for debate on the House floor early next week. This link will take you the joint website for the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the National Coalition for History and the National Humanities Alliance. They have a full description of what this bill would do. There is also a prepared form letter which you can submit, as is or edited as you choose, directly to your Representative. It's quick and easy - and it's important. So I ask that you let your Reps know that we want our history back!
If you want to know more about the bill and what was said in the Subcommittee's hearings on it, click here.
The Presidential Records Act (1978) stated that Presidents and former Presidents had to make their presidential records available to the public 12 years after their final term in office. There were of course certain circumstances under which records could be withheld longer (such as on-going matters of national security), but there was a process by which this happened which ensured that the people would have access to the records of their president.
On November 1, 2001, President Bush issues Executive Order 13233, which, in the words of Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), "carved enormous loopholes in the Presidential Records Act." What this executive order did was to give the President to the unchecked power to withhold any records and/or other materials indefinitely after their final term in office. Not only that, but their heirs could withhold them as well. And as a final coup de grace, the order gave this same power to the vice-president! Personally, I find this deeply disturbing - as should anyone who wants to prevent the tyranny of the state.
Well, there is presently an opportunity to tell Bush that we will not accept this kind of thing. Just yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1255, the "Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007." This is a bill which would revoke 13233 and set a time limit on how long Presidents can withhold this information. But we have to act NOW! This bill will coming up for debate on the House floor early next week. This link will take you the joint website for the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the National Coalition for History and the National Humanities Alliance. They have a full description of what this bill would do. There is also a prepared form letter which you can submit, as is or edited as you choose, directly to your Representative. It's quick and easy - and it's important. So I ask that you let your Reps know that we want our history back!
If you want to know more about the bill and what was said in the Subcommittee's hearings on it, click here.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
You Gotta Be Kidding Me!
Fuck, some people aggravate me. (surprise, surprise, surprise)
As part one of the projects I work on, I monitor and maintain an online discussion forum. We recently decided that we were going to require people to register. We did this for several reasons. First, requiring registration to post is far and away the norm for these things. Second, we were getting spammed pretty bad. Not only does this look unprofessional, but there were some concerns that this might catch the attention of one of the higher-ups at the university - and this would be bad. Third, and most important from my point of view, constantly having to go check for spam and then delete it was taking time away from other things which I need to work on.
Realizing that some people were going need to have their hands held to get through the registration process, I wrote up directions. Here's how they originally read:
Now, I will admit that I'm a techie, so things like registering for a forum are no big deal to me. I could probably do it with my eyes shut. But apparently, this was too confusing for some people. They couldn't find the "register" link. They couldn't understand sections of the form (the ones I told them they could ignore). They didn't know how to log in. (Oh, for fuck's sake, you can't be this stupid, can you?)
And instead of emailing the project, like the instructions say, they emailed the director of the project! It's not so much that they emailed him as it is they did that instead of clicking on the email hotlink.
What really gets me about this whole thing is that the people who are registering for this are primarily supposed be graduate students, professors, and professionals. In other words, intelligent people! Apparently not. Am I being unreasonable in assuming that people should be able to fill out a fairly simple registration form? I would hope not, but I've been disappointed before.
Serious, these people are supposed to be trained academics. I'm sorry, if you can't understand this simple a registration process, you should have your previous diplomas revoked and you may just want to go ahead and shoot yourself.
As part one of the projects I work on, I monitor and maintain an online discussion forum. We recently decided that we were going to require people to register. We did this for several reasons. First, requiring registration to post is far and away the norm for these things. Second, we were getting spammed pretty bad. Not only does this look unprofessional, but there were some concerns that this might catch the attention of one of the higher-ups at the university - and this would be bad. Third, and most important from my point of view, constantly having to go check for spam and then delete it was taking time away from other things which I need to work on.
Realizing that some people were going need to have their hands held to get through the registration process, I wrote up directions. Here's how they originally read:
To Register:
1. Click on the "Register" button located under the forum logo.
2. Agree to the terms of service (requirement of the company hosting this forum service).
3. Fill out the required account information - you will have to create a username and password, enter your email address (you can select to hide this from people later), and compete the word verification form.
4. Set any other options. The "Profile" and "Preferences" sections of the form are completely optional (the time and date defaults are set to Arizona). The option to disable email display is under "Preferences." You can completely ignore the "Super Quick Reply mod" section.
5. Click submit.
Congratulations! You are now registered!
If you have any questions or problems, please email [the project's email address as a hotlink]
Now, I will admit that I'm a techie, so things like registering for a forum are no big deal to me. I could probably do it with my eyes shut. But apparently, this was too confusing for some people. They couldn't find the "register" link. They couldn't understand sections of the form (the ones I told them they could ignore). They didn't know how to log in. (Oh, for fuck's sake, you can't be this stupid, can you?)
And instead of emailing the project, like the instructions say, they emailed the director of the project! It's not so much that they emailed him as it is they did that instead of clicking on the email hotlink.
What really gets me about this whole thing is that the people who are registering for this are primarily supposed be graduate students, professors, and professionals. In other words, intelligent people! Apparently not. Am I being unreasonable in assuming that people should be able to fill out a fairly simple registration form? I would hope not, but I've been disappointed before.
Serious, these people are supposed to be trained academics. I'm sorry, if you can't understand this simple a registration process, you should have your previous diplomas revoked and you may just want to go ahead and shoot yourself.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Things Which Are Annoying Me This Morning
While I am not really pissed off or anything, I have found myself at general low-level of annoyance this morning. These are the sort of things which, by themselves, probably wouldn't a big deal. But they have this nasty little tendency to build on each other. So, here are things which have already annoyed me this morning:
Car Alarms: Okay - so these tend to annoy me all the time, not just this morning. They just happen to be a focus this morning because one went off outside my window this morning about 15 minutes before my alarm. If it had been a little earlier, I might have slept through it. Or at the very least I would have had time to actually go back to sleep. At 15 minutes, however, there's not really enough time to actually go back to sleep in any sort of meaningful way. Now I realize that car alarms are part of every day life these days, but that doesn't stop them from annoying me.
The Fill-In News Caster: So this is one of the little ones. I like to watch the local news as I'm getting ready in the morning. Yeah, I know most of the stories they're covering that time of day are complete bull-shit, fluff stories, but I like to catch things like the local weather, traffic reports, and the local sports coverage. The particular channel I watch is usually pretty good (although I'm noticing a disturbing trend toward things like make-up tips as news stories - I'm sorry, how is this considered important news?), but this morning one of the regular news casters had the day off. I in no way blame her for taking a day off - hell, I wish I could. But the woman they had filling in for her this morning was just terrible. She was one of those people who tries to hard to be a "serious" news caster, but still seem open, friendly, and personable. Didn't work. Lady, you're just filling in - get over yourself.
Ann Coulter: This is another one which annoys me on a regular basis, but has been brought to my attention this morning in particular. If you don't already know, Ann Coulter is an ultra conservative right-wing ideologue. She has made it habit to say things which many (if not most) people consider to be offensive and outlandish. She was the one a few months back who referred to some of the 9/11 widows as "harpies." Well, she's done it again (big surprise, huh?). This past Friday, she referred to Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards as a "faggot." According to a CNN.com story, at the Conservative Political Action Conference she said "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I'm - so, kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions." Nice. I must admit, I would not be all that sorry to see this woman, whom I consider the really harpy, just go away.
The DHCP: DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Without going into a bunch of techno-babble which most people wouldn't understand, I'll simply say that this program needs to be functioning properly for the computer network on campus is function properly. Without, computers cannot connect to the Internet. Well, it was down this morning. It looks like it's fixed now, but having something like this down early on a Monday morning is bad. Really bad. While there is absolutely nothing I can do about, people still come to me wanting to get it fixed. They hate the fact that only answer I can give them is "It's broken. They are working on fixing it. You'll just have to wait." Luckily, the network admins got it fixed in about half an hour and things seem to going well at this point. But all this happened before I had my coffee - not good.
Spring Training: I know people love baseball. I accept this fact. I don't care about it all that much, but if other people do, that's fine. The problem is that right now it's Spring Training, which means a number of teams are here in Arizona doing their thing. Again, fine, I don't really care. It's the people who are here to watch Spring Training who are annoying me. I have ranted about driving in Phoenix before. It's rather like playing dodge ball with cars. As crazy as it may be, however, there is some method to the madness. Most people in Phoenix understand at least some of the rules. When you toss in a bunch of outsiders, that's when you have real problems. Spring training started last week, and people's spring breaks are going to be coming up over the next couple weeks - thing are only going to get worse.
Post #100!
Car Alarms: Okay - so these tend to annoy me all the time, not just this morning. They just happen to be a focus this morning because one went off outside my window this morning about 15 minutes before my alarm. If it had been a little earlier, I might have slept through it. Or at the very least I would have had time to actually go back to sleep. At 15 minutes, however, there's not really enough time to actually go back to sleep in any sort of meaningful way. Now I realize that car alarms are part of every day life these days, but that doesn't stop them from annoying me.
The Fill-In News Caster: So this is one of the little ones. I like to watch the local news as I'm getting ready in the morning. Yeah, I know most of the stories they're covering that time of day are complete bull-shit, fluff stories, but I like to catch things like the local weather, traffic reports, and the local sports coverage. The particular channel I watch is usually pretty good (although I'm noticing a disturbing trend toward things like make-up tips as news stories - I'm sorry, how is this considered important news?), but this morning one of the regular news casters had the day off. I in no way blame her for taking a day off - hell, I wish I could. But the woman they had filling in for her this morning was just terrible. She was one of those people who tries to hard to be a "serious" news caster, but still seem open, friendly, and personable. Didn't work. Lady, you're just filling in - get over yourself.
Ann Coulter: This is another one which annoys me on a regular basis, but has been brought to my attention this morning in particular. If you don't already know, Ann Coulter is an ultra conservative right-wing ideologue. She has made it habit to say things which many (if not most) people consider to be offensive and outlandish. She was the one a few months back who referred to some of the 9/11 widows as "harpies." Well, she's done it again (big surprise, huh?). This past Friday, she referred to Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards as a "faggot." According to a CNN.com story, at the Conservative Political Action Conference she said "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I'm - so, kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions." Nice. I must admit, I would not be all that sorry to see this woman, whom I consider the really harpy, just go away.
The DHCP: DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Without going into a bunch of techno-babble which most people wouldn't understand, I'll simply say that this program needs to be functioning properly for the computer network on campus is function properly. Without, computers cannot connect to the Internet. Well, it was down this morning. It looks like it's fixed now, but having something like this down early on a Monday morning is bad. Really bad. While there is absolutely nothing I can do about, people still come to me wanting to get it fixed. They hate the fact that only answer I can give them is "It's broken. They are working on fixing it. You'll just have to wait." Luckily, the network admins got it fixed in about half an hour and things seem to going well at this point. But all this happened before I had my coffee - not good.
Spring Training: I know people love baseball. I accept this fact. I don't care about it all that much, but if other people do, that's fine. The problem is that right now it's Spring Training, which means a number of teams are here in Arizona doing their thing. Again, fine, I don't really care. It's the people who are here to watch Spring Training who are annoying me. I have ranted about driving in Phoenix before. It's rather like playing dodge ball with cars. As crazy as it may be, however, there is some method to the madness. Most people in Phoenix understand at least some of the rules. When you toss in a bunch of outsiders, that's when you have real problems. Spring training started last week, and people's spring breaks are going to be coming up over the next couple weeks - thing are only going to get worse.
Post #100!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Make the Hurting Stop!
I am fucking sick of all this crap over Anna Nicole Smith! Yes, it's sad that she died and that her son died and all that. But let's face it, where she's buried really has no impact on my life. And I couldn't really care less who the baby's father is. Why is this shit still news? I'll tell you why. It's like a car accident or a train wreck. People can't help but watch. It satisfies some deep, perverse sense of humor. We want to see celebrities crash and burn. It's like watching some yuppie-fuck's expensive little sports car get demolished by a dumptruck. Admit it, you see something like that, you just sit back with a big grin, thinking "Boy, we're having some fun now!" Sure you have. This is fun shit! But when it reaches that point that your camped out, still watching as some poor guy is sweeping away the broken glass and the yuppie-fuck is crying to his insurance agent, you've become obsessed. That's where we are with the whole Anna Nicole Smith drama. We're down to sweeping up of the glass and crying on the cell phone. Not literally, of course, it's hard to physically cry into that damn little blue-tooth ear piece he just has to have, but you get my point!
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