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March 6, 2007

Review: Microsoft Windows Vista Miasma

It's shiny and pretty like a will-o-the-wisp and then you follow it into the swamp and begin to lose your way and a water moccasin grabs you by the leg and pulls you under, and as you struggle for your last breath a sense of peace comes over you, and you think about how when you were 7 you had a guinea pig named Phyllis and what ever happened to her anyway...?

At least that's been my experience.



March 7, 2007

Windows Miasma Pro-Tip

It looks like the preview pane in Windows Explorer can lock a file "in use".

So if you enter a directory where, I dunno, say, your personal webpage is stored and use the right-click menu to open it for editing, the application won't be able to save your changes or, I dunno, say, upload it to your ftp directory.

No biggie, just thought I'd point it out for the power users out there.



March 12, 2007

Spending Spree

Fort Genevieve

After Gen's button-happy antics confused the last dishwasher to death (that's my theory, anyhow) we put some money into a new dishwasher with buttons that you can lock away from little hands. We also splurged on a new computer.

For her part, Gen got a new apartment.




March 17, 2007

Jonesy Leaps In

For such a new site, Movie Theatre Reviews is so focused, well-built and assiduously maintained, there are two competing theories about it's creation:

      Theory 1: It sprang from the head of Zeus.
      Theory 2: Jonesy made it.

My buddy Geoff - also known as Jonesy - is, you might say, fanatical in his love of a well-presented film. He hates bogus certification, lazy projectionists, lousy seating, and surly ticket takers. And he really hates digital projection, but I'll let you visit the site and find out why.

Movie Theatre Reviews solicits reviews of theatres from around the country. More recently, showings of older films have become a focus of the site (and the only way for a theater to get rated with an A!).

While Geoff's site would technically belong on the "Friends" link list, it's actually more of a public service, so it gets a coveted "Interesting Links" slot instead.



RetroGen: March 20, 2005

Adoration



April 11, 2007

Must be a sale at Carters



April 13, 2007

Imus

If someone at the office called a co-worker a 'nappy headed ho', I'd expect them to get fired. Good luck with your next job, and chalk it up to a learning experience.

A broadcaster with a national platform should expect to be held to the same standard. Good luck at your next gig, Imus, and chalk it up to a learning experience. Next time keep a civil tongue.

UPDATE: Thinking about this, I recognize that that the co-worker argument isn't the perfect analogy. It's good enough, I think, but here's a better one: If someone insulted a customer, I'd expect them to get fired. It's also important to note that Imus didn't just insult those team members; any African-American could potentially take offense. And that's a lot of customers.



April 17, 2007

Wondering Aloud

So I'm trying to figure out, if I was walking around and some lunatic had a gun, and there were other people pulling out guns in order to stop him, how I would tell them apart? How would they, not to mention the police, distinguish eachother from the shooter?

I'm honestly curious how this kind of NRA self-defense scenario would play out in real life.



April 28, 2007

Nobody Stays on Message Quite Like a Two Year Old

Typical dialogue in the Knight household:

    Gen (holding her hand to her ear): I sound a cricket!
    Pop: You mean you hear a cricket?
    Gen: I sound a cricket!
    Mom: Really? Where is it?
    Gen: I sound a cricket!
    Mom: Yeah, a cricket!
    Gen: I sound a cricket! Far away!
    Pop: Yeah, I hear a cricket too.
    Gen: I sound a cricket!
    Mom: Okay, good listening!
    Gen: I sound a cricket!
    Mom: Good! Cricket!
    Gen: Oh man!!  I lost it!
    Pop: You lost it?
    Gen: I sound a cricket!
    Etc...



May 12, 2007

Yet with Strange Aeons, even Sleep may Sleep

Gen woke up with a serious nightmare at about 5am, and has apparently decided that she's never going to sleep again. Previously, she's shown her Mom's ability to stay awake, at any length, until she's damn well ready to drop off.

A struggle of mythic proportions is in the offing. I'll keep you posted.



May 13, 2007

No Sleep for Me, or Thee: Day 2

Gen was just kidding, I guess. She dropped off in the car seat about half an hour after I put up the last post.



May 18, 2007

Support the Troops!

With words, not deeds!

Hmm... $7.3 billion over six years vs. $426 billion over the 5 years we've already been in Iraq. But you know how it is... these kids are just gonna blow it on Magic: The Gathering cards and body armor anyway.



May 23, 2007

I blame Videogames and Movies

Like maybe, the Left Behind adaptations...?



May 28, 2007

News You Can't Use

Does anyone else remember getting excited, when CNN was first showing up as a 24-hour news channel? No more 60 minute blocks of top stories crammed together! Deep and interesting coverage of news that usually gets short shrift!

Well, that's what I was hoping for. Boy, was I wrong. Here are some of the results from the first three months of 2007:

In daytime, FNC [Fox News] devoted 6 percent of its time to Iraq, and 17 percent of its time to Anna Nicole. For CNN, the mix was 20 percent Iraq, 5 percent Anna; for MSNBC, the mix was 18 percent Iraq, 10 percent Anna.

Yes, I know that Iraq and Anna Nicole Smith are the top policy questions of the day, but there must be something else to talk about occasionally.



June 4, 2007

Exploring

Grandpapa's house is not only fun to explore, but fun to photograph.

An Inconvenient Door



June 6, 2007

This is your Goalpost on Rocket Skates

General Petraus, interviewed on CBS:

We haven’t started the surge — the full surge — yet. So let me have a few months.


June 22, 2007

We Have Met the Enemy and They is Everywhere

I've become dimly aware that there were more stories about troops fighting "Al Qaeda" in Iraq, as opposed to "insurgents" and "combatants" of various factions, but I chalked it up to fighting in a specific, Al Qaeda-heavy area, or just a statistical warp in the stories I happened to hear.

But no. As Glenn Greenwald points out, the military has started referring to just about anyone they fight in Iraq as "Al Qaeda".