Society for Aesthetic Deletions

Wil Wheaton's interview on /. Egads, this guy is just so cooool...

Well, Lou's presents have been delivered. They just need to be framed now, so we can hang them.

Peter is too talented to live. I've told him that. He's also a metalsmith. Makes me wish I could create something tangible like that, something so beautiful. I'm terribly jealous. But not above having him do more work for me in the future.

The artwork, by the way, is from the inside cover of the CD booklet for Final Fantasy VIII. It's Rinoa and Squall, the two main characters from FFVIII. He couldn't do the feathers for Squall, they just didn't turn out right, and I had told him that was fine. The petals, as printed on some transparency paper, look excellent for Rinoa's picture.

I also got him the Snow White DVD, Nickel Creek CD, and the Roughnecks: Starship Troopers DVD.

One of the pictures is part of his Christmas presents too. We set our price limits so I had to split the presents.

Lou relented! I am getting a laptop!

Here are the specs, it's the 3000-S304 with WinXP Pro (ick). CDW is where I ordered it from, because Microwarehouse stopped listing it on their website, and PC Connection only had it bundled with a printer, and then it was "Call for Availability", alas. Would have gotten it direct from Toshiba, but they don't have them available. I figure they're going to roll out a new one or something.

Now I just have to wait for it to arrive. It's killing me already, because though it's listed as shipping "same day" on their website, it hasn't shipped yet! And I ordered it last night! So I emailed them.

Want. Laptop. Now.

And the two reasons Lou relented are 1) I might not be able to get the one I want because it looks like they're hard to find, and 2) He's next up for a new machine then, and he wants a TiBook. Heh.

My laptop has been backordered. I'm so pissed. I should have known though, when I got in touch with my sales rep yesterday, and he said that it was the absolute last one they had in their warehouse, and he hoped they could find the right box. I think he was giving me a warning, as best as he could.

I emailed him this morning, because I'm concerned that Toshiba has stopped making them. Asked him to give me an ETA, if he could.

I may try to talk Lou into taking me to CompUSA tomorrow. According to their website, they have the high end laptop model available in both of the stores local to us. It'd mean overall about $150 more, with tax added on top of that. No shipping, but I wasn't having it overnighted, so shipping wasn't as much as tax'll be.

If they have discontinued it (I really should email Toshiba), then I may just go to CompUSA and get the high-end model. That does it, I'm emailing Toshiba.

They are discontinuing the laptop! I called Toshiba (no email contact on the site), and the guy told me they were bringing out the 3007 in a week or so. Who knows when it'll get down into the other channels.

So I've got to make a decision. I will have to Think On It. The new one has the Firewire port and everything else the others did, probably just has a faster processor or something.

Damn damn damn! Waited to frelling long!

I cancelled the order with CDW. The sales rep told me that there was an 1800 config that was identical to the 3000 I wanted, then I pointed out the lack of Firewire port, which he conceded.

I am going with Lou to CompUSA tomorrow, to actually get a LOOK at the thing. Figure out if I want it or not. Sony has a VAIO that has similar features with a similar price, so I may change my mind on the kind of laptop I want. But maybe not.

Grant pointed out that if I went up to New Hampshire, and bought the laptop at a CompUSA there, I wouldn't have to pay tax. And there is a store in Nashua. And I have Monday off.

So we may be visiting Jack on Monday, after a stop over at CompUSA! We'll see!

I did nothing that I wanted to do today to prepare for my game tonight. Well, I wing it anyway. I may just have that fortress be mostly open in the middle, with the rod right there. But first, Sana has to fight off the ghost...

Decided to wait on the laptop. See what Toshiba gets out in a few days or so, and if nothing comes, then I'll get the 3005. Or if I don't like the new ones, I'll still get the 3005.

...sigh... But I really really want one now.

I was sent this link from Myth, who got it from a mailing list we both used to be on (I unsubbed as it was too social for me). Anyway, it's just wonderful, though not yet finished. Be sure to look at the places, for the look "behind the scenes." Absolutely marvelous!

Okay, a few of these are just plain old sick, but I laughed hysterically at some others. Flash required.

Courtesy of surreally, which I found by being bored tonight and surfing some weblogs when I should be writing.

Apple has introduced new G4 Towers.

So I called Kate, got the specs, and we're getting two. One for her, one for me.

Not the new dual 1GHz, alas. Too expensive for our budget. But the 933MHz, which comes with the SuperDrive. I want to be able to burn CDs without having to boot into OS 9.2.2, which I have to do because I'm using an external SCSI burner, and the support for SCSI in OSX is pretty minimal, and Toast isn't quite there yet either. I swear Toast worked fine, and then one of the updates to OSX broke it.

Whatever. Hopefully before I go on vacation, I'll have one of these babies in my hands.

The new laptop is here!

I did get the Toshiba, and am learning the ins and outs of Windows XP. I made a bunch of the standard changes, like making sure I see all files and folders, file extensions, etc.

I'm still getting used to the keyboard layout. And the "I" key. It keeps doubling up...hit it once, and I have two i's on the screen. Not all the time, which is annoying in and of itself. I may just get an external keyboard at the next computer show. And maybe a wireless trackball. Or wired, really doesn't matter. But not a mouse. Trackball. Oh yeah.

I've also decided to start the move to Movabletype. I am going to do a new install, since I've decided that I want a new location for the MT directories. I floated the idea of a blog for my family (I am the 6th of 7 children) to keep/stay in touch to my sister Janet, and she said it sounded good. Especially as my nieces and nephews (9 of those) would be most likely to do updates. chuckle

So, instead of having them have to drill down to find the directory (and be more likely to forget it), I'd move it up a directory or two.

Got the Eudora all moved over to the laptop, too. Now I just have to figure out how to figure out how to uninstall the Lotus SmartSuite that was already on the laptop, and then figure out what version of Office I want to install. Oh frabjous day!

This is courtesy of ***Dave, and very cool. I just wish I'd seen more than the first two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Isn't this just the cutest thing?

You can make your own, too! Just go here.

The new computer has arrived, along with the nice new display. I only have the 15" one, but I'll live. Especially as I have the 933MHz PowerMac, the one with the dual monitor card. So I can plug in my current 17" display and use both, which I am planning on doing.

This machine is so SWEET! I just have to decide if I want to partition the drive before I go much further. The main reason I had for partitioning is not really applicable - I used to have one sized with just enough space to burn a CD, as I was using that to set up config CDs for the computers. But since getting the external Firewire drive, I've been using that instead. We have very few computers now that don't have Firewire ports, and we'll be phasing those out.

So there's not much of a need. I also have a partition for all my own junk, that I don't want/need backed up. That's tempting, but right now it pretty much holds most of my MP3 collection, and my own web design stuff. Those could be easily moved elsewhere so they won't get backed up on the work system (and yes, I've configured our backup server at work to automatically not back up MP3s anyway).

It's nice to go from a Yikes PCI 350MHz with 256mb of RAM and a 10GB drive to a 933MHz with 512mb of RAM and a 60GB drive. I'm just disappointed I won't have more time to play with it this week. Fun will have to wait until Monday.

And I have to keep my 17" monitor. Where else will my FFVII PVC figure collection live?

This is fun. Shockwave required, but it's not a noisy one.

UPDATE 3:43 p.m. ET: Page doesn't seem to be responding. Might have exceeded bandwith limits. Check back later.

This article proves that sometimes, when life gives you lemons, take some pictures of them and see how they look!

Courtesy of Myth, via the Liad mailing list.

Interesting effects of spiders fed drug-dosed flies.

Can you tell when I'm running stuff in the background that doesn't require a lot of input? Lots more blog posts...

Courtesy of Doyce.

Virtual Keyboard

I wouldn't need to bring my folding keyboard (that I love, but it does require a hard flat surface) with me to use my Palm!

Okay, maybe this would also require a hard flat surface, but wouldn't it be cool to just start typing in mid-air someday?

Courtesy of Slashdot.

ADVERTISING AGE ACQUIRES ADCRITIC.COM

I just hope that they don't start charging to view the commercials. AdCritic was just the coolest website, when it was up.

It appears that a publisher in Japan has contracted with Harlequin to manga-ize (is that a word?) some of their older novels into graphic novel format. They appear be doing contemporaries mostly, however they've announced a first dip into historicals with The Devil Earl by Deborah Simmons. No idea on release date yet.

You can see samples of previous ones here. Be sure to scroll across the panels - one in each scan has an enlarged version.

KODAK: Taken On The Road-American Mile Markers

New York City: A Ford engineer rigs his camera to his odometer, and clicks the shutter at every mile marker. 6 days later, he arrives in San Francisco. Pretty cool. Some boring pics, some blurry pics, some cool pics.

Courtesy of Anne.

I was given a Trivial Pursuit-a-day calendar this past Christmas. I would have preferred a Far Side-a-day Calendar, especially since this is the last one they're doing (sob!).

Anyway, yesterday's question was one to which I most definitely knew the answer. I'm generally pretty good at trivia. Actually, I'm pretty good at many non-strategy board games.

But let's see how you do. Today's Trivia Question comes from the SN category, which as diehard Trivial Pursuit fans know is the Science and Nature category.

What's the most frequently ingested mood-altering drug?

Get the answer by clicking MORE, but if you want to guess, feel free to do so in the comments.

Spelling Test

I missed six.

* desiccate

* minuscule

* inoculate

* sacrilegious

* supersede

* irresistible

(sigh) I was just telling Kate yesterday that I won a spelling bee back in 7th grade, which was taken away from me when the other learning centers protested that we had had some of the words as vocabulary words. We had another bee, and I came in 3rd.

I couldn't spell the word "seamy." I lived a pretty white-bread life, and had no idea, even when the word was used in a sentence, what that word was.

Heh. Now I know.

Courtesy of ***Dave.

Space HoRSE, a M.U.L.E.-like game, will be produced by Shrapnel Games later this year.

Man, I LOVED M.U.L.E. When I read this, I started making those wonderful music sounds of the game as I raced to blog about it.

This was the first real strategy game I ever played on the computer. My sister and I would play on my brother's Commodore 64 for hours. I don't recall if I won all the time, but we had a blast.

I may have to get this game, at least for nostalgia's sake. Even if it isn't the real M.U.L.E.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Dan Bricklin posted two articles on using a Segway. I found both of them very interesting tidbits, and he was hella lucky to get a chance at one of those things!

Impressions after riding a Segway HT: Part 1 and Part 2

Courtesy of Random Walks.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Courtesy of ***Dave.

No, not what you're probably imagining.

A cat, named Flo, kept bringing live animals in through the cat door, to play with and chase through the house.

So, these entrepreneurs, decided to rig up a box to the outside of their cat door, and only let dear old Flo in if she wasn't carrying something.

How'd they do it? Read all about it.

Courtesy of User Friendly's LOTD.

O'Reilly Network: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Decepticons

Morbus Iff, aka Kevin Hemenway, relates Autobots and Decepticons to MacOS and Windows, and comes up with some interesting parallels.

Me, I prefer Beast Wars.

Mr. Izzard, we have new material for you at the front desk.

Yahoo! News - Prince in Trouble for Anorexia Joke

Courtesy of Jack, who doesn't blog.

The newly revised Very Secret Diary store, now with Merry and Pippin stuff.

Still want Aloof Unavailable Elf Princess Shirt, since cannot have Gap of Rohan shirt.

Sigh.

Read this.

Courtesy of Anne.

On the white mouse...

Oh, they stopped using twist-ties to keep the cords.

On the white keyboard...

Damn, that's going to get dirty fast.

and

Oh, I do like these new cord-keepers.

On the included phone cord...

Oh, that's what that is. White, eh? Oh well. (toss)

On the grey square of soft cloth...

They included a screen wipe? Neat!

On the size of the thing...

Oh, it's so tiny!

On the weight of the thing...

Damn, that's heavy!

On the port arrangement...

Okay, I can see the problem. Should have done a side- or front-port thing, yep, yep.

On fitting the styrofoam back into the box so the lid will shut...

Oh, this'll never fit. (tries, hard, shaking box) This is not good. (tries rearranging styrofoam again, and again, and again, and again, until finally) Oh, thank god. Well, that was a poor idea.

On the power-up...

I wish they hadn't taken away the power-on button on the keyboard. The power-on button is in the back? Oh, bad idea.

On the speakers...

Hrm, pretty loud. But only one speaker. Ah well.

On the tilt screen...

Moves easy. Small size, but do-able for most folk.

That's it for now. I'm off to donate blood.

I have my new 17" Apple Studio Display (Flat Panel).

This takes the place of the 15" Apple Studio Display (Flat Panel) as my secondary monitor. I have a 17" Apple Studio Display (CRT...they really need better names) as my main screen.

But oh, that my have to change.

The 17" flat panel is absolutely clear at 1280x1024. I can't do that on the CRT, it hurts my eyes if I look at it took long, and the print is tiny. Not so on the flat panel. So the CRT lives at 1152x870.

But then, oh then, where will Tifa and Aerith and Cloud and Red XIII and the frog and the chocobo and Gatomon live? I suppose they could be relegated to living on the secondary monitor (in which I keep my main Fire window, my Now-Up-to-Date calendar in Classic, and my Son of Weather Grok windows (oh, I should probably add Denver in...does so), plus iTunes and a few aliases).

Oh, the choices, the choices.

I think I will try the flat panel as the side screen, at 1280x1024, just to see if I can live with it. Then try moving it as the main screen.

I personally don't know how I survived before with only one monitor. My window must have been terribly cluttered.

English-Quenya Dictionary for Palm OS

What will they think of next?

Courtesy of Turn of a Friendly Die.

According to Human For Sale, I am worth $1,725,060.00.

Huh. If I won the lottery, I could buy me! But that's about the only way I can be bought, baby.

The Invisible Library is a listing of fictional books that are only listed in other books.

Such as: Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes by Oolon Colluphid, courtesy of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Or Buttercup's Baby: S. Morgenstern's glorious examination of courage matched against the death of the heart by S. Morganstern, courtesy of William Goldman's The Princess Bride, o'course.

Go. Read. Lose yourself for a time.

As those close to me know, my husband's brother is a wrestler. No, not like the kind you see in the Olympics.

The kind you see on the WWE.

He has been on TV twice; once in a "filler match" on the WWF when they were in Providence just as wrestling was becoming hella popular again. He didn't have a "name," just called Bob Evans, and his match was against a wrestler named Atom Bomb. And yes, he lost. I have this on video somewhere.

He's been called a few times again and gone, but never made it into the ring. He was on TV again though, as part of a posse, designed to taunt the other wrestlers his guy was fighting. I did not see this, nor have it on tape, but my in-laws do, somewhere.

He has chosen to keep on with his wrestling, but from the other side of things. He has opened up a school, Slamtech, to teach people professional wrestling.

And the local paper, The Providence Journal, has done an article [free registration required] on his school.

Alas, the pictures in the actual newspaper didn't make it into the online version, but it's still a neat read. If you're interested in this kind of thing.

Cooking with Lava

It is what it sounds like.

Courtesy of a question at Slashdot, filtered out of the questions to be sent to Alton Brown.

Courtesy of PromoGuy, I give unto you, selected entries from the Beloit College "Mindset List" for the Class of 2006.

Top 100 Banned Books

These are the ones I've read:

And for those of you counting, you'll note that A Wrinkle in Time is not on here. No, I've never read it. I didn't get into fantasy/sf until high school, and then it was Tolkien or nobody. And I never went back and read many of the "classics" of young adult/children's literature.

Star Wars: Collecting | LEGO Ultimate Collector Star Destroyer

Oh, I SO want this!

†Experienced the full might of the Empire's powerful warship with LEGO's upcoming Ultimate Collectors series Imperial Star Destroyer set. With over 3,000 bricks, this is the biggest LEGO kit ever sold. When completed, the Star Destroyer is almost a meter (three feet) long. The set comes complete with a display stand and placard.

Based on the design of the Devastator, Darth Vader's Star Destroyer in Episode IV, the vessel includes a mini-model of the Tantive IV, Princess Leia's Rebel blockade runner seen at the start of A New Hope. The blockade runner, only available with the Star Destroyer, is the first of an upcoming collection of similar-sized mini-vehicles.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Run for your Life!

If only this was a USB hub, then I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I really don't need a four-port firewire hub.

Courtesy of TidBITS, my boss, and Jack Gulick, who really needs to start his own blog, the Non-Euclidean Staircase.

Exploding Dog has some really neat pictures, and another site has desktop pictures of some of the images.

I found this a while ago, and have just found it again (the desktop images, that is). So I figured making a blog entry would enable me to find it if I lose it once more.

He also illustrated a neat story over at The Morning News.

I need to think up something cool to submit for a drawing. Hey Anne, should I use "If it's going to screw me, it might as well be green?"

Welcome Google searchers! (eventually...I'm sure they'll come here for this)

VIPON Tampon, the vibrating tampon.

In preliminary testing of over 100 women the Vipon has been proven effective for the relief of menstrual pain with NO side effects, just a soothing sensation.

And apologies to the men who get squicked by this.

Ye Is Not, And Never Was, an English Word

Okay, now I want to know where the extra e's come from.

Courtesy of kuro5hin, which was found via NetNewsWire.

All My Life For Sale

Heard this on NPR this afternoon, and have spent the last hour or so browsing the book portion of his site. Love the letters of people who have bought his stuff. What an interesting concept.

Seeking Perfection in Shoe Lacing, With 43,200 Choices

The main reason I'm reporting this is because of my high school Speech and Debate class. (We never did get to the debate portion.) One of our assignments was to deliver instructions on how to do something, in front of the class. We were forbidden from even attempting to demonstrate how to peel a potato, because that had been done to perfection in a previous year, by someone who went into the whole potato famine as well as describe how to peel a potato, and made the teacher weep and laugh.

So, why this ramble? Because I did mine on the different ways to lace your shoes.

Many of you won't believe this, but I used to be a shy, quiet girl. One of the reasons I took this class was to be more comfortable in front of groups of people (even though I was also doing drama at the time for the same reason). I had a fear of getting up in front of people. HUGE fear. This class helped me get over it. That, and drama, and choir.

I don't recall the grade, but the class did think I did okay (they also graded and commented on the presentations). And I learned how to ladder lace as well as other lace styles I've completely forgotten.

The Brick Testament

I particularly love the thought balloons, especially on the horses in the Noah's Ark story...

Courtesy of Ian.

I wandered over to The Bleat this morning, and found my reason to go see Star Trek: Nemesis in the theaters. I may even try to get out tomorrow to catch it.

And this amusing tidbit at the end, wherein the current Lileks talks to his 11-year-old self.

O ghost of Geekdom to Come, tell me what else I might see in this wondrous future.

A Spider-Man movie, a Hulk movie, and a Daredevil movie, all within a 18-month period.

(Pause) Okay, now you叝e just screwing with me.

Do we live in a great time period to be a geek or what?

SCIENCE HOBBYIST: Traffic Waves, physics for bored commuters

I do the exact same thing this guy talks about, all the time. I've found the same results. I just hadn't blogged about it before now.

Really makes me wish I'd taken the time to write it up. But really...if you watch traffic at all, you'll note the patterns. And going slow and steady will always win the race.

Courtesy of BoingBoing.

Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You - Powers Of 10

I feel so tiny now.

http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

*twitch*

Farscape Bobblehead Figures

At least there's not an Aeryn one.

Courtesy of Scapers LiveJournal.

I think I'd like to live at ResidenSea, at least for a little while.

Okay, maybe a vacation. $500/night? Come one, some one can spare that!

*plans to buy some PowerBall tickets tonight*

Not from the elves of Lorien, but the original one Legolas used. Or a replica thereof. But it is a *working Bow*.

$10/pop for the raffle. Proceeds to charity.

Oh, deadline is tomorrow (April 19th), btw.

Abston Church of Christ

The pictures are just great, and I love the Construction diary.

Favorite quote under the "Cats in Church" section of photos:

My cats really liked rubbing their backs on the floor of the church. The studs must feel pretty good. They also liked rubbing their faces on the many corners. I had to vacuum the church before I installed the pews.

Warren Ellis is going to be interviewed by Slashdot. Get your questions ready!

Radio Shack, it appears, had a subway system to shuttle employees from parking lots to the offices. And now, you can own one for $5,000, because I guess they decided it wasn't necessary anymore.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Would that this were true.

I think they all must have said in some interview somewhere that they read these comics. But what a coup for the comic industry if they could get these, or other, celebrities to promote comics.

Courtesy of Wendi.

According to Humans For Sale, I've gone down in my value.

You are worth exactly: $1,682,060.00.

Last year, about this time, I was worth $1,725,060.00.

Woe.

AtomFilms - Your Lightsaber and You

One of those "safety" films from the 50's, done for lightsabers.

And The Surrealist Compliment Generator, including such wonderful compliments as:

The microfine network of eyes traversing your shoulders causes me to shudder in anticipation of the coming of the wondrous season of jaundiced eskimos and impotent Anglican priests.

and

You look like someone who has lunched poorly and who has no expectations for dinner.

American Apology Shirt, in all the official UN languages.

And another shirt which says: "In a free society, diversity is not disorder. Debate is not strife. And dissent is not revolution." - George W. Bush, in February 2002 ini Beijing.

A college friend of an LJ friend of mine is selling these.

This is making me hungry, and I just ate lunch.

Octodog's Frankfurter Converter

From the site: The fun, simple and safer way to turn ordinary hotdogs into exciting to cook and super fun to eat... Octodogs

Okay, this is really freaky. And if I were still a kid, I might be intrigued. Now...I'm just stunned.

Courtesy of Prozac Conniption 2.

I was waiting to link to the list, because I wanted the one right on their site.

And here it is!

A few items of note:

3. Iraq has always been a problem.
4. "Ctrl + Alt + Del" is as basic as "ABC."
15. Garrison Keillor has always been live on public radio and Lawrence Welk has always been dead on public television.
21. Datsuns have never been made.
28. Stores have always had scanners at the checkout.
37. There has always been Lean Cuisine.
44. Yuppies are almost as old as hippies.

I do like the five at the bottom, for things from the current generation.

But damn, do I feel old.

I must admit, I found this terribly amusing.

But maybe it's just me.

I know that a number of my friends love Alton Brown and Good Eats, so I thought I'd just point you all to a interview earlier this year with our favorite Food Scientist.

Talk Like a Pirate Day be today, ye scurvy wags!

LEGO is looking for a Master Builder.

Aside from working for Apple, this is THE dream job for me.

Currently six Master Model Builders work their magic at the park, maintaining more than 5,000 models composed of more than 30-million regulation LEGO bricks, and constantly dreaming up new creations. Their projects have ranged from an animated T-Rex towering 40-feet to a tiny “duck” hanging in the window of a Chinatown grocery store in the Miniland section of the park.

Courtesy of BoingBoing.

iTunes for Windows.

Will download this at home, once I get there. Then transfer the library of music off the work computer to the home one.

Then, it's time to start filling up that 40gb partition of the 80gb drive with the CD collection...

Well, I found one thing to get for my Mother-in-Law this year for Christmas!

Now, the question is...just one, or should I pick one or more of the others?

Now you know.

And knowing is half the ... ah, crap, mixing my metaphors again.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

What Tolkien Officially Said about Elf Sex.

I know I've read this before, but I couldn't find a blog entry pointing to it, so I may not have had the blog then. Or just didn't link it.

Reminder courtesy of Tafkar's LJ.

A Lord of the Rings and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical Adventure. Not quite complete yet, but getting there!

I think I know where I'll be headed in August.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - The Exhibition - Museum of Science, Boston.

On August 1, 2004, the Museum of Science will open the much-anticipated The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy—The Exhibition. The Museum will be the U.S. premiere site for this international touring exhibition.

Thoughts and commentary on the movie coming later. Maybe much later. I am still digesting it all.

But I do agree with what a friend of mine said, when she saw it at a press premiere...

Fucking wow.

Speed-pass enabled Timex Watch

The Speedpass™ -enabled Timex Watch is the fastest and easiest way to pay. No reaching for your wallet, or fumbling with change. Speedpass is accepted at:

o 8,300+ Exxon and Mobil stations nationwide

o 440+ McDonald's restaurants in Chicago and Northwest Indiana

o 14 Stop & Shop Supermarkets in the Boston area.

Too bad that the Stop & Shop's aren't local, as we shop there and have a Speedpass.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

TeenAngstPoetry.com

This page is a comedic look at really bad poetry written in teen angst years. TeenAngstPoetry.com is contributed by people 18 and over who have overcome their angst and are able to laugh at their past (and the products of their angst).

I'll have to look and see if I can find any of my old writings. I think I have a poem or two I could submit!

Volvo has a new concept car, designed by women for women.

While I love the concept of a split headrest for women who wear ponytails, the inaccessible engine compartment leaves women like me - trained by my father on how to change the oil on my car, and able to get my old Plymouth Duster going when the men around me just stood and stared dumbly - scratching their heads.

I also don't think I'd change the seat pads to match my outfit (*teehee* I'm a girl!!), though putting wool ones on in the winter would be helpful.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Just remember, today is Free Cone Day at your local Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop.

Tonight is Free Scoop Night at Baskin Robbins.

Lou, this looks to me like something right out of Fallout or Fallout 2.

Blackmesa HLｲ by piloux

Hopefully the site won't be slashdotted and go down. I may try to save some of the pictures in case it does.

(and yes, I know it's a Half-Life case mod, but it also looks Fallout-esque to me)

Courtesy of, where else, Slashdot.

OMG, I have a gmail account!

*ogles*

Now, if it would only work with Opera...

I just found out that one of my co-workers is a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-Off for this year. Her recipe is here, and I must say, it looks yummy!

Best of luck, Sherri!

I've got more invites. Does anyone who reads my blog want a gmail invite?

Jack, I've converted. All the stats are now at zero, but all the teams have been moved. I don't know if they'll move the old rresults over or not. We'll see.

...to read this interview with Madeleine L'Engle in Newsweek/MSNBC online. I particularly like this quote.

...because it[the Bible]'s truth, not fact, and you have to take truth seriously even when it expands beyond the facts.

Courtesy of Tafkar's LJ.

If you take a look here, you can get a good look at what the insides, and outsides, of the new G5 iMacs look like.

I think what someone said on the MacJournals discussion list is correct. Apple learned a lot from trying to fit the G5 into the XServe case.

Welcome to Robert's Snow: An Online Auction of Artist's Snowflakes for Cancer's Cure

Be sure to browse the entire gallery. The artwork is just amazing.

'The Last Starfighter', the Musical, Beams Down Into World Premiere in NYC.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

When I'm at work, I use a browser called Camino (formerly Chimera) for just about everything web-related. It's perfect for my needs, and fills every niche I need for work, and for play. It's come a long way, and with stiff competition from Safari and now Firefox. But each of those programs lacks something Camino has, and that's what keeps me loyal.

You have built something that people are fighting for and passionate about. That is a huge compliment, IMO the best compliment software can get."

Courtesy of Slashdot.

I've fixed the RSS feed. My own bad, for using a "non-standard" feed name (sfad.rdf instead of index.rdf), and while I fixed the template properly, I did not update the main index page.

But in playing around with Firefox's "Live Bookmark" feature (it was shown to me yesterday at a SysAdmin meeting at Brown), I realized that it wasn't showing the right feed for subscription and tracked down the solution.

I still wish I could just use the delete key to go back in Firefox for OS X. It's one of the reasons I mentioned for not switching from Camino.

But now I've got an ad-block .css sheet that is blocking images for Camino, at least. I do need to get that extension installed for Firefox here at work.

So how many browsers do I use on a daily basis? In my Dock, I have Camino in the prominent space (right next to the Finder), followed by IE, Netscape 7, Safari, and Firefox. No Opera on Mac yet, but if I need another browser, that'd likely be the one I go to.

The trip to the Museum of Science went very well yesterday. I forgot, alas, to make it into the little room they had set aside for the One Ring, but everything else was very neat. I wish I could have taken pictures, but alas, we were not permitted. The life-sized mold of Sean Bean as Boromir in the Lothlorien canoe was worth the price of admission, if just for that! We also did a small amount of general exhibit viewing, including an exhibit of "Strange Matter" which included magnetic liquid and a clay that became harder/had increased mass, sort of like going from liquidy-mud to potter's clay, when magnetic fields were applied to it. Really neat stuff, and used in physical therapy, or so they said. The electicity show was cool too, but the Van deGraaff machine wasn't cranking that much today or something, so we didn't have the huge show the guy was hoping for.

I realized only once we got to the Green line switch at Park Street that the Green line did NOT go all the way to Science Park. We could have taken a train as far as North Station, but decided to switch at Government Center onto the shuttle, which went pretty well. And on the way back, though our bus driver was out of transfer tickets, the subway attendant let us go on for free, which was good. I didn't want to throw another $2.50 in Boston's direction.

We stopped for dinner on the way home, and then tried to get a few blank video tapes but ended up getting a few things before we finally did that, including a fleece pullover for me at Job Lot which was only $10. It fit quite well and kept me quite warm last night while we watched Teen Titans and the reshowing of Lost.

Speaking of which...anyone else watching that show? Lou's actually considering having us get another ReplayTV (when I brought it up), since both Lost and Smallville are on at the same time. And tapes are SO last century.

Slate takes on the Excalibur (in Vegas) and Medieval Manor in this article.

Interesting things to note, especially for Medieval buffs.

Before you ask, yes, I do know someone who did get their free iPod from FreeiPods.com. And I know that you basically sign up to be on a bunch of spam referral lists (not that I'm not on a bunch already). But isn't that what web email is for, anyway?

So, be that as it may, if you would like a free flat screen tv, feel free to click through the link and sign up. You'll be helping me get one, and maybe get one yourself.

Or, just ignore this post and go on with your lives.

It looks like this software could give Readerware a run for its money.

Since I'm still Windows-based at home, it's not a perfect fit for me, but it still looks good. And it's won the Mac OS X 2004 Innovators Award.

Personally, I like being able to use an iSight to scan bar codes. Great idea.

Though I'm not sure about the "fun" of doing a Mystery Hunt in Boston in January, I thought that at least one person who reads my blog might be interested.

Lake Superior State University has been making a Banished Words List for almost two decades now. The Complete List is included as well, and definitely worth a browse.

I can't wait to see what they decide to ban in 2005.

Someone with a smart eye has already taken Jayne, but be sure to read about the rest, and maybe make a note to not take any Premarin, if prescribed for menopause.

Courtesy of tafkar's LJ.

Found this linked on a community somehwere, and thought it was quite interesting. Something for the wiki to link to when it's done, perhaps?

Firefly Timeline

The guy who did it has a bunch of other timelines listed as well.

Want to travel from place to place, but worried about your laptop being stolen? Now, you only have to worry about hungry thieves, with the new PowerPizza travelling case!

I do wonder though, will it smell like pizza?

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Hey, Ian, how far away is this from where you are?

M&M'Sｮ Chocolate MPire

I so want a Dark Chocolate M&M right now.

And in the Category of Way Too Much Time On His Hands, we have this guy.

Though the catapults are the awesome.

I really wish I had known about this before half the day was gone!

I am NOT going to miss this one this year. Especially as it's on Friday the 13th!

(though I may post to LJ and not here)