Saturday, May 24, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
this annoys me.
i've been saying that all cars should have this installed, not just on the toyonda pious. i always figured that if we had solar panels on the roofs of our car, we could run the cooling system to help keep our cars cooler in the summer and because it was solar powered, it wouldn't drain the battery.
i know that i'm not the first person to think of it, but i'm surprised that it's taken this long actually implement it. and why not do what i'm suggesting - put it on the roof of my car and wire it into my cooling system and let the vents run during the dog days of summer. that way when i get out to the car, i won't bake like an unbasted thanksgiving turkey.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
go figure
the other week, i installed Office 2007 Basic (word, excel, outlook) on my laptop. more out of curiosity than anything. in part because we have copies of it (dell sees fit to include them with their laptops and we don't plan on upgrading Office 2003 for some time) and because mickeysoft changed the interface around, going with what they call a 'ribbon'.
it takes a little getting used to as we are so used to the basic menu style which hasn't changed much since widespread adoption of GUI, but now that i'm beginning to figure it out, i'm starting to see some of the logic behind it.
anyways, as outlook is the program i use the most, it's easy for me to see the differences between 2003 (on the server at my desk) and 2007 (on my laptop). the biggest thing is the ability to drag emails to my little To Do/Tasks menu which is docked on the right hand side of outlook. it serves as a good reminder of what i need to do and i'm finding it is helping me to be a little more organized about my various tasks and projects (that is a very good thing, organization and i have a rather contentious relationship as it is).
i hadn't given it a great deal of thought until just now as i was connected to my server and wanted to set up a reminder/task/to do item and when i looked at my tasks, it wasn't there the way it would be in 2007. that mildly annoyed me, yet humored me into realizing that maybe the upgrade wasn't such a bad thing.
i know that we won't adopt it at work for a long time (took us 10 years to purge Office 97, think we're in a rush for Office 2007? and the majority of our employees qualify for luddite status? HA!) but i'm thinking that it isn't such a bad thing. i'm going to have to grab a 2nd copy (we have plenty) to install on my server. that way i won't go completely nuts trying to do something in outlook 2k3 that i'm doing automatically in outlook 2k7.
so, congrats microsoft - you've managed to make me into a slightly more efficient worker. (no I before E except after C?)
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
water water everywhere
and who knows what to drink? i went to the new market basket that opened recently near me to pick up some stuff last night and as it was less crazy (and i wasn't feeling like shit) when M&i went on saturday afternoon, i took the time to actually wander up and down the aisle to get a sense of the layout. it wasn't that different from the others in the area, but i had to laugh when i hit the water aisle.
it was nothing but water.
bottled. spring. fruity. plain. vitamin. fizzy. flavored with sweet n' low. flavored with splenda. energizing. relaxing. filtered. distilled. big bottles. little bottles. gallons. pods.
i just stared in amazement at just how water crazy a society we have become. in the past, water and soda would live in the same aisle, usually soda on one side, water, bottled teas & energy drinks on the other. but there, they have an entire aisle for soda. a separate aisle for water. fruit juice/drinks are in their own aisle (filled one entire side). energy drinks are somewhere else. tea/coffee based drinks have their own 1/2 side of an aisle. i was amazed at just how much variety there is in the beverage world. sure i know that it's nuts - everyone wants a piece of the beverage market, but i hadn't realized just how bad it was when i realized that there was more beverage selection than there was frozen foods, or the entire produce department.
guess we like water.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Monday, May 05, 2008
Sunday, May 04, 2008
walk for hunger
the 40th annual Walk for Hunger was this year, and for the 4th year in a row, M, F & i walked all 20 miles. weather sucked between miles 2 & 5 (heavy and then steady rain) but unlike the 2005 walk, we were much better prepared for the rain and we managed to stay reasonably dry. (yay umbrellas)
hit the start line (mile 0) at 804am and crossed the finish line (mile 20) at 240pm.
we're all sore and tired, but it was fun, and certainly more enjoyable after mile 11 when it stopped raining.
804am
240pm
Saturday, May 03, 2008
the tv saga continues...
good news bad news.
the good news is i have tv. the bad news is it's piggybacking on KO's for the moment which means i have to get cable. *sigh*
so i'll try and call on monday to see when i can get it installed. oh well. it's been a little while since i've had to pay a cable bill so i can't complain too loudly.
Friday, May 02, 2008
that was lucky
all was not lost. fortunately for me, i have some really cool landlords who offered to let me watch BSG on their tv in the basement. KO is gonna look at things tomorrow, and LO said that comcast has been up and down the street all week, so who knows what kind of games they are playing. we did laugh at how stinky still had her cable as KO lamented that he wished it was hers that was a problem and not mine - they aren't fond of her leaving her tv on all the time with the volume up a levels it shouldn't be. he's talked with her several times about the volume and she still doesn't seem to do anything to their annoyance.
hopefully we'll be able to figure out what is wrong and i'll have tv back, but worst case scenario, i'll get my own. i haven't had to pay for it since moving here (split the bill at the last place) so if that's what it means, oh well.
tivo does attempt to record the channel, but then it doesn't bother to keep whatever isn't broadcast. i went to watch something that i knew had recorded only to discover that it hadn't and that's when i discovered the blank screen. of course it didn't help that i started watching something else i had recorded so i didn't realize quite what had happened until it was too late. but thankfully the kindness of landlords shined their light and allowed me to keep up with the happenings of BSG.
grrrr...
fucking cable is out. wonder if it's related to that whole fustercluck KO was telling me about last weekend...
Thursday, May 01, 2008
an open letter to Mr. Orson Scott Card
Dear Mr. Card,
Bravo.
Sincerely,
Rev. Molius
(Mr. Card's comments past jump in case it moves)
Uncle Orson Reviews Everything
J.K. Rowling, Lexicon and Oz
by Orson
April 24, 2008
Can you believe that J.K. Rowling is suing a small publisher because she claims their 10,000-copy edition of The Harry Potter Lexicon, a book about Rowling's hugely successful novel series, is just a "rearrangement" of her own material.
Rowling "feels like her words were stolen," said lawyer Dan Shallman.
Well, heck, I feel like the plot of my novel Ender's Game was stolen by J.K. Rowling.
A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader. He trains other kids in unauthorized extra sessions, which enrages his enemies, who attack him with the intention of killing him; but he is protected by his loyal, brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family members. He is given special guidance by an older man of legendary accomplishments who previously kept the enemy at bay. He goes on to become the crucial figure in a struggle against an unseen enemy who threatens the whole world.
This paragraph lists only the most prominent similarities between Ender's Game and the Harry Potter series. My book was published in England many years before Rowling began writing about Harry Potter. Rowling was known to be reading widely in speculative fiction during the era after the publication of my book.
I can get on the stand and cry, too, Ms. Rowling, and talk about feeling "personally violated."
The difference between us is that I actually make enough money from Ender's Game to be content, without having to try to punish other people whose creativity might have been inspired by something I wrote.
Mine is not the only work that one can charge Rowling "borrowed" from. Check out this piece from a fan site, pointing out links between Harry Potter and other previous works: http://www.geocities.com/versetrue/rowling.htm. And don't forget the lawsuit by Nancy K. Stouffer, the author of a book entitled The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, whose hero was named "Larry Potter."
At that time, Rowling's lawyers called Stouffer's claim "frivolous."
It's true that we writers borrow words from each other ? but we're supposed to admit it and not pretend we're original when we're not. I took the word ansible from Ursula K. LeGuin, and have always said so. Rowling, however, denies everything.
If Steven Vander Ark, the author of Lexicon, had written fiction that he claimed was original, when it was actually a rearrangement of ideas taken from the Harry Potter books, then she'd have a case.
But Lexicon is intended only as a reference book for people who have already paid for their copies of Rowling's books. Even though the book is not scholarly, it certainly falls within the realm of scholarly comment.
Rowling's hypocrisy is so thick I can hardly breathe: Prior to the publication of each novel, there were books about them that were no more intrusive than Lexicon. I contributed to one of them, and there was no complaint about it from Rowling or her publishers because they knew perfectly well that these fan/scholar ancillary publications were great publicity and actually boosted sales.
But now the Harry Potter series is over, and Rowling claims that her "creative work" is being "decimated."
Of course, she doesn't claim that it's the Lexicon that is harming her "creative work" (who's she borrowing from this time?); it's the lawsuit itself! And since she chose to bring the suit, whose fault is it? If she had left Vander Ark alone to publish his little book and make his little bit of money, she wouldn't be distracted from her next novel.
But no, Rowling claims Vander Ark's book "constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work."
Seventeen years? What a crock. Apparently she includes in that total the timeframe in which she was reading ? and borrowing from ? the work of other writers.
On the stand, though, Rowling's chief complaint seems to be that she would do a better job of annotating and encyclopedizing her own series.
So what?
Nothing prevents her from doing exactly that ? annotating and explaining her own novels. Do you think that if there were a Harry Potter Annotated by the Author, Vander Ark's book would interfere with her sales in any way?
This frivolous lawsuit puts at serious risk the entire tradition of commentary on fiction. Any student writing a paper about the Harry Potter books, any scholarly treatise about it, will certainly do everything she's complaining about.
Once you publish fiction, Ms. Rowling, anybody is free to write about it, to comment on it, and to quote liberally from it, as long as the source is cited.
Here's the irony: Vander Ark had the material for this book on his website for years, and Rowling is quoted as saying that when she needed to look up some 'fact" from her earlier books, she would sometimes "sneak into an Internet cafe while out writing and check a fact rather than go into a bookshop and buy a copy of Harry Potter."
In other words, she already had made personal use of Vander Ark's work and found it valuable. Even if it has shortcomings, she found it useful.
That means that Vander Ark created something original and useful ? he added value to the product. If Rowling wants to claim that it interferes with her creativity now, she should have made that complaint back when she was using it ? and giving Vander Ark an award for his website back in 2004.
Now, of course, she regrets "bitterly" having given the award.
You know what I think is going on?
Rowling has nowhere to go and nothing to do now that the Harry Potter series is over. After all her literary borrowing, she shot her wad and she's flailing about trying to come up with something to do that means anything.
Moreover, she is desperate for literary respectability. Even though she made more money than the queen or Oprah Winfrey in some years, she had to see her books pushed off the bestseller lists and consigned to a special "children's book" list. Litterateurs sneer at her work as a kind of subliterature, not really worth discussing.
It makes her insane. The money wasn't enough. She wants to be treated with respect.
At the same time, she's also surrounded by people whose primary function is to suck up to her. No doubt some of them were saying to her, "It's wrong for these other people to be exploiting what you created to make money for themselves."
She let herself be talked into being outraged over a perfectly normal publishing activity, one that she had actually made use of herself during its web incarnation.
Now she is suing somebody who has devoted years to promoting her work and making no money from his efforts ? which actually helped her make some of her bazillions of dollars.
Talent does not excuse Rowling's ingratitude, her vanity, her greed, her bullying of the little guy, and her pathetic claims of emotional distress.
I fully expect that the outcome of this lawsuit will be:
1. Publication of Lexicon will go on without any problem or prejudice, because it clearly falls within the copyright law's provision for scholarly work, commentary and review.
2. Rowling will be forced to pay Steven Vander Ark's legal fees, since her suit was utterly without merit from the start.
3. People who hear about this suit will have a sour taste in their mouth about Rowling from now on. Her Cinderella story once charmed us. Her greedy evil-witch behavior now disgusts us. And her next book will be perceived as the work of that evil witch.
It's like her stupid, self-serving claim that Dumbledore was gay. She wants credit for being very up-to-date and politically correct ? but she didn't have the guts to put that supposed "fact" into the actual novels, knowing that it might hurt sales.
What a pretentious, puffed-up coward. When I have a gay character in my fiction, I say so right in the book. I don't wait until after it has had all its initial sales to mention it.
Rowling has now shown herself to lack a brain, a heart and courage. Clearly, she needs to visit Oz.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
random picture of the moment: final picture of the Ex
this is the final picture of the Ex. took it right before i left for work with my phone. so there it was. according to LO, it was picked up around 11am, so it is no longer my problem. she asked if i was going to miss it, and my answer was a flat 'no'. as i've described it recently, it was an unfortunate car. as a car, it was fine, but the circumstances that landed it in my life were frustrating. long story short - jeep i owned was stolen and totaled. had to buy car. this was it.
and there it went. 
34,898 - 129,732
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