Next Archive - December 2004

Free Credit Report

Those in the Western United States now have the right to a free annual credit report from three major credit reporting agencies, all through the same web site: AnnualCreditReport.com.

I just did that, and I was pleased to see that my credit is good, and annoyed at how many inaccuracies there are. These are the companies passing judgement on my life?


Blog Tag: Links

Web Findings

I've bookmarked some more cool web sites to share with you. Because I'm just that kinda guy:

For bloggers, there's blogbox, a new source of blog widgets like weather tool, clock, photo show or mp3 player.

For photographers, or those who like photo galleries, there's 26 Things, kinda like Photo Friday, only it's once a month and 26 themes at once.

For those of you living on Planet Earth (don't you ever wonder?), there's the World Sunlight Map.

And finally, for those of you searching for that ultimate put-down for the irksome jerk who's been bothering you, there's the Canonical List of FullDeckisms.

Surf yourself silly.


Blog Tag: Links

Windows Noises

The unbounded creativity of the human mind never ceases to amaze me. Neither does the number of people with too much time on their hands. The intersection of these two sets can be found by playing the Flash animation at Windows Noises, a captivating little musical composition. Brilliant.

And while I've got your attention, we now journey across the corpus callosum to the other side of the brain to enjoy A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia.


Blog Tag: Links   Blog Tag: Amusements

Word Color

I ran across a free little Windows app called WordColor that lets you type in a word (or phrase) and it then searches Google for images matching your input, and it averages the colors that come back to give you a color to match your search term. It's a fun little gadget, I just wish I could click on the images to get full-size versions of them.


Blog Tag: Links

The Frog in the Freezer

I remember as a teen my stepfather had a swimming pool put in. They dug it out, and that same day I found a frog sitting happily in a tiny puddle of water at the bottom of it. I didn't even know there were frogs in the area. Frogs seem to just show up where they will.

Tonight, for Thanksgiving, we're having pastilla. What, you're having turkey? You've never heard of pastilla for Thanksgiving? You've never even heard of pastilla? (Pronounced pass-TEA-yuh.) It's a Moroccan dish with chicken, eggs, onion, cilantro and other spices, baked in a pie with a phyllo dough crust and covered with cinnamon and powdered sugar. It's an involved process to make, and leaves the kitchen a mess, but the results are wonderful, and we're not that fond of turkey, so one year our daughter requested pastilla instead of turkey for Thanksgiving, and we've been doing it ever since.

Yesterday my wife went to the store for the fixings, and came home with not just pastilla ingredients but a frozen turkey as well. It was so cheap she couldn't pass it up. As a result, she had to clean the freezer to make room for the big bird. Stashed away in the back, behind the ice cube trays, she found a plastic bag. Inside the bag was a paper towel wrapped in rubber bands. Inside the paper towel was a matchbox. Curiouser and curiouser.

Not being one to pass up a good mystery, my wife opened the bag, and opened the matchbox. And found a frog. A well-preserved frog. For some reason, she questioned me as to its origins, but I professed ignorence (which is quite true). So she in turn questioned our daughter, and the truth did out.

It seems that about seven years ago our daughter got a science kit from her uncle that had everything you need to raise frogs from eggs. She sent away for the eggs, put them in the tank, and sure enough they hatched into tadpoles, and eventually into frogs. Most of the frogs, after they'd lived their lives, were buried in the backyard next to a few former pets that had also returned to their Maker. But the last frog she couldn't bear to part with, and squirreled the frog away in an obscure corner of the freezer!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (And a plentiful harvest to those of you across the seas.)


Blog Tag: Chatter

Declaration of Independence Banned by CA School

The school banned the Declaration of Independence because it has the word God in it??? The thing schools don't teach is common sense.

via blogsnow


Blog Tag: News

CBS News Anchor Dan Rather to Resign

As I expected, Dan Rather is resigning as news anchorman teleprompter reader for CBS News. Read about it here.


Blog Tag: News

Snowball Fight!!!

It's that time of year again, so put on your coat and your mittens and head on over to the Flash game SnowCraft for a quick round of snowball throwing. You just grab one of your little red-coated guys, put them in position and let go, and he tosses his snowball at the opponent you aimed at. Fun for the entire family! (Not responsible for frostbite or other injuries.)


Blog Tag: Links   Blog Tag: Amusements

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

A friend just pointed me at HumanDescent, a fascinating, amazingly well done gallery of PhotoShop creations combining the features of two different animals into one. The shots are eye-catching, but slightly disturbing, depending on your mindset.


Blog Tag: Links   Blog Tag: Images

Not Tonight Dear

Just heard on CSI:

Amoebas at the start
Were not complex;
They tore themselves apart
And started Sex.
~Arthur Guiterman


Blog Tag: Humor

The Progress of the Progress Bar

If you're reading this post on my site (and not in an RSS aggregator) you'll notice a rather busy sidebar off to the right. A sidebar, not to be confused with a side bar where lawyers whine to the judge, or a side car where motorcycle passengers whine to the driver, is an HTML jungle where over-ambitious web page designers load up all the junk that in real life would be stacked to the ceiling in a closet, waiting for some unsuspecting soul to open the door at peril to his or her dear life.

Blog authors often load their sidebars with links to friends, relatives, favorite blogs and other sites, plus calendars, personal info, pictures of their pampered pet, and logos of all the supposedly "free" goodies that they're using on their blog to slow down delivery of their little posts, now made fatter with all the sidebar frou-frou like bling on a banger. (Try saying that five times fast!)

At any rate, if you dare wade into my sidebar pool and scroll down past the personal puffery, the links and the dates and the other miscellanea, you'll notice the new progress bar that measures my lack of progress in writing my novel. As I write this post, I've reached 211 pages out of a minimum goal of 300. Five of those pages I added just this last weekend in a burst of writing frenzy triggered by ideas whispered in my ear by a couple of the novel's characters. Make your characters quirky enough, and they transform into muses who insist on writing the story themselves.

I'm plenty quirky in my own right, so I'm trying to manage the herd and see if I can get us all to the same end of the book.


Blog Tag: Chatter

Scheming Color Generator

If, like me, you're missing the bone in your head that allows you to choose colors that go well together, you'll be pleased to know that there's an easy-to-use Color Scheme Generator to do all the work for us style-challenged folk.

(via Google Blogoscoped)


Blog Tag: Links

What Is The Sound of One Hand Clicking?

If you enjoy koans, those maddening little Zen riddles and stories, then let me point you to a wonderful collection of Zen Stories to Tell Your Neighbors.


Blog Tag: Links

Feeling Old?

From the eMusings mailbag:

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things. Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of this year's incoming freshmen. Here's this year's list:

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1985. They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.

The CD was introduced the year they were born.

They have always had an answering machine.

They have always had cable.

They cannot fathom not having a remote control.

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.

They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

They never heard: "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" or "de plane Boss, de plane."

They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.

McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.


Blog Tag: Humor   Blog Tag: Mailbag

Petaluma Community Center

Yesterday I drove up to Petaluma (no, I didn't get to pet a luma) to see my friend perform in a belly dance demonstration. Below is the tower of the community center where she performed, and a feathered denizen of the adjacent pond.

Blog Tag: Images   Blog Tag: Petaluma

Masked Marauders

Tonight our backyard was invaded by masked marauders. Below is our Maine Coon with his ringed tail fluffed up, checking out the opposition, his namesakes.

Blog Tag: Images   Blog Tag: Ringo   Blog Tag: Ringo

Fall Has Fell

The view from a webcam looking out a front window of my house after the rain, with the colors of fall (yes, even here in Northern California) and the distortion of the window glass.


Blog Tag: Images

Be a Punk Rocker

I found a fun Flash application that let's you improvise music just by clicking a few buttons. So if you like punk rock and don't mind obscenity (isn't that redundant?) be sure and check out The Dirty Punk F***** Anarchy Machine. It's a lot of fun, even if you're not into rock music. Not safe for work. For off-road use only. May be too intense for some viewers. (via Crikey!)


Blog Tag: Links   Blog Tag: Amusements

Bugs You Must Have

One of my favorite sci-fi books is The Goblin Reservation by Clifford D. Simak. The characters are all fascinating, the situations funny and thought-provoking. One of the scenes that sticks in my mind is near the end, where Mr. O'Toole, the goblin, is describing the ale-brewing process:

"To make October ale, bugs you must have falling into it and all other matters of great uncleanliness or the flavor you will miss."

I find that working on my novel is like that. Over the course of time I notice things that catch my fancy and I work them into the story. Various events and characters are inspired or outright stolen from things I see and hear. Gossip heard at the gym, mannerisms I've observed, a series of events that I wouldn't believe if I hadn't seen it myself. They all find their way into the characters and storylines.

A book isn't written in a vacuum, and I wonder how mine would have turned out if I had started it at another time or place. Of course, it's not done yet, so I'm still wondering how it will turn out. Who knows what I might see tomorrow?


Blog Tag: Chatter

Download The Internet

I think I've already mentioned The End of the Internet which is a cute little page, and today I came across Downloading the Internet. Let it run for a few minutes to get the full effect.
(via Smarter Stuff)


Blog Tag: Humor   Blog Tag: Links

I'm Not Dead Yet!

And in other news, for those with a morbid sense of humor, there's Monty Python Sues Arafat for Copyright Infringement!


Blog Tag: Humor   Blog Tag: Links

Post-Election Analysis

For those of you who aren't totally burned out on the last election, there's an interesting and perceptive analysis of the outcome from a writer's perspective at Electric Mist.

And, finally, an amusing, smirky tongue-in-cheek account of how impressed the world is by our democratic process can be found at the Onion.

Don't worry, I'm really trying not to keep posting about the election. It just gets so tempting, and I'm a really weak person. Don't tempt me. :)


Blog Tag: Links

A Catbox Conundrum

We use Arm & Hammer's Super Scoop catbox litter. According to its box, it "Destroys Odors Instantly" and "An Odor Free Home Starts here!" and it says "Fresh Scent" right there on the box.

Now, I ask you... how can it have a "Fresh Scent" if it destroys odors? Do they have some magical scent with odorkiller immunity? What if that mutated out in the wild and other odors started evolving with odorkiller immunity? Would that spell the end of mouthwash as we know it?

Why don't things make sense anymore? I'm just asking.


Blog Tag: Chatter

French Attack Ivory Coast

I read a report on MSNBC about the French destroying the Ivory Coast's Air Force, and I've read rumors about them killing civilians in retaliation for an attack on French soldiers. Out of curiosity, I surfed on over to Le Monde, the web site of the French newspaper, in hopes of reading their point of view, but unlike many of the major American news sites, I found no versions of Le Monde in other languages, just the French version, which I don't read very well. Now, that hardly seems fair! I'm curious if they feel they need the approval of other countries to carry out attacks on foreign soil.


Blog Tag: News   Blog Tag: Opinion

Great Space Art

If you enjoy space art, you need to go to The Artwork of Greg Martin for some absolutely glorious, majestic digital art skyscapes of stars, planets, nebulae and aurora (via The Ramblin Dragon).


Blog Tag: Links   Blog Tag: Images

The Saturdate

We had a nice day today. Went to see a movie, watched some Netflix DVDs, put away the last of the Halloween decorations, practiced guitar, and added four pages to my book.

The Incredibles: Great movie!
The Station Agent: Good movie.
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: No sir, didn't like it.


Blog Tag: Chatter   Blog Tag: Reviews

200 Pages, Woo Hoo!

This morning, for some unknown reason, my alarm went off an hour early. (Let it be known that my Pocket PC is my alarm clock.) I got to the ferry early and, as I usually do, worked on my novel. I've been working on this novel, off and on, for about a year now. Lately I've mostly been editing and restructuring, so that when I continue I'm building on a better foundation, but the past couple weeks a couple of the characters have spoken to me and given me ideas for them.

I was so entranced in typing that I didn't notice the ferry pull up. It was when the herd stood and moved as one towards the gangplank that I went, "Uh oh!" and saved my file, put my laptop into standby and joined the herd. Moo.

It wasn't until I was actually on board the ferry that I noticed something odd. It was like a strange dream. Like taking a drink of Coke and finding Pepsi. Nothing in the ferry was where it usually was. The stairs were different, the seats were different, the decks were different. Where was I?

Well, it turns out that my usual ferry was in the shop, and this was one of the slower ones instead of the high speed ferry I always took. So I was a little late to work, but on the other hand...

I broke the 200-page barrier! My novel is now almost 201 pages, over 70,000 words. Only 100 pages to go. I don't think I'll make it this month, but if I finish it this year I'll be a happy man.

"Once you have planted a tree, sired a child and written a book, then you are a man." - Russian Proverb


Blog Tag: Chatter

We're All Stupid

How Bush Won and More Richly Shaded 2004 Election Results


Blog Tag: Links   Blog Tag: News

What's Good for the Goose

I came across an amusing proposal by someone who objected to the unfairness of the anti-gay marriage votes.


Blog Tag: Links   Blog Tag: Opinion

Become the Enemy

Right now, half the country is mad. Some of the other half is probably somewhat upset too. That's what happens when you have to choose between the lesser of two evils, regardless of which one you think is the lesser one. I wouldn't have been happy no matter which side won. So what are you going to do, move to Paris?

I'm impressed by Kerry's plea for unity. That's something we need right now.

Do you want change? Do you want to change what others believe? It's not going to happen by calling them idiots. They think you're the idiot. I've seen a lot of divisiveness in this campaign, and it was disturbing. Lots of yelling at the other side, calling people names and hurling insults. That's not going to do anything.

Not everyone did that. Some people tried to calmly explain their side, in hopes of a rational conversation. Bless you for that. But it mostly didn't work. Who listens to people on the other side? We've been trained by the ad agencies to ignore the claims of people we don't trust. (Used car dealers, politicians, personal enhancement products.) Add to that those people on the other side.

So here's what you do. Become the enemy. And I'm not talking about Machiavellian 5th column actions where you pretend to be the other side in order to obtain intelligence and gum up their works. I mean, join the other side in good faith. I know, that's crazy talk. But don't quit reading quite yet.

Both sides have opinions you can believe in. Not all of them, but there are always parts you like and parts you don't like, and you wish you could form your own team from the best of both sides. But we seem to be stuck with the two sides we've got. So join the other side, take pleasure in those parts that you agree with, and make your case for reforming those parts you don't like. People will listen to you, because you're one of them. You still might not succeed, but you'll have a better chance. We've all got to stop being so closed-minded about the things we believe in. There are very few absolutes in life. Of that, I'm absolutely sure. :)

Oh, and one more thing... next time... can you give us some better candidates? I mean, come on!


Blog Tag: Opinion

Unfortunate Phrasing

I was just reading a rant by a blogger about why he didn't go to a particular job interview (it's nobody you know), and as one of the reasons why, he said, "I really would like to start my own company if I can get my head out of my ass enough to pull it off."

I'll leave you with that.


Blog Tag: Humor

Previous Archive - October 2004