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Well, today was a better day - I think a large part of my stress-related material comes from floundering about, trying to figure out what to do. Once I actually get a plan in motion, I seem to be able to handle things better. Went to the library today, renewed my card and asked some advice. Now I know what a booktalk really is, and just have to select something that I want to talk about that I think would appeal to the audience. I’ve got a storybook that I need to do some practice on for the children segment. And I managed to get through to both of the other libraries in Washington and ask them to see if they can’t schedule up some interviews. I’ll have to schedule the trip, but both seemed to react positively to the “Hey, I’m going to be in your backyard. Give me an interview.” technique, so hopefully I’ll have at least three interviews while I’m out there. Gears in motion make me happy, I guess. Still, good that things are going.
Starting the links with something very, very cool - A Chest of Drawers. I like the design. If you want one and can afford it, here's a page to order from. Sticking with the odd fixtures theme, how about a dining table that looks like a piano, complete with storage space and an iPod dock? Turning from dining to the food itself, I admit, I have to be in the mood for mint, but mint's been around for a while, and been put to many good uses. For the most part, though, my mint exposure is of the after-dinner variety. And with the thinks I like to eat, it’s probably appreciated as to stave off the halitosis. Rather funny, however, is that Slashfood posts up a list of the top ten foods that burn fat, and I note that several of them have strong odors, some of them not particularly pleasant. Also, apparently several of them are spices in one form or another, so cooking to burn fat doesn’t have to be flavorless. (And it shouldn’t be, either. Eating boring, bland food is probably one of the easiest ways to encourage wandering from a diet.) Going over to beverages, something that will no doubt be welcomed enthusiastically, a drink may help slow down the effects of dementia - yet another reason to have a nice glass of wine with dinner. More drinks do not confer more benefit. As always, moderation appears to be the key to reaping health benefits. And for Mod’s sake, if you get pulled over for drunk driving, don't keep trying to drive. Otherwise you might meet the same fate as Mr. Stacy. Oh, and if your vice is smoking, recall this - light cigarettes are just as bad for you as the regular ones.
Working on health things, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is ready to give approval on a hormonal birth control pill that would stop the monthly bleeding cycle. I’m sure there are many that will cheer at such a revelation. I have no idea whether it will do short or long-term damage to the physiologies involves or not. But it looks ready to be approved and sent to market. So we’ll find out, most likely. Suppressing the period, though, might also get rid of the easiest pregnancy warning to spot. So if the birth control/contraceptive methods fail, it might not be noticeable until it’s noticeable.
Of course, having seen one link, there are more in regards to sexuality. From the BBC, the tale of a woman sterilized as part of a eugenics program when she was 13 It was the Civil Rights Movement time, and she was poor and black. She’d been raped, and was sterilized after she had the child. The reasons given are not acceptable in any way. Some states have apologized. So in Japan they had “comfort workers”, in America they had sterilizations. Actually, in America, we have police officers permitting porn stars to keep illegal painkillers in exchange for sexual favors. And then he let her post the material on her blog. [Worms]Stu-pid[/Worms], even if you do want to have bragging rights. The porn star still did get a speeding ticket, but abuse of authority should not be encouraged or permitted. There’s also a phrase that was sung several years ago: “Video killed the radio star”. In terms of female singers, sexiness triumphs even skills. Err, wait, didn’t we already know that? With the way many music videos are being made by female artists, being eye-candy really is a prerequisite. Probably at least partially so for the guys, too, but I think there’s more lenience there. (In both skill and looks.)
Just to fry conservative brains, the last segment here is two homosexual flamingos picked up a chick and are raising it as their own. Who says that same-sex parenting doesn’t occur in the wild?
A Liberty University student had homemade explosives in his car. Buried quite far down in the article is “no known intent to use them at the Falwell funeral”. That’s a rather important detail to make note of, I would say.
Memo to the United States - If you're going to be broadcasting in a hostile area, make sure the people you have in charge of it can speak the local language. It’s a pretty fundamental rule of propaganda, and one that I would have thought the U.S. would have known. I would also advise the United Kingdom that promotional materials for security should comfort, not scare, the people under surveillance. Look at that advert and tell me that you’re not thinking Orwell. The Denialism Blog has advice that would probably work well with this - If you're going to cherry-pick, don't provide the source material that contradicts or weakens your position right underneath it.
Politics strikes with what most of us knew was going to happen anyway - the Democrats will be giving the President his new Iraq War toys without constraints, and in return, the President will raise the minimum wage. Wonder who wins on that deal?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bradhicks would tell us, Well, it's certainly not the girl who was stoned in public recently. Part of making sure that radical ideologies, if that is indeed the thing we’re supposed to be doing, is to point out that stoning is a rather outmoded, cruel, and unacceptable mode of discipline. (Although, some of the Bible wingnuts we have in this country would probably be okay with using it themselves...) Furthermore, Iraq is making plans just in case the United States decides to leave.
Through all of this the Baghdad Symphony Orchestra plays on, much like how the library keeps working. Even when one of the players has his personal instrument smashed by forces in a raid. (I do not appreciate the spin on it that says “See? These radicals hate music and culture, too!”)
New York's yellow taxicabs will have many more hybrids in coming years, aiming for a full fleet of hybrid cabs by 2012. New regulations will require better gas mileage, lower emissions, and less greenhouse gasses. It’s also claimed to save taxi operators more than $10,000 U.S. per year. With gas prices going up to match something more like what the rest of the world pays (although probably still cheap), this is probably a good idea.
The New York Times has an interesting article about certain tendencies to mass e-mail people with the latest gossip from their lives. As the Grapevine Withers, Spam filters Take Root, he says, and with this overabundance of not-necessarily interesting information, some part of this communication ends up in the spambox.2dlife offers a far better summary than my first attempt: “The To: and CC: lines of an e-mail convey subtext. As people are more arbitrary and prolific with e-mail they’re devaluing the actual delivery to the detriment of the message. Thus impersonal messages sent to large groups are more likely to be ignored than not. Personal e-mails should be sent to short To lists and personalized to the recipients for maximum effect.”
Mashup time! This time, we use Google Maps and recent Flickr uploads to create FlickrVision, where we can see where the most recent Flickr pcitures are coming from. Google has also implemented a view into what other people are looking for, showing off a list of "hot trends", the most popular queries being put into the engine. That might make an interesting thing to do if someone just pushes “I’m feeling Lucky” - go to the top result of the top trend. One last object of potential interest is a wearable, ring-size, three-dimensional mouse controller that you wear. Not fully realized yet, though, but if the computer display goes holographic, having a ring-mouse might be part of the wave of the future. Going from technomashups to biomashups, observe the gentleman who had a third ear implanted in his arm. He does plan on wiring it up so that he can “hear” from the ear, too. At the same time, the person who had a magnet implanted into one of her fingers has had it removed. Going into a corporate mashup, Coca-Cola and Juan Valdez are teaming up to offer hot coffee, freshly-nrewed, from coffee concentrate.
Gossip is dangerous, apparently. First there was Loose Lips Sink Ships, but these days, gossip can get you fired from your job. Apparently, a little lunchtime chatter is sufficient grounds for dismissal.
And I’ve run out to the end of another set of links. Tomorrow, more updates, more progress, and I might have to get my financiers to lock in some tickets and such to finalize plans. Assuming, of course, that my router behaves.
Starting the links with something very, very cool - A Chest of Drawers. I like the design. If you want one and can afford it, here's a page to order from. Sticking with the odd fixtures theme, how about a dining table that looks like a piano, complete with storage space and an iPod dock? Turning from dining to the food itself, I admit, I have to be in the mood for mint, but mint's been around for a while, and been put to many good uses. For the most part, though, my mint exposure is of the after-dinner variety. And with the thinks I like to eat, it’s probably appreciated as to stave off the halitosis. Rather funny, however, is that Slashfood posts up a list of the top ten foods that burn fat, and I note that several of them have strong odors, some of them not particularly pleasant. Also, apparently several of them are spices in one form or another, so cooking to burn fat doesn’t have to be flavorless. (And it shouldn’t be, either. Eating boring, bland food is probably one of the easiest ways to encourage wandering from a diet.) Going over to beverages, something that will no doubt be welcomed enthusiastically, a drink may help slow down the effects of dementia - yet another reason to have a nice glass of wine with dinner. More drinks do not confer more benefit. As always, moderation appears to be the key to reaping health benefits. And for Mod’s sake, if you get pulled over for drunk driving, don't keep trying to drive. Otherwise you might meet the same fate as Mr. Stacy. Oh, and if your vice is smoking, recall this - light cigarettes are just as bad for you as the regular ones.
Working on health things, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is ready to give approval on a hormonal birth control pill that would stop the monthly bleeding cycle. I’m sure there are many that will cheer at such a revelation. I have no idea whether it will do short or long-term damage to the physiologies involves or not. But it looks ready to be approved and sent to market. So we’ll find out, most likely. Suppressing the period, though, might also get rid of the easiest pregnancy warning to spot. So if the birth control/contraceptive methods fail, it might not be noticeable until it’s noticeable.
Of course, having seen one link, there are more in regards to sexuality. From the BBC, the tale of a woman sterilized as part of a eugenics program when she was 13 It was the Civil Rights Movement time, and she was poor and black. She’d been raped, and was sterilized after she had the child. The reasons given are not acceptable in any way. Some states have apologized. So in Japan they had “comfort workers”, in America they had sterilizations. Actually, in America, we have police officers permitting porn stars to keep illegal painkillers in exchange for sexual favors. And then he let her post the material on her blog. [Worms]Stu-pid[/Worms], even if you do want to have bragging rights. The porn star still did get a speeding ticket, but abuse of authority should not be encouraged or permitted. There’s also a phrase that was sung several years ago: “Video killed the radio star”. In terms of female singers, sexiness triumphs even skills. Err, wait, didn’t we already know that? With the way many music videos are being made by female artists, being eye-candy really is a prerequisite. Probably at least partially so for the guys, too, but I think there’s more lenience there. (In both skill and looks.)
Just to fry conservative brains, the last segment here is two homosexual flamingos picked up a chick and are raising it as their own. Who says that same-sex parenting doesn’t occur in the wild?
A Liberty University student had homemade explosives in his car. Buried quite far down in the article is “no known intent to use them at the Falwell funeral”. That’s a rather important detail to make note of, I would say.
Memo to the United States - If you're going to be broadcasting in a hostile area, make sure the people you have in charge of it can speak the local language. It’s a pretty fundamental rule of propaganda, and one that I would have thought the U.S. would have known. I would also advise the United Kingdom that promotional materials for security should comfort, not scare, the people under surveillance. Look at that advert and tell me that you’re not thinking Orwell. The Denialism Blog has advice that would probably work well with this - If you're going to cherry-pick, don't provide the source material that contradicts or weakens your position right underneath it.
Politics strikes with what most of us knew was going to happen anyway - the Democrats will be giving the President his new Iraq War toys without constraints, and in return, the President will raise the minimum wage. Wonder who wins on that deal?
bradhicks would tell us, Well, it's certainly not the girl who was stoned in public recently. Part of making sure that radical ideologies, if that is indeed the thing we’re supposed to be doing, is to point out that stoning is a rather outmoded, cruel, and unacceptable mode of discipline. (Although, some of the Bible wingnuts we have in this country would probably be okay with using it themselves...) Furthermore, Iraq is making plans just in case the United States decides to leave.Through all of this the Baghdad Symphony Orchestra plays on, much like how the library keeps working. Even when one of the players has his personal instrument smashed by forces in a raid. (I do not appreciate the spin on it that says “See? These radicals hate music and culture, too!”)
New York's yellow taxicabs will have many more hybrids in coming years, aiming for a full fleet of hybrid cabs by 2012. New regulations will require better gas mileage, lower emissions, and less greenhouse gasses. It’s also claimed to save taxi operators more than $10,000 U.S. per year. With gas prices going up to match something more like what the rest of the world pays (although probably still cheap), this is probably a good idea.
The New York Times has an interesting article about certain tendencies to mass e-mail people with the latest gossip from their lives. As the Grapevine Withers, Spam filters Take Root, he says, and with this overabundance of not-necessarily interesting information, some part of this communication ends up in the spambox.
2dlife offers a far better summary than my first attempt: “The To: and CC: lines of an e-mail convey subtext. As people are more arbitrary and prolific with e-mail they’re devaluing the actual delivery to the detriment of the message. Thus impersonal messages sent to large groups are more likely to be ignored than not. Personal e-mails should be sent to short To lists and personalized to the recipients for maximum effect.”Mashup time! This time, we use Google Maps and recent Flickr uploads to create FlickrVision, where we can see where the most recent Flickr pcitures are coming from. Google has also implemented a view into what other people are looking for, showing off a list of "hot trends", the most popular queries being put into the engine. That might make an interesting thing to do if someone just pushes “I’m feeling Lucky” - go to the top result of the top trend. One last object of potential interest is a wearable, ring-size, three-dimensional mouse controller that you wear. Not fully realized yet, though, but if the computer display goes holographic, having a ring-mouse might be part of the wave of the future. Going from technomashups to biomashups, observe the gentleman who had a third ear implanted in his arm. He does plan on wiring it up so that he can “hear” from the ear, too. At the same time, the person who had a magnet implanted into one of her fingers has had it removed. Going into a corporate mashup, Coca-Cola and Juan Valdez are teaming up to offer hot coffee, freshly-nrewed, from coffee concentrate.
Gossip is dangerous, apparently. First there was Loose Lips Sink Ships, but these days, gossip can get you fired from your job. Apparently, a little lunchtime chatter is sufficient grounds for dismissal.
And I’ve run out to the end of another set of links. Tomorrow, more updates, more progress, and I might have to get my financiers to lock in some tickets and such to finalize plans. Assuming, of course, that my router behaves.
