![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Nervousness goes down as preparations go up. Have decided on what books to talk and to tell, to some degree. Still have to think about connective material, of which I will poll the library populace tomorrow to pick up ideas for. And then it’ll all work together and be knit into a whole. I’ll probably be practicing it on the plane, after the nap, most likely. All I’m really missing is the activity sheet thing, and I have one. I just don’t know if it’s any good. I couldn’t tell you if it was any good. But I have materials, now. And I have decisions now. So, in the barest of senses, I’m prepared for the interviews. I’ve also done the rest of the work in preparing. So, y’know, people in the state of Washington (and those areas that can drive in without serious problems), I’m in your neck of the woods soon. Let me know if you want to hang out.
Watched most of the premiere of Creature Comforts, 30 minutes of people's conversations set to claymated animals. It’s definitely a show that has to be paid attention to - a lot of the jokes are visual and set to the sound. Still, funny, in it’s own sort of way, with people not always trying to hit a punchline every time they open their mouths.
A reminder to everyone to keep your anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware and other tools up to date, and to run them frequently. Crackers made off with $45,000 U.S. from a municipality's bank account, but they could ahve gotten ten times that much had they not been noticed. How did they get in? Through having a keylogger on the Treasurer’s laptop. And apparently, the bank didn’t blink when that account wanted to transfer large sums of money to other places. No co-signing protection, either, apparently. This is not encouraging.
If, instead, you’d like to know what’s on your magnetic stripes, Tim Matheson offers a way of constructing a reader from scratch, along with a utility that can take the input and translate it into data. Works only for Linux, unless you want to make/find ports of it to other operating systems. What kind of data lurks in our swipes, I wonder...
In Baghdad, the United States occupying force is behind schedule in securing the city, controlling fewer than one-third of the city's neighborhoods. Much of the responsibility, they say, is on the Iraqis for not providing sufficient skilled troops to handle all the necessary tasks. And there’s the part where some of the people being trained in security operations may not be on the same side as the Americans. This lack of ability to control, coupled with rumblings that American troops may be leaving at some point in the near future (rumors, of course) has Iraqis and support staff for the United States presence making sure that if the troops leave, they can get out too. Some of them, of course, will likely be left behind to whatever fate they will achieve.
Mary Grabar in Townhall, wants us to remember Vietnam in comparison to the current Iraq situation. But she presents it to us in the sense of an overheard conversation on an airplane, one where a middle-aged man is made out to be a raving fool while a young West Point cadet keeps a cool head. She pins the blame for the current anti-war sentiment on the rigidly ideological “intellectuals” of the Vietnam war for having “encouraged sanctimonious criticism and the expression of personal ‘opinion’ over real study.” And then follows this with “Middle school students even travel to engage in mock UN debates.”, which is a non-sequitur, as best I can tell. Having done Model UN for high school students, I know that there are some of them that do engage in real study to prepare for their conferences. She then complains about the nakedly political tone of certain songs, starting with the Dixie Chicks, and then tells the rest of us that we should all shut up about the war, because we’re encouraging the enemy, not having the “humility” to appreciate the people who put themselves in harm’s way, (while she only mentions those going to military academies, I suspect the generalization would be consistent with her), and because we don’t read serious books, nor parachute out of airplanes. The value of experience is not to be discounted, but I would say this is true both for those that have firsthand experience of war and those that have the perspective of history and the expertise to analyze the wider view. These days, regardless of your credentials, it appears that people only care about the opinion, rather than the justifications behind it. I wonder if that’s in part because of the current President, and that things will start being sane again when he leaves.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bradhicks tried to watch the Democratic debate last night, but turned away after realizing that he’s not going to get anything new. The question that did him in was "What should the President do to lower gas prices in the short term?", something that, really, the President can’t do all that well. bradhicks also points out that the solutions that he forsees in the future are not going to be ones that are easily adopted by any political party. The comment squad tries to find holes and point out what he hasn’t necessarily considered. In any case, gas prices continue to be the bane of those who drive, and it’s doubtful that they’re going to be going down any time soon.
A twice-convicted drug dealer, acting as an informant, helped to foil a plot to blow up JFK airport. The plotters were taken with the informant. Also noted in the article is that these plotters were not Arabic in origin or affiliation. They aren’t made out to be particularly bright, though. I wonder whether the next attack that succeeds will have sufficient warning signs. Law enforcement seems to be doing reasonably well in paying attention to possible threats. (Although, there are some overzealous parts, too.)
Appropriations bill spending to appear late, despite newer rules to make earmarks more open. The step is being taken, according to the Appropriations Committee, because there have been a lot of requests for earmarks. The writer of the article makes it fairly clear, however, that he considers this to be dirty rotten tricks from the Democrats. You know, it would be a lot easier if the legislature would require a full set of year-round sessions, without recess or interruption for more than a short amount of time. (Of course, we’d also like it if the law required that all law had to be understood by the average high schooler that had passed their required civics class, but that would take some serious rewriting. Things like the Constitution, as a founding document, would probably be spared that treatment.)
Previous mentions of a rather large pig, possibly record-breaking, and possibly wild, being killed by a child... well, the pig was big, yes, but he was domesticated. Additionally, Stinky Journalism accuses the family of using perspective tricks to make the pig appear bigger than it is.
For cosplayers, Anime News Network’s Epic Threads offers advice on making props with cardboard and paint, including the Kingdom Key from Kingdom Hearts. With the significant amount of Sora/Roxas cosplayers that I saw at Anime Central, I suspect that kind of tutorial will be in order. Mind you, however, were I to put on that kind of costume, I think I’d have to lengthen the weapon. And besides, I’m going to end up as an Organization XIII member. I just know it. They’re going to make me Marluxia. I can feel it.
For those looking for guns rather than swords, TK560 offers a how-to on constructing the M41-A from the Aliens movies. It takes the parts from three guns, all deactivated, to pull off, but the end result looks really sweet.
Having trouble with a LOLcat running their kitty paws all over your computer? Try PawSense, a utility that claims to detect cat-like typing and lock down the computer before serious problems can occur. It also claims to help train the cat to stay off the keyboard by making sounds that annoy the cat whenever it is engaged. Now, if it could teach the cat not to chew through cords, too, I’d be happy.
Slightly more seriously, researchers in Singapore have created a hologram that might be rewritable. Considering that holography appears to be the next wave in data storage, having a Holo-RW with Holo-R would be a neat thing (Would make holo-backup that much more likely). In other tech, transparent and flexible transistors have been produced by researchers at Purdue and Northwestern universities. If this continues, it might become possible to watch your TV on the same pair of glasses that you wear indoors. Oh, I’m sure there are better uses for such things, but for some reason, I think that one would be the most appealing to the average American consumer. (Watch a sport event live, and then catch the replays on television.) Solar cells appear to be steadily gaining in efficiency, with the annoucnement of a 40-plus percentage efficient solar cell. And nuclear power might get a boost (and be a whole lot safer) if they can find a good use for the study that claims certain fungi types absorb radiation and use it for energy. Melanin is the compound at work here. But if waste could be covered in the radiation-eating fungi in such a way that the radiation were turned into a harmless byproduct, and that the likely rapid fungi growth could then be controlled so as not to overwhelm the area, then there might be a bit more in favor of nuclear power. (There’s always the risk of meltdown or malfunction, of course.)
Art time! First up - Peggy, a piece composed of 2,788 pegs to produce the image of a woman. Going a little darker is Hours of Darkness, which has photographs of modern ruins and low-light or night-time photographs of other locales.
The last thing for tonight is fun and entertaining - Hoshi Saga is a game where all you have to do is find the star. Seriously, that’s it. Some stages are easier and more intuitive than others, of course. If that’s not enough, then there’s the following Cool Thing - a video of the insides of a hard drive at work.
I think people should start stockpiling their own entertainment to work from while I’m gone, since I won’t be able to serve up anything interesting. I may manage to keep an eye on my friendly-list, depending on how restrictive the library access policies are where I’m going. Anyway, wish me success and/or fortune. I’m due for a good break. Really. I sincerely hope I’m not the last one on my list to get a job, either.
Watched most of the premiere of Creature Comforts, 30 minutes of people's conversations set to claymated animals. It’s definitely a show that has to be paid attention to - a lot of the jokes are visual and set to the sound. Still, funny, in it’s own sort of way, with people not always trying to hit a punchline every time they open their mouths.
A reminder to everyone to keep your anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware and other tools up to date, and to run them frequently. Crackers made off with $45,000 U.S. from a municipality's bank account, but they could ahve gotten ten times that much had they not been noticed. How did they get in? Through having a keylogger on the Treasurer’s laptop. And apparently, the bank didn’t blink when that account wanted to transfer large sums of money to other places. No co-signing protection, either, apparently. This is not encouraging.
If, instead, you’d like to know what’s on your magnetic stripes, Tim Matheson offers a way of constructing a reader from scratch, along with a utility that can take the input and translate it into data. Works only for Linux, unless you want to make/find ports of it to other operating systems. What kind of data lurks in our swipes, I wonder...
In Baghdad, the United States occupying force is behind schedule in securing the city, controlling fewer than one-third of the city's neighborhoods. Much of the responsibility, they say, is on the Iraqis for not providing sufficient skilled troops to handle all the necessary tasks. And there’s the part where some of the people being trained in security operations may not be on the same side as the Americans. This lack of ability to control, coupled with rumblings that American troops may be leaving at some point in the near future (rumors, of course) has Iraqis and support staff for the United States presence making sure that if the troops leave, they can get out too. Some of them, of course, will likely be left behind to whatever fate they will achieve.
Mary Grabar in Townhall, wants us to remember Vietnam in comparison to the current Iraq situation. But she presents it to us in the sense of an overheard conversation on an airplane, one where a middle-aged man is made out to be a raving fool while a young West Point cadet keeps a cool head. She pins the blame for the current anti-war sentiment on the rigidly ideological “intellectuals” of the Vietnam war for having “encouraged sanctimonious criticism and the expression of personal ‘opinion’ over real study.” And then follows this with “Middle school students even travel to engage in mock UN debates.”, which is a non-sequitur, as best I can tell. Having done Model UN for high school students, I know that there are some of them that do engage in real study to prepare for their conferences. She then complains about the nakedly political tone of certain songs, starting with the Dixie Chicks, and then tells the rest of us that we should all shut up about the war, because we’re encouraging the enemy, not having the “humility” to appreciate the people who put themselves in harm’s way, (while she only mentions those going to military academies, I suspect the generalization would be consistent with her), and because we don’t read serious books, nor parachute out of airplanes. The value of experience is not to be discounted, but I would say this is true both for those that have firsthand experience of war and those that have the perspective of history and the expertise to analyze the wider view. These days, regardless of your credentials, it appears that people only care about the opinion, rather than the justifications behind it. I wonder if that’s in part because of the current President, and that things will start being sane again when he leaves.
bradhicks tried to watch the Democratic debate last night, but turned away after realizing that he’s not going to get anything new. The question that did him in was "What should the President do to lower gas prices in the short term?", something that, really, the President can’t do all that well. bradhicks also points out that the solutions that he forsees in the future are not going to be ones that are easily adopted by any political party. The comment squad tries to find holes and point out what he hasn’t necessarily considered. In any case, gas prices continue to be the bane of those who drive, and it’s doubtful that they’re going to be going down any time soon.A twice-convicted drug dealer, acting as an informant, helped to foil a plot to blow up JFK airport. The plotters were taken with the informant. Also noted in the article is that these plotters were not Arabic in origin or affiliation. They aren’t made out to be particularly bright, though. I wonder whether the next attack that succeeds will have sufficient warning signs. Law enforcement seems to be doing reasonably well in paying attention to possible threats. (Although, there are some overzealous parts, too.)
Appropriations bill spending to appear late, despite newer rules to make earmarks more open. The step is being taken, according to the Appropriations Committee, because there have been a lot of requests for earmarks. The writer of the article makes it fairly clear, however, that he considers this to be dirty rotten tricks from the Democrats. You know, it would be a lot easier if the legislature would require a full set of year-round sessions, without recess or interruption for more than a short amount of time. (Of course, we’d also like it if the law required that all law had to be understood by the average high schooler that had passed their required civics class, but that would take some serious rewriting. Things like the Constitution, as a founding document, would probably be spared that treatment.)
Previous mentions of a rather large pig, possibly record-breaking, and possibly wild, being killed by a child... well, the pig was big, yes, but he was domesticated. Additionally, Stinky Journalism accuses the family of using perspective tricks to make the pig appear bigger than it is.
For cosplayers, Anime News Network’s Epic Threads offers advice on making props with cardboard and paint, including the Kingdom Key from Kingdom Hearts. With the significant amount of Sora/Roxas cosplayers that I saw at Anime Central, I suspect that kind of tutorial will be in order. Mind you, however, were I to put on that kind of costume, I think I’d have to lengthen the weapon. And besides, I’m going to end up as an Organization XIII member. I just know it. They’re going to make me Marluxia. I can feel it.
For those looking for guns rather than swords, TK560 offers a how-to on constructing the M41-A from the Aliens movies. It takes the parts from three guns, all deactivated, to pull off, but the end result looks really sweet.
Having trouble with a LOLcat running their kitty paws all over your computer? Try PawSense, a utility that claims to detect cat-like typing and lock down the computer before serious problems can occur. It also claims to help train the cat to stay off the keyboard by making sounds that annoy the cat whenever it is engaged. Now, if it could teach the cat not to chew through cords, too, I’d be happy.
Slightly more seriously, researchers in Singapore have created a hologram that might be rewritable. Considering that holography appears to be the next wave in data storage, having a Holo-RW with Holo-R would be a neat thing (Would make holo-backup that much more likely). In other tech, transparent and flexible transistors have been produced by researchers at Purdue and Northwestern universities. If this continues, it might become possible to watch your TV on the same pair of glasses that you wear indoors. Oh, I’m sure there are better uses for such things, but for some reason, I think that one would be the most appealing to the average American consumer. (Watch a sport event live, and then catch the replays on television.) Solar cells appear to be steadily gaining in efficiency, with the annoucnement of a 40-plus percentage efficient solar cell. And nuclear power might get a boost (and be a whole lot safer) if they can find a good use for the study that claims certain fungi types absorb radiation and use it for energy. Melanin is the compound at work here. But if waste could be covered in the radiation-eating fungi in such a way that the radiation were turned into a harmless byproduct, and that the likely rapid fungi growth could then be controlled so as not to overwhelm the area, then there might be a bit more in favor of nuclear power. (There’s always the risk of meltdown or malfunction, of course.)
Art time! First up - Peggy, a piece composed of 2,788 pegs to produce the image of a woman. Going a little darker is Hours of Darkness, which has photographs of modern ruins and low-light or night-time photographs of other locales.
The last thing for tonight is fun and entertaining - Hoshi Saga is a game where all you have to do is find the star. Seriously, that’s it. Some stages are easier and more intuitive than others, of course. If that’s not enough, then there’s the following Cool Thing - a video of the insides of a hard drive at work.
I think people should start stockpiling their own entertainment to work from while I’m gone, since I won’t be able to serve up anything interesting. I may manage to keep an eye on my friendly-list, depending on how restrictive the library access policies are where I’m going. Anyway, wish me success and/or fortune. I’m due for a good break. Really. I sincerely hope I’m not the last one on my list to get a job, either.
