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A cooler day today - 19 June 2007
Jun. 20th, 2007 01:21 amThere was rain while I was asleep, and thus it was a less humid day than usual. Not to say it wasn’t interesting - ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
annaonthemoon almost sent her iPod to the great beyond by spilling some water into a bag that had it, but her cellular phone bravely substituted itself and took the hit instead. So much of today was watching the iPod come back from the Land of the Dead, and annaonthemoon picking out a new phone for herself - it didn’t bite the wallet quite so hard, considering that she was due up for a newer model through the trade-in program offered by her carrier. She also filled a bag of things to do scrapbooking and other projects with at a The Scrap Box, a non-profit entity that has lots of building block supplies for crafts for cheap, where she had a meetup for crafting types. Today was spent being the strong, silent type, for the most part. Oh, yeah, and there was the cracking of chocolate for cookies using tools probably not designed for that purpose. The cookies themselves turned out completely flat and hard, so I guess we’ll have to dunk them in milk or something to make them palatable. There was also the mailing out of three job applications, including one for a position still in the state. Much as I might want to leave, if they’re the only ones who want to employ me, then that’s where I go. My bank account won’t let me be picky anymore in that regard. I’ve got two more sitting on my desk, completed, so I’ll spend another $2 tomorrow at the post office to ship them out. Can’t get the job if you don’t apply for it.
So, after that particular tale of my day, some anecdotes from cable company customer support, about some of the interesting people that will call and the requests they make.
Unfortunately, I also was passed the account of a gentleman beaten to his death for fear of his being a homosexual (the lack of press on such a case is a second indignity, according to the poster, in addition to the account of the man’s death), along with the planned celebration of the work of a man who killed an abortion doctor (Talk to Action has the background on Mr. Hill and his actions).
In politics, the oversight committee has found 88 parallel e-mail accounts used by members of the Bush Administration, possibly to discuss business without the requirement of archiving that their official e-mails would have. Most of the e-mails sent through those accounts are apparently lost, which makes people want to know what was in them even more.
The Administration has also not spoken well of a proposed bill that would shield bloggers as journalists, extending them the same protections that reporters have. Which, one would think, is something that they should already have.
The military is also potentially developing a moth that has cameras grown into it and can be remote-controlled through chips also grown into it. People think of it as an excellent counter-terrorism unit - and with possibilities for weaponization later. Again, what develops for outer use can possibly be turned to inner use as well. And with the likely trends toward surveillance both inside and outside, maybe at some point I’ll slap a mosquito, complain about it, and then keel over foaming at the mouth. That’s kind of scary.
A ray of hope (excepting for some) in all this - a ring of pedophiles were arrested in their various countries after a successful infiltration of the ring resulting from the arrest of one of the members.
The General strikes again with an advance image of the GOP's next campaign slogan. As for real slogans, however, this one from RBK certainly doesn't achieve a whole lot, other than disgust.
An interesting thing passed my way, via Pharyngula, is the demographics of single people in the United States - mostly single men dominating in the west, single women dominating in the east. I wonder why that is...?
To make the fans of Blade Runner slaver, there’s apparently been a leak and now the contents of the Blade Runner Ultimate Collection are known. Although, I think there’s one thing missing from that suitcase - a copy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
A Cool Thing is a new map of the Internet formed from the hierarchical relations between servers. Looks kind of like a mandala. Which probably says something about the nature of the Internet itself.
Another Cool Thing is advocacy for more unstructured play, not less, from The Osgood File. Although, I suspect everybody will look back on their childhood in that sort of way, that they had great freedoms compared to the structured and enforced play of today. Or maybe we’ll complain about the complete takeover of video games in our children’s lives.
The last for tonight, however, is The Vatican's "Ten Commandments" of the road. In context, perhaps not as strange as first appears, considering the people on the road today. The cars are becoming cooler, too, as new engine ideas, 360-degree wheels, tiny cars, and engines that can run on whatever fuel is in the tank are part of the possible innovations for vehicles. And many of them are not coming from Detroit, to Michigan’s detriment.
Anyway, packing up and going to bed. See most of you in the morning.
annaonthemoon almost sent her iPod to the great beyond by spilling some water into a bag that had it, but her cellular phone bravely substituted itself and took the hit instead. So much of today was watching the iPod come back from the Land of the Dead, and annaonthemoon picking out a new phone for herself - it didn’t bite the wallet quite so hard, considering that she was due up for a newer model through the trade-in program offered by her carrier. She also filled a bag of things to do scrapbooking and other projects with at a The Scrap Box, a non-profit entity that has lots of building block supplies for crafts for cheap, where she had a meetup for crafting types. Today was spent being the strong, silent type, for the most part. Oh, yeah, and there was the cracking of chocolate for cookies using tools probably not designed for that purpose. The cookies themselves turned out completely flat and hard, so I guess we’ll have to dunk them in milk or something to make them palatable. There was also the mailing out of three job applications, including one for a position still in the state. Much as I might want to leave, if they’re the only ones who want to employ me, then that’s where I go. My bank account won’t let me be picky anymore in that regard. I’ve got two more sitting on my desk, completed, so I’ll spend another $2 tomorrow at the post office to ship them out. Can’t get the job if you don’t apply for it.So, after that particular tale of my day, some anecdotes from cable company customer support, about some of the interesting people that will call and the requests they make.
Unfortunately, I also was passed the account of a gentleman beaten to his death for fear of his being a homosexual (the lack of press on such a case is a second indignity, according to the poster, in addition to the account of the man’s death), along with the planned celebration of the work of a man who killed an abortion doctor (Talk to Action has the background on Mr. Hill and his actions).
In politics, the oversight committee has found 88 parallel e-mail accounts used by members of the Bush Administration, possibly to discuss business without the requirement of archiving that their official e-mails would have. Most of the e-mails sent through those accounts are apparently lost, which makes people want to know what was in them even more.
The Administration has also not spoken well of a proposed bill that would shield bloggers as journalists, extending them the same protections that reporters have. Which, one would think, is something that they should already have.
The military is also potentially developing a moth that has cameras grown into it and can be remote-controlled through chips also grown into it. People think of it as an excellent counter-terrorism unit - and with possibilities for weaponization later. Again, what develops for outer use can possibly be turned to inner use as well. And with the likely trends toward surveillance both inside and outside, maybe at some point I’ll slap a mosquito, complain about it, and then keel over foaming at the mouth. That’s kind of scary.
A ray of hope (excepting for some) in all this - a ring of pedophiles were arrested in their various countries after a successful infiltration of the ring resulting from the arrest of one of the members.
The General strikes again with an advance image of the GOP's next campaign slogan. As for real slogans, however, this one from RBK certainly doesn't achieve a whole lot, other than disgust.
An interesting thing passed my way, via Pharyngula, is the demographics of single people in the United States - mostly single men dominating in the west, single women dominating in the east. I wonder why that is...?
To make the fans of Blade Runner slaver, there’s apparently been a leak and now the contents of the Blade Runner Ultimate Collection are known. Although, I think there’s one thing missing from that suitcase - a copy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
A Cool Thing is a new map of the Internet formed from the hierarchical relations between servers. Looks kind of like a mandala. Which probably says something about the nature of the Internet itself.
Another Cool Thing is advocacy for more unstructured play, not less, from The Osgood File. Although, I suspect everybody will look back on their childhood in that sort of way, that they had great freedoms compared to the structured and enforced play of today. Or maybe we’ll complain about the complete takeover of video games in our children’s lives.
The last for tonight, however, is The Vatican's "Ten Commandments" of the road. In context, perhaps not as strange as first appears, considering the people on the road today. The cars are becoming cooler, too, as new engine ideas, 360-degree wheels, tiny cars, and engines that can run on whatever fuel is in the tank are part of the possible innovations for vehicles. And many of them are not coming from Detroit, to Michigan’s detriment.
Anyway, packing up and going to bed. See most of you in the morning.
