09.30.2002/22:36
Huh?

09.29.2002/23:59
What, another one?

09.29.2002/23:44
Love-struck mayflies in the news.

09.29.2002/10:47
11.1 megapixels is a lot of megapixels!

09.29.2002/00:55
Went out drinking, wound up getting trashed.

09.28.2002/11:44
Even though you might not want to reside there, scientists now say Venus may be conducive to life.

09.28.2002/11:25
I'm thinking of changing my professional name to: "The Artist Who Was Never, Ever Known As Prince." What do you think?

09.28.2002/11:19
Site That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
radiator.com

09.28.2002/11:06
The world's largest mall has a roach problem.

09.28.2002/11:01
Bush administration moves to save salmon with release of water, while critics say president's policies cause of problem in the first place.

09.27.2002/19:49
For the person who truly, truly has everything. (via TheCrayfish.com)

09.27.2002/19:38
I was so amazed by this optical illusion that I actually pulled the photo into Photoshop and eyedroppered the images areas to see that they were the same color! As the author of the page neatly points out, such an optical illusion is not an indication of the failure of our visual system, but rather its sophistication and success: we don't just pull in unsorted data, we interpret it in ways that are (mostly) helpful and correct. (via the always-rewarding Haddock directory)

09.27.2002/16:22
Are blondes on the verge of extinction? (via jenett.radio)

09.27.2002/16:03
U.N. stands tall on French dwarf-tossing ban.

09.27.2002/11:49
Who's richer: Little Richie Rich, Scrooge McDuck, or Bruce Wayne? The Forbes Fictional Fifteen sorts it out.

09.27.2002/11:45
Heteronyms.

09.27.2002/11:29
Oh, yes, they're happy in Louisville, with the hometown University of Louisville's 26-20 OT defeat of 4th-ranked Florida State. I watched this game on ESPN last night, and a doozy it was. I also took some note of the fact that the ballplayers were splashing around in more Isidore rain than we ever got here in New Iberia.

09.27.2002/11:26
And if you thought A Streetcar Named Desire was intriguing...

09.27.2002/11:24
Changing times: Not much need for school crossing guards at the noon hour.

09.26.2002/17:13
Invisible Invaders
I have felt pretty crummy the last few days. I haven't done much work, though I did get out a draft of a press release by email and sent a couple of other things out in similar ways. Yesterday I turned myself in at the ENT office and was rewarded with a steroid injection and a couple of prescriptions to help defeat those germs that are invisible invaders of my body. But it's slow going, this business of getting to feel better, and after an hour or two of work this afternoon I crawled back into bed.
And what should there be on Turner Classic Movies but the wonderful Invisible Invaders, which is the story of invisible aliens who move in their invisible space ships from their invisible base on the moon to attack the earth, where they inhabit bodies of the dead who thereupon kill the living, sabotage dams, blow up stuff, etc. etc. Just plain wonderful.
And the most amazing thing is, I had never seen it. There are still great wonders left to be discovered, it seems, even at my advanced age.
Now, I've got almost a whole month to get well in time to be alert and chipper for AMC's Monsterfest at the end of October. And just knowing these movies are out there is making me feel better already.

09.26.2002/17:06
Random thoughts, of the kind you would expect to jot down on a paper napkin.

09.26.2002/17:02
Huge high-tech gift for Purdue University.

09.26.2002/12:05
Isidore turned out to do no more than bring us a little rain, and weakened enough so as to not fulfill all the frightening worries that arise from the thought of a big storm hitting New Orleans.
So now, we're ready for some cool weather. Maybe next week...

09.25.2002/18:41
"Near the foot of the rapids, on the north bank, a settler named James Edmunds had cleared some land and erected a couple of log cabins."

09.25.2002/18:35
Lovable Lichens.

09.25.2002/18:27
Controversy over proposed Arizona telescope that will be a powerful instrument for astronomers, but which is planned for a site some Apaches hold sacred, and which environmentalists would like to protect.

09.25.2002/18:06
Veterans Administration officials curtail marketing outreach that brings in too many new vets.

09.25.2002/11:45
The marvelous benefits of drinking tea.

09.24.2002/12:46
Human-arm-swallowing alligator in the news.

09.24.2002/04:08
Lensless photography.

09.24.2002/03:58
I downloaded this free Easy Thumbnails program and it seems like a winner. It's greatest value would likely be in producing a batch of thumbnails all at once. You can control lots of parameters, including the algorithm for re-scaling the images, finished size, and degree of resharpening.

09.24.2002/03:56
High and dry in downtown St. Paul, MN.

09.24.2002/03:46
As I post this, it seems that Isidore just may be heading our way...

09.23.2002/23:24
California, usually thought by those of us in less groovy places as being way ahead of the rest of us, is only just now incorporating a convenience most of the rest of the country takes for granted: numbered exits on big highways.

09.23.2002/22:56
"This page was generated entirely by computer algorithms without human editors. No humans were harmed or even used in the creation of this page." It's the new Google News (still in Beta).

09.23.2002/09:57
Last night Susan and I started discussing whether we would evacuate inland if Hurricane Isidore heads toward the Louisiana Gulf coast. After being in our house as Hurricane Andrew thrashed our town in 1992 (and tore up the oak tree that used to shade our picnic table; a huge section of the tree narrowly missed the corner of the house when it fell), we said, "never again." But last night we said, "we rode out Andrew, we can ride out this one, too."

09.23.2002/09:56
Fall foliage info for New Hampshire.

09.23.2002/09:52
Bats as front-line fighters in the war against West Nile virus.

09.23.2002/09:50
William Rosenberg, R.I.P.

09.22.2002/21:29
Soccer player traded for 170 pounds of fresh shrimp. Both clubs happy with exchange.

09.22.2002/21:27
As it turns out, there are quite a few old old missile silos and the like for sale.

09.22.2002/21:18
100000 Watts is the mother lode of information for broadcast radio enthusiasts or hobbyists. Detailed information about stations and what kind of content they air. Despite the name, the site is concerned with stations of all power ranges, etc., and not just 100,000 watt giants.

09.22.2002/21:11
I really plan on visiting the Basque Museum and Cultrual Center next time I am in Boise, which I hope is soon.

09.22.2002/20:51
Espreanto in the news.

09.22.2002/20:37
Judge annuls marriage of man who married Alzheimer's victim nearly twice his age... and then burned through $300,000 of her money in Las Vegas.

09.22.2002/12:17
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
buywig.com

09.22.2002/12:14
One man's eyesore is another man's treasure.

09.22.2002/12:12
Was it cell phone death, or merely speeding?

09.21.2002/08:02
The latest Wall Street scandals, tied together in one comprehensive, explanatory chart.

09.21.2002/07:54
If we wind up with a Hooters Airline, what sort of uniforms will the flight attendants have?

09.21.2002/07:49
50,000 attend the opera Carmen in Boston Common.

09.20.2002/09:17
Today is the day! You can finally buy them! Did you get yours yet?

09.20.2002/09:13
Lawyer convicted of killing lawyer, gets life sentence for murdering his partner.

09.20.2002/09:10
"On Thursday, the state Supreme Court ruled that filming up women's skirts, though 'disgusting and reprehensible,' isn't actually against the law."

09.20.2002/09:02
Health officials suggest putting off that nose job or liposucttion for a bit, at least until the West Nile Virus threat to the blood supply is better understood.

09.20.2002/08:55
Nice site with lots of information about Nevada wilderness, with focus on petroglyphs, caves, etc.

09.20.2002/08:52
We ordered one! Can't wait! Will let you know once it arrives, with photos of course...

09.20.2002/08:33
Wedded together, in sickness and in health.

09.20.2002/08:30
We await learning our fates in regard to Hurricane Isidore.

09.19.2002/17:01
God Bless Americans
Yesterday my friend Nyaho was naturalized as a citizen of the United States, and I was able to attend the ceremony. As it happens, the presiding U.S. District Judge Richard Haik is also a good friend of mine. Judge Haik invited D.A.R and American Legion members to enliven the proceedings, and in his own remarks noted that he is an American of Lebanese descent, whose grandfather was himself an emigrant.
There were 54 new citizens in the group which included Ghanaian-born Nyaho yesterday; they came Colombia, from Viet Nam, from Turkey, from China, from Bosnia-Herzegovina, from Mexico, from Canada, and yes, from Lebanon.
The events of the morning and the remarks that were made inspired more patriotic feeling than a stirring Fourth of July parade, but what struck me the most is that perhaps our greatest strength as a nation is that, in our best moments, we are capable of embracing everyone. You may think you have a good idea of what a Mexican looks like, or what an Asian looks like, or a European or an African or an Arab; but you really don't know what an American looks like, because he could be any of these.

09.19.2002/10:09
My local weather radar.

09.19.2002/09:59
Coffee jitters.

09.18.2002/22:02
A truly unique property for sale! "Missile Silo Home Safe Secure Underground." That's right, above ground home, below ground missile silo control complex. Your own airstrip included. No reserve eBay auction sets opening bid at $2.1 million, also starts with Buy It Now price of $25 million. They take PayPal. (via the always rewarding Haddock directory)

09.18.2002/08:32
The Science of Cooking.

09.18.2002/08:30
The New Black Panther Party.

09.18.2002/08:28
Don't mess with this old lady!

09.18.2002/08:23
The the western half of the U.S.-Canadian border is sparsely populated, biologically diverse, and under threat from largely ignored commercial exploitation.

09.17.2002/23:52
Gosh! To think it all started with Felix the Cat!

09.17.2002/22:04
I am a particular fan of the Doppler Effect, especially when it comes to locomotive horns. Yesterday was a good day: driving back to New Iberia from Lafayette, where the main east-west rail line parallels La. Hwy. 182, I was going east at about 50 miles an hour when an oncoming train was going west at about the same speed. The engine was just approaching a grade crossing, and the repeated signaling of the horn changed dramatically in pitch as we passed each other by. Sent shivers of delight down my spine, oh, yes.

09.17.2002/10:08
Thanks to the presence of public internet access in libraries, The Homeless Guy can have a weblog.

09.17.2002/10:01
So what am I doing here, if this is going on there?

09.17.2002/09:55
Nice story in Boston Globe about the different tracks of two adaptive re-use projects of old buildings, including a "retired" mental asylum. Many states have one or even more of these old state mental hospitals, and they are good targets for preservation campaigns.

09.17.2002/09:51
Crippling strike planned for London tube.

09.16.2002/22:36
A group of funeral homes that allows you to send a message to the family through the convenience of a link that's with the obituary listings.

09.16.2002/22:29
Remembering the "goat gland doctor".

09.16.2002/22:14
The friendly waving alien of Roswell Toyota!

09.16.2002/22:11
Lost in the dunes.

09.16.2002/16:58
Courtesy of MAD Magazine, The Martha Stewart Stock Scandal Timeline.

09.16.2002/10:50
Not to mention that this flies in the face of their good name.

09.16.2002/09:38
The FBI is back in the business of library snooping, and some librarians don't like it one bit.

09.16.2002/09:33
Interesting case study in how a patch of burned forest rejuvenates.

09.15.2002/22:58
Bad Cat.

09.15.2002/22:34
Here's something I clearly inherited from my father: a love of Notre Dame football.

09.15.2002/10:45
The First Viennese Vegetable Orchestra.

09.15.2002/10:37
School brawl: "Juneau said the school has had problems with teens from Mansura and Simmesport not getting along. He was quick to say that not all of the students involved in the fight were from the two cities."

09.14.2002/11:20
In Maine, board members of a nonprofit garden pose nude for a fund raising calendar in a bare-it-all attempt to rescue the group's finances.

09.14.2002/11:15
80,000 chickens die in two farm vandalism incidents in Kentucky.

09.14.2002/11:07
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
tackytreasures.com

09.14.2002/10:57
The name of this site is Drive me Insane! (the conceit being that by using the Internet to turn on and off Paul Mathis's office lamp, sprinkler, etc., you can drive him insane), you could take some pretty productive steps toward your own insanity by spending your day here!

09.14.2002/10:50

Where Prices Are Born...
St. Martinville, LA

09.14.2002/10:40
My sister Laura, the raptor rehabilitator, has told me that, as this story explains, while West Nile Virus's human victims are certainly a real cause for concern and alarm, the disease is a far more terrible threat to avian populations. She's seen the story from both sides: it's devastating bird populations in the area of the midwest where she lives, and she has also had a case of the virus herself. She recommends against getting it!

09.14.2002/10:21
We watched the very enjoyable and engaging The Royal Tennenbaums last night. One thing that struck me was that in film, theater, literature, etc., the depiction of the magically eccentric family almost always employs to some significant extent the physicality of a rambling old house with numerous musty nooks, forgotten closets, and intriguing window views. Good house. Terrific movie.

09.14.2002/09:14
Giant squid in the news.

09.13.2002/23:30
Here's a big collection of postcards depicting private and public schools in Pennsylvania, mostly from the first half of the 20th century.

09.13.2002/23:12
Esto offers a nice sampling of high-quality architectural photography.

09.13.2002/09:24
Having successfully sailed through the Sept. 11 anniversary two days ago, I think the fact that today is Friday the 13th should pose no particular challenge.

09.13.2002/09:21
The new "E" column in MLB's baseball standings is really cool, and also kind of sobering for fans of the trailing teams.

09.13.2002/09:13
Should the value of electricity that was not created due to divergence of water from hydroelectric turbines to accommodate salmon be counted as part of the cost of saving these fish?

09.13.2002/09:06
To fight chronic wasting disease, there are areas where civic-minded hunters are asked to help kill all the deer.

09.12.2002/21:32
Organize a Walk to School Day.

09.12.2002/21:31
The Condiment Packet Museum.

09.12.2002/21:21
Save the pheasants.

09.12.2002/06:58
Big bucks embezzled from Starbucks, spent on cars, Steinway grands, etc. Also, brothers accused of spending money taken from bank on SUVs, etc.

09.11.2002/21:46
Google delivers some pictures of evil cats. Also, here's a look at me.

09.11.2002/21:33
Gay Bingo.

09.11.2002/12:52
After you enjoy the movie, be sure to read about the couple (which has fun info about the movie's creation).

09.11.2002/10:11
This here is one special rabbit!

09.11.2002/10:04
West Nile Virus map.

09.11.2002/09:54
Sites That Are Maybe Not Quite What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
masturbateforpeace.com

09.11.2002/09:43
"'There are hidden depths to chickens.'"

09.10.2002/21:53
Road kill in the news.

09.10.2002/21:06
He did it!

09.10.2002/10:26
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
home-menopause-test.com

09.10.2002/10:23
A snake farm where they actually do farm snakes.

09.10.2002/10:13
Let's go to this! It's an annual open house of London buildings otherwise not open to public tours.

09.10.2002/10:10
Shoving carbon dioxide beneath the surface of the earth to save the environment...

09.10.2002/09:38
We would of course in any event hope that this young man has a speedy and complete recovery, but we feel especially so because of how much fun he should be able to have at Halloween, being one of the undead.

09.10.2002/01:56
There are several sites that offer Langdon Smith's poem "Evolution;" this is my favorite. We had this poem in an old worn anthology when I was a kid, and my mother would read it to us from time to time, to our great glee. It has also been abridged as a Muppets song.

09.10.2002/01:21
Six Degrees of MP3
I haven't done any music-swapping post-Napster, but one of the things I remember is frequently discovering other tunes of interest in the collection of a user who had someting that I wanted. At the height of Napsterdom, I would search for some off-the-beaten-path tune that I already had, and then look at the libraries of those who had it, on the theory that anyone who had, say, a Helen Schneider tune, likely had the sort of taste that would yield me other gems, often things I'd never heard of until then.
I'm wondering now if one of the current peer networks could track an associative train; and if, in a good-sized universe of music lovers you might not be fairly able to depend on getting from any one tune to another in six or less steps, a la Kevin Bacon and all the world's movie stars.
Maybe someone is already doing this somewhere, though a Google search didn't turn anything up.

09.9.2002/17:02
Live-Wire sez:
"'We need to bomb Baghdad today, a low yield nuclear bomb and get it over.'"

09.9.2002/11:31
Today is Susan's birthday. She was born in 1952. Yesterday, I organized a small brunch as a 40th birthday party. You do the math.
Susan is not a limelight-seeking sort, and generally resists being the center of attention, subject of a party, etc., but when I proposed a 40th birthday celebration as a way of observing her significant-decade age anniversary, she took to the idea quite well.
Today, I will go with her to eat sushi, which is quite popular with the younger crowd.

09.9.2002/11:29
The John Muir Project seeks to put all federal lands beyond the reach of commercial use.

09.9.2002/11:25
The nearly extinct western pond turtle in the news.

09.9.2002/11:22
Do you hear a humming sound?

09.9.2002/00:25
Here's an exciting new sport that is sweeping the nation! Cup stacking!

09.9.2002/00:20
The Internet Off-Broadway Database.

09.8.2002/23:27
Imagine thousands of gallons of corn syrup on the loose, racing through town...

09.8.2002/22:16
A magnificent frigatebird in the news. Also, a two-headed turtle.

09.8.2002/19:38

Book Repair
Our friend Elizabeth Little has learned to repair old books, replacing old bindings, re-sewing bound signatures, recovering old cloth spines, etc. This is the workroom she has created in her home.

09.7.2002/22:42
How Google really works like nothing else in the tech world.

09.7.2002/11:41
We are hoping to see the sun again sometime this month. It has been gray and cloudy and rainy for some days now, what with Tropical Storm Fay sitting out in the Gulf of Mexico churning up the waters and the bad memories for Houstonians. It has been the kind of gray that makes you think it should be 45 degrees outside, except that it's more like 80. This is our little way of knowing what it must be like to live in Portland. Except, of course, much warmer. And stickier.

09.7.2002/11:39
Do you think Ect is anything like Etc.?

09.7.2002/11:38
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
birthday-speeches.com

09.7.2002/11:25
A Washington town, short of cash for a new park facility, is auctioning the naming rights on eBay in attempt to raise the rest of the money.
(See the listing here.)

09.7.2002/11:16
Fay made it ashore at last. Over here, a bit east of Fay's landfall, we haven't seen the sun since maybe Monday.

09.6.2002/21:22
Here's a look at New Iberia's exposure to flood hazard.

09.6.2002/21:15
LegoDeath.

09.6.2002/21:11
Getting attention for your own sorry self by hurting your pets.

09.6.2002/08:02
Where to look for birds in Chicago.

09.6.2002/08:00
A bridge of Madison County.

09.6.2002/07:58
AWOL.

09.6.2002/00:35
A wealth of images from recent Czech flooding, from Radio Prague.

09.5.2002/21:20
On the Road
The American Highway Project may not yet fulfill all of its own ambitions, but it is a must-see site for anyone with an interest in American highways, their history, and their visual environment. Particularly strong collection of links to other sites, and also a good roundup of interesting books (with Amazon.com links). This site does a very good job at projecting its author's sensibility, I think, and I only wish there were more... I'll be planning to check back to see if the site continues to grow and develop. Meanwhile, it's a very worthwhile surfing destination just as it is.

09.5.2002/15:37
If you watch a movie like American Graffiti, which was shot in the 70s and is nostalgic about the 50s, is that double nostalgia?

09.5.2002/15:35
Here's some happy birthday news for all of us, including Susan and myself, with autumnal birthdays...

09.5.2002/10:38
Before you visit The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World site, see how many you can name...

09.5.2002/10:32
Vanilla beans from Madagascar.

09.5.2002/10:06
Sudden oak death threatens the Northwest's Douglas firs, too.

09.5.2002/09:30
See fall foliage from the comfort of a railroad passenger car... in Arkansas.

09.5.2002/09:22
The already terrible enough sudden oak death now threatens giant redwoods.

09.4.2002/10:50
So what would you rather see taxed? Your property, or your cup of espresso?

09.4.2002/10:47
Love bugs in the news.

09.4.2002/10:44
We're thinking that our special observation of the Sept. 11 events will be to not turn the television on for that whole week.

09.4.2002/10:34
Hey kids! Your science project showing just how big the solar system really is, is almost done!

09.4.2002/10:32
Will this couple be made to move out of their tree house?

09.3.2002/22:15
Wind-blown, winsome, iguana-ed.

09.3.2002/22:02
Fisherman kills whale, that's not news. whale kills fisherman, now that's news. (LA Times requires free registration.)

09.3.2002/21:40
Little tree, little car, little crash.

09.3.2002/20:19
Jaguar
I installed my copy of Jaguar today, which, for the non-Mac-initiated, is Mac OS X, version 10.2.
I'm not sure that it's the be all and end all that everyone should rush out and get, but it does have some nice new features, and the new Sherlock is pretty cool. For Movies, for instance, you can browse your local offerings by theater name or by movie name, and as you narrow down to a film's name or show times, a capsule of the film is displayed and a QuickTime preview starts to load. The stock page seems pretty good, too. With all the currency of information, weather seemed conspicuous in its absence.
On the networking side, I was able to get my iBook to show as a Windows computer on my network. Note that on the WIN 98SE machine, it was necessary to create a login identity which matched exactly by both name and password an account that exists on the Mac. On my Windows XP machine, I didn't have to do a separate login, and was simply prompted for the password when I tried to access the iBook, and it worked fine.
All of the above is with the iBook connected by hardwire to the network with the ethernet cable. I am still not able to get Windows to read the iBook when using AirPort as the connection, nor will the iBook read Windows drives as Samba servers. (Even in the prior version of OS X I was able to read the Windows drives as Samba servers, but only through the ethernet cable and not via AirPort).
The AirPort problem is likely something I am not setting right, etc., but since I have little need to share between the hard drives and anyway have an ethernet cable for when I do, it's a largely acedemic question. About the only stuff I move between the iBook and Windows machies are big bunches of MP3 files which I would just as soon move through the much faster hardwire connection anyway. Occasional other files I email to myself. Still, I'd like to get the Windows sharing and Samba biz working through the AirPort, just on principle. And what a lofty principle it is.
And, oh yes, iChat is very cool.

09.3.2002/17:02
Susan left the house early this morning, and I found a note on my desk encouraging me to "have a reasonable day."

09.3.2002/09:44
Do you have a warm nostalgic spot in your heart for Dr. J's afro and the red, white and blue basketball? Then check out Remember the ABA.

09.3.2002/09:17
Fried spiders in the news.

09.2.2002/09:48
Don't feed the bears at Yellowstone, and don't be food for bears, either.

09.1.2002/22:45
The fact the I found this may tell you as much about me as about its soul-baring author.

09.1.2002/22:05
Don't Envy.

09.1.2002/10:59
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
palindromelist.com

09.1.2002/10:56
Old radio segments with Smokey the Bear with such luminaries as Dinah Shore and Roy Rogers.

09.1.2002/10:53
One more reason to be glad there was no baseball strike: Oakland has now won 17 in a row.

09.1.2002/10:50
Satanic worship schedule in prison stopped for now, but issue to be more closely considered.

09.1.2002/10:47
Seattle area considers espresso tax.

09.1.2002/10:40
The orphan train remembered.