September 30, 2003
Wow, If You Flush Your Fish, It Won't Be Freed
Stories like these are why I wear my "Question Society" shirt at least once every two weeks. I've probably already used that line in a post, but it's so, so true.
Thank you.
hln
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As the American summer blockbuster "Finding Nemo" surfaces on European movie screens, conservationists are beseeching fish hobbyists: Don't flush!
Inspired by the adventures of the animated clownfish character — including his unlikely escape down a dentist's spit sink — conservationists say hundreds of children have flushed their pet fish down the toilet, hoping to free them.
The United Nations (news - web sites) Environment Programme and its partners want to discourage the innocent practice, while using the film's Friday opening in the United Kingdom to highlight a new report that tallies exotic fish losses and habitat damage caused by the growing pet trade.
"Parents who already have aquariums need to explain to their children that the fish will not survive if they are flushed," says Paul Holthus, president of the Marine Aquarium Council, a nonprofit conservation group based in Hawaii.
Thank you.
hln
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The Other Running Man
P. Diddy, you go. If he's in good enough condition, perhaps he can record a rap while running.
Top THAT, Nelly. You've got a bit of time.
hln
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs on Tuesday announced he will run the New York marathon and unveiled plans to raise $1 million for health-care and education charities that benefit the city's children.
Top THAT, Nelly. You've got a bit of time.
hln
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Spork and Web Services
Via Ted, my coworker and friend, I learned this.
hln
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Kansas City, MO - After a six month intense integration efforts, senior consultants at B2BIntegration Inc have been unable to get a plastic spork from service provider Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) to interoperate with an IBM mainframe.
hln
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September 30, 2003 - The Day Brian Gave Up Coke in Cans
GPS - coming to a coke can near you!
But you get a Hummer if they find you. So...strange and disconcerting as a package.
hln
But you get a Hummer if they find you. So...strange and disconcerting as a package.
hln
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Interesting Household Discussion
Yeah, this one's going to be fun when Brian arrives home from work tonight:
"Hi honey. I'm sorry I opened your Playboy. I thought it was Reason."
(Ah, those magazines the aspiring author must collect).
I hope you're laughing as hard as I am.
hln
"Hi honey. I'm sorry I opened your Playboy. I thought it was Reason."
(Ah, those magazines the aspiring author must collect).
I hope you're laughing as hard as I am.
hln
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Now That the Weather's Cool, You Need a Bonfire!
Kevin at Wizbang's got another one roaring. Visit.
hln
hln
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Blackfive's Bash
So, Matt, when's the party?
Let's schedule this thing.
hln
Let's schedule this thing.
hln
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Molecular Confusion
I think I've found yet another reason to avoid the Atkins diet (as if I needed more).
hln
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A non-human molecule found in red meat and milk makes its way into the human system when eaten -- and seems to build up especially in tumors, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
The compound, called sialic acid, is found on the surfaces of animal cells but is not found in people, and may be one reason why animal-to-human organ and tissue transplants do not work well. Animals have a version called Neu5Gc, while humans carry Neu5Ac.
But researchers at the University of California San Diego found it does show up in the human body, and showed it can be absorbed from eating red meat and milk.
They also showed that the body produces an immune response against the molecule.
hln
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Fortunately, the gf and I have cut back on red meat.Packers Win!
Not that _I_ really care about the Packers winning, but my esteemed spouse is obviously quite thrilled.
Game on.
hln
Game on.
hln
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Well, Here We Go...
This is live as of now.
Pixy Misa's in possession of my monolith export from Blogger, and that'll go into MT in the next couple of days. But I'll be posting here from now on, so get used to the purple.
And welcome to my new home.
hln
Pixy Misa's in possession of my monolith export from Blogger, and that'll go into MT in the next couple of days. But I'll be posting here from now on, so get used to the purple.
And welcome to my new home.
hln
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September 29, 2003
The Woven Web #1
Well, in my redesign phase, I was still collecting a list of all of the wonderful things I read in the last few days. I just haven't had the chance to post them, yet!
This'll likely be a recurring theme, since I'm armed with my mighty RSS aggregator. Everytime I get crazybusy, these'll just accumulate, and I'll make a formal posting of...The Woven Web.
more...
This'll likely be a recurring theme, since I'm armed with my mighty RSS aggregator. Everytime I get crazybusy, these'll just accumulate, and I'll make a formal posting of...The Woven Web.
more...
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Culled!
Visit Kelley's Cul-de-sac at Suburban Blight. She's linking to the old blog because she didn't know not to, but I've got a pretty good post over there about cleaning out the attic after my father's death.
If I weren't so preoccupied with this new site, I'd have read all of the linked entries by now, but, well, there's next week, and there's always archives.
Thank goodness!
hln
If I weren't so preoccupied with this new site, I'd have read all of the linked entries by now, but, well, there's next week, and there's always archives.
Thank goodness!
hln
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September 28, 2003
The Century I'm Not Gonna Finish
Is what I called the ride midstream today. Our century ride met up with the
normal group I ride with, Bicycle Fun Club (Trailnet). The rides converged
in a big soupy mess of confusion - riders not sure whose rest stops were
whose, which arrows to follow (most were blindly following other
cyclists...because usually you can).
So one guy asked me, "which ride are you on?" And that was my response, "The century I'm NOT gonna finish."
And so it was. Riding today was sheer hell, the second toughest ride I've ever endured. I put in just shy of a METRIC century, though, at 65.8 miles. That was the end of loop one, where everyone met back for lunch. And where our cars were. That was enough, I'm told, for about 2/3 of the people slated to do today's Flat as a Pancake Century ride.
For starters, my clothing was inadequate. I purchased a long-sleeved and some spandex for fall rides, but, thinking it would eventually be just too hot, I opted for lesser layering. I wore my normal jersey, the long-sleeved jersey, and a mere pair of biker shorts. I suffered. Poor Hans and Ryan were wearing less still. I've not gotten their ride stories from them yet. I'm sure those'll surface tomorrow.
The morning was just cold. My extremeties and rear complained for the first 25 miles because of it, and I never felt like my muscles got warm. At our rest stop, I went into the bakery located at the rest stop (I'll plug the name in here tomorrow when I have the business card of the place with me) and stood near the oven (with blessings of the staff, of course). That was warm.
Oh, and the wind. What can I say about the wind that isn't obscene? The wind in central Illinois today was BRUTAL. And cold. Enough said. At points it was 15 mph or more, and I know at least 15-20 miles of the ride was directly into the wind.
So this is why I did not finish my century. My knees are creaky, and I had my left quad chirping at me for the last 12 miles. My average speed was laughable, and I was really, really cold.
I think I prefer the 95 degree weather to ride. At least I get a funky tan. I believe most of the rest of my cycling for 2003 will be indoors. Brr.
Thank you to my friend Tim for hanging with me. This ride appeared to be pretty much unsupported, and without someone to complain to (mostly "BRRRR" or inane laughter on my part), I'm not sure I could've finished the 65.8 I did. And it wasn't about conditioning. I barely broke a sweat
UPDATE! - Ryan validates that I'm no pansy!
hln
So one guy asked me, "which ride are you on?" And that was my response, "The century I'm NOT gonna finish."
And so it was. Riding today was sheer hell, the second toughest ride I've ever endured. I put in just shy of a METRIC century, though, at 65.8 miles. That was the end of loop one, where everyone met back for lunch. And where our cars were. That was enough, I'm told, for about 2/3 of the people slated to do today's Flat as a Pancake Century ride.
For starters, my clothing was inadequate. I purchased a long-sleeved and some spandex for fall rides, but, thinking it would eventually be just too hot, I opted for lesser layering. I wore my normal jersey, the long-sleeved jersey, and a mere pair of biker shorts. I suffered. Poor Hans and Ryan were wearing less still. I've not gotten their ride stories from them yet. I'm sure those'll surface tomorrow.
The morning was just cold. My extremeties and rear complained for the first 25 miles because of it, and I never felt like my muscles got warm. At our rest stop, I went into the bakery located at the rest stop (I'll plug the name in here tomorrow when I have the business card of the place with me) and stood near the oven (with blessings of the staff, of course). That was warm.
Oh, and the wind. What can I say about the wind that isn't obscene? The wind in central Illinois today was BRUTAL. And cold. Enough said. At points it was 15 mph or more, and I know at least 15-20 miles of the ride was directly into the wind.
So this is why I did not finish my century. My knees are creaky, and I had my left quad chirping at me for the last 12 miles. My average speed was laughable, and I was really, really cold.
I think I prefer the 95 degree weather to ride. At least I get a funky tan. I believe most of the rest of my cycling for 2003 will be indoors. Brr.
Thank you to my friend Tim for hanging with me. This ride appeared to be pretty much unsupported, and without someone to complain to (mostly "BRRRR" or inane laughter on my part), I'm not sure I could've finished the 65.8 I did. And it wasn't about conditioning. I barely broke a sweat
UPDATE! - Ryan validates that I'm no pansy!
hln
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September 27, 2003
Front Line Voices
The project is taking shape. The URL is in place with a blog atop it,
skinning to commence soon. The group of us who have volunteered have been
sharing ideas about how this should and will take place. The whole thing is
fascinating; the effect should be as well.
If you have as few as two free hours per week and have an interest in the project, please visit the discussion blog and find a fitting way to donate some of your time.
hln
If you have as few as two free hours per week and have an interest in the project, please visit the discussion blog and find a fitting way to donate some of your time.
hln
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Music to Whack Terrorists By
Fulfilling my Alliance duties, I present to you a song for the mix CD,
Music to Whack Terrorists By:
Invincible, by Pat Benatar. Probably one of my favorite songs ever, and quite fitting.
hln
Invincible, by Pat Benatar. Probably one of my favorite songs ever, and quite fitting.
hln
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This Week's New Blog Showcase
Voting time again. Here are my picks:
1) Citizen Lehew's Who Ate My Democracy? is worth a vote. While I may not agree with all that much that the good Citizen has to say, he says it very well and makes a good argument. And that's worth a vote. Nice site design, by the way.
2) My other vote goes to King of Fools for the post on the Caucasian Club.
Good luck with your blogs!
hln
1) Citizen Lehew's Who Ate My Democracy? is worth a vote. While I may not agree with all that much that the good Citizen has to say, he says it very well and makes a good argument. And that's worth a vote. Nice site design, by the way.
2) My other vote goes to King of Fools for the post on the Caucasian Club.
Good luck with your blogs!
hln
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September 26, 2003
Talking Trash
Tuesday night I had a dream about trash. In the dream, I was working at
KFC, must've been college. And I fixated on the trash in the restaurant
within the dream. I can still smell the trash there if I think about it - a
mix of vinegary cole slaw sauce remnants, the scrapings off of the trays
that held the chicken, too-old mashed potatoes, and, if you're in the
"back," chicken blood.
That's not the point of this post, though. When I awakened on Wednesday morning, I spent five additional minutes thinking about trash because of the dream.
My father was a collector of non-trashy trash. You know, that stuff that should be thrown out but one doesn't have the heart to do it? It's not going to rot or anything, so there's nothing that would necessitate throwing it a way. He was a true pack rat. I have a bit of that in me but not as extreme. I'm going to illustrate.
My mother and father have a house with a large attic. About four months after my father died, my mother asked Brian and me to come down with Brian's truck and remove the items still located in the attic. I balked at this a bit, knowing what a chore this would be; my poor mother had NO idea.
So after doing a few other various chores around her house and yard on an April Saturday morning in 2001, we decided to tackle the attic, the storage part of which is located above the garage. There's a pull-down ladder that you extend and then climb up. The item removal line went from Brian in the attic to Heather on the lowest step to Heather's mother who stood a bit to the right of the ladder.
The stuff just kept coming. At first it was funny - you know, like, when we pulled out the first of three toilets. Because we moved a lot as a family, there was a truckload (we know - we hauled it!) of recyclable cardboard moving boxes). There were all of the toys/stuffed animals/books that I kept from childhood. There was some furniture. It took HOURS. HOURS! And it seemed like it would never end.
In the end (that eventually came), though, it was a truckload that my mother and Brian took to the local dump, a truckload of recycling, and a truckload of items Brian and I brought home with us.
Three truckloads of stuff in the attic. We cleaned out the garage, too, and in so doing, my mother moved a board resting against the back garage wall and rediscovered the spot where my father was once too overzealous in backing his boat into the garage. He was always "going to fix that."
And we laughed and sighed. It's obviously not important, all of the little things left undone - not like you choose to suddenly die at 62. I think bringing down the trash/recycling really helped clearly define some of what my father was about, something I have in me, too. That strange unwillingness to let go of certain things, a wistfulness attached to a thing or twelve - maybe recognized as such, most likely not.
My father would've been 65 today. Perhaps that's the dream, or why I connected the dream with THAT particular trash. That day, though it was a whole lot of work, is one of the most memorable days of my adult life. And that comes a couple of years later after some serious reflection and can be reduced to a sentence.
It's hard to let go.
James Allen Igert, 9/26/1938 - 12/6/2000.
hln
That's not the point of this post, though. When I awakened on Wednesday morning, I spent five additional minutes thinking about trash because of the dream.
My father was a collector of non-trashy trash. You know, that stuff that should be thrown out but one doesn't have the heart to do it? It's not going to rot or anything, so there's nothing that would necessitate throwing it a way. He was a true pack rat. I have a bit of that in me but not as extreme. I'm going to illustrate.
My mother and father have a house with a large attic. About four months after my father died, my mother asked Brian and me to come down with Brian's truck and remove the items still located in the attic. I balked at this a bit, knowing what a chore this would be; my poor mother had NO idea.
So after doing a few other various chores around her house and yard on an April Saturday morning in 2001, we decided to tackle the attic, the storage part of which is located above the garage. There's a pull-down ladder that you extend and then climb up. The item removal line went from Brian in the attic to Heather on the lowest step to Heather's mother who stood a bit to the right of the ladder.
The stuff just kept coming. At first it was funny - you know, like, when we pulled out the first of three toilets. Because we moved a lot as a family, there was a truckload (we know - we hauled it!) of recyclable cardboard moving boxes). There were all of the toys/stuffed animals/books that I kept from childhood. There was some furniture. It took HOURS. HOURS! And it seemed like it would never end.
In the end (that eventually came), though, it was a truckload that my mother and Brian took to the local dump, a truckload of recycling, and a truckload of items Brian and I brought home with us.
Three truckloads of stuff in the attic. We cleaned out the garage, too, and in so doing, my mother moved a board resting against the back garage wall and rediscovered the spot where my father was once too overzealous in backing his boat into the garage. He was always "going to fix that."
And we laughed and sighed. It's obviously not important, all of the little things left undone - not like you choose to suddenly die at 62. I think bringing down the trash/recycling really helped clearly define some of what my father was about, something I have in me, too. That strange unwillingness to let go of certain things, a wistfulness attached to a thing or twelve - maybe recognized as such, most likely not.
My father would've been 65 today. Perhaps that's the dream, or why I connected the dream with THAT particular trash. That day, though it was a whole lot of work, is one of the most memorable days of my adult life. And that comes a couple of years later after some serious reflection and can be reduced to a sentence.
It's hard to let go.
James Allen Igert, 9/26/1938 - 12/6/2000.
hln
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September 25, 2003
Quick Links
1) Don't miss the Carnival this week.
2) Michael Williams has posted his Spherewide Short Story Symposium.
3) Harvey Olson of Bad Money feeds us another filthy lie about the press conference regarding the end of the Blog War as we know it.
hln
2) Michael Williams has posted his Spherewide Short Story Symposium.
3) Harvey Olson of Bad Money feeds us another filthy lie about the press conference regarding the end of the Blog War as we know it.
hln
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Test Post
Thank you all for suggesting me, guys! I'll skin it over the weekend, move stuff over, and do all of that good stuff!
hln
hln
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Welcome!September 24, 2003
SBC - YOUR Telephone Company
SBC is frenetically advertising DSL DSL DSL, Yahoo DSL everywhere I look.
Brian and I tried
to get DSL 3 1/2 years ago when we moved into this house. I can't remember
what they told us except "yes" initially and "no" when we complained it
wouldn't hold a connection and they sent someone out to take a look.
I don't remember the why behind the no. So we looked into cable. At that time, this area was serviced by St. Louis' secondary cable company (which was later bought by Charter, about 2 years ago), and it did not offer cable Internet service. So, we were pretty much outta luck, this being early 2000. We got a 2nd phone line so that we can both do work/play online at once. Yes, sometimes we IM each other from different parts of the house. I digress.
Time passes. Dial-up SUFFICES, but we both get into this blog thing. As you probably know, sometimes it's a go-down-the-blogroll festival of link opening into new windows. This takes forever to load in 56k (which is a farce - I connect at 23.6 usually). You can read Meryl giving it a good gripe since she was blogging away from home due to Isabel. I keep thinking, "honey, you have NO idea."
Back on track. One of these SBC Yahoo advertisements made its way into our home, and it planted that little advertising seed, you know, like it's aiming to do. So we called, or submitted it on the Internet - I'm not sure which came first. They call us back, leave a muffled message on our answering machine. I call the next day - Thursday or Friday of last week, and I spend 30 minutes on the phone with smarmysalesrep, who says, "Yes, ma'am, Ms. Noogle (note the two Os - bad bad), we can get that for you. I don't know WHAT they were talking about." He signs me up. Our nifty modem came in a box Monday with the go-live date of, um, tomorrow. I accidentally attributed the wrong phone number to the order, so Brian calls on Monday and clears that up.
Yesterday, I receive a call from the contractor who would be doing any necessary beforehand work to ensure this'll work. He has some bad news. That phone line isn't copper; rather, it's fiber optic, and that's a "no can do" with DSL. He's trying to hook that to the original number, though, and so ever-hopeful Heather says, "No, wait, that's the WRONG phone number. Try this one" and gives him the new. He calls me back today - same deal.
To do DSL with this kind of set-up, the technician informs me, requires some sort of remote station. And, that's slated to happen, oh, about 2005.
Okay, people. This the year 2003. Our technology is amazing. AMAZING. Look at new computers today - mine's so ancient (almost 3 years now) that I have no idea what's out there. And, seeing that mine's perfectly functional, even for a session of Asheron's Call or two, it'll be, oh, a few months before I seriously look at upgrading some of the pieces. My point, though, is LOOK AT THE ADVANCES IN THREE YEARS. I know they're there. Some of the servers at work have a GIG of RAM. GIG! (Sorry for yelling, sorta.) What's SBC advanced? Um, it can PRINT MORE ADS and not provide any more service.
Zounds. Feel the acid. So, I've flipped the switch in my head that says "something more than dial-up." Seeing as we dropped cable on its sorry ass in June, that's kinda out of the question. At least with Charter. Ah, but there is another, as Yoda would say.
Maryland Heights, my municipality, for some reason has TWO cable companies. Most of the rest of the metro area is only serviced by Charter. So, I call Cable America today and get the hook-up. The funny part? The whole thing is LESS expensive (when you take away my dial-up account) with the Internet access and a similar cable package than what Brian and I were paying with Charter.
Pblllllht on SBC.
hln
I don't remember the why behind the no. So we looked into cable. At that time, this area was serviced by St. Louis' secondary cable company (which was later bought by Charter, about 2 years ago), and it did not offer cable Internet service. So, we were pretty much outta luck, this being early 2000. We got a 2nd phone line so that we can both do work/play online at once. Yes, sometimes we IM each other from different parts of the house. I digress.
Time passes. Dial-up SUFFICES, but we both get into this blog thing. As you probably know, sometimes it's a go-down-the-blogroll festival of link opening into new windows. This takes forever to load in 56k (which is a farce - I connect at 23.6 usually). You can read Meryl giving it a good gripe since she was blogging away from home due to Isabel. I keep thinking, "honey, you have NO idea."
Back on track. One of these SBC Yahoo advertisements made its way into our home, and it planted that little advertising seed, you know, like it's aiming to do. So we called, or submitted it on the Internet - I'm not sure which came first. They call us back, leave a muffled message on our answering machine. I call the next day - Thursday or Friday of last week, and I spend 30 minutes on the phone with smarmysalesrep, who says, "Yes, ma'am, Ms. Noogle (note the two Os - bad bad), we can get that for you. I don't know WHAT they were talking about." He signs me up. Our nifty modem came in a box Monday with the go-live date of, um, tomorrow. I accidentally attributed the wrong phone number to the order, so Brian calls on Monday and clears that up.
Yesterday, I receive a call from the contractor who would be doing any necessary beforehand work to ensure this'll work. He has some bad news. That phone line isn't copper; rather, it's fiber optic, and that's a "no can do" with DSL. He's trying to hook that to the original number, though, and so ever-hopeful Heather says, "No, wait, that's the WRONG phone number. Try this one" and gives him the new. He calls me back today - same deal.
To do DSL with this kind of set-up, the technician informs me, requires some sort of remote station. And, that's slated to happen, oh, about 2005.
Okay, people. This the year 2003. Our technology is amazing. AMAZING. Look at new computers today - mine's so ancient (almost 3 years now) that I have no idea what's out there. And, seeing that mine's perfectly functional, even for a session of Asheron's Call or two, it'll be, oh, a few months before I seriously look at upgrading some of the pieces. My point, though, is LOOK AT THE ADVANCES IN THREE YEARS. I know they're there. Some of the servers at work have a GIG of RAM. GIG! (Sorry for yelling, sorta.) What's SBC advanced? Um, it can PRINT MORE ADS and not provide any more service.
Zounds. Feel the acid. So, I've flipped the switch in my head that says "something more than dial-up." Seeing as we dropped cable on its sorry ass in June, that's kinda out of the question. At least with Charter. Ah, but there is another, as Yoda would say.
Maryland Heights, my municipality, for some reason has TWO cable companies. Most of the rest of the metro area is only serviced by Charter. So, I call Cable America today and get the hook-up. The funny part? The whole thing is LESS expensive (when you take away my dial-up account) with the Internet access and a similar cable package than what Brian and I were paying with Charter.
Pblllllht on SBC.
hln
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