I'm always interested in finding tools that do more, especially when they are essentially free. So after finding out that w.bloggar by Marcelo L. L. Cabral supported Blogger's title field, I decided to give it a try. This post was made with it. I'd like to find an easier way to edit previously published posts, analagous to the bottom half of the Blogger authoring page, though.
- When a white Toyota 4Runner appears on the road near you, get out of the way. If you're driving a white 4Runner and you're not Bill, get out of the way. Note that this rule will be updated when Bill gets a new vehicle.
- When you're in the left lane and a car comes up behind you, move over and allow this car to pass. The left lane is for passing, not regular driving and you pokes should no better. Don't give me any grief about speed limits. And if your car has trouble with uphill climbs, don't even think about getting in the left lane.
- When you are coming to a stop at a traffic light and there are two lanes going straight but no right turn lane and you aren't turning right, don't block the right lane for those behind you who expect to make a right on red.
- When your wipers are on, turn on your headlights. This won't hurt your battery or visibility and will help other cars see you in the rain.
- When parking in a marked space, get your car inside the line to either side. This does not mean that where the lot uses double lines you can be inside the outer line but not the inner line. This rule applies to your entire car, not just the front end, and also applies to you spoiled brats who think purchasing an expensive car also purchases you a second space. If you don't understand this you should not be parking in public lots.
- When you run into serious congestion--you know this will happen more often than anyone likes--do not constantly jump from lane to lane. The odds that you'll get to your destination more than five seconds sooner is exceedingly small but you will make everyone else lose about five seconds be lane change.
- You have not been appointed the Outdoor Entertainment Coordinator and so you do not have permission to turn to turn up the stereo volume so high that cars around you are jumping from your bass. I don't care how much you love your rock and roll, rap or Celine Dion, drivers in other cars do not want to hear it.
- Stop signs mean you actually have to stop, especially when the crossing road does not have a stop sign. A corollary to this rule is that when you're driving on a road which is the stem side of a T-intersection, and no side of this intersection is controlled by a light or a stop or yield sign, you do not just drive through and make your turn without stopping; in general, the traffic flowing on the other road CANNOT SEE YOU!
- When you park on a street which only has one lane in each direction, do not block that one lane. Even if you are driving for UPS, FedEx or a delivery service.
- When operating a motor vehicle, wear your seatbelt. Besides being the law, at least in most states, the belt will give you a much better chance of walking away from an accident without injury or death. Bill does not enjoy hearing ambulance sirens blaring.
The Niners have just run off for halftime and the play so far is a perfect encapsulation of their season. After a scoreless first quarter Jeff Garcia passed to Jed Weaver for a 7-0 lead on a 68 yard drive, then Jeff Ulbrich intercepted a Matt Hasselback pass which Garcia took advantage of by throwing a TD pass to Cedric Wilson. Right after that, the Niners defense got comfortable thinking that they would have an easy time taking the 14 point lead into the lockerroom. So of course the Seahawks got two fast touchdowns and the score was tied. Garcia said F this and almost got the lead back but Wilson took a bad penalty with only seconds left and we had to settle for a field goal attempt. You know what this means--Todd Peterson banged the ball of the right post for the miss.
To summarize: decent offense, especially from the QB but not much from the running game, flashes of brilliance from the defense but not able to make it stand up, and a crap kicking game including too many short kickoffs.
Later: Continuing the season theme, the 49ers did lose. The offense couldn't quite get it together with Garcia in particular throwing several short passes and the defense wasn't able to stuff a late field goal drive that ate up all the Niners timeouts; throw in a little blame for Erickson who blew a timeout when he challenged Koren Robinson's beautiful touchdown reception. Like quite a few of this season's losses, this one could have been a win with a little better effort across the board.
To summarize: decent offense, especially from the QB but not much from the running game, flashes of brilliance from the defense but not able to make it stand up, and a crap kicking game including too many short kickoffs.
Later: Continuing the season theme, the 49ers did lose. The offense couldn't quite get it together with Garcia in particular throwing several short passes and the defense wasn't able to stuff a late field goal drive that ate up all the Niners timeouts; throw in a little blame for Erickson who blew a timeout when he challenged Koren Robinson's beautiful touchdown reception. Like quite a few of this season's losses, this one could have been a win with a little better effort across the board.
New owner Roman Abromovich spent well over $160 million this past summer to push Chelsea FC ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal but so far, with one match left in 2003, the Blues have simply kept the third place with which they finished last season. The Straits Times has a decent article on their near term outlook. The pressure is on manager Claudio Ranieri particularly as he's faced rumors all year that his boss is simply waiting for England to finish their Euro 2004 effort to name Sven Goran Ericksson as the new man.
American fans think they put pressure on but to me it seems nowhere near what the top English and European soccer clubs get from theirs; Chelsea have only played 18 games so far, after all, and have many new starters and top subs who need some time to gell. Third place in the EPL, after all, means another spot in the Champions League where they won their opening round group this year and are through to the final Sixteen. This is what I call tough love.
American fans think they put pressure on but to me it seems nowhere near what the top English and European soccer clubs get from theirs; Chelsea have only played 18 games so far, after all, and have many new starters and top subs who need some time to gell. Third place in the EPL, after all, means another spot in the Champions League where they won their opening round group this year and are through to the final Sixteen. This is what I call tough love.
Firebird: Still no luck [Later: Yes!]
Since the only respondent to my Mozilla Firebird Support forum suggested that the answer to this site's display problem with Firebird might be resolved by the fix to Bug 215857, I installed the latest Firebird nightly build this morning. Sadly, as far as I can tell, there is no change. I've relayed this back to the forum and hopefully will get some useful information back. If any of you are reading this in Firebird, sorry for the annoyance.Later: My post to the forum got a fast response from Chris Neale. His answer, to add a width: 98% to one of the main styles, was apparently just what was needed. The Firebird issue has been handled. Nice!
Just because he's dead doesn't mean you shouldn't laugh: The Bill Hicks Bootleg Archive. Try to ignore the annoying moving menu bar if you can.
What a lazy slow day it's been. After a tasty breakfast from Viv's Cafe, I dropped TS1 off at the trains so she could go and be a good little consumer up at Hillsdale Shopping Center. The Morning Coffee Walk was, as usual, intellectually stimulating and not only because of the caffeine. Then things got slow. Sort of half watched the TiVoed ManUre-Everton EPL match but I knew the outcome which killed much of the interest and I spent most of the second half surfing, mainly on Ask MetaFilter. Glad to read, of course, that the Reds were able to take care of business with Bolton and get their own 3-1 victory.
Couldn't wait any longer for lunch, around 1:00, even having had a little snack about 11 and knowing that TS1 was only minutes away from home. So I gave into my hunger and scarfed some of the delicious leftover ribs that Viv's Cafe served lst night... yummy. For that snack I had an EAS AdvantEdge Carb Control low carb drink which was part of a low carb basket Xmas gift from one of TS1's co-workers. Not bad tasting compared to the Atkins version, especially compared to the version one mixes up from the powder.
The next couple of hours are mostly a blur as a post-lunch coma kicked in and out as I was watching the Motor City Bowl. Finally emerged from it around 3:30 and spent the last 75 minutes finishing off Semper Mars, the first book in The Heritage Trilogy, by Ian Douglas (although not, apparently, this Ian Douglas because this book's author is using a nom de plume and is really called William Keith). I epxect to finish the other two before adding a writeup here.
Couldn't wait any longer for lunch, around 1:00, even having had a little snack about 11 and knowing that TS1 was only minutes away from home. So I gave into my hunger and scarfed some of the delicious leftover ribs that Viv's Cafe served lst night... yummy. For that snack I had an EAS AdvantEdge Carb Control low carb drink which was part of a low carb basket Xmas gift from one of TS1's co-workers. Not bad tasting compared to the Atkins version, especially compared to the version one mixes up from the powder.
The next couple of hours are mostly a blur as a post-lunch coma kicked in and out as I was watching the Motor City Bowl. Finally emerged from it around 3:30 and spent the last 75 minutes finishing off Semper Mars, the first book in The Heritage Trilogy, by Ian Douglas (although not, apparently, this Ian Douglas because this book's author is using a nom de plume and is really called William Keith). I epxect to finish the other two before adding a writeup here.
For those of you who've been following my job saga, I have something to tell. While it isn't the great news of a new full-time position, it is a nice short-term gig building a website for a new company (which for reasons other than my own will go unnamed at this time) that will bring in some cash over the next month. I've learned a good deal over the past three years since taking up PHP, CSS and the rest of the TLAs and will be designing a content system that is the next generation of my past work.
Call it Codename: Blitzen since I've started building it on Xmas Day. I doubt the code or design will be of interest to anyone else though I'm writing with as much abstraction as possible. Still, there are certain layout choices I can't seem to abstract away without getting into a templating system and I am not interested in that. Should be interesting. I'm working for intelligent (and generous) people who've no web skills and who therefore won't be micromanaging me. W00t!
I did get some other nice holiday presents--thanks Vivian, Mom and Dad, Evan, LordB and LadyA, Pam, Dewi and Andrew, and Nancy and Jim--but no need to make the rest of you jealous(!). One present I didn't get was to see Something's Gotta Give because when we got into the tiny auditorium the only two seats together were in the front row, less than five feet from the screen and we didn't feel like breaking our necks looking up for two hours. Oh well, another time.
Call it Codename: Blitzen since I've started building it on Xmas Day. I doubt the code or design will be of interest to anyone else though I'm writing with as much abstraction as possible. Still, there are certain layout choices I can't seem to abstract away without getting into a templating system and I am not interested in that. Should be interesting. I'm working for intelligent (and generous) people who've no web skills and who therefore won't be micromanaging me. W00t!
I did get some other nice holiday presents--thanks Vivian, Mom and Dad, Evan, LordB and LadyA, Pam, Dewi and Andrew, and Nancy and Jim--but no need to make the rest of you jealous(!). One present I didn't get was to see Something's Gotta Give because when we got into the tiny auditorium the only two seats together were in the front row, less than five feet from the screen and we didn't feel like breaking our necks looking up for two hours. Oh well, another time.
I am such a curmudgeon! Even today means little to me except that we get craptastic repeats and moreless on TV plus all the stores are closed; if I was working I'd be happy to have the days off and of course I don't begrudge others that pleasantry or their chance to worship the invisible man in the sky. Still, I was completely peeved to learn that the National Park Service is caving to the Religious WackosRight by allowing the display of three bronze plaques bearing biblical verses at the Grand Canyon.
So I sent the following letter to Gale Norton (Secretary of the Department of the Interior), Deputy Director Donald Murphy (through his mouthpiece David Barna) and Joe Alston (Superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park) to express my thoughts:
I am writing to express my personal disgust at recent actions taken by your organization to approve the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as zllow the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks.
I would like an explanation of how this does not violate the First Amendment in a huge way. And if the ACLU had not already done so, I would have been on the phone with them tomorrow to volunteer as lead plaintiff in such a legal action.
So I sent the following letter to Gale Norton (Secretary of the Department of the Interior), Deputy Director Donald Murphy (through his mouthpiece David Barna) and Joe Alston (Superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park) to express my thoughts:
I am writing to express my personal disgust at recent actions taken by your organization to approve the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as zllow the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks.
I would like an explanation of how this does not violate the First Amendment in a huge way. And if the ACLU had not already done so, I would have been on the phone with them tomorrow to volunteer as lead plaintiff in such a legal action.
Yesterday's movie: Y tu mama tambien
From 2001, Y tu mama tambien is a critically acclaimed movie made in Mexico by Alfonso Cuaron (who is directing the next Harry Potter film) about two teenage boys and a slightly older woman who learn about life, love and themselves in the course of a trip to an isolated beach. Very tittilating movie mining wellworn territory.Frankly I don't understand why this film was so well received (such as an Oscar nomination for Best Writing that Cuaron shared with his brother) but perhaps it was the pseudo-innocent sexuality swirled with mixed-high left wing politics. The film opens with one of the boys and his girlfriend, naked and tossing together in bed, followed by the other boy sneaking in some last-minute sex with his own chickie before the two girls fly off for a Summer holiday in Italy. And the Cuaron brothers throw in more physicality about any chance they get. Meanwhile, there is talk of political corruption, protests and economic disparity combined with classism around every bend.
Not recommended
Not completely thinking this through, are we?
The Times continues to print reader letters regarding gay marriage. Most of the letters are as you'd expect, from one side or the other. Donald Leventhal of Chesterland, Ohio states, however, that while the legal benefits of marriage are a reasonable desire (I guess he would agree with granting them), the idea of artifical insemination of a lesbian couple should be outlawed because "How can children who will never meet or even see a picture of their biological father have anything but a great sense of loss and a huge gap in their lives?"What a doofus. Using his logic, all adoptions and artificial inseminations where the sperm donor is not the man who raises the child should be outlawed as well. The newspaper probably prints such letters to show the range of opinions on a very controversial topic but I wish they'd use a higher standard for selection. Compare it to a letter responding to a recent OpArt piece on Iraq. Donald Leventhal, you are a doofus and you can quote me on that.
Reminding everyone watching of 1999, Research in Motion gave shareholders a major Xmas present today by sending the share price up over 50% with a "dazzling" earnings outlook. Cool for them! Could somebody mention this to Scott McNealy for me? Thanks.
Based on a novel by comic caper genius Donald Westlake, 1972's The Hot Rock was directed by Peter Yates, had a script by William Goldman and starred Robert Redford. Sadly, even with all the talent involved, the film just doesn't measure up to the book. Mainly, I just felt that the cast and director walked through the picture and never approached the nervous energy called for, with the possible exception of George Segal.
Redford's sister is married to Segal, who picks The Blonde One up after his latest stint in jail as we begin. Segal, clearly a criminal wannabe, has a job for them: stealing the Sahara Stone, treasured by several African nations and currently on display in Manhattan, for the UN Ambassador (Moses Gunn) of one of the interested nations. Reluctantly, Redford agrees to the job and Segal rounds out the crew with Paul Sand and Ron Leibman. The heist goes reasonably well but Sand, who has the gem, is caught by the cops. The crew spins around a batch of bad luck ever more tightly; Sand's father (Zero Mostel) even tries to rip them off.
Not recommended
Redford's sister is married to Segal, who picks The Blonde One up after his latest stint in jail as we begin. Segal, clearly a criminal wannabe, has a job for them: stealing the Sahara Stone, treasured by several African nations and currently on display in Manhattan, for the UN Ambassador (Moses Gunn) of one of the interested nations. Reluctantly, Redford agrees to the job and Segal rounds out the crew with Paul Sand and Ron Leibman. The heist goes reasonably well but Sand, who has the gem, is caught by the cops. The crew spins around a batch of bad luck ever more tightly; Sand's father (Zero Mostel) even tries to rip them off.
Not recommended
Doc praises the Starbucks Barista espresso/cappuccino machine but what caught my eye was his description of the grinder.
- King Arthur, linked at ComingSoon, looks powerful
- A very different type of trailer for the Asimov-based I, Robot
- Spider-Man 2
- The remake of The Stepford Wives is going to be a comedy with a very interesting cast
- Pitch Black sequel The Chronicles of Riddick
- The Mask 2 with Jamie Kennedy replacing Jim Carrey
Ruth Wedgwood, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, presents an interesting argument in favor of the Bush administration's detention of alleged Al Qaeda member Jose Padilla. Boils down to "By the logic of last week's [apellate court] decision, the president could not have held the hijackers as combatants--even after they had entered the United States, even with habeas corpus review of the president's decision, until the moment they appeared at Logan Airport with box cutters."
Joe's Orange Alert
Brett Farve played tonight, starting his 205th consecutive game at QB for Green Bay, even though his father died yesterday. Unexpectedly, a massive heart attack. The few shots I saw of him (didn't watch until well into the 3rd quarter) he was standing around on the sideline, chatting with teammates and such. Makes me think of Harry Chapin's old song Cat's in the Cradle and that Brett is behaving exactly as his Dad would expect.
This is what you get when you cross a first year law student with a LotR fanatic.
Woooo! We're having an earthquake as I type this. The desk is moving from side to side, though not strongly enough to flop anything down from shelves. No loss of power.
The Sweet One says there were some books and files falling off the shelves in her office in San Jose. No damage, no one hurt. A buddy down the block, who was relaxing on his couch, says he didn't even feel it in the least.
Okay, over now. That was vaguely disorienting, almost enough to give me a little motion sickness. First one I felt here in Mountain View for over two years.
A Few Minutes Later: This was a 6.5, centered about 130 miles south of here not far from Hearst Castle outside of San Luis Obispo. Apparently felt well into Southern California too as comments on MetaFilter show.
The Sweet One says there were some books and files falling off the shelves in her office in San Jose. No damage, no one hurt. A buddy down the block, who was relaxing on his couch, says he didn't even feel it in the least.
Okay, over now. That was vaguely disorienting, almost enough to give me a little motion sickness. First one I felt here in Mountain View for over two years.
A Few Minutes Later: This was a 6.5, centered about 130 miles south of here not far from Hearst Castle outside of San Luis Obispo. Apparently felt well into Southern California too as comments on MetaFilter show.
Something, but not all things, wicked this way come
I suppose we should all behave properly, all the time, but being human none of us are quite so perfect. Which is one reason why the GPS-based tracking technology described in this NY Times article is giving me the creeps. I can surely understand a parent's concern for a child in this age of violence or terror but, bringing in a commonly used phrase from journalism, this is a slippery slope we're traveling down and slipping into the danger zone is going to be all too easy.On the other hand, Tom Friedman is really stretching to make a point with his column. I do not in the least see the big deal in requiring foriegners to provide their fingerprints before entering America; we need to be sure the person is who he or she claims to be and if that's unacceptable, the person really doesn't need to come in.
Plain old feed...
