neurotwitch

Tuesday, January 07, 2003

the shield, new season

We watched the first episode of season two tonight of The Shield. It's STILL good--Vic is losing his grip ... wonder if Television Without Pity is going to start covering it?

posted by lee on 01/07/03 at 08:30 PM
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Sunday, January 05, 2003

Dead Zone a little better, but not much

I really didn't care much that The Dead Zone started up again, but there was nothing else on and Stanley wanted to see it, so ... I pretty much gave up on the show after the vision in the cave with the shaman from long ago episode--what a pile of horse manure that was. And Stillson didn't appear until the last episode of the season.

Tonight's episode was better, sort of. It didn't explain anything, though, and wasted some good characters. Why did his visions suddenly come back after being absent for weeks? Why did the loony involve Johnnie in the kidnapping? What was his message all about? The writers for this show pretty much suck -- worse than the writing for the last two years of X-Files. Tries to be mysterious but ends up being insubstantial and just very annoying.

All in all, pretty disappointing. Next week is supposed to be about Sarah again--who cares about her? The writers try to make her seem noble, just screwing around on her husband that one time. But instead she comes off as a selfish, whiny slut. And Walter comes off as so noble he just seems dumb. Get some better scriptwriters!

posted by lee on 01/05/03 at 10:37 PM
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Saturday, January 04, 2003

Banished Words—or words that should be, at any rate

Banished Words is my favorite annual "award." Lake Superior State University (in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan) publishes a list of them every year.

From the press release:
"Make no mistakes about it,ђ Lake Superior State University issued its 28th annual extremeђ List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness, which the world needs now, more than ever.ђ

"LSSU has been compiling the list since 1976, choosing from nominations sent from around the world. This year, words and phrases were pulled from a record 3,000 nominations. Most were sent through the schools website: www.lssu.edu/banished.

"Word-watchers pull nominations throughout the year from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics, and more. A committee gathers the entries and chooses the best in December. The list is released on New YearҒs Day."

Last year LSSU added "functionality" to the list—a non-word that indicates the user can't figure out what something really means, or is too lazy or stupid to describe, in plain English, what something does.

This year's list (read the why's on the website):

material breach

must-see tv

untimely death (absolutely must be banished)

black ice

on the ground

weapons of mass destruction

make no mistake about it

homeland security (vs. national security, I guess)

extreme

now, more than ever

branding (used instead of PR—is PR such a bad thing?)

having said that , that said

peel-and-eat shrimp

challenge (is a challenge better than a problem?)

it's a good thing (yep, I've used this way too much)

as per

reverse discrimination

there is no score (guess 0-0 doesn't mean anything)

got game (eeeyyyeeeewww!!)

mental mistake

___ in color

frozen tundra (a Squad Squad entry)

undisclosed secret location (newsies using this sound like asses)

One of these days I'm going to start making my list of tv news clichés. I suspect it will take exactly two weeks to cycle through the entire collection. Submit your entries now!

posted by lee on 01/04/03 at 03:17 PM
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Friday, January 03, 2003

Israeli terrorists

A Brutal Routine (washingtonpost.com)

"THERE HAS BEEN a lull recently in Palestinian attacks against Israelis; a shooting attack that killed four in a West Bank settlement last week was the first major incident in a month. But almost every day, Palestinian civilians, including many children, are being killed by the Israeli army and police. An 18-year-old high school student named Amran Abu Hamediye was found beaten to death in the West Bank town of Hebron on Monday; family and neighbors say he had been detained by Israeli forces a few minutes before. On Sunday, an 11-year-old boy was shot and killed by troops in the town of Tulkarm. The day before, a 9-year-old girl was killed as she played outside her home in the Gaza Strip. At least four other Palestinian children under the age of 16 were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza during the past month. In one case, an 11-year-old girl was shot in the chest and killed as she leaned out her bedroom window to watch the funeral of a teenage boy who had been gunned down the previous day."

The United States should suspend all aid to Israel immediately. I wonder how arrogant that nation would be when cut off from it's $10 million PER DAY allowance from Daddy USA. Why are we funding Israeli terrorism?

posted by lee on 01/03/03 at 05:08 PM
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Thursday, January 02, 2003

Way to go, Turkey!

CBS News | Army Deploys More Soldiers To Gulf | January 2, 2003 -- but Turkey is refusing to go along. At least for now.

"... refusal so far by Turkey to open its military bases to a buildup of American troops is complicating and threatening to delay U.S. plans for war against Iraq.

"There are currently 2,000 American servicemen in Turkey with the mission of patrolling the no-fly zone in northern Iraq.

"But U.S. war plans call for moving an entire army division -- 12 to 15,000 troops and all their equipment -- through Turkey into northern Iraq to secure Iraq's valuable oil fields and to prevent civil war among Kurdish factions competing for power in a post-Saddam Iraq.

"So far, Turkey has not even permitted the pentagon to survey Turkish bases to determine what improvements would be needed to handle the planned buildup.

"Turkey recently elected a conservative Islamic government and U.S. officials are worried its parliament will not permit Turkish bases to be used for a war against Iraq. As long as Turkey refuses, U.S. officials say, it will be impossible to open up a northern front and that would significantly increase the risks in any war."

Now I wonder if the appointed president is going to threaten Turkey for not going along with his criminal war plans. I hope the Turks continue to stand their ground against the US buildup and war with Iraq.

posted by lee on 01/02/03 at 08:40 PM
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Wednesday, January 01, 2003

bush’s hypocrisy

Why N. Korea isn't like Iraq, according to Bush, The Straights Times, January 2, 2003 (it's tomorrow in Asia)

The story reports the total inconsistency of our appointed president's stance on North Korea vs. Iraq. It makes absolutely no sense -- unless you consider how much oil North Korea is sitting on vs. how much Iraq owns. Then it makes perfect sense to ignore a real threat and blow up an imaginary threat.

"The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) believes that North Korea already has two nuclear weapons and could build five or six more in the next six months if it reprocesses its large stockpile of spent nuclear fuel into weapons-grade plutonium.

"As for Iraq, the CIA and Britain's foreign intelligence service estimate it would take the country five years to develop such a weapon - or a single year if Mr Saddam is provided with missile material." [Emphasis added]

posted by lee on 01/01/03 at 05:40 PM
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Tuesday, December 31, 2002

america buys more crap—and the usual end-of-the-year blah blah blah

Interesting entry by Todd Dominey in his blog What Do I Know "Down is Up, Up is Down". He points out that retail sales are expected to be 1.5% HIGHER than in 2001. So why all the bitching and moaning about retail sales being so crappy this year? Because they didn't grow as much as expected. We didn't buy as much crap as the retail industry wanted us to buy.

end-of-the-year blah blah blah
Two-oh-oh-two wasn't so great: my sister got very sick and I was laid off from my part-time gig.

Well, getting laid off wasn't that bad, really, though I would've liked more notice. And more severance. But I've suspected for a while that the company is doomed (when the chiefs outnumber the serfs, it's a good sign that something not good for the serfs is afoot) so I wasn't totally shocked (though it was pretty shitty of them to lay me off while I was on vacation -- something this company is prone to doing).

My big plans for 2003? Finish the redesign of our company website. Grow our business some more. Pay the bills, feed the creatures, learn something new as often as possible, talk with Stanley more. Lose weight, reupholster the chaise, paint the bathroom, get more sleep, read more, get back to my silk ribbon embroidery, finish writing my book, garden more, work less, watch as many movies as we can, go with Stanley & Ginger to Sherwood Island at LOT more than we did in 2002, see as much of my family as we can manage, take our entire vacation this year. Protest against the war. Get more involved in protecting our Consitutional rights. Get rid of crap. Buy less crap.

No big plans for New Year's Eve. We're going to try to see The Two Towers this afternoon. I'll make a good dinner for tonight. We don't drink, so have no desire to go out and party and would rather avoid the drunk bores and the drunk drivers.

I wish for a peaceful 2003. I wish I would win the Powerball, too.

posted by lee on 12/31/02 at 11:37 AM
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Monday, December 30, 2002

Fascinating exhibits

The National Archives & Records Administration has a pretty fascinating series of exhibits on its website. Go here: List of exhibits and check them out. The Depression-era photographs, in particular, are amazing. There are four pages of exhibits listed -- enough to keep you busy for quite a while. I stumbled upon this in my quest for more information about 1920s and Depression-era kitchens. Yep, that's what we're shooting for in fixing up the kitchen -- may as well go with the flow.

posted by lee on 12/30/02 at 05:49 PM
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Sunday, December 29, 2002

Christmas Pictures!

Stanley and I went up to visit my sister and family in Natick, Massachusetts for Christmas. It was a great couple of days, laid back, no stress, fun. The storm didn't start until we'd been there for hours, so we didn't have to deal with traveling in it.

The tree was pretty:

Ben, Jeff, and Kate are looking at the new alarm clock Kate got. She swears THIS will be the thing that will make her actually get up on time for school.

Stanley and I got a cool cd player/clock/radio to match our kitchen-to-be, which will be a kind of late 20s/early 30s/Depression era decor. Stanley gave me an antique Hoosier Cabinet for Christmas -- and this player will match perfectly!

Maureen got her annual Swarovski Crystal snowflake ornament from Mom and Dad -- it is beautiful:

We had a great dinner of prime rib and Maureen's marinated scallops and shrimp on lettuce, and other stuff. Everyone helped cook the various components, so it was a pretty easy dinner to prepare.

The power went out. Stanley and Maureen theorized the power would come back on at midnight because that's when triple-time pay for the power workers ended -- and they were right. We played Tri-Ominos by candlelight (Stanley won) and it didn't really matter if the lights came back on or not. A pleasant evening -- and no tv!

Boxing Day was beautiful. Stanley took this shot through the patio door:

The dog was insanely happy playing with Ben in the snow. Jeff and Stanley faced digging out, though:

Fortunately, a neighbor with a big, old snowblower bopped in to help out. Thank you Good Neighbor.

We hated leaving -- I miss them -- but we had to work on Friday. At least the roads were good, even if Stanley did have to shovel our own driveway when we got home. The dog immediately started moping for her boy. She's still looking for him.

posted by lee on 12/29/02 at 12:20 PM
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Saturday, December 28, 2002

Paper, paper everywhere

Piles of paper are on my desk(s). I've been feeling a little frustrated by them all: why do I have so many piles when my work 95% is digital? Feeling kind of guilty, too. But this book review is very interesting, and explains a lot about our desktop towers: The Social Life of Paper by Malcolm Gladwell. (The New Yorker). [I found this in Boxes and Arrows, in a comment by Dan Saffer. What? I actually read the discussion comments?! Of course--they're usually much more informative, or have more sense, than the article under discussion.]

I am not alone:
"The consumption of uncoated free-sheet paper, for instance--the most common kind of office paper--rose almost fifteen per cent in the United States between 1995 and 2000. This is generally taken as evidence of how hard it is to eradicate old, wasteful habits and of how stubbornly resistant we are to the efficiencies offered by computerization. A number of cognitive psychologists and ergonomics experts, however, don't agree. Paper has persisted, they argue, for very good reasons: when it comes to performing certain kinds of cognitive tasks, paper has many advantages over computers. The dismay people feel at the sight of a messy desk--or the spectacle of air-traffic controllers tracking flights through notes scribbled on paper strips--arises from a fundamental confusion about the role that paper plays in our lives."

The review is about the book The Myth of the Paperless Office, by Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper.

So, the truth is, those piles all over the place make me more efficient, they serve a purpose, and those pieces of paper we print out and spread out when we're making a website or a kiosk interface are the right way to do it. So there.

posted by lee on 12/28/02 at 08:51 AM
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