neurotwitch

Sunday, December 08, 2002

‘tis a day to celebrate

Happy birthday to Stanley!

When I met him and asked what day his birthday is, he told me, "It's the same as the day John Lennon was murdered." Which, at the time, hinted at his outlook on life, the world, and humanity, I surmised. Boy was I right!

posted by lee on 12/08/02 at 04:00 PM
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Friday, December 06, 2002

Adm Poindexter, I presume?

I meant to write about this a couple of days ago. Better late than never? (Maybe.)

Adm. John Poindexter, an Iran Contra felon convicted of conspiracy, obstruction, and lying to Congress [gasp!], is in charge of creating the most humongous database of personal information ever, supposedly to contain the minutiae of each U.S. citizen's or resident's email messages, phone calls, and financial transactions. You know, the one that that Oracle smurf, Larry Ellison, sez his company's software will run. (No war profiteering there, no sirree.)

So a San Francisco Weekly columnist (must be a commie) decided to find out the details:

SF Weekly | Worried about what John Poindexter's up to as federal information czar? Call his home number and ask by Matt Smith.

Iran-Contra conspirator Adm. John Poindexter had been made head of a Pentagon division that would compile a vast database of every financial, medical, employment, school, credit, and government record for every American, so that law enforcement and spooks might better spy on us.

Still, there's always a bright side: Perhaps Adm. Poindexter may be able to also use his new database as a force for good, to divine exactly why America has gone so terribly, terribly wrong

Optimistically, I dialed John and Linda Poindexter's number -- (301) 424-6613 -- at their home at 10 Barrington Fare in Rockville, Md., hoping the good admiral and excused criminal might be able to offer some insight ...

Hmm, then there's this story:

Internet spammer can't take what he dishes out
December 6, 2002 by Mike Wendland, Detroit Free Press

West Bloomfield bulk e-mailer Alan Ralsky, who just may be the world's biggest sender of Internet spam, is getting a taste of his own medicine.

Ever since I wrote a story on him a couple of weeks ago (http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend22_20021122.htm), he says he's been inundated with ads, catalogs and brochures delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to his brand-new $740,000 home ...

Think about it.

posted by lee on 12/06/02 at 08:40 PM
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Harper’s Index

Take a look at Harper'sٙ Index: November 2002. Interesting, sometimes even eye-opening.

Examples:

Ratio of Japanese killed in 1945's U.S. atomic-bomb attacks to Iraqi children killed due to U.N. sanctions : 1:3

Number of reports that President Bush referred to on September 7 as evidence of Iraq's nuclear threat : 2

Last year in which the agency Bush cited as the reports' author had new information on Iraq's nuclear program : 1998

Number of "indications" the agency had then of "any physical capability" to produce weapons-grade nuclear material : 0

Click the "Sources" button at the bottom of the list to find out where these facts came from.

posted by lee on 12/06/02 at 12:22 PM
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Thursday, December 05, 2002

I hope this was a freak storm

I know, I know, I live in New England, it's normal for it to snow ... but the last couple of winters have been so mild I've gotten spoiled. I got my lifetime fill of snow the winter it snowed five or twelve inches every Wednesday, 1993-94? (I forget -- I've blocked it), when the snow didn't melt until the end of April. But it's pretty. For about 20 minutes.

I'm not so good with a digital camera -- but I did get a few shots where I could actually figure out what I was taking a picture of. It might've been easier during the daylight, I s'pose.

Stanley, of course, had his usual cheerful, "gotta dig out" expression.

Ginger ran around like a mad dog, but ten minutes seemed to be enough for her. Made some yellow snow, then she wanted to go in.

It looks like we got about six or seven inches of snow.

Stanley just got happier and happier while he was digging out the van.

This snow is supposedly light and fluffy. Maybe it'll just blow away.

This idiot human keeps taking pictures. Damn it, you stupid cat, just open the damn door -- I promise I won't chase you. Tonight.

I could do without the snow. I really could.

posted by lee on 12/05/02 at 10:02 PM
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Ol’ Henry to Save the Day?

Mark Fiore: Meeting Today's Staffing Needs with Yesterday's Staff. Village Voice. (It's noisy!)

posted by lee on 12/05/02 at 08:02 AM
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Wednesday, December 04, 2002

Terrific Toys

Oh, I just noticed I haven't blogged for a couple of days -- wrapped in the flow of building a new website.

This time we're working on Debora Lisoskie Designs, a website for a woman who makes wonderful toys by hand. She has a great collection of little toys like felt finger puppets and bigger toys such as stuffed dogs and bears, and probably a lot more stuff I haven't even seen yet.

As we get the pieces in place, visitors will be able to purchase the toys online via a PayPal shopping cart. Right now it's in "soft launch."

It's impossible to remain grumpy while working on this site -- I try, but I can't sustain it. I like the toys too much, and Debora is pretty cool, too.

Note: The image is copyrighted -- copyright 2002 by Debora Lisoskie Designs, Ridgefield, CT. All rights reserved.

posted by lee on 12/04/02 at 02:05 PM
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Saturday, November 30, 2002

meta!

I stumbled upon Metacritic a little while ago. The site features movie, video, DVD, game, and music reviews -- well, mainly they keep track of all the reviews they can and then combine the results into a metascore. But what I really like is the list of review summaries with links to the entire review, plus reader reviews (some of which actually make sense). Maybe this site is widely known, I dunno, but it's new to me.

posted by lee on 11/30/02 at 10:30 PM
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Are they?

Pitchfork: Top 100 Albums of the 1980s. So they say. I wouldn't really know -- I'm pretty retarded when it comes to music. Probably because I'm so hearing challenged. Or there could be other reasons, but I choose not to go there. Stanley thinks I'm a moron when it comes to my tastes in music, for the most part. At any rate, this site looks like an interesting place to kill some time with.

posted by lee on 11/30/02 at 10:06 PM
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Friday, November 29, 2002

a post-thanksgiving meander

We're in Massachusetts for the Thanksgiving weekend. Yesterday, with my sisters Jamie and Maureen and my niece Kate, we spent the day mostly cooking and talking. Traditional, for us, food -- my mother's recipe for sage stuffing, a new recipe for gravy (a lot of silly work for gravy that's not as good as my made-up recipe), candied yams ... it was a peaceful day, no strife, very pleasant. My brother-in-law Jeff pointed out how lucky we are to have Maureen present, that the Wegener's Granulamatosis didn't kill her in September -- and Maureen is thankful to be off cytox for a little while, even though it's not for a good reason. Stanley spent the day fixing my nephew Ben's computer, and the dog spent the day playing with Ben -- one very happy dog. The cat went from lap to lap, content just to sleep.

I like Thanksgiving the best. Nothing is required except a good meal -- and I like to cook, so even that requirement is fun.

It's gloomy outside right now, and we're due for another inch of snow to add to the five on the ground. I hope this isn't an indication of what this winter is going to be like. I'm spoiled -- two mild winters in a row and I think that's the way it should always be. I can live without snow and ice -- it's pretty to see after it falls, but not pretty enough to deal with afterwards. The dog sure loves it, though, and it's fun to watch her streaking through the fields and diving into Ben's snow fort and trying to catch Ben's snowballs.

I feel kind of wrapped in cotton right now -- I know I have some work to do, but I can't seem to get motivated enough to do it. Maybe after we get back from a quick trip to Cambridge.

posted by lee on 11/29/02 at 11:47 AM
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Monday, November 25, 2002

The Starfish Story

This is all over the web, via email, via webpages, etc. But I saw it for the first time today, and it touched me. It makes things seem less, well, hopeless.

by Loren Eiseley (1907 - 1977)

Once upon a time, there was a man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."

posted by lee on 11/25/02 at 09:09 AM
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