Sunday, December 01, 2002

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 12/01/02 at 06:06 AM
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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 12/01/02 at 06:30 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.

MsElephant.jpgThis 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 10:05 PM
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Thursday, December 05, 2002

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 04:02 PM
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Friday, December 06, 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.
myideaoffun_not.jpg


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.
thisiscoldhere.jpg

It looks like we got about six or seven inches of snow.
7inchesofsnow.jpg

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

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

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


I could do without the snow. I really could.
posted by lee on 12/06/02 at 06:02 AM
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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 08:22 PM
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Saturday, December 07, 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 12/07/02 at 04:40 AM
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Monday, December 09, 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 12/09/02 at 12:00 AM
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Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Poopdex - yet another blog tracker we never needed

Popdex : the website popularity index launched, when? I don't really know. Recently, I guess. Oh, I just looked at the Poopdex blog -- Dec. 7th it seems (what an icky blog - Shanti, remember, hubris). Already blogged all over, but of course I have two cents to add. I thought it was kinda cool, until I read this by Shanti Braford, creator of the site:

Should a link shoot straight to the top just because a bunch of little-known sites linked to it, or can the ranking be based on the importance of the sites linking to it? This is where I would like to take Popdex...

Now, what I want to know is, what consitutues an "important" blog, fer cryin' out loud? The ones with the biggest buzz? The ones most people link to? The ones that get visited the most? (And how could you tell?)

Ah well, wish I had that much spare time on my hands.
posted by lee on 12/10/02 at 04:53 AM
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chronophotography

agrion-h.gifChronophotography is the name tienne-Jules Marey (1882) used to describe the time (chronos) photographs of movement sequences. According to Chronophotographical Projections. This is a fascinating site, found by following a thread on Meta-filter about pictures of bullets frozen in time to this link posted by Ray Girvan. This site has an amazing collection of animations on it. The site was made by, I think, C. Lucassen (it's hard to find, let alone read, the website creator's signature!) Some pages are difficult to read even if they are gorgeous -- just stick with it. The illustration in this entry is a low-res version of a very fine gif animation by the site author illustrating an entry about Lucien Bull. (Oh, I could spend a long time on this site ... alas, I need to pay the bills.)
posted by lee on 12/10/02 at 06:04 AM
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