(1:25 PM)
1/31/2006
(12:20 PM)
Slashdot: Poor Spelling Beats Google's China Filter
I are a gud spelr!
Did you mean: Tibet should be free
(12:14 PM)
dish soap as ice pack
cool: putting dish soap in a ziplock bag and freezing it makes a good cold-pack. (MacGyver Tip: Dishwashing liquid ice pack - Lifehacker)(10:56 AM)
Brokeback Mountain poster
Posterwire (a blog about movie posters) sets Brokeback Mountain's poster next to the poster for Titanic, which is a really cool observation. I'm linking it reluctantly, though, because peoples' comments on the post are asinine.(10:43 AM)
flag & fan
kb: this reminds me of the instructions for your photo project. Eyeteeth: A journal of incisive ideas.: State of the Union, Part II1/30/2006
(5:00 PM)
screen captures in Mac OS X
| key combination | resulting screen capture/tool |
|---|---|
| Command-shift-3 | whole screen |
| Command-shift-4 | crosshair tool, select what you want a picture of |
| Command-shift-4, then spacebar | camera tool, window/menu/icon you hover over |
| Command-shift-control-3 (or 4) | captures the image to the clipboard |
sends screenshots to the desktop as "Picture 1.png", "Picture 2.png", etc.
(11:21 AM)
extensive beer brewing guide
Jen keeps saying she will be brewing beer soon, and I will possibly help. How to Brew - By John Palmer. (via lifehacker)1/29/2006
(8:35 AM)
State of the Union
is at 9pm on Tuesday.1/28/2006
(10:06 PM)
"shovelglove"
a sledgehammer wrapped in a sweater plus acting out work movements = a funny/intriguing exercise "system"1/27/2006
(2:32 PM)
OCR software
Optical Character Recognition software - Readiris Pro 10. It seems to work pretty well, but the UI doesn't have $99 worth of polish. It was just about the only Mac OCR software with a free demo, though. (mac os x software)(10:28 AM)
Toy Story 3 cancelled
Maybe Pixar got itself bought by Disney just so it could prevent a crappy sequel (and preserve its own good name, of course).(10:21 AM)
PowerBook G4 sound stutter
PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SD) audio stutters or skips: I have this problem. I don't want to be a big whiner about it and sign up for the petition. Also, the issue is getting all talked up in this thread in Apple's support forums.(10:02 AM)
The Power Book
Again, not the computer. This summer/fall I read The Power Book by Jeanette Winterson (her books are scholarly queer/feminist classics I guess) and what sticks in my mind the most was the story about the tulip. "In the sixteenth century the first tulip was imported to Holland from Turkey. I know — I carried it myself." (There is more of an excerpt at that link to Powell's)(9:54 AM)
Boréal Tordu
I wanted to like this French-Canadian music, but it's just too Barenaked Ladies. Also, they lead singer's French is very American (I'd say painfully so, but I don't think I'm qualified). Review of Boréal Tordu's album La Bonne Vie at The Bollard (with sample song).(1:03 AM)
vibrators not computers
The iBook vs. the Powerbook. For $40 less, I had to go with the light blue and flowers (But, that black. I keep saying it looks like a beach rock. Apparently it's also more difficult to clean. Either way they're both acrylic and therefore porous.) Also: both were so much cheaper than in Canada.(1:01 AM)
Yojimbo is also a movie
I went to the library wednesday to find an old Bond movie, or something with Marylin Monroe in it. I didn't find either, but I did see Yojimbo, which was weird because I had played with Yojimbo-the-software earlier in the day. It is a subtitled black and white samauri/western made in 1961. It's flat in plot, character, and dialogue, but wicked funny and the main character is pretty awesome because he basically kills everyone and justifies it with his flat pessimism/black humor. The moral of the story is that "a long life eating porridge is best."1/26/2006
(8:35 PM)
hunger strikers
Last night for intro to women's studies I watched the movie Iron Jawed Angels about Alice Paul and the fight for a constitutional amendment to give women the vote. the music was pretty obnoxious, and the film was overall infused with an unrealistic modern girlishness, but I was sitting far back from the screen so it was ok. good, actually, even though I couldn't help wondering how things actually happened and what was exagerated and who followed these people around makeing transcripts of their lives, anyway?
(also: the characters of the senator's wife and the senator are fabricated.)
there are hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay and they are being force fed. (500 prisoners, mostly captured in Afghanistan, "some have been held for nearly four years without charge."
1/25/2006
(6:37 PM)
career?
I vaguely want to teach math or science.(6:34 PM)
short stories
She met him at work. Before him she had another lover, another married man. She would like to believe that this is a charming quirk, like being bowlegged or sleeping with cellists. But perhaps it's a character defect instead, like being tone deaf or refusing to eat food that isn't green.
from the story Louise's Ghost in Kelly Link's book of short stories, Stranger Things Happen. offered online á la Cory Doctrow's books. via joey comeau.
(1:27 PM)
seventh graders on scientists
Andrea says: "You can see them as a mad scientist with hair standing straight up and a mean wicked laugh. . . . I see them with rubber gloves and safety goggles on. I see them in a chemistry lab surrounded by beakers, graduated cylinders and tables filled with experimental materials."
Amy's idea of a scientist changes from a man to a woman after her visit to FermiLab.
more. kindof via Uncertain Principles. directly via cosmic variance where a British kid is quoted as saying that they wouldn't like to be a scientist "because you would constantly be depressed and tired."
(1:01 PM)
website for finding flights
Kayak.com - Better than orbitz, easier to read and with more options and information, but less cluttered and faster to load. It just searches available flights, and then points you to an airline or other online travel agent to buy them. It looks like my ticket to Ireland will be around $650. (via xenogenesis)(10:21 AM)
Yojimbo - information organizer
An organizer from Barebones for all the little bits and pieces of information. Passwords, notes, pdfs, serial numbers, quotes, pictures, etc. This is exactly what I was looking for a few months ago. Instead, I use a combination of this blog, a folder on my desktop labeled with the name of the current month, and an encypted disk image. I doubt I'll change, but it still looks pretty cool. Bare Bones Software : PRODUCTS : YOJIMBO (via 2lmc spool) (mac os x software)
correction, later in the day: conceptually, this was exactly what I was looking for. In real life, it will probably too difficult for me to change my course. Yojimbo does hook nicely into Spotlight, though. And the simplicity of making archives of web pages could be wicked useful.
1/23/2006
(11:23 PM)
failing hard drive noises
use these for Halloween. hard drive failure noises at Hitachi Support (via kottke)(10:56 AM)
mosquito-borne diseases in southern Maine
Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) is there. I think some soccer games were canceled this fall because of it. Portsmouth Herald Maine News: Towns told state has funds for mosquito control (kittery, maine, plus york and eliot)1/22/2006
(11:12 PM)
prairie dog language
"They have different "words" for tall human in yellow shirt, short human in green shirt, coyote, deer, red-tailed hawk and many other creatures. They can even coin new terms for things they've never seen before..." Scientist: Prairie dogs appear to have their own language(7:31 PM)
performative
"'performative' [writing]: it's writing that aspires to the condition of speech." The Pleasures of the Text - New York Times(7:25 PM)
giant squid
Giant squid have either suckers with saw-teeth on their edges, or suckers with hooks. With crazy big hooks, that is: Giant Squid and Colossal Squid Fact Sheet(1:26 AM)
quote
"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage." -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Letters to Lucilius
(found at The World's Best Quotes in 1-10 Words via kottke)
(1:13 AM)
Mellen St.
The deal on Mellen Street and other sex you can buy in Maine: World Sex Guide Document: Maine. The Danish Health Club in Kittery was shut down last year by and FBI raid.1/21/2006
(3:57 PM)
knives
- the knife I grew up with
- the knife I got this fall (handle fits my hand, balanced just right, has a delicate sort of heft, sharp. came with a precise little Japanese paring knife)
- the first knife I dreamed about was a Japanese vegetable knife, which I read about in The Book of Tofu. They are rectangular like a cleaver, but have a blade sized similarly to that of a santoku. This one, "Nakiri Hocho," is just about exactly what I imagined would be perfect—European handle, Japanese blade.
- one of the chefs at work brought this bizzarro knife by Global to a cooking class; it's angular and visually fascinating, though I shy away from metal-handled knives. were I to get a Global knife, I would go for the 5 1/2 inch vegetable knife.
- I have been looking for a simple one-blade pocket knife for a while; this summer I settled on a $1.19 knife with Elvis on the plastic handle: a light, handy little knife. I found my next step up in the MEC catalog last week: the Opinel OP6 (MEC has the OP7 and 8), which has a wood handle which should wear nicely and a carbon steel (rather than stainless steel) blade. It has history, is practical, made in France, and at $9.99 is fucking cheap (you can take it up a notch with the olivewood handled version).
- also, these Japanese garden shears are beautiful (from the same Japanese and German tools site as the vegetable knife above)
(file under shopping)
(2:35 PM)
father's day gift
note to self: just bought this Iron Carpenter's Knife at Salvor Kiosk for Dad as a Father's Day present. Unless I like it more. Oops. (Salvor Kiosk is a really neat little store: it has everyday things from one country at a time. It focuses on the regionally unique practicallity of stuff. The other thing I loved from there this month is the cast iron tape dispenser. via mightygirl.net)(11:47 AM)
sony ebook reader
introducing an ebook reader with electronic ink. will be able to read pdfs as well as sony's proprietary book format. I have problems with sony: ugly, tiny buttons, horrible drm, horrible inaccessible proprietary bits (from memory sticks to file formats), and their devices rarely have support for macs. judging by the article, this device is, true to history, fucking ugly, fucking stupid, and full of proprietary crap (tied to sony's "Connect" store, geared toward sony's own ebook format).(12:53 AM)
scanner photography
The Scanner Photography Project - the guy uses a scanner in a large format camera. because the scanner takes 15 seconds to 5 minutes to move across the picture, it takes some pictures with a really neat perspective on time. for example, if the scanner scans horizontally, cars going by will be shortend to vertical lines. if the scanner scans vertically, then people will be portrayed as slanted horizontal lines—with the slope of the line showing how fast the person was moving. (this was on slashdot a few days ago I think. the above link is to a mirror; original site)1/20/2006
(11:52 PM)
physicist/mathematician/engineer jokes
the comment thread on a post about physicists' use of math ("Physicists, particularly experimental ones, tend to be a little cavalier about mathematics.") quickly devolved into nerd jokes:A physicist, engineer, and mathematician are riding in a train through the Scottish countryside. They see a lone black sheep on a hill. Each writes home:
Physicist - 'Today we saw a black sheep in Scotland.'
Engineer - 'Today I learned that Scottish sheep are black.'
Mathematician - 'Today in Scotland we saw a sheep, at least one side of which is black.'
(10:34 PM)
sourdough bread
I've been talking about making sourdough bread for the entire fall now; just today I mixed up some flour and water and set it on top of the fridge to grow.
reasons sourdough is awesome (from sourdough at the wikipedia):
A sourdough starter is a stable symbiotic culture of yeast and lactobacteria ... growing in a paste of flour and water.
A flour-water mixture will tend to develop this symbiotic culture after repeated feedings. ... The culture is stable due to its ability to prevent colonization by other yeasts and bacteria as a result of its acidity and other anti-bacterial agents. As a result, many sourdough bread varieties tend to be relatively resistant to spoilage and mold.
the wikipedia also mentioned that the acidity of sourdough can cause the starch in flour to "partially gelatinize" which is maybe why the texture inside Borealis Breads' breads is smoother and less crumbly than my non-sourdough yeasted breads, but still tender.
the cookbooks I've looked at all say to mix 1 c flour and 1 c water and just let it sit for 3-5 days, then make bread with it (letting it rise for something like 12 hours!), but this guy sounds more trustworthy; he says to feed it daily for 3 days to more than a week, until it is lively (bubbly and frothy). I will be following his directions instead of the cookbooks'. also, some dude wrote about making sourdough (using that john guy's instructions) at kuro5hin. he said his starter took a very long time to grow strong enough to raise bread. he has some really useful stuff about how active it should be and the starter's growth pattern:
My starter, for example, sits pretty still for an hour after feeding. Then it starts to lift, gaining a little in the second hour, a lot in the third hour, and a lot in the fourth hour. At about hour five, it slows down, and just maintains for a couple more hours. Altogether, it increases in volume about 150% by hour five. At about eight hours, it has exhausted the food supply, and starts to fall. This information lets me get a good idea how long I'll have to let the bread dough rise for it to be fully risen (which is about four or five hours, and no more than eight).
(to figure out the starter's cycle, he put marks on the side of the starter's container.) he also mentions that making sourdough bread "requires a pretty stiff dough to hold its shape for the long rising process" because the yeasts eat gluten to produce CO2 and alcohol, and the alcohol makes the dough wetter.
contributing to the sourness of sourdough: "ash" of flour (mineral content). whole wheat has a higher mineral content. longer rise time (lower ambient temp or use less starter). obviously, reverse these for less sour sourdough. info from All About Sour at Sourdough Home, which also talks about nutrient availability and crazy Americans' need for MORE sour.
plan of action:
- 1 c water + 1 c flour, mix and put in a jar on top of the fridge
- feed every 24 hours by throwing some away and adding even ammounts of flour and water to the rest, stirring with a wooden utensil
- continue until it is bubbly and frothy, and can pretty much double its bulk in 5-10 hours.
- feed it so there's a bunch more starter.
- make bread using this recipe:
- 2 c. proofed starter + 2-3 c. flour + 2 tbsp olive oil + 2 tbsp honey + 2 tsp salt; knead 10 minutes, let rise until doubled (6-12 hours), bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes (making one large loaf).
- of course saving some starter and continuing to feed it, about once a week, as it lives in the back of my fridge.
(9:40 PM)
kittery trading post
The Portland Press Herald reports, "Maine staple ready to explore cyberspace." I'd be thrilled if they brought their "knowledgeable sales force" and core business (balance of hunting, fishing, hiking, and watersports gear, alongside the "soft" lines like clothing and gifts) online. In the best of all possible worlds, they would have the "salespeople [who can] offer dissertations on just about every item" write the item descriptions, including information like:
...the advantages of the different fishing reels ... - what sort of line each could handle, which might work for a left-handed fisherman and other specifics.
... how a set of gaiters might work while cross-country skiing and how they should fit around the calves.
They might have a page describing that stuff about gaiters, and then have highlights on each gaiter they carry, and then a link to more details/buy it. (And then they could pay their employees something like $10 per description! for some reason I am especially excited about this idea.) Also in the best of all possible worlds, they would hire me as a consultant (pay: probably some $$ but more importantly a tent, a pair of goggles, and travelling boots).
(1:42 PM)
winter: heating your ass up
The Stranger tries curing Seasonal Affective Disorder by heating contributors' asses up: "'I have to keep it from pooling up in your crack,' my girlfriend sighed."(1:28 PM)
Blogger Help : How do I create permanent links to my posts?
Blogger Help : How do I create permanent links to my posts?: <a name='<$BlogItemNumber$>'> </a>(1:21 PM)
e. coli pictures
e. coli in petri dishes as a photographic medium, and they've moved on to use them to make circuits and eventually trying to use the mass of them to detect things about their environment. (mentioned this before)(11:19 AM)
international scifi
InterNOVA - The Magazine of International Science Fiction. also: anthology entitled "So Long Been Dreaming: Post-colonial science fiction and fantasy" (eds. Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan) (both from the panel suggestions page at WisCon, a feminist scifi convention, which Tim probably mentioned in our scifi class but I found again today via the Tiptree Award page.)(11:12 AM)
steampunk
scifi/alternate history. like cyberpunk, but set in the victorian era, with steam-powered gadgets. generalized to things set pre-electricity. Steampunk @ Wikipedia(10:41 AM)
James Tiptree, Jr.
The Tiptree Award is "an annual literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender." (who James Tiptree, Jr. is)1/19/2006
(11:08 AM)
recommended to kb
since she liked the top 50 music videos list so much: a list of "Top 65 Music Videos of 2005." This one has some commentary and some different videos (obviously, at least 15 different videos). Though from what I've seen so far, it seems more oriented towards interesting cinematography and less towards weirdness. Also, has a brief exposé on Beck's robots.(11:02 AM)
goodby logos
(recently) updated, formerly nice logos: old, new (AT&T, Intel, Kodak, UPS).(10:29 AM)
Urban Outfitters rips of small clothing designers
Apparently fairly often. But specifically: Urban Outfitters Rip Off Johnny Cupcakes Clothing (another instance, from last May). Their image approximates the hip/small scale/DIY clothing design, albeit in a mass-produced, impersonal way, and it doesn't suprise me that they would want to blatantly copy the stuff they base themselves on.(1:22 AM)
eclipse on mac os x
as of January 2006, "Stuffit appears to have problems unzipping the latest Eclipse packages. Instead, open a Terminal and use the command "tar xvzf(12:05 AM)
Brokeback Mountain
spoilers ahead, if "unlubed anal" constitutes a spoiler. Everyone knows the movie's plot anyway, right?
I saw Brokeback Mountain tonight. The music was too loud and obvious in places; Jake Gyllenhall made a terribly unrealistic cowboy—he was too cute for the punches in the face and failed at the looking-tough-around-the-campfire. Also, he was not skeezy enough in Mexico. The way the mountain and daily life scenes were cut together was trying to make it seem like time was passing but instead felt like they were randomly switching off.
On the other hand: the development of the romance was pleasantly subtle. Jen pointed out the excellent use of nature and laundromat sounds. Heath Ledger was brilliant; weirdly I walked away with his face and his emotions and his attitude stuck in my head, but without a screen-crush. Jen tells me that his other roles are much more "Prince Charming," (I don't have any point of reference for most actors). The cinematography improves and Heath/Ennis is absolutely stunning in the last few minutes of the film (after Ennis calls Lureen about Jack's death).
Also: there was not a lot of swearing, and not too much violence. The "sex" was mostly clothed tusseling (or, short, vaguely euphamistic cuts of an entirely still tent next to an entirely still body of water). The guy's bodies weren't played up (Jack grows a pot belly and also a weird mustache). Their groping seemed desperate, brief, and untalentend. Not hot. Also, unlubed anal. or something.
1/18/2006
(10:31 AM)
Martin Luther King Day reading
New Yorker article on a 1965 voting rights march (via kottke. took me a few days to read it though.)(12:30 AM)
bra
sometimes I spend a lot of time looking at underwear. DKNY Caress "Bralette"
also fascinating: diagonally striped tights.
1/17/2006
(10:04 PM)
short story: The Machine, by Joey Comeau
Strange Horizons Fiction: The Machine, by Joey Comeau(10:03 PM)
Zeldman moves on to Web 3.0
A List Apart: Articles: Web 3.0 (apparently, Web 3.0 is the one without hype. or something. Hah! Like there could be internet without hype.)(8:04 PM)
caffe kilim in the news
Portsmouth Herald Local Business News: Another cup of coffee (kittery, maine)(1:03 PM)
state of the state address
Gov. Baldacci's State of the State address is on Wednesday Jan 18 at 7pm. (broadcast on NPR, public tv). (Maine)1/16/2006
(10:40 PM)
cute overload
(blog) Cute Overload! ;) If it isn't enough cute, I've got an email for you.(4:42 PM)
buying organic
"some fruits and vegetables consistently carry much higher levels of pesticide residue than others": "Apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, and strawberries." ConsumerReports.org - when buying organic makes a difference (via kottke). more detailed info on pesticide levels on different fruits and vegetables.(4:16 PM)
Venezuela/Citgo heating oil deal with Maine
"Heat before politics." Good to see this went through.(4:13 PM)
kittery's cult
the "Gentle Wind Project" is a group that does some silly "healing" cards, but also has some mind-control thing going on with its members, who are pressured into participating in sexual "rituals." Healing organization files lawsuit against former members (just a few days ago a federal judge threw out the group's suit against the same members). (kittery, maine)(1:33 AM)
new apple laptop
I know it came out last week, but. I haven't yet expressed any outrage. "MacBook Pro"? gross. beyond gross. (plus the intel switch still makes me sad). also, the new .Mac logo. I don't want to be anywhere near the push towards total .Mac integration... there are neat services there, and I hesitate to call the "Mac Experience" "crippled" without .Mac, but if those services are billed as core elements then Macs without subscriptions are... less useful.
As long as there aren't error messages for not having it. (I don't want most of that stuff as provided, but for certain values of "useful")
(1:19 AM)
"short" cappucino
meh, starbucks. Starbucks Economics - Solving the mystery of the elusive "short" cappuccino. (via xenogenesis)(12:45 AM)
mittens
saw some snowboarding mittens when I was at Copper Mountain in CO; they were made by Seirus and had built in wrist guards. I think they were the "Da Bone Mitt," #1215 from p. 14 of the 2005-2006 pdf catalog. (shopping)(12:18 AM)
bikini wax
funny/cute/heteronormative waxing anecdote: "The Nether Lands." (PLEASE PLEASE NEVER REPEAT THAT 75% STATISTIC. IT IS HORRIBLE AND I HATE IT. I am absolutely sure it is completely wrong, and also absolutely sure that it is some kind of scarring.)1/15/2006
(10:45 PM)
cufflinks
pretty much perfect: plain, subtle. (though I do like nuts & bolts, or spikes) (shopping)(9:07 PM)
no more windows media player for mac
can't say I'm crying about it (refused to dl it anyway). now MS is "throwing their weight behind" Flip4Mac. (via slashdot)
update 1/9/06: download free flip4mac wmv player here. the regular flip4mac site does that realplayer thing where it hides the plain free player in a corner, while touting unnecessary versions for $19.95, etc.
1/11/2006
(1:32 AM)
howto: take "product" pictures
how to take pictures of something on a clean white background (well, one method)1/10/2006
(10:27 PM)
new Kodak logo
Kodak got itself a new logo. It's ghastly, and "I'm appalled that Kodak would throw away its tradition and bring in a new [fucking ugly] logo"(10:26 PM)
joey comeau recommends
this short story entitled A Real Doll, by A.M. Homes: "I'm dating Barbie. Three afternoons a week, while my sister is at dance class, I take Barbie away from Ken. I'm practicing for the future."1/09/2006
(2:14 PM)
Google ads in a newspaper
Chicago Sun-Times nets Google ad deal (a paper newspaper, dead trees plus ink newspaper)1/08/2006
(9:14 PM)
tweaking a chochlear implant
Wired: My Bionic Quest for Boléro. interfacing the nervous system with computers is really amazing. also, what kind of resources must this dude have to fly all over the place and go to all kinds of conferences and meet with all kinds of people. also, funny (interesting, uncomfortable, smart, resourceful, patient) how he trades himself as a guinea pig for ear upgrades.(6:26 PM)
travel
I have been in Vancouver, BC since the 3rd. Post times are 3 hours later than the west coast time zone. Spending a fair ammount of time on the computer, though not doing anything useful (work/replying to emails/college application).(6:01 PM)
freaking awesome wheelchair
"iBOT Mobility System". check out the videos (linked on the right of that page). But I wouldn't want to go up stairs alone.1/07/2006
(8:13 PM)
"2005 Dubious Data Awards"
10 statistics that were inaccurately hyped by the media. kb, your mom would have a field day with these.(7:34 PM)
gripe
I hate the way "classy"/"serious" bloggers follow links to articles they like with the label "good stuff."(5:35 AM)
blog: collision detection
from collision detection: E. coli as photographic medium, snail robot clarifies snail locomotion. (collision detection found via kottke)(5:18 AM)
weird USB thumb drives
titled "The top 10 weirdest" but actually mostly just regular levels of weird. The top 10 weirdest USB drives ever. via kottke.1/06/2006
(11:32 PM)
how to grow ginger
Look for a fresh looking piece of ginger whose nodules seem to have sprouting potential. "Soak the tubers in warm water overnight, then set them in the pot just below the soil surface, spacing them evenly, with the buds facing up." "Water lightly at first, then more heavily when growth starts." "Plant it in a pot in a place where it will stay warm. It doesn't need full sun, but it does humidity, so you'll need to mist it daily in most climates. When the plant gets to be 12 to 15 inches high, you can dig it up, cut a section from the root to use, and replant it." "Ginger likes shade to part sun and rich dark soil that drains well (lots of compost or gravel - keep it fluffy)."
sources: ehow - how to grow ginger, frugal living - grocery store plants, gardenweb forums - growing ginger. also: "how to grow exotic plants for free"
(6:08 PM)
quote
"Data is not the plural of anecdote" - from a comment on a post at Uncertain Principles1/05/2006
(10:38 PM)
scientist bio via comic book
Suspended in Language: Niels Bohr's life, discoveries, and the century he shaped.(9:44 PM)
seitan recipes
seitan - "wheat meat". been thinking about making seitan for a while now, but "wheat meat" sounds gross.(2:40 PM)
Notational Velocity
I am a big user of text files and recently, this blog, to make useful notes for myself, but the web page about this app is fun (full of information, useful, smart. and nerdy). Notational Velocity, a mac os x note taking app(1:21 AM)
making icons for os x
Icon Composer basics (summary: make a photoshop file w/ transparency, put that in each size-slot in Icon Builder), then you also need icns2icon. In Icon Builder you paste/import in the different sizes of icon images and click areas, and it produces a .icns file (which itself has a generic icon. this file is used in stuff like xcode "projects" etc.). icns2icon generates an icon you can use in the finder from that icns file.1/04/2006
(5:18 PM)
barbie.com unsafe for young girls to surf
barbie.com had a poll asking kids their age and their gender (girl/boy/I don't know) and the group "Concerned Women for America" flipped out over this "transgender question" (their phrasing). Concerned Women for America's statement. because I live in a fantasyland of liberal politics, their sound clip strikes me as an extended-joke-conversation (which is a bad thing; it's scary, not weird and funny). Mattel says the option was due to "internal oversight" and the option should have been "I don't want to say" (via this article at gay.com)
screenshot (changed since): 
also, I thought that web sites weren't allowed to collect information on kids under 13?
(3:08 PM)
looking for a source for this story
"A U.S. National Guardsman who served in Iraq was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to shooting an Iraqi soldier with whom he had had consensual gay sex." (tidbit from 1/3/06 Weekly Review (Harpers.org))(2:44 PM)
iPodDisk
software for making an ipod look & act like a disk full of your music: iPodDisk (mac os x app)(2:41 PM)
Joey Comeau says
"I wish I'd found Kathy Acker's 'Rip Off Red, Girl Detective' at 14." (at this interview of him at JUNK Magazine)1/02/2006
bec dot white - gmail dot com