triviageek

After the events of this week, I'm wiped out tonight. I have more activities planned for this weekend than is usual for me but I'm just too tired tonight to do anything except go to bed early.

The Serenity movie opened today but since I'm not going tonight; I absolutely plan on going sometime this weekend.

Also I've already purchased my ticket for the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and I'm also planning to go there at least once this weekend.

So if you happen to attend either of these special events, don't forget to come up and say, "Hi," to me.  Uhhh  ...  I'll be the one wearing the funny shoes.

Sometimes the most vicious thing you can do, is to give someone exactly what they wanted. Of course in this case, using the word 'wanted' is putting it mildly (to say they plotted would be more accurate).

Whatever. It looks like I'm rid of a PITA and others just got their wishes fulfilled. *giggle*

May I say, they deserve what they got. *rofl*

This story of a man walking his pet tortoise reminds me of what happened whenever I took Py for a walk on a leash. (Photo of Faux-Py)

People would stop and stare at me walking my cat on a leash. I can remember one man who, when he glimpsed us, stood stock still and began repeating, "That cat is walking on a leash! That cat is walking on a leash! ..." Until I finally acknowledged him with, "Yeeesssssss. My cat IS walking on a leash."

Some people are just stuck on the image of ONLY dog owners taking their pets for a walk. *giggle*

Via Boingboing

The Firefly DVD's have a "secret scene" (also known as an "Easter Egg") which can only be viewed by following a set of "secret" steps:

1. Insert Firefly Disc #4 into player.
2. Select Special Features.
3. Select More.
4. Highlight, but do not select, "Joss Sings the Firefly Theme".
5. Press Left-Arrow on remote, highlighting the ornament above.
6. Press SELECT.

Enjoy.

We're counting down to the September 30 premiere of Serenity; the movie based on Firefly. Apparently several bloggers were offered free tickets to a preview in exchange for promoting the movie on their blogs.

Well no one made me that offer. I'm a fan of the series. I can promote the movie with a clear conscience -- no bribery involved.

Run, do not walk to the nearest theatre and see the movie as soon as you can. Better yet borrow the series DVD's from a friend to watch first (while awaiting your order for same from Amazon) because THE SERIES IS THAT GOOD!!!!! And those of us who have succumbed to the series will all be heading to the theatres.

And now a comment found on another blog site:

Why Fox cancelled Firefly:
1. The authoritarian government are the bad guys.
2. Criminal smugglers are the good guys.
3. Hookers are respectable.
4. Chinese swear words.

From WorldChanging.com:

The Katrina PeopleFinder Project is a quickly-formed, massively distributed effort -- already involving perhaps over 100 volunteer techies, and data-entry volunteers -- to create a uniform standard for collecting, compiling, data-entering, and (soon) searching information on people affected by Hurricane Katrina. Worldchanging contributors Ethan Zuckerman and Jon Lebkowsky have been both developing and blogging about the project, check out their entries for the in-progress accounts -- just a couple others include allies David Geilhufe of the Digital Divide Network, Nancy White of Full Circle Associates, Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices Online, folks at salesforce.com and CivicSpace, and many more.

The record count is higher now --katrinalist.net has 645,809 records in its database!!!!

I dunno for sure, but I presume they're starting to add Rita people into the mix since some of the Katrina victims are now Rita evacuees too.

Hmmm, there's a Cabbage Soup Diet?

This 7-day diet works -- in the short term, anyway. And there's a purity to it, especially in summer when it's wonderfully refreshing served ice cold. Ingredient proportions can be varied according to your likes and dislikes.

Ingredients
1 head cabbage, shredded or chopped
2 large onions, chopped
16-28 ounces canned tomatoes, chopped
2 green peppers
4 stalks celery
1-2 packages Lipton onion soup mix
black pepper
fresh herbs, chopped
6 carrots, sliced
1/2 pound green beans, sliced on diagonal
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (optional)

Method
Put all vegetables in a big pot and cover with pure water. Bring to a boil, stir in the soup mix, and boil gently for 10 minutes. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until all the vegetables are soft. Stir in the black pepper and chopped herbs (saving some for garnish).

Eat as much of the soup as you like, as often as you like.

Here's what else you can eat, and when...

Day 1
All fruits except bananas.

Day 2
All vegetables, raw or cooked. This includes baked potato with a LITTLE butter.

Day 3
Fruits and vegetables, but no potatoes or bananas.

Day 4
Bananas and skim milk -- eat as many as 8 bananas and drink as many as 8 glasses of skim milk.

Day 5
Beef, skinless chicken, and/or fish -- as much as 20 ounces, total. You can also eat 6 tomatoes. And you must drink 8 glasses of water. Don't forget at least one bowl of soup.

Day 6
Beef, skinless chicken, or fish and vegetables. Drink 8 glasses of water and eat at least one bowl of soup.

Day 7
Brown rice, vegetables, and unsweetened fruit juice.

I wonder how well it works....

Good intensions gone wrong is how I'd label it.

I went to an art exhibit featuring minority artists today. All well and good. I like art, even paint a bit myself. However, one of the organizers insisted on removing all the chairs for visitors from the room. Thus any handicapped people (another type of minority) visiting the exhibit would NOT be encouraged to remain.

Even one of the artists (in a wheelchair herself) was trying to point out that they should listen as one handicapped visitor to the exhibit was begging for them to leave the chairs alone.

All for nothing. The organizer persisted and the chairs were removed.

My employer has staff in the Gulf region whose homes were damaged/destroyed by Katrina and someone came up with the idea of transporting a truckload of donations from staff members here to our colleagues THERE.

But I'm totally exhausted after making TWO trips to my storage bin for homeowner-type hand tools; cramming the items into my car; and delivering them to the donation site.

At least the items (which I no longer need) will be recycled for a potentially good cause.

I just had a bit of a problem cramming a 6' ladder into a Saturn. *giggle*

You know I doubt this would really convert an introvert to an extrovert since I believe that people are either born to be introverts or extroverts, instead of being created by their environment.

Simon Wiesenthal died today at the age of 96.

Wiesenthal was held in a number of concentration camps during World War II and was freed from Mauthausen in Austria by American troops on May 5, 1945. At the time, he weighed less than 100 pounds, according to his biography.

He was the Holocaust survivor who devoted his life to helping track down Nazi war criminals.

And in other news, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was slightly injured in a scuffle that erupted when police broke up an anti-war rally as she was at the microphone.

There are days when I could just scream in frustration.

Repost:
I actually heard of this news with some regret. LEAVE INDIANA TIME ALONE!!! Argh.

I lived in Indiana and one of the favorite things that I remember about that state is that Indiana (as a whole) did NOT go on Daylight Savings Time each Spring and then fall back to Standard Time in the Autumn. It didn't need to because -- Indiana was ALREADY on Daylight Savings Time year round as, in my opinion, all the other states should be also.

It took a college Astronomy 101 class to explain it all to me, but esentially a long time ago, Indiana got itself put into the wrong time zone for it's location. And doing that had the effect of putting Indiana on Daylight Savings Time year round without needing to go thru the twice annual shift that other states go thru.

By it's location, Indiana should have been in the Central Time Zone, which is centered about St. Louis. Instead it got itself added to the Eastern Time zone which is centered more along NYC.

Now it should be obvious, if you've looked at a map recently, that Indiana is a lot closer to St. Louis than NYC. But by adding itself to the EST zone that is in effect, the same as putting oneself on DST for anyone who should be in the Central Time Zone.

And making Indiana go on EDT in the Summer, will make Indiana roughly 2 hours away from it's natural "Solar Time". IE. Noon in solar time is when the Sun lines up on those North/South Meridian Streets -- which is how the pioneers measured noon before the advent of radio, TV, or even the railroads who are the ones that lobbied for established Time Zones in the first place -- right after the Civil War.

Once, years ago when I still lived there, the federal government ordered Indiana to follow the Universal Time Act -- a federal law which regulates when and which states go on which DST in which time Zone. And I remember the then govenor of Indiana announcing on TV that he would find some exemption for Indiana from the federal law (which was in fact later changed for Indiana), or that if need be, he would hang a clock on the statehouse walls and label it "OFFICIAL TIME"; set it to what the federal law mandated; and then the rest of the state would ignore it.

Now with this recent bit of legislation, I think the current politicians are going to have to go thru the process of relearning the reasons why that long ago govenor had made such a pronouncement. --- When the sun is just setting at 11 pm. in the summer time, a number of the citizens find it more than odd; parents can't coax their small kids into bed, etc.

There's an old saying to the effect that those that don't study history are condemned to repeat it.

Well this weekend has been slightly more productive than last, I did a little bit of housework this time. (Okay, okay, not enough, but still any is better than none.)

And while I was surfing (goofing off) I stumbled upon some good news for a change.

Hurrah!

Donna Andrews has finished writing another Meg Langslow book No Nest for the Wicket.

Now I call that discovery a good way to finish the weekend!

Since the Labor Day Holiday weekend, there has been an ongoing volunteer effort trying to put together (in one location) a list of the people caught up in the Katrina disaster. It's called the Katrina People Finder Project and their purpose is to help survivors locate others (missing family members, friends etc).

They've been gathering info from several different websites which were each collecting data in various formats as well as from volunteers retyping info from sites too haphazard to be scanned thru computer software.

I know only a little about the project because although I had tried to volunteer as a former computer programmer; I quickly discovered that I was too "out of date" to participate.

However, I think their site/database is operational now with 614,982 records(entries) as of Sep 17, 2005.

Search PeopleFinder Data

Enter a name, phone number, email address, city, zip or neighborhood of the person you are looking for. Powered by the community of volunteers from the Katrina People Finder Project.


Or just go directly to their site which has more options:

         http://www.katrinalist.net/

After all the other recent disasters, just what we do NOT NEED at this point, is two missing mice infected with bubonic plague. *sigh*

My class ended this afternoon. It really was very worthwhile; everyone should have the opportunity to attend something similar.

What did I learn? Well the class covered a lot about finances, how to maximize your 401k, health issues, etc. But what really turned out to be the most valuable, in my opinion, was the last section in which I discovered that I'm not "ready" to retire.

I have a feeling this is a  Photoshopped (as in, a faked) pix.

via Michael W.

Apparently while reading about the exploits of a couple of EMS workers  from San Francisco, another blogger was also  (like me)  reminded of a  Snake Plissken movie.

Los Angeles had a massive blackout today when someone accidently cut the wrong cable. What MOST drew my attention, however, was one small quote.

stoplights went out at intersections across the city

With reminders of Hurricane Katrina still in the news, I suppose it's only natural that this quote reminds me of Hurricane Isabel when traffic lights were out for DAYS in this area.

And driving anywhere in the DC metro area was EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS!

While legally everyone is supposed to regard an intersection whose traffic lights were non-functional as a 4-way stop, many drivers apparently thought themselves too important to bother and proceeded thru the intersections without even slowing down.

You can imagine what happened when more than one of those drivers (traveling on streets at right angles to each other) arrived at the same intersection at exactly the same moment.

To say there were a lot of accidents is putting it mildly.

I remember being fortunate that there was a way for me to drive to work via only limited access highways so that I could avoid intersections, but I remember having a doctors appointment during that mess, and thinking that just driving to the appointment was seriously putting my life at risk.

Due to this I'm going to be in a Retirement Preparation class for most of the upcoming week and blogging will be light/delayed.

Here's a link to part 2 of an interview with Adam Savage, one of the stars of Mythbusters.

In case you missed it, my link to part 1 of his interview is here.

Well first the worm attacked a computer of mine taking it offline just when it was most needed; then Katrina struck and most of the Gulf Coast was wiped out; I had a big argument with my boss over the frivolous rearrangement of equipment because someone else wants it's floorspace; the cable news began showing the conditions that thousands of people were needlessly put thru (and which had I been there *I* would not have survived) at the New Orleans superdome and convention center "shelters"; then the efforts I put into a project at work were rejected and an "expert" was hired; the post office delivered an overnight express envelope with a payment check FOUR DAYS late and the addressee sends me a letter suggesting legal action for non-receipt of the payment plus a hefty late charge; I work the third evening (in as many weeks) until almost midnight; and I miss the Firefly episode yet again because it's scheduled too early on Friday nights.

Then I go for a semi-annual appointment with my endocrinologist and guess what he discovers? My blood pressure is high. Gee I wonder how that happened...

Then there's this which I spotted over on Amygdala:

At the New Orleans Museum of Art, which has one of the country's largest glass collections, a 45-foot metal sculpture, "Virlane Tower," by Kenneth Snelson and valued at $500,000, was "reduced to a twisted mess in the lagoon," AAM reported.

Snelson said Wednesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press that another of his works, an eight-foot tower at the World Trade Center, was destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. "I can't wait to see what happens next time because I'm running out of towers," he said.

Maybe we could get a list of the exact locations of his other tower sculptures? Then someone could use it to predict the NEXT disaster.

This editorial has bits of info about New Orleans and it's historical and commercial importance that I found very interesting.

Maynard G. Krebs was one of my favorite TV characters as I was growing up.

So much so that I remember being disappointed when the Dobie Gillis series ended but Bob Denver soon returned in the title role of Gilligan.

This really hasn't much felt like a holiday weekend. Between being glued to the news (both Internet and cable-TV) and staying home due the record high gas prices, this feels more like a "lost weekend".

I haven't even done ANY housecleaning, no laundry, etc.

*sigh* I haven't even done the homework assigned to the class I've just discovered that I really need. One of the Katrina projects that volunteers can participate in (instead of just "send money" charities) involves one making use of volunteer computer programmers.

I used to be a computer programmer. So I signed up for the mailing list that's coordinating the programming efforts.

Alas I could barely understand what they were saying.

So I didn't burden them with "trying to bring me up to speed" so to speak.

It just demonstrates that I really, really need to focus on that class.

The Greenbelt Labor Day Festival is going on this weekend and I totally forgot. I had to work late Friday night and the last thing I had on my mind as I headed for home was making a detour enroute in order to drive over to the festival on it's opening night.

Yesterday I was glued to the Internet and cable news following the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. And trying to calm down, now that people are finally beginning to be rescued from the New Orleans convention center and superdome.

So today I finally remembered about the Labor Day Festival.

Although I usually attend the festival, I don't have happy memories of how, when I lived there, the local authorities practically "tarred and feathered me before running me out of town on a rail". (Greenbelt really, really, really hates tenants. They believe all tenants are scum who should be run out of town.)

So with gasoline at a record high price, I decided to forgo using the gasoline necessary to drive to Greenbelt, MD and just skipped attending the festival this year.

Queen Elizabeth II is a very classy lady. She said:

... she was "deeply shocked and saddened" at the devastation caused by the hurricane and expressing her condolences, "especially to the families of those who have lost their lives, to the injured and to all who have been affected by this terrible disaster."

So I'd like to say thank-you to Queen Elizabeth and others outside this country who have expressed condolences to the victims of the hurricane/flooding. Even though I wasn't in the destructive path of Katrina, I'm one of the many Americans who are horrified and visibly upset at what we're seeing on the news about the disaster.

I also remember how Queen Elizabeth while attending a memorial service for the victims of 9/11 struggled to sing our national anthem (which is a nearly unsingable song even for Americans who are used to it) and which the news commenter said the monarch was doing out of respect for our loss (ie. UK monarchs don't normally sing foreign anthems).

Like I said, I think Queen Elizabeth is a classy lady.

Four months from now, I'll be old enough to retire from my employer. Four months!!!

Why am I writing that NOW?

Because my employer prohibits political activity among the employees. (It'd be bad for business.)

And I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much wanna say things political. About Katrina. About response to a humanitarian disaster.

And I can't.

The situation in Mississippi is pretty bad; apparently some towns are just ... gone ... non-existent, now. But the situation in New Orleans is MUCH, MUCH worse despite various warnings of the potential damages if a levee broke. Which happened ... only it wasn't just ONE levee breach. Last I heard there were at least three.

Bus and plane service STOPPED a full day before the hurricane was due. Many people who had no way to get out of New Orleans went to designated shelters. Five days later the people are still trapped at those "shelters" with no food or drinkable water.

I am so angry and upset at the conditions that those people have endured needlessly
that it's very hard for me to write anything coherent.

Links from another blog on the situation: I always did like CNN's Jack Cafferty, Paula Zahn is pissed, Independent in UK compares this disaster versus another, some OTHER countries are offering help but it's been turned down "because we don't need it". Yeah right... I bet the people at the convention center and superdome would have accepted ANY offer immediately.

And I am soooooooooooooo glad that of the charities accepting donations for Katrina relief, I chose to send my money to the Mennonite Disaster Service (they're pacifists!!!) instead of another charity higher on the list supposedly accepting donations for good works (like advocating the assassination of a foreign leader, I guess).

Or go to any of the other Americablog entries for today which seems to sum things up pretty well.