Required field must not be blank: July 2008

Monday, July 28, 2008

Is it a Game?

http://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/

I'm not completely sure what is does exactly, but it's fun.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Project, Day 101

I have four of these wrap-arounds to do, and did two of them this morning.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Well this is just plain strange...

http://www.thrivingoffice.com/

"Home businesses know they must seem successful to become successful. So they play Thriving Office while on the phone. This valuable CD, which is filled with the sounds people expect to hear from an established company, provides instant credibility."

Now I know what to get everyone for Christmas!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Project, Day 97

Yes, day 97.
Due to a problem with my foot, I was not been able to walk around much for awhile. This all but halted the project. I did try to do some small bits most days though, even though everything took much longer than it should.
A lot of small odds and ends have been done, and almost everything is put back where it belongs in the living room.
There is still trim work to be done in the entry, and paint and some woodwork repair in the hallway. I may get these done this week, or this weekend.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

New

I started a new blog here:
http://elgintime.blogspot.com/
I'm working on wrapping new material together using ElginTime.com. It's hard to know the best way to do some of this. The blogger facility for example has advantages, but it quite a bit less flexible than simply creating ordinary web pages. We'll see...

Friday, July 18, 2008

The Truth is Still Out There

http://wonkette.com/401180/giant-ufo-attacks-george-w-bushs-texas-ranch

"Why did the military allow the space monsters to attack George W. Bush's stupid brush-clearing ranch?"

Uh, hoping for the best?

Friday, July 11, 2008

?Phone

Thursday, July 10, 2008

These are Our Choices?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/07/10/obama_fisa/index.html?source=newsletter

"I've admired Obama, but I never confused him with a genuine progressive leader. Today I don't admire him at all. His collapse on FISA is unforgivable. The only thing Obama has going for him this week is that McCain is matching him misstep for misstep. While we're railing about Obama's craven vote on FISA -- rightfully; Glenn Greenwald is a hero for his work on this topic -- McCain was outdoing Dick Cheney with neocon crazy talk, warning that Iran's test of nine old missiles we already knew they had increases the chances of a "second Holocaust." Every time I wonder whether I can ultimately vote for Obama in November, given all of his political cave-ins, McCain does something new to make sure I have to."

Rove

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25622771

"Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama."

Much more of this and the Senate will have to resort to HARSH LANGUAGE.
Don't say they didn't warn you Mr Rove, that's HARSH LANGUAGE. No one wants that... And we certainly don't want the Senate to have ratchet up even further to STERN WARNINGS!

But we don't have to worry about that. I'm sure they'll just pass an immunity bill before it comes to that.

Number One

http://www.econsciousmarket.com/eco-times/top-5-eco-cities-in-the-us/

"According to SustainLane’s 2006 City Rankings, Portland leads the nation when it comes to green building, eco transportation programs, energy and climate change policies, air quality, water quality, and green economy initiatives. Half of the city is powered by renewable sources, and a quarter of its workforce commutes by bike, carpool or public transportation."

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Closing

http://thevig.portlandtribune.com/2008/07/09/is-your-starbucks-closing/

Just one Starbucks closing in Portland - the one on lower Hawthorne. There's already a for lease sign on the building, and the store is closed (although still full of stuff).

View Larger Map

Gone

It's amazing what you fail to see until it's gone. For the past week or two I've been trying to remember what was at this location at 20th and Hawthorne. It's now an empty lot showing signs of new construction beginning.

View Larger Map

That's it, it was a big, ugly, red barn of a church as shown here (until Google updates it's street level images that is).

More information here: http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/media/news/2008/07/sin_no_more_on_hawthorne/

Lively

I would have expected more from Google. It's new Lively service is a giant yawn. It does one and only one thing that Google Talk doesn't do; multi-party text chat. That's it. And multi-user text chat is something that is readily supported by any number of services already, both simple XMPP-based and others. Lively isn't tied to anything else Google offers (nothing, not even Adsense!). It's barely even connected to existing Google accounts.

I'm not surprised that Google created something like Lively. I am a little surprised at the extreme degree to which it is not remotely interesting or useful. I mean really, come on, are they serious? Really?

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Travel

Here's how they can make it even worse...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/aviation-security/2008/Jul/01/want-some-torture-with-your-peanuts/

"A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers.

This bracelet would:

* take the place of an airline boarding pass

* contain personal information about the traveler

* be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

* shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several
minutes"

So I guess there are still ways to make air travel even less practical...

Monday, July 07, 2008

Project, Day 82

The DVD player is now wired correctly, there's now pictures put up and more things are back where they belong in the living room. This nearly gives me a dining room table again. There's paint in the entry way and the overhead light is re-installed as well, but the trim is not all cut and installed. There's still a couple things undone in the bathroom too.

Nothing stays good for long. I got some paint on the sofa. In spite of frequently changing my clothes, I guess I brushed the wall before sitting down at some point. I got the paint off, but the fabric is noticeably worn by the process. Maybe it's not too noticeable - if I don't point out where it is, one probably wouldn't see it. The sofa has a cover now. All things considered, the project is best viewed in low light.

Moss's Japanese Scores

http://picasaweb.google.com/mxmossman

Food: 67 pictures

Sights: 138 pictures

Culture: 59 pictures

Personally, I expected food to do better, on the strength of snacks alone...

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Project, Day 80

I went to start painting, but more plaster touch up was required in the entry. Following that, I got a second coat on the ceiling, the wall and the basic trim. The colors are the reverse of the living room - I'd bought a whole gallon of the living room trim, it's the only way they sold it, so this uses it up. I also completed the wall repainting in the dining room where it was damaged by the project. I thankfully had kept the paint organized over the years since that room was done.

The living room is nearly livable. A lot has been put away, many pictures up and the stereo is about 80% up (I still don't have access to my web music control, I plan to switch it to a streaming system of some sort not yet fully determined).

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Project, Day 77

It's curtains for this project. And by that I do not mean that the project is dead. I mean I literally put up curtains. The project itself remains undead.