Lizard's Movie Reviews
26 August 2004
I haven’t seen much of Lizard since shortly after he met his wife, but I really do miss his movie reviews. At least he’s got them online now.
Sounds Like Weird
26 August 2004
I haven’t seen much of Lizard since shortly after he met his wife, but I really do miss his movie reviews. At least he’s got them online now.
25 August 2004
24 August 2004
Got a headache late at night, but that was only after a day where I felt darn peppy. Didn’t get any writing per se done, but got a lot of cruft-clearing done.
I have two packages to send off and spent a fair amount of time looking for the contents of them — I only found the stuff for one package. There’s a third package that’s really easy to put together, so that’ll go out. But there’s that one other one that’s really bugging me. I know I saw the stuff recently, too. Normally, that’s some of my best-organized stuff.
Grr.
23 August 2004
Recently, I bought a Récife pen from Swisher Pens.
In terms of bang for the bucks, this is probably my single best pen purchase. It holds about eight cartridges worth of ink, though it has no formal feed mechanism. In terms of mechanics, it’s a very old-style fountain pen.
The gold-plated steel nib is much more flexible than I’d expected, too.
Very happy. Want more colors.
22 August 2004
21 August 2004
Well, I have a story that’s been out in the ring five times and received five rejections. In each case, it wasn’t a form rejection, so I know the story is being read. However, three of the rejections contradict each other.
You’ve got an intriguing set-up and a nicely metaphorical ending but….
While that editor got (at least in part) what I was attempting to do, part of it resonated with a Twilight Zone episode. I edited it to be a little different, then sent it out again (not really changing very much, just making clear that it wasn’t a rewrite of an old TZ episode).
I have misplaced the next rejection slip, but one of the comments went something like, “nice story, but the tacked-on horror show ending didn’t work for me.” Hrm. OK. The editor knows what he or she wishes to buy.
So, today I get one that says:
Alas, we really didn’t get it. Too subtle?
Well, I figured that market was a long shot, but they do publish things with kind of the same feel. Admittedly, this was a more literary story, so I’m not surprised at the response.
But it does seem directly contradictory to the second rejection, doesn’t it? And yet, it wasn’t edited between those two submissions.
Now I just need to figure out where to send it next.
19 August 2004
So, discovering that I had no JDBC driver for Oracle, I go to Oracle’s site to obtain one.
Naturally, I had to assert that I comply with the following:
I am not a citizen, national or resident of, and am not under the control of, the government of: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, nor any other country to which the United States has prohibited export.
I will not download or otherwise export or re-export the Programs, directly or indirectly, to the above mentioned countries nor to citizens, nationals or residents of those countries.
I am not listed on the United States Department of Treasury lists of Specially Designated Nationals, Specially Designated Terrorists, and Specially Designated Narcotic Traffickers, nor am I listed on the United States Department of Commerce Table of Denial Orders.
I will not download or otherwise export or re-export the Programs, directly or indirectly, to persons on the above mentioned lists.
I will not use the Programs for, and will not allow the Programs to be used for, any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, for the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction.
OK, so if I were part of the Iraq reconstruction process, I couldn’t use the JDBC driver there? Hrm.
Irony value: as if having posted about this weren’t enough, what I didn’t say in the original post was that I was working as a Network Geography Analyst for Quova at the time. My job was to determine where in the world IP addresses mapped to, including, understandably: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Syria.
In 2006 and 2007, I consulted for PGP Inc, ensuring that their beta PGP encryption software met the same export standards as those listed above.
It all comes full circle, doesn’t it?
18 August 2004
It seems that the company Seren Innovations is unfamiliar with the serin gas episodes in the Japanese subway a few years back. Talk about your unfortunate associations, especially when the word “innovations” is added. Dr. Dave pointed out that the two words were spelled differently, but pronounced the same.
17 August 2004
16 August 2004
16 August 2004
Apparently, someone finally put two and two together. USB Mouse good. USB flash drive also good.
And this is the Child of Frankenstein.
I’m hoping their dimension measurements are in centimeters, not inches.
16 August 2004
From rec.travel.air, this Irish-American learns a lot more about the humble potato.
However, at the population level asparatme is very safe, and there are dozens of studies to support this. More people are allergic to potato and bee stings than to aspartame just to put this in perspective.
Who knew?
14 August 2004
Suzy McKee Charnas has a very interesting article about Clarion, specificially this year’s Clarion workshop. I went in 2002.
I can’t imagine life at Clarion without really being a part of the Van Hoosen Hall, but I guess they did this year. I guess relations with MSU were more strained than we’d realized.
11 August 2004
So, a month after my birthday, I get a “happy birthday” email from GNC. With a coupon.
What’s wrong with this picture?
10 August 2004
I found out about this survey here, so thought I’d take a stab at it.
1. I have never voted for a Democrat in my life.
False. Then again, I’ve voted Republican, Libertarian, Green Party, Independent, etc.
2. I think my taxes are too high.
True.
3. I supported Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
True, but not for the same reasons as other people. I’ve seen the damage that sexual harassment, even the kind that’s apparently voluntary, can do. I support the AAUP standards of no involvement between people in the same chain of command. And, sorry, a President is always in the chain of command.
4. I voted for President Bush in 2000.
False. I did, however, vote.
5. I am a gun owner.
Not at present, though I am a lifetime NRA member.
6. I support school voucher programs.
I waffle on this one.
7. I oppose condom distribution in public schools.
False. Public health concerns are important. We have a bunch of kids who have fatal or life-long diseases (yes, genital herpes counts there, because it’s dormant for life) because they were not told about proper precautions.
8. I oppose bilingual education.
I don’t believe people whose native language isn’t English should be mainstreamed out of English-speaking classrooms. I do support people learning a second language, which is the other possible (but not commonly used) meaning of the term.
9. I oppose gay marriage.
False. I strongly support gay marriage.
10. I want Social Security privatized.
True, though not the way some people mean it. I’d rather the money was paid into one’s fund and that family members could share funds. Upon death, any remaining funds would be released to heirs. This is how Singapore managed their medical system.
11. I believe racial profiling at airports is common sense.
False. Not all people allied with terrorists are Arab. And, more to the point, very few Arabs (or, while we’re at it Muslims, who are mostly not Arab) are terrorists. Same issues with drug smuggling, etc.
12. I shop at Wal-Mart.
False. I’m one of those people who prefers to shop at non-chains.
13. I enjoy talk radio.
I go through phases, but I haven’t been in a talk radio phase for several years. I hate to say it, but when I’m feeling really down, I sometimes enjoy Doctor Laura. She makes me realize that I’m not nearly as much of an idiot as many of her callers.
14. I am annoyed when news editors substitute the phrase “undocumented person” for “illegal alien.”
True. It makes them sound like they’re not carrying papers around rather than the fact that a) they’re in the country illegally and b) they are in fact alien.
15. I do not believe the phrase “a chink in the armor” is offensive.
This term has been in the English language since before the English knew the Chinese existed. Taking offense at the word is like taking offense at the word denigrate because it might refer to someone who is black (which isn’t necessarily someone who is African-American).
16. I eat meat.
In fact, I prefer it.
17. I believe O.J. Simpson was guilty.
At the time, I wasn’t certain, but when I read all the books with the forensic detail I’d not watched during the trial, I felt certain that he was guilty, especially given some of the stuff that came out during the civil trial.
18. I cheered when I learned that Saddam Hussein had been captured.
I was happy that he was captured, but I don’t think it justifies the actions before or since. We simply didn’t prepare for the post-war problems. At all.
19. I cry when I hear “Proud to be an American” (God Bless the USA) by Lee Greenwood.
Ghods, no.
20. I don’t believe the New York Times.
I’m allergic to newsprint as well as to papers that require registration to read articles. Thus, I simply don’t read it.