Finished Wastelands.
Although short stories aren't my favorite, i really liked this collection. There were 3-4 real stand outs in my opinion. The last one is pretty awesome. Curious to see if others liked the same authors i did. Actually, King, Card, and Wolfe (all noted authors) wrote what i thought were some of the more lackluster or disappointing stories. Martin's contribution was pretty solid.
If i had to guess, i would have thought King was the author of David Bailey's chapter. Definitely going to look into some of Bailey's other works.
Hurry up and finish guys!
An interesting poll I found on Slashdot: How many microprocessors are in your home, total?
For simplicity's sake, I'd say don't count cores of a CPU, as theoretically they're part of the same circuit. Instead, if an electrical device has a microprocessor, count it as one, if you have two of the same device, count it as two.
For just my "computing" devices, I have my Macbook (1), Mac Mini (1), Thinkpad (1), my sister's laptop (1), my Xeon server (1), the old idkfa server (1), the old gaming rig (1), the PS3 (1), the Xbox (1), wireless routers (2), WiMax modem (1), Arduino controllers (2), and audio/video receivers (2).
One of the comments had this list, probably a good start:
So, at least 32 for me. Then I thought about some other peripherals...
Up to 44.
Here's my house. Note I'm not considering any of Mark's stuff.
i think that's 86?
It's true. Today is my Birthday. I turned 0, 34 years ago today. I hope people will be going sledding this weekend! Also I don't really expect gifts, but gift certificates are always good if people do want to give some thing.. places I like are Amazon, Threadless, Steam/Valve, Title Wave.
Catherine is having her birthday on the 2nd as well, so hot sledding action is where it's going to be at! Also make sure everybody has a good sled and warm clothes. If you didn't see the email, this site (scribbit.blogspot.com)had a pretty good write-up of the sledding hill.
So the wife and I are attempting the next step in becoming real adults. Not just the fake ones we've been pretending to be the last few years. We're looking into buying a house. So the question I pose to those of you people who have taken this leap in the last few years is there any advice you have to share? Any first steps we should take or hints as to what kind of cash we actually need lying around to make this shit work?
In general we're pretty lost on what to do next or really if we should, and the internet is kind of a confusing place when it comes to decent info.
with a native first time home buyer's program, i was looking at 2.5% down on a mortgage of up to $250,000. Add the buyer's expected closing costs (all closing costs are negotiable), I was looking at coming up with $10,000-$15,000 in order to purchase. I had got pretty close to getting a condo for $190,000, and i was expected to come up with about $12,500.
Absolutely, you do!
- Misguided affronts when identifying minimally with that culture
- Above par pronunciation of Mexican-American vernacular (see: Gallos)
- Scholarship opportunity that is still denied by income strata (ZIP code helped me more!)
- Disbelief due to skin and eye color
- Above par perception of socio-economic problems plaguing our nation
- New box to check! (1/8th not included)
A few things I took away:
If I think of more, I'll post it.
Here are a few things that I gathered from various sources while looking for a house:
Here's a website (www.homebuyingguide.org) that a realtor recommended for first time buyers to become acquainted with the process. in Anchorage there are workshops put on by AHFC for home buysers and they have their course material online (www.ahfc.state.ak.us). Could be useful.
Not that I know of anything in this arena at all considering how far out I am from taking this leap into "real adulthood." But, with that said... I have heard from friends here that some work places have extra benefits that get tacked on on top of health etc that a lot of people don't take advantage of because they forget they are there. I have heard that sometimes some places have benefits that can help with mortgages etc.
it had a very difficult time shifting. Nissan said the mechanic thought it was a miracle I was able to drive it into the shop.
when a clutch blows all the way, you can move the pedal anywhere you want, and the shifter anywhere you want, but it the engine won't engage the transmission. it'd be as if you were giving the engine gas with the shifter in the neutral position.
one way to gauge how much the clutch has worn is at what point in the motion of the clutch pedal the engine/transmission engages. new vehicles should engage the engine/transmission near the bottom of the pedal motion, and a blown clutch engages immediately the moment you press it, if at all.
Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Engineers week is just around the corner; February 20 to 26. Among others, one of the national level sponsors this year is ConocoPhillips!
The purpose of the whole thing is to encourage K-12 students (with a focus on middle schoolers) to pursue STEM careers. What's STEM mean? Why, it means Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Thanks for asking!
It kicks off with the Bayou Bash on Friday, February 18, where $15 gets you bottomless beers and a homemade Cajun buffet! Door prize drawings will be held through the night.
Throughout the week, School Presentations will be happening in Anchorage schools, where engineers volunteer to give presentations. Don't know what to present about? There are canned presentations on the E-Week website! All the hard work is already done for you!
CANstruction will be happening concurrently at the University Center. Vote for your favorite sculpture with cans in the bins placed at every sculpture! All cans, including those in the structures, go to Food Bank of Alaska! Coffman has a team with a very advanced, hi-tech, secretive design! Go see it anytime between Feb 19 through March 5!
Friday, February 25th, high school seniors can sign up for a trip to H2Oasis to get a tour of all the engineering spaces, followed by a luncheon at UAA where they can sit with practicing engineers in the community to learn what it means to really be an engineer.
Saturday, February 26 is the big final day. K-12 students can participate in the Student Competitions at UAA, which include an Egg Drop, Paper Airplane contest (winners in longest distance and best time aloft), Tower of Power, and Floatable Moatable, among others!
The big finale is the Awards Banquet, where high school seniors are awarded scholarships, MATHcounts teams are celebrated, K-12 teams display their LEGO Robotics creations, and the 2010 Engineer of the Year is awarded. Also, this year, we bribed convinced Mr. WhiteKeys to come out of retirement and educate us on the wonders of engineering. Seating is limited, make your reservations early! $50/ticket, tables seat 10, plated dinner options. Participate in the scholarship raffle to win door prizes!
Jan 22 Show
Fun show, despite the crowd. Not sure how a packed theater could be so wooden, but you folks played it well. Might be the case that many were newcomers and were a little unsure of what they were supposed to be doing at certain points. Regardless, I'd say everyone had winning moments at some point. I liked the moment of reverence for the all-seeing new-choice bell.
Lets just say you are a stronger gentleman that I. There would probably be something in it for me if I tried to read those and then tried to understand them. I just refuse out of principal to have anything to do with any manifestations of the twilight series.
I think Katy would at least appreciate my trying to understand or care about something she is interested in and dare I say a fan of. But sometimes, FUCK THAT.
Another fun opportunity to enjoy some theater:
Wine Tasting and "La Boheme"
Saturday, February 19
5:30-7:30 - Wine tasting at Grape Expectations
8:00 - Curtain for "La Boheme" at the PAC (Opening night!)
Tickets for wine tasting + opera are $75/person.
RSVP by Feb 10 to Julie (let me know if you are interested and I can send you her number)
Travis and I are going! Should be a good time.
"Beyond Black Mesa": http://kotaku.com/...-half+life-fan-film (kotaku.com)
Interesting fan-made film in the Half-life 2 universe.
i watched this the other day myself. geekologie had it posted as one of their articles. they also had a fan short for fallout 3 which was really good.
http://www.geekologie.com/2011/01/video_game_fanfilm_mania_impre.php (www.geekologie.com)
Interestingly, and I give a lot of credit to not only youtube, but to the availability of affordable HD digital camcorders, fan made trailers are close to being on par with the SFX of hollywood, no?
proof in point - one of my favorite youtube artists doing some great low budget shorts: freddiew2
http://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew2 (www.youtube.com)
Playing around with something else I was thinking about last night. My usual method of using idkfa was to have one tab be auto-updating, and the others I'm browsing/typing in just be "normal." That seemed more complicated that necessary.
Now, when you're navigating from page to page, whether you're in auto-update mode will stick with you, and persist until you click it off with either the key combo or the update icon.
"Starbucks launches largest mobile payment program in the US"
http://www.techspo...gram-in-the-us.html (www.techspot.com)
I haven't been in a Starbucks for a good long while, but I like where this is going.
My "Current Marketing Issues Seminar" class is going to be a serious drag. The man wouldn't stop using portmanteaus seriously. As J-Rho said on my FB post - BURN IT WITH FIRE.
However, my "Information and Communications Policy Seminar" class appears like it will be interesting. Half the class is employed in the telecommunications industry in some way, shape, or form. We had a pretty technical discussion today, and most people seemed to have the mental capability to contribute to the discussion. Yay for smart people!
Cue Homer Simpson: "I am so smart! S-M-R-T!"
The class seems to be a study and discussion of policy regarding information and communications technologies (apparently the abbreviation these people like to use is ICTs - don't know how widespread the use of that abbreviation is)
There's three people from GCI, I don't know what positions they hold within the company. There's another from MTA, and then there's one more, and I don't remember where she's employed. More than half the class is in the public policy master's programs at UAA and APU, and the rest are in the MBA programs at UAA and APU.
One thing I wouldn't mind is having the "view more of the latest posts" button simply expand that bubble. As if it just loads 5 more posts/comments, rather that redirects you to another page. It could be sequential up until a point (20?). This is mainly because all I want to see is if the 6th+ latest comment is something I haven't read, rather than the entire list.
The nomenclature could also probably be simplified; "+5 Comments" or some such.
That being said, I do like the option of redirecting to the entire list of latest comments.
/Requisite praise and accolades for making a sweet forum and accepting critique and suggestions from the asinine user base bent on destroying your baby.
Well. I don't think this was what you wanted.
The code that generates the "Latest Post" is already pretty complicated, what with the auto-update mode, the collapsing stuff on the mobile page, etc. I found myself trying to resolve what would happen if you hit "+5" while you were in auto-update mode, and I decided that was more than I wanted to deal with. In addition, I feel like the "arbitrarily add more length to page elements" design that Facebook/Twitter have (even more annoying when it automatically does so when you scroll past a certain point) is a poor one at best. Yes, it saves re-rendering the entire page, but if somebody's really curious about that 6th post, and they're going to click once anyways, why not give them more if not all of the information they might be interested in.
There's also my design philosophy so far that dictates: "If you don't bother to log in, you don't get to have nice things." Guests don't get any dynamic Javascript things, nor do they have the convenience of idkfa keeping track of things they've already read.
Anyhow.
So that led me to two things:
I guess I don't like seeing an empty box, either. I appreciate the 'shoutbox' style display of the latest posts right in your face on the home page. It's a preview of what's to come in the conversation at hand, and streams the latest information. Even if I've already read it.
From what I gather you're saying there are some technological hurdles when it comes to stretching that box and adding more than five comments on demand. I dig that. But to dismiss a design choice because "if you want more than 5, you're going to want as much as possible" is kind of flawed. I'm not suggesting i'm a lazy fuck that doesn't want to scroll through a bunch of information, but rather have it spoon fed to me. I'm suggesting that it's a slicker design model, and works better for the average human when you're not inundating them with information. That is to say, the snippets and hints at current conversation right now (or rather, as they were) is awesome. I thought that was something very different from traditional forums - something you argued for. The "what is happening right now," kind of thing. What I was suggesting is that maybe five is too few. But five also looks good, so rather than just asking to bump up the limit, I was curious if a user could just tack on a few more lines.
It's kind of a coin flip. Yes, I can click on the link directing me to a new list of every latest post from the past X days (or however many it ends up displaying). That makes sense. Or, I can watch web 2.0 magically extend that already convenient feature a little more, and ensure that yes, I did already see that latest post about the cats.
I don't think the idea of rendering more information is a poor design choice. When it comes to communicating information (graphically, anyway), you don't want to overwhelm your audience. I feel overwhelmed with the giant list.
No, no. You don't get to drop design advice and then feign technical incompetence. That's "just saying" in another form.
When you say technical hurdles, I liken the process of getting this to work to be much like this (www.youtube.com) (Not Safe For Work. At all.). Actually, that's what I think of just about all Web 2.0. Maintaining the state of numerous widgets on the page gets very complicated. It may save time for users, but also makes things brittle, and hard to troubleshoot if things go wrong. I've had to build entire applications where each little piece on the screen had the potential to dial back to the server to request information, update contents, page through data, whatever... It was an absolute nightmare, and that was even using a fancy Javascript library that was supposed to take care of everything for me. That this is becoming the norm is somewhat irritating. Even for those that have solved the technical stuff (Facebook, Twitter), I still don't feel the potential for scrolling infinitely, even if you don't choose to, is good...
Hmm. I just had an idea.
Well. It's again probably not what you wanted, but something like it. The "Load more" button loads the last 10 posts using the same method I do for the updaters. Auto-update will still use your user settings and replace the Latest Posts box with whatever it comes up with for that, regardless of whether you hit "Load more".
Forgive me for trying to bust your chops. For what it's worth, I login when I have something to post. Otherwise, if I can distill the information (recent posting) I came to get without going through that one checkpoint, I lazy it up and don't login. Perhaps you need more disincentive for that behavior... but that might also discourage other users who share my train of thought.
/Shrug. The lollerdome requires a login to see any content. I'm fine with that because I've been a regular since 2006, but I can see how that might discourage new people from trying it out. They can't take it for a spin, or lurk anonymously until they're comfortable enough to post.
So perhaps you're honing in on something important - not shielding content from lurkers, but giving them a tangible reason to login. Perhaps more of the fun nuggets such as Stats, hotkeys, etc, could be limited to logged in accounts. Hrm...
Since you popped together all the code for the shiny box that GreenMan quickly dismissed, would you be so kind as to offer that as an option users can toggle in the settings page? cause I dig the "last unread" post box. I thought that was cool.
GEEZ GREENMAN RUIN THE PARTY FOR THE REST OF US.
(i jokes!)
Hey Guys! For those of you that don't know, Avenue Q is coming to town!!!
Its a Tony award winning musical that is pretty much targeted and written towards our age group. I'd equate it to The Muppets meet South Park with Gary Coleman thrown in for good measure. Anyway, its a quality show and very funny. Sure to be a good time! If you're broke like me and can't afford tickets i might be able to help :) there are a couple 10% or more off discount codes, and an event at Rum Runners this Thursday night which has several dozen pairs of tickets to give away.
Since no one knows what Avenue Q is, we need help spreading the word! Check clips out on Anchorage Concert Association's FB page, or youtube. Hope to see you there!
Glad you guys liked it! And, please spread the word! It's a hard show to explain to someone in 10 words or less. And since it's for adults only, ticket sales are slower than Mamma Mia! or Blue Man Group. Which we knew would happen... So, tell your friends (or parents??) The internet is for porn, and buying tickets!
I added a link on the myidkfa navigation bar that is a shortcut to mark everything on idkfa as "read."
I understand that while some people may want to stay current, or have a convenient and novel mechanism to read things, but for others it's just an annoyance. For the latter, this button is for you.
As a happy medium, if you click on "more", there's an option to mark as read everything that's older than 1 week.
Josh, didn't you think about doing this at one point? Or was that someone else? I definitely remember someone on idkfa talking about paying for their tuition in dollar bills or coins or something as a form of protest. I saw this and thought of that... http://www.nytimes....ion.html?src=twrhp (www.nytimes.com)
Two suggestions:
1) Add an indicator for the number of times a post has been viewed.
2) Extend the black box around each avatar for posts for the entire length of the post. Would make formatting look cleaner, methinks. Well, maybe I'd have to see it. And maybe it would suck. But perhaps it's something to look into.
1) I've been thinking about doing this. I try to only perform 1 or 2 "have you seen this post?" queries per page load, otherwise I start to take a pretty severe performance hit. I might be able to swing something, though.
2) I worry about wasted space. Ye olde idkfa did this, and it worked out OK, but I felt that the extra inch or whitespace (blackspace?) just made for more lines on the screen.
Libby picked out a cat; I guess it's black with some lighter stripes (I haven't seen it). Anyhow, after brainstorming names, it's going to be one of these two:
I know which one Josh would choose.
i would advise against declawing since it involves amputating appendages. Typical declawing procedures amputate all of the toes on the front paws from the tip of the claw to the second knuckle.
but i mean, for getting the checkups and initial things you need to do for cats, especially with a 2 month old. I use Hillside Pet Clinic just behind DQ there on Abbott, since a family friend works there. They do a pretty good job.
there's this tape that discourages scratching. my parents use it at their house and i've been meaning to ask them where they got it. i could use it for a couple of carpet spots at my house.
also, if cats have adequate scratching posts that they're taught to use from a young age, they never scratch furniture.
I can't speak for the tape, but your last statement is true for our cat. A few incidents where she wanted to play, and started to scratch the carpet / side of the mattress were quelled with a sharp clap. Some early discipline along with a nice sized scratching post, and she doesn't touch the furniture or carpet.
Abby does tear through the house sometimes like a wild banshee. Her claws let her corner at even the highest speeds (really quite amazing). There hasn't been any significant damage, but you can hear her claws digging in to the carpet when she runs. But even if you had your cat declawed, they'll still have rear claws to run and jump with.
I would suggest trying discipline before defaulting to declawing. If ever she gets outside, without claws she wont be able to defend herself / climb to escape, etc. Like MrFood said, as well, if you ever have a rodent problem, with claws that cat will probably take care of it quick-fast. But I also wouldn't blame you (read: Libby) for having the process done, simply to avoid the potential for furniture damage. I can only speak for our cat, and I imagine there are some horror stories out there of kittens shredding valuable shit merely for their own delicious pleasure.
Tangent: Abby did look ever cute laying in a shredded pool of mulched paper towels. Probably the worst claw incident to date. Not bad imho.
The best way I've found to cut my cats' claws is to wrap them up in blanket so that only the front paw I'm working on is sticking out, and keep them pinned to a bed by laying on top of them. That should frees both of my hands to work on their claws. It's incredible easier with two people, and doesn't usually require wrestling the cats into submission.
if you start young, i've heard the vinyl nail caps are pretty sweet. i think i'd try that with my next batch of cats. OR I COULD JUST BUY MORE... YES! CATS!
mine are declawed and don't seem to be scarred for life or anything. Also, if you have a leather couch or furniture their back claws still rip it up pretty bad. Up at my parents house (where they used to live) it's either have an indoor cat, or a dead one. Lucy still catches mice just fine. Tex is too dumb to hunt anything without cat nip in it. I heard that Sexretary's cat Chubs took down a bird once!
Are you going to get your kitty a leash??? Her and Tex could go on walks together!
I would agree in that declawing is pretty cruel to your kitty, but considering what I do every day at work I don't think I personally can make that argument.
If you do have it done, do it soon while the cat is young and will likely heal well... and not hate you forever for doing it. My parents old cat was declawed on the front paws and she lived a long full life of probably 25 years my our best guesses. Terrible mouser though...
yeah, pretty sure that shit was old age... Mom said that one day she finally just couldn't make it up and down the stairs anymore and would yowl till she carried it wherever she needed to go. Like I said she was like 25 years old or so, so mom just had the vet put her down. Apparently it was the only time she never fought back on getting put in the car, I think she was ready to go.
Alright, and I lied AGAIN (blame Libby). The kitten's name is officially Mirri, so deems Libby. Note that I had no part in selecting the cat or the name, I simply provided some names for Libby to consider.
Mirri, Cat Warrior. Although this (magiccards.info) image more adequately describes that cat, I feel.
EDIT: attached wrong image initially.
Um, both. There's an antihistimine pill, and an antibacterial liquid. I've resorted to crushing up the pill and putting it in the liquid, because she won't eat the pill (even when embedded in a treat... she's not really eating solid anything at this point, even food!). It's incredibly difficult to get her to take the liquid, and she foams/gags/etc like crazy afterwards. If you know hints, pray tell.
Easily solved. buy baby food in the jar. I recommend turkey or chicken flavored. continue to crush up pill, and mix into maybe 1/3rd or so of the baby food. feed kitty with spoon. (its very adorable) make sure to feed kitty non-pill contaminated baby food first each time you give her a pill so she knows its awesome. also, make a big deal about opening the jar and make sure she sees or hears you do it. DON'T let her see you put pill dust it in. naturally. Its a little expensive, but totally worth it for a short period of time.
For the liquid, do you have a syringe? I say just use one of those and cover mouth with hand after the squirt. I guess you can also put in baby food, but syringe seems easier and much quicker. she can only eat so much baby food goodness. They usually gag and foam way less with liquids. I've heard rubbing or tickling the throat while keeping mouth closed with hands makes them swallow quicker, but I've never had to do that.
Good luck!
Christian Heppinstall, the mastermind behind Reefer Madness, is producing Cabaret at Wild Berry Theater. I got cast as a dancer again (yes!) and this time dancing is not only in heels and false eyelashes, but corsets and stockings, too. And there is chair dancing. OH MAN, AWESOME.
There will be many reminders. It's gonna be sweet.
I've discovered the band Kamelot recently. Simply put, they kick ass. They're a power/symphonic/progressive metal band from Tampa. The rub is that they are huge in Europe and South America, have a former opera lead singer from Norway, a keyboardist from Germany and mix in the occasional hot soprano from a northern European country. I know Aaron and Erik have heard of them, but the rest of you should check them out. Their live album "One Cold Winters Night" is particularly good.
