Tales of life

wow.
For everyone that hates Tweets ( and I know you are legion) you must check this out.

screen writers who take two random( and unrelated) people, use their tweets and turn it into a silly conversation 

http://www.nothingshow.com/

no idea what possessed me to do a quiz on my lunch break, except that my motivation is negative right now, and this one called to me.
 <a href="http://www.the-n.com/games/quiz/3321"><img src="http://www.the-n.com/media/quiz/badges/timeofday_quiz/twilight.gif" border="0" /></a>

In playing with new technologies, sometimes you find things you like and sometimes things are just not right.
Using LoudTwitter to send a summary feed of Tweets directly to my LJ seemed like an interesting concept, so I tried it out. And I do not like it. I am really finding that the expositional style of of normal LJ friend posts and the code/shorthand of a summary of Twitters clash in a way that makes it uncomfortable. Not just in my journal, but in other folks as well.
Now, do not get me wrong. Twitter as a tool is VERY useful and I have managed to use it in some strange situations and meet interesting people that way. I have met more people face to face who I met first on Twitter than I have on any other social networking tool.
But Twitter on LJ? I say no way.

Thus, I have stopped my Twitter feeds here. The one earlier today was the last, as far as i am concerned. 

I know that a few people have been using the Blog links burried in the Twitter feed to get to my normal blog posts. This is the painful way to get there. If you are still interested in reading what I think/see/experience in a more expositional style, just add rpfeed to our flist. This is the syndication of of my blogspot blog here on LJ.  I will continue to have Vox forward music review posts here as long as I continue to have my music review blog on Vox.

Hope to continue the discussion with all of you in full sentences soon.

• 01:41 Thinking about bed... bad CDROMs are foiling my ubuntu install attempts. Tomorrow may be a net install attempt #
• 10:14 going to go fix a blueberry pancake feast for the kids for breakfast.. #
• 13:36 the hardware store and the grocery were nearly empty... the cold is good or something after all. #
• 13:37 looking for the amiestreet artists to do a music review on this week... #
• 14:05 great news for the future of libraries: tinyurl.com/24cxbm #
• 15:01 wow- except for a startup schwag shirt, my entire batch of snail mail was charity/fundraiser related. How odd #
• 22:37 downloading sofware updates for ubuntu and xubuntu installs... #

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• 11:17 there seems to be a small alien crawling through my intestines.... #
• 12:08 I love how much easier memory upgrades are these days than say 20 years ago. Now I just need an easy memory upgrade for me.. #
• 12:08 off to do the first laptop conversion to Ubuntu #
• 14:44 New Blog Post: Geek Weekend: Part 1: The weekend actually got an early start, because D.. tinyurl.com/368jrk #
• 14:44 New Blog Post: Geek Weekend: part 2: Part two is short, sweet and simple. A memory upgr.. tinyurl.com/2w65qc #
• 17:44 New Blog Post: Geek Weenend: Part 3: Ubuntu 7.10 install on Inspiron 5600 with new lapt.. tinyurl.com/3amajj #

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• 23:16 It is too limited to be functional...but damn the air is sexy... #
• 23:41 Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around -3. West northwest wind around 15 mph.
  . Too danged cold... #
• 07:18 getting kids off to school... #
• 07:28 life is good at 1920X1200 #
• 15:45 heading for the grocery store... got any requests? #

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• 01:44 New Blog Post: I told you once was not enough: Early this week, in preparation for the .. tinyurl.com/3b8crm #
• 06:19 the news where I live: www.theindychannel.com/news/15051234/detail.html #
• 07:53 we have stupid criminals who make the news. But it is NOT news that they made the national news.....please stop reporting it #
• 11:02 at the endocrinologist #
• 15:51 so nice to have enough memory in the system that it is not continually paging....yay. I work this baby hard. #
• 15:52 Have to decide if I am upgrading video card tonight or witing until weekend. One computer down would be nice... #
• 19:08 just did a reboot after installing new card and drivers....drumroll.... #
• 19:30 Oh yeah....no time to push it hard through its paces, but this will so work... #

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• 06:28 my geography so seriosuly sucks. #
• 09:42 prepping to attempt an ubuntu load on an old compaq laptop... fingers crossed... #
• 09:45 New Blog Post: Altering my Mental Map: I am lousy at mental geography, I am the first t.. tinyurl.com/253erw #
• 09:45 New Blog Post: The MacWorld Point people are missing: I have been having a lot of fun r.. tinyurl.com/2mqxej #
• 13:10 wow..quiet day all around. #
• 13:10 Slow slow installing ubuntu on old M300 laptop... #
• 14:23 oiy. I have the feeling that I am going to have to upgrade the memory on this old laptop before anything is going to install...it is hun ... #
• 16:24 oh yes! Orthodontist bill completely paid off!! Now they just have to get her teeth finished so the braces can get removed.... #
• 22:00 @makebeauty had a nivce chat with the CTO of walmart at the last SC, they are doing some interesting stuff. What NPR show was talking ab ... #
• 22:47 yeah. Read the documentation. I know that. I really do. #
• 22:48 New Blog Post: Weekend Forecast: Full Geek Mode: Thanks to a man with a dream, we have .. tinyurl.com/yt7og6 #

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• 08:12 heading to work... #
• 08:46 New Blog Post: Drop.io tests- come and play please: I have added a Drop.io widget to th.. tinyurl.com/2737oo #
• 11:14 I so hate when I get an appointment time off by an hour...crud. #
• 16:05 getting allergy meds for xandra @ the doctor. #

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• 23:45 New Blog Post: Unlimited(??!!) Streaming downloads from Netflix: The AP reports that Ne.. tinyurl.com/2q8dd5 #
• 00:40 @sugree oops oh yeah-- there are some of those java quirks out there.. what are you trying to do? #
• 00:41 I have to stop blogging in the middle of the night.. no one is still awake to read it or comment.. #
• 00:47 @sugree ooh yeah. those file related issues are so much fun.. ;-) #
• 00:54 @sugree dont hate java so much... it is really a powerful tool..just not the right tool for everything.. #
• 11:59 Cough cough ancient bus in front of me spewing exhaust into the snow flurries #
• 12:02 Botox party??!!! Are you people insane?? I need to get a picture of that sign later. #
• 12:10 sitting waiting for bloodwork #
• 14:04 @meledis in the US, next mon is my fav kind: holiday monday!! #
• 14:05 Wow. I am already picking up the hig schoolers....where did the day go? Garage door repair guy due this afternoon as well... #
• 15:22 ok, where is my garage door repair guy? He was supposed to be here by 3pm... #
• 15:40 yay... finally garage repair guy.. cross your fingers this is repairable... it is supposed to be really winter here the next 2 weeks.. #
• 16:19 have to wait until tomorrow for garage door parts ( hopefully tomorrow....) #
• 16:45 New Blog Post: The blame game: Technology is evil: "Professor Tara Brabazon, from the U.. tinyurl.com/2b3s2l #
• 16:45 New Blog Post: I'll take this kind of Karma any day: The new Fiskers Karma is one sweet.. tinyurl.com/3dfw8s #
• 18:00 picking up the new glasses....woot! #
• 18:06 Omg, I can see and drive....at the same time....wow. #
• 18:31 I have a new shiny...oh yeah. And wow...back home by 6:30 #
• 21:13 home for the night.. yeah. #

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If you have not yet discovered the treat that is Conan Brophy's voice, this is going to be a delight for you.  Of himself, Conan claims: " I make beats and noises in a secret overground bunker in the West of Ireland. I like to sing and paint (I painted my profile pic[over on AmieStreet]) and generally make music and art. I used to play in bands and spent a few years hanging around the edge of the music business before deciding I wasn't enjoying myself so I moved to the country instead. I still love to make music and sometimes play live and release records."
I can understand the music scene in bars and bands and crazy ego competitions getting to be too much-- thank god he only gave up on the scene and not the music itself.  With a smooth voice that oozes down through your skin and into your soul, Conan makes music that soothes, cheers and lifts you into another -and much better- world.
His philosophical lyrics are intelligent, thought provoking and show a mind at work on the puzzles of the universe - or sometimes just that guy sleeping on a bench.

From the pop styled, danceable Dogwalker to the moody, aching love song Come See Me, all of the songs available on AmieStreet or his Website are very listenable. Be sure to check out the website, because he is doing some nice art out there as well.. I think my favorite is this fish.

Conan had an appearance on BalconyTV and played his song Frog Prince, which you can see here:

Originally posted on razi.vox.com

• 23:17 done laughing at rush hour marathon.... that was fun #
• 00:36 giving up... heading to bed.. maybe sleep will come #
• 00:44 New Blog Post: Rambing, Stumbling Saturday night: I a fairly certain that my Synthroid .. tinyurl.com/37ajcg #
• 10:54 workout time... #
• 14:28 Getting ready to watch I am legend... #
• 18:28 helping dave hand cabinets in office.. #
• 19:41 gettig icy out there....dave is heading back to lafayette #

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• 15:56 madly cleaning house and kicking teen aged butt #
• 16:13 somethinf perfect about housecleaning to miles davis' kind of blue #
• 17:27 jumping in the shower... got the house clean, now it is my turn #
• 17:46 about time they started on their own: tinyurl.com/26dgak #
• 17:47 the writers should consider talking with Joost... made for joost quality shows would help secure its position against hulu. #
• 20:23 watching rush hour and eating dinner...spinach salad and potato special #

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• 00:45 New Blog Post: Who's a llama?: I am supposed to be writing serious things.
  Solution Ar.. tinyurl.com/3y5rfg #
• 07:58 ugh. Rough start this morning. We all slept through alarms. Got both kids off to school, only one late. #
• 11:08 sitting in dentist office. Waiting to get crown repaired. Today sucks eggs so far. #
• 12:19 back to work. Hiho hi ho #
• 14:15 @meledis where in NM is the supercomputer being built? #
• 17:46 Crazy insane teenagers think tents are a good idea tonight..right...... I give them about 2 hours max...they will come in freezing. #
• 20:19 hanging out at Gordos....feeding dave while kids are at the movies.. #

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• 23:31 Wow....way past writing time and just now getting settled to computer....everyone ( including computer) very cranky tonight.. #
• 00:07 puzzling over computer options... #
• 00:45 New Blog Post: It's a weird, weird world: After getting the kids off to school this mor.. tinyurl.com/2cck6f #
• 01:45 New Blog Post: Hands Off!!???: I am often confused by the world that my teen-aged daugh.. tinyurl.com/3d6qjx #
• 08:40 I am not really hungry.. I am really just tired. I know this. do NOT go get something ELSE to eat... #
• 08:45 New Blog Post: ISPs to play big brother ?: Engadget reports that AT&T is talking with t.. tinyurl.com/24nu44 #
• 10:46 New Blog Post: CoverItArchive: Rather than keeping this test archive floating around on.. tinyurl.com/2wzfwx #
• 10:46 New Blog Post: The Future of Music is FUN!: I am pretty sure I just saw the future of m.. tinyurl.com/2xanez #
• 10:58 oh no....that was my last piece of mad croc energy gum. I am so screwed. #
• 11:25 @libraryguy congrats! that is a cool rush to see your name in print #
• 11:26 the tired in me has overwhelmed my ability to reason #
• 14:13 Oiy. Focus. Please. Blood tests next week. That will be a good thing. #
• 14:47 New Blog Post: video viewing up... are we really surprised?: The online world is all a-.. tinyurl.com/yunntp #
• 15:46 New Blog Post: Help me Obi Wan...: R2D2 can now project video in your living room.
  
  Unf.. tinyurl.com/yrl5kp #
• 18:05 HPCMfg: Blue collar computing: Overcoming high performance computing barriers: The two major b.. tinyurl.com/3dr996 #
• 18:34 @dpoke852 woot! Zydeco rocks. #

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Kimchi, also spelled gimchi or kimchee, is a traditional Korean fermented dish made of some select vegetables with varied seasonings. Kimchi is the most common Korean banchan, or side dish, eaten with rice along with other banchan dishes. Kimchi is also a common ingredient and cooked with other ingredients to make dishes such as kimchi ...........

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• 00:37 the future of music looks rosy after all: tinyurl.com/2xanez #
• 00:58 Wii system update in progress....wonder if this fixes flash I the browser...that would be too much, eh? #
• 14:59 new music review: tinyurl.com/2afepy #
• 15:54 weird weird world tinyurl.com/2cck6f #
• 20:17 10pm...my new set time to sit and write...sticking to it. #
• 21:19 kids all picked up and back home for the evening #

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The music of Sublunar Minds is anything but earthly and mundane, so I will have to assume that they were skipping the common meaning of the song and were going for the more obtuse " situated between the earth and the moon".
Intelligent lyrics combined with a variety of musical tracks make their music fun and interesting to listen to, and I have not found a bad track yet. That qualifies them to claim music that is orbiting above us all.

 With 15 albums available ( 12 of them on AmieStreet), they have a wide and diverse catalog of music.  From rollicking classic rock and roll numbers like "No one gives a good damn" and "A little bit"  to Billy Joel-esque piano ballads like "East of East" and caribbean-influenced almost bouncy numbers like "All God's Money", this is a band that defies any categorization other than "talented" and good".

If you like what you hear, be sure to go give them a vote over on DeepRockDrive, so we can all have a chance to hear them perform live in our browsers.

Originally posted on razi.vox.com

• 23:19 thinking about bed. I know I should lay down and sleep, but the idea of sleep seems elusive. I have gotten spoiled having dave here so much. #
• 06:01 6am seems really early today.. #
• 08:51 they are evacuating people to the west and slightly north of me... flooding. We should be ok, but the rain is not stopping... #
• 08:51 DeepRockDrive Winner tinyurl.com/2x2yn7 #
• 09:49 rain rain go away.. come again another day.... #
• 16:37 Uh Oh... I am about to get creamed.... tinyurl.com/22epae #
• 16:38 imeem me... tinyurl.com/27a853 #
• 18:06 me. In bad glasses. In the dark. In the rain. Driving the car... Yee haw.... #
• 18:15 off to take mug shots for curtain call.... #
• 19:17 home again home again.. jiggity jig #

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• 00:00 Blu Ray may finally win- but do we care? tinyurl.com/2aab4u #
• 00:45 ok. giving up the ghost and heading for bed.. tomorrow is an early morning. #
• 05:44 oiy. coffee. up much earlier than I have been in a couple of weeks. The grind gets tighter and tighter today.. #
• 08:05 it is oddly spring like outside.....very dark for spring, but warm..about 77 degrees warmer than this time a week ago... #
• 09:18 Oiy. Rolling out a new process to a global group can be very challenging....people get stuck on their questions and stop listening.. #
• 09:39 Wow. How do you obercome a corporate culture where people are entrenched in 'dont bring up ideas or questions...it will just mean more w ... #
• 14:04 met all of sam's new teachers. Now we have to go to the store and get supplies for first day tomorrow.. #
• 16:01 long day.. a nap would be so nice.. wonder if I can make that happen?? #
• 16:58 it is seriously power nap time... #
• 16:59 Aphrodisious...???? #
• 18:02 Heading in for curtain call meeting. #
• 18:29 there is always a certain excitement in starting to brainstorm makeup for a new show... #
• 20:22 heading out to pick up xandra after guard practice #
• 22:39 pondering if I should wash dishes or write.. #
• 22:46 aagghh. I meant close tab. Close this tab. Not close all other tabs. Crap. well, there are some interesting posts lost... #

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• 13:29 Last Night On Earth: tinyurl.com/2gd3r6 #
• 16:52 viewdle tests: tinyurl.com/2htz8p #
• 18:07 hitting the shower and getting ready to head to Berndt's for dinner and a movie... #

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The "email your posts from blogspot" automatically is resulting in messy nasty formatting here. I am going to attempt to do this by setting up a syndication feed of my posts to LJ. I think this will make significatnly less mess of your friends page. PLease add rpfeed to your friend's list to continue seeing my posts. I am going to turn off the auto email feature, so you will NOT get double posts. Please let me know how this works and what you think.

Harv gave us this: a family copy of Flying Frog Productions' "The Last
Night on Earth" game for Christmas this year. Since we actually had
Christmas with Harv on New Year's day, last night was our first chance
to sit down with the whole family and give it a run through. We
enthusiastically give it a 6 thumbs up. We played with a group of 6
that ranged in age from 8 to 43, with a 43 year old female and a 16
year old female, the rest male. (My 13 year old daughter is currently
on a rampage against the total family geekiness and shut herself in her
room with a phone and 8th grade gossip while we played) The game was
enough of a hit that after the first game, the next words out of most
players mouth was "let's play again". We played two games in about 3
hours. Even with pauses for learning rules, the first game played in an
hour. We started with the basic game ( "Die, Zombies, Die!"), and I
agree with the game makers that this is a great game scenario to learn
the turn rules.The game is played with 1 or 2 zombie players and up to
4 hero players. The zombies are a team and the Heroes are a team,
working together to meet their goals. If you have never seen a zombie
movie in your life, but like strategy type board games, or RPG games,
you will enjoy this game. If you are a fan of zombie movies, you will
revel in this game. It is a cinematically rich game, with amazing
graphics on all the game pieces, quotes from zombie movies and the
classic zombie movie characters (the priest, the sheriff, high school
sweetheart, high school hero, Jake the Drifter, the nurse, etc...). The
item cards are lots of fun to play with ( revolvers, pump shotguns,
pitchforks, baseball bats are some of the weapons) and the events are
not only fun, but make a classic zombie movie ( teen angst, over
confidence, zombies take over buildings or cut the power to make a
black out, etc..). As a matter of fact, if you could record the game
play for play, you would have the outline for a great B grade Zombie
movie. The fun thing is, the game is so variable there are probably
thousands of outlines in the box. Maybe some movie makers need to buy
the game and play it to release a series of "Last Night on Earth" web
flicks.Our biggest complaints were from the zombie players- they wanted
more zombies in their zombie pool. There were several times they had
the ability to take over a building, but only had one zombie in the
pool to place in the building. I agree that having more zombies on the
board would make the game more fun and more challenging, even from the
Hero Player's perspective. A small technical detail, but one that was a
constant ongoing issue was the colors of the zombies. The zombies in
the pool are two colors, so that two players can play on the zombie
team. One group of zombies is moldy green and the others are baby poo
brown. The issue we had was that one of our zombie players was color
blind, and the two groups of zombies looked exactly the same to him.
Different colors or markings on the zombies would be helpful. We might
get bored one winter day and start painting the plastic miniatures to
make them easier to distinguish.One of the features we really like
about the game was that when a hero character dies, you are not out of
the game. Your Hero becomes a Zombie Hero under control of the zombies
and you get to draw a new hero character out of the set to start in the
game. Because the game can go for an hour and a half, this works ell to
keep all players engaged and not have "I am dead" dropout boredom
issues. This was a nice twist and I wish more RPG board games did
something in this manner.All in all, it was a blast of an evening.
Everyone is looking forward to playing again- it is without question
getting added into the Kwakcon game round up and we are already looking
forward to the expansion pack being advertised to come out this year.
We would even pay to just have more packs of zombies and some zombie
cards to add to the game-- sort of like Heroscape expansion packs. It
was a big enough hit that I was motivated this morning to clean out the
hall closet and make a good space to store that and a few other family
games for easy access, without putting the games in the midst of all
the kid games where pieces are at risk of being lost.Now? I am off to
get lunch on the table and keep the kids from eating me...

• 15:25 Christmas is all packed away now #
• 15:57 how do you go through the express lane with 50 items and not even look guily or apologetic? Ergg.. #

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Today is the 12th day of Christmas, and so Christmas at Sycamore House
is officially packed away. I know a lot of people pack it away a lot
sooner, but I am generally in no rush and like to keep up decorations
for the full 12 days. Packing away Christmas is no small feat, and was
about a two hour all hands on operation. All hands equals mine,
Xandra's and the boys off and on. Sam, having spent the night at a new
friend's house and stayed up much too late, was sound asleep through
the whole process. Ogre and I have a deal. He helps me carry boxes up
and down out of the attic, and then I am allowed to decorate to my
heart's content, as long as he does not have to be involved in the
putting up or taking down. As a matter of fact, he ghosted himself
through the process. As I had the kids go and fetch back decorations,
candles and gee-gaws from around the house to pile up in the dining
room t be sorted and packed, I could see that look of horror growing in
his eyes. I calmly told him it would be fine, just disappear for an
hour and a half and everything woudl be back to normal. And sure
enough, after much sorting and packing in about an hour and a half we
had all the boxes moved out into the garage. That was when I got the
very nice surprise that Ogre had gone out in the garage and packed up
all the tree parts into the new storage box I had bought. I had planned
on having Sam do that when she woke up, but he was 2 steps ahead. It
was really sweet of him.Packing away Christmas is always a mixed
emotion for me, By now, I am a little tired of the extra clutter and
not having my normal room to look at, but I am still a bit enthralled
with the sparkle and glimmer of the lights and shinies. When I was a
child, we kept up all the Christmas decorations until my Sister's
Birthday- which is January 13, but by then we were just sick of them. I
think it is a little better putting them away while they still have
appeal, then getting them out again seems like much more fun.

• 10:26 new life blog setup: tinyurl.com/27yzhm #
• 11:22 feed the research: tinyurl.com/yptb7q #
• 11:24 Sony BMG to drop Music DRM- YES! tinyurl.com/2zfjol #
• 11:25 @library guy hey include the post link in your twitter !! #
• 14:46 about to run an insane amount of errands.... #
• 15:46 ordering new glasses.....finally....now just have to wait a week until they are in.... #
• 16:21 scratch a week...when you are half blind, everything is a special order and not in stock: 2 weeks until glasses... #
• 17:54 wow...that ice is slippery and the ground is hard.... #
• 18:33 hmmmm kmart has storage totes and lids...but none of the lids fit any of the totes. #

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I have been thinking a lot lately about the limitations of Livejournal from a blogging standpoint. I live a web2.0, media rich life and I want my blog to reflect that. There are so many things that I can not do on LJ because of the scripting limitations. But I love the community here and I do not want to leave this family of readers and responders.

Here is what I have decided. I have set up a personal blog on blogspot.  You can read me there if you like. I am also going to do a feed of that blog here to LJ.. and I will still be reading on LJ. The only new material I will post on LJ directly will be the locked down intimate friends only list stuff.  I have not yet decided what to do with that sort of non-public posting.

I am trying not to abandon LJ completely, but I need to move into a venue where I have more flexibility, more control and more scripting power....

Let me just say up front, GooSync rocks. They have now earned my
loyalty for a very long time. Here is my story:I love and live in
Google calendars. I live a life that is complex to the point of being
confusing. We have a blended household. Both my fiance and I are
divorced with kids from previous marriages. Both of us have shared
custody situations. I have two girls, he has two sons. Currently we are
in a situation where Mon-Fri during the school year he lives in a house
an hour away with his two sons and on the weekends, holidays and
summers he is back here with me. This means that sometimes there are 6
people who live in this house I call home and sometimes it is just me.
Because the members of our clan need to access our schedule from work,
from several homes and sometimes from the road- we needed something
more flexible than a paper calendar hanging on the wall ( although we
still have some of those.. they have such cool pictures...). Both my
fiance and I also wanted to be able to have reminders sent to our
treos, to keep us in line and make sure no child got left behind.
Google Calendars fit this very well. We set up a joint family calendar
and began filling it up. It nicely sends text messages to my phone, but
it would not sync. When my work life was more crazed and I was running
around the plant all day long from meeting to meeting, I used to sync
my calendar with Outlook for work( yes, Outlook sucks, but I have no
control over what is used from email and calendaring at work- I work
for a very large corporation) and only my work appointments were on my
treo. But then work shifted, and I work from home more- and do meetings
more by teleconference- sitting here in front of my computer which can
nicely remind me itself. No need to go through the hoops and hassles of
a bluetooth sync up several times a day ( my sync cord for my treo long
ago shorted out and refused to work). Before long, I was just ignoring
the calendar feature on my Treo. This irritated me some... I wanted an
easy way to check my schedule on the go. Besides, having technology
that almost works is a pet peeve of mine. In the meantime, our online
google calendar life exploded. My fiance and his ex have a calendar for
working out visitation issues- I have read access on that one, as I
manage most of the family schedule. I am active in several professional
arenas and have meetings for MESA, PMI-CIC IT committee and some other
activities. Having all these professional commitments on the BnG Clan
calendar was cluttering it up and confusing kids.. so I set up a
professional calendar that has my professional commitments only in it.
Besides, if I get to the point where my consulting/writing/speech
giving schedule continues to grow ( one could hope) I will need a
calendar like this to share on a professional website. My daughters
rotate between my home and their dad's home.. so having their family
stuff online is helpful to them. They are old enough now that I am
working hard to get them to use this as a management tool. Hopefully
they will be adding things themselves. But having things like my
monthly book club, Curtain Call executive committee meetings and other
items of the sort on the family calendar drives clutter that confuses
them, as well as puts them at risk for kid learning curve screw ups. So
all of my personal life appointments are on their own google calendar.
As time went on, I continued to test and trial new gizmos and services
that would sync your google calendar- but they all only synced your
main calendar. This is nice, but no longer sufficient in our world.Then
came GooSync. I discovered them a week or so before Christmas. Tested,
loved it and imediately bought it so I could sync multiple google
calendars and not just one. It was amazing! I could even use categories
and have new appointments on my treo auto sync to different google
calendars. Brilliant! This was what I had been looking for. Oh ! And
look- I can sync with Outlook as well! Cool!! This is a stroke of
brilliance. Finally I will be able to use my mobile device the way it
was meant to. But wait... Crap. That outlook sync just took all my
personal, intimate,family appointments and dumped them into outlook as
well. Groan. Facepalm. This is bad. HeadDesk. I quickly cleaned up
Outlook to delete them all and moved into the Holidays. OK, honestly I
cleaned up most of them, but left some in..the less intimate ones that
I did not care if work saw-- time was short. No more time to play with
syncing gizmos when Santa was about to arrive. But the whole thing was
buzzing about in my head in a semi-random way and a couple of days ago,
I got the chance to test again. "What if", I thought, "I did a one way
sync from Outlook to my handheld and then a bi directional sync from
the handheld to google? Then I get the work appointments dumped into
the handheld and the 2 way sync with google. I have no reason to add
work appointments on the fly in the treo and then want them to sync
with outlook any more... so this should work, right?(Let me here
interject a word of advice that I should have known well. Back up your
calendars before experimenting)Here is what I thought would
happen:Outlook overwrites to the Treo. Treo is now full of only Work
Appointments. Bi directional sync via GooSync to google calendars.
GooSync: hmm... you have a bunch of appointments in google not on your
handheld- let me add those in for you. Result: my entire world schedule
in the palm of my hand.Here is what actually happens:Outlook overwrites
to the Treo. Treo is now full of only Work Appointments. Bi directional
sync via GooSync to Google Calendars. GooSync: hmmm.... you have a
bunch of appointments that were removed from your handheld.. here let
me remove those from Google for you as well. Result: my entire world
schedule, other than work? Deleted. Not just from my handheld, but from
Google as well. The only things that remained were personal items that
had gotten inserted into outlook before Christmas that I had not
bothered to delete.Now, is this normal behavior, or a remnant of the
sync and delete in Outlook before Christmas? I do not know. I will not
try it again to find out, either. I Twittered my despair. I IM'd my
fiance my panic ( especially before he could go to check the calendar
and be caught by surprise when things were GONE). This may not seem
like a big deal, but it was a total of almost 1700 items. ( I told you
I lead a busy and complicated life....). I wrote an email to tech
support at GooSync that was really just a rant. I just needed to vent.
I did not expect it to fix anything, really. A while later, I got a
response " no problem, we can restore from tape. Just please tell us
when this happened and stop syncing in the meantime".Holy majoly. This
was an unexpected benefit ( you can see I did not carefully read all
the fine print). And you know what? They did. All of my messed up
calendars have been restored. I am happy syncing again. And I came up
with a new solution for getting all of everything onto my treo without
risking deletions and cross contaminations. I created a new work
calendar in Google. I use a free version of Syncmycal to do a one way
dump of Outlook to that specific google calendar. I added the new
google calendar to my list of calendars that my treo does a bi
drectional sync with over the air.. and everything is in the palm of my
hand again. Now that I am using my treo to manage life and events, I
need to go back and re-look at RTM for my todo lists as well.The guys
at GooSync? As far as I am concerned- they rock. I will stick with them
for a long time now.

• 01:12 ok -12 and a little after 1am.. I am at a break point with laundry and heading to bed... 5:30am comes early... #
• 11:09 if the wind chill would get up above -10, I would consider going and running errands... #
• 11:24 my mute button is my very best friend.... #
• 11:25 @fanless my fiance said his nose hairs froze on the way to work this morning.. this cold is silly now. #
• 11:28 @revtriste where are you geographically located that mowing a yard is an option? #
• 11:40 @ceeller what astounds me most about the sears thing is that the media is not just slamming them for this.... #
• 12:27 I currently have 666 updates!! ( of course this one will make it 667, thus ending the coolness factor) #
• 12:53 @datagoddess cool, I always like interesting neighbors... #
• 12:57 Ok yeah. Not really needing bible verse cards to send to all my friends...how do I get on these mailing lists? #
• 15:07 site update on indie500show website: tinyurl.com/yto7u2 #
• 15:08 a battleship of a gutar... gotta love that review: tinyurl.com/2ytood #
• 15:10 I want one of these... then I can sound like a harmonious crowd: tinyurl.com/yu4u8k #
• 17:51 apparently I need to teach my daughter how to look up future show times at the theatre.. sounds like a dodge to me.. she must know this #
• 20:21 I am not kidding, now I am starting to think the "feed a scientist" fund might be a good idea. Now I know I ate too much meat today... #
• 20:55 researching for blog post/review of "the minor canon" #
• 21:38 new music blog post: tinyurl.com/yubvyj #

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The Minor Canon is a six member group (Paul Larson -vocals / guitar / percussion,Ryan Blake-piano / organ, Ben Eisen-bass,Erik Soderstrom-drums,Mario Frias-trumpet,Mike Richardson-trombone) that often sounds like a whole room full of rockers. With a sound that wraps itself around your heart and digs into your soul, they are not just another Indie Rock band- they are a cross between emo pop and memphis blues that comes out with the blast of a trumpet.   They are not afraid to play with their music, experimenting with interesting breaks ( often reminiscent of Chicago,Brian Eno and Paul McCartney),such as those in Not There instrumental changeups and a sometimes sweeping, almost orchestral sound- witness this in Bend Like Trees No surprise that they had an opportunity to do a residency at Spaceland in 2007.
Here is a clip someone shot of a performance they did there.

Originally posted on razi.vox.com

I am going to sound old in this post. I must talk about "the way things used to be". I am hoping it stirs discussion and you can give me some counter examples.. i really do NOT want to lose faith in the system as much as I feel I have. If this is all too much work, then just blow me off as an old geezer going on about "the good ole days". ( I must also qualify this by saying that I am no longer gainfully employed in research... my statements about the current status is as a third party observer)

Part of the point and pleasure of scientific research for me was always the satisfaction of curiosity. Too many times it sounds like people are wasting money... "giving LSD to an elephant... come on....." that could be better spent on more productive or useful things. But the truth is, you never know when one of the silly excursions of curiosity is going to take you a leap and a bound into the future. A research scientist could make a fundamental and unexpected discovery that literally changes the course of how humans live.
A research scientist in the corporate world generally does not have this freedom, and never has. For the most part, they are there with a mission- discover some new product or drug that can make us money. This has always generally meant taking something that exists and iterating it. Tweaking one or two things to try to make it slightly better, slightly faster, able to kill a new strain of bacteria, etc.. ( The Demon Under the Microscope, by Thomas Hager is a fascinating tale of the very early years of Sulfa Drug enhancement and events that led to a push for patented drugs by drug companies....). If you want to indulge yourself in the pure exploration of human curiosity, you had to earn a coveted University position.
( here comes the old geezer part....brace yourself)

I published my first scientific paper back in 1983. It had to do with the reproductive tract of a previously undescribed hermaphroditic snail. It had no use ( other than an indicator of an ongoing personal interest in all tings quirkily sexual). It never led to anything useful. Not even close. But people all around me were looking at more interesting questions: effects of drugs on mothers, hereditary and stress factors for autoimmune diseases, distribution of beetles in the desert , etc.. And they were all doing pure research. Honest to god, "Hmm... that is weird" sorts of things that led them down a path of discovery. Most of them eventually got published, but the point of the research was to answer a question, not to generate a publication. Publishing was the means to share this cool thing you discovered.

Times change. The push to publish or perish is stronger than ever. The public focus on the stock market and immediate ROI has shifted the way we look at research.

This is how the conversation used to go as time for conference submissions rolled around when I first started doing research:

Major professor: "hey, there is a very cool conference coming up in 6 months that would be a great forum for your research.. the people there would really be interested-- do you have anything you can share with them?"
me: wow.. i have no idea where this is leading-- I can not imagine being ready to publish by then, but I would be interested in going"
Major Professor: "ok, we will see where you stand next time".


About 4 years later the conversations were starting to shift:

Major Professor( different one- different degree): " hey, there is a good conference coming up, and it would be great exposure for you- I want you to find a subset of the data you have been working on and write it up as a small preview paper for this conference"

2 years after that, it was starting to get crazy:

Major Professor: " I know your Degree research is not publishable, so I want you to find two smaller projects you can do that will give you two papers this year"

Now, truth is, with the current culture of academia, that major professor was teaching m good skills of how to get ahead in the publish or perish world. But I contend that that whole eco-system is one that promotes great and capable minds to limit themselves to questions that can be answered in 6-8 months and published after that.

Combine that with a culture of funding that says that research that looks like it will be producing a useful answer, something with guaranteed ROI, and now you have transformed a whole group of people away from doing pure research into a group doing development instead. I do believe that development is important and contributes in its own way. Pure research without development is significantly less useful. Development is what takes innovation and puts it into the hands of the masses. But without new research, continued development eventually leads to stagnation and the same product in a variety of colors.

Luckily, there is still some research being done... but more and more, it is being confined to corporate America-- and thus is only in the areas where they foresee making a profit from it eventually, not in areas just because someone woke up wondering about it this morning. Maybe we need to start a campaign-- support the research scientist-- sort of like the feed a child campaign.

Got this in my inbox, if you are following the political game in the US, you might find this interesting: ( looks like they have done something that requires windows media player, however.. so that is likely to lose them some audience....)


Dear activists, colleagues, and friends,

It's a three-way dead heat in Iowa. The caucuses start in a few hours (if you're in Iowa, go!) and Brave New Films and the Young Turks are joining up to bring you live video coverage of all the drama.

Cenk Uygur will be checking in with bloggers on the ground in Iowa and staffers from the different campaigns throughout the night. I'll be live blogging all the results, rumors, and scuttlebutt too. Come party with us!

http://bravenewfilms.org/election?utm_source=rgemail

WHEN: TONIGHT AT 7PM ET
HOSTS: Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz, and Wes Clark, Jr.
WHERE: http://bravenewfilms.org/election?utm_source=rgemail

SCHEDULE:
7:30pm ET: Adam Green, Moveon.org
7:45pm ET: Sam Seder, Air America
8:00pm ET: Faiz Shakir, Think Progress
8:15pm ET: Matt Stoller, Open Left
8:30pm ET: Sean Paul-Kelly, The Agonist
8:45pm ET: Todd Beeton, MyDD
9:00pm ET: Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation

ALSO SCHEDULED TO APPEAR:
Ellen Brodsky, News Hounds
Steve Clemons, The Washington Note
Ari Melber, The Nation
Richard Wolffe, Newsweek

See you online tonight,
Jim Gilliam, Leighton Woodhouse, and everyone at Brave New Films and the Young Turks

P.S. We're doing this on Tuesday for the New Hampshire primary as well. Be sure to let us know on the blog if you like the coverage, how we can improve it, and if you want us to continue with this type of thing.

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/23318?utm_source=rgemail

I was sitting in a teleconference today.. and someone was trying to explain a need for quality control and regulation. The truth is that in this particular case, I actually agree that quality control is important... but the metaphor he used was so WRONG for me, all I could do was sit very very quiet and bite my tongue- hoping not to blurt out something distracting from his point. here is kinda how the interchange went:

him: "so, are you telling me that if the guy across the street from you wants to paint his house lime green, you are just going to let him?"
my brain: <hmmm.. lime green is an odd color for a house, but I bet ir reflects the sunset in interesting ways in the winter...>
him: " I mean, he goes to paint it- are you just going to let him, or are you going to form a neighborhood organization and tell him you do not want lime green houses"
my brain:< what? why are those the only choices? most likely I would go in the basement, grab a brush and offer to help. Go interesting houses!!>

Now you see why some days it is just better for me to remain silent.

55 million years ago, the Earth got heated up. While the article has many interesting little points in it ( including the apparent chain reaction effects which so many people currently dismiss), I found the following excerpt most interesting:
"The group of researchers have also previously shown that tropical algae migrated north in to the Arctic during the PETM. When temperatures rose to 24^oC, the research showed that the Arctic was home to crocodiles and palm trees; obviously items that are not conducive to a successful freezing of the oceans. Current climate models are incapable of simulating such high temperatures in the arctic, which have serious repercussions for future models predicting our climate future."

This means several things to me:

1) we are just not as smart as we always convince ourselves we are
2) bad assumptions will kill us all before we are done ( ok, I knew that all along-- but do we need to fall into the trap so easily??)
3) someone better make me a new climate model-- and fast (wink)
4) Getting a degree with an emphasis in tropical climatology may be the smartest move quasigeostrophy ever made!

Sears.com has entered the over the top realm of corporate spying... on their customers.
Whatever you do, do NOT join their "online community"... seems it is really a front for installing spyware that dumps a LOT of personal info about you and your web habits to an ad agency. What astounds me is not that corporate America would cross this line, but that when confronted, they justify and continue their actions. Nothing should surprise me anymore.

Also, phishing has finally hit Facebook. It is an old scam, and one most of you are probably aware of.. but just a gentle reminder that ANY web page asks you for a username and/or password- check the URL of the page and make sure it is legitimate.
Have fun out there, but play safe.

For anyone who does not already have them installed- on a windows box you should never be without protection. AVG is great antivirus software, but does not protect from spyware and adware. Spyware S&D is a great "for a donation" program.. and I recommend that you run AdAware on a regular basis as well. Anyone else have favorite malware software they swear by?

• 07:17 hiho hi ho its off to work I go.... #
• 07:18 Brrrrr.dang. Cold. #
• 11:01 massive work catch up organizational activities... going to start out the new work year back in focus.. #
• 12:02 Finally- - we are not all criminals... the RIAA is still a bit nuts- techdirt.com/articles/20071231/124515.shtml #
• 13:38 oh my god. The logfile claims no deletes....but goosync just ate like 1600+ items from 5 google calendars...ouch. #
• 15:18 i can not believe goosync ate my google calendars... #
• 21:33 mmm handheld lightweight projector?want.. tinyurl.com/2pgcfn #
• 21:41 phishing hits Facebok. An old scam, a new crowd. tinyurl.com/2pgcfn #
• 21:45 big brother has a blue light special: tinyurl.com/2ysag4 #
• 21:46 wow it is cold outside right now: current windchill is -10 #
• 22:33 -11. even the wood I am bringing in to put on the fireplace is frozen.... #

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Oiy.
I am only sorry I did not find this one sooner than over the holiday break.
I am a long time etymology fan... digging into words and word origins is fun.
When you take that idea and combine it with someone who believes that Intelligence is sexy, and lists the OED as her favorite link... well it is starting to sound even better.
But even if you hate words, you will love with video podcast- and maybe even learn something.

Take a 27 year old Philologist named Marina with a body like a porn star ( and who is not afraid to play with it) and have her talk for 5 minutes or so on a topic about the origin of words. How can you lose? Check out the HotforWordschannel or her WebSite if you like the sample below..

This one has been around for a while, but alan becker recently re-did the graphics and updated it to Flash 8.. it is still fun to watch...

and when a noob animator makes a super powered stick figure animation.. watch out when he escapes to the desktop.

Want something more interactive? Check out the animator vs. animation game someone programmed where you can take either side....

You can not go wrong with RadioHead

Gordon Ramsey ( Chef, to us mere mortals) is merciless ( I have been on a Kitchen Nightmares Binge lately...


and then there is this clever video.. that is actually an amazing feat of memorization as well....

• 19:24 getting ready to play Marvel Heroscape with Dave, the boys and Harv.. sometimes it is fun being the only female in a house full of men. #
• 19:25 I can not believe tomorrow I have to make my brain function and think like an intelligent person again... vacation has been lovely. #

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I have been quiet and understated of late, because I have been on what seems like an endless internal rant... and that seemed like a tiresome thing to post... but it seems that if I do not get the rants out of the way, nothing else is coming either, so stand by and hold your breathe. Topics coming soon:

1) parents who are the definition of the ruination of modern culture
2) the idiocy of modern academic research and how it ties to the sustainment of the status quo
3) why my laundry seems to be having more sex than me... and multiplying faster than I can keep up( and my sex life has not been scarce of late....)

there is sure to be more.... as well as tales of the holidays and a wild wild weekend ...

but first... sleep....

• 10:48 I really should not be up...it was about 7am when I went to sleep....but since I am up, it is time for shredded wheat and coffee. #
• 11:08 it is going to be a slow slow morning. Wonder if I could get back to sleep?? #
• 16:08 pots and pans and freezers and kitchen cupboards all sorted cleaned and reorganized for the new year. Steak for dinner tonight! #

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• 13:15 heading out to buy new cooking utensils.... #
• 13:41 Nonstick safe cooking utensils are mine! Tomorrow will be the day of the great pan transition. #
• 13:41 Why is it that rampant gormones sometimes feels like a small nervous breakdown? #
• 13:47 Since when do atms in the midwest have a british accent? I kind of like it, though.. #
• 18:57 getting ready to go out and play under blacklights....oh yeah. I am a sucker for cheap light effects.... #

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I am spending the late morning getting in touch with my Germanic Roots. It has been requested that our late night feast for New Years Eve be Hot German Potato Salad ( prep for that tomorrow) and Sauerbraten. For those without any German inclination, that translates loosely to "sour beef and dumplings". Sour beef might not sound so great, but it is a wonderful, rich , delicious dish that we do not have very often because it requires several days of marinading to be right. Think really really tender pot roast made from a rump roast flavored with cider vinegar, onions ( onions,and more onions) and then rounded out with a gingersnap gravy. Homemade potato dumplings ( you know- the kind with the bread square in the center and made from whole potatoes boiled with skin on and then peeled and riced...) I am, however making a massive amount ( well, rump roasts were on this amazing sale, we are having company and it does freeze well......) to make the most out of efforts extended and if our company does not consume it all we will indulge again in about a month without the effort up front.
Topping the assault on my mouth this morning with the burning assault on my eyes from thinly slicing too many onions is interesting, but I know it will be well worth it in a few days.
Truth is, other than taking up a bunch if space in my fridge for several days, and taking about an hour of prep time-- I do not know why I do not make this dish more often.

What foods do you love, but find yourself not making very often??

I know that green salsa is some of the hottest around. That green chilies are actually hotter than the same chili as it turns red.
Someone then needs to explain to my brain why it thought that grabbing the sorta orangey dried chili pepper to flake up and add to my eggbeaters was going to make it less hot than the really deep dark red dried pepper right next to it in the bowl. They are the same variety, from the same plant in my garden. I really did know that the process of turning red actually makes the chili sweeter..mellows the hotness. But that part of my brain was disengaged this morning. My mouth might stop burning some time tomorrow, if I am lucky. Yowza.

( noted: use less than a whole crunched up chili pepper when using the orange ones....)

• 03:11 who the bollocks was calling my phone and woke me up at 3am?? #
• 09:34 Running errands with harv this am. Getting out of the house and into the sleet..this was good why? #
• 09:47 @datagoddess hopefully it will turn to rain here too. #
• 10:05 Yes. Rump roast on sale. There will be plenty of sauerbraten for NYE. #
• 10:59 psychotic precipitation. It is sleet.no.rain.no.snow.no.sleet.no..... Wintry mix insanity. #
• 11:00 how does a teen manage to break a laptop power supply cord, anyway?? #
• 12:17 omg. A million quilting ladies in joanns getting christmas material on sale....i just want a little fake fur please... #
• 12:39 oh yeah black light party at the club tomorrow night!! #

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• 09:10 got just enough of a dusting of snow to make the ground pretty...not even sticking to the roads. #
• 13:02 wow that is a big truck right on my tail... #
• 13:32 crusing right through errands...last stop grocery store. Then home to laundry ( yes, more) and some writing. #
• 17:10 listening to spyder robinson on audiobook...great listen and way too .any laughs... #

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I am sitting here in the high school parking lot, waiting for xandra after guard practice and the fog is actively rolling in..i do believe once we get home I am going to enjoy being socked in.

• 10:10 jut waking up and greeting the recovery day.... ahhhhh sleeping in at last! Finally a real vacation day #
• 11:05 bopping about the house, trying to do some clean up and organization.. #
• 12:06 Completely sorting and rearranging jewelry #
• 14:09 the hormones of a 13 year old girl are a capricious entity.... aiieee #
• 15:03 where does all this laundry come from?? #

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• 01:03 I am a bust little elf...oh yeah! #
• 02:23 this little elf is headed to bed...hopefully the teenagers sleep in this morning.. Merry christmas all! #
• 07:14 nope. Teenagers do not sleep in on christmas morning..... #
• 09:27 fireplace is toasty and the kids are exploring their new presents... #
• 13:04 @mosioquestions at yule the tradition was to burn a very large log ( usually a tree) that would last and last. Now people watch a firepl ... #
• 15:15 Next door neighbors brought the new grandbaby over for a visit. He is adorable. #
• 16:32 Getting christmas dinner rolling #
• 21:54 yeehaaa dave is on his way here...merry christmas baby. I am all red and green for him :) #
• 21:58 Hey you hunka hunka hunk hope you are right around the corner.... #

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