My sister-in-law just got cast in Play, by Samuel Beckett and sent me this fascinating short video of this fascinating short play.
prolonged effusion of small talk. How I wished sleep would silence mapquest italy I got on to her crib and kissed her her forehead was cold
I could hardly face deleting this spam (and I guess MT trusted it, as it made it easily past the filter.) Especially since I've been on a Jane Austin kick, fueled by PBS's festival.
anildash "if you went into journalism to get rich, the problem was not the fault of technology"
Amelie's hair kept its shape after I removed the tiny ponytails.
Elliott and co-author Frank Gresham identified the top 10 skills that students need to succeed based on surveys of over 8,000 teachers and over 20 years of research in classrooms across the country. They are:1. Listen to others
2. Follow the steps
3. Follow the rules
4. Ignore distractions
5. Ask for help
6. Take turns when you talk
7. Get along with others
8. Stay calm with others
9. Be responsible for your behavior
10. Do nice things for others
Then we spend the next 20 years unlearning them.
for example, The Giant Vampire Frog
I'm not sure how to explain how happy this makes me.
If you work with Engineers, and these days who doesn't? then you ought to read The Fishbowl: Understanding Engineers: Feasibility
An ex-Google non-engineer described 'non-trivial' thus in the Xooglers blog:
It means impossible. Since no engineer is going to admit something is impossible, they use this word instead.
two guys trying to find two girls. they've got to be perfect. most aren't.
I find myself saving my last cookie for her. A really nice one with three different kinds of Belgian chocolate. One that is making my mouth flood just by thinking about it. One that the baker must have cradled like a new born baby, kissed and loved.
Adam Gopnik, one of my favorite New Yorker Writers, brings us this lovely literary look at how two letters can make all the difference: Annals of Biography: Angels and Ages: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
Coming to the end of the book, to the night of April 14, 1865, and Lincoln's assassination, I reached the words that were once engraved in every American mind. At 7:22 A.M., as Lincoln drew his last breath, all the worthies who had crowded into a little back bedroom in a boarding house across the street from Ford's Theatre turned to Edwin Stanton, Lincoln's formidable Secretary of War, for a final word. Stanton is the one with the long comic beard and the spinster's spectacles, who in the photographs looks a bit like Mr. Pickwick but was actually the iron man in the Cabinet, and who, after a difficult beginning, had come to revere Lincoln as a man and a writer and a politician—had even played something like watchful Horatio to his tragic Hamlet. Stanton stood still, sobbing, and then said, simply, "Now he belongs to the ages."...
For the flight home, I picked up James L. Swanson's "Manhunt," a vivid account of the assassination and the twelve-day search for John Wilkes Booth that followed. Once again, I came to the deathbed scene, the vigil, the gathering. The Reverend Dr. Gurley, the Lincoln family minister, said, " 'Let us pray.' He summoned up . . . a stirring prayer. . . . Gurley finished and everyone murmured 'Amen.' Then, no one dared to speak. Again Stanton broke the silence. 'Now he belongs to the angels.' "Now he belongs to the angels? Where had that come from? There was a Monty Python element here ("What was that? I think it was 'Blessed are the cheesemakers' " the annoyed listeners too far from the Mount say to each other in "Life of Brian"), but was there something more going on?
Tagged: Malicious Social Network
"...if called by a panther,
Don't anther."
I thought I'd be pilloried for March Conference Showdown; instead the audience (perhaps tired) seems indifferent. You just never know.
It's funny, but after awhile I kinda forget I can blog. I mean, that blogging is something I do with my time.
Have you ever had a meal that surprised and delighted you, a meal that satisfied a part of you that you never even knew was there, or a meal that comforted you and made you feel like you were home again? This site is dedicated to those individuals who create those sublime memories for us-the chefs. As Michael Ruhlman points out in “The Reach of the Chef”, we are in an age of the Celebrity chef and this is about celebrating those people. And it is created by foodies for foodies all over. This is for you.
I'm in. Are you?
"A guy friend was speaking at a conference recently, and there wasn't a single female speaker," she said. When she criticized that, he e-mailed her, "You sound cranky. Are you having your period?"She feels that women were finally making headway, and then Web 2.0 rolled around, "and all the chicks disappear."
This amazes me and annoys me. I know I should be as proud as Donna at the summit's 33% chick number, but I want 50% and I want it yesterday. I bet over 50% of IA's are women. I know over 50% of internet users are. I also know other net professions are guy heavy and that'll be reflected onward in tech conferences until that number changes.
Nonetheless, I'd like to offer my services right now as token chick on any tech panel, anywhere. I can speak on topics wide ranging from search to community design, and I always poke holes in sacred cows and sometimes I even curse and mock mac users. I'm a fine addition to any panel.
Flip This House - Intern Affairs
This episode (unfortunately, only a small clip is avilable on the site) changed my life. I know that sounds completely crazy, but it did.
The reference in this blog post's title refers to a Stuart Smalley line that has stuck in my head forever... sometimes exactly what you need to see or hear arrives right in front of you when you are ready for it.
In this case, the line from the episode, "Whatever it takes" continues to drive me in my quest to help my company and my family thrive.
Last spring I was in Firenze, and lost my wallet. This year I haven't been able to log on to Orkut, because I couldn't recall my username. Orkut just sent me a email which told me I'd be kicked out if I didn't sign in-- and included my username. I logged in, and admist the stupid spam and weird come-ons in my "scraps" I found this.
It makes me believe in the basic decency of humanity (although a search on google instead of orkut woudl have been more effective.)
Amazing.
Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog
It goes to the tune of the Village People song “Y.M.C.A.” Ready? Cue the disco drums!“R.I.A.A.”
Young man,
You were surfing along,
And then, young man,
You downloaded a song,
And then, dumb man,
Copied it to your ‘Pod,
Then a phone call came to tell you:You’ve just been sued by the R.I.A.A.!
You’ve just been sued by the R.I.A.A.!
Their attorneys say, you committed a crime,
And there’d better not be a next time!"Defintely go to his blog and ready (and sing along) to the rest...
If anyone knows how to fix my front page, and felt like sending me a stylesheet, I woudl gratefully implement it.
AIGA Polling Place Photo Project - Home
With citizens' images and the information that accompanies them, the Project becomes a research tool on how voting happens in America and how it can be designed to be easier, less confusing and more enjoyable. The project intends to collect photographs of every polling place in America, so you are encouraged to participate no matter where you vote, how large or small your polling place is, what kind of ballot you use, or what your party affiliation.
"He is transparent, thus will be able to observe easily your sins."
Who says machines don't have a sense of humor?
I fear B&A was taken down by some folks not skilled enough to get the CIA. It's a pretty lame site to hack, if you ask me, but I guess some people are bored enough to do anything. Anyhow, we are working to recover.
2007 SXSW Interactive Panel Proposal Picker (Round One)
It's vote time! Get out there and vote (preferrably for "Design and Business: Practical Tips for Using design to Define and Realize Business Value" and "Just Get It Up There: New Tools and Methods for Online Publishing"
Of course it's just a popularity contest, but I rather hope something I'm on gets picked so I have a good excuse to attend and write it off....
Some phishing is more charming than others
"At the last reviewing at your amazon account we discovered that your information is inaccurate. We apologize for this but because most frauds are possible because we don't have enough information about our clients, we require this verification. Please login and reenter your personal information."
I try not to open scammail, but I can't say I regret reading this one.
Q: How many Bush administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. There is no shortage of filament. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?
thanks Alyssa!
meatloaf nachos: good idea or bad?
This morning I found my Sandman Companion still open to the page I was on when I left 7 weeks ago (that is a true sign of marital respect, folks. As well as of geekiness on my part.) And Neil Gaimen is saying that he learned in World's End that some stories can't be told in 24 pages. And it made me think of his novels, such as Anasi Boys, which at 416 pages could hardly be called a short book-- except it is. I read it in a couple days. Compare with the truely amazing and terrific Middlesex, weighing in at 544 pages. If I hadn't looked up the two, I would have sworn Anasi Boys was 250-300 pages, and Middlesex was 800.
Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed both of these books, and I would recommend you go buy both, as well as American Gods and Virgin Suicides (their other marvelous books). But I find it odd that at a mere 100 pages more, Middlesex feels like I read two or three books, and that lives were changed in the process. Anasi Boys could have been a graphic novel. I feel like I've ordered desert with my husband and he's ordered a souffle and I a flourless chocolate torte can I can't figure out why he's finished his and is now starting to work on mine. Middlesex is dense. But not dense like Chauser, it's very easy and pleasureable to read. It's just the Gaimen book feels like someone has beaten air into it for 20 minutes, like you see on a cooking show.
Neither has filler, neither has useless scenes, neither is written in a overly formal or inaccesable style. So why the difference? What makes a "fast read" a fast read?
Oh, and one more time, go buy Middlesex, best book I've read since Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, which was easiely the best book I'd read in years....
And today I realized suddenly there sure are a lot of Peters in my life. Figuratively and actually.
On the off chance you haven't seen it, japanese_tradition_sushi.mov (video/quicktime Object). Funny!
Also for interest, from the amazing country fo Japan, How to fold a shirt in 4 seconds. Amazing!
How to's in general strike me as the perfect use for video on the web.
I can hope, anyhow. Because they don't seem to be punished in this life.
Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs - New York Times
I don't shop there. While I can't keep up with who is evil and who is not most of the time, Walmart does such a good job of being immoral on a regular basis, I have a easy way to be reminded not to shop there.
To Conserve Gas, President Calls for Less Driving - New York Times. It's a weird world we live in.
Meanwhile, in the sanity corner, James Surowiecki explains why repealing gas taxes is a very bad idea indeed. Must read!
From BBC NEWS Tingo, nakkele and other wonders
"Words and phrases can suggest the character of a nation. The Dutch vocabulary, for instance, seems to confirm the nation's light-hearted reputation. The word uitwaaien is Dutch for walking in windy weather for fun."
I've taken many a walk on the beach in Holland with my half-dutch husband, and believe me they do think walking in a chilly mist-cum-rain with the wind whipping your hair is a good time. And when you are in Holland, you do too... it's contagious!
Last night I got a call from a woman offering me something... I couldn't understand her and said so, and was quickly handed over to her manager, John. John had the sweet soft voice of a thai waitress, and explained to me I had won a trip to one of three fabulous destinations, airfare and hotel included, and I just had to choose between Las Vegas, Cancun Mexico and New Orleans
Me: "New Orleans!"
John; "yes, and..."
Me: "you do realize it isn't exactly a fabulous destination right now"
John: "Well, I've heard there has been some flooding"
Me: "There are dead bodies in the streets." (I had been just reading the Times and was excitable)
John: "um, well, (returning to spiel) you can take this vacation up to a year from when you accept."
I passed on the chance to be sold a time share, although part of me wonders what would have happened if I had accepted New Orleans and asked to go next week. Would the salesmen have braved the National Guard to show me a sodden house with a "river view"?
from New York Times review of Batman Begins.
No blogging, I got a lot of life going on right now. Just got back from a france trip-- flickr can tell my tale for me. A picture is worth a thousand marching ants, I hear.
In other worlds, I'm reading a lot:
CodeName Ginger
Metaphors We Live By
Wisdom of Teams
Y! the last man.
(yeah, I can't seem to read one book at a time, some kind of weird ADD, I suppose)
All of these are, so far, excellent and recommended, especially Wisdom of Teams.
I'm also watching Deadwood
I couldn't find the article in New Yorker which prompted my hunting it down but I did find this interview . It's a great article, and a terrific show if you don't mind continual swearing and of course, rather bloody fights of the gun, fist, and occasionally, rock variety.
so... not dead, but gathering inputs and ruminating.
When you build a tool, you never know what it will be used for. We used Flickr to document where Heather's borrowed book was.... Flickr: The Heather's Book Pool
I'm spending the morning surfing. I haven't done that in ages. Flickr led me to an amazing blog, which led me to this: The Thought Project. A beautiful example of the power of proximity. Each photo/interview means nothing by itself. But at about the 10th one, suddenly your brain exands and you feel the nature of humanity.
Nick Finck added me to wikipedia:Christina Wodtke .Now they are threatening to delete me! Please save me!
On the way back to the hotel yesterday, I saw a couple with rolling luggage trying to hail a taxi. It was embarrassing. They would watch for taxis, and at the moment that the taxi flew by, the woman who wiggle her fingers at the taxi and call "are you free" in a voice that barely reached me, much less the street. The man seemed too embarrassed to even attempt that much. At 5:30, getting a taxi with a strong stance and loud whistle is already difficult.
At my third month of New York living, I feel much the Manhattanite. I enjoy a egg sandwich at a diner for breakfast, a rushed lunch at my desk, a leisurely dinner with friends (and I can recommend places), I buy dollar jewelry in the garment district, shoes in Soho, and pilgrimage to Century 21 for most else, and enjoy wifi in Chelsea market (as well as watcing the weekend tango lessons) and produce in Union Square. I don't carry a subway map anymore (though I would if I could find a wallet sized one).
But I'm still glad to return to California on Tuesday, to my husband, house and car. Not because I don't love New York (because I have fallen quite in love with it) but because you can only live in a suitcase so long.
Hej all-- I've moved my conference slides, because I really don't think they stand up properly without my explanations. If you've seen the talk and are dying to take a second look, email me and I can get them to you.
But I'd really feel better about waiting to spread them across the web like jam until I can either annotate them, or better yet, write the ideas into an article. It was okay on Are's site, because he did fill in some background from the talk, but it's in Norwegian, so not really accessible to the bulk of the world. And I'll be home next week, so it'll be coming. Patience, patience.
it must be Copenhagen. This little house in Christiania epitomizes the critical Danish value of "coziness."
I arrived Saturday night from Oslo, and have been comfy in Caroline and Lars' house, the Danish IA and Programmer couple who have caring for me in the most lovely healing way possible- red wine and home cooking, and a cozy bed near a wood stove. The travel wearyness has been vanishing from me quickly, though tomorrow I'm back to the road, off to Aalborg.
Yesterday Caroline showed me Copenhagen, and we walked through Christiania. It's a fascinating place, a squatter town in the heart of Copenhagen made up of hippies, with the cannabis and colorful decor (and preponderance of brown rice) that goes with it. It was born in the 1970's and the residents consider themselves a separate country of sorts, in which they pay no taxes, and have their own self-ruled society, which does a excellent job of staying environmentally friendly, providing for all residents and raising families collaboratively.
entering Christiania
leaving Christiania ("you are now entering the EU")
Caroline tells me the city government is trying to remove them-- the land is too valuable to leave to hippies who paid not a dime for it. And this would be a sad thing, as it is both a tourist attraction and thus a source of money, a fun corner of the city that has a unruly almost anti-Scandinavian lack of orderly design and a good break for the residents, and provides some wild areas with nature which all cities need. As well as some quirky hand built houses (though maybe not so quirky to those of us who drive around the hills outside of Silicon valley, where the last of the magic bus folks still reside...).
This one seems ready to resist attack, built up on a stone foundation with ladder access on the side.
This one I would be happy to live in... looks cozy!
Official site of Christiania
it must be oslo.
I had a wonderful time with Superlim in Oslo. The Norwegian hospitality is all they say and more. I'll speak more on this later... in the airport, and a bit tired. Off to Denmark next.
It must be stockholm.
I leave my cozy and modern NH hotel in Brussels for Amsterdam tomorrow. Where to sleep? If someone knows of a reasonable centrally located hotel, please drop me a note. Hotel Area's website is a bit off putting, but I'm open to putting it back on the list.
I just reinstalled Plaxo, in order to get my address book back after my laptop died. I updated my business card. Little did I know, Plaxo emailed all my contacts. I was not warned, I was not told I should double check my spelling or information before sending it out... nope, Plaxo just took it upon itself to spam everyone with the new card. This program's bad UI choices has now endangered relationships. I am steaming mad, and cannot figure out how to counter this amazing faux pas of software, except to uninstall Plaxo and warn everyone else I can find not to use it.
update: Be sure to read the comments
W Ketchup™
Sometimes adsense birings us little joys on days like this. I cannot believe this is not a parody.
I'm in New York, with spotty connectivity, and a severe cold. But I voted! There is always time for the important things in life.
and good luck with the Florida Election Ballot
Life has been busy lately as you might have guessed by the utter lack of blogging. Right now I'm in New Yrok, on a gig. Ate at Nook Restaurant last night and it was wonderful!
If you haven't seen it, BetaVote.com is a pretty interesting expirament. This, like "Hot or Not" are just beautiful uses of the core nature of the internet: Global, interactive, simple. An idea, not a showcase for technology, that lets human interaction come forward.
thanks javier for the heads up
Saturday we took a walk along the ocean. i nearly stepped on a seal. They really blend in well.
Initially he hissed like a cat, and I backed away But I think I merely woke him up-- we backed away slowly, then walked on for a hour or so, exploring tidepools and watching carefully how we tread.
We saw him again on the way back. He was the only one on the beach-- his pals were all out on a rock. I wondered if he was ill, but he seemed fine, just curious and drowsy.
I have never seen a seal so close before. I saw some sea lions when I was kayaking and they were (I'm convinced) considering capsizing me. They are so big, and we are so small in comparison. It's less scary to run into one on the beach, where outrunning it is pretty likely. But it showed no hostility or concern, just mild curiosity.
I like to think it was waving bye-bye as we left. Yet another reason to join us at Asilomar-- seals, sea lions, sea otters and lots of other wildlife are part of the California Beach lifestyle (yeah, everyone talks about the surfers and beach bunnies, but that's farther south. ).
And here we see the new Boxes and Arrows DC headquarters (I wish!)
this fellow keeps it all in perspective for us. (spotted in monterey, where jobs are hard to come by, I hear...)
or are you just happy to see me?
Google's logo today is a bit... hmmm... suggestive.
The Library of Unwritten Books is "an art project travelling the UK, ... collecting stories and ideas for books people would like to write - but never have, and probably never will."
happy birthday to you!
Why you should never put your picture on the Internet
from a recently trip to new york-- oddly beautiful as well as menacing (see larger version by clicking photo). I love urbanity.
eBay item 3720968219 (Ends May-04-04 15:12:53 PDT) - AIR GUITAR!! CHEAPEST AROUND!!
thanks, randy, for providing a friday laugh....
Kitty sympathy card is really peculiar, almost blue velvet peculiar.
Mule Design Store let me find the perfect gift for my favorite philadelphia native.
peter points out a Google Search for findability shows my (former) business card and his feet.
From the face of information architecture to the feet of it?
just noticed you can map out wifi hotspots on Yahoo! Maps
A work of art or a harbinger of violence? / Grisly short story gets student expelled from S.F. academy -- and costs teacher her job
I can't believe this could happen at an art school. Art school is supposed to be the place where we are taught to push the boundries of the acceptable and be a mirror to people's many sides, including dark ones. Amazing.
In the montepmontre, at cafe sancerre.
Paris is a little different this trip; everyone has MP3 players rather than CD players on the metro, many very tiny. no ipod sightings.
Free wifi is newish (for me) and everyone has digital cameras, which was true last trip.
Ah yes, it's true, I'm off to France again. This time with my cousin, who is 20 and will be doign a semester abroad-- we're doing a two girl car trip around the Languedoc before she settles down in Paris. I guess the whole family are francophiles, though I'm the only one who married one.
I leave tomorrow, and return the 29th, and it is highly unlikely I will blog, though I will read email irregularly (if you want to reach me).
one more reason to go to france as often as humanly possible: from Critic's Notebook: An Epicure's 15-Course French Feast
"True to the Gallic film tradition, a handful of this year's movies portray French middle-class life (especially in Paris) as a movable feast in which good food, fine wine, elegant fashions, sexual sophistication and literary erudition together equal civility. Yes, American movies also celebrate living well, but they have a very different attitude toward the good life. Consumption, rather than being cozy and personal as it is in French movies, is usually conspicuous, often cold, and connected to status. In the imperial tradition it is more important to win the game of life than to enjoy it."
Today is one of those unbelievable days in Palo Alto where summer just shows up. Actually, it showed up about three days ago, but today it hit me. I worked from home today, and went for a small walk in the middle of the day. The air was hot and heavy with sun and honey-fragrance... the smell of every tree in the neighborhood bursting into flower.
I can only shudder at the architecture. I have proof that hell is other people-- who could possibly build low concrete groveling beasts like the retail shops that line el camino. Who could come to this place, of flowering trees and rolling hills and the promise of the ocean and the comfort of the bay and say, heck, good spot as any for concrete?
Despite the sins of the developer, my neighborhood is full of trees that mitigate the houses' hubris, and gardens that are tended enough to be full of life, ignored enough to feel human. One homeowner has decided to replace his lawn with daisies. Nearly every house has citrus-- oranges everywhere, grapefruits, lemons and tiny trees bent under giant pomelos.
So I'm at home, the garden is popping with daffodils, and I trying to force myself to work. to work! to --> work.
and I come across a reference to The Myth of Sisyphus. Mark is clearly struggling to find meaning in his existence from the myth, and Camus's reading of the myth is a tailor fit. But me, I begin to reread and find I'd forgotten that Sisyphus had left Hades (hell) to chastise his wife, and found life was just too lovely and refused to go back to hell. And that is why he got stuck with the rock-pushing gig.
"His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. "
He is the original slacker? The grasshopper! the one that refuses to do as he ought. He is the man who doesn't feel like working.
So how does he cheat Hades, and transcend his fate? By enjoying rock-pushing. "If the descent is thus sometimes performed in sorrow, it can also take place in joy. " Work can suck, but it can give a joy also. No matter its nature.
So today work sucks, mostly because nature is doing a tapdance outside my window. But soon enough my mind will return to my labor and it is fine. It is my fate; I choose my labor, sometimes it doesn't compare to play, but sometimes it is better. It is always *my* labor, it is always my life and it is always mine to interpret and to be present in.
"I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy ."
How saturday it all is. I'm on the couch, anti-ergo, and nick stellino is asking how to make shrimp happy. i don't know, but I'll guess it does not involve frying them in a cast iron skillet.
Erin and I were having dinner and talking B&A and we realized with Ryan's retirement into the peace-and-quiet of occasional copyediting, it's an almost all-girl crew over at B&A, with me as publisher, her as chief editor, and Brenda, Dorelle and Liz editing. Not to mention Jen, Emily and Laura copy-editing. Only brave Kirk, our stalwart technie who champions proper mark-up (coming in the new couple weeks-- watch the code) represents the Y gene. I have no idea if it means anything. boys, girls, gurus, writers, humans... so what. but I like to think about it anyhow.
So erin and I are planning the next generation of B&A and are open to wishlists. What would you like to see next?
In the line for the DMV all society
laid low, class flat, life didn't prepare you
for this. The mexicans dress warmly
wait patiently, one line more for them, this line
that stretches out the door into the cold
lightly raining concrete outside, they stand
legs asplay weight evenly placed, arms folded
calm, peaceful, stoic, but you, the professor,
the manager, the soccer mom you had an
appointment, but not an umbrella how
could this happen, why do you need
to take a number?
!
Yet the line has you now, you
can't return to the comfort of the SUV the
volvo the BMW you are stripped of your class
and retreat into into your cellphone until
all calls used up, hop
from foot to foot to keep warm, hoping the
next sucker with an appointment will come
you call to them it won't work while hoping they
will find the hidden passage in and you can follow,
you eye enviously the reader of the zane gray,
the woman balancing her checkbook, then
resign yourself to reacquainting yourself with
your thoughts.
Saw Spellbound tonight. Very good film, plus I learned a very useful word for my little problem: logorrhea
I'm supposed to be writing all weekend. and so I'm ducking, returning, ducking. sigh.
Philippe and I have been discussion entrepreneurship lately. I suspect it has a lot to do with not being able to stand having a boss. He sent me this fable. How many start-ups begin because of this? We always think they are chasing money, but I think that they would rather "starve free."
THE DOG AND THE WOLF, FABLES by Aesop
A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to
meet a House-dog who was passing by. "Ah, Cousin," said the Dog.
"I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin
of you. Why do you not work steadily as I do, and get your food
regularly given to you?"
"I would have no objection," said the Wolf, "if I could only
get a place."
"I will easily arrange that for you," said the Dog; "come with
me to my master and you shall share my work."
So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On
the way there the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of
the Dog's neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that
had come about.
"Oh, it is nothing," said the Dog. "That is only the place
where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it
chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it."
"Is that all?" said the Wolf. "Then good-bye to you, Master
Dog."
Better starve free than be a fat slave.
MORE...Long before Movabletype or Blogger, long before Peterme said the word 'blog" was Yahoo! Picks.. starting back in 1995, it's now an amazing guide ot what is-- and was-- cool on the web for the last 8 years. Yahoo's Picks of the Week for 8-13-95 | Yahoo's picks for Today
A little robot made a perfect landing on mars and my husband went crazy. For ten years of his life, on and off, he's worked on a instrument that now has a good chance at the 2009 mission. If NASA had failed, the next mission-- and my husband's dream-- would have been in danger of never happening. Now he watches Nova like a little kid: I know that guy! I've been there! Look at that animation! Wow! Look, Ames!
I sit on the couch, trying to imagine it: a decade of your life working on a piece of machinery, dreaming of the moment it finds its use, fearful some american idiot who can't convert metrics to imperial may blow it for you-- then the tension is over and nothing is left but a sense of wonder as the pictures begin to arrive...
Triplettes de Belleville, Les (2003)
loved it loved it loved it and can't stop listening to the title song. Don't worry about subtitles-- there are almost no words. And you don't miss them. Strange weird not-for-kids animation; compelling story, bizarre vignettes and ultimately delightful overall.
Of course, with a movie this odd, your mileage may vary.
Top Yahoo! Searches 2003 teaches us the most popular jennifer, how to misspell the governator's name, and reminds us about our lack of schooling (the #1 iraq related search is "map of iraq")
Why is random data so interesting? Who cares, give me some more!
growing up, and even once grown up, there were no wodtkes. I remember once driving around on an island in wisconsin seeing the wodtke name on a tree, and being amazed. The only wodtkes I knew were my grandparents. When I travelled to Europe, I never met wodtkes and when I asked Germans if they knew my name, they never did... and often suggested maybe it was polish. Moving to california produced no more wodtkes, not even in the san francisco white pages.
But the web changed that-- we knew our family was German, and the appearance of wodtke.com was the first instance of wodtkes appearing that weren't definately us. Next Christina M. Wodtke emailed me, wanting to know why I was impersonating her (it is a rare name).
Now Mark Von Wodtke chimes in, commenting on "small world 2" he says "Maybe there are connections between ideas and DNA." He's not only a Wodtke, but a wodtke very much interested in the things I am passionate about. Perhaps he's right.
To test the idea, I explored Amazon and discovered Amazon makes being a Wodtke seem common as dirt. And I kinda like it. I always wanted an ordinary name.
Now I'm cruising their wishlists, capturing snapshots of who they are-- Francesca Wodtke likes gardening and cooking, Dirk Wodtke has a porche 9-11, and likes scooters too; Katie Wodtke likes scupture and is politically active, and Kirsten Wodtke is expecting....
I wanted to know if our possible DNA also connected in ideas, interests. And exploring that, the wishlists became humans, and I suddenly started considering them cousins. People I wanted to write to, buy gifts for, invite to dinner.
What an odd new use for Amazon-- inventing new family.
I've noticed a strange upswing in playful names in my spam from list lately---
Is it a programic accident, or are spammers tired of ordinary names, and getting playful? I can tell you it is making it easier to wipe spam unread from my mail.
They seem to have a rather different idea of exclusive than I do, considering this went to four different email addresses.
Well, proof if you dream small your dreams can come true-- it's not world peace, but today I saw my book packaged with the book that changed my life... Information Architecture for Large Scale Websites. Ah Amazon, the gifts you give! I'm atingle!
I've been sick for two weeks. Some folks at work have been sick a month and more. I haven't slept properly in three nights, from coughing horribly. the nyquel has stopped working, the grog is upsetting my stomach, and I go to sleep so propped up I get a neckache.
I have a doctor's appointment friday... please, someone do you have a herbal or over the counter remedy to get me to that appointment? I ready to pay someone to come over and hit me in the head with a hammer...
Arams is such a pure expression of a joyful rushing onto the web... naive but remarkably useful.
I'm 37 (born in 66.) my husband was abusing my inability to do math to yank my chain.
cruel, but as he pointed out, I do feel younger now.
"WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? Are you, or your friends or relatives, working more now but enjoying it less? Does your family's schedule feel like a road race? If so, you're not alone. Millions of Americans are overworked, over-scheduled and just plain stressed out. "
Now We Are Six When I was one I'd just begun,
When I was two I was nearly new,
When I was three I was hardly me,
When I was four I was not much more,
When I was five I was barely alive,
But now I am six! As clever as clever!
And I think I'll stay six now for ever and ever!
A. A. Milne
what is it about birthdays.. you expect them to be special, to be great, to be somehow different, but the fact is they are arbitrary. A day. That could be any other day. And you are celebrating what?
Not dead yet?
That's actually probably the best thing to celebrate, worthy of being celebrated everyday.
As camus said,
"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest-whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories-comes afterwords. These are games; one must first answer."
And he is right-- and it's not morbid at all. Once one has decided to live, what else matters? Not much, just that you live well, and avidly.
So what am I nattering on about anyhow? I've turned 38, and unlike everyone else I freak out two years early rather than freak out at the year ending in zero. It makes sense to me, I've got only two years to accomplish everything I want to have done by 40... quick, quick, do something.
But if all I want to accomplish to is to live, and live fully, why worry?
It's sunny here, and I'm dashing between meetings and should be scribbling out focal reviews rather than blogging, and yet... I'm 38. What do I want to be when I grow up? and is that going to happen soon? Should I finish my masters, write another book, have a baby, buy a house, run away to tibet...????
perhaps i should stick with six. I can be clever forever.
Paris=Eiffel Tower as we all know
I finally went up the damn thing, and it was very nice indeed.
Also of some interest
doors to strange places
Heads on platters
Beautiful Metro stations
A distinct lack of ewan mcgregor
nice knockers
Segways in the rain
This last one was particularly odd and delightful. I was coming out of the Louvre and saw them pass, like gorillas in the mist, larger, graceful, slow and lumbering. Ah, Segway, you strange monster, I thought you extinct yet you live to wander the Paris streets at twilight....
In my day, I've been an
egreeter
hottie
carbonite
yahoo
just occured to me how funny it is, the naming of employees in our biz....
who have you been?
Yo,
My husband is in Denver, messing with x-ray diffraction people and calling me mopeily from his hotel room at the end of the night which is gratifying. I like being the one he misses as his head hits the pillow.
Me, I'm trying to design. Kerning a line, messing with photoshop filters, scribbling madly on paper... all for my private pleasure. I forgot how fun it is to play. To design for joy, not for profit.
What else? I'm biking to work, still yoga'ing, and mentoring two junior interaction designers which is the best part of my job bar none. I think I should have been a teacher. I also do the rest of the management dance-- resource, plan, project, powerpoint-- not so much design. Unless designing a place where design can happen is design. Which we both know it is. Still, sometimes you just need to sharpen a pencil and make marks.
Lots going on rumble wise in the design world these days. Tog wants a new title, Mok wants the old one to mean something again. I used the opportunity to put my foot in my mouth and insulted Tog on the aifia members list (not purposely, of course, but foolishly and typical christina bull/chinashop fashion).
He answered-- huffily at first, but I apologized and he could smell the teva on my breath and forgave me. We had a lively chat which continues still (I'll let you know if anything interesting comes of it) and as the long suffering aifia board continues wishing they had a president who they could trust to speak without a scriptwriter, I've made a pal. I hope anyhow. Which is a bit confusing... I've written tons of nice stuff about Tog, but I had to be a stupid jerk in public to finally make contact? Gee, life is funny. I guess now I'll have to insult Clemet.. Hey, Mok, your mother smells of elderberry!
Meanwhile discussion heats up over ROI on B&A and Julie ruins the Saute de Boeuf a la Bourguignonne... really too tragic.
OKay, I go bed now.
one thing that makes me crazy-- people who leave you a phone message at a perfectly reasonable speed but then say their phone number at top speeds.
If you are giving someone a number, you expect them to write it down. therefore you should speak slowly enough for them to write, and then repeat the number at an average speed so they can check it.
thus: "I'm at five
user-centeredness starts at home!
Spotted during travel...
this last one spotted in death valley, adding an interesting layer of irony...
I saw this spray painted on a train. I'm sure this message has a different meaning for a train geek...
I'm back from a vacation-- Philippe and I drove 2702 miles across the southwest. Las Vegas, Route 66, Flagstaff, grand canyon, zion, bryce and through death valley. more to come soon, as soon as I dig myself out from under my thousand emails.
You see the kind of people I work with??
Orphaned Snowmen
Did they loose interest?
found by adam
