Speaker for the Diodes

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:26:43 GMT

"You know it's bad when people are too pissed off to macro." machineplay 2008-03-12, regarding PR disasters (especially those taking place on LJ)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:26:45 GMT

"You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered." -- Lyndon Johnson (b. 1908-08-27, d. 1973-01-22; US President 1963-1969)

Partial Braindump

dglenn@panix.com — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:13:20 GMT

Ugh. More alert yet, but also in more pain, with hyperacute hearing to boot (had to sleep with earplugs in last night; would still have them in, but they start to hurt after a few hours -- will probably put them back in soon though; cars passing by no longer hurt terribly unless their stereos are cranked, but the sound of a passing truck or bus is pretty #$%^ing painful). Have somewhere I really ought to go tonight, somewhere it'd be fun to go tonight, and places it would be good to get to this afternoon ... and I think I'm not likely to get anywhere at all the way I feel this afternoon. (And I did remember to take pain meds; this is despite those.) Feh.

Made progress on mods to journal client, auto-QotD script, and auto-crossposting script, but still having problems deep in source code for Clive (rather decently commented in some aspects, effectively uncommented in others; suspect there's a few "if you're reading this then you will have already read such-and-such" assumptions in it). For a while I had a version that would only post to DeadJournal, and only if comments were disabled. Found out how to turn on debugging messages but find the choice of which bits get reported at which level of verbosity ... less than ideal for my purposes. (Tempted to rewrite the debugging code to display which function it's called from. Also tempted to use the Clive source mostly as examples/documentation, and hack a new client from scratch, but should probably resist. It's not broken, nor all that seriously mis-organized, just not architected quite the way I woulda done it and I'm having trouble following parts of it.) Part of my problem grokking the code is probably the effects of pain and hyperacusis on attention span. I know part is from the effects of fibromyalgia on short-term memory, and that's the really frustrating part: knowing how good at this I used to be.

Anywho, hope to have ability to specify tags on command line soon (the main reason I gave up on tags was the nuisance of having to go edit each mirrored copy of each entry to add tags after posting it), but can't find documentation for how to set "date out of order" flag on an entry via the LJ API (which will be important when a QotD entry fails to post to a site, and the next scheduled retry happens after I've posted something else). Found a property that sounded like it should do that, but it doesn't seem to. Trying to get it all sorted before LJ's changes on the 28th. Also plan to make site-to-post-to a command-line option (currently using separate copies of Clive executable, each compiled to post to a different site). Hmm. Guess I should've checked to see whether there's a more recent version to work from than the one I've been tinkering with, but haven't seen any signs of life on that front in a long time. (Checking now ... nope, 0.4.5 is still the most recent version I see at SourceForge.)

Acutely disheartened by what has become standard way of dealing with protesters in my country nowadays (restrict them to a spot so far away from what they're protesting that neither the media nor the folks they're trying to address can even see them, and arrest the ones who try to protest someplace effective). Even if they're protesting against something I support, freedoms of speech & assembly seem to demand better. (N.b.: picketing private events like funerals, and blockading abortion clinics, seem to be 'obvious' special cases to me, but haven't worked out how to articulate where the line should be drawn.)

Also perplexed by reading opinion of someone who supports McCain over Obama because he doesn't like Obama's attitudes towards our soldiers. WTF? Which one wants to keep sending 'em to the meat grinder yet opposes benefits or even decent medical treatment when they come home?

Ugh. Anyhow: body not working well, brain apparently not working great either despite feeling more alart, awfully tired, hating loud vehicles.

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:26:43 GMT

"The day begins with a morning meeting where material harvested from 15 TiVos and even more newspapers, magazines and Web sites is reviewed. That meeting, Mr. Stewart said, 'would be very unpleasant for most people to watch: its really a gathering of curmudgeons expressing frustration and upset, and the rest of the day is spent trying to mask or repress that through whatever creative devices we can find.'" -- from "Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?", by Michiko Kakutani, 2008-08-15 (quoted passage appears on page 2) [thanks to vvalkyri and osewalrus for pointing it out]

Bleah

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:20:22 GMT

Feeling more coherent than yesterday, but not feeling coordinated enough to want to get on I-95. :-( Going to stay in.

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:26:42 GMT

"Any system that has people spending more and getting less is, by definition, not efficient. And these efficiency leaks are, almost entirely, due to private greed. There is no logical way that a private system can pay eight-figure CEO compensation packages, turn a handsome a profit for shareholders, and still be 'efficient.' In fact, in order to deliver those profits and salaries, the American system has built up a vast, Kafkaesque administrative machinery of approval, denial, and fraud management, which inflates the US system's administrative costs to well over double that seen in other countries -- or even in our own public systems, including Medicare and the VA system." -- Sara Robinson, "Mythbusting Canadian Healthcare, Part II: Debunking the Free Marketeers", 2008-02-11

Charge

dglenn@panix.com — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:48:18 GMT

I've been thinking about batteries a lot lately. A whole lot.

This afternoon I saw a spam subject line go by (on its way to being auto-trashed by my spam filter) that said, "Top Rated Penis Enlarger", and mis-parsed it as "penis recharger", and caught myself wondering how many amp-hours a penis stored before I took a closer look at what I had misread.

Okay, I may have been a bit sleepy, as well.

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:26:38 GMT

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2007-01-30:

"...To look at the chemical composition of any common food plant is to realize just how much complexity lurks within it. Here's a list of just the antioxidants that have been identified in garden-variety thyme:

"4-Terpineol, alanine, anethole, apigenin, ascorbic acid, beta carotene, caffeic acid, camphene, carvacrol, chlorogenic acid, chrysoeriol, eriodictyol, eugenol, ferulic acid, gallic acid, gamma- terpinene isochlorogenic acid, isoeugenol, isothymonin, kaempferol, labiatic acid, lauric acid, linalyl acetate, luteolin, methionine, myrcene, myristic acid, naringenin, oleanolic acid, p-coumoric acid, p-hydroxy-benzoic acid, palmitic acid, rosmarinic acid, selenium, tannin, thymol, tryptophan, ursolic acid, vanillic acid.

"This is what you're ingesting when you eat food flavored with thyme. Some of these chemicals are broken down by your digestion, but others are going on to do undetermined things to your body: turning some gene's expression on or off, perhaps, or heading off a free radical before it disturbs a strand of DNA deep in some cell. It would be great to know how this all works, but in the meantime we can enjoy thyme in the knowledge that it probably doesn't do any harm (since people have been eating it forever) and that it may actually do some good (since people have been eating it forever) and that even if it does nothing, we like the way it tastes."

-- Michael Pollan, "Unhappy Meals", January 28, 2007, "The New York Times Magazine".

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html

(submitted to the mailing list by Kelly Groves)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:26:37 GMT

"Is there some way in which I can arrange for you to be beaten with sticks? I have a vision of you being set upon by angry Morris Dancers and pummeled to within an inch of your life whilst jolly folk music is played." -- oml404, 2008-02-19 (in response to, as the friend who linked to the comment described them, either a wingnut or a troll)

Progress

dglenn@panix.com — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:26:48 GMT

Finally made it to pharmacy.
Also got to nail salon. And Petsmart.
... Progress.
(Had one serving of cat food left, so is good I got more.)

Tried to do too much in one day,
got past painfully-tired, all the way to stupid-tired.
... Which is not good to combine with driving.
(Embarassing whoops but fortunately no bangcrunch, just looked foolish.)

ATM reported different balance than expected;
fear I've screwed up finances --
and new gas/elec bill arrived.
... Worried.
(And combined with the tired, verges on self-pity.)

Rereading entry so far:
... Apparently still stupid-tired.

Guess I'll see just how badly I over-did by how long it takes to have a good enough day to do anything else.

Hate hate hate the limitations of my body. <sulk />

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:26:39 GMT

"With audiences nowadays I see it with these late-night [TV show] people, Jay Leno, David Letterman and so on the audience applauds the jokes rather than laughs at them, which is very discouraging.

"Laughter is involuntary. If it's funny you laugh. But you can easily clap just to say [deadpan]: 'A ha, that's funny, I think that's funny.' Sometimes they cut to the audience and you can see they are applauding madly. But they're not laughing."

-- Tom Lehrer, in a 2003 interview in the Sydney Morning Herald (interviewer: Tony Davis)

Yesterday's Results

dglenn@panix.com — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:55:18 GMT

Did not get to pharmacy. Did not get to nail salon. Did get to rehearsal (after applying CA glue as a temporary fix for nails that need fill-in). Played poorly. Still, progress, compared to most of week so far. Head hurts.

Dog nearby (not next-door neighbour's) is woofing & whining about being left outside & lonely. If it teaches mockingbirds to bark, I'll be even more annoyed. Likely where bird learned puppy-whine sound.

Cat somewhat less bored now: birdwatching, last I checked.

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:26:38 GMT

"A woman can never be so misogynistic that she proofs herself against misogyny." -- tacky_tramp,

"I call myself a feminist, but only reluctantly because it's like declaring yourself in the fight against leprosy. Everyone thinks leprosy was cured long ago." -- Heather Mallick, 2008-07-02, CBCnews ( thanks to theweaselking for linking to it and larabeaton for calling attention to that quote in particular)

"The annoying part is, of course, it's like that...and then you point to a case of leprosy, live and on the news, and people say 'well, that's not real leprosy.'" -- scifantasy, 2008-07-09 (responding to larabeaton's pointing it out)

Perhaps they thought it stood for Transportation Sabotage Administration?

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:26:59 GMT

From the first link:

One Eagle pilot says had the pilots not been so attentive, the damaged probes could have caused problems inflight. TSA agents "are now doing things to our aircraft that may put our lives, and the lives of our passengers at risk," the pilot wrote on the forum.
Grounding the planes to replace the TAT probes affected about 40 flights, according to American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances. "We think it's an unfortunate situation," she told ABCNews.com.
[...]

The TSA has NO BUSINESS putting untrained personnel in a position to damage aircraft. Their bizarre games, in the name of security, do NOTHING to enhance security and do much to inhibit safety. Aviation personnel -- pilots, A&P's, ground personnel -- are all either licensed or supervised by licensed personnel and this kind of tampering, had it been accomplished by anyone else, would have subjected that person to criminal charges.

[ Thanks to theweaselking for pointing it out.]

Time for me to do a Google Images search for mockingbirds

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:49:06 GMT

I just heard a puppy softly whining.
... In a tree.

I suspect avian deception.

[EDIT:] Okay, that's funny. Y'see, before I heard the puppy in the tree, I had been planning to ask for help identifying a bird that looks kinda like a sparrow but in black and grey instead of brown and white. I'm back from my Google Images search. Now both questions are answered.

Bored Kitty (and excuse-to-post-photos babbling)

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:34:43 GMT

Perrine is bored. I was a lump all yesterday -- I did manage to crawl downstairs to move the car (street cleaning day) and accept a gift of interesting homegrown tomatoes from my neighbour, but then I retreated to bed because my whole %$#^ing body just hurt too much to move. Every so often, Perrine came in, cried or chirped or raised her paw -- or dragged the slicker brush off the headboard as a hint -- then left again because I was being a lump. The time I did try to brush her, she was less enthusiastic than usual, leading me to suspect that she really just wanted attention in general, not brushing in particular, and asked for the brush because it's something she knows how to ask me for. If my back didn't hurt so terribly, I would chase her around the house (the exercise would probably do us both good).

She's not the only one I've been neglecting due to feeling so extremely awful, just the one present to complain in person.

I just took this morning's meds ... and it looks like I missed yesterday's morning dose of Ultram. Er ... that might explain why yesterday was an 'I can't move' day instead of just a 'damn, this hurts' day. Whoops. (Have I mentioned lately how I dislike needing so many doggone pills and inhalers and such? *pout*)

I'd planned to visit the pharmacy and the nail salon but accomplished neither -- just getting to the other side of the street was a challenge. Oh well, I've got my agenda for today if I feel any better, I guess. I did take my Ultram and naproxen this morning, so let's see how his goes. I have to pace myself if I'm going to get to HCB rehearsal.

I've got my agenda, and tomatoes. (And some root vegetables grown by another friend, given to me at the end of Pennsic.) The tomatoes are not going to last very long. They're rather sweet (as I think I've mentioned other tomatoes grown in the area being this summer are as well). And they showed up on a day when I was feeling too wretched to cook. Nope, snack-worthy fruit aren't going to last very long. (The remaining beets aren't going to remain much longer either; it'll take me a bit longer to get through the onions.) The wee yellow tomatoes are already gone, sacrificed to my lack of restraint (they were yummy). I don't think I'd had yellow tomatoes before, just red and orange ones. These weren't quite as sweet as anniemal's tiny red tomatoes, but they were certainly in the "can't possibly mistake this fruit for a vegetable" range, verging on "but you might mistake it for candy" for a few specimens.

A propos of which (fruit, that is): I caught an Arabber in my neighbourhood a few days ago (I'm not usually quick enough; this isn't a spot where they linger), and bought bananas from him -- which let me postpone a trip to the supermarket that I wasn't really up for. Apparently the city is still trying to drive Arabbers off the streets -- or is trying to do something else which has that as a side effect, I'm not entirely certain which -- despite their being an element of Baltimore's history and its charm. (And isn't it nice when food comes to you instead of your having to walk|drive|ride a bus to a shopping center?) He said he'd been an Arabber since he was twelve years old: thirty-six years in that trade. The bananas weren't spectacular, but they were worth what I paid for them and fresh enough that I could eat them all in the following few days before they got browner and spottier than I like. Which is about all one can reasonably ask of bananas, innit?

On my way across the street to buy the bananas, I did have a somewhat disconcerting encounter with the Arabber's previous customer, who appeared to be an official with the fire department (office attire and a shiny red car with Baltimore Fire Department markings on the doors). He asked me about my choice of clothing, which isn't all that unusual a beginning to encounters with strangers ... but then he acted suspicious and a little bit hostile at my response. Not the common homophobic hostility or the sees-me-as-betraying-my-sex hostility that I've seen so often (and his initial question was polite and he seemed relaxed when he asked it), but more like he had a problem with my answer ("It's just who I am"). The effect was as though he were a cop instead of a firefighter, and was convinced that I was Up To No Good but he just didn't have enough on me to do anything about it yet and wanted to prolong the encounter in order to find some excuse. Not a vibe I appreciate from city authorities (or any other). A bit of esprit d'escalier: I realized later that when his tone shifted, instead of repeating my first answer, I should have said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I gave you the wrong answer the first time. I meant to say, 'it's not any business of yours.'" What did he think, that a T-shirt and broomstick skirt is the uniform of some arsonist sisterhood or something?

I'm accustomed to folks who start out relaxed and politely curious staying that way (or thanking me for satisfying their curiosity), and folks who are going to be hostile and wary being that way from the get-go. I found the sudden shift disconcerting and even offensive. Not to mention just plain perplexing.

Okay, time to feed the kitty-cat and myself, drag myself out for errands, and try to finish the math email I started before and didn't finish because the pain took over. Then I have some coding to do before the 28th (rewriting my auto-posting script). Eventually I need to make time to edit those couple-thousand Pennsic photos. (Photos which portray a fraction -- a largeish fraction perhaps but still the lesser part -- of What Pennsic Is.) Here's one last photo I felt like tossing into this entry just because it was in between a couple of the others on the memory card.

Oh, today's the PUG deadline, isn't it? Hmm.

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:26:44 GMT

"If you look back at history, there has not been a single instance where people have overcome a deeply entrenched prejudice without first being forced to interact with the people they detest." -- Julia Serano, "Frustration", 2006-08-14

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:26:42 GMT

"For the philosophically minded - I humbly submit the following lesson: Only preach to the converted.

"When I found out about the hidden world of government malfeasance and financial cabals that are responsible for so much misery in this world, and that exist with the help of the media's complicity, I naturally assumed a lot of people would want to know. I spent all sorts of time and emotional energy on my soapbox, to be met with bored stares or snide remarks. The only time such speech-making and arguing was productive was when I had found someone already inclined to my way of thinking who was looking for answers, as I was.

"So Liberals, stop trying to convert Conservatives, and vice versa. Veggies, leave those BBQ eaters alone. If you want to change the world, start with yourself so as to provide an example, and then only preach to people who ask for a sermon!"

-- Ernie, 2008-04-03, responding to a Things I Wish They Had Taught Me In School essay (which was pointed out by siderea.)

Evening Forecast

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:57:02 GMT

Not Good: still not moving well, feel like I'm thinking at quarter-speed, got too little sleep and it's now too late to safely nap and expect to wake up again in time for rehearsal.

Call it about a 25% of my actually getting out the door this evening. *sigh*

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:26:37 GMT

"The annoyance we put up with at the airport is not a by-product of terrorism; it is the goal. It has become increasingly obvious that the real aim of terrorists is not to blow up plans but to inconvenience travelers and cripple an already overburdened airline industry. When one thinks of the staggering loss of time, money, and materials that are a result of increased security measures only one conclusion can be drawn: the terrorists have already won." -- Billy Biondi, 2007-12-29 (comment)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:26:40 GMT

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2007-01-10:

"Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci." -- Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)

["He who mingles the useful with the agreeable bears away the prize."]

http://www.presserfoundation.org/history.htm

(submitted to the mailing list by Patsy Wang-Iverson)

Pain Day

dglenn@panix.com — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:26:08 GMT

Ugh. Not having a good day. Ran an errand earlier that was so close I felt guilty about driving, but when I noticed that just working the accelerator pedal was painful I figured that walking wouldn't have gotten me there today. Had planned to go to Storvik post-Pennsic revel tonight, but not sure pain meds will be enough. :-(

Also having problems with random stuff (not just my body) failing to work. Cell phone charger died (have kludged substitute working now), kitchen scale broke (may or may not be repairable with plastic cement), and clothes-dryer finally made good on its threatening noises and stopped working last night (with a load of sheets and towels in it).

On plus side, have fresh vegetables in kitchen given to me at Pennsic by the friend who grew them, have bananas purchased from an arabber yesterday, and have been promised some of neighbour's too-many tomatoes. (That's four people I know or have heard of who wound up with absurd quantities of tomatoes this year. OTOH, tomato consumption seems to be way up as well, so they're finding people to give the excess to. And the small tomatoes (especially grape tomatoes) are amazingly sweet this year, at least the ones being grown in MD and VA, which may account for increased tomato consumption.)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:26:39 GMT

"Car accidents are a leading cause of death for teenagers. The school board and your elected representatives want to make sure that you and your families are spared from such a tragedy, which is why the money for driver's ed was eliminated from the budget. Whereas last year I was teaching your older siblings how to shift and brake and three-point-turn during a six-week course, it has since been decreed that I actually need just one afternoon to tell you the only piece of safety information I'm permitted by law to share:

"The ONLY 100 percent effective method for avoiding car accidents is to ABSTAIN from driving until marriage.

"Yes, yes, I know you've been bombarded with messages from popular culture about how much fun it would be to get behind the wheel of a red convertible, find an unbroken stretch of country road, and, with the wind in your hair, see what she can do. I know that up until now you had the mistaken belief that getting a driver's license was a cherished milestone of your young, sweet, innocent lives. It isn't. It's a milestone, all right: a milestone indicating terrible pain, degradation, and certain death."

-- from "Abstinence-Only Driver's Ed.", by Suzanne Kleid, McSweeney's, 2008-02-22

How Many Tents?

dglenn@panix.com — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:08:23 GMT

Does anybody have a good idea approximately how many tents there are at Pennsic? Do you think it's safe to assume that the ratio of tents:people is reasonably close to 1:1 (what with dining tents and storage tents, vs. tents with more than one person in them (and folks living in non-tent structures)) or is my guess regarding how many people share tents too low? Will the US Air Force (or Army, or whomever it is that uses us for photometry and reconaissance practice) tell us how many tents they counted? (I've heard they check the attendance numbers to find out how well their population estimation algorithms work, and that we make a rather convenient test case that way.)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:26:43 GMT

"They say that if a thought has occurred to you, somebody else has already thought of it too, and posted porn about it on the internets.

"So why can't I find Mark Foley/Bill O'Reilly slashfic that ends in MPreg?"

-- sabotabby, Gaybortion! comic strip, 2006-10-18

[I do not know whether any was created in response to that cartoon.]