Turn any online graphic (200×200 max) into a Polaroid photo. I.e., a graphic that looks like a Polaroid of your pic, set at a rakish-tossed-on-the-tabletop angle. Fun. Though … does…
Turn any online graphic (200×200 max) into a Polaroid photo. I.e., a graphic that looks like a Polaroid of your pic, set at a rakish-tossed-on-the-tabletop angle. Fun.
Though … does anyone use Polaroids any more, in this age of digital cameras? Is this akin to the telephone graphics that show dials?
(via the Flea)
A truly marvelous wiki on TV tropes and idioms, capturing every cliche and standard plot device you have ever rolled your eyes at. Also applicable to movies and genre fiction….
A truly marvelous wiki on TV tropes and idioms, capturing every cliche and standard plot device you have ever rolled your eyes at.
Also applicable to movies and genre fiction.
The entry on Applied Phlebotinum is a particular delight.
(via J-Walk)
… our neighbors in the Great White North on their parliamentary passage of a bill to allow gay marriages. Well done, people. Would that we Down South were as enlightened….
… our neighbors in the Great White North on their parliamentary passage of a bill to allow gay marriages.
Well done, people. Would that we Down South were as enlightened.
Marn sums up my feelings on the matter quite nicely. Not unexpectedly.
Such that “gill” (the unit of measurement, a quarter of a pint or 4 oz.) is pronounced like Jack’s water-fetching companion, not like the fish part….
Such that “gill” (the unit of measurement, a quarter of a pint or 4 oz.) is pronounced like Jack’s water-fetching companion, not like the fish part.
We have three windows on the western side of our house, upon which the sun beats unmercifully in the winter, and over which our neighbors enjoy a height advantage and…
We have three windows on the western side of our house, upon which the sun beats unmercifully in the winter, and over which our neighbors enjoy a height advantage and bedroom windows.
Those three windows are, of course, in bathrooms — the downstairs lav and the upstairs in the WC room and the “main” room.
The previous tentants had some 2/3 curtains up in those windows, which provided a modicum of privacy, and shielded at least 2/3 of the sunlight pouring in during the hot summer afternoons. But they were kinda ugly, not all that private (especially, it felt like, at night), and in the summer the upstairs bathroom was easily ten degrees warmer than the rest of the house.
No more. Just before the June Travelfest began, we went by the 3-Day Blinds counter at the Great Indoors by the mall, and ordered some very nice double-celled blinds for both the upstairs bathroom windows. And we ordered ones that can be pulled up from the bottom and lowered from the top, so that during the summer they can be fully closed, and during the winter we can lower the top to let some light in.
Installed them this afternoon. Spiffy. They look really nice, and the rooms now have a nice warm, dappled light in them (more light, ironically, diffused across the length of the window), and feel much cooler. Plus — no privacy concerns. W007!
Now we just need to order some for the downstairs bathroom and we’ll be stylin’.
Granted that once wouldn’t expect the King of Pop to quietly retire away, even for a while, from the public eye after his trial. You might even think that a…
Granted that once wouldn’t expect the King of Pop to quietly retire away, even for a while, from the public eye after his trial.
You might even think that a certain amount of celebration and pleasure expressed at the not guilty plea might be in evidence on his Official Web Page.
But … um … Mr. Jackson, I knew the Berlin Wall, I grew up with the Berlin Wall, and your acquittal is not the same as the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Let alone the release of Nelson Mandela.
Yeesh.
(via Mr Irresponsible)
Say what you will about Alberto Gonzalez, but the new Attorney General has reversed at least one of John Ashcroft’s goofier acts: With barely a word about it, workers at…
Say what you will about Alberto Gonzalez, but the new Attorney General has reversed at least one of John Ashcroft’s goofier acts:
With barely a word about it, workers at the Justice Department Friday removed the blue drapes that have famously covered two scantily clad statues for the past 3 1/2 years. Spirit of Justice, with her one breast exposed and her arms raised, and the bare-chested male Majesty of Law basked in the late afternoon light of Justice’s ceremonial Great Hall.
The drapes, installed in 2002 at a cost of $8,000, allowed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak in the Great Hall without fear of a breast showing up behind him in television or newspaper pictures. They also provoked jokes about and criticism of the deeply religious Ashcroft.
The 12-foot, 6-inch aluminum statues were installed shortly after the building opened in the 1930s.
Let freedom, er, spring!
(via BoingBoing)
First Paul Winchell, and now John Fiedler has passed away. Fiedler was most popularly known these days as the voice of Piglet — though Bob Newhart fans will remember his…
First Paul Winchell, and now John Fiedler has passed away. Fiedler was most popularly known these days as the voice of Piglet — though Bob Newhart fans will remember his as Mr. Peterson, and Trekkies will know him as the “Red Jack”-ridden Mr. Hengist.
(via Random Ruminations)
Peter Jackson is suing New Line Cinema for $100MM over lost proceeds that should have come to him for Fellowship of the Ring. In his lawsuit, Jackson accuses New Line…
Peter Jackson is suing New Line Cinema for $100MM over lost proceeds that should have come to him for Fellowship of the Ring.
In his lawsuit, Jackson accuses New Line of granting the licensing rights to “Lord of the Rings” books, DVDs, and merchandise to other Time Warner companies without allowing bids from other entertainment companies. As a result, the total revenues related to the film were lower than they would have been had there been open bidding for these ancillary rights, Jackson claims.
Because Jackson’s compensation from the movie was tied to gross revenues, he says New Line’s alleged self-dealing cost him money.
New Line denies the charges, or that “most” licensing rights went to Time Warner units.
Here’s my uninformed (i.e., I haven’t read much more beyond just the news stories) opinions on some of the recent end-of-session flurry of Supreme Court cases: Ten Commandments: Two split…
Here’s my uninformed (i.e., I haven’t read much more beyond just the news stories) opinions on some of the recent end-of-session flurry of Supreme Court cases:
Which was what the Kentucky case seemed to revolve around. They were an attempt to put the 10C into courtrooms today, both the location and timing of which was seen as sending an unacceptable message of religious preference.
Overall, the Court refused to offer an overall rule, but indicated that these things will need to be examined on a case-by-case basis, factoring in history, setting, and intent as to what message such an inscription sends. I’ll need to read more to get a better feel for it, but overall I’m at least not aghast.
I need to review this one more carefully. I fear, though, that most of the write-ups I read about it will consist of either Jack Valenti crowing or warnings of DOOOOM, and I suspect the reality will be somewhere in-between. On the bright side, the Court didn’t actually rule on the case at hand, only that the defense that “We aren’t committing the crime, therefore we can’t be sued for it” doesn’t apply. It seems that the lower court to which the Grokster case goes will still need to rule on whether Grokster intended that illegal file sharing would be allowed by its software.
So, another one where I can see the legal justification, even if the Real World outcome is not what I’d like to see.
And so it goes.
Interesting. Just got a property valuation from the county that indicates that our property has … … um … … slipped in value, about $11k. Which reduces our tax bill…
Interesting. Just got a property valuation from the county that indicates that our property has …
… um …
… slipped in value, about $11k. Which reduces our tax bill by about $100 a year. Huzzah!
Huzzah?
Given the difficulty of selling in our neighborhood (though the House of the Fallen Tree Branch appears to have finally sold, again, and the folks across the street moved into a house on the market for over a year), I’m not altogether surprised. Imminent collapse of the real estate bubble notwithstanding, I suspect this is more an aberration than a trend.
(Knocks gently on wood.)
Should I be torqued more at the shoplifters whose depredations provoke manufacturers into sealing merchandise (particularly electronics) into hard-case plastic that is nearly impossible to open even with scissors? Or…
Should I be torqued more at the shoplifters whose depredations provoke manufacturers into sealing merchandise (particularly electronics) into hard-case plastic that is nearly impossible to open even with scissors? Or with those manufacturers for burdening all honest consumers with said packaging?
All I know is, I wanna hit someone.
Good to be back in the office. No, really. Actually feels refreshing. That should last about 15 minutes, since I have about 250 e-mail sitting in my inbox (post-spam-checking). And…
Good to be back in the office. No, really. Actually feels refreshing.
That should last about 15 minutes, since I have about 250 e-mail sitting in my inbox (post-spam-checking).
And … hey, it’s a short week for me (I have Friday off). Yay.
Looks like Blogathon 2005 is a go: starting at 9 a.m. EDT (that’d be 7 a.m. here in Denver) on Saturday, 6 August, concluding 24 hours later. Requirements: A worthy…
Looks like Blogathon 2005 is a go: starting at 9 a.m. EDT (that’d be 7 a.m. here in Denver) on Saturday, 6 August, concluding 24 hours later.
Requirements:
They still need to get the donation backend stuff done at the site, but it looks like it’s going to happen. And since (so far) that weekend is not occupied, it looks like I’ll be able to do it.
I suspect (though have not completely decided) that I’ll once again blog for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which protects comics creators and retailers from attempts at state censorship (usually, though not always, through obscenity prosecution based on “comics is just kids stuff” claims). I raised $225 for them last time; let’s see if I can top that this time.
More info as it comes available …
Paul Winchell, who created the lispy voice for Disney’s Tigger, has passed away. Also well-known as a ventriloquist, he voiced Tigger for Disney from the character’s debut in 1968 through…
Paul Winchell, who created the lispy voice for Disney’s Tigger, has passed away. Also well-known as a ventriloquist, he voiced Tigger for Disney from the character’s debut in 1968 through 1999.
My book report on KOA 2005 … KOA is, for the uninitiated, a Kleerup Organized Activity, a huge gourmet camping trip that takes place at the end of June each…
My book report on KOA 2005 …
KOA is, for the uninitiated, a Kleerup Organized Activity, a huge gourmet camping trip that takes place at the end of June each year, and has now for over twenty years. The attendees have gotten into the 80s at times, but this year we were around 40.
As noted previously, it is, indeed, “camping,” since one sleeps in a tent at a campground. Aside from that, it is distinctly uncampinglike. We’ve been at Lake San Antonio now for, what, four years? Which gives us, at the group campsite, running water, flush toilets, showers, and electricity.
But, beyond that, the main differentiator is the food. Lots of food. Glorious food. Tasty food. Drink, yes. But also very enjoyable food. And the equipment and talent to produce it.
Triffic stuff. It is indeed nothing resembling “camping” from my Boy Scout days …
Pictures for this year are here (and linked to at various places below).
Noteworthy elements from this year (vs 2004 or 2003 or 2002):
Very nice.
As a result, this was the first year in memory when we haven’t set up a little mini-pool for the kidlings.
Yes, my 5-year-old did the water ski thing. Not straight-legged, and with “beginner” skis (bound together at the front), but a damned sight better than you might have expected — or than I’ve done, to be perfectly honest. She was scared (the water spraying in her face was daunting) but proud.
Anyway, it was good seeing Katherine fully engaged with the other young’uns.
As an added bonus, when we opened the zippered package for the first time, we found — camera memory. Four 128Mb Olympus XD chips, and one 128Mb Sony memory stick. None of which fits our cameras, of course. Consensus was it was a shoplifting scheme gone south. Alas, not sure where we got the mattress from last year …
All very successful.
The original plan had been to invite up some local vintners, but we never quite got that organized. Still, much fun.
I was very proud of her.
Good trip. Expect next year’s to be even better.
Two wine trips this year whilst on our “camping” trip to Paso Robles, one short, one long … Saturday My folks were going to have to go down to California…
Two wine trips this year whilst on our “camping” trip to Paso Robles, one short, one long …
Saturday
My folks were going to have to go down to California early, so they wouldn’t be around for the Sunday wine trip, so instead they went on Saturday, and I, um, volunteered to go with them. Out of fillial duty, of course …
Our main visit was to Tablas Creek, which we’ve visited pretty regularly while up here. It’s always been one of the more professional setups, with good wine and a welcoming tasting room. They’ve been very generous dealing with groups of a dozen or more.
This year was no different (aside from the group size). They had a fine array of Rhone-style wines for tasting, and I found I liked them a lot more than last year. Some of the blends had changed, which may be part of it. But some really tasty stuff.
And then my folks decided that they were going to join the wine club (“VINsiders”), since it only ships twice a year. And I was thinking about how the oddities of Colorado wine shipping laws meant that I couldn’t do the Sunset Wine Club any more (Colorado is a reciprocal state, but requires that you have actually visited the winery or a tasting room to receive direct shipments, which is okay for a winery you’ve visited, but not for a generic wine club), and I thought of how I was enjoying the wine, and I said, what the heck. So I signed up, too.
Which meant a discount on the wine I’d already bought, and another tasting back in the cask room, where there was some still yummier stuff (including an absolutely, rapturously incredible Vin de Paille, which is like drinking apricots).
More bottles of wine (nicely discounted) later, including a couple for dinner that night, and we were set.
Sunday
Smallish group hit the road on Sunday — Margie and me, Mary, Lori, and Di (yes, it was me, a fast car, wine, and four lovely ladies — eat your hearts out).
First stop was Justin — which has been another regular to visit, but which I’d have given a pass on save that it was a must on Lori’s plate. Justin’s wines are good, but for their prices they should be excellent.
The place feels transplanted straight from Napa, for good and ill — a lovely atmosphere (along with a restaurant and B&B), picnic supplies you can buy, and a snooty attitude, both at the hoi-polloi tasting bar (anyone can come up and plunk down their $5) and at the “Members Only” tasting bar (separate yet visible, demarcated by tasteful velvet roping).
The overall feel is that you should be honored to be tasting there, and honored to be paying those prices for the wine.
I’m not, and I’m not. And their glasses (which you get for the tasting fee) are cheap. So there.
Feh.
Definite pass next year, unless others insist.
Went back to Tablas Creek at that point, at which point I was able to use my new VINsider perks to get everyone in for the nice(r) wine tasting. Folks enjoyed it, and I bought quite a bit of wine at the others’ behest.
We took a trip down Peach Canyon Rd., which we’d never really done before. First on our list was Nadeau Family Vintners, a small winery along there specializing in “big” Zins.
It’s a fun place to taste — the tasting room doubles as a lab during off hours (so plenty of flasks and beakers about), but there’s also a lot of decor of classic “cheap” wine — Ripple and Thunderbird and Boone’s Farm and the like. The tasting was free, which was nice, and moderately friendly.
The wine? So-so. Standard mix of local varietals. One of their Zins was sold out, but the other two were pretty good. We ended up with a couple of bottles. Recommended for a visit, but not an absolute necessity.
We then continued down the road to Stacked Stone. This is another small winery, only recently selling, and still very starting up. They had a wide array of wines for tasting (for free), and the owner trotted out from one building on their grounds to greet us when we arrived and escort us over to the tasting room.
Good stuff. Some interesting ports (which we picked up), and a nice array of other varietals. The owner was friendly, welcoming, and engaging, and it was a fun visit. I had the sense that this is an up-and-coming winery, and would like to visit again.
The group was interested in a bit more when we were done there, so we wandered over to Linne Calodo. My conclusions:
These three factors have been true the last three years or so, which makes me think LC won’t be on the visit list in the future — but that we’ll remain members. The sense I get is that they are a lot more interested in wine making than wine selling — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but may make getting the word out about the wine more difficult.
We were pretty much done by then — except that we had a serious need for a pit stop. So, on the way back up, we stopped at Dover Canyon.
Huge bathroom.
Margie and I had tasted there before, and they’re noteworthy for having a huge tasting list of which you have to choose 5 — which, with a big group, is open to abuse/confusion, compounded by the various ones that weren’t open for tasting. The guy manning the table was sort of, “Eh, I have something better to do when my shift is over,” though he did his job well enough.
We did come away with a couple of bottles (including the best under-$10 red we’d encountered), but I have no more desire to go there again than I did, well, this time. For the wine, at least.
Note for next year — bring food, and/or do some olive oil tasting along the way.
All in all, a good year for wine …
Not even counting all the stuff we tasted at the KOA dinner …
On 21 June 1915, Lydia Reginatto was born. She’s my Nona — my grandmother, via my Mom. And I was very, very pleased to be able to celebrate her 90th…
On 21 June 1915, Lydia Reginatto was born.
She’s my Nona — my grandmother, via my Mom.
And I was very, very pleased to be able to celebrate her 90th birthday with her on Tuesday night.
(The pic to the left was her in her engagement dress in 1935. To the right was from the other evening. For more older pics, see here; more pics of Nona today starting here.)
Well, Friday I felt worse (as a general malaise) than Thursday, and basically vegged on the chair all afternoon and evening, until Margie put me to be at 8. This…
Well, Friday I felt worse (as a general malaise) than Thursday, and basically vegged on the chair all afternoon and evening, until Margie put me to be at 8.
This morning I feel better, except for my stomach, which is gurglier than yesterday. So I’m not quite sure what that means …
Ah, well — hoping to feel better Real Soon Now.
Tuesday night, my stomach turned south, and I generally started feeling unhappy. Ditto for most of yesterday, and into today. Rrg. At home. Not what I needed to be doing…
Tuesday night, my stomach turned south, and I generally started feeling unhappy. Ditto for most of yesterday, and into today.
Rrg. At home. Not what I needed to be doing today …