The Good

• Trailer for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”... - Woot! Very much not for kidlings any more, but very appropriately spooky.
• Save lots with truly generic pills - Not sure about ordering pills via Amazon, but it's an interesting idea.
• The wife - Yeah, this sounds kind of familiar. :-)
• Iomega StorCenter 1TB Wireless NAS Hard Drive for... - Wow. Just ... wow. Might need to look into this ...
• Doctor Who: David Tennant's 10th Doctor Returns to... - Doctor Who DVDs for the current series! Woot! (May contain spoilers for folks who are, ahem, behind in watching their Who stuff).

The Bad

• To destroy Al Qaeda, we must end the war on terror:... - Statistical studies like this can never take into account the nuances of a given situation, and police and political engagement work best where there's a good framework already in place for them. But this RAND study is worth pondering.
• Auto Insurance - To be fair, the insurance person on the phone was probably in India.

The Ugly

• The troops on the ground - Next time some pundit jumps all over some politician saying the most slightly critical thing about our armed forces -- remember how those same armed forces sometimes bring a whole hell of a lot more dishonor (as people, and as an institution) upon themselves. And that, in turn, is a much bigger slap in the face to the individual grunts who are risking their lives out there.

Filed under :: Gaming :: Geopolitical Brouhaha :: Health :: Hi-Tech :: Homeland Security :: Media - Movies :: Media - TV - Doctor Who :: Potpourri
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (0) · Pings (0) · TR/G

Catching up from a bit ...

The Good

1. Scientific daydream - DOF waxes at length on what scientific education should be, and how to bring it about.
2. Notes from the Field | Robert X. Cringely® | InfoWorld... - Even the RIAA can't stand before a few good mothers banding together.
3. What's For Lunch? - I knew there was a reason I had my Mom make me PB&Js every day for lunch when was in school.
4. Star Wars photoshopping contest - Classic (and some not-so-classic) art given a Star Wars theme. Some delightful bits here.
5. Wherein your host removes all dobut of his royal geekiness... - What other former Companions could the Doctor turn to in times of need?

The Bad

1. Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Nevada GOP Cancels Convention,... - It's a bad sign when the delegates just, um, phone it in.
2. Study finds AMBER Alerts are great drama, but have... - Have lives been saved? Very few. Has the general level of fear in the general populace been ratcheted up a notch? Yup. What's the trade-off?
3. DRM Deja Vu: Yahoo! Music shutting down. Any music... - Once again, unless you actually own it, it can be taken away.
4. Michigan women must pay out of pocket for birth control... - ... while Michigan men can get insurance coverage for Viagra. Bzzzzzt!

The Ugly

1. Ben Stein goes off the deep end. Suggests Obama is... - Ben Stein was fun on Win Ben Stein's Money. Ben Stein as political commentator the last few years has been a rhetorical train wreck.
2. Tom Delay says: God made America to spread the Gospel! - It says so right in the Constitution, right?
3. WSJ op-ed claims “The Dark Night” is actually a homage... - ... to George W. Bush? As is, evidently, Lord of the Rings. Riiiiiiight.
4. CIA memos say ’specific intent’ of ‘pain and suffering’... - Remember, if you weep as you torture them, not only is it not torture, but you get a full remission of your sins.
5. CNN reporter says bad things about the TSA, gets hassled... - I feel much safer!
6. Police Infiltrating, Spying on Leftist Groups - Didn't they learn back in the, oh, 60s? It's not about the actual useful intel or danger, it's about justifying a big budget and feeling like J. Edgar Hoover (with or without dress).
7. An Interactive Guide to Bush Administration Lawbreaking - Can't tell your players without a program.

Filed under :: Elections 2008 :: Food & Drink :: Health :: Homeland Security :: Media - Movies :: Media - TV - Doctor Who :: Media Moguls :: Parenting :: Politics & Law :: Potpourri :: Religion :: School Daze
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (0) · Pings (0) · TR/G

The Good:

• TuneUp cleans iTunes library - While my collection isn't quite as large as this, I've run into problems with the iTunes library. I need to take a look at this to see if it might be helpful. Main concern -- I've done a lot of tailoring of the info downloaded from Gracenote, and wouldn't want that frelled up.
• Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them [Lifehacker... - Bookmarking this. At least a couple look worth pursuing.
• Eschewing all those newfangled diet and fitness trends,... - Could I learn to keep bullies from kicking sand in my face? Sure -- by not going to the beach.
• Taking care of your voice during a convention - Not just conventions, but any number of other times when this would be handy for this.

The Bad:

• BDSM Black Canary Barbie - Yes, someone has their fishnets in a knot about Barbie wearing a Black Canary outfit -- even thought that outfit graced the covers of many Comics Code Authority-approved comic books for years, as well as showing up in a cartoon on TV for kids. Must be a slow publicity week ...
• Library of Congress: DRM a serious obstacle to archiving -- But, of course, we can't let something like preserving the nation's cultural heritage get in the way of protecting intellectual property from 1337 Hackers and Evil Pirates!

The Ugly:

• Ibruprofen is so evil, it must come from the Devil... - Because, of course, no week is complete without some insane Zero Tolerance school policy rearing its ugly head -- in this case, leading to a female student being strip searched because someone else claimed that she had gotten an Ibruprofin tablet from her ... y'know, like the ones you can get jars of 1000 of down at CostCo?

Filed under :: Health :: Media - Comics :: Media Moguls :: My Computer :: Potpourri :: ZT & PC
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (0) · Pings (0) · TR/G

... with a score of 8 correct out of 11 on the Extreme Survival Quiz.

Filed under :: Health
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (7) · Pings (0) · TR/G

This and that, while it still hovers ovr 80 ...

1. PvPonline » Archive » Interlude: The Adventures of... - I have a love-hate relationship with the whole LOLmeme stuff ... but I found this pretty funny.
2. ACLU, others greet Bush FISA bill signing with new... - Enough to make me consider becoming a card-carrying member.
3. 4th Edition Core Rules PDFs - Spiffy D&D downloads. And the order name and number watermark is actually a clever idea to discourage piracy while still not interfering with use of the product. DRM that actually kinda works.
4. Why Most Sunscreens Don't Work | Newsweek To Your... - Great. Sun screen culture viz kids has changed dramatically since I grew up, and slathering the young-un with SPF 30 is SOP at home and at school. A pity, it seems, that's only blocking sunburn, not skin cancer ...
5. Fact or Fiction: Why Some People Are Mosquito Magnets... - Body chemistry, body heat, pregnancy ... all sorts of factors. I tend to be only moderately tasty -- but both Margie and Katherine are deeply concerned that the poor little skeeters of North Woods Wisconsin will go hungry now that they've returned home ...
6. Decades later, still asking: Would I pull that switch?... - I wish I felt confident about the answer for myself.

Filed under :: Gaming :: Health :: Health - Science :: Homeland Security :: Media - Comics :: Science
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (0) · Pings (0) · TR/G

So Katherine was all dressed in her gi and ready to head to karate.

"Mommy? It feels like I have a flap of skin in my hair."

No, honey, that's -- gah! A tick! A huge tick! 

Ah, the joys of a vacation in upstate Wisconsin ...

So much for karate, and instead off to a late appointment at the local clinic to remove same.

(Though I'd noted it in passing before, all the websites I was looking at in mere seconds indicated that the old-fashioned anti-tick remedies -- a just-snuffed match, vaseline, alcohol -- are counter-indicated these days. Consult your physician, or Google for removing ticks.)

Katherine was initially -- a bit freaked out over the the whole tick thing. Until we both told her that we'd both had ticks in our time. Not from upstate Wisconsin, mind you, but ... ticks! And we survived. (Actually, this wasn't a deer tick -- the sort I've had in my distant past, and which carry Lyme's Disease). That seemed to be enough to settle her down some, and, in fact, she was able to crack a joke after she'd changed back into her civvies to go to the clinic.

"I know what we should watch on TV tonight while we're eating dinner. The Tick! Ha ha ha!"

Headed to the clinic, good NP removed the little beastie, Kitten was incredibly brave (and afterwards, after some initial trepidation, decided she wanted to see it in the jar). "It looks a lot like a beetle. Or a spider."

So she's on an antibiotic (who knows where the critter had been), but apparently recovered from the ordeal. And so the parenting thing goes.

Filed under :: Health :: Parenting
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (3) · Pings (0) · TR/G

Via Mary, a faboo collection of classic R.J. Reynolds cigarette ads. Ah, for the Good Ol' Days when people worried only about the nicotine shakes and burning bite, not lung cancer.

Filed under :: Big Business :: Health :: Media
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (0) · Pings (0) · TR/G

 

Words to live by. (Margie's okay, but it made for an exciting afternoon.)

Filed under :: Family :: Health
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (9) · Pings (0) · TR/G

So I got an IM from Margie today that Kitten was sick at her summer day care.

Turns out it was seriously sick, not of the "off to the ER" kind but of the "high fever and blowing chunks" kind. As was another kids in the class. As were two other kids that were at home that day.

Right now she's lying up on our bed, very quiet and miserable. Didn't even want to curl up on the couch. She hasn't thrown up since she got home -- but I picked up some Jello and some Gatorade for her. As well as a couple of books for when she's on the mend.

Poor Kitten.

UPDATE: As I was typing, she announced she was feeling much better, but then went back to lie down.

Filed under :: Health
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (4) · Pings (0) · TR/G

After my sports injury (I still get a mild kick out of writing those words), I've been popping Advil and trying to take it easy on that arm. Though odd movements that twist or extend that elbow still hurt some (often unexpectedly -- "Hey, I didn't realize doing that meant moving my arm like this"), it's feeling much better. I even went to karate last night, did some similar exercises (carefully) and managed to only feel significant pain once (when I forgot to do it carefully).

Question is -- will I be able to do the yard work this weekend that I really need to do? Though it would make a dandy excuse ...

Filed under :: Health :: Karate
Link · Print · Edit · Comments (0) · Pings (0) · TR/G