Sunday, 11 January 2009
I’ve seen three cherry trees with branches in bloom this week. Seriously. But they better watch out; it’s supposed to be pretty cold this week.
For some warmth, check out the hot (mostly meaning electric—your tax dollars at work, I guess) cars at the Detroit Auto Show. I recommend Nancy’s blog for well-rounded reporting including videos, and the NYTimes for totally conventional (haha) coverage.
Friday, 2 January 2009
Here’s the fun first step to today’s cooking adventure: making baba ganoush—that is, charring an eggplant right on the burner….
Well, that’s not entirely true, but it makes a good headline!
Cookies that come out of the oven—I like them! (Maybe too much!)
Cookies that result from internet activity—hmm. I delete them frequently.
And just the other day I discovered that there is another kind of cookie that Macromedia hides in its own folder. This explains why I even after I deleted my cookies—the ones that I knew about—a web site would “recognize” me. I now have another set of cookies to deliberately delete, in order to maintain a bit more control over my online persona/profile…. (And, no, I don’t think I’m overly paranoid about this….)
Way back in July 2007, I mentioned another cookie control mechanism—installing a DoubleClick opt-out cookie.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
I can imagine the sales meetings that developed these promotional motifs….
Over at American Standard, they said, geeze, how can we convey superior flushing power? Yeah, without being gross. Well, hmm. Let’s hit the links and discuss this further…. Later, at the Nineteenth Hole, over the third drink: hey, clog-free, hey, golf balls. Tada!
Meanwhile, over at Kohler, they stayed in-doors, and imagined the McMansion, or more modest installation, where many toilets are in rooms attached to bedrooms rather than down the hallway, so they’re not all that far from, well, you get the idea, and quiet is important….
And you choose…?
Monday, 8 September 2008
Yeah, this is an ore carrier at the Soo Locks, but it fits the topic. Yeah, loosely. But.
They’re not much for resting on their laurels over at Google. Ashlee Vance at the NYTimes reports (blogs) that Google has taken out a patent on a floating data center, essentially allowing them to avoid the real estate market by mooring servers mounted in containers offshore, yet near demand centers (I’m assuming, for example, New York City, LA, and maybe even Chicago and St. Louis).
Just off the top of my head, I have two questions. One: power; as I understand it servers are power hogs, so will they pair the server-barges with wind turbine farms? Two: bad weather—hurricanes, ice storms—seems like the potential for service interruption is extremely high under certain conditions.
Still, interesting.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Here’s the label on the 122×56 inch slab….
One lead to the next….
You see, I got to visit the place where our vanity and tub deck stone will be cut. The bonus was I got to be the opinionated client about how to lay out the pieces.
First, we picked out the stone several weeks ago, when we picked out the bathrooom tile. I think it’s called Cherokee marble, and it’s maybe even from a Georgia quarry, so even though we’re raping the landscape for our interior decorating, we’re being the building trades equivalent of “locavores.”*
Today, I met Dick-our-wonderful-contractor over at the stone place. We checked in and received our special costumes for visiting the floor. (It’s been a long time since I was in a factory….)
The lovely Sonya escorted us deep into the cutting area, where we met Stewart, who did the layout. He’s a genius. The stone has two really cool inclusions, and he helped me get one into the vanity top and one into the tub deck, and fit all the other tub deck pieces into the slab such that they will look just right. I think we’ll get a backsplash for the vanity out of it, too!
I’m just so tickled; the pieces are better than I’d hoped!
So that was the first new experience. And here’s the second. I* made a gallery of pictures from my adventure. Check it out below! (Click on one of the thumbnail pictures and you will see it larger, and then can page through the assortment.)
* Not so with the shingles, for example.
** With help from The Guru. Obviously.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Right now, the Palin Wikipedia page has a whopping 108 references.
Prediction: cyveilliance will become a commonly used noun. Right now apparently it’s the name of a company* that:
normally trawls the Internet for data on behalf of clients seeking open source information in advance of a corporate acquisition, an important executive hire, or brand awareness. For example, an executive updating his Wikipedia page or resume on Monster.com may be an indication of that person’s plans to change jobs, or even that the company is in financial trouble.
I learned about it in this WashPost article by Brian Krebs (sorry, it’s dated Friday, but I just found it). Krebs begins:
In the days leading up to Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate announcement, political junkies glued to broadcasts and blogs for clues of McCain’s veep choice might have done better to keep a sharp eye on each candidate’s Wikipedia entry.
Just hours before McCain declared his veep choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, her Wiki page saw a flurry of activity, with editors adding details about her approval rating and husband’s employment. Perhaps more tellingly, some of the same users editing her page were almost simultaneously updating McCain’s Wiki entry, adding information dealing with accuracy, sources and footnotes to each.
While Palin was among the least well-known of the potential GOP vice presidential picks – and therefore perhaps the candidate whose Wikipedia page was most in need of updating – her entry saw far more activity than that of Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, probably the next most obscure potential choice.
On August 28, Palin’s entry was updated at least 68 times, with at least an additional 54 changes made to her entry over the preceding five days. In contrast, Pawlenty’s entry received 54 alterations on the 28th, and just 12 changes during the prior five days.
It probably won’t happen that way next time, though….
* Although a simple Google query reveals references to it, their web page doesn’t come up. Interesting….
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
You idiots*!
Buying stuff from spam**!
STOP IT!
* …in the sense that Ben Stiller would use the word in a script….
** “…a study out this month indicates that nearly 30 percent of Internet users confessed to purchasing something from spam e-mail.” Says the Wash Post today.
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
This rebuilding project has been an adventure in learning about new building products.
The smeary stuff on the windows is the modern way to cope with the paint/glass interface. They put this stuff on, and it drys into a skin, then, after the paint is dried, make a clean cut along the glass/frame inteface and peel it away like skin two days after a bad sunburn.
If I’d only known about this magic stuff last summer when I was painting all those windows on the cottage! Well, actually, I have to finish them whenever we get back up there, so, voila! A new technique!*
* Reminder to self: ask The Guys what this most excellent Stuff is called!
UPDATE: it’s called Masking Liquid H2O, and costs something like $60/gallon, at least to our contractor, but it doesn’t take much, so maybe they sell half-pints for those of us with small jobs.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
We knew we didn’t want to go back to fiberglass (or whatever they use now) batts for insulation, and after much on-line research, and chit-chatting amongst ourselves, we went with Soy Therm 50.
Soy Therm 50 spray-foam insulation is innovative, environmentally friendly and made with Soyol, USSC’s patented, soy-based polyol technology. It is an open-celled, water-blown, rigid polyurethane insulating foam that contains no ozone-depleting chemicals, VOCs, formaldehyde or asbestos. It expands upon application to fill all voids and cracks, and can save significantly on heating and cooling costs. At a density of 1/2 lb. per cu. ft., this is an excellent rigid foam insulation product for commercial and residential use.
…says the United Soybean Board web page….
And this is what it looks like part way through the process. You may be able to tell that the foam is applied against the outside of the house/roof, so everything—at least in new construction—inside of the outside walls would be “interior” relative to the insulation. And, bonus!, this means the house is much better sealed, especially against insects and other critter infestations. Even though we’re just able to have this on part of the upstairs, I think it’ll make a huge difference. Yes, we’re paying more, but I think we’ll be happier with our living situation (yea!, more storage! and more storage that’s insulated!).
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Archive photo.
Apparently those memorable footprint fireworks we saw as part of NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremonies were fake. There were fireworks, but we were seeing a computer-generated fantasy. I had it wrong.
UPDATE: cute little girl singing was miming; less-cute not-quite-so-little girl was singing in the wings.