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October 31, 2005
Sometimes we get bored at work
Since we’re literary types, we get a bit more creative...
Apparently there is some confusion on why this is funny. If you are not getting it, click here to clear things up...
Posted by Andrew at 08:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 29, 2005
Postmoderism- HO!
You are a Revisionist Historian. You are the Clark
Kent of postmodernists. You probably want to
work in a library or in social services. No
one suspects you of being a postmodernist...
until they read your publications!
Posted by Andrew at 05:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 28, 2005
Don't click
Posted by Andrew at 05:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 27, 2005
27 damnit! I am 27...
| You Are 30 Years Old |
 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. |
Posted by Andrew at 11:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 26, 2005
My tax dollars hard at work
Government recipes. For things that aren’t pork, even!
Actually, a few of these sound rather good...
Posted by Andrew at 07:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 25, 2005
Vile Filth
New to Unshelved? Check out our primer!
Posted by Andrew at 01:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Dear Senator Boxer
I have noticed your newly published Novel Time to Run at a recent trip to a bookstore. The bit of it I was able to read at the store (times are tough, funds are short) seemed interesting. The central question you pose (how personal ought the political be) is one well worth exploring. With respects, Senator, I must say that there are better places for a sitting minority member of the US Senate to be directing her energies...
Senator, there are real issues and real problems with our country. The Bush presidency has destroyed Americas ability to operate overseas. Domestically, he has done so poorly that it seems that we are doomed to lose a city every time storm season comes around. If fiction were the only tool at your disposal to correct these monstrous wrongs, I would gleefully tell you to get typing. I refuse to believe that the Democratic Party has fallen so far that one of its Senators has no other tool.
I respectfully submit that if you publish another novel within your current term of office, I will have to find someone else to vote for in the Primary.
Posted by Andrew at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 24, 2005
Hero’s Death
USATODAY.com - Rosa Parks, civil rights heroine, is dead
Posted by Andrew at 07:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 23, 2005
Sunday Cat Blogging
Are my cats the cutest things ever? I think so!
Here we’ve captured the wild Janus in his natural habitat, the doorway. His prey consists of lego, preferably pre-built, though he’ll scatter pieces around if they’re available.
Cat under glass? Pixel is a bit camera shy, preferring to run away when the camera comes out. He can open doors, but doesn’t seem to have figured out that glass is transparent in both directions. Your hiding place will avail you not, kitten!
Purrbox is our foster, and he may be getting adopted this coming week, he’s awfully cute. Probably the most mischievous cat I’ve met, and gets into everything. I’ve seriously considered baby-proofing the cabinetry so that he won’t get into them. Here, he proudly surveys his domain from his new found perch...
Posted by Andrew at 01:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 22, 2005
Sacred Cows
The global poverty rate is US$1.00 per day. That’s not much. When was the last time you bought lunch for a buck? I don’t know that I ever have. Roughly half of humanity doesn’t get even that dollar...
So, how much do you think the EU and it’s constituent governments pay for each Cow per day? More or less than the global poverty line? More? Twice as much? How about 2.6 times as much. Seems a bit excessive, doesn’t it? As, I am sure, my over use of rhetorical questions in this essay...
The thing is, the one thing poor countries can do is make food. Agriculture is the absolute basis of a developing economy. And if they can make food cheaper than industrial nations, they can earn much needed capital. That capital can then be used for basic infrastructural improvements and an educational system that is up to 1st world standards...
To even begin doing that, they need to be on anything like a level playing field with 1st world agricultural producers. The EU (and incidentally the US) has the power to do this. Doing so would save their governments a lot of money. Doing so would also tend to hurt politicians in vote-rich agricultural areas, so it might not happen any time soon. I wonder which nations have the moral leadership to make the first move...
Posted by Andrew at 12:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 21, 2005
Friday 10
1) 50 Ways to leave your lover Paul Simon
2) Break on through (to the other side The Doors
3) Crosstown traffic Jimi Hendrix
4) Unglued Stone Temple Pilots
5) I am the very model of a Cartoon Individual Animaniacs
6) I’m a believer Smashmouth
7) Mental Instra Keller Williams
8) Whisper Not Bobby Hutcherson
9) Wings Fairport Convention
10) (Night Times Is) the right Times Ray Charles
Posted by Andrew at 11:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I guess
I took this quiz twice and got the same answer. The thing is, I hate Yoda, blaming him for the downfall of the republic. Perhaps that the lesson...
Posted by Andrew at 01:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 20, 2005
Whatever you say boss!
Man gets prison term to match Bird's jersey - NBA - MSNBC.com
I wonder how he’ll feel in 32 years...
Posted by Andrew at 12:05 PM | TrackBack
October 19, 2005
Thank you President Bush
Ezra Klein: Rendering Health Punditry Obsolete
If things keep going down this road, all my raging against pharmaceutical patents and monopolistic practices won't make a damn bit of difference soon, as all the drugs will be made on South Korea anyway.
In only 5 years, we’ve gone from being the world leader in science to competing against China and South Korea. Good for humanity, I guess. But bad for America. Who knew Bush was such a one-worlder at heart?
Posted by Andrew at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 18, 2005
Winston Smith Sums up:
I ended up being against invading Iraq, but anybody who didn't feel the allure of ousting Hussein and building a liberal democracy must have a heart of stone. The WMD case was pathetic but that's not the case that liberal hawks relied on. There was a strong humanitarian case to be made for the war, even if it may not have been quite strong enough to justify it. If the average liberal hawk who supported invasion was a chump it was because he mistakenly thought (a) that this administration really gave a damn about human rights and (b) that this administration was minimally competent.
Let me just add that I am a liberal hawk. I also feel dumb for not recognizing how basically incompetent Bush is...
Posted by Andrew at 04:13 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Oh my oh my!
Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible - World - Times Online
In the document, the bishops acknowledge their debt to biblical scholars. They say the Bible must be approached in the knowledge that it is “God’s word expressed in human language” and that proper acknowledgement should be given both to the word of God and its human dimensions.
They say the Church must offer the gospel in ways “appropriate to changing times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries”.
The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but continue: “We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters.”
Something to keep in mind, this document was drawn up by bishops, not the Pope, and not “ex cathedra”, that is, it was done by men the church considers fallible. The whole document is what Cold Warriors would call “plausibly deniably”...
However, I will mention that this jibes well with what I learned growing up; that when I went to Catholic high school, I was taught the bible along these lines. Hell! I was basically told to ignore the book of revelations...
I do so very much hope that other branches of The Church come to this same point of view. Imagine the fun of the Southern Baptist Convention making a similar announcement...
(via Majikthise)
Posted by Andrew at 08:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 17, 2005
Universal healthcare
Under the deal, GM's health-care costs for union members, retirees and their families will be reduced by about $1 billion a year, the world's largest automaker said....GM said that in addition, health-care liabilities on its balance sheet will be slashed by about $15 billion.
See, in many areas, if you spread the liability, costs go down. The more people who are on your healthcare rolls, the less you can charge any given person-- that’s why businesses can provide healthcare to their employees less expensively than individuals can provide that same healthcare for themselves. Now, imagine if the pool were 300 million people...
So, nationalized healthcare would result in lower fees for everyone-- and we’d all be covered...
Also, just as an afterthought, GM wouldn’t be going bankrupt...
Posted by Andrew at 10:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 16, 2005
Harvest Fest
If you ever have the chance to hang out with John and Charlene Weidner, I highly recommend you do so. You’d never know it to read his blog, but John is possibly the most mild-mannered man on Earth; I expect he’d be calm if he were trapped in a burning building-- and he himself were on fire...
Charlene provides a nice contrast to this. I hope she had as much fun yelling at me as I did yelling at her...
Anyway, if you get the chance to hang out with them, I recommend taking it. If you get the chance to hang out with them on your way to Dave Trowbridge’s place... it’s worth the trip. Good people, good food-- imagine a party in a Heinlein book, but without the gratuitous nudity and sans the orgy. But with just about as many writers. A good time...
Posted by Andrew at 11:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 14, 2005
Friday Random 10
1) Why won't Jesse Helms just Hurry up and Die Mc Hawking
2) Last Nine Inch Nails (Gods, I need to get that group off my Hard Drive
3) So Long Mom Tom Lehrer
4) Arabeque Nicola Conte
5) In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (live) Iron Butterfly
6) I have a dream Martin Luther King Junior (all 16 minutes)
7) I will survive Cake
8) Honey Pie Beatles
9) You’re Missing Bruce Springsteen
10) the Shot heard ‘Round the World Schoolhouse Rock
Posted by Andrew at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Friday Cat Blogging
Lets get right to it, shall we?
Here we see Janus doing his thing, sitting in the doorway. I missed snapping the picture where he managed to sit in a pair of doorways at once-- something that a Roman Diety would have needed 4 heads to accomplish...
This is Pixel. He’s awfully cute and knows how to open doors. Granted, opening doors isn’t quite like walking through walls, but does bear a striking resemblance. Also means that you have to double check the lock when you go to the bathroom...
This is Purrbox. We’re fostering him while he awaits adoption. Purrbox is named that way because he purrs no matter what-- even while being bathed. He really is a delightful kitten and would be wonderful in any home. If you live somewhere between Sacramento and San Jose, and are interested in adopting an older kitten (very young cat), drop me an Email...
Posted by Andrew at 08:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 13, 2005
Best Obit ever?
Theodore Roosevelt Heller, 88, loving father of Charles (Joann) Heller; dear brother of the late Sonya (the late Jack) Steinberg. Ted was discharged from the U.S. Army during WWII due to service related injuries, and then forced his way back into the Illinois National Guard insisting no one tells him when to serve his country. Graveside services Tuesday 11 a.m. at Waldheim Jewish Cemetery (Ziditshover section), 1700 S. Harlem Ave., Chicago. In lieu of flowers, please send acerbic letters to Republicans."
Posted by Andrew at 11:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Just finished the new Robert Jordan book
It was awesome! He actually moves the plot forward. Lots of fights. Rand SPOILS a SPOLIER! Mat and Loial get SPOILED! Perrin finally gets around to SPOILING SPOIL!
Anyway, if you’ve been not reading Wheel of Time books of late (and who could blame you) go ahead and Read some chapter summaries and get cracking. This one was _good_...
Posted by Andrew at 07:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 12, 2005
Yeah Competition!
SeattlePI.com Microsoft Blog - Yahoo-MSN IM deal
Yahoo! and Microsoft ink a deal to allow “interoperability” between their services. See, right now, if you want to be on both the Yahoo! and Microsoft Instant Message networks, you have to sign up for both, and have to run both programs separately. Imagine if Sprint phones could only talk to other sprint phones...
In the near future, if you’re on one of the IM networks, and have friends on the other, you’ll be able to chat with them sans opening a new account with that other provider. This will let people choose a program based upon interface design, rather than network size.
If only they can get AOL to sign on. As it stands currently, AOL has the worst of the IM interfaces. But since AOL also has the biggest network, most of us are locked into having them as a service...
Let’s see, Google opens up their own IM service, and now that each company’s number 1 rival has a competing product, these two messaging clients will be able to talk to each other. Google, by the way, is dedicated to allowing for an “open” instant messaging standard-- they use one that anyone can hop onto. This is probably a factor in everyone’s thinking...
Posted by Andrew at 12:24 PM | TrackBack
October 10, 2005
Web comic, what is a
The Artistic History of Webcomics
Posted by Andrew at 09:06 PM | TrackBack
October 09, 2005
Random 10
Here are the next 10 songs on my Itunes party shuffle. You may critique them as you will...
1) "Revolution 9" The Beatles
2) "Uncle John’s Band" Grateful Dead
3) "Achilles Last Stand" Led Zeppelin
4) "Sick Again" Led Zeppelin
5) "Red House" Jimi Hendrix
6) "I don’t want to live today" Ape Hangers (no idea. Really. Who are they?)
7) "You get what you give" New Radicals how did that get there? Deleting it from the Hard Drive
7) "When Midnight Falls" Frankye Kelly
8) "Perfect World" Liz Phair
9) "How to" Sneaker Pimps
10) "Best imitation of my life" Lisa and Jason (friends of mine)
Posted by Andrew at 03:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 08, 2005
Military combat Robots used in Nevada
Robots race across Mojave for $2M prize
The unmanned vehicles must use their computer brains and sensing devices to follow a programmed route and avoid hitting obstacles that may doom their chances.
In the most liberal sense of the word “used”...
This is a really neat idea, and is exactly the sort of thing the military ought to go about doing things. Aparently the biggest problem is not the hardware (though the off-the-shelf sensor technology being employed isn’t all that great), but rather the software-- This is much less a test of military Robots as it is of Military AI...
What I hope they’re doing, as a condition of entry, is making each contestant open source their algorithms as a precondition of entry. That way each year’s new teams get to build upon the entire body of previous work, rather than simply upon their own work from the year before...
Posted by Andrew at 05:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
New Camera phone + cats=
Saturday Cat Blogging!
Here are our cats Pixel (the closest) and Janus (far). Janus is fairly new to our household, and given that he likes to lounge around in doorways, I though the name was appropriate. The GirlFriend doesn’t agree, preferring either Zen or Laysabout. What do you guys think?
Here we see Janus gearing up to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American way! Actually, he’s just about to wander in front of my monitor...
And finally, we have Purrbox, sitting on top of my monitor. Purrbox is a kitten that we’re fostering. He’s not very bright, but loves to be cuddled. If you live in near Sacramento and are looking to love a cat, drop me a line and we’ll work something out...
Posted by Andrew at 02:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 07, 2005
reconciliation isn’t considered "family friendly"
At least, if the child is gay.
local6.com - News - Families End Up With Porn DVD By Mistake
Now, this headline is a bit misleading, after having watched the trailer, I can say that it doesn’t look like porn, but rather a movie about a guy who is trying to win back his parent’s love...
The Mormon Church tells its adherents that watching a movie is the equivalent of inviting the actions portrayed into your living room. Which tells me that Mormon moms and dads don’t want their gay children to ever try and talk to them again. Which is too bad, really...
Posted by Andrew at 05:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 04, 2005
Me, Serenely
 | You scored as The Operative. You are dedicated to your job and very good at what you do. You've done some very bad things, but they had to be done. You don't expect to go to heaven, but that is a sacrifice you've made for a better future for all.
Which Serenity character are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
The difference between me an the Operative is that while he considers killing children to be something permissible if it brings the ‘verse closer to his ideal, I consider the safety of children to be of nearly paramount import...
Another way of putting it is that the Operative is willing to do anything to create “Heaven” as a place in the ‘Verse, whereas I try to act as if “heaven” were already here...
Posted by Andrew at 07:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack