January 30, 2005
Squirrel tracks like big running stitches across a snow blanket. Stones that look cold and hard, stones that look warm and soft. Dead silent. Good for an afternoon walk.
I have my sturdy boots on and probably less respect for the dead than I should, so I ignore the paths and tromp around in the snow, sometimes following those squirrel paths, sometimes not. MEYER. COOK. FISCHER.
Human tracks lead to a tall stone, but not beyond it. There's something there, on top. It's a dead crow, just above my view, so all I can see is a curly claw and flight feathers. I hold the camera up in the air to ...
Intestinal virus. Nuff said.
January 20, 2005
I couldn't believe my eyes. For months now, we've been deriding those who bought this incredibly ugly car:
the Scion B And yet, at the Detroit Auto Show today, there was a look-alike in just about every car manufacturer's stable.
Boxy. Square. Solid. Imposing. Ford had the
Synus (who named that thing?). Many were concept cars, so I can't give you more pictures. Think hearse. Think armoured bank car. Think Hummer.
And there you have the key: the Hummer. The effect the Hummer's popularity has had on today's car design is alarming. Usually, the auto show is a homage to sex - dangerous curves, luscious ...
January 17, 2005
My Sam's Club membership has finally expired. We are now Costco members!
They just opened a store up near Brighton. It's a little farther away than the Sam's Club, but not by too much. It's worth the extra effort to support companies which support progressive causes anyway.
The only things we didn't find were tuna in 'pouches' instead of cans and low-carb tortillas. Otherwise, everything, including the Nutella, was there. And - bonus - Costco carries great big bottles of Tanqueray and Sapphire and Absolut and everything!
January 12, 2005
Please consider boycotting Bush & Co's inauguration party, the most lavish, self-serving, high-cost bash on record and is being funded by siphoning millions away from homeland security for our nation's capitol, as well as through
contributions from corporations (Chevron Texaco is giving a quarter of a million, for example) and the wealthy who benefit most from the president's divisive policies.
The folks at
notonedamndime.com have a good idea: don't spend anything on January 20. Not one damn dime. Those of us who oppose the president's rash policies still have plenty of power. Exercise it on January 20th, and keep exercising it by boycotting and avoiding corporations which support Bush's divisive policies. You can get ...
January 6, 2005
Fliegt der Schnee mir ins Gesicht,
Schüttl' ich ihn herunter.
Wenn mein Herz im Busen spricht,
Sing' ich hell und munter.
Höre nicht, was es mir sagt,
Habe keine Ohren;
Fühle nicht, was es mir klagt,
Klagen ist für Toren.
Lustig in die Welt hinein
Gegen Wind und Wetter !
Will kein Gott auf Erden sein,
Sind wir selber Götter !
-Wilhelm Müller
January 5, 2005
Folksonomy. If you've never heard of it, you probably will soon. You may have even engaged in it already.
Folksonomy is an informal social classification system which is catching on in various places around the web. You can see it in action at
Flickr,
Furl, and
del.icio.us. It involves people 'tagging' entries with categorical names and then being able to see other people's entries with the same 'tag.' The entries could be URL bookmarks or pictures or
resolutions. The gist of it is that a group of people creates its own system for classification.
Eh, so what, you say. I did too at first. Then someone pointed me to ...
January 4, 2005
I hate it. I hate the Kroger store near me. Despise it. They recently reordered all the aisles and I can't find a damn thing there any more. Nothing is in any logical order. You'd think that all paper goods would be in the same general area or side of the store, right? The tissues might not be in the same exact aisle as paper towels, but maybe the next one over. No, no, not in this new layout. Tissues are on the opposite side of the store from paper towels. Cookies are five aisles over from snacks. They have deliberately made it such that you have to wander through ...
