Archive for February, 2008

Synchronicity

February 28, 2008 - 2:14 pm Comments Off on Synchronicity

Synchronicity for this week:

Mama Ninfa Laurenzo (Hub was talking about her inventing fajitas and so was this week’s Soup Peddler menu.
Frank Gehry (he was on The Simpsons as well as in a Metafilter post.

Tidbits

February 23, 2008 - 3:39 pm 2 Comments

I ran into people talking about gutta percha three times in the last week. I’d never heard of it before.

I got invited to join the honors society at school.

I also submitted a paper about Disney’s parks and how they relate to Fisher’s Narrative Theory for presentation at SOURCE, my school’s annual conference, and it was accepted. I’ll be presenting it on April 11.

I submitted my application for graduate school and, once I get my degree plan signed, should be accepted with no problem. I also heard back from the new person assigned to evaluate my portfolio for Emerging Technologies and she said to expect to see that on my transcript sometime next week (I submitted the damned thing in November!).

I’m all registered for SXSWi, which ITVS was kind enough to do since World Without Oil is a finalist in the Web Awards. Don’t forget that you can vote EVERY DAY for WWO in the People’s Choice awards. It just takes one click a day.

We made reservations for a return trip to Disney World this August. This year we’re going to try The Polynesian Resort. Staying at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge was just heavenly last year, what with the full size fridge, washer/dryer, and separate living/sleeping areas, but the big drawback was that it wasn’t on the monorail. I think we can sacrifice a lot for that convenience. We’ll see if we end up speaking to each other when it’s all over.

Last, I’ve been bleaching my teeth for the last 9 days and haven’t had one stinking cup of coffee or tea since I started and I’m damned grouchy.

Ok, sorry, that wasn’t last; this is: we finally got an XBox 360 and picked up Rock Band and Guitar Hero III. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun.

Cloverfield

February 16, 2008 - 12:20 am 3 Comments

Just got back from Cloverfield. I loved it. I haven’t been that riveted by an action film since the first Jurassic Park.

Predictably, Hub hated it. He prefers more formulaic, wrapped-up Hollywood films. Some spoilers follow.
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New feature: Mondegreens

February 15, 2008 - 4:54 pm Comments Off on New feature: Mondegreens

A mondegreen is a misheard or misspelled phrase. It’s interesting to me to see the different sayings that people mangle, and makes me wonder if it is because we’ve evolved from an oral history->written history->back to oral history. So I figured I’d collect some of the ones I read on various internet fora, since I spend a (probably unhealthily) large amount of time on them.

To start out with:
“In this day in age” should be “In this day and age”
“Construction criticism” should be “Constructive criticism”
“One in the same” should be “One and the same”

What are your favorites?

SXSW People’s Choice awards – vote WWO!

February 13, 2008 - 12:54 am Comments Off on SXSW People’s Choice awards – vote WWO!

Sign up to vote for the SXSW Web Awards People’s Choice awards, especially if you want to vote for World Without Oil! 🙂

Disturbing trend

February 11, 2008 - 9:07 pm Comments Off on Disturbing trend

I know of two large online communities (in the tens of thousands of users) that have disabled the ability to privately message or email other users, and have outlawed the discussion of personal contact information on the boards. This seems to me to be defeating the purpose of a community per se, by not allowing connections to happen organically and grow to possible real-life friendships or networking. It also adds yet another layer of anonymity? Non-accountability? If you KNOW you’re never going to be held accountable for your online posts in real life, why bother to be helpful?

I read a thread of an attempted real-life meetup from one of those boards, where, since they were unable to share cell numbers or exchange names, it failed miserably and those people who tried to make it were discouraged.

Information is like water. It seeks its own level. If it is blocked in one direction, it will make another path – one that those board owners won’t be able to control so easily.

How to spend a relaxing Saturday evening

February 9, 2008 - 8:19 pm 2 Comments

1. Be working on a research paper due Monday.

2. Look in the dog kennel. Discover just the cap of what appears to be silicon sealant. Do not find the rest of the tube.

3. Also, while attempting to fix computers seeing each other on the home network, do something to your computer’s permissions that render it basically inoperable.

4. Realize it’s 8:00, the husband’s at the emergency vet with the puppy, the kids haven’t eaten, so call for a pizza. Have them tell you they can’t deliver for an hour.

5. Attempt to repair computer permissions, fail. Have to reinstall the whole bloody mess.

Sorry, there was a typo in my title. BECAUSE THIS IS NOT RELAXING. AT ALL.

Celebrating the writer’s strike coming to an end…

February 9, 2008 - 4:11 pm Comments Off on Celebrating the writer’s strike coming to an end…