I just did the initial steps of that pizza dough recipe I've been wanting to try. I've made recipes which used ice water before (mostly pies) but this is the first bread -- and I've never had to chill the flour before. But they said the dough should come out to be about 70 degrees, and thats just about exactly what it was, so we're off to a good start.
The plan is to make it tomorrow, but as we're going away for the day, I think we'll shoot for Sunday. It'll make five small pizzas, so there will be room for experimentation with toppings, which I know my daughter will like.
Have to find a recipe for a decent sauce, too -- none of the ones I've found thus far sound great - they're all oregano, basil, tomato sauce. I'm not looking for something amazing but something with a bit of bite would be good. Course, if I wanted to make it a dessert pizza, this would be interesting....
Friday, June 30, 2006
Software Design Amendment
I'd like to propose a constitutional amendment:
Anyone designing software that doesn't give a decent help function should have their fingers super-glued together for, oh, five years.
Anyone designing software that doesn't give a decent help function should have their fingers super-glued together for, oh, five years.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Insert Relevant Title Here
Sorry, sometimes no relevant title occurs to me.
I was just sitting here in the living room, reading This Alien Shore, and thinking intermittently about a problem at work. I have been working on the installation of a piece of software for some time, and it's only been about a month since the PC part of it started working. Now today I got the news that the mainframe portion doesn't seem to be entirely compatible with what I have on the PC. I have to apply maintenance to it. That's not something that I normally do, and it scares me a little, but its not that big a deal. Still, if I can avoid it, I would. I was trying to remember where I got the software that I have on the mainframe, and I just remembered that I got it from the same source that the people doing the same thing at another location got theirs. I was a little concerned that perhaps, in my flailing around when I was starting this project, I had picked it up from one of the many places that could have had it -- when my company bought the company that makes this software, we dispersed the knowledge and support of it to the four winds, and then some. So it was possible -- but no.
So that's good. Still, I need to update this, or replace it with something newer. How to do that? Well, the suggested way is to apply maintenance - but it turns out that a) that maintenance is locked up in a system that I can't seem to get into -- another of our Know The Secret Handshake systems, and b) the first page of that site says, coyly, that not all of the product that I'm looking to update is there -- so even if I get in, it might not be there. Or it might be there, but be old stuff. I can't tell.
Then I thought Aha! Wait a second! I got another shipment of this code from a completely different source, and that source is known (or at least believed) to be newer than the source that fed me originally. Perhaps that will be current enough that I don't need to apply maintenance! Not terribly likely, but not out of the question. And then I remembered that when I had gotten the update for the PC, that site -- whose existence I hadn't even suspected; one of the many dispersed locations I mentioned above -- also had mainframe software. Perhaps that was even newer - again, I can't tell. And I can't remember that site name, so I can't sign on from this laptop (our home one) because, though I could get to our internal system from here, our internal search engine is fairly poor, and the odds of finding that particular site aren't too good.
But, I thought, I do have a pointer to that other site, buried in my browser bookmarks on my work laptop, which is sitting over against the wall in its bag. Ah -- but that piece of junk takes about fifteen minutes to start -- and its got to be plugged in, because its battery is just about shot -- and then longer to start up the browser, and then find the entry. And longer if I wanted to use that browser to get to the site, and actually look at it.
And I thought about the book I'm reading, which is populated with people who are linked cybernetically with computer systems, so that they can push and pull data at will, as needed, instantaneously.
And I sighed.
I was just sitting here in the living room, reading This Alien Shore, and thinking intermittently about a problem at work. I have been working on the installation of a piece of software for some time, and it's only been about a month since the PC part of it started working. Now today I got the news that the mainframe portion doesn't seem to be entirely compatible with what I have on the PC. I have to apply maintenance to it. That's not something that I normally do, and it scares me a little, but its not that big a deal. Still, if I can avoid it, I would. I was trying to remember where I got the software that I have on the mainframe, and I just remembered that I got it from the same source that the people doing the same thing at another location got theirs. I was a little concerned that perhaps, in my flailing around when I was starting this project, I had picked it up from one of the many places that could have had it -- when my company bought the company that makes this software, we dispersed the knowledge and support of it to the four winds, and then some. So it was possible -- but no.
So that's good. Still, I need to update this, or replace it with something newer. How to do that? Well, the suggested way is to apply maintenance - but it turns out that a) that maintenance is locked up in a system that I can't seem to get into -- another of our Know The Secret Handshake systems, and b) the first page of that site says, coyly, that not all of the product that I'm looking to update is there -- so even if I get in, it might not be there. Or it might be there, but be old stuff. I can't tell.
Then I thought Aha! Wait a second! I got another shipment of this code from a completely different source, and that source is known (or at least believed) to be newer than the source that fed me originally. Perhaps that will be current enough that I don't need to apply maintenance! Not terribly likely, but not out of the question. And then I remembered that when I had gotten the update for the PC, that site -- whose existence I hadn't even suspected; one of the many dispersed locations I mentioned above -- also had mainframe software. Perhaps that was even newer - again, I can't tell. And I can't remember that site name, so I can't sign on from this laptop (our home one) because, though I could get to our internal system from here, our internal search engine is fairly poor, and the odds of finding that particular site aren't too good.
But, I thought, I do have a pointer to that other site, buried in my browser bookmarks on my work laptop, which is sitting over against the wall in its bag. Ah -- but that piece of junk takes about fifteen minutes to start -- and its got to be plugged in, because its battery is just about shot -- and then longer to start up the browser, and then find the entry. And longer if I wanted to use that browser to get to the site, and actually look at it.
And I thought about the book I'm reading, which is populated with people who are linked cybernetically with computer systems, so that they can push and pull data at will, as needed, instantaneously.
And I sighed.
AI - Ay Ay!!!
I was reading an article here about the possibility that Google is funding research on artificial intelligence as a method of augmenting the effectiveness of search engines. It's a pretty interesting article, but I had to slow down every so often because it kept using phrases that I didn't understand -- like 'partially mineralized' and 'technological singularity'. It didn't take long to figure out what they meant (or at least, what I think they meant; each of those phrases was hyperlinked, but I didn't click through, as I liked my definitions -- I say that PN means 'partially human, partially machine', and TS means 'a point where technology breaks off into a radically new direction') but it made me wonder; why couldn't they just say it in plain words'?
Which is when I got my insight.
What if part of the fun of coming up with a new (whatever) is making up the words, so that the people who know are In The Club, and those who don't have to clamor for entry?
Which is when I got my insight.
What if part of the fun of coming up with a new (whatever) is making up the words, so that the people who know are In The Club, and those who don't have to clamor for entry?
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
No, No, No
I would never use the services of this web site. Absolutely not. It would be reprehensible, and wrong, and....what was that mailing address again?
Chocolate
Apparently, for reasons unknown, Chocolate the guinea pig cannot straighten her legs. I didn't even know they could do that, but apparently so.
We have to give the animal what is essentially ibuprofen for a while to ease the (assumed) pain, and bring her to the vet for physical therapy. I have visions of a guinea pig in a starched white coat prescribing 'Timothy hay. More Timothy hay. LOTS more.'
Wow.
We have to give the animal what is essentially ibuprofen for a while to ease the (assumed) pain, and bring her to the vet for physical therapy. I have visions of a guinea pig in a starched white coat prescribing 'Timothy hay. More Timothy hay. LOTS more.'
Wow.
Is this a joke?
"The AP reports that AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, EarthLink, NetZero and Juno are teaming up to fight child pornography. They are pooling together $1 million to build a database of pornographic images of children and software to match the image database with similar matches on their own networks."
Um...they're kidding, right? Because unless image recognition has gotten a LOT better than last I heard, this is going to generate a LOT of false positives.
Um...they're kidding, right? Because unless image recognition has gotten a LOT better than last I heard, this is going to generate a LOT of false positives.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Republicrat
58%
Republican.
"Congratulations, you're a swing voter. When they say 'Nascar Dad', they mean you. Every Republican ad on the TV set was made just for your viewing pleasure. Don't you feel special?"
Glub
I am NOT believing it -- it's raining AGAIN. Coming home, the rain was so heavy that traffic slowed on the bridge (across the mighty Susquehanna) slowed to about twenty five miles per hour, wipers running madly, flashers flashing -- and the occasional semi storming through anyway. But it died down after about twenty minutes, enough for me to not even get wet -- much -- when picking up my daughter.
And now it's thundering down AGAIN! Break out the water wings! And be very, very grateful that we don't have a basement....
And now it's thundering down AGAIN! Break out the water wings! And be very, very grateful that we don't have a basement....
Diving For It
Chocolate, the guinea pig, is ill. We don't know with what -- we think her foot hurts, so she doesn't move very much. Tomorrow, we're taking her into the vet, but tonight we had a surprise -- we had a bag of Timothy hay where she could get at it, and she actually lunged at it so hard that she went into the bag. We consider this to be an encouraging sign, and it lead to both my wife and daughter saying what they'd lunge for -- my daughter picked Chocolate (the edible kind), and my wife picked spaghetti. I didn't have anything, but now I do. One of the meals we have pretty often is rigatoni or rotini with Newman's sauce, sometimes with meat sauce or meatballs. So when I saw this recipe for Rigatoni with Sausage and Tomato Sauce (a la Tony Soprano), here, I lit right up. The recipe looks like fun, too. So that's what I'd dive for -- Rigatoni with Sausage and Tomato. And maybe some freshly baked bread? Yum!
The pointer to that site, incidentally, was found here. It's worth seeing, too.
The pointer to that site, incidentally, was found here. It's worth seeing, too.
Big Daddy
How much of BushAndCheney's stridency regarding the revealing of the financial tracking program is due to legitimate belief that exposure of this system truly will impair the fight (we need a better word) against international terroristic activities, and how much of it is because they feel that they alone know best, and to question them, or expose their hidden activities, is a strike against normality of Oedipal proportions?
I suggest that it's sixty/forty. If they were inherently trustworthy, would the press be as likely to 'out' anything they find? You can read into that what I think about their trustworthiness, but I think that no, if they played straight more often, if they gave as much as they took, they'd be more likely to get a fair deal from the press -- or even one balanced in their direction.
That said, was the outing of the program objectively a good thing? No, I don't think it was. Some things should be secret, and though I seriously don't like the extent to which BushAndCheney have stretched the rationale, I have to agree: this is one of them. These are evil people without scruples that we're against, and sometimes the end does justify the means. Should the people who did the outing be reprimanded? In a better world, yes. In the BushAndCheney one - regrettably, yes, there too. But not severely, because there's a countervailing justification. The press may not have exposed the program through noble motives, but the action was another chip against the governmental monolith that BAC want to erect, and have already substantially erected. In that light, it's not a bad thing.
I suggest that it's sixty/forty. If they were inherently trustworthy, would the press be as likely to 'out' anything they find? You can read into that what I think about their trustworthiness, but I think that no, if they played straight more often, if they gave as much as they took, they'd be more likely to get a fair deal from the press -- or even one balanced in their direction.
That said, was the outing of the program objectively a good thing? No, I don't think it was. Some things should be secret, and though I seriously don't like the extent to which BushAndCheney have stretched the rationale, I have to agree: this is one of them. These are evil people without scruples that we're against, and sometimes the end does justify the means. Should the people who did the outing be reprimanded? In a better world, yes. In the BushAndCheney one - regrettably, yes, there too. But not severely, because there's a countervailing justification. The press may not have exposed the program through noble motives, but the action was another chip against the governmental monolith that BAC want to erect, and have already substantially erected. In that light, it's not a bad thing.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Straying Again
We just came back from a jaunt to the local library, the purpose of which was to drop off books that my mother had gotten and to let the daughter look for a book to write up for her summer book report. I urged some relatively heavy-duty books on her, but we ended up with The Backyard Dragon, about a kid who's normal in every way except that he has a dragon in his back yard. What the heck, she'll read it.
============
On the way back , we wanted to mail some letters. Not a single mailbox did we see anywhere other than those attached to houses and businesses. Whatever happened to those things? Does noticing that mark me as eligible for codgerhood, junior grade? When I was in Australia, seemed like they were everywhere. Of course, I already had a warm feeling for Australia Post in comparison to the US Mail (why, I was there for three months and they never raised their rates); seeing the mailboxes just seemed natural. Not so much here, apparently.
============
Speaking of lacks, I've noticed that I'm getting fewer comments lately. I wonder why that is. Boring, perhaps? Perhaps I should turn off commenting so that it won't be so obvious to me.
============
The rain continues -- we've gotten almost six inches, apparently, which is a phenomenal amount. I don't tend to watch the news, so I've been spared hearing people say that this still doesn't make up for...and so on, but I'm sure it's out there. I did hear one person say that local towns have had so much flooding that its imperiled the integrity of the drinking water. They have to boil it before they use it. Argh.
============
This weekend our neighbor with the pool will be away, and they've asked us to watch their cat. In return, we can use their pool if we want. I bet it rains!
============
On the way back , we wanted to mail some letters. Not a single mailbox did we see anywhere other than those attached to houses and businesses. Whatever happened to those things? Does noticing that mark me as eligible for codgerhood, junior grade? When I was in Australia, seemed like they were everywhere. Of course, I already had a warm feeling for Australia Post in comparison to the US Mail (why, I was there for three months and they never raised their rates); seeing the mailboxes just seemed natural. Not so much here, apparently.
============
Speaking of lacks, I've noticed that I'm getting fewer comments lately. I wonder why that is. Boring, perhaps? Perhaps I should turn off commenting so that it won't be so obvious to me.
============
The rain continues -- we've gotten almost six inches, apparently, which is a phenomenal amount. I don't tend to watch the news, so I've been spared hearing people say that this still doesn't make up for...and so on, but I'm sure it's out there. I did hear one person say that local towns have had so much flooding that its imperiled the integrity of the drinking water. They have to boil it before they use it. Argh.
============
This weekend our neighbor with the pool will be away, and they've asked us to watch their cat. In return, we can use their pool if we want. I bet it rains!
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Apprehension
Something about my upcoming implant surgery is bothering me, and I don't know what it is.
One possibility is that I'm afraid that after the 'evaluation' this week, they'll conclude that I am not a candidate for the surgery, or a candidate only using cutting-edge (for which read: significantly more expensive, without concomitant assurance of results) techniques. I don't think either will happen, but I can't rule them out. My dental history is not good.
Another possibility is that they will say they can do it, but that it will take significantly longer than the norm because (fill in the blank). That's not too big a deal. But if they tie that to 'and you can't use that cute partial denture during that period', or 'you'll need a new, custom, expensive denture to fit over the implants while they're healing', then it becomes a deal.
A third is simply that the insurance payout will be minimal (always the goal of insurance companies) so that we have to bear the overwhelming brunt of the cost. Looking at my insurance company's chart of what they pay, I think that's possible. I really want to say that this isn't likely, but I think it is. (One comment that I've received on this subject was from a woman who doesn't have insurance, and would have to pay for all of her dental work herself. That sucks. I don't like using that phrase, but there are times none else will do.)
Finally, a fourth is that the surgery will fail. The success rate is between 90 and 95 percent, so the odds are good, but still....
I think that the continued overcast skies and rain have got me down, but I can't honestly say that bright blue skies would do much for me. When I'm in a funk, nothing seems to get me out of it except time.
I'll be glad when this is over. Or at least significantly underway, so that I can get out of this wimp mode.
One possibility is that I'm afraid that after the 'evaluation' this week, they'll conclude that I am not a candidate for the surgery, or a candidate only using cutting-edge (for which read: significantly more expensive, without concomitant assurance of results) techniques. I don't think either will happen, but I can't rule them out. My dental history is not good.
Another possibility is that they will say they can do it, but that it will take significantly longer than the norm because (fill in the blank). That's not too big a deal. But if they tie that to 'and you can't use that cute partial denture during that period', or 'you'll need a new, custom, expensive denture to fit over the implants while they're healing', then it becomes a deal.
A third is simply that the insurance payout will be minimal (always the goal of insurance companies) so that we have to bear the overwhelming brunt of the cost. Looking at my insurance company's chart of what they pay, I think that's possible. I really want to say that this isn't likely, but I think it is. (One comment that I've received on this subject was from a woman who doesn't have insurance, and would have to pay for all of her dental work herself. That sucks. I don't like using that phrase, but there are times none else will do.)
Finally, a fourth is that the surgery will fail. The success rate is between 90 and 95 percent, so the odds are good, but still....
I think that the continued overcast skies and rain have got me down, but I can't honestly say that bright blue skies would do much for me. When I'm in a funk, nothing seems to get me out of it except time.
I'll be glad when this is over. Or at least significantly underway, so that I can get out of this wimp mode.
Rainy Sunday Notes
It's raining again. There was a brief period of thunder, verging on the cataclysmic thunder of the other night, and then the rains came. I have the AC off, the ceiling fan on, and the window open. I love listening to the rain.
Our neighbor came by a few minutes ago to give us a small gift from the wedding we attended yesterday - one of the floral centerpieces. We had given the newlyweds a small cash gift, and found today to our surprise that as things go, it was considered large -- her mother said that they were 'astounded' by it. One of the benefits of living in a low cost-of-living area, I guess.
The adults at the wedding got an unexpected, unusual, and quite thoughtful gift - a CD of the music that they'd compiled for the reception. It's an eclectic mix, and I am oddly comforted by the fact that several of the pieces are ones that I both recognize and like.
============
Still haven't made that pizza recipe, but I still want to. I have high hopes for it. No special reason, I just do.
Our neighbor came by a few minutes ago to give us a small gift from the wedding we attended yesterday - one of the floral centerpieces. We had given the newlyweds a small cash gift, and found today to our surprise that as things go, it was considered large -- her mother said that they were 'astounded' by it. One of the benefits of living in a low cost-of-living area, I guess.The adults at the wedding got an unexpected, unusual, and quite thoughtful gift - a CD of the music that they'd compiled for the reception. It's an eclectic mix, and I am oddly comforted by the fact that several of the pieces are ones that I both recognize and like.
============
Still haven't made that pizza recipe, but I still want to. I have high hopes for it. No special reason, I just do.
Wedding Notes
One thing that the family next door did which was kind of cool was that instead of a wedding cake, they had wedding cupcakes. These weren't especially lavish but there were a lot of them. I think thats a very nice way to handle an informal ceremony.
==============
In case you wondered: That lead in to a Bond novel has been rattling around in my brain for a while. I don't know why. So I thought that perhaps if I wrote it down , I could think about something else. The goal was to write something believable. Blofeld, particularly, had to be believable. Not so much evil as amoral. Bond had to have spirit but brains as well. I thought the idea of someone with a weapon behind him, whom he did not suspect prior to the exchange, and set to kill him without warning, would dampen his enthusiasm -- his 'I've always gotten out of tight scrapes before, I'll get out of this one' attitude. I wanted him to plausibly think 'this time, I might not', and see what that did.
Don't know if I'll do any more. It was fun, though.
==============
In case you wondered: That lead in to a Bond novel has been rattling around in my brain for a while. I don't know why. So I thought that perhaps if I wrote it down , I could think about something else. The goal was to write something believable. Blofeld, particularly, had to be believable. Not so much evil as amoral. Bond had to have spirit but brains as well. I thought the idea of someone with a weapon behind him, whom he did not suspect prior to the exchange, and set to kill him without warning, would dampen his enthusiasm -- his 'I've always gotten out of tight scrapes before, I'll get out of this one' attitude. I wanted him to plausibly think 'this time, I might not', and see what that did.
Don't know if I'll do any more. It was fun, though.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Bonded
When he came to, James Bond found himself tied securely to a chair, his forearms clamped to the broad struts, his legs to those of the chair. A familiar face was peering at him from the far side of the room. Blofeld.
"I must say, Mister Bond", he observed quietly, "I am disappointed to find you alive. I had hoped... well, that doesn't matter. The need for your death has abated. " He shifted his stance. " An opportunity has arisen for you to be of service to -"
Bond tried the strength of the clamps, and Blofeld paused. "Lucifer! " A voice replied from behind Bond. "Yes, sir?" "Should Mister Bond attempt again to leave that chair, kill him, immediately. Do not wait for the word of command." Bond started. "Hardly sporting, Blofeld." The stocky man simply looked at him, considering, watching.
"Now that that's out of the way, Mister Bond: as I was saying, you can be of service to me."
"I must say, Mister Bond", he observed quietly, "I am disappointed to find you alive. I had hoped... well, that doesn't matter. The need for your death has abated. " He shifted his stance. " An opportunity has arisen for you to be of service to -"
Bond tried the strength of the clamps, and Blofeld paused. "Lucifer! " A voice replied from behind Bond. "Yes, sir?" "Should Mister Bond attempt again to leave that chair, kill him, immediately. Do not wait for the word of command." Bond started. "Hardly sporting, Blofeld." The stocky man simply looked at him, considering, watching.
"Now that that's out of the way, Mister Bond: as I was saying, you can be of service to me."
At the Party
My neighbor is holding a wedding event for his daughter. He's rented a pretty large tent, got a classical music group to play now, a DJ and huge speakers for later, including a small dance floor. Many pizzas for the kids. About a hundred people. He has a fair amount of property (I'd guess about a half acre), of which much is the pool and a small amount is a wooded area. At the moment, it's crowded with people.
Just prior to going over, my daughter burst into our bedroom with the news that another neighbor was already over there, and shouldn't we get going? I commented mildly that she was wearing more eyeshadow -- significantly more -- than she normally wears. I didn't know that my wife had just made the same comment. My daughter said abruptly that she didn't want to go. After about ten minutes, I convinced her to go, and she did, but she was grumpy pretty much the whole time. She cheered up when she saw some people she knew, and when she saw the bride and groom, but then was grumpy again. She came back home, and, a few minutes later, I did, too. It's warm and somewhat humid out there.
About fifteen minutes later, her mother came back, mildly irate that she was not there. She insisted that she had to go, and my daughter fled in tears to her room. After a while, she calmed down, and we talked. The thing is, neither she nor I like crowds, and we don't make friends easily. Crowds don't bother her mother, and her mother can make friends with a wooden Indian. So after a bit, she agreed to go back for five minutes -- and almost exactly five minutes later, she said she wanted to come home, and she did.
I wish I could help her with this form of shyness. I wish I knew how hard to urge her down a path I myself can't comfortably travel. And I wish I could help her mother understand why she is like that.
Just prior to going over, my daughter burst into our bedroom with the news that another neighbor was already over there, and shouldn't we get going? I commented mildly that she was wearing more eyeshadow -- significantly more -- than she normally wears. I didn't know that my wife had just made the same comment. My daughter said abruptly that she didn't want to go. After about ten minutes, I convinced her to go, and she did, but she was grumpy pretty much the whole time. She cheered up when she saw some people she knew, and when she saw the bride and groom, but then was grumpy again. She came back home, and, a few minutes later, I did, too. It's warm and somewhat humid out there.
About fifteen minutes later, her mother came back, mildly irate that she was not there. She insisted that she had to go, and my daughter fled in tears to her room. After a while, she calmed down, and we talked. The thing is, neither she nor I like crowds, and we don't make friends easily. Crowds don't bother her mother, and her mother can make friends with a wooden Indian. So after a bit, she agreed to go back for five minutes -- and almost exactly five minutes later, she said she wanted to come home, and she did.
I wish I could help her with this form of shyness. I wish I knew how hard to urge her down a path I myself can't comfortably travel. And I wish I could help her mother understand why she is like that.
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