Nations of the World

Rein in Your Computer

News Headline: “National Spelling Bee winning word: ‘knaidel.’ ”

QT put the winning words from the most recent five years though its spell-checker.

The spell-checker failed on all five:  “Laodicean,”  ”stromuhr,” “cymotrichous,” “guetapens” and “knaidel.”

Never miss an opportunity to humiliate your computer.

From Zay Smith.....

Not Christmas? Who Cares?

This is delightful.

This is just Wrong

Conversations

Conversations aren't going too well for me, lately.  Nothing major, just....unsettling.

For one thing, I was supposed to talk with a new partner yesterday.  This is the person I spoke with for five hours during the first week.  I'd gotten a note saying that she was looking forward to talking again this week.  Yesterday, nothing.  No sight of her on Skype.  I figure hey, things happen, she'll be around later.  Probably true.  But still....

And for the other, yesterday while I was waiting for my mento to do something, I noticed that a kid in the classroom was wearing a wrist bracelet.  This kid is stocky, with short hair, but obviously had breasts, so I figured it was a girl who identified as a boy.  The kid looked depressed, so I made a comment about the bracelet.  I said Yeah, I wondered what the wristband that guy was wearing was.

Whereupon the reply was I'm a girl. 

I know, probably not a big deal.... but I feel badly about it.  I sure to hell hope I didn't set back two years of therapy. Clearly, I'm not as good at perking up kid's spirits as I thought.


Maybe I should keep my mouth shut around people I don't know, huh?

Hmmm

You remember those ads about How does the guy who drives the snowplow.....get TO the snowplow?

My daughter's working her first day shift at her summer job.  She had to get up early.  Which meant that I had to get up earlier to cook breakfast.

Hmmm.....

samsung

We have a samsung galaxy tablet.  Its pretty nice.  One thing, though.

You watch a video, and the device's sound is off? It turns the sound on.  Usually ok, but if you are in bed, trying to be quiet? And suddenly something's music comes blasting out?

Yeah.  Not cool.

Perl?

Once again, an XKCD comic that I love.

Oregano, You Say?

From Not Always Working:

A Long Time Ago In A Grocery Store Far, Far Away

Grocery Store | Ontario, Canada | Employees, Geeks Rule

(An employee giving out free olive samples at the grocery store.)
Employee: “Hey, you should try some too, they’re really good!”
My Stepfather: “I don’t really like olives, but thanks.”
Employee: “But they are different! They’re cured in oil instead of brine, and have oregano on them to give them a really nice flavour.”
(The employee continues to wax-poetic about the olives until my Stepfather finally agrees to try a small one.)
My Stepfather: “Hey, that’s pretty good. Did you Jedi mind trick me or something?”
Employee: *blank stare*
Me: “These are not the droids you’re looking for?” *hand motion*
Employee: *continues to stare blankly*
(Another employee, Employee #2, who is stocking shelves behind us and has heard the exchange is nearly on the floor laughing. As we walk away, we hear her trying to explain things to Employee #1…)
Employee #2: “Okay, so there is this movie called Star Wars…”

And now I want some of them..... Canada, you say? 

Moving It

Found on Wall to Watch.




Marilyn Monroe, Eli, Wallach, Thelma Ritter, Clark Gable (Misfits 1961)
Sophia Loren (It Started in Naples 1960)
Jayne Mansfield (Dog Eat Dog! 1964)
Natalie Wood (Gypsy 1962)
Kim Novak, William Holden (Picnic 1955)
Anita Ekberg (La Dolce Vita 1960)
Ann-Margret (The Swinger 1966)
Gina Lollobrigida, Rock Hudson (Come September 1961)
Romy Schneider, Jack Lemmon (Good Neighbor Sam 1964)
Brigitte Bardot (Come Dance With Me! 1959)
Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966)
Jill St. John (The Oscar 1966)
Mamie Van Doren (Untamed Youth 1957)
Shirley MacLaine, Gene Kelly (What a Way to Go! 1964)
Cyd Charisse, Robert Taylor (Party Girl 1958)
Raquel Welch (Flareup 1969)

Money

Had a conversation with my daughter about money.  Nothing specific.

She said that when she was younger, and realized that other kids got a bigger allowance than her, she would cry.  And then she'd get over it.

Is this a cool kid, or what?

O.M.G.

Found on Imgur.

Want to try again, Wolf?

Found at Loathsome Profusion.

Indeed

  

...and yes, I looked up that verb. 

About Right

Singapore

Though I suppose that somewhere in the crowd there are people saying Dammit, I just want to get to my airplane!

So Who Won?

Working

My daughter just left for her third day of work.  She is already counting the days until she is done (about 59).  I asked her how much she earns an hour, and gave her a rough calculation of what she'll earn if she sticks it out.  She said that helps.

Beer

I'm not a beer drinker.  I've always thought the taste was strange.  At best, I might try an 'artisan' beer if we happened to be at a restarant offering that, perhaps a 'wheat beer', and I could drink about a third of a glass, but that was it.

Last week, we went to a local restaurant that specializes in Belgian food, and, what the hell, I tried a Belgian Raspberry beer.

It was actually good.

Dogged

Tumbld

Yahoo won't screw up Tumblr.  No.......  they'll just make it better. 

And we all know what that means. 

TJOT

Courtesy of The Joy of Tech:

Out of Darkness

We went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness last night.  The initial take on it was that it was satisfactory, but as we thought it over later -- even just on the drive home from the theater -- we decided that no, actually, it wasn't. There are several reasons for this.

For one,  much of the movie could be an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis flick -- lots of noise, things blowing up, crashing together.  Several times we looked at each other and said what did he just say? Wait, who are those guys?  This thing that just happened, is it good or bad? You need a cheat sheet.  There's a line in Moss Hart's autobiography where he talks about a play he has written, one that isn't quite working, and he isn't sure why -- it's funny, and people are laughing, but still, they seem unsatisfied.  He consults a friend who suggests that he insert a quiet scene to give the audience a chance to catch their breath.  Would that that friend was available to JJ Abrams.

For another, the plotting seems to be at the level of Saturday morning kids shows. I'll get you next time, Kirk!  Next time!!!!  There's not much of a backstory for the bad guy.  There's a vague one -- this guy did something really bad, then they toss in a well wait maybe he's not a bad guy, followed by other not-really-much-of-a surprise events, including Kirk going out to kick ass and take names after several attempts to display emotion on the part of the lead characters. (Kirk and Spock don't fist-bump, but if they did, it would be better than the existing Kirk looks chagrined or Spock looks perplexed.)    

Yet another problem is that they have several cute little references to Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.  (Okay, fair's fair: the first reference is unexpected and actually kind of neat.)  They do everything but the Monty Python wink-wink-nudge-nudge -- including, in places, using exactly the same dialogue as was used in Wrath of Khan, down to the identical accompanying hand gesture. Exactly. My mento, the kid I mentor at the school, will sometimes say, referring to an event in a video game, Really?  They're really doing that?  I had the same reaction.  Was this scripted by JJ's 13 year old son?

Plus, they killed off a character who, objectively, was minor, but I liked him.  They didn't use Cumberbatch nearly enough.  They seemed fascinated by this thing between Spock and Uhura.  They inserted another character who added virtually nothing to the plot, apparently so viewers would say awwww....look who it is!   There's at least one then a miracle occurred moment. And....and... oh, you get the idea. 

I don't think this is the death knell for the Star Trek series, but I think it's wounded.

Rooked

The problem with having read The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley,  is that now everything else seems lame.  Why? Because it was unbelievably good.Stay-up-two-hours-after-going-to-bed-to-finish-it good.  If you liked The Hunt for Red October, think of how it felt, first time you read it.  Like that.

Fortunately, he's writing a sequel.  I should stock up on sleep now, while I have the chance. 

Not Exactly A Flashmob

but who cares?



Of course, there's always this --



and this -

Notivated

I have little motivation today, and none at all for a certain foreign language.

Schedule

Always nice to learn that the offspring has scheduled herself for an appointment  that we knew nothing about until the time for it was past, an hour ago."But I thought you knew about that!  I thought you would tell me!"

Welcome to growing up, kid.

Seems fair

Card

My daughter just read to me the hand-made Mother's Day card she's going to give her mother when we see her tonight.

It was so cool, it brought tears to my eyes.  Literally.

Yes, Please

When I was younger, I would have wanted one of these. I would have thought it fun and even elegant.

In fact, I still do.

Found in the Art Is In My Heart tumblr.

Chess

I am continuing to read The Rook, in between bouts of dammit I need to finish translating that short French article, and I must say that I'm starting to worry.  This book is so good -- can he maintain the level for the next 300 pages?  Or will the book, at some point, jump the shark?  Only one way to know, I guess.

Magical

The restaurant we went to for Mother's Day brunch had these in the men's restroom.

(Not, not me. I found it  here.  But is that awesome, or what?)

What ho....

There's a decent little restaurant in a town not too far from here, and today we went there for lunch.  Parking, I noticed a small bookstore that I'd seen before but always thought fah, small bookstore, small town, what could they possibly have?  Two books heavier and fifty bucks lighter, I was walking back to the car when my wife pointed out that the town library was just across the street.  Since it's just up the block from a local college, I thought It has potential, let's take a look.... Twenty minutes later, two more books heavier, we returned to the car.

Given that I had the two new books -- not to mention the four or five at home -- I didn't really need the library books, but they spoke to me. Take the first one: seriously,  how can you put down a book that starts with this?

Dear You:  The body you are wearing used to be mine.

Learning

Just learned that my mento, who'd started to show some improvement, has slipped dramatically in his performance.

Hoo, boy.  Wonder if I'll see him next year -- or if, truthfully, it would even be good for him if I did.

Partners

I talk with several people in France as part of my French practice. Four of them are verbal (over skype), two are text (also over skype, or email).  They're all good people - interesting, willing to accept my brand of French. I have a theory that people who are trying to learn another language, and use a tool like Conversation Exchange, self-select: these tend to be interesting people. ( Except me, of course!)

I like the people that I talk with. We're not close, but we get along well.  If several weeks goes by without talking to them, it's the opportunity to practice that I miss, not so much actually being in touch with them. I'd like to talk to them more often (greedily: if I don't speak French often, my confidence goes down.  Stupid, I know.), but if I don't, it's okay.

And it doesn't always work out. I've had partners who flamed out immediately - I get this I don't want to talk to this person again vibe -  while others just seemed to drift away.  Part of that is because they're actual working people, while I'm not; consequently, I have a lot of time to talk.  They have to juggle life.  I remember what that's like; sometimes, like today, when a plumber is coming out to the house on the same day that I've got a session with my mento, I still do. In any case, I'm a little sad when that happens, but I've grown to expect it.

There's two people that I do feel close to, though.  One's a retired woman who lives with her companion in Toulouse, and another is a man who lives with his family in Aix-en-Provence.  I'm actually going to visit them, this summer, for a couple of days each.  And a third: a woman who I text with fairly often, a pre-law student in Paris.  When we visit Paris, I'm finally going to meet her, too.  (I'm really looking forward to that.  I warned her that although I know it's not French, and I know that she really prefers a sort of hands-off approach to life, I'm probably going to hug her when I see her.)  I know more about these people, and their lives, which makes them a bit more 'real' to me.

And now, perhaps, one more.  Two nights ago, I spoke for the first time with a woman who lives somewhat south of Paris.  Normally, conversations are semi-rigid - we speak in French (mostly) for about half an hour, and then English (mostly) for a half hour.  Right around the hour mark, one of us makes a comment about the next time, and we look at calendars, and then we're done.

This new person, we spoke for three hours, the first time.  Granted, it was exceptionally easy for me, because about 90% was in English, and her English is very good.  Still, three hours!  And then the next day, yesterday, we spoke again, for two hours -- and afterwards she sent me a note to say that, in fact, she hadn't wanted to stop; I had misunderstood a phrase she used (this conversation was about 90% in French), so she was perplexed when I ended the conversation.  Five hours in two days with a new person!  And we meshed.  We like the same kind of music.  We disagree with the same prevalent thoughts about how best to learn a foreign language (and it still startles me, sometimes. to think of English as a 'foreign language').  We got along so well that immediately after, I sent her two links to music that we'd been talking about, and she sent me a link to music that reminds her of someone special to her who'd died, a few years ago.

I try hard not to notice, by the way, that she's very pretty, too.

Smart, pretty, interesting, willing to speak French with me -- at least for a while, I think I have a new best friend.

Music

I don't often say that things are awesome.

This guy is awesome.

Mrs. Kelly's Monster.

If you like articles about neurosurgery, you'll probably like this.

Reading

I hate it when I discover a new author, someone who has created a character I like, someone I'd like to see more of, know more about, and then I find that the author likes to throw in some plot elements that - well, they don't resonate with me.  For example, do you like that local guy who's helping make the event happen? Let's kill him.  Or the person who's interesting, smart, upright, totally on your side?  Actually, she's totally not.  I don't mind twists and turns, they make books fun, but this kind of thing bothers me.  I feel like okay, trot out your damned nasty surprise, get it over with.

The Early Days

Christmas Traditions

I have watched this multiple times, and I still like it. Dara O'Briain is a very funny man.

Strategic Alert

I used to be a missile launch officer.   Because of this, I am really glad that I'm not one now.

Heads and other body parts will roll.

Why Does Superman....

....stand that way?

(Hint:  It's not just to make his muscles bulge...)

(Found on Deadline.Com)

Napkin Art

Some people doodle on napkins.....and some do a little bit more.

The difference

Reading an article about three women who were kidnapped in Ohio and kept captive for ten years.  This comment appeared in the article:

“I’m so thankful, God is good,” Kayla Rogers, a childhood friend of Ms. DeJesus, told The Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I’ve been praying. Never forgot about her, ever.”


And I think how good is a God that lets this happen? I guess that's the difference between me and her.  She believes.  I don't. And neither of us would ever be able to change the other's mind.

Priorities

Gotta have 'em.

Womyn

I read only part of this, and got so perplexed, I had to stop and reread it.  I never did finish it, but what I read was enough for me to think Oh, come on....REALLY?? This is what you choose to worry about?

The thing is, that wouldn't be fair.  These people are serious.  They think that what's happening at the festival is wrong, and they want to change it. Okay, some are probably jokers, making a habit of being outraged, but most really do care. I think that's admirable.

Though, given that some attendees were irritated that the recorded music included a piece by a male singer, and given the comment about "The absence of guys does make for an absence of threat..." , I suspect that at least some of them would rather I kept that opinion to myself.

Transparency

Apparently, its evil for us to know how often Congress benefits financially from insider-knowledge.

Link...

Sous Vetements

Ever notice that ads assume that all guys looking to buy underwear have the body of an Olympic track star?  And that, therefore, the stuff they show could be just sprayed on? This could be why most guys have their underwear actually purchased by their girlfriends.  Me, I'm looking for something that would look good on Buddha....

Eh, Just an Accident

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that a 5-year-old boy accidentally killed his 2-year-old sister earlier this week, shooting her with a Crickett .22-caliber single-shot rifle. The boy and his family apparently didn’t realize that a shell had been left in the gun. “Just one of those crazy accidents,” said Gary White, the coroner for Kentucky’s Cumberland County.

More.....

Reactions

He sees massive federal investigation of a bombing as a threat?  Does he think someone set it off just so they could bring in the feds?  Just how warped is this guy's world view?

Observation

It's a very strange feeling to wake up feeling angry with my daughter.

NRA

I move that the NRA be declared a domestic terroristic organization.

Stumbling

Sometimes, it seems that all StumbleUpon knows about is a) web sites that delight in displaying the bizarre, and b) blogs where people publicize their version of Gramma Jopie's Famous Peanut Butter Oompahs.  It's enough to drive me back to hardcopy books.

time

how is it, if I'm retired, and I have all the time in the world to do things, I can feel rushed and out of time?

part of it, I know, is that we have actually made all of the reservations for the trip this summer. This means that if I am going to gain any fluency in French, now is the time.

and part of it is going down to get my daughter from college twice in 4 days. The charm of the five hour each way drive has vanished. Yes, I'm glad that she got the summer job -- though finding out that the interview was oh, you're here?  You're breathing? You're hired takes some of the charm away from that, too.  But twenty hours of driving in four days. Yuck.

Nick Anderson Editorial Cartoon

Except This One

I can accept the things that people say in Post Secrets.  Except this one.

Well, Then...

I actually doubt this is a real Shultz creation, but I like it.  Found on KGB Report.

They're a little big....

...but tasty.

Renovation

I know that there are people who remodel parts of their home to look like the Enterprise, or the Batcave.  I wonder if anyone's attempted this?

(from PopCultureZoo.com)

Architecture

I've been reading Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own, and I must say that although it's frequently more wordy than I like, it makes some interesting points about how houses work, what makes one better than the other - not just more functional, but more inviting, more prone to faciliate the human needs that we frequently aren't even aware exist.  For example, he quotes A Pattern Language, saying that a room with a window and a comfortable chair somewhere in the room will feel a certain tension, because you want to both be near the light and be in the comfortable chair.  Personally, I think that's a bit too sensitive, but I can see it.  But when he talks about Pattern Language's take on thick walls, that should not only provide for the necessities -- built-in bookshelves, for example, and insulation, but also provide a sense of protection and refuge -- I can really see it.  I think maybe that book's got something, there.

Question

When my daughter wants to leave the campus for a trip home, she has to get permission from the Corps.  To me, this is silly; unless they're going to have some kind of public parade, what's the deal?  But, you know, this is the Corps, this is our tradition.  She needs this to come home to a job interview, so she asked for it at the beginning of the week.  By Wednesday, when she still hadn't heard anything, I changed her job interview from Monday to Tuesday - forgetting, of course, that in a rigid world like the Corps' mindset, going on Tuesday instead of Monday is like going without permission.  So now I get to try to change the appointment back, and also change my hotel reservation back.....while still not knowing if she is even coming at all.

Here's the question:  how happy am I?

Good Law, Stupid Judges

From ABC News:


The Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled that there is no employment protection for people who use marijuana. In a split decision issued on Thursday, the court said marijuana use is still barred by the federal government, even though state-licensed marijuana use has been approved by voters and is considered lawful.

In A Name

I saw the other day where the government isn't going to refer to 'illegal aliens' by that name any more.

From now on, it'll be undocumented Democrats.

DWW

From an Wall Street Journal article about a Japanese company that sells software to modify car navigational displays so that they can show television programs:

"We can't help but respond to our customers' needs," says Yasunari Shiino, a spokesman for Autobacs Seven Co. Ltd., which operates some 550 auto-parts stores across Japan. "This does not mean we're recommending it," he said, of a practice that could be called DWW or Driving While Watching. "Drivers need to make their own decisions."

Responsible?  No, not us....

About Right

Found at www.isidewith.com/political-quiz

OFA

From Politico:

"The president’s deep-pocketed political arm, Organizing for Action, can’t by law spend most of its money on elections, and officials insist it won’t play directly in the 2014 midterm. But Republicans aren’t buying it: They’re convinced OFA will find other, indirect ways to help Democrats capture the House and allow Obama to finish his presidency unchecked by Congress."


Yeah, unchecked.  Or is that unstalemated? 

Evaluation

Lee, Revisted

Another Brick

All Wet

Dylan Moran

Reading

Every so often, I read something that is so good, I have to stop every couple of pages just to think about what I've read.  This doesn't mean that the material is technical; sometimes, it's just because the writer has so grabbed my attention that I want to slow down and savor the experience.

That's happening right now with I, Robot: To Protect.  So far, it's delightful.  Doesn't hurt that I've always had a soft spot for Susan Calvin, either. I don't know if it will continue, but if it does, I think it's going to take me a long time to finish this book. 

Beauty

This is a parody response to the Dove Real Beauty campaign.  I knew it was a parody -- but all I could think at the end was holy hell. 

Americans

Crisps

This is why Dara O Briain is so amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNSIV_nDeMo

Koff- koff- eeeee

Apparently, the new thing for coffee fans is a 'pour-over' coffee, which apparently takes several minutes to do, but results in a cup of coffee that is indescribably seductive, with 'floral notes' and a mouth-feel that can lead to orgasm.

I guess I'll stick with my Mr. Coffee, thanks.

Booze, Mate?

I'm not a drinker.  I'm not a teetotaler, either, but I'm a lot closer to that than I am to being even a 'social drinker'.  I just don't get drinking.   But I do like Australia, and wish I knew some more about it -- more than the paltry amount I learned when I was there -- so this book, about drinking and its part of the Australian culture, looks....interesting.

Updates

I know that no one but me cares about what I'm reading, lately, but I just updated the list over there on the left, anyway.

Any one of those books would have grabbed me -- I was going to say the one about architecture, especially, but really, that's not true; they've all got potential -- one's got the characters from I, Robot (loved the original book, and the movie, too, though for entirely different reasons); one's a Donna Leon 'Brunetti' novel; I've read several of them, and I think only one, which seemed to have been written to convey a message,  was a clunker; and the third is about the art and science of architecture, a topic which has fascinated me ever since I read Tracy Kidder's House.

I suspect it's going to be expecially hard to study French over the next week.

RoboCoconut

No one likes automated calls.  They can be useful, but they'll usually annoying.

So what about an automated call to a complaint line when the noise of an airplane flying overhead is too loud?  And what if that call is made by an automated system inside a fake coconut?

F.A.C.T... is awesome.

That's the Fletcher Automated Capstan Table, if you didn't know.

NYTimes

About twice a month, usually around the middle, I get notices from the New York Times.

This is your last free article for this month. Consider subscribing... and I usually do.  I think about how I do enjoy reading the articles there, and I think surely a couple of bucks a month would not be too much?  Sure, let's do that.

Then I find out that the Times thinks twenty bucks a month would be about right.  And I think Twenty bucks? Are you guys crazy?  $240 a year? Five bucks a month would be a bit high....but twenty?  No way. 

And I resign myself to not being able to read the pay articles on their site until next month.

Gah

I rarely get a cold, but when I do.....

Observation

I think that people who demonstrate how to use technology to disrupt society -- as in the case of the man who just gave a heavily-attended presentation on a way to use Android software to seize control of an in-flight commercial aircraft's Flight Management System - should be shot.

Bad enough to tell people that it's possible.  I suppose the info could result in others making their systems more secure.  But this guy designed a platform to make it easy - and then told people about it. Oh, this stuff, its just a sample, it couldn't be used in real life.....yeah.  Without flipping this switch, right over here...

They say oh, its good to know this stuff, you can protect yourself -- but to me, that's right up there with people who hack your home computer system and say see, I did you a favor, I showed you how insecure you are. You should go learn how to be a hacker so you can protect yourself.

Sounds remarkably like the insanity vomited out by the NRA. Hey people with guns can kill you so you should get your own guns. This feeling could be because I'm getting older, but I don't think so.

Such people are -- well, perhaps evil is an overstatement.  But in need of adult supervision..... 

Recommendations

Asked a local travel agent for recommendations for a hotel in France. Asked a friend there 'you know of this hotel?' "Oh yes", he said. "Lots of prostitution and crime."

Baking

I like to bake, and I like when something I've baked comes out well.  But I really don't get people who do deep breathing exercises over The Newest Bestest Brownie Ever.  People who use phrases like The Ultimate Brownie.

I mean, come on, people.  It's just flour, eggs chocolate....

Recording

I have a Phillips digital recorder that I use for my French classes.  I record them so that I can listen to the discussions again, especially when the instructor is pronouncing things for me.  It should be possible - even easy - to set up recording with Skype - certainly multiple web sites would lead one to believe this -- but I've never been successful at it.  I get recordings of her, or me; not both.  So this works.

The thing is, the recorder is a complex little instrument.  I do truly believe that it could be used to mix a souffle and launch a nuclear weapon.  There aren't a lot of buttons on it, but those that exist have multiple functions.  Some make sense; others....not so much.

When I want to delete files, I hook it up to my PC, change to the directory with the recorder's files, and delete them.  Every time I try to do a deletion on the device itself, it doesn't quite work.  So this evening, I read the instructions slowly, and stepped through each one.

Turns out that one of the problems is that the instructions refer to a control that's not on the recorder.  Another is that it mentions something that is true...but misleading.  So I finally wrote my own checklist.  Here it is.  Look upon it in awe.

When recorder is stopped:

Press the INDEX button until folder A,B,C,D or Music appears.

Press and hold Delete (right side, lower button) for 3 seconds.  DELETE appears on screen. (Press DEL again to get out of delete mode)

On center button, outer rim, right side, press the arrow-arrow-button to jump from Folder to File to Index.  To delete a file, stop at FILE. 

Press center button, center, to bring up the first file number in the selected folder

On center button, outer rim, right side, press arrow-arrow-button to scroll through files in that folder.

Press center button, center.  Word NO is displayed

On center button, outer rim, right side, press arrow-arrow-button to select YES

On center button, center, prss to confirm deletion.

Obvious to the most casual observer, right? 

Afterwards

My mother was a deeply religious person, and she would receive many mailings from organizations.  Usually, she ignored them -- not from an intellectual bias, but because the one thing that they had in common was that they would ask for money repeatedly, and she didn't have that much.  She thought well of them, but after decades, she realized that they would just keep asking.  And they do.

My mother died three years ago.  She just received a note from an organization thanking her for her support 'this past year'.

Rebel Scum

Thinking

Ever have a morning when it's just too much trouble to think?  That's kind of where I am right now.  I just cancelled a French conversation because - today - it was just too hard to think in French.  I suppose I could have muddled through, but it would not have been very much fun for either of us.

My mindfog is due to the aftereffects of driving down - again - to Virginia to pick up my daughter so that she could attend a funeral - again - of a classmate from school.  No kidding, I'm telling her that if anyone else dies, send a card.

I see where they're thinking of freeing the Enron CEO early. Many many expensive lawyer hours undoubtedly went into that. I suppose the odds of us just, you know, shooting people who have that kind of devastating effect on the economy  -  well, they're pretty slim.  We only shoot the helpless - and who really cares about them, right? Have I mentioned the gutless cowards of the Congress lately?

Tried to install an extension called Thunderbayes into my Thunderbird email client.  Thunderbird is made by Mozilla, which also makes the Firefox web browser.   Thunderbayes wouldn't install because it wasn't compatible with Firefox.  Guess Microsoft isn't the only software pusher that likes to tie things together- and if it means you can't use something that ought to work - well, tough.

I cannot wrap my head around the comments of the Georgia GOP Chairman:

“Lord, I’m going to get in trouble over this, but it is not natural for two women or two men to be married,” Everhart said. “If it was natural, they would have the equipment to have a sexual relationship.”
Everhart said while she respects all people, if same sex marriage is legalized across the country, there will be fraud.
“You may be as straight as an arrow, and you may have a friend that is as straight as an arrow,” Everhart said. “Say you had a great job with the government where you had this wonderful health plan. I mean, what would prohibit you from saying that you’re gay, and y’all get married and still live as separate, but you get all the benefits? I just see so much abuse in this it’s unreal. I believe a husband and a wife should be a man and a woman, the benefits should be for a man and a woman. There is no way that this is about equality. To me, it’s all about a free ride.”

Being a liberal Democrat, I tried to break that into things that only an idiot would believe and things that a rational person would believe. And I almost can do it, until I hit that I believe a husband... comment.  You can follow it up with There is no way that this ... comments all you want - that's exactly what its about.  So I ask myself: what kind of mind, what kind of worldview, harbors that attitude?  Well, DUH -- the GOP, of course, and Southern GOP, double - DUH.  Why even ask?

But maybe its just that I'm not thinking very clearly today.

Hookee

That's what you call someone who hires a hooker, right?  A hookee?

Not that I know.  I've never done that.  In fact, I've only met one prostitute in my life.  Well, I think she was a prostitute - girl came up to me as I was crossing the street to get to the Port Authority bus terminal in New York and asked me if I wanted to go to a party. Sorry, I replied, suavely, I'm heading to South Dakota.  She said Oh, too bad, and that was it.  So I don't know.... but I think so.

For some reason, I was thinking about that last night, while I was in the hotel (another I gotta come home right away call from the offspring).  I don't know how you go about finding and hiring a hooker, let alone, one of her higher-paid sisters-in-the-trade.  No idea. Um, go to Times Square and ask for referrals?   And I have no idea about the ettiquette involved in such a transaction, either.  Is there a list of services?  Is tipping involved?   I could easily see myself paying a large amount of money for, essentially, conversation. Which I don't think is the point.

My wife, I'm guessing, would be delighted that I don't know this stuff.  Probably not too thrilled that I think about it, though. Even though she knows that I'm married enough and wimpish enough (either reason will do; in combination, they're impenetrable) to act on it.

Musing

I wonder if Congress would actually act if it was their kids, their families, that got killed by a crazy gun freak?  It'd have to be something devastating of course -- say, a hundred of their precious children, their loved ones -- and even then, I'm guessing their greed and incompetence would win out.

Tech Blech

My French teacher's web site has several podcasts on it that I thought I'd listen to on the drive down to Blacksburg.  Downloaded them to my laptop, no problem.

Now how do I play them in the car?

I don't have any recordable CDs lying around.  Got a bunch of recordable DVDs, from when I thought that I could transfer recordings from TiVo (I still think that, but maybe I'm wrong;  certainly, if its possible, its not easy), but the car audio unit won't play DVDs.  There's an MP3 jack, but I tried jacking my MP3 player into it once and got zip -- my extension cord can be used to charge the player or transfer recordings, but apparently not play recordings. I could transfer the downloads to my digital recorder, but it won't 'recognize' anything that it didn't actually record itself - it indexes everything; no index, no likey.  (It's a Phillips recorder -- works very well, but way too complicated in its controls, and more than a little frustrating when all I want to do is....)

I haven't given up hope that there is a (simple) way.

Ah yes, tech's nice....when it works. 

Rambling...

Another boy that my daughter knew in high school has died -- this time, they (the kids; the administration's not talking) think it's a suicide.  Once again, my daughter wants to come home for the funeral.  Fortunately, the timing works out so that she can leave immediately after her last class tomorrow, and be back on Sunday.  Unfortunately, that means that someone gets to make a quick round-trip to Blacksburg today. I'm mulling over running a tab and presenting it to her when she graduates.  For sure, in my next life, my children are going to a school that's either relatively close, or too far to travel spontaneously. On Sunday, it'll be down and up in one day, but my wife will be with me to share the driving.

The other night my daughter mentioned to her mother some things she had learned in one of her classes.  As part of that, she said that she didn't really think she was so much shaped by us as by her peers.  I was ever so delighted to hear that.  My wife did say that later she recanted on that, a little bit.  Still....

This is the third kid who has died that she knew - the first was a kid who lives down the block; he appeared to have been playing with a gun at a neighbor's house, and it was loaded.  My wife told a coworker that she's amazed that our daughter knows so many, and the coworker said that since elementary school, her daughter has known seven kids who have died.

Studying

Sometimes, there is so much that I could do, in the line of studying French, that I get locked up and don't do anything.

High School

A boy died at the high school today.  When my wife came home, she said that the principal told them it was possibly a suicide, though they did not know for sure.  I told her that my mento told me it was definitely a suicide; when I asked him how he knew, he said that his brother (at the school) told him.

Makes you wonder who's informing who....

This is why...

...I couldn't be a criminal lawyer.

A man is sentenced to death for the death of an infant which occured while he was molesting her.  He admits that he intended to molest her, but says that he was too drunk to realize that he was killing her.  The law says that you must know your actions can result in death.

So his lawyer is entering a plea for mercy.  Didn't mean to do it, he says. Plus, the only charge given was murder, not sexual assault, so he was, in a sense, framed.  Don't kill him.

Must be tough to go to law school, read about all these important cases, envision yourself as a defender of justice - and then end up defending someone like that.  I know - everyone deserves a defense. But really - everyone?

 And this is why I could not be a criminal lawyer. 

Bizarre

I was never a fan of the Three's Company series, but last night I stumbled across the original pilot -- apparently, they made three, with the same male lead for all and three different women for the two female leads -- and was surprised to find that I liked it.  Well, except for the laugh track. That was awful.Of course, I know that television back then always used laugh tracks -- I wouldn't be surprised if they contemplated using it for news programs, or at least mood music -- but now, with our refined sensibilities -- it grates.  But the rest, particularly Valerie Curtin -- was enjoyable.

"I suppose this is your bathtub?"
"Yes.  We raised it from a sink."

Nice. 

==============
Update:

"Three's Company - Rare Fi..." This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by DLT entertainment ltd.

Aging

Now I know I'm aging.  I saw a headline about Caroline Kennedy as Ambassador to Japan, and thought that kid? Oh....yeah. The one who's about three years younger than my wife.

Fire

As I may have mentioned, my cousin lost her house to a fire. 

Last night, I learned that, in actuality, the house was purchased by her parents-in-law, with the intent that at some point they would sell it to the children.  Nice.

The parents never bought any kind of insurance for the house.

Books

One of the rules of thumb that I've had for a while is that it's not necessary to finish a book that hasn't grabbed my interest.  I don't immediately toss it aside -- I'll skip a few pages, perhaps a chapter - but if after that, I'm still thinking man this is dragging-- I'll stop. Off the book goes to the pile that we keep of books to be donated to the next book sale --because someone might like it -- and I'll start another.

But lately I've been trying out a modification of that rule, which is: if a book hasn't said something of interest in the first chapter, it's not likely to get better.  It can -- my wife and I each recently read a new novel in the Vorgosigan series, and though it didn't grab our interest, much as we wanted it to, there were some interesting parts before each of us tossed it aside-- but it's not likely.

Thus, I've been slogging my way through the books that are on the living room bookcase, and a few out here in the kitchen.  These are all books that I wanted to read; something about them grabbed my attention, and so I bought them. (Times when I ignored my own rule: only buy a book when you have less than two left to read, no matter how compelling it sounds.)  And slogging is a good way to put it, because, of the four that I've opened thus far, three were well, that was ...interesting, and only one was why, that was really good, I'm glad I read it. 

I still have a way to go, though.  There are about ten books here in the kitchen, and a few on the book case.  One of them is Team of Rivals; the other is This Time Is Different.  I really want to like each of them, but so far -- not so much.  Which is likely a failing of me, not the books.  So I'm leaving them until I have nothing else to read, and then we'll see.