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February 29, 2004
thinking about attending bloggercon
Bloggercon is coming up this year on April 17 and it's at Harvard so it's a hop, skip and a jump away. Plus it's free and I'm always up for meeting new people...
Posted by crystallyn at 05:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 26, 2004
why is
this site so damn fascinating?
Posted by crystallyn at 06:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 25, 2004
fret...less
If you are looking for good music to listen to on your Thursday night in Boston, check out Ned Evett playing tomorrow night at Ryles. You can't beat the $7 price and a fun time will be had by all!
Need more incentive? Ned invented the glass-necked fretless guitar (and people like Martin Gore, Dweezil Zappa and Adrian Belew play fretless guitars that he designed)! His music is absolutely excellent...and yes, I'm biased, but really...would I steer you wrong? Built to Spill fans will find him playing on their 1993 album, "The Normal Years" and Ned toured with Joe Satriani in 2002. So just trust me and go check him out. Plus, if you are a working stiff like me, you can get out early and get back in time to see the ten o'clock news--he plays early, headlining at 7:30PM tomorrow eve.
Too bad you aren't up here Corwin, you'd like this show!
Posted by crystallyn at 09:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
found
on Yahoo news...a clear depiction of how other nations think of us...
This is a German carnival float:
From Yahoo/Reuters:
A carnival float carries a large papier mache figure of U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) with a long nose, upon which is written 'Iraq (news - web sites) has weapons of mass destruction,' during the traditional Rose Monday carnival parade, in Duesseldorf February 23, 2004. The annual six-day carnival, which peaks on Rose Monday when millions of people watch processions in major cities, is famous for its tradition of crude political satire, beer-guzzling crowds and symbolic castrations. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender
Posted by crystallyn at 06:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 24, 2004
in one day I am
shocked to the core...
that the leader of our country should suggest making a constitutional change to flat out discriminate and repress many Americans. Then again, why am I surprised? This is monkey man we're talking about. The only thing that I suppose I am happy about is that this drastic of a move by him will probably be very politically damaging--many republicans who were wavering will probably change their minds about voting for him. He's flat out pandering to the religious right--the far right.
And worse, that he is so concerned about "terror" that a crucial Pentagon report, commissioned by Andrew Marsall (who has been an advisor for the defense department for decades, and apparently the author of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's plans for a major transformation of the US military), was covered up. This report talks about the catastrophic changes that will take place within the next 20 years as a result of global warming.
According to a Yahoo article picked up from the Observer:
Some examples given of probable scenarios in the dramatic report include:
-- Britain will have winters similar to those in current-day Siberia as European temperatures drop off radically by 2020.
-- by 2007 violent storms will make large parts of the Netherlands uninhabitable and lead to a breach in the acqueduct system in California that supplies all water to densely populated southern California
-- Europe and the United States become "virtual fortresses" trying to keep out millions of migrants whose homelands have been wiped out by rising sea levels or made unfarmable by drought.
-- "catastrophic" shortages of potable water and energy will lead to widespread war by 2020.
It makes me feel absolutely sick. The Union of Concerned Scientists, which includes 20 Nobel laureates spoke out against Bush this week and how his adminstration distorted scientific findings for political reasonings. "On global warming alone, the administration belittled, misrepresented, altered or quashed multiple reports suggesting a clear link between greenhouse gas emissions and the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil. A study detailing the impact of mercury emissions from power plants was sanitized to industry specifications. Another study suggesting that a Congressional clean-air bill would achieve greater pollution reductions than Mr. Bush's own plan, at approximately the same cost, was withheld."
It honestly makes me feel ill. That he cares more about money, power and politics than the air we breathe, the sky above our heads, the earth beneath our feet.
Maybe I will think of a job at Disney after all. I met a recruiter today from DisneyWorld. I worked at Disneyland before, and so I went to talk to her. The woman is from my hometown, Nine Mile Falls, WA (population 150, although I would imagine in the widespread community of an area about 25-30 miles around it would be a few thousand or so). How random is that?! We figured out she went to school with my brother. She said the weather in Florida is much nicer than she thought, not humid except for one month a year. Florida sounds pretty damn nice right now, but I have this feeling that if the global warming report is correct, that the whole peninsula will probably fall into the ocean. Maybe we could get a good 20 years out of it first?
I thought I hated Bush before. Now I really really loathe him.
Posted by crystallyn at 10:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 21, 2004
massive faux pas
William Hung is the secret American Idol.
Fan sites are popping up everywhere. Including at www.williamhung.reallyrules.com, which we found from an article in the Boston Globe this morning. There are a couple of problems with this site, however. One: you can't read the really crappy font, and, Two: 587 people have let them (or maybe the site owners didn't even ask, just did it?) post their email addresses on the site for the world to see. Can you say spambot dream? I bet within a week half of those people will be closing out their email accounts because they have been spam bombed because all their email addresses have been scraped for penis patch and viagra ads.
Amazing. Not sure how old the two girls are that created the site, but they really don't know much about privacy protection, spam prevention and how to protect themselves from angry angry people once their emails have been shut down due to spam overload...
Posted by crystallyn at 10:45 AM | TrackBack
February 20, 2004
i love
He told Conan O'Brien that he loves eggs. 
And how he loves that women are eggs...and how he loves how eggs can be difficult to make. The difference between soft-boiled and hard boiled and how beautiful the white part of the egg is and how it surrounds the yolk.
Fucking awesome.
And then he talked about women who are afraid of clowns. And how when he is in bed, he is always naked.
I heard Psych Furs Pretty in Pink the other day and thought of him. But I thought Secretary was his very best movie...
Posted by crystallyn at 06:48 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 17, 2004
If You Value Your Privacy
read the following press release and sign the petition. Then follow the links and send your congressmen a letter.
Book, Library Groups Launch Petition Drive to Restore Privacy Safeguards to USA PATRIOT Act
(NEW YORK - Feb. 17, 2004) Groups representing booksellers, librarians and writers today launched a nationwide effort to obtain one million signatures in support of legislation to amend Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. The groups hope to persuade Congress to restore safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records that were eliminated by the Act.
The Campaign for Reader Privacy - sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association and PEN American Center - will gather signatures in bookstores, libraries and on a new Web site, www.readerprivacy.org. Over the last year, Republicans, Democrats and Independents have joined to sponsor a number of bills to amend Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, including the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157) and the Security and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act, S. 1709.
"Booksellers are deeply concerned about the chilling effect of Section 215 and President Bush's stated intent to seek blanket reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act," said ABA Chief Operating Officer Oren Teicher.
Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to give the FBI vastly expanded authority to search business records, including the records of bookstores and libraries: the FBI may request the records secretly; it is not required to prove that there is "probable cause" to believe the person whose records are being sought has committed a crime; and the bookseller or librarian who receives an order is prohibited from revealing it to anyone except those whose help is needed to produce the records.
Read the full press release and sign the petition here.
Posted by crystallyn at 07:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 15, 2004
Upgraded!
Okay, so I upgraded to MT 2.661...and sorry I deleted your comment Ancarett, but it was a junk post full of testing comments by me, so figured it was easier. :)
It WAS much easier than I thought but in order to enable the comment flood protection I had to go in and do a little bit of hacking, which was annoying. They didn't include the mt.cfg file in the upgrade, so I had to go into the file, and guessed about where to put the configuration for it (the configuration instructions seemed to indicate that it would be in the mt.cfg file but it wasn't). Thankfully, it worked. I've set my settings to take three minutes before you can comment again, which seems to be a sort of random thing. But the problem I've found is that it only works on posts that are posted on the same DAY, not on posts that are posted to one day then immediately to the next day, or simultaneously. So it sort of defeats the purpose.
Most of my old posts are locked now, so that's not a big deal. Until 3.0 comes out I will only keep the last week or so unlocked for comments and will just go lock any that are older than 14 days or so. That way if the comment flooding doesn't stop the crapflooders (reading the support forum seems to indicate that it's buggy and my testing seems to agree), that it will be easier to delete comments.
I think spammers and crap-flooders are the bottom of the scum barrel. It's amazing to me that they actually think that people are going to purchase from them after they piss them off by their unscrupulous marketing. Plus it gives legitimate, respectable marketers like myself a bad name.
Going to keep tweaking...
Posted by crystallyn at 09:32 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
i really want to
believe it's going to be spring soon. I saw a fluffy robin today, perched up high in a barren tree in the Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Joe and I went for a really long walk there today, despite the frigid 15 degree temperature. It was actually quite nice if the wind wasn't blowing. We had to be very careful due to the ice that covered many of the paths and was scattered about the roads. It's a great place to walk, with lots of hills and beautiful trees and ponds. There is always something to see, ornate headstones, striking tombs (EQ fans will be delighted to note that we saw Sleeper's Tomb today) and discussion-sparking names to behold.
We had just finished our walk and were getting in the car when I noticed the little splash of dull orange color up in the tree. It's such an interesting little herald of the upcoming change in the seasons. I found this awesome Web site about the American Robin which allows you to track first sightings and first songs heard. My mother mentioned she saw one yesterday in Boise, ID and my Mother-In-Law apparently also has seen a few out in the Berkshires here in MA. So that's a very good sign...maybe this cold snap is nearly over and we can start wearing jackets instead of coats, opening the windows, hanging around outdoors, potting the plans on the porch.
Oh, on that site above, you can also check out first sightings of other signs of spring--caribou migration, hummingbirds, first tulips, whooping cranes and monarch butterflies. Pretty nifty.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:31 PM | TrackBack
February 13, 2004
(*()@*)$(#@&$&
So I went to see Midsummer Night's Dream tonight after a lovely dinner at the Red House, our favorite restaraunt in Harvard Square...
and came home to a bunch of Zoloft spam on my blog. 237 entries for me to go through and delete one by one. Anger is not quite the word for it. I had a feeling I was due for it...I knew I needed to upgrade my MT and I shouldn't have waited.
Turned off all my old commenting, until I can sort everything out. I'm sorry about that. I'll keep my most recent posts open but all my old ones will be closed, sigh.
Dammit. If you want to ban the IP addy on your own blogs, here you go...IP Address:
80.142.173.87
Although I'm sure it's been changed by now.
I get nervous installing MT. I paid for them to do it last time, sigh. Guess I'll have to have them help me with the upgrade.
Friday the 13th hit me square between the eyes today...in a couple of ways. Argh.
Posted by crystallyn at 11:27 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
googlish
Anyone notice that their Google toolbar is full of happy hearts today? Cute, very very cute.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:15 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 12, 2004
addicted
to Bloglines that is. I don't have any clue how I surfed without it. If you don't have an RSS feed on your blog (MT and Typepad users usually have it installed automatically), get moving...it's the best thing since sliced bread if you try to keep up with many many blogs.
I have 127 in mine, in categories of literary, personal blogs (of which the literary minded ones go into literary), web (entertainment, metafilter, scriptygoddess, and more), food, technology, marketing and news. Absolutely amazing that I can take an hour and scan through that many sites and feel either:
a. numb
b. informed
c. guilty for procrastination
d. mind-boggled
e. entertained
Some of my favorite blogs don't have RSS feeds though, and that's a shame (nudging those of you in my always read links)...
God I love technology.
Posted by crystallyn at 10:01 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 10, 2004
explain this to me
According to a Seattle Times article today:
Last year's Economic Report of the President predicted that 1.7 million jobs would be created in 2003. Instead, the nation lost 53,000 jobs. In Bush's three years in office, 2.2 million jobs have disappeared.
Since the Great Depression, it has never taken this long for the economy to begin creating jobs after emerging from a recession. After the last recession ended in 1991, it took 14 months for employment to begin expanding. Current problems with the economy have gone on nearly twice as long, 26 months.
Okay, so given that...how do we understand this:
The embrace of foreign outsourcing, an accelerating trend that has contributed to U.S. job losses in recent years and has become an issue in the 2004 elections, is contained in the president's annual report to Congress on the health of the economy.
"Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade," said N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, which prepared the report. "More things are tradable than were tradable in the past. And that's a good thing." (LA Times 2.9.04)
I don't know about you but I know SEVERAL people who have been out of work long enough that they have lost their unemployment--my husband being one of them. I know people who were directly affected by outsourcing...and are still looking for jobs. One of my counterparts at my previous company lost her job because they outsourced the handling of the company Web site to a firm in India (let me tell you...a 13.5 hour difference in time is NOT conducive to fast marketing!) I just plain don't get it. I DO NOT GET HOW OUTSOURCING AMERICAN JOBS to foreigners helps our economy.
Now don't get me wrong--I have no problem with the foreigners themselves. I know some very cool people that are consulting from overseas. However, I do have big problems with American companies eliminating full departments of people and outsourcing massive chunks of work overseas to save money and increase profit margins.
And why do they do this? Because our economy is in such a hole that they can't afford to spend money...so they look for the quick fix, the cheap solution. Who cares about the people that work for the company--it's all about the bottom line. Those people will just have to find other jobs.
Which would be nice, IF there were other jobs to find. Instead we have huge companies in India, China and South America doing our work for us. Hell, Levis...the all American brand, doesn't even make any of their jeans in our country any more.
Outsourcing creates a whole host of other problems--Indians can't say they are in India because Americans don't want to be talking to people in India--they want to talk to people in America. They cover up accents, they pretend to live in New York.
I think that it's great that all those Indians have jobs...but when it comes at the cost of jobs of my friends and neighbors...whose own lives are now in the midst of frustration...as unemployment runs out and they are no longer a jobless "statistic" but instead, an invisible number that is trying to figure out how to recover not only a pay-check but their self-esteem...well, I have a problem with it.
My problem isn't with India--it's with our government giving the green light on this. It's with big business sending work their direction. My problem is about greed and the fact that corporate America has their head up their ass.
Okay, /rant off.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:34 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 08, 2004
sooo Joe asks me
"How much sex do you think that guy gets?" as I'm checking out his cool car...
And tonight while we are dining in style at the Craigie Street Bistro (the sommelier brought us a bag of corks when he found out I was collecting them! But I wasn't partial to the bone marrow...ewww...texture..wrong...), Joe tells me about how he first was watching Charles Thompson IV. Joe had the chance to meet his mom when the Pixies were playing the Rat ages ago in Boston. Joe and his friend Steve, who sorta dated Kim Deal for awhile talked to Frank/Charles' mom, who sat on some milk cartons on the sidelines and watched her son rock out.
Oh, I wish I would be able to be fortunate enough to watch one of the upcoming shows that they are doing, mom or no mom!
And Joe also told me about a site he came across....See Me Rot. Oh my. There is just something rather wrong about this...
And Clay Aiken on Saturday Night Live. Singing about if he was invisible, he could watch...oh honey just hurry and come out of the closet!! I feel sorry for all those poor deluded 14 year olds who think that they might have a chance if Clay looked their way...
Tina Fey, btw, is my heroine.
Posted by crystallyn at 12:14 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
February 06, 2004
quote of the day
Alexi Sayle~
"Americans have different ways of saying things. They say 'elevator', we say 'lift'...they say 'President', we say 'stupid psychopathic git'...."
Posted by crystallyn at 04:23 PM | TrackBack
February 02, 2004
things about NY
I just got back from a four day whirlwind of museums, drinking and hanging out with friends and still feel utterly exhausted.
We decided to take the Acela, which was a mistake. Next time we'll suck up the extra $120 or so and fly. The Acela, a supposedly 150mph train that was to whisk us to NY in three hours. It took us six. About halfway there, the train decided to just stop on the tracks. We waited for an hour for another train to pick us up (in the meantime the slightly slower train that we had reservations on and we switched tickets to the earlier train...whizzed right by us). And let me tell you, that train NEVER went 150mph. Neither of them either direction. At the most we might have managed 100 or so, but only for brief periods of time. Mostly I bet we averaged about 70. We could nearly have drove for the same amount of time with less hassle.
And remind me to ask Sean why in hell he picked JANUARY to have a gathering? Damn it was cold! /whine off But seriously, he did an amazing job organizing it all. You would think that he was a wedding planner in a previous life. ;)
We spent Friday wandering the museums since the other 35 people hadn't yet arrived. At the Guggenheim, we saw the Kandinsky Several Circles painting that we love--the one that we bought a print for while we were in Vegas.
We also were able to see Van Gogh's Mountains at Saint-Rémy:
It was the first time I had been there and the building IS very cool, but damn, it needs a serious paintjob on the exterior.
Then we headed over to the Met and saw about 1/4 of it. It's just way too massive to see it all. They have the best medieval art collection and the best armor collection.
They have a really wonderful modern art collection as well. Some of the highlights for me:
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere--Grant Wood
Pollock's Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)
But the most interesting were the 50 or so Men In Skirts.
We did some serious drinking that evening, but unlike others, we managed to leave the bar without consequence! ;)
The next day was all about the American Museum of Natural History, which is a really cool museum. The difficult thing about that is trying to tour a museum with 35 other people--not quite as difficult as herding cats, but definitely a challenge.
We had a really nice dinner at this cozy little Irish bar that night. We had a really wonderful time and was able to visit with both old friends and meet some new ones.
Now, it's all about recovery...I think it's going to take me a few days to regain my sleep!
Posted by crystallyn at 10:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 01, 2004
the new issue
of Plum Ruby Review is up and running!
Posted by crystallyn at 09:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack