Month: October 2008

The men in the following pictures will all be in Seattle, in the same venue, next week.

Can you tell them apart?

They’re just a mish-mash of hair, glasses, white skin, and the occasional beard.

I would love to be there but I probably can’t. Details here.

So I wait until the next-to-last day to sign up for this year’s NaNoWriMo… and they’re down for server maintenance?!

It may be working when you read this, but as of right now, when I’m typing these words, clicking that link shows me an apology and no word on when they’ll be back up. OK, I lied, one word: “jiffy”.

As in, they’ll be back up in a.

Their Twitter feed has a little bit more information:

Sam and Russ are working on one of our database servers right now. Thanks for your patience!

…from about 3 hours ago.

And their latest (as I type this) tweet:

And no, this is not our attempt to make you think about your novel instead of surfing the forums. 🙂

Harrumph.

What? You’re still on the fence on the presidential election? What are you; nuts?

Here, cribbed from the Willy Week’s blog, which in turn cribbed them from Barack Obama’s campaign book “Change We Can Believe In”, are a list of positive reasons to vote for the man who will very likely be our next President:

• Automatic workplace retirement plans: Require employers who do not currently offer a retirement plan to enroll their employees in a government direct-deposit IRA. Employees keep the plan even when they change jobs. If they want, they can opt out.
• Mid-East: Begin planning a responsible withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Instead, focus on fighting terrorists in Afghanistan. Launch a “diplomatic surge” in the Mid-East: train & deploy civilian diplomats to Syria, Iran, etc..
• Minimum wage: Raise it to $9.50 by 2011. Afterward, index it to inflation.
• Universal health insurance coverage: Offer an opt-in low-cost government insurance plan to every American—even those with pre-existing conditions.
• Education: Further fund zero-to-five education programs & after-school enrichment. Pay teachers more; hold them more accountable. Offer a $4000 college tax credit to students willing to contribute 100 hours of public service, annually. Expand Pell Grants.
• Tax policy: Lower or maintain tax rates for families making less than $250k/year. Raise tax rates for those making over $250k/year. Remove tax penalties on married families. Reward parents who pay child support with an EITC tax credit.
• Cars: Double fuel economy standards within 18 years. Get one million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Cut taxes for Americans who buy fuel-efficient vehicles.
• “Green” jobs: Create five million enviro-forward government jobs in clean energy, biofuels, hybrid automobiles, fuel infrastructure, low-emissions coal plants and a digital electricity grid.
• Clean air: Reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050. Institute a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions. Invest in low-carbon nonpetroleum fuels.
• Veterans: Fullly fund veterans’ medical care. Increase the number of centers treating Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and other specialized injuries. Work to end homelessness among veterans.
• Nuclear nonproliferation: At all costs, prevent Iran from developing and testing nuclear weapons. Eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons program (seems unrealistic). Phase out Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) from the civil sector. Provide additional funding ($16m) to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Reduce US and Russian nuclear stockpiles. Ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
• Global warming: Reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050. Spend $150bn over 10 years to develop and deploy climate-friendly energy sources.
• Foreign aid: Double foreign financial assistance to $50bn by 2012. Double the size of the peace corps to 16,000.
• Lobbying: Employ no registered lobbyists in an Obama administration. Ban gifts to executive branch employees. End no-bid contracts over $25,000. Create a “Google for Government” so that regular citizens can track federal grants, contracts, earmarks & loans.
• Civil rights: Overturn the Supreme Court ruling that makes it harder for women to file pay-discrimination claims. Preserve women’s rights as elaborated by Roe v. Wade. Support civil unions with equal rights for same-sex couples. End the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the US military.

You might want to stay away – far, far away – from anyone with this bumper sticker on their car, for, oh, about the next 4-8 years:

Catching up with my friend Ken this morning (I haven’t seen him since he dropped me off at home eaaaaaaaarly Sunday morning from a Hallowe’en party), he mentioned (among many other things) that scientists had discovered a potential habitable solar system not far away.

Ken couldn’t remember all the details, so he dug up the article he remembered, from the Huffington Post.

As soon as I saw that the system was Epsilon Eridani, I pointed out, ironically, that that’s where the planet Vulcan, from the “Star Trek” universe, is located, home to Mr. Spock and others.

And now, googling around, I realize, I’m not the only one to make that connection:

[Astronomer Massimo] Marengo [of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics] adds, “Of course there is disagreement among Star Trek fans about whether the planet of Mr. Spock could be at Epsilon Eridani, because it is such a young star and Vulcans are supposed to be an advanced civilization.”

Geeks are everywhere.

Remember “Wassup”?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L38wthA4Ld0&hl=en&fs=1]

Hard to believe that was 8 years ago.

Wonder what they’re up to now?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8Uc5BFogE&hl=en&fs=1]

Note: I’m not endorsing Bud Lite – weak pisswater, ugh.

(But vote Obama!)

It’s not Talk Like A Pirate Day, but since I’m going to a costume party tonight dressed as a pirate, I thought I’d share with you some random pirate Zen:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Rq5wzn-4k&hl=en&fs=1]

Mmmm… manatee.

I have the coolest (fake) parrot for my pirate costume this year!

Out of breath, I had just finished a fast-ish almost-four-mile run in my neighborhood. I walked back from the finish line, cooling down in the autumn evening air. My time and speed wasn’t great. Not bad, but not great. I gave myself a mental “C” for at least doing the run, but not surpassing my personal standards.

I hadn’t taken more than ten steps when I saw my neighbor, Peggy, out walking her boxer, Lucy. I waved from the other side of the street, hoping that would forestall any actual conversation for two reasons. First, I was out of breath and could hardly speak. Second, I was feeling non-friendly in general. Peggy is a nice lady, but I’m a bit of a grump, especially lately.

“Hello!” she called. Apparently my tactic of pre-emptive non-verbal communication did not work.

“Hi,” I tried to project.

“Do you run every night?” Peggy asked.

“Every other day,” I answered, still walking.

“Oh.” She paused while Lucy sniffed a tree. “How far do you run?”

“Between 3 and 8 miles, depending.” I answered.

“Oh! That’s pretty good.” Lucy finished sniffing and continued on, pulling Peggy along. “That’s damned impressive, actually!”

“Thanks!” I called back. I still needed to cool down, but the compliment sank in and I felt a little bit better about my run.

There’s many folk who can run faster or farther than me – but there are many more folk who can’t do what I do at all. I’m probably on the right-hand side of the bell curve, and that feels good.

I was in bed before 9 PM last night.

I woke up around 4:30 AM and, blissfully, was able to go back to sleep.

I didn’t get out of bed until nearly 6 AM. And I didn’t have that “groggy, shaken out of sleep” feeling. It felt… odd.

It felt like that was exactly the right amount of sleep to get.