golb 'nuf

Imagine...

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:05:59 GMT

We are not allowed to complain. If something's bothering us, we must bring up a different subject. If we seek a solution, we can describe the situation factually, and ask questions about it.

We, however, are not allowed to complain. If something hurts, "I am experiencing pain in my stomach," is acceptable, but a whiny, "Oh, my stomach hurts!" is not allowed.

Try it for a week.

Good dugma (example)

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:12:46 GMT

So this morning, after getting my little tiger to daycare and putting on her tiger suit (OMG! The other kids all have costumes! I want mine too! [verge of tears...No problem--we'll get you a new diaper and put on your tiger suit]), I went to sciencewizard's school for megillah reading.

The HS kids were really noisy. ...much worse than the kids in the little group of 30ish we heard last night, the majority of kids there were under 6, and *they* behaved.

But what really got me were the teachers behind me. I shot one a glare. A minute later, I turned back, saying, "We should be good dugma." The response, "Thank you for reminding me." Conversation ended.

Rereading 1984

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:14:33 GMT

I'm rereading 1984, which I haven't done in ages. It had been my favorite book, and I think it still is.

Anyone think that the governments don't need telescreens when we have Google, Yahoo!, and MS tracking all our search data and lots of other personal info? :-)

Shocking: Pandas really ARE bears

Tue, 13 May 2008 21:10:48 GMT

Yes, we cannot look down our noses any longer at those folks who say "panda bear." They're correct. We snotty folks weren't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panda among other places cites it as such, though it used to be believed that they weren't bears.

RIP Netscape Browser

Tue, 13 May 2008 20:37:07 GMT

Navigator...Netscape...3/1/08...has passed away:

They're (AOL/Netscape) recommending Flock as a new browser.

Waaah!

Dojo -- I'm behind the times

Tue, 06 May 2008 17:17:01 GMT

http://dojotoolkit.org/ (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dojo_Toolkit for more text on what it does) is a really neat toolkit that allows for Javascript based updating of webpages. Very neat. Things to play with when needed or when there's time!

I may need to learn more for my boss' mom's website questions.

Streaming fees for online music

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:35:27 GMT

Apparently, AOL, RealNetworks, and Yahoo! will have to pay for streaming music...

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i8efb0f16778129c89abf252fbd6024bd

...but Congressional members are trying to protect streaming radio stations:

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/# (Since that link just goes to the lead story on RnR, it likely won't be valid past today)

Billboard.com Official Charts

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:46:48 GMT

Spitzer on his misactions

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:14:40 GMT

"I go forward with the belief as others have said that as human beings our greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."

Seems quite topical in terms of what he was caught doing...or do I just have a dirty mind?

The really good part of Bush's legacy

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:37:49 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080228/wl_time/geldofandbushdiaryfromtheroad

Turns out that W has been doing more to help Africa than the media lets on. By a lot!

Tarred, feathered? after midnight

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 06:31:32 GMT

Don't ever

tar cvf 1*f

unless you want to overwrite the first of several files with your resulting tar file.

AARGH!

Great meeting quote

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:09:29 GMT

Well, I'm paraphrasing, but the key phrase was there...

~"Those are execution elements that we don't need to address right now."

Best way I've ever heard someone say, "let's get on with the key topic and off the tangent!"

Grumble

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:16:12 GMT

It's better not to say anything if you only have something bad to say.

Grumble.

Time?

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:21:57 GMT

So I don't have enough time to read my friends' blogs.
I don't have enough time (or be good and take more time) to do better than an anonymous congrats to Squonk_NPL & CecilMom's baby with a "What date?" which gets answered a little later on anyway.

And my boss, at work, shows me that MIT is now hosting 1800 courses worth of notes, exams, etc online at

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

*breathe*

Ah. Oh, wait, I'm at work and supposed to be sending out replacement journals for missing ones. Excuse me. Talk to you next year. What? It's already 2008? :-)

We're all doing fine, just tired and overbooked. Baby is adorable, now nodding yes to all sorts of questions, and usually meaning it too.

Funny example was this morning when she nodded yes to the rabbi asking if he could have a morning hug, gave him a big hug. Then when he said, you'll be up there leading services when you're bigger, right? She nodded again. He said something like, "I have great confidence that you will." Aww.

Great representation of Google and Search Engine Optimization

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:38:42 GMT

http://www.meangene.com/google/google0.html

Click through this. It's well worth it to understand how you ought to redo your website to get Google to recognize how great it is!

Things People Say

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:13:30 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071018/ap_on_re_eu/russia_putin

When Russia's leadership has these kinds of remarks on the US involvement in Iraq, you'd figure some of the Republican candidates who still think it's a good idea to be there might want to revise their positions on the war ...by at least acknowledging that the world's perception of why the US is still in Iraq needs work.

Baby walking; Nuclear plants bad

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:24:55 GMT

Baby has taken multiple steps while walking. Today, at pickup time at daycare, when I was let into the room (you have to knock first), she squealed a loud, joyous greeting. Then, she stood up, walked several steps toward me briskly (maybe 7), tripped, crawled three steps, got up, and stepped the remaining 7-9 steps toward me and gave me a big hug. It's great to be greeted so enthusiastically!

On a totally different topic, a friend passed along this URL to me with a very well written editorial from the LA Times against nuclear power plants:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-nuclear23jul23,0,378363.story?coll=la-opinion-center

Things George W Bush wouldn't do

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:52:50 GMT

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo on detering a nuclear terrorist attack on US soil:

"If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina. Because that's the only thing I can think of that might deter somebody from doing what they otherwise might do,"

George W Bush at least understands (or pretends to understand) that all Muslims aren't against the US.

Sharing at a young age

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:38:38 GMT

The baby's ten months now, and she's getting big on sharing...in a cute way.

For the last few weeks, when there's food still on her tray, but she's no longer hungry, she'll pick up a piece and hold it out to one of us.

If someone leans in, she'll put it into his/her mouth.

"Usually you feed me; now it's my turn to feed you!"

Adorable!

Hot Dog!

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:25:17 GMT

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=683026&fr=&cache=1#

A new way for a dog to chill out, I guess...

False consensus effect

Wed, 16 May 2007 20:28:04 GMT

Nobody else does it. I'm sure, because I don't do it.

*hmph*

Further comments have been withheld to protect the innocent and the not-so-innocent.

Taking a Pass

Thu, 03 May 2007 16:49:01 GMT

I've decided for family sanity not to do the synagogue board thing. Disappointing, but practical.

I'll still try to help out, but I can't commit at the moment. Oh well.

If you want something done right...

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:07:59 GMT

...do it yourself?

I've been toying with the idea that if I didn't have a baby around (and would have some more time), and if different things weren't pressures in life, that I'd run for our synagogue's board.

From time to time, there are things I believe I'd do really well, and with an upcoming merger approved, I think I'd be a really good person on both the individual and merged boards.

But then there are questions about commitments, etc. Ah well.

Today I was invited by one of the current board members whom I respect greatly to take a run for a position.

Who me, bitter?

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 19:42:03 GMT

Voluntarily, I've updated the website for three years. There's info that the bureaucracy just never hands over. For instance, the idea of putting employment info was warmly greeted, and an under construction icon just sat there on that page.

Now, as I'm being phased out as volunteer (some official employee has been "technology" for 1/5 of her job this year, but doesn't deal with updating the weekly newsletter--I do that), the new site won't have certain info either. Employment...yeah, eventually. Supposedly.

Forms and flyers...empty wasteland.

Emails that circulate to the web committee are largely currently ignored by all but two of us--the other person also a volunteer (the one most likely to shake trees among us). Among the three people who are employees, (1) is actively working on helping, but doesn't have bandwidth, (2) has less bandwidth and is supposed to be the tech person, and (3) has no bandwidth whatsoever and periodically states appreciation for what other folks do, though he has more of the final say than anyone else.

A Few Lessons for Life from this week

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:05:09 GMT

The order here is arbitrary:

1) Little spatulas, when dragged around the outside of each cupcake or muffin in a reasonably-oiled baking tin, are *extremely* helpful in getting them out while preserving structural integrity.

2) It is preferred to say to your baby, "Oh, you're giving the bunny a big hug and kissing its face!" than to say, "Why are you choking the bunny and eating its eyes?"

3) Jesse Jackson has stated well the cost of the continuing war in Iraq: http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/223802,CST-EDT-jesse23.article
I think that it's been an abysmal failure, almost from the start, but he's really gotten the point across well here.