the pod bay door

A few interesting sites to occupy your mind, in one way or another:

::Check out the Anagrammy Awards, for best anagrams.
::Giant squid attacks French boat.
::NASA offers the Astronomy Picture of the Day. There are some spectacular shots to see.
::Does your phone number spell a word? Mine doesn’t. 🙁
::A short, concise history of the Internet, from 1945-1995.
::Chickens Traumatized by Mass Egg Abductions.
::The Beloit College’s Class of 2003 Mindset List. Although the list is based on the American experience, we can relate to most of it in Canada too.
::This is an online American Sign Language Browser. It is very cool. You need Quick Time to view it on your screen. Pick a word, and a short film clip is shown of a woman creating the sign for you, repeating so you can practice. Brilliant.
::One of the most controversial and powerful post-September 11th essays on that tragedy is The Rage and The Pride, by the writer and interviewer, Oriana Fallaci.

Geoff and I are planning a short article for Feliciter on blogging. We will not break new ground necessarily, but will report on the current state of the art, and how it is being used now in the library world, and what applications or uses might be forthcoming. We had our first coffee meeting today, and hope to have an outline in the next day or two. I am near the end of Rebecca Blood’s book, which is a joy to read: straightforward, lucid, clear and obvious, presented in a crisp writing style that holds my attention.

I receive the Sunday NYTimes, and in this week’s Magazine is their 2nd Annual Year in Ideas. It is fascinating, and I’m kicking myself for not keeping last year’s issue. Check out genetically modified saliva, the crying baby translator, and the self-cleaning dinner table, to name a few. Rebecca also mentions this issue.

From Milk and Cookies comes the Stewardess Uniform Collection. This may seem odd to some, but students of fashion would find a site like this quite useful.

I finished a workout after work, ran errands, and returned home to load a new #15 b&w cartridge in my HP 812C, only to have it fail. Frustrated, I returned to Staples and swapped it, and when I arrived home and installed it, the same thing happened. I was incredulous. I surfed HP web pages, eventually found schematics for the model, and while staring at the cartridge casing noticed a small piece of metal was missing, the contact for the cartridge to connect to the printer. Argh! The part is probably worth 12c, so tomorrow I’ll bring it in for repairs which will probably total $50…

Last night I attended a party at a colleague’s house, and had a great time. The gang spilled out onto Whyte Avenue at midnight, with some of us ending up at The Commercial Hotel (blues bar), where I watched a blues band from Chicago mop up the floor with some great tunes. The lead guitarist was amazing, getting tones from his Stratocaster of which I can only dream. I made it into bed at 2:00 am, and couldn’t really get moving until 1:00 pm this afternoon – no hangover, mind you, it’s called “getting old(er)”.

I saw Star Trek Nemesis this afternoon, and agree with a number of critics who are calling it the best Trek film since The Wrath of Khan. The film features great performances from Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner and the newcomer, Tom Hardy. The film is dark and brooding, and a lot of fun. I suspended my disbelief and had a good time.

Recently I learned that the ATF, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, discovered my web site, and through a contact, asked me to remove certain references from it. Out of respect for this person, I made the necessary (very minor) changes. No, the integrity of my site is fine, and there was nothing bad, illegal, suspicious, etc., of note. At issue was a reference to someone I know who works for them, and they asked if I would remove the reference for this person’s protection. I did so, despite the fact that I live outside of their jurisdiction (duh). End of story.

Another website of fascination: soulbath.

I am finished my Christmas shopping, which wasn’t much to begin with, a handful of gifts for children, mostly. What’s left are my Christmas cards, which I make from cardstock and a chosen photo. The cards are ready to be personalized, what’s left to add is my annual letter. This year it will be shorter than usual, because I have this blog now.

There has been much talk in the news about taking religion and Christ out of Christmas, as in past years. To me, it’s tiresome. “We” are so worried in this era about offending anyone or being politically incorrect. Enough, already: Christmas is a Christian celebration and tradition. I’ll say “Merry Christmas”, and if that offends you, my apologies. So far, no one has ever been angry with me or corrected me for saying so. There’s even a commercial out in which they sing, “On the first day of giving, my true love gave to me…” Ridiculous and offensive from the get go.

Every time I visit New York, I have dinner with my friends, the illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon. Those of you who’ve been in my house know that my walls are covered with their signed prints and posters. They have won 2 Caldecott Awards, in 1976 and 1977. I have perhaps 40 of their illustrated childrens’ books, the complete set of the Ace Science Fiction Special books featuring their cover illustrations from 30+ years ago, and other assorted works. Leo and Diane’s son, Lee, is a brilliant artist and designer in his own right. Lee’s company, Fusion Designs, is “a Gallery of unique greeting cards, jewelry, prints and original artwork“. Please have a look, and perhaps order a few Christmas presents! The Dillons are international treasures.

Rustboy is a short film animation project of Brian Taylor. The film isn’t finished, but the site is worth investigating. It’s amazing stuff, and Taylor’s loaded 13 very short movies of the work he’s done so far. The finished project should be worth the wait.

It’s hard to believe this is real. I mean, check the lineup and then look at the songs being covered! The soundclips don’t work here, but they do on the CD NOW site.

I’m going to Mars. I don’t remember signing up for this.

So what will happen when weblogs go mobile?

Two posts below, I discussed altering web sites for colour blind readers. Please see the very interesting commentary by the anonymous CB reader who offers further fascinating insights into that world.

Barring a miracle, the white flag was raised today re: Gallery. My webserver does not support NetPBM, nor does it run PHP in a non-safe mode. I will investigate other photo uploading programs.

From Anne’s site comes this hilarious take on self-help books, romance novels, computer manuals, and more. Bust a gut.

First of all, if you need a laugh, click on a horse or two. How do people come up with this stuff? Also, this is why cows hate winter (requires a movie viewer like Windows Media Player).

Recently one of my readers (God, I can’t believe I just wrote that) provided me with feedback about the colour of the links on this site. He’s colour blind, and was having trouble distinguishing the links from the other typeface. He suggested I change the colours to darker shades of green or blue. Initially my choices were for appearance only. I made the changes to see if it would help him, and it did. I’ve worked with a colour blind colleague, and his area of responsibility was maps! Colour blindness also surfaces in the movie Auto Focus.

With his permission, I share with you his comments, which are enlightening in that they reveal some of the problems with which a colour-blind person must deal in today’s world:
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