Archives: April 2004
Fri Apr 30, 2004
Wireless Networks and the End of School as We Know It
I watched a television show last night about cheating. Young people, taking Enron executives and President Clinton as their roll models, cheat on tests using cell phones and PDAs. "Everyone else is; we're graded on a curve, so I have to." Students take pictures of the tests with their phones and post them on the internet. Brilliant. The show told us that business majors in college cheat more than anyone else. Are you surprised. So maybe the test, as we know it, is dead. More...
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Everyone Needs a Hobby
If I were younger and in that part of life when you think you have plenty of time to waste on parody and sarcasm, I'd probably do something like this 419eaters. The name is odd, but refers to some law that is related to the Nigerian spam scammers. You know, the people who send letters inviting you to send them $30,000. The 419 eaters play with these thieves and post their correspondence.
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Sun Apr 25, 2004
SLO Tour to Nowhere
I recommend a few days vacation in San Luis Obispo county. There's nothing to do there, and no need to spend lots of money. Doing nothing is what I wanted to do, and so I did it. More...
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Thu Apr 22, 2004
Pecho Coast Trail
We're on vacation today and tomorrow. Hurrah! No computers and no phones! But first, I'm surfing around looking for interesting things to do in San Luis Obispo county. Things like the Pecho Coast Trail. When I was younger, people I knew climb around this area attempting to show that Diablo Canyon was NOT safe from terrorists. Now, apparently, people can just walk in and watch the otter puppies.
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Wed Apr 21, 2004
Kaguya Has Two Mommies
Everyone knows Malvina Reynolds didn't mean it when she sang "We Don't Need the Men." And everyone knows that "Daughters of a Coral Dawn" and "The Demeter Flower" are just fantasy novels. So don't any of you lezzas get your hopes up now that they've created a baby mouse (named Kaguya) from two ova. No. Don't even give it another thought that men are somehow redundant. Because we're not doing the research for THAT reason. No, we're not.
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Mon Apr 19, 2004
My Secret Places
Last weekend, I listened to an archived This American Life, called The Secret Life of Daytime, that included a story about a geographer who studied where kids went during the day. He found that the kids all had secret hiding places. More...
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Imagine: A Ruin of Tilt Ups
I spent last Saturday morning at Point Lobos State Reserve, specifically in Whalers' Cove. I took some photos, and had a few thoughts on history. More...
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Those Dang Evolutionists
First the christian fish, icthus; then the darwin fish. ha ha very funny. But what argument are the scuba divers making in this debate? More...
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Sun Apr 18, 2004
Don't Do Crimes On MTV
I hope fraternities everywhere now know that whatever you do on a reality show can and will be used against you in a court of law. The first two of four frat brothers who killed the koi at Porter received fines, probation, and community service. It's just not good to have a television show made of yourself kiling someone's pet.
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Fri Apr 16, 2004
You See Me I See You
I stopped in at the Century Project when it was at Kresge yesterday. It's at the Vet's Hall this weekend, and on the web at the Century Project. More...
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Mark Morford Watched "The Passion" So We Don't Have To
I don't know why, but Mark Morford's column has been missing a few weeks. Here's something amazing he wrote about "The Passion."
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Surfer Bunny
I don't know anyone who likes the Surfer Sculpture on West Cliff. But everyone likes how he dresses up. More...
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Thu Apr 15, 2004
More Road Trip: Hornitos and La Grange
Pendola Garden Road dumps out at Hwy 49, and soon we came to the little down of Bear Valley; founded by Charles Fremont, and the center of his 43,000 acre land grant. It was the first historical town we visited. Then came Hornitos. I had no idea. More...
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Gold Rush Hillocks, Brooks, and Flowers
Later on on our road trip, we took "Old Toll Road" to Pendola Garden. The Toll Road met up with Pendola Garden Road that loooks to be an old mining district, now covered in flowers. More...
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Wed Apr 14, 2004
The Hills Turn Brown in the Summertime
My sister and I took a road trip last Sunday. More...
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Two Cute Photos
We take a lot of photos of our dogs. Here are two recent ones. More...
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Tue Apr 13, 2004
No, I Don't Really Think "Trailer Trash" is Funny
There once was a Victorian house around the corner from me. It had been the home of the Sawyer family at the turn of the century, and sometime in the 30s a little adobe room had been built in the front yard. I read that it was a tile showroom. By the time I moved to town, it was a hippie collective house. Sometime in the late 1990s, the renters had entered into a dispute with the owners, and they trashed the house before they were evicted. Maybe you heard about it; it was the "Food Not Bombs" house. More...
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Three Reasons for Not Posting
1) I've been working on the history site. Here's a sneak peak: tineleyspice.org/1905
2) Drinking too much
3) Finishing "Brigid's Charge" --tried to be "The Fifth Sacred Thing" ended up being just an ok novel, and not very good. Wish it weren't so.
4) Dorfing around with this laptop. It's running too slow. Maybe I need to get a bigger hard drive. Do you think 6 gigabytes is too small?
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Tue Apr 06, 2004
2004 Pulitzer Prize for Photo Journalism
I have known two photographers who could take a photo like no one else. Do you know some too? The kind of photographer who, when you look at a photo, you know it is hers? This year's Pulitzer Prize winner is Carolyn Cole, who covered the war in Liberia for the Los Angeles Times.
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Sun Apr 04, 2004
Poker Face
Finally, they made those "Dogs Playing Cards" paintings available in various printed matter. This year we're using a calendar with twelve different paintings, and the April painting is A Bold Bluff. More...
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The Other Big Trees
I visited the Grant Grove of redwood trees almost every summer when I was a child, but I have never seen the Calaveras Grove. It's on Highway 4, one of the oldest roads in California; another highway that I haven't spent much time on.
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Sat Apr 03, 2004
Another Reason Why "Domestic Partners" Is Not Enough
The same friend of a friend I mentioned in the last post told me something I hadn't thought of regarding the Domestic Partners in California. He and his boyfriend of 25 years decided that it would be better to live in different houses. They still are the same together as they have ever been, even closer and deeper, but one of them doesn't like the neighborhood, and the other doesn't mind it. So one moved to a little cabin in the forest, and suddenly, they aren't domestic partners anymore, and one isn't covered by the other's insurance. Yet married people can live where ever they want.
Civil Unions for Everyone.
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Old Friends
I ran into an old friend of a friend today. He asked me if I had seen our mutual friend lately, and I said I hadn't. He hadn't either, but that they had "parted."
That's so true; sometimes we must part with our friends.
More...
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Fri Apr 02, 2004
Quite Horrible and Embarrassing
You might not guess that Melanie Griffith's web site would be the worse, anywhere, ever; but it's true. via J-Walk Blog.
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Thu Apr 01, 2004
That Darn Ashcroft Again
Now Kresge's Naked Man is under attack! (There are no photos on the internet that I can find, so I'll try to take one tomorrow and post it, so you know what this is trying to take away from us. ) More...
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Jolene Again
I just loved that song, "Jolene" as a kid. I just loved that melody, and even though I had never been in love or lost a boyfriend I identified with that narrator, begging a beautiful goddless-like woman "please don't take him just because you can." You probably already know about this already, but there is a CD out of various women artist's singing Dolly's songs. But did you know that there is this video of Mindy Smith singing Jolene?
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That Crazy Post Office
NPR reported on a new Postal Service initiative, portable zip codes just like portable cell phone numbers. I wish I didn't have to tell you that this is an April Fool's joke, but I couldn't give you the link without also linking to pages that explain OVER and OVER that it isn't true. sigh. Click here to have the surprise ruined, and then laugh your head off.
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