Archives: January 2005
Sun Jan 30, 2005
Lost Treasures
Did you know that all we know of Sappho's work is what was quoted by other people? We have not one complete work by her, just fragments that other people included in their own books. As Judy Grahn wrote, she was as popular as The Beatles, and everyone knew her work. A simple quotation of was enough for the reader to understand the complete poem. I thought all hope of finding more of her work was dead, yet perhaps not. More...
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Value of Labor
Last money, I left a message at the Radiology Department of my HMP requesting an appointment for a mammogram. I never got a call back. More...
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Sat Jan 29, 2005
Just a Piece of Paper
I don't know why we bother with BAs, MAs and PhDs at UCSC when you can just get your diploma at a converted Motel 6 in Wyoming and manage huge federal enterprises. More...
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Fri Jan 28, 2005
Thu Jan 27, 2005
Chaos, Gaia, Eros by Ralph Abraham
Winter quarter of 1983 was my second winter in Santa Cruz. By that time I had realized that although I would probably finish my degree in Chemistry, I wasn't going to be a chemist. "Science Writing" was a possibility: I needed a degree in science, but I could write for a living. More...
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Tue Jan 25, 2005
Jargon Champions
My career specialty is rich in jargon: its acronyms are nested, its metaphors are poetic, and its slang is graphic. But I think everyone would agree that networking and even IT is a piker next to the jargon of Education professionals. I found a site that appears to be created by parents and sensible teachers that uses amusing explorations of education jargon to make serious criticism of modern American education theories. Here's a sample: More...
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Sun Jan 23, 2005
God's Eye
I read somewhere last week--probably Network World--that you can search for open webcams with the google string inurl:'view/index.shtml'. I looked at a few of them, and came away with a strange feeling. More...
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Where Ever You Go, There You Are
I spotted this bumper sticker yesterday on a biodiesel Mercedes at Ocean and Broadway. More...
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Sat Jan 22, 2005
The Technical Side of MacWorld
My notes on MacWorld, prepared for my colleagues at work.
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Wed Jan 19, 2005
Sheela na Gig: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
While reading a book called "Irish Spirit," last month, I got interested in a odd little sculpture that was popular in Ireland 700 years ago. No one really knows what they were called, why they were popular, or what people thought of them at the time. This is a sheela na gig: More...
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Shoe Shines, and other Non-Technical MacWorld Topics
I've went to MacWorld last week, and then sort of got out of the habit of writing, what will watching "Return of the King" twice and reading Ralph Abraham's "Chaos, Gaia, Eros." Here are some not-computer-related topics related to my trip to San Francisco. More...
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Mon Jan 10, 2005
Video Vault
I heard that Jon Stewart had been on CNN's "Crossfire," a television program I have never seen. I found an website full of links to interesting video, including Jon's appearance on that television show. It was shocking how the hosts faulted him for not being funny enough, when he told them, when he begged them, to please have real debate on their television show, and not compare their real news show to his interviews on the Comedy Channel.
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Apple's Next Surprise
Tomorrow it is expected that Apple will introduce a small, cheap, computer. Cringley wrote an interesting prediction about this box. We'll see if he is right. More...
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Sun Jan 09, 2005
Dan Gillmor Moves on
Dan Gillmor left the Mercury News and will no longer be writing his column, but his blog lives on at the previous link. I loved him at the paper, and I hope that they find someone else to write a similar column in the paper which both brings news and comment to MN readers as well has his freedom-loving, anti-corporate point-of-view.
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One Foot in the Future by Nina Graboi
Earlier I wrote that there was little on the web about Nina Graboi--I have no idea what I had used as a search string, but I have found much more. I just finished reading her memoir a few days ago. I loved her writing voice: quite plain and narrative, honest and conversational. She recreates conversations and incidents without hype or too much interpretation. I loved it, but if you don't have time to read it, you can get the gist of it in this interview she gave to Rebecca McClen Novic and David Jay Brown for "Mavericks of the Mind," which is a great site to be explored at another time. More...
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Sat Jan 08, 2005
Tolkien's Deities
Another recent thread in the Reclaiming community list collected stories of how Tolkien's works influenced their practices, especially if names they had chosen for themselves had been influenced by his languages. More...
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Witch Songs in Latin
There was thread on the Reclaiming Community email list last month that ended with the translation of a traditional pagan song into Latin, and it scans quite beautifully. More...
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Fri Jan 07, 2005
I like "Beautiful Cables"
This is a pretty funny parody of the Apple Store website.
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Too Much Information
In a networking magazine I read I came across this novel idea for solving the problem of people using corporate network access to surf the web and look at porn. I don't want the people I work with to be watching porn at work, but I don't much like the solution: logging the web destinations and emailing a report to every employee. More...
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Thu Jan 06, 2005
Karmic Safe Cursing
I found a great curse at this site about some rituals that have been created using masks of the goddess. It is a good model for a curse that is both dangerous and safe; harsh and loving. The curse is below, but the webpage includes a photo of the mask of the morrigan, and another photo of the mask being worn in a ritual at the Russian River near the Bohemian Grove. More...
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Sun Jan 02, 2005
The Winter Holiday is for Everyone
Well, it's almost all over. I've watched a lot of South Park this last week, so I'll put this as Stan would: You know, I've learned something. I've learned that it doesn't matter if you say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukkah" as long as everyone gets presents. I'm not offended if Kyle says something Jewish like "Happy Hanukkah" and he's not offended if I say "Merry Christmas." Why can't everyone just enjoy the holiday and say outloud what it means to them when they see people? Otherwise, it will just be about Frosty the Snowman, and he sucks and doesn't give anyone presents or anything. More...
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Good Weather
I really hate the "weather.com" pages and the like. I finally found what I was looking for: free weather maps from my government. Here is a nice picture that let's you know why it is going to rain until January 15: More...
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Sat Jan 01, 2005
Which Computer Should I Buy
Occasionally, people ask me for computer buying advice. This article called "How to Fix Mom's Computer" is pretty much all I need to show them from now on. I haven't worked in desktop support for Windows computers for a while, and it has just gotten worse, while Apple's products have gotten better. It doesn't matter if they are cheaper. Buy. A. Mac.
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