Thinking of New Orleans

You can read a sentence like "New Orleans is empty" but it is impossible to understand what that means. But I only know that it is to live through a severe earthquake, and everyone else's disaster thereafter is linked to me and my grief and fear of those weeks after the earthquake, when we slept outside, and looked our neighbors in the eyes to find community and strength.

Wudz of Nahln

New Orleans is in the news today, so that is probably why this guide to the New Orleans dialect came to my attention. Most people go to New Orleans for the food, I would go for the words. More...

New Directions

Today's news is: I got a new job today. For the last four years I've been a network analyst at UCSC, next I'll be a Supervisor (more like technical lead) at the Information Technology Services Support Center--also at UCSC. I haven't been able to talk about my work much in the last few years, but I think that I will be able to write more about workday-to-day. At least the funny stuff.

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

According to this survey, I speak General American Engish, but I don't know what that means. More...

Jerry on a Stamp

via DVBetty: Let's put Jerry on a stamp.

Yes, Why Spoil It?

Lesbians swans in a public park. Finally, a decent logo for my people.

Is "Squaw" Derogatory or what?

I came across this very interesting set of links exploring the etymology of the word "squaw" which I have always thought was sort of derogatory, and then later learned that it mean something quite bad; but, after read the links, now understand to be simply derogatory afterall. I especially liked Cecil Adams's take on it, as usual. More...

Sheer Entertainment of Local Politics

I don't do it often enough, but our City Council meetings are broadcast on the community television and if I watched them, I'd be able to enjoy laugh-a-minute evenings as was reported in the Santa Cruz Metro Nuz column last week. Scroll down to the bottom, "Waxing Expansive."

"Reality" by Peter Kingsley

I haven't been posting much because much of my extra time has been spent reading and thinking about a book I just finished, "Reality" by Peter Kingsley. This is not a typical book for me, and it won't be for you. Kingsley is a scholar of Ancient Greek, and his book is about the roots of the Western Mystical Tradition. Who knew that so much controversy and wisdom could be found in the pre-Socratic philosphers? More...

Is "Incite to Murder" Free Speech?

I received a letter sent to everyone queer in Santa Cruz. Yet another homophobic reggae singer at the Catalyst. What would happen if this guy sang about killing Italians? More...

A Big Day for Lesbian Rights

You probably didn't hear about it in the news, but yesterday the California Supreme court made three decisions that all found that lesbian families exist: we have rights and responsibilities. And the cool thing is-- in the decision it didn't matter if the parents had "domestic partnership" status. The fact that they made children together gave them the same rights and responsibilities that the state gives to biological families. More...

Good Effort

In today's paper we find a hilarious picture of the Separate Reality of Santa Cruz Real Estate. More...

Pet Treats

May I pass on two of the favorite treats at our house. For the cat who won't take her medicine: Beef Baby Food. Just crush up a pill in a teaspoon of this stuff, microwave for 5 seconds, and never pill the cat again. And for dogs: liver biscotti. No, not pretentious or overly Northern Californian at all, even though they are baked in Benecia.

I've Wondered That Too

McSweeney's John Moe asks THIRTY-NINE QUESTIONS FOR CHARLIE DANIELS UPON HEARING "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" for the First Time in 25 Years.

A Little More Progress on Shoppers' Mural

Here's how it looked last week. More...

All About San Francisco

Today's posts are all about a little trip I took to San Francisco for a conference last week. You may want to read them backwards in the order I posted them.

A Nice Place for a Drink

I don't belong to an exclusive club, and neither do you. But when you are in San Francisco and have a little money in your pocket, you can go to the Top of the Mark on Nob Hill like we did. More...

The de Youngs of San Francisco

While Downtown, I noticed that the skin had been removed from this invisible hi-rise on Kearny, revealing the turn-of-the-century bones of the M. H. De Young building. More...

Private Clubs of San Francisco

The neighborhood of the Marines' Memorial is the site of several exclusive SF clubs. The YWCA was once across the street from the "Western Women's Club." The YWCA building is now the Hotel Sheehan. Across the street from the Marines' is The Francisca Club. More...

The Feminine Past of the Marines' Memorial

Our conference was held at a place called "The Marines' Memorial" on Mason St, just down from Nob Hill. More...

Yesterday's Criminals Are Art Today

My sister and I walked down Market St. from Union Square last week and I noticed this strange civic art. More...

Just a Little Marketing (Not Sales)

I was in San Francisco last week at a work-related conference, and I thought I'd share a few photos with you. First, at Union Square, we saw this cable car coming down Sutter absolutely bristling with video cameras. More...

Your Internet Connection

Your internet connection is not what you probably think it is, and soon, it will be nothing like it is now. Cringley describes how recent FCC and Supreme Court rulings will change the ISP business. What the Democrats did in the 1990s that opened up access to the Internet (aka Al Gore inventing the Internet), is being reverse by Corporatists who now will control prices, and eventually, content. More...

Forces of Intolerance for Liberty

Mark Morford has another brilliant column , this time on how the Left should reclaim our intolerance.

Ancient Israel and Identity Management

I just returned from a University IT conference where once again we heard about a shared-authentication system called "Shibboleth." A few of my colleagues didn't know what this word was in reference too, so I illuminated them. Now I'll illuminate you too: More...

Being Evil with Maps

Here's a hilarious story in The Register about how the Microsoft map service doesn't display corporate headquarters of Apple, but the Google map service does.

Pick One: Your Rights or Your Job

Another step on the way to a fascist state. And no one is paying attention. The NLRB has ruled that it is lawful for a corporation to forbid employees to socialize outside of the company.

Yet a recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) allows employers to ban off-duty fraternizing among co-workers, severely weakening the rights of free association and speech, and violating basic standards of privacy for America's workers.

Lesbians in the WDC Power Structure

While clicking through the Best of Craig's List, I found a surprising description of lesbian culture in our national Capital's sexual politics. "Welcome My Little Interns"

Lick Observatory (Daytime)

Several weeks ago, my family went up to Mt. Hamilton for the "Public Program" at Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton east of San Jose. Tickets for these events are extremely difficult to get: there's a lottery. We missed out on the lottery, but the waiting list came through for us and we got our tickets. It appears the limiting factor is how many cars they can park up there. I wonder why there's no transit alternative, but whatever. It turned out that the best part of the trip was the drive up and the picnic we packed. More...

Neighborhood Rubbernecking

Last week's excitment was a truck vs. powerpole accident over on San Lorenzo. It was the helicopter that brought us out of the house. Traffic was backed up for hours. More...

Rare Beauties

The other day we took the dogs for a walk on the Bean Hollow trail up near Half Moon Bay. We like it because its flat AND beautiful. More...

Extreme Science

National Geographic's web site has a very cool movie made from cameras that survived being run over by a tornado.

Too Much About the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack

I was listening to the "Lord of the Rings" soundtrack, by Howard Shore the other day, and noodled around the web, curious about some of the lyrics. And found A Magpie's Nest of everything there is to know about this music. Wow.

The Future of Skype

I think that Skype is cool. I like how it uses filesharing architecture to arrange for free internet voice transmission. Cringley thinks he knows its future.

Office Guns

This URL made the rounds at work last week. How to make projectile weapons out of office supplies.

Cisco IOS vulnerabilities: Why It Matters

To most people who use the web, how the packets get from a webserver to their computer is a Big Mystery. And it IS complicated and it takes a while to learn how it all works. Actually, few people understand how it really works, and most of us the networking Priesthood are discovering new things about Border Gateway Protocol and MultiProtocol Label Switching every day. But routing has been in the news recently, and you probably want to know about it. More...

Stripping Us of Our Civil Rights

Last week we read in the papers that the fundamentalists are collecting signatures to put two propositions on the fall ballot that would permanently end any hope of gay marriage in California, and strip us of our current civil rights. I got a letter from the National Center for Lesbian Rights. More...

Not Writing

I hate these periods when I don't have time to write. It drives me crazy and my notes to myself pile up in my inbox. I'll post when I can this morning, and then for the rest of the weekend I'm getting ready to attend a UC-wide conference of IT people which will take up most of my time. Plus, I'm working on a life-changing project that, has a very good change of improving my life tremendously.