Introducing Accidental Verbosity

Yesterday my wife announced over on The Accidental Jedi that she was working on a project. I think she did a great job! We designed the layout a few weeks ago, fiddled with CSS and all its glory before taking the tried and true approach, which she sat down and implemented yesterday while I was at the office. Then last night and this morning we finalized it.

Folks, I give you...

I will be posting over there now. At least, on days when I have time to post! Feel free to link and visit accordingly.

The old blog will primarily be archival, and will remain the home of Carnival of the Capitalists business.

And now, I turn the computer over to my lovely wife...

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More On The Sleep Apnea Thing

I was poking around and found this page on sleep apnea and snoring. Of interest, it says:

It is generally safe to say that unless an obvious and easily correctable physical obstruction can be identified in patients with sleep apnea (e.g., massively enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids) that a surgical procedure is never the treatment of choice. The gold standard for the medical treatment of obstructive sleep apnea remains nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Nasal CPAP is the most effective, non-invasive therapy for the patient with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It is effective in reversing day-time somnolence and in eliminating cardiopulmonary sequellae. When used properly, CPAP produces regular rhythmic breathing, and results in a patient who not only feels dramatically better, but is also able to function more efficiently. Compared with no treatment and indeed compared with other treatment modalities, patients treated with nasal CPAP have a lower morbidity and mortality rate.

Which is in keeping with other comments like it I had seen, indicating that the machine option is so strongly the option that it makes sense for it to have been automatic. Which makes me no less curious about the results of the lab test in greater detail, nor any less curious about whether there might be another option. However, the surgical options sound more costly (depending how sleazy my whacky insurance gets), painful, and disruptive for me.

I can see why they'd at least want to try this first and foremost.

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Welcome To The Machine?

So a few weeks ago I was tested in a sleep lab, to see if I have sleep apnea or what.

I've been eagerly awaiting the results. So eagerly, I was planning to stop at my doctor's office and harass him today, since my next appointment isn't for another month.

Well, now I have the results! Sort of. It became known to me in the form of a call from the equipment vendor that, yes, I do have sleep apnea and, indeed, they plan to hook me to a machine. As opposed to doing something surgical or whatever. The nice woman from the company called to get my insurance info and found that DME - durable medical equipment - is in fact not covered by my sleazy insurance plan. Before I actually spend the $500 - 800 I can't afford, I actually want to talk to a doctor and like, you know, see the results of the test. Sheesh.

Worse, the person who sent the vendor at me was not the doctor, but a "Jean" who represents a bunch of doctors all affiliated with the hospital where I was tested. This was odd, because I was like "Jean? Jean who?"

Anyway, I told them I wasn't doing anything until I actually talked to the doctor. In the meantime, it is kind of cool to know there's something genuinely there.

Update:

I stopped at the doctor's office. He's at a seminar for the week, but the nurse/receptionist knew all about it. When I told her I'd gotten no word on results besides someone calling to check on whether my insurance covered the equipment, she said "didn't Jean call you?" "No, it was someone Jean designated to call." I am not absolutely certain if the person was with the vendor of the equipment or was a go-between, but it did sound like she worked for the vendor.

I explained to Judy (at the doctor's office) that I would prefer to see the details and know what alternatives we were setting aside before I get the equipment. As I told Deb, it would be as if I looked at your computer and then gave you options for new ones buy, without any word on why I came to the conclusion you needed to replace it completely. Chances are it is the most appropriate outcome. But were there alternatives and why were they considered less desirable; cost? avoiding time off work for surgery? questionable whether surgery would work where this is bound to? I'm torn between hurrying up so I can have the new life it is likely to give me and waiting a week to be sure I have talked to the doctor for real.

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An Intensely Moving Experience

Absinthe & Cookies has moved! It is now at http://bittersweet.ondragonswing.com. Be sure to update your links. You do have it linked, right?

All AgitProp, All The Time - aka Frozen In Montreal - has also moved. It is now at http://fim.ondragonswing.com. Ditto.

Ummm... the same goes for Ninjababe's Ramble, now at http://ramble.ondragonswing.com. Notice a trend here?

Exactly. Mickey's Musings has also moved, and can be found at http://mickey.ondragonswing.com.

And finally, Girls! Girls! Girls!, which is great fun to read when people remember to post to it (hint, hint), is now at http://girlblog.ondragonswing.com.

The dragon must get mighty tired sometimes, carrying all that around...

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Why Didn't I Think of That...

In keeping with upcoming CotC host Don Quixote's suggestion for all such metablogging events, I have created a fixed URL that will always redirect to the most recent instance of Carnival of the Capitalists:

http://elhide.com/solo/cc.htm

There is bound to be a fuzzy area around the time a new CotC is first posted, same as with my announcing it in the traditional venues. Apart from that, the above address should always take you to the latest, just as capitalists -at- elhide.com forwards submissions to the current host.

The hosts and info Carnival of the Capitalists page will remain, along with the previous locations page. Respectively they remain a way of organizing and publicizing the list of who has volunteered to host in the future and info about CotC, and archiving the links to past locations for benefit of any who might have missed one.

The new URL will give you the convenience of not having to go looking for the exact link each Monday.

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Smashing Good Posts

Read Citizen Smash.

Specifically, start with his overview of attending the protest. So where are the pictures dude?

Then continue through Rebecca's little speech, and finally Smash's excellent and restrained interview with Rebecca.

Superlative stuff.

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Comfy Chair Devolution

One thing I forgot to mention when I talked about our recent visit to Barnes & Noble was their elimination of comfy chairs. In fact, all chairs. Except in the Starbucks section of the store.

They replaced them with a large info desk nobody seemed to be using, and additional racks and tables of books.

I found the whole thing jarring, even though I am not one to sit in the store and read at length. I always used the chairs when hanging out at the store with Nicole and Sherri, when my legs wore out or I got bored but one or both of them were still looking. While I still like the store, I dislike what they have done.

Soooo... what is their reasoning? Did they study it and decide the comfy chair revolution didn't work? Did they decide the cafe area was enough? Did the proponents of sales per square foot through more inventory per square foot win out over the proponents of more sales per store (and visit, and square foot) through longer visits and "third place" environment in one of those corporate battles we see only the results of? Did Starbucks nudge them into it so they can be the only part of the B&N that people hang out in? Does their decision make sense? What might it mean for the comfy chair tactic in other companies? Have you seen this change at B&N or other stores in your area? Is it the new trend; a sign the revolution is over and the tide turned?

Personally I preferred it the old way. From a business perspective, I am not sure which way makes more sense. What do you think?

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Read The Whole Thing

I have to agree with Glenn on this one. Read Lileks Now. A tidbit to get you piqued and started:

Imagine if you woke from an operation and discovered that your tumor was gone. You’d think: I suppose that’s a good thing. But. You learned that the hospital might profit from the operation. You learned that the doctor who made the diagnosis had decided to ignore all the other doctors who believed the tumor could be discouraged if everyone protested the tumor in the strongest possible terms, and urged the tumor to relent. How would you feel? You’d be mad. You’d look up at the ceiling of your room and nurse your fury until you came to truly hate that butcher. And when he came by to see how you were doing, you’d have only one logical, sensible thing to say: YOU TOOK IT OUT FOR THE WRONG REASONS. PUT IT BACK!

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March 22nd Carnival of the Capitalists

The Entrepreneurial Mind, has the March 22nd edition of Carnival of the Capitalists at http://forum.belmont.edu/cornwall/archives/000674.html.

The next edition will be hosted at Solport. Send your entries to capitalists -at- elhide.com per usual.

Remember the hosts and info page, aka Carnival of the Capitalists home page, is at http://www.elhide.com/solo/cotc.htm and the past CotC locations are linked at http://elhide.com/solo/pastcotc.htm so it's easy for you to find "historic" ones.

I posted recently regarding open host slots for the rest of the first year of CotC, and the plan for subsequent slots.

The announcement mailing list mentioned last week and at the top of the Carnival of the Capitalists page is still worth noting, but may not be entirely reliable until I change servers. For instance, I sent an announcement there first when I learned CotC was up this week, but it hasn't come through, and I won't be able to troubleshoot and force the issue until I go to the office in the morning. Not that that won't be soon enough for most people, but just in case anyone wonders.

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When Is A Bubble Not A Bubble?

When it's a result of deficiencies in GAAP with respect to companies less tangibly based than was long the norm.

Via Real Clear Politics

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Still Poor

Well, we didn't win PowerBall. Even at a piddly $12 million, it would have been nice. Oh well.

We went to breakfast yesterday at Good Days, in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, which I highly recommend. Deb seems to concur. We met my father, stepmother, sister, brother in law, and the two nephews who are their geek offspring. At least, Deb declared them geeks, since Dan was reading I, Robot at the table, while Marc was wrestling with a Gameboy. This means the only major relative of mine she hasn't yet met is my grandmother. We should probably hurry, since my grandmother is turning 88 this year. Then again, in my family that means she could have another 15 years or so. And we're not even part of the Howard Trust.

Following breakfast, it was such a beautiful day we went for another Sunday drive on Saturday, in which Deb picked up Rhode Island as another visited state. We went route 24 to 195 to 95, south a bit past Coventry, then turned around and went up 95 all the way to 128. I did that last bit to show her how 95 just sort of ends at the point where it was supposed to continue into Boston. Could have gotten off on 495, in Sharon, or whatever.

While we were on the drive, I detoured off 195 into Warren, RI to my usual place for PowerBall purchases. Usually I only buy them when the jackpot is huge, but hey.

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Carnival of the Capitalists Hosting

A couple people who previously hosted Carnival of the Capitalists have asked to host again following the anniversary. I asked them to come back and remind me in a couple months, since I didn't want to start filling more 2nd year dates yet.

Then, yesterday, someone asked to host in the "for rent" slot I had listed for October 25th, which I had left there after the anniversary date mainly to show that CotC was not ending after its first 54 weeks. Given that there was a good reason, and it was apparently open, I gave out that slot to someone who hadn't previously hosted.

There are 13 slots remaining until the anniversary, which are open to anyone who has never yet hosted. I'd like to see more of the biz and econ bloggers sign up, but you do not have to be someone who ordinarily posts on those topics to be a host. You can merely be interested enough in them to want to do the work of hosting. Feel free to let me know if you'd like to host one of those weeks.

I will start accepting hosts for CotC editions after October 25th once the remaining slots prior to then have been filled, or in two months, whichever comes second. When I start filling in the post-October dates, they will be open to previous hosts as well as those who have never hosted, first come, first served. As in the past, I may cease taking new volunteers temporarily if the list gets too far ahead.

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Deb Can Cook

I meant to post this after the meatloaf. The hash browns pushed me over the edge.

Deb is astounded, but she can really cook. Tonight she made hash browns from scratch as an experiment. They were awesome, and went nicely with the egg and cheese thing she does so well. Of course, now I will want them all the time...

She also made one of the tastiest meatloafs I have ever had, and the women in my family can seriously cook, including meatloaf. Ironically, she started it, found there was no onion to follow the normal recipe, and threw in a little garlic powder to flavor it instead. It also made great sandwiches as leftovers. Mmmmm...

I'm still not sure she believes I liked it that much.

Of course, being from my family, I cook some of the time too. Neither of us ordinarily do anything fancy. It's fun to try things one of the other of us haven't tried before.

In other news, I got home early and we had supper all ready before 8:00. We sat down to watch Joan of Arcadia, aka the best show on television, and basketball was on instead. Poor God! Shoved aside by a mere game, like some small God. So we watched Amok Time instead of Joan. Love. that. Shatner.

Has anyone watched Wonderfalls? I happened to flick to it for the first episode. Just the kind of thing to give Deb whacky dreams. To her dismay, I flicked to it again. I guess we're officially hooked, so each Friday night I can listen to Deb yell at the TV "take him home! He's cute! And he likes you! Even though you're insane!" Silly Jaye is overlooking the obvious when it comes to her favorite bartender. Anyway, it's like a really screwed up Joan.

And there you have it... another Friday night of Bloggers In Love.

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No Naked Vulvas Here

I was quite amused to find I was the number one hit in this search for naked vulvas in my referrer logs. Sorry guys; no pictures here. This is a tame blog.

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Kelley Sez I'm Da Man

Woohoo! I am so happy my suggestion for fixing Kelley's internet connectivity problem worked. When I saw the mention of proxy server, I thought of my own experiences with the same thing. In fact, the machine I am typing this on sometimes gets plugged into my client's network rather than mine. When I do so, I have to do the same thing with WSP Client.

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Slacker Dude Meet Snow Parking Etiquette

As anyone who lives in a place with snow and on street parking learns, there is etiquette involved in parking. A form of property right, however informal, for that matter.

In my current abode, parking spots are not assigned, beyond the fact that each of the two apartments gets one of the three spots in the upper driveway, and the other spot is up for grabs. Since there are three of them and two of us, we leave two spots for them and park the other cars down below.

There's a twenty-something slacker dude in the other apartment, who in return for a small break on rent is responsible for things like clearing the walks when it snows. He approaches these tasks with the utmost lack of enthusiasm, as you would expect from a twenty-something slacker dude in his first apartment. For shoveling out our cars, we're on our own.

The etiquette is that if there has been enough snow to bother clearing it, you "own" the spot you cleared.

Day one of the current snow madness saw me spending most of an hour shoveling out my van, which is the vehicle we usually park in the upper driveway. Slacker Dude had the spot beside mine, and because I am a snow clearing perfectionist I cleared my passenger side well enough to leave him little to do on his driver side.

I came home and my spot was intact. He hadn't moved his car yet, and the girls he shares the apartment with are classy.

Next day I spent another half hour clearing around my car again.

When I came home, he was in my spot. He had cleared the snow off his car, leaving a ridge of snow in the space that had been between our two cars. He shoveled behind his car enough to get out safely, but nothing more. When he came home and stole my spot, he crowded it such that I could barely get in, and would step out of my car into a large mound of snow.

I saw what had happened, had a mild tantrum, and parked down back in an unshoveled spot, but one where I wouldn't have to step in a mound to exit my car. I figure between the unsafe manner in which I flew around the corner and into the other spot, the fact I didn't park in the spot he abandoned for my pristine one, the doors slamming, and my briefcase hitting the floor with a significant thud, he might notice I was unhappy and take the brain out of suspend mode long enough to puzzle out why. If he doesn't figure out this bit of snow parking etiqutte now, the easy way, sooner or later he may be in a position to find out less gently. I figure perhaps one of the girls will explain it to him, as I am sure they have a clue.

Of course, since we are unlikely to need snow parking etiquette again until next winter, even if he "gets" it now, there's the risk he won't remember. I know it's probably a silly thing to get pissed off about, but a day later I am still irked.

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A Fascinatingly Goofy Quiz

You are Walt Whitman! Champion of the
Transcendentalist American Ideal, Walt Whitman
is one of the first poets to use the "free
verse" form in America. He has been
imitated, but will never be duplicated, just
like you! Except for by everyone else who gets
Walt Whitman ;)


Which famous poet are you? (pictures and many outcomes)
brought to you by Quizilla

Via my loverly wife, who must be compatible, since she had the same result, here

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Linking Blogs Linking Posts

Spoons has a post on blogging with which I vehemently disagree, as you will see if you read the comments.

For the easily confused, it is the second link you want for the specific post. The first link is a courtesy link to the main page of the blog in question, as is common, courteous, but not mandatory, blogging practice to include.

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Reminder

Before I get back to actual work, of which there is a backlog, I would like to remind everyone that the March 22nd edition of Carnival of the Capitalists will be host by The Entrepreneurial Mind. As usual, e-mail your entries to capitalists -at- elhide.com by about Sunday evening.

In case you missed it, the last CotC was hosted here, and links to all previous locations can be found here.

If you would like to receive e-mail announcements that CotC has been posted each week, with the exact location, you may subscribe to a mailing list by using an address of cc -at- elhide.com, the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject, and a blank e-mail body (that is, any text in the body of the e-mail will be ignored).

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Graphics

I may be interested in hiring someone for a simple graphics task for the business. It involves extracting and cleaning up a logo from a graphic that contains other elements I no longer want. I could probably do it myself acceptably, if I took an entire day of painstaking effort in Paint Shop Pro. Let me know at jay -at- elhide.com if you do graphics work and think you might be interested.

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Just For The Record...

I hate snow.

Jeeeeez. This is frickin ridiculous.

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Exodus Continues

Being American in T.O. has moved. Or is that "muved"? Anyway, one of these days I might even get around to changing the link on the sidebar...

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Clue*

So titled because thinking of what I was about to say here made me think along the lines of "Colonel Mustard, in the bedroom, with the candlestick."

Make your predictions...

Where will the pre-election attack(s) in the U.S. take place, how long before the election, and what form will they take? For purposes of this exercise, assume that the fact of an attack is just that.

* Soon to be banned from use as a weapon.

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Meandering to a Question of States

Last night we went to Barnes & Noble in Braintree, which Deb declared to be a nice store. It's more convenient and I like it better than the Borders in Braintree.

They failed as far as having the latest Robin Hobb series. In a spasm of gleeful evil, I hooked my wife on Robin Hobb. Heh. But this means now we must buy the trilogy in which two are paperback and one is hardcover. Borders failed us by failure to have the first one, so we bought none. B&N failed us by having only the second one. Had they carried all three, I would have renewed my B&N discount card, gotten those, and likely bought a couple or three other books besides. Not that I don't have plenty in front of me to read, especially with the book supply in my apartment having recently more than doubled, with surprisingly little overlap. (The single biggest problem we have with the apartment is where to put all the books.)

Anyhow, we wandered around most of the store, looking at this and that, chatting and bantering. There's a wire bin thingy at the end of an aisle. In it are maps, rolled up in tubes. Deb picked up a world map to look at the tube, while I observed that I always used to have world and United States maps hanging on my bedroom walls. Why hang up scantily clad babes when you can have geography instead?

Deb dropped the world tube back in the rack and snarked that it would be obsolete soon anyway, then observed that at least the United States is stable.

I pointed out that it's been waaaay too long, and it was high time we added a state or two, then laughed and said "you never know..."

Probably in the course of blogging I have asked this before, but... what state or two would you like to add? What state or two do you think it most likely we would add in the next thirty years?

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The Things That Excite Us

You want a silly thing for us to be excited about? The gas bill came yesterday and it was only $148.90! Nothing like last time, despite having two of us here, taking lots of showers, doing lots of laundry, running the dishwasher heavily, and not going away and using minimal gas for a third of the month.

Deb didn't dare to open it, so she left it for me. I saw it under the keyboard and thought "oh shit." Then I opened it and walked around the corner beaming at her in delighted amazement.

Next winter we know what to do to the place to reduce the bill, so it should never be as bad again. Yay!

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They're Back!

Cox and Forkum are back from vacation, saying it like it is graphically.

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Wheel of Time

Steven Taylor showed a different side of himself yesterday, reporting on things like The Wheel of Time having been optioned for movies. I'm a huge fan; one who has been sorely disappointed with the last couple books. When I discovered them, via my sister, the first five were out and the sixth was on its way. The wait for the subsequent ones seemed interminable, and the real peak of excitement and his writing, for me, was the fourth volume; The Shadow Rising. The last one to me that felt like he was still on a roll and maintaining some direction was the sixth.

The last one was buildup. It set things into place for major ass-kicking action next time. It was dull, but that could be forgiven because the next one is sure to be amazing.

Oh wait, I said that about the one before that!

If we don't die of old age waiting for the next one, while he cavorts with prequels to extend the pain and the franchise cash flow.

Anyway, Steven needn't worry too much about the ending. Jordan has said all along that he knew what the last scene would be when he started writing the first one. Heh. Perhaps something about a wind blowing from somewhere, and there being no endings, but this is an ending...

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Honoring PETA and Rachel Together

Last night we chose to honor both International Eat An Animal For PETA Day and today's anniversary of the death of the flat Rachel Corrie.

I was thinking steak, but we ended up having ground beef. Fried up and served on nice, flat, round flour tortillas. Beef for PETA; tortillas for Corrie. I thought it was a nice homage, don't you?

For the curious, the full spread was tortillas rolled up around beef, refried beans, cheese, lettuce, and in my case tomato and picante sauce. Refried beans, corn, and nacho chips on the side. Yum!

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Political Quiz

I'd really love to see some answers to this question posed by Blaster. It's an excellent one.

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Spoogle*

Have you noticed how interesting the spam has gotten lately? They're using strange word combinations in the subjects as part of the effort to defeat spam filters.

Well, here's a game for you. Go to Google and search the whacky, random word combos that come in the spam subjects. For instance, I just got:

conqueror baccalaureate sociology confiscate turbid

The point? Curiosity, mostly. What are the top results for a given combination? Is the combination obscure enough to result in only one hit, as in the above example?

* I just came up with this name as I was about to title the post. It's a combination of spam and Google.

Update - More examples from the overnight spam:

rampant aerobic

electret hotrod phillips buzz grasp

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Questions For Law Bloggers

Lawyers who have blogs, I have questions:

Does having the blog seem to generate additional business for your practice, or at least enhance your reputation?

That is, if you are a practicing attorney. However, the reputation and career enhancement question still applies even if not.

Are there any cautions or caveats you would offer a lawyer considering starting a blog?

Please leave a comment, or e-mail me via jay -at- elhide.com, if you can offer any feedback. Thanks!

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Introducing Julia May

How's this for one of the clearest ultrasounds ever? I'm impressed.



No, this is not mine. Nothing to report in that department yet.

My nephew didn't want a dog, so I will have three grandnieces instead of only two. It seems there's some defect in the grandnephew creation department, but girls are cool.

It also seems my nephew took seriously my concerns over name theft. I decided years and years ago that I liked Sarah as a name for a girl. That was what the initial choice was for this new baby of his, so I jokingly complained. After all, when it is my turn, I will have to take into account what names have previously been used for sixteen nieces and nephews and, now, three grandnieces. Not to mention many other relatives, depending how concerned I am about avoiding duplication. On the other hand, Sarah is in the top ten names currently, which has made me think twice.

Speaking of baby names, you might be amused to know that during one of the all night phone conversations with Deb, during that week when we went from talking for the first time to being hopelessly in love and discussing marriage, I pulled out an old baby name book, poked through it and read off various names for her reactions. It was a book my sister had when she was pregnant, which I then borrowed as a source of names for characters in fiction I was theoretically planning to write.

Speaking of writing, I had a dream last night featuring the aforementioned nephew, as he was submitting a new book he had just finished writing. I found out he had already had one published, and this was his second. He told me how easy and fun it was to dash off a book on the side, while not at his day job, and pick up some extra money. As I woke up, I was trying to find out more details from him, on the idea if he could do it, I could do it.

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Spring Already?

It's a nice thought, at least.

I just drove to and from the bank, 3.5 miles each way, with my window open. It's that nice today.

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Carnival of the Capitalists Up At TJ's Weblog

This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is up, hosted by Torsten Jacobi. Looks like there are many excellent entries.

Next week's edition will be hosted by The Entrepreneurial Mind. Send your submissions to capitalists -at- elhide.com. For future hosts and other details, see the main Carnival of the Capitalists page. The past locations page will hook you up with any past CotC editions you might have missed.

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Received Via E-Mail

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CSS Question

It happens to be with pMachine, but it could be with any CSS web page. I am trying to define three columns with CSS, then have them not only in order side to side, against each other, but also have them centered on the page.

If you were in 800x600, you would see a narrow stripe of background color, equal on either side, and columns 175, 400, and 175 pixels exactly centered. In 1024x768, the background border would simply be wider.

So far, using "float," I can only get them all to line up against the left, leaving a very wide background border to the right. Worse, if the browser is not maximized, the columns stack rather than remaining side by side.

What is the alternative? Putting all the DIV sections within a one cell, centered table? Something more elegant? I researched a little on the web and in the most recent MSDN I have, but it was late so I eventually gave up for the night. Nothing seemed to fit.

I tried using an align center tag in the PHP file that uses the CSS, first in each DIV, and then in a "container" DIV (one div to bind them all, and on the web site find them...) surrounding the others. That did absolutely nothing.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

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Obligatory Post, Plus Links to Divert Your Attention

I'm kind of busy to post, and as it is I've spent too much time reading the words of others. Regarding the 3/11 Madrid terrorism, I recommend you keep an eye on what Paul is posting. It includes his translations of Spanish news articles, which is a superlative addition to everything else out there on blogs and American news sites. I hope Alina is okay, and he hears from her soon.

Other than that recommended reading, I have lately been e-mailing myself links to be added to my blogroll when I get around to it. So I thought I would quickly throw them into a post for your clicking pleasure. Not to mention as an additional reminder to myself...

Adam Smith, Esq.
Low Earth Orbit
Les Jones
Your Daily Prescott
Gill
Evangelical Outpost
Niraj
Peppermint Patty (is back from hiatus)
Middle Age Madness
Road Warrior Rules for Survival
Blackfive
INDC Journal
The National Debate

That should keep you busy for a while, not to mention that my blogroll is long and varied to begin with. My blogroll will get you through times of no posts better than my posts will get you through times of no blogroll. Or something dopey like that.

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TJ's Weblog Hosts Carnival of the Capitalists This Week

Here's my traditional Thursday reminder about Carnival of the Capitalists. This week it's at TJ's Weblog. Send your entries to Torsten Jacobi via capitalists -at- elhide.com until Sunday evening for the March 15th edition.

See the Carnival of the Capitalists home page for info on how to subscribe to a CotC announcement mailing list, if you would like an e-mail notifying you when and where CotC is posted each week. Future hosts and info about CotC are on the same page. There is also a page listing past locations if you missed or would like an easy way to refer back to them.

We currently have hosts lined up through the June 14th edition. Please let me know if you have not hosted before and would be interested in having Carnival of the Capitalists at your blog one week. While it's a bonus if we can get business and economics bloggers to host, hosting is not limited to blogs with that specific focus.

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Spain Terror

As you might expect, there are regular updates on last night's terrorist attck in Spain at Iberian Notes. I wouldn't be surprised if it's Arab rather than ETA terrorism.

Update:

Guess it's looking more and more like is was ETA. But then, evil is evil, and as a this comment on this post said, it ultimately boils down to those who actively oppose terrorism, and everyone else.

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Blogging and Taxes

In a serious post, Frank has an excellent question. How to handle money that comes in via blogging, with respect to taxes?

Mostly I would say it'd be considered a hobby and treated accordingly. Others thought that the tip jar contributions might be exempted as gifts anyway. At any rate, if you clearly aren't blogging with the intent of it being a business, and the revenue is below or only marginally above the expenses you could claim, my thinking would be to ignore the whole thing.

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Just For The Taste Of It

This is an amusing coincidence, but perhaps not that surprising. Just as interesting is how much name choices have changed:

Redmonds also found that names such as Godelena, Helwise, Idony, Avice and Dionisia were more popular than some of the names now considered traditional, such as Mary.

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Kerry Galore

Sean Hackbarth has the latest Kerry's House of Ketchup for your reading and deriding pleasure today. There are a bunch of great Kerry links collected together, though none to Viking Pundit, whom I have dubbed "your source for all things Kerry."

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Wow, There Have Been A Lot...

I thought it might be interesting to make a link list of every blog that has ever entered posts in Carnival of the Capitalists. Well, interesting is one word for the project. What follows may or may not be a complete list, less a couple blogs that didn't seem to exist any more. I haven't yet combed through it for duplicates. There's a chance some are missing.

At any rate, this may ultimately appear in some form on a permanent page associated with CotC. While it gives the participants a linky boost, of course, there are many good blogs represented here, and I am nowhere close to having them all linked. You might want to check out some of them...

Truck and Barter
The Big Picture
Tasty Manatees
Beth's Contradictory Brain
Outside The Beltway
CalBlog
BlogoSFERICS
Dean's World
Notorious B.L.O.G.
Professor Bainbridge
A Voyage To Arcturus
The Noble Pundit
Cyber::Ecology
The Bejus Pundit
A Penny For...
Biscuits and Gravy
B2Blog
TJ's Weblog
Jay Solo
Zogby Blog
Infinite Monkeys
BusinessPundit
Insults Unpunished
Deinonychus antirhopus
A Single Guy In The South
Repatriate
Goobage
Chicago Boyz
The Entrepreneurial Mind
Solport
EGO
Walter In Denver
Poliblog
Overlawyered
Newmark's Door
EconLog
SamaBlog
The Calico Cat
Corp Law Blog
Catallarchy.net
The American Mind
Weekend Pundit
Forgotten Fronts
Brain Waves
Regions of Mind
MTPolitics.net
Lead and Gold
By No Other
Julie Neidlinger
Due Diligence
Matt Certo's Internet Strategy Blog
Cap'n Arbyte
BubbleGeneration
Kin's Kouch
Master of None
ethicalEsq?
You Big Mouth, You!
Wizbang
The Window Manager
Oraculations
Photon Courier
Random Fate
Drumwaster's Rants
Peachwater, TX
Ensight
Dodgeblogium
Indolence Log
A Little Aardvark Never Hurt Anyone
Dispatches From The Frozen North
The Spoons Experience
Sugarmama
Jockularocracy
A Shareware Life
CRM Mastery E-Journal
The Evangelical Outpost
Eject! Eject! Eject!
Knowledge Problem
Marginal Revolution
Mises Economics Blog
Earthly Passions
CurryBlog
Matthew J. Stinson
Freedom's Fidelity
Rugby (World Cup) Round-up
Les Jones Blog
Meta-Roj Blog
Resurrectionsong
Admiral Quixote's Roundtable
Crazy Pundit
Priorities and Frivolities
Rawbservations
The Accidental Jedi
Enterblog
See The Donkey
VentureBlog
Swagu
Venturpreneur
Roth & Company, P.C.
101-280
Zen and the Art of Funk Capitalism
Peaktalk
Cold Spring Shops
Wordlab
Laughing Wolf
Hobbs Online AM
Chris Shipley
Gill
VisaLaw
MarketingWonk
d-42.com
Da Goddess
The Dole Papers Blog
What's Your Brand Mantra
Patterico's Pontifications
Power Line
Kensho Godchaser
O'DonnellWeb
The Daily Ablution
Simon World
The Enterprise System Spectator
Startup Skills
Alan K. Henderson's Weblog
Freedom's Fidelity
Blog Business World
Winds of Change
Dispatches From The Frozen North
HobbsOnline
The Business Word
The Soapbox Senate
Dr. Smolira
Synergy Fest
Kuro5hin
In The Pipeline
The Declarer
The Politburo Diktat
Pathetic Earthlings
Fried Man
Banana Oil
PrestoPundit
Small Business Trends
Timothy Sandefur
The Philosophical Cowboy
Aubrey Turner
The Intrepid Card Player
Shivering Timbers
Small Business Trends
Feces Flinging Monkey
Madeleine Kane
Stupid, Lazy and American
Food Basics
Oh, That Liberal Media
Fuoroboros

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Cast Your Votes

I received the following e-mail:

AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION ONLINE POLL
YOUR VOTE IS NEEDED NOW!

You help is requested in gaining the opinion of on-line voters to the following question. Whom do you favor for the next President of the United States - John Kerry, George W. Bush, or Ralph Nader?

Go to http://www.onlinepolls.net/pollv1/default.aspx?pid=10 to express your opinion.

Cast your vote. Forward to a friend. Help us feel the pulse of America.

Thanks,

Don

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

So I went there and voted. They do ask a name, e-mail address, zip, and then on the second screen they have a security code to enter to foil bots.

Right now it is about 90% Kerry, 6% Nader, and 3% Bush. Can you say skewed? Sure you can! Obviously it must be getting passed around to all the people who haven't seen through Kerry or don't "get" Bush yet, some of whom never will.

I previously voted on a g** m******* poll these people sponsored. I suspected their agenda of being against, but the result was solidly for, as I recall. Yep, it was. Why rely on memory when you can simply never delete e-mails? That one was oppose 201914, favor 378691, and c**** u***** rather than m******** 52238.

Anyway, I thought some of you might be interested in participating and perhaps pointing out this poll. Maybe make the vote more balanced.

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See, I Am Not Keeping Her Locked Up Away From A Computer

Hey look! My sensible wife (well, she had the sense to marry me) is actually posting again. Woohoo! Really great stuff, too.

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75,000

Based on my usual traffic, it appears I will hit 75,000 today, at just under a year of having Site Meter. Very nice.

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Lotto Ticket

Very amusing.

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School

Dean talks about why he hates school. Boy, it brings back memories. I understand completely.

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Carnival of the Capitalists Is Up

Catallarchy.net has this week's Carnival of the Capitalists.

Next week's stop will be TJ's Weblog. Future hosts are listed on the soon to be revised Carnival of the Capitalists page. Past locations can be found, appropriately, at the Past Locations page.

Contact me for info if you are interested in hosting a future edition.

If you would like to receive e-mail announcements that the CotC is up, pointing to the exact location, send e-mail to cc-at- elhide.com with the word Subscribe as the subject.

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Driving With Fresh Eyes

Yesterday I took my lurvely wife out for a Sunday drive on Saturday. Drivers are crazier on Sundays, after all. She was a little stir crazy, and I had only shown her limited parts of the area.

So we drove over by a nearby Wal-Mart so Deb could see where it was. Then I proceeded via back ways toward Plymouth. On the way, I pointed out my brother's house he isn't living in currently while his pending ex occupies it, and my father's old body shop that he sold going on fifteen years ago. I had previously pointed out the elementary school I attended, but on this drive I pointed out another view of the lake in my hometown, and the street where I grew up. Also pointed out things like where the Toll House Restaurant was (as in toll house cookies).

As we drove through Kingston, a route I have driven countless times, Deb exclaimed how beautiful it was, and that it didn't look real. That was where she got a good look at some cranberry bogs, which she had never seen before. Basically, you don't necessarily give any thought about how the things are grown. At least in their current state, the bogs we passed were kind of picturesque. I grew up around bogs, people who worked them, picking equipment, and so forth. Normally I don't give it a thought; it's just something I have always had around, even more than some people.

We ended up driving 3A into Plymouth, winding down through North Plymouth, then taking the first left where it is possible to get to the Plymouth waterfront. Pointed out where Ocean Spray used to be headquartered, the Village Landing or whatever it's called, where there are nifty shops and a Peaceful Meadows Ice Cream. Mmmm.... ice cream. I actually grew up on milk delivered from Peaceful Meadows, but their main thing these days is ice cream. I pointed out a good restaurant, and the Mayflower, and offered to park along the waterfront on, appropriately, Water Street. It was kind of rainy, but some other time we'll stop.

Here's where it got interesting, beyond Deb's observation of how not real things looked, and her excitement at being in sight of the water. She wasn't aware there was a Mayflower replica as a tourist attraction there. The whole thing seems mythic, because the Plymouth stuff is something she learned about in second grade. I pointed at the Plymouth Rock enclosure as we drove past and she almost missed it because she was expecting something big; not something you'd have to get out of a car and look down to see. It really is a bit overblown, but then for all we know it was invented after the fact as hype.

Even when it comes to Water Street and the most touristy area of Plymouth, to me it's just there; no big deal. My stepmother grew up in Plymouth. The waterfront is where we used to watch fireworks most years for The Fourth, parking at my stepmother's mother's house and walking a trivial distance to Burial Hill, overlooking the waterfront. We go there to eat. My stepmother used to do the books for one of the restaurants there. I worked for a couple years about halfway between the waterfront and Plymouth Beach, and had to get to work through 20 MPH tourists some days. For that matter, I worked not that far from Plimoth Plantation. The people from there used to come in the store, garbed for their work roles.

So it's cool, having someone who has never seen any of this before, giving a whole new perspective.

We drove out the far end of Water Street, by Water Street Cafe, which is a good place for breakfast. Continued south from there, past Plymouth Beach, where I had no idea Bert's Restaurant had closed, and past the entrance to the Plantation. Deb was unaware of that as well. I haven't been there or on the Mayflower since 4th grade, so it'll be cool to go sometime. I meant to turn down Rocky Hill Road and go by the nuclear plant, but it's been so long, I missed the turn. When I was younger, I would stop and admire it.

We ended up driving 3A down through Manomet, which is part of Plymouth, which is one of the bigger towns in the state. Popped onto route 3 an exit before the end, kept on toward the Cape, and went over the Sagamore Bridge. I wanted to give her the opportunity to see the Cape Cod Canal and to have been as far as the Cape, so I was going to go along the other side of the Canal, pop over the Bourne Bridge, and head up the highway home.

At her request, we kept going down route 6 onto the Cape. It's been forever since I went down there, even to Hyannis. At one point I worked there as a fill-in at a store lacking help. We used to go to Cape Cod Mall once in a while, and I went to a couple computer shows there. One of those had such poor directions I ended up on a scenic tour of Hyannis and saw some of the less modern, commercial parts.

Instead of turning around at Hyannis, we went all the way to the exit for Brewster, where my friend's father used to live and I stayed a few times. Zoomed back up route 6, over the Sagamore, and went along the mainland side of the Canal. All along there, I bored Deb with tales of parts of summers spent in Bourne, of family drives down there on Sundays when I was a kid, and things not visible in the fog and near darkness. She told me about Mass. Maritime Academy burning down their ship and being the butt of humor, but all she got to see of them was the sign pointing in their direction. We went up route 28 and ultimately got on 495 to head home. Sort of the convoluted route there and the direct, remarkably quick route back.

One thing that became comical was my pointing out stores I have worked at in my retail madness days. This included one in Brockton, two in Plymouth, mention of the one in Hyannis, and finally one we passed in Wareham. I got around. For her part, Deb made note of the various Wal-Marts and Chilis. She also observed disgruntledly that all the trees are like a "green fog" limiting visibility. That's taking major adjustment, and is nothing I'd have thought to warn anyone about before moving here.

Indeed, I'd meant to write about how she feels quite lost in some ways, and amused in others. The roads don't intersect at neat right angles and go in more or less of a grid. The roads tend to be too narrow. The rhythm of how people drive is foreign; the amount of distance they maintain, when and how they change lanes on the highway, that sort of thing. There are too many trees. Turns are harder because there are less likely to be turn lanes or arrows.

The signs can be comical. The first time she saw a sign that said "thickly settled" she thought it was insane. I didn't realize it was a Massachusetts thing, and like most residents, I don't even notice those signs any more. I explained that it means you are supposed to go 30 or 35 in that area, whatever it might have been posted last you noticed. Everyone learns what the rule is and whether it is 30 or 35 - I forget - long enough to get their license, then forgets and ignores it. Basically it is a way for the cops to bust you harder if they want to. She thought it especially absurd because the sign appears in places where to her the houses are spaciously separated. Things were far more crowded in Fresno. Of course, there are places she thinks are uncrowded that to me are horribly densely packed. My grandmother's house is on 4.5 acres. I grew up in a house that, while it was only on an acre lot, was surrounded by several hundred acres without other houses.

Then there are the deaf, handicapped, or whatever child signs, and the signs saying slow children or variants. This has inspired some non-PC humor. But yes, if you have a child with a disability, you can get a sign put up warning motorists to watch out for that child during those times you are paying no attention while your child plays in the road or something.

I guess that about covers the signs and stuff I can recall. There's probably more. This was a rather meandering post without much of a point, but we had a fun time driving around and seeing things through new eyes. Tomorrow night my brother is flying in from Ohio, so she will get to meet him, and to ride to the airport with me and see that particular set of fun. All the better, he needs to be dropped back at the airport the very next afternoon, while it's still light out.

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A Flippin And A Floppin, A Splishin And A Splashin*

Wow! This is one of the ultimate flip-flops by Kerry.

* Sorry. As I started to type "Flip-Flop" for my title, the song came to mind.

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Moving Experience

Transterrestrial Musings has moved, and to a shorter URL; always a plus. He was helped greatly by Kathy Kinsley, who has also been helping out Ith. Now I just need to remember to update the blogroll...

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Lucky Me

You should be dating a Scorpio.
23 October - 21 November
Your mate is passionately caring, dynamic and
sensual. Though he or she can be
self-destructive, ruthless or overbearing, the
scorpion's sex life involves releasing his/her
most pent-up passions.


What Zodiac Sign Are You Attracted To?
brought to you by Quizilla

How funny that I married a Scorpio then!

Also via Drumwaster here

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A Fishy Quiz

What Finding Nemo Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Via Drumwaster here

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And Just Like That...

A good day turns to major suckage. Nobody needs that kind of trouble, but I guess stuff happens.

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Some Laughs

This is a great old joke, and better yet, the comments are filling with other great humor, including some I had never encountered before.

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All Martha All The Time

Heh. Someone has started an "I Support Martha" blog. Interesting idea.

[0] comments (1223 views) |  link

Still In Saigon Recession

Arnold Kling has opened up a discussion of whether we should still view the economy as being in recession. Good question, I guess, though I had thought we were well and truly out, with nothing more than some structural oddities and adjustments going on that sometimes make things feel worse for some than for others.

What do you think? Pop on over and have your say.

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Martha Martha Martha

Perhaps there were too many women on the jury. At least, that's one theory; she makes them feel inadequate. As Jen says, there will be appeals. Should be interesting...

[1] comments (1217 views) |  link

Wouldn't Want That Bill

This is just too funny. It seems absurd for it to have been "wetland" that long without anyone figuring it out.

Via The Group Captain here.

[1] comments (1121 views) |  link

I Had A Dream

And it didn't involve the content of anyone's character, though that's a worthy goal. Act with character, be respected and treated just like anyone else. No other criteria need apply. But I digress.

No, this dream was totally crazy and involved my sitting in some underbrush with a pad of paper, making a list. The "underbrush" is this stuff I kow not the name of that tends to grow rampantly here and there in Massachusetts, and reminds me of bamboo.

The list was of names for babies. I happened to be concentrating on potential middle names for some reason, and it was names for both sexes. Now, the funny thing is that in the first week Deb and I were talking on the phone, we discussed baby names. I actually went through a baby name book and tossed names at her for approval or amusement. We both like Sarah, for instance, which makes it disconcerting that my nephew plans to use it if the current one in the oven turns out to be another girl. Madeleine as a middle name, after my father's mother. But I am digressing again. Silly Jay.

I remember I had Karen on the list, which makes sense as I had just recalled that yesterday as a name I always liked. Can't remember anything else except one name, which I will get to. Strangely, at one point my father came into the clearing in the brush to visit me for a while, then left. In the end, I left to go read my list to my wife.

Anyhow, in the dream I had this vivid eureka moment in which I decided Crawford would make a fantastic middle name. In the dream it made perfect sense! I thought of it as a way to honor Kim Crawford. I mean really; he's not that good a blogger. Better to use Glenn or something...

Meanwhile, my wife was dreaming she and I were with a group of maybe half a dozen bloggers gathered at an amusement park. Not that we blog, talk about blogs, read blogs, etc. much or anything...

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Mysteries Of The Universe

I have never been able to comprehend how Jewish support for the Democrats or the left could be so disproportionate, or even barely exist for that matter. It strikes me that Republicans or the right are far more likely to support Israel's right to exist and defend itself, as well as more of a free market economy that would theoretically appeal to the legendary industriousness of the Jewish people. It simply makes no sense.

Speaking of which, my friend Sherri, liberal and Jewish (and talented; someone hire her please), loaned me the Thomas Friedman book Longitudes And Attitudes. She previously loaned me Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, which I highly recommend.

Anyway, I finally started the Friedman book, which is a collection of columns starting shortly before 9/11 and going to well after. My method has been to read a column or two at a time from random places in the book. I am finding it surreal to encounter maybe a third jewels of wisdom in among maybe equal parts knee jerk partisan perspective and glaring idiocy. It's not been bad enough for me to want to throw the book through a window or something, but there are places I come close. And then he'll write an entire column that makes absolute sense. It's enough to give me mental whiplash. But I digress.

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You Load 16 Tons, Whaddaya Get

This is a brilliant post on health insurance. My wife is fond of pointing out that the health care system in this country went all to hell starting as a result of employers providing health coverage. Which I am fond of pointing out was inspired by having to offer something when they were unable to compete on wages. One of my favorite enumerated points:

4. Everyone will see their costs rise as they get older, and eventually have trouble paying them.

If younger people don't subsidize older people, then younger people will pay less than they do now. Later on in life, they'll pay more. Over a lifetime, it'll even out. There's a way to deal with that situation - it's called "savings".

Heh.

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Cool Entanglements

My lovely wife was unfamiliar with this kind of stuff, so I was explaining the concept of quantum entanglement to her as best I could last night. I think using it with atomic clocks qualifies for a hearty "thats so cool!"

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Market Based Edumacation?

Is there too little demand to make education market based? What do you think?

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Speaking Of Things That Are Just Wrong

This is the kind of situation that is just outrageous:

Once the parking services employee finally managed to pull up the original citation in the database, she revealed that I was ticketed for parking without the proper permit -- in a lot where I have never parked during my two and a half years at the university. Stranger still, the car that was ticketed was a blue Honda with Georgia tags. My car is a white Honda with Virginia tags. Obviously, they sent the ticket to the wrong guy, right? Problem solved.

Well, not exactly.

Go read the whole thing over at Apropos of Something. As a bonus, there is a PayPal horror story in the comments.

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You Don't Know The Power Of A Goofy Quiz

Postatem obscuri lateris nescitis.
"You do not know the power of the Dark
Side." There are two possibilities: you
are a Star Wars geek, or you are unreasoningly
scary.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Via Ith here

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Catallarchy Hosts Next Carnival of the Capitalists

Here's my traditional Thursday reminder about Carnival of the Capitalists. This week it's at Catallarchy.net. Send your entries to Jonathan Wilde via capitalists -at- elhide.com until Sunday evening for the March 8th edition.

See the Carnival of the Capitalists home page for info on how to subscribe to a CotC announcement mailing list, if you would like an e-mail notifying you when and where CotC is posted each week. Future hosts and info about CotC are on the same page. There is also a page listing past locations if you missed or would like an easy way to refer back to them.

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Be Alert

And not simply because the world needs more lerts.

There are e-mails going around with subjects like:

Notify about your e-mail account utilization.

Or:

E-mail account disabling warning.

The attachments are passworded .zip files. These are bogus and you should delete them, not fall for the ruse.

[0] comments (1124 views) |  link

Been Avoiding The Topic As It's Another Overblown One, But...

An atheist reviews The Passion and the result is about what I would have expected. I am contemplating seeing the film myself, just to support Mel and thumb my nose at what I perceive as all the sheer nonsense surrounding it; especially that issuing forth from people who have not seen it.

[2] comments (1758 views) |  link

Blogs Around The World

I haven't mentioned it lately, and forgot to carry over a permalink to it when I moved off BlogSpot, but it is worth remembering the Blogs Around The World project by Oscar Jr. is there for your reading pleasure. It links to many blogs all over the world, and he can always use more for the countries that are under-represented.

I was reminded of this by a Michael Williams post on foreign blogs, where he recommended Voluntarily In China and asked for feedback on other people's favorite foreign blogs (preferably in English).

[0] comments (1227 views) |  link

Sybari Antispam Products

Has anyone had experience with Sybari's Advanced Spam Defense or Spam Manager products?

They look intriguing, and I can't recommend Sybari Antigen, their mail gateway virus scanning and attachment filtering software, enough. It's time for my client to renew their Antigen license, and the rep from Sybari sent info on the new spam products while he was at it.

Before I suggest they go for it - which may only happen if the price is extremely low anyway - I want to see what feedback I can get.

Ironically, I spent hours yesterday deleting over 27,000 accumulated spams from the server.

When people leave, first I set their Exchange accounts so I receive anything that comes there, in case of any important, residual mail that might arrive. After a while, the account goes away, but the internet e-mail address associated with it gets pointed at a mailbox I setup called Spam Trap. I did that because I was tired of getting bounced spam after people's addresses went away. As the admin, if it can't go somewhere explicit, it comes to me. Depending how promiscuous a person was with their address, they can get tons of spam after they leave, and it never stops. Being illegitimate, the spam has nowhere to bounce to, so they never know to remove the address.

Between those and the former address used on the web site, which attracted spam galore, in about fifteen months, over 27,000 e-mails accumulated in that mailbox while I wasn't looking. I forgot all about the concept of checking it periodically and purging everything. Then when I remembered, it choked on trying to delete them all, or even very many, at a time. So I had to select and delete a few hundred to as many as 1000 at a time, shift-delete, yes I do want to permanently delete them why do you ask, rinse and repeat.

And that's just the spam coming to several dead addresses. Never mind what people get every day.

So maybe they will be willing to buy one of the spam products.... But should they? Thus the quest for feedback.

[0] comments (1214 views) |  link

Advice Needed

Ith is seeking advice on hosting companies and the possibility of moving the whole set of blogs and other stuff from where the domain has been since its inception.

Pop on over and see if you have any thoughts for her.

[2] comments (1242 views) |  link

Anti-American Bastards

I've had a potential post tickling at my mind. Jeff summed up nicely and vehemently what would be a large part of the point of that unborn post:

Remember this in November folks -- a vote for a Democrat is a vote to destroy our Constitution and Bill of Rights. But shame on Bush for not using his political muscle more to twist some arms and force a clean bill through the Senate. As for the Democrats -- hell will have to freeze over twice before I ever vote for one of you anti-American bastards.

My post that wasn't would have gone into a wider variety of detail, and I am not so sure it applies to all Democrats nor fails to apply to any Republicans. Regardless, it is close enough as stated, and needs to be said.

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Oot And Aboot In Massachusetts

I've been meaning to post my impressions of my bride's impressions of the area and so forth, especially since she has been a posting slacker. It's been surprising at times, the things that evoke commentary.

That aside, so far she has had the pleasure, dubious or otherwise, of meeting my father, stepmother, older brother, youngest brother and his wife and kids, and my mother. She finds it odd that I am the only one without an accent. (Assuming she's not simply used to it.)

Except for one little thing, which may be unique to me in the family: I chronically say "oot" for out and "aboot" for about, as if I were a Canuckian or something. I will be talking away and suddenly Deb laughs and parrots me. "Oot?" "Did I say it again?" "Yes you diiiiiid!" "Out. Out! See, it's easy... out."

Apparently the attempts at self-correction are unreliable. Oops.

Okay, so why is this? Both my grandfather's came from Canada, and my family does have a distinct vocal influence from the Maritimes as a result. Perhaps I picked up that specific affectation along the way. I guess if I can use the imported lineage as a reason I sound more broadcast standard than Bostonian, I can blame it for the sometime breakoots of shifty vowels.

Next: Massachusetts has really weird street signs, roads, and drivers. Betcha had no idea...

[3] comments (1226 views) |  link

CotC Announcement List Now Available

Some folks have requested it. Others have thought it superfluous. But hey, it's not a big deal to try having an announcement list for Carnival of the Capitalists, the way there is for Carnival of the Vanities.

So....

If you would like to receive announcements regarding Carnival of the Capitalists, send an e-mail to:
cc -at- elhide.com

Make the subject:
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Blog Business World

Blog Business World is a good blog I have been meaning to link and haven't gotten around to yet. They send me a respectable amount of traffic. The subtitle there describes the content nicely: "Blogs in business, marketing, public relations, and search engine optimization for successful entrepreneurs." Well worth checking out!

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It's Alive

Mapchic is alive and promoting Girl Scout Cookies for the troops.

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CotC

I think I am going to make a general announce list for Carnival of the Capitalists. As opposed to one containing only the once and future CotC hosts. Stay tuned for details a bit later...

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Transportation Security Ailment

When I flew Boston to LA, then LA to Fresno, then back, and then a few weeks later Boston to LA, I found the airport security far less trying than I had expected it to be. Knowing what to expect, I made sure nothing remotely questionable was in the backpack I carried, or on my person. The only time I had to remove my shoes and put them through was the first time through Logan.

Strangely, the most stringent, nervous-acting security people I encountered were at little Fresno airport when I went to my American Eagle flight to LA. The friendliest were in Boston, but they clearly were doing their job. They were just pleasant about it; not giving the impression of being terribly bureaucratic, irked or bored to be there, or unnerved at the idea of encountering trouble.

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Jack Welch

Tom Brown at bankstocks.com, a blog I'd meant to link some time ago and then forgotten, holds Jack Welch in high regard, but would like to see him retire more gracefully.

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Share The Water

Ooh, this will be totally cool, if it's true. Let's hope "authoritative" is what the sources really are....

Update:

Then again, of course we've known, and more would be better. Then again, "knowing" isn't always as good as officially, newsworthily knowing.

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Hey Girls

Would you choose the average Joe? Or would looks trump all?

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Work Is The Dearth Of Me

Please pardon the dearth of posting. I am exceedingly busy. Haven't left the office yet and could easily stay here until I collapse into sleep. I've barely even read any blogs today.

Not that I am going to be that crazy; staying all night. Instead I will install a power supply, make sure my time is recorded, do another invoice, take out some trash, possibly find some paperwork to outsource to my wife, and get my butt home. Yay!

This is likely to continue through tomorrow and beyond, to some degree. Look for posts late or early in the day, if any.

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Wooohoo! Post-Oscars Post

Yes!

A sweep by Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Which, face it, was really a collective set of awards for the entire trilogy. That's why it won all the categories.

I was kind of hoping Bill Murray would win Best Actor. That made it all the worse to see Sean Penn being a classless asshole.

And no, Iraq and the "war on terror" is not a "rabbit hole" on the order of Vietnam. After all, we don't have Democrats micromanaging this one. They just get to be jealous, and all the silliness that jerks their knees into parading.

Mostly, though, it was a classy awards show, chilled down from the alienation factor that spewed, like so much vomitary detritus, shamelessly onto the substantial portion of the audience with awareness of the real world last year. Deb even watched it with me! That was totally unexpected.

At least Michael Moore wasn't there this year. Except in the beginning, when he exhibited a sense of humor and was a good sport about fun being poked at his rude ignorance of last year. Go figure.

There is much rejoicing tonight, I am sure. Indeed, tons of rejoicing.

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