Philosoraptor is wrong.

Do this!

Push the lever! All the other rats are doing it!

Scientists used 3D X-Ray Tomography to look at a computer from the 3rd century BCE. (NY Times)

Letter in Nature.

How cool is that? A computer that’s thousands of years old, and more technically advanced than anything that would be seen for centuries.

I realized today that the release of Office 2007 is upon us, and that someone had best familiarize themselves with it, because it won’t be long before we start getting questions on it. (And believe me, there will be screaming. A lot of people here are resistant to change. And this is a huge change.)

So I went through the Office 2007 demos on the Microsoft site, and although it’s not quite as horrific as I thought it would be, converting is going to be a problem. Additionally, I wasn’t that impressed with the demos. The focus seemed to upon document presentation. Which is all well and good, except that in practice what we’re going to get is people spending all their time changing to formatting of their documents rather than focusing upon the content.

Seems like the motto of the demos should be: Office 2007 - Making It Even Easier to Shine Shit.

Sorry, but I simply don’t care about applying themes to Word documents and Excel worksheets. What I care about it how easy it is to work with text and numbers, and how useful the spell checker is.

Now this doesn’t mean that Microsoft hasn’t improved the things that are important. I’m just saying that the demos focused upon things that aren’t important, while making me dig through the site to discover information I needed, like whether we can still use keyboard commands (you can use them, but in the demos the commands are no longer listed anywhere) and whether you can concurrently run Office 2003 and 2007 (the answer appears to be yes, although there may be issues.)

So, we’ll see what happens when I actually get my hands on a copy of Office 2007. I don’t think I’ll hate it, but I can tell you right now I don’t think I’ll care for the amount of window space the ribbon takes up–especially while I’m using a laptop.

Well, actually last week’s word. But I was busy.

steganography \steg-uh-NAH-gruh-fee\ noun
: the art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file

This is a lovely word. I learned it reading Simon Singh’s The Code Book.

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So, the basement is as done is it’s going to get. Other than cleaning (yetch) and straightening, we’re done until spring (or whenever we have another significant chunk of spare time.) Grandmom is getting settled in, and we’re getting into a routine (although Thanksgiving break threw that off).

But being able to sit down and catch my breath allowed me to realize that I am so far behind in e-mails and letters, I feel like I should steal a page from S, and request that people contact me telepathically, as it would be faster than waiting for me to write.

I owe so many people e-mail that just the idea of trying to get caught up is a bit overwhelming. Especially considering the fact that I now have Christmas cards to write and send out.

So how about this? If I owe you an e-mail and you happen to read this post, what say you pretend that I wrote you, and you can respond to the things that you imagined I wrote to you. Feel free to make up as much detail as you please. Then I can reply to your “reply” and we’ll be all caught up. Won’t that be nice?

So the ridiculous shipping charges were for new kitchen toys, and I have to say that despite the insane prices I paid for shipping, I’m quite pleased with what I’ve received so far.

I broke down and ordered a French rolling pin, because I like to make pies, and the design is supposed to be the best for pie crust. I ordered the Vic Firth rolling pin, because Cook’s Illustrated (the Consumer Reports of cooking tools) recommended it as the best rolling pin from their tests.

I have to admit that the French rolling pin did make rolling out the pie crusts easier. Of course so did refrigerating the dough overnight before rolling. But those were definitely the three easiest pie crusts I’ve ever made. And I didn’t even have to use two sheets of Saran wrap–just a single sheet for the bottom–I made sure the top of the dough was well floured, so I had no problems with sticking. Lovely.

It’s also relatively light, and a good length for thwacking people who bother you while you’re baking.

Also recommended by Cook’s Illustrated was an apple peeler. I’d thought it a ridiculous expense, but peeling and coring and cutting apples for the apple pie I made for my grandmother’s birthday, I realized why I don’t make many apple dishes: I hate peeling and coring apples. So I figured that perhaps if I had an apple peeler, maybe I’d make more apple pies.

The peeler came just in time on Tuesday, and I wasted no time getting it set up to peel apples. Holy Cow. The thing was amazing. Instead of taking forever and wondering if I could get away without filling the crust, I zipped through six apples, and peeled a seventh, just for fun.

After my Kitchen Aid, this may be the Best. Tool. Ever.

In fact, when I made bread pudding last night, I added apples, just because I could.

So I have to admit that although I wasn’t pleased by the shipping charges, I was more than pleased by the new kitchen toys I got.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, I’m thankful for my family (and their willingness to assist us in home improvement projects)
That my grandmother agreed to move in with us
Pie with whipped cream
Books

But most of all I’m thankful for Michael.

I thought my day off was supposed to be, you know, a day off.

Did:
Open new grandmotherly checking account
Get grandmotherly handicapped parking permit
Visit Social Security Administration for address change etc
Get stamps from post office

Done:
1 apple pie
1 sweet potato pie
1 pumpkin pie (overdone)
2 batches of bourbon balls (For Christmas. The need to stew in their own juices.)

To Do Tomorrow:
Everything else for Thanksgiving dinner

To Do Now:
Shower
Sleep

dolorous \DOH-luh-rus\ adjective
: causing, marked by, or expressing misery or grief

(My brother sent me this several days ago, but I forgot about it.)

Pat White is unimpressed by your growling

I have to say that even listening to the game over the radio, the “growling” got annoying really quickly. Amanda says it was far worse in the stadium.

But of course, that’s about all we’d expect of Pitt.

:)

Today, November 21, 2006, your RealAge is 31.6!

What amused me was, “But you could be younger — in as few as 90 days.”

How far back, precisely, am I supposed to regress. Because let me tell you, I do NOT want to be a teenager again, for any amount of money.

http://www.realage.com

Easy.

Note shipping prices before placing order, moron.

Paying more in shipping than the cost of the item (unless said item is a one or two dollar used book) is stupid.

List of Fictional diseases

CRUSH! CRUSH! CRUSH!

641 yards!

446 Rushing yards to what? 0? ZEEEEEEEEEEERO!

(ahem)

You’ll have to pardon me, but I’ve grown up in Morgantown. My 6th grade teacher wore a BTHOP pin to school the week before the Pitt game.

It’s always good to beat Pitt.

From the OED, which almost never sends words I recognize:

phishing
• noun [mass noun] the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers, online.
— origin 1990s: respelling of fishing, on the pattern of phreaking.

1.
Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials

2.
From the Civil War until about 1910, arsenic was the main ingredient in the embalming fluids used widely throughout the country…

3.
The last U.S. WWI Veterans

So things were done enough, and yesterday I brought my Grandmother back from my Aunt’s house. So she’s now here and moved in–although she still has a lot of stuff to go through before she’s settled in.

To celebrate finishing the basement, we went to the movies and I finally got to see Batman vs Wolverine The Prestige. We both really liked it, although we had a debate about bits of it (which can’t be discussed, since it would give away part of the ending.)

I can’t wait until The Presteige and The Illusionist come out on DVD, so my Grandmother can see them.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month

“It is well that war is so terrible; else we would grow too fond of it”
– Robert E. Lee

“A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.”
– George William Curtis

It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.
– John Philpot Curran Speech upon the Right of Election (1790)

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Day Web Page

The Origins of Veterans Day from the VFW

The Great War

WWII Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Digital Memorial for those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq

Data on Veterans from the US Census Bureau

Okay, this is fascinating. It’s a map of London circa the 1650s.

I read lots of British mysteries set in the past, so I find it particularly interesting, because some of the places are familiar. Though I have yet to find Bow Street.

Although I was disappointed that Capito was re-elected (stupid Charleston), there was actually good news this year: Byrd was resoundingly elected, despite Raese spending lots of his own money. Rahall was resoundingly elected, and Mollahan–although I’m not thrilled with some of his behavior–was also re-elected.

Additionally, it looks like Blankenship wasted a WHOLE lot of money, because most of his candidates–including some incumbents–lost. HA!

And best of all, Cindy Frich LOST. By 1300 votes. Again, I say HA!

Mind you, I voted for Cindy Frich in the past; after all, I figured that having more women in the legislature was a good thing.

Boy was I wrong.

Not only was she one of the sponsors of the anti-gay marriage amendment, but she took lots and lots and lots of money from Blankenship.

Cindy, you DESERVE to lose. Those two actions turned a previous supporter into someone adamantly opposed to your campaign. Keep that in mind when you attempt to run again.

And, oh yeah, the Republicans lost the house!

It’s Election Day!

VOTE!

VOTE!!

VOTE!!!

Tomorrow’s Election Day. Everyone’s taken off early. So, time wasting!

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Please stop to consider whether the candidate you are considering voting for is backed by Don Blankenship.

Don Blankenship–who does not even LIVE in West Virginia–is spending almost $2 million dollars in this election, to try to get the state to election Republican candidates of HIS choice. In case you have forgotten, it is Blankenship’s negative campaigning that elected a nobody–Brent Benjamin–to the State Supreme court.

Now he wants to try to control the state legislature.

For those of you who aren’t from West Virginia (or for some reason aren’t paying attention.) Blankenship runs Massey energy, a non-union coal company. On Jan 19 2006 a coal fire killed 2 miners Massey’s Aracoma Alma mine.

A report by state investigators states that Massey was at fault for the accident, through their missing or broken safety equipment.

Essentially, Don Blankenship has repeatedly placed profit over the safety of the men and women who work in his mines, refuses to allow unions into his mines, and ignores the comments and complaints of the miners (as they don’t have the power of a union to back-up those complaints and requests).

And now, through his hand-picked Republican candidates, he also wants to gain control of the government in West Virginia.

Please vote on Tuesday, and make sure that to send a message to this out of state robber baron: West Virginia belongs to us, and we will not be bought.

Aracoma Mine Accident Report (West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training)

State faults Massey for Aracoma fire (Charleston Daily Mail)
Massey’s Aracoma Alma #1 mine “set up to be a death trap,” UMWA President Roberts says (UMWA Press Release)
Report details fatal mine fire: # Missing walls, disabled sprinklers among findings on Aracoma accident (Charleston Gazette Mail)

If you want to know how Don Blankenship really feels about the state, consider the following:

Between 1/1/2000 and 12/2/2005 WVDEP issued 4,268 citations to Massey operations while the larger companies, Arch Coal and Peabody earned received only 732 and 355 citations respectively.

“You talk about the silo near the Marsh Fork School as if it were a negative. You should know that the silo (picture), if anything, is an improvement for the school” –Don Blankenship

For the sake of the kids indeed.