Jun 27 2009
It’s almost too good to be true: a GreaseMonkey script for Firefox that gets rid of those annoying quiz and application messages from your Facebook homepage.
Courtesy of Nathan and Curtis Dunn, via Steeev of Excellatronic Communications.
Jun 18 2009
1. What’s something I always say to you?
Isaac: “You’re precious.”
Gavin: “Nuffin’.”
2. What makes me happy?
Isaac: “Isaac and Gavin. Us giving you kisses and hugs.”
Gavin: “Like you. Silly faces.”
3. What makes me sad?
Isaac: “Not having enough sleep. Me and Gavin not doing the right thing.”
Gavin: (pokes lower lip out)
4. How do I make you laugh?
Isaac: “By telling funny jokes.”
Gavin: “Funny jokes.”
5. What do you think I was like as a child?
Isaac: “I think you had chocolate hair like mine and I think you almost had the same clothes as me.”
Gavin: “Have butterscotch hair (giggle-giggle)! No, poop hair!”
6. How old am I?
Isaac: “13?”
Gavin: “BIG!”
7. How tall am I?
Isaac: “Six-nine and twelve feet inches.”
Gavin: “40 minutes.”
8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Isaac: “Watch Wipeout with us!”
Gavin: “Wipeout! I mean butterscotch hair! I mean poop hair!”
9. What do I do when you are not around?
Isaac: “Play with Gavin if he’s still at home.”
Gavin: “Look in the mirror.”
10. What am I really good at?
Isaac: “Playing golf on Wii.”
Gavin: “Butterscotch hair! I mean poop hair!”
11. What am I not really good at?
Isaac: “You’re not good at throwing slow balls.”
Gavin: “Bee hair.”
12. What is my job?
Isaac: “Building things, mowing the lawn, and taking care of us.”
Gavin: “Hammers.”
13. What is my favorite food?
Isaac: “Salad.”
Gavin: “Poop.”
14. What makes you proud of me?
Isaac: “Sometimes when I don’t remember how to bowl, you help me. That makes me proud of you. Or sometimes when you get a strike I’m proud of you.”
Gavin: “God and Jesus.”
15. What do you and I play together?
Isaac: “Adventure mode Super Smasher Brothers Brawl.”
Gavin: “Games.”
16. How are we the same?
Isaac: “We have the same skin color. We both have almost chocolate hair. (Checks). Yep, yours is kinda chocolate-ish.”
Gavin: “Daddy and Gavin.”
17. Different?
Isaac: “We don’t have the same shirts. I don’t have the same beard or glasses or the same voice ’cause I’m a boy and you’re a man.”
Gavin: “No glasses and no chocolate hair computers and lights and no TVs and desks — wait, no desks — and no rocks for cabinet. Daddy, that is all.”
18. If I were a cartoon character who would I be?
Isaac: “Tom” (from Tom & Jerry)
Gavin: “Daddy, what we don’t have a boo-boo or do we have a boo-boo or don’t we have a boo-boo.”
19. How do you know I love you?
Isaac: “Cause you hug me and kiss me.”
Gavin: “Nuggling.”
20. Where is my favorite place?
Isaac: “Animal Kingdom at Disney World.”
Gavin: “School? Church?”
21. What’s your favorite thing for us to do together?
Isaac: “Us being in our swimsuits and squirting us with the hose… but you better turn it on ’shower.’ Yeah, we like that.”
Gavin: “Uh, um… go to the playground. I mean, pee-pee.”
22. After you go to bed, what do I do?
Isaac: “Have a bedtime snack.”
Gavin: (giggle, giggle)
23. What’s your least favorite thing about daddy?
Isaac: “Getting a spanking.”
Gavin: “Spank on my bottom.”
24. What’s your most favorite thing about daddy?
Isaac: “When I say, ‘Daddy, you’re silly!’, and you say, ‘No, I’m never silly!’”
Gavin: “Mud on your shirt.”
25. What does daddy love about you the most?
Isaac: “Sometimes when, well, no one hears Gavin crying when he hurts himself, I help him.”
Gavin: “Going potty.” (He was just potty-trained!)
May 23 2009
Gavin: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”
Me: “To get to the other side?”
Gavin: “Hey! That’s my joke!”
Me: “Oh, sorry.”
Gavin: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”
Me: “I don’t know. Why did the chicken cross the road?”
Gavin: “Hey! That’s my joke!”
Me: “Hm.”
Gavin: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”
Me: “Why?”
Gavin: “MONEY!”
May 16 2009
To escape criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
Elbert Hubbard
May 13 2009
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! The SlingPayer Mobile for iPhone is out! What great news! Great news, yes. And what’s it cost? What? Wow… $30. That’s a lot for an iPhone app.
Well, that’s okay, I guess. I mean, spread over the number of times I’ll use the software, it’s not that bad. And there are no recurring fees — just $30 one time. I can handle that.
And I can use it with my existing SlingBox AV, right? Right??
The Slingbox AV, Slingbox TUNER, and Slingbox Classic are not fully supported for use with SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone & iPod touch.
Oh… oh. I see. So I’d have to buy a new SlingBox, I guess. Hm. What’s that? What? You say I get a promotional discount? Thank goodness! So how much do I need to spend to use the new iPhone software? What??? I need to purchase a SlingBox Solo for $130? Oh. Wow.
I’ll admit I’m a little hesitant at this point. That’s a lot of cash to lay out just so my kids can watch Caillou in the car.
Hm? What? WHAT?? You’re now telling me that the Sling iPhone software will only work over a WiFi connection? You mean it won’t work over 3G or Edge? Yeah, I hear you… you’re saying that “streaming is restricted to Wi-Fi only at Apple’s request.” That’s supposed to make me feel better, huh?
So let me get this straight.
Gee, thanks. I think I’ll pass.
May 12 2009
Metal Heart from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
May 10 2009
In general I really enjoyed my Music Bibliography course at IU. It was termed a “tool subject” and was intended, among other things, to introduce new graduate-level students to all of the heady materials available in the impressive and intimidating William & Gayle Cook Music Library… and beyond.
We studied where to find the reference works, how to use the online research tools, how to conduct more complex searches to locate exactly what we were looking for… all of those things that we’d need to be successful graduate students and researchers.
The early course sessions were devoted to discussion of the theory behind it all: why research was important, the concepts of intellectual property and honesty in scholarship, what a writer’s obligation to his/her audience was, things like that. In one of those sessions our professor conducted a class discussion on the nature of libraries. He asked us to address questions on why they exist, where they got their start, and how it’s necessary for librarians to maintain a balance between materials’ preservation and their availability.
One of the more lively discussions concerned how modern-day Western libraries differ in their organization and intention from the closed, private collections found in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. These libraries, we learned, were largely unavailable to the public. I remember how we students were collectively offended at the idea that knowledge would be sealed away and held apart from the public, preserved in an ivory tower for a select few. The instructor pointed out that our Western democratic sensibilities were outstripping our capacity for historical perspective. He maintained that while it may be desirable to make entire collections available to the public today, the preservationist mindset of those early librarians is exactly the reason that those ancient texts are available to us today.
This morning I read that Oxford University has banned step-ladders from its world famous Bodleian library, supposedly for health and safety concerns. “The ban means students are unable to reach books on the top shelves but dons refuse to bring them lower because it would remove them from their ‘“original historic location.’”
This development puts an interesting spin on the prior class discussion and on the whole topic of accessibility/preservation. I haven’t fully fleshed out what I think about it, but it certainly seems to provide interesting fodder for conversation. Rather than putting volumes out of reach in order to preserve the collection, access has been limited for the supposed preservation of the patrons.
Does this change reflect the values of Western culture? If so, how? What of the Oxford Library’s desire to preserve the “original historic location” of volumes? With regard to libraries, is there perhaps now an “importance of historical place” added to our “importance of historical time?”
Apr 12 2009
Rise, heart! thy Lord is risen. Sing His praise without delays,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise with Him may‘st rise:
That, as His death calcinèd thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much more just.
Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part with all thy art.
The cross taught all wood to resound His name, Who bore the same.
His stretchèd sinews taught all strings what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.
Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song, pleasant and long:
Or, since all music is but three parts vied, and multiplied,
Oh, let Thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with His sweet art.
–George Herbert
Apr 04 2009
Do-wun heah in the Sow-uth we have a chicken sandwich restaurant that some of you might have heard of, “Chick-fil-a.” In addition to their chicken sandwiches, they’re famous for being closed on Sundays. Here’s a little musical tribute to Chick-fil-a:
