| Hard News: Cool |
[May. 14th, 2008|10:02 am] |
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http://www.publicaddress.net/default,5019.sm Air New Zealand is equipping 18 of its planes with some cool new media kit, according to The Register. El Reg makes much of the fact that the Panasonic X Series in-flight entertainment system includes an iPod dock, but there seems to be much more to it than that: including broadband internet, VoIP, secure payments and a suite of games with multiplayer options. The exact configuration is up to the airline... |
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| Speaker: Foreign bodies in Beibei Jingjing |
[May. 14th, 2008|09:22 am] |
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http://www.publicaddress.net/default,5018.sm Beijing loves a good old-fashioned crackdown. In the past year, campaigns have targeted problems from corruption and fake drugs to spitting and queue jumping, with a whole lot more in between including, ahem, Tibetan monks. Now foreigners living in China are starting to feel the heat... |
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| i almost forgot to post this... |
[May. 13th, 2008|02:50 pm] |
MSNBC.com had me write a more grown-up analysis (compared to the free-associating, let's-talk-about-why-Denise-Richards-is-back-in-the-audience-again versions that I do for Advocate.com) of this season's "American Idol" contestants...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24585165/ |
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| The Restroom At the El Cap Is a Long Way From The Balcony, Plus... Uh... |
[May. 13th, 2008|06:18 am] |
Saw "Narnia" last night. Was good. Crowd control at the El Capitan Theater on all-media screening nights, however, flips my rage switch. Everyone is in my way. Also, I missed about half of Tilda Swinton's one sequence in the movie because I got up to go to the restroom.
Have to listen to the Scar/Jo Tom Waits covers CD today so I can review it. That's going to be something. Wasn't, like, Zooey Deschanel supposed to make a record too? Didn't I hear about that?
The rug needs to be vacuuminged. The floor needs to be swept. I can see a potato chip sliver down under the table.
All this prize-y stuff for ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) moroccomole and Xtreem Aaron's Avon Breast Cancer Walk Charity Bingo Game (which happens next week, by the way so I need to explain all that in more detail soon) is cluttering up our entryway. Boxes and boxes and bags and bags and heaps of things. After it's all out of here I will need maid service. Maybe before.
Got an email from my sister-in-law that my mother fell out of her chair. Nursing home is watching her to make sure she's not more injured than they think. She tries to do things she's not capable of doing. Then she falls. I told her last time they'd have to put a seatbelt on her chair. She didn't think that was funny.
I see the new Uwe Boll movie (I know, two in one year, how lucky can we be?) on Thursday night.
My yoga mat needs cleaning.
Thank you for reading this, my least interesting post ever. |
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| Hey Vegeta! What does the Alphachron say about his power level? |
[May. 13th, 2008|09:28 pm] |
Slashdot just posted an article about how NASA are considering using an australian-developed piece of technology to look for signs of life on Mars.
This tech is called the "Alphachron".
The Alphachron can not a real thing, dammit. Something called an Alphachron is ..is...well it's what the decepticons are trying to steal from the Autobots. It's what Naruto has to protect from evil ninjas. A couple of reposession men are driving around a car with an Alphachron in the trunk. It's in a crate next to the Ark. Nubile young manga teens fly huge anthropomorphic robots because of the Alphachron, eventually merging with it and forcing humanity to evolve into a supreme being composed entirely of love.
The Alphachron should certainly not be made by Australians. |
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| Rene's sketch |
[May. 13th, 2008|09:33 pm] |
Look at the fabulous sketch Rene from Anders Loves Maria drew in my copy of her mini-comic. IT HAS A NUT AND A BEE! I was so happy when I saw it I did a little dance. Thank you so much eggstorm! |
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| Random Play: My Brilliant Korea. |
[May. 13th, 2008|03:14 pm] |
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http://www.publicaddress.net/default,5016.sm And so the final days in Seoul went by in a blur: astonishing digital art and exciting galleries; interviews with an art critic, a digital artist, a musician and a food writer; dinner with the mayor and a meeting with our genuinely nice people in our embassy; the helpful and friendly company of good natured interpreters and hosts; more talk about designers and architects turning Seoul into the hub of Asia, walks through historic areas and hip streets, terrific food, buying CDs and DVDs . . ... |
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| Loooooong Read on Dynamic Languages |
[May. 13th, 2008|02:52 am] |
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http://ashura666.megameta.net/blog/entries/loooooong_read_on_dynamic_languages Steve Yegge's published a talk he gave on dynamic languages... well, it's sort of about dynamic languages. It's also about lots of other things that are generally applicable. Well worth the time.
Scala is one of the languages linked from that talk. And while i sometimes wonder if i'll ever write code in anything but Java, Scala does at least pique my interest.
The most interesting theme in that talk for me is the interplay between tools (IDEs) and coding with the compiler. At one point the observation is made that compiler errors aren't really as helpful as runtime errors, because you can't interact with the compiler - it just yells at you about the problem. Having things fail at runtime is inherently better as it happens in an environment where you have the ability to interact with the state of the code. This leads to a counterintuitive observation that you have to pay more attention when writing with dynamic languages because it's more likely to execute, even if it wasn't what you intended.
I honestly don't know where i stand in this debate. I can see both sides of the argument, and even worse my views vary depending on what i'm working on, and the suitability of the tools i'm being asked to use for the task. One thing i have noticed is that coding Java in Eclipse has greatly improved my ability to write code that behaves as i expect, but, and it's a big 'but', only when i'm really paying attention. It catches a lot of little errors early, but unless you are on your game, it also lulls you into thinking things are good because there are no syntax / type errors.
At the end of the talk it's obvious it all comes down to marketing, and perception of things like "maintainability". Most of the time i'm in a state where i realise that Java is becoming the problem it set out to solve, but still hope that Javascript isn't the "answer". |
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[May. 12th, 2008|11:18 pm] |
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"Evil requires the sanction of the victim." |
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| Cracker: ALTered States |
[May. 13th, 2008|02:39 pm] |
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http://www.publicaddress.net/default,5014.sm Unlike some people, I might not get invited to the awards ceremonies these days, but it's still nice to hear (via Russell's blog) that we've won the Netguide Awards. So 'thanks' to everyone who voted for us... |
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| Hard News: TV list show in "doesn't suck" shock! |
[May. 13th, 2008|10:25 am] |
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http://www.publicaddress.net/default,5012.sm One form of TV you can reliably assume will deliver less than it promises is the clips countdown. Well, usually. But I watched Karyn Hay's Rock the Nation: 100 New Zealand Music Moments on C4 last night -- and it's good!... |
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[May. 13th, 2008|10:18 am] |
The Vietnam War and Royal Falcon plus guests
15 May - 9pm
Fordes Bar, Anzac Ave
FREE entry, $5 pints
Come along! |
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| Southerly: My First Stabbing |
[May. 13th, 2008|08:16 am] |
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http://www.publicaddress.net/default,5010.sm Of all the stabbings I have experienced in my life, the first stabbing is the one that I remember most fondly. Primarily because I don't remember it at all, but also because (unlike the other times) I was not the person who was stabbed... |
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| The Post-Texas Wrap-Up. Plus, How To Navigate The Stroke Patient |
[May. 12th, 2008|05:12 am] |
It never fails to turn out like this. I have this big idea that I'll write about the trips to Texas while I'm there, I do that for about three or four days and then I feel overwhelmed by the world and I quit. What ends up happening is that I get up extra early while I'm there so I can have a couple of hours of quiet so I can do my actual work, then I go the nursing home and spend the day with my mom and then I come back to my brother's house at around five or six, have dinner with the family and then go back to work. I have to start timing these trips so that while I'm there I don't have any TV show to recap for work.
On the fifth day there, my oldest brother, Tim, from Colorado, arrived. I've always thought that it would be a better deal for my mother if his visits to her didn't coincide with mine. As it is, mine are some of the only times during the year when she can leave the nursing home and go out into the real world. My Rowlett family has the wrong transportation (big SUV and pickup that are impossible to get her into and out of), a house where there is no accessible toilet for her wheelchair, and three kids that pull them in 27 directions. They do the daily caretaking and maintenance and all that stuff, and I'm lucky they live about 10 minutes away from the nursing home, but they just don't have extra time to "hang out" with her and take her to see movies.
So I knew that this trip, since I'd have Tim along, would be a good time to "train" him to do all the things you have to do to chaperone my mom around.
1. Getting her in and out of the car (must be low to the ground and have a passenger side interior handle above the window)
2. Getting her on and off the toilet
3. Other toilet stuff, like not being wigged out by seeing ALL of her or having to help her when she's finished.
4. Dressing her and undressing her, quickly if it's for the bathroom. I'm good at everything except bras. I can get it off her, but I can't quite get it on her properly.
5. Helping hold a cup while she drinks. Making sure the food is easy to eat and that she's got a spoon to eat it with.
6. Pushing her around in the wheelchair. Navigating public spaces with the wheelchair. Complaining out loud to people who work in non-accessible spaces. Asking for more napkins.
7. Seeing movies you don't want to see or have already seen and were bored by the first time but she wants to see it so that's what you're seeing.
8. Nagging her to do more exercise.
9. Figuring out what she's talking about by being the "Master of 1000 Yes/No Questions." I think my skills as a former ESL teacher make me good at this because I can calm her down when she's overly-excited or frustrated by her lack of speech and I can get her to gesture "yes" or "no" to as many questions as it takes until we hit on what it is she wants or needs to say or do.
So all of that to say that now Tim can do items #1-7 as well as anyone else and will learn to do #8 and #9. For all I know he's already good at both and I just haven't witnessed it yet. |
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| Two weeks to go |
[May. 12th, 2008|10:41 am] |
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http://harvestbird.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/two-weeks-to-go/ http://harvestbird.wordpress.com/?p=1311 My two big courses conclude in a fortnight; that’s when the students begin their exams. My students need me to be there for them now so they can finish their coursework. I’m not expecting to see too much of my literary studies students after Friday, when they hand in their long essay in an internally-assessed course. I’m trying to keep a steady hand at the wheel as individual passengers spin out all around me.
My international students are worried about answering film and cultural studies-type questions in an exam environment. They feel more comfortable with the part of the course that my colleague is teaching, since it has a textbook from which they can revise. That the textbook has hardly contributed to their course readings doesn’t matter; in times of stress, familiar objects function like talismans.
I’ve set my continuing exchange students off on the path of a research essay this week. They will be doing rather more unsupervised reading than they’ve done so far. I hope they can overcome their anxiety about communicating in English to email me questions about vocabulary and idiom as they go along. The time frame in which they’re working is quite tight.
I am trying to appreciate the small things in these busy, tiring days: a warm house, a pile of happy dogs, the señor cooking dinner when I arrive home in the cold. And yet, and yet … all signs point to greater sweetness in June, when I have more time to do my proper, unpaid writing again (and how badly I want to be able to make substantial time to do this), when courses start once more and I get a chance to review and revise my existing teaching, and when the señor moves in for good.
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| ile maurice 2: quick pics |
[May. 12th, 2008|11:48 am] |
( Read more... ) |
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[May. 12th, 2008|01:17 pm] |
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Alan gave me the best Mother's Day ever yesterday. I didn't have to do anything. I got to sleep in, have a gloriously long shower and all while he made pancakes. He bought me a red Gerbera plant and told me he didn't want to get flowers because they would die. We ate pizza and scorched almonds. I didn't change one single nappy. I am so lucky. I have a beautiful beautiful man. |
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| sydney winter sounds like wellington summer. |
[May. 12th, 2008|12:20 pm] |
I'm off to Sydney for a couple days, and so I asked twitter what to pack
(i've never seen Australia in winter before)
http://twitter.com/singingfish/statuses/808926042
I like the description - 10 to 25 degrees, not much rain, and a good supply of rainbow coloured umbrellas are on hand. |
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| Hard News: I'm a Pakeha and you can stick your war |
[May. 12th, 2008|11:18 am] |
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http://www.publicaddress.net/default,5008.sm For some reason, Michael Law's latest column, A Pakeha Fights Back, is among the editors' picks on Stuff this morning. Feel free to read it, but you've read it before: it's the one Laws writes about once a month, contrasting decent, middle-class white families with feckless brown ones... |
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| the t-shirt that caused the guy in the long john silvers to ask... |
[May. 11th, 2008|04:15 pm] |
1. is that ozzy?
2. is that about the devil?
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