But I don't know how to feel about this one:
http://gothamist.com/2008/07/08/american_flight_to_laguardia_cancel.php
http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6931485&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

American canceled a flight after the crew were over an hour late and the passengers booed them for being so late. They had an opportunity to make customer fans by providing compensation some how and instead it sounds like they threatened the passengers with their "superior" power.

At least it wasn't United where a stewardess got on the comm and told us all (the passengers) to stop singing and cheering for the pilot taking off. I will never fly United again if I can help it for that experience.

Does anyone know how to install synthetic dreads into existing dreads, or knows any websites that can show/tell you how??


I have made synthetic dreads before, and am planning on making some for James heads of dreads.  His dreads, over plenty of time, have broken off/gotten shorter, so I wanted to know how I can install the dreads I am making into his existing ones, and I need an instructional on how to do so.

 Also wondering if I should make the dread single ended or double ended, which one would work better for installing it into his existing dreads.

so i *was* going to post on some of the art projects i'm doing

instead, this story came up as i was doing laundry and my thoughts are derailed for the next 2 hours:
activists praying for cheaper gas

quotes:
"Our pockets are empty, but we're going to hold on to God!" Twyman, a community organizer from Rockville, said as he and seven other people formed a semicircle, held hands and sang, pleading for divine intervention to lower fuel prices.

"This whole thing is a wake-up call from God to Americans, because we idolize men so much," said Twyman, 59, a public relations consultant and Seventh-day Adventist who believes that high gas prices are a sign of the apocalypse drawing nigh.

They have driven to a gas station, locked hands, said a prayer, purchased gas and sung the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome," with an added verse: "We'll have lower gas prices."

"I think it's a wonderful thing," said Mirrine Thorne of Northwest Washington, who pulled in to gas up her Chevy Impala as Twyman's group prayed. Thorne, a mother of four, said gas prices have limited the activities she can do with her kids on the weekends. "Nobody else is doing anything," she said. "God is going to do something."

yeah, i admit again, i laughed. again.

it's like the plot for omegamerican is slowly coming to reality before my eyes. though if devin came up for this little detail i would have told him that's a cheap straw-man attack and would require too much suspension of reality

I got a new t-shirt today. I signed up for Astrobase Go's Venture Brothers T-Shirt of the Week club and got my Dr. Henry Killinger t-shirt today. Dr. Killinger (and his Magic Murder Bag) is my favorite Venture Brothers character, edging out Brock Samson and The Mighty Monarch.

Now I can look like a Killinger Henchman on the subway. Yay!


Get your t-shirts here:

I am not even sure exactly how to describe this video, except to say that it might be not safe for work if people at your work are offended by girls eating twinkies and popscicles.

It might help if you know Russian too, I guess - I am not sure exactly what language it's in.

Edited to add: For some reason this Gorbachev reminds me of dtk.

well I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. It was delayed a hour and I'm hoping it won't be longer. The airport is full of people due to other flights being delayed.

The large amount of people here are making me rather nervous.

It's odd how I can both be depresed and happy.

I just want to be on the plane already. I hate sitting here. It's like sitting in limbo.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwdn/~3/330301541/it-turns-out-th.html

I've been going crazy the last month or so, trying to figure out a way to go to Comic-Con. It was about as easy as getting the Babel Fish, but I refused to give up, and earlier today, I finally put the junk mail on top of the satchel.

I am actually going to Comic-Con this year!

I'll be there from Thursday, July 24 until Saturday, July 26. I'm on a publishing panel with Pocketbooks on Thursday called "Star Trek without a blueprint." I'll be there representing volume three of the Star Trek manga, which I think comes out next week.

This is an exciting time for Star Trek, filled with uncertainty and opportunity. I think it's safe to say that there's a lot riding on the new movie, and how it fares will likely affect all of the ancillary Star Trek markets, like conventions, novels, comics, manga, etc.* I don't know if that's what "without a blueprint" means, but if it does, it'll be an interesting conversation. (Of course, it could also mean that CBS is giving much more freedom to people who want to create within the Star Trek universe, rather than forcing them to adhere to a pretty narrow blueprint. That will also be an interesting conversation. My point is that it's going to be interesting, and certainly worth the price of hotel, airline travel, and all the other expenses associated with coming to the show just to watch a one hour panel before you turn around and go right back home.**)

The rest of the show, I'll be set up with my friend Rich and his partners in crime***, who are letting me crash their booth. We haven't finalized my signing schedule, but once we do (and I know the name and number of their booth) I'll update this post.

This will be the only convention I'm attending this summer other than PAX, so I'm really, really excited and grateful that Marco from TokyoPop, and Rich and his partners from awesomeland were able to help me thwart the cleaning robots.

* I remember hearing, during a negotiation for a convention some years ago, that Enterprise was doing so poorly with the fans that it had really hurt convention turnout. I don't know if that's true or not, but I heard it so many times from so many different people, it was either a well-worn talking point or legit. If the new movie doesn't do as well as everyone hopes, we could be hearing about the death of Star Trek again, though I've come to believe that Star Trek is a mighty zombie in science fiction that simply can't be killed. There's a good reason it's still relevant and inspiring to legions of fans forty years after it debuted, you know.

** This statement is completely false. Except for the interesting part. It's absolutely going to be interesting. Also, "interesting."

***I'm not sure if Rich has minions, but if he does, I'm sure that they will be there, too. Hey, maybe I'll fill out a minion application!

There are worse things, I suppose...

Anyway. jimr, the sorrel sauce for fish was totally excellent! Thanks again for the sorrel and all the other herbs. I am making good use of them. I need a yard.
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The Blender and a mason jar trick is so awesome! And way easier to wash than my food processor for small amounts of things.
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I really can't get enough of BLATs. Yum yum yum yum.
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My tattoo appointment got bumped up to 1:30 on Friday! Looks like we'll get through the entire outline and into shading! I am so excited! Exclamation point!
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Tonight, Butt Tuesday, and then out to Trivia Night at Edinburgh Castle. One of the sound guys goes every week with his wife and a bunch of friends, and he invited me to come out. Woo for getting out of my house.
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This telephone jury duty thing is halfway between awesome and lame. It's nice to not have to sit around the courthouse and wait, but I wish I could schedule anything in advance. Oh well, it's pretty much like my normal working life that way, I suppose.
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Bunch of cool stuff this weekend. Roller Derby in San Francisco, Renegade Craft Fair comes to San Francisco, Made in France monthly food sale, walking tour of Sutro Baths ruins, as well as the usual farmer's market and all that.

Wow, its so boilin hot, I am thinking about going out to the Beach later this afternoon and going for a swim :-)

That would be cool if anyone wants to join me? possible bonfire??  I can also bring my cool glow in the dark frisbee :-)

Anyone down? Call me (360)-220-6939 <-- if you already don't have my number.


ALSO  Im thinking of having a dread making get together on Sunday...but I want to know how many people would be willing to come???????
So let me know if this sounds good and if Sunday works for you.  I WANT TO DO THIS, AND GET BETTER at making some dreadie goodness.   LETS DO THIS!!  Also I wanna do this but my space is a little small, but we can still do it at my place.


I might also bring in some extra stuffers like tubing and foam.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwdn/~3/330094878/wils-tuesday-li.html

As part of my continuing plot to convince you all to read my Propeller submissions, I present a few of my favorite stories from the last couple of days:

The dying art of the knuckleball

In the Red Sox clubhouse a few hours before the start of a drizzly, early-May game against the Rays, Tim Wakefield wraps his hand around a brand-new baseball and models his knuckleball grip. On television, Wakefield's grip appears claw-like and uncomfortable, but up close, it looks effortless...

Okay, first of all, when did the Devil Rays become the Rays? Did it happen because some crazy fundies got all worked up? I'm laying 3:2 that they did.

My enthusiasm for baseball -- actually, in all professional sports that aren't hockey or soccer -- has cratered in the last couple of years, but I still love to watch a knuckleballer confound a batter. It's a dying art , like pitchers who can last more than 5 innings.

Librarian carrying "McCain=Bush" sign kicked out of McCain event

In McCain's *open to the public* townhall meeting, a 61 year-old woman was cited for trespassing on orders from the McCain security detail for carrying a sign that read "McCain=Bush." Carol Kreck received a ticket and her court date is set for July 23.

That the event this woman was removed from was a public event, and she didn't do anything more disruptive than hold up a sign. "All I did was carry a sign that said McCain = Bush," Kreck said. "And for everyone who voted for Bush, I don't see why it's offensive to say McCain = Bush." Well, McCain is running for Bush's third term.

Book review: It's All Too Much

It's All Too Much is a terrific book that inverts the typical approach to dealing with existential kipple. Rather than helping you find new places and novel ways to "organize" all your crap, author Peter Walsh encourages you to explore why you ever kept all that junk in the first place.

Some friends of ours have my dream house: it's got beautiful hardwood floors, it's uncluttered, and they can park both of their cars in their garage. My whole life, I've had a problem with holding onto things (real and imagined) so this book looked super interesting to me, not because I need it (I know that I just need to get rid of my shit) but because it tells me that I'm not the only one with this problem.

HOWTO: build anti-paparazzi sunglasses

Hackaday posts plans to build some simple but effective anti-paparazzi sunglasses. They work by mounting two small infrared lights on the front. The wearer is completely inconspicuous to the human eye, but cameras only see a big white blur where your face should be.

I had to deal with paparazzi in that "really fucks with your ability to live your life" way for about two months when I was a teenager. I quickly figured out that if I avoided certain places and certain people, I could also avoid the cameras. But this project is interesting to me because we live in a world where our fucktard leaders are increasingly shoving their faces into every aspect of our personal and private lives, so any effort to say NOT YOURS is pretty important to me.

Bacon mania!

Why are Americans so batty for bacon? It's delicious, it's decadent -- and it's also a fashion statement.

I'm a vegetarian, so bacon as food is irrelevant to me. However, bacon as a cultural phenomenon? That's something else entirely. Something crispy and delicious!

The History of the Chaos Computer Club

With causes like ensuring secure voting machines, protecting privacy, defeating censorship and governmental obfuscation, and promoting hacker ethics, the CCC has become something of a hacktivist powerhouse. They hold an annual "Chaos Communications Congress" gathering and also a very cool hacker camp every four years.

If you're intrigued by this article, I highly recommend reading The Hacker Crackdown, The Cuckoo's Egg, and Cyberpunk (which has nothing to do with actual Cyberpunk).

Book Review: Dungeons and Desktops

Dungeons and Desktops chronicles the rise and fall of the Computer RPG industry, from Akalabeth to Zelda. While the bulk of the book is devoted to the genre's 'Golden Age' in the late '80s and early '90s, author Matt Barton explores the entire history of CRPGs, from their origins in the mid '70s to the very recent past.

I've written a lot of articles about video games, and my love of classic gaming is well known. But I don't know if I've ever pointed out just how much I love computer RPGS. From the Infocom games of my childhood to early Mac games like Uninvited and DejaVu to Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment, to Bioshock, the RPGS are my absolute favorites. This book seems really, really awesome. (And really, really expensive, unfortunately.)

Hey! I just joined up here, and currently am facing a delimma. I'll be eighteen in a few months and, after constant begging and pleading, have been been told that if I research what type of piercing that I want to get, then I'll be allowed to get it. Because I still live with my parents, house rules, yadda yadda, etc., I'm only allowed one. I'm stuck between getting my lip pierced or my nose pierced (both on the right side) and figured I'd come here. Which one hurts more? Would it be more upkeep for a nose piercing or a lip piercing? And most importantly, which one would look better on me?!

 

So, I have stopped posting my twitters to my LJ. It can be fascinating to see the different sound bites that my day generates (that's what I view it as) but it's pretty useless to anyone who isn't on twitter -- and this means that the vast majority of people find it useless. Twitter is an awful lot like idling on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) -- it's a lot of the same people who often come upon witty things that can be described in 140 bytes, and a lot of the same in-jokes -- but far more promotional messages and evangelical talk. I'm not going to stop playing with twitter (it appeals to my ADD nature) but I'm not going to torture the rest of you with it now -- in particular lupoleboucher, who I saw out a few weeks ago and have started emailing more. Lupo is coming to my Friday Night Dinner Party this week, which ought to be a fun addition.

In the meantime, work is kicking my ass -- I have double duty of keeping the old tribe.net site alive and I'm trying to ride herd on what is now three developers on the new tribe.net code. It's so refreshing to work with people who actually know what I don't know and have them be helpful. I have a feeling that the new tribe.net is going to make a bigger splash than anyone anticipates because of the folks working on it. -- all loyal tribe folks. Our Sun Microsystems rep uses tribe.net to organize his Burning Man camp, I got a Ruby on Rails coder in San Antonio, an AJAX person in Minneapolis, and a systems admin in Foster City that has over a year of experience in a production environment scaling Ruby on Rails environments. So, I have a damned fine team that can let me get on with the huge task of actually trying to do everything.

Someday I may even have a social life again!

I'm going back to Directv

--S

So, in random browsing through YouTube I came across this video ranting about an evil feminazi's man bashing videos. Seeing that it was titled in response to another video I went to watch it, expecting some kind of Andrea Dworkin style man-bashing rant.

Instead I found this...


Now I suppose given the juvenile inanity of the first video I should have known that it was a huge over-reaction to the first video, but even given that I was still surprised how completely UNCONTROVERSIAL the first video is. I mean I like to consider myself a supporter of feminism, but we all know there are some FEMINISTS out there who many of us think take things too far, and I expected at least bit of that in the video. But instead it's completely rational, completely true, free of even the slightest hint of any generalized 'man-bashing', and delivered with just the right amount of humor to help get the point across in an entertaining fashion. And yet you read the comments and people say she's "hate filled, deluded and vicious" and "a coward and a misandrist".

Oh well, I guess I should never be surprised by the idiocy of 'online misogynists'... :-p

If you've ever said "That's the best thing since sliced bread", then you can more specifically say "That's the best thing since July 7th, 1928, the day that sliced bread was invented."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread

Thanks to charlesland for the heads up on this one!