Monday February 13
WTF is going on here?
I'm just a doodler. I wanted to be a cartoonist, but that profession is far too dangerous. Besides, I'm too lazy to learn how to draw. One of the few "How to Draw Cartoons" books that I've ever bothered to read was written and illustrated by Dick Gautier. He played the part of Hymie the robot on the Get Smart TV series in the Sixties. As you'll recall, secret agent Maxwell Smart's cover was that he worked for a greeting card company. Life imitates art.
world con 2006
Please select one or more of the following.
1.) I will be there.
2.) My favorite author will be there.
3.) I am my favorite author. I will be there.
4.) I'm trying to avoid attending.
state of the union
Texas oilman Bush wants to cure our addiction to gasoline. And Philip Morris wants to help us quit smoking.
As always, Bush is a day late and a dollar short. Five years late and several trillion dollars short, actually.
Austerity measures should have been taken soon after 9/11. That's when the nation was most willing to accept shared sacrifice. Congress could have eliminated tax breaks for purchasing SUVs. Instead, the attitude was "if we give up our SUVs, the terrorists win."
never mind Mighty Mouse, here comes Mickey Mouse
Just wait until Steve Jobs takes the helm at Disney. At a shop on Main Street USA, your kids will demand that you buy each of them a Mickey Mouse iPod, a device that'll only play carefully controlled Disney content... Family entertainment that'll evade any Moral Majority boycott... And cost up the kazoo.
rate this!
The thing about Google Groups ratings is that the entire concept SUCKS. It'll amount to nothing more than a new form of flaming... If it ever catches on at all.
Bloated Wall Street darling Google should consider implementing the following rating system instead.
Author of message receives the following reward or punishment...
Five stars = Gets to intern for Karl Rowe.
Four stars = Allowed to commit one felony while cops look the other way.
Three stars = Given condescending faint praise.
Two stars = Beaten by security police while handcuffed to heater pipe.
One star = Internal organs harvested for transplantation. No anesthetic.
USA rant
Remind me to never watch Fox on cable TV again. Let me get this straight... Bush's job approval rating is currently about 40%. OTOH, 48% favor warrantless wiretapping, according to a recent AP poll. A fair percentage think that torture is not out of the question.
Have I got that right?
So... If the U.S. public thinks that Bush is incompetent, why do they trust him to act secretly with no oversight or accountability? Maybe they disapprove of his performance because he's not extreme enough. Maybe they actually want to beef up efforts to spy on Quakers in the name of homeland security?
Dick Cheney and Karl Rowe say that the terrorism concerns of Joe Sixpack will decide the November elections. For this reason, Democrats in Congress will soon be cowed into voting for a renewal of the Patriot Act--with only cosmetic changes made to it that pay mere lip service to the U.S. Constitution and human rights. The Democrats are afraid of appearing to be soft on terrorism.
So... IF after the cuts to senior citizen benefits, after FEMA, after Enron, after no WMD and no Saddam 9/11 connection... Keep in mind that Osama bin Laden has been at large longer than the entire duration of U.S. involvement in World War II. Do the arithmetic. December 7, 1941 to August 15, 1945... Pearl Harbor Day to VJ Day. September 11, 2001 to February 12, 2006 is longer... IF after ALL THAT, the Democrats can't win BIG TIME and ON THEIR OWN TERMS in November...
Cheney's shooting accident
Hunter S. Thompson once accidentally shot his groundskeeper. No big deal, right?
Maybe a judge should compel Cheney to take wilderness shooting lessons from Ted Nugent.
Friday February 10
vector hybrid RAM hog
Corel Painter 9 is a vector hybrid. It's reputed to be a RAM hog, but it seems to run fast enough on the Mac mini. The discounted nonacademic upgrade from version 6 cost me 150 U.S. bucks. I purchased it in a box instead of downloading it... The box includes a lovely ring-bound paper manual with tutorials and other info.
Worth it? Yes, so far so good.
Sunday January 15
handmade blog
This blog is "handmade." Which means that I'm not currently using an online service like Blogger, nor am I using software with a template and text entry field.
Friday January 13
wilbur the gimp
Mac OS X users may recognize this screenshot as being part of the Dock.
The two icons pictured were actually designed by mature adults working on serious software projects. Incredible. They look like something that I would create. Frightening. What is the world coming to?
These icons are significant. The wild-eyed furry creature is Wilbur the GIMP. The hand with nine fingers belongs to Painter IX. I'll tell you more about these two applications--and their significance--later.
