"Of course it rained, I washed my car."

Except it didn't rain. And for some time it didn't really snow either. If you attribute things as in the above quotation, whether cause and effect or the coincidences of a perverse universe, then the snow held off for some time as a while back a minor repair was made to the snowblower.

Last night it did snow. Just enough that I was debating whether or not to use the snowblower. I decided to use it to exercise it and it was a good thing I did. One tire was low. Very low. I tried the bike air pump to no apparent effect. So I shovelled out part of the driveway and removed the wheel from the snowblower and took it to a gas station so I could use the air compressor. Fortunately the tire seems to be holding air.

Once back I put the wheel back on the snowblower which took a bit more force than I cared for and set about using the machine. Almost. I had just gotten it started when I noticed that a control cable had come loose from the handle-lever. So I shut down and reattached that cable - noticing a little plastic stop was missing. It's not a critical piece, but it is something to watch to make sure that the cable is still in place.

After all that fiddling around, I did use the snowblower. I'm now really glad that we didn't get 4 to 6 inches of snow that was predicted.

Current Mood: cranky

Yes, that goes for you, too, Google. Providing search results that are Ubuntu-heavy when my very first search term is Gentoo is annoying and not all that useful.

Current Mood: irritated

I've seen a couple emphatic recommendations to go see Gran Torino that explained nothing. One was "Drop anything and everything and go see this movie." another was "Go see this movie." My reaction when I get that sort of recommendation is one word: Why?

Those recommendations say nothing of what the movie is or is about or why I might be interested in seeing it. Or, worse, why someone might think others "need" to see it. For this particular movie, I have seen the TV promos. They tell me something: It's a gritty Clint Eastwood movie. That tells me I'm not likely to care to see it. I know that promos are often misleading, but nothing in any recommendation gives me any reason to doubt them.

Note that I have not said that the movie is bad. It's probably pretty good for what it is. But I need more than "Thou Shalt Go See $MOVIE" for any movie, let alone those that from the start come across as being something I wouldn't care for.

Current Mood: annoyed

Animals such as dogs, cats, and horses, that look like the they're walking on their toes, because they are, are digitigrade and can be said to have digitigrade feet. Getting that look is sometimes desired when building a fursuit, and I don't have any real problem with that. There are at least a couple ways of getting the look.

What bugs me is all the folks who either ask for help and advice or show their versions in fursuit communities who don't manage to spell the word. Very often I see "digigrade" or even worse variations and it grates. At least some are likely just typos, but when the misspelling occurs repeatedly, I wonder if that person shouldn't do any work on the design until they can get the spelling right.

Current Mood: irritated

This is a "note to self."

Add *.inxp.com* and *.snap.com* to your Opera content filter to eliminate Snap. The content filter window can be accessed via Tools menu -> Advanced -> Blocked Content

source

Current Mood: awake

I'm sure there are plenty of reasons to dislike MySpace. A couple years ago I actually got an account on MySpace and didn't do much of anything with it. In the last few months I have been getting e-mail notices that I have messages on MySpace. The e-mail only tells me I have messages, not what the messages are. I don't know if they're just spam, or something actually worthwhile. I'd have to log in to read them. And to log in, I need my password. Alas, I do not recall what password I used.

No big deal, just use the Forgot your password? link, right? Wrong! Evidently MySpace can send me e-mail just fine if it's a message notice, but not if I request password information. Even though it's going to the exact same e-mail address in both cases. I've tried that link on and off for a few months now. I've asked jmaynard to check the mail logs to see if the spam-rejecter rejected anything. In four tries to use that link, one e-mail was sent. It didn't get through, but any retry would have. I have used the link since, in an attempt for force said retry. I've waited. For several hours days.

If I could log in, I'm not sure I wouldn't just delete the account. It would be the same, except I wouldn't get e-mail alerting me to messages I can't read.

I have tried using their alleged help system. Said system is about as helpful as those damnable automated telephone systems. It doesn't let you give it a real subject, only choose among its own subjects, none of which is quite right. I went for the one for log-in trouble and got a form letter that told me do exactly what hasn't been working all along. Or, if that fails, I can take a picture of myself holding a sign with my account number, and send that and some other information in reply to the form letter.

I jumped through those hoops. I made the sign. The picture was taken. The e-mail was sent. It's been a few more days. I haven't heard a blasted thing. Not even a "you did it wrong" or "we can't verify that" message. Just... silence. I'd say it's like talking to a brick, but a brick doesn't give the pretense of perhaps being responsive, so it's even less satisfying than that. At least I can see a use for a brick.

Current Mood: pissed off

Tell me something.
Tell me (almost) anything.
It can be true.
It can be a lie.
It can be a damned lie.
It can be a statistic.
It can be an anecdote.
It can be an antidote.
It can be a receipt.
It can be a recipe.
It can be a hope.
It can be a dream.
It can be a nightmare.
It can be a vision.
It can be what you had for breakfast.
It can be what you wish you'd had for breakfast.
It can be a cleaner.
It can be clean.
It can be risque.
It can be a joke.
It can be a disaster.
It can be a comedy.
It can be a tragedy.
It can be serious.
It can be silly.
It can be a euphemism.
It can be a quotation.
It can be a mis-attribution.
It can be one thing.
It can be many things.
It can contain multitudes.
So help me, it can even be a wretched sports score.
Or even country music lyrics.
Or even bad poetry.

BUT... it cannot be political or election related!
Thank you.

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Current Mood: curious

( Prediction )

Current Mood: nauseated

From time to time someone comes up with yet another place to put a piece of advertising. A recent one is in video games. Some have even proposed advertising in space, visible from the surface of the earth. I'm certainly not for space-based advertising since there's far too much light pollution already. Others, well, I have javascript and animation and such disabled in my browser as I want to read the content of the web without the stupid distractions of spammy winkety-blinkety advertising.

Google gets things pretty much right - the ads aren't distracting and are somewhat relevant, without doing privacy-invasive market tracking. I don't have a problem with ads as such. I recognize the need to pay for content. I object to eyeball-hijacking.

It might be a bit of a surprise that I don't particularly mind advertising posters in rest rooms. The idea actually amuses me. Someone is so desperate that they're pushing their product in a place with which they might not desire it be associated. Also, the ads are then in the one place where a person can truly express their opinion of so much advertising.

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A bit of IRC gets posted...

Y: OK, rant mode ON: Why the bloody CRAP do sites have to have flash with sound when you don't expect it?
Y: I can see sites like Homestar Runner having sound in every flash, because... um... it's ENTIRELY flash!
Y: But these sites that use flash to make nothing more than a glorified animated GIF, then *BAM* sound from nowhere...
KT: 'cos they wanna grab yer attention so maybe yoo will buy their stuff.
KT: Seems a strange way ta do business. "Hi, potential customer! You need Special Software to view our site. Don't have it? Gee, f--- you, potential customer!"

Y: Dell uses ActiveX as navigation on its "premier" site.
Y: I guess they don't wish to do business with everyone.
Y: Because there's no way in hell I'm using IE just for a navbar.
D: You're not a dweeb using IE? Then you're probably too intelligent to fall for our sales gimicks - we don't need your kind - go kill a few braincells.

* KT goes to a car dealership to buy a car. He enters the building, but there's just this bare room with no other doors, just one bored-looking guy sitting in a chair.
KT: Um, this the car deelership?
Guy: Up there.
* Guy points to a hole in the 20-foot-high ceiling.
KT: Wot thee hecko?!
Guy: You gotta go through that hole.
KT: How?
Guy: Don't you have a jetpack?
KT: Ummmmmmmm nope.
Guy: Go buy a jetpack, then maybe we'll see about selling you a car.
KT: Me got a ladder at home. Me go get.
Guy: You sure? A jetpack is recommended.
KT: Howcome?
Guy: The owners of this dealership recommend a Zip-Away jetpack for the full car-shopping experience.
KT: Woodnt a ladder werk just as well tho?
Guy: Um... no. Of course not. Gotta be a Zip-Away jetpack, as recommended by the owners of this dealership.
* KT goes off to look for a car dealership that actually wants to do business.
* D climbs the building across the street and looks into the showroom with binoculars, with the sales guy none-the-wiser. They're selling old trucks chassis tarted up with lots of chrome and bright paint.
D: (This is seeing what the javascript does from the source and using the info to navigate).

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Current Mood: tired