dangerousmeta > Archives


thu 25 jul 02

when i was in high school, i took gobs of pictures. bought tons of cheap, out of date film. slide processing chemicals. remember g.a.f. film? unichrome processing kits? digging out all my old stuff, looking at family pix, searching for some suitable photographs of my grandmother. dozens of babies. dozens. my family took care of so many orphans; the sheer number begins to boggle, seeing all these pictures. socks to keep their hands warm [and to keep them from poking their eyes out, sometimes], spitup stains on their little suits, cherubic smiles, flashing eyes. my late father, kid and diaper on shoulder, watching the news. ah, yes. my grandmother's house. what's this? cows and more cows. of course, i was a kid. more 'creative' cow shots than people pictures. what was i thinking? but there are some good ones here.

are there any services out there that rent 35mm slide scanners, for short durations? two weeks? i'll do some looking, but if anyone else has done this, drop me a line.

sunflowers, back courtyard, this evening.

yeah a lot of linkage. well ... i needed something to keep my mind occupied, y'know?

nice joint, booknotes.

cnet news.com: email's not free? mac owners flee. lists some alternatives. i don't know about the "apple's move is alienating 95 percent of its users" statement; a quote from a single 'software engineer' isn't exactly authoritative.

devshed: dtml basics, part four.

webmasterbase: all about the smarty php template engine.

cosmiverse: food poisoning? might have come from the chef's fingernails. hmmm. a wire brush on a drill oughta do it ...

new scientist: milky way's oldest star clusters are 'stolen fakes.' once again, what we think we know, the bedrock, shifts.

zdnet: net publication lwn.net [linux weekly news] to close down aug. 1.

usa today: from two days ago: steel tariffs catching some in the middle. "when we no longer have access to globally competitive steel, that truly tips the scale big time and makes us and literally thousands of other contract manufacturers non-competitive in the world market." japanese cars again, anyone?

outdoors magic: scotland's first national park opens. including the bonny, bonny banks of loch lomond, dearie.

mail and guardian online: corn-fed u.s. tells zimbabwe to accept aid. "it is the same food that americans eat every day. it is the same food that has been approved by our environmental protection agency." i thought we weren't eating gm corn, except in slipped-through taco bell taco shells. has this changed, while i have been looking elsewhere?

black world today: u.s. representatives reject bush hardline stance on cuba.

cnet news.com: microsoft stomps bugs. in xp, i got another windows media player critical update this morning.

this is london: visit monet's garden.

cnn/europe: u.s. fails in attempt to block u.n. vote on torture.

guardian.uk: appeal launched for african famine.

msnbc: warmest seas on record stress great barrier reef.

reuters: anger 'attacks' may accompany depression. that explains a great deal.

cnn: aol reduces im compatibility efforts.

iowa's at the 2002 open source convention, reporting on muffin-hunts, and other less-important items ... good stuff.

massless links to mistakes in shopping cart design, highlighting #6, "requiring users to register before adding items." yep. that'll murder your potential.

zdnet: ten years in the slammer for burning a cd with 'illicit recordings' ... mp3's. in britain, anyway.

famous trials.

internet library of early journals.

washington post: privatizing social security, the 'legislative vacuum.'

us news: the 'terminator' as governor. i guess if bush can mangle english and be president, arnie can try. "how many times have i told you not to drink and bake?" [raw deal]

ibm developerworks: context switching.

freshmeat: minicontent [php,mysql], fudforum [rc1].

times of india: attack on iraq not imminent: blair.

boston globe: 'the atlantic monthly' in high gear.

reuters: relax laws to boost web security?

ny times letters to the editor: will ceo's do the right thing?

ny times opinion: is fighting iraq worth the risks?

ny times: net users try to avoid the google grasp.

so, a bit sad and subdued, reflective, here today. figured you might want to know why.

my grandmother's got about 48 hours. talked to her for the last time, yesterday evening. morphine and more morphine. we keep telling her it's ok to go, but she hangs on. i believe i figured out why ... she was a frugal soul. i now believe she's following her own path, ekeing out every last drop of life before allowing her body to fall away, used up. to do less, would be to dishonour her Creator.

trying to gain momentum, this morning.