Well, The Saints have lost the first half with a loss in Lincoln, following a ten-game winning streak. I think that’s probably for the best, since they’ve got a lot stronger team for the second half, but it’s still disappointing.
Life’s been busy. I still feel like I’m recovering from K’s visit and WWDC. I’m taking a couple days off next week, but no big summer vacation is in the plans. Maybe this fall. Even though I get more than the national average of time off, I still feel like I’m suffering from vacation deprivation. I feel like a couple weeks might get my batteries recharged.
- Were you worried about people snooping on your CRT, so you got an LCD display? Well, they’re still Seeing through walls and reading your LCD. Gotta shield all the cables. And a tin-foil hat probably wouldn’t be inappropriate, while your at it, ’cuz they are about as likely to be snooping your brainwaves. [schneier]
- If you’re the victim of identity theft, this 24 point checklist might help you get back in the clear. Some of the items on the list are useful even before you’re compromised. [schneier]
- The advice to Don’t Try This at Home is pretty good advice in this case. Especially with DHS demanding inventories of chemicals from college labs and the like. It’s at times like this that I’m more afraid of my government than I am of terrorists. [tcf]
- Stephan Orsak was accosted, assaulted with battery, and tased at Minneapolis St Paul international airport, simply for leaving the airport by bicycle (or rather, attempting to). Shameful. [boing boing]
- And in case I don’t post before then, happy 4th of July. Here’s a nice rendition of the Star Spangled Banner for your entertainment. Or if you’re not feeling so patriotic, there’s always the dramatic chipmunk (which is actually a prairie dog) that makes me laugh.
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| Squishycow on the Betsey |
Welcome to the longest day of the year!
I’m no expert, but I think, that when you notice that you’re too drunk to sing along with Jimmy Buffett songs, it’s probably a sign that you might be late to work the following morning.
Just sayin’
That’s no reflection on either the squishycow or the Betsey Northrup, featured in today’s photo. I’m still busy uploading pictures from when K was in town. Seems I made the shutter trip a whole lot, and some of the pictures even turned out.
Crazy, eh?
Or maybe it’s just me.
- A Master’s Student Demonstrates Thesis Project in Her Underwear and, as Eric said, "put more Wee! in your Wii! Lots of NSFW links in the article, but the article itself is safe enough. [flutterby]
- It’s no Maxim list, and that’s part of the point. The AfterEllen.com Hot 100 List lists the one hundred women lesbians find most attractive. It’s a little disturbing to me how frequently I agree with the lesbians and how often I disagree with Maxim. [kottke]
- Wanna smuggle beer into a ballgame? Or liquid explosives onto an airplane? In either case, The Beerbelly or the Wine Rack might just be your solution, because after all, who wants to carefully check a big fat gut and what security guard is actually going to feel up some gal’s rack to make sure those DDs are not really As? But in either case, I’m pretty sure this isn’t the right thing for carrying water when you’re jogging. Unless you’re jogging to the festival where you might need some extra liquids… [schneier]
- I bought a black MacBook for the conference (WWDC) and a friend sent me this Mac Spoof video. Made me laugh. Out loud. At work, even.
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| Lighthouse and Reflection |
Spent last week in San Francisco at Apple’s WWDC. Lots of technical stuff I haven’t completely finished processing from that yet, so I don’t think I have a lot to say about it just yet.
Got home to hot weather. Highs around 90, and low temperatures and dewpoints pretty close to 70. Ugh. Quite a shock to the system after leaving SF, which was a mite cooler than that. But I’m back now and settling back in at home after a couple busy weeks.
What I really wanted (and got) was a pretty quiet weekend. With the warm temps, I didn’t feel like doing much at all, and that’s exactly what I did. Didn’t even have to mow the lawn, since I’d cut it a little shorter than normal, and apparently there wasn’t much rain while I was gone, so some of the lawn is burned, and the rest didn’t do much growing. That’s good, but I had to set up the sprinkler for a couple hours today trying to bring it back to life.
There’s also some photos from the airplane ride back from SF that I’m going to get to posting one of these days, but in the mean time, I’ve still got photos from when K was in town that I’m posting to flickr. It’ll all end up there in time.
- Joey’s tale of A CraigsList Wedding made the romantic in me say
Awwww…
[accordionguy] - Cory talks about living in Snitchtown and how universal surveillance breaks the social contract that makes cities livable.
The key to living in a city and peacefully co-existing as a social animal in tight quarters is to set a delicate balance of seeing and not seeing.
The all-seeing-eye doesn’t ever not see. [boing boing] - Looking to Warp Your Room with some wallpaper? Send these folks exact measurements of everything that will break up the wallpaper, and they’ll warp the pattern around the obstructions. Pretty dang cool, I think. [boing boing]
- Need to deep-fry something? Make sure to coat it in Steve-o’s Incredible Whiskey Beer Batter first! [steveo]
- Joey linked to Hack Your Work: 23 Ways to Get Ahead, Work Less and Achieve More. I already do some of these, and while YMMV , I bet at least a couple of the tips will work for you. [accordionguy]
- It’s not getting a lot of press, but there’s a Siege in New Hampshire: Operation "This Will End Badly” Is Well Underway. Hopefully enough people will notice that the feds don’t go in guns-a-blazin’. Randy Weaver has probably arrived by now to show his support. [tcf]
- Good thing we went up to Lake Superior when Special K was in town. The case of the disappearing Great Lake might mean things get less scenic up there over time (though probably not just yet).
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| Sitting on the Bridge |
Less typing and more pictures, I think.
There are more pictures from when K and I were running around Minnesota in my Playing Tourist with Special K set over on flickr.
You can also read the accounts of her bigger trip if you’d like.
Beyond that, I don’t have a whole lot to say. It was just another week at work, with the Saints returning from a long road trip last night. And winning in dramatic fashion. Yay!
- Heh. The Top 15 Google Street View Sightings are neat. [photoshop news]
- The work of Nicéphore Niépce is interesting. He pretty much invented photography, and his process fell by the wayside almost immediately, but sounds pretty cool to play with.
- Digital Photography Tips From The Top Floor talks about using Discofilm, a German product designed for cleaning LPs to clean the sensors of digital cameras. Cool. Scary. Might just have to give it a try.
- From Kim, a fine Quote Of The Day:
Having testicles is like being chained to the village idiot.
It’s funny because it’s true. [kim]
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| The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota |
Minimal linkage for you today, and if you’re one of those people who only reads the RSS feed, you’ll be lamenting my lack of updates, since the links in this sort of text don’t show in the feed. Sorry. I’m worthless and weak.
Been kinda busy of late. As I mentioned in the last update, Special K was in town briefly ten days ago. Well, she got back this past Thursday night, and I spent the time in between with a weekend of Saints games (including fireworks), then trying to cram a full week’s worth of work into a three-day week, and most recently running around and playing tourist.
Let’s start with the 24th. We spent the day (which was rainy) walking around downtown and along the river. I don’t have any photos from that, but K had to pose next to the MTM statue. Then there was some shopping at Target, a walk across the river for lunch at Kramarczuk’s, coffee and a break from the rain at Taraccino. Then back home for a while before heading to Sawatdee for dinner, and the Washburn A Mill Tour at the Mill City Museum (highly recommended - call for a reservation) before finishing the night with a drive along the riverfront and on Nicollet Island while I played tour-guide.
A week passed while K did the east coast part of her trip, and on Friday the first, we headed north, stopping at Cassidy’s in Hinckley for lunch on the way up to Split Rock Lighthouse. Then we worked our way back, stopping at Canal Park in Duluth, and then home. Lots of driving that day.
Yesterday (that’s Saturday), we headed northwest, for the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, a stop by St. John’s, a stop at Lake George, then Cabela’s in Rogers, which has a squished penny machine, and K collects them. Then home.
Which brings me to today. So far, it’s a slow day. I’m catching up on the blogging and getting some photos ready for flickr, and K’s doing something simlar on her computer. There’s a load of dishes running, and perhaps a couple loads of laundry to be cooked before the day is done. She’s leaving tomorrow, so there’s packing to be done and we still need to get out to the Sculpture Garden, Minnehaha Falls, and White Castle if the weather will permit us to complete her Minnesota experience.
And that’s going to do it for today. As I said, no other links today, but I figure there were at least a few scattered through the writing so maybe that’ll keep you happy.