From the Winchester Mystery House tour guide
"See these trees? They only produce dates every thirteen years. Kind of like us tour guides."Wallowing in the muck
The Multnomah County Libraryand the ACLU will be appearing before the supreme court this summer to challenge a federal law requiring libraries to filter porn from public computers. A similar bill is also before an Oregon legislature committee, where Portland representatives are again questioning its constitutionality. The Christian Coalition of Oregon, who might want to consider a new spokesperson, said, "Now, it might now be unconstitutional in Multnomah County, which is the most ungodly county in the whole country. But I think the rest of the state will go against that. So we'll let Multnomah County and the city of Portland just die in their own cesspool. But we don't want the rest of the state to do that."The only American female reporter at the Palestine Hotel
Anne Garrels, a war correspondent for NPR, recounts her experience in Baghdad. Smuggling a contraband satellite phone, she said, "I decided that it would be very smart if I broadcast naked. If, God forbid, the secret police were coming through the rooms, that would give me maybe five minutes to answer the door, pretend I'd been asleep, sort of go 'I don't have any clothes on,' and give me maybe a few seconds, minutes, to hide the phone."I sing just to know I'm alive
EMusic has Nina Simone.Peep research
Although scientific and health research has been conducted on Peeps, we have noted an absence of research focusing on the ability of Peeps themselves to actually do research. To address this lack, we invited a small group of Peeps to visit Staley Library at Millikin University during the week of March 17-21, 2003 so that we could more closely observe their research practices.You can never go home again
Every towel at my parents' house, including the clean ones, smells like the dog. Or like my little brother.Pink is not my color
I have my girly moments. I appreciate a good lipstick or a sheer skirt. So I was game when Karren invited me to the Mary Kay party at her house. I remembered the Mary Kay makeover I "won" when I was twelve, a thrilling experience for someone just discovering makeup. Note to self: These things aren't as exciting at twenty-five, especially when you have sensitive skin and a budget that doesn't accommodate $60 cleanser. Our saleslady was certainly nice, and not the scary bottle-blond I'd feared, but she spent a little too much time referring us to the photoshopped wrinkles on page six of our brochures and spouting preposterous statistics. Not to be the smarmy killjoy at the table, I really had to ask how the company could quantify something like "151% smoother skin in six weeks." She graciously offered to find out, and said that in her ten years of sales, no one had ever asked that. Gosh.Other awkward moments: apparently "eh" isn't an adequate response, even when accompanied by a sycophantic smile, when asked "how does your skin feel now, after this triple-action age-defying lotion?" At the end of the evening I attempted to tactfully distance myself from her, so that she wouldn't be disappointed when I didn't buy anything. (Especially not the $377 six-month kit.) I was happy to see others making purchases, especially since I knew Karren would get a percentage. I was suprised, however, to hear them telling each other not that they were getting the cleanser and moisturizer, but rather the "Timewise 3-in-1 Cleanser" and the "Day Solution with Sunscreen SPF 15."
Our saleslady did make one more quixotic attempt at winning me over, asking across the room if I wanted to buy anything. I politely declined, saying I wasn't really a makeup person. "A skin-care person," she gently corrected, as if I washed my face with an old sock and sewer water. Apparently Enriching Women's Lives includes annihilating a decade of fragile self-esteem building in those with less clear complexions and narrow budgets. I went home to my old sock.
From my inbox
A Beijing librarian, with rather poetic malapropism, discusses students' poor research skills:We all know most students have such troubles during searching
1)jump in search engine before they have a clear mind for what they need.
2)be hot-headed after 3 click wrong url...
3)lost in internet, excitation online and blank offline.
Brave, instead of bold is very important for all of us.
subsequently meditation will be very helpful. We can encourage them observation, analyse and judge with constantly question, flower and applause during whole searching process. after such constantly practise, they may learn meditation...in mind and fingers.
Why I like Phyllis, Reason #15
Today Phyllis, a programmer in another department at work, told me my face looked more slender than a few months ago. Now that's what I call a complement -- especially since I haven't noticed any difference after three months of a draconian lunchtime swimming routine. Reasons #1-14 why I like her have to do with her exceptional technical skills, project alacrity, and general jovial attitude. Yay, Phyllis!And HTML would have Cheetos under its bed
"See how well-organized XHTML is? This well-formedness and lack of ambiguity is what gives XML-based documents their power. If XHTML had a bedroom, it would be immaculate." Andy KingBrightly Colored Food
A thoughtful blog by a Carnegie Mellon Interaction Design grad student.My kingdom for a mouse
At some point this weekend my mouse stopped working, probably due to a Windows Update. I began with by troubleshooting the hardware: moved the wireless receiver around, changed the batteries, plugged it into both PS/2 and USB ports, all to no avail. Next stop: reinstalling the mouse drivers. Now, have you ever spent much time surfing the web using only the keyboard? Luckily, I already knew a host of keyboard shortcuts (F6, Alt-Tab, Page Up/Down, Esc, Alt-F, etc.), and was able to successfully navigate to Logitech's site and download the latest drivers.Winners and losers in this odyssey:- Google (loser): Forced me to tab four times through their logo and through all of the sponsored links before I could land on the best (first) search result.
- Logitech (winner): Four tabs and I was on their download page. A few more tabs and I was on the mice page, then my mouse page, where I was able to get the driver in a few seconds. All the while I could tell exactly which link/image was currently selected. And I could predict what would be selected next.
What we say at work on a Monday morning
"Those big brushes at the car wash are scary.""Yeah, they're like big aggressive muppets."
"Speaking of which, have you been to whitehouse.org?"
Rum and Monkey
Rum and Monkey's Widgets: Somewhere between Cartman and Freud. First question from the Horrible Affliction Test (i.e., which horrible affliction are you?): "Do you prefer margarine to butter?" Fourth question: "Do you now, or have you ever, caused untold death and destruction in the third world (that you can remember)?"Check
More from The Non-Expert's Desk: Margaret's threesome advice:This is a question that every woman must answer for herself. Therefore, you should be asking a girl who is going at it with some other chick when you open the bathroom door at a party hosted by people you’ve never officially met.
Instead, you’re asking me.
Fortunately for you, I’m rather drunk. (Threesome Criteria Numero Uno? Check). In this fictional advice-column world, I’m not yet 25 (Criteria 2), and find myself conveniently single (Criteria 3). What’s more, your particularly horizontal shoulders and ready smile help you meet Criteria 4: You are white-hot.
Artichoke
Andrea and I are taking a community-ed creative writing course this term. Like everyone else in the class, I secretly hope to unearth that dormant literary genius inside me, although I'd never go so far as to admit I want to write the overhyped Great American Novel. And I don't, particularly. I'd rather hone my observation and characterization skills, and also work out my personal issue of grossly craving constant praise.We spent a few minutes writing on the word "Artichoke." While it's unfinished, I'm still somewhat partial to what I wrote:
For two years my friends and I smuggled less-than-savory chokes from the dorm cafeteria during Lent. Sean, though Catholic, would fast until sunset, in a forty-day phase of mettle-testing discipline not entirely surprising in an architecture major. So Jess and I would stow slimy, overcooked chokes, dark green as rained-out soccer fields, back to the common room to be microwaved at nightfall in our intimate repast: three sophomores wiping their fingers on Dominoes napkins.
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