So cute...but would I wear it??

From the Spiky Bras Boutique:

I can't imagine any comment I could make...

Lori

Here's a dilemma for you today...

Random stumbling about the wonders (and silliness) of the Internet today found me this article from the Philosophers' Magazine Online.

Anyway, the author (Daniel C. Dennett) of this article asks the question (to paraphrase): Should people who are being deceived for their own good be told? His focus is on the context of religion, but it is a question applicable to many common situations:

Should the sweet old lady in the nursing home be told that her son has just been sent to prison? Should the awkward 12-year-old boy who wasn't cut from the baseball team be told about the arm-twisting that persuaded the coach to keep him on the squad?

But to simplify his essay to this one concept is to do him a disservice. I'm merely distilling one idea that made me think: "Whoa, Nellie!"

The point is: if you want to have your brain twisted around a moral quandary, read this article.

Draw a pig personality test

Here's my pig. I think he's quite cute. And, if you read down the page, you'll get an analysis of my personality, based on how I drew this little piggy on a computer screen.

Ah well. I'm sure there are better things to do with my time. So, I'll go do them, while you're drawing your pig.

Lori

Feminist Ephiphany in the Middle Stall

Last night was a great one -- the Evil Elf and I put on our monthly literary gathering, known as the Shebeen Club (because our home is the Shebeen Whisk(e)y House, and our hope is to be the next Algonquin Roundtable), but this one was different.

A few weeks before, our scheduled presenter bailed on us, so we had decided to go back to the original format -- a dead celebrity. Hemingway's birthday, James Joyce & Bloomsday, Bukowski's Hangover (our day fell the day after his birthday...seemed apt)...we'd covered the men, but now here was an opportunity: January 17, 2006 was the 176th birthday of Anne Bronte.

Suddenly, the plan was now that I would present a discussion with the group on the evolution of Feminist literature. I planned to focus on Feminist SF as a way of showing the evolution on a smaller scale, and because it used to be a passion of mine.

At first blush, the evening last night looked like a bit of a bust. Start time came and went, and we had no attendees! Not even the regulars. Gads. Is this what almost a month of unending rain will do to a town?

Then, three delightful women showed up, strangers to each other, and only one a repeat to us. We cosied up into a lovely corner with our crustless sandwiches, soup & sherry -- and started to talk.

I led them through my discussion -- it went exactly as I'd hoped. Every example I gave elicited another author, an experience, an opinion. We debated the present state of feminism, discussed steps to continue to inspire both women and men to be whole human beings, and just generally had a lovely time. We came up for air to discover it was 10 p.m., an hour after our scheduled end time.

A great evening.

But the truest moment of the night came to me when I went to the washroom. In the middle stall, some inconsiderate cow had peed all over the seat. Damn seat pee-ers!

Yes, feminism in the 'West' (west of what?) seems redundant now. On the surface, a woman has as much equality as she can grab for herself. Some problems still exist -- don't get me started on fashion trends for women! -- but feminism as a movement seems to be dead.

But as long as women continue to treat each other with so little respect, the need for a feminist movement will not die out.

Lori

Morning musings

Here's a short entry by Metro a couple of days ago. Very Dr. Seuss-esque, and rather absurd. As is his previous post on the subject...enjoy them.

Then read his latest post about the absurdities of Canadian government. I don't know which is worse, the fact that we have no real choice in this next (far-too-early) election, or the idea that so few people will actually turn out to vote, as per usual.

With all the blood shed around the world for the right to vote, the fact that so many Canadians don't is incredibly disturbing.

Voting on Monday. I still have a few days to make up my mind.

Lori

Mention "Apple" or "iPod" in a post....

...and you get on every search engine. What is it about that company? So proprietary about their product/image that it rubs off on the consumers...

I got read by some Apple fan, who left a comment:

Anonymous said...

(Visit my friends and upload all of their music...ooooh...)

i love it when people justify not using an ipod (or complain about using an ipod) because Apple makes it harder to steal music.

nice.

I live it when people leave snarky comments anonymously. Or read one sentence in 10 (in parentheses no less, and with a silly "ooooh...") and take that as the primary meaning.

• Did I mention that my Archos thingamabob also voice records? (Cool.)
• Did I mention that I can make playlists on the thing too? (Something to do other than just look at it when listening, wishing I could do something with it....oh, sort of like an iPod) [Oh, I'm gonna get into trouble!]
• Did I mention that it took almost 4 hours to put the support software for the iPod on my PC? It was like dueling banjos. With my unit, I could be anywhere away from my computer (traveling, at work) and be able to plug it in to any Mac or PC and actually use it as a portable hard drive with no extra software or preparation.
  

But can I just rant for a second about these righteous people who assume that everyone, but them, is stealing music left, right, and centre? Show of hands, folks, how many CDs (or tapes, before CDs came into being) have made a CD for a friend, or had a friend give you one they made?

Did you know that record companies view that as stealing? Here's an article commenting on the Mac point of view, from 2001. Here are the Recording Industry Association of America's official definitions of piracy (with a bit of fear-mongering "we're coming to get you" attitude).

Oh, I've tried to download music (gasp!) illegally, but I'm not good at it: I already own the music I want to listen to. I end up with a Beatles tune....Oh, right. And a couple of Eminem tunes to find out if I like him enough to actually buy an album. (I have yet to listen to them.)

Metro and I bought a Napster 3-month unlimited membership over Christmas (we were buying them for the kids we knew)....I'm a little nervous about using it -- will I find enough that interests me to download?

Especially since we have a full rack of Metro's old cassettes sitting around, and:

• My new unit records in-line, with a very simple interface that even allows me to create a new recording for each song on a cassette (and it came with the correct cord)

So, Anonymous, thank you for the blog topic. And next time, take some responsibility for your words.

Lori

I just couldn't do it...

I tried to become part of the iPod generation...Metro got a 30GB Video iPod as a Christmas gift from his boss (yeah...it's a good company, and not just for the seasonal swag), and promptly gave it to me. [And people wonder why I'm marrying this guy!**]

My buddy, who now works for Apple because of a company buy-out, was thrilled, and sent me some fun links, including "50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod". Okay. Cool. I've normally rebelled against being like everyone else, and there's something about an iPod that really makes you like everyone else...other iPod users (and muggers) recognize the tell-tale white earbuds...But I was okay with that.

Then, before the novelty could wear off, I realized the battery life was nowhere up to the advertised (and tested) 14+ hours of audio (with no stopping, re-starting, skipping, etc.). I got 5 hours on my test. Hmm.

Was it me? I've got bad luck with portable audio units. So we returned it, and got a gift card with the full balance, 'cause they were out of the iPods, post-Boxing Day sales.

Then I started having second thoughts. "Am I really an iPod person?" I did a bit of research, and heard about the Archos 20GB unit. I'm no techno-geek, but I do like to see inside my stuff a bit. I had been a little uncomfortable with the iPod interface, lack of buttons, and single-functionality. And Apple's "only iTunes" policy.

My little Archos 402 (yup, I bought it) has a few things that make it better suited to me:

• I can navigate around inside of it (and make playlists on the unit itself, instead of on my computer).
• It doesn't need any software to connect to any computer. I could connect to any computer, and access files. (Visit my friends and upload all of their music...ooooh...)
• It charges in a plug...not in a USB port. (Some guy on a discussion board complained about this aspect of the unit, compared to an iPod...but that doesn't make sense. Aren't you usually closer to a plug at any given time than to a USB port?)
• It comes with all of the wires/connectors you could possibly need (okay, so no car adapter -- big whoop) without having to buy them extra.
  
• Lastly, and the most importantly, it just saved me over $150...it comes with an adapter to plug my digital camera into it and upload photos. I now don't need to buy a bigger memory card for my camera for when Metro and I go on our honeymoon.

Ah...I'm off to play now.

Lori

(**No one, by the way, wonders why I'm marrying him. Everyone heartily approves.)

Bilbo's little house in the hill

You may have seen this from a variety of sources (I found it while browsing Boing Boing).... some people just have too much time on their hands.

And I applaud them for it. This tiny Bad End is utterly lovely. Check it out.

Lori

Oh, my...

Check out PartiallyClips: A Webcomic for Grownups.

Lately, I've been busy on my biggest project to-date: my own wedding. Interesting experience, having full control over all of the details.

For example: the caterer (a friend of a friend), the venue (a nice local spot), and the band (our favourite local group!)....

Lori

Saturday morning fun

I have nothing really to say about this, it's just fun. Check it out.

And while the Gender Genie has a bit more intellectual heft to it, it is still fun to play with.

Finally, take a quick look at this....

Now, go out and enjoy the day!

Lori