Five Inventions I'd Really Like to See

I thought I'd enter endtech's contest from this blog (as well as from the Book Nook).

So, for my list, the wonderful things that we see on TV or in movies that I would really like to be real:

Number 1, The Barbie Suitcase -- you know the one. I was watching My Fair Lady (again!) the other day, and off goes Eliza in a huff, with one itty-bitty little suitcase. A couple of scenes later, the housekeeper, Mrs. Pierce, tells the Professor that Eliza's taken all of her clothes!



Number 2, The Portable Hole
The Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes portable hole, a must have for, well, everyone. Hide a multitude of sins, don't worry about losing your house keys...

Number 3, The Transporter
Need I say more? But it wouldn't be "beam me up", I would be getting beamed over to Paris for an afternoon at the Louvre!

Number 4, Rosie, the Jetson's maid
Again. Does anything need to be said here?

Number 5, Viable Space Travel
Wouldn't it be cool to have the options? Tired of backpacking around Europe?!? Why not head out to the outflung Earth colonies, or visit an alien world?

What would you add to the list?

Lori

A definition of love

Just re-reading a great book today, A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold (one of the many books in the Miles Vorkosigan SF saga), and I thought I'd share probably the best definition of love I've ever run across:

"She had felt flashes of profound ease in his company, it was true, brief perhaps, but calm like deep water. There had also been moments where she'd wanted to whack him with a brick."

Just wanted to share that with you.

Lori

Off the wagon!

Damn you, Creatrix! I'd gone days, ages, without posting about cats...and look what you did!

[not that I mind, really!]

So, found in my email inbox, from my dear friend Creatrix, is Nora:



She ain't half bad. Although, as the first commenter could not resist stating: "Her Bach is worse than her bite."

Lori

A flash from the past, and a challenge

So, yesterday, I was blogging over at Gusto.com about great meals I've had. (Yes, I do have yet another blog, but this one is travel-related, and dwells in the very fun and supportive community that is Gusto. I know I've mentioned it before, but I still go over there almost daily to check out people's new reviews, blog posts, pictures...Seriously, if you like travel, check it out.)

Well, you know how it is...you start reminiscing, and suddenly you're remembering being 13, eating your first meal in a Greek restaurant, a couple of weeks before taking off for an educational tour of Europe. This being the modern age, I did a search for the company, New World Educational Cruises, and the ship, the S.S. Uganda.

Yes, you see rightly. That's a link to the Wikipedia page for a random ship. In 1982, the year after me, my sister went on the cruise:

In 1982 the ship served as a hospital ship in the Falklands War with the affectionate callsign of "Mother Hen". She was called up to military duty while cruising - discharging her bemused passengers of school children, who were on an educational cruise, in Naples. When the SS Uganda docked in Naples reporters turned up their microphones to hear a ship full of school children singing Rule Britannia. The SS Uganda then set off for the South Atlantic after a 3 day refit in Gibraltar. She returned to Southampton to a heroes welcome on 9th August 1982.

That's my sister, one of the bemused school children.

Two years later, she was laid up, rusting, in the River Fal and despite efforts to keep her steaming was eventually sold for scrap and, rebadged as the SS Triton, taken on her final voyage to Taiwan (no school children aboard this time - and a crew of just 21) where she anchored awaiting breaking.

She was driven ashore by a typhoon (Typhoon Wayne) on 22 August 1986 near Kaohsiung, Taiwan and there she lay until broken up in 1992.

And a sad ending to one of the most memorable times in my young life.

"So, what's the challenge?" I hear you ask.

The randomness of finding a Wikipedia entry for this ship, my own little bit of history, just struck me.

What isn't covered by Wikipedia?

Here's your challenge: Find me something real, something tangible, that has not been subjected to the (sometimes dubious) Wikipedia treatment. [No fair just searching things like "raincoaster", raincoaster!]

The prize? How 'bout sharing a case of beer with me in our hot tub, next time you're in Penticton?

Go to it!

Lori

THANK YOU!! I mean, why pay for it?!?

Do you live in a city/town/village with drinkable water?

I'm not talking about what your opinion is, I'm asking if your water is potable (suitable for drinking)?

One third (1/3) of the world does not have potable drinking water.

And we, the privileged, pay through the nose to carry filtered tap water from other towns in plastic bottles.

Via the ever-lovely Nag, comes this story of some ad agencies that are undertaking a monumental task -- to wean us from our bottled water.

Tie it in to Creatrix' post on Brita's incredibly misleading ad, and you've got your 8 glasses a day.

I don't know about you, but I'm thirsty.

Lori

However did he get off?

I had to yell 'Dibs!' on this one (Metro wanted it, but its just too absurd.)

Via the fabulousness that is BoingBoing, comes this story, about a police officer that could not control himself:

No one disputes that an on-duty Irvine police officer got an erection and ejaculated on a motorist during an early-morning traffic stop in Laguna Beach. The female driver reported it, DNA testing confirmed it and officer David Alex Park finally admitted it.

When the case went to trial, however, defense attorney Al Stokke argued that Park wasn’t responsible for making sticky all over the woman’s sweater. He insisted that she made the married patrolman make the mess—after all, she was on her way home from work as a dancer at Captain Cream Cabaret.

“She got what she wanted,” said Stokke. “She’s an overtly sexual person.”

A jury of one woman and 11 men—many white and in their 50s or 60s—agreed with Stokke. On Feb. 2, after a half-day of deliberations, they found Park not guilty of three felony charges that he’d used his badge to win sexual favors during the December 2004 traffic stop.

If you read the story, it turns out that he essentially stalked her, and was still found not guilty. Because of her job. Because of his job, he should be measured by, at the very least, the same standards as the average citizen. But he's not. He's a cop, in a position of authority.

The story ends (for the public, but not for Lucy) in a moment of small mercy:

“[Park’s] testimony was just incredible,” said Kamiabipour. Irvine city officials must have doubted his story, too. After an exhaustive police internal affairs investigation, they felt it was prudent to give Lucy $400,000 to make her civil lawsuit go away—for fear a jury might give her much more.

All I can say to the jury of Lucy's peers is: Shame on you. May your version of justice come back and bite you in the ass.

Lori

A week hiatus...

It's been a busy week.

What else would a bunch of women do on a full moon? Dance nekkid in the yard?

First of all, I aged. Gracefully. Thank you to those who left me messages of goodwill, those who thought them, and those who ignored it and just had a good Friday night. My gaggle of local female friends are now eager to start meeting every month to, well, drink wine and laugh. I'd say it was a successful party.


I then went off to the Lower Mainland for some errands and friends. This time, my normal feelings of great, undefined potential while driving across the Port Mann bridge did not well up. Instead, I was hit with a feeling of dread -- of traffic, of expectation...of hangover. Ah well.

Oh, I had a good time, but I felt pressed for time, unplanned, and totally unimpressed with the traffic.

Anyway, I'm back. And I won't be traveling the Hope-Princeton Hwy at night again anytime soon. Gads.

And today, in Groundhog news...

Paws up for spring, groundhogs predict

CBC, Feb 02, 2007 13:26:41 GMT

Three out of three groundhogs polled report that spring will come early this year.

The full CBC story.

Groundhog gender barrier

Does Woody, a female prognosticating groundhog, have an advantage over her male collegues[sic]?

The full Yahoo story.

And here, in the Okanagan, it's 6:49 a.m., and this groundhog is up, and even if the sun were out, we'd find it's currently mostly cloudy -- so no shadow here.

So all raise your coffee cups and toast an early spring! Oh, and later, when you've got a beer in hand, send some good cheer my way, as I celebrate the end to my 30s (39 today, tomorrow I start my 40th year...)

Lori

Tools and Tasks

I've been in a bit of a frenzy lately, not actually doing anything mind you, more preparing to do.

You see, now that it's February, my life is going into overdrive. I've been cruising along in the slow lane for the past two months, watching the world move around me. It's now my turn.

The cat problem is continuing. The black cat is still peeing in corners, despite the Dettol and mothballs -- two things she's supposed to hate. As of today, she's on an anti-anxiety drug which will not only soothe her inner beast, but cure another potential medical issue we suspect she has. Cross your fingers.

So, my house smells like a grandmother's blanket box, just in time for my full moon, Friday night, Groundhog Day birthday hen party tomorrow night. Yup, 'tis my birthday.

Metro is busy himself, every Thursday, Friday & Saturday for the month -- in a local production of Barefoot in the Park. (Which is why I'm having a hen party, 'cause he won't be around.)

And, I've got work starting. Two projects starting next week -- coordinating a study tour from Japan arriving at Okanagan College in March, and yes, helping out with the 5th Annual Penticton Children's Festival. I got the gig!

Plus, it's time for me to ramp up the Farmers' Market for the new season. Marketing plans, vendor applications, the AGM.

So, the point of this post, is that I've been doing my research. Online planning software, productivity aids, and the like. I seem to have joined the Web2.0 revolution. The plan being that I will have the tools at my disposal to ensure that I don't miss anything, that I've streamlined my daily work.

Yeah. Right. I'm just playing with a whole bunch of new toys. Here, check them out:

• 27signals stuff -- Basecamp for projects, Backpackit for notes & lists & what-have-you, Writeboards for collaborative writing
• Zoho tools -- the whole list of productivity tools, plus their online project software
• Gubb.net to do lists
• Joe's Goals -- a fun little game you play with yourself to help you create new habits
• plus, I've changed my browser home page to Netvibes.com, the better to start my life off right every morning

Wish me luck, and an end to procrastination.

Lori