I am responsible for the setting up an interactive web portal for a bunch of researchers. I am not doing any of the active coding or programming or any behind the scenes work for actually setting it up but merely giving the web people an idea of what I would like to see.

((e:paul), this is the same project I talked to you about, ages back. Its finally being hosted at the NCI.)

Ideally, I want a forum-like interface online with email functionality. The forum should have the ability to accept emailed posts from researchers (who are disinclined to login and post online) and display these emails in appropriate subject threads - somewhat like Google Groups + Gmail. The forum should also have sections with restricted memberships for say, certain working groups.

The question is, am I making a reasonable request and is this kind of thing do-able on a website? Would I need to provide any extra information?

From
The search for a missing Buffalo girl came to a happy ending Saturday night.

Police combed the neighborhood after the girl's mother reported her missing from their Sweet Avenue home Saturday afternoon.

It turned out Reid was home all along.

The six year-old was found sleeping under a pile of clothes in the house.

One has to wonder...

Thank you SO MUCH for the party, (e:paul), (e:matthew) and (e:terry)! I LOVED seeing you all. (e:peeps), ALL OF YOU ROCK!

The humble comment bubble rose from the footnotes this Halloween and carried out its alphabetized vendetta.


The armed attack of the comment bubble extracted some arbitrarily awesome sweet personal, political and candy-raver responses!!


I don't think any other bunch of folks can quite randomly turn a last-minute hastily-put-together costume into such a rich and varied interactive real-time experiment. It speaks volumes about us as a community.



Step out from your virtual pixels and claim your real comment bubbles by dropping virtual ones. :)




Indeed!
























(e:hodown), you are hands down miles and mountains better than the Joan character. I am positive she cannot make those figs-from-heaven that you made. Nor can she ever look as awesome as you did!






















Get over it! ;)










Yeah, and I will see you in hell.







I will leave you with this powerful message.

---

• Thanks for the pen (e:paul). I think I lost it...
  
• Sorely missed:

(e:imk2): Are you feeling better???? I missed you. :( How did (e:limsey)'s show go??
(e:boxerboi): You! You! You m&m! See you on Monday. ;)
(e:mrmike): You are probably the world's only handsome zombie!
(e:gardenmama): I can't wait to meet you!
(e:theecarey): Did I miss you????!!!
(e:leetee) & (e:uncutsaniflush): Hope you had an awesome Halloween!
(e:lilho): Good wishes for getting better!
(e:ladycroft): Wish you were here!
(e:Chico): Missed you as well.
Other (e:missingpeeps): Have an awesome weekend!

Okay, quick and random 4-point (e:strip) behaviour survey:



1. Have you ever ignored people intentionally as a sort of getting back at them for ignoring you in the past?

2. Did you feel guilty about it?

3. Did you care more about your guilt and give up your ignore-stance?

4. Or did you care more about your vendetta and continue ignoring till the end of time?

Please answer with a yes/no, at least. Thanks for your time! (In advance).

-TP

Aap sab ko deepavali ki haardik shubkaamnaayen!*

---

• Hearty well-wishes to you all on this day of the festival of lights.

With this latest haircut, I have had 18 of them in Buffalo. Some of them have been more memorable than the others.

My first one was all the way up at North Plaza. For want of a better sense of direction, and the gleeful excitement of having a "metro" train service within walking distance once again, I took it all the way up to south campus and was quite disappointed when the driver announced that it was the last stop. I don't know what I had been expecting but I do remember wondering whether it would come out in another city's downtown.

Somehow this seems so appropriate, not to mention way cooler. Downtown to downtown - symmetric underground and overground sections. Like a light rail but also like a tube. The romance was killed brutally at south campus.

So back to the main story, that trip was memorable not only for the huge metro asymmetry disappointment but also for the near hysterical haircutter. She started carelessly whacking my hair off. I don't really ask too much from my haircutters. I just want it all off and a decent non-eggy looking outcome at the end. But I got more than I paid for.

She told me the whole in-detail story about how she was going to call her wedding off because she had just found out that morning that her fiance had given her a fake golden ring with a fake diamond pasted on it. She also sniffled into my hair. I didn't mean to be insensitive but.. Geez. I never went back.

The second haircutter had moved his shop from Utica to the basement of an old people's home on Main Street. It started out okay but I was the only one below 60 in that room and one of the old ladies was bitterly complaining that her new hair colour was not purple enough.

It unsettled me. Oh, and that place smelled really funky as well.

A few haircuts at not-very-memorable-places later, I met this haircut lady!

I swear she must have been a drill sergeant in her past life! She yelled at everyone in the shop - customers and employees alike, and gave me something very close to a military buzzcut. I was too scared to say anything and slunk out!

Then I met the best haircutter ever - LaShawn! I don't think anyone ever cut my hair so well as her. My hair didn't grow out of shape for a whole month! It was as if she had sprinkled magic dust on my hair and bullied it into behaving.

Unfortunately, she went on maternity leave after I had that haircut and I haven't seen her since.

The next one was downright freaky. While cutting my hair, he casually mentioned how his dream career was to become a mortician! Nice way to boost confidence levels in a client.


The last really interesting haircutter was an indophile.

He was covered in so many tattoos, it was hard to tell what kind of clothes he was wearing! He told me that his boyfriend usually tried out unique designs on him first and that's how he ended up with so many. I found that what little I know about Hinduism was very deficient compared to his encyclopaedic knowledge!

I seem to have knack for meeting the most bizarre haircutters and going to the weirdest of haircutting settings.

If you need some aural self-punishment, look no further. Just push play!

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

This is one of the 400+ covers from hell, painstakingly sung with acoustic shredding prowess by none other than proud Frenchman - Grum Lee!



Another mind-blowing cover: Grum Lee's smooth... er.. Rough Criminal! If Michael Jackson were dead, he would surely be moonwalking in his grave if heard this. So should you, even if you are alive, BTW.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

And nothing is ever complete without a complete destruction of the Final Countdown. Yeah finnnnnnnaaaaall couuuuuunnnttdown!!!! Yeah.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

In response to (e:zobar)'s profound question: "What kind of deranged individual shakes whole black peppercorns onto their food? ", I present some over the top derangement from Palakkadu and neighbouring Thalassery. :)

~~~~Theyyam.~~~~





~~~~Fresh Peppercorns!!!~~~~



~~~~Dried Peppercorns~~~~



~~~~Pongal~~~~



~~~~Ravai Kanjeevaram Idly~~~~



~~~~Pongal, Bonda and Rasam~~~~



~~~~Tiiru Chadam (Or Seasoned yogurt rice)~~~~




Yeah, we are completely deranged about food, colour and spices, down south. :)

---

More Thalassery ->

I confess (and most bitterly). My recent addictions have gone to unhealthy excesses. I am officially and hopelessly addicted to:


a)


b)


I need a quitline for these two, pronto!!! :/

Click on their pictures to reach musical bliss!! :)

1. Maria Dolores Pradera


2. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky


3. Adrian Barilari


4. Boney M!


5. Vanden Plas


6. Ennio Morriccone (played by Yo-Yo Ma)


7. Deep Purple


8. Scorpions


9. Joaquin Rodrigo Vidre


10. Wynton Marsalis


Who are your top 10 this fall? Get those posts up and post 10 recommendations (and links) of your own!