"What's THAT word?: Trumping Word-Blocks!" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

Category: tools

11/23/08 01:01 - 31ºF - ID#46805

What's THAT word?: Trumping Word-Blocks!

You are writing furiously and suddenly you come up against the dreaded WORD BLOCK! In my opinion, this is far worse than the writer's block. In contrast to the much-maligned writer's block, the word block doesn't deal with that murky uncertain ghost of your writing-future. It makes what you already wrote look like rot. The word block casts an unsatisfactory dirty shroud on the ghost of your writing-present.

To me, this is unacceptable. Thus, I declared war against word-blocks this morning. I then realized that I was poorly armed with just a Roget's Thesaurus. What I needed was a weapon to put my thoughts into pithy words. For every time I wondered, "what IS THAT word????" and for every time some miserable word dangled from the tip of my tongue but didn't quite make it to the brain, I needed a sort of white book for reverse look-up of thoughts. And lo and behold, the unknown angel of word-block rescue exists! It's called the one look reverse dictionary.

I realize it might be a bit rash to declare victory against word-blocks already, (for all I know, the word-block camp may have hidden WMDs headed for my document) but the ghost of my writing-present is nodding pretty appreciatively.

Do (e:strip) peeps have any other hidden writing-block-busters? As we all know, stockpiling is half the victory (besides being extremely handy for threatening, manipulation and such other nifty uses). :)

Permalink: What_s_THAT_word_Trumping_Word_Blocks_.html
Words: 246
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: the odes

11/20/08 12:33 - 33ºF - ID#46771

Gmail Theme Mania

I am so in love with the Gmail theme changing thing! I have been changing my theme once every hour for the past 6 hours. Is that excessive?

I hope not. Because I have 24 more themes to go through.

WHOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEE, GMAIL THEME MANIA! :)

PS: I am just a Rahmbonics theme away from attaining complete self-destruction (distraction?). Thank goodness they don't have political-obsession themes... YET.

PPS: Maybe I should *design* a Rahmbonics theme! HEHEHEHE.

PPPS: Maybe I should just quit working on this ridiculous PhD and start stalking political celebrities full-time.

PPPPS: Um. Yeah. Scratch all those bad ideas,. TINY. GET BACK TO WORK!

PPPPPS: It's a sign of pure and unadulterated insanity that I am addressing myself as TINY (besides writing recursive post-scripts to myself). Ugh.

Permalink: Gmail_Theme_Mania.html
Words: 128
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: {dodo}

11/19/08 01:14 - ID#46751

Rahm Emanuel - Positively Aware {Or Not}

Due to the enormous amount of pubmed whoring I do on a daily basis, I have a search engine plugin for Pubmed in my Firefox quick search bar. I accidentally searched for today's quota of Rahmbonics in Pubmed. Lo and Behold, he has an indexed publication!!!

Emanuel R. Politics and HIV: statement from Representative Rahm Emanuel (IL-5). Posit Aware. 2006 Jul-Aug;17(4):49.

Of course, I simply had to go and hunt the full-text version down.

I learned about some new Rahmbonics for my D.iary O.f D.aily O.bsession, {DODO}.

Did you know that:
-- Rahmbo supports the Ryan White CARE act that funds treatment for AIDS patients when no other resources are available. (Among 402 others in the Congress).

-- He voted for the AIDS assistance bill (H.R. 1298, the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act)

Critical Note: Though the global funding aspect is great, the Anti-Prostitution pledge in this bill is despicable and counter-productive. As a medical professional, I think this sort of a reactionary approach to AIDS prevention and control will get us NOWHERE in our fight against HIV. In my dictionary, people who drafted this pledge are prime examples of what the terms "moronic" and "insular" actually mean. Two thumbs down to Bush and other crazies who heads are firmly under six feet of religious fanatic hard-packed dirt on this issue. Emanuel talks about the funding aspect of this bill in the Posit. Aware publication but not about the anti-prostitution pledge. I am dissatisfied over this glaring omission.

-- He voted to pass H.Con.Res.30, a bill supporting the goals and ideals of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

-- Co-sponsored:
H.R. 3859, the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA),
H.R. 4792, the New United States Global HIV Prevention Strategy to Address the Needs of Women and Girls Act of 2004
H.R. 1409, the Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005
H.R. 1413, the Women and Children in Crisis and Conflict Protection Act of 2005.

On the whole, that's an excellent record against HIV except for the one major blemish-by-association -- the Anti-Prostitution pledge. I wish I knew how Rahmbonics stand on this issue. Till then, I can't believe the title of this blog without reserve.

Permalink: Rahm_Emanuel_Positively_Aware_Or_Not_.html
Words: 392
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: {dodo}

11/17/08 11:00 - 27ºF - ID#46728

While Rome burned...

YES. I am obsessed with this bloke. Apologies to all you 3 readers. You are unfortunately going to get a disproportionate amount of Emanuel on this channel, now that I have this insane urge to news-stalk for Rahmbonics. Consider yourself warned. :)

Permalink: While_Rome_burned_.html
Words: 43
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: {dodo}

11/14/08 07:05 - 57ºF - ID#46693

Rahm Emanuel {His finger, to be precise}

I admit it. This man is immensely entertaining!

He once said {on the subject of losing his right middle finger}:

Of all the fingers to lose! I could not express myself for months. I had to learn to talk with my left hand.

Stephen Colbert latched on to this missing finger and what follows is a hysterical blackmail begging for a position at the White House.

::Download Flash Video::

Oh, and that finger is not just Colbert's favourite. Obama takes a jab at it as well... among a handful of other Rahmbonics.

Has he ever flashed that stubby little thing at you? It's appalling

Permalink: Rahm_Emanuel_His_finger_to_be_precise_.html
Words: 115
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: e:strip

11/14/08 11:01 - 56ºF - ID#46684

Where do lost comments go?

Cue spooky ambience music...

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

Have you ever wondered why..,
- Your comment # is more than the total number of comments on the home page?

- Some comments you make mysteriously vanish into the night?

- Some comments get lost and never see the light of the day?

- As you look down the new comment column, the ghost of your comment still taunts you from the netherworld??

- Is there a secret comment graveyard on (e:strip)?

- Is that where unruly comments go to die?

The answer lies with...

(e:paul)!!!!!!!*

PS: (e:paul) just posted in the chatter: tiny when you are posting a comment, make sure it says the right user and comment id at the top of the add comment window e.g. Post a comment to imk2's journal #46680

PPS: Thanks for that information. I will be sure to check in the future but how about the comments which have been posted without verifying this detail - is there any way to recover them?

PPPS: I am so addicted to this font-sizing thing. :)

jason writes at 02:01:43 11/14/08 - Comment #42119: My previous problems with it occurred when I would start the comment, then move over to another Firefox tab and then submit the comment.

Paul, thanks for the tool. I've been meaning to read something (e:DCoffee) had posted a while back.

tinypliny writes at 01:27:13 11/14/08 - Comment #42112: The test is working now. :) It's the murphy's law. I will keep a hawk's eyeout for the next time I get signs of a lost comment. The comment that got lost today was the first one I made after being inactive for around 7 hours.

paul writes at 01:19:51 11/14/08 - Comment #42110: Test it and see what happens.

tinypliny writes at 01:18:29 11/14/08 - Comment #42109: If I think back to my comments in the graveyard, I think they do have a definite pattern. (E:strip) reuses pop-up windows. If you click on the comment bubble to comment on someone's blog, the earlier pop-up from (e:strip) is replaced by the comment form pop-up. I am guessing lost comments mostly happen when you have a log-out event between 2 pop-up sessions. When you login again and initiate a pop-up from (e:strip), the replacement pop-up comment goes to the graveyard.

tinypliny writes at 12:20:21 11/14/08 - Comment #42102: THAT IS SO COOL!!! THANK YOU!!

Now we can all go rescue out lost and bewildered comments!!! GO COMMENT RESCUE!!! Dig them out of those coffins!!!

paul writes at 12:10:15 11/14/08 - Comment #42100: Okay, its there is a comment graveyard now :::link::: where you can get to the list of all 40/40,000 comments with no home

You can also get there by clicking on the graveyard link on the more comments page. They are in reverse chronological order. If you know which ones they belong on, click the report link at the bottom of any comment.

Also, in the more list itself, it a comment is ever not associated with a journal, there is a "report this" link instead of a >>more link so that you can easily report it.

paul writes at 11:18:30 11/14/08 - Comment #42098: Yes, they are all alive and well. I am just holding them hostage No the truth is there are ~40 out of 40,333 comments that have no journal associated with them. They are still in the database. I have the author, the comments, the timestamp and the ip but somehow those ones never passed the journal id. I cannot figure out the exact combination of problem that causes it. Everytime I try it it works.

That is why I added that line at the top that says what journal id and user you are posting to. If that ever says nothing, that is an indicator that there is a problem and I would really like to know under what condition that happens.

I should just make a lost comment graveyard where you can go to claim them. This problem won't happen in the new system as it works very differently. Unfortunately, I have been very busy with work and other things and it keeps delaying the new version. If only this was my paid job.

Permalink: Where_do_lost_comments_go_.html
Words: 185
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: music

11/10/08 09:45 - 37ºF - ID#46637

Milva... the extraordinary.

The last post reminded me of how much I love this awesome Goddess of voice and passion.

So instead of just listening to me jabbering on and on, I strongly recommend that you take the time machine back to the 60s for 10 golden minutes. :)

From 1968:

From 1966:

This is more recent, but showcases her incredible range and the life she brings to Piazzolla's works. This time, in French!
J'Oublie (Oblivion) (Piazzolla/McNeal)

Permalink: Milva_the_extraordinary_.html
Words: 102
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: music

11/10/08 08:15 - 36ºF - ID#46635

Astor Piazzolla - Maria de Buenos Aires

I got to my department today morning and someone had left this on the general "help-yourself" table at the entrance.

I still can't believe it. Someone actually gave away one of the coolest tango-operas! And not just any tango-opera. A LIVE production* of the oratorio penned in 1968 by none other than the divinity of tango - Astor Piazzolla!

To give you an idea of what Piazzola's operatic works sound like, here's a very dramatic piece "Preludio para el año 3001 - Rinasceró" sung by the awesome Milva. The drama and emotion is sometimes so intense, that even not getting a word of Spanish, I find myself getting the story. That is the brilliance and magic of Piazzolla.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

(Orchestra: Astor Quartet, Per Arne Glorvigen (Bandoneon), Gidon Kremer (Violin), Milva (Voice), Vadim Sakharov (Piano), Alois Posch (Double Bass))

Needless to say, I snatched it away in one wild spasmodic movement before anyone could say, Piazzolla. It's now playing full blast and I am virtually dancing on the streets of Buenos Aires.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, dear mysterious benefactor! :D

Okay, Okay, the Gidon Kremer version of this Opera is more mind-blowing, if only for the technical precision of his playing as well as the orchestra's. However, as far as live productions go, this one is spot on with all the passion, if not the precision and sound.

Permalink: Astor_Piazzolla_Maria_de_Buenos_Aires.html
Words: 234
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: whine

11/08/08 11:32 - 41ºF - ID#46609

What next: Bailout the oil-guzzling SUV?

From

Two representatives in the congress have written a letter to the Idiot-W urging him to bail-out the makers of the oil-guzzling SUVs and inefficient cars.

Pelosi and Reid:

"A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability, the overall health of our economy and the livelihood of the automobile sector's workforce."

How can you perpetrate such constant fraud on the public? Can this get anymore outrageous? WHY should more money go into energy inefficient cars and SUVs while bus and metro prices are going up all over the place? For once, can't you just bail out the average population's livelihood by investing a fraction of that $700bn in a healthy PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION system??

Pelosi and Reid also said:

"It is our hope that the actions that Congress has taken, and that the administration may take, will restore the pre-eminence of our domestic manufacturing industry so that it can emerge as a global, competitive leader in fuel efficiency and in new and path-breaking energy-efficient technologies that protect our environment."

Yeah. Right. Fat chance of that ever happening - seeing as how the US goverment, the domestic automobile manufacturers, the oil industry, and the Californian government played key roles in very skillfully murdering the concept of the energy-efficient electric car back in the day.

This is a barefaced effort at siphoning of public money to the oil industry for immediate gains, and it makes me sick.

libertad writes at 10:45:04 11/09/08 - Comment #41883: I am NOT happy with these bailouts. Here we are getting F'd again because of fear.

Why should we give these lousy companies any money? It wasn't a big secret that gas is a limited resource. Fuel efficiency standards should have become more stringent, however, Biden and others rejected raising fuel efficiency standards.

I know that these jobs are necessary but maybe these people (auto workers) should be given opportunities in new sectors of a greener economy. This would include the building of a new infrastructure that focused on public transport.

We are in big trouble and it has been made that much worse by the bailout of the banks. The auto industry will be no different. My hope is that Obama will choose the right Treasure Secretary that can properly advise him. This is a very crucial moment.

tinypliny writes at 05:27:38 11/09/08 - Comment #41858: That's actually a good suggestion. But when AIG executives could easily blow the bail-out money and go to a collective spa treatment, you can't really expect any better of any other industry; especially the auto industry.

The US auto industry has been actively blocking all the efforts to improve the public transport infrastructure for the past so many decades and is dead against developing alternative-fuel vehicles because its hand in glove with the oil industry. The idea is to make inefficient oil-guzzlers so that people would keep on buying oil no matter what the price.

metalpeter writes at 10:05:11 11/09/08 - Comment #41829: But it on the side of the people who want the bailout it gets more complicated (wow double comments I feel like (e:tinypliny)). I know that chevy is working on and has some cars that are highly fuel efficent and I think a sports car then runs on all batery power. If they don't have money to stay open how will these cars ever come into being. What I suggest is not a bail out but to put money to these companies that would be ear marked or to be used for Gas Alternatives. Maybe that would be a fair compromise.

metalpeter writes at 09:59:20 11/09/08 - Comment #41828: I see this a little bit differently. Most automakers because of the unions pay their workers pretty well. Some who has a family and a house and a car or maybe 2 lives off how much money they make. That person can't all of a sudden then live off $4 less an hour. Did the unions get greedy over the years, yeah sure but cutting peoples pay isn't an option for them. It isn't only the unions though the big bosses want there money also, so they will fire workers to keep there bonuses and stock pay outs. I do understand where the car companies are coming from though. They think hey it isn't our fault the banks screwed everything up and now no one can pay for cars. But see that isn't true really. The bottom line is that the Japanese can make cars generaly cheeper, better, and more gas efficant. It is true that there is no such thing as an American car any more. None of the electonics are made in america and some other parts are also. Then You have Toyota who has some models (trucks I think ) built in the united states. I think it is crazy to bail out the automakers, I also think it isn't fair why only GM and not everyone who sells cars in America.

james writes at 12:04:27 11/09/08 - Comment #41821: The conservative perils of the American far left agenda...

Permalink: What_next_Bailout_the_oil_guzzling_SUV_.html
Words: 261
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: music

11/08/08 10:15 - 40ºF - ID#46608

Nostalgia: Its a Beautiful Life [Or Not]

Whatever happened to this group?! I had an audio cassette of this album back... back... really back in the day and I remember the magnetic tape kind of disintegrated because I rewound it so many times the first month I had it on my Sony Walkman.

And YIKES. What a freakishly scary video. I had no idea. Thankfully, I never saw this abomination of a video before now! I might have been brain damaged forever. I think the most ghastly bits are when they come to "walk in the park" and "laughing child" bits.