"Minus Zero" written by Uncutsaniflush on estrip.org

11/24/10 12:00 - 34.ºF - ID#53157

Minus Zero

Talking to (e:tinypliny) about my Polish experience, made me in a fit of Polish madness think that I should do a "Polish Song of the Day" on E-strip even though Warsaw isn't exactly on the Elmwood Strip.

This song is by Lady Pank

. The video is directed by Zbigniew RybczyÅ„ski

This video references many Polish and American stereotypes both in Poland and in the U.S.

The video was filmed on Battery Park City landfill in lower Manhattan in 1985.

(The English language lyrics have very little to do with the Polish language lyrics). Less Than Zero would be a better translation of the original song title.

Lyrics:

Ula models for top magazines
See her smile in her pink limousine
Queen of lipstick, shampoo and suncreams,
She's the fun of every man's dreams
She thinks she's ooh-la-la,
But she's just la-de-da

Minus zero

Flies to Rio when Rio is sunny
Never sweats,'cause she stands in the shade
She's a honey, and brings in the money
Works for pleasure, but always gets paid
She oozes sex appeal,
But she just isn't real

Minus zero

Ula models for top magazines
See her smile in her pink limousine
Queen of lipstick, shampoo and suncreams,
She's the fun of every man's dreams
She thinks she's ooh-la-la,
But she's just la-de-da

Minus zero

Permalink: Minus_Zero.html
Words: 243
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/24/10 08:55

10/22/10 10:51 - 47.ºF - ID#53003

11 Years Gone

My mom died a few hours from now 11 years ago. She would have been 71 on August 25.

Here are a few of my favorite photos of her.

She visited the Falls in 1970

My mom and I at a reception in 1974

Permalink: 11_Years_Gone.html
Words: 47
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 10/22/10 10:56

09/16/10 11:58 - 55.ºF - ID#52757

Drag and Drop Test

OK, this is what I figured out. In the gnome Linux Mint 9, drag and drop does NOT work from the Desktop or if the file manager and firefox windows do not overlap.

But it does work if the file manager and the firefox winows DO overlap.

None of this works on a heavily-patched PCLinuxOS 2007 box with KDE 3.5.9 and Firefox 3.6.9. Because the PCLinuxOS is rather old and very far away from a vanilla install, I reckoned I should try something more modern like Linux Mint.

(e:leetee) suggested that the problem might be that the drag and drop won't be supported from the Desktop so I tried drag and drop from the File Manager on both boxes. Linux Mint worked if the windows overlapped. But, alas, the ancient PCLinuxOS box was just too old and cranky and refused to work. Thank you for all your efforts, (e:paul). I think the mystery is solved. There is no more reason for you to do anything about this. It's a combination of user error and old software.

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:16:42 09/17/10 - Comment #58492: (e:scott) - thank you for the kind words but I always fear that no matter how I try to explain stuff in Linux it is way too geeky. For example, how many average computer users know the difference between a Desktop Environment and a Window Manager? And, more importantly, does it really matter to them? People just want stuff to work. We geeks on the other hand want stuff to work our way.

When I started out with Linux, I was a KDE gui man despite liking lots of Gnome suite apps. These days I have to say that I like the newer Gnome better than the KDE 4+ desktops. But, ironically enough, I tend to prefer KDE suite apps. Go figure.

I love E17 (Enlightenment DR17). I'm sad to say that right I don't have a box that is running E17 because I've been compiling it from source lately and I just don't have time and energy to deal with that.

Any old way, again thank you for the kind words. As you can see, I can ramble on about Linux. I'm a bit of an absent-minded professor. My train of thought often makes unscheduled stops.

scott writes at 02:17:48 09/17/10 - Comment #58482: Excellent summary of the different players (kernel vs desktop env) in linux for the non-linux user. Well said! (You should write those up in a separate post of their own!)

uncutsaniflush writes at 01:54:15 09/17/10 - Comment #58481: (e:tinypliny) - Gnome and KDE are both desktop environments who have their own suites of apps. In a way, they are the Coke and Pepsi of Linux Desktop environments. There are others but they are the most popular.

These days gnome and kde apps play well with each other. And I've not had any problems using Gnome apps in KDE and visa-versa since 2001 or 20002.

In general terms, in Linux, you can use any Gnome or KDE app with any desktop environment (Gnome, KDE, lxde, xfce, etc), desktop shell (Enlightenment DR17 (my personal fave), etc.), or windows manager (Window Maker, fluxbox, etc.) as long as you have access to the supporting toolkit libraries. And these days, most distros have pre-compiled library binaries available. Of course, if you are geeky, you could just compile stuff even if your favie distro doesn't have libraries for ready download.

I hope that answered your question and didn't confuse you more.

tinypliny writes at 12:49:37 09/17/10 - Comment #58480: Since you are explaining stuff, where exactly do Gnome and KDE stand in this hierarchy of things? Can things made for Gnome run in KDE based systems and vice versa?

uncutsaniflush writes at 12:27:46 09/17/10 - Comment #58478: (e:paul) - If you think about it Linux isn't an operating system, it's a kernel. To me that is one of Linux's greatest strengths and one of its greatest weaknesses.

Because it is an implementation of a kernel with user space api's, anyone and everyone can make their own Linux and developers aren't limited by what the other developers are doing. While both Fedora and Ubuntu are operating systems using the Linux kernel, they aren't "Linux" in the same way that MS Windows is Windows and osX is osX. A better way to look at it is that Fedora is Fedora and Ubuntu is Ubuntu, etc. But,of course, you already knew that.

On an enterprise level, the lack of standards can cause problems. That's why the Linux Standard Base :::link::: was started.

When I first used Linux in another century, cut and paste was a real problem. Even if your distro could run gnome and kde apps, you couldn't always cut and paste between them. If memory serves it was because of qt and gtk not playing together well.

paul writes at 03:50:10 09/16/10 - Comment #58451: Isn't it so crazy how crazy this stuff can get because of minor differences in Linux. Sadly, this is exactly why big software companies don't want to support Linux.

Permalink: Drag_and_Drop_Test.html
Words: 176
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/16/10 12:08

08/12/10 09:33 - 73.ºF - ID#52434

Smells Like Rockin Robin

I've been a big fan of Mark Vidler (No relation to the East Aurora retail family) and Go Home Productions for more years than I can remember. I'm still in awe of his Sex Pistols - Madonna mashups.

MIchael Jackson's Rockin Robin and Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit mashed up. How does he come up with the combinations? If you are anything like me, you won't be able to listen to either song in quite the same way after seeing this.

Permalink: Smells_Like_Rockin_Robin.html
Words: 88
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/12/10 09:39

07/30/10 09:30 - 71.ºF - ID#52336

Goodbye Bass Pro; Hello, IKEA

I say now that Bass Pro is officially gone (and I don't believe that they were actually going to be here anyway) the Powers That Be should try to get an IKEA to replace it.

tiburon1724 writes at 10:38:55 07/31/10 - Comment #57585: Sonic is a fit for the suburbs, not so much the city and definitely not downtown. It focuses on people driving there!! Their food is ok; we had it in Orlando. Once the novelty wears off after about two visits, it's nothing special. And it's awkward to go alone lol. The best thing is their crazy drinks....you can basically get whatever you want. Chocolate Coke is better than it sounds.

metalpeter writes at 07:05:11 07/31/10 - Comment #57583: Well what I would (even though I don't drive) like to see is (this doesn't exsit by the way) A Sonic, like from what I understand the way (or even not them but some other company) they are in the south with the drive up service and pretty girls and for the girls guys on Roller Skates. Some of them (or other dinners) have car show nights, have those, and then, Also since this is catering to cars have a Drive In.......... Yes you could have food roller skated out to you at the drive, how awesome would that be??????

tiburon1724 writes at 11:41:26 07/31/10 - Comment #57576: IKEA would be awesome!! I don't go to any in Canada now because I don't know the details of crossing the border with the stuff. And Pittsburgh's too much of a hike to make it worthwhile. The other ideas you guys have floated are great too but who are we kidding...Canalside will look like Main Place Mall, Main St, the Casino location, etc forever thanks largely in part to NIMBYs.

paul writes at 10:34:44 07/31/10 - Comment #57575: I would love a whole foods, although I suspect that would cause the coop to close. Maybe not though, since they are far enough apart.

uncutsaniflush writes at 09:50:58 07/31/10 - Comment #57573: Yes, A Trader Joe's downtown would be cool. So would a Whole Foods.

tinypliny writes at 08:33:13 07/31/10 - Comment #57571: Since we are dreaming, I would really like a Trader Joe's AND a chain haircut place, say, Fantastic Sam or Supercuts in downtown, please. Thanks.

uncutsaniflush writes at 05:05:51 07/31/10 - Comment #57567: (e:matthew) - A boy can dream. I just like the idea of an IKEA in Buffalo.

matthew writes at 10:13:17 07/30/10 - Comment #57565: Ikea said "NO" years ago when they were approached about it.

Permalink: Goodbye_Bass_Pro_Hello_IKEA.html
Words: 35
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 07/30/10 09:30

05/04/10 06:41 - 60ºF - ID#51502

21st voter

I just voted in the School Board election. I was the 21st voter at my local polling place for two election districts combined.

I heard that turnout was low. But I had no idea it i was this low.

tiburon1724 writes at 11:42:33 07/31/10 - Comment #57577: I'm guilty of being a non-voter myself. I really only vote in Presedential, Governors and Mayors races as I know nothing about the other candidates nor do I really care enough to spend the time to research it to be perfectly honest. I'm lazy. As are most Americans.

james writes at 02:11:12 05/05/10 - Comment #56048: I was #344 out of 28K at my polling place at 7PM.

This election was awful. Our choices were either incumbents or candidatures illegally receiving tens of thousands of dollars from out of town special interests, as written about in Artvoice: :::link:::

Generally, the incumbents were terrible. But, between the incompetence you know and the incompetence someone buys I would rather in the incumbents.

Jay McCarthy is an special disaster. The son of a judge, the product of private schools, a bartender by trade he is replacing one of the few sane voices on the school board. Far be it for me to say anything bad about bartenders, but this man has not shown up to any of the candidates night I or my colleagues have gone to. Instead he has sent his campaign manager. His campaign pitch: "He was a bartender at the pink, so you know he loves you!"

His platform is fluff. His literature with my notes:
Busing - don't let black kids into your white neighborhood!
Accountability - How? He wont say.

A waste of a seat. I hope he does some good, but I doubt he is doing anything more than letting his daddy polish up his roguish GW Bush like son into something respectable.

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:57:39 05/05/10 - Comment #56046: I usually vote early in the morning so being a single digit voter doesn't seem all that weird to me.

heidi writes at 11:32:25 05/04/10 - Comment #56039: 4.19% according to the unofficial results here:http://www.elections.erie.gov/content.aspx?id=133

janelle writes at 10:50:48 05/04/10 - Comment #56037: They said voter turnout is usually 6% and this year was closer to 2%. So sad.

heidi writes at 08:35:11 05/04/10 - Comment #56036: I was #11 around 6:30 tonight :-/

metalpeter writes at 07:58:06 05/04/10 - Comment #56035: well voter turnout is low generally and if you don't have kids who go to public school then you even have less voters, and maybe even people who do have kids don't really care. I think the only time when turn out for that is good is when there is some political issue with the schools.

Permalink: 21st_voter.html
Words: 39
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/29/10 09:07 - 42ºF - ID#51293

Still more monkeys than people

I found this by accident on the google web. The Costa Verde

hotel has a "house" that is made out of the fuselage of a 727.

The little boy in me says "golly gee, it's swell!"

Permalink: Still_more_monkeys_than_people.html
Words: 46
Location: Buffalo, NY

11/28/09 11:42 - 38ºF - ID#50393

It's Snowing in Iceland

It's snowing in Stykkisholmur, Iceland right now. It's not snowing in Buffalo, USA.

And I say that the latter is a good thing.

Permalink: It_s_Snowing_in_Iceland.html
Words: 25
Location: Buffalo, NY

11/23/09 10:28 - 46ºF - ID#50370

11/22/09 03:43:56 pm

Permalink: 11_22_09_03_43_56_pm.html
Words: 2
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: not music

10/15/09 08:52 - 38ºF - ID#50023

e:peep sighting

This afternoon I had the pleasure of running into (e:mrmike) at our local Wegmans. It was a nice reminder that the online community extends into meat space.