I've been inactive on (e:strip) lately. I don't even respond to comments left for me! Very rude. This should cover the last couple months or so, in reverse chronological order:

1. Anthony Van Dyck, a 17th-century Flemish painter. Most of his subjects have that type of beard, now called a 'vandyke.' It is unclear whether he made them grow it out for him, or whether he just painted it on them. I'm not sure which would be worse.

2. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but I was off-the-grid at the time. All it needs is to get hooped.



3. It means 'Dentist' in Slovenian, but not on purpose.

4. Cuki is a contemporary folk band of the type which might sit in as panelists on the Slovenian edition of "Pocakajte Pocakajte ... Ne Povej Mi!"

5. It probably gets cold there.

6. MacSolutions Plus for out-of-warranty repairs, definitely. I broke an iMac G4 with hubris [those fuckers are tricky inside]. They had a logic board in-stock [!] and fixed it in two days. The clerk told me they can fix 'any Mac that's not beige,' and then said, 'probably some of the beige ones too.'


A few things which do not merit separate entries:

1. It's bullshit that a bottle of beer is 11.5oz. It's also bullshit that a pound of coffee and a pound of bacon are both only 12oz. This makes me genuinely, sincerely angry.

2. I'm tracking a package that was sent via DHL.



What the fuck is this?! When did DHL stop being 'we'll deliver your package' and start being 'we'll take it to the Post Office for you?'

3. I just upgraded to Snow Leopard. I know it was supposed to be kind of a low-key update, but I really like this one. I guess there's not a whole lot of new technology in it, but they totally fixed a lot of my peeves. I'm also waiting for my complimentary upgrade to Windows 7. Am I the only person who's excited about this? I'm such an upgrade geek.

4. Woop! My moustache wax just came in the mail. This will come in handy for my birthday beard. [Three-zero on the three-one! I think that deserves a wacky beard. Only difficulty is making it look presentable for the more respectable holidays first.]

- Z

1. I'm starting to notice more people with unusual moustaches and beards. Is facial hair coming back into style? Or are people with facial hair deluding ourselves that it's coming back into style?



2. People Magazine says Johnny Depp is the sexiest man alive. Dude's one of my favorite actors but dang if he isn't skeezy as hell. What's the deal?



3. FiOS just became available at my house. It's only $10/month more than my current dry-loop DSL. I do not have, and do not have use for telephone or television service. Is it worth it?

- Z

I just got a coupon in the mail for $100 towards Google ads. I'm not going to use it but if you do, send me an email and I'll give you the coupon code. Value drops to $75 after December 4, valid until December 31. It says 'new advertisers only,' but you may be able to work around that.

- Z

Great party last night! It's always fun but also interesting hanging out with the (e:peeps). We left around 1a because (e:dragonlady7) was sleepy and actually under the weather [not the hamthrax, though].

You may not believe it from the frequency of my updates, but I'm live-blogging my crafting too. Someone was taking up the only sunny spot in the house.



OK this photo may be slightly too cute. (e:dragonlady7) earnestly cautioned me that if I posted crafts on the Internet, it would be assumed that I am female. Now I understand.

Does anybody want a copy of the chart?

- Z

(e:dragonlady7) has started up a craft club which involves bringing a craft project, ignoring it while you drink a lot of alcohol, staying over, sleeping late, working off your hangover, and then putting in a couple stitches before heading home. We're very productive! But up until this weekend, my stated project was 'fidgeting.' Like, winding thread or something I guess. So this weekend I upgraded to 'advanced fidgeting:'



Cross-stitch: embroidery for the obsessive-compulsive.

The Happy Mac:

- Z

...but if you don't, we'll send the deformed babies in person next time.

Cleft palate is a serious problem, and they say they can fix it in 45 minutes for only $250. That's amazing! It boggles my mind. But am I the only person who sees an implied threat to send unsettling photos until I pay up?

- Z

Is this awesome?
[ ] YES!
[ ] NO.

(Check one.)



- Z

The thing about living in Buffalo is that you always need to take visitors to Niagara Falls. Now I actually like going to Niagara Falls, but this past summer we ended up taking two sets of people there on two consecutive weekends. When you get that much Niagara Falls, the eye tends to wander. And it doesn't have to wander far before it starts to see how much schlock you can get.

One of the things they'll try to sell you is a green-screen photo of you in front of Niagara Falls. You could just walk across the street and take as many pictures as you want of the real thing - for free - but I guess some people would rather pay cash for a dorky simulation. Now, thanks to technology,* you can get a dorky simulation for free!

::Download Flash SWF::

0. If the Flash app isn't directly above this, go here
1. Allow camera access, if necessary.
2. Get out of the camera frame.
3. Click 'Background.'
4. Use the slider to move the background, and adjust the threshold if necessary.
5. Say cheese, and click 'Save.'
6. There you go, you just saved eight bucks.

- Z

_______________

• Adobe Pixel Bender

Two items.

1: Brian May is an astrophysicist. How did I miss this?

2: Somebody screwed up a little:


- Z

I've had a number of visitors from out-of-town ask me: 'Why is it that you call your highways The 33, The 198, The 90, The 190, The 290 ... when everywhere else in the world they would simply call them 33, 198, 90, 190, 290?' To which I respond: 'fuck if I know.'

I have a hypothesis, but it's pretty weak. The highways used to have names [I guess technically they still do]: The Kensington Expressway, The Scajaquada Expressway, The Thruway, The Niagara Extension, The Youngmann Highway, which naturally got shortened to The Kensington, The Scajaquada, The Youngmann. But there's hardly any signs that say their names, which only geezers know anyway. So they went to being the... the, you know, 290, which is only a short trip to 'The 290.'

But that doesn't really explain The 219 and The 400, especially when there's Route 5 and Route 20, but only 990 and 20A. It also doesn't explain why Canada has 'The QEW' and 'The 401.'

The only other idea I've got is that the Great Lakes chapter of the Illuminati, convinced by the success of their 'pop' campaign, are teaming up with the Newfoundland division to come up with new and innovative ways to make us all sound like yokels.

- Z