6904 - Some pictures and Misc.

Well, aside from a few power spikes that caused a reboot or seventeen, I seem to have come through the front end of the storm just fine. It's mighty moist outside, but wind has settled way down.

Here's some pictures of the empty streets around the Elbo Room yesterday (as opposed to the first day of the Hurricane season, which featured fembots.)

( 3 images of Las Olas and A1A / Ghost Town, pre-storm )

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I'm getting more and more in the public eye with my current gig. Kiwanis meetings, getting together with state representatives at a cocktail party. I'm going to have to wear a tie at the latter, but can get away with more casual dress at the former.

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I'm reminded frequently lately that two wrongs don't make a right. I see a lot of people acting badly with the excuse "I'm only hurting bad people". That's still being hurtful. (That's a trap I can fall into myself, if I don't watch it.)

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MetaVNC, a window-aware VNC client

as in the screen shot, makes your remote Linux desktop transparent within Windows XP/2000 via

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Last speaker of 400-year-old women's language dies ( Read more... )

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Yet another Freaky Retro Website. I was especially disturbed by the 1985 commercial of a "Cool" Jason Alexander pushing McDLTs. If I ever meet him, that's the thing I'm going to mention. A full head of hair, white blazer rolled up at the sleeves, and way too much enthusiasm for a hamburger sandwich. There's a cool theme song section too... should you want to groove to ALF, Fat Albert, Inspector Gadget, The Snorks, or whatnot. (You know dang well that I snagged those, dear journal.)

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MM's plans were canceled due to the storm, so I was released from being on call midday on Saturday. - EN (my new tech) was supopsed to go on call an hour and a half ago, but he's not answering his phone... it's dropping right to voicemail.

Ah well, if that's my biggest problem resulting from the hurricane, I'm way ahead of the game. 939,000 people are without power in Florida.

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A Chinese/Asian view of the soul:

Traditional Chinese belief professed the existence of two "souls": the kwei (or k'uei) and the shen. The kwei (called the p'oh in life) returned to the earth at death, and dwelled in the grave. It symbolized yin, the feminine principle, and connected death, earth and femininity. The shen (called the khi in life) lived on as a spirit in the afterlife, although it could inhabit the grave for a while. It symbolized the masculine principle, yang. In general, it was kwei that became undead; shen undead were rare, and usually encountered only shortly after death. Traditional Korean belief is similar, except that the soul has an additional part that inhabits the funerary tablet or token.

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Interesting Electoral vote prediction map.

The page has a fairly non-biased comparison between Bush & Kerry's Track records, too.

I'm surprised.. I thought it was currently a more even race. As of this post, Bush has about 59% (311), and Kerry about 41% (217).

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Vampire queen versus Amazon (Confirmation at her Website here)

Writer Anne Rice, whose extravagant fictions about vampires and witches have made her famous and rich, vents her anger at readers who dare criticize her latest book Blood Canticle on the Amazon.com website and ends her lengthy, single-paragraph tirade by giving her home address in New Orleans and promising refunds to the disgruntled. ( Read more... )

Neil Gaiman's reply

My Favorite quote?

When you publish a book -- when you make art -- people are free to say what they want about it. You can't tell people they liked a book they didn't like, and there is, in the end, no arguing with personal taste. Different people like different things. Best to move on and make good art as best you can, instead of arguing.

I think Anne Rice going on Amazon and lambasting her critics was undoubtedly a very brave and satisfying thing for her to do, was every bit as sensible as kicking a tar baby, and, if ever I do something like that, please shoot me.