Random
catdynamics | July 30, 2007Domestik Goddess shows us a SIGGart Eco Style contest winner
I like it. Elegant, subtle, concise.
h/t powers of four
catdynamics | July 30, 2007Receiving "Back in the DHSS/Trumpton Riots" CD in the mail, finally replacing my very beat up cassette copy...
Half Man, Half Biscuit are one of the most underappreciated UK bands around, and they've been around for a long time.
'course they can be a bit obscure sometimes for the uninitiated...
HMHB wiki
Car crime's low, gun crime's lower,
the town hall band CD, it's a grower,
you never hear of folk getting knocked on the bonce,
although there was a drive by shouting once,
but there's a brass band everywhere,
and I don't drive so I don't care,
and as a nightingale sang in Berkeley square,…
catdynamics | July 28, 2007didn't check my e-mail for 24 hours, weekend, very light on "real e-mail"
so I got good statistics on the spam
we're losing
I have four levels of spam filtering: the university does virus and porn trapping, the department has an adaptive filter, my mailbox has a filter, and my local mailer has an adaptive filter;
for a while I had negligible spam getting through and would check the main mailbox spambox to see if any real mail had accidentally fallen in - could quickly flick through a few hundred collected spam mails looking for the real things
now, a lot of my mailing list stuff is piped…
catdynamics | July 27, 2007Frazzled friday, and we ask the iPod, quickly: so, iPod dood, what will come out of this afternoon's proceedings?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: The Midnight Special - Creedence Clearwater Revival
The Crossing: Donna Non Vivi Mai - Pavarotti
The Crown: I Allegro (Eine Kleine Nachtmusic) - Mozart
The Root: Prumpufólkið - Dr Gunni
The Past: Cowboy Take Me Away - Dixie Chicks
The Future: Used Cars - Ani DiFranco
The Questioner: Running Wild - Roxy Music
The House: In The End - Green Day
The Inside: Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before - Smiths
The Outcome:…
catdynamics | July 25, 2007There was a fire in Spokane
No big deal in and of itself, except that there was also a fire at a Saudi oil terminal;
local insurgents blew up Mexican oil and gas pipelines - correctly, to maximise damage and repair period; a contactor pierced a major oil pipeline in Vancouver, and there was a steam plant fire in a UK refinery.
Oh, and of course an Iraq pipeline was blown up.
Now, with GoogleNews it is easier to hear of such incidents, and because news aggregation was harder in the past there is a perception of more rare events occuring, both because reporting is more thorough and because we (…
catdynamics | July 25, 2007Three PhD defences, and a comps exam in 12 days.
Ouch.
And I'm chair of all the vivas, and the comps is in meteo...
Some sort of subliminal overcompensation, I guess.
catdynamics | July 20, 2007"...the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege"
Ah yes, Firedoglake read it also, can't wait for Greenwald's take on this, might even scoot to a scotusblog to see what they think.
They're not talking about the President, or one of the Senate confirmed officers - I can see an argument that they should be impeached in such cases rather than held in criminal contempt - not saying such an argument is right, just that it could be made.
How does deLong put it...?…
catdynamics | July 20, 2007Cool and busy friday, and we ask the Mighty iPod One: PNA or RNA? Which came first?
Oh, and how will The Party go tomorrow?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Charlie - Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Crossing: Mi-Aout - Henri Des
The Crown: Pencil Skirt - Pulp
The Root: Tangó - Utangarðsmenn
The Past: Scenes From Childhood: Knight of the Hobby-Horse
The Future: Misty Morning, Albert Bridge - Pogues
The Questioner: Revenge! - Spoon
The House: Jólasveinar - Ómar Ragnarsson
The Inside: Bright Lights - Special AKA
The Outcome: Accountancy Shanty - Monty Python
Huh?
Shouldn't ask…
catdynamics | July 19, 2007Max Blumethal goes wild
One of my students is over there.
He is a 2nd lt, light infantry, platoon leader, currently on tour in Iraq, near Baghdad.
He lost his platoon sergeant last month.
catdynamics | July 18, 2007Roasted beagle, with schmear...
...and LAX (New Yorker's: please not the correct spelling, please!)
Iceland does Korean-Japanese fusion - honestly, I think this is a one-off joke, but I'm busy and it is a cheap-laff, innit?
Did I mention Icelanders are rated the happiest people in the world?
Not that you'd know it from looking at them.
But then it is via the grauniad, and the methodology sounds a wee bit contrived.
catdynamics | July 16, 2007It was 380 years ago today that "turkish pirates" raided the southwest of Iceland and took 242 slaves into captivity in Algiers...
For some reason the anniversary was commemorated...
The raid, by barbary corsairs out of Algiers (which was an Ottoman domain), hit the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar), which ironically are named after the irish slaves that rebelled in the late 9th century and fled to the islands.
They were all hunted down and killed, but it turned out the islands have a decent harbour (much improved by the tongue of lava from the 1973 eruption) and sit in the midst of some of…
catdynamics | July 13, 2007It is cool, sunny festive friday, and so we cheerfully bop along over to the iPod, and ask:
what is in store for us in August now? Anything hot?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Sumar í Reykjavík - Stuðmenn
The Crossing: Arabian Dance - Tchaikovsky
The Crown: This War is Over - Melissa Etheridge
The Root: Solidify - Sheryl Crow
The Past: London Calling - Clash
The Future: Where Do You Think You're Going - Dire Straits
The Questioner: Sunday - The Cranberries
The House: Carnival of the Animals: Aviary
The Inside: Teenage Dad On His Estate - Morrissey
The Outcome: I Marcia…
catdynamics | July 10, 2007So, the rumours are true, the USS Enterprise is scooting back to the Persian Gulf
- usual game issue - could be regular rotation, with one of the two carriers already there going home (Stennis should head back in August if they stick to the six month rotation), but it will provide a window with three carriers in the region, just in case someone wants to start flicking at chips on shoulders of paranoiacs...
a bit early. I also note the Lincoln, Truman and Eisenhower are all at sea doing warmups. There are not enough aircraft carriers out of dock and warmed up to sustain two carriers…
catdynamics | July 9, 2007So I'm catching up on e-mail with half an eye on the idiot box where my better half is watching the new episode of the "Closer"...
it is good, almost good enough to make me stop what I'm doing and watch with full attention
why are the cable channels, TNT and USA, not to mention HBO and Showtime making better new shows, and sticking with them, then the regular over-the-air channels? And why do they get to do clever things like airing new episodes off-season?
So the Three Letter Channels do go through a lot of shows, each season, and by Sturgeon's Law most are crap, but the number of…
catdynamics | July 6, 2007Sunny, happy friday.
We approach the iPod, and we ask - is Carter's Large Number Coincidence Argument valid, or does it fail for one or both of the two obvious reasons?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Walking Contradiction - Green Day
The Crossing: Danse Des Cygnes - Tchaikovsky
The Crown: Godspeed (Sweet Dreams) - Dixie Chicks
The Root: Overpowered by Funk - Clash
The Past: Kökubaksturinn - Thorbjorn Egner
The Future: Lazy Daisy - Spilverk
The Questioner: Sing Through The Year
The House: Identify The Beat - Marc Smith vs Safe'n'Sound
The Inside: Lilli og Marteinn Læðast…