A few weeks ago I got one of the new tens for the first time. HATE IT. Too much red. But I’m sure I’ll get used to it.
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Adding in a couple of loops to have it be a bit more like what we actually listend to at dinner. This should be pretty much exactly that, except it ends after three loops as opposed to going on for hours: And then another looping both voices at their full lengths rather than clipping at the end of the first loop: [Edit 3/27/2006: I included that second one only because Amy said she liked it.] Went to another building for a meeting a couple of hours ago. This is a shot from my Treo looking back toward my normal building from the 17th floor there. It goes up to 50 I hear, but we didn’t go that high. And there is an air mattress (two actually) as well! When Amy and Brandy were here they decided I should not sit on the floor. It is about time! Although I’ve seen all the ones they have committed so so far. If I’m going to stop *cough* watching in other ways, they need to catch up and start airing the new ones this spring within 24 to 48 hours or so of when they air in the UK. SCI FI To Air New Doctor Who
(via Slashdot)
In any case, the following is an email I sent out to some of my friends on 2 Mar 2002 at 20:20:33 UTC. Enjoy. And keep in mind: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! (I certainly never will again!)
I’d been waiting to hear if anybody had any news on Snowball… for those that didn’t catch the stories on it… When they were loading people at the SuperBowl into busses to evacuate, one of the people being loaded was a little boy… who was clutching his dog snowball, who he’d managed to keep with him through everything. Well, no pets were allowed on the busses. So one of the National Gaurd troops stationed there took Snowball away from the boy. The boy was apperantly screaming and crying “Snowball! Snowball!!!” and was an absolute mess as he was pulled onto the bus, and ended up throwing up because he was crying so hard… Anyway… an update: Sad Story of Boy and His Dog Grips Nation
(via Drudge Report) Unconfirmed of course, but hey, it is something. And yes, in the grand scheme of things, this matters absolutely nothing. I know that. But it is one of many stories that just get at you when you hear them. And of course, even if they do know where Snowball is, they haven’t yet located the boy.
As it turns out, is it not JUST a lottery to get into WWSS, it is a lottery amoung those applicants that qualify. So right there, you are already getting a situation where the average performance is higher (and according to the test scores and such we could find on line, MUCH higher…), so teachers and staff can concentrate on stimulating and enhancing the kids who “get it” rather than on discipline and catch up for the kids who do not. This isn’t to say that those kids don’t need that and should get that, but the kids in the other half need to be pushed forward rather than have to wait for the others… Anyway… not only is there a bit more concentration on science… tehy have science labs and a biodome and more extensive science fairsa and compete in science competitions with other schools… but everything else is an upgrade too. The music program has an orchestra program that will allow Amy to play the instruments she already plays and takes lessons in, rather than forcing her to play “this grade’s instrument”. There is a chorus that takes itself seriously. Then there are clubs and such for a variety of interests that meet before and after school. The the after care program that goes until 6 PM for when Brandy and I are both working and can’t get her earlier… isn’t just an after care where they give them stuff to play with and keep them safe, but is actually an “educare” where they have structured activities that actually are still useful. (And of course they can work on homework.) At Riviera we were a litte worried. She wasn’t liking the strict old fashioned behavioural model her teacher was enforcing. I figured she would get used to it, and a little extra discipline was not bad. But perhaps there was a bit TOO much emphasis on that at the expense of other things. She was making friends, but hadn’t really yet latched on to any group. And she said actually told us she was frustrated by one person at her table and how they, and I quote, “didn’t care much for their education”. The contrast is evident. Now Amy has been coming home absolutely thrilled. She is very excited about school. She is being challenged by the homework, and LIKES IT. She likes her teachers. And she is horribly proud of her uniform. She says the uniforms “make everyone the same on the outside” and she likes that too. She is excited about several of the clubs and such. She joined the orchestra and chorus immediately, and on the first day the orchestra leader said she didn’t have to come to the extra practices they are having this month to get everybody up to speed to start, because she was already up to speed… but if she could come anyway to tutor and help out the two boys who are also playing the bass, that would be wonderful. So she is tutoring two boys on the bass, and again, she is thrilled. We saw in the paper that some of this reshuffling is due to the fact that many of the county schools ended up with fewer children than they had expected. Many were dozens of kids short. Just fewer new people coming to the county than they thought. West Melbourne was THREE children short. Amy was one of those children they brought in because of that shortfall. I can’t say at this point just how glad I am that they were three kids short, and our lottery number was such that we got in, and that we made the decision to switch. It has only been a week, but so far everything is looking really good, and there just seems to be so much more opportunity for growth here. This looks like it will be really good for Amy. We have a parents open house on Monday evening. Brandy has gotten to go there and meet the teachers and such already. I haven’t yet because of work. I am very much looking forward to it… Ever since we moved into the new house, as I drove home from various places (mostly work) I have been envisioning in my mind what I am calling a Spider Map. When Google Maps came out a few weeks ago, it gave me a quick easy way to do it. I did a few arms of the spider each day at lunch or at the end of the day. Today the map had 20 arms, so I decided it was time to publish at least a first draft. I may add new arms later.
Just the small inline version for now. Maybe someday I will post a larger scale version. Maybe when I have 50 arms. The full size version is 1800 pixels square or so. (This one is 400 pixels square.) Anyway, for those who can’t tell, this is a map showing the routes to my house from various test points. I used my Random Spot Tool to pick random spots within a 15 mile radius of my house. (The blue border is at the 15 mile mark, the blue dot is my house.) I then asked Google Maps to give me the best route from that spot back to my house. With points in the water or points that were not “near” a road Google refused to give a route. I threw out those points. Can’t drive home from those places anyway. Then I marked those routes in red (and the test points in green). Slowly I added arms. With 20 test points (arms) it looks pretty cool. It shows all the basic approaches and some of the structure of the area. I want to do some more arms, because I want to explore exactly where the dividing lines are between the three main branches approaching my house. Especially the two northern branches, because I often find myself between them, and knowing where the boundary is would actually have a useful purpose in my daily life. Of course though, usefullness had nothing to do with why I did this. It has just been driving me crazy every day on the drives to and from home wondering exactly what this would look like. So I had to do it. And it looks cool. I’ve saved the big photoshop file with the 20 arms. Think over the next month I’ll make 25 and 50 arm versions. Maybe even a 75 or 100 arm version. At some point it will get too cluttered to look pretty, but the dividing lines will stand out more. It will be fun though! I might do a spider map centered on work too. Or maybe one at a 100 mile scale instead of a 15 mile scale… or any number of variations. This was fun. I must do more. |
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I was reminded a bit ago about this incident from the days before I had a blog. And I thought it might be worthy of a darkflash. If any of you remember other amusing emails I sent out years ago, suggest them. Perhaps I will put them in a Darkflash too.
As any of you who read the comments thread on my 