From a daily non-fiction letter that I get every day, a frightening list of conflicts.
“As Scientific American said in September 1998, ‘Many of the world’s problems stem from the fact that it has 5,000 ethnic groups but only 190 countries.’ …
Tag Archives: war
What to get me for my next birthday
Via Notebookism:
Review: Field Notes Brand Pocket Notebook:
Breck shared his opinions of the Field Notes:
“You can see for yourself below how much pride of provenance DDC/CP take in their product. When manufacturers put this all out there, you know they believe in what they’re doing. Sometimes the product is still junk (I’m looking at you, Tom’s of Maine GingerMint toothpaste. Why wait all night to develop morning breath when you can just squeeze it straight from a tube?), but it’s still nice to see sources and methods listed.
Other printing on this book includes absolutely perfectly proportioned and placed blocks to put owner info, record the dates of use, and offer or decline to offer a reward if lost and found…”
Cuil is a total failure
I don’t know what made the producers of Cuil (no link on purpose) think they could be a “Google-killer,” but they neglected the part wherein their product actually has to work.
This morning, I tried searching on “esophageal cancer” to see what it would turn up. I got lists of “links” in certain categories; the categories were rather appropriate to the search. But, the links weren’t links. I had to go to a sub-page if I wanted the links to be clickable.
Here was the problem. Clicking on a link to a sub-page sent my browser into hijacked purgatory. I not only didn’t get the page of links, but got sent to those spurious sorts of pages that tell you that you have viruses, and would you like to buy their virus detection software?
I’ll not be going back to Cuil. Not unless I feel like being ad-spammed again.
Technorati Tags: Cuil, failure, search, google-killer
The night outside
The night outside is ringing like a bell, thanks to the grasshoppers and crickets. The night air is warmer than I am used to it, or have been used to it in past summers.
The sun is down an hour earlier than it had been down at the height of summer, when I was still thawing out from this very cold past spring, when I never thought I’d be warm again, when I had pneumonia without even knowing it. Now I am warm again, and I have my windows open for the warmth. And the sounds.
I’d turn on the air conditioner, just to keep everything in the house from smelling of mildew, but I can’t quite bring myself to doing that just yet.
Enough about depressing things
You do learn to say that to yourself, and I think this is a major step forward for a cancer survivor. I know I had to say it today several times before the small moth-like anxieties fled.
Then there was a horrible show that I slurped right up on E! TV about stars’ mental problems. I felt so home there with Gwyneth Paltrow going through the “baby blues” as they’ve come to be called. I can just imagine us hittin’ back on the Prozac, side by side. …..Not, but it did the trick.
I’m now in command of my self…. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
Now playing on iTunes: The Unanswered Question from the album “Kosmos” by Isao Tomita
Technorati Tags: anxiety
