There is no 'N' in strumpet, you Diplodocus.

May 12, 2006

The new and improved Hamster dance

Aaron has a gift for the bastards that hacked his site....

and if it's down there, you can see it here!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:26 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

The Cotillion is back!

With a linkfest dedicated to United 93. Reviews, thoughts, and why some of us (including yours truly) aren't going to see it.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 30 words, total size 1 kb.

May 11, 2006

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Turns out Dolphins may really be that smart after all......

Dolphins create a signature whistle for themselves that researchers believe is comparable to a human name, suggests a new study.
The study, published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focused on bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus. But the researchers believe other dolphin species, including the common dolphin and the Pacific white-sided dolphin, also possess the signature whistles.

Dolphins now join spectacled parrotlets as the only animals other than humans known to name themselves, though researchers think there may be others.

Read the entire article!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:10 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 113 words, total size 1 kb.

May 10, 2006

Like...Totally.... Dood...Like....

My "stoner" name is: Finger Lickin' THC

found here

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:27 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.

May 09, 2006

The numbers flipped!

Visitor #100,000 arrived at 2:45 this afternoon!

Mr/Ms 100k dropped in from Ingleside, IL by clicking directly on the main index page, and clicked out to see Bou

The rest of the particulars are below the fold. If this is you, stand up and be counted for some linky love! more...

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:13 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 180 words, total size 1 kb.

Why I will not be seeing United 93

I don't need a movie to remind me how I felt on 9/11.
I don't need to see it on a screen to feel the pain and the horror of that morning again.
I don't need actor portrayals to remember the bravery of the men and women who scrificed themselves to crash a plane into a field in Pennsylvania, rather than allow it to be crashed into the Capitol Dome or the White House.

I don't need their sacrifice shoved in my face for the bargain price of $8.50.

It's in my heart. And I will never forget.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:26 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 112 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Ditto here. It's all still very fresh for me.

Posted by: Marie at May 09, 2006 11:15 AM (TpiPX)

2 How did you read my mind. For the exact same reasons, I won't see it.

Posted by: Greta at May 09, 2006 11:16 AM (f7y8U)

3 Just wait another 30 or 50 years. The then current version of (pick your favorite director) will make his rewrite, to make the movie more acceptable to the future standards, and detracting away from any historical feel or tone we may subscribe to today. Look at how we do war movies (WW2 or Vietnam) vs movies made 40 and 20 years ago. it's a cycle based on society's mood. But I won't be seeing the movie either. If it's on TV, I might. But it's not what I'm interested in watching these days.

Posted by: Bill at May 09, 2006 12:29 PM (bpbQx)

4 We saw it today. It was very well done. And though I didn't feel I needed a "reminder" at all, I'm glad I went.

Posted by: Richmond at May 09, 2006 12:51 PM (e8QFP)

5 I share your sentiments, but I am curious about the movie. Not so much as a reminder, but to somehow, connect more deeply. I haven't decided, to be honest. I am still very torn on this whole issue.

Posted by: Dana at May 10, 2006 10:18 AM (mY0KN)

6 I saw it. I didn't find it particularly depressing. Since several of the real-life air traffic and military people played themselves, it's not completely an actor-portrayal. Clearly, the intent was to drop you in like a fly on the wall so that you could see how it unfolded pretty much in real time. It was not propagandistic. There was no real attempt to shape the audience's view. I think it's worth seeing once.

Posted by: WitNit at May 10, 2006 10:25 AM (m7Be4)

7 I'm tempted to go just because I want to support people who make movies like this. On the other hand, I'm pregnant and the last thing I need is something else to give me nightmares. It was bad enough when I was pregnant with my son, freaking out about smallpox and anthrax.

Posted by: silvermine at May 10, 2006 03:28 PM (/JA8O)

8 Hey CTG and others. I had similar feelings of not wanting to see "U:93", but went to a matinee showing a couple days ago. It's FANTASTIC. It really is. Yeah, it's hard to watch, but a large part of the film takes place away from the actual flight, i.e. control towers, military defense towers, etc of whom all the characters are trying to figure out what is going on. I realize some think it is too soon, but once you see it, the film will be appreciated for the story it tells.

Posted by: David Drake at May 13, 2006 03:49 PM (9VnTI)

9 Amen! To me, movies are entertainment - a diversion. I don't want 9/11 to be cheapened in such a way. Not yet. Too fresh. Too soon.

Posted by: Margi at May 15, 2006 11:44 AM (BRtaN)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Calling all art lovers!

Some of you may already be familiar with Holly Aho's work from the Soldiers' Angels auctions. Well, Holly has more of her beautiful work up for grabs!

Go here to see "Fire and Ice" and make a bid!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 45 words, total size 1 kb.

May 05, 2006

ok, i guess....

You Can Hang With the Guys and the Girls

You've struck a good balance between girly and laid back. You can keep it casual but when you dress up, you are as girly as the next girl.

How Girly Are You?

from equally girly Jen

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:21 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

Today, my precious pooch, known here as The Princess™, turns 7. She is the bane of my existence and the light of my life, not to mention the hot water bottle on my feet.

Here's to at least 7 more years of tennis ball chasing, long walks with Daddy, and conspicuous amounts of French Fries!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:08 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 62 words, total size 1 kb.

May 04, 2006

Today and Everyday

May the Fourth Be With You!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 12 words, total size 1 kb.

Mark Your Calendars!

The UNALTERED, ORIGINAL versions of the Star Wars OT (that's Original Trilogy for the uninitiated) will be released in a 2 disc set with the Special Editions on

SEPTEMBER 12, 2006.

This will be a limited release until December 31, 2006

Lucas is still a bastard. He wouldn't do this except that it will make him more money than all his other VHS/DVD releases combined.

h/t DaF at INDC

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:39 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 71 words, total size 1 kb.

May 02, 2006

Update to yesterday

Before we started using Outlook for our mail at work:
Total SPAM received in my Inbox= 0 since October 15, 2005.

After we started using Outlook for our mail at work:
Total SPAM received in my Inbox= 3 in 24 hours.

Yeah, SOOOOOO much safer for us, Mr. IT Shit for Brains.

PS Still not forwarding my mail.....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:26 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 59 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Now now CTG... He MUST know best, right? Isn't that why he makes the big bucks? ;-)

Posted by: Marie at May 02, 2006 04:48 PM (TpiPX)

2 I fully agree with you. I don't know why IT'ers like Outlook, other than for the job security. Same same happened at a place I used to work only it was whatever email came with the Netscape Browser. Had virtually z e r o SPAM with Netscape. Switchover to Outlook...and ya needed a shovel to deal with the overload. Cartman rules!! (most of the time) opps, got an error message on this, sorry if it posts twice.

Posted by: David Drake at May 02, 2006 05:35 PM (yB5+1)

3 I use Outlook. I actually like it, but then again, I have had no exposure to anything else. Not even at work. This is what you do- Create a rule that makes the incoming emails have to be sent twice. This will eliminate ALL $pam coming in to your inbox, since most $pammers have no way to counteract because it's the nature of $pam to be sent only once from any particular email addy. Good luck!

Posted by: Rave at May 02, 2006 06:39 PM (Fir0Z)

4 What does Outlook have to do with getting spam or not? Presumably if you were getting none before, there was spam filtering in place that is now gone, so it's a question of addressing the spam filtering. Are there really people out there who get as few as three a day? That's so cool. If I were taking no efforts to filter mine, between all addresses I would be receiving at least a couple hundred a day.

Posted by: Jay at May 02, 2006 08:31 PM (sW8hP)

5 With Outlook do you still have remote access to your emails? With a web-based system, you can check your email anywhere, but isn't Outlook a program on your computer? Seems really inconvenient...

Posted by: Cardinal Martini at May 03, 2006 11:12 AM (c8tlw)

6 We also have Outlook Web Access. Which I use, as I REFUSE to use Outlook.

Posted by: caltechgirl at May 03, 2006 11:24 AM (/vgMZ)

7 IT departments like outlook because it intigrates perfectly with all the other Microsoft software they use. Its designed to go with Office on the desktop and a Microsoft Exchange mailserver. No compatability worries, seemless intigration. Providing, of course, you only use Microsoft software. Also, there is a modern variation on a older expression: "Noone is ever fired for buying Microsoft." The fact that Outlook is actually a quite poor piece of software isn't really relivent.

Posted by: Suricou Raven at May 03, 2006 03:13 PM (45BLI)

8 I can relate, as I put in my own home-grown anti-spam system before being assimlited by M$. We use Outlook due to integration reasons - Palm device has to integrate with Billing/Timekeeping which has to integrate with Email. I know when you first are forced to Outlook it really really stinks. I didn't want to buy Exchange and Outlook, but the industry I work in doesn't allow freedom in the software arena.

Posted by: CynicalGeek at May 04, 2006 12:54 PM (4oUEH)

9 Assimilate. There.

Posted by: CynicalGeek at May 04, 2006 12:55 PM (4oUEH)

10 We used to use Pegasus... spam = very little cost = free Now we use Groupwise (Cos we use Novell too)... took way too long to learn but... spam = virtually non existent cost = more than Pegasus :-) Outlook... wassat? We have it installed but no one uses it cos it sucks... Now if we can just convince TM to drop MSoft and go Linux Apps all the way... Ah well we can dream can't we?

Posted by: RobC at May 06, 2006 02:08 PM (KsjKj)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

What actually happened to the Star 98.7 DJs --Now UPDATED

The official party line is that the Star 98.7 DJs are all on "hiatus" and will be back...
Yeah, after Clear Channel figures out whether or not it can get enough ratings to substantiate firing all of them.

So here's the story for those of you out of the area, or unfamiliar:
Star 98.7 is an "adult contemporary alternative" station here in LA. It has been one of the most popular stations in the area for the last decade or so. It is also the launching pad of one Ryan Seacrest, who along with Lisa Foxx was the host of a morning show -type show during the afternoon drive slot. Due to various corporate acquisitions etc. the station now belongs to that behemoth of broadcasting, Clear Channel (aka corporate muzak).

Seems CC decided that Star was the perfect station to test out its new DJ-less format (think Jack/Alice stations, but more annoying) in a big market. So, as of April 6 or 7, they took all the DJs off the air with NO warning, and refused to discuss the changes with anyone. Announcements were made in trade media, but not to mainstream press or on the station's website. That website was literally revamped overnight, with all references to the DJs or station programming removed. But you can download songs for 99 cents now.

It took me over an hour of googling to find any answers, mostly buried in the comments of this THREE YEAR OLD post. Good thing dude didn't turn off the comments....

Most of the comments are regarding the morning show trio, Jamie, Jack, and Stench. Now, I HATE them. Will not listen to them. In fact, Jamie White makes my skin crawl, but they have been done dirt by CC and the station. I'd vote to bring them back just because I hate what Star and CC have done.

I hope the advertisers start leaving in DROVES.

More info here:
Jamie White's Page
Jack's MySpace

1/07 Update: go here for the details you seek

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:22 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 347 words, total size 3 kb.

1 We have one of those stations here: BOB FM. Ick.

Posted by: oddybobo at May 02, 2006 12:59 PM (6Gm0j)

2 Good thing dude didn't turn off the comments.... Believe me, I've been tempted! ;-) That was already the most-commented post on the site, but watching the comments more than double over the course of the last three weeks has been a bit unnerving. I went on vacation for a few days last week and seriously expected to see another 40 comments when I got back. In general, though, I'm one of those weirdos who prefers to keep comments open on old posts, even though it makes it harder to filter out the spam. You never know what random piece of information might drop in, or what new conversation might launch. (Though really off-topic stuff does bug me.) At least it's turned out to be informative to people, and the initial deluge has slowed down to something a bit more manageable.

Posted by: Kelson at May 02, 2006 03:18 PM (hgLHx)

3 I wouldn't really consider STAR to be Seacrest's launching pad. It was American Idol, he was on the verge of being fired from STAR until American Idol was a hit and clear channel looked to get ratings due to American Idol's sucess. Of course there is the humorous story of Seacrest's dad trying to get on of the big named talent guys to work with Ryan and was refused because Ryan had no talent. The way the change was handled isn't all that uncommon. If you want to know whats happeneing in radio you don't go to the LA Time or NBC Nightly News (just think of all the format changes 97.1, KNAC, Y-107, etc) that were never mentioned. You have to get trade mags to know about it, ie R&R. I also wouldn't call STAR one of LA's most popular it comes in at 23rd out of 44 stations with a 1.6 rating. (Thats 1.6% of avalible listeners, not population) By Comparison KIIS comes in 1st with a 4.9, KFI is a 4.0. On top of that thir market share has been in constant decline over the past few years, at about 20% in the last year alone. Mean while since the switch from The Arrow to Jack-FM, KCBS-FM has seen its ratings double (1.7 to 3.4). Don't forget Clear Channel and their massive amount of billboard ownage.

Posted by: the Pirate at May 03, 2006 08:34 AM (0ZKi5)

4 I'm so out of it, I didn't even know Danny Bonaduce had left the morning show...but every time I hear so much as a peep out of that Jamie woman, I am overcome with the urge to KILL. I'm all for getting rid of DJs, but that Jack FM station has compensated by having some announcer make these stupid remarks that somebody obviously thought were clever, coupled with broadcasting the voice mail messages of stoned listeners babbling dopey nonsense. It's not much of an improvement.

Posted by: Emily at May 05, 2006 06:45 AM (lXDk3)

5 You can't imagine how surprised and upset I was to get in my car one morning on my way to work and not hear Jamie, Jack and Stench. They have kept me company for years, crack me up and make the morning commute bearable. I hate it when things change without warning. Now I have to find a new station. Believe me I wasn't listening to 98.7 for the music, thanks alot.....

Posted by: Drake at June 14, 2006 11:12 AM (EJ4KO)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

This says it all...

The self-titled "Bubba of Bombast" sums up yesterday's bullshit demonstrations more succinctly than anyone else I've seen:

"I don't believe that you further your cause if you fling shit in the faces of those that you need on your side. Americans really are a pretty tolerant bunch, but they tend to become angry when somebody tries to push them around. Ask Osama bin Laden if you don't believe me.

A slogan such as "I'm Black and I'm PROUD" resonated during the civil rights movement, even among whites, because blacks WERE American citizens asking only for equal treatment under the law. They had a legitimate bitch about the way they were being treated and their cause was just. Even Joe Sixpack could sympathize with their plight.

But we rebel against "I'm illegal-- so what?" That's a lot like jumping up and screaming "Fuck YOU!" to every law-abiding citizen in this country. That kind of slogan resonates, all right, but the wrong way. It pisses a lot of people off. And that AIN'T the way to win friends and influence people.
...

Bejus! Government hassles the hell out of it's legitimate citizens at airports in the name of Homeland Security, while it blithely allows illegals to stream unmolested across our borders. Something is really fucked up in THAT picture. "

Rob has more. Go read it all.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:17 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 227 words, total size 2 kb.

May 01, 2006

For Helen.....

Inspired by Teresa's comment on this post....

The Greatest American Hero(right click and save)

Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,
It should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

It's like a light of a new day-,
It came from out of the blue.
Breaking me out of the spell I was in,
Making all of my wishes come true-.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

It's actually somewhat appropriate, no?

Helen could use some encouragement and positive thoughts. Drop by and give her a virtual hug, ok?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 165 words, total size 1 kb.

I'd just like to point out

**RANT ALERT**
Excessive use of the "F-word" below.

So for months now we've been on countdown here at work because they were going to change over the email program to a new server.

D-Day was today, May 1, protests be damned, full speed ahead.

There were meetings and gnashing of teeth and all kids of emails about this for months. MONTHS.

Let me sum up: New server, Switched email access to Outlook and Outlook Web Access for "security reasons."

As FUCKING IF. Anybody out there got a virus that DIDN'T come in via Outlook and IE?

So know we must use IE as somehow this piece of shit knows the difference between IE and IE open in a Firefox tab. And, although it will open in FF, you lose all of your functionality EXCEPT reading and sending mail.

Fucking Bill Gates. But on to my point.

One of the biggest bones of contention across campus has been that people like to forward their mail to a personal account (in my case gmail) and then reply/send from that account.

What we had been told EXPLICITLY is this: You may forward messges to a personal account (in fact we were given reasonably simple instructions on how to do this), however this software DOES NOT allow aliasing messages from your personal account to look as though they were sent from your work account (via bouncing or POP forwarding).

Yeah. Right.

Guess what? I can fucking send ALL the messages I want from my gmail that look like they come from my work address. HOWEVER, I can not RECEIVE a single piece of mail at my gmail from my work address.

Yep. Exactly the opposite. The not-at-all-practicable opposite.

Two fucking hours on the phone with the IT tech, who is also stumped, since I had already followed the instructions in his book to the letter. TO THE LETTER. He even did a VPN and had me show him what I did, agreeing that I had done it correctly.

I fucking quit.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:10 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 349 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Oh jeez... what a mess. I hate dealing with stupid $#*! like that. Hope your afternoon gets better!

Posted by: Richmond at May 01, 2006 01:36 PM (e8QFP)

2 tell us how you really feel! (we're a mac family)

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at May 01, 2006 03:39 PM (0Pi1o)

3 I blame illegals for my computer problems.

Posted by: Cardinal Martini at May 01, 2006 09:17 PM (c8tlw)

4 Moving TO Outlook? Hmm. Interesting. Nice when the IT people don't know much about IT, huh?

Posted by: Marie at May 02, 2006 06:53 AM (TpiPX)

5 Running Mozilla Thunderbird under Linux here. Virus? What's that? Then again, my computer, my Mandriva Linux boxed PowerPack set, my POP mail account, my DSL line. All paid for out of my own pocket. I and I alone know the root password on my system. I can only imagine the headaches that come with having other forces embroiled in decisions on how my computer, and my email, shall be run. You have my sympathy...

Posted by: Paul Burgess at May 02, 2006 01:58 PM (7EVyU)

6 As a system administrator, I can speculate as to WHY they've chosen to go this route, but... It's very likely that they've gone to Outlook and Exchange because it has a centralized message store, which makes it easier to backup and archive peoples' e-mail messages. Truth be told, they could have accomplished the same thing with postfix and IMAP and kept client neutrality, since everything from Pegasus Mail to Eudora to Macintosh Mail to Outlook supports IMAP and LDAP, so the decision to go that route seems a little odd to me. The other advantage that Outlook/Exchange has over, say Thunderbird or Mac Mail is the other groupware functions, like shared calendars and contact list. Yes, these can be implemented using WEBDAV/iCal and LDAP, but the level of integration is not as good, or as flexible. BUT...the big downside is exactly what you've encountered. Exchange doesn't play well with others. So maybe that's fine in a corporate environment, where the company's paying for the machines and software anyway (and worse, is run by DELL DRONES like my employer - we actually have a former Dell employee working for us, which is saying something for a 10-person company in Rome, NY) but it's really silly in a place where it's "run what you brung"...

Posted by: Andrew Blackburn at May 06, 2006 02:40 AM (WESWo)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Something you can do for Fran's

Even though the Hilton asshats threw them out, it's not over for Fran O'Briens.

Chuck had a great idea of how we can get the word out about how heartless the Hilton people have been.

Go to Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc. and leave a review of the Capital Hilton on each page. Tell the story of the dinners at Fran's, and what you think of Hilton's corporate decision. Be sure to tell them that you will never patronize any of their establishments again. Believe me, their PR people DO read the reviews at these sites since thier customers utilize these sites!

Crossposted at the Cotillion!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 117 words, total size 1 kb.

¡Gracias, inmigrantes!

Thanks folks.

Courtesy of your boycott I made it to work in half the time AND I got a good parking place.

I appreciate it. Please do it again soon!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:53 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

72kb generated in CPU 0.0238, elapsed 0.0802 seconds.
85 queries taking 0.0626 seconds, 282 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.

Search Thingy

Monthly Traffic

Pages: 6037
Files: 94
Bytes: 42.4M
CPU Time: 4:05
Queries: 435832

Content

Posts: 1959
Comments: 6192

Feeds

May 12, 2006

May 11, 2006

May 10, 2006

May 09, 2006

May 05, 2006

May 04, 2006

May 02, 2006

May 01, 2006

Search Thingy

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Blogroll

Monthly Traffic

Content

Feeds