I haven’t heard my mom’s voice since just after Christmas 2006. She slurred her words starting in January and used a Dynavox starting in July. Those sounds have replaced my memories of her voice. I couldn’t remember it.
Called Dad’s cell today and got his voicemail for the first time ever.
It’s mom on the message.
I’ve got her voice back.
But I can’t hold myself together.
Firefox has been my browser of choice for a number of years, and before that I used the Mozilla all in one browser. Before that, Netscape and Mosaic. I’ve stuck with this line for quite some time. Tried out Safari, tried out Opera. Tried out a few others too. Firefox was fast and extendable.
I’ve liked Chrome for a while, but the ad blocking extensions in it weren’t up to snuff compared to Firefox. But in the core browsing functions, it kicked ass. I’ve used it for many of my web apps (GMail, Calendar, Remember the Milk, etc.) for a while. Fast. Best support for standards. Those pesky ads though.
The reason the ad blocking wasn’t so good was that extensions didn’t have good access to other web pages. Chrome’s enabled that now that it can allow extensions to request permissions.
I’m going to attempt to make Chrome my default browser now. See if there’s anything about Firefox that makes me want to go back. So far, all I seem to miss is some functionality from the GMail Manager extension that lets me switch between Google accounts quickly.
ETA: I know I’m going to miss Firebug. But I use that only when I’m working on my site, and in a couple of small situations.
List based off the original Women in S.F. periodic table. In some of the incarnations of this meme, the list of women has morphed. Not that adding women to the list is a bad thing, but it makes it hard to compare.
I own books by the author if they are bolded. If italicized, I’ve read them (including short stories). If marked with an asterisk, I’ve not heard of the author.
It’s a bit shorter notice than previous incarnations, but here’s the official announcement/invite to the next Pie Night! It will be Friday, June 18th, running officially from 3 p.m. until whenever. Show up any time before the pie is consumed. Location will be my place; the pool if it’s sunny, inside if not. Take off from work early and enjoy a bit of sun and tasty pastries. Please state if you are planning to come and if you are bringing a pie in comments.
What is Pie Night? Do you need to ask? It’s all about pie! I make pie. Other people make pie. People eat pie. You do not have to bring pie. You have to eat pie if you come.
Really, that’s all there is to it.
My address: 2301 Fairview Ave E, Seattle.
Oh, and to answer the inevitable question: no I do not know what pies I will make. I never decide until a day or two before.
Photo by Heather Katsoulis, used under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.
Two from Bruce Schneier
Privacy and Control — To the older generation, privacy is about secrecy. And, as the Supreme Court said, once something is no longer secret, it’s no longer private. But that’s not how privacy works, and it’s not how the younger generation thinks about it. Privacy is about control.
New York and the Moscow Subway Bombing — [Movie plot threats] threats are infinite, and the bad guys can easily switch among them. … A far better strategy is to spend our limited counterterrorism resources on investigation and intelligence – and on emergency response. These measures don’t hinge on any specific threat; they don’t require us to guess the tactic or target correctly. They’re effective in a variety of circumstances, even nonterrorist ones.
A few on Virginia’s Confederate History Month declaration
McDonnell’s Confederate History Month proclamation irks civil rights leaders — After getting criticized for a Confederate History Month declaration that didn’t include a mention of slavery, McDonnell says he didn’t include it because there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia.
Spelling “Free Black Labor” in Greater Britain and Virginia, 1866 — for reasons of my own, let me take you back to a particular corner of it that I’ve gotten interested in, white reconstruction as a model for the British Empire.
Aaron Bady digs up excerpts from books about Reconstruction, published during Reconstruction.
Sons Of Confederate Vets Split On McDonnell Apology — Brandon Dorsey of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (his actual position isn’t stated) calls the apology and addition of slavery to the proclamation regarding Virginia Confederate History Month and insult.
The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not — The interns hired into our department at Expedia actually got to take on significant projects. We didn’t have them do drudgery so that we didn’t have to. Every time I see a place advertise for an unpaid intern that will be given all the crap work in exchange for contacts or the mere ability to list the employer on their resume, I seethe. The Stranger does the a lot.
Federal Air Marshal Service Has Taken Actions to Fulfill Its Core Mission and Address Workforce Issues, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Improve Workforce Survey — G.A.O. report from last year on the Federal Air Marshal program. Mostly boring stuff about employee satisfaction, but one thing that I noticed is that the program measures it’s success essentially by number of flights it sends marshals on. Not on whether or not it’s prevented any problems, not on arrests, not on anything else. Basically, how many flights were covered. Which is kind of like measuring the Seattle Police Department’s success by how many miles their officers cover. It’s bad if they are on no flights, but more flights doesn’t necessarily mean success.
I randomized the law, and the law won — Actual randomized experiments in policing to see what’s most effective. I wish we could do this a lot more, both in criminal justice as well as all sorts of other industries.
Demolition Dude — My time-waster today.
Stuff I read read about today:
The bookstore is named for Ada Lovelace, a 19th Century pioneer in computer programming. She is celebrated today as a symbol of all the great women who add to the advancement of technology.a) Really happy we’re getting a tech book store. b) Really happy to see it named after Ada Lovelace. Women are way under-represented behind the scenes of tech, and a lot of that is because of attitudes that drive them away. Not that this will change a whole lot, but now everyone who goes to Ada’s Technical Books will hopefully have their curiosity piqued and know a bit more about women in tech because of the name.
Alikewise is a dating site that allows you to find people based on their book tastes. Anything from cooking to politics to yoga — we think we can find others who would like to talk to you.No, not on the market. But I totally would’ve used this a couple years ago. If nothing else, I know that the people using the site are actually readers! Very important to me.
I follow a lot more feminist blogs than your average clueless male, or at least I think I do. I am more often than not in agreement with the feminists who post there. But sometimes I disagree. Of course.
Anyhow, I just had an epiphany.
All of these feminists are smart, sun-blinding smart. They would easily shred 90% of anyone in debate. There may be 1% or 2% who would edge them out, but no more. And then only if those folks brought their A game.
Probably something I shoulda realized earlier.
Gram has been losing weight for a year or so, mostly due to lack of appetite. Scans of her digestive system showed some abnormalities but nothing conclusive. A few weeks ago, Gram started bleeding though. This put in motion additional tests. Turns out she has uterine (or ovarian, I’m not sure) cancer.
It’s early stage. And essentially the choices are: surgery or slow death. Tuesday she goes in for surgery.
Since she’s so underweight, the surgery isn’t a slam dunk success. Getting the cancer is the least of the problem actually. She may see an extended amount of time recovering, and is at greater risk of complications. I’d be worried if I hadn’t already gone into do the next right thing
mode.
Next week I’ll start fretting about Gramps’ upcoming surgery.
Yesterday was the big move for my grandparents. They were about as cranky as I’ve ever seen them. They had 62 years of accumulated stuff in the place they’ve lived in for 36 years, and they wanted to keep as much of it as possible despite moving into a place roughly 60% the previous size. They also felt like they were out of control since neither of them physically could help much with the move. On the roller coaster and not able to get off until the ride is over.
But we made it. Jennifer, Sharon, Jason and his dad John came and helped. My brother Joe and his former partner Mike took the day off and helped, despite Joe being under the weather. My aunt and uncle helped Gram and Gramps supervise, as well as drove and packed.
Jason and I got yelled at by the building staff. You can’t use that elevator!
And then they sent someone outside to yell at us again. We thought God intended us to use that elevator because it came 5 times in 10 minutes but the other one never did. We were wrong.
I am sore. But oh my god I am so happy knowing their health is so much better taken care of there. After an emotional move and getting Sharon a vehicle, I just cried as I drove home. So happy to have all of this come together.
Thank you so much to the people who helped. I have no way to say how much this meant to me.
I need moving help.
Here’s the scoop: My grandparents are moving into an assisted living place. Originally Gramps wanted to hire movers, but he got back the estimate today and it was thousands more than he expected. The actual move is one bedroom and one living room worth of furniture. They are leaving the second bedroom and the kitchen out. I need 3 to 5 people to help with the move, either with loading or unloading. Pizza and beverages (at a minimum) will be provided. I’ll probably have a pie or two too.
Here’s the catch: It’s next Wednesday the 20th. Short notice and not a weekend. But even if you can only spare a few hours in the evening, we could use the help.
I’m expecting loading to be early afternoon (noon to 3pm) and unloading to be evening (4 to 6 pm ish).
So, can you help?
Edited to add locations: Moving from 6535 Seaview Ave NW (by Shilshole Marina west of Ballard). Moving to 12509 Greenwood Ave (Ida Culver House in Broadview).