Reading Offline: Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments
by Alex Boese
Really odd book about various "scientific" experiments, some gruesome, many just insane. Have't yet gotten to the elephants on acid part, but am definitely freaked out by the "let's decapitate an animal and try to keep just the head alive" chapter. Ugh.
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
by Nancy Milford
I never read much of Millay before, but Milford wrote a really interesting biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, so I was interested to see her next book. Still in the first chapter, but the prolog was amusing in itself. I always appreciate reading the background of how the author started on the book.
Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
I gave this to Jon as a gift a while back and only just recently remembered I never did borrow and read it myself. Am very amused so far. Sadly it's not the updated edition I've linked to - preface in our copy's dated Nov. 2000. Wonder what's been added/changed/corrected.
The New Kings of Nonfiction
by Ira Glass
Collection of nonfiction articles previously published in various magazines. Bought a while back in an airport and there are still a few articles I haven't finished reading. I really liked the Bill Buford article that became Among the Thugs.
...About?...
Batgrl is a pop culture junky who loves to mess about with cameras and video games. And is constantly amused by Jon, who she did honest and truly did meet online. Though she's been blogging since the '90s, evil sp@m'rs managed to break the old blog, and thus there's only more recent stuff here. (No great loss, actually!)
Superbowl Ad Pondering: Remembering the Schlitz Bull - 2010-02-07 21:46:39
Ok first of all, I'm not all that big into football. But having said that, Louisiana was my home turf for a few years, plus the fact that I'm seriously in love with New Orleans even now - so yeah, I was rooting for the Saints.
However I do have to say that the one commercial that had me talk back to the screen - er, in a gleeful way as opposed to an "oh come ON, you must me kidding" type of comment - was the Budweiser commercial where the horse and the bull have a little friendship. I can't find it online yet, but I'm sure it'll be around. And when the bull runs through the fence at the end I turn to Jon and say "hey! that's the Schlitz malt liquor bull's thing!" And when he looks at me blankly I say "oh tell please me you at least know your beer commercial trivia!" I thought all guys were required to know the beer commercials of their era, especially if they went to college and/or lived with roommates at any point. (Isn't it a requirement that everyone bring beer and watch football together? And critique the ads? I thought that was a required guy thing.)
Apparently not. But thanks to YouTube I can fill you all in:
Ah 1978, and so many ham-handed cultural concepts going on there. But there's the bull, who always appeared at the end, crashing through the wall/door/scenery. Perhaps because my grandfather had cattle (and the longhorn in tonight's Bud ad reminds me of it), and perhaps because when I visited my grandparents we watched a lot of football - but whatever the reason, I have fond feelings towards the Schilitz bull. Actually it probably came down to the crashing through the wall thing. As a kid that was always a great thing. (Remember the Kool-Aid Man crashing through the wall? Now I'm suddenly curious as to whether that was the same advertising house putting out both those commericals.)
Somehow I'm betting Jon also never heard about the aliens that drank their Rellim reeb with their fingers.
We used to talk about that one at school. Or at least my Dad and I would laugh about it - it's much funnier if you can say "with their fangers!" in a southern accent.
See, this is why I was good with the section on advertising back in my mass comm days. Seriously, it was loads of fun to study and laugh over this sort of thing - and to wake up students with "I know you've watched thousands of ads by this point - you realize this makes you an expert, right?!" (Not to mention come up with reasoning and economics behind why it's important to study.) I think I need to get back into serious trivia gaming before my leet skillz get all rusty.
Update:
Jon now claims that "everyone knows the Schlitz bull" and that he was merely messing with me. I am doubtful. I should have quizzed him about Rellim reeb before posting about it.
1 CommentsGeorge Washington as Olympian Zeus, Thanks to Horatio Greenough - 2010-02-02 23:21:50
One of the search queries that always brings people to some of my Flickr photos is "George Washington Zeus." This would seem odd - until you see the particular image of ol' George folks are looking for. And that would be this one:
According to Wikipedia: "...His left palm and forearm cradle a sheathed sword, hilt forward, symbolizing Washington turning over power to the people at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War."
May I present, George Washington, the sculpture created by Horatio Greenough. More on the statue itself in a minute - first the story of how I came to take that photo.
Back in 2006 I was a contracted government worker at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (still one of the more interesting and fun places I've worked). At the time the museum was closed and undergoing renovation, which meant that there were always certain exhibits and large objects being packed up until the construction was over and they could be put on display. I wasn't a part of all the construction work (and didn't know what would be boxed up when) so it was only by chance that we were passing through part of the museum and saw that the George Washington statue was about to be crated and moved. Since I always had my camera with me (when you're in DC there's always something to photograph) I quickly took some photos, knowing that it would be at least a few years before George would be on display again.
I'm a bit quiet about it, but I've long been a student of Greek and Roman artwork and mythology. Going back to my father telling me bedtime stories about Theseus and the Minotaur, Odyseus and the Cyclops - you get the idea, I've been soaking up this stuff since I was a kid. (I have to add here that the stories were not so popular with my mother because my father told scary versions of them - I can still remember having a nightmare about the Minotaur waiting for me in the dark of the Labyrinth.) If I could have contemplated a job that had something to do with the field I would have taken more than the couple of college classics studies that I did - but my parents had long tried to (kindly) instill in me the fact that while the classics were fun, there wasn't much money in a career in, for instance, archeology. (This was before Indiana Jones introduced a generation to the Archeologist as James Bond concept.) But even though I didn't go for the career, I can still manage to spend hours in a museum peering at details in a sculpture or a vase or a painting, trying to make out what deity is represented in a particular art form. (Yes, I'm sometimes a trial to those who want to hurry through an exhibit, I admit this. Especially if I'm trying to translate anything in Latin - I'll be there all night. As in, my memory for Latin vocabulary is sketchy - my fault, my epic high school Latin teacher is not to blame!)
So anyway when I saw that George was about to be crated up I wanted to take detailed photos so I could later study the imagery that Greenough was using. Because there's more to just this statue than just George.
Ok, I'll admit that the eyes are somewhat creepy looking if you get this close.
Not to mention that he's quite good looking. But then, the real George Washington was also known to be quite handsome.
More..... 0 CommentsFor those wanting more Droid vs Point n Shoot Camera Comparisons - 2010-01-27 19:12:29
Previously on "let's examine how good the Droid's camera is" we had the following entries:
And it's time for another short one, thanks to our recent trip to Montana. Because I did some camera comparisons from the plane. Note: the following "look out the aircraft window" are probably only of interest to other Droid owners and not terribly exciting. Sorry about that.
Some of the problem is I think how some of the population (the PC folks, sorry) view Apple products. Since my first computer was a Mac SE (bought from the MIT store in Cambridge, Mass., ah, memories of fellow geeks and Mac fans in the 90s) I was always ok with the operating system, and frankly never saw it as anything to be pro or con about - it was the computer friends used and those friends could share programs with me. (And yay for shareware, the poor students/post college student's friend.) So it was a practical decision. If I'd known people who were into PCs and who had a cheap way to get me a setup, I'd have bought that. So I don't play the whole "PC vs Apple" fanboy thing - I use what's available. And I don't really get hung up about it.
Which means that I didn't get an iPhone. When the phone first came out it was sold as a way to have your music and other audio with a phone. And that's something I've never wanted. I don't want to curl up for an attempt at sleep with my iPod (it's great for insomnia) and accidentally roll onto the device and call my mother at 2am. No, I actually don't know if that's possible, but knowing me I could probably do it. I just know that from the beginning I wanted my audio and (now) video on a different device than my phone. Doesn't bother me to carry more than one gadget around. I also don't really need the phone to turn into a swiss army knife of camera, audio/video player, etc. - no matter that it has anyway. But that's why I never got in on the original iPhone thing. And now I'm amused that with the Droid I have all those things anyway. I don't have any audio or video on my droid. Masses of games, yes. But nothing I listen to. And somehow I'm not sure I'd have all that neat stuff if the iPhone hadn't done such a great job of showing the tech industry "check it out, this works!"
So I'm off two minds about the new iPad. First of all I've only read about the thing, and not seen it in real life. Yes, I like the design - I think that's where Apple really does well, in the design of their tech. (Though I admit I do like their operating system too. Frankly Windows has turned into the same OS as Apple lookswise, PC people just don't realize it.) But more than anything I like what it represents. CES just had a whole lot of companies showing off their new ebook readers. Now that Apple's in the e-reader game this means that we'll finally see a system that will be good for everyone. Eventually. That's the trick - the odds are what we see now isn't quite perfect and will need tweaking. I'm specifically thinking of one type of ebook format that will work on any and all readers. Meaning someone could buy, for example, a Sony e-reader and then if that gadget fried itself they'd be able to take their old book files (assuming they them backed up, something not all/many ereaders allow) and then move them to a new gadget - and they wouldn't HAVE to buy a Sony, they'd be able to choose the best ereader for them because all of them would accept any ebook file.
Well, that's my hope for the future anyway. We're not there yet. But getting there.
I did just do a count after taking up so much of Jon's comments to basically write a blog post - and I have 75 ebooks on my computer. Many from 2008, but some I bought in the last few weeks. Not all are purchased - some are free via Project Gutenberg. There's a least one free book in there that's a novel written by a blogger that I enjoy reading. And as always there are a few I haven't read or finished in there. But those 75 books aren't taking up any more space in our apartment, and since we have limited shelf space, for that I am thankful. I will also admit that as much as I do like to read nonfiction, many of those purchased ebooks are shlocky romances. I'm a fan of the Regency era. This will now open the field to Jon mocking me soundly, but then I will remind him that I never pester him to read Ovid or Emerson, or threaten to read some Euripides aloud. Yeah, I'm rereading old college texts, you can tell. Part of my "I don't remember finishing this" program - sometimes only part of some books were assigned and it's fun to go back and finish things.
I'm really not a candidate for the Apple iPad at present. I'm not and never have been an early adopter of tech. Ah, the phrase itself takes me back to my PhD comps exam (and the stress) where I wrote many pages on Diffusion of Innovation - partly because it wasn't any of the Phd profs giving the exam's pet theory (warning, tread lightly around pet theories) and partly because it was such an easily described comm theory. I still like it, especially because early adopters interest me, and because what they end up buying and supporting/writing about/championing tends to effect the rest of the tech market. So while I can see me wanting an ebook in about a year or so - I don't want one right now. Now's not the time - currently the market needs to decide which system is a good one for book files and which devices will be more practical (better batteries, less bugs, etc.). Now's the time when you sit back and read reviews, wait a few months, and then read reviews again. See what complaints are new, see which ones have remained.
And then when the prices come down, then start to contemplate a purchase.
Yes, it sometimes takes me a year or so to buy a gadget unless my technophile husband gets me one (as I nervously say "Are you sure? I don't reeeeally need it! Wow, it IS cool though..."). But I'm conservative about my gadgets, and then once purchased I love them and really don't want to replace them until I have to. Even after they die I tend to keep them in a drawer - the little ones anyway. (I still mourn my Mac SE, wish I hadn't given it away in a past move.)
So no, I don't need an e-reader, I can use my PC - and I don't really want one, yet. I'm still waiting to see which one will make the cut. Maybe it will be the iPad. Or maybe the competition will get fierce, and something better will come along. After all, I haven't heard whether Google's going to toss its hat into the ring.
But I'm also not going into an Apple store. Those places are really bad for me - it seems once I touch the gadgets on display there I suddenly REALLY want one. I'm thinking it's all the futuristic white walls.
Oh and as others have said iPad is a goofy name. But then they've kinda boxed themselves in with having to stick i in front of everything. Just think - someday Apple will name something and NOT stick the i in front of the name, and the media will go insane.
*eyeroll*
Most of what people who hate the Apple products really hate is all the media hooha and the gushing.
After reading more and watching the video (you have to watch a commercial but unlike the Apple site you don't have to download Quicktime) - yeah, I can see the whistles and bells selling this. You can use it for many things - put it on an easel and turn on a slide show and you have a way to show off those grandkids or a vacation. Or photos you just took. It could be a whole new platform for games - you can actually SEE stuff on a screen this size compared to the iPhone.
I'll continue keeping an eye on what they do with books.
2 CommentsBumping into the Lucky Golden Poo, Again - 2010-01-22 16:33:26
"The product you saw is called Kin no Unko (The Golden Poo), a name that plays on the fact that the Japanese word for poop (unko) starts with the same "oon" sound as a completely unrelated word that means "luck." Japanese enjoy this kind of pun - traditional storytelling is full of them - which may help explain why more than 2.5 million of the lucky little loads have sold in the last seven years.
..."There are more gods in the Shinto religion than it is possible to count, and they reside just about everywhere, inhabiting natural things like trees, rocks and waterfalls," he said. "Bodily functions are very important - think what a problem it would be if a person couldn't defecate or urinate properly - so it's natural that people worshipped deities linked to these functions."
...Mitsuhashi, who is in his 60s, remembers his parents burying a pair of god figures, one male and one female, under the privy in his childhood home."
The quote is from Professor Takeshi Mitsuhashi, department of Shinto Studies, Kokugakuin University in Tokyo. What's interesting to me is that, in the rest of the article I linked, this isn't really a product with a long history, but more of a recent fad.
I have to admit that, being one for weird items, I have indeed chanced on this product before. ...But somehow I can't remember where - I'd like to blame Archie McPhee, but can't seem to find it in their catalog. However there's still in time to catch the Mr. Snot tshirt!
Golden Poop Charms
Some more images of what they look like - I think the little ones are made to be attached to your cell phone.
I would like to take this moment to apologize to my sister and brother in law in case Jon suddenly thinks this is a good toy to send their son in celebration of toilet training. I'm totally not taking the blame for this one. I'm blaming MetaFilter! I'm also blaming MeFi for any future Google weirdness I'll be getting thanks to this post.
Ah ha! Here it is! Apparently I can blame ThinkGeek for my exposure to the Lucky Poo. Somehow I think Jon may have pointed it out, but that may just be a desire to point at Jon when something silly like this appears and say "no, it's him, he did it!"
Meanwhile here are some really great snow sculpture photos at a festival in China that I'd love to visit someday- photos in The Big Picture, via that MeFi thread that started all this. Also via that thread I learned about The Grass Mud Horse.
0 CommentsJon Cooks Sous Vide, Sort Of - 2010-01-21 22:58:45
I have a lot of Montana images to cover (and then New Orleans before that, yeek), but I must share a little story about Jon's cooking adventure yesterday.
First the definition of Sous Vide:
"French for "under vacuum", is a method of cooking that is intended to maintain the integrity of ingredients by heating them for an extended period at relatively low temperatures. Food is cooked for a long time, sometimes well over 24 hours. Unlike cooking in a slow cooker, sous-vide cooking uses airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well below boiling point (usually around 60°C or 140°F)."
Jon had decided to attempt this technique. He came home last night with a food vacuum sealer thing, a bag of chocolate for me, and then proceeded to set up the following on our stove:
You can't tell from this photo but the pot on the left is on a burner that's turned on. As in, why look, there's a bath towel sitting next to an open flame!
And then Jon said something about Sous Vide and something about MetaFilter, where I found this thread:
Trailer Park Sous Vide
Note that while Jon called it Ghetto Sous Vide he went for trailer park in this thread. I'd like to point out that I've known lovely people who've lived in trailers. However I suppose Jon went with Ghetto because a blogger quoted in that thread dubbed it that - and I suppose it sounds more hip, though I think it can be considered condescending. Depending on context. Just saying.
Anyway, I was highly skeptical of the whole process.
More..... 2 CommentsBecket the Wondercat Recuperates - 2010-01-21 22:24:21
So we're back from Montana, and I'm happy to announce that Becket is indeed well, despite spending the weekend alone. He still hates the flash on the camera.
"Ahhh! No flash photography! Rawr!"
Here he is, curled on his hassock next to my computer chair. Avoiding the flash. The cord you see (bottom left of photo) goes to a space heater which I turn on for him when he mews about it.
Right before we left Becket decided to "help" me pack. I was in the closet, opening boxes and trying to find my warm clothing that I'd packed away ages ago until I needed it. I had just found my box of hats and was pleased to find that my Raiders hat is essentially the same one that Adam on Mythbusters wears. Which means if I can get Jon to wear a fake thick mustache and a beret we could totally do an Adam and Jamie impression. While I was trying on hats the cat somehow snuck into the box and started chewing on things. And he got yelled at and none too gently put out of the closet.
During the yelling and expelling I had a first-hand glimpse of the fact that cats do NOT always land on their feet. Yes, he landed very, very badly and hurt his foot or leg. And there was MUCH loud hissing and yowling of pain, which scared the crap out of me. And there was much calling of the vet and Jon, and patting the still yowling and hissing cat and apologizing. (LOTS of apologizing, I still feel bad.) Because the vet was going to close we decided to watch the cat overnight and see how he behaved. He was weird. He went from putting weight on his foot and jumping onto the couch as usual - to suddenly doing something to his foot - bumping it or stretching it somehow - and then the hissing and loud yowling would result. I spent most of that night on the couch so the cat wouldn't try and jump up into our bed as he usually does.
Here a brief aside about Becket and the vet. He hates the vet. Not the person of the vet - but the whole "this place smells of dogs and other cats." The vet can be anyone, he's still going to hiss and yowl and act generally like a tough cat. He's not bitten anyone yet, but he's certainly acted like he was going to, and he's definitely wanted to. Usually by the end of the visit he's a bit more calm, but still hissing and mad. And he doesn't recover til I get him home. It's so bad that the vet has given me meds to tranq him up before I take him in. But they make him feel wobbly, which makes him more nervous I think. At least it makes him yowl and it's harder for him to walk. So I couldn't give him any for this visit. So once the vet saw that he was favoring a foot, and after he was held down so he couldn't bite she felt his leg and there was MUCH yowling and hissing, indicating there was pain. So he got a really strong knock out shot and then went off to have xrays taken. After depositing all of his breakfast on the vet's floor. Which was a side effect of the meds, but that couldn't be helped - I didn't know he'd need to fast. In fact before Jon left for the day I'd thought the cat was fine - until he did the "hurt leg-hiss-yodel" routine again.
Anyway, thankfully the xray showed no broken bones. (And since he's about 12 years old, I'm pleased that we now have these xray images in Becket's computer file at the vet - for future reference.) Because we now knew this for sure, and because the vet wanted to keep him for a few hours until he came off the shots - I got to talk with the vet in depth about leaving the cat alone for the weekend. Since he'd be at home, and I'd shut most of the other doors so he couldn't move around much, he'd be much better off than at the vet's. And the meds I was given could be skipped for the weekend but given when I came back.
Actually the cat ended up staying a much shorter time than the vet thought - he woke up and began the hissing and yowling sooner than expected, and the vet assistant quickly brought him back out to me. At that point since I knew he was ok I was just amused by the whole thing.
Still, I was really worried about leaving him alone until the minute we got home and I saw that he was ok, and that he hadn't been sick anywhere. (Always awful to come home to.) And of course he spent all that evening grumble-meowing at us.
He looks like he's sleepy in that photo, but actually he's just blissful since I'm skritching under his jaw in a way that he really likes. Yes, he's getting a LOT of attention and spoiling this week. He's also officially an old cat, poor baby. Xray shows he might have a bit of arthritis in one leg too. This doesn't mean he gets a pass to chew up my hats, but it does mean I'll be more careful to shut him out of places before I start cleaning.
Yes, I still feel guilty. And yes, I'm also spending this week carrying him around and turning "his" space heater on and off.
0 CommentsWhy You Don't See Many Photos of Becket, the Wondercat - 2010-01-11 22:13:18
He really really hates the flash. Such that every time I take a photo of him and use the flash he moves. Which gives me freakish "I'm an alien cat devil! Rawr!" type shots like this one.
1 CommentsAnd Yet Another Random Collection of Links - 2010-01-11 00:50:32
Lions of London
An interesting series of illustrations of various lion statues in London at Londonist.com.
...Now if only I could figure out the name of the cool radio my mother had in the 70s - it was an AM/FM radio inside a cylinder of blue clear plastic or acrylic that allowed you to see inside of the radio, and had a button that let you turn on a small light inside it. You turned it on and off and tuned it by turning the base. I think it was GE or Panasonic - but I've googled all over the place and can NOT seem to find a photo of the thing. Which I'm sure has to be out there, as it was somewhat unique looking. I think mom gave it to Goodwill or got rid of it in a garage sale ages ago. (Yes, I would have kept it, but I'm a pack rat.) Please let me know any suggestions on where I might look for what radio model this was in the comments! (I'm not looking to actually buy one, just wondering what the heck it was. Though if I actually found one for sale I admit I'd be tempted.)
Big Chief Motel - Missoula, Montana
Random old post card I bumped into on Flickr - and laughingly asked Jon if he knew the location. And amusingly he did. It apparently looks pretty much the same.
Why Won't Borders Donate Their Soon-To-Be-Trashed Books?
Huffington Post blog, December 11, 2009
This is a kind of annoying example of "let's call out something one company does when an entire industry does the same thing." Because actually books and magazines are regularly destroyed this way at most bookstores (especially the large chains), even when they're not going out of business. When magazines are old and when books don't sell they don't go back to the manufacturer in all cases, and don't end up resold - many end up destroyed this way because shipping back would cost more. So the covers are sent back and the books and magazines are destroyed - hopefully in a manner that can recycle the material, but no, that's not always done. And it's been done this way for years. But I guess it's that mass comm background of mine that clued me in to that, and this might not be well known. But you'd think people would realize that all those unsold books had to go somewhere, besides the bargain bin at just a few stores. Not that I think this book destruction is a good thing - but focusing just on Borders (instead of the industry wide practice) is a little like kicking someone that's down - Borders has done all sorts of layoffs in the past year and have been rumored to be on the verge of bankruptcy (in the blogs and via Twitter, however accurate those are). So why does Huffington Post only go after just Borders in the title? Oh right, it's a blog, not a magazine, silly me for thinking like a journalist. (Yeah, I'm a liberal who doesn't like Huffington Post, go figure. I go elsewhere for my news - and consider HuffPo just another blog with potentially questionable facts - just like mine. Why did I read this? It was a link on a book blog.)
However I didn't know that Borders (and perhaps other book stores) work on pushing select books, which I find irritating: Borders Crushes Employee Morale To Push Copies Of "Piano Teacher"
The Consumerist blog, January 6, 2010
Does anyone go to a bookstore and have to have someone that works there tell them what to read? I never have a problem finding things to buy in a bookstore, so I'd actually find it irritating to have someone try and recommend something to me, as they don't know me or my buying history. Human beings can't do Amazon recommendations - there's a reason that that works only on a computer.
So I've been reading a lot of the CES info, hoping that the ebooks will hurry up and figure out what will be the standard in electronic books, and found this....
How to See Past the CES 2010 Hype Machine
Robert X. Cringely, PC World, Jan 8, 2010
"...The Palm Pre: Arguably the biggest story to come out of last year's confab, the Pre arrived to mostly glowing reviews last June, followed by her cute little sister, the Pixi, in December. But like a Hollywood child star, she's already looking ridden hard and put away wet, surpassed by sexier Droid and Nexus handsets."
Um wait, did the author really just describe the Pre as a child star who's been ridden like a horse?! That has to be one of the most ham handed uses of a sexual allusion I've ever read, ugh. Was this guy actually trying to find something offensive to say? The child star and sexual allusion aside (is it ok to make pedophilia jokes like that now? I must be out of touch) - even comparing a woman to a horse (which he does by feminizing the phones, which I don't think have a gender yet) is infuriating. That's what "ridden hard and put away wet" actually refers to, and it's considered an abusive way to treat a horse. The more I try to figure out what the author's trying to imply the more this seems like a tangled up, badly mix'd metaphor - who knows what the heck he's actually trying to say. This is one of those sentences that make me wonder whether they've just fired an editor somewhere. And I'll put PC World on my list of "things that Google News may suggest on its page but I'm not going to bother reading." (Randomly I took a screenshot of the page, thinking that certainly PC World would edit that line out later. Nope, it's still up, even after about a day has passed since I read it. No one's complained in the comments either - but the article has gotten a lot of thumbs downs. Which I suppose is hopeful.)
Captain Fred Walters and Other Blue People
On an interesting site called The Human Marvels, which has the look of an old sideshow poster, but isn't offensive in an "let's gawk at weirdos way" - instead it treats its subjects as people. The blue skin tone thing has always fascinated me - I'd heard of it only in regards to the Blue Fugates, who I first read about in Straight Dope. More on them here: The Blue People of Troublesome Creek. The medical term for this is methemoglobinemia, in case you were wondering.
