This is what happens when the Flash plug-in crashes in Chrome:
I like it so much I think I'll start using it as my avatar for everything.
I'm catching up on the photos in my cellphone.
Currently testing out Google's new browser (the rollout is Windows-only for now). It seems pretty cool, but the absolute coolest thing so far has been the comic strip documentation.
Google quote:
"We realized that the Web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser."
So far I'm digging the fact that they ripped a little bit of goodness from each existing browsing platform - I immediately appreciated Opera's Speeddial function. It apparently uses Safari rendering. There's a lot of rough edges and missing essentials, but it's a solid first release... And most importantly it's SUPER FAST.
UPDATE: The comics were too good for some to pass up.
Among other subjects, I teach writing at my university. Writing is a subject that really helps identify certain types of students... like the girl who just today turned in a paper about Wonder Woman's daily schedule, which included eating somtam every morning and helping people in need from 2 to 4PM everyday because "doing too much every day good causes stress and also acne." Reading her paper brought back the days of learning to put together rudimentary sentences in hot Japanese classrooms... And it inspired me to challenge her class with more assignments that can be properly exploited by the clever ones.
UPDATE: I'm grading papers at home and just found another version of the writing I mentioned above, but this time Wonder Woman is eating pork congee and washing dishes in the morning. Damn, I never really thought about superheroes washing dishes every day.
There's a new article on Neal Stephenson and his new book, Anathem, up at Wired: LINK
Here's a handy little chart of fees charged by the airlines: LINK
Max has become a master of letting us know when he isn't pleased (shown here with my student, Nick).
These times when he forces himself to cry, if we can figure out what he wants, he stops just as quickly as he started. It's quite hilarious if you're an observer, but not so much if you're the one he's aiming the Sad Face at.
Quite a few blogs have been linking to a certain YouTube user's Bush-infused version of REM's It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine), but I feel this song is his best work to date:
When commenting on a previous entry here, I came upon the most fitting captcha I've ever seen:
Beware, queasy ones.
A couple days ago Nam went to a beauty salon to get her hair done and I tagged along to get a pedicure since my toenails tend to get painful if not cut correctly, and also because pedicures are the absolute best kind of addiction in a place like Thailand - inexpensive and actually good for you.
Nam's usual shop was closed for some reason, but since we were already out on the only sizable chunk of free time for the week, we went to another place that we'd actually been to before but didn't like so much because the older women running it do everything very slowly. On this day, however, it was still early and their shop was empty, so we decided to give it another shot.
I sat down and got a manicure first since I had to wait for Nam anyways, and soaked my feet in a bucket of water. What happened after the manicure was simply amazing.
The old lady unwrapped a long razor blade from the piece of wax paper it came packaged in, and began shaving away the callouses on my feet - I have LOTS of callouses on my feet. In fact, the balls of my feet as well as the heels are basically huge callouses. This stems from a bad case of athlete's foot in Japan ten years ago that opened huge cracks in the bottom of my feet over which thick layers of skin eventually accumulated. I never thought this could even be removed, actually. However, the long soak had a great effect on this chitinous mass and huge swaths of dead skin flaked off with every pass of the razor. It piled up on the wet towel draped underneath my foot like a massive pile of grated cheese. To be more specific, it was like a massive pile of fetid, extra-sharp cheddar. In hindsight, maybe I should have saved it to put on an enemy's piece of toast.
Anyway, after she was done shaving off the pedicheese, she smoothed everything down with an oblong plastic emery board. My feet felt fantastic! It must have showed on my face, because Nam had her feet worked on too.
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* This is the first time I've ever seen this service performed anywhere, at any price, even though I'd heard that it existed before.
A couple nights ago I dreamed I flipped my car (the Crown) over and bench pressed it. I woke up and bench pressed Max instead. No complaints there.
Max's weight the day before yesterday.
The boy's got a strong grip.
Donkey Kong Jenga
Please let me know if anything's broken.
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Of course, as soon as I wrote that last post yesterday, my Internet connection completely crapped out. I'll get around to the update later today if possible.
I'll be upgrading to a newer version of my blog software this evening, so please tell me if electricity is cut off all up and down the west coast or something as a result, k?
Meanwhile at Yoshida Manor:
The other day we woke up to a pink sky. Not just on the fringes, mind you, but totally and completely pink.
Use this handy site to see what other domains are hosted on your shared server: Reverse IP Domain Check
It was mildly amusing to find a site on my shared server called, I shit you not, "Penguin Sex." And yes, I was too scared to click the link (well, at work anyway).
A: Why did you let the mouse escape from the (nonlethal cage-type) trap?
B: I was trying to put it in a box!
A: Why?
B: I wanted to put it in the box and let it go outside somewhere...
A. Why didn't you just take the cage outside and let it go?
B: There are ants on it! I hate ants!
.....
A. Hi! I'm NOVA!
(hey guys! maybe it's time to update the old website...
April 29, 2008:
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August 10, 2008:
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