It seems that one of the updates of the NextGen Photo Gallery plugin I use on the blog reworked things to the point where most of my gallery pages were nothing but a spectacular mess of exposed, broken code. While interesting in an abstract sort of way it was not very practical for the viewing of photos.
I finally went through and cleaned up most of the pages and broke off Hiking into its own separate category. Still to come are better descriptions for each page and improved old photos, as I realized a lot of them were scanned with particularly poor brightness/contrast. But it’s a start.
The general Photo Galleries and Hiking may be found by clicking on the words you just read.
It occurred to me as I wrote a couple of posts over on Broken Forum that I have had several spider incidents recently and also read a story featuring a giant mechanical spider from outer space. So while the Discovery channel may have its Shark Week, I am dubbing this my Spider Week.
The two spider stories are recounted below, largely unchanged from their appearance on BF:
Two nights ago I went to get ice cream from the deep freezer we have on the deck (we live on the ground floor, it’s not as weird as it sounds) and a spider had built a large web in front of it and was happily perched in the middle of the web. I examined the deep freezer from multiple angles and concluded that the only way to the ice cream was to remove the web.
So I skipped the ice cream.
If I come back in several days to discover a very fat spider in its web and no ice cream in the deep freezer I will be very cross with it.
I generally defer to spiders given their overall beneficial qualities (black widows biting you in the back of the neck excepted) and this is why I chose to leave the spider that had taken up residence in front of the deep freezer alone. I think if I tried to unhook its web (the gentlest way of getting past the spider) I would have ended up wearing it, to the detriment of both the spider and myself.
The other night I went to brush my teeth and a spider was in the sink. It was having quite a bit of trouble navigating its way out and I lamented that it would never escape and that I would be forced to brush my teeth at a different sink. Just as I began to contemplate what to do next the spider disappeared into the drain. I waited what I felt was a respectable length of time then engaged the stopper so the spider could not change its mind. I brushed my teeth.
Afterward it occurred to me that the spider may not have come up from the drain originally but instead may have lowered itself into the sink, unaware of the impossibility of it getting out. If that was the case and my actions caused the spider’s demise in our sewer system, I apologize to all arachnids for my careless act. If, however, the spider mutates to giant size in the sewer and comes back to try to eat me or my neighbors, I’m going to be quite cross with it.
Many years ago when I was fabulously poor (I was living downtown, I was urbane, young and almost hip but perpetually in low paying jobs or between the same) I sold off a whole pile of CDs because there was a store a few blocks from where I lived that would buy them for $5 each. Back then $5 was a couple of meals or more if you played your budget just right.
In the following years I have reacquired many of those CDs and there’s only one I can immediately think of that is still missing: Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, also known as The First CD Everyone Bought. It’s not that I don’t think it’s a fine album, I just never think about it.
It was just by happenstance that I ended up claiming back another lost disc, Sting’s debut solo album The Dream of the Blue Turtles. I came across a reference about a new Sting album coming out and thought it had been quite awhile since his last, looked up his discography on Wikipedia, read notes on his first few albums and remembered that the light and catchy “All This Time” was featured on the otherwise Very Serious The Soul Cages. I mean, just look at the album cover. It’s all art and stuff:
I don’t even know what that’s supposed to be. I’m calling it Picasso’s Tent. Also mysterious is why this album (and only this one among Sting’s) is not available on the Canadian iTunes store.
Anyway, back to how I reacquired The Dream of the Blue Turtles. I watched the video for “All This Time” which is perhaps uncharacteristically silly for Sting then noticed a link to “Fortress Around Your Heart” from Turtles. I started watching that, instantly remembered how much I lurved the song, went to Itunes, saw it was under $10–impulse buy territory– and bang, re-bought the album.
Having given it a few listens for the first time in many years the album is not quite as jazzy as I’d remembered, though there are a number of jazz-influenced songs. At the time of its release (1985) jazz was strange and alien to me, so that was probably a good thing. As it is now, I find it adds texture to what is otherwise a very finely crafted pop album and the next logical step in Sting’s maturity as a songwriter. The lyrics are more sophisticated than The Police’s last album Synchronicity and the appeals delivered and causes raised have a more personal tone to them. It’s a good album and I’m glad I have it again.
I’m still not sure I want to re-commit to buying Prism’s Armageddon again, though.
The Vancouver area officially went the entire month of July without any precipitation. We also set a record with 411 hours of sun (the average is around 270).
But as a reminder of where we are, a weak low pressure drifted in and started a shower about an hour after the record was set.
For my runs I think the average temperature has been around 26ºC, a good 2-3 degrees above normal and it’s often been even warmer than that. July was a weird month.
As I write this the low pressure system has gone and we’re back to where we left off (it’s 24, feels like 25 at 11:30 in the morning). I’m not complaining, mind you, I don’t mind the warm weather, even if it makes my runs harder, and as the olde song goes, “Cause I’m never gonna stop the rain by complainin'”. Er, or the sunshine. Basically nature is gonna do what nature is gonna do.
After noting that the first day of summer was poop, I will now note that the ninth day of summer has been a bit of an overachiever. I’m not sure if we broke a record but it looks like it will have hit at least 32ºC in New Westminster today. As they say, Africa hot.
Death Valley was expected to get up to 54ºC (130ºF) today, which is not Africa hot but Stupid hot.
This is when the global warming deniers tend to stay quiet.
Given the extreme heat, I did the sensible thing and ran. Three times in the past two days, ho ho.
Just so the blog doesn’t become 100% jogging posts, I will note that the first day of summer–Friday, June 21–was cool, blustery and damp.
In other words, normal. June is truly the Weather Grab Bag month for the Lower Mainland. I would prefer it grabbed a bit more sun but you takes what you gets. It also beats the wacky flooding going on in Calgary right now.
As part of Broken Forum’s Book of the Month Club, I read April’s entry, Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others (amazon.ca link). I’ve slightly reworked my review from BF below.
This is a collection of short stories so I’ll offer my thoughts on all eight.
First up is “Tower of Babylon”. An interesting riff on the construction of the wonder that focuses on the practical over the spiritual. The ending is appropriately fantastical.
“Division by Zero”. Math nerds would probably go nuts over this. Since I was anti-math in school (not by choice but by aptitude) I was less engaged, although I liked the base conceit of ‘everything we know about something big is wrong’ and the repercussions therein.
“Understand”. When brainiacs collide! This was good, as it surprised me by dropping in several red herrings that in some authors’ hands would have been trite plot turns. It also reminded me, oddly, of my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel which tackles a similar theme of how extraordinary power would be used differently based on one’s moral compass, to the betterment/detriment of humankind.
“Story of Your Life”. The science involved in the dual spoken and written languages of the aliens is complex, fascinating and well-presented. The recollections of the daughter never connected emotionally and felt tacked on, and the first contact itself seemed more a necessary backdrop to provide the examination of understanding languages rather than to explore first contact itself. Flawed but still well worth reading.
“The Evolution of Human Science”. I used to be a big fan of fictional articles but am less so now. This one didn’t do much to shift my position.
“Seventy Two Letters”. A delightfully off-kilter story combining the Victorian era with golems and class warfare. Chiang’s use of language here is studied without being too formal, capturing the flavor of the time. I enjoyed the alternate universe where animated dolls stand to better or worsen the human condition. The more sinister aspects with assassination attempts and break-ins felt a bit unfinished, hinting at a larger story.
“Hell is the Absence of God”. Basically a long way of saying “God isn’t fair, sucks to be you (or me)” but much like “Seventy Two Letters” the alternate universe where Heaven and Hell are literal places and angels are physical manifestations that trail destruction and death (and sometimes miracles) is fascinating and well-presented.
“Liking What You See”. On the other hand, the multiple viewpoints of this take on “lookism” was merely okay. It was overly long, I never felt much for any of the characters and while an examination of what constitutes beauty and how it affects western (and other) societies is a worthy subject, the presentation was a little flat.
Overall I enjoyed the collection. Chiang presents his visions clearly, paints alternate worlds effortlessly and does a fine job of exploring ideas, the hallmark of good (or great) science fiction. I felt his characters were sometimes flat and can’t recall any of the stories really sticking with me because of the people in them.
I’ve added a widget to the site that lists various social media links in handy and relatively non-obtrusive graphical form. You can find the icons listed under Archives. Right now these include links to my profiles on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Steam, Goodreads and My Fitness Pal.
As I’ve mentioned before, when it comes to social media I take a less-is-more approach. Here’s my current activity on each of the above:
Facebook: used for messaging one friend. I log in just often enough for it to not pester me to log in due to inactivity.
Google Plus: similar to FB except without the messaging of a friend.
Twitter: I’ve made one ‘real’ tweet and a few to Nike’s support, which is primarily Twitter-based. Brevity is not my strong suit.
Steam: I play games on Steam, yes. Not as often as in days of yore but this counts as active.
Goodreads: signed up a few months ago, currently getting cobwebby.
My Fitness Pal: used every day but rather uninteresting as all I do is post meal and exercise updates. Heck, even I find it kind of boring.
If I find other sites to connect with and then ignore, I’ll be sure to link them here in the future.
Found today in a library lab sitting on top of the keyboard:
The part that tripped me up was when I thought it said “slutty computer” and I was trying to determine how someone would reach that conclusion. Porn wallpaper? Lust moans for every Windows sound effect? DVD tray keeps sliding open? Then I read the note again and understood and was a little disappointed.
There are several artificial ponds in front of the library at Langara College. In the winter it is drained due to the chance that it could freeze and blow up pipes or something. But as of late March it’s been filled anew with water.
Earlier this week a pair of ducks took to swimming about in the main pond, a male and a female. A cute little duck couple.
The next day the female duck was gone and only the male paddled about the pond.
By day three there were again two ducks, except now both were males. Today, day four, the pair of male ducks were still there, swimming and then sunning at the pond.
The way I see it is like this:
The male and female duck had a fight. The female flew the coop–literally–leaving the male behind. The male swam about dejected and lonely. He put out a call to a buddy and was joined by him the next day. The buddy lent a sympathetic shoulder (if ducks had shoulders) and generally provided support and comfort. By the next day (things move quickly in duck world) the original male duck figured his buddy looked pretty good and they agreed to try an ‘experimental’ relationship.
I expect next week an interloper in the form of a seagull will throw a wrench in the works.
After using Blocks2 for a good long while I felt it was time for a new coat of paint on the website and have replaced Blocks2 with the Rembrandt theme by Tomasz Mazur. In terms of layout I’ve kept the site pretty much as it was before, right down to using the same header image (which will eventually change) but the body font is now the warmer but still very readable Georgia and the header font is Oswald, one of Google’s web fonts which has a classy modern look to it.
So far I haven’t messed with any CSS directly so I’m still using the parent theme but I expect to be mucking about in it soon enough so I’ll create a child theme to do that. While I never had to worry about changes overwriting the custom work I did to Blocks2 (since it was never updated) that could potentially be a problem with Rembrandt.
For comparison and archival purposes, here is a shot of the modified Blocks2 theme I was using previously:
Blocks2 blog look
Now I am back to the usual problem of generating worthwhile content.
