Archives for July, 2005

Somethin’ ain’t right

Just noticed that my last post looks really strange when viewed at Planet Ars Lounge. What’s up with all those different levels of text in the blockquote? And why is the final EDIT: text so tiny? I blame Bill Gates.

07/28/2005 | web | Comments Off

Faulkner in the White House; WWII news

Fans of Faulkner and fans of writing mocking the current US administration should probably click this link instantly.

“Georgie s going to walk down to the Oval Office with me,” Dick said.

“I just hope you got him all good and ready this time,” Rummy said.

“Hush now,” Dick said. “This aint no laughing matter. He know lot more than folks think.” Dick patted me on the back good and hard. “Come on now, Georgie,” Dick said. “Never mind you, Rummy.”

The Mainichi Daily News isn’t a good paper. It’s hard to call it a paper, some days. But its website is running some great content now: scanned front pages from 60 years ago. Interesting stuff on the brave soldiers fighting for Nippon, and the enemy naval force appearing off of Shikoku, and the battle on Puket (sic) island. The most recent article (7/27) is right here. The full-size scan is available here, and you can get the one from the previous day at this link. Worth taking a look at (as are all the photos available on this page).

EDIT: Just noticed that the 7/28 front page is also up.

07/28/2005 | web | Comments Off

High places

Here’s an interesting read: In 1878 a man climbed Mt. Shasta and stayed at the summit for nine days. An early experiment in high altitude acclimatization. (Of course there were Tibetans living at higher altitudes than that, no doubt, but you know.) A quick but colorful excerpt:

On the 24th of July we left Sisson’s Hotel to make the ascent. The day was a delightful one, and we were all in fine spirits. The outfit which I proposed taking up weighed 750 pounds, and had to be packed from the snow line to the summit on the backs of 20 stout Indians. Besides the packers there was the usual number of squaws, papooses, and lean dogs — the indispensable impedimenta of Indian braves. If there is anything outside of these household chattels that a brave in this neighborhood prides himself on it is his linen duster and jaunty straw hat. The former, to be stylish, must reach to within 6 inches of the ground, and for the latter a broad blue or red band is most desirable. Nearly every one in the party was mounted, and it was a somewhat noisy company, in which the voices of the braves and squaws were mingled with the crying of papooses and the barking of dogs, so that no one sound was clearly distinguishable. Our route was over a beautiful smooth mountain trail, which at first wound about in splendid forests of sugar pine. . . .

I’ve done some hiking and climbing in my days, but unfortunately I’ve never enjoyed the services of “20 stout Indians.” Just imagine how much Kirin you could carry up to the high Yatsugatake camping spots with that sort of crew!

07/27/2005 | life | Comments Off

Oreck Vacuums suck.

I’ve never heard of the Oreck brand of vacuum cleaner until today. But after the last 30 or so comment spam messages I’ve had to zap, I’ve decided that I will never patronize that manufacturer.

oreck_spam.jpg

07/22/2005 | web | Comments Off

Fix? Buy new?

Grr . . . Canon called. The labor comes to ¥13,000 and the parts to ¥18,000, bringing the total damage to something like 75% of the price I originally paid for the camera. If I do want this thing it almost makes more sense to buy another one new just to make sure absolutely every part in it is in perfect shape.

I’ll think about it tonight and call them again tomorrow . . . what to do, what to do. (I guess the other option is to get the broken one back, open it up, and try to wash out the salt damage at home. It can’t get any more messed up, right?)

07/21/2005 | tech | 1 Comment