|
Monday, November 26, 2007 Revisionist History...Lucas Style  Celebrating the almost-true life of a scruffy-looking nerfherder from Illinois who became our greatest president. From the creator of PVP, and available at his store at Half-Pixel. Labels: Fun on the Web, Sheer Awesome, Star Wars ------------------------------------------------
Sunday, November 25, 2007 Mister Bo Jango  I signed up for yet another social networking tool: Jango.Jango is a streaming music radio station network that operates in a similar fashion to Pandora, although with a much more mainstream bent (Pandora's music genome relates artists I've never heard of to my preferred musical tastes, while Jango limits the artists to more recognizable artists). Jango differs in that it allows your radio stations to be accessible to outside listeners, who can then listen too and influence your rotation of songs by voting on favorites which then have increased play in the rotation. It's a lot of fun and gives you yet another alternative for your listening pleasure during the work day. Check out my radio stations at Soundwave's Landing Page. Labels: Fun on the Web, We Who Are About to Rock ------------------------------------------------
Thursday, November 22, 2007 Ask Not For Whom the Songs Taps Songtapper says it can discern from the tapping of the space bar the rythym of a song and then can identify the song from its database. It would be awesome if it worked, especially for those songs that stick in your head but you can't quite remember the lyrics. Bur in my try it went 0 for 6. Presumably it learns from user input, but I don;t think I'd have to patience to teach its it every song I know. Maybe it's a good thing Songtapper doesn't work. After all, we all know where this kind of technology leads:  ------------------------------------------------
Children of Men  Children of Men is one of the most grounded science fiction films I've ever seen. Science fiction always has a tendency to predict revolutionary technological leaps far and above our own - in the latest Planet of the Apes, we have military training space stations in orbit around the gas giants, and in Blade Runner, we have mile high skyscrapers, androids and flying cars, and all before 2030. Children of Men, however, keeps the technology level pretty consistent with today, which makes the story and its themes all the more accessible to today's audiences, because it is all too comfortably familiar.The film is taut and thrilling, with some amazing camera work that adds to the suspense. The director makes extensive use of long takes that follow the characters, and the lack of breaks in editing add to the tension (there's one sequence in the middle of the film using a car that is unlike anything I've seen in film before). Children of Men hits all the right notes and is an excellent film that I'd recommend to everyone. I'd less recommend the documentary that accompanies the film on DVD, in which professors from around the world only briefly touch on the themes of the film, but instead paint a dismal, weary world view. Although some of the points they make are salient, they don't really offer practical solutions, so it all comes off as nihilistic. ------------------------------------------------
Pursuit of Happyness  There's something about this movie that keeps it from connecting the way I wanted it to. Perhaps it was the omniscient narration and splitting sections of the film into chapters - it kept me from really connecting and empathizing with Will Smith's character. About the only scene in the film that gave me that emotional connectivity was in the subway bathroom, and that's 2/3 of the way through the film. As good as Will Smith is in playing to an audience normally, this one just misses the mark, and one can;t help but ask why?Labels: My Cinematic 2 Cents ------------------------------------------------
Saturday, November 17, 2007 Five Islands: Socotra  Parker and I love to explore Google Earth. It's an excellent way to explore the world and get children to see the distances between places, and its inclusion of photos from Panoramio allow them to see exactly what its like in other parts of the world by looking at photos of everyday life taken by normal people. Parker and I especially like to look at the islands around the world, and we've found five that especially capture our interest.  First on our list is the tiny island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean, located between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian penisnsula. Socotra is known as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, given its diversity of animal life and relative isolation from the rest of Africa. The last time Socotra was part of a continental land mass was 6 million years ago when it was part of Gondwana. Many of the plants of Socotra are found nowhere else on Earth, including the fantastic dragon's blood tree. The red sap of the tree was sought after in ancient times as a medicine and dye. Today it drives a nascent ecotourism industry in this country, which until recently was only accessible by boat during the non-monsoon season.Labels: And We Are Rather Puny, Parker, Where in the World ------------------------------------------------
Monday, November 05, 2007 And this is Earth  Blogger has introduced a new toy called Blogger Play. It's a continually refreshing slide show that pulls images uploaded to blogger account in real time. Users can control the speed at which the images crawl and by clicking on an image can open the corresponding blog. The sheer variety of images and graphics uploaded around the world creates a candid and broad view of how the average person (with access to a computer, that is) sees the world. It's incredibly addictive.Labels: And We Are Rather Puny, Fun on the Web, Unbridled Hope for the Future, Where in the World ------------------------------------------------
|
|
Friday, November 30, 2007 Following Up Well, I just got off the phone with Jeff, and Parker is doing so much better. They are moving him up to the main floor out of the ICU, only because he's been there so long, otherwise they might have just released him. He's not on oxygen, hasn't had a breathing treatment since 4 am, and is tolerating food well. Apparently no wheeze either. I wish they would just release him, but I also don't want a relapse, especially with Kira sick at home. ------------------------------------------------
Thursday, November 29, 2007 To Expound. Parker is sick ... now. Wasn't yesterday. Woke up at 2 am said he had a sore throat. Listened to lungs, and they were clear. Woke up at 7:30 am, and he was wheezing. Used rescue meds, and wheeze was gone. Started a slight wheeze in lower right lobe, had some diminished breath sounds on left side. Gave 1 of the two puffs of rescue meds, and all sounded better. Went in for Kira's followup/Parker's appt (we called to add Parker into the check-up) at 10:30a, and he threw up on way, and didn't really respond to two DuoNeb treatments, sats started to decrease on room air, put on O2 and trip in ambulance (our first time!!) to Pediatric Hospital. Sat in ER from noon to about 5:30p, on continuous albuterol nebs which sometimes seemed to help sometimes seemed to do nothing. Sometimes his lungs sounded completely clear, then congested with wheezing. No method to the madness. IV, steroids, magnesium, and more O2. Now in ICU, great sats, but still has wheeze, great inspirations, not so great expirations. Seems to be "the mystery" .... fun, fun!! NOT!  So yes, it is true that Parker wasn't sick yesterday. Oh, and he had a chest Xray, doesn't have pneumonia, so it is likely that Kira actually didn't either, just a viral bronchitis. ------------------------------------------------
Update. Kira? All better. Parker? In ICU. Freaking sucks. ------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Pneumonia Kira has decided that for her first illness, pneumonia is a good one. She just had a slight cough yesterday, and now has decreased breath sounds, and lots of congestion, sore throat, fever, stomach pains, and lots of coughing. So, she received a big long shot of antibiotics in her thigh (IM) and an albuterol breathing treatment to try to break up the congestion. We go back in the morning for a check up. Dr. Wyatt says he doesn't think this is contagious, which after a 4-day ICU stay for Parker just last month, let's hope not!! ------------------------------------------------
Thursday, November 01, 2007 Kira Kitty and Park Ranger Parker Last minute costume changes made this a stressful night, but I think it came out fine! Parker, originally planning to go as Robin Hood, changed his mind to go as Luke Skywalker again when I was getting materials to make costumes. As luck would have it, right before going out, we couldn't find his black dance pants needed for his costume, so he agreed to wear the great Park Ranger costume his Oma and Grampa brought back from Alaska for him. Presenting Park Ranger Parker:  Kira was originally going to go as Curious George to Jeff's Man with the Yellow Hat, but decided she didn't want to do that either, on the day we went to get outfit supplies. Instead, she decided she wanted to be a cat. We convinced her to go as a black cat, as I knew we had black dance pants for her, just recently hand-me-downed from a friend. Introducing Kira Kitty:  We found the top at the Goodwill -- it is originally one of those skin-tight shirts, sized 10 girls (can you imagine??), and the tail is a boa, tied around her. The ears -- well, they were supposed to be something easy, and instead they took quite a while as I ended up making a head piece instead of just ears. Still, it made her look more like a cat, no? Hopefully you can't tell what it is made from ...  For Jeff, we abandoned previous plans for him to go as Little John to Parker's Robin Hood and also the Man with the Yellow Hat to Kira's Curious George. So, it so happened that his coworkers were going as Alice in Wonderland and as "Evil Alice", so he and I brainstormed, and decided to make him the 3 of Clubs from the Queen of Hearts' deck of cards, notorious for "Painting the Roses Red". Considering it was done in record time, I think it came out great!  With all of the craziness, we actually had to wake Kira up to go trick or treating, and both kids were exhausted just walking around our neighborhood. So, it should have been a sign when we started out like this:  ------------------------------------------------
|