Tuesday, February 14, 2006  

Happy ♥Valentine's Day♥ and all! I took most of the day off from work, and we went out to Hanada Hibachi for some more of those amazing Udon noodles. (I was amused to find that when I typed "Hanada Hibachi" into Google, the first hit was right here.)

(And I was at least as amused to find that like the fifth hit was a page on the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors site that wasn't actually there anymore, but whose Google-cached copy revealed that it had contained a copy of the text from that week's weblog entry also. Why the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors had a copy of one of my weblog pages on their site I cannot imagine. Odd place, the Web.)

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, in Lego! And the Sims 2 version!

Which reminds us that (as a result of some spirited discussion on that Sims 2 site I'm always hanging out on) we've been looking into the current state of theories about early (before say the invention of the cell) replicators. Here's a recent Natural History review, a relevant Wikipedia page, a paper I haven't finished, and some book I might get someday, and also a book I just ordered.

Cool stuff, pre-cellular life. I ought to break out those old programs I wrote a million years ago that simulated evolution in various toy universes. Computers are way bigger and faster now; maybe I could breed some superintelligent machine overlords or something.

Talking about evolution and stuff reminds us of Kansas, which has recently given us yet another reason it should secede, or at least get a new legislature. Sheesh. (In case that's a Salon Premium Only page or anything, see also Slate.)

And on a related subject (heh heh), Apple Discontinues Sales To Stupid People:

Just one day after learning that it is the target of a lawsuit claiming the iPod might one day possibly under certain circumstances maybe hurt some guy in Louisiana's ears, Apple has decided to discontinue sales to stupid people.

Ten ways Dick Cheney can kill you.

A perceptive reader writes:

That's interesting about your Ajax Toy being used as a community garden for metababy. It's sort of like dropping one's children off at the highschool dance then finding out they went to a rave instead.

A poignant simile. Here's another gift from (via) the toy, very appropriate for today:

She had had a good lover once. One of those gum sweet lovers that strokes your cheek softly and says Good Morning Baby but she couldn't believe her luck and tested the spell and it broke like a sugarbowl flung at a burglar who turns out to be your brother sneaking in late. No more gummi lover and yes she did cry, but not right away.

We've really got to reprint them all together sometime. Then once the author becomes famous e can mention us on Oprah, and we'll be famous too!

Sunday, February 12, 2006  

So the bit of universe that the teevee is calling the Blizzard of '06 gave us a mere fourteen or so inches of snow. Due to M's forethinking, I went out yesterday and got our usual bagels and lox and stuff, so we got to have them as usual this morning (sitting around on the big bed watching Spongebob and stuff) even though the driveway and cars weren't functional until sometime in the afternoon.

I'm pleasantly sore and pretty tired after manhandling ("manhandling") the snowblower up and down the driveway, and shovelling out the various places it can't reach. Lots and lots of snow, but mostly light and dry and powdery. I also got to walk across the neighborhood with the little boy to drop him off at a friend's house for winter playing (not that he actually needs an escort anymore, but it was nice to walk out into the weather and the day).

A reader writes

Are you watching your Ajax toy?

Definitely! It's been delivering all sorts of good stuff lately. This one:

How had she become this solitary traveller? Well it seems she had a natural talent for alienating lovers, husbands, friends. But not fathers... he'd merely died. She liked to think she would never have alienated him. He was sort of her hero. He had taught her the importance of keeping your tools sharp and letting the saw blade do the work for you. And how to survive a core meltdown.

not only gives us perhaps a little background on perhaps some of the others, but was also spotted recently on Metababy, which gives one to think.

Maybe we'll post an Ajax Toy Anthology sometime.

Nuns' Bank Account Frozen: Your Patriot Act at Work.

Spam sender name o' the day: "Sheets Jody" (ah, yeah, good ol' Sheets; whatever happen'a' Sheets?) writes with the subject "imply", which is suggestive.

M gave me the Nightlife expasion pack for The Sims 2 back at Solstice (I think it was), and yesterday I finally installed it! (Maxis has come out with the second bugfix patch, so I figure it's pretty well tested by now.)

Nightlife has all sortsa interesting new stuff, including a downtown area (that I haven't actually tried yet), and dates, and new objects to play with and stuff. See The Dream Date (Taylor and Candice have a date at home while the twins are asleep and the boys are at school), and see also this exclusive photo:

of neighborhood matriarch Sally Raptor tentatively trying out her new Electro Dance Sphere in her nightgown. (She had fun on the Easy setting; at the party the next day her daughter Gina, the athlete of the family, really put the thing through its paces.)