Among the annoyances of using a PC is the “Floater” — some weird graphical artifact that sticks on the screen like a spot on your retina after you stare at the sun too long. I’ve had two in the last day — need to reboot to clear them, but I’m literally too busy to even do that.
See it? “New_england_map_1677?”
Here is again
It’s one of those, now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t things and it is driving me nuts.
Ford: Car owners are pirates if they distribute pictures of their own cars – Boing Boing
Fester points at this legal head-scratcher on Boing Boing.
“Josh sez, “The folks at BMC (Black Mustang Club) automotive forum wanted to put together a calendar featuring members’ cars, and print it through CafePress. Photos were submitted, the layout was set, and… CafePress notifies the site admin that pictures of Ford cars cannot be printed. Not just Ford logos, not just Mustang logos, the car -as a whole- is a Ford trademark and its image can’t be reproduced without permission. So even though Ford has a lineup of enthusiasts who want to show off their Ford cars, the company is bent on alienating them. ‘Them’ being some of the most loyal owners and future buyers that they have. Or rather, that they had, because many have decided that they will not be doing business with Ford again if this matter isn’t resolved.””
I’d send 8 x 10 glossies of laptops, keyboards and towers to Lenovo’s fans if they wanted to have a calendar printer. Better yet, go to our Flicker stream and take what you need.
Going to the registry of motor vehicles to renew the registration of the boat trailer, receiving a new registration and plate decal and finding the plate has fallen off somewhere — probably on the boat ramp. Have sticker, have registration, have trailer, have no plate.
Note to self — when braising beef short ribs in three tablespoons of extremely hot oil, do not, repeat, do not attempt to introduce said ribs to said oil by hand as they stand a chance of falling from fingers to oil from a height of six inches, causing a molten lava splash; which, upon contact with self’s face, yields utterly gruesome Rotten.com-style wounds about 48 hours after the event.
The ribs — cooked according to the recipe in the Balthazar cook book — were worth the burn(s).
Who Invited the Dog? – New York Times
Among the ranks of dreaded house guests — essentially anyone with a food-phobic four year-old who will only eat “white” food (spaghetti with butter, rice, pizza with no sauce) — is the visitor-with-dog (which applies to no reader of this blog who has been to Morningwood ((ancestral Churbuck manse)) .
Anyway, in the tradition of killer quotes, here is why I miss being a newspaper reporter:
“And the term “family member†should not be used lightly. Ari Henry Barnes, who works in a New York law firm, is so devoted to his cat, Romeo, that he wipes the animal’s behind every time he does “a stinky boom boom.â€
Trying to do an hour long call and a person near and dear to me decides it is time to impart important news over the phone. Call waiting kicks in on the cell phone. Always annoying. I hit ignore and 10 seconds later the home phone kicks in. This is one of those wireless base station set ups with four handsets floating around the house (and never one around when you need it).
I put the cellphone on mute, answer the home phone to shut it up, and hiss “I am on an important call. I will call you back.” I hang up on the person (my wife). She calls back. The house starts ringing like the belfry of Notre Dame at noon on Sunday. Blood pressure gets to aneurysm levels. I answer and hang up in one quick sequence of button pushing.
It rings again.
I need a master cut off switch, a big throw switch like in a Frankenstein movie, something I can heave amidst a big ball of sparks when I want to be alone ……
Now I have to mend fences with the wife or face divorce court for scroogish behavior.
No, I have installed the 1995 Hypermail BBS theme on top of WordPress. Something hiccupped somewhere and now I can’t see (you may be able to see) the blog in anything other than HTML 1.0 formatting. Oh well, too slammed to go root around in the CSS I can’t understand.
more posts later. snowstorm on the way — I guess Cape Cod’s farewell to the storm that messed up the midwest. No snow days for the work-at-home.
CapeCodTimes.com – DA: Body in net was buried at sea
Backstory — early this week a commercial fishing boat pulled a body up in its nets about 20 miles east of Cape Cod, called the Coast Guard, and brought the body ashore for identification. Identification was performed and yesterday the district attorney said the corpse was one of two Bay Staters buried at sea in recent years, and this body was one of them (buried in 2001).
Images of a canvas-wrapped corpse, with a ballast stone at its feet, sliding off a plank and from beneath a flag, down to Davy Jones’ Locker …
Chilling if you think about it. Me? I hope to be cremated and scattered on the sea myself (I have my own elaborate ritual planned involving a bluefish blitz), but slip me over the side to become crab food? The creepiest part — especially for the poor fishermen clearing the net, was this:
“The corpse was in good condition, according to Walsh, with skin and face still intact. The only thing missing was a foot, he said. “I cannot believe it was in the water for six years,†Walsh said.
“O’Keefe said the circumstances of the burial were such that it is “very understandable†that the body would be in good shape. He declined to disclose any more about the circumstances of the burial out of respect for the family’s privacy. “
I feel for the family. Having one’s loved one exhumed in such a way has to be very difficult. One would assume a burial at sea is a very final act. Now they have to do it again.
Here’s the Navy FAQ on burial at sea.