Look! There is a thing!

08:41 am - Welcome and Links

10:41 am - Too cute (if you like kids)

.
A couple of days ago I asked, Do You Know This Vid? I got a couple of things wrong -- the little girl's hair is light brown, not blonde -- but fayance kindly pointed me to the correct site and video. Unfortunately, it didn't allow "cross-domain access". Does that mean I have to be a member of Facebook? I'm not.

But, with a title, I could search Youtube, and found it quickly. Mila talks (the title under the other vid-page) took me to a page of this little girl's discussions about life. The specific vid I wanted was Traveling disasters by two year old Mila.

This little girl is obviously bright, very verbal, quite opinionated (but what little kid doesn't have strong opinions? <g>), and extremely expressive; she's a hoot to watch.

There are several others; Cindy and I will watch this afternoon.


Y'know, it occurs to me... this is the kind of child authors are thinking of when they write a kid into fanfic. *waves to Aly* There are children at the high end of the curve, whose mental and verbal expressions seem two or three -- or even more -- years older than their chronological age. Those of us who work more often with "average" children -- or even those striving to reach average -- may forget that such standouts exist. (More than a few times I've conducted a speech test with a child who seems stupendous -- he/she is answering every question, and I'm sure they will hit standard scores of 12's or 13's, but when I score it, they're only reaching 9's and 10's. I've worked with below-average children so long that my perceptions of "average" are skewed.) But, yeah, the above-average kids are among us, and who can fault an author for putting them in a fic, if they want to include a child? After all, most of our heroes, in fic, movies, or TV, are considerably above average; may as well let our OCs -- adult or child -- have something approaching parity with the leading characters. <g>
.

Posted at Dreamwidth; please comment there --
https://starwatcher.dreamwidth.org/459584.html
.

12:01 am - Do You Know this Vid?

.
I'm trying to find a video on youtube, for which I do not have a name. Cindy opened it on her facebook page and showed it to me. I'd like to show other people, but on facebook it didn't show a name or a link so I could search. It went thusly:

A little blonde girl is sitting in a big easy chair, describing an experience. Her speech is not always clear; there are captions to help us understand her.

She explains that she was riding on a plane, and the lady in the seat next to her kept talking. "She was a real chatty Cathy." The lady asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. "I don't know; I'm only two!" The girl wished the lady would quit talking. "Then the miracle happened! I pooped in my diaper. After that, nobody talked to me anymore."

Those quotes may be a word off, but they're pretty close. I've tried searching, but the terms are too broad to find it. Has anyone heard of this or seen it and can toss me a link? I'd love to bookmark it.

Here's the DW link; please comment there.
.

12:59 pm - Am I more aware, or more jaded?

.
Y'know, I've seen various posts complaining about fanfic authors' competence (or lack of) in crafting a "suitable" blurb to draw readers into their story; such post float around in various corners of the 'net.

My reaction has always been, "But - but - but... the blurbs for profic aren't much better. And that got me to analyzing them with my beta eyes. Does the blurb contain a breathless question? The answer will always be 'yes'. (Can she escape...? Will he find...?) We know that; we're reading to find out how it occurs, so why ask?

If the blurb doesn't ask unnecessary questions, it exclaims over simple, mater-of-fact statements. Samples from recent Book-Bub offerings: "Thus begins a rip-roaring tale of mishaps and misunderstandings!" and "A complete trilogy of spellbinding epic fantasies!" Sorry, blurb-writers; adding an ! does not make a simple statement exciting! (See what I did there? <g>)

But I growl my biggest growl when the main characters are either "hot" (if male) or "gorgeous" (if female). What earthly difference does that make to the worthiness (or not) of the story to be read? Consider the following --

Sizzling-hot FBI agent Jake Carlisle is in trouble and on the run. To save himself and an injured child, he kidnaps nurse Samantha Edgars. Can he keep her safe… and gain her trust?

Why does it matter that this agent is "hot"? Trick question; it doesn't. Would the story be less worthy if he was an ordinary-looking guy? Trick question; it wouldn't. It's just... I have long objected to covers with scantily-clad women; now I am developing equal objections to covers with bare-chested men. And there are quite a few of both types that show up on Book-Bub; I'm quite likely to pass on the book without even checking it out. Bad Linda! And I know that authors often don't have much input when the book-cover design is chosen. Still... there are plenty of books to read that don't offend me at first glance.

As for the blurb above, I'd write it this way -- "FBI agent Jake Carlisle is in trouble and on the run. To save himself and an injured child, he kidnaps nurse Samantha Edgars. Now he must keep her safe… and gain her trust to save them all."

But the cover doesn't offend, and I can set aside the "hot" and the question. Checked out the book; it looks good, has good reviews, and is free, so I grabbed it. I'll probably enjoy it... when I read it sometime in the next few years or so. So much fanfic, so little time; my fic-to-book ratio is still about 10:1, despite the ease of books-on-iPad.

Comment at DW: https://starwatcher.dreamwidth.org/458842.html
.

10:47 pm - I coulda been a contendah!

.
Or, in this case, a science teacher.

I work with a sweet little boy who is very verbal. The output is extensive, but the input seems difficult for him. Example...

On Monday, the first thing he walked in my room, he said, "Miss Linda, how come when my sleeve gets in water, my arm gets wet?"

"Because your shirt soaks up the water."

"Oh. What's 'soaks up'?"

Pause for a moment. How do you explain 'soaks up'? The thing is, we shouldn't need to explain the idea; most children observe the interaction of water to fabric/sponge/whatever at a very young age and develop a gut-level understanding of what 'soaks up' means.

I immediately discarded the idea of trying to explain with words and tried to figure out a way to demonstrate. Ah! I keep paper plates in the room (for lunches that might overflow in the microwave), and I always have a glass of water to drink, and paper towels to clean the therapy table. (I wipe it with alcohol between sessions).

So... I poured a little water onto a paper plate, folded the paper towel several times along the long side to present a concentrated surface, and dipped just the corner into the puddle of water.

"Look! See the water climbing up the paper towel? See it going up? Water follows water."

"Can I do it?"

So I cut off the wet end and gave him the paper towel, which he duly dipped into the water and watched it absorb upward as I repeated, "See? Water follows water." Then I cut off the wet end again, and we repeated the cycle twice more.

As I threw the last soggy bit in the trash I said, "Okay, time for speech-work," and we went on with our normal activities. But as he walked out the door 20 minutes later, he was reminding himself, "Water follows water. Water follows water. Water follows water."

<g> I enjoyed science classes... well, chemistry, biology, and geography. Physics wasn't fun, but that was a less-competent instructor, I think. Regardless, I think my creative spark arose from years and years of explaining things to youngsters -- simplify, simplify, simplify!

Just wish I could do it all. *checks my credentials* Nope; still only human.

Automatic cross-posting isn't working. Please comment on the Dreamwidth post.
.

05:03 pm - Consider the Pun

Generally speaking, puns don't get no respect; many people seem to consider puns a very low -- or juvenile -- form of humor. But I enjoy a good pun. Partly, it seems to one of the few forms of humor that don't "pick on" somebody -- blondes, Aggies, various ethnicities. Partly, my dad started training me to like puns very early --

"Say two."

"Two."

"Say two."

"Two."

"Say twain."

"Twain."

"Say two-two-twain."

"Two-two-twain."

"Very good. When you're older, I'll teach you to say 'locomotive'."

11:19 pm - Now I'm hearing voices

.
Just two lines of dialog, between Spock and Fraser.

"Illogical."

"At first glance, it might appear so. But I have found that such seeming implausibility often leads to surprisingly effective results."

08:41 pm - Fanfic is eating my brain

.
I didn't mean to just stop writing fanfic several years ago. But I was posted at a different school, with more students, that necessitated more prep hours for lesson plans. At the same time, the school instituted Medicaid billing (several hours a week,*spit*), and our IEP 'season' shifted from 2 months in the spring to spread out over the whole year. I seem to be in a continual state of testing / writing reports / getting ready for IEPs / attending IEPs -- as well as trying to maintain a consistent speech schedule.

But I didn't stop reading fanfic. Last year in particular -- I think my most stressful year EVER -- chain-reading fanfic kept me functional, but fanfic has been my go-to comfort blanket quite some time.

ANYway, when Sally MN mentioned that she'd never seen "Due South", I just had to give her a little tidbit that might nudge her to looking into it. As I described it, it hit me...

Y'know... it just occurred to me that Fraser has a lot in common with Mr. Spock -- the not-quite-getting-it as he dealt with American (Earth) society, so different from his experience in the Northern Territories (Vulcan), the unflappable disposition, the adherence to calm logic...

Oh, gee! I wonder if there's any fic where Fraser meets Spock; with Jim and Ray (either version) looking on with exasperated amusement.

10:32 am - Book TS-connection

.
Once I fell for ebooks via a kindle app on my laptop* and then my iPad, I signed up for BookBub. Right now, my finances are kind of tight, and 99% of the books I buy are free, so I look extra closely at the titles with $0.00 underneath.

This morning, a book titled The Rock Child caught my eye. The blurb read, "A “wonderfully wild” adventure (Tony Hillerman) from a Spur Award–winning author: On the way to California, a Shoshone boy known as the Rock Child teams up with a Tibetan nun and a famed explorer to find his place in the world."

Intriguing... but I always check readers' reviews before I decide. The first one read,

"This book is a first person account of a perilous journey taken across the wild west. What makes this book unique is the company the teller keeps. A half breed of unknown origins is the teller, and he is in the company of a Tibetan nun whom he has fallen in love with, and a spy for the British--who's secretly practicing a 'heathen' religion! If you like westerns...try this one! It's a western with a twist!"

10:21 pm - Am I indecisive, or just being a Pisces?

.
Isn't there something about Pisces having a dual nature? The sign is two fish, after all. Of course, those two questions aren't mutually exclusive...

On another site, the 'question of the day' was, "What is your happiest memory?" I wrote,

I have a tie --

1) The time I had an actual lesson riding sidesaddle (which I'd wanted to try since forever). That lesson lasted 90 minutes -- practiced walking, trotting (took quite a bit of body retraining to do it properly), then when I was allowed to urge the horse forward into a smooth, flowing, ground-covering canter... I laughed aloud for sheer joy. It was wonderful.

2) The time an assistant scout-master gave me canoeing lessons. When he deemed me ready to solo, I headed across the (fairly placid) river, but into a moderate headwind. My forward momentum was so slow that he shouted an offer to get the motorboat and rescue me. I declined and forged onward; it was a triumph to reach the opposite bank. Again, my joy was expressed in bubbling laughter. Later, I traveled downriver, under the highway bridge lined with dozens -- maybe a hundred or more -- swallows' nests. It was quiet and peaceful, despite the birds darting about, and felt so secluded.


Just as I hit post, I realized... whenever anyone asks about a 'favorite' or a 'best', it seems like I always have two. There's a questionnaire I'm supposed to fill out for school (not a clue why), with such questions as favorite color? (blue or green), favorite book? ('Little Britches' by Ralph Moody and 'Love and Peanut Butter' by Leslie Conger. Or maybe 'Moon of Three Rings' by Andre Norton and 'Agent of Change' by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.), and favorite movie? (Charlotte's Web, animated version, and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Or maybe The Earthling and Mama Mia.)

Of course, I don't remember the last time I watched an actual movie, and book-reading is also pretty rare. They didn't ask, but I could answer favorite TV show (The Sentinel and NCIS and Stargate Atlantis... oops! Can't even keep it to two, this time). Book-reading has mostly been replaced by fanfic-reading, but I couldn't EVEN limit favorites to two. Maybe... possibly... twenty authors -- in each fandom. (But don't hold me to that.) Although I rarely wear jewelry, I do have a favorite gemstone -- opal or tiger-eye. (Ha! You thought I'd finally settle on a single one, didn't you?)

So, I dunno... am I just a Pisces, or terminally indecisive, or merely wishy-washy?

Oh! There was one time I was absolutely firm in what I wanted -- I insisted that my new (in 2010) truck must be white. And have a standard transmission. But I'm not sure I've had a solid "1" decision since then. Kind of scary, isn't it?

This rambling treatise brought to you by too many late nights and early mornings, which tends to make me spacey.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

04:48 pm - Free e-books

.
I think it was Sally -- maybe? -- who posted a link to Faded Page.com, a Canadian site that has provides free downloads of old books in the public domain.


Me? I'm busily saving some of my teenage favorites in my Kindle. Links here, in case I lose them --

Jim Kjelgaard -- author of Big Red and so many other "living with nature" stories --
http://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Kjelgaard,%20Jim%20(James%20Arthur)

L. M. Montgomery -- author of Anne of Green Gables, and other, series --
http://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Montgomery,%20L.%20M.%20(Lucy%20Maud)

Dorothy L. Sayers -- author of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries --
http://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Sayers,%20Dorothy%20L.

Neville Shute -- author of "A Town Like Alice", which I loved. Looking forward to other books --
http://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Norway,%20Nevil%20Shute

Other available authors are C.S. Lewis, Zane Grey, Ian Fleming, and hundreds I've never heard of -- but maybe you have. Have fun browsing!
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

04:09 pm - Gorgeous wallpapers

.

Found this site a while ago -- WPNature.com -- hi-res nature-themed wallpapers for "Background Desktop, Tablet, and Smartphone". About 20 categories to choose from (EG sunset, ocean, forest, waterfall, winter, etc.), or by popular tags, or most viewed, or whatever. Site claims that images are in public domain, and free for use. Lots of potential, here -- just about any nature scene you might want for background on icons, pages, whatever. Enjoy.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

08:57 pm - Fascinating series - "Punishing Eve"

.

Some time ago, I followed a link to the first of a series of in-depth blog posts by Janet Wise. I found it riveting. She seems to have done a lot of research and connected a lot of dots to explain how the beginnings of early civilization moved from a general belief that, under a Mother Goddess, women and men were equal, and society didn't have the extremes of wealth and poverty we see currently, with an elite class keeping others under their thumbs -- "...for thousands of years, these matriarchal communities that would become the ancestors of Western civilization lived in relative peace throughout the southeastern European continent, into the Mediterranean to Minoan Crete, to Anatolia... -- to the decidedly unequal system we have today, where the moneyed white men maintain a system that actively works against equality for anyone other than them, with particular animus directed toward women.

Engrossing as the series is, I find it somewhat of a heavy slog (critical thinking is not my forte). I have one page open on my desktop for a week or so as I dip in and out; one of these days I'll have an update and that page won't open and I'll forget how to find the series again. So I'm putting all the links in DW, and figure other people might be interested. (For the record, Linda, you're on Part 7.)

Part I: Punishing Eve — The Strange Marriage of the Christian Fundamentalist Taliban, the Catholics, and the Calvinist Wall Street / Corporate Elite       "This is the first of a multi-part series in response to the all-guns-blazing attack on women taking place across the south and middle of America. This series focuses on the region from where the roots of Western Judaic and Christian civilization of today are traced: the northeastern, eastern, and southeastern region surrounding the Mediterranean from Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, (western) Iran, and Egypt). A similar evolution and change happened in the (farther) East that became dominated by Islam and Hinduism.
          Note: The powerful white men in America who control the Christian fundamentalists are very similar in the ideology and misogyny toward women as that of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

( The links to the other 21 parts are back here.Collapse )

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:31 am - Harry Potter fans ALERT!

.
Today only (Fri, Nov 25), Amazon has Harry Potter collections on sale. All eight movies -- DVDs are $25, Blu-Rays are $35, and the combo sets are $89. Spread the word.

.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

08:28 am - For Disney-lovers and those shopping for children

.
Today only, Amazon has a bunch of Disney stuff on sale -- toys, clothes, etc. Maybe some ideas for Christmas? Pass it around.


Backpacks -- here.

Toys -- here.

Books -- here.

Boys' clothing -- here.

Girls' clothing -- here.

Men's clothing -- here.

Babies' clothing -- here.

Baby essentials -- here.

Jewelry -- here.

Home -- here.

.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

11:14 pm - Every solution creates another problem.

.
A while back, I mentioned in passing that I had installed previously-unneeded lights in some areas of the barn,so that I could see to shovel poop when I get home after dark -- a couple of times a week during the winter months. I'd never needed the extra lights because my first horse never pooped in the barn area.

A couple of years ago, I finally bought an actual horse-trough -- an oval 6' long by 2' wide by 2' deep. THAT was the solution to needing to carry water in the winter when the hose is frozen, and the bathtub held only enough water for 2(ish) days. The big trough holds enough water (150 gallons) for 7 days; the daily temps will usually warm enough to thaw the hose sometime during that week.

But the big trough created an algae problem. Of course, I had to scrub algae from the bathtub, but it was a bathtub -- a size I could handle. The big trough has a drain on the side (not bottom), which sits about an inch up from the floor. When the water has drained as much as possible, there's still a 6' by 2' by 1" amount of water. I don't know how many gallons but, combined with the weight of the metal trough, it's heavy. Wrestling/dragging it away from its location, tipping it over to dump out the rest of the water, then crawling inside to scrub the algae was a major undertaking -- and certainly not a task I wanted to face in mid-winter. I started looking for some other solution.

( As always, I get long-winded.Collapse )

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

06:27 am - Horror fans alert!

.
Today only, Oct 11th, Amazon has a set of 8 classic horror movies</a> on sale for $40. Movies are Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolfman, Phantom of the Opera, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, in DVD and Blu-Ray. According to the reviews, these have been cleaned up, and look very good.

Well, I'm blank on how to embed a link, and I need to eat to go to work. Here's the raw link --
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B008FL8OTK/ref=amb_link_493310602_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=hero-quick-promo&pf_rd_r=H73WQ9FWCKXS0C4AR0M2&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=2649533222&pf_rd_i=B008FL8OTK

LOL, these are the movies all the school-kids watched, and talked about during recess, and I could never join in because Mom wouldn't let me see them. To this day, I can't watch even the mildest amount of 'horror' in a movie; my theory is that I didn't get my childhood "horror inoculations" that these movies would have given. I have no idea if I would truly have found them too scary (about 9, 10 years old), or if I would have scoffed because I already had a well-developed streak of cynicism. OTOH, I had big crushes on the Lone Ranger (but the horse was the draw), and Sky King (plane ditto), and Mike Nelson (from Sea Hunt, scuba diving ditto), so who knows?

As always, feel free to pass on the information on your own pages, or in communities where it might be welcome.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

11:15 am - Easy kitchen tips?

.
Came across these Youtube handy tips. They looked like they worked, and I want to remember them and pass them on to friends. Descriptions provided for those who have to watch their internet minutes.

Peeling potatoes the easy way -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV_3xpnUnHQ

(Boil potato. Drop done potato into ice-water bath for five seconds. Grab potatoes around the middle with both hands, pull hands part toward potato ends. Skin slides right off.)



Peeling garlic the easy way -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d3oc24fD-c

(Smash garlic apart by slamming heel of hand down on it. Brush all the bits into a big mixing bowl. Hold another big mixing bowl over first, to make a giant kind of container-ball. Hold edges together firmly, shake vigorously for 20 seconds, letting garlic bang around inside. When finished, all the peel is off the garlic.)



In other news... Dreamwidth really needs to devise a way that we can post mentally while doing other tasks. I have so many posts I want to make -- 8-foot snowdrifts (literally!) around my Dad's place last winter, adventures with banana bread and cranberry bread, tadpoles, hay calculations, school, scheduling woes, stress relief, detente between my horses and the neighbor's dog, winning over N's new dog. And I think about them while I'm working in the barn, or sorting clothes, or cooking... but then I have to sit down and do homework, or whatever. If only the 'thinking about' translated to keystrokes on the page.

On the plus side, I'm caught up with my testing reports, and only 2 weeks behind on my medicaid billing. (Down from 4 weeks. Historically, I've been as much as 10 weeks behind, so this is huge progress. Bleah.)
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

08:52 am - Bourne fans, ALERT!

.
Today only, August 1st, Amazon has all four Bourne movies for $20. Note, this is only in Blu-Ray, in case you have only a standard DVD player.

Pass it on to anyone who might be interested.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

08:53 am - MASH fans ALERT!

.
Today only ... July 27 ... Amazon has complete series for $60. On iPad, can't make link, but it should show up is you search Amazon for MASH or deal of the day.

Pass it on to anyone interested.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:46 am - Need help w downloading and DVD-ing TV shows.

.
Maybe the vidders can tell me how?

I have Dish Network. For many shows, I make homemade DVDs from my Dish DVR. If I like them well enough to buy the commercial sets, waiting a couple of years brings the price down. Others are for Cindy, who can't afford to buy all the commercial sets.

The problem is the short-season shows that seldom / never repeat -- like USA or CW originals -- and that I missed getting because of weather conditions or equipment malfunctions.

Years ago I missed the "Danny and Steve trapped in basement" episode b/c of power outage. I paid the 99 cents to buy it from iTunes... but was unable to burn it to DVD. Grrr... but at least the major networks do show reruns, and I grabbed it a few months later.

So, Dish changed the CW channel; I'm going up to my folks' every other week, and didn't notice. Consequently, I've missed three episodes of Beauty and the Beast -- which is Cindy's favorite show, and who knows if the episodes will ever air again? Last year it was three episodes of Royal Pains, which is her next favorite show, same problem.

I absolutely do NOT mind paying a fee to download the shows if I can then burn them to DVD. Is there such a site? Or do I need to buy / download a specific program?

BTW, streaming anything is out -- my net connection is a hotspot, inclined to be wonky and unreliable. I can't depend on it not dropping during a 42-minute stream.

Do you have any advice on where to go / what to buy? I'd like to get the missing eps on DVD, and clear off the backlog on my DVR.

If you know someone who's real savvy about this stuff, feel free to point them to this post. It's so frustrating that, with all the tech options available, it still doesn't operate as we want it to.

ETA: maybe

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6ZP3K26020&cm_re=usb_video_capture-_-15-158-282-_-Product

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4P03NC5789&cm_re=usb_video_capture-_-15-306-013-_-Product
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

10:01 pm - LOL at me.

.
So... after all my stewing about cranberry bread recipes, I made one loaf with cranberry juice and one with orange juice. Both seemed successful, although I liked the way the OJ version turned out a little better than the CJ version.

Then I had four of my friends taste both versions. Verdict: both were good, but they all had a slight preference for the OJ version because of the contrasting sweet/tart flavors.

Obviously, the only way to know which to make was to call Dad and ask him which he'd prefer. His answer was, "I don't know; I've never had cranberry bread."

!!! Remember I wrote, When he mentioned cranberry bread, his eyes kind of lighted up, and his voice was kind of nostalgic. I guess not. I've always been lousy at reading body language, but that takes the cake. (Or loaf, in this case.)

He decided on the OJ version, because when he "used to make" cranberry sauce, he used OJ in that recipe. (Must be wa-a-a-ay back when; certainly not since I was old enough to remember things.) Then he said, "But you don't need to go to all that bother." I said, "Too late; I already have all the ingredients."

At least with the OJ version, I can lick the beaters and bowl when I'm finished; it's yummy!

= = = =

In other news, we had one of our desert downpours earlier this evening, and now the frogs are in full-throated chorus; I'm going to have tadpoles! Problem is, I'm heading to Clovis on Monday. Hope they'll be hatched by tomorrow evening, so I can put them in the little catch-basin I've made; it's deep enough to keep them in water till I get back on Friday. All the other spots dry up so quickly; I've seen what looks like plenty of water in the morning be completely gone by evening.

Tomorrow's going to be busy -- banana bread, cranberry bread, laundry, packing, tadpole hunting... I lead such an exciting life! <snerk>
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:54 pm - Advice about cranberry bread?

.
For years I've made pumpkin bread at Christmas and Thanksgiving. (I have a recipe that's very moist, almost cakey.) A couple of years ago, Dad asked for extra, explaining that he'd gotten addicted to it. Well, I'll do anything for my dad -- been a Daddy's girl since I learned to walk -- so I've made it a point to take four loaves up to Clovis any time I have enough time off from school -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and a couple of times during the summer.

Before school ended this year, Dad confessed that he was kind of pumpkined out, and asked if I could make banana bread. I never had, but assured him I could find recipes on the internet. I selected a couple, made a each into a test loaf, and Cindy and I had a tasty time determining which was most suitable. <g> Took four loaves up last week. Dad was appreciative, although we both agreed that we'd like a little more banana flavor. (I bought some banana flavor extract to add to the next batch.)

While we were discussing ways to get more banana flavor (how much banana can I add before the loaf won't bake because there's too much moisture?), Dad started speculating. Is there such a thing as apple bread? Apricot bread? Each time I Googled 'x bread recipe' and proclaimed, "There are recipes for that!" (Blueberry, applesauce, potato, cherry...) When he mentioned cranberry bread, his eyes kind of lighted up, and his voice was kind of nostalgic.

So, I'm making cranberry bread to take when I go back to Clovis next week.

Problem -- I do not like cranberries, so I have no personal taste memory of what I'm aiming for. Cindy has (enthusiastically) agreed to be my taste-tester, but I'd like to whittle down the dozen recipes I've collected to two strong possibles to try. To that end, I hope someone out there has made (or even tasted!) cranberry bread, and can answer some questions.

1. Every recipe I've found -- except one -- uses orange juice and/or orange zest as part of the ingredients. So... is the bread suppose to taste kind of orangey, with the chopped cranberries as accent pieces?

2. Is the zest necessary? I can put in orange juice, no sweat,but I don't want to fuss with zesting an orange. (Also, I don't eat oranges, so don't want to waste the fruit after I've removed the peel.) Would adding an extra ounce of orange juice work?

3. One recipe calls for 1/2 cup cranberry juice, which makes sense to me -- it's supposed to be cranberry bread; surely the bread should have a cranberry flavor, as well as the fruit. But even it calls for 1 tsp of orange zest. *sigh* The internet tells me it can be bought in bottles, like other spices, but I don't have confidence that the local stores will carry it. I'll check tomorrow.

Anything you can suggest that I don't even know enough to ask?

Now, if you'd like to check out my pumpkin bread recipe, I'll put it behind the cut.

( This way to the goodies.Collapse )

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

12:06 am - Damn stupid MS Word!

.
I'm writing summer-practice tips for some of my students. Spent an hour explaining in careful detail, and using Google to translate into Spanish for a Spanish-speaking mother. The student is working on the rolled "Spanish-r". I can do single words, but am not fluent enough (at all!) to form sentences off the top of my head. She'll have to do sentence-practice with her family.

I'm very cautious when struggling to express myself clearly -- I save after every paragraph. Seriously -- Every. Paragraph.

So, an hour of work, 5 paragraphs, I go to save after the last paragraph... and Word is completely frozen. NOTHING budges it. I try copying to paste in another doc, and that doesn't work. Finally have to force-reboot the computer, but that's okay; when I open the doc, I'll still have paras 1 - 4, and only need to recreate the last one.

Only, I don't. The page is blank. NONE of the saves I did actually -- you know -- saved. Not only that, a story I had open and was editing -- and, yes, saved when I moved from it to the homework doc -- didn't have any of my edits saved.

Don't know what the hell happened, or why, or how I can prevent it in future. If anyone has any ideas, pass them on. In the meantime, it's past midnight, and I can't start again; need to sleep. GAH!

I'm old enough to remember when computers were going to save us time and cut down on paperwork. Still waiting...
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

06:22 am - Futurama fans, ALERT!

.
Today only (Apr. 13th), Amazon has the complete series of Futurama on sale for $49 (down from $200).

I've never heard of it, but I'm sure there are fans out there -- so if you know any lists or forums that would like to have this information, pass it on.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

08:11 am - Monk fans, House fans, ALERT!

.
Today only -- April 5th (and while supplies last), Amazon has a big sale on the complete series' sets.

Monk is $53 for complete series, House is $63 for complete series.

(How odd that they feel like those two titles should be advertised together. Both mysteries, yes, but such very different styles in the main characters.)

*shrug*

Feel free to pass the info to any lists or communities that might be interested.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

11:13 pm - Sooo out of it!

.
I know my birthday is coming. Just today, one of my students proudly proclaimed that their birthday is Saturday, and another was excited that their birthday is Monday. Mine is Sunday; we had a nice bonding moment about the closeness of the celebratory days. (And they boggled at how old I'll be; 64 is older than their grandparents.)

When I got home, after reading a story and feeding the animals, I powered up the laptop and checked to see what new emails had come in. There was an announcement from Dreamwidth that "starwatcher's birthday is coming up." I looked at it and thought, "Who? . . . Oh, yeah; that's me!"


LOL, I do something similar most years. Recognize my birthday is on its way. Then, on the day of, it completely slips my mind. Several years ago, I got to Cindy's about 1:30 P.M. She said, "Happy Birthday!" I swear; I stared blankly for a few moments while I tried to figure out what she meant. Then -- "Oh, yeah. Thanks!"

<g> I've been celebrating my birthday whenever it was convenient since my college years, sometimes as much as two months later. But I never thought I wouldn't recognize my own pseud on the birthday greetings.

Yeah. I really need to have a less stressful therapy schedule next year; I seem to be in a permanent brain-fog. But summer is coming -- two whole months to decompress. And my tomato seeds are starting to sprout, so that's exciting. Meanwhile, fanfic is my security blanket; thank you to all fic writers near and far.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

08:28 am - Angel and Buffy fans ALERT!

.
Today only -- Feb. 20 -- Amazon.com has the complete series of Buffy for $50 (down from $150), and the complete series of Angel for $40 (down from $100).

Feel free to pass this info to any communities or lists for these fandoms; I don't follow these shows, so have no idea where the information will reach the most people.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:26 am - Sentinel DVDs on sale.

.
For those who couldn't really afford the price-tag when Visual Entertainment offered The Sentinel complete series -- *raises hand* -- it is now on sale for $75.00.

So spread the word -- especially to the lists; I have trouble working them ever since Yahoo "upgraded".
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:14 pm - If you like fantasy genre...

.
My sis just sent me a rec of a new TV show. She says --

Last night I caught the premier episode of The Shannara Chronicles on MTV. The TV series is based on Terry Brooks' Shannara books. Season One is based on The Elfstones of Shannara.

MTV seems an odd choice to produce a fantasy show, but they did a fantastic job. I was totally blown away. The settings, storytelling, actors, and special effects were amazing. And it's not too late for you to catch the premier episode. If you check your local TV Guide listings -- http://www.tvguide.com/listings/ -- you'll find that the first episode is reprised several times throughout this week. Catch one, watch it, you'll really like it.

By the way, here's what Terry Brooks has to say about his experience with turning his books into a TV series. He is delighted with the result and says they actually stuck to the story.
http://www.omnivoracious.com/2015/12/terry-brooks-on-the-shannara-chronicles-amazon-book-review.html

02:17 pm - TV-Detective fans, ALERT!

.
Today only (Dec 29th), Amazon's deal of the day is steep discounts on complete series of Columbo ($42), Magnum, PI ($49), Rockford Files ($60), and Murder She Wrote ($75). Those prices are down from $150, $170, $240, and $200.

Pass it on to any you think may be interested.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:01 am - Blair could write a paper about this...

.
though I'm not sure what slant he'd take. Human response to tragedy (there is no tragedy) and the escalations and reverberations of group-mind-think? The lengths some students will go to, to procrastinate studying for finals? (Suggested in the comments.) Maybe he could do his own study -- plant a dead cockroach in the stairwells of other departments and see if it engendered a similar response. But it happened in the Anthropology department, which well may have skewed the reactions and results.

And now I want to see a TS/SGA crossover, where Blair does plant a dead cockroach in other departments' stairwells, and the one in the Physics department engenders a similar response, and Rodney blows his stack, and Blair starts off all cool and analytical about human reactions to life and death, and then blows his stack about Rodney's denigration of his field of study, and they have a wonderful shouting-match (while John and Jim look on with barely-restrained amusement) and finally become fast friends. Santa? Is it too late to get this in the pipeline?

Regardless; this is the funniest picture-sequence-commentary I've ever seen -- There has been a dead cockroach in the anthropology building's stairwell for at least two weeks. Some enterprising person has now made her a little shrine.

Synopsis: Dead cockroach. Someone makes "her" a tiny paper tombstone with flower. Other someones add funerary gifts and mementos. And more. And more. Someone makes "her" a coffin and places it on a funeral pyre. More gifts, mementos, notes of reminiscence and condolence. Finally, on a predetermined date (which was extended because of "her" popularity), Rosie the roach was cremated in the funeral pyre.

(And maybe I shouldn't use "her" in quotes; maybe someone called in an entomology student and confirmed the sex. But I hate roaches worse than scorpions and, to me, they will always be "it".)

Go. Look. Read. But don't have any food or drink in your mouth while you do.

= = =

And just to prove that my assertion about hating scorpions less than roaches is true -- last Monday or Tuesday morning, there was a very small scorpion in the corner of the bathtub. My current method of dealing with scorpions is to catch them in a plastic cup and throw them outside, into the weeds. But it was only 20F that morning, and I knew it would freeze before it found a good hibernating place. So I left it till I got home from school, when it was 40F, threw it outside then. At least it had a chance for survival, right?
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:24 am - ALERT! If you have young children...

.
... on your shopping list. Today only, (Wed. Dec. 02), Amazon.com has "Melissa and Doug" toys for 50% off. These are toys on the educational end of the spectrum, and very well made. Great deal, if you want them.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

10:20 pm - Come on, Managers! Logic isn't reserved for Mr. Spock!

.
Recently, the local Albertson's -- the store where I do most of my grocery shopping -- was bought out by some other outfit. Some weeks after that, the parking lot was repaved. (I didn't make a connection between the two.) Meanwhile, the store is busily remodeling and renovating, which means it takes twice as long to shop because everything has been moved around. (Experience tells me that, about 18 months after this organization finishes -- just when we're all comfortable with where items are located -- they'll reorganize the shelves again.) C'est la vie; we soldier on.

In the past few years, I've changed my shopping habits somewhat. I go into the store with four canvas shopping bags that I can sling over my shoulders, buy enough to fill those bags, then drape them over my shoulders and walk out to the car without using a shopping cart. I realize now, I've been doing that since the store renovation started; carry everything to the car so I don't have to take the cart back to a holding area.

Tonight I went shopping after my acupuncture treatment. By the time I navigated the store, it was dark and chilly and I was tired and took the easy way out -- bagged my groceries in the canvas bags, but left them in the cart and wheeled everything out to the car. After putting my bags in the car, I started to take the cart to the cart-return. (For my non-USA readers, it's kind of a small corral for shoppers to nest the carts together instead of leaving them scattered across the parking lot.) True, there are always lazy shoppers who don't use the designated area, and leave their carts around willy-nilly -- thereby making some parking slots unusable because a couple or three carts are scattered in that space -- but about 80% of the carts are properly corralled and out of the way.

I headed smartly toward the cart-return, but was unable to find it. Well, maybe I was confused about my position -- wouldn't be the first time -- or maybe they relocated the spaces when they repaved the parking lots. So I'm walking and looking, and looking and walking, and it finally dawns on me... There are NO cart-returns in the parking lot! (There used to be 4.) A passing fellow-shopper confirmed my findings, and said that shoppers now just "leave the carts in the parking lot."

Really? I mean, REALLY?!? With no designated space for even conscientious shoppers to return their carts, the parking lot will soon be a mess of carts haphazardly scattered around; I wouldn't be surprised if every third space -- on average -- becomes blocked.

It blows my mind -- someone, somewhere (who can pass the orders down), thinks it's more logical to have ALL the carts scattered around the parking lot, instead of just the 20% that have been getting in our way up till now.

I've come to realize, over the years, that my idea of logic doesn't necessarily match other folks' idea of logic -- but how can the "bigwig" who thought this up not see the potential for larger-than-moderate chaos? It boggles my mind.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:28 am - Toys for Christmas

.
... or birthday, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever. If you have children on your giving-list, Amazon is having a one-day-only sale today, Nov. 11th. There are four pages of toys from Alex that are half-price.

Happy shopping.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:42 pm - Question for iPad users

.
Okay, the Kindle was a bust. I was disenchanted with it out of the box -- the "bigger" screen was maybe a quarter-inch wider, but much longer than the original. I wanted something that was closer to squarish, like an iPad or a laptop. But I was prepared to put up with it... until it turned out that the new operating system automatically downloads all the books you buy, and there's no way to stop it!! I have to watch my data usage; couldn't afford to have all 116 books download in one gulp. And to add insult to injury -- increasing the font size in the book I downloaded as a test resulted in a jump of at least 5 size-steps, from slightly too small to way too large in one jump. So I packed it up and returned it as soon as I could get to a UPS center.

Then I went to the local Staples to look at their small tablets. I got a Samsung Galaxy Tab A with the assurance I could return it within two weeks if I didn't like it.

I almost gave up the first day, but then reset it to factory default and started over. I've managed to download and use Kindle on it, and to send one of my story documents to Kindle and read it there. The sticking point is saving stories from AO3 and reading them offline. It downloaded the epub versions just fine, but would only let me read them if I was connected to the internet. (Kind of defeats the purpose!) This afternoon, I spent an hour in email chat with Samsung support with absolutely 0 results -- the man would NOT get it through his head that I wanted to save a WEBPAGE on the device (not an SD card, thankyouverymuch, and not a Kindle book) and be able to read it OFFLINE!

I finally quit in disgust and drove to Hobbs to consult the "experts" at Staples. *sigh* The man tried, I'll give him that. We did manage to save AO3 stories to be read offline, and to make folders to store them. BUT I can't read from the folders -- the Tab says I have to be online. I can read offline from an app called 'playbook' or 'bookplay', or something like that, but there's no way to organize the files in there. I'd never find what I wanted to read with NCIS and SGA and TS all jumbled up together. The computer department manager spent two hours with me to figure it all out -- the last half hour searching for an app that would let me organize those files. No go.

On top of all that (or maybe under it, I don't know), the galaxy is so touchy that it takes several attempts to get Kindle to show me its menu, or whatever I want. I thought the Kindle response was irritating on the iPad -- it's at least 5 times worse on the Galaxy.

So, since I have the school iPad to experiment on, I thought I'd give that a try. If it works, I might get a mini-iPad; it's the right size, though the cost is a real sticking point. So, I went to AO3 and downloaded a story. The iPad told me I could read it in my iBooks... but I can't find it anywhere.

So if you use an iPad for reading, here are my questions:

1. What format should I download in for iPad -- HTML, ePub, PDF, or MOBI?

2. Once downloaded, how do I get it to show up in iBooks?

3. Once it shows up in iBooks, is there a way to organize the stories? I would like folders and sub-folders, but I'll settle for just basic author or fandom folders if that's all I can do.


I know -- I KNOW a reading-only device won't be as flexible as my PC. But I don't think being able to organize my files in folders or "collections" is too much to ask. And for all those idiot developers / programmers who think 100 stories (or way, way more) don't need to be organized... knock your own head with a hammer and join the real world!
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

06:13 am - BBC Comedy fans ALERT!

.

For today only (Sept. 25), Amazon has steep discounts on a spate of British comedy.

Complete Fawlty Towers $15, down from $50.

"Ultimate" (?) Black Adder $21, down from $80.

Mighty Boosh Special Edition $22, down from $80.

Complete Red Dwarf $43, down from $200.

"Definitive" (?) Father Ted $24, down from $80.

Complete To the Manor Born $24, down from $80.

The Young Ones: Extra Stoopid Edition (?) $25, down from $60.

Complete One Foot in the Grave $38, down from $180.


The quotes and (?) mean that I didn't check what they're offering; you'll have to click through to see what "definitive" or "ultimate" entail. But I know there are many fan favorites in this list. Pass it on to your friends, and happy shopping!

.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:56 am - Question for Kindle Users

.

I finally broke down and got a Kindle app on my laptop, and on my school iPad, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. I especially appreciate tucking the iPad into my shopping bag to read a NEW book while I'm standing in line, instead of pulling an old book from my still-packed boxes. (If they were on shelves, it would be easier, but that won't happen soon.) And even if the hard books were easily accessible, I've resisted buying new books in the past few years because No - Place - To - Put - Them.

So, yay for virtual books that take up only Kb instead of shelf-space! I have to sit on my hands to prevent myself buying all my old favorites RIGHT NOW, because I still need to pay for groceries, electricity, gas, insurance, house, car.... (Liaden Universe, I hear you calling!)

But the school iPad is turned in over the summer, so I'm finally considering buying a Kindle. I picked the right time -- Amazon is introducing an 8" Kindle for $149. But before I take the jump, I need your advice.

Can I download fic from AO3 and save it to Kindle? If so, how? (I think so -- I've seen other people mention it -- but I want to be sure.) Much as I love delving into new books, I still want my fanfic handy. I actually get a bit nervous when a fanfic source is not close, which... I probably shouldn't examine too closely.

This option isn't necessary, but it would be the cherry on top -- is there a way to save my Word documents in such a way that I can load them onto Kindle? I have quite a few stories that I've pasted to Word to edit spelling and punctuation for re-reading; it decreases future reading irritations. <g> I'd rather read those versions than the originals.

So, any experience, hints, tips, advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

08:20 am - Blair's met many people with 1 or 2 enhanced senses...

.

I submit Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs for consideration. Enhanced sense: hearing. No matter that he is nowhere in sight when his team is discussing something off-topic, when he strides in from wherever, he always has a comment that indicates he knows exactly what they were saying.

Of course, Gibbs wouldn't be helpful toward Blair's research; he'd be even less responsive to questions and/or tests than Jim ever was!

Plot-bunny, anyone?



This nugget brought to you by NCIS marathons on the USA channel and WAAA-A-A-AYYY too many hours of planning and writing schedules... and I still have several hours to go.

There must be a better way (she grumbles, for the umpteenth time in 10 years....)

.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:14 am - Small potatoes, but still irritating.

.
I've discussed dealing with a blocked salivary gland here in Feb 2011, and here in July 2011. So, about 5 months between the 1st two episodes, a third one that was mild enough I didn't record it and now, 4 years later, another bad blockage.

It started Sunday night. At least, recognizing what was happening, I massaged it, and expected it to be gone by morning. (Should have read my DW entries sooner than this morning.) It wasn't; in fact, it seemed a little larger, because it was pushing on my ear canal (maybe?) and giving me an earache. Not having read the July entry, I was a little concerned that it hadn't cleared up by morning, and would have gone to the doctor except that it was a holiday -- of course! Although, the swelling continuing till morning wasn't new, I'm pretty sure the earache was; at least I didn't mention it in the previous entries, and I probably would have -- it was a low-level nagging pain, but constantly aggravated when I moved my jaw to talk or eat. So if it hadn't been a holiday, I'd have called the doctor to try to get in, if only to prevent later complications.

(I don't know how it is in the rest of the civilized world but, here in the USA, even if you have insurance and a regular doctor, calling and getting a same-day appointment for any problem is difficult, because they're booked so tightly. You usually get responses like, "Well, we can maybe fit you in tomorrow," or "We don't have an opening for three days." Yes, there are emergency rooms and/or walk-in clinics, but [a] you don't get to see "your" doctor, and don't know if the information will get to them, and [b] you pay about three times as much for being seen, even if you have insurance.)

In the end, it was a bit scary (I think because of the time lapse since the last one; I'd forgotten how it would go), but no big deal. However, recording for next time I need the information:

1] Started Sunday night while eating. Started massaging the lump after each bite; it didn't get as large as the first incident.

2] Accompanied by a low-level but sharp, nagging earache.

3] Continued through Monday. Ate lunch and supper, still needing to massage the area after each bite.

4] Back to mostly normal by Tuesday morning -- lump gone, earache gone.

5] However, Wednesday morning there is residual soreness in that spot on the jaw and in my eardrum if I press/manipulate the area. Since I didn't make note last time, don't know if this is a new development.


You know, this "getting old" thing sucks. Granted, the alternative isn't much fun, either... but I'd sure like to turn back the clock to about 45 and hold there for about 45 more years till I kick off. No acid reflux, no carpal tunnel, no blocked salivary glands, more energy, more strength. Of course, 35 would be even better, but I always feel like I shouldn't dream too greedy.

Okay, wasted enough time. Gotta make those schedules.

ETA: 10/13/15 Another small one at lunch. Very small -- thought I was getting a toothache, ate lunch anyway, didn't realize it was the blocked gland until I reached up to see if I could massage the pain away. Very tender, and I realized -- oh yeah, this started after I ate a couple of chips while lunch was cooking.

So now this is barely a month after the last incident. *sigh* They're getting closer together. I don't like this progression!

Aaaand... another minor blockage at supper.

ETA: 10/16/15 and 10/17/15 -- minor flares at lunch and supper both days, needing some massage, but no major swelling. Odd that it didn't happen at breakfast either day. I eat a frozen fish plank which isn't very sweet, but the salivary glands ARE working. Swelling at lunch on 17th started with dry nacho chips, so sweets of themselves aren't a trigger, though the symptoms seem marginally worse if I'm eating sweet -- candy, apple, etc.

10/18 -- minor flares at lunch and supper AGAIN! Oddly enough, does not last the whole meal; the area is mostly back to normal about 2/3rds through, though some soreness remains.

1/13/16 -- minor to moderate flares at lunch and supper. Sore enough to make eating uncomfortable, but not causing the earache.

1/14/16 -- moderate flares breakfast, lunch, and summer. Eating slightly painful, with off-and-on mild earache. Needed quite a bit of massage to reduce the lump at lunch.

6/10/16 -- moderate flare at supper; mild massage took care of it.

6/11/16 -- no breakfast moderate flare at lunch, but somewhat worse, needing vigorous massage. Moderate flare at dinner, also needing vigorous massage.

6/12/16 -- moderate flare at breakfast. Massage eventually led to drainage, but mild flares at lunch and dinner.

6/13/16 -- mild flares all three meals.

6/14/16 -- very mild flares breakfast and lunch, mild to moderate at dinner.

6/15/16 -- very mild flares breakfast and lunch, mild to moderate at dinner.

7/3/16 -- very mild flares lunch and dinner (no breakfast).

7/4/16 -- mild flare at lunch, slightly more at dinner (no breakfast).

7/6/16 -- mild flare at lunch, slightly more at dinner (no breakfast).

7/7/16 -- mild flare at lunch, slightly more at dinner (no breakfast).

Through 7/18/16 -- mild flares every damn time I eat. Not enough to necessitate massage, but slight pain in my ear / eardrum (right side) every time. This is two solid weeks; it's getting annoying, to say the least.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:09 am - Game of Thrones fans -- ALERT!

.
Today only -- Mon, Sept. 7th -- Amazon.com has a box set of Season 1 & 2 of Game of Thrones for only $40.

Some caveats: The set is only in Blu-Ray. Also, the usefulness of the discs is marginal -- once stopped, the disc starts again from the beginning. The menu for special items wastes time by listing items that are on other discs -- you wait for the item to load, and the blurb then tells you to insert another disc.

There may be others; I read only a few reviews. However, reviewers were very pleased with the quality of the pictures and of the extras. If you need/want to include these seasons in your collection, you may judge them worth the hassle.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:38 am - Night Vale and/or My Little Pony fans -- ALERT!

.
One of the people on my reading list -- Naamah_Darling -- does amazing work refurbishing and customizing My Little Ponies, and a friend has joined in the art. Her friend -- The Actual Bear -- had finished a Night Vale-inspired Little Pony. I don't know the fandom, but it looks delightful. She is auctioning the pony an eBay. You can see pics of the pony, then read the details and find the eBay link here.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:33 am - Man from Uncle fans - ALERT!

.
Today only, Aug 29th, the complete series of Man from Uncle is $60.00 -- down from $200.

Pass it on; I don't know who reads my LJ/DW that's a fan of this show, but I know you're out there. Enjoy!
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

10:36 am - Hyperbole, much?

.
I enjoy the 10-minute commentary/weather on the radio as I drive to work. The radio guy and the weather guy have a few minutes of shooting the breeze before actually making the weather forecast. Today they were talking about the upcoming remake of "Magnificent Seven", complaining about the lack of the Western genre on current TV, and then back to the movie, a large part of which will be filmed in New Mexico.

The radio guy said, "Of course! Just look at the wide-open spaces as you travel around the state. There's no place that you can't just point the camera, and the scenery is perfect for a Western." Then my mocking little internal devil's advocate pops up and says, "Uh... the middle of Albuquerque? Or Santa Fe?"

Okay, enough wasting time. Back to making a schedule. <groooannn>
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

08:09 am - Privacy in Windows 10

.
I've decided to mostly ignore Win 10 for a couple of months; there's always some remaining bugs for them to work out. But my sis emailed last week -- what had I heard, should she upgrade, etc. (She hasn't had the benefit of fandom's example; you've all taught me -- by example often, and specifically in some cases -- "Google it!")

So I spent about 45 minutes that day, link-hopping through Win 10 reviews. Most were very positive. One pointed out that Win 10 doesn't have some specifics that used to be standard. The one I remember is that it won't include a media player -- Win 10 users will have to find/buy/use another. Err... do they think people don't use the media player? It may not be the most flexible app, but I need one -- sometimes I show snippets of whatever to my students -- and VLC stretches things to look unnatural on the screen.

Closer to home, my friend N's husband's cousin was a beta tester, and she said he loves Win 10.

But a couple of days after Win 10 debuted, someone on my reading page (Andrew Ducker, I think, but not sure), supplied this line -- Here are the privacy settings you should check in Windows 10. It makes no sense to me now, but I put it here so I can go through the recommendations step-by-step when I do finally install Win 10 -- and so you can do the same.

And, since I don't know how long the article will be accessible, I'll put the text ( behind the cut.Collapse )

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

03:28 pm - Category: Can't Win for Losing

.
I live in southeast New Mexico, part of what is known as the "High Plains". The land around here is very flat and very high (3600 ft), with very few trees. What I'm getting at... if you live out of town, as I do, there's diddly-squat to break the force of the wind. We think we know how strong the wind gets, think we've battened down everything that can fly, and the wind still defeats us.

( Cut for length.Collapse )

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:15 am - Psych fans alert!

.

Amazon.com's deal of the day is the complete series of Psych for $75.00 (down from $200.00). That's today only -- July 26 -- so pass the word to anyone who might be interested.


ETA: Sorry, forgot the link.

.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

06:03 pm - Firefox -- one step forward, one step back

.
So, I finally had time to sit down this afternoon and fuss with the Firefox address bar, and it not showing my most visited sites. After a lot of searching and Googling, I found a Firefox "refresh" button. It worked! All of my previous "most visited sites" showed up. AND! The app to make the "location bar" look like like the older version -- single line, not expanded -- works again. (It didn't in the version before this one.)

I had titled this "two steps back", because not all of my addresses showed -- 8 max, when I had previously changed the option to 24. But I couldn't find where that option was; then, after another 15 or 20 frustrating minutes, I found the clue to point me in the right direction. I thought it was under "options", and it was -- but under the Add-On options. (Tools - Add-Ons - Extensions - Options)

BUT! The "new look" is tabbed, even though I have all the "tab" options unchecked. In other words, I have the menu selections -- file, edit, etc. at the top. Below that is the page title -- In this case, "Post an Entry" in a curvy up-thrust like a file-folder tab. Below that is the address/search bar.

Oddly enough, like most of us, I read from the top down. I want as little "garbage" at the top of the screen as possible -- it gives me more reading space, and allows me to keep my head in a less-bent position to read. And there is no reason for the menu commands and page title to be on different lines; there's plenty of room for both on the same line.

<sigh> Firefox touts how "customizable" it is... but they sure as hell don't make it easy, or obvious. Off to search some more -- but if anyone knows the answer, feel free to offer a helpful pointer.

EDIT: Maybe this -- How to hide the tab strip when you only have one tab (I figure if I put all this stuff here, it'll be easier to find next time... and there WILL be a 'next time'. *starwatcher grumbles in her beard*

<sigh> At least the 'tab' look is gone... but there are still three rows at the top. There should be a way to condense it to two rows, dammit!
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:48 am - ALERT! for cat owners

.
Passed on from Akablonded on Senad:


Rachael Ray Nutrish cat food recalled

"Some varieties of wet food have too much vitamin D, company says"

"BOSTON —Several varieties of Rachel Ray Nutrish wet cat food have been recalled because they could contain elevated levels of vitamin D, which could lead to sickness and seizures in pets."

"The recalled products, made by Ainsworth Pet Nutrition under the Rachael Ray name, include:

      Paw Lickin' Chicken & Liver (2.8 Oz.) UPC: 071190007032 Best by: Aug 17, 2015
      Ocean Fish & Chicken Catch-Iatorie (2.8 Oz.) UPC: 071190007049 Best by: Dec. 1, 2016
      Ocean Fish–A–Licious (2.8 Oz.) UPC: 071190007056 Best by: Dec 1, 2016
      Tuna Purrfection (2.8 Oz.) UPC: 071190007063 Best by: Dec 1, 2016
      Lip Smackin' Sardine 'N Mackerel (2.8 Oz.) UPC: 071190007070 Best by: Dec 1, 2016
      Chicken Lovers Variety Pack (12 Pack Of 2.8 Oz. Cups) UPC: 071190007773 Best by: Dec 1, 2016
      Ocean Lovers Variety Pack (12 Pack Of 2.8 Oz. Cups) UPC: 071190007780 Best by: Dec 1. 2016"

"Symptoms of excessive vitamin D consumption in cats usually develop within 12 to 36 hours after ingestion and may include vomiting or diarrhea, increased thirst and urination, and muscle tremors or seizures."

"Any cat experiencing those symptoms should be taken to a veterinarian immediately, the company said."

"For more information, customers can contact Ainsworth 877-650-3486 or click here -- http://nutrish.rachaelray.com/news "

"Consumers with questions about the recall are encouraged to contact Ainsworth's Consumer Care Team at 877-650-3486 or visit www.nutrishforpets.com/news "

"Representatives will be available from 8:00 a.m. — 9:00 p.m. ET Monday thru Friday and 8:00 a.m. — 8:00 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday."


So -- I never heard of this brand of pet food, but that doesn't mean someone in LJ/DW doesn't use it, or know someone who does. So, feel free to pass around this info.
.

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

09:08 am - Newsflash! Not everyone can send/get texts.

.
*grumble, grumble, spit & hiss* Damn corporations that provide no alternate means of contact.

A friend on LJ is being harassed online so much that she's moving to Twitter and Facebook.

I won't do Facebook -- the pages are too frenetic for me to handle.

So, I figured I'd sign up for Twitter -- maybe follow her and @POTUS and @DHewlett.

( Long, drawn-out explanation.Collapse )

Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -

Current Mood: frustrated