Monthly Archives: July 2014

Al at Number One, Wrong Number Hijinks, Remixed News, White Flags Flying, and Galaxy Hopping to Kill Hitler

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This entry is part 67 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

The feed is a little light today. Mostly because so much of the news was so heavy. I didn’t feel like sharing it.

That and I was busy. But mostly the too heavy thing.

Some days, there’s just so much bad news going around–both in the world at large and among the people I know–that I can’t in good conscience add to that. So, instead you get a wacky plot where Harrison Ford and James Earl Jones travel through time and space to kill Hitler (as Indiana Jones and Darth Vader). Or pit bulls cuddling on a couch. Or 20 Simpsons quotes that get used by people all the time.

And not a whole lot of actual news.

That news is out there, everyone is seeing in their feed already. All the death and imminent destruction promised by actions happening in the Middle East and Ukraine. All the political wranglings that serve mostly to dehumanize people with problems (or just differing opinions) so some privileged politico of mogul can maintain their own bit of superiority.

You really can’t escape it.

No matter how much you want to some days.

The least I can do is not throw it at you.

Because then I’d have to look at it all the more when you comment… usually with more sense than anyone making the news does (which is the one good thing about it all).

Anyway, here’s what passes for today’s feed…

Good Ol’ Al, Water Woes in Detroit, Old Blood, Workplace Hijinks, and Some Good Ideas

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This entry is part 66 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I’m really not sure where my evening went.

I got home and sat down in front of the computer. Watching the piled up YouTube videos from my feed, and started working on a few different things. At some point I know I made it through another episode of Salem on Hulu…

But, really, I don’t have a whole lot to show for whatever work I did. That’s one of the more frustrating things about the work I do. The progress is sometimes utterly invisible until right near the end.

Then everything suddenly pops right out.

It’s a bit disheartening at times and utterly frustrating when trying to prove that there’s actually things being done (to yourself or others). Sure there’s code and a few adjusted things here or there, maybe a new piece of content (Hey! That’s something! Right?)… but, ultimately, nothing that looks all that impressive.

Regardless of what effort was put into it.

All the planning and experimentation and research just kind of is. Not flashy, not always in a form that anyone would actually understand even if you could show it to them. But it’s there… and its important… and, some of it, at least, is now more done than it was before.

I think.

This is a problem that I think is somewhat unique to writers and coders. Visual artists can end up with sketches and piles of crumpled paper covered in attempts. People building physical objects end up with scrap material and prototypes and callouses. Those of us who just type? We have hours of “lost” time… and then we have a finished, working, project.

Usually just in time to have revisions that need to go into place.

Come to think of it, my day at the office was exactly like my evening at home.

~sigh~

I think I may need a vacation…

On with the feed…

Affordable Housing, Role Playing Games, Legal Wranglings, Inspiration, Tragedy, and Everything Since Friday

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This entry is part 65 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Yeah, apparently I’m skipping Friday updates more often than not. I should stop that. Actually stick to my own schedule.

One of the big topics that ended up being discussed today in the stream was the whole rich/poor divide and the idea of affordable housing… spawned by an article about a new building in NYC that’s going to have a separate entrance for it’s less privileged residents (who they agreed to take in so they could get a tax break, mind you).

The topic of “affordable housing” comes up frequently here in Maryland. Particular in Silver Spring. The issue is a little different than it is in places like NYC.

Here we have the problem of people building a lot of expensive housing that is then bought/rented by people who mostly work and play in DC. This leaves people who work in Silver Spring (which has a wide diversity of jobs and pay rates) unable to afford to live there (in some cases), pushing them farther out where public transportation is less viable, leading to a bit of a traffic problem and a bit of a parking problem (which leads to all sorts of other problems… like local businesses being able to do solid business because people can’t get to/part at them easily or actual residents not being able to find parking/get around easily during the day).

A number of members of the community here are very interested in trying to build and maintain an actual community. One that’s vibrant at all times during the day…. not just during rush hour. What’s been in place has been slowly slipping away as development has boomed and busted a few times. (Most of what’s being built are one or two bedroom apartments/condos… not conducive to people with families, encouraging more transient people who go elsewhere to put down actual roots.)

It’s an interesting situation. A problematic one. And one I know I haven’t come up with a good solution to (mainly because I’ve got some very mixed feelings about all the affordable housing solutions I have seen–some of which were laid out in the article that Nancy shared–but some of those concerns are at odds with my desire to have poor people actually treated as people, since I’ve seen that be one of the best ways to help someone get back on their feet).

Needless to say, a number of people disagree with me on a lot of those points.

I’m okay with that.

Like I said, I don’t have an answer, so the discussion obviously needs to keep going on somewhere.

Here’s the extra long feed (which contains a few interesting discussions or starting points, so you should check it out)…

Heroes (in real life and otherwise), A Bad Way to Kill a Spider, Questionable Editorial Decisions, and Just Plain Bad News

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This entry is part 64 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

The week continues to be… odd.

The rapid oscillation between lull and panic at the day job just kind of left my head spinning. I’d been hoping to make a bit of progress on some other projects, but one just refused to die quietly. I’m sure it will resurface again soon enough… likely right when I need to be doing something else.

That lead to the continued trend of just zoning out when I got home.

So now I’m not at all where I want to be on any number of non-day-job things (including clearing out my lingering TV episode queue from Hulu and other places). Doing nothing ceased to be actually relaxing when it became the only thing I could manage to do.

And, based on the news reports coming through various feeds, it looks like things are heating up again between Israel and the Gaza Strip area. That’s unpleasant, to say the least. Especially when, a few thousand miles away, a civilian plane seems to have been shot down by Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine.

I really don’t want any more large scale wars for a little while (at least). We still haven’t finished pulling all the way out of the last bunch of messes in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere that we were involved in.

Anyway, there’s some good news and fun stuff in the feed, too… but.. well.. yeah…

Cultural Perspective, Political Wranglings, a Really Big Hole, and Some Humor

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This entry is part 63 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

My brain is feeling particularly fried and unfocused tonight… bit of a busier day at work than expected plus not enough sleep last night leads to that, I guess.

So the “additional content” part of the feed is going to be even more lame than it’s been lately.

Sorry ’bout that…