I'm a little tardy posting this, but better late than never!
This year, Vicki gave me two old Thor comics (#s 151 & 209) to go with the All Star Comics # 49 from our wedding anniversary, as well as the latest John Irving novel, Last Night in Twisted River. I also received a few candy treats, of which we now have a significant haul squirreled away! As usual, I made out very well indeed! Who says birthdays can't still be fun as you trudge ever closer to the big 5-0?
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Birthday Treat For Me
Apparently, sometime on Monday of this week, Windows Mail decided to change the account information for all 4 of my e-mail accounts to be the same. Since then, every time I've refreshed my in-basket, I've actually been going out - 4 times - to the main account and checking it for mail, with no access to the other 3. Not all that helpful, really.
I thought it was strange that I got so little traffic today, considering it was my birthday. Little did I know that I'd actually received about a dozen e-mails, but almost none of them were to the main e-mail ID. It was only after complaining to the comic store guy about not sending out his "New comics are here!" e-mail today that I discovered there might be a problem on my end.
With the help of Boneman - sending me test e-mails - I was able to eventually track down the bottleneck and fix it. I'm not sure why the application felt it necessary to make that annoying "normalization", but I hope it doesn't do it again anytime soon!
I thought it was strange that I got so little traffic today, considering it was my birthday. Little did I know that I'd actually received about a dozen e-mails, but almost none of them were to the main e-mail ID. It was only after complaining to the comic store guy about not sending out his "New comics are here!" e-mail today that I discovered there might be a problem on my end.
With the help of Boneman - sending me test e-mails - I was able to eventually track down the bottleneck and fix it. I'm not sure why the application felt it necessary to make that annoying "normalization", but I hope it doesn't do it again anytime soon!
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
The Dryer Update
Thanks to those who left comments on the earlier post about our dryer taking way too long to dry clothes, we did several things to address the situation:
Thanks again for all of the great suggestions! You guys are the best, when you put your minds to it!
- First we detached the big pipe at the back and cleaned it out as best we could.
- Then we followed the Man from Mars' advice and washed the removable lint filter.
- Finally, Vicki discovered a big clump of lint in the outside end of the big pipe, and cleaned it out.
Thanks again for all of the great suggestions! You guys are the best, when you put your minds to it!
What 19 Years Of Marriage Is Worth
I'm kidding, of course, as my marriage is worth a lot more to me than a comic book, even one as nice as the All Star Comics # 49 (from the late 1940s) that Vicki gave me for our 19th wedding anniversary yesterday. But it was still pretty special to receive such a outstanding token of her affection, all these many years after we tied the knot as (relative) youngsters. I haven't read it yet, but I'm dying to know how the Golden Age versions of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash think that chiseling a warning into the side of a hill is somehow going to avert "the Invasion of the Fire People!" I don't know for sure, but I suspect there may be time travel involved! (And how exactly did they split the work up between Flash and Wonder Woman, as she's still working on the middle of the message when the whole thing's looking pretty finished?)
Vicki received a couple of books from me, as well as a gift certificate to a favourite gardening centre of hers. Something tells me the timing worked out perfectly for that, as it's absolutely Spring-like outside right now. I don't think she'll have any trouble using that money in the next several weeks!
The Fun You Can Have With Video Games Even Before You Play Them
OK, I realize not everyone has seen Alien eight or nine times, like I have. Some of you probably wouldn't even include it on your Top 20 Movies of All Time list, crazy as that sounds to me. But if you have any love at all for that Ridley Scott classic film, you should really spend 7 minutes enjoying this video of one fan unboxing his Collector's Edition Aliens Vs Predator game. It's worth it for the music alone! I laughed out loud several times while watching it.
Funny Stuff You May Not Know About
Over the weekend, Amazon.com inexplicably listed hundreds of comic book-related items for ridiculously low prices. It was mostly Disney Comics (nee Marvel Comics) material, with items that normally go for anywhere from $30 to $100 appearing with prices of $8.49 to $14.99.
In the Old World, this might have happened, been noticed by the odd person, and then eventually corrected days or weeks later, once someone at Amazon realized that they were losing money on these items. However, in the shiny New World of 2010, Rich Johnston picked up on this glitch, reported it on his Bleeding Cool rumour site as well as tweeting it, and all Hell broke loose. Comic fans by the hundreds or even thousands placed orders, and Amazon was flooded with money-losing sales. This caused them to cancel most of the orders and send apologetic e-mails out, explaining that a mistake had occurred and those items were no longer available (when in fact, they were still being listed, but now at the correct prices). Johnston has even heard, apparently from an Amazon insider, that his site showed up as a bullet point at a high-level meeting held to discuss the matter.
If nothing else, this shows just how different things are now than what most of us are used to. "Viral" is a pretty important adjective to get your head around right now, and it's probably going to get even moreso as we move into the second decade of the 21st century.
In the Old World, this might have happened, been noticed by the odd person, and then eventually corrected days or weeks later, once someone at Amazon realized that they were losing money on these items. However, in the shiny New World of 2010, Rich Johnston picked up on this glitch, reported it on his Bleeding Cool rumour site as well as tweeting it, and all Hell broke loose. Comic fans by the hundreds or even thousands placed orders, and Amazon was flooded with money-losing sales. This caused them to cancel most of the orders and send apologetic e-mails out, explaining that a mistake had occurred and those items were no longer available (when in fact, they were still being listed, but now at the correct prices). Johnston has even heard, apparently from an Amazon insider, that his site showed up as a bullet point at a high-level meeting held to discuss the matter.
If nothing else, this shows just how different things are now than what most of us are used to. "Viral" is a pretty important adjective to get your head around right now, and it's probably going to get even moreso as we move into the second decade of the 21st century.
Monday, March 08, 2010
JMS Doubles Down!
Big, big news in the world of comic books this morning: J Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5 and longtime comics scribe, will be taking over the monthly writing chores for both Superman and Wonder Woman, starting this summer! I'm a huge fan of JMS' work, and will generally buy any comic series he pens, just on spec. To have him working on two of the three main titles of the DC Universe (the other one, of course, being Batman) is incredibly exciting. I can hardly wait to see what he has up his sleeve for the Man of Steel and Princess Diana!
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Earth Needs More Women (In Technical Fields)!
It's been an Oscar tradition for years (decades, probably) to send a beautiful Hollywood actress to host the Scientific and Technical Awards portion ahead of the main event. I always get a kick out of seeing who draws that duty each year - this time it was the lovely Elizabeth Banks, recently seen opposite Oscar co-host Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock - but what really struck me was the shot they showed from the banquet. There's Ms Banks with dozens of award winners arrayed around her... and not a single one of them was female! I think in past years it may have been much the same, which is why a "babe" is usually chosen to do the honours there. If it had been an aberrant occurrence, then it wouldn't be such a big deal. But I saw that image of zero women within a group representing scientific excellence in the motion picture arts, and despaired.
What can we do to get girls interested in Science, Math and Engineering (because it's obviously not happening)? Half of our population is non-male, which means we're under-utilizing our brain potential as a society if significantly less than 50% of the species is pursuing those disciplines, as seems to be the case. We need to correct that. We need to encourage girls to be "technical" instead of assuming that it's a male field. As a Math tutor, I've come to believe that just about anyone can be strong in Math through to the high school level at least, given the right environment, inspiration and encouragement. But as soon as a youngster starts to struggle with this Math concept or that one, some parents immediately say, "Well, I guess he/she's just no good at Math" and consign their child to a future that doesn't include any of the technical fields mentioned above. It seems to happen more with girls than boys because of long-held prejudices that stopped making sense (if they ever did) once women entered the work force big-time in the 60s and 70s. Those outdated views are likely still contributing to the lop-sided gender balance in those occupations, but they need to go the way of the Dodo bird. Whatever the cause, it's really in our best interests to change that situation for the better.
I get into this topic in more detail in No Kid of Ours is Failing at Math (How Parents Can Help), although I don't specifically call it out as a gender-based problem. Too many boys are also falling behind in Math these days for it to be a "girls only" issue, after all. But as parents, we should be particularly watchful that we don't pigeon-hole our daughters outside of those fields that always need more insightful, intelligent contributors. It's a disservice to them, and to our species.
What can we do to get girls interested in Science, Math and Engineering (because it's obviously not happening)? Half of our population is non-male, which means we're under-utilizing our brain potential as a society if significantly less than 50% of the species is pursuing those disciplines, as seems to be the case. We need to correct that. We need to encourage girls to be "technical" instead of assuming that it's a male field. As a Math tutor, I've come to believe that just about anyone can be strong in Math through to the high school level at least, given the right environment, inspiration and encouragement. But as soon as a youngster starts to struggle with this Math concept or that one, some parents immediately say, "Well, I guess he/she's just no good at Math" and consign their child to a future that doesn't include any of the technical fields mentioned above. It seems to happen more with girls than boys because of long-held prejudices that stopped making sense (if they ever did) once women entered the work force big-time in the 60s and 70s. Those outdated views are likely still contributing to the lop-sided gender balance in those occupations, but they need to go the way of the Dodo bird. Whatever the cause, it's really in our best interests to change that situation for the better.
I get into this topic in more detail in No Kid of Ours is Failing at Math (How Parents Can Help), although I don't specifically call it out as a gender-based problem. Too many boys are also falling behind in Math these days for it to be a "girls only" issue, after all. But as parents, we should be particularly watchful that we don't pigeon-hole our daughters outside of those fields that always need more insightful, intelligent contributors. It's a disservice to them, and to our species.
Signs Of Spring
I walked a student home from a tutoring session over the weekend, and she had a sleeveless vest on, instead of a winter coat.
Kids were out on the street playing road hockey this afternoon, dressed in T-shirts, jeans and running shoes.
The Man from Mars just tweeted that he's prepping his bike for a ride into work tomorrow for the first time in 3 months.
There's no two ways about it: Spring is just around the corner, and I, for one, can hardly wait. And maybe I'll even have copies of a certain Math book to sell by then!
Kids were out on the street playing road hockey this afternoon, dressed in T-shirts, jeans and running shoes.
The Man from Mars just tweeted that he's prepping his bike for a ride into work tomorrow for the first time in 3 months.
There's no two ways about it: Spring is just around the corner, and I, for one, can hardly wait. And maybe I'll even have copies of a certain Math book to sell by then!
Friday, March 05, 2010
Not Wishing The Year Away, But...
... now I definitely have something big to look forward to toward the end of the year: Portal 2! As I mentioned recently, the first game (Half-Life 2: Portal) was an amazing piece of head-scratching wonder. Vicki and I loved playing it, right up to and through the closing credits! Therefore today's announcement of its sequel arriving during the Christmas period 2010 is welcome news within these walls, indeed! It'll be tough to top the original, but then again we all thought that about Half-Life and its various expansion packs, and then were blown away by Half-Life 2. So who knows.
Learning About Fair Use
In my forthcoming Math book, No Kid of Ours is Failing at Math (How Parents Can Help), I employ quotations from various other sources to help make a few of my key points. In each case, the excerpt used is short - part of a paragraph, typically - and credited clearly to the author, book, page number and edition from which I took it. Recently, however, I got to wondering if what I'd done was actually kosher, within the realm of copyright law.
From the reading I've done so far, it sounds like I'm probably within the lines laid out by the "fair use" portion of copyright law. In particular, besides the brevity aspect (keeping the quotations short rather than copying pages of material), my usage of each hopefully qualifies as "quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations". After all, this is a book intended to show parents how they can help their kids with Math, and wherever I've included an external quotation, the excerpt was selected for its potential ability to drive home a specific point of mine. I'm also inclined to believe that each of the individuals whose work I've quoted would be supportive of the goals of my book - that of raising the general Math aptitude of the next generation - although I'm not sure that would necessarily mean much if any of the copyrighted material were controlled by publishing entities.
Anyway, as of right now I think I'm OK with what I've done. You'll get to judge for yourself in about three weeks, if you're interested.
[Update: In Canada, apparently it's "fair dealing" rather than "fair use", and there are six criteria rather than the American four. However, the general outline of the effect upon copyright law looks very similar.]
From the reading I've done so far, it sounds like I'm probably within the lines laid out by the "fair use" portion of copyright law. In particular, besides the brevity aspect (keeping the quotations short rather than copying pages of material), my usage of each hopefully qualifies as "quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations". After all, this is a book intended to show parents how they can help their kids with Math, and wherever I've included an external quotation, the excerpt was selected for its potential ability to drive home a specific point of mine. I'm also inclined to believe that each of the individuals whose work I've quoted would be supportive of the goals of my book - that of raising the general Math aptitude of the next generation - although I'm not sure that would necessarily mean much if any of the copyrighted material were controlled by publishing entities.
Anyway, as of right now I think I'm OK with what I've done. You'll get to judge for yourself in about three weeks, if you're interested.
[Update: In Canada, apparently it's "fair dealing" rather than "fair use", and there are six criteria rather than the American four. However, the general outline of the effect upon copyright law looks very similar.]
How Long Should It Really Take?
We use our clothes dryer much less than most families, I assume. For one thing, we never put our shirts or pants in the dryer, but instead hang them up to dry in one of the bathrooms. We've been doing that for pretty much the entire time Vicki and I have been together, which is now 20+ years (almost 19 years of which we've been married). For the laundry load that includes towels, socks and underwear, during the non-winter months (April through November, say) we hang those items up outside, on the spinner rack that's inconspicuously located in a corner of our backyard. That means that, for most of the year, we don't use the dryer at all. In the cold months, we use it for about every third load that comes out of the washing machine.
Because of that, I go months without using the dryer, every year. Therefore I'm not as "attuned" to its workings as I am the washing machine, which gets used 3 or 4 times per week, all year round. This winter it seems like the dryer is taking longer than usual to dry its load. I don't think the quantity of each batch is any bigger, and yet it seems to take at least 3 hours where previously I would've said it was 1.5 to 2 hours. Is this an indication that the machine is performing sub-optimally now, or am I just mis-remembering the duration because I use the machine so rarely? Any laundry experts out there who can offer up some insight?
[Update # 1: Based on the comments left so far, Vicki and I detached the thick metal hose from the back, looking for a big clump of lint in it. While we couldn't access the entire length of it, for the parts that we could get at, there were lots of bits of lint, but no big, obvious wedge. We cleaned out what we could find, and put it back together. I'm about to try a load of bedsheets in it, to see if the results are any different now. One thing struck me as curious, though: the air coming out of the hose, when we turned the dryer on - empty - for a few minutes, starting off warm but then quickly went to cool. I would've expected it to be hot or warm the entire time. So perhaps the problem is that the dryer's heat source isn't working very well, and that's why drying is taking so long? (Oh, and as Tammy notes: I'm the type who cleans the topside, easy-to-access lint trap out between every load, so that's not a worry.]
Because of that, I go months without using the dryer, every year. Therefore I'm not as "attuned" to its workings as I am the washing machine, which gets used 3 or 4 times per week, all year round. This winter it seems like the dryer is taking longer than usual to dry its load. I don't think the quantity of each batch is any bigger, and yet it seems to take at least 3 hours where previously I would've said it was 1.5 to 2 hours. Is this an indication that the machine is performing sub-optimally now, or am I just mis-remembering the duration because I use the machine so rarely? Any laundry experts out there who can offer up some insight?
[Update # 1: Based on the comments left so far, Vicki and I detached the thick metal hose from the back, looking for a big clump of lint in it. While we couldn't access the entire length of it, for the parts that we could get at, there were lots of bits of lint, but no big, obvious wedge. We cleaned out what we could find, and put it back together. I'm about to try a load of bedsheets in it, to see if the results are any different now. One thing struck me as curious, though: the air coming out of the hose, when we turned the dryer on - empty - for a few minutes, starting off warm but then quickly went to cool. I would've expected it to be hot or warm the entire time. So perhaps the problem is that the dryer's heat source isn't working very well, and that's why drying is taking so long? (Oh, and as Tammy notes: I'm the type who cleans the topside, easy-to-access lint trap out between every load, so that's not a worry.]
AgileMan Heads Back To School... Again!
Later this month, I'll be once again performing my AgileMan dog-and-pony show for the second year Computer Science class at the local university. I've done this four or five times already, stretching back to the end of my tenure as Agile Manager at The Incredible Shrinking Company (which is now a little more than half the size of what it was when I resigned).
For this year's show, though, I'm planning a new addition to the material: news that there are Agile folks working among them!!! The software development group within the business school there, you see, has recently begun adopting various Agile practices under the leadership of my old boss (their CTO), and so this time around I can add a little local relevancy to the topic. I think it'll make a difference to the students, but then again they might be too busy texting to even notice!
It should make a nice diversion from all the Math book-related stuff going on right now.
For this year's show, though, I'm planning a new addition to the material: news that there are Agile folks working among them!!! The software development group within the business school there, you see, has recently begun adopting various Agile practices under the leadership of my old boss (their CTO), and so this time around I can add a little local relevancy to the topic. I think it'll make a difference to the students, but then again they might be too busy texting to even notice!
It should make a nice diversion from all the Math book-related stuff going on right now.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The Math Book Cometh
Thanks to some speedy service by Lulu, the print draft copy of No Kid of Ours is Failing at Math (How Parents Can Help) arrived on our doorstep this morning, while Vicki and I were out at yoga. I've taken a few quick flips through it to see how the font size worked out for that format of a book, and it looked great. We'll be giving it a more thorough going-over in the course of the next few days, and I expect to be placing the big order sometime next week. If all goes well, I should have many copies in hand by the end of the month and they'll all be looking for good homes... so if you know of any, please let me know!
It's a very special feeling to have a book with my name on it that I could imagine most people actually being interested in!
It's a very special feeling to have a book with my name on it that I could imagine most people actually being interested in!
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Star Studded Comedy
Nice to see so many familiar faces in the service of an important issue. Will Ferrell threatens to steal the show as GWB, of course, but all of them have some pretty good lines.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Great Games Generate Great Gospel
If you've never played Half-Life 2: Portal, then you probably have no idea just how impressive and addictive a game it is. But, if you read this article about what happened following an update to the PC version, you may in fact get an idea... at least of the sort of feverish fans it's fostered (not sure why I'm all about the alliteration today, but there it is).
National Roger Ebert Day
Roger's been in the news a lot lately, for various reasons. Today, it's because he's making his post-surgery TV debut (I think) on Oprah. A big Esquire article recently thrust him front and centre in the public eye, not the least of which because of the big, uncompromising photo that showed his shrunken jaw in a way that couldn't help but force a double-take by the reader. He no longer has the use of his voice, as a result of one of the surgeries, and so he's relied upon writing - mostly - to be heard lately. He's an unbelievably prolific Twitter user, as I've discovered in the week since clicking on his Follow button. On Oprah, however, he'll be showing off his brand new voice machine, which may very well be Stephen Hawking-like, for all I know right now.
In the grand game of "Seven Degrees of Separation", I'm only twice-removed from Roger. My daughter Tammy had the pleasure of meeting him during the Toronto International Film Festival a few years back, and I've no doubt that was a memorable moment for her (maybe for him, too, as she is a lovely girl!).
Today I read this article by Will Leitch (probably no relation to Brian), which is a wonderful true story about Roger and the impact he's had through his reviews and writing in general.
I think today should just be named National Roger Ebert Day and be done with it. He deserves at least that much.
In the grand game of "Seven Degrees of Separation", I'm only twice-removed from Roger. My daughter Tammy had the pleasure of meeting him during the Toronto International Film Festival a few years back, and I've no doubt that was a memorable moment for her (maybe for him, too, as she is a lovely girl!).
Today I read this article by Will Leitch (probably no relation to Brian), which is a wonderful true story about Roger and the impact he's had through his reviews and writing in general.
I think today should just be named National Roger Ebert Day and be done with it. He deserves at least that much.
Monday, March 01, 2010
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