Smoke Rings and Coffee Stains
Sunday, September 24, 2006
WE'VE MOVED!If you've been using our URL smokeringsandcofeestains.com, you won't feel a thing. At some point today when the switch is complete you will just painlessly be directed to our new, more professional blog run by the WordPress blog engine and hosted on our own server. If you have been coming here via the smokeringsandcoffeestains.blogspot.com address, or if that is the address you have linked or bookmarked, please change it to:
smokeringsandcoffeestains.com
Thanks!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Have You Called Your Senator Yet?Don't waste time! Call now! Even if your senator, like mine, is on the wrong side of the Net Neutrality issue, try to change their minds and make them for Net Neutrality. If they are already for it, call and thank them for listening to their constituents. It's not too late. Save the Internet, save yourselves.
Vlogger Amanda says it much better than I can here.
Now Listening: The Cramps
Tags: Save the Internet Network Neutrality
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Get Ready for Banned Books WeekSeptember 23 - 30, 2006 is Banned Books Week.
Wear a t-shirt declaring your support for free speech and make people aware that books are still being banned in this century.
Read a banned book in public and talk about it with the people around you.
Talk about banning books with your students. Open discussions on the reasoning behind banning books, free speech and whether or not an idea can be an instrument of harm or change.
However you celebrate the power of the written word, be sure to honor a banned book this week.
Books are constantly being banned for reasons including politics, religion, sexual taboo, race and general "subversiveness". Even J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series isn't safe from the shackles of a book ban. Following are the top ten classic novels that have fallen under the axe repeatedly over the years:
Ulysses, James Joyce
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe
Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Lady Chatterley's Lover, D. H. Lawrence
Moll Flanders, Daniel Dafoe
Candide, Voltaire
Keep an eye on my American Fiction site and The Writer's Well over the next two weeks for a series of articles on Banned Books Week.
Now Listening: Nekromantix Curse of the Coffin
Tags: Banned Books Week
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Some Macintosh Goodies...to break up all the serious posting I've been doing lately. Enjoy!
Make use of the motion sensor with this.
Some Mac OS X hacking tools can be found here.
This is a nice page of Mac Keyboard Shortcuts.
This site offers iMovie Tips.
Try Adium for using multiple instant messenger programs at once. (PC converts, think Trillian, but better)
Try Smultron for your code editor.
Another code editor I've heard that people like is called Textmate. They also make a version of NotePad for the Mac, if you need that.
I hear nice things about CopyWrite for the Mac, however; I use WriteItNow and love it.
I use Safari whenever possible to surf the net. I adore its slick look and streamlined feel. When I have to, I use Firefox. Another up and coming option is Flock.
Did you know that you can clear out the icons folder in Safari and then make it read-only to prevent those stupid favicons getting piled up and bogging you down? Go to your home folder/library/safari/icons and clear the icons folder, then make it read only. All set! No more favicon slowdown.
I do not recommend using Apple Mail program for your email. It flat out does not have enough features and stability for email design, sorting or storage. You can't make stationary files for business clients or anything else you can do in most email programs.
Eudora works quite well on a Mac, and does have some of the features that Mail lacks.
For organization issues, this usually ships as preinstalled Mac software. I'm assuming they haven't changed that.
They had been shipping with this installed as well, which is a lot of fun.
If your Mac Book is running hot, try this fix.
A nice list of Open Source apps for the Mac can be found at this website.
Get some Mac protection in case of theft.
MAMP is a better web developer/server app for the Mac.
Handy Lorum Ipsum widget for Mac.
Dear, dear readers, please tell me you did not get the MacBook with BootCamp and Windows. Windows (and BootCamp) are as hacker vulnerable on a Mac as they are on a PC. It is Mac's OS that keeps it 99% hacker free. If you got Windows, you get a "Shame on you! Now go get some virus protection that is NOT Norton." Also, a better alternative to BootCamp if you must run Windows is Parallels.
I would wait on Photoshop for a while and use Gimp. Adobe is ALWAYS the last to update their software for the latest, greatest Mac OS version, and in keeping with tradition will not have their Tiger-native version out for a few more months. Photoshop works on the Mac, and isn't agonizingly slow, but it isn't optimized for top speed yet either.
Do you know of still more Mac Goodies? Put them in the comments! I love goodies!
Now Listening: silence, ahhhh, silence
Tags: Apple Macintosh Mac iMac iBook MacBook eMac
Monday, September 11, 2006
Someone I Like Very Much Asked A 9-11 Questiontoday (of course), and instead of replying where she asked it, I decided to reply here, where more people could see my response.
The question:
What are you all doing, if anything? We're spending the day reading and watching CNN for homeschooling. I think it's so important for us not to forget what happened and how completely unjustified the attacks were.
CNN has so many resources. There are lots of video clips, interviews and memories written by observers/survivors. I think that there are things that even younger children can handle.
My response:
Why should we continue to allow the administration to use this day for their political gain? I'm so disappointed to see hyped, over dramatized 9-11 threads and news stories still popping up.
I had friends who escaped death in the towers that day and friends who didn't. It was excruciatingly sad, and a little scary.
Did New Yorkers pull together as a city that day? Absolutely. It was a huge outpouring of help, hope, unity and friendship. In following days, many people came in to New york from other places to help physically, and many people sent clothing, money and other necessities for the families of those killed. That was beautiful, true unity, and all too short-lived.
Did we "pull together" as a whole nation? No, not really. We all flew little flags for a while though, until thinking about 9-11 got too complex or too painful. We swallowed the lies of people who were supposed to be our leaders and marched our children into war without protest. We swallowed more lies from the "powers that be" and began to hate our fellow man and look for scapegoats in different colored skin practicing any different religion. All of this for what?
So many countries around the world deal with so much worse on a daily basis than the loss of one landmark and damage to another one. We lost lives: thousands of civilian lives and the lives of our policemen and firemen who came to help.
The people who volunteered their time for the cleanup and the people who were there to save lives that day are dealing with lasting health effects that the administration is ignoring in favor of using the "brand" 9-11™ for political collateral.
We have engineered the dissolution of our Constitution and ideals ourselves as a nation over this, signing away the rights and freedoms our country was founded on for the illusion of safety.
We should be vigilant in our protection of this country's ideals, and stand for tolerance, free thought and free speech. Instead, we stand for nothing and fall for anything.
9-11 has become a symbol of what is wrong with our country and the current administration, instead of what it should be: a symbol of perseverance in the face of adversity.
Now Listening: Stephen Lynch The Craig Machine
Tags: 9-11
Saturday, September 09, 2006
We Have One More Pass At Saving the InternetThe Senate has reconvened. Now is the time to hound your Senator about Network Neutrality like a bad case of crabs. If they aren't listening, call them back, and keep calling. If they sent you one of those form letters that are three pages long using politi-speak to defend their position, call them daily until you get to talk to the Senator directly to make your case.
Speaking of form letters, have you read some of the form letters the Senators send out? Both of my Senators are against Net Neutrality, so I've been bothering them with letters, emails and calls for months. I know it didn't change the minds of my Congressmen in the House before, but I'm stubborn when I believe in something.
The letters I keep getting back are full of double talk, which is to be expected from a politician. Even if they agree with you on something you have to filter the agreement out of a steaming pile of spin. They are also full of incorrect information and outright lies, and reveal both Gregg and Sununu as a couple of near-luddites who'll believe anything a telecom bigwig with deep pockets tells them.
Do you think that not having Net Neutrality wouldn't affect you? Think again. Currently, the internet operates with Net Neutrality. That allows you to do everything from look up medical information from "Dr. Google", surf porn sites, and publish your writing or art online, uncensored and without a publisher to watching The Show with Ze Frank. It allows you to read this blog, and others like it. Net Neutrality allows you to act like an tantrum-throwing four year old in forums if you feel like it, or be the voice of reason. Net Neutrality allows non-profits to be able to afford to get their message to the masses. Net Neutrality allows you to find unbiased news when you can't find it on major networks, like Fox.
I simply can't stress enough how important this is. Please call your Senator. Go ahead, be obnoxious about it if you have to. It's eroding little by little, but it's still there: you're right to free speech and free thought. Use it.
A de.licio.us list of the other times I've ridden the soap box about Network Neutrality.
From the Save the Internet MySpace Bulletin (or visit their official web site here):
The Senate Is Back In Session - Time To Call Again!
Body: The Goal is to get the Senate to either Pass Real Net Neutrality Legislation or leave the telecommunications legislation alone all together.
It will be devistating if the Senate passes Telecommunications Legislation that does not ensure a safe internet of free-flowing information.
Call the Senate Switchboard at 202-224-3121 ask for your US Senator, demand Net Neutrality, rinse & repeat
Only a few more weeks left in this battle
We made a huge impact in these last few months - lets show them we have not forgotten the issue over the past few summer months! And clearly we will not forget about it in November
Now....Make the call 202-224-3121
Now Listening: TSOL
Tags: Network Neutrality
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Southern GreaseThis website about biofuels with the unlikely name is a fantastic resource. It features a Southerner using their powers for good, not evil, as they research using biofuels instead of diesel in diesel powered cars and trucks.
One of the highlights of the site are the step by step instructions for converting your diesel into a car or truck that burns vegetable oil.
Awesome.
French fry, anyone?
Now listening: Frankenchrist, Dead Kennedys
Tags: biofuel alternative fuel diesel vegetable oil
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Something To Tide You OverI've been so busy I haven't blogged in eons. So here's a little something sent to me by my friend Delia to tide y'all over:
Get Your Punk On, Make Some Noise
An addicting punk music making game engine from Addicting Games.
Have fun!
Now listening: The Craig Machine, Stephen Lynch
Friday, September 01, 2006
Today's The Day!Remember when I was so excited for my friend Meleah to come visit me?
That's right! Today's the day! I can hardly contain my excitement, but I must, because the to-do list, she is long today. I have to make a trip to Mall Wart this morning, the grocery store, take a shower, do the laundry and write about 25 pages before she gets here sometime between 4 and 5, depending on traffic.
Whew! I'm tired already. Off to Mall Wart!
Now Listening: Up Your Alley, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Friday, August 25, 2006
The Five Quotes MemeCompletely stolen from And The Pursuit of Happiness.
The idea is to visit this site and find five quotes that represent you. (Simple, no? We like simple.)
Without further ado...
Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix. ~ Christina Baldwin
People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest. ~ Hermann Hesse
Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self respect springs. ~ Joan Didion
Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious. ~ Brendan Gill
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Thanks for the good meme, Sunshine!
Now Listening: iTunes Shuffle
5 Quotes Meme
About This Blog
Name::Leslie
From::New England
Originally From: South Carolina
I Miss Living In: Santa Barbara
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About Me
Name::Leslie
From::New England
Originally From: South Carolina
I Miss Living In: Santa Barbara
View my complete profile
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