Month: October 2010 Page 3 of 4

I was already a fan of Questionable Content (possibly my favourite webcomic ever), Girls with Slingshots, and Girl Genius, and I’ve seen random good bits from Hyperbole and a Half. I’ll have to check the fifth one out.

GirlyNerds… » Blog Archive » Top 5 Girliest-Nerdiest Webcomics

Move over Superman! There’s a new force on the comic scene, winning the hearts of GirlyNerds even without all that form-fitting spandex. *swoon*

Webcomics have taken cyberspace by storm, with an estimated 38,000 nerdy narratives currently in publication. Some are good, many are bad, and an alarming number are downright indecipherable. With all that internet ink to choose from, a girl can waste precious hours sifting the trash from the treasures.

Thankfully, GirlyNerds is here to point you in the right direction! Below you’ll find a comprehensive guide to the girliest, nerdiest comics that webdom has to offer.

Beware- Not all of these comics are safe for work, not that you’d EVER try to kill a few on-the-clock hours browsing through the extensive archives.

If A TV Show Turns 50 And No One Notices… : NPR

By autographedcat

On October 6, 2010

In Blog

If A TV Show Turns 50 And No One Notices… : NPR

The theme song to TV’s My Three Sons is a tune all but guaranteed to start your toes tapping — and it may even conjure up long-dormant images of the animated opening credits, where cartoon toes were actually tapping.

There’s value in old shows like that one, not just because the best of them were and are entertaining but because they provide a snapshot of what we were, what we accepted and what, in some cases, we aspired to become.

I mention this not because of a general wave of nostalgia, but because of a very specific wave: Last Wednesday, My Three Sons, a gentle ABC sitcom starring Fred MacMurray as a single father raising three boys, turned 50 years old. I would say it celebrated its golden anniversary, except I couldn’t find any celebration.

The dangers of USB drives. – By Farhad Manjoo – Slate Magazine

By autographedcat

On October 6, 2010

In Blog

I’d heard the story years ago of a group that ran an infection test to prove a point. They put their benign virus on a bunch of branded USB sticks, put them in a fishbowl, walked into the target company and asked the receptionist if they could leave it there for people “as part of a promotional campaign.” They got over three-quarters of the computers in the office.

The dangers of USB drives. – By Farhad Manjoo – Slate Magazine

If a company wants to ratchet up security, it’s not as simple as banning all thumb drives. To be extra careful, you’d have to ban iPods, cameras, and every other USB-based doohickey—all of those devices are capable of carrying Stuxnet-like viruses, too. I asked Sean Sullivan, of F-Secure, if he could imagine any failsafe IT policy that would have worked to thwart Stuxnet. “Well, in our malware test machines, sometimes we put glue in the USB ports,” he joked.

What we can learn from procrastination : The New Yorker

By autographedcat

On October 6, 2010

In Blog

Terrific article in The New Yorker about procrastination. Since this is something I’m a world champion at, it’s interesting to see a bit more about the psychology behind it.

One thing I find interesting, and makes me want to explore it further, is that I often feel more guilty *after* I complete a task I’ve put off too long. It’s like I’m still trying to castigate myself for the delay, even though I’ve finally gotten around to doing it.

What we can learn from procrastination : The New Yorker

Piers Steel defines procrastination as willingly deferring something even though you expect the delay to make you worse off. In other words, if you’re simply saying “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” you’re not really procrastinating. Knowingly delaying because you think that’s the most efficient use of your time doesn’t count, either. The essence of procrastination lies in not doing what you think you should be doing, a mental contortion that surely accounts for the great psychic toll the habit takes on people. This is the perplexing thing about procrastination: although it seems to involve avoiding unpleasant tasks, indulging in it generally doesn’t make people happy.

RIP Jenna (1997 – 2010)

By autographedcat

On October 6, 2010

In Blog

kitanzi woke up this morning and found our cat, Jenna, had slipped away from us in the night. It’s unclear at this point what precisely was the cause; she’d been having some distress that we thought at first was hairballs, but may have been a more acute stomach irritation. Last night, when I went to bed, she jumped up next to me and curled up next to my side, as she often did. She was friendly and energetic all evening, so I do not think she suffered long. Whatever the cause, it was sudden and not protracted.

Jenna was one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever owned. She loved being near people, and I kept a folding table next to my desk with a fleece blanket folded on top of it, so she could curl up next to me while I played computer games. Her favourite spot on the couch was right in front of the arm, curled up against my leg while I’d watch TV, and she slept next to me most nights, at least for a while. She was often shy when someone new came to visit, but eventually she’d venture out and collect the petting that was her due.

We originally adopted her through the Cat Clinic of Roswell to be a companion for Dayna, who was used to being in a multi-cat household and seemed upset to suddenly be alone. They never did get along the way we’d hoped, but in recent years seemed to have settled into a truce with one another, still not the best of friends, but no longer objecting to the other’s presence. I once joked that their relationship had “settled into an uneasy détente, so as long as neither one of then invades Afghanistan, I think we might at least have a sustainable peace.”

Back in May, she was suffering from some sort of intestinal inflammation that the vet was convinced was cancer. We were greatly relieved to learn it wasn’t, but had no idea how short her time with us was to be. In recent weeks she’d seemed to have been well on the road to recovering her appetite, gaining weight, and generally being more spry and social than she’d been when she was sick. I already miss her more than words can say, and I’m grateful she didn’t suffer long.

Good hunting, Jenna, wherever next you roam. You were a joy in our lives, and we are richer for the years you spent with us.

From Twitter 10-05-2010

By autographedcat

On October 6, 2010

In Blog

10:17:39: @extralife I’m sure you all will, but I must admit I’m annoyed the point of losing enthusiasm for Cataclysm.
10:53:30: @chrislhayes Stands to reason. People who blog are a) paying more attention and b) more invested in their own point of view.
11:05:31: How long before someone does a mashup up the O’Donnell ad with the “She’s a witch” Monty Python clip? http://tpm.ly/ayJBX9

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Scientists Uncover New Language in Himalayas

By autographedcat

On October 5, 2010

In Blog

Field Researchers Discover a Language New to Science – WSJ.com:

In the foothills of the Himalayas, two field linguists have discovered an oddity as rare as any endangered species—a language completely new to science.

The researchers, who announced their find Tuesday in Washington, D.C., encountered it for the first time along the western ridges of Arunachal Pradesh, India’s northeastern-most state, where more than 120 languages are spoken. There, isolated by craggy slopes and rushing rivers, the hunters and subsistence farmers who speak this rare tongue live in a dozen or so villages of bamboo houses built on stilts.

The researchers identified the language—called Koro—during a 2008 expedition conducted as part of National Geographic’s Enduring Voices project.

“Their language is quite distinct on every level—the sound, the words, the sentence structure,” said Gregory Anderson, director of the nonprofit Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, who directs the project’s research. Details of the language will be documented in an upcoming issue of the journal Indian Linguistics

From Twitter 10-04-2010

By autographedcat

On October 5, 2010

In Blog

08:14:23: Saw the first two episodes of “Leverage” last night. Just what I needed, another TV show to be hooked on. 🙂
11:44:20: @vixy I have it. Did you need it?
11:57:38: RT @RyanNewYork: RT @ajacobthompson: 74 banned #books available for free download in honor of Banned Books Week http://bit.ly/biWBfl
11:59:32: @paulapoundstone That’s pretty much just like following what’s going on in Congress on any given week.

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LINK: You just broke your child. Congratulations.

By autographedcat

On October 5, 2010

In Blog

This was shared to me originally over on Facebook by museinred, but I wanted to spread it to a wider audience.

If you are a parent, you need to read this. If you’re ever thinking of becoming a parent, you need to read this.

Oh, hell, you just need to read this, whoever you are. Something to seriously think about.

Single Dad Laughing: You just broke your child. Congratulations.:

I’m going to be blunt. People see my relationship with Noah, and quite often put me up on a pedestal or sing my praises for loving him more than most dads love their own kids.

Damn it. I don’t understand that, and I’ll never understand that. Loving my son, building my son, touching my son, playing with my son, being with my son… these aren’t tasks that only super dads can perform. These are tasks that every dad should perform. Always. Without fail. There is nothing special about me. I am a dad who loves his son and would literally do anything for his well-being, safety, and health. I would gladly take a rake in the face or a jackhammer to my feet before I cut my own son down or make him feel small.

[sigh] I am far from a perfect dad. And I always will be. But I’m a damn good dad, and my son will always feel bigger than anything life can throw at him. Why? Because I get it. I get the power a dad has in a child’s life, and in a child’s level of self-belief. I get that everything I ever do and ever say to my son will be absorbed, for good or for bad. What I don’t get is how some dads don’t get it.

A Month of TV Commentary: A Meme in 30 Parts: Day 16

By autographedcat

On October 4, 2010

In Blog

Day 16 – Your guilty pleasure show

I pondered this one all weekend, and to be honest, I don’t have one. More to the point, I can’t really think of a show that I consider a “guilty pleasure”.

On the other hand, I’ve never been a big fan of the concept of “guilty pleasures” anyway. I’m enough of a hedonist that I tend not to feel guilty about my pleasures, whatever they might be, and I’m enough of an iconoclast that I don’t tend to get too put out if I have personal tastes that don’t dovetail neatly with the rest of society.

I really don’t have a good answer for this one, guys. I’m not ashamed of any of the media I consume, and I think that you can’t really call it a *guilty* pleasure without that.

I’ll try and do better with the next one.