Ever since I installed the “new and improved” version of Flash (10.1.x, with hardware acceleration), I’ve been seeing this message (right) a lot.
I’ve an older system – about 6-years-old – but pretty robust.
Yet Flash keeps crashin’ (NOTE: doesn’t take down anything [browser, OS] with it. Good).
Reload pages and all is good, but still – not a good user experience.
New and improved my ass…
Is it just me or does this icon look like an unhappy Lego piece?
Hey, it’s not much, but there’s nothing like the taste of home-grown tomatoes.
It’s been a good year for tomatoes; yum!
Tremendous year for pickles (peaked a month or so ago), and we’re getting some Bell peppers. Whoo-hoo!
The tomatoes have been great this year (had to give away most; too many for us); it’s been a good growing year.
A couple of basil plants that have turned in to shrubs. Pesto-city!
Overall – Fresh grown stuff. Awesome.
A lot of political votes – at the local, state and federal level – are heavily influenced by what your future opponent will say about your vote in some future election.
Part of that is good – accountability.
Other parts of this are bad because it forces politicos to vote against something they really like (or vice-versa). Especially hot-button issues: race, religion, sexuality, drugs and so on.
Support shorter terms for white-crime, first-time offenders to cut prisoner costs? Soft on crime!
For gay marriage? Against the centuries-old institution of marriage!
Support a path for citizenship to illegals living here for X years? Pushing for amnesty!
And so on.
Such realities also exist in the court of popular opinion, where – for example – Apple was forced to do something about the iPhone 4’s antenna issue when it became an internet firestorm (free bumper cases to fix potentially lowered connectivity when held “wrong”). I’m not going to go into the merits of Apple’s/Apple nay-sayer’s arguments; the end result is that Apple caved because it – from a PR point of view – had to. To keep the issue alive is just too expensive (dollars and goodwill costs, among others); so cut and run.
Craigslist, sadly, is caving in a similar manner: They are just dropping their Adult (formerly Erotic, I believe) services section in response to pressure from a number of state’s attorneys general.
Wow, I guess this means prostitution in the US will evaporate! (Not.)
I understand the push to get these listings eliminated – prostitution is illegal in the bulk of the US. But does anyone really think these ads, masked/modified, won’t be published in some other section of Craigslist or on some other sites? I mean, really. Of course not; it’s just political theater (for the most part – human trafficking is real and needs to be addressed).
And I know that Craigslist made a point of saying how they manually screened each Adult listing, worked with police and so on. Whether they really did or not and to what degree I’m not privy to, but I don’t read about any other site listing adult ads saying anything like this.
This’ll just drive the ads further underground, and make it more difficult for law enforcement (and johns, yes!) to find the true prostitutes, especially the human-trafficked individuals.
Also, it’s – to a degree – a turning point in the internet. I said this when Craigslist changed from Erotic to Adult services (the Wild West mentality was gone), and it was true then and now. This is the net gentrified, mainstream. Perhaps not all bad, but still not the net I’ve been on since before the Web.
Update 9/8: Danah Boyd – an activist attempting to end violence against women and children – backs up what I’ve said above, with more eloquence and veracity: How Censoring Craigslist Helps Pimps, Child Traffickers and Other Abusive Scumbags.
Ghost Writer, TheI’ve mixed opinions about this film – It’s extremely well done (duh – Roman Polanski), I enjoyed, but I have no desire to see it again.
And the shot that Ebert gushed over – the passing of the note (doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen it): When it began, I said to Romy “He’s trying to get artsy!”
But it was a nicely understated film with a couple of twists. Great cast, and I loved that the lead character (Ewan McGregor) has no name – he’s “the ghost[writer].” Nice touch.
Hey, first impression only: Google Voice (call from Gmail) rocks. Currently free to US & Canada, low rates internationally.
Will it continue to be free for US/Canada? Whatever.
I stuck a (very old) microphone on Romy’s computer (the mic didn’t work on mine; older computer – need to reboot or whatever), and it just worked.
She talked to her brother in Indiana. For free.
She talked to her folks in Minnesota. For free.
The voice on the phone is great (I’ve called my cell and home phones); a little tinny on the (computer) receiving end. Bad speakers?
Interesting…
One question I don’t know the answer to is what this could do to a smart phone (browser-equipped)? Can one install this in Gmail on smart phone and 1) It works; 2) Hey, receiver is smart phone, just like a normal call?? (In the later case, doesn’t have the “tinny” sound on receiving end, perhaps…)
Green ZoneAnother “Why are we at war in the Middle East” films, this is about a squad in Iraq detailed to find the WMDs that are spelled out in intelligence docs…but are not there.
Based on a true story; still left slanted. Whatever.
Just wasn’t that good a movie. I like Matt Damon, and he was good here. But that’s not enough.
Like “The Hurt Locker” (which I still think is overrated but, crap, give any of those soldiers over there whatever they want. Not pretty…), it showed how crazy it is for the US to be in the Middle East – and for the most part – the US doesn’t “get” the Middle East.
Bottom Line: I’ll never watch again nor recommend. Questions?
A quick list of stuff I’ve been thinking about recently have not blogged about:
Finally, there are a lot of cries that this “mosque” will be a “victory” mosque – Islam 1; USA 0. Yes, the 9/11 killers were radical Muslims (all 11 or so plus planners). So these 11 represent the views of 1.6 billion Muslims?
Overall, I think this is just a political wedge issue, but – as a wedge issue – some folks are buying the BS. I kinda fault the “folks,” but mainly fault the politicos spreading what may or may no be true without any underlying facts.
I have a lot of thoughts about this issue; I’m trying to keep it low-key:
MementoGuy Pearce stars in – and is riveting in – this movie that just messes with your mind.
Displayed in reverse chronology; the story (at one level) of a man (Pearce) out to get the killer of his wife.
Pearce’s character – as a result of the trauma of his wife’s brutal death – has left him with no ability to remember anything post her death. He relies on Polaroids, notes, tattoos to help him keep his life in order.
Second time I’ve seen the movie – loved both times – but I think this is a flick you should get on DVD and watch Saturday and then again on Sunday – I’m certain I’m missing some nuanced issues.
Who is the good guy/gal? Bad guy/gal? What is real, what is not real? One of (too few) movies that prompt discussion about what really happened and so on.
Highly recommended.
I think there is a better match (a Wyeth?), but when I saw this picture I took of Romy it just reminded me of some East Coast artist’s creation. Here’s the match I can find – both Maine early-morning sun:
Romy in Acadia, ME (2008):
Edward Hopper’s “Morning Sun” (1952) – Portland, ME
Inland EmpireShowcasing a stunning, understated performance by Laura Dern, director David Lynch perhaps “out-Lynches” himself.
What’s it about? As with many Lynch productions, that’s not easy to say. It’s a movie (or two) within a movie, and it’s hard to keep track of what pieces are from which layer.
It’s three hours long, but doesn’t drag, even though it is a very slow-placed movie for the most part (portions of frantic edits, surreal imagined (?) scenes supplement the slower, Lynch-like portions).
I just finished watching it a couple of hours ago; it’s still playing in my head, and predict it’ll play there for some time. That kind of sums up the movie for me.
Just some random notes related to some retail experiences I’ve had lately.
SuperbadPerhaps “SuperMediocre”- at best.
I dunno, I’ve seen this movie a dozen+ times before. Dork dudes lust after hot chicks, strange events occur, dork dudes almost/do get hot chicks.
Yeah.
The “McLovin” bit is shout-worthy, but this movie left me cold/tepid otherwise. I just couldn’t get into the whole “separation anxiety” issue that’s part of the core of this movie. Not – in my experience – a guy thing.
Oh – Michael Cera: In this flick and Juno, he’s about as convincing as an Eggo “Waffle.”
Apple had an HTML5 site first (http://www.apple.com/html5) but it – idiotically – forced it to work with Safari only. (Works best there, but optimized for same.)
OK, now Google has a site/demo for HTML:
www.html5rocks.com.
Works in Firefox, Chrome (best), OK in Safari.
But awesome stuff.
I’m worried and excited.
Worried because this is another tool I’ll have to learn (that I don’t have time for??).
Excited because this is another tool I’ll get to learn and leverage.
A WebMonkey’s work is never done…
OK, went to the Arlington Heights (IL) art fair today.
Always a pretty nice art show – not great, but worth the walking (and close to home).
Hot out today – in the high 80s/low 90s, with all that wonderful humidity. What the hell, it gets our asses out of the house!
Nothing memorable about the show this year; a couple of new, fun things, but nothing “I must have!” or “Wow!”
As always, however, an art fair leaves me – a photographer – depressed. Because I so suck in comparison to the vendors (not just the photographers, but compared to the creativity of many of the artists, regardless of the medium).
One bright spot: As I’m writing this, I see my “Pic ‘O the Day” is a trumpet vine blossom. From our backyard, after a rain.
I dunno, this is an awesome picture – maybe the depth of field could have been a little deeper, but this pic just works. Color/contrast, the refractions in the water drops and so on. Thumbnail doesn’t do it justice; click through for the larger image.
I’m my harshest critic, but this is a non-sucks pic!
I’ve been an NPR subscriber for several years now, just to support the network.
Yep, I’ve gotten T-shirts, subs to (this) or (that) magazine as part of my subscription, but that’s not why I do it. Again, to support the network.
One of the things one gets with my level of support is a dining card – $x/%x off the bill from these restaurants.
Romy used the card a couple of times recently, and it was “What????”
So we hit the NPR site, submitted the issue (not really a complaint – well, a complaint that informs, not to get some $$$ back).
NPR followed up with contacts with both restaurants with which we had issues, emailed about progress on same, and called me to detail its findings (NPR: “They just received the NPR info;” Us: “The restaurants are fibbin”).
And it wasn’t boilerplate: It said “I talked to the manager of (restaurant #1)…” (who fibbed or not)
Today – sadly – that is commendable.
An actual follow-through on a complaint, and a more thorough follow-through than I would have expected.
NPR has impressed me. Why can’t other companies do the same?