http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive Big thanks to everyone who read along! If the spirit moves you, buy me the virtual equivalent of a
celebratory cuppa coffee: http://thepete.com/a/TheCoffee Didn't read along? It's not too late! Hit that link above and let me
know what you think. THANKS! OK, now I'm off to score some celebratory sushi with @siskita! SUGOI NE!
thepete.com mirror
Monday, November 30, 2009
I'm tired... #NaNoWriMo 2009
...and I'm still not done, dammit!
I've got 19 hours to finish... sleep... now.... -_- zzzzzzzz....Sunday, November 29, 2009
My personal Astromech protects me from distraction(s) as I work on the last few chapters of my #NaNoWriMo novel.
At least, I hope they'll be the last few chapters...!
While I do want a new iPhone for Christmas, I do think @RevBillyTalen has it right.
Reverend Billy Talen whips up his fans into a storm over Buy Nothing day. Photograph: Jefferson Siegel
Tomorrow is Buy Nothing day in the United States. A group of people including myself will preach and sing at the front door of Macy's department store in New York. We do this every year. We'll be there at 5am, when shoppers who have been up all night wait in line rush the glass doors. This is the human comedy at its most sad, and it is an environmental "shopocalypse".
Buy Nothing day is an old idea – that we should drop out of consumerism for 24 hours on Black Friday, the day when we are supposed to shop the most. The radical rechristening of the corporate Christmas took place back in the 90s, long before most of us equated consumerism with destruction of the Earth.
So kudos to the people at Adbusters for venturing forth with this. Nonetheless, Buy Nothing day is not enough, not for the emergency we face now. The American consumer's carbon footprint is exponentially the most sinful of all, 20 times the average. Even if everyone took the fast, throwing a bit of icy water on shoppers for a single day is not nearly enough.
The indigenous holy days that rise from the solstice – Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannakah and all the rest – offer us an unseen opportunity. Solstice is the day when we get a few seconds more light and heat as the earth and sun roll back toward what will become the unleashing of life called spring. So the holidays in late December are the seed of change. It needn't be a consumer event.
This year we should radically redefine what our gifts will be, to simultaneously love our family and our earth. A gift from a big box store – from the demon monoculture – that puts us in a car for hours and is wrapped in plastic packaging, and was shipped a thousand miles with internal combustion engines– this year we won't consider that a gift at all. Such a gift hurts life on earth, and so it hurts us.
The language that sells us consumerism for Christmas is going in one direction and what we are quietly telling ourselves is the opposite. This year, after the banking failure and the debt mountains, the advertising has less power than ever. So find the things you have that may be under-used, over-looked. Shop locally and stay out of Tesco, Starbucks, Marks & Spencer and Primark.
There's no doubt Christmas is an annual environmental disaster. Last year Americans generated 25 million tons of trash between Buy Nothing day and Christmas. But we can still change it – and Buy Nothing day, amen, isn't a bad place to start.
• Reverend Billy is the head of The Church of Life After Shopping
via guardian.co.uk
If you haven't seen it, Netflix, rent, borrow or even (GASP) buy "What Would Jesus Buy?" It's a documentary about Billy Talen and his Church of Stop Shopping. Yes, of course, he knows that we can't really stop shopping completely, but we can certainly cut back and we should cut back.
But like I said, I'm still aiming for that new iPhone... but I will be giving home-made items for Christmas this year. Art, videos, stuff like that.
Whoops! Turns out it was the Bill Murray movie that was the (not so cheesy) ripoff of the show the cartoon was based on!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Ghostbusters
The title page for the animated Ghostbusters series produced by FilmationFormat Animated series, mystery, adventure Created by Marc Richards (characters)
Robby London, Barry O'Brien (adapted for animation)Starring Pat Fraley
Peter Cullen
Lou Scheimer
Susan BluCountry of origin United States
No. of episodes 65 Production Executive producer(s) Lou Scheimer Running time 30 minutes Production company(s) Filmation
Tribune BroadcastingDistributor Group W Productions Broadcast Original channel Syndicated Original run September 8, 1986 – December 5, 1986 Chronology Related shows The Ghost Busters Ghostbusters (later called Filmation's Ghostbusters) was an animated television series created by Filmation and distributed by Tribune Broadcasting and launched following the success of Ivan Reitman and Columbia Pictures' 1984 film Ghostbusters. It ran from 1986-1988 in daytime syndication and produced 65 episodes. The cartoon was based on a live-action television show from 1975-1976 titled The Ghost Busters. It is not to be confused with the animated show The Real Ghostbusters, which was based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters. Columbia Pictures had to obtain the rights to the name from Filmation for its film, and after Ghostbusters was a hit, Filmation went into production with its animated series based on the characters from its series. The series is technically called simply "Ghostbusters", but home video releases use the name "Filmation's Ghostbusters" to avoid confusion.
Turns out the cheesy cartoon was based on a live action series from 1975 that Filmation owned the rights to. Dan Akroyd and pals had to pay them for the rights to use the phrase "Ghostbusters" in their title. Then, once the movie was huge, Filmation went into production on a cartoon sequel to the original 1975 live action show. Yes, there actually is some sort of continuity between the two series. Wow, this is all way more than I ever wanted/needed to know about that show. I think I only ever watched it because one of the characters was hot.
Here's that link again if you want to know even more about this silly little show:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_(1986_TV_series)
OH and it's "Let's go, Ghostbuuuusters" not "Go go, Ghostbuuuusters..."
I'm so stupid. WHAT was I thinking???
Approaching 55k on my #NaNoWriMo 2009 novel!! SWEET. Now, bed time? Or more writing?
I have until Monday at midnight, and after writing over 4600 words
since I last went to bed, I'm feeling a little more confident I can
wrap this thing up in time. However, I have the tendency to introduce
crazy-ass crap from nowhere at the last second (my lead character's
blindness, for instance) so who knows how many pages something like
that will take to write?
writing it more fun and a little easier to know you're out there. If you haven't been, please consider starting!! My stuff is scifi,
but, often, I hear that despite that, it's quite approachable and
real-world-based. "Manhattan Story" is particularly real-worldy, in
my opinion. Please check it out--thanks! read online: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive
get PDFs of each chapter: http://wiki.thepete.com/w/manhattanstory
Saturday, November 28, 2009
CRACKED 50K! "Manhattan Story" has reached past 50,000 words!! But the story isn't over yet!!
I am ready to celebrate, believe me, but until I type the words "THE
END" following at least a chapter of wind-down which, in itself,
follows a HUGELY DRAMATIC climax, it's not done. Which kind of sucks
from my perspective. This is because every year I've attempted
National Novel Writing Month, I've either finished markedly early or
failed spectacularly. In 2006, I finished a week early. In 2007 I
finished two days early. Last year, I got about a week in and gave
up. What I'm getting at here is that I still may not make it!! The
goal is to have a finished first draft by midnight November 30.
That's Monday night. While I know it's possible I'll finish in
time...
http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive or
http://wiki.thepete.com/w/manhattanstory
Friday, November 27, 2009
Just cracked 48k on "Manhattan Story"!!! Just 2k more to hit the minimum! I'll see that by morning!!
But will I type "THE END" by midnight, Monday?
If you haven't been following along, it's never to late:http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive I'd love to hear how my first draft reads to other folks! Of course,
I'm just happy that people are following along. If you are, please
let me know. It makes the work more fun. Thanks!
What's with this line at the P.Off?? It's late morning for crying out loud...
Everyone's taking early lunches maybe?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
43k+ on the #NaNoWriMo 2009 novel... I'll definitely make it to 50k before Monday, but will I finish the story?
http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive what you think so far!
When I first started writing, I was worried I wouldn't have enoughstory for 50,000 words. Now it seems like I've got too much story for
that many words. :\ Well, we'll see how it goes. I think I might be
able to sneak it in around 52k. But can I do both that AND beat the
November 30 deadline?? Wish me luck!! Now it's time for SLEEP.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Our Turkey Day feast (the "Before" photo)
This is such a "before" photo, we hadn't even paid for it yet!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Passed 37k words on my #NaNoWriMo 2009 Novel "Manhattan Story". I wrote 4k+ today & it's not even 3am.
I am RUNNING TO BED before I am tempted to write more and stay up
until dawn again!!
http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive But pretty cool. I'm only about a k behind my rival-in-writing
"Hellrage". I'll pass him tomorrow ;) OH and look at my snazzy Easy Peasy screencap! Lookit all those weird
icons and junk! Cool, huh? OK... running...
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Heading up to @IndianRoadCafe for some quality time with my novel...
...after one helluva weekend trying to get a computer to work reliably. Last week, Thursday or Friday I think, I happened to pull up Disk Utility on my MacBook only to notice that my system drive was listed in red lettering. I figured that wasn't good so I clicked on it and saw a message telling me that my system drive was in need of repair and that I should back up my data ASAP and replace the drive. Sheesh. Now, I'm a but of a gear-head and know nothing is as simple as swapping out a drive. I mean, it should be, but it isn't. So, I didn't want to risk getting half way through the job of replacing the system drive to find something totally screwed about my computer and be laptop-free in the middle of National Novel Writing Month. No problem--I can just use my netbook, right?
Wrong.
Earlier in the week I had been trying to install Windows 7 on it and in the process trashed the XP install that was running on it. So I decided to get some sort of light-weight OS onto the netbook and hope my MacBook lasted long enough to help me. Luckily, it did. Unluckily, it took me two days and attempts at installing three OSes before I managed to get Easy Peasy up and running.
Meanwhile, on a whim, I decided to try repairing my MacBook's system drive via Disk Utilities. After a few minutes it told me to repair the disk via my installation DVD. Which was odd since when I click on the red lettering it tells me to replace the disk. So, just now, I popped in my installation disk to find that inside Disk Utility's repair window, it said my disk was repaired. However, the lettering is still red. After running the repair routine again, it confirmed that my drive is OK. Yet, the capacity and brand and model number are still colored red and S.M.A.R.T. status says "Failing" in red, as well.
So, I guess I'll just have to swap out the drive at some point. I have a backup drive I can sacrifice (though I don't want to since I'm already using it to back up stuff), but maybe I can reformat my system disk and use it for backups instead?
Odd that I only recently uprgaded to OSX/10.6/Snow Leopard
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Holy crap I think Ubuntu is finally loading properly on my eee!!!
Well, the LiveUSB is, anyway. Not to see if it'll install on the SD card...
Giving Linux another chance on my eee after not finding a way to boot Win7 from an SD (lame!)
So now I'm installing eeeXubuntu 9.04 on my MacBook via Parallels which I will then use to install on an SD that I hope to run on the eee.
I did have eeeXubuntu 7.10 running just fine on the eee (via SD) but thanks to how Linux pretty much forces you to install new apps via repositories (think the iPhone's App Store) I was screwed since all the repositories were out of date and nothing would install properly. I was able to steal Mplayer off my XO, but that can't handle subtitles, so... Time to start over with a newer version of eeeXubuntu. It's a real shame no one can be bothered to update the eeeXubuntu wiki page at eeeuser.com to reflect that there have been *two* releases of the thing since the version the wiki claims is the latest. I'd do it but I hardly think a Linux newb like me should be trusted to get it right... I'm such a newb I just realized that I don't need to install eeeXubuntu on my MacBook via Parallels because I'm using a LiveCD! See? Newb. Luckily, installing in Parallels is wicked fast. Wish me luck!Friday, November 20, 2009
Bizarre Christmas-sex-romp-while-the-kids-watch Window display.
I think I've figured it out--the wife is ashamed to be uncontrollably super horny and the dad is like: not in front of the kids!!
I refuse, you slut! (But I'm good for after the kids are in bed!)
Saw this kinda lousy billboard for Windows 7 down on w34th
That could be Vint Cerf for all I know--but, regardless, telling us an old man came up with the idea for Windows 7 isn't going to make me want to buy Windows 7.
Was it also his idea to not have one called Windows 6??
FedEx just showed up with paperwork for a contest @JayThePal won... Paperwork... How 20th Century...
Oh, man--I've got to get it NOTARIZED??? My puppet wins an HD Pocket cam and I've got to find a notary. So I have to pay for a notary to get the prize... Why was the Mountain Dew Dewlabs contest so much easier? These guys want me to fill out a W-9. What sense does that make since the cam is worth less than $300. Isn't that the minimum before you have to start paying taxes? I should just make Jay ThePal take care of all this...
Doing the FedEx shuffle again... I was told this would be arriving via USPS...SIGH...
So I didn't include my door code. And apparently on 2nd Attempt deliveries they can show up whenever the hell they want...
Thursday, November 19, 2009
TheDailyLego Returns (from yesterday)
Finally getting back to my daily Lego therapy sessions. I feel a bigger Lego project coming up...not sure what it'll be but I'm feelin' it...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Passed the 33k mark on the wordcount on my #NaNoWriMo 2009 novel last night! The intrigue thickens!
Read it: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/
Start from the beginning: Read it: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com/archive
Download free PDFs for each chapter: http://thepete.com/a/manhattanstory/
Help me keep caffeine and calories coming: http://thepete.com/a/support/
the same time. Go fig.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Parents of Iraq War vet get ltr from USG advising their son finish PTSD trtment. Sadly he already killed himself
The parents of US Army Reserve Specialist Chancellor Keesling, an Iraq war veteran, received a letter yesterday from the VA asking that their son complete his “Post Deployment Adjustment.” The only problem is, Chance Keesling had killed himself in Iraq nearly five months ago. We speak with Chance’s dad, Gregg Keesling, who’s still waiting for the letter he’s never received: condolences from President Obama. A longstanding US policy denies presidential condolence letters to the families of soldiers who have committed suicide.
via democracynow.org
Geh... I know this doesn't happen to everyone, but still. This is paperwork that really should have been filed. I mean, are there THAT many soldier suicides that the USMil can't keep their records straight?
Well maybe they are that many suicides. :\ (source: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/20/us_military_suicides_at_record_high )
But that aside, what's with Obama not sending condolence letters to parents of soldiers who took their own lives? So, they're heroes so long as they can ignore the moral aspect of war, but when they can't face themselves any more, their parents are not worthy of an "I'm sorry" letter from the President?
That's kind of despicable.
Suicide isn't the cowards way out in EVERY case--sometimes it's the moral way out.
Time for a late night change up on the music front--busting out the old 3g iPod!
This is the fastest I've burned through a custom soundtrack put together for a novel I was working on. Sad since I really loved some of the music I chose. Now I'm reverting to stuff that I'm no longer sick of. Can't believe I've ever been sick of John Barry...
AWWWW, YEAH!! 31k+, BABY!! That's more than 4k written tonight, er, this morning. #NaNoWriMo 2009
However, now, I must go to bed.
Funny, could have sworn my I had sent a pic from my iPhone of my old3g iPod coming to the rescue when I burned out (burnt out?) on my
custom mixed novel soundtrack. Huh, I just checked it--seems to be
stuck on uploading this one stupid pic. For the last three hours of
me writing, it's been saying "Sending 1 of 1". Nicely done, Apple! Oops, there it goes...
Less than 1k short of 30k + I've got one NaNo buddy who I am particularly keen on beating to 50k, so...
I'm staying up for another chapter!!
SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE 31K!!! (sorry, it's late, and I'm caffeinated!)Monday, November 16, 2009
My #NaNoWriMo 2009 novel "Manhattan Story" passes the half-way mark!! Almost to 27k!
read it: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com
Now, I'm past the halfway mark in theory--according to the rules ofNaNoWriMo your novel has to be at least 50,000 words long, but if the
story isn't over at 50k, I gotta keep going with the hope of writing
the words "THE END" before November 30. At this rate, it's going to
be TIGHT. It helps me a LOT to have people following along, so if you are, THANK
YOU!! But please let me know. THANK YOU!!! :)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
First the wings and now Return of the Living dead--awesome evening
Good stuff! Especially compared to last night's "Fellini Satyricon". This movie has a coherent plot at least! Oh yeah... And it's got.... BRAAAAAINS!!!!!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Reached 22k last night on #NaNoWriMo 2009 Not as far as I'd like to be, but still comfy...
read it: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com
...and by "last night" I mean early this morning. :)Thursday, November 12, 2009
Researchers Explore Growing Ocean Garbage Patches via NYTimes.com
ABOARD THE ALGUITA, 1,000 miles northeast of Hawaii — In this remote patch of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from any national boundary, the detritus of human life is collecting in a swirling current so large that it defies precise measurement.Light bulbs, bottle caps, toothbrushes, Popsicle sticks and tiny pieces of plastic, each the size of a grain of rice, inhabit the Pacific garbage patch, an area of widely dispersed trash that doubles in size every decade and is now believed to be roughly twice the size of Texas. But one research organization estimates that the garbage now actually pervades the Pacific, though most of it is caught in what oceanographers call a gyre like this one — an area of heavy currents and slack winds that keep the trash swirling in a giant whirlpool.
via nytimes.com
I've blogged about this before, but it deserves more coverage. We're quietly building a continent of trash in the Pacific and possibly islands of trash elsewhere.
We really are a horrible, selfish species, aren't we?
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
famous quotes: Henry Ford on banking and monetary system (via http://blogdrop.posterous.com)
Henry Ford:
"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system,
for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
Sadly, I disagree with this now. If the people of the nation understood our banking and monetary system I don't think they'd care a bit. They'd just say: "All right, well, as long as I can get a piece of the action, I'm good."
Which is sad, since we're all just exploiting each other, ultimately...
Wonderful quote from the late Carl Sagan on Perspective via http://garr.posterous.com
"Fanatic ethnic or religious or national identifications are a little difficult to support when we see our planet as a fragile, blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars." —Carl Sagan
Remembering Other Kinds of Veterans like Ken Saro-Wiwa (via http://flickr.com/photos/andresmusta)
via flickr.com
From Andres Musta's caption to this image which he posted on his Flickr yesterday: "So much suffering in the world. So many people caught up in supporting one faction or another.
Some courageous souls win victories through nonviolence. When do they get their recognition?
Ken Saro-Wiwa was one such soul. (more details with linked photo below)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Saro-Wiwa
No disrespect to fighting soldiers past & present - we are here today because of their efforts, no doubt.
But on this most solemn day, I'm also remembering students who stood unarmed before tanks, persecuted journalists around the world, and soldiers who refuse to fight for oil companies, at whatever personal cost.
PEACE"
That's just part of the caption and just part of the story.
Cracked 20k tonite on my #NaNoWriMo 2009 novel "Manhattan Story"! Read so far: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com
That link once again: http://manhattanstory.tumblr.com
Will be posting 2 chapters later today. That's 3600+ words in the lastfive hours... Boy do I need some sleep! I can barely type strs;gz gzgizzdgoihuw........ -_-
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Fox News & Daily Tech report: Bugs Bunny and his ladyfriend agree that artificial penis tissue is promising (via Google News)
Gotta love it when Google matches the WRONG photo to the even more
WRONG news item. The Fox News article claims: "One day artificial
penis tissue could be grown to help men, new findings in rabbits now
suggest."
article refers to?? Hot damn--those are some fun clinical tests!
Bug's girl is HOT... ;P Ah, Google! You're so much better than getting news from the News, but
for crying out loud, man, someone should be paying attention to this
stuff!!
After 3 days off, "Manhattan Story" is back on track with 16,571 words! That's 87 pages to you and me. NICE.
Very comfy with my return to action. Though looking at the progress
my writing buddies have made, I'm going to have to bust my ass to get
back in the lead... no more days off, dammit!
@KayThePal Says: NOH8!!!! And I concur!!
@KayThePal says: NO H8!!! http://www.noh8campaign.com <-- go and take or get instructions to submit your own NoH8 pic!
YEAHH!!!
I mean, that's what Jay ThePal says. ;)
Time Warner cable broadband sucks. They've shut down all of upper Manhattan's Internet...
or at least all of their Northern Manhattan customers' Internet from midnight tonight until 6am. They did this with no warning at all. No email. No phone call. Not so much as a mention in the last bill. Hm, I wonder how they'd like it if all of their customers ability to pay on time went down for maintenance without warning. It's not like we can just go with another provider. Last year I found that TW is the cheapest of the three providers here in NYC. Sure wish the OLPC XO had taken off more. Then, at least, I could connect to another XO out in Jersey and borrow their Internet. How am I posting this? My iPhone and T-Mobile's Edge network. Of course, I can't effectively research my novel on my iPhone. Let's hope it all comes out of my head tonight...
Monday, November 09, 2009
finally the economy is taking off again, isn't it? via http://blogdrop.posterous.com (@blogdrop)
But isn't this always the dynamic? The "captains" always feel like they're flying while the rest of us poor-folks struggle to get by.
Middle-class? Can I see some numbers to prove we still *have* a middle class, please?
Like Lego? Then check out this Lego pr0n! (It's only porn if you REALLY like Lego!) via Brickopolis' Flickr
via flickr.com
It's amazing to me how just the sound of Lego bricks still makes me smile. It reminds me of countless hours building and creating as a kid. It makes me miss doing things with my hands so much.... thank you Brickopolis for reminding me that I was born to build :)
The 2 books a famine-stricken 14 yr-old Milawi boy used to bring eletricity to his home. via @curiouslee's flickr
via flickr.com
From the caption to this pic taken by Mike Lee and posted by him to his flickr:
"At age 14, a boy in Malawi named William Kamkwamba used two books to learn how to build a windmill from scrap parts to generate electricity. This was just after dropping out of school due to famine. Here are photos of my used copies of the books Using Energy and Explaining Physics that William found in the USAID library in his village. Now at age 22, he is touring the world to promote his bestselling book, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind."
Hit the flickr link above to check out Mike's original post and more links related to this story (including a link to Kamkwamba's blog).
Most impressive Jack-O-Lantern you'll ever see. via http://blogdrop.posterous.com
Makes me want to go watch "Predator" again.
Though, to be fair, I shouldn't have suggested this was a "jack-o-lantern" since there's no candle inside, but maybe there is and they just forgot to light it.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Illustration of what Space Invaders might really look like via http://blogdrop.posterous.com
I love seeing stuff like this. Classic iconography reimagined for something much closer to our real world while still maintaining respect for the original work. Good stuff!
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