take a left ....

just a quick note -- it was a couple of decades ago that mapmakers decided to not include everything on their maps anymore. little streets, small country roads, they left off things like that. pissed me off.

i just discovered a new wiki site which is trying to map the world and to make the result free to anyone. these maps will probably include everything. since it seems to still be in the beginning stages (staggered stages, though) i'm sure there are places which .... well, wait. i just looked at different places (africa, new zealand, scotland, siberia, china) and there's already quite a bit there. except for siberia and china.

i suppose a person would want to compare one of these new maps with google if you were going to use it -- human error and all that, but for the most part, the new map should turn out to be very informative and accurate. unless a bad guy has been making entries bent on mischief.

hotel service

i saw this article the other day about having people warm up your sheets. with themselves. come on, holiday inn, how much are you paying the person who thought this up?

yeah, yeah, i know. the person is supposed to be clean and all covered up, but all i can think is, GROSS. if i want a person to warm my sheets, i'll find him myself.

just make them all and let me choose

apparently, according to something i saw, this spring's colors are supposed to be strong-yellow, turquoise-green, tomato-red, chalky-violet, and medium-blue. plus some other blah colors.

that's just depressing.

things to do

the grandson is just about a month old now. we need to run down and visit. i'm sure he's keeping his eyes open more, especially with big sister around to make noise and laugh. i don't think we're going to make it down there this weekend, and next weekend i'm heading north to a bagpipe fund raiser. i went to it last year and very much enjoyed myself. lots of people, haggis, music, traditional dancing -- it's an evening of total immersion. and very fun!

it was fun

what a lovely visit we had with MYS and his special friend. we've hadn't met her before, although we've read about her on his blog and seen pictures. she's prettier than her pix and sooooo slender. very smart, easy-going, a quick laugh, totally unpretentious, good-natured -- lots of positive things to say about her. we very much enjoyed having both of them around!

i want to go there

we saw avatar last night. in 3-d.

i really liked it, the husband thought it was so-so. v, the young woman who went with us, liked it even more than i did.

would you like it? only if you're an intelligent, imaginative, forward-thinking, visual, other-than-republican, nature-loving, free spirit. it had BEAUTIFUL graphics, more realistic than anything i've ever seen. i mean, you were THERE! and you were ONE OF THEM!

the creatures were scary, but the philosophy of the whole place was lovely. the plants, flowers, little bugs were totally neat. i wanted to be there and touch things and see everything and go for a ride. except that i'm afraid of heights.

but, ohmygod, it was so cool. i wonder if i can have a room done like that place. or the whole house. *sigh*

12 daze

this one is pretty good, too. very very silly, but somehow pretty funny.

christmas can-can

i get tired of hearing all the christmas music, but i thought this was pretty good. enjoy!

can't keep up

i am waaaaay past everyone else in getting to see avatar but i know i'm going to love the visuals; my understanding is that the dialogue is terrible though. i loved myst, even though i never made it all the way through, so i'm sure i'm going to love avatar. visuals are a strong thing for me.

as i was looking around for information on how the movie was doing, i ran across this: http://www.geekologie.com/2009/12/spoiler_alert_avatar_the_movie.php. ahahahahaha!

a new baby!!

on tuesday, december 15, adam jeffrey was born. he was 8 lb. 15 oz., with dark hair and eyebrows, and a very quiet demeanor. he's been a very good baby with his only demands being to be fed and to be held.

big sister is happy around, and interested in, little brother and all is well. paternal grandparents stayed with the family for five days and maternal grandparents are visiting today.

it will be interesting to see who adam ends up looking like -- ava's looks seemed to change so much from day one, just like babies tend to do. she is a pretty and absolutely darling little kid and with such good-looking parents, i expect adam will be a little heartbreaker.

however it turns out, everyone is healthy and happy. a good start to any type of endeavor!

Oel ngati kameie.

i've got mixed feelings about james cameron. he's brilliant and has an incredibly inventive mind, but also seems to have a colossol ego and a really bad temper. he's been married five times, which shows he has flaws and keeps him from being a genuine role model. regardless, i'm excited about avatar and want to see it in a movie house. with it's own language and planet, it's got to be interesting, even if it flops. as if.

the little guys are goin' down

ooohhhhhhh, a new bad guy. and this one is going to ultimately increase the cost of food. we can only hope the big guys go ahead and do an antitrust suit on these people.

hahahaha, blechk, hahaha ...

since i do all except grocery shopping online, i get a ton of catalogs. a lot of them i just throw away since they don't have the slightest thing i'm interested in. some of them i look through, then throw away. some of them i decide to order from.

and then there's the ones i look through and shake my head over. this latest catalog has the following interesting items for your consideration: gun cufflinks, 18k gold, $5,590; natural shell cufflinks, $1,475; leather-topped bed steps, $675; pair of dresden peacock urns, $9,500; 8x10 enamel picture frame, $325; fake fur throw, $1,750; crystal lamp, $425; alligator earrings, $2,150; diamond elephant pin, $10,500. sorry, i can't go on ... between laughing and getting ready to throw up, this is too much.

mandelbrot

do you like looking at fractals? they are pretty darn fascinating, to me. MYS started putting together a 3-d fractal thing recently. i'm interested in what it looks like.

i saw an article recently about a math equation which can produce a fractal. it goes through numerous iterations getting more and more detailed and complex. the picture below is one of nine shown in the article. check them all out -- they are otherworldly. is this beautiful, or what?!

caveat

do you do the facebook thing? recently facebook decided to change their permissions. if you have an account and care anything at all about who gets to see your stuff, go in and check your settings.

i went to look at mine and made changes, but good grief! there are a lot of different places you have to watch out for. it's not simple, that's for sure.

i've never really liked facebook, and now i like it even less. i may just shut down my site. any company who plays loose and free with privacy just sucks as far as i'm concerned. user, beware!

it's so special

my ex-boss makes this great christmas candy. it's mint candy pieces in this white fondant. it is sooooooooo good!!!

she willingly shared that she gets the pieces from this candy store in kalamazoo, michigan. i am going to have to call them and see if i can get some. all my little darlings will have a taste treat they won't believe!

thanks, ex-boss!!!

do this, don't do that, let them do what they want

i think my unhappiness with things nowadays has a direct and very strong tie with my age. i've seen strictness in america (police in the 50's), i've seen dissent (abby hoffman, the weather underground, the black panthers), i've lived the cold war (gary powers, community and basement bomb shelters), seen two presidents shot (kennedy and reagan), seen deadly spy efforts (georgi markov), and seen rules and regulations you wouldn't believe (girls can't wear pants to school, if you missed a deadline there were no second chances, complete statistics about people who lived in a town were available in city directories -- their jobs, salaries, family members and ages, address, phone number, and more).

i don't miss that stuff, but i do have a problem with namby-pamby laws which let criminals off easy, parents who let their kids run amok in stores and restaurants, people who are rude, and the whole litany of political correctness since it's usually waaaaaaaay overdone.

can't we strike a pleasant and reasonable balance?

pink gloves and breast cancer

oh! this is very cool!

thank you My Younger Son for letting me know about this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdVfyt-mLw

comic books

this is interesting. i have not read any graphic novels, although i've heard of them. the article talks about one in particular, Luna Park, as being one of the best of 2009.

the article was intriguing, since that art form is unknown to me, but the part of the article which grabbed me the most was the last few paragraphs which profess the author's thoughts on american politics today. he summed up my feelings pretty darned well.

where is waldo?

well, here is something that was probably a lot of fun! i don't read Wired magazine except occasionally online, and i wouldn't have had a clue how to go about looking for this guy, except to scope out the people at work. ha! anyhow, check this out: Vanish.