links for 26 February 2010

• play play play

26 February 2010 – This comic is always good, but sometimes it is the kind of good that hits me in the gut.

• Leak in Shark-Filled Aquarium in Dubai Mall

25 February 2010 – And they shall have their revenge.

• BBC News – British Library warns UK's web heritage 'could be lost'

25 February 2010

• Complaint over head-scarf firing at store

25 February 2010 – I love the phrase "look policy". Except for the fact that it is ridiculous. Then again, so is Abercrombie & Fitch.

• iPhone Game Raises Awareness of Marriage Equality

25 February 2010 – Interesting: “A new iPhone game, Valet Hustler, aims to raise awareness about same-sex marriage.”

links for 25 February 2010

• Yelp Is Sued After Dispute Over a Review

24 February 2010

• San Fran Library Hires Social Worker for Homeless – NYTimes.com

24 February 2010 – This article makes me more than a little sad, and not just because I work here.

links for 24 February 2010

• Britain To Stop Funding For Homeopathy

23 February 2010 – … didn’t see that coming. Then again, I live in California. (via Clay)

• Rape Analogy: The “Walking in a Bad Neighborhood” Theory

23 February 2010 – Brilliant article overall, but especially for this: “The behaviors associated with femininity occupy a strange space in our culture. While they are obsessively reinforced as ‘normal’ behaviors for women, they simultaneously work to situate women as abnormal, different, ‘other.’” (via ShannonK)

• How Seattle Commutes

23 February 2010 – Terrific graphic of major cities’ commuting habits. (via Darby)

• I’m Sorry

23 February 2010 – I love this. (via striatic)

• Captain Kirk is climbing a mountain, why is he climbing a mountain?

23 February 2010

links for 23 February 2010

• Bay Area deemed least affordable region in U.S. – San Francisco Business Times:

22 February 2010 – No surprise here. What is surprising to me is how much civic dysfunction we are willing to tolerate while paying such exorbitant prices to be here.

links for 22 February 2010

• Darth Vader Working On a Saturday

22 February 2010 – How do I convince FunkyPlaid to do this for our wedding?

• Writers describe the positive impact of D&D on their lives

20 February 2010

• 11,000 Rejections on the Wall, 11,000 Rejections

22 February 2010 – Thanks, Ang, for sharing this. It makes me feel significantly better about my own meager pile of rejections.

• Boycott FedEx

22 February 2010

• Scientologists Hire Journalists to Investigate Journalists

22 February 2010

• I cannot conceal my annoyance

13 February 2010 – I do so love Mr. Ellison’s writing, but what an insufferable ego.

• Haiti, One Month Later

12 February 2010

• Don't F*ck With The Quote

10 February 2010

• The Denzel Washington Venn Diagram

10 February 2010 – I love this.

• Food Crisis Grows in Haiti

26 January 2010

• Star Trek inks, anyone? (Trademark infringement, here I come!)

23 December 2009

• Female gamers and website traffic

23 December 2009

• Peter Daniel Frazier’s minimalist office escape

23 December 2009

• HOW TO: Use Twitter Lists

2 November 2009 – Are you using Twitter lists? Why or why not?

• “Live-Action Cannot Capture How Terrible She Really Is.” [Crushes]

2 November 2009

• Game Fair #1

15 October 2009

• The Tomahawk Story

11 October 2009

• So, I’ve been using pliers for calligraphy lately.

6 October 2009

• End of an Era: GeoCities to Close This Month

9 October 2009 – This is truly the end of an era. I remember my first Geocities website so fondly …

• Allow Me to Present To You…The N Judah Fail Whale (of sorts)…

29 September 2009 – Brilliant!

infected

If you are reading this, you have been infected. Proceed to the Wellness Center. At the door, remove the piece of clothing you like best. This certainly carries the disease, and will be destroyed.

No one will greet you. There is no one staffing the Wellness Center in this time of crisis; all personnel have been deployed to less fortunate towns. You may not see another person during your intake assessment. There is no need for alarm.

Sit in the blue chair. The green chair will turn blue at times. It is temperamental. Do not be fooled. Wait long enough for the blue chair to prove itself blue. This will take a short amount of time, but longer than you think.

The screen above you will descend until it is approximately one foot from your face. Look directly into the screen. It will diagnose the level of your infection. It will also provide a complimentary snapshot of your inner beauty. This inner beauty is not representative of an objective inner beauty. The Wellness Center will not be held liable for what you see there.

The treatment will happen without your knowledge. It may take a second or a day. For some, it takes years. No one will know when you have recovered. You will not feel any different; you will not look any different. The Wellness Center will bill you within thirty days.

Go home. Look in the mirror. You are cured. Thank you for your cooperation.

links for 2010-02-19

• Glitch
  I have never been more excited for a game than I am for Glitch. I played Game Neverending way back when and loved it — it was, in fact, the reason I joined Flickr — and Glitch promises to be all that GNE was and more.  I hope to be invited to the private alpha!
  (tags: games mmorpg)
• How childbirth caused my PTSD
  The experience this woman relates is unimaginable to me. I am not surprised that she developed PTSD as a result. Why would she make something like that up? (Skip the comments, unless you're into unabridged assholery. I won't be reading Salon comments in the future.)
  (tags: health childbirth PTSD)
• That's What She Said
  Megan Mullally and Thomas Lennon explain the origins of "that's what she said." And I laughed and laughed and laughed.
  (tags: humor video)

beautiful lady

A beautiful lady works at the library. I say this — beautiful lady — knowing I sound like a little boy on Valentine's Day.  But she is.

links for 2010-02-16

• National Children’s Study Is Looking for Pregnant Women – NYTimes.com
  From the article: "Authorized by Congress in 2000, the National Children’s Study began last January, its projected cost swelling to about $6.7 billion. With several hundred participants so far, it aims to enroll 100,000 pregnant women in 105 counties, then monitor their babies until they turn 21."
  (tags: america health research children)
• Should you settle for Mr. Right Now? – CNN.com
  I don't agree with most of this, but it is certainly thought-provoking. From the article: "Gottlieb interviewed an array of experts — sociologists, behavioral economists, social psychologists, and statisticians — who presented evidence about why online dating doesn't work, what women can really expect when they're in their 40s (there are only 72 single men for every 100 women in the 45-to-65-year-old demographic, according to a U.S. Census figure she cites), and why women are fundamentally the choosier sex." (via mish)
  (tags: love relationships advice)
• YouTube – Saturday at the USO
  Someone created this video of actual "gameplay" — if you can call it that — in Second Life, complete with a fantastic Big Band soundtrack.

  It is sincerely worth a watch, especially if you appreciate this era of music, but just as a marvelous example of the level of creativity that can be achieved in Second Life.

  (tags: SecondLife dance music WWII BigBand machinima video)

obligatory romance day

FunkyPlaid and I celebrated Obligatory Romance Day with Burgermeister burgers and geocaching. It was a perfect San Francisco day, 65 and sunny. Dogs of all kinds trotted happily before their humans. We talked about what makes us unhappy about our present, what we look forward to in our future. I am lucky to be able to tell him whatever I am thinking and feeling. It is a small yet crucial thing.

Shortly after arriving home, I read that Lucille Clifton had died. While I was in school in Alabama, I was assigned to read her collection “The Book of Light”. It took me a few passes before I understood the genius in her simplicity. Then I tried to emulate her style. It did not work so well for me, but I still love her poems.

Here is Lucille Clifton’s poem, “won’t you celebrate with me”:

won’t you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my one hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.

The song that is playing right now, “Loretta Young Silks” by Sneaker Pimps, doesn’t remind me of anything in particular. I wonder if someday it will remind me of writing this.