I will NEVER escape the pernicious shadow of that online quiz...
I cannot be an example to any of you. However, I can be a dreadful warning. So take heed.
When you are using the school version of Microsoft Word for Mac, and it asks you, when you save your paper, if you wish to MERGE your changes into the original document, the correct answer is...
"NO!!"
You see, if you say yes, it will, every time you fastidiously save your paper, quietly disappear all of your paper except for what is on your screen and whatever you first saved....which in my case was the title.
Anyway...
There was some anxiety around these parts recently.
"And can presumably be put back together if they get...disassembled!"
Well, I've been in the hospital. It seems that I am not just allergic to Pseudoephedrine, I'm deathly allergic to ALL antihistamines, even those that are supposedly safe for people who can't take Pseudoephedrine.
When I entered the hospital both my blood-pressure numbers were three digits and one of them began with the letter two.
I turned out to have a recurrence of the vile sinus/inner ear infection I had about six months ago, just with much more pain added to the dizziness and blurred vision. A ridiculous battery of tests resulted in the conclusion that I don't actually have hypertension except as a result of the aforementioned allergies. This whole event turned out to be fortuitous since I probably would not have been aware of the insane blood pressure issue had it not been for the symptoms of the infection scaring me to dearth and sending me to the ER. Of course, given that this unlikely condition has recurred, I'll need to see an E.N.T in the near future.
Hampton Roads is right on the edge of where the snow and rain meet with this storm. Last night it actually warmed up and a torrential rain washed away the 2-3 inches of snow that we'd gotten during the afternoon. Forecasts called for much the same going into today, with high 30's and low 40's.
Around noon however the rain turned to sleet...these two pictures show, not a dusting of snow, but accumulated sleet.
With a storm surge expected, I needed to go and check on my parents sailboat so my dad would not be compelled to walk down the ice covered pier. By that time, it was snowing as well as sleeting and the wind had picked up quite a bit. It took forever to simply get into the van, which was quite efficiently encased in ice. I had to break the wipers loose (so they would not break when I lit off the engine as I'd stupidly left the wipers on when I parked). After an extensive defrosting and scraping I drove to the marina (just 5 miles distant) and took these pictures...
That is wet snow-slush...on top of ice.
Not pictured: just how slick this was...
The boat is still secured, and the lines did not need to be let in or out, which is fortuitous as given how treacherous the main pier was, fiddling about on the finger pier did not appeal to me at all.
After my brief foray into the otherworldly mess that Pete and Wonderduck would describe as "Saturday", I got home and noted that my footprints had been completely filled in. As I type this there is about 2-3 inches on the ground, it is dark, snowing sideways and the house is shaking from the wind.
Of course, this is NOTHING compared to what is happening north of us, but ice has a certain annoyance all its own. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we retain power through the night.
4
Or the unlikely possibility of one of the 3 volcanic centers acting up.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Jan 23 20:30:27 2016 (AaBUm)
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After living in Minnesota for two winters, and Illinois for many more, I've learned two things about driving in winter weather:
1) Snow holds no worries for me. Sure, I'm careful driving in it, and I'd rather not drive in a heavy snowfall, but I know I can drive safely in it if I have to. I'm more concerned about the idiots around me.
2) Ice is a whole 'nother beast. I'd rather get a foot of snow than a quarter-inch of ice... and I do NOT drive in an ice storm. That's just a fast way to the ditch... or the morgue.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sat Jan 23 21:00:42 2016 (KiM/Y)
6
About ten years ago we had an off-the-charts hail storm where I was living in Sydney at the time - the ground was was completely covered with ice, maybe an inch deep of quarter- to half-inch hailstones.
Lasted long enough that kids were sledding in the park opposite my house. Vehicular traffic didn't have quite as much fun...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sun Jan 24 01:02:06 2016 (PiXy!)
It dipped a touch below freezing here, no snow (we don't often get any, not really expecting any this year either). Hoping that it warms up, relatively speaking, for next week, since I'll be in San Antonio for PAX.
Good to hear everything's on the manageable end up there.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Sun Jan 24 02:50:09 2016 (v29Tn)
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What's the latest from your neck of the woods, Muppet?
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Jan 24 11:11:53 2016 (KiM/Y)
I upgraded the operating System on my iMac to OS X 10.11.2 (El-Capitain) which resulted in quite a few of my apps suddenly becoming obsolete. Since I hadn't actually upgraded the OS since about I got the thing years ago, this was unsurprising. Rather more surprising was the Ap-stores new $9.99 .gif AP which doesn't actually edit .gifs. At $4.99 iGif Creator does but the new version of Safari is incompatible with the hyperlink insertion widget in Minx so no hyperlink is here. The new version of Safari doesn't show the Mee.Nu banners either.
On the Windows side of things, my Windows 7 is again claiming to be unregistered causing me some grief when I run it, but I'm still trying to avoid Windows 10.
As usual, the whole world celebrated my birthday yesterday morning, however, I spent most of the morning traipsing around Boston getting harassed by a really big Mirelurk, saving a cat and hanging out with this really nice French girl who is about my age and much more tech savvy, though she's a tad socially awkward.
I guess Walter Mitty, isn't just a short story...It's a lifestyle.
1
The banners issue is odd; that works fine for me on my new iMac (also running El Capitan).
And happy birthday!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sun Jan 3 03:50:38 2016 (PiXy!)
2
OK now the banners are all working fine.
Lets see...yes, hyperlinks are working too.
Superscript is kinda working but doesn't change the font size.Of course super and subscripts have never worked right in Safari, Epic or Opera. So all is nominal.
Pixy you are a genius!
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jan 3 08:28:57 2016 (AaBUm)
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On the other hand the earlier of the two New Years eve posts seems to be breaking my formatting for some reason.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jan 3 09:09:37 2016 (AaBUm)
2
Merry Christmas, 'muppet! Congratulations on meeting Santa's demands for one more year!
Posted by: Ben at Fri Dec 25 19:56:45 2015 (DRaH+)
3
When you talked about being covered in cricket poop, I thought you were exaggerating for humorous effect. But you were speaking the literal truth, and that's really mind-boggling.
For over a week, I have not one, but two of these that have embarked on their respective journeys of discovery. One of them seems to have stopped just short of the threshold, either due to second thoughts, to contemplate how different the journey might have been on the right side, or simply to ensure that there is a record of its passing etched permanently along the path. Though both are born of the same awesome process that gives us spectacular cave formations, I confess I have less appreciation for the miracle of their formation than I might if they were not cutting up my urinary tract.
But enough bio-crystallography; here is something, that while in no way a substitute for content, is at least pleasant to look at.
Hestia, goddess of the hearth, ribbons, and win by Mr.Vi
(Note: Most of the discussion of Hestia's character design tends to focus on the physics of her ribbon, but I'm more curious as to the function of the air intakes over her ears.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue Oct 6 05:17:10 2015 (PiXy!)
2
Well, you could live in Toledo, where this happens in low spots in town every time it rains... but the drainage is better everywhere except the low bits of the streets, so only the roads under the railroad underpasses get inundated like that....
So yeah, that is pretty impressive amounts of rain.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Tue Oct 6 17:25:12 2015 (ZJVQ5)
The day we can start looking forward to the weeke....
Huh...That's an awfully wide cone there.
Let's see what the individual models say....
OK. Two of the models are quite divergent from the rest (one being about 180 degrees off) which accounts for the wide cone (as it is an average of the models).
However...
All but two of the models have the thing causing some degree of mischief in SE Virginia and the majority of them predict it will broadly follow the paths of the two worst hurricanes to hit this area. Isabel and "The 1933 Storm".
It's been raining here for two days and there is already standing water in my street as the storm drains are flooded. The ground is soggy so trees could fall easily.
3
To get a better idea of how likely landfall near your location is, factor in just how badly a storm would screw you over right now. Based on your previous biographical posts, there appears to a direct correlation...
Posted by: Siergen at Wed Sep 30 17:15:47 2015 (De/yN)
4
That pale orange track looks like it's trying to become Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Wed Sep 30 17:40:08 2015 (a12rG)
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Come now! This is Brickmuppet we're talking about! What's the worst that... could... ah, er... never mind.
Posted by: Clayton Barnett at Thu Oct 1 08:33:30 2015 (lU4ZJ)
If she didn't ask your permission, then this is violation of your copyright. (And under the Berne convention, copyright is automatic unless explicitly waived.)
If it doesn't have your byline, then it also plagiarism.
2
Taking the class involved signing a waiver. This is common in undergraduate classes today as papers are sometimes used as examples or entered into contests or whatnot.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Sep 19 03:00:01 2015 (ohzj1)
3
What exactly did the waiver waive? Can you reprint it yourself, or has she tied up the rights? "My teacher ate my homework" is a new one on me.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Sat Sep 19 09:38:26 2015 (ZlYZd)
4
On the one hand, it is good to have an article for your vita.
OTOH, that "common practice" is crap. Academia does not absolve from fair trade practice. Grad students are commonly used as a paper mill by lazy profs, but undergrads? That is sinking low.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Sat Sep 19 10:55:44 2015 (ZJVQ5)
Old Dominion University starts the week before Labor Day so, since I only have a week to go before school starts, I decided just now to check and see if any of my silly busses were online yet so I could order some of my books and also find out if any classes have homework due the first day of class.
What I discovered is that school starts tomorrow...
Yeah, there's been a LOT of perfunctory posting recently.
As "blog" theoretically means Biographical log, for those interested, there is a disquisition on the banal reasons for this extended programming anomaly below the fold.
As compensation, here, courtesy of GATE, (this season's surprisingly enjoyable and intelligent fantasy) is Tuka, Chuka or possibly Tsuka.
However her name is transliterated, the art is by Otono Fei.
Discussions of life's little irritants is below the fold. To keep perusal of this site in the domain of leisure rather than masochism, here is a whopping 35 feet of pulchritude (and an aspie).
Well, my trip to Kafkaland seems to finally be resolved.
This is kind of a shame as I was enjoying both classes. OTOH this is almost certainly for the best as it means I'll be caught up financially in a few weeks (I still need to get a car after all).
In any event, here is something that some of you might find clever.
1
Good to hear.
Update: Yay!
I wonder if I could get unsuspended from YouTube. I got suspended about eight years ago when Sony Music first turned on their little bot and it found my collection of anime ops and eds, and I'm still suspended.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thu May 21 21:20:25 2015 (2yngH)
My girls are 14 and 12. I don't even speak of college anymore; just trade schools or marriage to a guy with a trade.
You've no 'donate' button on your site. That's one way to fix 1st world problems. I know that "charity" is a dirty word for those of us old enough to have pride, but caritas amongst us of the Remnant is another thing altogether.
Posted by: Clayton Barnett at Tue May 19 01:21:56 2015 (lU4ZJ)
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Tue May 19 12:21:43 2015 (ZJVQ5)
3
First world problems only affect the first world.
You are talking about debt and bureaucratic obstructiveness and I am lead to believe they are fundamental properties that pervade the whole universe.
Keep pushing and you may be able to resolve it.
Posted by: Riktol at Tue May 19 14:26:19 2015 (MQZN9)
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I would not even bother with instructors, call the Reg/Adm office.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tue May 19 20:43:58 2015 (8hfbc)
5
Yeah, my next stop would be straight into the Registrar's and/or Bursar's.
Posted by: RickC at Tue May 19 20:47:18 2015 (0a7VZ)
Yeah, my next stop would be straight into the Registrar's and/or Bursar's.
That was my second stop (after the attempt at online withdrawal).
Step FIVE was to go to the Old Administration Building and ask to speak to anyone named "Dean". That seems to have worked except that it appears that I'm still being billed for the classes. IIt seems that Dean is almost as cool a name as Maximilian.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 20 14:52:04 2015 (ohzj1)
I think the most profound difference between the US and Australia is not the lack of taipan funnel sharks over here, but rather the fact that Pixy did not have anything to say about "cultural appropriation".
Australia rocks!
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 20 14:58:58 2015 (ohzj1)
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"That was my second stop (after the attempt at online withdrawal)."
Argh. Well, I guess I'm glad you got a resolution that isn't horrible?
The one time I found myself in a literal Catch-22 situation (Registrar: "Can't have your class schedule without a copy of your bill". Bursar: "Can't give you your bill without a class schedule") I managed to deal with it by asking to talk to the Registrar Dean, too.
Posted by: RickC at Wed May 20 18:58:09 2015 (0a7VZ)
Exams begin Thursday and last into next week. Additionally, it appears that one of my classes was actually in the sociology department and so requires APA style as opposed to Chicago/Turabian. Fortunately, I've been given the option of re-submitting it...
Experimenting, training, testing and retrying. My life is just like this picture, but without the respectability, cute girls, cutting edge tech and prototype karatebot.
Full disclosure: Strictly speaking, nobody actually died as such. For the vast majority of folks who are uninterested in the first world problems below the fold, here are 3 views of Sakurajima.
(I did not know that Volcanoes sounded like synthesizers!)
Note that pressing "MORE" will result in banality and not more 'splodies.
Before sending the car to the junkyard, try selling it as-is on Craigslist first. Believe it or not, there are people out there who like old Cressidas; if yours is in decent shape aside from the dead engine, you might get good money for it (better than the scrap metal value, anyway).
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Sun Mar 29 18:31:18 2015 (dzzLh)
4
The year should get better from here. I hope and pray.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Mon Mar 30 12:53:07 2015 (ZJVQ5)
1
Up here in Manassas it's cloudy, so there's no shadows outside, and the snow is still coming
down hard. That makes it hard to judge how deep the snow is from
inside. The weird thing is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of wind (most
flakes seem to all straight down), but at ground level it is moving fast
enough to keep part of my front sidewalk clear, while drifting deeply
around back. In fact, the neighbor kids just dug a tunnel through a snow
drift that they can crawl through...
Posted by: Siergen at Sat Feb 21 16:58:42 2015 (ohSuC)
2
Here in Duckford, it's 29, grey and snowing a bit. This is a refreshing change from most of the past week/month/season, where it's been grey, snowing a bit, and in the single digits. Except when it has been grey, snowing a lot, and windy.
To be blunt, this winter has sucked, but you've gotten more snow. You win.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sat Feb 21 17:14:26 2015 (jGQR+)
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74F and partly cloudy in Albuquerque, wind about 12 knots by mid-day
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sat Feb 21 20:21:54 2015 (RqRa5)
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I used to live in Herndon a couple decades ago. Once on the way home from work (In Mclean) the roads were so impassable, I became trapped between two hills. (I could have made it except some other folks who didn't know how to to handle snow and ice blocked the path.
Fortunately, a family along the way welcomed in the trapped travelers for the night. And I also learned a lesson about watching my language.
(although these days, if I have to watch my language, I make sure it's colorful).
Posted by: Mauser at Sun Feb 22 02:33:27 2015 (TJ7ih)
