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July 30, 2008

the neighborhood this summer

it's getting me down. i've lived here about 15 years now and while there's been more good stuff happening in the last few years, it seems like the bad stuff reached a certain baseline several years ago and never got better. it's worse in the summer.

so we have...

so the lost dog incident, which i guess is over now, was: i walked by the front door this afternoon and there was a dog sitting on my front steps. i tried to give her water (which she didn't want) and then she walked over to my side yard gate and asked to be let in. i think she was looking for some shade. she hung out in my side yard all day. i called animal control and they never showed. i posted pictures to the neighborhood listerv and one person said they might know the owner but i haven't heard anything back about that. i finally fed her and she was pretty hungry. around 9pm i decided she was probably going to be around for the night so i went to try and get her on my screen porch-- and she was gone. just disappeared. i looked all over my back yard for her and everywhere i could think it's like, poof, disappearing dog.

i really hope she's on her way home. she had a current rabies tag and looked well fed so i think she's probably a neighborhood resident.

so in general i am feeling kind of down about the neighborhood. i think if antonio were gone it would probably go a long way toward making things feel more comfortable; just knowing he's always around has a sort of dampening effect on me, even though he never looks me in the eye anymore or tries to say hello like he always used to before he was arrested.

Posted by lisa at 09:47 PM

July 27, 2008

Mac Cube G4 for sale

Mac Cube G4 500mhz PowerPC
40GB / 1GB

Mac Cube G4

cd-rom drive does not work.

hard drive has mechanical problems. disk warrior repaired it to the extent possible and it will boot now, but cannot really be used and needs to be replaced.

comes with matching keyboard, single-button optical mouse, spherical Hardon Karmann clear lucite speakers, and 15" LCD monitor.

$200 OBO

NOTE: Metal Devil Duckie NOT included.

Posted by lisa at 12:51 PM

Linkages

Abandoned NC

"Abandoned NC is a site dedicated to photographically preserving the places that the general population doesn't notice, doesn't see, and doesn't care for."

6 Moons audio Reviews

"We strive to document review gear with comprehensive photo coverage including photos of what's below the covers."

'Neglect' of Bletchley condemned

"A call to save Bletchley Park has gone out from the UK's computer scientists."

Dr. David B. Kaber - NCSU professor who teaches HCI courses.

WarGames: A Look Back at the Film That Turned Geeks and Phreaks Into Stars

Radio Flyer ATW - At one point I was considering buying something like this to take Moses out walking.

Posted by lisa at 11:10 AM

July 24, 2008

that's one hot platter!

Picture from WDBS, which is what WXDU was before it was WXDU. The turntable in the photo doesn't quite appear to be the same as the one I have from the station, but it's of the same ilk.

Posted by lisa at 11:40 PM

July 18, 2008

I'm rooting for Rawls.

I don't know Cy Rawls personally, but it seems that we do know a lot of the same folks. And like most everyone who has ever been to a rock show in the Triangle, I'm hoping he's going to be okay.

Mr. Rawls is at Duke this week being treated for a brain tumor. The same folks who worked on that Senator from up North are helping out Cy Rawls.

Anyway, if you want to know everything that's happening, including fundraising efforts, please check out cyrawls.blogspot.com.

I just wanted to say that I hope he's going to pull through and spread the word even further.

Posted by lisa at 09:59 PM

July 17, 2008

ZOMFG!!!!!!!

Posted by lisa at 08:02 PM

July 16, 2008

WKNC dj "discovers" local music

Steve Salevan provides a home for local music on the airwaves

Ross Grady (of WXDU) gets a one-line mention. WXYC's decades-long devotion to local music is skipped entirely.

Ross Grady? His local music show started at WKNC. Back when they were nothing but metal.

Whatever. At least they finally woke up and smelt the music scene. They get a cookie.

Posted by lisa at 11:09 PM

wunderground.com DNS problems today

anyone who relies on wunderground.com for weather data (and that is, seemingly, everybody) is scratching their heads today, wondering what the hell happened to the site. One minute pages come up blank; the next they kind of load, but with images broken. Google blog search (thanks D for that pointer) shows people who can and cannot get to the mobile version, the RSS feeds, etc.

i was able to get through to their home page long enough to submit a problem ticket, and they responded within minutes:

-----Original Message-----
From: Weather Underground, Inc [mailto:kayako@wunderground.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:35 AM
To: Lisa Linn
Subject: [#OWX-]: What's happening to weather underground?

Hello,

Weather Underground is currently experiencing a problem with name
resolution (DNS) to the site. Roughly half of site visitors are taken
to a "Site Under Construction" or an error page when they try
wunderground.com.

We are working feverishly to solve this problem.

In the meantime, you can visit www.weatherunderground.com which still
works.

Sincerely,
Weather Underground Staff


Thank you for your support!

Weather Underground, Inc
http://www.wunderground.com/

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: OWX-
Category: General

So, if you were wondering, that's the story. Well, part of the story. I'm sure the cause of the DNS problems will eventually be revealed but at least the site hasn't been yoinked with no warning.

ETA:

a co-worker dug this out of the blog search:

This was posted at 8:06 pm last night: Straight from John Celenza at WeatherUnderground:

---

Man I wish we had updates on time.

Basically the folks who control our domain registration made a MAJOR
mistake today and broke DNS resolution of our site by pointing DNS
lookups to the wrong name service.

We'll be up definitely after the 45 hour timeout period when root name
servers will again attempt to lookup and store Wunderground.com.
However, we are working with our registrar to find a MUCH faster
solution.

Posted by lisa at 10:46 AM

July 14, 2008

lisa and moses discuss battle rabbit

l: a rabbit feast. i bet you could go for that. YEAH.

m: tell them not to put any onion in it because that will make me more anemic.

m: actually, they don't even have to cook it.

m: actually, it doesn't even really have to be dead.

l: just kind of stunned? so it's easy?

m: yeah. like that.

Posted by lisa at 12:38 AM

July 13, 2008

Let's discuss the Zombie Apocalypse.

Post-apocalypse without the militias: The Outquisition (via b2)

"...if folks who knew tools and innovation left the comfy bright green cities and traveled to the dead mall suburban slums, rustbelt browntowns and climate-smacked farm communities and started helping the locals get the tools they needed... Helping rural landowners apply climate foresight and farm biodiversity... Hacking together DIY windmills and ad hoc smart grids, communication systems, water treatment systems.."

I find this unbelievably patronizing. There are folks in rural areas already creating DIY windmills and the like. They're the ones who are going to save your hipster ass when the Zombie Apocalypse comes. Not the other way around, dumbasses.

Don't believe me? I'll loan you the copy of "Home Power" magazine where my uncle is profiled. He's off the grid because there are no utilities where he lives, and he's hacked together a combination of bought and salvaged components to power his house. Trust me-- he "knows tools and innovation".

Posted by lisa at 12:10 PM

July 12, 2008

I'll see your OMG! and raise you a ZOMG!

OMG! Gawker Q&A with Joss Whedon!

Oh, and either Marti Noxon has changed her name to Marni Nixon or Gawker needs a fact checker/more skillful transcriber. See, her name is easy to remember if you're a real Buffy fan, because you HATE HER.

Posted by lisa at 04:05 PM

July 11, 2008

Hilarity ensues.

via b2...

"Salon's Patrick Smith, author of the excellent Ask the Pilot column relates the incredibly frustrating -- and quintessential -- story of the day a surly TSA screener confiscated the airline-issue, safe-certified knife from his luggage (part of his hotel stayover emergency kit)."

From Quintessential TSA stupidity: taking airline cutlery away from a pilot.

The really hilarious thing is that TSA makes pilots go through security screening. He's going to be flying the plane. He doesn't need a knife to hijack it.

Riiiight?

Posted by lisa at 02:41 PM

July 08, 2008

yard work is my cardio

last fall i pulled a couple of cubic yards of material out of my front and side yard as a result of pruning.

this week i've done about the same again. i have a real problem with vines that take over trees and shrubs. they're particularly bad along one side of my house, where they weighted some tree branches to the point that they dislodged a gutter. my goal was to put the gutter back together; once i was up on the ladder i realized that job one was removing a lot of plant material first.

this week also features a cat who is improving noticeably, and the realization that i could have hired someone to fix my fence (back when it still kind of existed) and it wouldn't have cost that much, really. i'm getting estimates on having a new fence put in, one that will keep reese in the back yard.

it's sort of weird that helms' funeral was at gran's old church. i think i knew he was a member of that church (and it certainly comes as no surprise). i wonder if the minister who officiated gran's funeral also did his. they say that cheney was coming to town today for the funeral.

i wonder if he'll be buried in the same cemetery as gran and her family.

Posted by lisa at 09:30 PM

on the family grapevine

the family grapevine is carried over the telephone wires.

now that my mom has moved away, she calls to chat every few weeks. we never did that before.

i'm now on the family grapevine, for reals.

i can tell you what's happening with everyone. some of it is pretty amazing. some of it is pretty sad.

i can tell you... but i'm not going to. because, you know. it's family stuff.

Posted by lisa at 12:05 AM

July 04, 2008

quite a day in durham

well, as most people have now heard, jesse helms died today. while shopping for tv's, one tv in one store was on a channel running continuous clips of helms speaking, pissing people off, saying no, etc.

in response, the heavens opened on the city of durham just before the big fireworks that were to be 'sploded after kevin costner (who is in town presumably in response to the 20th anniversary of Bull Durham and NOT because God Hates Durham) and his band played at the new durham ball park (not the one where they shot the movie, sadly).

chaos ensued, and we should know because we tried to go downtown after we thought the massive downpour would have cleared everyone out of there. but no; power was out intermittently, cop cars were flashing lights at intersections but no cops were directing traffic, roads were partially blocked and cars and pedestrians were still trying to escape from the morass of the ball park.

realizing our dinner plans were not going to include downtown, we headed to 9th street. of the several restaurants were visited on foot (in the rain), all were closed, which was too bad because 9th street had power and was virtually deserted. we could have had burgers at the biker bar, but decided not to.

taking to the car again, we drove by another place (closed) and finally headed for the Fed. they were open; we were carded at the door by a jovial young man who recommended the burgers to me, and headed for the muggy back room where the smoke quotient is low and tables were available.

fortunately, they had pear cider on draught, which is J's favorite. so it all came out in the end. i did have the burger, and as always, it's was quite good.

now we're enjoying air conditioning, and watching The Zero Effect.

Posted by lisa at 11:34 PM

July 01, 2008

what you get for a mil

so the neighborhood i grew up in was briefly featured on HGTV, on 'what you get for the money'. it was their example neighborhood for what you get for $1m in raleigh, nc.

trust me, my mom's house did not just sell for a mil.

couldn't figure out where in the 'hood the example house was located. suffice to say i do know that neighborhood very well. no idea where the $1m house was.

at least the guys who owned it didn't tear down the original and build new, which is happening a lot there.

Posted by lisa at 10:22 PM