| Amazon FS2 (Foot Shooting Service) |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|10:43 pm] |
So, Amazon screwed up. They deleted bought-and-paid-for books off peoples' Amazon Kindles.
To be fair, the blog posting linked to above doesn't tell the whole story. From AP and a bunch of other sources:
"These books were added to our catalog using our self-service platform by a third party who did not have the rights to the books," spokesman Drew Herdener said Friday.
So as it turns out, it may be an issue with copyright expiry in different countries. These things happen. Technically, it's completely forgivable.
But it doesn't matter, because that's not the mistake Amazon made.
If the primary barrier to larger acceptance of a product is the fear of a Bad Thing Happening, then you should do everything you can to make sure that it doesn't even look like you were attempting to do That Thing, because now those people will never trust you.
Strict and not Random is okay; figure out the rules and move on.
Random and not Strict is annoying, but dealable; finessing one's way out is a time-honored tradition.
Strict and Random is a sure path to failure; it's just too much work for the player.
Amazon just showed up in bucket number three. I'll be over here with my popcorn. |
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| the war goes on |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|05:26 pm] |
During my absence or inattentiveness the rats made a bold incursion into the tiered flower bed. This new tunnel scaled large enough for the likes of a badger was an escalation and was thus met accordingly. The entirety of the cavities within was flooded with the garden hose, then the already disturbed impatiens were removed and excavation began. What of the now muddy recesses not completely unearthed was stabbed turned and churned with the shovel. A layer of gravel several inches thick was then deposited on top with extra effort dedicated to working some of it down into the unseen mud reservoirs. At last the removed soil was piled in and the impatiens were returned to their bed. The hose was then employed to soak the lot of it through and level the recently replaced soil.
Their move. |
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| PLANETARY #27: The Cover |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|01:56 pm] |
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By my friend John Cassaday, taking us out in magnificent style. Click.
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.) |
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| Gardner workday next Saturday & thanks to Everett St weeders |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|06:25 pm] |
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http://allston02134.blogspot.com/2009/07/gardner-workday-next-saturday-thanks-to.html The next workday to continue our landscaping at the Gardner is a week from tomorrow – Saturday, July 25. We will meet from 9am-1pm and have a lot of work to do moving soil and wood chips to build a path and berm and prepare the site for planting. Please join us and bring a wheelbarrow if you have one.  Also, thanks to the dozen neighbors who joined us yesterday evening to pull weeds on the Everett St slope. We took out hundreds of pounds of invasive species and were pleased to find some good plants like Queen Anne’s Lace, clover, and milkweed growing on the site. As an added culinary bonus, and some sort of poetic justice, I got to reward my weeding with a lovely dandelion salad last night.
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| Seoul brings water back to the surface, but Harvard doesn't |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|05:22 pm] |
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http://allston02134.blogspot.com/2009/07/seoul-brings-water-back-to-surface-but.html Back when we were spending more time talking about the ecological possibilities that could be part of Harvard's expansion into Allston, the Charles River Watershed Association, as part of their Blue Cities work in North Allston, and many others were enthusiastic about the potential to rediscover streams in Allston that once existed but were put in pipes below ground long ago.
Commenting on Harvard's IMPA in 2007, CRWA wrote:
One crucial connection that should be made explicit as a part of the IMPA is the Allston Creek corridor which successfully provides the critical east-west connection between the residential neighborhood and the Charles River. The current IMPA and IMP Executive Summary not only fail to incorporate the corridor as a part of the overall master plan, but are precluding the option of realizing this connection in the future by not preserving adequate right of way. And this week's TAB reports on the design of Library Park and how, despite that "residents asked for the inclusion of a much-desired water element to the park, either in the form of a fountain or a stream, the current design holds neither."
All this came to mind this morning while reading in the NY Times about the success of cities like Seoul as they "rediscover waterways they paved over" and that "cities from Singapore to San Antonio have been resuscitating rivers and turning storm drains into streams". It would be great to have such vision in planning for our future too.
Library Park conceptual images from http://www.crwa.org/projects/ESUD/NAllstonPublicRealm.pdf |
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| Radio Boston looks at Storrow Drive |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|05:16 pm] |
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http://allston02134.blogspot.com/2009/07/radio-boston-looks-at-storrow-drive.html Radio Boston is doing its show this week on the future of Storrow Drive, which because of its connection to Soldiers Field Road, is essentially tied to Allston and Brighton. The show can be heard on the Radio Boston and again on WBUR (90.9 FM) on Saturday at 1. Nobody is doing any radical transportation planning for A/B these days, but is it interesting to hear how a major Boston road might be changed:
"Salvucci thinks the tunnel rehab provides the perfect opportunity to convert Storrow into a genuine parkway (slow moving, narrow, with traffic lights and possibly on-street parking), or maybe even to tear it down altogether."
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| Cruise/Life |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|01:43 pm] |
W and I went on a cruise for our one-year anniversary, and I think it may have been the most wonderful thing in the world. The weeks leading up to it were just so stressful in every way that it made having that little break from the real world so much better.
Carnival definitely deserves its reputation as the McDonalds of the high seas or whatever the saying actually is. In general, everything was lovely, but it did get annoying having the staff try to sell us things at every turn. Not so annoying that I wouldn't do Carnival again if there were no other cruise line leaving out of Galveston, though.
Port of calls were Progresso and Cozumel. We did an excursion to Chichen Itza in Progresso. In general, I wouldn't recommend doing excursions through the cruise lines because the prices are jacked up, but Chichen Itza was two hours away, and we read that the ship will wait a bit for official excursions that are late (whereas people are just screwed on non-ship excursions). I've never been to any Mesoamerican ruins before, so it was pretty spectacular. In Cozumel, we just wanted to walk around and shop, so we didn't do anything through the ship. It was all pretty easy. We didn't end up buying too much--I got a red dress (of dubious quality on closer inspection *sigh*) and we picked up a couple bottles of tequila. One was just regular tequila that W swears is better quality than anything he had in the US and one was a creamy coffee-flavored tequila. I've never seen the latter in the US. I used my Spanish a lot and discovered it's still pretty strong for tourist purposes even if it's pretty crappy for conversational purposes. There was only one time where I tried to say something and realized I'd just said complete nonsense. People also must be used to speaking slowly for tourists because I've never had an easier time understanding spoken Spanish than in Cozumel.
Neither of us were ready to come back when we did, but fortunately we still have Friday off work. We spent a bit of time in Galveston (W wanted to tour the Elissa). I wish I'd gone to Galveston before Ike, so I could really understand pre- and post-Ike Galveston. The rebuilding seems to have been pretty quick in the main parts of town. The historic district looked very intact, but one store had the Ike watermark taped to its front. I believe the watermark was taller than I am!
Unfortunately, our house still has a flea infestation. It's very tiring to deal with. When we got back, we were besieged with them and I thought the flea infestation had gotten much, much worse. But I think they may have just been hungry because today hasn't been any worse than before. Or maybe the vacuuming yesterday helped (the one plus side to a flea infestation is that our house hasn't been this clean since the big Passover cleaning). We still have no clue how the fleas got into the house, especially since our duplex neighbors say they've seen no sign of fleas. We're going to flea bomb while we go see Bruno to hopefully buy us some peace while we make arrangements for a professional to come in. We've tried vacuuming, bombing, and carpet powdering to no avail. It's time for a professional! |
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| I give up. |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|03:04 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  angry | ] |
I have spent two hours trying to print the documentation for shipping my paintings. The computers think the printer is out of paper although it has paper and the out-of-paper light on the device itself is not lit. I have cycled the power on the printer via button and unplugging; tried various size stacks of paper; poked and prodded the paper tray sensor and feed rollers; rebooted the computer; sought help on Google….
Nothing.
I am seriously aggravated. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|02:38 pm] |
To call it the end of an era would be overly dramatic, but I felt a little sad when I returned the rented tenor viol to the music school today. I'm happy that somebody else will get a chance to play it (almost all the rental viols are out already). It was starting to hold me back, which is why I bought a viol of my own. Still, I'll miss it a little.
It tried to help make it easier: it broke its top string in the case sometime in the last few days. I hadn't moved it down from 440 to 415 for the summer and I learned last summer that that particular string does not like to be stressed in the summer. I hate changing strings, so I left my spare string in the case and my teacher can put it on when she checks it over for the next renter. The building I left it in is air conditioned, so it should behave itself for now.
Onward and downward, to the voluptuous low notes of the bass viol. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|01:22 pm] |
Had to get the ferrets their second vaccination today. Am now considerably lighter of purse. Free ferrets sure cost a lot. Anyway, the exotics waiting area is next to the shelter, which has windows into the cat cages. There was either one GINORMOUS litter of kittens or two regular litters (somewhere around 10 kittens) in one of the big cages. I'd guess they were 2 months old. About half looked mostly like this cat, only a bit stripier and more "ferocious jungle cat," though that may have been influenced by the fact that they were clearly playing a game of "ferocious jungle cat." The other half were more grey and fuzzy, with varying degrees of stripiness, and one was solid fuzzy grey that looked super soft. He declared himself king of the cat carrier in the cage and defended it against all comers, and walkers-by.
I am very lucky I don't have a kitten right now, but I'd imagine those babies won't be there long, as they are approximately the cutest things ever. One climbed two feet up the bars in the front of the cage to say hello to someone who was looking at them. |
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| PSA: Some jobs opening in Round Rock and a Musicians paradise- $250month room to rent on the #20 bus |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|10:54 am] |
The folks next door in the three plex I'm in have a space to rent.. its goint at $250 per month, its a semi-private area.. curtained off , and includes a futon and a dresser... theyre a south Austin 'keep austin wierd' hippie-redneck Rock and Roll musician/ artist/construction worker sorts of folks over there... AND it would include use of the pro music studio they have downstairs... so if youre a broke musician looking for a cheap place this may have a lot going for it. Its also right on the #20 bus line straight downtown. with one or two othe buslines in easy walking distance. Jam sessions on strings and percussion happen pretty often..either in the studio or in the yard .. which has a performance stage, a huge firepit and a waterfall sculpture.
Dave and Anita are the flagship folks over there and amazingly easy going about a lot of things.. call them at 512-926-4113
feel free to pass that along where it may do some good.
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Saw this in a trade publication .. its a $23 million building contract for an army training center.. they may need.. all kinds of folks.. construction staff and civilian workers.. its going up in Round Rock so..so consider this a 'Distant Early Warning' with a chance to get at whatever the heck kind of application process they'll have early.. just FYI
( POSSIBLE jobs coming to Round Rock (Distant early warning heads up) )
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