My daughter was singing, "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". As per usual, she's a little fuzzy on some of the words.

She sang, "What a surd, to swallow a bird!"

And I thought, "Well, that's irrational in its own way, so that works." And given that the question of why is unresolved in the song, well, that also fits. In its own way, anyway....

There's a post over on zarq's journal that's public, that has some useful flu links, including the really great Google Map that I've just been enjoying the existence of. (He also has some links totally unrelated to the flu stuff.)

And interactiveleaf has a post with usefulness, as well.

About all I'm contributing right now is Simple Respiratory Mask, for the DIY-ers. If the stores run out of masks, we're still OK, at least until we run out of Hanes Heavyweight t-shirts.

Anyone wanting to share more links to useful posts, that would be great!

"Omnilingual" by H. Beam Piper is one of the best science fiction stories I have ever read.

And it wasn't included in very many anthologies that I could get my hands on -- I probably own 3 or 4 that have "A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum, but only one with "Omnilingual".

But, it's available for FREE! to download at ManyBooks.net.

Go here, select your format and download.

(Thanks to Gord for bringing this to my attention!)

(Oh, and spielmadchen - there's enough smoking in there that it's likely to turn you off. If you want me to read it to you skipping over those bits, let me know. It may take 2 or 3 sessions.)

November 7, 2008 (Glendale, Calif.)  -- Nestlé USA is voluntarily recalling two (2) production codes of Nestlé Nesquik Strawberry Powder 21.8 ounce that may contain small fragments of aluminum. 
 
The recall only includes two (2) production codes of 21.8-ounce containers of Nestlé Nesquik Strawberry Powder.  Printed on the bottom of each plastic container is a production code of “82255880” or “82265880” with a best by date of “August 2010.”

If you have any Nesquick with those batch numbers, click on the linky for the toll-free number to call about it.

I have too many browser windows open with Informative Links, so I'm going to put them here so as to be able to shut down some windows.

Nobodobodon's statement about the election.

Debo's post about Obama's victory.

Conservatives in the Republican Party plan to turn their backs on moderates, take party further to the right.

Most Black California voters voted 'yes' on Prop. 8.
A Black California lesbian speaks on Prop. 8's defeat.
Boycott of Utah urged after Prop. 8 vote.

V and Roses.

Condoms are once again part of US world health policy.

First study to link TV sex to real teen pregnancies.

Texting while driving may be hazardous to your health.

Migraines cut breast cancer risk by 30 percent.

Style Network following a woman's journey to lose 300 lbs.

The dangers of autism. Autistics can be too trusting, and the neurology of autism can go hand-in-hand with more life-threatening problems.

A quiet windfall for US banks

United Airlines will deliver your bags door-to-door for a price.

Circuit City closing stores in an effort to save cash.
Circuit City files for bankruptcy.

Retracing the path of the melamine powder that ended up in the food supply in China.

The nature of work - visible, invisible, and that doesn't look like work. (There's at least 1 gem in the comments section.)

5 ways to stop trolls from killing the internet.

Gray's Anatomy dumps a character for the wrong reasons.

The Button Man of France obsesses in sets of 12.

WANT!

It's a baby pygmy hippopotamus!

Don't let your octopus get too bored.

Live webcam of a box full of puppies.

Thanks to faxpaladin for bringing this to my attention. :)

Mathematician cracks mystery Beatles chord Fourier analysis kicks butt!

The rest of the links are behind cuts, so as not to make the post too long on your friends page.

( Nature links )


( Technology links )


( Wastewater links )


( Soil, farming and plant links )


( Food links )


( Primate links )


( Health and safety links )


( Flu links )


( Tuberculosis links )


( Pregnancy and baby links )


( Brains )


( Election & voting links )

Why Obama is competitive in Indiana

Wall Street Journal Opinion piece. If the polling had you puzzled, this explains a fair bit.

Studs Terkel, writer and radio personality, dies at 96

Nicely written short bio.

Edit: Link fixed. Something about "rhef" not being equivalent to "href" and my failing to double-check before posting....

Felix had Oscar.

Mary Matalin has James Carville.

But I've found an even odder couple living under the same roof.

Scott Talkov of the Inland Empire and Erick "E.D." Harris of Missouri are law school roommates and political junkies at Washington University in St. Louis. After talking to them Sunday night by phone, I don't know how they can agree on how to order a pizza, let alone share an apartment.

Talkov, who has a law firm job lined up in Riverside next spring and hopes to go into politics one day, retreats to his room to watch election news on CNN.

Harris, who also hopes to run for political office one day, hunkers down in his own room to watch Fox News.

Talkov, 27, loves Sen. Barack Obama and can't wait for election day.

Harris, 25, is an arch-conservative who will proudly cast a vote for Sen. John McCain.

Oh, and did I mention?

Talkov, the Obama disciple, is white. And Harris, who believes McCain will pull off a big surprise next Tuesday, is African American.

Click on link for the entire article.

Infant Death Prompts Recall of Convertible Cribs by Playkids USA; Crib Poses Entrapment and Suffocation Hazards

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Playkids U.S.A. of Brooklyn, N.Y. is announcing today a voluntary recall of about 2,000 convertible cribs. The sides of the convertible crib are made of a mesh that expands, creating a gap between the mattress and the side through which an infant can slip. This poses suffocation and entrapment hazards for young children.

CPSC is aware of the death of a 5-month-old child on August 31, 2008 in Brooklyn, N.Y. The child became entrapped between the mattress and the stationary side rail of the convertible crib and suffocated.

This recall involves the Playkids U.S.A. convertible crib/playpen/bassinet/bed with model number PLK-909. “Playkids U.S.A.” can be found on the packaging and on a label sewn into the side of the crib. The model number can be found on the packaging. The convertible cribs have a drop side rail, a stationary side rail, a canopy assembly, and a bassinet. The sides of the convertible crib, the mattress support, the bassinet, the canopy and the bedskirt are covered in fabric and mesh. The fabric and the mesh come in a variety of colors and patterns.

The convertible cribs, which were made in China, were sold in juvenile product retailers in New York from March 2007 through September 2008 for about $100.

Consumers should stop using the recalled convertible cribs immediately and contact Playkids USA to receive a full refund.

For additional information, consumers should contact Playkids USA collect at (718) 797-0302 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

If you need to see pictures of the cribs in question, follow the link.

Edit: There's also a recall on some Baby Walkers, I'll give you details if you comment, but IMO it's just such a bad idea to put a baby in a walker, I'm surprised anyone still buys them anymore. (They're bad for the development of those parts of the body that are actually needed for actual walking, and at various times groups have tried to have them banned in the US, but it's never taken.)

This is going to be an extremly motley bunch....

Ballot measure to decriminalize prostitution divides liberal San Francisco - from the LA Times, September 15 (yeah, I've been sitting on that one waaaaay too long)

"Today I Wonder How We Ever Pulled It Off" - an account of one of the participants in the protest that led to Davis v. Prince Edward County, Farmville, Virginia

FDA Sets Safety Threshold for Contaminant Melamine - this stuff is fatal if too much is consumed, the setting of a limit higher than NONE is just asking for problems down the line, IMO. You remember those pet food recalls? How about the more recent health problems (including deaths!) in babies in China from contaminated formula? Sheesh!

Chocolate Cake in 5 Minutes - looks good, haven't tried it yet

The Real Great Depression - a historian whose focus is the 19th century believes that the Panic of 1873 more closely parallels the current situation than 1929 does

The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science

How Stick Figures Spend Their Time

An Open Letter to the Next Farmer In Chief

You might want to check to be sure before the deadline to register has passed.

Go here.

I'm registered, I double-checked. I'll be voting.

Does anyone reading this in the Austin area use gray water irrigation?

If so, let me know the best way to contact you, I have a friend who is looking to hear from someone with experience before she installs a system. I'm screening comments, will unscreen any that don't contain personal contact info. (So if you have experience, leave 2 comments, one with the best way for my friend to contact you, the other with what you have to say about your experience.)

Mixed bag o' links today. I've been collecting interesting bits intending to share Any Minute Now. :)

"Helicopter Parents" aren't really that helpful:

Why Good Kids Are Getting Hooked On Heroin

Are Parents Killing Their Kids' Careers?

And a bit off the topic, for those of you Gen-Xers trying to figure out how the hell it happened, this article may be useful.

Links from folks on mailing lists.


This is sad and odd:

Trail of Spaghetti Helps Solve Hit-and-run Fatality - this site may require registration


And, for your entertainment:

Rock music in lullaby mode
Warning: The page will start playing music when you open it. I've been getting "Good Riddance" by Green Day, so it's not all bad.

Bacteria - WoW-style video of Jonathan Coulton's work after sampling a KFC training video. YouTube link, a little over 3 minutes, and catchy besides.

The mp3 is free.
Warning: that link will start playing music when opened.
You can pay for the mp3 if you want to anyway.

I do not recommend opening all 3 pages with sound at once. YMMV, though. If you liked that time on ST:TNG when Data was playing 5 or 6 different pieces of music at once, and you were OK when it was down to 3, you might be OK here.

This has been in the back of my head for awhile....

When I heard of the demise of Bear Sterns, I was wondering, "How the hell do you put 'Bear' in the name of a financial business and not expect it to go south?"

Apparently the head coach of the Miami Dolphins (football, American, if you didn't know but cared) is named Tony Sparano.

Isn't that just too easy to misread?

shamusyoung's Gallery at Zazzle

The shirts and stuff are cool, but the thing I'd actually like to own is this mug.

(Yes, I used the Amazon Universal Wishlist tool to add it to my wishlist there.)

Several things to keep in mind, in general:

1) Consider the rule of thumb, "If you don't want something read aloud in a court of law, don't post it on the internet." You may decide you don't want to adhere to that, for whatever reason, but at least think about it a bit. It's a fairly safe rule of thumb, but an extremely restricting one.

But:

2) People expect a certain amount of privacy in their non-public electronic communications, whether that expectation is warranted or not. If you're going to share private information (e-mail from one party to another, password-protected pictures, locked or filtered LJ posts), think about whether or not people are going to be upset at the leaking of the information. If I'm trying to think my way through an unpleasant situation, and using LJ as a tool to get help from trusted friends, it's going to upset me greatly if stuff in the brainstorming stage gets out before I've figured out what it is I'm actually going to do, or say, outside of the "safe" zone of filtered posts.

3) If it's figured out who has been sharing trusted information with an untrusted party, they're going to end up as a pariah. I've seen this in action -- not on LJ, but in a situation involving a mailing list and one person -- just one person -- who didn't understand that PMS-laden venting in private e-mails should not be passed along to anyone else, and damn near wrecked an online community as a result - and ended up extremely unpopular with those who knew she'd been the one to cause the problems, and eventually left because of that.

Be careful. Information is like fire -- useful and even entertaining when under reasonable control, but with a huge capacity for destruction. If you're going to play with fire, try to observe fire safety measures for the safety of yourself and others.

So, in short: Don't expect privacy, but respect other people's expectations of privacy, or you may end up becoming unpopular.

Oh, and I'm screening comments here, and will do my damnedest to not leave them unscreened at any time. (So if I don't reply directly to your comment, it's because my replying will unscreen. I have other ways of getting back to you.)

(If you want to link to this post, I have no problem with that.)

After the tragedy: Vent? Not necessarily.

From the Los Angeles Times.

Edit: If you need a tinyurl for the link, it's http://tinyurl.com/69vbhg

Remember this?

I downloaded a newer version of the software a few days ago, and it's working now -- I can set the dang buttons the way I want them. :) One little piece of my life is a bit easier.

(If I can't set the middle thing to double-click, it annoys me. Greatly. As evidenced by the post made when it wasn't working.)

The flash was too brief to warrant the fine.

The Supreme Court will hear a case on "fleeting expletives" in the fall.

Including "mondegreen"!

Thanks to faxpaladin for bringing this to my attention!

Thomas M. Disch committed suicide in his apartment.

Wikipedia article on Disch

Excerpts from a 2001 Locus interview

Alan Bostick's blog entry on Disch's death

I'm not finding anything from any news sites yet.

Edit:
Obituary on Locus Magazine website

Cory Doctorow's obit on BoingBoing (Thank you, Twitch!)

If you have friends on vacation and want to text their cellphones, it would be kindest to refrain from doing so between 11PM and 8AM wherever it is they are.

There's a cat named Spot who could use some prayers right about now.

So my trackball that I'd had for over 10 years flaked out and died on me earlier this week. It was a Logitech product, and I'd been able to configure the buttons just the way I wanted them.

I found what seemed to be a comparable Logitech trackball at amazon.com, ordered it, and it arrived Wednesday or so.

I just installed it, and the software, and went to configure the buttons, but the software was supposed to have a "My Mouse" tab visible, and it's just not there.

I went to their website, submitted a form to tech support, and once I had it submitted, got the link to the answer to that particular problem. I eagerly clicked on the link.

And you know what? THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT'S CAUSING THE DAMN PROBLEM WITH THEIR SOFTWARE TO FIX IT.

One of the main reasons I got this product was so that I could set all the buttons the way I wanted to, just like I'd been able to with the previous product, AND THAT FEATURE DOESN'T FUCKING WORK, AND THEY CAN'T FIX IT FOR ME.

To say that I'm annoyed would be an understatement.

They'll e-mail me if they find a solution. That leaves me fucked in the meantime.

Driving a yellow Hummer in the left lane, 5-10 MPH below the speed limit.

1 qt. hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tsp. dish liquid (the kind you use for washing dishes by hand)

Mix the above ingredients right before use. Later up dog with the mixture, let sit 5-10 minutes, rinse. Repeat.

The worst skunk smell any of our dogs ever ended up with required only a 2nd bath with this, and not a 3rd.

'Free Tibet' flags made in China.

(From stilldocked_too)

Download free books!

And I figure just about everyone on my friendslist has already seen An Engineer's Guide to Cats (YouTube link, video is approximately 7 minutes), but just in case, I thought I ought to share the link.

Edit: Just for you cat yodeling fans, I have added a "cat yodeling" tag to this entry.

When I was 14, I was a "junior bridesmaid" in my cousin's wedding. What this meant was that my sister and I got to wear bridesmaid's dresses, a different color from the ones the regular bridesmaids wore (and theirs was kinda teal, ours were ivory, I was a little jealous, but we were cute, anyway), be in the wedding procession, and just stand there and Look Pretty. Not one of my strong suits, actually, but I managed to pull it off, at least to some degree.

At 14, I was all elbows and angles, kind of clumsy; my sister was curvier and moved with more grace. I felt extremely self-conscious about that when I looked at pictures after the wedding.

But I had played softball, and my sister hadn't.

The time came for the bride to throw the bouquet, so all the single women were assigned a place to stand, and the bouquet was thrown.

I was shorter than pretty much everyone except possibly my sister (we leap-frogged on height for a bit there), and was in front, next to her. The bouquet was tossed over her shoulder, towards us, and was going to fall short.

And I swooped in and fielded that bouquet as if it were a softball.

1) If I have met you IRL, and you friend me, I will probably friend you back.

2) I don't friend more than 1 person per day. Day = midnight to midnight, Central time zone, if you needed my definition here.

3) I have been friended by 4 people (Edit: Make that 5) in the past 36 hours. I intend to friend all of them back, but it's not going to be all at once -- see #2.

So, if you don't get friended back today, be patient, and if someone else in your household is friended one day, you won't be friended that same day, but I'll try to get to you the next day.

I have rule #2 so I don't get overwhelmed in a frenzy of friending after events and grow my FL at a rate I can't handle. If I friend too many people at once, I get overwhelmed. Overwhelmed Julia is not happy Julia, and I'm hoping that anyone who cares enough to friend me cares enough for me to maintain happiness. :)

1) If you want to change the world, you need to interact with it.

2) Actions speak louder than words. This is not to say that words have no impact -- but actions generally have more.

From f4f3

His answers are here.

( My answers are behind the cut )

( Taking a cue from oracle_tx, blank version behind this cut )