verbal chameleon » general

Just looking over my travel photos from last summer…

verbalchameleon — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:34:23 +0000

I have the “urge for goin’” as Joni sang, and was appeasing it with my flickr collection.

I snapped these girls doing a rubbing of a gravestone at Gettysburg last summer. It was during steamy hot August, in the late afternoon.

All systems are — almost– go

verbalchameleon — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 05:04:07 +0000

Well, something still seems a bit off. I welcome your critique of the new banner photo.

I like the new Extended Live Archive.

And comments are now working again.

Whew!

Temporary new look. A few major glitches.

verbalchameleon — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 01:46:16 +0000

Okay, I have not been blogging much lately. That’s an understatement. But I recently went into the old cPanel and updated my Wordpress. And found I needed a new theme, because the old one was messed up. High time, so no trouble.

I kind of like this theme, though I miss my subway-banner. And I love the Extended Live Archive. (Um, correction: I loved it until it disappeared!) And where did my blogroll go? Links are still in the admin section of the account, but I cannot see them displayed. This is what I get for doing a hasty upgrade. If I used to link to you, be assured, I will be again soon!
Anyway, I need a theme with widgets. Widgets are cool, widgets move with you, when you change the wallpaper, if the mixed metaphors of that are not too much.

Update 2/4: Missbhavens has pointed out that the comment function has also gone awol. Yikes. I hate this! I need time to come in here and sort it out. Please bear with me!

Would someone also explain why, since my comment function is not working, why I just had to go in and delete 38 of the nastiest comment-spams you ever read from my spam filter? Just curious…

Where was he on December 25th?

verbalchameleon — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 01:37:40 +0000

Trapped in a plastic bag, in the way back, bottom shelf of the fridge, of course, growing those antlers. Poor Rudolph.

New Orleans

verbalchameleon — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 04:20:55 +0000

I usually find documentary footage taken by real people to be more powerful than what professionals dish up. This 2.5 minute film of what missbhavens saw as she was driving around the city is no exception. Add on the Tom Waits soundtrack, and it’s even more depressing.

numa numa

verbalchameleon — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 16:05:37 +0000

I have a terrible cold.
But I mustered up enough energy to check my email today and
this, this made me very much more cheerful than before. I salute this young man, so enthusiastic. So much joie de vivre.

Sushi is fun, so is pork, so why not:

verbalchameleon — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 20:17:05 +0000

Note to Marketing gurus in charge of new products: Sushi Pork is much, much worse an idea than blue frozen french fries. Or neon yogurt in a tube. Or, for our Scottish friends, deep fried Mars bars. Sushi Pork is the bad marketing idea that kills. Okay, I am pretty sure deep fried Mars bars also kill. But they are doubtless tastier and you will die a long slow artery-clogged death, not from a quick painful bout of food poisoning.

Hmmmm… I know someone was just goofing off. Or perhaps got their vowels mixed up. But I liked the sign. Nevertheless, despite knowing as I do that it’s a gaffe, the idea of sushi pork still makes me kind of nauseous.

Searching bags on the NYC Subway

verbalchameleon — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 01:54:33 +0000

Okay. Security is important. But is there any evidence that this will increase subway security? Sure, it can’t hurt subway security. But look at the airport analogy: there’s supposedly no racial profiling (yes, if it’s true, and I’m not sure it is, then that’s definitely a good thing in my book). So what happens is that random people are searched. Is there any evidence that anyone has been caught with anything (besides that fifth butane lighter that is forbidden)? What we are going to get in the subway is the equivalent of 80-year old grannies being searched.

Here’s my suggestion, New York: those big black garbage receptacles in the subway? Serious security risk. Bags on the subway? People need to learn not to leave them. I lived in the UK during the IRA bombing campaigns and many a time encountered public transit shut-downs while police investigated abandoned parcels and suitcases. Seriously annoying? Yes. But it was necessary. But we all have to get a clue and realize that people can attack our subways without being suicide bombers. And we need to start paying attention to unattended stuff.

More police presence is a good thing. People looking around on subways and buses is a good thing. Bomb-sniffing dogs are a good thing. Other means of detection–whatever these may be–are a good thing. But I don’t think that random searches are going to make a big difference. Especially with those darned big black opaque garbage cans.

And I doubt that random searches will turn up anything. Any more than the guy who searches people at the library keeps folks from bringing in beverages or gum or Lord-knows-what they’re looking for.

Update: Magikthise has a great posting and an active comments thread on this very issue. Check it out!

Freeway Blogger

verbalchameleon — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:05:48 +0000

I hope I don’t startle you, gentle reader. You aren’t used to much from me lately, and now it may seem as if I have glued myself to the chair in front of the computer. Not so. But I want to draw your attention to the Freeway Blogger. I like this idea a lot. I’d like to link to some of their awesome photos, but I don’t want to suck their bandwidth (I know, I know, I have 10 readers, but still.) So you’ll just have to visit them yourself. One of my favorites: “Nobody Died When Clinton Lied.” Another: “We’re all wearing the blue dress now.”

Maybe not the worst possible nominee, but…

verbalchameleon — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 17:41:41 +0000

John G. Roberts may not be the worst possible nomineee Bush could put forward for the Supreme Court. But he’s living in their neighborhood. The Democrats called him a “Friend to Big Business, the Mining Industry and Ken Starr.” The Family Research Council like him. He’s argued for prayer at public school graduations, against the Endangered Species Act, and given lots of money to Bush’s campaigns (his law firm has given over $92K in the 2006 cycle alone). I’m with Bicyclemark on this. Can you buy a seat on the Supreme Court? What a country!