shadowspar

Power pop goodness :D

2014-11-22T03:54:59Z

Aaaa, this blast from the past rolled around on my partner's spotify tonight. So much power pop goodness...I have ~feels~ about this song. ^_^;

Also notable: apparently Weezer did a cover of this song for the movie Cars 2. It's pretty good! They didn't stray very far from the original. =)

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Actually, it's about ridiculous gg image macros

2014-10-27T04:41:54Z

Ever feel so strongly about the non-existence of a given image macro that the world just seemed out of balance until you went and made it yourself?

Yeah, uh, me neither. ^_^;;

( Well, actually, images are under the cut )

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I do actually try to keep these in mind...

2014-10-13T05:57:00Z

...when dealing with difficult people on the Internets.

( Read more... )

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THE BLUE HEARTS - 終わらない歌 ("Endless song")

2013-11-19T06:00:32Z

I can't even verbalize how well listening to THE BLUE HEARTS suits night like this.

( Lyrics & my translation )

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TiL: bar outing edition

2013-10-27T08:30:43Z

...wow! Big learning experience during tonight's evening festivities. If someone wants to hit on me, here are two good ways to get our interaction off to the worst possible start:

be completely shitfaced drunk; and
offer me a drink by offering to give me an actual beverage that is already in your possession. (Your intentions may be completely aboveboard, but I have no idea where that drink's been or what might be in it.)

*boggle*

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Comedy of errors

2013-03-09T01:44:53Z

Trying to repurpose the in-law's ancient WinXP machine by installing Debian on it.

The BIOS is too old to boot from USB.

The CD-ROM drive won't open on its own, and doesn't seem to recognize the contents of the Debian install CD, even after booting Windows.

None of the usual methods to boot Linux from a Windows partition are working for me. Take one last stab at getting grub4win to work for me, then reboot the machine, exasperated.

The CD-ROM drive suddenly decides to clue into Debian install CD that's been sitting in it all the while, for like the last dozen reboots. O_o ... woot!

I was damn sure that I was heading for PXE territory for a while there! :D

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quotequote

2013-03-07T23:55:40Z

Unruly beings are as unlimited as space;
They cannot possibly all be overcome.
But if I overcome thoughts of anger alone,
This will be equivalent to vanquishing all foes.
:Shantideva

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Moon Dough

2012-11-21T05:40:40Z

FWIW: not only is this stuff super-crumbly and hella messy, it also makes hardwood floors slippery as all hell. As proof of which, witness the complete feet-out-from-underneath wipeout my 4yo daughter had tonight.

If your kids get some of this headache-disguised-as-modelling-compound for giftmas, do yourselves a favour and throw it right in the trash.

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Metaphors that possibly make sense only to me

2012-09-09T15:08:03Z

Something that dawned on me while I was writing this piece on bug chaining -- ever run into software where your experience was being controlled by bugs, and not the software's features? Sometimes things get so bad that you feel like you're being kicked from one defect to another instead of piloting your own way through the software.

To me, that feels almost exactly like the difference between the slings and the flippers being in control of your pinball. ^_^;

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Things which amuse me greatly

2012-08-07T04:35:51Z

...when you finally figure out the name, and from thence the lyrics, of a tune you've been hearing since forever. Oftimes, the song turns out to be almost exactly unlike the mental image of it you'd formed in your head. Sometimes the two are so incongruous as to be completely absurd.

To wit: Funiculì, Funiculà. Here's Andrea Bocelli singing it. Assuming you don't speak Neapolitan, listen to the performance first, then head over to the Wikipedia page and see what this uplifting, noble tune is an ode to. =)

Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,
Funiculì, funiculà, funiculì, funiculà!
Jamme, jamme jà, funiculì, funiculà!

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fun with science...fsvo "fun"

2012-07-14T12:38:51Z

If you're at all a science geek -- and quite possibly even if you're not -- this thread about lab mishaps is both profoundly amusing and profoundly edifying.

Couple highlights:

This incident, my friends, is why we never handle compressed gas cylinders with anything but the utmost respect. I'm more than a little shocked (and frightened) by how casually some paintball players treat their tanks -- throwing them around, filling HPA too quickly, and so on. A tank accident is Bad Fucking Scene.
When you store radioactive materials, you might want to make sure that you shield them on all the sides.
The simplest of careless mistakes can lead to the utmost consequences: five hundred thousand quid worth of computing equipment dashed to pieces, all because one crane cable wasn't secure.
The simplest of careless mistakes, #2: years worth of work and untold numbers of irreplaceable microorganisms destroyed in an instant when somebody sterilized the wrong cell-storage tank.
Finally, when you get down on yourself about ruining a recipe or busting something at work, you can take some solace in the fact that you're not the guy who washed $650,000 worth of gold down the drain.

(Found via Maciej.)

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Win!

2012-07-05T03:19:59Z

Chanced upon a 24-hour grocery store that had a half-dozen huge aisles full of imported-from-Israel kosher food, and
remembered that bissli was the canonical-ish Israeli snack food that marina had mentioned a while ago.

Pizza bissli == can haz. *crunch* *crunch* *reaches for a glass of water*

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Canada Day on Parliament Hill

2012-07-02T03:10:00Z

gun salutes
O Canada in both official languages, with a fly-by by the Snowbirds on the closing note
fresh lemonade
one million of your closest friends
Canada Day Free Hugs! from several different fellow Canadians!
calling in a rooftop fire in Byward Market to the Ottawa fire department! (folks in the building had it mostly out by the time they got there)
Lunch: Veggine poutine! and bleu cheese & garlic veggie burger! at Zak's Diner
Le Diable aux Corsets getting a nice round of applause for doing a sound check at Major's Hill Park. =) (They were playing snippets of this song.)
Two very tired kidlets.
Fireworks!

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Today is a Musical Day

2012-06-25T20:57:24Z

Well, the moon is broken / and the sky is cracked
Come on up to the house
The only things that you can see / is all that you lack
Come on up to the house

All your cryin / don't do you no good
Come on up to the house
Come down off the cross / we could use the wood
Come on up to the house

Sarah Jarosz - Come on up to the house on Youtube.

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Testing, 1, 2, 3

2012-06-15T04:53:17Z

mark pushed out some neat new functionality that's at a rough test stage, so I'm just posting this to help poke at things. However, as a nice side-effect, you all get a neat little bluegrass jam I've been listening to as of late. =)

Alison Krauss & Union Station w/ Sierra Hull - Cluck Old Hen on Youtube.

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世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ

2012-06-11T05:02:50Z

I love the pointedly outlandish juxtaposition that's a not-uncommon feature of J-Pop and a lot of Japanese humour. The lyrics to this one are actually a rather touching love song.

SamboMaster - 世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ (Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobun da ze - "The World Calls That Love") on Youtube.

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shadowspar @ 2012-06-07T07:21:00

2012-06-07T11:27:01Z

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Rainbows

2012-06-05T02:46:42Z

This place can actually be extraordinarily beautiful. (When you're not choking on fumes from the steel plant or being suffocated by some of the small-town attitudes, that is.)

These were shot near the Roberta Bondar Pavilion, a huge permanent tent on the waterfront downtown, right next to the St Mary's River.

( One more pic... )

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Roadtrip adventures in gender

2012-06-02T05:37:34Z

Stopped at a gas station in northern MI today and went to use the restrooms.

one door: KINGS
other door: QUEENS
me: *confused*

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Random music: even more Basia

2012-05-19T03:14:22Z

So, I was lucky enough to get Basia Bulat's CD Heart of My Own this past Christmas. It's awesome, she's awesome, and anyone who's been following along at home for a while already knew that I would say that. =)

Here are two tracks of hers that I hadn't heard before the CD made its way into my hot little hands.

( Vids behind the cut... )

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GRAH EARWORM

2012-05-16T03:47:18Z

Things that are maddening: when you have a Bach earworm stuck in your head, and all you can do for it is to play it yourself, since you're the only one that makes it sound the way you want it to sound.

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Hug O' War

2012-05-15T00:42:43Z

I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

:Shel Silverstein

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Lessons learned in cupcake baking tonight

2012-05-13T05:36:32Z

Having to purée bananas by shoving them through a tiny handheld sieve a tablespoon at a time really sucks. The tamis that's on my gift wishlist is getting bumped up in priority.
Even if you manage to remember all the ingredients for the nifty new cupcake recipe you're making for the first time, and all the ingredients for the icing you'll be using as well, forgetting that you've run out of cupcake liners still means a late-night run to the 24-hour grocery store.

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How to care for your introvert

2012-04-06T18:46:56Z

I like this, as an introvert myself, and a parent of another.

Linked by marina.

Respect their need for privacy
Never embarrass them in public
Let them observe first in new situations
Give them time to think; don't demand instant answers
Don't interrupt them
Give them advance notice of expected changes in their lives
Give them 15 minute warnings to finish whatever they are doing
Reprimand them privately
Teach them new skills privately
Enable them to find one best friend who has similar interests & abilities
Don't push them to make lots of friends
Respect their introversion; don't try to remake them into extroverts

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Anyone who's ridden the TTC can probably appreciate this

2011-12-08T05:36:24Z

<firestormink> Dear streetcar, whenever you are ready.
<@shadowspar> @firestormink don't worry; when the streetcar finally comes, I'm sure it will show its contrition by bringing three more with it.
<@firestormink> @shadowspar They travel in packs, for protection, and to hunt.

Also, like inoru_no_hoshi mentioned in IRC, we need a qdb for twitter. =)

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