Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:48 PM

Washington Post, May 9, Page A3:

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:30 PM

Your Score: Midsummer Night's Dream

[You scored 33% = Tragic, 50% = Comic, 29% = Romantic, 38% = Historic]

You are A Midsummer Night's Dream. Blending elements of comedy and romance, A Midsummer Night's Dream tells the story of mischievous fairies who conspire to make everyone fall in love with everyone else, often with disastrous, yet humorous consequences. You are most likely haphazard in love, but good natured and friendly. While you may also have a mischievous side to you, it is most likely all in good fun. We have no doubt that you are an outgoing person, who may also be a bit of a klutz. And while you may not always get it right, you always try to do the right thing. We applaud you!

Link: The Which Shakespeare Play Are You? Test written by macbee on OkCupid

Via Alexx Kay

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:40 AM

The Paradox of Choice describes two decision-making styles: satisficers, who generally take the first thing that meets their criteria, and maximizers, who won't settle for less than best.

Needless to say, I'm more of a maximizer.

I've been looking around for a free web-based todo list organizer for Ian and me.

[Sites and services I considered include: 30 Boxes, Gtdagenda, gubb, I Want Sandy, Nozbe, Remember The Milk, Stikkit, Ta-da Lists, The Online CEO, Todoist, Toodledo, and Treedolist]

In the end, I've chosen Hiveminder.

Two features in particular won me over:

• Braindump: Just type in a bunch of tasks into the box, and it will parse them. Very quick.
• Dependencies: Once something's in the list, it's easy to add initial steps and/or followups. "But first..."

So it seems to require a lot less up-front organization to get started.

We'll see how well it works for me...

The other site I'll plug is Jott, which converts voice (phone calls) into emails, text messages, or its own lists.

On my way out the door the other morning, I noticed something I wanted to tell Ian. But he was still asleep, and I didn't want to wake him. Waiting until I arrived at work was risky because (a) I had a very full schedule, and (b) couldn't be certain I'd remember it that long. I wanted to inform him and then let it go.

So I tried calling Jott on my cellphone(I'd set his email address up as a contact from my computer). And when he woke up and went to the computer, my email was waiting for him.

I often come up with ideas while driving alone -- that's one of the reasons I initially bought myself a handheld audio recorder -- I think Jott's going to turn out to be a handy little tool.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:20 PM

• Librarian Dress Up via Jessamyn

  [Yes, I'm disappointed they don't have a Batgirl costume -- rights issues, perhaps?]

• Baby Got Book via Stef

  Somebody needs to record this one!

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:49 AM

From IO9: Space Cocktails: Soak Your Head With The Greatest Cocktails From Science Fiction

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:36 AM

Skimming the blogs, I find this Gizmodo entry:

Light Bags LoJack Your Handbag With GPS

Get a load of this racket. A company called Marilyn Light Bag has developed a series of purses equipped with a GPS tracker in the event that it is lost or stolen. A device, the product page claims, can not be deactivated by a thief. The real kicker here is that the first two months of GPS monitoring are free, with a $15 charge for each month thereafter. So, essentially you are paying for your purse in perpetuity-all in the hopes that you might be able to recover the bag if it should ever vanish (but the contents may be another story). Prices start at $30.

That product sounds meh, but it gives me an idea for something which would be useful.

Lost luggage is a hazard of checking bags for air travel.

So what do you think of some LoJack-style transponder or RFID that you can pack into your bags (or attach to your luggage tags).

If your bag goes missing, this device can help you pinpoint where in the world your missing bags have gotten.

Now, since purchasing this kind of thing may not be cost-effective for the occasional traveller, how about a business model where you can rent them for the trip. Could even have pick-up and drop-off kiosks in the airports.

Heck, since I've been hearing reports of items missing from inside checked bags, maybe smaller versions you could attach to your laptop or camera or jewelry...

Keen idea? Is anybody already doing this? Or what flaws am I missing?

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:27 PM

So, I left work early enough to catch the last matinee of Iron Man.

Fun film. We enjoyed ourselves. Some really great quips and gags, though not to the level of Spider-Man.

Yes, Robert Downey Jr. was great to watch -- but then again, I've held that opinion of him since he played the goofy sidekick in Back to School (a 1986 Rodney Dangerfield comedy)

But the most important point I wish to state is:

This is NOT a movie for small children.

[As if proof were needed, some other patrons did bring their young child, who could be heard frequently asking where Iron Man was (this is an origin story, so it shouldn't be too surprising that that the red-and-gold armor isn't donned until about 90 minutes in) and whether he could uncover his eyes.]

PS: When/if you see the film (without kids), be sure to stay thru the closing credits. I know they're long, but there's an important scene afterwards.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:35 AM

Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet

I just saw the trailer for a forthcoming indie film that I simply must see:

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead

Shakespeare, vampires, and (apparently) secret societies.

Last year, a New York theater company staged Twelfth Night of the Living Dead. At that time, I listed other genre-bending adaptations, which I really ought to watch someday.

And, of course, last month the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble staged a 24-hour show entitled William Shakespeare: Vampire Hunter.

Seems to be a trend.

I wonder what adaptations will be next?

via Shakespeare Geek, Duane

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:24 PM

Regarding my cryptic comment Wednesday morning...

I applied for a managerial opening in my department.

They actually want someone with more experience, but I'd the fact that I was interested enough to apply... it's something I'd never imagined for myself before.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:12 PM

Frank Miller has gone past the point of self-parody.

Frank Miller has become a bad parody of Ben Edlund's parody of Frank Miller.

Teaser trailer for Miller's adaptation of The Spirit via Ragnell. [The commentts (at least those so far) are definitely worth reading.]

Come to think of it, I'd be much more interested if Ben Edlund were writing this flick.

As the aptly named Wrye points out:

The Spirit is, well, supposed to be fun. I'm not sure I'm getting that vibe here.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:50 AM

I've found myself contemplating assuming a role I'd previously stenuously rejected.

And since then, Benedick's quote from Much Ado About Nothing keeps running thru my mind:

When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:10 PM

Since other matters have kept me too busy to blog, it's probably time to post another Lol!Sox.

I was terribly undecided which image to post until I heard the final score, at which point the choice was obvious:

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:10 PM

I was quite struck by a recent observation of Jeff Fecke's:

Privilege is inextricably woven with a blindness to one's privilege. To be privileged is to be blissfully unaware of the many ways in which privilege helps one to advance through society.

Ian and I started discussing this quote on tonight's drive home, and Ian made some really interesting points.

Thankfully, Ian just blogged on the matter, which means that I no longer have to.

White male privilege is simply the condition of being treated the way that people are supposed to be treated, by default.

The reason that so many people with it don't see it is because there's nothing to see. It's the condition of LACKING the problems of NOT having it.

Continued >>

Also, two cartoons by Barry Deutsch which seem relevant:

• Denial: It's a White thing (March 2008)
• Nonspecial Privileges (May 2000)

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:30 PM

To convince students that their databases are better than Google Image Search, DePauw University Library's Visual Resource Center has created a series of short videos -- based on the Mac vs. PC ads.

Rather cute. They're each about one minute long, and I've listed them in order.

1. Introduction
2. Librarian
3. Better Results
4. Spring Break

Via The Shifted Librarian

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:35 PM

Most of it was consumed playing about in Photoshop Elements, um... photoshopping pictures. [Clicking the image will enlarge them to full-size.]

First off, allow me to present:

Seemed so obvious that I can't believe nobody's done this before.

Once I realized that vision, I took on another preoccupation -- this one inspired by a radio sportscaster.

I now have over thirty such images, combining various players and captions (I think I've found relevant pictures for most of the major macro tropes).

Far too many to post all at once.

So, consider this an introduction to a new blog feature:

“I Can Has Fenway Franks?”

Are you looking forward to these? I know I am.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:35 PM

A (short) film I'd like to see:

Wallace and Chametz

It's a claymation comedy about an absent-minded inventor who tries to create a device to cleanse his house of crumbs before Pesach, and the chaos which ensues as the machine goes about its task.

Mind you, the logical conclusion I leap to would result in the utter destruction of the house (burning the chametz seems particularly fraught), but that seems a bit darker than these stories usually end.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:15 PM

Three NPR pieces worth a listen:

1. An interview with David Hajdu on the history of comics and early anti-comics activism (in association with his new book, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, which I've been meaning to read).
   I've often read the excerpts of William Gaines' Senate testimony, but it's even more delightful to hear the audio.

2. As we spend an increasing portion of our time online and in virtual worlds, Stanford researchers are investigating how your avatar's appearance can affect your mental state and behavior -- even after you've logged off.
    
3. In light of recent news that President Bush has the highest disapproval rating ever measured by Gallup, Allan Lichtman talked about the least popular presidents before the age of polling.
   In a promising note, he comments that these levels of public distaste usually signify the end of an era for their ideology.

Cool stuff.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:30 PM

Heard the Corey Hart song on the radio a little while ago.

She's deceiving me...
It cuts my security.
Has she got control of me?
I turn to her and say...

Without looking it up, does anybody know what it is he turns to her and says?

And anybody care to share other examples of unintelligible lyrics in popular music?

[Preempting one of Ian's favorites: "Night to night, give me the otter; give me the otter..."]