Riba Rambles: |
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Friday, October 08, 2004
On the road again
Posted by Lis Riba at 6:15 AM
 Well, there were several things I'd been hoping to have time to post before I leave: nice thought-provoking topics to spark some discussion while I'm gone, but I simply didn't have the time to write them. Ah well. Something for you to look forward to, I guess. You know the drill. I probably won't be able to follow my usual blogs (see sidebar) while away, so if you see anything you really think I ought to read or respond to, please add it to a comment or email me. 
Thursday, October 07, 2004
I got knocked down. Must back up again...
Posted by Lis Riba at 7:45 PM
Open question for while I'm away. I need to resume making regular backups of my hard drive. I've got a good program on the software side (Dantz Retrospect), but I'm not sure what media to use. My hard drive is so large that backing up to CD is an all-day process that requires human attention to switch disks. That's not acceptable. So what media do you use? What do you recommend? I'm looking for something that can run unattended (no switching of disks) and that's either large enough to store two separate backups or inexpensive enough that I can purchase two and switch them. Has to be able to plug into my laptop, which probably means a USB or serial connection. Any suggestions?
Damn Cat!
Posted by Lis Riba at 6:40 PM
Of all the places I never expected to get scratched by a cat, I'd say my cleavage has got to be in the top three. While Ian and I were tearing down the sukkah, our tenant's cat Violet managed to slip out through the screen door. I made a grab for her, and she protested. I don't actually know whether she kicked with her back legs or scratched with her front, but Ow! After Ian finally managed to corral the cat and we got her inside, I lifted my t-shirt to check for damage. The little beast drew blood! I've got a thin red line that's bloody for about a centimeter and stretches out for nearly two inches. I immediately washed it off and applied antibiotic cream, but the damage is done. What's worse, we're going to a wedding this weekend, which means I've suddenly got to rethink my outfits in terms of their necklines. Because any top with even the slightest cleavage will put the scratch on prominent display (if you can picture where it is from that description). No. No photos. And now it's hours later since I wrote that. We decided to board Boopsie at a "pet resort," since she's been inappropriately pissing on our laundry. [Is that redundant? can an animal ever appropriately piss on laundry?] And I just got home and we've still got two cats in our apartment helping themselves to Boopsie's food. Sigh... Added later: Well, whaddaya know. When I tried on the somewhat corseted bodice, the way it lifts my breasts hides the scar. That's a relief.
As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"
Posted by Lis Riba at 12:10 PM
It's October, and everybody's expecting Bush and Cheney to come up with an October Surprise. Last night, Dave Letterman revealed what they have in store. No, they don't know where Osama bin Laden is. No, they haven't found any WMD's in Iraq. So what do they have? Kittens!
That's right. Loads and loads of cute and cuddly kittens: all courtesy of the Bush-Cheney campaign. Okay, so this gag appeared last week on Daily Kos, but Letterman's fake campaign commercial just made me squeal with teh cuteness. [Ian and I afterwards: "But couldn't that backfire horrendously? I mean, doesn't Cheney eat kittens?" "Nah. That means they already have a steady supply."]
I heard it on my radio
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:45 AM
I have just converted my WBIX BostonWorks Hiring Squad appearance to MP3 and posted it to the website. You can listen to my appearance here. It's somewhat staticky (sorry, I don't have any noise-reducing software at present time), but otherwise all the voices are clear. The file is 1.95 meg and runs for 4 minutes, 45 seconds. Added later: Belated thanks to mashblock for finding me the cable to digitize my audiotape.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Debate aftermath
Posted by Lis Riba at 10:05 PM
A few final thoughts on the VP debate, wrapping up comments which have been thoroughly dissected elsewhere in the blogosphere all day, but I haven't had time to blog until now. On the train this morning, I was thinking that the DNC should whip up a web ad documenting all of Cheney's lies. And, sure enough, the DNC home page (and their debate center) have Cheney vs. Reality. Not bad, but I think it repeats Cheney's quotes alleging an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection too many times at the end. My worry is that repetition is going to stick with listeners, and they ought to have closed with the 9/11 Commission Report stating conclusively that there was no such link. But, boy were some of them stupid things to lie about! I mean, his claim never to have met Edwards before was easily and quickly debunked by all the blogs with a photo of the two of them side-by-side at an event. And get a load of how AP headlines and leads the article: Meeting was not first for Cheney, Edwards That is really bad spin for the Veep. Furthermore, bloggers looked into the rest of Cheney's remark... "Now, in my capacity as vice president, I am the president of Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight" ...and found that he hasn't presided over the Senate any Tuesdays this year and only two Tuesdays his entire tenure. But other bloggers found the truth. Cheney does come to the Senate regularly on Tuesdays: for Republican-only lunch meetings -- no Democrats invited. [More details from Digby] Oh, and during my debate liveblogging, I mentioned that when Cheney said factcheck.com, he meant factcheck.org. That's because when I checked the site as he made that remark, it was your basic generic domain hosting squatter set of links. However, not for long. In a stroke of brilliance, employees of the company decided to redirect the domain to George Soros' site. [Details] So, people who went to the website Cheney recommended got quite an eyeful of anti-Bush information. Of course, the site he meant to plug wasn't doing him much better. Factcheck.org's document on the debate begins as follows: Cheney wrongly implied that FactCheck had defended his tenure as CEO of Halliburton Co., and the vice president even got our name wrong. He overstated matters when he said Edwards voted "for the war" and "to commit the troops, to send them to war." He exaggerated the number of times Kerry has voted to raise taxes, and puffed up the number of small business owners who would see a tax increase under Kerry's proposals. Ouch. Look at all the basic, easily refutable lies that Cheney just spat out. Other bloggers have quantified other more substantial ones. One other thing that caught my attention during the debate was Cheney's mention of Zarquai as justification for attacking Iraq. Salon's War Room did the digging I'd been looking for: [W]hat Cheney didn't mention is that the administration had several chances to "take out" Zarqawi in the run-up to the Iraq war, but chose not to. Finally, Josh Marshall shares this cogent comment from a reader: If the Republicans were given the gift Dick Cheney gave the Democrats last night, Peggy Noonan would be on TV today wondering aloud why Dick Cheney felt compelled to lie about something so silly, and so easy to refute. By the way, while yesterday's political news was filled with chatter about the debate, they released two new Bush's National Guard documents. How many times has the administration said they'd released everything? And more still keep popping up. Remember start of the week when I wrote that I didn't expect to do much political blogging? Like I've said many times in the past, the clearest way to change the direction of this blog is for me to comment upon the trend in my content.
Never knew a girl ruined by a book
Posted by Lis Riba at 9:01 PM
Via mactavish, I found and tried the What Kind of Girl Are You? quiz. Somewhat tough, as I could see multiple accurate answers for several of the questions, but here were my results:
Trying some different combinations on the questions I was torn over eliminated "Progressive Girl" and just gave me a split between the other two. They have a separate quiz for guys: What Kind of Girl Is She?. Ian took it and said I came out strictly Academic Girl. He read all three of my "types" and disagrees vehemently with the Girl Next Door, but thinks the other two fit.
Well, I'm amused.
Posted by Lis Riba at 2:36 PM
The local freebie JobFind paper has a regular column of resume and cover-letter don'ts, allegedly all frowm real-world examples. [I assume they genericize any specific references to protect the guilty.] After another tough day dealing with rejections, this week's column lead seems almost appealing: To Whom It May Concern: How I wish it were that simple...
Blogging for jobs
Posted by Lis Riba at 10:30 AM
As long as I'm blogging about the jobhunt this morning, I've been meaning to share this NYT article on blogs and the job hunt (found via the BostonWorks Job Blog). I learned nothing terribly surprising, but it's useful to see it articulated in one place: There is no conclusive data on the spread of blogs to the job market, largely because they are difficult to track, said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president and research director at JupiterResearch in New York who covers blogs. But based on anecdotal information, he said, people are using blogs on both sides of the job search process. If you plan on a job hunt, it may be worthwhile to conduct some web searches on your name and see what links turn up. Is that the picture you want employers to see? [If not, it may be worth putting up a public website under your name to establish your presence.] I have it tricky. I've been online for fifteen years. I've got a huge web presence, but fortunately, this blog and my home page are the top hits, which is how I want it. On the other hand, because my name is unusual, it's often misspelled. And when I Googled on some of the more basic misspellings, I found Reba McEntire far more readily than me. That's why I added this post this morning and something similar to my homepage. To give people a decent shot at finding me. One other point from the article: Job seekers use blogs to establish a strong online presence, display their skills and advertise their availability. That's one reason why I do blog under my real name. The reason my site is the top hit at Google wasn't happenstance. There are a lot of people linking here via my name. Sure, that puts some (self-imposed) limitations on what I post, but what's the point of building up ethos if I can't use it? If you're actually reading this on my site, rather than through an aggregator, take a look at that nice large link right under my blog title. I have no way of knowing if any employers have used it, but I know people are taking a peek. And that's probably enough blogging about the job hunt for one morning. Time to get back on the prowl.
More on mottoes
Posted by Lis Riba at 10:01 AM
Continuing to think about descriptive soundbites (and belatedly updating my home page with the alternate spellings), I came across my favorite quotes. I still love this one:
It just does such an excellent job capturing my enthusiasm and drinking-from-the-firehose approach to information... And even though I engage in my intellectual passions with no deeper desire than learning that particular subject, one can't synthesize new brainstorms without a sufficiently large pool to draw from. So Shakespeare leads me to the pamphlet wars leads me to a deeper perspective on blogging. And 18th Century London gin crazes provide insight into current drug policy. A tidbit gleaned in childhood from James Burke's Connections comes to mind while musing about the effects of search engines on society. A history of duelling leads me to reexamine modern political discourse. And so on and so forth. It's all interrelated. At least in my mind. But you don't have to do all that reading if you don't want to, because I've just boiled it down. Another quote:
Now that's what I was just talking about in my previous post. I don't drown in information. Now I just need to come up with some non-gross way of saying I fish through information in order to feed others knowledge. And not just directly (by conducting searches), but also by helping people organize their information so they can find things themselves.
Hi(re me)
Posted by Lis Riba at 9:30 AM
So, this morning from about 7:50 am to 8:00 am, I was on the radio as part of the WBIX BostonWorks Hiring Squad. I got to talk about my skills and what I'm looking for, and they've posted my resume to their website where hopefully some dashing company will notice and sweep me off my feet into a new job. If you found this page via WBIX, hello and welcome! Please introduce yourself in the comments box below or via the contact information on my resume. [I try to avoid posting my e-mail address to the website directly in hopes of cutting down at least some of the spam. But it's fairly easy to find -- or, at least, I think it is.] I've got an audiocassette of the interview, and will hopefully digitize and post it to the site sometime later today. It all went by so quickly... A few things I meant to say but forgot in the rush of the moment. Such as the fact that my library science includes knowledge management and competitive intelligence. I can't recall whether I explained that my information-gathering skills are independent of any particular discipline or field of expertise, but I've discovered they (and my design skills) have universal applications? I was so focused on sticking to message, that I didn't even touch upon what a techie I am. And, of course, as these things always go, shortly after I got off the air, I thought of the perfect soundbite to describe my strengths:
[Ian just said, "Does your business need someone who knows where its socks are?" And if you can come up with more slogans or soundbites for what I do and who I am, I invite you to share them.] And now I'm blathering off the last of the adrenaline high. You had your time; you had the power.
Search me
Posted by Lis Riba at 8:56 AM
Something I probably should've posted ages ago (and to multiple pages of my site):
Hopefully this entry will assist the search engines in finding me when you search on these names. This has been a public service announcement from Elisabeth, your friendly finding facilitator.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
What you say?
Posted by Lis Riba at 10:45 PM
Heck, I can start a new post for this: Washington Post already has a debate transcript up (via Corrente) It's not yet finished, but good for quick reference until more official ones are released.
Liveblogging the Veep Debate
Posted by Lis Riba at 9:32 PM
I'm not going to do a full spiel like Kevin Drum or Mark Kleiman or Pandagon, but this comment just came to mind and I had to share: If Cheney is going to go on and on about paying attention to Iraqi deaths (I'll post a transcript as soon as it's available), I wish Edwards would mention the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis who have died since the invasion and ask Cheney to defend that... Or Abu Ghraib, for that matter... 9:41: The site Cheney is referring to is factcheck.org -- not dotcom. Just a bit of librarianly help. 9:45: I think Cheney's making a huge mistake in attacking Edwards' record in the Senate. After all, who really bases their vote for President on the VP's record??? It would've been more effective if he spent his time attacking Kerry's record, but I'm partisanly glad he didn't. 9:52: If they're going to ask Kerry/Edwards to explain how their tax plan will affect the deficit, why isn't anybody asking that question of Bush/Cheney? AFAIK, Bush/Cheney have no workable plan to balance the budget, so why are they being so hard on Kerry/Edwards without giving equal time to those who dug this hole? 9:55: Okay, this liveblogging gig is seductive. And I wasn't even planning to watch/listen to the whole thing. [Ian's shouting at the radio that Cheney is conflating two things that have nothing to do with one another!] 10:03: Other livebloggers I just found: Angry Bear and Sisyphus Shrugged. 10:08: Lawsuit abuse!? Is that like drug abuse? 10:11: Cheney was specifically asked to talk about domestic AIDS, and is ignoring that to discuss international. Why do I feel Edwards is about to slam him for abstinence-only 10:14: Nope, he didn't. I just found that the New York Times is liveblogging the debate. We are everywhere... 10:18: Nice plug for Kerry by Edwards! To Cheney's rebuttal, "he's already been Commander in Chief" I just think of how much of a mess he's made of things. 10:21: Cheney: "9/11 9/11 9/11!" Nice "Osama not Saddam" rebuttal by Edwards. 10:22: Okay, so Edwards couldn't not mention Kerry's name, but that seems like such a stupid rule for a debate question. Why not force them to answer in the form of a question, or use blank verse while they're at it? And flip-flops? So many of these sound like feeds for Republican talking points. Nice turnaround! 10:26: Cheney's repetition of old debunked lies makes me roll my eyes and want to say "There you go again." Yap. yap. yap. 10:29: Is Cheney actually trying to blame the Democrats for the lack of bipartisanship? Cheney, the man who shares a party with Grover "Bipartisanship is another name for date rape" Norquist is blaming the Democrats!? Thank you Edwards for bringing up "uniter not divider" and showing it's Bush's fault. 10:32: Considering how many elderly and AARP members oppose the Medicare bill, was it really wise of Cheney to mention it? 10:34: "The President and Vice President don't get it. ... Four more years of the same." Beautiful! Edwards' closing statement started slow with his father watching TV, but nice build. And now the debate is over, and I should go to bed. Busy morning tomorrow.
Does that answer your question?
Posted by Lis Riba at 8:20 PM
With the Vice Presidential debate in 40 minutes, it's too late to do Edwards much good, but Rude Pundit's debate advice (making the rounds) is good for a laugh, at least. [I do hope somebody shows this to Kerry and Edwards, and it brings a grin to their faces as well.]
Movie sign!
Posted by Lis Riba at 7:10 PM
New trailer for the Series of Unfortunate Effects movie. Jude Law sounds just as perfect as Lemony Snicket as I imagined. And despite my initial dubiousness over Klaus' lack of glasses, it looks good. As Ian pointed out when I showed him the trailer, it probably helps that you've got one character who's a complete over-the-top ham, while the rest of the cast seems to be playing it deadpan. I've got high hopes for this one.
Heh
Posted by Lis Riba at 9:15 AM
Yet more proof that librarians rule: According to librarian.net: Nancy Pearl's action figure is outselling all the other action figures at Archie McPhee. This means that in at least one sense, she's more popular than Jesus. So, did you want The Good Book, or just a good book? Jessamyn continues: "More factoids about her in this interview. [lisnews]"
The PamphletSphere
Posted by Lis Riba at 8:31 AM
I perked up slightly when I saw that Glenn Reynolds blogged: DOUG KERN looks at blogging in the Sixteenth Century. But the resulting article feels like just more blogger triumphalism.
Yawn. If you want to talk about Reformation precursors to blogging, get a load of this post I wrote back in January (or read my paraphrasing below): From Elizabethan England through the Revolutionary War (and possibly afterwards, though my knowledge of history isn't as firm past the Hanoverians), the presses of London (and subsequently, America) had what historians called Pamphlet Wars As I wrote back then:
Topics ranged from the political (pamphlets were crucial in riling up public opinion leading up to the English Civil War, and their role in the American Revolutionary War goes beyond Common Sense) to the personal (the mudslinging between Elizabethan writers Harvey and Nashe comes to mind). Now that's much closer to blogging than the other article. Don't you think?
You don't... say
Posted by Lis Riba at 4:42 AM
Ian's got a chorus role in Iolanthe, so I went searching the library catalogs for a soundtrack CD he could listen to. In the process, I ran across the FAQ for BPL's Music Department. This item amused me: Do you sing over the telephone? Maybe it's just me (or the hour), but I find that funny. Do you think it's a common request?
Monday, October 04, 2004
Freeze frame!
Posted by Lis Riba at 10:45 PM
Does anybody know if there's any easy way to take a screen capture from a DVD? Added later: For now, I've downloaded a 30-day/30-minute Free Trial of Power DVD which includes screen capture functionality. It does what I need for the moment, but I'd still welcome info on other options.
Question for Loti
Posted by Lis Riba at 8:25 PM
I just saw the Konica Minolta Oh Baby single-use camera, and the infant pictured on the package looks just like the old Lotus baby (when was that ad campaign?). I can't find a sufficiently large picture online (this thumbnail's the best I could do so far), but could somebody else head to the store to look at that camera and confirm or deny the resemblance?
Air America Radio in Boston!!!
Posted by Lis Riba at 7:35 PM
According to Chimes at Midnight, two AM stations are now carrying the network: Framingham's WKOX-AM (1200) and Medford's WXKS-AM (1430). According to The Boston Globe: The two stations will be leaving the Air America stable for two weekday shifts, both of which will be staffed by liberal syndicated hosts from Jones Broadcasting. Stephanie Miller, who has guest-hosted CNBC's "Equal Time," will take over 9 a.m.-noon, and Ed Schultz, the author of "Straight Talk From the Heartland," will handle afternoon drive, 3-6 p.m. I've waited a long time for this! Of course, I just tuned into 1430 AM, and they're currently broadcasting the Randi Rhodes show (normally 3 - 7 pm). I'd really rather hear Janeane Garofalo live, but one can't have everything. [By the way, I posted the wrong frequency in my earlier post. I've since corrected it, but for the record WBIX is AM 1060.]
By the way
Posted by Lis Riba at 2:25 PM
I'm sure somebody must make a cable that can go from a stereo headphone (output) jack to a computer microphone (input) jack. But I'm not sure where I'd look for such a device, what it's called or how much to expect to pay for it. However, I wouldn't mind getting one in time record my radio appearance. Any advice would be appreciated. Thx.
By the way
Posted by Lis Riba at 2:25 PM
I'm sure somebody must make a cable that can go from a stereo headphone (output) jack to a computer microphone (input) jack. But I'm not sure where I'd look for such a device, what it's called or how much to expect to pay for it. However, I wouldn't mind getting one in time record my radio appearance. Any advice would be appreciated. Thx.
Radio GaGa
Posted by Lis Riba at 1:30 PM
Over a month ago, I found out about this deal at WBIX, a local AM business station: The WBIX BostonWorks Hiring Squad: Since it didn't cost anything to apply, I sent them off an email and thought no more about it. They called me on Friday morning and left a message, but when I couldn't get ahold of them, I thought I'd blown my chance. But I finally got through this morning. I'm going to be live on the air Wednesday morning. Yeep! So now I'm having an attack of the nerves. I hate the way my voice sounds in recordings, I feel my writing is far more articulate than anything I can verbalize ... I feel as though I've suddenly got the most important interview of my life, given the number of people who will hear it, and I'm petrified and feeling utterly unprepared. If anybody wants to listen (or record it), I'll be on Wednesday morning, about 7:50 am. They broadcast on 1060 AM and they have a live stream over the web. |
