Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:15 PM

Remember when LiveJournal would actually check syndicated feeds hourly according to the schedule on the info/profile page?

As opposed to now, where it appears to look at the feed maybe once or twice a day (and I can view server logs, so I can tell)

Meanwhile, a thread from 2003 has gotten four pieces of comment spam in the past 24 hours. Different source IPs and linking to different sites, but they all chose the same entry to invade.
I've deleted the comments and banned the IP addresses, but find it somewhat curious they'd all pick that one.

To avoid seeming totally negative, btw, Slate has a fascinating story in slideshow format on why costume designers hate the Oscars, with comments about how difficult it can be for people outside the industry to truly evaluate costumes, and the unheralded challenges that can make modern-dress more complex than period pieces.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:55 PM

I wanted to make sure everybody saw this item by Larry Johnson, since it's somewhat buried in the TPMcafe layout:

A brief update to my earlier piece about the denial that a civil war is underway in Iraq. I almost drove off the road when I heard our National Director of Intelligence, John Negroponte, offer his definition in testimony before Congress on Tuesday. According to Mr. Negroponte a civil war is, "a complete loss of central government security control, the disintegration or deterioration of the security forces of the country." Did he fall asleep during high school history? Apparently he never studied our own civil war. Based on his definition we never had a civil war and Abraham Lincoln and his generals were deluded. We even had two Presidential elections during that so-called war in the 1860s and Congress met regularly. Call me crazy, but John Negroponte needs to do better than this.

Just what we need. Further humptydumptyism from this administration.

This reminds me of a recent quote by Hilzoy:

Oh goody: redefining 'veteran' in order to deprive veterans of health care. Remember when people got all bent out of shape about Clinton's claim that "it all depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"? I'd rather worry about my President's views on 'is' than about his redefining 'veteran', or 'rebuild New Orleans', or 'checks and balances', or 'imminent threat'.

Not to mention, of course, this administration's redefinitions of much more basic concepts, like torture and patriotism and scientific method, and its unique interpretation of the Constitution and laws.

A descriptive lexicon would be handy, since they so often warp or reject existing meanings established by consensus...

Where are the responsible adults when we need them?

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:50 PM

So Kelsey Grammer has explained how he's approaching the role of Beast in the upcoming X3 movie:

"He's very wise, so he's a bit like JACQUES in AS YOU LIKE IT.

"And he's a bit like PANDARUS in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, because he understands the role of society.

"And he's also a bit like HENRY V, because he likes to rally round a cause."

Veteran Shakespeare actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are, of course, already well established in the X-Men movie franchise.

But Grammer's quote makes me wonder about potential mutant casting coups for other Shakespearean actors.

Kenneth Branagh as Banshee? Joseph Fiennes as Longshot? Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma Frost? Helena Bonham Carter as Psylocke?

Or maybe we should look at this the other way: Which Shakespearean characters are secretly mutants?

A Midsummer Night's Dream and Ariel and Caliban from The Tempest are obvious, but perhaps other characters have hidden powers? Maybe King Lear really does control the weather. The transformative power of Marina in Pericles is definitely supernormal.

I'm open to suggestions from those more familiar with either oeuvre.
I'll post the best in a later entry.

Meanwhile, follow this link for a fun little video clip of James Marsters enthusing about Macbeth, characters and plot, from his Word & Music 2005 Q&A.

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:50 PM

A few links I've stumbled across in the last week that I've been meaning to share:

Kittenbaby.com is an informational site by an animal rescue professional about raising orphaned kittens.

And they've got the cutest videos (which I first stumbled across on Google Video)

I consider this video titled "Itty Bitty Kitty Comitty" (Google version) particularly adorable.

Also, a 17th century proposal for a Cat Piano by Athanasius Kircher.

I wonder if Jim Henson saw this; he got inspiration from the strangest of places.

Finally, don't forget about the Cute Overload blog for all your adorable animal needs. I find myself checking it daily when I need a break from everyday stressors.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:15 PM

Katrina in Mardi Gras photos and floats

Katrina in art

Katrina comedy

Meanwhile, Jim Macdonald points out it's 90 days until the next Atlantic hurricane season. Is our FEMA ready?

PS: I assume y'all have heard tonight's breaking news that Bush was briefed before Katrina hit, including warnings that the levees were endangered and the Superdome was a potential problem. There are lies, damn lies, and the Bush administration.

PPS @ 9:20 pm: Meanwhile, Talking Points Memo found this example of FEMA taking charge:

The Hattiesburg American reports that The Feds are prosecuting Forrest County, Mississippi Sheriff Billy McGee for commandeering two FEMA ice trucks and giving their contents to locals in the midst of the Katrina disaster, when FEMA was too bolloxed up to order it themselves. [...] "We had diabetic people who hadn't been able to put their insulin on ice for three days."

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:07 PM

No real surprise here:

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

[First seen via Shelley @ Burningbird]

Frankly, I wish the test had been timed. :)

Actually, I didn't consider my results totally a given. I've heard some observations about standardized tests that once a student has taken sufficiently advanced math classes, that can hurt one's ability to deal with the basics.

Someone from overseas expressed shock that this seemed like a low standard for eighth graders.

I pointed out that the quiz creators did have to come up with questions that could be answered in multiple choice format.

But if anyone wants to compare with real educational standards, Massachusetts requires MCAS assessment tests for certain grades. http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/search/ will let you select & view questions from the MCAS in any subject and grade-level you choose.

This page has a selection of multiple choice questions from 8th grade math assessments. Maybe somebody should build some better quizzes out of the multiple choice questions for various grades and subjects...

Keep in mind, though, these are minimum requirements for grade advancement. Most students would be expected to be above this level.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:00 PM

A few of the items I haven't been in quite a mood to blog lately:

Earworm, earworm
Playing on the radio
Seems to me you'd stop and see
how addictive they are...

Jonathan Coulton's love song, Skullcrusher Mountain, has been going through my head repeatedly.

Since shared pain is lessened, I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I do.

Sunday's Boston Globe Magazine had an article on the Actors' Shakespeare Project, along with a general history of Shakespeare in the Boston area.

Speaking of which, Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox has recently announced their 2006 season. Only two Shakespeare plays this summer:

• Hamlet from July 1 - August 27 (Tina Packer as Gertrude), and
• Merry Wives of Windsor from July 13 - September 2

Plus a Commedia dell' Arte and numerous lectures on aspects of Elizabethan life, along with several plays from this century.

And don't forget about Bard in Boston for all your Boston-area Shakespeare needs.

For those who were wondering about my post-Valentine's Day chocolate tasting, direct comparisons were hampered because Russell Stover didn't provide any an index of which pieces were which. But on the whole, we preferred the Whitman's. The Russell Stover chocolates I tasted just seemed cloyingly sweet, while I found the Whitman's to be a little more... interesting.

Oddly enough, this is the opposite conclusion to Consumer Reports. They were the bottom two assortments, which only makes sense when you realize they were compared with Godiva, Lindt, and other boutique chocolates that cost over ten times as much (by weight) as these supermarket/drugstore brands.

But on the whole, I still prefer the big box of Cella's chocolate covered cherries I got the same time.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:01 PM

A postscript to yesterday morning's post:

Well, Boopsie didn't piss in the bedroom last night. We threw some orange peels into a boxtop where she last inappropriately urinated (we'll put more in more locations after we eat some more citrus) and she spent some time poking at the box (annoying, but quieter than most of her wee-hours noisemaking).

As a matter of fact, she seemed astonishingly well behaved and quiet last night.

Then, this morning we discovered she pissed in/on Ian's messenger bag, which had been sitting in the living room.

See, that's one of the other reasons that just locking her out of the bedroom isn't sufficient. There are too many other inappropriate places she could pee, some of which are far less washable than laundry... [I dread the thought she'd develop an attraction to paper, what with all our books and comics and, well, papers.]

I do love our cat; her fifteenth birthday was probably sometime in January, and she's been with me for all but about the first six months. Astonishingly enough (particularly given the way I found her, which was literally living on the streets), she was fully litter-box trained when we first met.

I can understand if this is a sign of age; I'm not going to get rid of her over it and don't want to make her miserable. I just want some way to mitigate the damage. Like I said; anybody making kitty-Depends?

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:56 AM

I love Boopsie. I dearly do.

But this has to stop.

She keeps pissing where she shouldn't be -- specifically, in our bedroom: on the bed, in the dirty laundry, or even in clean laundry.

Vets have checked her out, it's behavioral, not illness.

Thinking it might just be a texture preference, we've given her a third litter box, filled with shop rags rather than litter. She uses it, but it didn't stop her Didn't help.

We tried moving that litterbox into the bedroom, to one of the spots she regularly pisses. That afternoon she still pissed on the bed.

I'm reaching wits' end, here.

Given... various attributes about our apartment, we can't lock her out of the bedroom. The door doesn't shut tightly, and even if we pile boxes in front of it (when we're inside), she can generally bash her way in. And she can hurdle over child-safety gates. The only other room we could lock her into is the bathroom.

I read something somewhere about a product named Feliway, some sort of pheremone-scented plug-in air freshener. But given Boopsie's utter loathing for other cats, I wonder if something like that would stress her out further. [Testimonials pro- and con- most welcome.]

Otherwise, does anybody make Depends for cats?

After a nearly sleepless night and too many cycles of the laundry, I'm open to any suggestions.

Help!

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:32 PM

Sorry for the recent radio silence. I got sucked into a rilly long fanfic story which has consumed much of my free time. And current events haven't left me terribly inspired to read blogs, much less write anything myself.

Work-stuff suddenly got busy, after I poked enough holes in a requirements document to think "wait a minute, there's got to be a better way" and then concoct a flow chart with a new combination of screens. So now I've inherited that ball-of-wax (ball-of-yarn may be the more appropriate metaphor, given how snarly and tangled it remains).

Meanwhile, there are many matters I wish to share with y'all, but I don't feel terribly motivated to write them up.

Anyway, I just want to let you guys know that I still exist and am no less okay than I normally am; merely unmotivated.