Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:55 PM

Southern Style Sweet Tea should not taste like lemon.

Sweet teas may sometimes be served with a slice of lemon, but that doesn't flavor the beverage unless the drinker wishes it.

In other words,

Get the damned citric acid out of the ingredient list!

I had been looking forward to this since I saw it on the shelves, but won't be buying it again without a recipe change.

No love,

- Lis

PS: Nestea's Naturally Brewed Sweetened Iced Tea does taste pretty good and omits the citric acid.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:50 AM

Wow.

The Wall Street Journal actually publishes a quite well-done article on fanfic:

Fan fiction, stories by amateur writers about characters from their favorite books, movies and television shows, was once mainly a fringe pursuit. Now, it's changing the world of fiction, as Internet exposure helps unknown authors find mainstream success. Some Web sites are attracting unprecedented numbers of readers and, in some cases, leading to book deals. They are also feeding the appetites of readers and viewers who can't get enough of shows like "Lost" or "House."

...

One sign of the growing influence of these authors and stories is that media companies, usually quick to go after people who use their copyrighted material, are increasingly leaving fan fiction writers alone. Mindful of the large, loyal audience the writers represent, many companies are adopting an attitude one media professor describes as "benign neglect." While most professional writers say their lawyers advise them not to read fan fiction to protect themselves against charges of plagiarism, some say they check the numbers of fan fiction stories posted about their work regularly as a measure of their success.
The rise of fan fiction is part of the spread of amateur-created content online, from viral videos to music playlists and blogs. Increasingly, audiences have become used to watching videos posted by other users on sites such as YouTube and MySpace. Reading fiction online is another extention of this trend.

...

For much of its history, fan fiction centered on the science-fiction and comic-book worlds. While the subject matter of fan fiction has expanded greatly, to include everything from "Desperate Housewives" to the Bible, the genre has several entrenched tropes. Many stories take the form of prequels, imagining the back stories of central characters. Crossover fantasies also have long been a key element of fan fiction, pairing characters from different books or shows.
"Shippers" (the term is believed to be derived from "relationship") are writers that explore -- and often invent -- relationships between characters. A subgenre of this is "slash," which creates gay relationships between characters such as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock from "Star Trek." Slash fiction is often sexually graphic, and fan fiction's association with slash has made some mainstream authors and TV networks wary of it.
Increasingly, however, media companies, undeterred by the stigma of slash, are looking for ways to capitalize on fan fiction and its large audience. A company called FanLib is working with networks and publishers to create fan-fiction promotions and contests for books and TV shows

And just last week on NPR, Brooke Gladstone defined canon and fanon in a story on Star Trek... It's definitely achieving mainstream awareness.

BTW: Anyone with a WSJ subscription care to share their list of some of the most-popular fan fiction on the Web?

Via Supergee

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:10 AM

I'm not going to delve into the current dust-up in the liberal-political blogosphere, but I just wanted to highlight this quote in a post by Pam Spaulding as something worth remembering:

In many ways, the blogosphere is still about human nature, for better or worse. It just doesn't feel good when exclusionary behavior (intentional or unintentional) plays itself out in the virtual world, because people have fantasized that this would be one place that could be free of the crap. Sorry, folks. We're all a work in progress.

I remember my skepticism when a well-known blogging advocate suggested blogging could “bring out [positive] aspects of human nature” otherwise buried or suppressed. But we don't leave our humanity behind when we write. This is just more of the same.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:30 PM

I finished reading Christopher Hibbert's Disraeli: the Victorian dandy who became prime minister last night.

A fairly enjoyable read, but the more I think about it, the more dissatisfied I feel.

After 360 pages, I think I should know the subject a little better. But too much of the man remains a mystery.

To use an artistic metaphor, Hibbert painted a very rough outline and then filled in a few areas with pointillistic detail. But there are still large swathes of blank canvas.

For example, I think I "get" the relationship between Queen Victoria and Disraeli, but Gladstone remains a total enigma. For the biography of a politician, there's surprisingly little politics. Hibbert focuses far more on the interpersonal conflicts than matters of policy. I learned that Disraeli made a great splash with his work on the Reform Bill, but I'm still not entirely sure what the Reform Bill reformed, or what Disraeli's position was. And that's typical of the book. For such a celebrated orator, almost no quotes from his actual speeches. Of his novels, we get paragraph-long plot synopses, sales information, public reaction, and comments about the thinly-disguised cameos he inserted. Again, more excerpts would've been nice. Lots of tell without show.

I picked up the book knowing next-to-nothing about Disraeli. Maybe Hibbert focuses on areas most biographers have ignored, to enrich those already familiar with BD. But nothing about the book suggests that this is geared towards existing fans.

I suspect that Hibbert predominantly relied upon letters Disraeli sent and received. That may explain some of the gaps -- not as much material about people he didn't correspond with. But there are other sources which Hibbert should've used if those materials ignored major influences. [I'm still astonished by the lack of actual speeches.]

I did enjoy the book; plenty of amusing anecdotes that I've shared with Ian. But I don't think I learned enough given the time investment.

At any rate, I picked up two more books from the library today: Victoria and Disraeli: the making of a romantic partnership and Queen Victoria: a personal history, which is an earlier work of Hibbert's. When I first looked it up, that was a positive, but now I'm feeling more apprehensive. I think I'll start with the former.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:06 PM

[Note: A copy of this is also being submitted to Gmail's feature suggestion page]

Backstory:

Changing one's primary email address can be a real hassle.

When Netcom closed up its shell service, I vowed "never again". That's when I first registered the osmond-riba.org domain, and I've been using that mailing address ever since.

Behind-the-scenes, I've set forwarding to send and receive mail through any system of my choosing -- in my case, still primarily Unix shell, this time through Panix. That Panix address is totally invisble in the e-mail headers. If I redirect forwarding tomorrow to a different provider, I don't have to worry about any derelicts sending mail to the Panix address.

Given my recent spam problems, and the good things I've heard about Gmail's filtering, I've considered switching to Gmail behind-the-scenes.

I'd like to, but one feature is a total show-stopper for me.

Gmail does offer the ability to customize the From address as I want.

But it puts the Gmail address in the Sender field of the message header.

This means that in Outlook (for example), such emails appear to be from:

<gmail username>@gmail.com on behalf of <my desired e-mail address>

No! Not good!

I don't want anybody to know that Gmail address.

As sure as I understand people, some folks who see the Gmail address will start using that instead of my permanent one.

And that introduces all kinds of potential problems that I created my domain to avoid.

I don't want recipients seeing or knowing that Gmail address when I'm using a customized from!

When adding a new From address, a verification process ensures the Gmail user is authorized to use the non-Gmail address, so spoofing shouldn't be a problem.

Reading other comments from the user support boards, I've seen suggestions that if Google really feels the need to include their email address, they should move the information from the "Sender" field in the header to "X-Sender" or "X-Original-Sender" or "X-Authenticated-Gmail-Originator" That way, it'll be there for sysadmins and hardcore techies, but won't show up in Outlook.

I'd also like to see (either in conjunction with the suggestion above or separately) the option to allow plus-addressing aliases for the Sender fields. That way I can track who might be ganking the Gmail address, allowing me to correct friends who use it accidentally, or (if it starts getting too junky) filter it all to trash and create a new plus-alias for "Sender"...

But until this issue is solved, I cannot switch to Gmail, no matter how much I'd like to.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:00 PM

The Optical Microscopy Division of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has created a Molecular Expressions website for full color photomicrographs (photographs taken through a microscope).

Besides the typical subjects for magnification, they focus on more entertaining items, including copious quantities of beers (163) and cocktails (54).

Here are a few from the cocktail collection. Can you identify them before checking the alt-tag or clicking through?:

These two go well together:

To make it somewhat easier, here are the names of the pictured alcohols, so you just have to mix-and-match, instead of starting from nothing: Gin Kahlua Rum Sake Scotch Tequila Vodka

You know, some of these might make nifty LJ usericons... For example, doesn't a martini make the perfect background for James Bond?

The site also offers wallpapers (in more subdued tones) for Windows and Mac, and sell posters and screen savers.

Cool stuff!

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:20 PM

Have you been getting your free ice cream from Brighams and Boston.com this week?

We have.

The coupon page is updated daily to only show that day's flavor. Unfortunately, our home printer can be rather flaky, so I'd rather print this weekend's coupons in advance.

After a little reverse engineering*, I deduced filenames for all the remaining flavors.

And here they are (click to enlarge full-size):

Have a sweet weekend!

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:13 PM

This morning NPR aired an interview with Moazzam Begg, author of a new autobiographical book: Enemy combatant: my imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar.

Moazzam Begg was a British citizen arrested by the CIA in early 2002. He was held for three years, much of that time in solitary at Guantanamo, though he was never charged with a crime. British diplomats negotiated his release, along with other British nationals.

The NPR website has the audio interview and an excerpt from the book.

A quick scan of Google News shows that his book was only released in America this week, so expect more publicity.

Still, a stunning account to listen to.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:40 PM

Okay, I know I promised myself I'd stop blogging for the night after that last post, but I just saw the news that Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards has died. Since I only saw this on the one site, I thought I'd pass the news along.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:30 PM

Some say a picture's worth a thousand words, which makes Clay Bennett one of the more articulate people I know:

 
                    Copyright Clay Bennett, The Christian Science Monitor, reproduced with permission

And with that... Good night, everybody!

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:20 PM

Miscellaneous links you might have missed:

Fast Lane, the New Big Brother:

The little tidbit about the Fast Lane we learned in reports following the Fung Wah bus' turnover is that they used the timestamp on the entry and exit to fine the bus company for speeding.
[...]
It's certainly disturbing that the Fung Wah's bus turned over and that 30-plus people got hurt in the accident - but we're worried about what Fast Lane users signed up for by Velcroing the transponder to the windshield. It's surely not worth the State Police's, nor the Mass. Turnpike Authority's time to manually check the records of all drivers, but a computer algorithm could be employed to start automating the process of sending speeding tickets (or at least warnings) to drivers across the state.

Brad Hicks has "A Modest Proposal":

Per US Supreme Court decisions, police in a routine investigation such as a traffic stop do not have to show probable cause to perform a casual, cursory weapons check; it is sufficient for the officer to say, if asked about it, that they felt less than totally safe and wanted to reassure themselves that the person they were questioning wasn't concealing a knife or a gun. These "pat-downs" must be quick, cursory, and confined entirely to the outside of the clothing. But if they find something that might be evidence of another crime, they may ask the subject for permission to search their pockets or inside their clothing. The question is pro-forma, purely rhetorical; the courts have also ruled that saying no is sufficient grounds for the officer to detain the subject while phoning out for a search warrant.
[...]
I am given to understand, although all cops deny it, that among many cops this is 100% routine procedure in traffic stops involving brown or black skinned people. I will also tell you right now, in case any of you can't guess, that you will grow old and die before you hear about this happening to a white friend of yours, unless the white friend does something really stupid to provoke the cop into a search. And this is why, even though the National Institutes of Drug Abuse routine survey of drug use finds that blacks and whites use the same drugs, and use them in statistically similar amounts and at the same rate, it is blacks, not whites, who make up 11% of our population but half of our prison population, and why at any given time a quarter of all African-American men are under formal law enforcement supervision: in jail, in prison, on bail, on probation, or on parole.

Now, here's my modest proposal. We have tried, over and over and over again, to weed out the cops who are performing these one-sided searches and to educate them that race isn't a legitimate grounds to decide who to pat down for weapons. This has clearly failed. So let's make it a routine part of being pulled over. Let's have everybody, black or white, searched for weapons during traffic stops. Let's have everybody who has a lump in their pockets either consent to have those pockets turned out or face a search warrant; let's swab all of their clothes for drug residue. If we're going to put a quarter of our black and brown men in jail for this, and we can't stop doing so, then it's long past time to put a quarter of our white men, white women, and black and brown women in jail for it, too.

Elayne Riggs shares this catchy little ditty in her 9/11 post, "Never Forget":

Remember remember, Eleven September
Terrorists, treason and plot
I see no reason why neocon treason
Should ever be forgot.

Dave Hogg on "Our President":

Some highlights from Bush's speech Monday night on the fifth anniversary of 9/11:

On 9/11, our nation saw the face of evil. Yet on that awful day, we also witnessed something distinctly American: ordinary citizens rising to the occasion, and responding with extraordinary acts of courage.
 

Distinctly American? That's incredibly insulting to ... well, just about every nation on the globe. Mr. President, you know the one country that follows you around like a lapdog? Great Britain? Ask them about something called the Blitz.
 

We saw courage in office workers who were trapped on the high floors of burning skyscrapers -- and called home so that their last words to their families would be of comfort and love. We saw courage in passengers aboard Flight 93, who recited the 23rd Psalm -- and then charged the cockpit. And we saw courage in the Pentagon staff who made it out of the flames and smoke -- and ran back in to answer cries for help. On this day, we remember the innocent who lost their lives -- and we pay tribute to those who gave their lives so that others might live.
 

Um, what about the firefighters and police officers in New York?
 

The war against this enemy is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and the calling of our generation.
 

And yet, his only solution is to (poorly) use the military, while doing everything possible to drive people away from our side of the ideological struggle.[... it goes on...]
 

Given recent coverage of the new book, The Female brain, Archangel Beth links to "Several gender-linked papers... demolished":

Or, rather, cited for throwing around "scientific research has shown..." with references that -- when checked -- have nothing to do with the claims! Or at least little.

Language Log - September 10: Open-access sex stereotypes has links to the others. The one that some people might be interested in, most, is Language Log - September 4: The Laconic rapist in the womb .

Executive summary: there's nothing in any of these papers to support the view that "[t]he fetal girl's brain cells sprout more connections in the communications centers and areas that process emotion". You can read them for yourself, if you have the needed subscriptions, or go to a library that has them.

Kevin Drum is one of many quoting "Tapped Out" from The New Republic:

After failing to meet its recruitment target for 2005, the Army raised the maximum age for enlistment from 35 to 40 in January - only to find it necessary to raise it to 42 in June. Basic training, which has, for decades, been an important tool for testing the mettle of recruits, has increasingly become a rubber-stamping ritual. Through the first six months of 2006, only 7.6 percent of new recruits failed basic training, down from 18.1 percent in May 2005.
Alarmingly, this drop in boot camp attrition coincides with a lowering of recruitment standards. The number of Army recruits who scored below average on its aptitude test doubled in 2005, and the Army has doubled the number of non-high school graduates it can enlist this year.

Finally, don't miss this first-hand account of a Maryland election judge.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:48 PM

Am I the last to hear about this?

Gary Brolsma, famous for his lipsynched "Numa Numa" video, has a new website and new video, named (appropriately enough) New Numa.

Last I'd heard of him was Wikipedia quotes that:

According to The New York Times, Brolsma has become an "unwilling and embarrassed Web celebrity." Brolsma has stopped taking phone calls from the media; he canceled an appearance on NBC's Today Show on February 17, 2005, and he did not cooperate with The New York Times for their February 26, 2005 article about him.

Looks like he's not only come to terms with his fame, but found a way to cash in.

The New Numa site is holding a music video contest, and has corporate sponsors, a CafePress store, ringtones for sale, and more.

Not bad for something that started as an amusement between him and his friends...

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:24 PM

Doctor Who

The Muppet Show

Two great tastes, but do they taste great together?

Watch (YouTube or RealPlayer) and find out!

Via Keith DeCandido

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:44 PM

I've blogged about Naomi Novik's Temeraire series (His majesty's dragon, Throne of jade & Black powder war)

Well, the author has announced:

Peter Jackson has optioned the Temeraire books.

and talked about them with Quint of Ain't It Cool News also.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:45 PM

I've made a personal point of not identifying my employer on my blog. I took a corporate intelligence class; I'd hate for a competitor to glean something damaging from a casual remark.

However... we are hiring!

Not only are there 40 to 50 openings right now, but we'll be holding an onsite Career Fair on September 28th.

If anybody in the Boston area is available and/or looking, now's a good chance.

The company makes web-based library research databases.*

*If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to your local library website -- academic or public -- and look at the databases. If they don't have ours, they'll probably have something comparable by our competitors. If you have a BPL card (available to all Massachusetts residents), try the databases here. If you have some other Massachusetts library card, try here.

Needless to say, we particularly need people with database skills -- both technological and bibliographic.

Buzzwords in our hottest job listings include: XML, XSLT, schemas and DTDs, USMARC and MARC21, indexing methods and search and retrieval techniques.

Developer positions want experience with both NT/Win2K/XP and Linux/UNIX and throw around acronyms like: ASP.NET, C#, HTML/XHTML, CSS, Javascript, XML, XSLT, HTTP, OOA/OOD, IIS, UML. [This list combines terms from multiple listings, so don't freak if you haven't got them all.]

However, we also have less technical openings, such as catalogers and abstracters, editors and writers, commission sales and tech support...

And an MLS degree is definitely an advantage, though not required...

We're located in the outer 'burbs of Boston, but right on a commuter rail stop.

To preserve my semi-anonymity and observe my personal code, I won't link directly to the job listings.

Leave a comment with your name and e-mail address, and I'll send you the link. [I promise not to use these e-mail address for any other purposes.]

[Note: There are also employee referral bonuses I could qualify for, if the company hires somebody I recommend, and that person stays at the job for six months.]

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:22 PM

Disraeli is a bit of a slog, but I expect to finish it by the weekend.

Which means it's time to start hitting the libraries for new reading material (putting in hold requests now before High Holiday travel). Just for my own personal convenience, here are the titles I'm currently scouting for (alpha by author):

• Flushed: how the plumber saved civilization by W. Hodding Carter
• Wellsprings: a natural history of bottled spring waters by Francis H. Chapelle
• Making of the national poet: Shakespeare, adaptation and authorship, 1660-1769 by Michael Dobson
• Am I a woman?: a skeptic's guide to gender by Cynthia Eller
• The Princess of Denmark by Edward Marston
• Loving Will Shakespeare by Carolyn Meyer
• The Shakespeare wars: clashing scholars, public fiascoes, palace coups by Ron Rosenbaum
• Inside: life behind bars in America by Michael G. Santos
• Oberammergau: the troubling story of the world's most famous passion play by James Shapiro
• Paradigms lost: the life and deaths of the printed word by William J. Sonn
• Hollow earth: the long and curious history... by David Standish
• Shakespeare and Co. by Stanley Wells

What are you reading?

PS: For you Lemony Snicket fans, The Beatrice Letters are now out...

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:21 PM

According to Playbill

Theatre for a New Audience has announced dates for its forthcoming double bill of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, both starring F. Murray Abraham.

The two works will run in repertory starring the Academy Award winner in both title roles at The Duke on 42nd Street. Darko Tresnjak directs Abraham as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice Jan. 6-March 11, 2007 and David Herskovits stages The Jew of Malta with the actor as Barabas, Jan. 17-March 10, 2007. Both shows open Feb. 4.

Oh, how I want to see them both!

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:01 PM

Ian and I correctly figured out the diagnosis for tonight's House at precisely the half-hour mark.

Go us!

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:48 PM

Disraeli: the Victorian Dandy who became prime minister describes Emperor Napoleon III's 1855 visit to England:

And how it excited the Queen to think that she ‘the granddaughter of George III, should dance with the Emperor Napoleon, nephew of our great enemy, now my dearest and most intimate ally!’ Making one of his rather heavy jokes, Prince Albert had said that he would have to see that the necessary precautions were taken in the crypt of St. George's Chapel in case, upon the arrival of a Bonaparte as guest at Windsor, George III should turn in his grave.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:10 PM

Susie Madrak has written a brilliant essay on how much about this administration could be predicted before the 2000 election.

Just an excerpt:

"Have you ever worked for an owner-operated business?" I asked. Sure, all the time, he said.

"Ever work for one where the boss retired and put his son in charge?" Actually, yes, he had.

"Tell me if you've ever seen anything like this. The father knows the kid doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, so he leaves his best guy there to reassure the other employees, keep things running smoothly. Because he knows his kid can't be trusted.

"Okay, so dad leaves, and for the first year or so, everything's fine. But then junior decides he doesn't need anybody to tell him what to do and starts changing things. It becomes a total disaster, and the business goes down the tubes. Why? Because human nature being what it is, the whole arrangement depends on junior's willingness to be told what to do. Once junior starts feeling his oats, he wants to make his own mark, and that means getting rid of daddy's advisors.

"You ever see a situation like that?"

As Gary Farber is wont to say: Read the whole thing (it's short).

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:00 PM

Back on August 18, I blogged about getting free merchandise from Focus on the Family, and placed two orders for Narnia merchandise.

According to their site FAQ, free shipping takes 7 to 10 days, but my shipments never arrived.

So I contacted them through the e-mail address in my confirmation notice, and just got the following response:

Unfortunately, there is currently a coordinated effort in the marketplace to abuse Focus on the Family's benevolent practices. In checking our records, we find that the online resource request and donation that you referenced was not processed. For assistance in obtaining resources, please contact us at 1-800-232-6459. We're sorry for any inconvenience you've experienced due to these circumstances.

Has anybody gotten the materials they requested?

And if not, does this count as a breach of contract? They sent me confirmation notices of my orders but did not send any update messages that they'd cancelled it or changed their terms...

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:09 AM

This morning, NPR quoted an outburst from Saddam Hussein during his trial in Iraq:

“We will crush your heads!”

And instead of finding that in any way threatening, all I could think of was the old Kids in the Hall sketch...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:50 AM

Just a reminder:

Hey, Boston-area readers:

Boston.com has teamed with Brigham's to give away FREE ice cream this week, from Tuesday, September 12th to Sunday, September 17th.

Details @ Boston.com/TheScoop.

And if they're willing to give me free ice cream (the nearest store is just over a mile from my house, within walking distance!), I can give them a little more publicity and share the joy.

• Participating locations
• Printable daily coupons (coming soon!)
• Daily free flavors:
  • Tuesday: Vanilla
  • Wednesday: Chocolate
  • Thursday: Chocolate Chip
  • Friday: Curse Reversed!
  • Saturday: Just Jimmies
  • Sunday: Fluffernutter

Enjoy!

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:15 AM

On Friday, Ian blogged:

You know what would be an interesting experiment to do in the United States?
I think it would be very interesting to have a polling firm do the following poll, throughout the United States. Two questions, but the second one would be a bit long:

1. With the caveat that you might be able to see exceptions in some cases, do you, on the whole, come closer to supporting or opposing the display of the Ten Commandments in public, not-overtly-religious buildings such as courthouses, town halls, or schools, and the like?

2. Please name as many of the Ten Commandments as you can.
[...]
I hypothesize that there would be no correlation between the "support" or "oppose" answer, and how many they could name. And that the average number would be somewhere around 2.

A commenter added the following suggestion:

I'd like to add another pair of questions, or maybe include them in a separate poll: "Do you attend religious services regularly? [If yes] Does the building the servi