Ramblings & ephemera
From The New York Times‘ “1 Cafe, 1 Gas Station, 2 Roads: America’s Emptiest County“:
At last count (by Sheriff Hopper toting it up in his head), 16 people make Mentone their home and 55 others are spread throughout the rest of Loving County’s 645 square miles of parched, salty West Texas grassland and rattlesnakes  [...]
Posted on February 25th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Commonplace Book, politics | Comments Off
From “Dive Into Mark“:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 working draft from April 24, 2002. Only 3 weeks old!
The overall goal is to create Web content that is Perceivable, Operable, Navigable, and Understandable by the broadest possible range of users and compatible with their wide range of assistive technologies, now and in the future.
Perceivable. Ensure that [...]
Posted on February 21st, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Teaching, Technology | Comments Off
From “Vietnam man handles three decades without sleep“:
Sixty-four-year-old Thai Ngoc, known as Hai Ngoc, said he could not sleep at night after getting a fever in 1973, and has counted infinite numbers of sheep during more than 11,700 consecutive sleepless nights.
“I don’t know whether the insomnia has impacted my health or not. But I’m still [...]
Posted on February 20th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Commonplace Book, science | Comments Off
History is interesting. Do you know why Hitler had that little moustache? Because Charlie Chaplin had one. It’s true! He knew that Germans liked Charlie Chaplin, and he thought it would help them like him more, so he grew a moustache like Charlie Chaplin. Can you imagine how history would have changed if The Three [...]
Posted on February 18th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Commonplace Book, overheard | Comments Off
Jans & I work in the same room, about 8 feet apart, with our backs to each other.
Jans: What the heck is that?
Me: What is “that”? What do you mean by “that”?
(A couple of hours pass …)
Jans: Huh. Where is it? Do you know where it is?
Me: What do you mean by “it”? I have [...]
Posted on February 15th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: overheard | Comments Off
From Computerworld’s “Q&A: A lost interview with ENIAC co-inventor J. Presper Eckert“:
What’s the zaniest thing you did while developing ENIAC?
The mouse cage was pretty funny. We knew mice would eat the insulation off the wires, so we got samples of all the wires that were available and put them in a cage with a [...]
Posted on February 15th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Commonplace Book, Fiction, Technology | Comments Off
From “Mummified woman died naturally“:
A woman whose mummified body was dressed in a white gown and placed in front of a television for 2½ years died from heart disease. …
Officials never suspected abuse or foul play after finding Johannas Pope, 61, in her Madisonville home Jan. 4.
Pope told her caretaker, Kathy Painter, she didn’t want [...]
Posted on February 9th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Commonplace Book, weird | Comments Off
From “Stone Age tribe kills fishermen“:
ONE of the world’s last Stone Age tribes has murdered two fishermen whose boat drifted on to a desert island in the Indian Ocean.
The Sentinelese, thought to number between 50 and 200, have rebuffed all contact with the modern world, firing a shower of arrows at anyone who comes within [...]
Posted on February 9th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Commonplace Book, True Stories, science | Comments Off
From Dave Munger’s “Why do we forget our childhood?“:
… [Freud] did discover an important phenomenon which continues to be investigated today. Freud noted that adults do not remember childhood events occurring before they were as old as six. This period of childhood amnesia is now generally believed to end at about age three or four. [...]
Posted on February 8th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Commonplace Book, science | Comments Off
Me (talking to myself): Where did I put that sweater?
Me (talking to myself, but in a different voice): Oh, there it is.
Denise: What was that?
Me: I talk to myself in different voices so it’s more like a conversation.
Related posts
Overheard at home, 20031110
Jans on vagueness
Conversation with Robert
The strictest of teachers
That poor polish sausage
Posted on February 8th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: overheard | Comments Off
From Jim Hanas’ “The Story Doesn’t Care: An Interview with Sean Stewart“:
I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, during the winter. There are two very essential conditions in Edmonton. There’s inside and outside, and there’s no real doubt about which is which. There’s a sharp line preserved between the two.
I now live in California. California is [...]
Posted on February 6th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Commonplace Book, On Writing, Wash U: Social Software, Wash U: Tech in Changing Society | Comments Off
From Jim Hanas’ “The Story Doesn’t Care: An Interview with Sean Stewart“:
I think that every means of communication carries within itself the potential for a form of art. Once the printing press was built, novels were going to happen. It took the novel a little while to figure out exactly what it was going to [...]
Posted on February 6th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: On Writing, Wash U: Social Software, Wash U: Tech in Changing Society | Comments Off
From “PayPal Prepares For a Challenge From Google“:
Long the Internet’s leading online-payments service, PayPal has a 24% market share of U.S. online payments, according to financial-institution consulting firm Celent LLC. PayPal, founded in 1998, boasts 96 million accounts with consumers who want to send payments online without revealing their credit-card or banking information to vendors. [...]
Posted on February 6th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Wash U: Tech in Changing Society, business | Comments Off
Headed off to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Since we're about to rock, please salute us.
Just had dinner at Maria's, an Italian restaurant. Not bad. Worked all day on the book. Now for a coffee shop & more work on that darn book!
NY Jets signed Bret Favre, so little bro Gus (Jets Equipment Director) has had one hell of a busy morning. Phone 1st rang at 5:45, poor guy.
Wonderful, huge Spanish dinner with Gus & 9 of his co-workers. Standing outside his hotel waiting for a cab on a gorgeous Cleveland night.
Just landed in Cleveland (which rocks, I hear) to visit my little brother Gus. He's here with the NY Jets for a game. I'm here to see him.
Bookmarked a link: Webvet.com - Pet News, Information, and Education
Alright, it's official - I'm gonna be the papa to a baby boy. Currently named Finn, but we'll see. :)
Added a product to their wishlist:
Bookmarked 5 links
Chapter 10 (Google Contacts) is hereby done. Now on (back!) to chapter 9. (Hey, sometimes jumping around helps keep things fresh!)