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October 31, 2003
Absurdities of Giving
Update: I hate Blogger. At least I hate them when I'm trying to post from work. Something about the proxies and Javascript and all that crap means I end up with some really erratic behaviour when I try to post during the day.
So... I have no idea what this post was originally about or why it appears here as nothing more than a title.
I suppose I could have just deleted the entry, but I felt like bitching.
Posted by KinCross at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2003
Family Wisdom
My sister writes:
I was talking to [a friend] today about how you seem to be around for every single disaster. You were in NYC when Sept. 11 hit, you arrived in NYC on the day of the east coast blackout, and you landed a job in LA 2 months before this major fire. [My friend] recommends you get a job in Iraq.
Posted by KinCross at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
35/36
I missed a tricky question regarding when a vehicle is required to stop at a railroad tracks before crossing, but I am now the owner of a...
... very nondescript piece of 8.5"x5.5" paper with some dot matrix hammer spots with ink that say that I am a licensed driver in the State of California.
Not a moment too soon, too. My New Jersey licence was set to expire on Friday (that time, it was an adaptive 20-question test that stopped after I got the first 16 questions right).
Can't wait to see how my picture came out...
Posted by KinCross at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2003
What would you save?
There is a fire bearing down on your house. You have one hour to save what you can and evacuate. What do you take with you?
Not that I'm immediately threatened by any of the fires in SoCal right now--fortunes can change with the wind, though--but it seemed an interesting question to ponder since there are folks in the office running out the door to run home to save their stuff/houses.
NASA has a satellite image up that's really quite impressive, on the same order as the one of New York after the plane strikes. Be warned, the file is huge (750 kB). It's not as huge as the link for the picture on the right, though (250 kB). This is just a subset of the NASA picture, though I've taken the liberty to focus on Los Angeles (upper set of red fire circles) and San Diego (lower set of fire circles), with my home (bright green dot) and my workplace (blue dot) indicated. As a matter of perspective, Mapquest says that the distance between home and work is 4.25 miles.
And speaking of New York and the WTC attacks, it was really freaky last Friday when I was standing outside with the smokers on break. Ash was floating around in the air and the last time I'd seen something similar was 11 September 2001.
Amidst all of the activity of the day, I really began to wonder what I would or should pack up and take with me in the event that an evacuation order comes down from above. I'm not being alarmist--it'd take some doing for either of the Ventura or San Berardino fires to get to where I live or work--but with a third of the department at home or running out the door today to tend to their endangered homes, it really became a plausible question.
Beyond "my laptop" and "my external hard drive" and "my photographs," though, I'm starting to draw a blank. Material things can be replaced, but some things are really hard to sacrifice. Do I give up the plush dog that was given to me at birth and has stayed with me pretty much all through life (albeit currently in a box in my closet)? Do I leave behind my sketchbooks, diaries of my drawing? What is invaluable to me?
I hope I don't have to make that decision any time soon, but it's something I ought to think of sooner, rather than later, especially in light of all the business continuity planning I've been involved in at work.
That said, I'm glad that my friend in San Diego, Drew, is safe and sound.
Updated: Added the satellite photo and padded the text a little more.
Posted by KinCross at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2003
Own a Piece of ALCS History
Ah... the things you find on eBay.
Courtesy of Geek and Proud.
Posted by KinCross at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2003
Koopas on the Keys
Back when I was a young kid, my cousins and I figured out how to play the Frogger background music.
That was nothing compared to this (Super Mario Bros.)
Courtesy of a colleague.
Posted by KinCross at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2003
Mystery Artist
Scott Adams has co-opted five artists to draw his cartoon, Dilbert, this week. See if you can tell who's drawing the cartoon by the style.
Posted by KinCross at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2003
B-Movie Badass
In case you were wondering which B-Movie Badass I am...
Which B-Movie Badass Are You?
Brought to you by Quizilla
"To the Army and the Navy and the battles they have won."
"To America's colours, the colours that will never run."
"May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather."
Courtesy of *** Dave
Posted by KinCross at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
October 02, 2003
Nothing says "fun" house like...
A 727.
Posted by KinCross at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)