Currently browsing: Weird Stuff

Wrong number

It’s not often, but we get wrong number calls at our house. Usually it’s someone trying to reach the local Dairy Queen. (whose number now is nothing like ours, but apparently USED to be one digit off!) Every blue moon or so, we’ll get a call intended for someone else.

I came home last night and a wrong number called the house and left a message on the machine. It was from a local insurance office leaving a life insurance quote. I laughed to myself and deleted the message. Part of me wondered for whom the call was really meant — if I knew, I’d let them know that they could probably get a MUCH cheaper rate with my insurance carrier. LOL!

Revisiting: Blogroll OPML Export

A comment left on my plugin announcement post has pointed me in a new direction. It turns out that this function indeed DOES exist in WordPress, but it is highly under-documented barely mentioned in the WordPress Codex. I think initially my searches were too narrow, which is why I never ran across any of the following information.

Gonahkar‘s comment gave me something new to search on, and I was able to find it mentioned in the WordPress Codex under WordPress Files:

wp-links-opml.php

Produces OPML output of Links that were added to the blog via the WordPress admin menu.

A note at the top of the page states that the file descriptions are for WordPress Version 2.x. I was unable to find this file mentioned anywhere else in the documentation. However, under WordPress Features I stumbled across a reference to the export function:

Exporting

Did we say you can also export an OPML file with your list o’ links?

Very cute, guys … c’mon, where is the rest of the documentation on this? From this point, I clicked through to the section on the Links Manager. The page starts with the following:

WordPress allows you to store a set of external links, also known as your blogroll. These links can be put into categories, imported, exported, added, deleted, and edited.

However, the export feature is not mentioned again on the page, nor any others pertinent to WordPress’ current release. The only other mention that I was able to find was this:

Features

* Plugin architecture
* Custom fields
* Sub-categories
* Thumbnail creation
* OPML import and export

These are from the WordPress 1.2 changelog, which tells me that this ability has most likely been in WordPress a while. It’s highly possible it’s been forgotten, or maybe it’s been left out for a good reason. I can’t but speculate as to its reason … but at least now I know it does exist.

I may revise my plugin in the next few days to include this information and will most likely alter its purpose/function.

Little things

You know, sometimes it’s something little that makes your day. I sit and read my feeds and see something that’s either really sweet, or slap-knee funny, and just puts you in a good mood. Here are a couple examples of such that I ran across today:

“Portnoy’s Picnic…” by Sad Old Goth and “Honey, I’m Home” by SondraK.

Of course, I had meant to try out the Cuss-o-meter (courtesy of Rachel Lucas) on my site, but won’t have time to do so until after I get home.

So, until then … Go. Play. Wander.

Leave it to the French…

You’ve heard of wine clubs, right? Well, what about wine pawns?

According to Slashfood, the Crédit Municipal de Paris is accepting wine as collateral for loans to its customers.

A spokesman for the pawnbroker says that this move attracts customers who wouldn’t want to pawn jewelry or the like, but a valuable bottle of wine is discreet enough to remove from the home.

Funny thing … in our house, alcohol would be one of the first things we’d notice missing!

There’s a Monty Python skit in there somewhere, I just know it!

“Bring out your wine! Bring out your wine! … ” :wink:

Weird deliveries come by email

I got all kinds of weird things via email. Hell, half of them are from Uncle Monster. ;P hehehe… But he’s not the only one … I have a friend in CA who owns a little San Diego carpet cleaning company. He sent me a whole slew of stuff today (bored are we, George? ), including two pieces in the animal kingdom that caught my eye: apparently it’s not the feathers that makes a bird, and scientists work on fishing for the lazy. The first one kind of surprised me … I always thought peacock feathers were the ultimate end-all-be-all of sexy costumes of the animal world.

Shows what I know. :lol:

Senate says ‘no’ to guns on campus

Several local ‘Bama blogs are already steaming over news the proposed campus gun bill has been blocked by the Senate. A shame really, because personally I thought that was a pretty good damned idea! Per Erwin, it was “designed to discourage gunmen by making them aware someone could shoot back quickly.”

Ya damned skippy.

Something a little lighter

Want a good laugh? Check out this SondraK post.

Very cute. :mrgreen:

Spice of Sci-Fi

And last but not least … because I have GOT to have something sci-fi every day, here’s a list of the six most brilliant “bite your head” dragons from science fiction.

Because dragons are cool, mmmkay?

Not the brightest bulb

When I picked Jessie up at her mother’s yesterday, the house seemed a little dark and quiet. I didn’t think anything of it and once Jessie and I were in the car and on the way home, she mentioned that the power had been cut off to her mother’s house earlier in the day. (Biting my tongue very hard at this point!) She said it in such a nonchalant way, you’d think she thought it was something normal that happens to everybody. Last night I told Jim about it and my concerns about Jessie staying over at her mother’s house with no power. It’s cool enough weather now that it’s not a health risk, but I won’t allow her to stay over there in the summer if it happens again!

I swear, her mother is the poster child for irresponsibility. She has the mentality of a twelve year old and can’t keep track of her money worth shit. Her phone is constantly being turned off for non-payment, as are her utilities from time to time, her truck has been repossessed before (a family member helped her get it back), … yet she promises shit to Jessie all the time that she really can’t afford and SHOULDN’T be promising to her. For instance, she keeps telling Jessie they are going to get a dog … she has a cat already and can barely take care of it. She used to have 3 other cats beside it, and she had to get rid of them because she couldn’t care for them or afford the cost of their care (all three needed fixing, and two had health issues).

She’s now promising Jessie a cell phone for her birthday. Jim and I have been adamantly against this and I’ve voiced my concerns repeatedly (not to mention she is NOT supposed to have one at school!), and yet she thinks she can afford everything she has now AND pay for an additional cell. The woman can barely keep HERS on. Jim and I have agreed to get Jessie on our cell plan when old enough, but that’s a few years off.

I stress and rant and bitch about Jessie’s mother … I know anything that woman does shouldn’t surprise me, but I swear she keeps surprising me by constantly reaching new lows. :roll:

After all, this is the woman who was turned down by those “We Buy Ugly Houses” people. For the last couple months she has tried to feed us some cock and bull story about how some cash for settlement place that she talked to. Apparently she received a flyer in the mail from some guy saying he was a buyer of structured settlements and now she’s convinced that some inheritance she had lost years ago they can get for her. I asked her if she understood the concept, and read the flyer saying something about cash for annuities and promotional products. I don’t think she even knows what any of it means … I swear, this woman will fall for just about anything!

*Proceed to beat head into desk repeatedly*

A friend of mine listened to me rant on and on about her one day and laughed. She said, “Not the brightest bulb in the pack, eh?”

Understatement of the freakin’ year.

Anyways, other (more interesting) stuff going on: I ran across a nice WordPress plugin this morning called AWSOM Uninstaller. It’s basically an uninstaller plugin for all of the AWSOM plugins. While I don’t use any of their products, I love the concept and wish many other plugin makers would follow suit!

It would be nice if once in a while, you could uninstall (rather than ‘deactivate’) a plugin and have it remove its files, directory (if applicable), and any tables created in your WordPress database!

And last but not least, I’m feeling pretty special because I can do three of the things on That’s Fit’s “10 Things Most of Us Can’t Do” list. :mrgreen:

Stories of heroism and intrigue

There are a lot of things I wanted to cover today, unfortunately I wasn’t able to finish this post prior to class this afternoon, so bear with me … there’s a lot here.

Those of you who are local I’m sure have been following the story of the busload of Marines that overturned Sunday. They were from E Co., Anti-Terrorism Battalion, 4th Marine Division, returning from a weekend training exercise. I read this morning about Lance Cpl. David Miles, the Marine that passed away Monday afternoon from his injuries. However, even in death he still served others.

“According to his mom, he was very adamant about (donating) his organs … so the mom is very adamant about carrying out his wishes of harvesting as many of his organs as possible.”

Courtesy of The Birmingham News.

No doubt about it in my mind, he’s a hero. Courtesy of Villainous Company, here’s another tale of heroism: America’s Female Warriors Show Bravery, Loyalty. Greta highlighted a brave soldier’s father that she has met through Soldiers’ Angels: Robert Stokely, a fellow SA member and father of Mike Stokely who proudly gave his all for his country in Iraq.

Honestly the grace and bravery that our finest men and women exhibit every day never cease to amaze me. Too bad the liberal media doesn’t show them more often! :sad:

On Cookie’s site earlier today, I read a story about a couple of vets experiencing problems with Verizon:

Verizon Cancels Returning Marines’ Cellphones, Gives Their Number Away, Charges Them $500

Two Marines, a husband and wife, found Verizon had an unpleasant welcome-home gift waiting for them when they got back from serving in Iraq: canceled cellphones, a $500bill, and their phone numbers were given to other people. Under the Service Members Civil Relief Act, when a soldier goes off to war, they’re able to send their deployment letters to their service companies and get their service put on hold. Apparently in the case of Haley Katz and her husband, that letter wasn’t good enough. When they complained and reached a manager, the manager told them ” it was their fault they owed the money”, and then hung up on them. Read their letter as published in Stars and Stripes, inside…

At 3:30 a.m (Iraq time), [recently], my husband and I called Verizon Wireless to reactivate our phones, as we are returning home [from Iraq] soon and wanted to catch the company during its business hours. Upon speaking with a customer service representative, it became apparent that Verizon not only suspended our contracts, it disconnected our phones and gave our numbers away to other customers.

What is truly amazing is that the company took the letters our commanding officers signed regarding our deployment dates, and deemed the letters not worthy of suspending our contracts. It continued to charge us for those months without notifying us and when we did not pay, it disconnected the lines.

Long story short, when we called to reactivate our phones they told us our numbers no longer existed and that we owed them nearly $500!

When we asked to speak to a manager, we were told nothing could be done. When we did actually speak to a manager we were told it was our fault that we owed the money. The manager then proceeded to say “We’re sorry but nothing can be done for you. Goodbye.”

We were hung up on … in Iraq … at 3:30 in the morning. Real professional.

We spoke to another manager who was courteous enough to recredit our accounts and cut all remaining ties with their service. We are no longer with Verizon Wireless.

For all of the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen out there, make sure you are checking up on the status of your accounts. Apparently, a letter from your command stating you are deploying is not enough these days. And aside from seeing service members off at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (N.C.), I am not sure what else they are looking for.

Marine 2nd Lt. Haley Katz
Camp Fallujah, Iraq

:shock: I’ve heard horror stories about Verizon and their crappy customer service for years, but this takes the cake!

And speaking of human depravity, there’s the Berkley protesters. We’ve all heard of this one, right? Today, Rachel Lucas gave plenty examples of and commented on the ‘fine minds’ (and I say that lightly!) objecting to our nation’s finest.

Somebody please put these morons out of our misery!

Moving on to cooler (and more intriguing) things … a Starbucks employee donates a kidney to her customer. In today’s Mental Floss blog postings, a UAB study is mentioned where researchers are studying the use of scorpion venom in cancer medication. (YAY us!) Also, one of my fave sci-fi blogs, IO9, tells me that there is a remake coming for one of my favorite ‘B’ movies, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! :grin: And last but not least, a funny bit courtesy of A Bama Blog: How to tell that you’ve ticked off an engineer.

I think that just about covers it.

Oh … before I forget … anyone going to OmegaCon this weekend?

See? I was right!

I have absolutely HATED the taste of lemon in my sweet tea for years. To this day, one of the quickest ways to get on my ‘bad side’ is to put one of those sour slices of Hades in my tea — especially if I had just asked someone not to do so. I’m pretty obsessive/neurotic about this, and don’t see myself getting past it anytime soon.

Someone recently asked me why, besides the taste, I didn’t like lemons in my tea; and why couldn’t I just quietly take it out (and not make a fuss over it) like a “normal person.” I told her that I didn’t like the idea of someone (not me) putting their fingers in my drink. She said that if they do it right, no fingers touch my drink, just pop the lemon on the edge of the glass. I replied that we were assuming that the lemons being distributed were cut on a clean (sterilized!) cutting board or similar surface, and that the person or persons handling the slices/wedges were wearing gloves at the time, or used whatever scooping device to prevent them from touching unclean hands and/or another unclean surface.

That’s assuming a lot if you ask me.

I’ve worked in the food industry and I know for a fact that not all eatery/restaurant employees would be as diligent as I am about working with clean hands when dealing with food of any kind and maintaining a sanitary working/cooking environment so as to prevent any kind of contamination. That said, I’m glad to know that there have been many recent studies done which backup my “lemon paranoia,” including this one featured on SlashFood today! There’s even an entry on Snopes about it.

While the following video could be seen more as a scare tactic, the issue itself seems to still be open to debate. In the meantime, I will continue to be overly cautious about what I eat/drink when going out. (I can thank my mother for this neurosis, LOL!)

Decide for yourself:

What’s in a name?

You know, when I was a teenager I absolutely abhorred my first name: Shannon. I hated that all of my school stuff had “Shannon” on it instead of “Nicki.” One year I absolutely insisted that my records be changed to reflect my nickname, which I’ve gone by all of my natural life. (The office ladies had a few giggles at my expense and sent me on my little defiant, albeit pissed off, way.) As I got older, I told myself, “Hey, my family has Scottish/Irish descent, and that’s definitely an Irish name. So chill.” I got over, for the most part.

However, to this day, I cringe if someone calls me by my full name and will insist upon being called “Nicki.”

I can’t help but laugh at all the hubbub about Obama and his full name being used in the media. “Hussein” Ok sure, we’ve known a few bad Husseins before. I can identify and sympathize … to an extent.

Seriously, what’s in a name? Would it be any more heinous if it were “Adolf”? Ok, maybe it would … but you get my point. If Obama were really that embarrassed or bothered by his name, he would have had it legally changed long ago. On the other hand, it gives conservatives something else to yuck about — and let’s face it, he’s given us plenty of material!

In an effort to show some sensitivity about his middle name, I propose we just refer to the first and last initials now: B.O. That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Yeah, I thought so too. In fact, it struck me so funny that I whipped up a little something in Photoshop to celebrate it:

If you hadn’t caught on by now, that man scares me. And it has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with his name.

Update: Per a very creative suggestion by Cookie, there’s now a follow-up image:

The things I learn from Sci-Fi

I had meant to post about this a short while back, but had forgotten (and dummy me didn’t save the link!) until I was reminded via Beth’s post: GTD in Space – Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains.

Now seriously, I love me some IO9 — it’s a geeky guilty indulgence. While someone more “cultured” may be more obsessed with the latest edition of some wine of the month club mag, I’m jonesing for some sci-fi geekery and IO9 is my fix. They do have really good articles from time to time that make you stop for a second and say to yourself, “You know, I never thought of it that way!” This is one of those.

And so, here you have it: Getting things done, the ‘geek way’…

1. The Prime Directive is just a suggestion. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise wasn’t as swashbuckling as he predecessor Captain James T. Kirk, simply because he actually wrestled with breaking the Prime Directive instead of ignoring it entirely. The Prime Directive states that humans shouldn’t involve themselves in the affairs of less developed planets, for fear of messing up their cultures with ultra-advanced tech. While Picard often considers the importance of the Prime Directive in his decision-making, he refuses to be bound by it. Lesson learned? Rules are made to be broken.

2. Always shoot first. Every good leader should be willing to do what he or she asks of her team. One of the reasons for the loyalty of the ragtag crew of Serenity, the ship Malcolm Reynolds captains in Firefly, is that Mal will throw himself into battle to protect his team. Whenever he has a crazy scheme or rescue mission in mind, he takes the first plunge. Lesson learned? Show your crew that you’re willing to take a bullet for them, and they’ll do the same for you.

3. Don’t be afraid to hook up with a cute spaceman. We love Leela on Futurama not just because she’s the only person on her ship with any kind of sense, but because she also lets her long, purple hair down once in a while. She’s always tangling with spacemen and getting mixed up with strange alien pets. And that’s one good reason why her goofy crew would follow her to the ends of the galaxy — well, if she had enough beer. Lesson learned? A good leader has to get laid once in a while, and she shouldn’t be ashamed of it.

4. When you’re about to go genocidal, get a second opinion. Admiral William Adama from the new Battlestar Galactica is one of the best leaders we’ve ever seen. He’s gotten a group of a few thousand humans halfway across the galaxy, despite the fact that they’re being pursuit by a group of homicidal, erotically obsessed cyborgs. He’s had to deal with incredible loss and sheer terror, and he always keeps his head. He is also truly humane. How does he keep it together without going all Admiral Cain on everybody’s ass? By sharing his power with President Roslyn as well as his circle of trusted officers and advisers. Without their guidance, the Galactica and its fleet might have turned into a bloodthirsty military fleet, instead of what it is: a mostly-civilian group with a (sort of) free press and even elections. Lesson learned? True leaders do not ever make decisions alone.

5. Just because you have a crappy ship doesn’t mean you’re a loser. Everyone knows that Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, is piloting a souped-up bucket. And yet his seemingly-crappy ship is probably the very best thing for helping out a group of covert resistance fighters like Obi Wan and Luke. Plus, he knows his ship so well that he can totally slam those Stormtroopers in their McFighters. Lesson learned? Every crappy PC is a lean, mean Linux box waiting to be born. Oh, and in case that didn’t make sense: It’s not the tools; it’s what you do with them.

6. Freedom fighters make good teammates. Say what you will about Captain Janeway on Voyager, but she made a smart decision early on to integrate her Federation team with a group of subversive Maquis who got stuck with them out in the Delta Quadrant. Another captain might have kept the Maquis separate from the Federation types, but Janeway integrated them and gave them Federation ranks — much to her good fortune. She got a great Chief Engineer and First Officer out of the deal. Lesson learned? A little subversion goes a long way.

7. There is always somebody out there who can bend spacetime better than you can. In Iain M. Banks’ novel Excession, the Ship Sleeper Service (which is an AI that captains itself, thank you very much) discovers that its amazing, human-dwarfing brain is nothing compared to the “excession,” a phenomenon that none of the Ships can understand. The excession exists in subspace, and looks like a giant something that could be a gateway to another dimension, perhaps, or a ship from the edges of the universe. Meeting the excession, for the Ships, is a very humbling experience. They realize that they are not as omnipotent as they realized, that that there are intelligences out there far more profound than their own. Lesson learned? No matter how in control you are, always be ready for something for which you’re completely unprepared.

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