November 21st, 2002 No comments
Blogger: Broken, or Just Buggy?

I have just confirmed to my satisfaction that a “zero” edit of a template (going to the edit page, changing nothing, and then saving) does, in fact, trash the template.

This is entirely unacceptable.

(I know, youse gets what youse pays for sometimes …)

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November 7th, 2002 No comments

No longer beginning … I’m really hating Blogger template mangling …

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November 6th, 2002 No comments

Beginning … to … hate … Blogger … templates …

At least the HaloScan comments seem to work. I’ll have to try to recover template sanity later.

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“Definate Views”

November 5th, 2002 No comments
Roy Jacobsen points out a bit of wisdom in today’s Pibgorn comic.

Which led me to this gem from All Hallow’s Eve:

Repress the urge to sprout wings or self-ignite! … This man is an Episcopalian! … They have definate views.

(sigh) If only.

(see Spong, John Shelby, Borg, Marcus, and Williams, Abp. Rowan)

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November 5th, 2002 No comments
Wow

“Psst! Who are all these people coming through the blog, dad?”

“Don’t worry — they’re probably just friends of Mark.”

“Oh.”

Thanks to everyone who’s shown up to read the pro-life ad. And thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

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November 1st, 2002 No comments
The Pro-Life Ad I’d Like To See


[Scene: The reception area of some sort of medical facility. People
in scrubs are bustling about, looking grim and hurried. The
place is done in Institutional Drab, and the lighting makes
everything look a touch like the Twilight Zone.

Center on a teenage girl, maybe 15, stylishly
grungeish/punkish and with a few strategic piercings (extra
earrings, an eyebrow ring, something). She's obviously
exasperated, as is the nurse at the desk who is speaking to her.]

Nurse: "I'm sorry, but we really can't do this kind of elective
procedure with a minor without some sort of parental consent.
Not to mention insurance, contact for familiy doctor ..."

Girl: [Now looking a bit scared and panicky] "But I need to get this
done!"

Nurse: "I'm sorry, but those are the rules."

Girl: "But the counselor told me I wouldn't need that!"

Nurse: "Counselor?" [light bulb moment] "Oh! I thought you were
here for another piercing."

Girl: [Shakes head 'no'.]

Nurse: [Lowers voice, says more sympatheticaly] "Abortion?"

Girl: [Lowers eyes, nods 'yes'.]

Nurse: [Perks up a bit, puts a bit of forced cheerfulness in voice]
"Oh, you're at the wrong desk. Abortions are down that hall
and to the left. Just sign in there, they can take care of
you without any paperwork at all, as long as you can pay cash."

Girl nods, disappears down halway as we fade to black.

To make it a bit more election-oriented, we follow on with a white-text-on-black-background-with-voiceover, and the following:


"Ridiculous?"

"Jennifer Granholm doesn't think so."

"Abortion is a serious medical procedure, with risks of severe side
effects." [Insert scary medical statistics here.] "But Jennifer
Granholm supports giving abortionists an exception to the standards
that all other doctors and nurses must uphold.

"Leaving scared teenage girls to face the medical system and possibly
severe physical side effects -- alone."

"And Jennifer Granholm calls this 'women's health care'?"

"Let's elect a governor who'll really protect the health of the young
women of Michigan, by holding abortionists who practice on young girls
to the same high medical standards we expect for everyone. Vote Dick
Posthumus on November 5th."

(Paid for by nobody-at-all, because no one will ever actually make and air a commercial like this.)

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November 1st, 2002 No comments
Look! A Googlewhack!

"bubble bubble" Catholic homeschool

I feel so affirmed in my uniqueness.

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October 31st, 2002 No comments

CERN scientists create antihydrogen atoms.

This is very interesting, although we are nowhere near needing to engineer dilithium crystals to contain the awesome power of Warp Driveā„¢ technology. But still, it must be fun to be a physicist with real, actual, measurable antimatter to play with.

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October 28th, 2002 No comments
Viking Kittens!

If you haven’t seen them already, check out the Viking kittens. “Fear them, for they are mighty.”

(Warning: Flash animation with audio component. Don’t try this at work if you’re in a Dilbert zone.)

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Angel Update (again!)

October 25th, 2002 No comments

This time for sure!

Our six angelfish are still happily frolicking in the (now crowded) community tank. That would be our original pair, their two children that we saved, and two new (white blushing) angels that we bought.

So far, the two we saved have both turned out to be female, giving us one male, three females, and two still unsexed. I’m hoping that we have at least one male with the new angels; I’d like to see what a cross between the blushing and the light marble looks like.

No pictures of our fish, but Angels Plus has some examples I can borrow.

Our Papa Angel:

He looks almost exactly like this, except he’s got a damaged top fin and is missing one of his trailers. But we love him anyway.

Our Big Mama Angel:

She also has a damaged top fin. But I can’t get rid of her; she’s our first angelfish. She actually lost her entire top fin to fin rot, and I thought she was a goner. But, with a little treatment she recovered, and actually regrew her top fin! I was so impressed. Unfortunately, I think one of the other fish picked on her while it was growing back, so it came in bent.

The Next Generation:

Our one daughter looks just like Mom (without the fin damage, of course). The other one is a heterozygous marble, with a very nice silver/black pattern. I can’t find a good match, but she’s something like this:

except with a bit more silver to her pattern, and without the blushing.

The Newcomers:

I had a tough time finding a picutre, but Google came through:

Ours have a more distinctly white body with black fins, and the blushing is not quite as pronounced.

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