Play With Spider is an amazingly detailed little flash application: the spider will crawl along following your mouse or you can hit the space bar to drop a trail of bugs for it to eat.
De-Animator is a speedy little shoot-the-zombies game with nice simple silhouette graphics and a suitably grizzly ending. Most amusing.
And of course, my favourite little flash app of all time may well be Perpetual Bubblewrap.
08 September 2008
Chronocide Trio
Looking for a way to kill time and wake up those Monday braincells? Try these sites:
06 September 2008
Mysterious visitor
We went out looking at open houses today -- saw three: one I liked, one Kiddo liked and one we all agree would take a lot of work but it is priced accordingly as a "fixer-upper."
Later, while eating dinner, we noticed a little grasshopper-type insect on some plastic cutlery. I took some photos then took it outside, letting it crawl on to my rosemary plant.
After dinner I started trying to figure out what kind of insect it was and eventually found a post on What's That Bug that convinced me it was a Drumming Katydid (Meconema thalassinum). It seems that these bugs were introduced to the Pacific Northwest very recently -- in the past 5 years. Up to then, they were commonly found on the Eastern seaboard and in Europe.
After identifying it, I went to check on him (it is the male of the species) and he was still hiding in the rosemary. One mystery does remain: how did he come to be in our dining room? My guess is that he hitchhiked on us from one of the yards we were poking around earlier.
Later, while eating dinner, we noticed a little grasshopper-type insect on some plastic cutlery. I took some photos then took it outside, letting it crawl on to my rosemary plant.
After dinner I started trying to figure out what kind of insect it was and eventually found a post on What's That Bug that convinced me it was a Drumming Katydid (Meconema thalassinum). It seems that these bugs were introduced to the Pacific Northwest very recently -- in the past 5 years. Up to then, they were commonly found on the Eastern seaboard and in Europe.
After identifying it, I went to check on him (it is the male of the species) and he was still hiding in the rosemary. One mystery does remain: how did he come to be in our dining room? My guess is that he hitchhiked on us from one of the yards we were poking around earlier.
05 September 2008
Opinions, shared because I can.
Just because no one asked doesn't mean I can't share my opinions on various newsworthy things. It's my blog and you can always skip this self-indulgent post.
Sarah Palin. The woman seriously scares me. The thought that she could potentially become president really worries me because she believes in many things -- book banning, reversing Roe v. Wade, drilling for oil in nature preserves, and so on -- that make me shiver. That said, I totally think Tina Fey should be signed up for the opener of SNL to play Palin.
Canadian Federal Election. Overall, I think it's a big waste of time and money -- at this point Stephen Harper is still going to get in, maybe even with a majority thanks to the useless [giant air-quote] leadership and opposition [close giant air-quote] shown by Stéphane Dion. That man makes me grit my teeth every time he opens his mouth -- heck, even his little smile annoys me.
The timing of the election will plop it right in the midst of municipal elections and get little airplay thanks to the American elections (see above). The only good thing that might come out of it is that Dion will be fed to the lions after decimating his party's standing in the House of Commons and the NDP may gain some serious ground in their stead. All I ask is for the networks to stop airing that damned "Harper's a stand-up guy" ad -- it is so very, very staged. [If you want to subject yourself to the ad, see "Main Street Canadians".]
Municipal Elections. Since we will likely still be in the City of Victoria when the election rolls around, that's the race we've been following. Unfortunately it's not so much a race as a milling about at the edges right now. So far, it looks like I will likely be throwing my vote at Simon Natrass in the mayoral race. It's unlikely that he will win against Dean "sound-bite king" Fortin but, as you can guess, there's NO way I'm giving Fortin my vote.
Things that quietly slip away. Two major changes lately went by barely noticed: A&B Sound quietly closed their last Island store this week -- the one in Langford. I used to love shopping there and it makes me a little melancholy. The other change really pissess me off: CityTV in Vancouver somehow thought it made sense to fire possibly the best morning team ever -- Dave Gerry and Simi Sara -- then buried any news about it. Here's hoping A's new morning show sucks less than the current mess at BT.
Sarah Palin. The woman seriously scares me. The thought that she could potentially become president really worries me because she believes in many things -- book banning, reversing Roe v. Wade, drilling for oil in nature preserves, and so on -- that make me shiver. That said, I totally think Tina Fey should be signed up for the opener of SNL to play Palin.
Canadian Federal Election. Overall, I think it's a big waste of time and money -- at this point Stephen Harper is still going to get in, maybe even with a majority thanks to the useless [giant air-quote] leadership and opposition [close giant air-quote] shown by Stéphane Dion. That man makes me grit my teeth every time he opens his mouth -- heck, even his little smile annoys me.
The timing of the election will plop it right in the midst of municipal elections and get little airplay thanks to the American elections (see above). The only good thing that might come out of it is that Dion will be fed to the lions after decimating his party's standing in the House of Commons and the NDP may gain some serious ground in their stead. All I ask is for the networks to stop airing that damned "Harper's a stand-up guy" ad -- it is so very, very staged. [If you want to subject yourself to the ad, see "Main Street Canadians".]
Municipal Elections. Since we will likely still be in the City of Victoria when the election rolls around, that's the race we've been following. Unfortunately it's not so much a race as a milling about at the edges right now. So far, it looks like I will likely be throwing my vote at Simon Natrass in the mayoral race. It's unlikely that he will win against Dean "sound-bite king" Fortin but, as you can guess, there's NO way I'm giving Fortin my vote.
Things that quietly slip away. Two major changes lately went by barely noticed: A&B Sound quietly closed their last Island store this week -- the one in Langford. I used to love shopping there and it makes me a little melancholy. The other change really pissess me off: CityTV in Vancouver somehow thought it made sense to fire possibly the best morning team ever -- Dave Gerry and Simi Sara -- then buried any news about it. Here's hoping A's new morning show sucks less than the current mess at BT.
04 September 2008
Pickets on Campus
This morning, pickets sprouted up around the Student Union Building.
Unlike staff across most of campus, the SUB workers are represented by the United Steelworkers. Most of my morning was taken up by fielding questions from our CUPE members about what was happening because few people outside the SUB were even aware the Steelworkers local was in negotiations -- and that both negotiations and also mediation had broken down last month.
In addition to the food outlets now behind pickets, the strike shuts down Cinecenta, CFUV, various resource centres and the Student Food Bank. It also shuts down Zap copy centre where I had left a photo to be printed on canvas. Had I known about any pending action, I'd have made a greater effort to get to campus on my days off.
I dashed off an article for NowPublic this evening, "Striking Students Shut Down Student Services," but if you want to know even more, check out the USW Local 2952 blog.
Unlike staff across most of campus, the SUB workers are represented by the United Steelworkers. Most of my morning was taken up by fielding questions from our CUPE members about what was happening because few people outside the SUB were even aware the Steelworkers local was in negotiations -- and that both negotiations and also mediation had broken down last month.
In addition to the food outlets now behind pickets, the strike shuts down Cinecenta, CFUV, various resource centres and the Student Food Bank. It also shuts down Zap copy centre where I had left a photo to be printed on canvas. Had I known about any pending action, I'd have made a greater effort to get to campus on my days off.
I dashed off an article for NowPublic this evening, "Striking Students Shut Down Student Services," but if you want to know even more, check out the USW Local 2952 blog.
01 September 2008
and so... the time has come...
... to bid farewell to our lovely, warm, orange wall.
sigh.
Hello neutral (no photo yet)
sigh.
sigh.
Hello neutral (no photo yet)
sigh.
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