Archive for April, 2009

April 28th, 2009 by alephnaught

Grammarian

The grammarian function at Navigators Toastmasters has four major tasks: Pick two words for the day, Describe their function during the introduction, Listen for incorrect grammar, and Report on usage of the words of the day and any grammar issues during the meeting I wanted to suggest a way to pick words of the day. […]

Posted in toastmasters,
Make your very own IC earring

April 21st, 2009 by alephnaught

Make your very own IC earring

My geekiest fashion accessory is my IC earring; I’ve made several because friends have asked (sometimes demanded!) them.  I’ve also been stopped numerous times when wearing this – everyone wants to know if that is a computer chip? And they’re easy to make! Go to Radio Shack or another electronic components shop – purchase one […]

April 20th, 2009 by alephnaught

The fast, easy way to upgrade your Mac hardware

Aviva watched my laptop spin yet another beachball of doom and told me to get a new, more powerful laptop.  I don’t have to be told twice! So I made an appointment and bought new computers for Aviva and I.  She got a 20″ iMac, I got a new MacBook Pro 15″. When I finally […]

The Brewery Art Walk

April 18th, 2009 by alephnaught

The Brewery Art Walk

Aviva and I decided to go to the artist community called the Brewery in south Los Angeles.  There are at least 100 galleries and artist studios/lofts in the complex, which used to be a brewery (of course). The tee shirt I wore this day – “Beware of Perverts” (Chikan chuui), with “Dangerous Persons are in […]

April 16th, 2009 by alephnaught

Uzumaki, Volume 3

Title: Uzumaki, Volume 3 Author: Junji Ito Paperback: 264 pages Publisher: VIZ Media LLC (February 12, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 1421513919 ISBN-13: 978-1421513911 This is the last volume of the Uzumaki graphic novel trilogy.  This book is not as good as the others, chiefly because I don’t like the ending at all. The stories are […]

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April 12th, 2009 by alephnaught

The Shape of the Book: From Roll to Codex

Title: The Shape of the Book: From Roll to Codex Author: Franka Arduini (ed.), Guglielmo Cavallo (essay) Publisher: Mandragora, 2008 ISBN-13: 978-88-7461-116-4 I bought this book in the Duomo Museum in Siena.  As the title indicates, its a book about books, or more accurately a catalog of some of the history of the written word.  […]

Posted in Books,

April 11th, 2009 by electricbob

Why I use Twitter Tools to backup my tweets on my blog (and future plans)

I’ve been retweeting (RT) with the #brilliant hashtag so I could keep a record of things I want to remember.  Twitter only keeps tweets for between one and three months.  That means I’ll loose the things I want to remember if I don’t back the tweets up myself. Twitter Tools is a WordPress plugin that […]

April 7th, 2009 by alephnaught

The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures

Title: The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures Author: Phoebe Gloeckner Paperback: 312 pages Publisher: Frog Books (November 14, 2002) Language: English ISBN-10: 1583940634 ISBN-13: 978-1583940631 I love the mix of graphics and story.  This is a hard book to read from a content perspective.  Its part graphic novel and […]

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April 4th, 2009 by alephnaught

What I look like when I don’t shave

We took a 10 day trip to Italy, which actually means 12 days including the travel time.  I didn’t bring a razor along.  I thought it would be fun to show the daily effects of not shaving; I used the built-in iSight camera and Photobooth software to take the images, then used Morpheus Photo Morpher […]

April 2nd, 2009 by alephnaught

I like to make things – my Toastmasters speech

Our local Toastmasters club selected me to compete in this year’s International Speech Competition.  So, I got up early one Saturday and competed.  My speech was entitled, “I Like to Make Things,” and I hope it captured how important creativity is to me; I talk about building a theatre organ from a kit when I […]