squirrelly.org

Mean people suck

This Orlando Sentinel article points out a nasty/hurtful tactic from the "Orlando's Florida Family Policy Council"...

"And to make their point about just how frightening this ruling was, the Policy Council included a photograph of the couple — a strange and androgynous-looking duo, one with bleached skin and both with mullet haircuts. The couple look so odd (you literally can't tell whether they are male or female) that one might wonder how any judge could place a young child with such a disturbing-looking duo.

Except the judge didn't.

The abnormal-looking couple that the Policy Council chose to illustrate this story is not the same couple granted the right to adopt the child."

It's a bullsh*t tactic, and it is totally necessary to call them on it, but there was no need to call the (presumably) unwitting couple pictured names.

From Fish to Infinity

Steven Strogatz, a professor of applied mathematics at Cornell University takes readers from the basics of math (Sesame Street!) to the baffling. >

"We can decide what we mean by things like 6 and +, but once we do, the results of equations like 6 + 6 are beyond our control."

 

via kottke

Please note

There is just something really amusing about fish (or porpoises) wearing hats.

Army Squirrel

Naturally, by having a site named squirrelly, I get a fair amount of squirrel stuff sent my way*. Today, Sheila and her daughter Alyce sent me this photo that is just too much. Well, I thought it fit the phrase "too much" until I went looking for the original and located this: http://www.sugarbushsquirrel.com. I think I had actually run across this way back, but I was just as shocked this time as I'm sure I was the first time. Wow. Most photographed squirrel? You know who he is now.

  

*This is precisely why I have tried to deter Kendra from pointing out every cat item we see. She thinks it is funny now, but when she's up to her neck in cat calendars and cat stuffed animals, I am not going to feel sorry for her**.

**PLEASE do not send cat stuff in a reverse/it'll be funny to send cat stuff 'cause she hates it thing. I see you coming.

Grandpa

I received this message from my Grandpa this afternoon. I was frantically trying to catch up on a looming deadline (thanks procrastination!!) and was worried that the blinking light on my phone would mean I had one more thing to fit into this already WAY over-packed day. On the contrary, I received this beautiful message from my grandfather.

Grandpa_msg

This has been a wonderful Friday.

How much she loves me

I had a minor surgery earlier this week to remove a cyst from my ovary. I expected to be up and about the following day but luckily those around me are much more realistic about such things. Kendra made preparations for a long week of recuperation. One such effort was returning the Netflix discs last week so we'd have some new films to watch in the down time. Usually, when I see the emails alerting me that we've (read: Kendra's) returned the last discs I go to our queue and shuffle things around to something that seems appropriate. Rough week: Comedy! Contemplative: Documentary! You get the idea.

Anyway, as I mentioned I've been laid up and therefore didn't check my mail and therefore didn't see the notices and therefore didn't edit the queue. And THEREFORE: Battlestar Gallactica. This is one of those things that I have in the queue because I want to see it but I know better than to even dream of actually having it sent to the house.

Initially Kendra's response was the expected but just after surgery when she was worn down from watching me struggle a little with the recovery she said she would watch it with me - "Just one."

Bless her heart. I held her to it and we watched the first disc which is the pilot/miniseries. When we'd been watching for quite some time we needed an intermission and she inquired to the length. I really had no idea. Seriously. Who would have thought that they'd have put the entire three hour miniseries in one segment? Not me. But I now know exactly how much she fraking loves me.

Merry Christmas

It was a really nice one over here. Hope yours was as nice.

"Upsot"?

I keep thinking about this song. The entire album played non-stop around Christmas in our house when I was a kid. No one in the house claimed any affection for Ms. Streisand, and Dad was particularly open with his disdain. We would mock it constantly, yet no one ever turned it off. It is as amusing now as it was then. It is over the top, and it is silly, and I guess that's what we liked about it.

Checkin in for a good cause...

As I mentioned, Michelle and I have been playing Foursquare around town. This morning I saw this article about how New York players points would be micropayments to benefit http://www.campinteractive.org/.

It was fun to check in around town and we went to at least one new place we might not have gone had I not been playing the game. I'd love to see them implement the micropayment model here.

 

Foursquare

Michelle reminded me about Google Latitude (added me) a couple days ago. That reminded me of the similar, though more robust, Foursquare (originally called Dodgeball, bought by Google and abandoned). Now back and reportedly even better. I say reportedly because Tampa was not a supported city. This is the exciting part - I checked the site and Tampa was added and we can play.

Here's a bit from their site:

People use foursquare to "check-in", which is a way of telling us your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we'll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places - cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices.

You'll find that as your friends use foursquare to check-in, you'll start learning more about the places they frequent. Not only is it a great way to meet up with nearby friends, but you'll also start to learn about their favorite spots and the new places they discover.

I'm guaranteed a Mayoral Dominance on B&N on N. Dale Mabry. I'll probably add that to my resume.