Our friends Joyce and Aaron are, as of last night, the parents of a child whose name practically guarantees that he’ll have superpowers. Hi, ZXL. Welcome to the world.
We don’t have pictures of him yet, so here’s a stock photo of a baby.
Update: real pictures!
When the LASIK tech who had been evaluating me left to get answers to some of my detailed questions, I never saw her again. Instead, one of the senior assistants came in to give answers.
Does anybody remember Farscape? How about the character Jool from the last couple of seasons? Remember that her special talent was the ability to melt metal with her screech?
Yeah, she has nothing on Liza when she is denied access to the shower stall while I am in it.
Hey, look at that: the European Space Agency’s Jules Verne docked with the International Space Station under complete computer control. The Jules Verne uses laser-based sensors that are extremely similar to ones I’ve worked on. This means that the ESA and the Russians can dock to the ISS without a human pilot, but the US cannot.
I have a weakness for completely off-the-wall campaign videos. That’s why I’m so excited about Mike Gravel’s new video. To my knowledge it’s the first one he’s made since jumping from the Democratic Party to the Libertarian one to continue running for President. Won’t you join me in glorying in the total awesomeness of this video?
You know, this reminds me of another version of a classic song.
Eli and his best bud, Josh. How do they already look like frat boys at four?
Mick Jagger practice.
This will come as a shock to everyone, but it appears we are rearing two kids who are 100% ham. Both want people watching them; both like to mimic things you do to get that attention.
The other night, Misty & I were talking, and I said something about a death march on a project. Eli promptly scooped up a spare maraca we happened to have lying around and marched around the house, shaking the maraca and singing, “Death march! Death march! Death march!”
Liza’s bouts of mimicry are less spontaneous. If you make certain sounds or do certain actions, she’ll repeat them. If you then repeat them, she’ll repeat them again. Continue until someone–mainly me–becomes tired. If I hold my hands over my head and say, “nnnnnnnngh”, she will dutifully hold up both hands, tiny fists waving in the air, and say “nnnnnnnngh.” If I say, “mmmmmmmMMMMBAH!”, she too will say “mmmmmmmMMMMMMBAH!” and then laugh.
Wait a second. She’s short, has blond hair that covers her ears, and says “mmmBAH.” Where have I seen this before?
Psst, Sony BMG. You’ve been at the forefront of the music labels’ anti-piracy efforts, right? After all, you were part of the successful RIAA effort to sue a single mom for $222,000 for sharing 24 songs. I take it you’re against piracy in any form?
A small software company has accused major label Sony/BMG of software piracy, in a reversal of the normal orientation of piracy cases between major labels and the rest of the world.
PointDev, which makes Windows administration software, claims that a raid on Sony/BMG servers revealed that as much as 47 percent of the software used by the company can be considered to have been pirated under French law, according to Zeropaid’s Google translation of the initial report…
The best part is that the Business Software Alliance raid was apparently triggered when a Sony IT worker asked for technical support for a program called Ideal Migration and provided a pirated software key.
There’s nothing like starting your morning with a steaming cup of schadenfreude.
We’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.5. Let us know if anything went kablooey.
I’ve been making this recipe for 13 years from a Reader’s Digest cookbook (of all things!) I got when I got married. The first time I made it, I had one pot to make it in and I hadn’t cooked much, so it was a fair bit of thinking for my 22 year old brain to make it work. Chances are if you’ve visited my house more than once, you’ve gotten to eat this dish. We have company coming tonight so it’s our old standby to the rescue!
1/2 cup butter
4 cups thinly sliced Vidalia Onions (sweet onions will work out of season, Vidalia are best)
1 lb. beef tenderloin or sirloin, sliced into 1/2†cubes
3 tbs. flour
1 tbs. dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 qt. beef broth
2 cups cooked fettuccine
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
In a large heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add onions; sauté, stirring often, until caramelized but not burned, 15-20 minutes. With slotted spoon remove onions to medium bowl. Add beef to pan; brown well on all sides. Return onions and any juices to pan. In a small bowl mix flour, sugar, cumin, salt & pepper. Add to pan; stir 1 minute until bubbly. Gradually add broth, simmer 10 minutes. Combine noodles and beef mixture in large baking dish. Spread cheese on top. Bake in 350° for 20-30 minutes.