DEBlog

links for 2008-05-12

• meeyauw: I Won the Set Duel!
  Andree's posted the Weekly Set Challenge badge!

Bosch, Pseudonymous: The Name of This Book is Secret

Little, Brown © 2007, 360 pages

In his debut novel "Pseudonymous Bosch" tells a story wrapped in an enigma: not only is the name of the book a secret, as its very name asserts, but so are the names of his characters and other identifiers such as their location and hair color. But because he's got a story to tell and has to call them something, Bosch gives his characters pseudonyms. "Cassandra," or Cass, is an 11-year-old survivalist. She carries a backpack filled with supplies with her at all times and tends to imagine disasters around every corner. Because these never materialize, the people around her mostly dismiss her concerns--hence her similarity to her namesake, the Greek Cassandra, who was given the power of prophecy with the catch that no one would believe her. Cass's classmate "Max-Ernest"--whose dual name reflects his parents' divided opinions and lifestyle--is unusually talkative and has some kind of condition that has yet to be identified. Cass and Max-Ernest bond because they're both more accepting than most of one another's peculiarities. And soon they fall into a mystery. A secret message from a magician, presumed dead, leads them into peril--specifically, the evil, glove-wearing clutches of a pair of too-perfect-looking malefactors, the enigmatic Dr. L. And Ms. Mauvais.

Continue reading at book-blog.com »

Blogging from Gmail, and why I'm loving Gmail

If I could live in Gmail, I think I would. I decided to try it out again last week after rejecting it in favor of Apple Mail perhaps 18 months ago. Well, I wish I hadn't rejected it. At the time, I couldn't get used to the idea of the mail not living on my computer. But I'm over that now. Apple Mail was, on my computer, extremely sluggish, and the search invariably didn't work. I think this may be because, with space constraints, the mailboxes had compressed (?) and required rebuilding. But one doesn't know they need rebuilding unless one opens one up and can't read a message. And the search apparently doesn't work unless the mailbox is rebuilt.

But all that is behind me now. I'm very happy with Gmail. And I've been moving old Apple Mail into Gmail so that it will be searchable. I've also been moving some old text files over, for the same reason. It's dawning on me that Gmail could easily be used as a personal database: for birthdays, phone numbers, anything you want to be able to find in your browser quickly. Also as a daily journal for whatever you might want to keep track of: write yourself email, save it as a draft during the day. Then archive it at the end of the day. Next day, reply to that entry and do the same thing.

Right. Anyway, I've also realized that one can blog from within Gmail by configuring mobile blogging settings with one's blog. This here is my first attempt. (Will it accept *formatted* *text*, I wonder? Let's see....)

Gmail:

1. Daily journal
2. Blogging
3. Database

I've also tried to set up Twittering through Gtalk, but I haven't been successful yet

Crossword: Done With Ease

Here are the theme-related clues to this week's Sunday New York Times crossword.

ACROSS

23 State of a bottle-fed baby?
38 A platform in front of Elsinore, in "Hamlet"?
51 Massage therapist's office?
67 Group of yo-yo experts?
70 One willing to take a bullet for Martin or Charlie?
91 Little Bo-Peep's charges?
99 Musicians at a marsh?
120 St. Paul sixth graders?

DOWN
93 Stretch...or a hint to this puzzle's theme?

The answers are encrypted. To decrypt them, select whichever ones you want to see, throw them into the Crossword Decrypting Widget below, and hit the red button:

THE ANSWERS ACROSS 23 AB JRNA FVGHNGVBA 38 BEVTVANY FPRAR 51 SRRYVAT FGNGVBA 67 GRNZ QHAPNA 70 FURRA THNEQ 91 NONAQBARQ FURRC 99 CRNG BEPURFGEN 120 ZVAARFBGN GJRRAF DOWN 93 RYBATNGR

DECRYPTION WIDGET

Tags: crossword, crossword decryption widget, puzzles

TwitterLit: What's the connection?

Over the last year (and a little more) since TwitterLit's been in operation, I've celebrated a number of events with theme posts. TwitterLit--and KidderLit--have recognized momentous occasions such as April Fool's Day, Be Bald and Be Free Day, National Grouch Day, and the anniversary of the internet.

Theme posts aren't identified as such in the Twitter posts; there's just not enough room. But if you visit the TwitterLit or KidderLit sites you'll see the themes and be able to browse entries by theme. Themes are also visible when you view TwitterLit and KidderLit posts by bookmarklet (bookmarklets: TwitterLit | KidderLit -- to install drag to your toolbar).

I recently came up with a slightly different idea for a theme. The ten TwitterLit lines posted between May 19th and May 23rd will all be connected in some way. They'll all be listed under the theme "What's the connection? (5/19/08-5/23/08)." I'm not even going to tell you what the connection is! That's for you to figure out. You can talk amongst yourselves :)

There's no prize or anything; this is just for fun. And in the future there may well be more What's the connection? posts. I hope you enjoy it!

Rebecca in lights

Rebecca was in a production of The Wish Peddler this morning at New Haven's old Lincoln Theater. She did extremely well, had a lot of lines, handled them well, and the show as a whole was excellent. Here's the cast after the fact. Rebecca is two to the left of the clown/one to the right of the witch/four to the right of the tree:

Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge: May 10

It's Saturday, which means it's time for the deblog's Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge! (View a list of winners of the Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge here.)

This week's scores:
Debra -- 1:18
Deborah -- 1:30
Karen -- 1:31
Tom --- 1:16
Andree -- 0:48 <=

How to participate:
1. Play the theoretically simple yet maddeningly difficult Set Puzzle. (Remember, the clock starts ticking the moment you open the Set window.)
2. Post your time in the comments to this post.
3. The winner for the week gets to hoist the much-coveted winner's badge. This should be posted in a blog post rather than on your sidebar, say, because, after all, your time to bask in the glory of the win is likely to be ephemeral.

How to post the badge? Some possibilities:

a. Download the badge to your own space and link thereto.
b. Include this code in your post:

c. Alternatively, you're not obliged to post it. This is all in fun, after all.

Tags: puzzles, Set puzzle

links for 2008-05-09

• YouTube - Leighton Alabama Tornado
  Wild tornado video.
• MY 'RACIAL HARASSMENT' NIGHTMARE - New York Post

Sunday Salon: Thoughts?

Maxine of Petrona posted some thoughtful comments the other day about the Salon--where it's going, whether it works. Her post has attracted a large number of comments already. Jacob Russell posted his own thoughts over at his Barking Dog blog. They raise interesting questions, and I'm hoping their posts continue to inspire discussion about the Salon. As a small response I just added an addendum to my introduction to the Salon over at the main site. I wrote:

Addendum, May 2008: 1. The Salon's membership has grown so large that it's no longer possible for any one Salonist to read all of the Salon posts every week, much less comment on them meaningfully. Salonists should not feel any pressure to do so. Please feel free to skim around, to read what appeals, to visit the blogs that are of interest and forgo the rest. 2. Salonists should feel free also not to post some weeks if they haven't the time to read.

And I'm going to add a link to this post also so that people will be able to comment here.

In short, I invite further discussion about the Salon: whether it's working, and more specifically, whether there are any concrete changes that could be made to make it work better. So if you have any thoughts, please feel free to discuss them in the comments to this post.

links for 2008-05-08

• Add tags to gmail using del.icio.us
  Interesting idea, which I may use.

links for 2008-05-07

• A Book Blogger's Diary
  FREE BOOKS! Big Mother's Day Book Bash!
• Switching to Gmail
  Method for migrating old Apple Mail to Gmail seems to work!

Sunday Salon: Huler, Scott: No-Man's Land

Crown © 2008, 286 pages

Author Scott Huler found himself in his forties becoming obsessed with Homer's Odyssey, the epic that takes up where the Iliad leaves off, tracking Odysseus' adventures en route back home at the end of the Trojan War. Taking his inspiration from the Joyceans--fans of James Joyce's Ulysses who celebrate Bloomsday every June 16th by following the fictional Leopold Bloom's route through Dublin--Huler decided to travel the Mediterranean following the similarly unreal footsteps of the hero Odysseus. Huler left his pregnant wife behind and took off for, among other destinations, Calypso's island (Malta) and the Cyclops' cave (on Sicily) and the islands associated with the Sirens. Odysseus' visit to the Underworld is reenacted more in spirit than in fact.

Continue reading at book-blog.com »

Moist, but not yucky

Just reading one of my favorite periodicals. Here's a quote from page 28:

"'I need to know they're clean. It all starts with pumping it right. We don't leave the last little bit in there. When we're done, it's moist but not yucky. You can touch it.'"

Click through to see the source!

Crossword: Poplar Music

Here are the theme-related clues to this week's Sunday New York Times crossword.

ACROSS

24 1977 Dolly Parton song for tree fanciers?
33 1965 Yardbirds song for tree fanciers?
50 1957 Jerry Lee Lewis song for tree fanciers?
61 1964 Bobby Goldsboro song for tree fanciers?
79 1982 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts song for tree fanciers?
90 1959 Chuck Berry song for tree fanciers?
107 1978 Linda Ronstadt song for tree fanciers?

The answers are encrypted. To decrypt them, select whichever ones you want to see, throw them into the Crossword Decrypting Widget below, and hit the red button:

THE ANSWERS ACROSS 24 URER LBH THZ NTNVA 33 SVE LBHE YBIR 50 TERNG ONYFN SVER 61 PRQNE SHAAL YVGGYR PYBJA 79 BYVIR EBPX A EBYY 90 RYZBFG TEBJA 107 CNJCNJ CVGVSHY ZR

DECRYPTION WIDGET

Tags: crossword, crossword decryption widget, puzzles

links for 2008-05-03

• Scurvy Awareness Day | May 2nd
  Oh, man. I missed it!
• Boy scout finds wallet
  This is all very nice, but...it's what one is *supposed* to do.
• Lesbians
  I find this rather funny. "lesbiazein" referred to fellatio two and a half millennia ago.

Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge: May 3

It's Saturday, which means it's time for the deblog's Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge! (View a list of winners of the Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge here.)

This week's scores:
Debra -- 1:04
Karen -- 0:22
Deborah -- 1:33
Maxine -- 3:17

How to participate:
1. Play the theoretically simple yet maddeningly difficult Set Puzzle. (Remember, the clock starts ticking the moment you open the Set window.)
2. Post your time in the comments to this post.
3. The winner for the week gets to hoist the much-coveted winner's badge. This should be posted in a blog post rather than on your sidebar, say, because, after all, your time to bask in the glory of the win is likely to be ephemeral.

How to post the badge? Some possibilities:

a. Download the badge to your own space and link thereto.
b. Include this code in your post:

c. Alternatively, you're not obliged to post it. This is all in fun, after all.

Tags: puzzles, Set puzzle

links for 2008-05-02

• Obama and Wright: The Uproar - New York Times
  The husband got a letter in the times: Seidemann.
• In Over My Head: 123 Meme
  Susan takes up the 123 challenge!

I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith

Melissa has been obsessed with Mary Poppins since we rented it from Netflix a week or so ago. She particularly likes the scene when Ed Wynn et al. sing "I Love to Laugh" and they have a tea party on the ceiling.

She likes the jokes, and this morning she was giggling over the idea of flying from laughing too much. I had to hold her down on the way to school so she wouldn't fly off.

Point being that, 44 years after its release, the movie is still making little girls laugh. I figure that even if the people who worked on the film had done nothing else with their careers--and of course they did--that alone would be sufficient legacy.

TwitterLit turns one, and where to put your money

I've been very busy on (yet another) secret project (this one not web-based), so relatively silent around here. And my reading has also fallen off big time. However, two things of note:

First, yesterday was the first anniversary of TwitterLit! I posted two anniversary-themed posts for the occasion (morning/evening) by way of celebration. Hard to believe that a year has already passed and--as of right now--some 735 first lines have been posted and Twittered.

This is actually the first of a spate of blogiversaries coming up for me. On May 28th book-blog.com will be turning five (5!). The DEBlog turns four on June 10th. BAFAB will be three on July 1st. And KidderLit will turn one on September 26th. The Sunday Salon, finally, will be one already on October 28th.

The second big news is that I bought a new wallet. The comments in this Lifehacker post led me to discover the All-ETT. I bought the All-ETT European (aka Junior) the other day, and it came, get this, in a thin envelope. Filled--with seven plastic cards, some money, and six paper cards (a little thinner than plastic)--it's one-quarter the size of my empty old wallet. It fits in my front pocket with my moleskin notebook (which I carry as a running to-do/everything list) and my Leatherman Micra. I'm really happy with it. I've only had it for a couple days, so I can't speak to its durability, but from what I've read it holds up well.

Tags: All-ETT, blogiversaries, wallets

links for 2008-04-27

• Petrona (and Theakston's) in the Guardian
  Our Maxine has garnered some fame!
• Printable Paper
  Templates for lined and graph paper, etc. Could be useful.
• Summize Twitter Search
  Twitter book advice: @cleverclogs asked for book recommendations