People, refusing to acknowledge Independence Day doesn't get you cool hippie liberal indie points

...at least from me. Maybe it does from other people; I don't know.

I'm sure most of you can ascertain that I don't agree with a whole hell of a lot of what goes on in this country. But you know what? I also appreciate the freedoms we do have, and I have hope that we'll eventually have the rest of the freedoms we ought to.

While people certainly have the right to go on about how they don't acknowledge this holiday, and I definitely get where they're coming from, I feel like they'd get a lot further by reclaiming the holiday to stand for what they want it do be. (See "freedom to do such things," op cit.) People are going to ask people what their plans are, and if you're truly an activist, it makes much more sense to jump on the opportunity and tell them how you spend the day doing whatever you feel makes this country a better place. You're missing a great opportunity by just saying that you don't acknowledge the holiday. Why not tell your neighbors and coworkers exactly why you prefer to deemphasize celebrating wars and white Christian straight males, and what you like to associate with freedom instead?

(And besides, why pass up an opportunity for barbequeing and blowing things up and drinking beer and eating pie? This day really isn't all that bad! Hell, you could even celebrate the event by blowing up a pie if you wanted. THIS COUNTRY IS JUST THAT FREE DAMMIT.)

Playing around with a vocabulary builder website

I came across this Vocaboly site, which advertises "vocabulary software," when looking for vocabulary games to play (I'm a dork, OK?). The online "vocabulary tests" are somewhat useful, but could use a bit of tweaking. I took the GRE one, and it's a multiple-choice format similar to the GRE, but not of the same quality. Some of the words were extremely simple words that would never show up on the GRE. Others didn't have any options that truly defined the word (I even got so dorky as to check dictionaries to make sure none of them were accepted definitions). All in all, it was a decent review. What drove me crazy about the site though is that they have downloadable vocabulary software with a free trial, including a mode that describes itself as a Star Wars type shooting game. The screenshot looks cool, but I couldn't download the software, because it's only available for Windows. The site doesn't have any version of the games available as embedded flash or anything, which is kind of passé. Actually, the whole idea of stand-alone software for a simple application is kind of outdated; why not just put it online?

In addition to his poor taste in kitchen appliances, Michael Flaherty also likes to waste money and ignore details

There are two registered voters in our household. Today in our mailbox, there were four of these:



Were some of these misdelivered, you might wonder? Nope:



They're both addressed to me. The address was just entered two different ways into the database. The spousal unit also got two mailings with the same duplication.

When I've volunteered for campaigns, they've had me do such exciting tasks as, well, going through their database and taking out obvious duplicate voters, so as not to waste money/trees/energy on mailings, not annoy households with duplicate phonecalls, and most of all, not make prospective voters think that the candidate is wasteful and can't bother to have humans work for him or her. One of the campaigns even scaled back the database so that each household got one call or mailing.

Apparently Michael Flaherty didn't do any of this.

Or maybe he did, but then his Kitchenaid mixer went crazy and ate the lists.

I need to get a 1068-inch MacBook

...because Netflix now has IMAX films available for instant viewing on my home computer.

What.

Some jackhole is defending "don't ask, don't tell" right now on NPR

"Repealing the law will cause more people to leave the military than the law has."

Sounds like a strong case for repealing it then, if it's leading to people who will only stay in the military if it continues to officially back their homophobia. Repeal it ASAP and get those homophobes away from the GLBT folks who are trying to serve our country. This is one very much needed step toward creating one fewer place where homophobes are free to practice hate. Also, my queer tax dollars continue to fund the military. Set it free!

It's too bad the MacBook doesn't have the camera in the spine

...like some of those handheld stylus-using devices do.

Because I'm sitting here in a cafe in Cambridge, and over the top of my laptop screen I can see this nice-looking woman of advanced age, with pearls and a shirt that my mom would call a blouse, reading a novel, who is totally fellating the straw in her iced beverage. And has been doing so continually for about 10 minutes.

(Don't worry, I would blur the face in the video before posting it. And I do have my iPhone, which of course shoots stealth photos -- and is handy for looking at people's outfits or books or whatever with them thinking you're just staring at your screen -- but a still shot just wouldn't capture this, and this model iPhone doesn't shoot video.)

Home Improvement, eeka style

While searching for more information on mounting cabinets to weird nonstandard 116-year-old walls, I didn't find much other than contradictory advice and things that I already know didn't work with smaller and lighter items I've tried to affix to walls. However, I did find this primer on choosing and installing a cabinet, which might just be one of the most hilarious and awesomest things ever written. How does this person know how my home-improvement tasks play out?!

Are MBTA operators allowed to possess these?

(Because there haven't been enough vehicle-related posts here lately.)

This operator is clearly in possession of a container of Good &
Plenty. Should someone be notified?

(For some reason it's REALLY FUNNY when something like this goes by in
a bus.)

Get those hands at 10 and 2 where they belong!

Yesterday, during an in-car discussion of preferred hands-on-wheel position, I looked down and realized that I hold the steering wheel like some kind of demented birdlike creature:



I wonder what else I do strangely.

Wait, what?

Apparently Brookline reserves some of their meter spots for REALLY SMALL CARS.

What the hell kind of plant is this?

Shown below, about to eat my spouse.

This was a gift, and we have no idea whether it should be indoors or outdoors or what to do with it. It's about tripled in size over the past week and now has big white conical flowers, five petals, no, uh, stamen or whatever you call the things that stick out of some coney flowers. It's really awesome and we want to care for it appropriately. Help?

Map of Fort Hill/Highland Park in Roxbury

Since I couldn't find any maps specifically of the Fort Hill/Highland Park neighborhood, I've "made" these maps showing the general area that makes up the neighborhood. They're just screenshots of google maps with some highlighting; feel free to use them or link to them. Also feel free to comment if you think the borders should be in different places than where I've put them.


Zoomed-out map showing proximity to other stuff.


Zoomed-in map so all of the streets are labeled.

Click on either map for a larger copy. When I get some more time, I'll add in some landmarks of cool places on the hill.

Spotted on Dorchester Ave near Fields Corner

Dude on a bike, older 10-speed type, with an old triangular bright blue iMac balanced on the handlebars. Didn't get a good look at him (was too fixated on the iMac) but guessing Vietnamese based on location and certain brand of resourcefulness. Behind him was an ice cream truck creeping up on him and beeping the horn.

How to not be an asshole on craigslist

In preparation for switching around some things in our house, we've been selling things on craigslist. I'm happy to report that all of the sales have eventually gone well, but almost all of them have attracted at least a few weirdos. Based on recent experiences of weird behavior that just never would have occurred to me, I wish to provide the public with some advice:

How to not be an asshole on craigslist

1) If you inquire about something and then change your mind or decide it won't work once the seller provides you with the details you requested, don't just delete the e-mail without replying. Seriously, take the 30 seconds to write back and say it's not quite what you wanted and to thank them for their time. You wouldn't walk into a shop and ask to see some items in various colors, then just walk out without even saying a word. Or perhaps you would, and that's the problem.

2) If you've shown interest in an item and you ask the person where they live, don't then reply and say, "oh, I don't know where that is, so I'm all set, thanks." If you can't use google maps or ask someone for directions, you have no business posting on craigslist and scouting around the city to try to get one-of-a-kind items and good deals. Likewise if you realize my neighborhood isn't posh enough for you. It's right by a major T station, has plenty of on-street parking, and I've already specified the general area in my original ad. Please, go take your city-fearing self to a Jordan's or something. Craigslist isn't for people like you. And furthermore, when you decide not to venture into the city to check out my table, you're not "all set," because you still don't have a table. Grow a pair and use your I-statements and tell me you've changed your mind or are going to have to decline or whatever. The only place where it's acceptable to say "all set" is in a restaurant or at a cash register, and even then it's not always the phrase you want.

3) When you come over to someone's house to look at things, don't freak out and tell them you're allergic to cats and lecture them as if they had just brought cats into your house without asking. It's not at all uncommon for a North American household to have cats or dogs, so you might want to ask people before visiting their home. This especially goes for the person who wanted to buy an all-wooden piece of furniture and said that I should have stated in the ad that it was "contaminated." Thanks for the feedback, and next time I will be sure to anticipate that my buyer might be someone who will be deathly allergic to wooden furniture that has been near cats and has since been wiped down.

4) Don't try to negotiate the price without at least some sort of background as to why it probably isn't worth as much, or acknowledgement that you realize you're not offering much and you're happy to wait and see if there aren't any better offers. I did sell a mandolin to a very nice person named Jackie, who explained to me that it needed a few repairs and how much these would cost, and who was apologetic and made it clear that I shouldn't feel obligated to listen to her. This was very upfront and helpful, and I was happy to sell it to her and felt confident that she knew what she was talking about. Others, however, have been less appropriate with their offers. Like the person who sent me a link on Amazon to a product that wasn't remotely similar and said my item was overpriced because they could buy a completely different item new on Amazon for just a little bit more than I was asking (plus shipping that cost as much as the item). Or the person who asked if they could buy my almost-new huge suitcase for $15 instead of $20, and would I mind dropping it off in Providence.

5) When you're getting a really good deal on something, don't decide that you're only able to pick it up at one specific time on one specific day. Shopping opportunities do exist for people with such important obligations and inflexible schedules; they're called stores. For four times as much as I want for my bookshelf, you can get one exactly when and where you prefer.

6) Respect people's time. If you need an item to fit in a certain space, and the dimensions are included in the ad, measure your space and see if it will fit before coming to look at the item and saying, "oh, it's much bigger than it looked in the pictures, and definitely won't fit in our room" and being surprised that a table that seats four is larger than 600x800 pixels.

7) Don't offer to mail me a cashier's check. Just don't.

A sociolinguistic observation

In American English, when something is defective or not to our liking, we usually say that we plan to "get a new one." Likewise when we notice that someone has a different car or backpack or phone or something. We usually say, "oh, you got a new car?" which then inevitably leads to discussion of whether it is new or used, where it came from, why the change, etc.

In most Western European languages, the construction uses "change" rather than "buy" or "get a new." (Readers who are familiar with other languages than I am, please comment!) Speakers of these languages will then use the same construction when speaking in English, e.g, "my computer keeps crashing so I need to change it" or, "oh, you changed your car." I've also heard this construction in English from speakers from Africa and Asia, but I don't know if this is influenced by their native languages or by Western European English.

It's kind of interesting that the American construction of "get/buy a new one" seems to be an anomaly. Again, I'm working with a limited sample size here, and would love to hear from people who know other languages than I do. But it seems like the American construction focuses on purchasing something and tends to lead toward a discussion of how and why the person came to have a different item, while the constructions in other countries seem more neutral and less oriented toward consumerism and status. I'd love to know if there are even different constructions in other places (particularly places where making a living and having belongings is difficult) and/or if there are places where it's not polite to even bring it up.