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Switching to WordPress

I’ve changed from using MoveableType to use WordPress for the software supporting this blog. It just seems so much easier to be using WordPress.

I’m also going to have to find another web hosting service for webliminal.com. My current package at cihost.net doesn’t support the versions of mysql and php that I need for WordPress and the folks at cihost.net don’t seem very interested in accommodating my needs. WebliminalBlog is currently situated at cherrycoated.com hosted by 1and1.com.

This Web is a web.

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3422
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 9
Total 3431

DoD Confirmation List

Latest Coalition Fatality: May 22, 2007

Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

2007 05 23 ernie Commentary Comments (0) Permalink

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

2007 05 22 ernie Commentary Comments (1) Permalink

The Stafford Star Advertiser – some items of interest

The Stafford Star Advertiser is a weekly publication that contains several of the stories that appeared in the Free Lance-Star from the week before as well as a section of classified ads and other advertisements. Like most of the products produced by a newspaper company, its purpose is to provide a medium for advertisements.

Here are a few interesting items in the issue dated March 5, 2007:

  • Caption on a monochrome/gray scale photo: President Bush meets with military service group leaders including Karen Grimord (in red) of Stafford County.
  • Headline of a page 3 story: Man who beat up girlfriend’s husband faces jail time.
  • In case your girlfriend’s husband is using your Easter Bunny Suit, from the classifieds under HELP WANTED GENERAL: Professional Photography Company Looking for: EASTER BUNNY CHARACTERS and Customer Service for Spotsylvania Mall Photos March 18-April 7, 2007 Good rate of pay.

Company Provides Easter Bunny Suit!
Job Qualifications:
o Must be 18 years or older
o Must pass background check
o Ability to be animated is important!
For an interview, call between 10 a.m. and 2p.m …, ask for Laura

  • Also from the classifieds under HELP WANTED GENERAL (and proof-reading needed):

DISTRIBUTE MOSSY OAK PRODUCTS
to convenient stores. Contact John….

  • and finally, not sure whose side you’ll be on:

CRIME SCENE CLEANING Company hiring FT and PT techs. Police, Military, or EMS exp. helpful. This is an on-call position, must be flexible and willing to travel. Full training and uniforms provided. Call Bobby Talley at ….

2007 03 08 ernie Commentary Comments (0) Permalink

Fred Vargas & the French Mystery

I recently read Seeking Whom He May Devour: Chief Inspector Adamsberg Investigates (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries) a thoroughly enjoyable book. The setting for much of the story is a section of France a little north of Nice. WE had the pleasure of spending some days in and near Nice a few years ago, and also the pleasure of spending several weeks planning our trip to that part of France, so reading a mystery set in that region was all the more enjoyable.

The author takes you through several characters as the story develops. She builds a complete description of each. The way she tells, develops the story keeps the reader interested and wanting more. Not because the mystery is so inscrutable that it can’t be figured out, but because you want her to keep telling and weaving a story. Soon I hope to read another by her.

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3172
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 16
Total 3188
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Mar 07, 2007

(3260)

2007 03 07 ernie Books Comments (0) Permalink

Seed Starting

I started some tomato, pepper, lettuce, basil, and assorted flower seeds about 10 days ago. The pepper seeds haven’t sprouted yet, but most of the others have the first pair of leaves out.

Today I planted seeds for Maltese Cross and Red Milkweed. These are seeds that are suppose to be chilled before planting, so I planted them in small pots outdoors. We’ll see how it works. The seeds come from Seed Savers Exchange, and most are heirloom and organic.
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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3160
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 6
Total 3166
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Mar 02, 2007
http://icasualties.org/oif/

(3250)

2007 03 02 ernie Gardening Comments (0) Permalink

Interfere with the interface

One of the podcasts that I’ve signed up for and occasionally listen to is TED talks. Very cool.

The one I was listening to today is “Three minutes of fast-paced, whip-smart wordsmithing from spoken-word artist Rives, who has some unconventional ideas about how the Internet should be run. (Recorded November 2006 in New York, NY. Duration: 4:15)”

You gotta see it: http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=rives

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3155
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 6
Total 3161
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Feb 27, 2007

(3236)

2007 02 27 ernie Interesting Web Sites Comments (0) Permalink

Mathematicians in Love

Rudy Rucker writes and spins another great tale of mathematics, computing, and science fiction. He does a great job of capturing the blend of the love for the intellectual, carnal, romantic, and fantastic lives that we experience through our own lives. He takes it further than most of us go in terms of our own successes and so we can revel in it. Of course, he takes it further than we can go – into other worlds – and so we can take the reality of our lives and enjot the fantasy that Rucker gives us.

A quote: “In a sense mathematics is quite objective: the same deductions can become known to everyone who starts with the same axioms and definitions; the same abstract forms can be universally perceived.. This said, there’s also a sense in which mathematics is subjective. If your language is unknown to me, I find you books unreadable; if you paint in colors invisible to me, I avoid your museums; if you travel by carriers I can’t board, your journeys don’t engage me; if your mathematical definitions and axioms seem arbitrary to me, I have little appreciation for your theorems.”

One more: “Number theory is as cowardly as studying fish names instead of swimming in the sea.” (Lynn says it’s either “think or thwim.”)

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3151
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 4
Total 3155
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Feb 24, 2007

2007 02 25 ernie Books Comments (0) Permalink

Web 2.0 at YouTube

I realize I’m coming a little late to this, but today I came across a very nice video at YouTube, “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE, by Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. Very nice work.

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3129
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 6
Total 3135
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Feb 17, 2007
From Iraqi Coalition Casualty Count

(3194)

2007 02 18 ernie About the Internet and the Web
Interesting Web Sites Comments (0) Permalink

The Book

A friend who is an associate professor of linguistics at University of Mary Washington sent me a link the the video “Introducing the book,” http://www.devilducky.com/media/57946/.

Now other colleagues are sending me a link to it. The video is very clever. The lines I like the best is “Open it? If it had been that straight forward, I wouldn’t have called helpdesk.”

Very nicely done.

2007 02 18 ernie About the Internet and the Web
Interesting Web Sites Comments (0) Permalink

Virginia Higher Education Advocacy Day 2007

 

Several Mary Washington faculty went to Richmond on January 11, 2007 to talk with our representatives in the Virginia Legislature and participate in Virginia Higher Education Advocacy Day. The event is organized and sponsored by the Faculty Senates of Virginia and the Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). This marked the fifth consecutive year for the event.

Faculty from Mary Washington included Ernest Ackermann, Stephen Fuller, Angela Gossetti-Murrayjohn, Mary Rigsby, and Craig Vasey. Mary’s husband Leo Rigsby also was part of our group. We spoke with John Chichester, Mark Cole, Bill Howell, and Bobby Orrock, and left materials or spoke to the legislative aides of Ed Houck and Harvey Morgan. We focused on the items in the three position papers published for the event: Higher Education Governance – Faculty Competitiveness – VRS.

Senator Chichester was the recipient of the second annual Colonel Michael S.Harris Award to a Virginia public official who has shown exemplary support for higher education in the Commonwealth. The award is given by the Virginia Conference of the AAUP. The picture in this entry shows the delegation from Mary Washington with Senator Chichester in his office after he was presented with the award.

Contact your state Senator or Delegate by following these links: Virginia House of Delegates, Virginia Senate

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3013
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 4
Total 3017
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Jan 13, 2007 – http://icasualties.org/oif/

3103

2007 01 14 ernie Commentary Comments (0) Permalink