Don't worry, this guy has already been nominated for a Darwin Award.

Well, we all went and got flu shots yesterday. Andrew, me, Zoë, and Miranda. Everyone except the cat.

The flu that's predicted for this year was the one that caused some higher than normal fatalities in North America this past (northern) winter, so we're not taking chances. And beside that, we can't afford to have the flu.

This isn't particularly interesting, I realize, but if you haven't gotten your flu shot (assuming you're in the Southern Hemisphere), go do it. It's bulk-billed by most doctors and it didn't even hurt that much.

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a while...

I found this Flash game/movie thingy rather amusing. When you're done pestering the guy, hang around his nose a little whie with the cursor...

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WARNING: If you're bothered by the idea of blood flowing freely, don't read this.

I think I've mentioned here that I'm prone to nosebleeds, but if I haven't, I'm mentioning it now. Normally my nosebleeds are fairly minor, but now and then I get a really bad one, where the blood practically spurts out of my nostril and runs down my face. And yes, please allow me to say, "YUCK!" Pretty gross.

Well, today while coming back from Zoë's preschool I reached up to scratch my nose (yes, that's all, just one of those rub-scratch thing people do) and it triggered a nosebleed. Since I was driving at the time, I found this rather more distressing even than I normally would. I had no tissue handy. I had to pinch my nose shut and tip my head back to keep the blood from running down my face (allow me to again say, "YUCK!").

Tipping your head back when you've got a nosebleed is not a good idea, because the blood runs into your throat. Today was no exception. I nearly gagged as I felt this happening, partly because it's just damned gross (and have I meantioned, "YUCK!"), but partly because it tickles the soft palette and triggers a gag reflex.

So I managed to grab hold of an icky used napkin that was tucked in the coin tray (allow me to again comment, "YUCK!") and press that to my nostril while I tipped my head forward a bit more to stop the blood from running down my throat.

Thankfully, the trip to and from preschool is pretty short, and by this time, we were close to home, so I just held on until I was in the driveway, and then I got a wet wipe from the pack we keep in the glove box and shoved that up the bleeding nostril. A wet wipe, by the way, isn't very absorbent, but at least it kept the blood from gushing all over the place.

When I got upstairs, I got some proper tissue, although the bleeding had mostly stopped by then.

So the moral of the story, if there is one at all, is, "Don't scratch your nose while driving if you're prone to nosebleeds." Or maybe, "YUCK!"

Well, I'd been thinking about this for a while, but I hadn't really intended to DO it for a while. Circumstances have decided that the time is now.

The database for the gallery at elizabyte.net crashed. No more gallery. Oh, the scripts and stuff are all still there, but the gallery contents are no more. It's an empty gallery with the default template.

I think I did it myself. I'm not actually very good with MySQL and I think I managed to crash it myself. Oops.

So anyway, I'm taking the opportunity to totally rework the site. I'm using an open source, modular, database-driven package (yes, I will make backups; part of the problem with my installtion of that gallery was I could never get it to make the stinking backups; I did try). I'm currently reworking the design (it's a design that allows for that). I'm still trying to figure out how to do stuff, though, so it may be a while.

I did get the proposed new gallery installed (it's the same one I use for my photo gallery, and one image uploaded just as a test. I'm also slowly working out how stuff works. Talk about using up all your available brainshare. Sheesh.

So, well, that's where I am lately. That and hanging out in a particular copyright forum explaining to people that a digital file is tangible and that, yes, you can copyright a unique creation, even if it was made with licensed elements... *sigh* Where do these people get their information? Obviously not from reputable sources. I sometimes think they find one of those copyright myths sites and think that "myth" means "gospel truth" and those explanations behind each one are just lies that mean people use to keep others from enjoying life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...

For a small fee, you can get your very own Imaginary Girlfriend, who will leave you phone messages, send you letters and emails, and may agree to chat with you online.

I know someone who would actually probably appreciate this service. Perhaps I should send him the link...

I've been busy trying to learn something totally new to me. Flash. No, no, don't worry, I'm not going to suddenly go "Flash-happy" and design sites that are 100% Flash or anything (I hate that, I really do), but I've got a friend who does very nice and pretty Flash embellishments to her graphics sets and I've thought for a long time that if done properly, Flash is a tool that can enhance (and some people make really fun games and movies with Flash, hehe).

Still, learning something new takes up a huge amount of "brainshare", so, uhm, I'm not writing very much here. Sorry about that. I mean, assuming you care (a few people probably do, but know that I don't kid myself about the hugeness of my readership, heh).

I'm actually looking forward to school starting up again next week. Yes, it means I have to get up earlier than I normally like to, but that's not a huge issue. Zoë is much more pleasant and contented when she's going to pre-school and her early intervention playgroup (which I also attend). She gets lots of stimulation and exercise, and it's good for her. I also get a couple hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays where I don't have to contend with her (although I still have Miranda).

This coming term, I'm looking at getting both kids in an afternoon session in the childcare group at Zoë's intervention centre. I'd have a couple hours per week that were just mine. I could go shopping or get my hair done or just go home and work without interruption. I could sit in a coffee shop and read a book. I could go to a library. The possibilities aren't endless, but they are tempting.

Miranda, by the way, is showing signs of giftedness. Her father was reading by the age of three (as in, he gave a Bible reading in church when he was three and a half), and Miranda has taken a huge interest in letters of the alphabet and reading. She can accurately recognize eight or nine letters now (her Dad's been teaching her), and she just loves learning them.

And Zoë, amusing and endearing as she is, can be quite a handful some days. She's a pretty frustrating little person sometimes, with her disability. I think she gets as frustrated as I do sometimes, actually. Add to that the fact that when Zoë cries, sometimes Miranda will, too (she's always been a sympathetic crier; I think she may be as emotional and intuitive as I am, actually). And make no mistake about Zoë, she's developmentally delayed in some areas (all relating to language and social skills, which are partly dependent on language), but she's extremely clever in many other areas, and has figured out all sorts of ways to get into stuff (particularly when she's bored, which is fairly often).

Between the two of them and the fact that I'm trying to wrap my poor, tired brain around a completely new concept and process, well, let's just say blogging is about the last thing on my list of "Things to do Today".

Which doesn't mean I won't blog. I mean, look at this entry. I've just written how many paragraphs about the fact that I haven't got much to say... ?

It's no secret that I'm a caffeine addict. I don't mean that in a humorous way, either. I mean: I'm addicted to caffeine.

Well, this past long weekend, Andrew was off Friday through Tuesday, and I ended up "detoxing" from caffeine addiction. I didn't really quite intend it that way, but it worked out that way and once I realized I'd gone so long without caffeine, I figured I'd just keep going and detox completely. I do this periodically...

Anyway, as a result I spent most of the weekend with a headache and in a state of considerable irritation. I was just really, really crabby. I don't think I took it out too much on Andrew or the kids, thankfully. Mostly it got spewed out online, heh. I was my usual opinionated self, only with sharp nails and sharp teeth and a sharp tongue. Nice mental image, isn't it? *shudder*

Thankfully, the person(s) who bore the brunt of my anger were pretty much all copyright-violating graphics makers and users, and while it's never nice to be acidly sarcastic and verbally cruel, at least I didn't lose it with people I care about.... (I hope that makes sense.)

I don't like myself when I'm like that, though. I get very, very negative, and extremely sarcastic in a very unpleasant and extremely ugly way. I honestly try to avoid doing that. The negative cycle is very destructive to my self-image an to the image I project, and that's not good for anyone, least of all me.

Next time I detox, I'm going to stay offline, or at least, sit on my hands...

A mosiac of all the soldiers who have died in Iraq.

Just got this stuck in my spam filter:

GET YOUR UNIVERSITY DIPLOMA.. chose piece feature parley beebread architect carborundum adhere mckinley curdle preferring dick faraday forgiven paradigm crosswalk accommodate stayed persian elizabeth caspian bottommost dakar infelicity donate astarte meant administer tiny women cloud

Uhm, yeah. I'm convinced. I'll do business with these people RIGHT AWAY!

Oh, well, At least it's more interesting than another spam I got, which was entitled:

Message subject

Ever wonder what icons do while you're away from the keyboard? (Flash movie.)

Just uploaded a new image at elizabyte.net. Just duck into the gallery there to see for yourself. It's my own interpretation of a Juliet figure.

Oh, and I altered the gallery a bit to show a much larger number of "new" images now. Instead of the most recent three images, the display is the previous nine.

One clear inference can be drawn from Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 commission this morning: She has been a bad national security adviser—passive, sluggish, and either unable or unwilling to tie the loose strands of the bureaucracy into a sensible vision or policy. In short, she has not done what national security advisers are supposed to do.

I've recently had the misfortune of coming into the knowledge of one of the most unrepentant, clueless "snaggers" I've ever seen. If you don't know what "snagging" is, basically it's grabbing images off the net to share around illegally. Many times these "snaggers" turn the images they steal into image "tubes" (nozzles, stamps, etc.; basically the picture has the background taken out and it gets redistributed that way, in a form that allows it to be just stamped into an image).

I've been the victim of these people in the past. This time I wasn't, but it came into my knowledge, anyway.

There are groups dedicated to this practice. Mostly email groups, but probably also other groups such as closed boards and such. Yahoo and MSN and Topica are rampant with them. They're like little nests of rats, IMHO.

When and if anyone dares to point out to them that what they're doing is illegal and harming the artists whose work they're hacking up and passing around, they get extremely abusive and argumentative. Their favorite thing is to claim it's "Fair Use", but they only read one sentence of the Fair Use clause, not the whole thing. Sometimes these idiots even try to claim that what they're doing is "educational" and therefore allowed. Since the never credit the originators of the image, they redistrubute without permission, they alter the image without permission, and some of theme even sell the tubes they've made from "snagged" images, they're definitely not within the law (more on Fair Use, and copyright in general).

Anyway, someone said that they didn't understand this snagging/tubing culture, and I have to agree, but I have researched it a little bit and this is what I've learned.

From what I can gather, they get all kinds of prestige and praise and status within the group for the quality of their "snagged" images, and for how cleanly they cut out the background to make the tubed image.

I'm told that the positive feedback for quality snagged images/tubes can be very addictive, which is why they fight so friggin hard if someone tries to point out their unethical and illegal behavior.

Sounds a lot like a drug addiction to me, actually. They know (just as addicts do) that it's wrong, but they need the "high" and they don't care who they hurt to get it. Anyone who gets between them and their drug is subjected to abuse of all kinds.

Pretty damned sick when you think about it.

Oh, and if you want to write to me to defend the practice of "snagging", you can keep it to yourself. NOTHING you say will convince me that it's "okay" or "fine" or anything other than sleazy. I work hard to make images. I spend a great deal of money, time, and energy on it. You hacking up my stuff to "share" with your idiotic friends who can't understand simple legal statutes cannot be justified to me. I don't undermine YOUR ability to make a living, nor do I take YOUR work and cut it to bits and pass it around without even bothering to credit you. If you think it's okay when you do it, you're seriously self-deluded.

WARNING: LOTS of swearing. Don't play this Flash movie if you don't want people in the room with you to hear a lot of foul (but very uncreative) language. And if you haven't got any sound at all, don't bother, because the movie doesn't make any sense without it.

Apparently, the guy thought his ISP was personally responsible for sending him spam, and he wasn't very happy about it....

I've worked as a support tech and, believe me, there really are plenty of people this angry and this stupid.

A woman in Mexico gave birth to a healthy baby boy after performing a Caesarean section on herself with a kitchen knife, doctors said Tuesday.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - President Theodore Roosevelt

Toes. Lots of toes. And some very nice Photoshopping.

This photo diary of the Chernobyl site is absolutely astouding.

I travel a lot and one of my favorite destinations is through the so called Chernobyl "dead zone", which is 130kms from my home. Why my favorite? Because one can take long rides without encountering a single car or living soul. The people are gone now and nature is reasserting itself in blooming plants, woods and rippling lakes.

In places where roads have not been travelled by trucks or army vehicles, they are in the same condition they were 20 years ago - except for an occasional blade of grass that discovered a crack to spring through. Time does not ruin roads, so they may stay this way until they can be opened to normal traffic again........ a few centuries from now.

I've just put another image in the gallery at elizabyte Warning: It's shockingly CUTE.

Wacky, bizarre, surreal and otherwise strange examples of technical documentation, particularly illustration.