Total Perspective Vortex
What really happened to Trillian? Theories abound, but you can see what she's really been up to on this blog. If you're looking for white mice, depressed robots, or the occasional Pan Galactic Gargleblaster you might be better served here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/.
Don't just sit there angry and ranting, do something constructive.
In the words of Patti Smith (all hail Sister Patti): People have the power.
Contact your elected officials.
Don't be passive = get involved = make a difference.
Words are cool.
The English language is complex, stupid, illogical, confounding, brilliant, beautiful, and fascinating.
Every now and then a word presents itself that typifies all the maddeningly gorgeousness of language. They're the words that give you pause for thought. "Who came up with that word? That's an interesting string of letters." Their beauty doesn't lie in their definition (although that can play a role). It's also not in their onomatopoeia, though that, too, can play a role. Their beauty is in the way their letters combine - the visual poetry of words - and/or the way they sound when spoken. We talk a lot about music we like to hear and art we like to see, so let's all hail the unsung heroes of communication, poetry and life: Words.
Here are some I like. (Not because of their definition.)
Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Smart Girls
(A Trillian de-composition, to the tune of Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys)
Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains
Smart girls ain’t easy to love and they’re above playing games
And they’d rather read a book than subvert themselves
Kafka, Beethoven and foreign movies
And each night alone with her cat
And they won’t understand her and she won’t die young
She’ll probably just wither away
Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains
A smart girl loves creaky old libraries and lively debates
Exploring the world and art and witty reparteé
Men who don’t know her won’t like her and those who do
Sometimes won’t know how to take her
She’s rarely wrong but in desperation will play dumb
Because men hate that she’s always right
Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains
Life(?) of Trillian
Single/Zero
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Fortune Cookie Thought for the Week Okay, so not exactly a fortune or advice or winning lottery numbers, but funny: "You have a mouth as sharp as a dagger, but a heart as soft as tofu." He who write fortune cookie saying should stick tongue out in mirror. Like the steamer calling the wok black, there fortune cookie writer.
I've heard people talk about the kernel panic screen but I thought it was like unicorns - it's always a friend of a friend who had one, never anyone you directly know. And what it actually means is cloaked in myth, legend and speculation.
I doubted if it was real. Oh sure, I saw the screen shots, but hey, I've seen paintings of unicorns.
I'm here today to tell you: The Mac kernel panic screen is real. It happens. It exists. It's swift and it's thorough.
One minute I was working in PhotoShop with iTunes keeping the playlist crooning, the next minute I was staring at a blackened frozen screen telling me: You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
It was so unexpected and surprising I just sat there staring at it for ages. As one might react upon seeing a unicorn. I was afraid to move, scared to do anything. As one might react upon seeing a unicorn. I was shocked. And afraid. As one might react upon seeing a unicorn. My brain went into that hyper-fast Run Lola, Run special effect mode. Memories, trivia, what...what...what the...what if...it can't be...it doesn't exist...but there it is...it's real...it's true. As one might react upon seeing a unicorn.
Yadda yadda yadda Genius Bar yadda yadda yadda Airport card yadda yadda yadda disk drive yadda yadda yadda browser update yadda yadda yadda money yadda yadda yadda Genius Bar yadda yadda yadda kernel panic resolved.
Cripes.
Here's the thing. I was out of town working in a hotel room when the kernel panic hit. The day prior to that the hotel's server was down. When the concierge told me it was up and running again I couldn't get Firefox to load and Safari was flaky. Grudgingly I tried Explorer for Mac and it was more stable than Safari (and the non-functioning Firefox). A day later I got the kernel panic screen.
So, it's possible this is all Bill Gates' fault. But still. I was out of town, relying on my laptop to get me through meetings with clients. Exotic as it was to see the kernel panic screen The Steves really let me down this time.
I mean, now that it's over it was, you know, kind of exciting. I feel, well, kind of privileged, chosen. I don't often get bragging rights. But now I have them. "Kernel panic on a Mac? Oh yeah, it's real. It happened to me. The black restart screen? Oh yeah, it's real. It's real."
And it opens a whole new world of possibility. I have a renewed sense of awe and wonder. If the Mac kernel panic is real, what other scary myths are true? Big foot? Unicorns?