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This machine is so cool . . .

via Ping.fm

This machine is so cool . . .

http://ping.fm/y1TJM

The George Washington University Hospital | Medical Staff Info

I have been entertained tonight by the extreme technical data processing measures (though inconvenience rather than inhibition) taken to restrict complaints to the hospital staff. If you put your trust and indeed your very life into their hands, your concern has no merit unless you are a member of the medical staff.

Somebody should wake the medical community up to the fact that this is not the 17th Century and they are no longer the solitary font of knowledge amidst the great unwashed masses.

From: http://ping.fm/MOFgJ

via Ping.fm

The George Washington University Hospital | Medical Staff Info

I have been entertained tonight by the extreme technical data processing measures (though inconvenience rather than inhibition) taken to restrict complaints to the hospital staff. If you put your trust and indeed your very life into their hands, your concern has no merit unless you are a member of the medical staff.

Somebody should wake the medical community up to the fact that this is not the 17th Century and they are no longer the solitary font of knowledge amidst the great unwashed masses.

From: http://ping.fm/MOFgJ

30 Things that are about as random as I get.

Rules: Rules? We don't need no stinking rules! Mbuahahaha!! Make up your random facts if you want to do so, otherwise, who am I to ask anything of you? I don't know how to do this and it's taken me too long already.

1. Nothing happened today: In my opinion, God already cancelled it yesterday.

2. I have no plans for the weekend: I'm not going to let God do this twice.

3. I believe in God, but only for referential integrity.

4. I shouldn't be doing this because I should be paying my property taxes, but I'm looking for a place to do it online.

5. When in good health, it takes me 6 seconds to fall asleep.

6. I had over a half-million books until my family home was vandalized, and after the sad triage, I contributed the lion's share to Cunningham Memorial Library.

7. I am possessed with putting periods between enumeration and the corresponding text.

8. I had to Google "Hello Kitty," and I'm still not sure what it is.

9. I have a problem with forgiveness, especially when people tag me.

10. At this moment, some of my hair is still pink.

11. I appreciate country music, but I don't prefer it.

12. I am accepting gifts, particularly heart-and-teddy beary T-shirts.

13. I used to live in a library or two.

14. I have a movement disorder, particularly trouble initiating speech, but most people think it's mental retardation.

15. I type faster than I talk and text slower than I type.

16. I gave up all television for a year: I have a blank spot in the FBI incident in Waco, Texas.

17. I hope to see another President in this country in my lifetime.

18. Sincerity is very important to me, but truth is an ideal and honesty not what it's cracked up to be.

19. I wish my cats were millionaires.

20. I misunderstood the intent of a bartender who tripped and fell into my arms last night.

21. "Casablanca" is doubtlessly the best movie ever.

22. I have a possibly unhealthy obsession with John Cusack

23. I've published technical literature and a poem, but I just want to get beyond the 988/1100pp? of the book I'm rewriting for the third time.

24. My highest cause is just to face every issue the best I can in the moment it is relevant to me.

25. I reject the encumbrance of political correctness.

26. I love women, but I don't pursue them.

27. When I'm drunk, I speak several unknown languages.

28. I am disgusted with celebrity for celebrity's sake, and the famous-for-being-famous.

29. If I can, I do; if I can't, I don't dream.

30. I consider any form of idol-worship dangerous.

via Ping.fm

30 Things that are about as random as I get.

Rules: Rules? We don't need no stinking rules! Mbuahahaha!! Make up your random facts if you want to do so, otherwise, who am I to ask anything of you? I don't know how to do this and it's taken me too long already.

1. Nothing happened today: In my opinion, God already cancelled it yesterday.

2. I have no plans for the weekend: I'm not going to let God do this twice.

3. I believe in God, but only for referential integrity.

4. I shouldn't be doing this because I should be paying my property taxes, but I'm looking for a place to do it online.

5. When in good health, it takes me 6 seconds to fall asleep.

6. I had over a half-million books until my family home was vandalized, and after the sad triage, I contributed the lion's share to Cunningham Memorial Library.

7. I am possessed with putting periods between enumeration and the corresponding text.

8. I had to Google "Hello Kitty," and I'm still not sure what it is.

9. I have a problem with forgiveness, especially when people tag me.

10. At this moment, some of my hair is still pink.

11. I appreciate country music, but I don't prefer it.

12. I am accepting gifts, particularly heart-and-teddy beary T-shirts.

13. I used to live in a library or two.

14. I have a movement disorder, particularly trouble initiating speech, but most people think it's mental retardation.

15. I type faster than I talk and text slower than I type.

16. I gave up all television for a year: I have a blank spot in the FBI incident in Waco, Texas.

17. I hope to see another President in this country in my lifetime.

18. Sincerity is very important to me, but truth is an ideal and honesty not what it's cracked up to be.

19. I wish my cats were millionaires.

20. I misunderstood the intent of a bartender who tripped and fell into my arms last night.

21. "Casablanca" is doubtlessly the best movie ever.

22. I have a possibly unhealthy obsession with John Cusack

23. I've published technical literature and a poem, but I just want to get beyond the 988/1100pp? of the book I'm rewriting for the third time.

24. My highest cause is just to face every issue the best I can in the moment it is relevant to me.

25. I reject the encumbrance of political correctness.

26. I love women, but I don't pursue them.

27. When I'm drunk, I speak several unknown languages.

28. I am disgusted with celebrity for celebrity's sake, and the famous-for-being-famous.

29. If I can, I do; if I can't, I don't dream.

30. I consider any form of idol-worship dangerous.

July 5, 2001 Reference to "The Matrix" from the old "Daily Rave"

The Daily Rave

Friday, July 06, 2001 About a month ago I was looking for clues on something -- I think I was seeking information on implementations of "bitset" -- when I ran across the following post. > From: "Phobos" > Newsgroups: alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++ > Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 2:23 PM > Subject: [C++] Iteration and Recursion > <Greetings> > I'm in the process of learning C++ and I came across the interesting topic of Iteration and Recursion, given that recursion creates new instances of variables every time that the function is called (thereby using memory etc.) > I was wondering if anyone had an example of when recursion would be preferable to iteration? > Or even an opinion on the subject... > > P I attempted to reply directly to the sender rather than muck up the list with my long-winded comments since it would appear that there's no way of getting a short answer from me. I have the incredibly good habit of supplying context, background and thorough description with the notion that the recipient may not be psychic, may be thinking of an entirely different subject or may have forgotten why I'm sending an essay on this or that by the time s/he sifts through the queue of messages ahead of mine, but for some reason, some people find a detailed report offensive. Personally, I read about 2K words/minute but I only write about 80 or 90 wpm at the most -- and I don't see the economy in replying to me in a diatribe on the length of my message. Anyway, the poster apparently used a bogus address and my reply bounced. I was really disappointed that I didn't get the chance to share my opinion which was really on the order of free professional advice. There may be some imprecision in the way I expressed myself in the reply, so I still didn't want to post to the list and receive a barrage of technical criticism, so I sent it to a colleague who might appreciate the material. After our discussion, I began to be more comfortable with the idea of posting it to my journal, then archiving it and gradually promoting it and modifying it (on the basis of feedback, if I get it) until it is fit for publication in my Software Development Notes section.   To encourage me to change my way of thinking, this is the message that Roger sent me: ----------- begin message -------- From: "Roger Guisinger"<rguisinger@email.root> To: <ernie.cordell@computer.org> Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2001 5:48 PM   This is good stuff. I would reply to him via the group, saying you have a lot to say about recursion but don't want to publish to the group, and establish an off-line dialogue. You might invite group members who are interested to join the off-line dialogue. You might publish it to your website, for example. ----------- end message ----------- [I agreed with his comment and sent him a reply like this.] It was one of these "news-web-posts" and I hit reply deciding that would be what I would do if I got a newsgroup-post reply, but if I got an Email address, I'd go ahead and answer the guy. [I thought of reposting but by that time I wasn't sure] in which newsgroup I found it: I was originally reading alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++, but you know how web versions of newsreaders are -- you can jump off into another discussion without even knowing it. [I didn't want to search just to find it when it was] not a nice way to treat people whose aid he wishes to enlist. [I wanted to supply the information for other people on the list, but at that point I would be sacrificing potential income as well as time.] So I wrote: Posting it to my website is an interesting thought -- it might be a good thing for Software Development Note #n+1. I would want to clean it up first, though. [I was at first concerned with the time it would take me to convert this message to HTML and I was worried that] I'd immediately be flamed for any imprecisions, especially if I put it on a published page. An overpowering thought was: I should try to put a little more time into web content development. [I explained that I had lost a good biography that I had written for my web pages when] I hit the "Save" button, Microsoft Windows [failed], my disk crashed and that was the only file that didn't survive [after] I recovered as much as possible. [I was particularly disappointed because I felt that] It would have completely put to rest [the argument] about "not having any apparent focus [in my career path]." It showed what my objectives were, all the steps that I took in my approach to solve the problems that were important to me, how many of my milestones that I hit . . . . [I was discouraged by how much I had accomplished without a computer and how little I was accomplishing with one, but I was optimistic enough to end with the light-hearted comment] -- Comedy is easy; Emotional Adjustment is hard . . . Earlier I had written: [After explaining how the message had bounced,] I thought you might be interested in my response to him, though, because it addresses recursion not only as a programming technique, with efficiency concerns, but with design and business concerns as well. I enclosed the "essay" on iteration versus recursion which is the core topic of this website posting: Subject: Re: [C++] Iteration and Recursion Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 13:15:05 -0400 Organization: Ernie's Place I often find the decision as to whether to post to the group somewhat difficult. Many people have opinions, and in this case, I'm one of them.   You might [want to] think of recursion as an "expanding scope" problem: The invocation record that has to be resolved in order for the function to return is replicated, consuming more and more memory. But the last-generation element has to be resolved before it can be returned to the previous invocation. This does mean that a "variable" is being replicated, but in each recursion that "variable" may hold a different value, altering the way in which each recursion is executed: It has its own memory, and in a sense, its own scope. Once the final recursion leaves its scope, it releases its memory (in a well-behaved implementation) and returns its result to the previous recursion. So the memory usage expands and collapses like an accordion: It is effectively a way of invoking the same function with different parameter values -- something that you would be doing with iteration anyway. The difference is the kind and number of copies of that function (or its invocation record) that you would have in memory at the same time. You might also think of it as a set of invocation records for a series of functions that are all pushed onto a stack, and popped off and resolved until the original caller is satisfied. This is roughly the kind of operation that you have in a parsing operation in the best of situations. The difference here is whether we're pushing operators and operands or function parameters and invocation records. Also, data structures (a tree, for instance) may behave in much the same way: A process builds a tree from the root to the leaves; as each of the leaves of the tree are resolved, the nodes are removed and their values are returned to the parents of these nodes until the tree has collapsed to produce some sort of unified result. You may think of the way parsing trees are built as an example. Parses or algorithms that use this "expansion and collapse" to "intermediately compute and resolve" an inductive-like series may often lend themselves to recursion. If it is simpler to use iteration, iteration may be more desireable. The "bad" form of recursion is "uncontrolled." Like an infinite loop, no exit is found -- but worse, it will continue to consume memory until there is an abort, or still worse, crash the operating system or the machine (depending on where it goes for this memory). "Good" recursion, like the Prolog AI routines use, always have a point at which they "bail." This is usually because there is no need to continue in order to resolve: Imagine a scenario where there is a successive approximation conducted. At some point the approximation will exceed the precision given deltas and tolerances, or maybe just machine precision capacity. Prolog uses what is called a "cut element" to halt the recursion (at which the algorithm "collapses in on itself," steadily decreasing its memory use). This corresponds to the "if clause" of a well-written recursion -- > > > if (bail-point) > > > return args > > > else > > > call-me(n-times); > > > So there is an efficiency consideration for recursion: A recursion should be limited in what it can and will accept as arguments to be workable. It should be known (roughly) how many invocation records will be pushed and what kind of time and space resources will be used unwinding the stack afterwards. Another way of looking at the decision as to whether to use recursion is whether determination of the parameters to a function depend upon a previous invocation of that function. It might be a bit egg-headed to seek a function that not only returns the result that you want, but also determines a succession of parameter values. Binary growth and collapse might tend in that direction, but only a few problem sets will naturally suggest recursion. Now that we have talked about the decision to use recursion in terms of programming solutions and efficiency, let me suggest something I consider much more important: Business solutions. If the recursion is simple, direct and controlled, it may well be coded in many fewer lines than comparable iterative solutions. If the solution is simple, direct, controlled, clear and can be placed in a single cognitive block, it may be easier to maintain. Sometimes efficiency takes a back seat to labor cost: If the recursive solution takes one page of code and "ten pages in memory," it may make sense to pay a programmer once for a recursive solution rather than pay many programmers for many hours maintaining iterative solutions that do not naturally derive their parameters, but rather rely on other functions to find those parameters for them. If you would like an exercise that demonstrates this, write a program as though it were intended for a language that does not support recursion; then simulate recursion using iteration. It's better to conduct this experiment than to listen to me, but I think you'll find that simulating recursion proves more complicated than using it in the first place. This is the heart of the business maintenance cost argument: Recursion is good when it avoids complexity that increases production cost. [Recognizing that I eliminated little confusion and introduced some imprecision I signed off on the reply with] I hope this doesn't muddy the waters too much -- Ernie Another colleague of mine (Bob Schaab) once launched a defense for my E-mail messages, "People always react kinda funny when they get their first Erniegram (aside: that's what I call Ernie's E-mails). When I got my first Erniegram, I thought -- What the heck is this guy tryin' ta say? -- but then I read the message again and I understood. He's just tryin' ta tell people what he thinks they oughta know -- what he'd like to know -- before startin' ta work on a problem." When I put together what Roger and Bob have said, I decided that it would be better to publish this -- if anybody has any thoughts on improving it, I'll try to incorporate comments into another version that I will eventually post under the Software Development Notes section. Until then, don't get angry, consider this entry "an essay on probation" and I'll attempt to make it "right and good" in your eyes, too. End of current rant and rave . . . posted at 11:39:50 PM by Ernie Cordell Thursday, July 05, 2001 I found a number of interesting links at The Proceedings of the Friesian School on Tuesday (July 3rd). Intrestingly enough, I stumbled onto it when I watched the movie "The Matrix" and the form of the Latin Expression "Temet Nosce" troubled me (the form of Gnothi Seauton still troubles me, because I've long thought it should be Gnate Se-auton, but that's another story). The site's Ownership, Copyright, & Disclaimer says: The Proceedings of the Friesian School, Fourth Series is a non-periodic journal and archive of philosophy, updated as needed, published and edited by Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D.. All materials, unless otherwise indicated, are copyrighted (c) 1979, 1985, 1987, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 by the editor. All rights are reserved, but fair and good faith use with attribution may be made of all contents for any non-commercial educational, scholarly, and personal purposes, including reposting, with links to the original page, on the internet. It is not necessary to obtain copyright release for such uses, but the Proceedings would be grateful to be voluntarily informed, for informational purposes only, of the use of its materials. Commercial use of these materials may not be made without written permission. So if anyone has a presence of mind to do so, tell them that I have posted this and I would have informed them, but I likely forgot because my mind was a jumble as I rambled through links and blogs trying to bring as much useful material to light as possible. I found the quote on this website, but I was intrigued in that a number of well-written, informed and clear-thinking articles were posted to this site, and a few of them were: The Matrix -- A legitimate criticism of the horror that was supposed to be a mainstream, published review of the movie where it was pretty evident that the reviewer didn't even see the film. More credit was given to that reviewer, noting that "he surely wasn't paying attention" in this splendid article that is bound to add to the numerous interpretations that one fancies while watching the film that manages to combine action, adventure, science fiction, martial arts, doomsday projections and fairly deep metaphysical questions about the nature of reality. To my mind, both movie and article answer well the issue of the "brain in a vat" concept which troubles critics of "The Cartesian Theatre" as we continue to explore the nature of that which we might call "Sentient Consciousness." Basic Buddhist Teachings and Doctrines is the best "nutshell explanations" that I've ever seen on the belief system, history and genesis of this religion. It fairly thoroughly delineates basic thoughts and precepts that are core to the philosophical base of Buddhism, and makes a good "side read" to the application of Buddhist thought in "The Matrix ." Carl Gustav Jung  is also a good synopsis of Jung's thought and even includes other links that show other earlier sources for the derivation of such concepts as "Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious." Rudolf Otto  is one such selection, showing that mystical features of Jung's expositions on synchronicity can be seen as extensions of "numinosity" that is common to every belief system that holds certain objects or persons "special" in the sense that they are regarded as "holy" or "sacred." Excuse my occasionally poor descriptions (and maybe even erroneous ones in subtle distinctions that escape me) here, since I'm trying to draw emphasis to the links that I mention and present them for people to follow, not trying replace them or reiterate them elsewhere. I found them interesting because (1) they pulled together threads on the meaning of "Temet Nosce" which I'm more accustomed to seeing in the context of the Delphic Oracle (and hence in Greek); (2) they featured an article on "The Matrix" that added "meat" to my perceptions on the nature of reality exposed in the film; (3) the article on the movie showed the lengths to which some critics will go after having seen only the trailer for a film; and (4) there are good, substantive explanations of notions in philosophy that can edify and instruct casual layperson and intellectual savant alike. posted at 2:50:23 PM by Ernie Cordell This is a test: God, I hate writing this, but I'm tired of writing long test entries, and at this point I don't want to save an entry to cut and paste over again. With my luck, this one will work -- and I'll hate looking at it from aeons to come. posted at 1:18:09 PM by Ernie Cordell

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Copyright (c) 2001 Email Ernie Cordell

Dream Jewelry from the old "Daily Rave"

The Daily Rave

Sunday, July 15, 2001   Dream Jewelry   The picture at left is a piece of jewelry that I rendered in Paint Shop Pro . . . after having a dream that I was seeking help for a problem about which I have no recollection. Actually, I took it for one of those dreams where you have a problem to solve at work, but you enter into a sort of extended metaphor of the problem and somehow arrive at a solution. It might be called a translucent dream, because I can't say that it was all that lucid, but I had a certain awareness that it was a dream -- which I forgot frequently throughout the course of the vivid visualization. It was quite a colorful dream: Mark Campbell used to call them Early Technicolor Dreams -- the kind that don't look like normal color vision, but more like rich color photographs -- or a day in the summer when you're wearing the old, green-tinted sunglasses -- or maybe like a day in The Matrix.   The surroundings or setting of the dream was in a place that looked like the Garden of the Gods or somewhere else in the Rockies above Colorado Springs, maybe up Cheyenne Mountain or towards [Zebulon] Pike's Peak. It had that dry, rocky appearance of the Garden, though -- or maybe more like one of those artist villages like Boulder, Colorado or Bisby, Arizona. I'm seeing a regularity here, but I don't think I'll post it with this story.   Anyway, I was on a dusty path with that reddish Martian Terrain look that the Arch has in the Garden or somewhere around the rock that looks like some kind of giant head -- it could have been one of those old farm access roads in the Georgia Plains, too, where they have that red clay; but it would have had to be during one of those droughts when the cracked soil crumbles and turns to powder.   There were people around me -- a lot of them -- with typical Midwestern casual wear like plaid flannel shirts -- or maybe just the tartans that look like the flannel shirts (you would have been crazy in the blinding sun of the dream to wear flannel, but dreams don't have to make sense, do they?).   These people on this colored landscape seemed genuinely interested in helping me, and were gathering around me like some kind of desert workgroup. There was the feeling of concern around me, like they all wanted to help, but beyond a certain specialization that they had -- they could only commiserate. Then one of them stepped forward in a sort of cream-colored skirt and white blouse that positively radiated in the bright sunlight. Everything seemed to glint and my vision was blurred as though the thick dust were in my eyes or that I had been crying -- the same kind of effect that you see when they film through a lens with petrolatum smeared around the edges. The effect made sense, as though sweat kept rolling into my eyes: I had the sensation that my skin was fevered -- like the roasting after-effect of sunburn. Maybe I had a slight cold (catarrh, grippe) whose influence I was no longer able to notice after I awakened.   This glowing figure, a woman with dishwater blond hair (as we used to say in Central Indiana) walked up to me with an animated sub-group who seemed quite encouraged and said, "Here, just put this on, and you'll be all right." People around her nodded and murmured in movie-style peas-and-carrots. I put the tether around my neck, and someone seemed to be helping me hook the crude fastener in the back.   As I had the amulet or pendant in my hand, I caught glimpses of it so that I noticed several basic figures in color -- a red button in the middle and green extenses around the edges. I noticed a very distinctive rope-braid etching around the edges of the crude silver. I later identified the individual stones -- a garnet in the center with a fine-dactyled ring setting, and inlaid turquoise forms that surrounded it. The silver seemed like the kind that you see from souvenirs of South American villages -- not like the fine Sterling that you see in the urban United States.   When I first awakened, I thought little of it -- hmm . . . a curious dream . . . and it was virtually forgotten. Later, though, it kept resurfacing until I thought to investigate it. I still do upon occasion -- I've found some old Russian pieces that resemble it -- but they are all in gold and feature clearer stones. I went to several exotic stores (without benefit of the image above), but I didn't find anything like it. One shopkeeper had me draw a rough pencil sketch in the store, but asked me to tell him what the materials were. I found it curious that none of the people with whom I spoke seemed to think it peculiar that I was searching something that I had only dreamt -- they treated my strange request as though I had told them, "I lost my catalogue."   The fellow who had me make a rough drawing in pencil suggested that it looked Navaho in a lot of ways, but then said, "No, I'm not sure -- there's something about it that makes that not quite right." He stared at it for a bit and added, "It can't be Navaho because all their jewelry has stones that are on the Medicine Wheel."   "What?" I asked, being wholly unfamiliar with formal studies of Native American Culture (except what one may learn walking around catching people here and there who tell you this thing and that; informal field work?) He made a smacking noise with his lips and then raised a finger in the air as if to say, "Wait just a minute." He ran off quickly and then returned with a big book that had a chart in it, "Garnet is on the Medicine Wheel -- I was wrong."   "So you think it is Navaho?" I asked.   "It could be . . . " he answered, "but, no, I don't think so -- there's still something wrong."   I didn't go back to that shop (near the Woodmont Triangle in Bethesda, Maryland) -- not because of any negative experience -- just because it isn't something that occurs to me on a regular basis. I had been thinking about it one day when I passed the Bethesda Farmer's Market. It must have been Spring or Fall because it was temperate -- not the nasty cold spray of a Washingtonian Winter -- nor the sweltering heat of Summer that afflicts the area around August. There were tables set up outside, and I remember the event like a delimiter of the season -- either one of the first days for such an event -- or one of the last ones.   I was looking at stones that day -- there were a lot of them -- particularly at the table of an Indian (Eastern, from the country India) merchant. He had huge eggs (not to say oolitics, but just to remark on the shapes) of turquoise that left a striking impression at just the sight. He also had some curious red stones -- some of them moonstones, I think, but the smaller ones seemed less rosy and more ruby. Anyway, my eyes flashed past crude silver, large lumps of turquoise and little bubbles of red as we casually conversed and I bought a few decorative minerals -- mostly I remember the amethyst, similar to an oolitic that I had hired cut in half as a friendship bond present for and between Mark Campbell (mentioned above) and Rick Kirby, a journalist that I can't seem to interest in Internet communication.   We started talking about my dream and the strange talisman that I was awarded by the people. It hadn't started out as a detailed description or elaborate conversation on the dream, but he asked me about the size of the piece, and I said, "When they gave it to me, I held it comfortably in the palm of my hand."   "Who were T h e y?" he asked.   So I told him a little more about the dream.   "I can have this made for you in India," he said, pushing out his lower lip, "It won't cost more than $40 in American money -- but you must promise not to be disturbed if it costs as much as $50."   So, in the context of our agreement, I came home and later that evening I made the above painting. We made several arrangements to give him a diskette with the JPEG image, but none of them worked. I later called his office persistently until I reached him and he told me that a full-sized FAX would be sufficient because he knew what the materials were in the pendant. He didn't call and I didn't see him again. Some people have told me that they think I simply designed some jewerly without charging anything.   I used to have this guy's business card around here -- maybe I still do -- but since I wouldn't be doing him any favors with this kind of advertising, I'm not going to identify him specifically. Who knows what could have happened to him? Maybe he was just too embarrassed by how much he underestimated the work -- maybe he was trying to hint at payment in advance -- if so, I wish he'd just been specific. I could have easily sent him a check and then waited for it to clear. I don't think most outdoor bazaars take credit cards -- if they do, I'm not sure that I want to use one where they tear down the show at the end of the day. I would have come to his store had he said it were necessary.   To sum things up at this altogether late hour at which I seem to be writing regularly, I'd still like to have it made. So many of the jewelers in DC have started drooling when I ask about having it made, and they pretty much balk at mentioning any prices, that I've stopped approaching the shops with all the glitz in the windows.   . . . but if anyone could help me to seek my fortune without losing one . . . posted at 10:26:16 PM by Ernie Cordell RADIO BLOG BLOGGER BLOG HOME ARCHIVES

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Copyright (c) 2001 Email Ernie Cordell

Death By Blancmange

Death By Blancmange

Like Judas with a kiss,
She brought me tea and biscuits;
Darjeeling and Earl Grey
Said all there was to say.
This gift told me we were through.

The quarrel was so horrifying,
In silence that was agonizing,
Pregnant with a paralyzing love.
We clawed for words in desperation,
Marked by frequent hesitation,
Punctuated by a sense of dread.

The theatre was stimulating,
Like cocaine and hyperventilating,
So we sent out for kindney pie nonetheless
Being civilized to our planned schedule
Despite the press of overwhelming stress.

Like the quick rip of a bandage,
Vanilla Wafers did the talking;
Ginger Snaps were terser than our row.
So her heartstrings slipped the bow,
Going free when colored paper tore.

Fatal moments conspired to make a difference,
While I gripped a river to come sooner,
But she couldn't tell that I held onto her.
A scalpel instant seered decisive resignation,
But faith means hoping something has to work.

After dinner in the dark,
That funereal meeting in the park,
The second-hand pounded nails to make offence
The notion dreary that I couldn't entertain with her:
That she replaced herself with some crumbs and quince.

Like Judas with a kiss,
She brought me tea and biscuits;
Darjeeling and Earl Grey
Said all there was to say.
This gift told me we were through.

via Ping.fm

Death By Blancmange

Death By Blancmange

Like Judas with a kiss,
She brought me tea and biscuits;
Darjeeling and Earl Grey
Said all there was to say.
This gift told me we were through.

The quarrel was so horrifying,
In silence that was agonizing,
Pregnant with a paralyzing love.
We clawed for words in desperation,
Marked by frequent hesitation,
Punctuated by a sense of dread.

The theatre was stimulating,
Like cocaine and hyperventilating,
So we sent out for kindney pie nonetheless
Being civilized to our planned schedule
Despite the press of overwhelming stress.

Like the quick rip of a bandage,
Vanilla Wafers did the talking;
Ginger Snaps were terser than our row.
So her heartstrings slipped the bow,
Going free when colored paper tore.

Fatal moments conspired to make a difference,
While I gripped a river to come sooner,
But she couldn't tell that I held onto her.
A scalpel instant seered decisive resignation,
But faith means hoping something has to work.

After dinner in the dark,
That funereal meeting in the park,
The second-hand pounded nails to make offence
The notion dreary that I couldn't entertain with her:
That she replaced herself with some crumbs and quince.

Like Judas with a kiss,
She brought me tea and biscuits;
Darjeeling and Earl Grey
Said all there was to say.
This gift told me we were through.

An American Tune: Testing Ping Blog Posts

American Tune by Paul Simon

Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And cer-tain-ly misused
Oh, but I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far a-way from home, so-oh far away from home

And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees
but it's alright, it's alright
for we've lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we're travelling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help but wonder what has gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul ROSE unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above, my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying . . .

Oh, we come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the a-ge's most uncertain hours
and sing an American tune
Oh, an' it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's gonna be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying to get some rest

via Ping.fm

An American Tune: Testing Ping Blog Posts

American Tune by Paul Simon

Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And cer-tain-ly misused
Oh, but I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far a-way from home, so-oh far away from home

And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees
but it's alright, it's alright
for we've lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we're travelling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help but wonder what has gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul ROSE unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above, my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying . . .

Oh, we come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the a-ge's most uncertain hours
and sing an American tune
Oh, an' it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's gonna be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying to get some rest

w/o Cathy's steady hand

ipse dixit
--Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Location : lat=38.911, lng=-77.037


--
Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Trip to the store

ipse dixit
--Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Location : lat=38.911, lng=-77.037


--
Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Trio's Restaurant Bar during the blizzard

ipse dixit
--Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Location : lat=38.911, lng=-77.037


--
Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Hate in Skeat's Concise

Etymological Dictionary Entry
--Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Location : lat=38.904, lng=-77.039


--
Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Life Gets Complicated

Recently updated storage locations for my laptop.
--Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Location : Washington, DC


--
Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Life Gets Complicated

Recently updated storage locations for my laptop.
--Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Location : lat=38.911, lng=-77.037


--
Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Life Gets Complicated

Recently updated storage locations for my laptop.
--Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Location : Washington, DC


--
Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Facebook | oDesk: Introducing oDesk Team 3

Facebook | oDesk: Introducing oDesk Team 3

Virgin Mobile Announcement

I deleted it.
Virgin Mobile Announcement in summary screen.
--Sent from my Virgin Mobile!


--
Sent from my Virgin Mobile

This Blog Hijacked by Cracker

Much of the activity on this blog has been suspended for a period of time because it was hijacked by an interloper who posted "Adult Advertising" to it, including pictures, some of which seemed to originate from a Russian source. One post included a Cyrillic description whose title equated to "Prostitutes."

After having several countermeasures thwarted, I took a break before revamping security.

The likelihood of recurrence is unknown at present.