ashi

Oh right, I'm throwing a party in August at Worldcon in Reno. Perhaps I should look for fan videos to show again.

I last successfully held a similar party in Japan: http://anysize.org/~ashi/fan-videos-nippon2007/ (Melbourne didn't have space for me last year).

Any fan-created videos will do if it's in English or has English subtitles!

I did a little cleaning up today. Images in links as a warning: rather messy for some sensitive eyes.

http://anysize.org/~ashi/2011-desk-under-before.jpg

http://anysize.org/~ashi/2011-desk-under-after.jpg

Good things:

Son is married now and happy
Wedding went off beautifully
Seattle is a nice place for a honeymoon
Stolen car is back
Wearing kilt to work today


Bad things:

Flat tire this morning, did get spare on in time to make regular train
Caltrain delays made me miss my regular shuttle, did make the later one
Forgot book and earbuds at Luke's. Watched some anime on the train w/o audio... at least there were subs.

Hrm, the WIPO is trying to write a treaty exception to copyright so blind people will have free access to the written word. Several countries including USA, Canada the EU, and Australia, are trying to block this.

"The main aim of the treaty is to allow the cross-border import and export of digital copies of books and other copyrighted works in formats that are accessible to persons who are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic or have other reading disabilities, using special devices that present text as refreshable braille, computer generated text to speech, or large type. These works, which are expensive to make, are typically created under national exceptions to copyright law that are specifically written to benefit persons with disabilities..."

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/29/usa-canada-and-the-e.html

Whatever your stance on DMCA and copyright, this seems like a very good treaty to me.

I sent the following email to Chef Elaina today, co-owner of Cafe Soulstice:

Hi. I stopped by Cafe Soustice in San Mateo recently,
and it looks like everything has been cleared away. I
tried calling, but no one answered. The website doesn't
have any updates.

I see you listed as the co-owner, so I was wondering if
you could let me know if Cafe Soulstice is gone forever.
Thanks.

Todd
Cafe Soulstice fan

and got this response:

Hi Todd,
I'm sorry to say that yes, the doors have been closed. We just
didn't have the funds to keep going.
You may or may not know, but there is a business right in Burlingame
called Que se Raw se Raw that serves organic, raw food dishes to go.
It's right next to The Good Earth Natural Food Store.
Also there is Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco if you are up for the
drive.
Good luck to you!


I'm sad to see them go. I used to eat there most every Thursday, days I drove to work. weepingmoon had a shake there once too.

I have discovered a somewhat healthier way to make very chocolatey milk, soy or otherwise.

I prefer to mix it in the blender so it mixes better.

Put soy milk in the blender and start blending. Add cocoa powder until it looks a little darker than typical chocolate milk. Taste, and add a bit of sugar until it tastes how you like. If you aren't used to much sugar, you can get away with a lot less sugar than you'll find in typical chocolate milk / chocolate soy milk, and at the same time you can make it chocolateyer. Kind of a dark chocolate like flavor. Mmm.

Doh, screwed up anysize.org while trying to upgrade it remotely. I know, bad idea... I'll fix it tonight.

I do see a bit of resemblance.

Happy First of May, especially to Jonathan Coulton fans!

So, having survived a preview of the hot weather to come, I designed two new t-shirts on my Zazzle. You can get some idea just from the URLs:

http://www.zazzle.com/sunlight_depresses_me_tshirt-235060024625395147

http://www.zazzle.com/rain_makes_me_happy_tshirt-235254233443122811

The drawings were done freehand in the Gimp. I envisioned the sun drawn in crayon with a frown instead of the usual smile and went from there, using the paintbrush tool instead of a crayon. :)