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the bright aisles of c-town
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Thursday, December 30, 2004
Make Firefox Faster!
For all of you PC users out there who have smartly stopped using IE and switched to Firefox, check out the following trick I found on Boing Boing.
(Thanks to blog for the original link.)
1.Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:
network.http.pipelining
network.http.proxy.pipelining
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.
2. Alter the entries as follows: [by right clicking]
Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.
3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.
If you're using a broadband connection you'll load pages MUCH faster now!
6:44 PM
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Viva Rideshare!
To make a long story short, I caught a rideshare out of NYC the morning after I missed my flight. A nice guy named Jim picked me up and he was playing Ted Leo on the car stereo. Since our musical tastes were similar, I knew it would be a good trip. Jim's pit bull, King, crashed in the back seat for the entire ride. We avoided the nasty midwestern weather and made it to Michigan in 11 hours. I was at my grandma's for Christmas Eve, and the holidays have been mighty swell.
Detroit is fantastic, and I miss it.
5:01 PM
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
I missed my flight home to Michigan today. I am beyond pissed. I was even on time! Thanks a lot United Airlines and US Airways for being so incompetent.
I just want to go home!!!!
Wah Wah Wah, call the Wahmbulance.
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Addendum: Since I'm so enraged this evening, I thought I'd just post this little nugget. Visit the Racial Slur Database for all your hate-based humor needs.
3:55 PM
Friday, December 17, 2004
Hello Nurse - Tonight at Piano's
Piano's
Friday, December 17, 2004 at 9 PM
158 Ludlow St bet. Stanton and Rivington
Hope to see some folks out tonight. Piano's has great sound, and even though I'm sick as a dog I will be rockin' the DayQuil.
7:41 AM
Thursday, December 16, 2004
New Signature iPods
7:28 PM
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Happy Birthday to the Bright Aisles
Last Wednesday, December 8th, The Bright Aisles of C-Town celebrated it's 2nd birthday. Blogs come and go frequently, and some of my favorite blogs have vanished. The Bright Aisles has been resilient. This free page provided by the fine people at Blogger has been around to capture such monumentous events as the black-out of '03, Jackie's graduation, hot celebrity gossip, street-luging on Riverside Drive, 33 seconds of peace, Hello Nurse searching for a band name, the 2004 presidential election, and my first fixed-gear bike.
Yes, two years ago I was busy writing lesson plans for the week of second grade teaching ahead. I took a break from the action to create this tiny nugget of cyberspace. I had no idea then that I would actually keep up with this hobby semi-diligently for two full years.
Jeez Christian, you've been doing this 2 years and you only had 22 visitors yesterday??
...Yes, twenty-two loyal, beautiful, superstar champions of moral, social, and intellectual excellence! Seriously, I would like to offer a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has read, linked, added a comment, forwarded, or barely ignored this blog over the past two years. This blog does maintain a small community of readers, and I truly appreciate the moment of procrastination you all devote every once and a while to visit my site.
Since the blog as a tool is a way of hyperlinking other web pages, I would especially like to recognize Jess for his continued commitment to blogging. The Firephile has had a perpetual reign on the top of my links list due to his blog's longevity. Jess' blog will be turning two on January 28th, which is also the second anniversary of his battle with the Norwalk virus. If you haven't read Jess' blog, check it out. He's living the life you wish you had.
And to the rest of you bloggers out there, keep on truckin'.... or rather, wasting your lunch hour on the computer.
9:41 PM
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Another reason why I loathe telemarketers
...continuing the theme of complaining about awful people from the last post...
A very special thanks to Georgia for giving me the heads up on the following item of concern.
Starting Jan 1, 2005, all cell phone numbers will be made public to
telemarketing firms. So this means as of Jan 1, your cell phone may
start ringing off the hook with telemarketers, but unlike your home
phone, most of you pay for your incoming calls. These telemarketers
will eat up your free minutes and end up costing you money in the long
run.
According to the National Do Not Call List, you have until Dec. 15th
2004 to get on the national "Do not call list" for cell phones. They
said that you need to call 1-888-382-1222 from the cell phone that you
wish to have put on the "do not call list" to be put on the list. They
also said you can do it online at www.donotcall.gov.
I just visited the site and signed up my phone and Jackie's phone. If a telemarketer calls me at home, I'm usually annoyed. But I also realize that the person on the other end of the line is just trying to make a buck to pay some bills. However, if some telemarketer wastes my mobile minutes, I hope they are prepared for 59 seconds of filthy, filthy curse words.
In more pleasant news, Maine is beautiful. The weather stinks, but we're decorating the O'Neill family tree, so all is well.
4:09 PM
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Another reason why I loathe the upper east side
Last summer Jackie and I visited a Roy Lichtenstein sculpture exhibit on the roof of the Met. It was a beautiful afternoon, and the view of central park from the roof is spectacular. What drew our attention more than the art was a hawk flying in circles around the park. I kept waiting for the hawk to land on a falconer's glove, but we finally realized that yes, an actual wild hawk was flying around the park. We watched the hawk for about 20 minutes until it eventually flew away from our view.
Apparently one specific hawk named Pale Male built a nest in 1993 on the side of a co-op at 927 Fifth Avenue at 74th Street. Pale Male has nested there ever since, and bird watchers have closely observed Pale Male sire 23 young hawks throughout his residency at the classy upper east side habitat. Someone has even made a documentary about Pale Male! In fact, PBS followed suit with a documentary of their own.
It turns out Pale Male is somewhat of a celebrity. Who could help but root for a wild animal making the best of an urban habitat and finding a way to survive in the human dominated environment of New York City?....
The assholes who live at 927 Fifth Avenue, that's who.
According to the New York Times:
Residents of the building had objected to large bird droppings and, occasionally, the carcasses of pigeons - which hawks prey upon - that landed on the sidewalk in front of their lobby. [A resident] said her husband had attended a recent co-op board meeting, and had been informed of its all-but-unanimous decision to remove the nest, even though he had objected to the move.
Workers hired by the co-op removed the nest yesterday, detroying Pale Male's home of more than 10 years. City officials and naturalists are up in arms, and rightfully so. According to the New York Times article, however, there is little legal recourse available.
Pale Male's nest was removed once before in 1993. The next year he rebuilt the nest and has lived there ever since. Hopefully Pale Male will persist and rebuild again. And if he does rebuild, I hope he eats a ton of food every day and splatters their sidewalk with the nastiest birdie-runs imaginable.
Dear Pale Male, please poop here:
I'm going to be out of town this weekend visiting Jackie in Maine. If anyone out there would like to prank this building with me when I get back, let me know. Any good ideas???
11:28 AM
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Dissent is in the air
The fine students at Columbia University are at it again. Members of the student body are protesting against a university investigation of faculty of the MEALAC department. The Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Academic Freedom at Columbia had a meeting today at noon. Did any of you Columbia folks attend this? Do any of you Columbia folks even read this blog? (Probably not.)
One thing I'm worried about - why isn't this covered in the Spec?
10:51 AM
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Holiday Name Drawing
I spent some time Sunday evening drawing the names for the Sparling family annual Boxing Day gift exchange. We have let Christmas Day serve as a day for nuclear family celebrations, and the extended family gets together on Boxing Day to exchange gifts. Since the extended Sparling family is rather large, my grandmother began a tradition where she put everyone's name in a hat and conducted a drawing. That way, each family member buys one gift for one other person instead of going to the poor house trying to get gifts for everyone. Over the years this system has worked fairly well. My grandmother always made sure to keep track of the recipients from previous years, so no one ended up drawing the same name two years in a row.
This year I have been handed the important duty of drawing names and notifying family members of their Secret Santee, the person for whom they should buy/make/find a gift. The family e-mail chain debated what gifts should look like this year, since some people have been going overboard and not respecting the $30 limit as of late. Also, some family members, including myself, are trying to steer the holiday away from it's consumerist roots. Therefore, this year it is now acceptable for family members to regift something they already own or make something to give. Secret Santas can also make a donation to a charity on behalf of the Secret Santee, and of course traditional gift giving is perfectly acceptable as long as the $30 limit is respected.
So, to ensure that I had a reliable witness to the name drawing ceremony, I called up my favorite lady for some phone assistance.
Next, I wrote a list of all participating family members. I cut up the list so that each name was on its own slip of paper. My cousin Brooke and I are first year participants in the Secret Santa game. Previously we were included in the kids group - and the kids get spoiled by everyone. I think everyone finally caught on last year when I split my jammies down the middle trying to untie a ribbon. I can no longer pass as a member of the kids group.
I then had to find an appropriate hat from which to draw the names. This hat, a Beth Sparling hand-made original, was perfect for the occasion.
I bet you can totally guess what comes next... I put all the names in the hat. You're so smart. How did you know??
Now this is where Jackie came in. She picked a name over the phone and then I would draw the name out of the hat. The name she picked would be the Secret Santa, and the name I drew became that person's Secret Santee. I cross referenced each pick with a list of last year's givers and recipients to ensure that no one drew the same name two years in a row.
At the end I e-mailed everyone their names. On Boxing Day everyone gets a gift from their Secret Santa, and all will be merry. And of course, we get to spoil my aunt Sue Gay's kids rotten!
So that's how the Sparlings celebrate the holidays. How do you celebrate?
9:46 PM
Thursday, December 02, 2004
New Hello Nurse Interview
Marie Bertino from The Deli interviewed Hello Nurse. The interview is available at The Deli website, here.
The Deli is an NYC indie rock magazine that Ed has been working hard to get off the ground. They are having a launch party tonight at Sin-e, and I think it's definitely worth going to if you like indie rock, new music, and individuals with a highly developed sense of personal aethetic (hipsters).
The Deli Magazine Launch Party!
Thursday 12.02.2004 at 6.30
Music (6.30 to 1 am), Cheap Beer (from 7 to 9) and a Free copy of the Deli!
Sin-e (150 Attorney Street, between Houston and Stanton, LES). Take the F to 2nd Ave, exit on Allen street, walk east on the south side of Houston until you hit Attorney St. (just east of Clinton Street).
$10 at the door
11.30 Rockethouse
10.30 Mixel Pixel
9.30 Grizzly Bear (hey, they are on the cover!)
8.45 Codachrome
8.00 Ceramic
7.15 Kelly Snyder
6.30 Sandpaper
Bands, bring your cd to the party, there will be a drop box for it, we will review it in the next issue.
8:53 AM
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Today is World AIDS Day
December 1 is World AIDS Day, an annual international day of action on HIV and AIDS reminding us all that HIV is an issue for everyone.
Please do your part by talking to the young people in your life about HIV, AIDS, and the common risks for all genders, ethnicities, age groups, and sexualities. If you know someone with HIV or AIDS, give them a call and catch up on what's going on in their life.
Visit this link to read some inspiring and motivating stories.
3:42 PM
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