No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on April 10, 2010

But first my sympathies and prayers for the families and friends of the miners who perished in West Virginia. They found the four missing miners so at least the families have an answer. Also my sympathies and prayers to the Polish People and the families and friends of everyone who died in that plane crash that included President Lech Kaczynski and many other leaders of the Polish people who were on their way to Russia.

It has been a heck of a week indeed.

Last night Caroline and I had a sleepover in my bed. We watched cartoons and let the cats stay with us until she was asleep. We saw the Powder Puff Girls episode ‘Meet the Beat-Alls’ and Caroline, since she has been listening to the Beatles, recognized a lot of the lyrics. She loved the ending. I didn’t explain Yoko Ono to her.

Back to my brain. I seem to have two settings that can’t go at the same time. I can be creative or I can be neat. I can’t seem to be both. For example

My Harry Potter Dragon Egg and Dragon for a Harry Potter Dragon Egg Swap.
(For the visually impaired: It is a small blue dragon with blue wings sitting in an egg which is split in two that is blue, green, and purple kind of swirly patterned)

I am late on this swap by about a week and a half. Reasons are numerous. I have been halfway done on this for a while. I buckled down Thursday and Friday to get it done since I had sunshine to dry the paper mache with on Thursday. I got it done but a lot of other little tasks that I had hoped to do didn’t get done. I noticed last night that all the tasks I weren’t getting done were all cleaning and picking up related. My craft table looks like a bomb hit it. I haven’t put away anything from the Froud workshop. Heck, all the stuff I took to LunaCon is still in the suitcase it came home in. Then there is the usual Caroline play mess to deal with along with packages that arrived and cats.

So today, part of tomorrow, and part of Monday is being given over to super cleaning (Insert echo voice here). Along with taking care of Caroline and the other stuff that does have to get done for the household to operate. Part (OK most of Sunday) is going to be taking Caroline into the city to see 101 Dalmatians, which she has wanted to see since she first saw the commercial.

Monday we have to go to the PTA meeting where she will be recognized as a citizen of the month. Tuesday Peter is back and we are going into the city for an autographing with Coheed and Cambria where Peter will be signing the book he did with Claudio. Wednesday we breathe. Thursday I do laundry and pack while Peter goes and see Ariel in her college production of Rent. Friday our cat sitter moves in and we are off to an adventure in Chicago at C2E2. Caroline plans to sell her pictures at her father’s table. We get back Sunday and then I think we hide for a couple of days from the world then Peter is off the Uruguay I believe.

I am grateful for adventures that Caroline can participate in.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 9, 2010

There was an appeals court ruling recently that said that Comcast was not in the wrong for slowing down some sites for downloads. The reason being that the FCC does not, currently, have the legal right to regulate the use of the Internet by individual companies. And there has been an outcry on the Internet about fair use and monopolies and half a dozen other things that include the end of the World as we know it.

Am I the only one who remembers when you had to dial into the Internet to use a service that would allow you to participate in the World Wide Web? I was a member, still am I think, of AOL. I got the software that allowed me to go onto the web through a phone number from my computer. I paid monthly for the privilege to use that phone number. I had an e-mail address, groups that I belonged, and access to the rest of the web. Now I pay the phone company to have an Internet portal in my home but my e-mail is through my Mac account and my G-mail account. I have a Yahoo email for the groups that I belong to. And I have those AOL accounts that I haven’t looked at in years but I know they are still there.

AOL did regulate where I could go on the web and what I could do. I knew that going in. Only occasionally was I stymied by trying to get to a website in Europe or Russia. AOL would slow down things that caused them to lose bandwidth and we all knew it. There was talk of a two-tiered system and one would pay more for a faster connection for a while but then the phone companies got into it and AOL sank faster than the Titanic.

While I was on AOL, I worked for the Academic Assistance Center aka the Homework Helpers. I did a lot of work with kids and their homework. I also told a lot of kids to go DO their homework and stop trying to get me to do it for them. AOL has used some of my articles as part of the homework help for years. And for this work, I got to use AOL unlimited for no fee other than my work for a certain number of hours. Apparently I am part of a class action lawsuit and settlement against AOL for the number of hours I put into the program. I have to recall all the names I used but it is hard because I had to change the name with the policy changes.

What Comcast is doing is no different than what AOL did. The disconnect is in the short term memory that people have about how the web worked and works. The service providers are not there for their health, they are there for profit and they are still figuring out how they can profit from the web. Yes, I have read the doom and gloom scenarios about censorship and slower downloading times for certain sites leading to the banning of sites. And how these services try to get you to use their search engine before Google. It is for the ad revenue plain and simple.

No one screams censorship because certain sites are blocked at their workplace or slow download for certain sites (that maybe they shouldn’t be on). I couldn’t access AOL on my work computer and that was fine. I did what I needed at home. MP-3s were banned on the server at my work because it was eating up bandwidth like no one’s business and a lot of it was illegal downloads of music. The exception was the music department and the audio department but that made sense. It’s their servers and their rules. And for Comcast and all the rest of the providers it is the same thing, their bandwidth, their rules.

On sort of a tangent, when one owns a website or bbs or whatever that they run, it is the same thing. They own the space. It is a private company and they can set the rules as they want. They can ban people because they have seen pictures of the people wearing orange if they want. Screaming 1st Amendment and “I have rights” just shows how much the shouters don’t know about either the first amendment or the rules of private property. One choice that people who are bent out of shape when the rules change is to go start their own whatever and compete with the person they think is wrong by showing them up by doing it better. But I see more complainers than doers out there. Also there are very sloppy ideas about copyright. I swear everyone bends it to the point they are making rather than looking at the real legal implications of what they are trying to do. But that’s a whole other rant.

I am grateful that my service provider hasn’t stopped me from doing what I want on the net.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 8, 2010

But not holding out much hope due to the high levels of gas that were vented from the mine. My prayers and sympathies to all the families affected by this tragedy. I hope they get answers soon either way. The waiting can be the worst part of something like this.

Got some stuff done yesterday just not what I had planned to get done. I have to work on that today. PTA meeting got moved. Caroline and I have to attend since she was selected at the citizen of the Month for March for the first grade. It is quite an honor and shows that she does try to be a good person at school. Her teacher says that she helps others without being asked which can be a two edged sword at times.

I am starting to think about Field Day even though it is a couple months away. I want to do a puppet show based on the Mo Williams cast of characters. I need to start with the pigeon and work my way to the piggy and the elephant. He has such distinctive shapes and colors that I need to copy. Should be fun.

But first back to the Dragon’s Egg, which is drying faster now that I can put it outside and let it dry in the sun. It was a little warm yesterday but it is lovely today.

While that is drying I have to flip a coin and see if I want to do the BIG PROJECT or deal with a number of little ones that are flapping around my head. Either way I am getting something done that doesn’t include dealing with a million interruptions.

My foot is much better. Thank you for all your kind words and help for it. It is going to take a while but I am finally on the path to recovery.

South Park had me laughing out loud last night. Of course I had to say something on my Facebook which put it to a whole other level of Meta. It was even funnier because the film that was used as a trope in the episode is using Facebook very much to their advantage.

Off to deal with whatever that I need to do next. Hope y’all have a good day.

I am grateful for things that make me laugh really hard.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 7, 2010

First my thoughts and prayers are with the miners and their families down in West Virginia. The more I hear about this tragedy the angrier I get because it need not have happened. The coal companies scare the miners with the threat of closing down the mine because they can’t profit from it so the miners are going to lose their jobs and then what? So things get ignored until life is lost and we do the whole “how could they” dance again. There are ways of making these mines safe but it costs money to do so and cuts into profits or makes the mine, temporarily, unprofitable until they can recoup the costs for the equipment. But isn’t a human life worth more than a few more dollars on the bottom line?

Now artists and photographers are starting a class action lawsuit against Google over the scanning of books. I think this might be the time to let this idea go off and lay in a ditch for a bit. Honestly I don’t see the upside to this idea considering how much it has going against it. I think this is turning into one of those “seemed like a good idea at the time” things.

And then there was the ruling by a federal appeals court about the powers of the FCC and the Internet. Sorry FCC, the horse is out of the barn and long gone on that one. It is interesting to see governments retrofit laws and try to regulate the Internet within their borders only to find out how global the World Wide Web really is. Comcast was slowing down the web for those using bit torrent because it was clogging up their bandwidth something fierce. The implications for users kind of suck but I do understand why the ruling went that way.(And there goes my Internet connection as I type this, so who knows when this is going to get posted. Later: It was the lines crew trying to sort out a short in the line so they turned it off and back on. Quite an adventure getting the Internet back.)

The house is very quiet. The cats have found various sunny areas to stretch out in and they are very happy. Peter is off on business. Caroline is off at school so it is just me and the cats. I think I might take some “me” time and do something I want to do before diving into those tasks I have to do. Caroline and I might go off on a short trip this afternoon to the comic book shop and a fabric store on the North Shore.

But first a couple of errands and lunch at my favorite place to have lunch at.

I am grateful for companies that follow up on problems.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 6, 2010

Peter is off to LA for a business trip. This morning I have to get Caroline off to school, finish the Ariel puppet, and get Ariel to the ferry so she can get back to school since her break is over today. And that’s before noon.

This week I have a dragon egg to finish and then I have a couple of other projects ready to go.

A reminder that the Froud signing at Books of Wonder is this evening from 6 to 8. I have to see how Caroline is doing after school to see if we are coming in.

We have two costume ideas for Caroline. Both include a pretty big quad suit for something for her to ride on. She likes them both. But we are going to need a large vehicle to transport them whichever one we do.

This month is pretty packed with activities and travel. May is going to be a little bit quieter I hope. I have our cat sitters lined up for the next couple of weeks.

But first I just have to get to noon with my sanity intact. Caroline is up and dressed. Her backpack is packed and ready to go. I’ll take my keys with me so I can go out to the studio next and finish up Ariel’s arm rods. Then I have to construct a nice dress for her puppet in record time. Fortunately I have done this a number of times so it won’t take long.

I am grateful for the ability to build clothes for puppets really really fast.

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