2003.08.04
We also spent a lot of time showing her Paint Shop Pro, and I was impressed with how quickly she picked it up. Also it's cool seeing someone get excited about some of the random abstract stuff you can do with it, like I was back when I first encountered the type of program back in highschool. (I should do a gallery of some of the stuff I've saved. Usually more cartoon-y than abstract, come to think of it.)
Also, I found out that she and I both share the same habit of making sure our respective wedding rings are worn so that the text on the inside is "right side up" (i.e. correctly oriented when holding out the hand with the fingers pointing up.) For her, it's an issue of "bad luck", for me it's this weird concern that the words would feel dizzy if they were upsidedown all the time. She was pleasantly startled to realize someone besides her shared that little "superstition".
Geekness of the Moment
Digital Data Porn is a repackaging of oldschool computer ads and images in an odd "pornsite-like" format. (No nudity or anything, at least as far as I can tell, though that one picture of someone going to lick an atari joystick is rather disturbingly blatant.) It kind of feels like a joke taking too far ("man, you collect these old images like other people collect girlie pix!" "wait...I have an idea!")
I kinda liked this lady here...for the Epson Handheld Computer HX-20. Maybe people had bigger hands back then, or something.
News of the Moment
I hadn't heard much about the Liberian Crossdressing Soldiers before Slate.com featured that article.
UPDATE: on the comments section, Mike Smith pointed out this related blog entry. You know, between this crossdressing stuff, that whole "sex with a virgin will cure AIDS" idea, and the whole "the Liberians will lay down there arms as soon as the Americans or other peace keepers move in, but we just can't bring ourselves to do it on our own"...I dunno, they don't seem like the most sophisticated warrior males in the world.
Random Ramble of the Moment
So lately I've been thinking about this little "shoot you" gesture I sometimes make when passing people in the hallway at work. You know the one I mean? It's kind of a toned version of a lounge-y "hey, here's looking at you, don't you go changing" gesture (often with a tongue click to go with it), you make a gun with your hand and get a few shots off.
I don't know if it's kind of a subconsciously aggressive thing or not, and if I'm more likely to do it towards men than women. I don't think I use it much when I'm really irritated with someone...though there is that one thing where you pretend to start to start to commit suicide, then shake your head and point the gun at the other guy's head instead...I have to be really irritated to do that though.
I usually use the traditional first finger as the barrel, and the thumb as the hammer, other fingers closed against the palm. (Though recently I learned some other folks (Hi, LAN3) hold their fingers wrapped around an invisible gun, using their first finger to squeeze the hypothetical trigger.) I've realized that when I put the hammer down, so to speak, I can't bend my thumb at the knuckle, the pointer finger curves along with it...more so in my right hand than my left, by a lot. So I just tuck in my thumb more where it hits the palm.
It's sometimes fun to end the shoot by blowing on the barrels, spinning the guns around your fingers then putting the gun back in its holster. LAN3 also pointed out additional merriment from then pretending to miss the holster, ala Don Knotts...
Of course, if someone does it to me, I simply show the bullet zinging off my clearly bulletproof chest. (I think I got that trick from Calvin and Hobbes.)
Sorry this is so random, for some reason I've been meaning to write about it for a few days now.