“Scribbling Women, a project of The Public Media Foundation, dramatizes stories by American women writers for national radio broadcast.”

Something I never expected to see pulling out of the parking lot of my “heart of Silicon Valley” Safeway: a Lincoln Town Car (black, of course) with a “Free John Gotti” license plate holder. Yes, I know I shouldn’t be surprised that there are Gotti sympathizers in the area, but it was a strange flashback for me to a life closer to NYC.

Douglas Adams did more than make me laugh. He made me think. Without it hurting very much. He inspires a pursuit of irony as an art form, a way of finding meanings in life. I’d like to think that this bit from “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish” indicates that he found some joy and meaning in his own life.

He hadn’t realized that life speaks with a voice to you, a voice that brings you answers to the questions you continually ask of it, had never consciously detected it or recognized its tones until it now said something it had never said to him before, which was “yes.”

Here’s a nice article about Douglas Engelbart, inventor of the computer mouse. Now 75, he’s still working, formulating tools and methods for collaboration that he hopes can “bootstrap” organizations together into solving urgent world problems. He’s had some past hardships, having research funds cut, losing a house to fire and his wife to ovarian cancer. But he has that optimistic outlook on life, that “can do” attitude which keeps innovators like him going despite naysayers and setbacks. I always wonder how much more I could accomplish if I didn’t paid as much attention to the negatives. But at least I’m well suited for risk management.

Orang-Otang‘s got some wearable computing patents that seem more Borg-worthy than primate-friendly. In order for wearable devices to catch on apart from specialized tasks (such as the wearable credit card terminal, which is useful for mobile points-of-sale), I think these devices will need to be more in tune with our clothing or at least be more elegant. Of course the actual products will probably be prettier than these patent drawings. But we are a ways from the idealistic ground covered by the IDEO/MIT wearables project. Extreme Computing has links and info on many wearable computing resources. (info from ZDNet wearable patents article)

Before “dot com” was part of our vernacular, how did we refer to release numbers? Was it “Windows three dot one” or “Windows three point one”? I remember using “dot” for filename extensions: “dot exe file” and it’s very common in Unix to have “dots”. But when I heard someone today say “three dot one” to refer to a release, I wondered if we used to say “point”. Or were they just used interchangeably? I have a bet with myself that I used to say “point” and didn’t use “dot” until domain names infiltrated our language. But I think the real answer is that we most often dropped the period and just said “three one”.

You know what the US Postal Service rate increase affects in a big way? Wedding invitations. Many invitation sets weigh in at over an ounce, especially when you add up all the extra pieces (inner envelope, response cards, reception cards, maps, travel info, etc). Frugal brides & grooms can save postage and trees by going for a simpler approach. But it’s nice to have an invitation of substance, so most don’t worry about it. That’s why the USPS has taken to printing two ounce “Love” stamps. I didn’t think I’d have to deal with a stamp increase right in the middle of the summer that only affects items over an ounce. I’m waiting with bated breath to see if they’ll immediately issue a new two ounce “Love” stamp or just annoy all the, uh, detail oriented (aka “anal retentive”) brides by making us ruin the aesthetics of our outer envelopes with an extra 2 cent stamp. I’m planning to avoid it all by getting our invitations mailed before the rate change.

On a related note, here’s what happens when I go to the post office before eating lunch:
Me: I’d like a book of stamps.
Clerk: Flowers? Love? Statue of Liberty? Fruit?
Me: Fruit! HUNGRY!
I actually made a postal worker smile. Amazing.

This report that cell phone antennas are springing up all over made me wonder what it was like when telephone and electricity poles started going up all over the place. “Some environmentalists” are complaining that the cellular antennas are detracting from the natural beauty of the L.A. hills and canyons. I suspect that most of us are accustomed to seeing utility poles with wires and mysterious gadgets on top, but I suppose the addition of the cellular boxes tips the poles over the edge of not blending in. Telephone and electric can go underground, but I don’t think cellular can.

Here are the in-your-face dairy products: Milk & Cheese, and other fun things from Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer

New to me, but probably not to those of you who get around the web a lot, Airtoons, “The site that tells you what those airline safety cards REALLY mean.” Now I know I have to try for style points when I’m making an emergency exit.