The absence of knowledge about ALT-F4 is really fuelling the anti-pop-up-ad business these days. I don't care how tricky the coder, no pop-up window can spawn children faster than you can kill them with a quick ALT-F4. People need to study their keyboard shortcuts.  ¶ 2/28/2004 08:19:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

I saw the Last Samurai last night. Full of Hollywood scripting and bravado, absolutely fantastic. But since when do sword-weilding action heros have absolutely no chest hair?   ¶ 2/27/2004 10:00:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

English really needs a second person plural pronoun. Texans have been pioneers in this regard, with their "y'all", and I think informally "you guys" can suffice, but I can never quite get a formal sounding e-mail incorporating a second person reference to a group of people. "It was really nice to meet . . . . all you people." It's just too awkward.  ¶ 2/21/2004 08:48:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

A theory on the subject of cool kids in middle school: I think my childhood geek friends had three things in common: 1) Late birthdays: the difference between a four-year-old and a five-year-old is big. However, the arbitrary school year cut offs bring the late birthday kids in with early, thus making them runts relative to their early birthday counterparts. The runts become geeky. 2) Glasses: Lacking perfect vision, some kids aren't early diagnosed, or have big clunky glasses -- both interfering with the ability to be king-of-the-mountain or kickball champion. These social heirarchy differences solidify. 3) Foreign parents: the long-time residents of a particular neighbor are better equipped to prepare their kids to cope with the local culture. Imagine moving to Korea and sending your kid to the local Korean school. Would you have useful advice to give him / her when confronted with the Tai Kwan Do bullies? No. Same goes for mobile families.   ¶ 2/16/2004 10:20:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

I wonder if one could claim to be ethnically American. i.e., "My mom's Italian, and my dad's part Chinese, part American." Does ethnicity imply only genes, or can it include cultural behaviors? Or even genetic mix? The reason this intrigues me is that, in Europe, I can now spot Americans from a distance. The way they walk, their weight, their features are different than all the other white Europeans surrounding them. The racially mixed Americans are particularly apparent. Or maybe it's just the Nikes. . .  ¶ 2/10/2004 06:31:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

Having come of age in the era of nimble dot-com small companies, the plodding pace of European bureaucracies and large multinationals is beginning to aggravate me. According to the visa lady, it's seven more weeks until paperwork can be processed and I can be hired (in addition to the month already past). Perhaps I should pick up knitting.   ¶ 2/02/2004 09:14:00 AM 0 comments links to this post