.:. Da Blog .:.: August 2004

This is my blogchalk:
United States, Texas, San Antonio, English, , Lori, Female, 36-40, Photography, History.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Joe's Article on FreeRepublic.com

The Song Remains the Same

Read Joe's article, "John Kerry and John O’Neil on Dick Cavett Show June 30, 1971" on FreeRepublic.com.

Monday, August 30, 2004

Three Years of Hell to Become the Devil: RSS and Blogspot

I finally fixed up an RSS Feed for this blog -- and I couldn't have done it without Tony Rickey, a Columbia student who made it really super simple to do using Feedburner. If you want to do this with your Blog, check out his simple instructions. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, just blow this entry off and know that Mr. Rickey is really clever.

Saturday, August 28, 2004

So... What's in the Candy?

This toy was sent out in 14,000 bags of candy last week and has been recalled. Wonder why.

-- Administrative Notice --

If you have been trying to send me email, I've probably not received it. For some reason, the wise Admins at RoadRunner have decided to block it. Until I can get it resolved, please send me email at lbravo-at-satx.rr.com. What a pain!

Friday, August 27, 2004

Deep Purple

Just got back from the Deep Purple concert, and to my surprise, it turned out to be a great evening!

The night opened with Thin Lizzy - now there's a blast from the past that's special in a San Antonio sort of way. We arrived just in time to hear their last couple of songs (and yes, the Boys are Back) before we took our seats.

Joe Satrianni took the stage, and delivered a powerful performance. He feeds well off the energy of San Antonio's heavy metal rockers.

Then Deep Purple took over, and I wondered what guitarist would be brave enough to follow the SatchMan. Steve Morris, believe it or not, now plays for Deep Purple. He can take a song - Smoke on the Water, for example - with relatively simple licks - add some extra notes - and wow - there's an act that's impossible to follow!

Anyway, a most enjoyable evening.

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Verifyer Method

Amass knowledge of a discipline through interviews and reading.
Determine whether critical expertise has yet to be applied in the field.
Look for bias and mistakenly held assumptions in the research.
Analyze jargon to uncover differing definitions of key terms.
Check for classic mistakes using human-error tools.
Follow the errors as they ripple through underlying assumptions.
Suggest new avenues for research that emerge from previous steps.

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Cheap Tricks

Ask yourself this:

Why can’t you just take a deep breath
and keep a straight train of thought?

When you think of the past
the long ago recent past

Just Before

And still look forward
without falling apart inside

This is Insipid.

The pond with all its greens and blues
unlocks the mind

For just scant moments --
cheap trick

What makes life bearable

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

30 Things to Like About San Antonio, TX

In the spirit of Texas Highways Magazine, who is celebrating its 30th anniversary in the month of September, here is my list of 30 things to like about San Antonio (in no particular order):

The Alamo - I'm from here, and that old mission (and the story of the Battle) is forever burned into my psyche.
Pompeo Coppini sculptures - ie. The Alamo Heroes Cenotaph, for one.
The Butter Krust Bakery on Broadway, and my memories of fresh, hot, unsliced bread.
Earl Abel's restauraunt.
La Fonda OakHills on Fredericksburg.
O'Neil Ford's architecture.
Night In Old San Antonio (NIOSA) - a Fiesta event I don't attend anymore, but it was The Fiesta Thing in high school and college.
Watching the Battle of Flowers Parade on local TV during Fiesta week.
Concerts at Sunken Garden Theater
Visiting the Japanese Tea Garden with my folks in the 1980s.
Horseback riding in Brackenridge Park - along with the skyrides, both now closed due to apparent insurance problems - the miniature train is still running, though.
Pea Soup and Root Beer from Shilo's Deli.
Pan Dulce and Pumpkin candy from Mi Tierra.
Wandering aimlessly around downtown and the River Walk at lunch time.
Liberty Bar.
Olmos Park and Monte Vista neighborhoods.
Fort Sam Houston.
The Botanical Gardens.
Tex Mex: Pico De Gallo, Tamales and fresh Tortillas.
Barbeque - Bob's Smokehouse and Rudy's.
A second-rate education: University of Texas at San Antonio and Trinity University.
The San Antonio Museum of Art and the McNay Museum.
Local dirt and scandals.
Bluebonnets, Crepe Myrtles, and Chinaberry Trees.
Institute of Texan Cultures and local legends and beliefs.
Blue Star in Southtown.
Concerts at the Majestic Theater.
The Stock Show and Rodeo.
Davy Crockett - King of the Wild Frontier.
Go Spurs!

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Getting ready to jet...

It's been a while since I've posted, but I guess I've been sort of incubating. I just needed a brief break from everything. I've applied for jobs and kept my head down. But I've been threatening a road trip for months now, and I'm thinking late August / September may be the time before the snows hit my favorite destinations and driving becomes dicey. Here's a list of some sites I've been looking in to for planning purposes:

GORP - Indian Ruins of the Southwest
Native American Art of the Southwest
Native American Attractions
ArchaeologyChannel.Org - General info and videos about archaeology around the world -- a really cool idea.

Sunday, August 08, 2004

John Titor's Scary Story

OK, so I spent some time reading about John Titor, self-proclaimed traveller from the future. Around November 2000, this guy started posting to Usenet about his time travel machine, and about life in 2036. Sounds wacko? I thought it would be fun to read this stuff, but some of it hits really close to home. We'll know absolutely for sure after the 2004 Olympics. These Olympics are the last, according to John, that we'll see at least until 2040. He says we're going to have a massive global nuclear war in 2015, which begins with civil war in 2008-2012.

There's more stuff at StrategicBrains.com, and after you get a load of that, travel over to NuclearSurvivalist.com and get really paranoid. There's extensive discussion going on about just how paranoid we should be in these discussion groups. So, have you ordered your Potassium Iodine Pills and Nukealert Radiation Keychain? Just for fun, you can teach your kids how to make a fallout meter (man, the instructions look really hard). But hey! you can buy one premade! Anyway, here's a whole list of paranoid crap you can stock up on, just in case.

Ok, so now I'm done obsessing (maybe).

Friday, August 06, 2004

Pretty Little Thing

Today is the Rat's 8th birthday. In honor of that, here's some Italian Greyhound (Piccolo Levriero Italiano) links:

There's more pics here. Oh yeah, to be fair, her real name is Pica Picosa Firenza. Salute!

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