Oh huzzah. Another meme.

Jul 21, 2002

1. I am the shortest person in my immediate family.
2. I was the ninth tallest person in my 204-person twelfth grade class.
3. Up until I was ten years old, nearly everyone I met thought that I was a few years older than I actually was. Now, nearly everyone I meet thinks that I am a decade younger than I actually am.
4. When I was a child, I wanted to be a boy because they got the really cool dirtbikes.
5. I have an easier time getting along with males than with females.
6. My best friend in the world is someone who helps me be a better person, just by being himself.
7. And no, we've never dated.
8. And no, he's not gay.
9. And no, I'm not either.
10. About 35% of the people I communicate with online have mistaken my gender because of my frequent references to computers and tech issues.
11. At least one person thought I was a male because I use complex grammar and large words. When we met IRL, he didn't believe that I was the same person he'd been emailing.
12. When I was twelve, I decided that I wanted to go to Hell because none of my non-Catholic friends were getting into Heaven.
13. I have excommunicated the Catholic Church from my life.
14. I own an interlingual Qu'ran and an interlingual New Testament. I believe that if you're going to study a text, you should be able to refer to it in the original language, as well.
15. I believe that, at their core, all religions say the exact same thing: be good to each other. (Conversely, not a single one of them says “Take money from old people and build a waterslide.” )
16. I love mythology and archetypes.
17. I also really enjoy different interpretations of themes, whether in literature, music, or philosophy.
18. I have studied cartomancy and astrology.
19. I actually practise cartomancy — sort of.
20. I am making a Tarot deck.
21. I put more stock in the Asian zodiac than in the Greek zodiac.
22. I don?t dream often. Either that, or they?re so quotidian that I don?t remember them at all.
23. I didn't lose my virginity. I knew right where it was when I got rid of it.
24. I strongly feel that current U.S. sociopolitical policies concerning sex, drugs, and rock and roll are ucked fup.
25. I vote in every election that I can; yet when asked, I will say that I didn't.
26. I didn't vote for President Bush. Not the other one, either.
27. In 1999, I consciously changed my accent. My accent isn't false any more.
28. I don't think that accents are sexy.
29. I think that skillful use of the English language is sexy.
30. Guys who laugh and take joy in life are incredibly sexy.
31. I don't necessarily need a man in my life. I'd just really like one quite a lot.
32. When I wanted to learn Mandarin, everyone told me that it was nearly impossible for a non-Chinese person. I was only going to take a conversation class. I can now speak, read, and write Chinese.
33. I have had epilepsy since I was 13.
34. I refuse to call it a seizure disorder because, hey, Plato didn't call seizure disorders The Sacred Sickness.
35. All throughout secondary school and most of university, I was on a anti-convulsion medication that shot my short-term memory all to hell.
36. I had to take algebra three times before I could pass the class.
37. I got through physics fine the first time through, though.
38. I wrote a book in tenth grade. All my friends were characters in the story. It was a teen romance novel. I don't have it any more, but I?m kind of glad — I think I?d be embarassed by it now.
39. I made up two languages in secondary school. They both have complete syntax and lexicons, and they both work.
40. I knew that 5 years after university graduation, there was only a 10% chance that I'd be working in the career field matching my major; so I studied Linguistics because it sounded like fun.
41. One of the languages I studied in my Linguistics courses was Klingon.
42. That urban myth about the guy who said of second-season TNG opening graphics: “They've got the sun coming up around the wrong side of Saturn”? It's no myth. That was one of my housemates in university. This guy had a Bachelor's in Mathematics, a Master's in Astrophysics, and was completing his PhD in Computer Science...so, yeah, he probably had a fairly good idea.
43. I don't have evil within me. It's on a shelf in my cupboard.
44. Ever since kintergarten, I have a conviction that I will be killed in a car crash. I don't know why I feel this.
45. I like almost every genre of music except pure or “old school” Country. It's too whiny.
46. I constantly put positive spins on poetry and lyrics that others find very negative. Yet in every day situations I'm often rather pessimistic.
47. I take pride in being a Cynic. Not a cynic, but a Cynic. There's a difference.
48. My philosophy professor once called me “too damn democratic”.
49. I am owned by two cats.
50. I have no ex husbands.
51. I do have ex boyfriends. And one ex fiancee.
52. I was the one who ended that relationship.
53. No, he wasn't cheating on me. Nor I on him.
54. I have read James Joyce's Ulysses. All the way through. Multiple times.
55. Alright, twice. But that?s without Cliff Notes or any such thing.
56. The first book I bought with my own money was Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye. I got it at a school Christmas fair. I still have it.
57. Some of my friends are celebrities.
58. They're just regular people, for the love of mike.
59. It's easier to feel that way after you've helped one stagger home from the bar, helped another move house (God what a messy lady), and seen a third repeatedly trip up the stairs (that's right, I said "trip *up*).
60. I have moved fifteen times in my life.
61. Since moving out of my parents', the longest I've ever lived in one place is two and a half years. The shortest I've ever lived in one place is two weeks.
62. I am a neat freak. I have no desire to change this. And “anally retentive” has a space, not a hyphen.
63. I'm territorial, but in strange ways. I have to have a space that's all my own, that no one else is going to mess about in, or fiddle with, or screw up. It doesn't have to be large. It just has to be mine.
64. I prefer not to have housemates, because messy environments really get on my nerves; and most people are kind of...casual about cleaning.
65. My best friend and I were housemates for nearly four years. It ended because I moved to Canada and he moved to Texas.
66. I prefer living in medium-size cities because they aren't so big that people start to feel isolated.
67. I seem to have an actual physical need to live near the ocean, particularly in a coastal rain forest environment. I start to get depressed if I can't be near water.
68. I'm not a real sports freak. My idea of a ripping good time is reading a book while sitting with a good friend.
69. I have tried tai chi, aikido, distance biking, volleyball, softball, roller skating, ice skating, inline skating, downhill skiing, snowboarding, surfing, distance swimming, diving, windsurfing, ballroom dancing, belly dancing, and yoga.
70. I still regularly practise tai chi, surfing, and belly dancing. I also walk and ride my bike.
71. I've broken my arm, broken my leg, sprained both ankles, and thrown my back out.
72. I prefer to bike or walk rather than drive, when possible. It gets me more exercise and doesn't add to pollution.
73. When I lived in Vancouver BC, I drove my car just seven times in nearly three years.
74. I love controlled fire: fireplaces, oil lamps, and candles. Especially candles. If it were practicable, I'd live my life by candlelight (except for reading, which requires a halogen lamp.)
75. I wear no jewelry except small earrings; and I don't wear them often.
76. I hate wearing things on my wrist: watches, bracelets, whatever. It just doesn't feel right.
77. I don't like my knees.
78. I like my eyes and my hair.
79. I am the only person I know who actually reads the Terms and Conditions of any web service before I agree to them.
80. Words are often my tools, occasionally my defence, and sometimes my prison.
81. Technically, I'm a published poet. Realistically...that was in third grade.
82. But it was free verse.
83. I have a difficult time writing limericks, iambic pentameter, or anything that has a fixed meter or scheme.
84. For two decades, I've kept notebooks filled with conversations I've “heard”, phrases I've thought of, and other bits and pieces that could be used in stories or poems.
85. I've only ever used five of them.
86. I studied Shakespeare from a professor named John Milton.
87. I took music classes in school, and can play the flute and piccolo rather well; but I cannot sight-read music.
88. I've never taken vocal lessons.
89. I have perfect pitch. Karaoke bars and school musicals are a particular form of torture.
90. I'd like to see the running of the Palio.
91. People who teach, whether in a school or in some other setting, have my sincerest admiration.
92. I am a science fiction fan.
93. The first episode of Star Trek I ever saw was the first-run “Who Mourns for Adonais“.
94. I saw Star Wars eight times when it was first released in the theatres.
95. I do not collect cards, action figures, or any other paraphenalia — for science fiction or for anything else.
96. One of my former bosses once quoted “Bridge On The River Kwai” at me during a performance evaluation.
97. My least favourite job was working Security at an amusement park.
98. In eighth grade, I changed the spelling of my name.
99. I also started using S instead of Z (British spelling variants) — the “z” key is a bitch to reach when touchtyping, and cursive “z”s break the writing flow.
100. I have been drunk once in my life. It was more than enough.

Permalink

Vanity, thy name is homepage.

Jul 28, 1998

• Entries: 463 total; most recent on 11/20/2008 06:12 pm
• Citizens: 13 total; 0 logged in currently [join now!]
• Comments: 696 total; most recent on 11/13/2008 05:30 pm
• Keywords: view the tag cloud
• Syndication format: Atom 1.0
• Former site names: The Akashic Record (1995-1998); Sirocco (1998-1999); The Cynic’s Tea Party (1999-2005)

Title Deleted for Security Reasons began its life back in 1995. It started as a simple personal site, languished for a few years, and relocated (and revived) in 1998. In 2001, things took off: the blog was added, the coding switched from HTML to XHTML, full stylesheets were implemented, the whole works. Now, Title Deleted for Security Reasons is available through any CSS-capable user agent (that’s browsers, screen readers, Braille readers, mobile devices, and even printers — I love cascading style sheets), and syndicated as well.

This web site looks good through any browser that supports Cascading Style Sheets…but it looks truly wicked through Opera. Opera is a free browser for Windows/Mac/just about anything else, and is available in upwards of ten languages. If you want to learn more about this great tool, head over to their site and download a copy today.

The pictures used in the Pagetoys and Timewasters all came from other sources. The artists in question all graciously gave their permission for their works to be used - none of these images was simply swiped and re-used (never mind the questionable manners of such an action, it’s potentially legally stupid. Sprechen zie "copyright infringement lawsuit"?) The illustrations on the site were made using several dingbat fonts.

All HTML and Javascript code on this site is available under the GPL (GNU Public License). In a nutshell, that means that you can copy and re-use the source code as long as 1) you don’t charge anyone any money for it; and 2) you attribute the code to its original source, either by URL, name, email, or all three. I advise you to check out the full text of the GPL, even if you don’t want to re-use any of the code on the site.

I believe in personal responsibility — in Real Life(tm), and on the Internet — and accordingly, this site has been registered with the Internet Content Rating Association, or ICRA (formerly RSACi). Before you folks out there thing this automatically means the site is a "goodygoody", or utterly wholesome, read some of my pieces on recreational pharmaceuticals, sex, religion, and politics. ICRA lets webmasters label their sites…not some snooty government agency. I highly recommend it to webmasters of all sorts of online resources, from personal sites to porn sites and everything in between.

I am a web developer, and strongly support web standards, usability, and accessibility. This site uses valid XHTML and CSS. Valid code makes for cleaner downloads, faster rendering, and makes my life infinitely easier. CSS also lets you do a lot of interesting things. (Don’t worry — it won’t bite.)

Title Deleted for Security Reasons also meets all Level 2 checkpoints of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (which, incidentally, means that it’s more accessibility-compliant than most Section 508-compliant web sites.) We’re registered with the Center for Applied Special Technology, which also offers a database of accessible sites. They have a tool that lets you check the accessibility of your site, and outlines features of your site that might make it difficult for assistive user agents to access.

Keywords: | web standards | validation | tools |
Permalink

How to get in touch with the web-type-person and...I don't know. Yell at them. Whinge about the font being too small. Ask about the lame attempt at applying a theme.

Jul 20, 1998

Permalink

Citizenship brings uncounted rewards!! Trust the Computer. Registered citizens are happy citizens!!!

Jul 20, 1998

There are actual, real benefits to registering. Aside from the knowledge of being a member of the elite, having instant Ultraviolet clearance (the highest clearance level of any citizen), and the warm glow that you get when you know — really know — that the Computer is your friend, you also enjoy these other benefits:

• Unmoderated Comments
  when you add a comment, it's visible immediately. No more waiting for your comments to be vetted before their dissemination.
• Change the site skin
  no drastic changes...you won't suddenly be able to see content you couldn't see before (because there's nothing else there to see. If there were, the Computer would of course tell you thusly — if it were in your best interests). But you'll be able to change the font size and customize the sidebars. [Note: For societal purposes, this is not counted as a mutation. If you can change your own skin instantly, though, that is a mutation and must be registered with the Computer. Failure to register a known mutation is treason.]
• Full Syndication Feed
  if you use a feedreader, you'll want to get the whole story instead of just 150 words. [But you'll want to visit the site and comment every once in a while. Not to do so is treason.]
• Full Forum Privileges
  don't just reply to existing threads, or vote in other citizen's polls. Start your own.
• No Adverts
  on the forums, on the site...anywhere. When you're logged in, you aren't served the ads.

Keywords: | privileges | members | customization |
Permalink