Kat with a K

Useful Site

Is Twitter down?

I still hate moving. Just in case you were wondering.

Sheep at the White House!

Those were the days... I wonder who got the wool?

Ravelry Store!

The Ravelry store is open! Lots of good stuff. And yes, of course I placed my order before I told you all about it. :) Things are selling out quickly... I'll have to get the totebag when it gets restocked.

Isn't this what the Internet is for?

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

(First seen at Aswim in Knits.)

Political social networking site

I just discovered My Political World, which is a new politics-based social networking site. I haven't looked around much yet, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone's interested. My username there is katwithak. You can read about it here.

Ever wondered what you'd read in space?

Here's a list (warning: PDF) of the books, music, and movies that are available in the library of the International Space Station. There are lots of classics and sci fi, and, I feel, a weirdly large amount of Daniel Boorstein.

Instant queue!

Netflix now has a separate queue for Instant watching! I cannot even tell you how happy this makes me. (We've mentioned how much I love lists of all kinds, right?) And this will let me mark things I want to watch instantly later without filling up my DVD queue.

Do crosswords really need to be replaced?

Well, I certainly don't think so, as I'm a big crossword fan. But Crickler, a potential "replacement," is kind of fun. In addition to crosswords. Not instead of them. Anyone tried it? Opinions?

Typing Game

Try out TypeRacer. I'm torn between "Ooh! Fun!" and flashbacks to the horrible learn-to-type programs we had to use in middle school. Anyone remember the one where you had to type quickly enough to get "friends," and if you messed up too much, then no one would "come to your party"? What were the people who made that program for kids thinking?

Oooh!

This is probably old news, but I just noticed that Ravelry is now linked up with WorldCat. My life may in fact be complete.

A bit of Friday amusement...

Pride and Prejudice, acted out with toys.

The Net Generation

I've never been happy with the "Millennial" thing, generationally. My brother is one, sure, but it just doesn't seem to fit most of the people I know who are around my age. Joshua Glenn instead dubs us (1974-1983) the Net Generation, and I think his characterization is right on. Opinions?

Structured Procrastination

This has been around for years, apparently, but I just came across it today: structured procrastination. It's really quite clever.

15 minutes of blog fame...

Hello, everyone finding me through the Achenblog link! I'm afraid you've happened by at a bad time, as I'm leaving for a trip tomorrow and posting will be sporadic. I'll try to put up my thoughts on Eliot Spitzer before that, though...

Update on posting situation

So, as you see, I eventually managed to post that post from the other day. It worked from home, so perhaps it was my work connection being wonky? I'm not sure. We'll see if it happens again...

test

I can't seem to post my politics post from yesterday, so let's see if this works...

Update: Apparently I can post new things but not that one post. Not even if I copied and pasted it into another post. Weird!

Procrastination Flow Chart

Brilliant.

A nuw! Mae bywell yn fy mhen i!

This has probably been around a million times and I'm just oblivious, but I just came across it and it made me giggle, so I figured I'd share: How to say "Oh my God! There's an axe in my head! in lots of languages.

What's your zip code like?

Find out at Zipskinny. It gives you all sorts of census data for your zip code and lets you compare to neighboring zips, your state, the whole country, or any zip code you enter. (I had fun comparing my hometown in CT to where I live now in NH.) Fascinating!

SimCity + Climate Change

The new version of SimCity lets you make various environmental decisions and see how they affect your simulated world. Read about it on the Bits blog here. Sounds like fun!

Lifelines

It can be hard to picture what women's lives are actually like in other parts of the world. This site tries to bridge that gap. You can entire information about your own life and browse similar elements (work, family, education, etc.) of women's lives around the world.

Word fun AND a good deed!

Go look at Free Rice It's sort of like those sites for the rainforest and what have you where you click and they donate a penny or something. But this one is more fun, because you have to take a vocabulary quiz and get things right for your donation to count! Okay, maybe that's not fun for everyone, but I'm loving it. Me, a nerd? What? (Thanks to Chappysmom for the link!)

Who's writing your encyclopedia?

As a librarian, my feelings on Wikipedia are somewhat mixed. On one hand, I find the blurring of authority in reference sources to be somewhat frightening. I like knowing where my information comes from, and while I know that many people don't necessarily feel as strongly about this as I do, I think that makes it all the more important that proper distinctions are maintained between authoritative and non-authoritative sources, and that people, especially students, are educated about these differences.

On the other hand, I love Wikipedia and I use it all the freaking time. When nothing actually depends on whether the information found is correct, Wikipedia can be great, and it often has more information about pop culture than can be found in more traditional sources. It definitely has its uses. I just don't want students citing it in research papers.

Anyway, my actual point here is to show you WikipediaVision. It's a Google map that shows almost-realtime edits to Wikipedia. Right now, it's telling me that two minutes ago, someone in Lithuania edited the "Disk formatting" article and then someone in the U.K. edited the "Oasis (band)" article. Of course, it doesn't tell you anything about the credentials of the editor, so it doesn't actually help you determine the quality of the information. But it's fascinating in and of itself, in much the same way as is Watch WorldCat Grow. Watching the map can be mesmerizing, and if there's an article title that catches your fancy, you can click on the provided link to see the entry itself or details about the edit that was just made. Ooh, someone in Lancaster, CA just edited the article about Rome. Off to see what they said...

Ravelry!

As of tonight, I'm on Ravelry! Yay! I don't want to go on about it and annoy those still on the waiting list. So, for now, I'll just say: if you're there, friend me! I'm KatwithaK.

Blog Reader Survey!

Have a few minutes to spare? Please take my Blog Reader Project survey. Thanks!

Come play!

(First, a quick note: some of you have asked why there haven't been any pictures of Dewey or anything else recently. I'm taking pictures, I promise. But I'm still using a borrowed computer, so I'm trying to minimize the amount of stuff I save. Plus, it's a different operating system than I'm used to, so the software is all different, and I'm not sure if there's any photo editing software on it, actually. I'll try to get some pictures soon. I promise.)

I wanted to briefly discuss a few Web sites where I've been spending time recently. I tend to assume that everyone knows about these things, but that's not necessarily true.

1. A few of you have asked whether I'm running a Summer Reading Program this year. I'm not, but a good friend of mine is, and I'll be participating. You can read about it and sign up here. Hope you'll join us! It's in Wiki form... if you have any trouble figuring out how to add your info, just let me know and I'll help out.

2. GoodReads! In some ways, this is similar to Library Thing, but I use Library Thing (or would, if I ever updated it) for books I own, and I've been using GoodReads for books I read. In my case, those are very different lists. Any of you on there? You can read my reviews (which are mostly the same as the reviews I post here), view my books, and add me as a friend here.

3. Twitter! I'll admit that some days I just sort of forget about it, but it's cute. And I have both Barack Obama and Buffy Summers on my friends list, which amuses me muchly. You can find my profile and add me as a friend here.

4. Ravelry! I'm actually not playing there yet, but I'd like to be. So if anyone has any spare invitations floating around...

Shouldn't targeted marketing be... targeted?

You know how Amazon periodically sends out those "You liked A so we thought you might like this new book/CD/DVD B" e-mails? They usually don't annoy me too much. Sometimes they're even helpful, if they mention a new book by a favorite author I'd somehow managed not to hear about. But today's was just bizarre:

We've noticed that customers who have expressed interest in books by L.M. Montgomery have also ordered A Pocket Guide to Epidemiology by David G. Kleinbaum.

Um, what? (For those of you who might not know, L.M. Montgomery was a Canadian novelist in the early twentieth century who wrote, among other things, Anne of Green Gables.) I cannot imagine how these things are possibly connected. I mentioned this to a friend and he told me that he got a weird recommendation from them today too. Anyone else?

Let it snow!

No, it's not actually snowing. But this is the next best thing.

Like LibraryThing, but for crafts?

I haven't had a chance to look at this in detail yet, but it seems like it might be interesting. CraftMemo - organize your craft supplies and projects.

Pancakes!

Exceedingly fun YouTube video. Yummmmm.

Part sad/part happy penguin story OR Why I love my cousin

Exciting roadside penguin rescue! (But: Warning. A few of them are not okay.)

And why I love my cousin:
She sent me this story, and the accompanying comment:

"Didn't you have something about penguins? Apologies if it was a you-and-ex thing, in which case you might want to focus more on the ones that got run over."

(It was a me-and-ex thing, or really more just an ex thing, but I still like them, and do not want any penguins to be run over.)

Vox populi

Today I was pulled in to Vox, the new service from Six Apart, the people who bring us TypePad, Movable Type (which I use for this blog, and which is now free!), and LiveJournal (which I use as well). So obviously I don't need another blog, but, well, I'm a sucker for anything new and shiny. And Vox is certainly both. There's some drama behind it: rumor has it that SixApart is planning to "force" adults to move to Vox in order to make LiveJournal for teens only. What representatives of SixApart are saying is that Vox just fits a different niche: more slick and user-friendly than LiveJournal, more private and community-oriented than traditional blogs. It should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

But anyway, for now, I'm enjoying playing with it; some of the features are frickin' shiny. You can find me here. (But don't worry, I'm certainly not abandoning this blog!) Do any of you have accounts? Let me know so I can add you to my neighborhood! Also, Vox is invitation-only right now, and I don't have any invitations at the moment, but I should be getting more soon, so let me know if you'd like one.

Check definitions? Play podcasts? Why choose?

I'm so nerdily thrilled with this: a dictionary AND mp3 player, all in one!

Upgraded!

While I was sleeping, the magic upgrade fairy (also known as Becky, my lovely hostess) upgraded me to a new version of Movable Type! Hurrah! I'm still figuring out how it all works, so if things seem wonky, bear with me, and leave a comment so I know something's wrong.

Speaking of comments: this new version will make it much easier to prevent and deal with spam. Yay! As an experiment, I'm trying to make it so that if you sign in with TypeKey (a free account), your comment posts immediately. If you don't want to do that, you can still comment, it just won't post immediately - it will wait for me to review it so I can weed out the spam. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this or any trouble commenting.

Also coming soon: a gallery and message boards. What forums would you like to see available?

Knitty alert!

The new Knitty is up! My quick favorites, on first look: Fetching (I have a weakness for fingerless mitts), Carpathia (lace! gloves!), RPM, Maze, Sock Monkey Hat (well, not for me, but I have a few friends who'd love it...), Swell, Manresa

Widdershins may even make me try toe-up socks. I mean, really, just the name! Allete is cute - not sure why I'd need wings, but I'll keep it in mind in case the situation ever comes up. I am also excited about learning to knit backwards. I knew this was doable, of course, but had never actually come across an explanation of HOW to do it before. Oh, same with finger knitting. Ooh, and a fun article on fiber festivals by Steph.

Cure for phone phobia?

I hate the phone. Really. I will go to fairly great lengths to avoid calling people. It's not quite so bad when people call me, but I still get really anxious about what to say, how long to talk, whether they want to chit-chat or just get to the point and get off the phone, etc. (Incidentally, it's vaguely comforting to talk to Vickie on the phone because she always sounds as traumatized as I feel.)

But... if the TARDIS rang when someone called me, I might just start looking forward to it.

Best headline ever

Vegetables Fight Global Warming!

I know, I'm a dork.

But seriously, people, isn't the Swissmemory Swiss Army Knife with USB Flash Drive just the best thing ever? My first Swiss Army Knife met an unfortunate end in an unreachable spot beneath the porch of my previous apartment, so I've been considering getting a new one anyway. Hmmm.

I spy with my little eye...

From JenLa:

1. A blog which you think people have not discovered: The Magpi
2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative: The Stitch Witch
3. An unusual or weird animal picture: Many of Chaos
4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers: Oh, so many. Recently: Peukalo is thumb. by Steph
5. An idea you wish you’d thought of: Buy More Yarn. I mean, really. 'nough said.
6. Something you’d like to knit: Rogue
7. A picture of something you consider beautiful: Juno's Highland Triangle
8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person: FemiKnit Mafia
9. A blog of someone you have already met in person: mamacate

P.S. 10 Reasons Why Liberal Men are Better in Bed

Because I am SO good at this.

My advice - about a social/romance question, even! - was quoted on my favorite advice blog: Got Advice? So exciting!!!! It's in this entry, and I'm the second quote under HOW TO DO IT. (The question was about asking a boy to the prom.)

Ask him! Make it casual and ambiguous - so you COULD be asking as a friend or maybe not. "Do you have a date yet? I was thinking we could have fun at prom together, and I wanted to make sure you had a chance before someone else snapped me up." That way it sounds like you are doing HIM a favor rather than begging him or anything. And it's funny, which always helps with boys.

Can you TELL how thrilled I am about this? Hee! Michele even kindly omitted the part about how I asked THREE guys to the prom in order to find one who would go. Actually, I think I do give pretty good advice about that sort of thing. Those who can't do, teach, right? (Actually I'm pretty fine with the current state of my romantic/social life. Just for the record.)

AND, even more exciting: I don't have to work this weekend! Two whole days off! Someone at the bookstore was looking to pick up some extra hours, so she's taking my Saturday shift. I am beside myself with delight.

Books and TV and blogs, oh my!

I was all conflicted this morning: do I post about Black. White. or do I do a book meme? Decisions! Luckily, Cate made the decision for me by starting a new group blog: Reality TV Sociology. Come read or blog along with us if you're so inclined.

So the book meme! This is from Carole, even though she forgot me in the librarian list. ;-)

Meme instructions: Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won't, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you've never even heard of.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Atonement - Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

Hmm. There are some that might be on my bookshelf but I don't remember that they're there. (Someday I will complete my inventory...) Or that I've borrowed. Yeah. The Atwood is on my night table, actually, now that I think about it, but it's not mine so I didn't count it.

Also, apparently I do not decide that I won't read books. I mean, I'd read pretty much anything if you put it in front of me. (Vickie, this means you.) Also, yes, I've heard of all of them. Lit degree + enough time as a bookseller will do that.

Oh, and I forgot to tag people. How about Erica and Rachel and Kristen? (Sorry if any of you have already done it.)

Random Wednesday

1. This is really the first down time I've had since my trip, and... I'm tired. Really tired. Even the combination of caffeine and Franz Ferdinand was barely keeping me awake at work this afternoon. But tonight I did not have work or class. So I came home, took a quick nap, went to a nice dinner with friends, and am now home, in my pajamas, watching the Olympics and drinking chai. Yay.

2. Meet my cute little avatar:

3. Have you seen BlogShares yet? I haven't had time to totally figure it out, but it seems to be a fantasy stock market game - with blogs as the companies! Don't you want to know how much your blog is worth, and even who "owns" shares of your blog? Yeah, I thought you did. Click on the link and get sucked in like I have. :-)

4. Olympic knitting is... going, I guess. I'm a bit stalled, still on the cuff of the second sock. I just haven't had any time. But I'm determined to finish.

5. Speaking of which, I have a few media links to add to the KO links list. I'll get them on there soon. I promise.

6. I used to laugh at my mother and her "power naps." I insisted that the idea of just closing your eyes for 5 or 15 minutes was preposterous. Couldn't actually help. Um, apparently I just wasn't tired enough then. Because now I get it. Totally. It's a lifesaver. And man, does the "not quite asleep" state produce some funky dreams. (Including those involving kissing people about whom I generally do not think in that manner. Weird.) But yeah, I'm totally behind this concept now. Thanks Mom!

7. Like many knitters, I'm often torn between knitting/starting whatever I want and trying to actually finish things. I recognize that I'm a process knitter, and that knitting is supposed to be fun and there are enough deadlines and stressors in the rest of my life. But on the other hand, finishing is kind of fun. And my unfinished projects are numbering, well, in the dozens by now. And just knowing that they're there adds to my general guilt level.

So I'm going to try a compromise. A new system, of a sort. It's pretty simple: ten projects are allowed to be on the "actively knitting" list at a time. If I want to knit something not on the list - either something new or an unfinished item - then I have to finish one of the list items first. I think this actually has a chance of working. Ten is a reasonable number, I think, to keep track of, but it is large enough to allow for plenty of variation. And maybe by the end of the year, all my projects will fit on that list of ten. (But don't hold your breath.)

A Bloggers' (Silent) Poetry Reading

This midwinter poetry celebration is the brainchild of Grace's Poppies. This is probably my favorite winter poem, and it seems particularly apropos these days when I leave the house by eight and don't get home until midnight:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

It's Robert Frost, of course, via the Favorite Poem Project.

Firefly Barbies!

Alas, no, they're not for sale. But they're pretty darn shiny.

"I am quite sick with delight"

For anyone who has ever read a bad historical romance... it's The Victorian Sex Cry Generator! (Not workplace- or child-safe. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Happy birthday, Roe v. Wade

Today is the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Honestly, this is an issue I've struggled with, but I have come to realize that the goal is the creation of a world in which abortion is not necessary. Since we do not live in that world, however, abortion needs to be safe, legal, and available. So I am joining hundreds of other bloggers in "Blog for Choice" day. Click on the icon for more information and to see the list.

Ta-da List

I discovered a fun little service this morning (thanks Ais!): Ta-da List. I have five lists so far: a running shopping list, a To Do list, books I'm in the middle of, books I've finished this month (so I remember them all for my "October Books" post), and current knitting WIPs. One nifty feature is that you can choose to make any or all of your lists public, so, if you'd like, take a look at my Knitting WIPs. (I'll probably get the link in the sidebar here eventually.) I must say, though, that those are certainly not ALL the projects I have in progress. They're just the ones that came to mind. I'll add other things as I come across/work on them.

Web searching for kids

I'm writing a paper about KidsClick!, which bills itself as "web search for kids by librarians." I think it's an interesting idea, although not terribly well executed. It is bringing up some other questions in my mind, though...

Does a "search engine for kids" really help kids find the information they're looking for? Or does it hinder them because it searches such a limited set of sites? Or both, depending on the context? Or the kid? Does it end up functioning as a form of censorship, or is it just a study aid? Do kids actually use it? Parents, do you find such sites useful for your kids?

Blogathon 2005

No, I'm not participating, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about it. I first heard of Blogathon two years ago... no, three, because I remember a certain friend was pregnant and her son is over two now. Anyway. It's a neat concept: blog every half hour for 24 hours. People sponsor you for the charity of your choice. Simple but really really cool. I want to try to participate next year, but for now I thought I'd give you a round-up of the participants that caught my eye. Go look at them. Sponsor if you can. Cheer them on by reading/commenting if you can't.

Crafty Blogs or Causes
Agape and Afghan-Making/Afghans for Afghans
Hippycriticism/Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
MEW.nu/Blankets4Canada
Reusablog/Project Linus

Those Blogging for Causes I Particularly Like
Apeystar/AFSP
Bella Luna/Book Aid
Note of the Day/Cat Adoption Team
Eclectic Mind/Alley Cat Allies
Imagine This/Wonder of Reading
It's Just My Life/March of Dimes
Jamelah.net/Book Aid
Parade of Animals/Anti-Cruelty Society
Precious Baby/March of Dimes

Fun Gimmicks
Bluewolf's Howl/AFSP
DisconnectedBlog
SciFi Ranter Girl/The Planetary Society
so you want to marry a racecar driver/foodnotbombs
Wisdom of the Illiterati/Heifer International

Others That Happened to Catch My Eye
Another Day, Another Diaper/Cure Autism Now
A Better Wife/The Lullaby Closet
Blogathon Unzipped/Modest Needs
Dizzy Girl/American Federation of Police and Concerned Citizens
Hip Young Mom/American Cancer Society
Melyssa's Family Blog/Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
MissMeliss: Scritture/Habitat for Humanity - Women Build
Perfection on a Curve/National Fibro Research Assoc
A Tale of 2 WAHMs/Rupert's Kids
This Mom/Cure Autism Now
Three Moms and a Single Lady/MISS Foundation

Whew. Have fun, and good luck everyone!

This could eat up lots of time.

(Yes, it's snowing again. I told you it would.)

In my reference class last night, I learned about Google Whack. Sorry if this is old news--it was the first I'd seen of it. I'm determined to find one. Some day.

Two fun timewasters

Here's one for name geeks and one for library nerds. For those just fascinated by useless information, try both.

Are you visitor 500?

I can't believe how much traffic this site has been getting! I'm excited. :-) So we're going to have a little contest.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and check the sitemeter. If it says 500, take a screenshot and e-mail it it to me along with your name and street address, and you'll get a little surprise in the mail.

Because I don't have enough to do...

Come see my newest online adventure, 101 Things in 1001 Days.

Hello out there!

This is really just a test post, but while I'm at it I might as well say Happy New Year's Eve to anyone who happens by! Watch this space--I have some exciting stuff planned for the new year.