We Saw a Chicken …

Blog

  • claimID/microid for WordPress: fixed!

    I like the idea of claimID — a simple web ID system — and have been trying to mark all my online content with it. I installed Richard K Miller’s MicroID Plugin for WordPress, but it didn’t seem to want to correctly fingerprint the top level of my site.

    A little sleuthing (even with my zero PHP skills) showed that claimID thought the URL of my site was http://scruss.com/blog/, while Richard’s plugin thought the URL was http://scruss.com/blog. The trailing slash made all the difference to the claimID fingerprint.

    All I had to do was to edit the URL in my claimID page, get the site verified, and this blog is so mine …

  • clicking loaches!

    Our little clown loaches were clicking like crazy after I fed them tonight. It sounds like tapping a tiny pebble against the glass. It was only today that I discovered where the noise was coming from!

  • travels to connecticut

    We drove more than 1900km this weekend to see Jenn and Don for their baby shower in Stony Creek (Branford), CT. Long drive, but good company.

  • Bad Job, Akismet

    Akismet seems to be off tonight. I’m getting about one comment spam an hour, and they’re all identical.

  • It’s so clear that all we have now

    (is) an absurdly complete Strawberry Switchblade fansite.

  • calculator porn

    For no good reason, I think I need the new HP 50g calculator, if only because it’s so absurdly large. Mind you, since I recently found my 49G again, I don’t think I can justify it.

  • Lansing Square hates bikes

    I meant to add to the last posting that I got stopped in the lobby of Lansing Square and told that I couldn’t bring a bike in since it was a fire risk. Now, I’ve never had a bike catch fire, so you think the concierge was being a jobsworth?

  • to work, and back again

    Biked to work today, and just got back. Maybe not the smartest choice of a day â€” second hottest of the year, with thunderstorms threatened — but I made it. Going there was rather slow, as I got lost a couple of times, but coming back was faster than transit.

    If I felt really nerdy, I’d post my route as GPX, but it’s a bit twisty.

  • king ov shim

    To round out the Dawes Super Galaxy, I got a pair of used Sun Tour Superbe non-aero brake levers from Bicycle Specialties. Wouldn’t you know it though, but one of them was for thicker (Cinelli?) bars than the narrow GB Randonneurs that are on my bike.
    Armed with a sharp knife, a straight edge, and an empty can of Irn Bru, I cut myself some shim stock to fill out the gap. The lever has a little lateral play, but it’s not moving up or down any. I am the king ov shim!

  • loaches!

    We are troubled by water snails, so Mike at Finatics suggested some clown loaches. We now have four Chromobotia macracanthus zooming around, and they’re the only ones that’ll stand up to the algae eaters.

    And I get to say loach again: loach!

  • people are stupid

    There’s going to be some ranting here, so I advise folks to look at this nice picture of a monarch butterfly I took at Bluffer’s Park today, and move along:

    monarch butterfly - spotty!

    In the park there was a gull that wasn’t moving like the others. I got close to it, and discovered there was a large fishing lure lodged through its beak. I had no way of helping it, and a nearby parks crew couldn’t do anything either. It could fly, just, but the big lure slowed it down, and the trailing fishing line mad it stumble.
    I know gulls are often seen as nuisance birds, but no animal deserved
    this fate. There’s no fishing and no kite flying in this park because there are so many birds. I’m angry that someone could be so thoughtless.

    There’s a picture below the fold. You probably don’t want to see it.

    (more…)

  • deadfish

    We lost one of the platies last night. I couldn’t see anything wrong with it; its eyes and scales were still bright, but it was definitely dead. The water’s clean, and has very low nitrite and ammonia levels.

    Poor wee fish.

  • cat at rest

    cayut

  • deep fried jam sandwich à la mode

    I just had a deep fried strawberry jam sandwich (with ice cream) at St Andrews Fish & Chip restaurant at Ellesmere & McCowan — and survived!

    (it was good, incidentally)

    Our server also had Bishopbriggs connections, so it’s a wee world.

  • /dev/happies

    Today is supposedly System Administrator Appreciation Day. Wouldn’t it have been better for it to have been four days ago? 24/7 has a much better sound to it.

  • say no to NO2

    clean water, happy fish; checked the nitrite and ammonia levels, and they’re way low. The water’s sparkly clear, so I think things are slowly settling down in the tank.

  • a joy forever

    a thing of beauty

    I finished fixing up the brakes on the Super Galaxy, and put new handlebar tape on the bars. I still suck at fitting bar tape; should’ve stuck to my old standard Benotto tape, which, while almost useless for shock absorption, is cheap and easy to fit.

    Once all was fitted, I took it for a spin. The new brakes are a delight; very positive and extremely powerful. I will enjoy riding again.

    (And yes, you bike nerds, there is no straddle cable in that picture.)

  • bike work

    There is something very pleasing about working on one’s bike of an evening, racing against the fading light. I stripped the ancient bar tape of the tourer, and started on refurbishing the brakes. I think that 1987 was the year that cantilevers got good, and since I have a 1986 Super Galaxy, the old Shimano BR-AT50s were pretty poor. New Alivios don’t quite have the finish of the old units, but they’ll work, meaning I’ll be able to stop without a full city block’s notice.

  • Stewart’s Images :: Groovy Computers

    Stewart’s Images :: Groovy Computers are some images scanned from a 1975 programming manual. I remember when computers looked like this …

  • mail from the city

    The only downside about being part of the Billboard Battalion is that you get a lot of mail from the city. I get a separate letter for each variance contested, and sometimes duplicates, so I get between four and twelve letters after each community council meeting.
    You would have thought they could have stuck them all in one envelope, or used e-mail, to save money and paper. But no; we’re a world class city, after all.