Ploofle

(I’ll be tagging via facebook, but Hsien, you should definitely do this too in case I don’t have you on Facebook.)

From Box Office Mojo’s list of Top 48 Sci-Fi Films Based on a Book (or Story) (1980- present).

Here are the rules.

- Copy the list below.
- Mark in bold the movie titles for which you read the book.
- Italicize the movie titles for which you started the book but didn’t finish it.
- Tag 5 people to perpetuate the meme. (You may of course play along anyway.)

(For many of these I haven’t even watched the movies though…)

1. Jurassic Park
2. War of the Worlds
3. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
4. I, Robot
5. Contact
6. Congo
7. Cocoon
8. The Stepford Wives
9. The Time Machine
10. Starship Troopers
11. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
12. K-PAX
13. 2010
14. The Running Man
15. Sphere
16. The Mothman Prophecies
17. Dreamcatcher
18. Blade Runner(Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
19. Dune
20. The Island of Dr. Moreau
21. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
22. The Iron Giant(The Iron Man)
23. Battlefield Earth
24. The Incredible Shrinking Woman
25. Fire in the Sky
26. Altered States
27. Timeline
28. The Postman
29. Freejack(Immortality, Inc.)
30. Solaris
31. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
32. The Thing(Who Goes There?)
33. The Thirteenth Floor
34. Lifeforce(Space Vampires)
35. Deadly Friend
36. The Puppet Masters
37. 1984
38. A Scanner Darkly
39. Creator
40. Monkey Shines
41. Solo(Weapon)
42. The Handmaid’s Tale
43. Communion
44. Carnosaur
45. From Beyond
46. Nightflyers
47. Watchers
48. Body Snatchers

Tags: meme that may be crappy

Today a bunch of us went to the (big? small? I know little about mountains) mountain called “Red Goat Hill” that dominates the landscape here with the idea of trying to climb it.

Wow, that was a shitty idea.

It was actually nice to walk but in the end some of us didn’t get to the top and just came back.  Amber and I got about 2/3 the way up but we’re both out of shape (despite my silly aerobics) so it was just too much. Kinda bummed me out though, that even with semi-regular exercise I can’t do such things.  I’m going to try again next time some other folks decide to go there as it’s good exercise.  Roundtrip, even not getting to the top, it was about 3-1/2 hours of walking and climbing.

Afterward I got lunch with Amber and did my shopping for the next 2 weeks or so.  I’m working on both traditional sourdough starter and the semi-sourdough yogurt french bread that I made last week which was super tasty.  Also I have lentils soaking for dinner.  Right now though I’m just tired, need a haircut, and definitely need a shower.  Hope to get a haircut tomorrow…

Speaking of playing, I wonder in general how much of work is playing at being a worker, or making progress.  For example, your funder wants statistics or justification – so we better get them! Hence, playing at knowing what is going on.  But what about stepping back and actually really looking at those numbers and what they mean?  Is it too depressing to realize how big a task is at hand?  Or is it inspiring and give you more determination to get cracking?  It hopefully at least gives you some target demographics…I would think.  Why bother to do a job if you’re not going to do it well?  Blah.

Tags: hiking, hills, red goats, work

Pretty damn well, according to the NYTimes:

The number of uninsured has dropped — Massachusetts now has the lowest rate in the nation — and so have the number of those who turn to costly emergency rooms for routine care…More than 439,000 people have taken out coverage since the program began in mid-2006 — two-thirds of the estimated 650,000 who lacked health insurance when the program began.

I’m really happy to hear this is working out – and no one’s losing care and people are living (presumably) healthier lives.  I think when I get back, no matter where I live, it would really cool to work on making sure my state moves toward universal care.  Maybe as a side project

And I like how they talk about this is a stepping-stone to improving quality of and access to care.

Tags: health, northerners

I need to internalize this one for when I reintegrate into American society…

Tags: snap

..there is an unseasonable late (as in, two seasons late) dust storm that has made the sky parchment-colored and reduced visibility to about 500 feet.  Tar paper seems to be flapping around, and I suspect I won’t go buy meat today, as it’ll be quite gritty.

Tags: dust, wind