Brilliant readers, thank you for the poetry suggestions. I will assemble them before my next library & bookstore trips. Yay!

I have another question for you. Is there a proper expression of detached indifference in IM/email/text/chat emoticons? There's definitely an ambivalent expression - :/ or :\ - but is there one that says "I am not iffy on this subject; I simply do not care" without any air of snark or pissiness?

Just a moment ago, I typed "whatever" meaning "whatever you want, I am untroubled by any possible outcome" but it read "whatever" as in "whatever, loser... talk to the hand". And there was really no appropriate emoticon to back up my text with emotional content.

I am troubled by this. Please assist.

Something amarama posted about her age made me think of this. You know the meme where you google your name and some verb? I tried it with my age.

Some things 32 is...
Magic Johnson's retired jersey #. Magic. Johnson! Get it?
The freezing point of water at sea level in degrees Fahrenheit (not that you needed to google that).
The number of places in the US with "eagle" in their name.
A full set of adult teeth.
The country code to phone Belgium.
A "happy number".

And then I thought about all the 32s I already know - encryption, chess boards, flavors at the ice cream shop.

I'm shopping for a digital camcorder that will mostly end up being used to shoot dance - some practice, some performance, some inside & some out. So pretty much the full spectrum of lighting & sound possibilities. Right now I'm thinking just of shooting more video to develop better dancing/music, but I can imagine also wanting promo video from this thing - both web and DVD.

What camera features will I want most? It feels like I basically want EVERYTHING, and I'm not sure what camera would have that.

HP does a camera with a slimming effect.

It makes people look further away, and slightly older. It doesn't actually make them look thinner. But I suppose the point isn't that it works so much as it is that you're supposed to want it to work.

Funny how much stock we put in how we look in photos, isn't it? The camera and the mirror and the eye only capture something vaguely related to reality as is. And apparently there's enough market for photos that prove us thinner than we are that at least one focus group must have bought on to the whole idea. What would you use a fake thinner photo for? Are these things mostly going to be used by Weight Watchers (you know, motivation... this could be you in just 8 short weeks)?

( This is what my computer is currently doing. )

This is all my year-old computer is doing.

Also, the Apple support website is so ridiculously designed around "user friendliness" that it's trapped in one beginning to end user story that means it takes like 20 clicks to find the "I don't care if I have to pay you asshats $200, just fix the fucker for me" page. And when you get there, it's not 24x7.

This is me taking back every time I ever told someone to buy a Mac instead of a PC (and I've owned nothing but Macs since I was 12).

[ETA: Now it's just doing grey screen. Shame, its other paperweight setting was much prettier.]

I have old versions of various design stuffs that can't be upgraded to OSX compatibility, and in looking at the shockingly high cost of such things, it occurs to me that there are situations where I don't find software piracy particularly bad. Not that every independent web artist should use stuff illegally, but I really don't have an ethical issue with 14-year-olds (or even underemployed 34-year-olds) using pirated copies of PhotoShop to design their blogs. It's a piece of software clearly priced with a corporate market in mind, but it's also the best tool for certain jobs. Basically, I'm a big commie, as I think software license fees need to do a better job of taking into account your usage and ability to pay - there's a difference between a hobbyist and a professional, a difference between one kid and an entire high school. Why not accomodate that? I'd give people software according to their need, and have them pay as they were able. In the meantime, 14-year-old budding designers have done really well at stealing according to their need, and I can't say I blame them.

What do you think? Is piracy a form of civil disobedience?

Poll #451506
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

How ethical is it to use software (that you're supposed to buy) without paying for it (where 0 is totally unethical and 6 is a good idea)?

If you answered between 1 and 5, in what situations is it okay?

Random language irritant of the day: people using "queue" (a line, to form a line) in place of "cue" (a signal, to signal). Is it a funky non-american thing, and therefore excusable? Or is it what I think it is - one of those signs that you think your vocabulary is bigger and shinier than it really is?

I don't have any cigarettes, either.

( Cut so newly quitted smokers can ignore it; not so much about smoking as about quitting, but I'd hate to make anyone's day suck. )

I solved a technical problem and I rock. Thus, the goofy club website I've been fretting over is up and working.

Now, there was probably a more elegant solution to this problem, but mine still worked. Because I am a mind-blowing genius. Or at least someone who doesn't give up easily.

Onto the next problem. Which is one of the following: design project for acquaintance, new design for red polka, or new backend structure for WHB. It should be the first, but I wish it was the second (a new look would be nice, and unlike the other projects, completely stress-free).