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Jul. 14th, 2009 14:44Monday July 6, 2009 To the computer lab at Southwest Senior Center.
Newsletter from Duotrope (http://www.duotrope.com). Included among the contests:
"7/31/2009: Horror stories based on the world of Oz - Shadows of the Emerald City Anthology - http://www.duotrope.com/market_3512.aspx"
***To the Cub supermarket on Lake Street. Outside the store, a woman was giving $10 Cub gift cards to people who got trial subscriptions to the Star Tribune. Which seems like an excellent way to lose money, for a newspaper already facing bankruptcy.
This Cub store has aisle signs in English and Spanish. Among the Spanish ones: "habas de refried."
***Leaving the store, I came across a small drama.
Man to male cop: "I love you."
Cop: -"Don't say you love me. How about saying you respect me?"-
***Back home: Picked up a table knife, and it felt odd. After a moment, I figured out why: my hand muscles had relaxed enough that familiar objects felt wrong.
Tuesday July 7, 2009 I barely missed a phone call from an unfamiliar number in an unfamiliar area code (713.) I tried to call back.
"The Department of Corrections number you are trying to call does not accept incoming calls."
***To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.
I did a reverse lookup on the phone number at http://whitepages.com. It was an unpublished number in Houston. Since I don't know anyone likely to be either a prisoner or a guard in Houston, the caller almost certainly dialed the wrong number.
While I've lived in the Twin Cities, I've twice answered calls from people trying to phone Sydney, Australia. (Area code for Minneapolis, formerly also for St. Paul: 612. Country code for Australia: 61. City code for Sydney: 2.)
Later, I started thinking about a common science fiction device: the teleport booth. You step into a booth, dial the place you want to get to, and there you are. In the stories, it usually goes smoothly.
In practice, some people would misdial and then overlook obvious clues that they'd come to the wrong place. "Why does this supermarket have more signs in Arabic than in English? That's carrying political correctness too far! And where are the pork chops?"
***Radio interview with originators of the HBO show "Hung." It's about a male prostitute with a female pimp. (His clients are female.)
Newsletter from Duotrope (http://www.duotrope.com). Included among the contests:
"7/31/2009: Horror stories based on the world of Oz - Shadows of the Emerald City Anthology - http://www.duotrope.com/market_3512.aspx"
***To the Cub supermarket on Lake Street. Outside the store, a woman was giving $10 Cub gift cards to people who got trial subscriptions to the Star Tribune. Which seems like an excellent way to lose money, for a newspaper already facing bankruptcy.
This Cub store has aisle signs in English and Spanish. Among the Spanish ones: "habas de refried."
***Leaving the store, I came across a small drama.
Man to male cop: "I love you."
Cop: -"Don't say you love me. How about saying you respect me?"-
***Back home: Picked up a table knife, and it felt odd. After a moment, I figured out why: my hand muscles had relaxed enough that familiar objects felt wrong.
Tuesday July 7, 2009 I barely missed a phone call from an unfamiliar number in an unfamiliar area code (713.) I tried to call back.
"The Department of Corrections number you are trying to call does not accept incoming calls."
***To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.
I did a reverse lookup on the phone number at http://whitepages.com. It was an unpublished number in Houston. Since I don't know anyone likely to be either a prisoner or a guard in Houston, the caller almost certainly dialed the wrong number.
While I've lived in the Twin Cities, I've twice answered calls from people trying to phone Sydney, Australia. (Area code for Minneapolis, formerly also for St. Paul: 612. Country code for Australia: 61. City code for Sydney: 2.)
Later, I started thinking about a common science fiction device: the teleport booth. You step into a booth, dial the place you want to get to, and there you are. In the stories, it usually goes smoothly.
In practice, some people would misdial and then overlook obvious clues that they'd come to the wrong place. "Why does this supermarket have more signs in Arabic than in English? That's carrying political correctness too far! And where are the pork chops?"
***Radio interview with originators of the HBO show "Hung." It's about a male prostitute with a female pimp. (His clients are female.)