Hippo, Birdie, Two Ewes...

...and much applause to gimmeahand!!

Help on the way for web addicts

Hooked on the Web: Help Is on the Way (N.Y. Times via Slashdot)

Some therapists and Internet addiction treatment centers offer online counseling, including at least one 12-step program for video game addicts, which is controversial. Critics say that although it may be a way to catch the attention of someone who needs face-to-face treatment, it is akin to treating an alcoholic in a brewery, mostly because Internet addicts need to break the cycle of living in cyberspace.

On my seasonal wish list

chocolatedeities.com (From mr_kurt [this morning in the office] and braider)

Intimations of mortality

This morning as I was driving to work I felt a little knot of pain crawl up my left leg. It started about halfway down the calf, and moved up an inch or so before trailing off. That, says I to myself, could easily have been a blood clot. But, there being no further symptoms, I got to work and got busy.

An hour or so later I started getting some numbness on the left side of my face, and an ache in my left shoulder. (There was also a little upper chest pain that felt like my usual acid reflux, and went away with a Tums. I also took an aspirin for good measure.) A little before noon when things hadn't improved, I called Kaiser and was told to have somebody drive me to the ER.

So I bummed a ride with finagler and spent the next couple of hours getting an EKG (which was pronounced "normal" -- refreshing) and an exam which included things like pushing against the doctor's hands in various directions, all of which came out normal. She looked at my chart, ordered a bunch of blood tests most of which were overdue anyway, put me in for a carotid ultrasound and a head scan, and upped my BP meds from half a small tablet daily to a whole one. I suspect I've had a couple of mini-strokes over the last 15 years or so, which the scan will presumably turn up.

On the way down I'd called the flower_cat, who met us at the hospital and drove me home, just in time to pick up the Younger Daughter at school so she wouldn't have to walk home in the rain. Did I mention it was raining? There was a beautiful sunrise as I took the YD to school this morning, but it was drizzling by the time I got to work. By mid-afternoon it was pouring. Not ordinarily weather I would have wanted the Cat to drive in, but I didn't feel like pushing my luck.

Anyway, I'm OK now modulo a little residual aching just under my left eye. Feels weird, but as long as it doesn't get worse I'm ok. The doctor said it was most likely a small blood clot, though the symptoms in my face are also consistent with the onset of Bell's palsy. However at the moment I'm OK. I just don't like it when my body does things I don't understand.

Podcasting interviewers take note

HHB FlashMic Is World's First Digital Recording Microphone

Portable recording specialist HHB Communications has developed the FlashMic DRM85 - the world's first professional Digital Recording Microphone. Perfect for all voice recording applications, in particular broadcast and press interviewing, the FlashMic combines a high quality Sennheiser omni-directional condenser capsule with 1GB of flash recording memory to create a convenient, durable and portable recording device that's extremely easy to operate.

Click here for the Brochure

(from Electronic Musician [dead tree edition, which came in the mail this morning])

Wondering where to host your big files?

ourmedia.org

We provide free storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software. Forever. No catches.

...

The idea is pretty simple: People who create video, music, photos, audio clips and other personal media can store their stuff for free on Ourmedia's servers forever, as long as they're willing to share their works with a global audience.

Ourmedia's goal is to expose, advance and preserve digital creativity at the grassroots level. The site serves as a central gathering spot where professionals and amateurs come together to share works, offer tips and tutorials, and interact in a combination community space and virtual library that will preserve these works for future generations. We want to enable people anywhere in the world to tap into this rich repository of media and create image albums, movie and music jukeboxes and more.

They offer a selection of common licenses, including CC, GPL, and MPL. Since my audio files are all CC-licensed (by-nc-sa, if you're interested -- that's the share-alike, non-commercial license that might as well be called the "filk-friendly" license), this looks like a perfect fit for me. It's not really a problem at the moment, since all I have on my site is a dozen or so oggs and I'm not exactly what you'd call wildly popular, but I suppose that could change when my album comes out (Real Soon Now), or if I decide to put up FLAC or MP3 files along with the oggs.