Author: djuggler

Fountain

Greek fest

Do you want to do it with my wife?

Wow. I mean. WOW. Whoa. Wow. WoooooooW. Ouch. Yeah. Whoa. WOOOW!!

Why yes, that is Depeche Mode I’m playing.

For those of you on RSS feeds, you might want to jump over the Reality Me site for the next hour or so we’ve got good cat cam.

Yes! I terrorized the Girl Scout Office! With two sleeping children in the car and Cathy needing to run a quick errand I decided it best not to stop because naturally there is a direct correlation between a stopped car and open eyes. So when we pulled into the parking lot to discover only 3 cars I pulled up parallel to the sidewalk inside of into a parking space and dropped her off. I then took my foot off the gas and let the car drive itself around the parking lot as slowly as possible. I made a couple of loops then decided to check out the back side of the building. There I found too many cars to circle without doing a three point turn and a LARGE unattended moving truck blocking most of those cars into their spaces so I returned to the front.

Now this would have been a quick trip for Cathy but she couldn’t find anyone in the office. They were too busy hiding behind doors and furniture because of the terrorist in the parking lot. We all know what a strategic target Girl Scouts of America is to Islamic fundamentalists. When she did find someone, she guessed what was going on and made a preemptive strike cheerfully declaring, “That’s just my husband trying to keep to children sleeping.” Instead of laughing it off though, my wife was unloaded upon with all guns about what a safety hazard I am and how I’m not allowed to do that. I’d say someone has forgotten what it is like to have kids.

People! Get a grip! Bin Laden won. His simple goal was to change the American way of life and you have played right into his plan by signing away your freedoms, introducing Big Brother into your lifes as if Orwell was producing your life, teaching our children to spy on their parents, undermining the confidence of those who lead us during our retirement years by locking them in their classesrooms in the deluded name of “safety,” and obeying fanaticism instead of rationale.

Do not blindly follow your religious and government leaders from democracy into a paranoid fascist state.

A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

Do you need religious references to make sure your thinking is not out of line with conservative America? Then quit following and start thinking for yourself for even the Bible warns that leaders, religious and government, can be wrong in Luke 6:39, 40:

He also told them this parable: ‘Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will not they both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.'” Perhaps we could paraphrase it this way, “The followers will invariably be like their leaders, and rarely will a follower rise above his leader.

Let’s get back to the Girl Scouts. That truck hidden in the back of the building was more of a risk than I was. It could have been poised to strike down communications on Sharps Ridge. Or filled with fertilizer. But in the end, they were simply moving boxes into the building. Quit looking for trouble! You won’t find it; you are creating it!

Look for the good in people. If you tell a good person they are bad enough, they’ll start believing you. Beat a nice dog and it will turn mean. You’ve forgotten to love each other and be nice to one another! Worried about sleeper cells doing another 9/11?! Get out there and love them; remove their hate. Show them how great American was!

In the meantime you can find me doing doughnuts in the parking lots of restaurants, offices, grocery stores, and government buildings to show that
I live in the land of the free!
I will walk up to strangers and have conversations and end them by saying, "I love you!" I will help my neighbors. I will take pictures of my city. I will fly model rockets. You will not steal my liberties without a fight!

…because I’m just crazy that way.

…because I sent off another proposal.

…because I feel like things are about to take an upswing.

So I was faced with a new abbreviation today: IPTC-NAA tags sometimes seen as IPTC/NAA parameters. It didn’t take long to find but I did have some confusing misses so I thought I would answer the question here. What are IPTC-NAA tags? The answer comes from someone’s personal web page:

The parameter interchange model is defined by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) and the International Press Tele- communications Council (IPTC). The model defines a tagged file format, similar to TIFF in its design, but focussed on newspaper and newsphoto usage. It defines a large set of parameters, including copyright, captions, restrictions, photographers, publishing details, and much much more. The most common subset is called “IPTC/NAA Digital Newsphoto Parameter Record”.

As with most other standards from ISO and related bodies, the IPTC/NAA documentation is distributed on paper only, and must be obtained directly from the IPTC or the NAA. The following addresses may be used:

International Press Telecommunications Council
10 Sheet Street
Windsor, Berkshire
SL4 1BG
UNITED KINGDOM

or

Newspaper Association of America
The Newspaper Center
11600 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston
VA 20091 USA

As a footnote, the IPTC/NAA standard itself includes a well- designed standard for image transfer, which in some respects are more comprehensive than TIFF. IPTC/NAA files can also be used to wrap TIFF, JFIF, Illustrator, and several other file formats.

…because I get to be fatherly tonight.

…because I was able to help solve someone’s problem today.

…because I hit a major milestone and set another one.

…because my kids seem happy (well, most of them).

Today I am sporting a snazzy number my brother and his wife bought me. On their visit, they brought 3 shirts and were supposed to take 6 but only took 1 so I owe her 5.

Here’s the deal. I have enough t-shirts in my closet to wear one a day for most of the year and then there are my polos, shirt sleeves and dress shirts. Some of these date back to high school. Most are very 80s and several promote defunct radio stations. So, for each new shirt that comes in, two shirts go out. You can help make me stylish by trading one new, hip shirt for two older shirts of your choosing.

I’ll have to photograph the closet.

Noah scores a redux.

Dad, looking at the wet ground and murky sky: “Noah, do you need a ride [to the bus stop]?”
Noah, chipperly: “Nope, it’s only 7:09.”

Today’s contorted English “chipperly” because it just doesn’t get any better than that!

Dad: “Noah, have you brushed your teeth?”
Noah, 9 years with dumbfounded look on face and spoke as if I should know better: “I brushed them last night.”

Well what was I thinking?!

Today is a big day. Many miracles to perform. Wish me luck.