• Cute Kitty
  A page about Hello Kitty, in Portuguese. Seems to have some info about HK, and a lot of HK graphics.
  (tags: hellokitty graphics)
• Iconator
  50×50 icons for AIM, 100×100 icons for LJ, and away messages for AIM.
  (tags: graphics livejournal)
• How to quickly add subtitles to your digital home video clips
  Instructions from Jared Evans.
  (tags: deaf technology)
• Krunch
  File compression (zipping). You can upload and compress your files, uncompress compressed files on the web and view/download contents, grab files from the web, compress them online and download the compressed archive. [via ehub]
  (tags: tools)
• Fo.rtuito.us
  You sign up and are given a friend chosen randomly. Next, you have 4 days to get to know this person before you are asked to make a decision whether to keep them as your friend. [via ehub]
  (tags: onlineculture)
• Puzzle Floor
  Just in case you wanted to redo your hardwood floors, here’s a great idea - make them puzzle pieces! $15 per square foot.
  (tags: random)
• Cheapo Vegas
  Your guide to a better Vegas vacation. [via metafilter]
  (tags: travel)

• Feed Icons
  Attempting to establish new common icons to indicate RSS and XML feeds.
  (tags: rss)

Today I went paddling, specifically intending to find Row the Potomac. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to program the coordinates into my GPSr^*…but fortunately I had my Sidekick with me, so I took it out of my drybag and located the cache page. With the coordinates entered in, it was easy to find the correct island and get the cache. Okay, getting the cache was not so easy, as it involved scrambling around some rocks, but I managed to do it without getting wet anywhere above my knees. I had forgotten to bring a pen, so I took a picture as evidence of having been there. After returning to my boat, I paddled around for a while before heading back to the boathouse and loading the kayak onto the car. I looked very briefly for another cache that was nearby, but it was hot and I was tired so I gave up and I’ll get it next time.

Had a successful day geocaching today! The first one I got was Mr. Jefferson’s Rotunda, my first virtual cache. I originally thought it was actually in the dome room, so we looked around up there first, which was interesting and educational. We then headed outside so I could pick up the GPS signal again, and I quickly found the actual site of the virtual cache.

The next nearest cache was Come to Homercles, my first webcam cache. I exchanged instant messages with a friend, and got my picture taken to confirm I had truly found the cache. Next it was over toward one side of the campus; A waited in the cemetery while I picked up Hoo’s Your Daddy? and Mikayla’s Birthday Cache in the Dell.

It was quite hot today and we had already walked a couple of miles, so when we got back to the car we decided to drive the mile to the next cache. I found the site for First Night VA! easily and exchanged instant messages with my mom to get my picture taken for that one. After that we had dinner at Miller’s - we hit them right at dinnertime, so the wait was very long - and then got gelato at Splendora’s. I figure if I have a veggie burger, fries, and ice cream once every six months (which is about how long it’s been since I had one), that won’t kill my diet too badly.

So, five caches today, including my first virtual and first webcam. The drive was longer than I had remembered - I thought it was a little over an hour, but it was actually about two hours - but I had a good time.

More than four years ago, I tried out for Jeopardy. I didn’t pass the written test, so I was sent home. Then earlier this year, they held an online test and I did pass that, so I got called in for a second audition. It happened yesterday morning, and there was another written test - but they didn’t tell us if we passed! Instead we all got to play the mock game, at which I did okay. I think my “It’s Academic” experience taught me not to be afraid of the buzzer - any nervousness was just a matter of if I knew the answers at all, rather than if I could hit the buzzer in time. Anyway, I have no idea how I did at all. They say they will consider everyone based on their test score, their stage presence, their looks (I’m assuming that based on the Polaroid picture they took of everyone), etc. So for all I know, they just did away with the embarrassing “didn’t pass the test” part, and let everybody play the mock game, even if we don’t have a chance at getting on the show. But I am theoretically in their active contestant file for the next 18 months, so I suppose I could still get called at any time.

Today we are going to Charlottesville for some geocaching - it’s such a nice day, and we wanted somewhere interesting to go that would also have geocaches, so I picked there because there are several caches around UVA.

I took the Lloyd’s test again and did much better, but when I did the Audacity tones again with headphones I couldn’t hear the tones - and yet I could hear them without headphones. So who knows if it’s the computer, or my hearing, or what. All I know is that last night, A could hear things I couldn’t.

• Fantazyland Review
  The most bleak theme park I’ve ever seen. Located in Alexandria, Egypt.
  (tags: coasters)

Well, this is interesting. I have a mild hearing loss at high frequencies, apparently. This was prompted by an NPR story about the “Mosquito” teen repeller, which plays a 17kHz tone to drive away unruly teens hanging around stores and other establishments. I had been able to hear the sample tone played on the radio, which was less than 17kHz, but we couldn’t hear it when I played the story on the computer. We figured it was just the computer having a hard time playing it, so we tried the Online Hearing Test at LloydHearingAid.com. I was the one clicking the buttons, so we were really only testing my hearing, and it came up with a mild hearing loss. It said my loss was greater at the lower frequencies (assuming I was interpreting the little chart right), but I figured that it only said it was a mild loss because they wanted to sell me hearing aids.

We still couldn’t figure out if my computer could play a 17kHz tone, though, so I searched around trying to find out how. I discovered that the Audacity software (which I downloaded to record Spoken Wikipedia articles) could generate its own tones, so we started playing with that. I was rather surprised to find that I couldn’t hear anything at 11kHz or above! A could hear up to about 15kHz. So now she knows why I sometimes don’t hear her when she’s calling for me from elsewhere in the house. I’m vaguely considering going for an actual audiologist test, even though I can hear human voices with no problem…just to find out what my actual loss might be, if any. I’m not actually worried…it was just a surprise to me to have A saying “yes, I hear that” for tones that I could swear weren’t even being played.

I just installed Sorenson’s EnVision SL software! I called up VRS and told the interpreter I was just testing, so I know it works. So if anybody wants to call me direct, use my first name at my domain name. I don’t have it set up to use audio, so please make sure you have the video, or we won’t be getting much communicated!

• Sorry Again
  SB 861 is breed-specific legislation in California targeted toward pit bulls. Here are some apologies from loving dogs for being who they are. [via betty beatdown]
  (tags: animals)
• Tomatoes Are Evil
  This site is dedicated to the belief that the humble tomato fruit is in fact EVIL.
  (tags: funny)
• Output This!
  A part of the Structured Blogging initiative, providing routing services for posts intended to be published in more than one weblog.
  (tags: blogging)
• Silence Is Not Golden
  Raising awareness and tackling homophobia, homophobic bullying, and gay hate crime.
  (tags: queer)
• BeveragesDirect
  Retailer of hard-to-find beverages, including Jones Soda (Holiday Pack), Diet Dr Pepper in glass bottles, Boylan’s Bottleworks, Cheerwine, and many unusual flavors. Sections for soda, energy drinks, diet drinks, coffee/tea, water, etc.
  (tags: stuff.to.buy)
• Two gay and lesbian soldiers discharged a day
  So much for the U.S. military’s stop loss program. Since the war began, an average of two American soldiers have been killed each day (I did the math). The military is doubling its loss rate in the name of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
  (tags: queer sept11.war)