The snow leopard is Leppery 

Leppery played a central role among the stuffed animals when my kids were little. He had one of those speech problems common with kids, you know where they can't say their Ls and Ws? So he called himself Weppoawie, and he was the designated weedo at bedtime. He'd read at least the first paragraph of the current book, sometimes more if I could sustain the patience to keep him in character.

And I finally got a way to get pictures from a camera 

For months I've had three cameras and no way to grab the pictures. I ordered a card reader from Kodak for $18 that accepts four different sizes of cards. Nice deal, no shipping and cheaper direct from Kodak than at Amazon.

So now I can use a decent but old Kodak camera handed down from my older son's girlfriend's parents. Boy does that ever make me feel like a loser. I'm sure they think I am. But I'll bet I can make better pictures even with the old hand-me-down! See? I have my vanity to save me from shame.

Comment

Finally got a nice cool night 

It's been hot in Chicago, but the windows are open tonight. I don't like to sleep in air conditioning.

Comment

Mid-summer 8 p.m. 

Comment

Black and white picture 

Comment

Meme in the making 

Dave's clever We 2.0 has all the markings of a tidal wave buzzword. I think the guy's a marketing person at heart.

Question: how will he spread these things when he quits blogging?

• Press releases to bloggers?
• An unconference franchise?
• Daily video Morning Coffee Notes?
• A new invention to inject his ideas directly into the collective unconscious?

Comment

Game makers losing money 

NYT. Sorry I can't link to the story. One of the reasons cited for the publicly-held video game producers' hard times is increased cost of development -- $10 million to $15 million for a game played on the latest-generation systems. I wonder where the cost is, mostly.

When it comes to graphics, I wonder if a point of diminishing returns might have been crossed. Game graphics have been getting more realistic every year since Pong. My son remarked yesterday that Second Life graphics weren't that great. I think they're plenty good enough. It could be time for a radical new "player" to step onto the scene, one with game concepts innovative enough to distract young gamers from the expectation that a game has to look like a movie, and at the same time with production values low enough to pump out the games with less investment.

Or maybe it's not the graphics that uses up the bulk of the development budget. Anybody know?

Comment

Ban gay marriage and all that other stuff will go away 

Flash cartoon in Mother Jones.

Comment