I am toying with the idea of re-designing and re-naming my blog. Does anyone have any suggestions??
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Google is Worse than America
Google and it's various products (Gmail, Blogger) are officially more complex that the U.S. Government. Getting a new Social Security card was much easier that getting a new e-mail address. I have spent HOURS trying to delete previous, out of date emails, transfer contacts, and allowing my self to become an administrator on my own blog. I was very tempted to just wipe the slate clean and start all over again, but I persevered. Now, I am successfully posting on my blog as phillips.claire89@gmail.com! The fight isn't over yet, however. Lisa, if you want me to read/comment on your blog, please invite my new e-mail address.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Google Yourself.
I googled myself today. Here is what I found:
about 17,600,000 results.
Claire Phillips aka Dorothy Fuentes aka "High Pockets"-- a singer/dancer/housewife turned spy in the Philippines during WWII. She opened a club for Japanese officers and collected intelligence from them for the American troops hiding out nearby. She also raised money to alleviate the suffering of POWs. Phillips got the nickname "High Pockets" because she hid money and valuables in her lingerie.
Claire Phillips-- author of the novella "Black Market Babies" and soon to be novel "Ever Chemical" award winning poet and currently teaching at the Southern California Institute for Architecture and the Art Center College of Design.
Claire Louise Phillips-- post doctoral researcher in the field of plant soil and Ecophysiology.
Claire Phillips--renown british portrait painter.
There is also a singer Claire Phillips on myspace, a producer Claire Phillips on IMDb, and an online obituary for Claire Phillips. She wants her ashes scattered in "the four winds of Nevada." I also found a Claire Elizabeth Yolande Christiana Phillips, but not till page 15. I didn't look through all the results, but I looked through a lot of them. No, I do not think I made it into the top 17 million hits. The question is, of which of these Claire Phillips shall I steal the identity?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Translating made Fun and Easy!!
Today, Lee was trying to help me with my homework. I am in an online Italian 1010 course. Yeah, I know. How are you supposed to learn a spoken language without speaking to anyone, right? Anyway, he was flipping through a phrase book I bought before my trip last Spring and stumbled upon some "fun" phrases.
These are phrases your average tourist needs according to Frommer's Italian Phrasebook and Culture Guide. Copy and paste these into google translate, I dare you.
Some selections from the Nightlife section:
Ti desidero.
Restiamo solo amici.
Prendi la pillola?
Torno a casa domani mattina.
Credo che questo sia stato un errore.
In the Health and Safety section, these are the first four phrases under "Medication"
Mi servono delle pillole del giorno dopo.
Mi servono pillole anticoncezionali.
Mi servono pillole per la disfunzione erettile.
Ho perso gli occhiali da vista e me ne servono di nuovi.
My question is this: What is Mr. Frommer doing when he's in Italy?
Because I am in an Italian class where I pretty much teach myself from a textbook without aid of an instructor, I found it necessary to find a good online translator. There are A LOT of websites that do free translations, but they usually provide sub par translations. It is important to understand that in every language there are words that won't translate, concepts that get lost, and sentence structures are different all over the world. However, with my test you can separate the proverbial wheat from the tares.
Enter the same phrase into every site you go to. It should be a phrase with basic vocabulary, in the present tense, and no structural complexities. As you translate the phrase, copy and paste the translation and translate that to a new language. Do this several times before returning to English.
becomes: kvindenat short-term dans.
(English to Spanish to French to Russian to German to English to Chinese simple to English to Danish to English to Greek to English)
becomes: Big woman L dances tonight with the short persons
(English to Spanish to French to Dutch to English to Russian to English to Chinese simple to Chinese traditional to English to Greek to English)
becomes: Dance with people long black woman briefly tonight.
(English to Spanish to French to Russian to German to Italian to English to Dutch to English to Chinese simple to English)
becomes: Fat women dance the night only.
(English to Spanish to French to Russian to German to Danish to Chinese simple to Italian to Greek to Hebrew to Polish to English)
becomes: Dancing with the main man short night.
(English to Spanish to French to Russian to German to Italian to English to Chinese simple to Greek to Hebrew to Danish to English)
And there you have it! None of them are perfect, but in my experience, google translator is the best. Try it for yourself next time you're bored!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Concerns.
I've already ranted about this once, but it was a long time ago. Last time I took a stab at Twilight, I used official looking charts and graphs. I wanted a visual aid to help readers understand the horror. I see now that my graphs, though entertaining, were not backed by any real research and are, therefore, not substantial enough evidence to support the claims I have long been making: That Twilight is a threat to society.
I have found a slightly more reliable source. I intend to prove my point using text from the book series itself. Everything you are about to see that looks like an excerpt from the book, IS! Everything that looks like someone inserted a comment or correction, IS EXACTLY THAT!! This may be a shocking experience for you. If there are children in the room, you may want to ask them to leave...but don't. They'll think this is funny too.
Meet Isabella Swan, our bubbly protagonist:
She is a very happy young lady.
She is also an independent and strong teenager.
She is, of course, very understanding of other people, their feelings, and often goes out of her way to help friends.
She is an astute observer of the world around her...
and she possesses a keen understanding of her own thoughts and feelings...
Meet Bella's boyfriend. His name is Edward. He is a hunk. And a Vampire.
Their first date was an unforgettable evening filled with romance.
They have a healthy respect for each other. Their relationship is built to last!
Edward has lots of hobbies to keep him busy...
Bella and Edward share a love that is true! They love being together.
This fantastical journey was brought to you by millionaire author Stephanie Meyer, and Dana, creator of Reasoning with Vampires. I think this quote more or less sums up this blogger's opinion of The Twilight series:
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
I've decided to use the "Bold random words" writing technique. Let me know how it worked.
For all you Harry Potter fans, this week is a very special one. That's right, the final installment of the septrilogy--or octrilogy--is finally being released to a theater near you. This Friday, we'll finally find out who the half-blood Prince is...dang, I mean, we'll finally find out who Harry's REAL father is! Shoot, that's not it either...Oh! We'll finally get to see how David Yates interprets the dramatic death scene (I'm not saying whose death, in case you were too lazy to read a few thousand pages of young adult fiction. Seriously guys, it's not Tolstoy, you could read it in a day if you wanted to.)
In it's opening weekend, HP 7.2 is projected to earn 153 million dollars and from what I understand, over 35 million dollars have already been made in advanced ticket sales. Lee and I bought our tickets yesterday, and we were already too late to see the show at 12:01, 12:02, 12:03, or 12:04 AM on Friday. We settled for 2:40 AM. I know, you all think we're crazy. But we are two crazy people who will have seen Harry Potter 7.2 before you, and don't you forget it.
Anyway, in order to share my excitement I am posting a link to the most incredibly difficult timed test you will ever take.
Can you name the top 200 Harry Potter characters in 18 minutes? I challenge all of you to take the quiz and post your score, if anyone can beat my high score of 195, I will buy them a butterbeer.
hints: if you put in a last name (i.e. "potter," "weasley,") all characters with that last name will appear.
ALL named animals, pets, magical creatures, etc count as characters. Ghosts count as characters.
For the most part, you have to be able to spell the names.
Some characters are people who are frequently mentioned but never actually introduced. (i.e. "Nicolas Flamel" from book 1) Now I have given away a dozen or more answers, get to it!!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Certain parties, you know who you are.
There are certain parties, who shall remain unnamed at this time, who had a crazy idea in his/her/their head(s) that I didn't know how to cook. I am not here to defend or refute this accusation, I am just here to state the facts.
Fact: Lee and I have been married for 22 days.
Fact: Lee has cooked dinner 2-3 times.
Fact: We haven't eaten the same meal twice yet.
Some menu items have included: Dutch oven chicken and potatoes, cheesy broccoli soup, mango fajitas, taco salad, berry pie, scallop potatoes and ham, totally legit penne italiano style, stuffed peppers, and chicken black bean chili.
Well 'certain parties,' what do you have to say for yourself/selves?
Friday, June 3, 2011
Funnymoon
At the risk of being really awkward, I am posting some pictures from our honeymoon. I hope nobody is offended by our touring of church history sites..
Nifty place for dino-fans. They've got some sweet fossilized tracks (much bigger than Lee's hand)
And some fun stuff for kids (AKA us) to do. Like dig for footprints, built your own dinosaur, or the classic rubbings of dinosaurs. The sand was rather hot.
We visited the St. George Tabernacle, had a tour, and the senior missionary was kind enough to take this picture for us.
Brother Brigham's statue didn't have much to say, but we pretended to listen intently anyway.
We found a cool vintage fire truck right across from the fire station.
We went on a little hiking and busing tour of Zions National Park. Here we are with the three Patriarchs.
We found a little cave. Lee climbed inside. I took a picture.
We hiked up to the Emerald Pools. It was really crowded, but that means someone could take a picture for us.
This is me! wading in the river.
Lee sitting by the weeping rock. You can see water dripping around behind him.
Here we are at the park entrance by a big 'ole dream catcher!
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