What name would you take in Tolkien’s Elvish?

Have a lot of time on your hands? Figure out a name for yourself in Sindarin Elvish! It only takes several hours and a few web-sites to make an informed guess! If you dig a bit more you could probably come up with a name in the high-speech of the Numenoreans!

To get you started, here’s a good (the best?) lexicon with english to sindarin and sindarin to english dictionaries:

http://www.jrrvf.com/hisweloke/sindar/online/english.html

Also, here’s a name-list site that gives you clues as to how to piece things together without delving into the nuts and bolts of language syntax:

http://www.realelvish.net/sindarin_names.php

Based on my name and appearance a few work-in-progress names in Sindarin would be:

Thindiel meaning Pale Daughter or Daughter of The Pale
Idhreneth meaning Wise Woman
Idhreniel meaning Daughter of Wisdom
Thindhreniel meaning Pale Daughter of Wisdom

I like Thindhreniel most of all so that is the name I will take for now. Even so, there were no good examples of as complex a structure that I could find readily so the syntax will have to be researched. Then again, often Tolkien’s names were contractions of original words so it would more likely past muster as a name if not as used in a sentence. I’ll render the name in the Elvish script of Quenya today or tomorrow just in case you’re not convinced I have idle time to spare during recovery! :) The only problem is using it in anything like one solid consecutive chunk to get anything really productive done. Blergh!

Jani

So there’s this boy…

d e s i r e

So there’s this boy.

He’s smart, handsome, and even sexy.

Thinking about making love to him sends shock-waves through my body.

I am intoxicated by his smell.

He could unleash my sexuality with just a touch.

Before I would be a woman in his arms and on my knees.

After I would be his virgin. His lover. Even his slut.

My heart now knows desire and it will not forget.

I will find him again some day, even if in someone else.

And I will be more than I am now.

But I hope it’s him.

Mac PHP Debugging using Eclipse PDT and MAMP

This took a while to figure out so I’m posting the steps to get this setup working here for future reference. This is a simplified version of the more extensive instructions that can be found here tailored for a typical Mac OSX 1.5+ install.

1. Download and install MAMP here
2. Download and install Eclipse PDT All-In-One here
3. Download and extract the Zend debugger extension binary here
4. Copy the appropriate ZendDebugger.so file to the MAMP install’s PHP extension directory. To determine the appropriate ZendDebugger.so file execute the following PHP code snippet and look for the PHP version number at the top of the page. To locate the extension directory look for the line beginning “extension_dir”
5. Copy the dummy.php file extracted from the archive to your PHP project’s home directory.
6. Find and open the MAMP php.ini file. To find this file you can again look at the page generated by the phpinfo statement in step 4 and look for the line beginning “Configuration File (php.ini) Path”
7. In the php.ini file add or update the following directives:

implicit_flush = On
output_buffering = Off
eaccelerator.enable=”0″

;zend_extension=/usr/lib/php4/20020429/xdebug.so (comment out this directive if it exists)
;extension=dbg.so (comment out this directive if it exists)
;extension=php_dbg.dll (comment out this directive if it exists)

[Zend]
zend_extension=/Path/To/ZendDebugger.so
zend_debugger.allow_hosts=127.0.0.1/32
zend_debugger.expose_remotely=always

8. Remove all other directives from the [Zend] section of the php.ini file

That’s it! If I forgot something drop me a comment!

Video: Bubble 2.0 - Here Comes Another Bubble

This is a very funny video about the rise and fall of fortunes of the typical silicon valley .com set to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” Well worth watching and totally work safe.

The Machine is Us

All I can say is “wow!” This short YouTube video is both an engaging and succinct history of the way the Internet is transforming human communication and a powerful argument that this transformation will ultimately radically alter humanity itself. Amazing.

When Worlds Collide

So this weekend a couple of my girlfriends came down from Northern Virginia and stayed with Liisa and I over the weekend. As expected we had a great time hanging out, chatting, watching disturbing movies (ZOMG! Porn Theatre and Lilies!), drinking weird drinks (ZOMG! Test Tube Babies and Abortions!), and generally making up for our otherwise not-so-great adolescence with great success. This despite my being sick the whole weekend and generally not being the best hostess! :-)

On Saturday we were joined for dinner by several of my childhood friends including Tom, Denise, Cadence, and Bryan which definitely represented a collision of two worlds. I’m happy to report that everyone seemed to have a great time and that Bryan in particular stayed late, had a few drinks with us, and generally joined in the fun. On Sunday night he stopped by to pick up something he left at the house and ended up staying again until about 1AM and a good while after I went to bed. I was thrilled. In recognition of him being cool he’s now an honorary girlfriend too. :-P I even talked him into taking a picture with me as the night wore on. I’m sure my posting it here will embarass him to no end but I figure by doing so it’ll be impossible for him to deny it ever happened later. Just kidding Byran…you rock! :-)

Happy Jani!

Jani has had a little too much to drink. Notice I refer to myself in the third person when I’ve done something I’m not entirely proud of. Oh who am I kidding, I am proud of it! (Unlike that night at Cala’s apartment in San Francisco when I drank *way* too much and fell asleep on her couch by like 9PM. Sorry Cala but it was fun while it lasted! :-)

Jani And Darcie

Here’s my favorite photo from the day after Asty and Ashley’s awesome halloween party. We all had *such* a wonderful time we had to stay an extra day but even then it was over all too soon. :-/

Top Ten Reasons Gay Marriage is Un-American

Tongue firmly in cheek of course. :-)

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed
6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.
7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

via bw.org

Thai Spicy Vegetable Soup

Tonight I made Thai spicy vegetable soup and it really turned out great. It took me a while to find all the ingredients (or reasonable substitutes) but it was quick to make and tasted wonderful so I thought I’d pass it on. So healthy, so delicious, inexpensive, and easy to make. I’m in love.

Spicy Vegetarian Thai Soup (4 servings)
4 cups of water
1 cube of vegetable bullion (Knorr)
2 stalks fresh lemon grass
3 slices of fresh galangal or ginger root
3 fresh kaffir lime leaves
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
2 tablespoons vegetarian fish sauce
12 fresh Thai chile peppers -or- 2 medium sized jalapenos
1/2 small white onion cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 tablespoons roasted chili paste (nam prik pao) or chili sauce in a pinch
1 16 ounce can straw mushrooms (drain and rinse)
2 stalks of celery
1 large carrot
1 small ripe tomato, cut into wedges ¼ inch thick
1 small lime
2 sprigs fresh cilantro

Preparation

Prepare lemon grass by trimming off the very end of the root and smashing it with the side of a cleaver of chef’s knife then cut into 1 inch pieces. Prepare galangal or ginger root by smashing it as well.  Cut onion into 1/4 inch slices. Cut tomato into wedges 1/4 inch thick. If using jalapenos cut them lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips. Drain and rinse straw mushrooms. Squeeze lime. Cut celery and carrot into 1/4 inch slices.

Cooking Instructions

Bring water and bullion to boil over high heat in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the lemon grass (in a strainer or boiling bag if you prefer not to eat the lemon grass or pick it out of the soup), galangal (or ginger), kaffir lime leaf, fish sauce and tamarind paste (break apart the tamarind paste with your fingers as you add it). Bring back to a boil and cook 3 minutes. Add the onion, chili paste, celery, carrot, and straw mushrooms. Boil for another 7 minutes or until vegetables have desired tenderness. Add the peppers and tomatoes. Turn off the heat. Add the lime juice. Taste to adjust the seasoning. Garnish with cilantro. You can add 1/2 inch cubes of tofu at this point if you like.