Monday Update

November begins, which it means it is time to start worrying about the $WINTERHOLIDAY

Bureaucracy
I need to get a new Canadian Passport and deal with the IRS. I also need to get a mattress.

Technology
I am hoping to get all the info off my backup external before it grinds to a halt. (It got kicked over and has started making terrible grinding noises.)

Arts
Week two of Hope in Chaos at Mainline. Come on out and see it! After that, no plays lined up, although I want to get back to storytelling and some stand up. I am also hoping to find time to put up actual websites.

From elsewhere, lovely underwater photos.

News
From the New York Times, Europe's Plagues Came From China. The great waves of plague that twice devastated Europe and changed the course of history had their origins in China, a team of medical geneticists reported Sunday, as did a third plague outbreak that struck less harmfully in the 19th century. The three outbreaks are The Plague of Justinian, the Black Death, and the Plague of 1900.

I think I might want to pick up this book, Proofiness, about the dark art of mathematical deception. The book reminds me of this classic about how gender studies are reported.

Sady Doyle on the Hate Snowball on Stephen Fry, with followup, and the simple eloquence of Stephen Fry's Twitter response to this all.

Random
From Information is Beautiful - Every Doctor Who trip through time

Election Tomorrow

To my friends in the US:

Do you intend to vote? Why or why not?

How much would you say you vote on issues and how much do you vote on identity?

Calling All Tech Geeks - Data Recovery/Disk Failure

Well, that external that's been rattling since it got kicked over in a modeling shoot is at the "I'm scared to try and recover from it" phase.

It was my archive, which I was planning to transfer and back up, but it has gone very slow, and is making odd rattling noises. (It's not really the "hard click" that Western Digital seemingly is famous for.) Add an occasional I/O error and I think I need to not be the one playing with this now.

So who can recommend a good data recovery company? It's probably at least worth an evaluation on this thing. I don't think there is anything I'd totally beat myself up over losing here, there is enough that it would be worth some time, effort and money to try and save.

Any suggestions on a place?

Information is Beautiful - Relationships

The IiB team tackles Intimate Relationships.