Late in the day, but still. . . .

Happy birthday, tronpublic!

Happy birthday, hermione0!

I saw an amazingly cool documentary tonight, called A Convenient Truth. It's about the city of Curitiba (in the state of Parana in southern Brazil). They were dealing with the problems inherent in rapid growth -- traffic congestion, pollution, slums and so forth -- and came up with some very creative ways of dealing with the problems.

There's too much to cover here, but these are a few of the highlights:

1) They renovated their public transit system around a few categories of buses for speed and efficiency. This led to improving their traffic system for cars as well.

2) They constructed five main public transit lines radiating out from the city center and planned their urban growth along those lines.

3) They combined low-income housing with job training and small business opportunity, as well as expanding service centers so that the former slums became complete neighborhoods.

4) They instituted a recycling system that not only promotes recycling and cuts down on the use of natural resources, but also provides work for uneducated, unskilled labor while giving them basic education and job training opportunities (including computer sciences) and incentives for exercise programs and worker education. It has even provided for innovative uses of recycled materials. And get this -- it's all at no cost to the citizens and pays for itself through the materials sold to private industry.

5) They dealt with major flooding problems not by creating canals and the like, but by creating parks. You've got to see this part to believe it. Through the creative extension of existing lake beds and a drainage system that allows them to control the rate that water flows from the lakes into the rivers, they not only prevented local flooding, but even prevented flooding further down the rivers. In the process they increased property values, increased tourism and provided the social benefits that come with many nice parks.

If you want to check it out, you can pick up the DVD from Amazon. They're looking into getting wider distribution right now.

meorime and I saw Iron Man on Saturday with my brother and my eldest niece.  I really enjoyed it, far more than I expected.

My hip has now recovered to the point that I can move -- a bit.  I can even play Capoeira, if I don't kick or support myself on my hands.  Which is to say, I can do a few basic movements again, which is more than I could do before.  on the one hand, this is awesome and exciting.  On the other, I have reached the stage where I could completely undo all the healing I've done if I'm not careful.

Oh, and if the "no supporting myself on my hands" part doesn't make sense, it's the return to my feet that's a bad idea.

As for the last part of the title, I have finally installed Civilization 4.  Although I've played a few turn based strategy games before (such as Warcraft), this is the first time I've tried any flavor of Civilization.

Note to self -- work on novel before playing Civilization.  Last night I planned to play for an hour and do some re-writing before bed.  Three hours later I made myself shut the game down and go to bed.

I had no idea I would find it so involving.  And this is just the tutorial game.  I'm doomed.

Tonight I stay late at work to perform Capoeira music for the dorm kids.  Should be fun.

Pilfered from a great many of you.

List all the paying jobs you've had:

Porch Sweeper

Umpire

Envelope Stuffer

Math Tutor

Cashier

Video Clerk

Pool Shark (it’s not hustling if you don’t sucker them)

BASS ticket vendor

Law Clerk / Court Runner

Telemarketer (I was desperate and still only lasted 30 minutes.)

Paralegal

Legal writer / editor

Audio Engineer (recording / mixing / pre-mastering, some live sound)

Executive Assistant / Jack of All Trades*

Receptionist

Office Assistant

Hardware / Software Support (mostly labels for a printer line)

Database Designer

Technical Editor

Technical Writer

Contracts Editor

Games Writer

Desktop Publisher

Development Associate / Development Staff Writer

Grant Writer (without the title)

Capoeira Instructor (in training)

Fiction Writer (haven’t been paid for this one yet)

That's all I can think of just now. . . .

*included VB programming, computer building, HR work and other sundry tasks

May I present, The Illustrated Catalog of ACME Products.