Author Archives: vylar_kaftan

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Voice recognition software

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Come to think of it, I’m also interested in seeing some voice recognition software and experimenting with it. I know you have to train it to be specific to your voice, but I’d still like to see it. I would need Mac software eventually, but anything is fine for now.

Anyone have some? Anyone used it? How do you like it?

Anyone local have voice recognition software I can come over and see? (purplerabbit, maybe you do?)

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Kindle 2?

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I’m considering a Kindle 2. Anyone have one, or an original Kindle? What do you think?

I’m especially interested if anyone coming to Potlatch has one that I can play with, so I can see how it works.

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Last night’s dinner.

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We started with pear champagne for me and blood orange champagne for Shannon. Then:

Amuse (appetizer): whisky smoked salmon mousse next to bergamot preserve on baguette toast

1st course: lobster purses on pea sprouts, paired with a sparkling wine

2nd course: frittata with duck & fig sausage and red potatoes, paired with a red wine

Intermezzo: champagne sorbet

3rd course: barramundi (fish) lacquered with mirin and served on a bed of couscous with a green curry sauce, paired with a white wine (I should have written which ones)

Cheese course: Andante Pianoforte paired with preserves, Torta la Serena Serra de Estrela paired with honey, and Rogue Creamery Rogue River Blue paired with apple slices and ginger biscuits, plus a white dessert wine

Dessert: Vanilla poundcake with orange custard and whipped cream

All at Nibblers, our very favorite restaurant, serving gourmet food in tapas-style portions. Nearly all organic and local foods, chosen personally by the chef.

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A fish story: gloomy thought for the day

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I used to keep tropical aquariums. 10 gallon, 30 gallon, lots of different danios, tetras, and the like. I had a knack; some of my fish lived 3-5 years. Fishkeeping is half chemistry and half devotion. I changed their water faithfully and I kept the water chemicals balanced–things like the pH and ammonia levels and so on. Fish are incredibly sensitive to their environment; using soap on the aquarium might kill them all, for example.

My last aquarium in Phoenix was the biggest I’d ever kept. In Phoenix, I didn’t have a neighbor to feed the fish when I was away. I didn’t travel much, and usually it was just a weekend. For three days, I could let the fish be hungry; it wouldn’t hurt them.

But one time, I needed to be gone for eight days. I decided to try one of those vacation feeders. They gradually release food into the water so the fish can eat for a week. I went on my vacation, not too worried.

I returned to find 10 dead fish and a whole bunch of sick ones. Turns out the vacation feeders aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. It ruined the chemical balance in my water and killed a bunch of fish. A great fish tragedy indeed. Many eulogies were spoken over the toilet.

But here’s the kicker–no matter what I did to that tank afterwards, no matter what treatments I used or how I changed the water… I never got that tank healthy again. I kept losing fish. Randomly and inexplicably. They became ghosts in a haunted mansion. I had to abandon that tank.

Which brings me to my gloomy thought. Even if technology advances dramatically–even if we find a way to remove pollutants from the air or clean the oceans or cool the planet back down–it may never be able to sustain healthy humans again.