Cricket Chirps

Getting older

2008-07-15T05:03:00.002-04:00

I've been ill for a week or so and not slept very much. I'm medicated for it now and will try to sleep soon, but since I am alone and lonely these days (yes, I'm feeling sorry for myself, but that's a temporary condition. Lest someone stumble on this by accident, I will fill in the backstory that I am a military wife with a deployed husband, children who are with the exes for the summer, and as much social life as life allows, so I'm not holed up in my room not doing anything about it--just alone in too much house and missing my family, and I'll be better when I get past this bug)... Anyway, even when I am not feeling sorry for myself, when I am alone I tend to sleep with the TV on for company. So I put on the X-Files, having seen everything on Nick at Nite a lot of times. i caught it from the pre-theme song intro, and I realized two things:

1. They're playing the "Beyond the Sea" episode. This was one of my friend and sometime boyfriend K.E.'s favorite episodes when he got me hooked on the show in high school. It's been long enough that I checked the title on the guide, but I still remembered.

2. Gillian Anderson was younger then than I am now. Since I am relatively certain this was a rerun when I watched it about 13 years ago, and I just verified on IMDB that she is, in fact, only a few months more than ten years older than I am (and almost exactly five years, one month older than my current husband, and either or both of us would, in fact, "hit that" if the lady were present and willing), she was significantly younger than I am now. (Verified: the episode aired in January of 1994; she'd have been 25 when it aired and most likely when it filmed as well).

I have no idea why this suddenly occurred to me or bothered me; she just always seemed so adult to me as a teenager, closer to the parents of the teens on sitcoms than to the teens, and just a glance just now showed me that at the beginning of the series, she was very young indeed.

I must be getting old.

Sleepy/retail therapy

2008-05-08T00:56:00.002-04:00

Just veggin' out here--still behind on homework, too damned tired to work on it right now. Wednesdays are tough after I close Tuesdays then wake up early anyway. When Harry Met Sally is on TV, so I've got it on for company. I got Juno and Walk Hard the other day since they had them used at the Shopette. Should've gotten Lars and the Real Girl, too, I guess.

Bought some things today: a game for the kid's birthday (months away, but a good sale, and we only had a couple in stock), a mother's day gift, and some books and activities for the kid's flights. More importantly, I bought the D&D 4th Ed. Core Rulebook Gift Set. It's not out yet for a month, but mine is paid for and will be shipped to me directly. I can't wait!

I hope Spirit gets online soon.

Interesting stuff

2008-05-06T16:48:00.002-04:00

Heard from him... he should hopefully have internet soon... that way I can update him on how much money I can funnel his way ;) And I have an address, so if I ever get myself motivated again, I can send him care packages and stuff.

It's international no-diet day! So, go eat something, for crying out loud!

Finally, the medical tricorder. (via) It's a phone! It's an all-purpose medical scanner! Why didn't they combine the communicators with the tricorders on Trek, anyway?

Depression

2008-05-06T01:54:00.002-04:00

I am not sad, but I feel like I'm just going through the motions, and I just do not want to do anything. I made myself start my homework after procrastinating on Reddit all day (well--that's all day except the time I spent doing dishes, preparing meals, taking the kid to the shrink, walking to the gym, doing water aerobics, and walking home--I said I was unmotivated, not that I couldn't make myself do any of the things I need to).

Anyway, the thing is, I can keep my appointments, but I really don't want to go to work this week and I really don't want to do my schoolwork (though one class, sociology, is fascinating and the other, finance, is a piece of cake--haven't yet run into anything I haven't covered in an accounting class, and this is a 3-credit class where those were 4, so both these classes are lighter) until the last minute, which actually puts me a full week behind, to whit: I have Sundays and Mondays off, and the school week runs Sunday through Sunday. So, when I should be starting on the new week Sundays, I actually spent this Sunday doing last week's work, leaving me behind. If I stay that way, I have vacation in 2 weeks, so I will catch up, but I feel so listless.

I am trying not to dwell on having no word yet. The longer I get no word, the more likely it seems that he will have no internet access and communication will be limited to a phone call a week or so.

Ah, well; only 18 more weeks, and he'll be home.

In Which Cricket Reviews Iron Man, In Part From a Financial Point of View

2008-05-04T20:41:00.004-04:00

WARNING

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IRON MAN AND YOU PLAN TO SEE IT, STOP READING NOW

SERIOUSLY, STOP READING

I MEAN IT

.

.

.

OK, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED...

OK, I gotta say this: I saw this with WAY more sympathy for the board/shareholders than I think I was meant to have when he dropped that bomb. At the end, making weapons for the good guys without them being funneled to the terrorists might have worked out. Obie there was the problem, not the weapons themselves. They were inanimate objects that could be used for good or ill. Using them for profit may be right or wrong in your philosophy, but if you're going to severely change the direction of your company at a public announcement with no public plans for anything that will make up profits, you've got to expect people to not just be ticked off but to panic outright. In the Marvel world, Tony Stark "getting responsible" could have kicked off some serious financial consequences marketwide (remember, this is the Golden Boy of the military and of big business). Jim Cramer might be a caricature of himself (I mean in real life, but sure, in the movie, too), but he wasn't totally off base. I mean seriously, though, if you fall through into some weird hole in spacetime and end up in Tony Stark's shoes, try it this way: "I'm shutting down our weapons manufacture until I find a way to keep weapons out of the hands of terrorists, but in the meantime, I have invented the perfect power source, and one hand-sized battery can now power your entire house for years at a time..." Now where do Stark Corporation's profits--and stock prices!--go?

Other than that, I can agree that this was the best of the Marvel movies so far. Robert Downey, Jr. made the role and he made the movie. Back in the day, I loved him on Ally McBeal, and believing that a person's personal life should be his own, I think drug charges are bogus in terms of prison time or job loss. I'm glad that he's now a Hollywood Golden Boy.

And Nick Fury, nice. For a second, I had almost double hearing--the "world you know nothing about" bit made me hear Laurence Fishburne talking about the Matrix. I muttered "sounds like Laurence Fishburne" and AL overheard me and thought it was him--she was very confused when I was explaining to the kid that Mace Windu was Nick Fury. How the Star Wars fan of a kid didn't recognize Samuel L. was a bit beyond me, but apparently it had something to do with his skin being darker in the Nick Fury scene? I tried to explain about movie makeup, but I don't know how much sunk in. I don't get it, though; were they setting up an Iron Man II, or a New Avengers movie with Iron Man? Might be overkill--either it ends up being "Iron Man and the New Avengers" because of the sheer presence of RD as Tony Stark, or there's one hell of an ensemble cast.

Sorry

2008-05-04T20:04:00.002-04:00

I am, of course, much calmer now, and the only thing that still makes me a little angry is the line that you had no choice but to volunteer because someone else had too many small kids to afford for the wife to work if he was TDY. Guess what? It's part of his job just like it is yours. There are 100 other reasons you volunteered, you want to be a model NCO and make one more rank before it's time to move on, and you're a good guy. But still, that one stuck in my head and made me angry.

I don't know if you still have this bookmarked, but I will chirp to you the things I find this way while you are gone, because I don't want to fill your inbox or IM and don't even know if you will be able to get on them. I will check the AFIM for messages this week.

MH is still over here from last night... we went and played Iron Man, played Scene It and JL got completely pissed drunk (as in room spinning vomiting, but not quite as in alcoholic blackout). He's fine today, the SOB. You guys and your no hangovers. Hell, I can't get a hangover any more; I can't drink enough. 1 and my stomach lets me know I can't keep it up--I had a shot of recycled vodka (do yourself a favor and don't ask), then my stomach told me that wasn't happening--didn't get sick, just a slight raw feeling that reminded me that my body would NOT put up with this treatment--then nursed on the banana nut bread ale, which I tried to share but which no one else liked, so, more for me. It was like Guinness with a little banana nut flavor, only with banana belches instead of beer belches. Soothing to the stomach, at any rate. Anyway, after he "I won't pass out, I'll just... go to sleep"'d, the rest of us played other games in private. Will just say you'll have been sorry to miss it--you may have had more entertainment value than from the usual Saturday night game. No one else wanted to do that, and I was cool.

The ex still hasn't paid the child support a week into this month, so I had to dip into my savings acct for groceries, but I am keeping a note. When I get that back I will replenish savings and buy more groceries and finally order the new game books (they WILL be here when that game comes out!!!). Meanwhile I think I will get everyone on WLD if JL doesn't want to run the main group.

I got my week 1 homework caught up and my week 2 posts started. Am still a little behind but I am very tired and I don't feel up to much. I will get another load of laundry done (had to do extra, dog yakked on the bed since I stayed in bed until 11, damn it all--how many dogs vomit if they can't get outside to go to the bathroom fast enough? Good lord!) and the dishes, and I got all the trash out and groceries bought today. And I'm just tired.

Kuwait/Alone

2008-02-27T04:50:00.002-05:00

So, yes, if you ever read this, I'm angry. It's only a maybe-thought, but it comes when I'm sick and swollen and was already thinking how much I'd rather be around my home and family than 6000 miles away where YOU chose to be and you are the only major positive to my being here against not seeing my family for years and THEN you drop the bomb on me that you volunteered for this. I'm not angry that you volunteered, I understand that you had no real choice, but I'm very angry that you brought me up here when TDYs are going to be a fact of life and I'm angry that you always want to move strangers into my home to "help" me but drive away the few people I can tolerate being here, crazy though they may be.

You know what other wives here do when their spouses go TDY? They pack up and go the hell home to their families. Is that an option for me? No. We can't afford for me to lose my position even if we could afford the pay cut in the mean time. I've tried to find a better job up here and there isn't one I can get. Do you know I put out several applications every couple weeks? I don't think we can even afford the plane tickets right now. What the hell am I supposed to do? Why did you volunteer us for here? You point at a beautiful moment and I do understand why that's worth it to you, but you will never be here alone, you married someone you didn't particularly like last time so you wouldn't be here alone--please understand, please think for ten minutes about what it would be like if I went away for four months and you had to manage all the things I do. Is it hard to go? Sure. Will I support you 110% while you are gone? Of course. But is it harder to stay behind than to go off to the desert, even risking getting shot at? To me it is. Given a role to choose in this situation, I would go rather than stay. And there is beauty everywhere. If you hadn't asked for here, I would have more options.

I know this is why many military spouses don't work. If I didn't, this would be easier, because I would be able to take care of the kid and the house and not feel like I would be overwhelmed and fall apart.

By the time you find this I will likely have calmed down, but you think I'm overemotional about these things--and it's just as ridiculous that you think it's psycho for someone to have feelings, or at least to emote at all. Sometimes I need to rage, and I can rage at all little the things in the world that irritate me because that's amusing, but if things really bother me I feel that you will think me irrational. What's rational about being alone with (1) a seven year old and (2) four friends, all newlywed couples with other family plans, one of whom will be very pregnant with [add'l info. deleted, I dare you to ask me whether this is still bothering me when we're alone sometime, but you won't because you don't want to deal with confrontation so I bottle everything up and let it pour out on paper or here in the blog], one of whom is trying very hard to become pregnant, and all of whom will be hormonal and uncomfortable and who do not come to game with me, after all, with my crazy schedule and all.

Snow

2008-01-17T04:53:00.000-05:00

It's snowing like mad out there. The snow was layering up on the car as I tried to brush it off, and in the time I was doing it I had a full layer on my head. It was warm, almost 10F, so I didn't have my hood on.

OK, "warm" is relative.

I have been making an effort to journal in a notebook with an actual pen instead of blogging, not that I was entirely regular about any of my blogs.

Posting for class

2007-12-10T18:15:00.000-05:00

Research Paper

“She Got the Gold Mine, I Got the Shaft”

December 6, 2007

“Pretty soon there’ll be more divorces than marriages!” was the dire prediction of Sharon McKendrick in The Parent Trap (Golitzin & Swift, 1961). Divorces are hard on families, and similar predictions have been made since divorce lost most of its stigma in the mid-20^th century. Divorce is bad for all parties in a family, though at least one party must feel that the continuation of the marriage is a worse proposition. There is a stereotype that women get the worst of divorce, but when large settlements and alimony are paid out, it is usually by men to women. Although there has been a change toward women paying money to ex-husbands and although both men and women suffer financially from divorce, men have traditionally been and for the most part continue to be the relative losers in our “family court” system where matters of divorce are concerned.

There is a long-held thought that men are more capable of taking care of themselves financially. That expectation means that men are often expected to continue to provide support for their ex-wives after divorce. It is usually the woman who initiates the divorce (Griffiths, 2007); men are hit multiple times financially through their ex-wives’ legal actions. Divorce is commonplace enough that it is thought by some experts that the overall expected outcome for a man getting married is negative despite that married men are happier and live longer than single men. It is a common recommendation that a man planning to marry should protect himself with a prenuptial agreement. Some experts go so far as to recommend that men never marry at all (Smith, 2007).

Divorce outcomes for fathers are even worse than for men who have not had children with their wives. They gain sole custody of their children only about ten percent of the time, compared to women gaining sole custody over half the time (Huang & Garfinkel, 2003). This is, of course, another hit to the wallet through child support requirements. Those men who try to be honorable and support their children from the beginning of divorce proceedings often manage only to find themselves at a disadvantage in the legal proceedings and wind up paying even more. Interestingly, even when custody is fully shared between the former partners, one parent (again usually the father) can be made to pay child support to the other. (White, 2007)

Child custody issues have more than a financial impact. Losing custody of one’s children increases the social and emotional impact of an already-traumatic time. There is often a perception that a non-custodial parent, which a divorced father becomes in over half of cases, is unfit or unworthy to parent his children. As an Ontario court judge put it in the case Brook v. Brook (2006), “A non-custodial parent is frequently perceived in the community as undeserving or unqualified to have custody of his or her child; and this perception is not always accurate.” Many good fathers are made to feel like “deadbeat dads” because of a system that favors mothers and expects that men are willing to step out of their children’s lives financially and emotionally.

Some would argue that most of this trauma is a result of the divorcees’ inabilities to reach a reasonable and equitable conclusion. Many people do try to reach a settlement that is fair to all parties concerned. The problem is that each party might have a different concept of what is “fair.” This leads to resentment, anger, and bitterness in even those divorces that start out amicable. As Ethan Marak (2007) puts it: “Obviously, women don't set out to be gold diggers, but divorce -- like death -- can turn otherwise good people into bloodthirsty wolves.”

References

Brook v. Brook (2006), 2006 CarswellOnt 2514 (Ont. S.C.J.)

Golitzin, G. (Associate Producer), & Swift, D. (Director). (1961). The Parent Trap [motion picture]. United States: Walt Disney Productions.

Griffiths, S. (2007, November 14). Sharon's view - A couple ahead of their time :[Echofeat Edition]. Northern Echo,p. 20. Retrieved November 27, 2007, from ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry database. (Document ID: 1382396211).

Huang, C. C., Han, W. J., & Garfinkel, I. (2003). Child support enforcement, joint legal custody, and parental involvement. The Social Service Review. 77(2), 255. (Document ID: 1291919241).

Marak, E. (2007). How men get screwed in divorce. Retrieved November 20, 2007, from Askmen.com Web site: http://www.askmen.com/fashion/austin_150/166_fashion_style.html

Smith, H. (2007, October 31). Ask Dr. Helen: Should men get married? Retrieved November 22, 2007, from Pajamas Media: Ask Dr. Helen Web site: http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/10/ask_dr_helen_6.php

White, N.G. (2007, June 7). Child Support - a male perspective. New York Amsterdam News, p. 6. Retrieved November 23, 2007, from ProQuest Newsstand database.

Math

2007-11-26T19:34:00.000-05:00

Statistics, really:

OK, I'm a math person, mostly. But I'm taking a stats class, and here are my observations:

Of the people in my house taking the stats class, one is a math genius, and one pretty much gives up on anything more complex than multiplication.

The first one does all the homework sets for fun, even though 3-4 problems in, she's got the hang of it.

The second one does no homework and gets the first one to tutor him through labs, making comments in discussion that get him by without the homework, which is not turned in (though labs are).

Once I realized that the second and third sets on the normal distribution were all variants on "find the area under the curve between these points," I stopped doing homework this week.

Screw math. I feel like poo anyway.

Most Smartest!

2007-10-29T14:15:00.000-04:00

As a rule, I loathe reality shows. I hate them almost as much as I hate the feeling I had when I woke up to get the kids ready for school and realized my awesome automatic alarm clock had gone on DST on the old schedule, meaning they had 6 minutes to be out the door (Pop-Tarts FTW!).

Anyway, I've now become addicted to a reality show. I'm sitting here watching last night's America's Most Smartest Model. Right now I'm watching models complain about how they don't understand anything. Except sometimes, the Russian guy complains about how the others don't understand anything. Is it just a matter of feeling superior? How can I feel superior when it's just proof that pretty people can have negative IQs and still surpass my lifetime earning potential on an annual basis? It's still funny.

Aside: CAD was funny today, too, on the pain of Guitar Hero. And speaking of video games, the lack of achievements for the second player in Eternal Sonata is a pain in the ass.

Free association

2007-10-07T02:20:00.001-04:00

Pain pain

breakthrough? breakthrough pain is a flareup through "otherwise controlled pain"

There's no breakthrough where there's no control

there's definitely a flare

I just hurt

all over

And I had an emotional break today

I feel empty and sad

I can't tell my boss I'm better than that without crying because he's not the one I need to tell didn't even write that damned review but emphasized it's a good review I can take criticism but I have issues with this criticism

I need more

more of me
more of moo-lah
more understanding from the managers of the world, the principals, the teachers

The kid was working on college algebra for fun, wtf, what kind of purgatory is first grade for a mind like that?

I feel hypomanic, scattered, and I can't sort out what i need for documentation

I want $100000, to pay all the debts and quit my job so I can homeschool and finish my degree and that's all

Tomorrow must be better

2007-10-04T13:17:00.001-04:00

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot? (Sex sells better if you're actually fertile at the moment! --At least chemically/hormonally...)

Hubby wants Ben Stein's new (ish) book, The Real Stars. Pick it up. It leans pro-military propagandist if you have issues with that.

I just read The Nine. Also, Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way. Bruce Campbell and Ron Jeremy both need to write more. Their stuff makes me LOL to the point that people start commenting on my apparent craziness. Now I'm working on The History of the Ancient World. Very good, but a rather slow read. Still, I hand-sold a copy yesterday.

You're playing with what?

2007-10-02T21:16:00.000-04:00

Colored fonts are overdone, I know. I'm feeling weird today, though.

For adults only: Check out this "[Adult] toy or baby toy?" quiz

Cracked

2007-09-17T11:06:00.000-04:00

A few funnies for Monday Morning:

"Internet Safety Tips"

Something about video games

This is, too

2007-08-30T04:24:00.000-04:00

I found some wedding cakes on Reddit. Geeky stuff is awesome. Did I like that equalizer shirt?

I'm avoiding the Woot-Off because they don't ship to here anyway yet I am tempted. Woot, foul temptress!

Is it time to rethink the federal government's definition of "farm?" Or is it time to start growing a "farm" on my little piece of government property out back?

It's quiet and I just got in from work. My friend is usually up now, but she went to bed, which suggests to me that the guy she just split up with is still here. Ah, well, I'll just enjoy the quiet, and I'll go to bed in a little while.

Book pimpin'

2007-08-29T03:09:00.000-04:00

The book I've been most excited about all summer is here! Sorry, it's not this one, though I still think you should run right out and buy a copy if you're into food blogs. No--it's Super Crunchers! If you're at all interested in how numbers will affect the future of civilization across all walks of life, you must read this book.

Other recent reads I highly recommend:
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens
Turtledove's massive alt-hist epic, which stretches from How Few Remain: A Novel of the Second War Between the States to Settling Accounts: In at the Death
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Otherwise, I'm re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire. If you haven't read it, READ IT!

There are also a couple Lord John Grey books coming soon, which I may have read as advance copies (shhhh!)

Other books I'll probably pick up soon:
Garden Spells
Three Bags Full
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand
(Seriously, if you're a reader but don't read much children's, you're missing out on a lot)
Confessor (Terry Goodkind, November. I hate the damned evangelizing. I like most of the characters when Richard leaves his ridiculous politics to himself. I have to know what happens).

2007-08-06T01:02:00.000-04:00

Tor all the Vampire fans out there: this one's for you!

And this is for the guys

WTF?

OK, OK, enough Best Pic Ever.

I can't help but wonder if this is the solution to the transportation problems a lot of us face. If everything is an easy walk away, why do I need a car? How do they recruit for these? If one needs an accountant in about five years, please call me. Wait... this could be my dream writ large. Let's build a utopian gamer town!

2007-08-02T18:05:00.000-04:00

I was reading Wil Wheaton's review of The Simpsons Movie. I saw that opening night (well, the midnight show the night before). I didn't have the experience Wil and some of his commenters had. Comments were generally quiet and the audience was genuinely appreciative of the movie. It was one of the most responsive audiences I've been in since I went to a Star Trek premiere at the Chinese Theater.

Of course, if you've seen the movie, you'll have an idea why Fairbanks, Alaska was the place to see it.

2007-07-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

Learning to walk

there's a lot of press on Fatworld; I was disappointed to see that it's not out yet.

I've been reading God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything for most of the last week. Occasionally, Hitchens gets details wrong in his overeagerness to prove that most of what religion has done is bad (recent evidence that circumcision protects versus HIV is ignored in his joining the anti-circ crowd in his belief that this is an unspeakable mutilation designed to dull sexual feeling, and I have a few "overstated" notes in the margins). However, God is Not Great may be one of the most important books of our time. Read it.

AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

All my links are linked elsewhere when they're posted here, or at least most of them. If you ever stumble upon this blog, keep in mind that it's how I keep links for my husband and a few friends, not a moneymaker. My friends get annoyed if I IM/email them everything I find. Sometimes I just don't bother, or don't get online much for days or weeks. This is odd to me.

2007-06-07T11:10:00.000-04:00

DRM--magic or physics?

Why is our government being taken over by these people?

Yeah, them.

50 things to know by 50

This looks promising

Here's an interesting article (back to those people in government!) on creationism rejecting science. The thing is that those who do reject science in this fashion also turn thinking people away from faith. I lean (Feri) Wiccan; in practice, I pray to the Father-god of my youth, who asked that we keep no other Gods before him and not bow down to idols, but not to not keep other Gods, and I pray to my grandmother for knowledge of what lies beyond. I don't want to get into a full discussion of my beliefs here, but deep down, I worship knowledge--and science is, literally, "knowledge," the knowledge of the world.

I love this picture

News to teens: your parents can do whatever they want. It's mostly not to embarrass you. You embarrass them more by your constant insistence that they're--that we're--old and out of touch. I work with sixteen-year-olds who think I'm one of the coolest people they've ever met. Hell, I wasn't even cool when I was sixteen. But with an almost-teenaged stepchild and a little guy going in to first grade, I'm a student now, and I can join any web service I like.

Um. ...What?

I keep seeing pro-choice stories.

Unemployed to-do list

I'm in pain. I'm putting off going to work, Chuck left me the crappy car and it hurts to drive right now, and I'm angry today. I'm angry because I'm in pain and there's no relief and I will be limping around on vacation. The world is ridiculous.

2007-05-29T03:30:00.000-04:00

Somehow, though I always have a million things that I think of things to write about during the course of my day, by the time I've sat down here at bedtime, they're gone.

Today like many days was a million things. I feel guilty when at the end of my days off I haven't accomplished much, but I remind myself that rest is an accomplishment. I can't keep killing myself.

There should be a new question up at the Shrieking Shack tonight or tomorrow. The polls work correctly for me; the forums do not--I can only see the first post to any subject. This is true in Firefox and in IE. No idea.

I have been feeling stupid when standing at the register lately. So many damned questions to ask--we upsell far too much; it works, but it alienates some customers. I think I may have a different position. I'd still like some feedback from my manager on what I can do differently to improve. And I've been reading It's OK to Be the Boss, and some of the advice is crazy. Cars and toasters don't take the same maintenance, so your employees don't take the same management? I had to read that particular metaphor aloud, I so disbelieved what I had read, and sparked a discussion as to whether we'd rather be cars or toasters. MB wanted to be a toaster so as to forcibly eject toast. I thought I'd rather be a car if those were the only options, but then, someone else wanted to be a blender, so I figured I'd rather be a TV set. So, the thing is, if I take this other position, I'll leave our current department weakened, I won't really know what I am doing in the new position, and I won't be a direct supervisor any more. But I feel the need to grow and to not work a job I'm allergic to. Plus it will be less mentally taxing, and school will take more of my psychic resources very soon. Wish me luck.

Wow, that was a bit, wasn't it? Maybe I need the luck.

in-game rape

2007-05-11T12:03:00.000-04:00

Clicked linked to this old Sex Drive post on rape in virtual worlds. Regina Lynn linked to this other post about rape in RPGs--the old-fashioned kind, with dice &c. I take the author's point, but I don't agree with it all. The main point on which I disagree is pregnancy. (1) An in-game pregnancy might be necessary to some plots. (2), and this is the greater issue, sex has consequences. They are always built in to our games. If you have sex, getting pregnant is a straight-up roll (or set of rolls). There's also a sub-roll for chance of twins (on 100% re-roll for triplets, etc--once someone managed to roll four 00s in a row on that one. Ouchy!), and if you're sleeping indiscriminately with seedy types, you have an STD chance. If you feel that these are violations of your character--well, you should know what your GM/campaign's rules are in terms of sexual consequences and outcomes before you have your character have sex. As for rape per se, I can see needing to make sure sensitive players are OK with that. We identify with our characters, we start to dream and think in character over a long campaign. We cry over their losses, much as some of us have cried when our favorite characters in novels or on screen are killed off. On the other hand, we do put our characters in these situations. And sometimes, in character terms, the very worst happening is the catalyst we need to do what needs to be done.

Also, the article in question references lovers being grabbed and held at gunpoint and other things, and saying even death is preferable to rape. Are we assuming here that most gamers, and/or their characters, aren't parents? I would submit to fairly horrible forms of torture before I let my son or stepdaughter be put before a gun. And for their sake, I would rather live through almost any pain--if you have someone, something, to live for, death is indeed the worst that can happen to you.

Of course, if in-game rape is used, the gruesome details should be left to the very thick-skinned. I'd propose another way of asking permission, I guess: "Is there anything that you absolutely will not allow/accept happening to your character?" Straight-up at the outset. If you live in an area where multiple groups are available, it might also be a good sorting process.

Virtual rape is another matter; for one, if the game has a built-in ignore feature, you might not have to deal with it. But it's possible that all the other characters see it and it colors their opinion (but doing it on a public channel or open chat may also get them banned for TOS violations)--it's personal, whether that's enough. I do remember a case where someone used a built-in feature that let them control other characters--I can't find the article I read, as it was some time ago--in a virtual house, and committed very graphic sexual acts between his own and another character. It resulted in a rules change where they had previously relied entirely on self-policing, if I recall correctly, and the banning of that character. At any rate, rape in most online games is not a plot issue. It's someone using someone else for sexual pleasure without that someone else's consent. This is the essence of rape, though I do not believe it so heinous a violation as a physical rape by half.

2007-05-01T01:42:00.000-04:00

Slate on major media's regurgitation of ONDCP's "facts," or, "Why Cricket loves Slate"

Cricket also freaking luvs Heroes. Sylar: "I've waited a long time for this." *shivers*

I have a day off ahead. So I have hours and hours of work on the computer. Nice, right?

I need to update this more. Was thinking of setting up another blog entirely, an "as I see it" on the world, but I may just do that here, too.

Behind

2007-04-20T05:16:00.000-04:00

I've been behind on a lot of things, not least updating this. I've actually been updating my blog on MySpace, believe it or not (that links to my real persona more than I would like to do here, so I am not going to link it). In the meantime, if you'd like something to read, I highly recommend Desiderata.

Also high on my recommended list:
Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series
Harry Potter! If you haven't gotten into Harry Potter yet, now is the perfect time to start so you can be in with the cool kids at the Midnight Magic party, Friday night 20 July/Saturday morning 21 July... And if you're already one of us, read 'em again. I made some new connections this time (especially given that at our committee meeting--yeah I'm on a Harry Potter Committee so what--we saw the cover of the Brit adult edition, and apparently the cover always relates directly to the title, at least strongly implying that Slytherin's locket is a Deathly Hallow).
The Wednesday Wars. It's a teen (ish) coming-of-age story set in the Vietnam era. It's not exactly out yet, but when it is, read it.

See there? Now you have things to read when your favorite blogs don't update.

News of the freakin' inappropriate

2007-04-08T05:19:00.000-04:00

First, families in Holtsville, NY, looking to see The Last Mimzy were treated to the opening scenes of The Hills Have Eyes 2. Oops.

Next, south to Jersey, where a school district is investigating Pay-Per-View porn purchases to the tune of $250 made after hours on a cable box in the Union City Board of Education building ("We have five cable boxes in case of an emergency!").

Back to NY, an NYC Department of Corrections worker managed to milk $100/month out of a city comptroller's Worker's Comp account, also for porn.

Just for fun, a Google News search for Porn

2007-04-06T15:42:00.000-04:00

This is what I think school should be.

Perhaps even college--If there were true liberal arts degrees left, where I could go back to school for two years or four and take classes as they appealed to me, not two years of iteration of what I already know because my credits are too old to count or because of all the incompletes I had or because I've learned things outside of a credit setting, and come out with a degree that shows how quick and well-rounded and open-minded I am, rather than how good at regurgitation of facts (at which, as a matter of fact, I excel, but that is not the point), I'd be back in school in a moment. Degrees as they are, on the other hand, show specialization, and at that I am not very good. I can focus on what I am doing, but I require an environment where many of my talents can be shown. I'd want a degree because it would help me get the jobs where I do shine, which are management jobs; I can show that I have all the talents and abilities of the people I supervise and train them on their duties, but also show talents for organizing myself and those others and preparing us all to do what needs to be done.

Actually, if I did have the time and the money right now for full-time school, I'd look into primary education. I know about the politics, but I'm OK at those, I'm a reasonably good teacher at all grade levels, and with younger students, there's more variety in what you teach them--and learn from them. Come to think of it, though, I wouldn't mind teaching high school math or English, either.

I know Spirit would support it, too, and if I did it in the next few years, it would allow him more leeway at retirement than me working retail. Maybe we can work it out when he does retire so I can do school full-time and work part time, or something. I just feel like I can't walk away from what I do now right now.

2007-03-29T01:59:00.000-04:00

I was reading Slate while waiting for some files to download from drivethrurpg.com, so I ran across this article saying the Cavemen might get their own show. Can't wait!

Also, vote!

I'm really punchy. Time to try for some restful sleep, a concept I have admittedly almost given up on right now.

2007-03-25T03:16:00.000-04:00

This is interesting.

And for the love of God, people, I'm trying to get you your drinks in less than a couple minutes. Your sandwich is being made by someone else twenty feet away from me. Why on earth do you expect me to have you a hot grilled sandwich ready to go by the time I hand you your drink? How many places do you go where you don't expect the drinks first? If I held your drink for the minutes until your sandwich was ready, not only would I fail all our benchmark tests, you'd be even more pissed off standing there without your single-shot extra-sweet nonfat extra-whip white chocolate mocha with a pump and a half of toffee nut. Try waiting five minutes. If your sandwich has been more than eight minutes (enough time for two full rotations on the grills), then let me know, by all means. Haughtily informing me that you also had a food order when I hand you a drink is going to get you polite explanations of the process and apologies that you might have to wait 45 more seconds, but it's not going to endear you to me.

2007-03-22T05:10:00.000-04:00

Fat rant

Who doesn't think that girl's attractive? Fat isn't a matter of weight or size, it's a matter of shape. She's got nice curves.

Blessed Ostara

2007-03-21T04:39:00.000-04:00

I was in a wonderful fog of a place at work all night. If I had the kind of job in which I could stop and take notes of what was in my head, I'd have had some great material, but I just can't think at all.

I'd always thought in this case that the banner was actually shown at school. Sorry, but public schools have no say over what their students do on their own time. Now, the bigger news is, Pat Robertson and the ACLU are together on the same side of a U. S. Supreme Court case. I think the world may end soon.

I'm sleepy, but I wanted to post that link and wish all my Pagan buddies a Blessed Ostara.

A modest proposal

2007-03-20T02:07:00.000-04:00

If you're paying attention, you know I'm generally pro-legalization.

So, I have a plan that will allow for legalization and decrease use among the young (ignoring the evidence that simple legalization or decriminalization will do that anyway):

1. Legalize, or at least medicalize and decriminalize, most illegal drugs. This will have the immediate effect of taking them away from the province of gangsta and underground culture, which, unsavory as the reality may be, has been romanticized beyond all reason.

2. After fast-tracked medical testing (after all, long-term data on safety isn't that hard to get once users don't have fear or prosecution), prescribe liberally for ailments mainly associated with the elderly wherever and whenever appropriate.

Voila, you have just made most street drugs as cool as grandpa's heart medication.

2007-03-14T19:03:00.000-04:00

Let's teach religion in schools.

Happy Pi Day!

Interesting: on getting more women into adult games

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

So, 300 is doing what the Homosexual Agenda (r) never could and turning more-or-less-straight dudes gay?

Geek movies for this summer

Also, the last Harry Potter book, 7/21, be there or be square (and no one wants to be square on Pi Day!)

What a summer to be geeky!

2007-02-21T11:54:00.000-05:00

He loves sweaty basketball players

I wanted to watch the Comedy Central-aired roast of Shatner, but didn't have Comedy Central at the time. Turns out, I really missed something. Watch Takei here. (When brutha come outta the closet, he really come outta the closet!)

The problem with postage

MPAA = evil incarnate

This is the opposite of the right answer. To break email addiction, stop worrying whether your inbox is empty. That's right; just leave it there. It will wait.

Wii rocks!!!

That's all for today. Lots to do, lots to do. For those of you who deny yourselves something for Lent, take heart--only forty days to go! For those of you who'd give up sex for Lent--well, I've got no help for you. (Movies aside, some people really do it).

2007-02-12T23:19:00.000-05:00

Any chance that I might at some point get in to 24 just died.

TWBA, as I feel like dirt today. Time for a shower and some warm jammies.

2007-02-09T15:36:00.000-05:00

If you care at all about the state of the War on Drugs or the treatment of crime in this country, read this.

See also (linked from above article)

Since it seems to be drug war day on Reddit, here's one more

And more libertarian ideals, from the Reason.com folks

I read a lot of servers' blogs, even though I'm bad about updating mine. Here's a pretty good post from Buon Appetito.

As a closing bit of interesting politics, we should have an open border so politician's kids don't have to make beds in hotels.

Site parodies day

2007-02-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

Forget Second Life...

Create your Useless Account today!

Brains 4 Zombies

ExtortR

Hugeurl.com

Whitehouse.org (the real site is www.whitehouse.gov)

And, for the obvious religious candidates:

Betty Bowers is a better Christian than you; she goes to Landover Baptist

God hates figs

2007-02-03T01:28:00.000-05:00

Everyone needs to read this Junkfood Science article on media spin and the creation of "epidemics."

This, too. I'm not fat to look at--on the plump side, but shapely--but I meet the medical definition of "obese" and have been damaged by doctors who refuse to see my problems as anything but weight-related, not to mention my sister, who is visibly obese but who has problems with overheating to the point of passing out on almost any exertion, along with several other medical problems.

I'm feeling pretty rotten this week, so will save the rant on doctors, recognizing that it would come out as an incoherent ramble and might name names that would get me in trouble.

Shout-out to my pagan friends, blessed Imbolc!

Imbolc recipes

This year, the bounty of spring would appear to be pizza, chicken pesto rotini, and a frozen burrito my kid decided he'd rather go to bed than eat. But the idea is there.

2007-01-30T13:56:00.000-05:00

Amazing eBay feedback

I hadn't heard this one, but for those too young to have any idea about Shatner's turn as a Rock Star(tm), here's Rocketman

Also, White Rabbit, Star Trek-style (these two links from WWdN)

Note to the tattoo artists of the world: Don't ever do this. Seriously, WTF?

Poster, every book some guy has ever read: Good lord, that looks like a small number to me. How much do other people read? I have a vague notion that it's "less than I do," but more than that--and there's no way I would ever think of every book I've read for such a project. I'd just keep surfing and clicking. I mean, do you remember every Choose-Your-Own-Adventure you had as a kid? Every book you picked up and read at a friend's house? Of course, I was the kind of kid who'd take the novels of said friends' shelves and have them done by the end of the visit. But still...

2007-01-30T01:44:00.000-05:00

"Conditions in Tampa were not favorable for the formation of large balls of ice..."

Danae is my hero.

Also Patti LuPone, I scored a free CD of hers at work today. Yeah!

Attention, lawmakers of South Dakota: go screw yourselves.

"You have to live in Alaska..."

I'm damned tired, and I didn't even work my full shift today, since I had to rescue my sick kid from the panicking caregiver. I guess that makes it bedtime.

2007-01-26T03:02:00.000-05:00

42 questions to which we don't know the answers (I love the black hole one; I think Drs. Hawking, Thorne, and Preskill spend time on black hole research more as a very geeky form of gambling than to further the cause of science, and gentlemen, I love you for it)

Also, I'm moving to Virginia just so I can vote for Jim Webb.

2007-01-25T01:29:00.000-05:00

Hallelujah, the "Think Method" isn't a joke after all!

I was looking through a ton of links, but it wasn't getting me anything I wanted to blog about. This Friday: new tats!

2007-01-21T16:28:00.000-05:00

OK, one more for all you pagans

2007-01-21T16:15:00.000-05:00

sex advice for women, c. 1917

I started ranting about doctors on an email group earlier. I'm tired and in pretty significant levels of pain right now. So that's all I have, sorry.

2007-01-18T14:01:00.000-05:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (via Reddit. Youch.)

A note on piracy

2007-01-17T02:31:00.000-05:00

We are the pirates who don't do anything!

No, that wasn't it.

From ArsTechnica, a couple engaging articles on piracy.

2007-01-08T00:37:00.000-05:00

Go Tech!

2007-01-07T02:35:00.000-05:00

Vanity is stupid

This sounds pretty smart, though. FYI, Professor, people object to always having their birthday on the same day of the week because it might always be a Wednesday. Also, which date would we lose? Suddenly some dude wouldn't have a birthday.

Babe, it's not that I'm never happy where I am. I try to be happy with things as they are. I've been really happy living in certain areas, and I need help to make the best of remote, rural areas, but will live with them and try to be glad of everything we have. I thought we were talking about the best for us both in your stateside list, not just doing it for me. I know I'd pick some of your "not in a million years" bases for my own wants and I respect that you wouldn't like certain areas.

Also, I'm not clear on a couple things: how could you not know it got THIS cold? I can't go outside without real threats to my health and you want to make it my problem because "I'm never happy?" You talked up this area on certain bases when the reality is that (a) you knew nothing about this area and (2) you don't want to go outside and do all the things you talked up the area on, or even walk in the snow with me. And yes, I realize that "I hate it here" is an emotional overreaction, because walking out of work to stare at the Northern Lights oscillating in the sky for an hour is worth a lot, and there are a lot of good points to being up here, including the people as a whole. But there is really not much to do here. I want to learn to ski, to see a glacier with you, go sledding or snow-tubing with you, and I want you to understand why I'm sad when you call to say, "great news! I'm getting out of here to a real city where I can go out to get massages and go enjoy nightlife that it's not worth trying to find with you because I'm a homebody except when I'm somewhere with other options," or at least why that's what I hear when you don't want to leave the house but you're thrilled to go on a trip, even a working trip, that promises to be more entertaining.

I feel like I have to hold my end up, even if my end is only 20% of our income. But then I feel left out and horrible when I think I have to choose between TCB and finding time with you.

I hope you get to go. I do. I just want you to understand why it affects me that you present it as good news that when you build our lives around being at home as a family playing games, you leaving me in one of the coldest places on the planet for the coldest month of the year to go somewhere warm and fun, even potentially, even if you didn't ask for it, hurts some, and I need to talk to you about it, or it will spiral to the point of anger I can't deal with.

Also, if I'm angry and not talking, please, please, talk to me. I know there's better ways than slamming doors, but sometimes I can't figure out how to just say I need to talk to you, any more than you can figure out how to just say "hey, I need some time alone here, please go out to a movie/whatever" since you're apparently having that problem.

Just so you don't think I'm totally being a spoilsport, things I love here:
The snow;
The northern lights;
The people;
The *idea* that we could go out snowmachining, sledding/tubing, "hiking" on a glacier, or visiting the hot springs that are a half-hour up the road, or that just in being together we could go spend a night alone together with a hot tub or a hot spring;
The total lack of bugs, except for those damned fruit fly things;
Being with you, anywhere; I wasn't fond of coastal SC, but I would have lived there as long as Grandma was alive, as I'd live in Antarctica with you, if it came to it. And yeah, I'd cry about it sometimes;
The view, driving into the mountains or around town in places;
The ice sculptures that might as well be granite

There are more things. It's beautiful here, and I honor that and thank you for bringing me to it. I just want to make you understand that it's not true that I'm not happy anywhere. I just need help.

2007-01-04T11:16:00.000-05:00

This has been almost exactly my means of dealing with the "whys"--answer all questions until the child reaches information satiation and loses interest. Usually without actually describing the chemical properties of various bonds, but it's still exactly the right way to go about it. (1) It validates their questions and thinking processes. (2) It actually provides them with an answer to the question without making things up (DO NOT make it up, unless you want them laughed at in seven years when you assume that he's forgotten the misinformation you "taught" your toddler). (3) It annoys them as much as any parent has ever been annoyed by the "whys." ("Mom, STOP TALKING NOW!" was a major part of my child's vocabulary until he got over the "whys" and started asking more direct and thoughtful questions).

Merry Yule!

2006-12-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I do Christmas in the secular sense, but we're a pagan household.

My haul: One Wii, Sudoku for DS, some long underwear, a blanket, a sweatshirt, and a long-sleeved T-shirt from a University that shares our name. Oh, and $15 in gift cards from my managers, and some awesome socks from my secret Santa (thanks!). The kid's haul: Every toy in the Western world plus a few books and some clothes.

Happy Christmahanukwaanzakuh to you!

Also, Io, Saturnalia!

And, XKCD wishes everyone a Merry Christmas

2006-12-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

You Don't Know Jack is back on the web! W00t! I used to spend many, many hours on the Bezerk Games site--does anyone know if there's still a webhost for Acrophobia? Someone brought it back a few years ago, but it only went up to five letters, not seven, and the environment just wasn't the same. Man, I miss the old site, though.

2006-12-22T12:03:00.000-05:00

The Boy Who Lived Before

2006-12-22T11:44:00.000-05:00

This is mellow-fun but requires math. Do not play it with a six-year-old over your shoulder saying "put the number there!"

An interesting twist in perspective from The Onion.

For the romance fans

Slate just reminded me that the annual It's a Wonderful Life airing will be Sunday night... Nay, nay, I must celebrate the last week of our cable with the annual marathon of A Christmas Story. My fiendish plan is to drive everyone else into bed annoyed with it by 11 or so Sunday evening, then, umm, fall asleep on the couch until Santa comes and help him arrange the treats for the family in stockings all over the living room. I'm not usually the last one up, so I will have to chase everyone off to bed to do mom's Christmas-Eve work. In real life, this translates to dozing lightly while watching the marathon, then getting breakfast on early.

2006-12-20T23:46:00.000-05:00

I accidentally grabbed some adware, which wants me to reboot the computer *before* an uninstall. The problem is, my computer doesn't work after a reboot. Gah!! Maybe I'll try a Windows reboot.

So, while I screw around with the computer, enjoy the ten dumbest deaths in history (veracity of this list is not guaranteed by this blogger, feel free to hit Snopes).

2006-12-20T10:31:00.000-05:00

If this article on free will doesn't give you something to think about, you may be closed-minded.

I'm not sure I posted this article on the goodness of the shrooms, so just in case... and they're talking about massively upgrading the warnings on OTC meds today, to go along with the war on cold medicine and the war on pain patients... isn't it time to start rethinking this whole thing?

To the abstinence-only idiots: duh. (You know what was different in the past? If you knocked her up/got knocked up, you were expected to get married. Also, that the teenagers were more likely to hook up with one partner and be stuck with them forever--but that horse has left the barn, folks. Sorry)

Baby Jesus = garden gnome?

I'm amazed I didn't hear about this before, but apparently an Austrian girl was kidnapped and forced to live under someone's garage for eight years. From age ten to age 18--and she said she complained to him that he ignored her. I wonder if he had a tumor. And I hope she can get disability to help her get back to society.

Side note: My Google weather says it's warm and snowing (hey, 32 and going up to 38F is warm here!) in North Pole, but cool (still ten above--I'll check the sign across the road and unplug the car!) and going down to cold (like 10 below, anyway) in Fairbanks. Usually they're identical. This makes no sense.

Some days I feel like there's not enough of me. I didn't sleep--well, only a couple hours. I tried. Couldn't calm my mind enough even to meditate, which can lead to sleep when I am tired. Also, I have been getting angry and misdirecting it--I don't really even know what I'm angry at sometimes, but I am angry because I have trouble standing up for myself at home--if I want to watch a movie or play a game or fuck or have Spirit come to bed to snuggle and fall asleep I can't say anything most of the time. It's getting to me and I can't fix it without getting bitchy. They're shutting our cable off in two weeks (less!), which I found out yesterday because I happened to look at a newspaper, and that's going to make it worse by giving Spirit a reason to be on XBox 24/7. He got on my ass about getting it taken care of, which I had already said I was going to do, by "warning" me that I wouldn't be able to get him to do anything else. WTF can I do, with 12 days until our cable goes to static and having to wait on the apartment complex to secure a new cable? And why can't I explain that tag-teaming in to someone else's game, when I can't even establish a profile on that game and use it to play with someone else, feels totally useless to me, like he'd be better off just playing with the computer and I'm an intruder? Why do I always feel like an intruder in my own life?

I love the M&Ms commercial this time of year. (He IS real... They ARE real!)

Rant: "Preppie, we just lost our girl to a NERD!"

2006-12-11T11:18:00.000-05:00

Why do I watch this show? It's sort of funny, but it portrays the worst in stereotypes and all the reasons I hated (HATED!!) high school. I might find something else, but we get about 20 channels, and I don't feel like finding a DVD every morning.

There would be nothing, I repeat NOTHING, wrong, or even unusual, about the hot head cheerleader going for the geek tutor. Awww, she went more for a guy with brains and a real personality than for the jock or the super-popular class clown with money and a reputation for getting around more work than he does.

(OK, yes, Screech is a giant dork besides being a geek, but only on a show like Saved by the Bell
would all the geeks be giant dorks).

Yeah, I realize this rant is as outdated as SbtB itself, that the hawtness of the geek has been recognized and celebrated now--yet, on Heroes a couple weeks ago, the geeks were still a large group of walking stereotypes.

Then, maybe I'm just jealous, because my school totally lacked a geek subculture, so I didn't fit in with, well, anyone, until college.

20 days without it

2006-12-11T04:52:00.000-05:00

I thought about this article, 20 Days Without a PC, for a while. I decided I could live for 20 days without the email, the blog, even without AskMeFi and little time-wasting computer games. But I could not deal with having to pay bills and budget by hand.

(I have gone 20 consecutive unwired days this year, incidentally--at a time when there were no bills to budget because we were between places, had no money because we were waiting on Uncle Sam to pay us back cost-of-living expenses, and it fell right between the truck payments--which is the one bill I have to pay by hand anyway).

The tenets of Condomism?

2006-12-06T09:50:00.000-05:00

From the so-called "liberal media" comes this tripe.

I wanted to work myself into a good rant about the lost liberalism of a media that probably never had any and how this piece illustrates that. But I'm too tired, so a point-by-point comment on a list in the article:

Here are some of the tenets of condomism:

Every person capable of giving meaningful consent is entitled to unlimited sexual activity.

What's entitlement got to do with it? Biology dictates that sex will happen. Do we (the Condomists, I mean) have to go through individual records to prove that sex happened as long as there have been records (at least), or do you stupid abstinence-only fucks believe that poor nutrition caused that high percentage of children to be born seven months after their parents' marriages? The difference now is that the stigma on sexual activity has dropped so we're not forced into marriages with people with whom we'll have no relationship at all, or a one-sided or forced or abusive relationship, within a couple years (and still be stuck, because the divorce taboo dropped with the sexual revolution, too).

By the way, this is what happens when people place a high priority on abstinence. It doesn't happen, and the people who have had sex become convinced that they have done something horrible and dirty, and will hide it at any cost.

All negative consequences of sexual activity can be controlled through the use of contraception. Sexual Transmitted Diseases can be controlled through the use of condoms. The probability of pregnancy can be eliminated through contraception, properly used.

Eliminated? No, but reduced more than abstinence-only programs have managed. Because those programs get the wrong ideas in the heads of young, unmarried people who are, in fact, likely to have sex, and who were almost as likely to go have sex sixty or two hundred years ago, and those who become sexually active do so with no idea how to protect themselves, in the event of sexual activity, leading to higher disease rates and more abortions (or more children left in garages because their mom's can't admit to them).

No one is required to give birth to a baby in the event of pregnancy. Abortion, for any reason or no reason, at any time during pregnancy, is an absolute entitlement.

Some of us have noticed that making abortion illegal or difficult to get does not reduce the number of abortions significantly. It does, however, increase the risk of women dying of infections after unsafe illegal abortions. It also decreases the risk of fully-formed babies dying, neglected by mothers who can't care for them (emotionally, financially, or otherwise).

Any negative consequences of sexual activity that cannot be handled by contraception or abortion are not worth talking about.

Anything is worth talking about. Liberals who would silence those who disagree with them aren't worthy of the name. However, we don't feel as though those who express those opinions, promoting ideology over facts, need to be in top policymaking government positions on sexual education and policy.

2006-12-05T02:24:00.000-05:00

Well... duh.

(Mari-jew-ana's baad, mm-kay?)

2006-12-01T02:11:00.000-05:00

Any Fundamentalist or other Biblical literalist who is outraged by this, take note: Your Bible is all for this practice. Read the Torah again. I'll wait.

On a cuter note, the kid went to see "Babes in Toyland" at the local dance theater company today. "How was the ballet?" we asked him. "OK, but it didn't really have Babe in it." I try not to just collapse in giggles when things like that happen, but sometimes, I can't help it.

2006-11-29T09:41:00.000-05:00

I liked the old Technorati better. Why do we have to "improve" everything?

The easiest way to handle the money thing is to change the sizes.

Ummm YEAH!

This stuff makes me want to check out Second Life, but I don't think I have the hours to spend in a game right now.

The real Gay Agenda

Yay!

Loving your work is awesome. RIP.

Random thought: It's scary how much the Saved by the Bell/Good Morning, Miss Bliss (anyone else remember when SbtB: The Early Years was on The Disney Channel as GMMB, back when Disney was a pay channel?) kids looked the same at 24 as at 12. (OK, maybe not Dustin Diamond, but definitely the other two who were on the first and last episodes).

Um, dude? FCC-enforced codes of conduct are not voluntary.

Australia to pay for the HPV vaccine. The ages are a little older than for the recommendations here. Is that a cultural difference in the children, or the government and researching doctors?

DUH.

2006-11-25T00:51:00.000-05:00

You scored as Character Player. The Character Player enjoys creating in-depth characters with distinct and rich personalities. He identifies closely with his characters, feeling detached from the game if he doesn't. He takes creative pride in exploring different characters, often making each new one radically different than others he's played. The Character Player bases his decisions on his character's psychology first and foremost. He may view rules as a necessary evil at best, preferring sessions in which the dice never come out of their bags. For the Character Player, the greatest reward comes from experiencing the game from the emotional perspective of an interesting character.

Character Player

100%

Storyteller

75%

Casual Gamer

40%

Power Gamer

40%

Weekend Warrior

20%

Tactician

20%

Specialist

What RPG Player (Not Character) Type Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Re: Wil Wheaton, Less than you think

2006-11-21T11:28:00.000-05:00

I wanted to respond to this, well, anywhere; I'm sure page hits tell Mr. Wheaton how many people are reading the blog, but I would like to point out that going by the number of people who comment, at least on his blog at its current location, is a false indication as to his readership. The blog is set so that only Typepad members can post comments--and Typepad memberships are only free for a 30-day trial. I haven't been able to find an option to register as a reader/user but not as a blogger. And there's not even a clear email address on the site--many times I'd like to comment, then realize again that I can't and hope that he'll move the site back sometime. Whether it ever happens or no, though, WWdN or WWdNiE will stay in my homepage list. Thanks, guy!

P.S. had a nice birthday present... Spirit got the day right... that's it, that's the present... but what you have to understand is he doesn't know when it's his own birthday most years if not told.

2006-11-17T00:21:00.000-05:00

I wanted to write a proper parody of this, but to write the way I want right now, I'd have to quit my job. I just almost fell asleep doing web surveys... So, just a headline for you.

Breaking News: Feds Ban Human Saliva
Spit Contains a Drug "Six Times More Powerful Than Morphine," say Scientists

Short one

2006-11-14T01:23:00.000-05:00

An update on the connections in the Borat-AskMeFi issue (the plot thickens)

Voyeurism for the literate in the 21st century

I'm watching Heroes, so not going to stay on here. I wish I had a treadmill to walk on while watching. It's too goddamned cold to walk outside.

A food post

2006-11-13T05:15:00.000-05:00

It's late at night, and I've had a snack, which is contrary to my usual habit, but a couple pieces of sausage that were in the fridge allow me to surf without fear of getting hungry when I run into a bunch of food news.

By the bye, if the weather forecast says it's going down to -15F, just go ahead and plug in the damn car, or it'll just go down to -30 and let you panic about the fact that your car isn't plugged in. It's fine, thank you for asking. But still.

Now, on to news of the comestible...

Well... umm... thanks for clearing that up.

Is it REALLY double the Stuf? (from)

While we're at Tasting Menu, this was too funny

Not food but service-related: Waiter, as usual, serves up an awesome story; I can't wait for his book.

(The above is crossposted to my other blog, there followed by some chatter about my job)

Not food related, still cool: This shirt rocks

This, oddly, is food/service related. It's a theme today. And also the first time I can remember getting really annoyed at a PVP storyline. I am sure Mr. Kurtz is going to have Jade punished for what she and Sam are about to do here, but skipping out on your check is (1) probably a theft of goods and services worse on a dollar level than a regular shoplift (yet people see it as a prank and not on the same level as stealing) and (2) likely to really screw a server as well as the restaurant. I've had a friend fired because of a table skipping out on the check and known servers at some places who had to cover the cost of the meal--you're going to skip out and possibly have someone who in most states is making $2.13/hr plus tips have to spend her entire day's tips paying for your lunch? There's a special place in hell for you, then. (Where "you" is anyone who purposely skips out on a check, not anyone in particular).

Well, bedtime again. I'm trying hard to keep positive. There are a lot of thoughts. I don't always know how. I'm happy and grateful for Spirit. But I really don't want to live in this area and I knew moving away from the doctor I had would be hell, and I've had some very upsetting thoughts rattling around in my head. But I'll get through.

2006-11-12T15:37:00.000-05:00

Owwwwwwwwwwww. (heh.)

This is nice of them. And a belated Happy Veteran's Day to my favorite vets (you know who you are. If you're a vet who's stumbled by, then I wish you the same).

Here's a nice debate. I wouldn't want my polling place in a church, synagogue, mosque, or any other inherently-religious place. Legally, I'm sure the sign is the bigger issue. There were some campaigners a legal distance from the poll here on the street corner, and I was annoyed and uncomfortable that they started hassling me post-vote about who I'd voted for; even had I voted for their candidate, my response ("I'd prefer not to discuss who I voted for") would have been the same, though of course they assumed from the response that I had voted for The Other Guy.

Sometimes, the internet is a small world. This article immediately reminded me of this AskMeFi (I'm sure not coincidentally--the back stories are too similar--but read them both and then draw conclusions if you're going to). (The link to the article on this weekend's edition of Clicked refers to blaming racism on drunkenness, reminding me of the song "Your Racist Friend"--"He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking/can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding").

Bwahahahaha

An addendum

2006-11-08T05:01:00.000-05:00

Read this.

This is why I have trouble with the Republican Party, and generally would vote independently rather than vote Republican unless I am very convinced of an individual.

Many, many Republicans--even those in power--do not believe this way, or at least not in political terms. I have had deep conversations with several, even in the heart of the Bible Belt, who were Libertarian at heart and would have welcomed a return to the Republican ideals of old, of small government socially as well as economically, and I respect that.

But these same people always ended those deep and respectable conversations with a comment that they cannot be seen on the record as having the beliefs they do, because their party no longer believes in the freedom of the individual rather than the rule of the word of God, to be enforced by law where individuals do not choose to live a life according to a certain brand of Christianity's interpretation of proper moral living.

And half the country believes that way.

I don't think the sort of mood I've been in should have been leading up to an important midterm election. I've taken 3 pepcid already tonight and my throat is still burning with acid.

Reason #432 I don't want to deal with anyone any more

2006-11-08T04:46:00.000-05:00

"I voted."

So, how'd you vote?

"Republican."

Wha-- um, don't you hate the current administration? Why are you voting to give them power and votes?

"Well, I didn't know anything about the candidates, so I voted for the party I signed up as."

Why. Would you. Sign up. For a party. That's running on supposedly moral stances you disagree with completely and who puts people in power that you loathe and who do things you disagree with personally, morally, and politically?

"Well, because I was signed up as a Republican in Florida. My aunt [who per previous conversations told her who and what to vote for in every election she's voted in] told me I was."

!

I'm avowedly independent, people. I try to research candidate by candidate and issue by issue to the best of my ability and I freakin' refuse to sign up for a party. I think that people should be willing to vote third party, because if they were willing to vote what they really believed, it wouldn't be throwing a vote away and might exact real change in this country. Washington warned us about a two-party system over two hundred years ago. And we let it happen.

But if you're going to vote:
Along a party line regardless of platform because it's "the party you are"
What someone else tells you to vote without having any idea who the candidates are or what the issues are
or
Just because you think you should,

Stay. The. Hell. Home.

Also--single-issue voters suck almost as much as single-issue candidates. But that's another year's rant.

2006-11-04T23:55:00.000-05:00

I have a serious problem with this test. Namely--how does knowing about an individual and his policies have anything whatsoever to do with being able to recognize them by look? I read up on the issues, and I could match the names with the jobs correctly with over a 95% success rating--but would lose twice by not being able to match the portrait to a name and job (if I had one I'd have both), so barely squeaked by with a 70%. Are you really going to tell me that being informed about our political leaders means being able to judge them in a beauty contest? If we all voted blind--on policy and fact and ignorant of what these people looked like--we'd be a much more informed electorate. And don't get me started on what this means for blind voters--they'd all score zero on that test, and I'd be willing to bet that some, at least, are far more informed than the average voter (some in almost any group, after all, are far more informed than the average voter).

Books

2006-11-03T04:07:00.000-05:00

Wisdom from the office.

Too tired for a real post. I've been reading a lot. Right now I'm reading Frank McCourt's Teacher Man. I love his books. He's so down-to-earth and surprised by his own success. I used to hate most nonfiction, but now probably close to a quarter of my reading (actually, counting magazines, over half, and counting newspapers--online or paper--even more than that--for argument's sake, I'd include the magazines but not the news articles--thoughts?) is nonfiction--usually biographies or science-related materials, but sometimes just interesting subjects from the new-release display (I grabbed The Emperors of Chocolate a few years back from the new release rack in my library. It's a must-read for all chocoholics and people who are interested in candy, history, or the history of candy).

Well, that's almost a real post. After Teacher Man, Bob Newhart's new book! This week's pile is a little headier than last's. The two biographies, The Thrall's Tale, and an older novel called The Gospel of Judas (I emphasize that it's an older novel, because I found it when looking for the new translation of the actual gospel).

Happy reading, everyone.

Belief-o-Matic!

2006-11-01T18:36:00.000-05:00

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards.

1.	Neo-Pagan (100%)
2.	Unitarian Universalism (95%)
3.	New Age (88%)
4.	Liberal Quakers (86%)
5.	Reform Judaism (80%)
6.	Mahayana Buddhism (73%)
7.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (73%)
8.	Secular Humanism (70%)
9.	Sikhism (66%)
10.	New Thought (62%)
11.	Theravada Buddhism (61%)
12.	Bah�'� Faith (57%)
13.	Jainism (56%)
14.	Scientology (52%)
15.	Hinduism (51%)
16.	Nontheist (51%)
17.	Taoism (47%)
18.	Orthodox Judaism (47%)
19.	Islam (38%)
20.	Orthodox Quaker (36%)
21.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (29%)
22.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (21%)
23.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (18%)
24.	Eastern Orthodox (14%)
25.	Roman Catholic (14%)
26.	Seventh Day Adventist (13%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (2%)

Also something from Quiz Farm:

You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already.

In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth.

Buddhism

83%

Satanism

75%

Paganism

67%

agnosticism

63%

Islam

54%

Hinduism

54%

Christianity

46%

atheism

25%

Judaism

13%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)

created with QuizFarm.com

The Beliefnet one's been the most accurate I've found. I'm doing this because I found this on AskMeFi. I think my real religion is an overarching quest for knowledge of self and the world (both the physical world and the metaphysical) in all its subjects/aspects, though I am officially neopagan in my approach to the gods and the world of spirit.

2006-10-24T00:39:00.000-04:00

Today, Dork Tower reran an old classic strip, which reminded me to check hoodyhoo.com for new KoDT and DT(Retro) cartoons. I found this, which is very good.

I think we finally have a group. This is very good.

I hurt like I can't even think of a word to describe. It probably has to do with the 3ish hours of sleep and the 12+ hours at work. On the clock for over 9.5. With the new raise and a couple hours overtime, next paycheck oughtta be sweet.

Stupid comments, Wii vs PS3 edition

2006-10-12T14:06:00.000-04:00

Found in this com.com (CNET News) article: "There are quite a few people out there today who have no idea what Blu-ray is," he said. "But a year after its launch, at around this time next year, more people will start recognizing the added value brought by a Blu-ray player, just as a DVD player function helped the PS2 to a flying start."

Re-he-heally? 'Cause it seems to me that the DVD functionality was valuable and "helped the PS2 get off to a flying start" because we already knew what DVDs were, and even owned some, by the time PS2 was released five years ago. Would the DVD functionality really have done as much for the console ten years ago, when DVDs were relatively novel on the market? (no, seriously--you could still expect to be able to rent every title at Blockbuster on VHS ten years ago, and many of us--OK, our slightly-older and less tech-savvy cousins--were still balking at buying players that would require replacing their whole tape collections, still smarting from having done it with their music--or still clinging desperately to their audiocassettes)

2006-10-11T00:02:00.000-04:00

This will be all today. Hug a servicemember. If you know a servicemember serving over there, hug one of his/her family members.

2006-10-01T15:35:00.000-04:00

Bought a DS Lite. Can anyone tell me how the fuck to get the canister across the gap in the first (Blockade Runner) level? Please??

I've been working like mad and trying to squeeze in family time, so sorry I'm behind on the blogging.

In the meantime, enjoy. Happy October!

It snowed once already in the Tanana Valley. It's melted now, but soon enough it'll be here to stay. I've gotten the car winterized, but I'm worried--it had trouble starting when it was 30F outside. WTF is that about? I think it's in shock. The car came from Florida.

2006-09-27T18:33:00.000-04:00

I need to post more, but I hurt, and I'm so tired. Called the pain clinic and even with a referral in, they put the referrals through some kind of board before they will call to make appointments, I can't make our appointments. Not feeling well is making me unreasonably angry again, want to slap Lycanthra and make her stop being such a child--she's older than I, for cripes' sake. I know a few other "adults" who need a good slap, for that matter.

Drugs are bad, mmmmkay?

2006-09-07T05:33:00.000-04:00

I try hard not to spend more time than I have to researching chronic nonmalignant intractable pain and its treatments. I almost cried reading this just at the description of what patients generally go through to be diagnosed.

This move has been wonderful in a lot of ways, but it made me move far away from my excellent doctor, and to a military doctor giving me the old chestnuts about "an hour or more a day of aerobic exercise will make you better" and "I don't believe in narcotics for this type of pain." First, don't tell me the only thing that's worked while I lived with this for over a decade doesn't work. Second, I was a varsity basketball player, injured and in intensive athletic reconditioning while this escalated and got to the worst point it's ever been--an hour+ of cardio per day as well as stretching and general physical therapy, to the tune of the 2-3 hours daily I'd otherwise have spent at practice, 4-5 days a week. The effect on my body was to make the pain and fatigue totally crippling; I couldn't stay awake in class, or by the time I gave up and left school, walk unaided by supports. By the time I left, I had other people teaching the classes I taught at least a couple days a week because I was too ill and in pain to walk far without vomiting. It took me years to get to where I could work on my feet, walk my son to school, and climb several flights of stairs several times a day, all of which I do now. And even when I feel like another step will kill me, I do it because I do believe I need to stay active, because even if I could fail myself again I can't fail my family.

But the other night after work, I climbed those stairs, and tried to relax a bit. I looked in the cabinet in which the strongest painkiller was now Tylenol, shook my head at the muscle relaxants to which I build a tolerance far faster than to vicodin, shook my head in confusion as to what to do about the pain I was feeling, and decided simply to give up and try to sleep. Once I lay down and my muscles tried to relax, the pain intensified through my lower back, hips and legs to the point where all I could do was shake and cry. I cried hard enough to have an asthma attack, and spent over half an hour fighting to breathe. There was a moment when I could not breathe at all, and only my husband's sleepy worry eventually pierced through the haze enough for that to even bother me... for just a few heartbeats it felt as though it would be easier to not breathe than to live with the pain that had triggered the attack.

My husband made me an appointment the next morning, and I have to go in tomorrow and face the same doctor, whom I cannot help but see as an opponent rather than a help or someone to work with. I found a few good articles tonight, though, to take in, and some of what I found had me wanting to blog (plus, it's been a while).

Quotes and links follow:

"What's the difference between chronic pain from cancer or chronic pain from some other mishap -- failed back surgery, osteoporosis, etc? Why is it reserved for people who are going to die? What about people who are not lucky enough to die and escape this and are forced to live with it for another 40, 50 years?"

ASAP, without this site no discussion on chronic pain and its chronic undertreatment would be complete

An excellent treatment of the issues (sided toward the patients--I have no patience for the other side. I'm not addicted. I have been without opioid painkillers for several weeks. I have had no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever, but have had increasing severe pain--in other words, even when I am not feeling the direct effects of the opioids that "don't work" for this type of pain in the long term, I have less overall pain because it doesn't compound on itself the same way. So I've tried it their way, and I'm calling bull on it)

Finally, I found an article I have had my husband print out for the visit. This points out that several studies have shown benefit to using painkillers to treat pain (DUH. --OK, sorry), in contrast to "I just read a new study last month that stated that this treatment is not standard." How many other chronic pain patients do you have, anyway, doc?

My sister is apparently still a better person than I. She wouldn't wish her condition on anyone. I wish that every doctor who says "I don't believe in those types of painkillers" would have to spend a year watching helplessly and in pain as no matter how they tried to exercise and work hard, their pain and fatigue increased as their productivity levels decreased and they lived with side effect after side effect while medications that helped with few side effects were denied them because of stigma.

The war on drugs has long since been lost in the streets, though we pretend to have a chance to end drug use and abuse to the great detriment and cost of all (the police and the innocent homeowners killed by each other in no-knock raids conducted at wrong addresses, children who get between the armed homeowners--who generally think they're protecting their homes from intruders, as they have committed no crimes, and men in black are breaking down the doors at night--and the mistaken police, the taxpayers in general, and the addicts who would not be criminals at all under a better system). But failing to get drugs off the streets, if we consider that a laudable aim (and there is, of course, room for argument until Judgment Day there), is not a reason we should be fighting to get medicines out of doctor's offices or away from patients who, using the medications to treat real problems, face far less risk to their long-term health on the medications, even with the chance of dependence, than they risk from the side-effects of chronic pain itself, which are very well-documented.

2006-07-15T23:10:00.000-04:00

Eccch
(via)
(Thank all that's holy, I'm leaving the South, in less than a week)

Too tired to get through what I want, so here's something for you to read

2006-07-12T21:12:00.000-04:00

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic

At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung

You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping

Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

You Are A Friendly Ex

You and your ex are just friends - great friends really.
(At least that's what you keep telling yourself!)
While civility is a good thing, make sure you're not secretly wanting more...

What Type of Ex Are You?

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them!

You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you

You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil

How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

(Bert? I'm the messiest person I know! I live in a kind of managed chaos...)

You Are Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

You take the title "mad scientist" to the extreme -with very scary things coming out of your lab.
And you've invented some pretty cool things, from a banana sharpener to a robot politician.
But while you're busy turning gold into cottage cheese, you need to watch out for poor little Beaker!
"Oh, that's very naughty, Beaker! Now you eat these paper clips this minute."

The Muppet Personality Test

(OK... I can see that)

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

(Naturally, Beaker...)

OK, that's enough for the next few minutes... :)

2006-07-12T21:09:00.000-04:00

You Are A Chestnut Tree

You are a born diplomat with a well developed sense of justice.
And even though you're impressive and intimidating, you're also fun to be around.
You can be irritated easily, and you sometimes act superior.
Nevertheless, you are sensitive of others feelings and very loyal.
Sometimes you feel misunderstood and are fiercely close to those who know you best.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

2006-07-11T23:07:00.000-04:00

An' dis mah other brotha Daryl

Get over it already.

GUH?

nice

Who is Little Man aimed at? It looks dumb. Not funny-dumb. Pointless dumb.

Note

2006-07-10T20:17:00.000-04:00

Babe, if you weren't reading the Toy's blog, it should be safe again, just stop at the previous note.

2006-07-10T19:09:00.000-04:00

Saw this today. Worth a few chuckles. (typed "work a few..." and thought that was a nice slip). Source is adult so on the other blog in a bit.

Today was OK. Got my wedding pics uploaded to Flickr (no link here--my persona here is carefully separate from my real ID), played some X-Box with my husband, reveled in the simple joy of him being home. The trouble was, "I'm hungry, what's for dinner?" I'd thawed something for Pet to make, but she took some benadryl for a bug bite and was asleep. Now, I'm generally handy in the kitchen, but today was NOT my day to be there. First, I went to get some pots and a colander, and there were bugs everywhere--someone had left a bag of oranges out (I always refrigerate the damn things, but the kitchen has been so cluttered of late, I've just not even paid attention to what was on the floor. From there, I decided to tidy up and declutter as much as possible, putting cookies and alcohol on the refrigerator and other things in the cabinets. Then I put the pots on the stove. Oh, yeah, the other day I noticed the whole stove was greasy and wiped it down as best I could--never got wiped down after the beef dish that was made for everyone last week. So I put the pot of hot water on the big burner (you know the one) to make spaghetti for five, and as I am tending to the beef and onions in the other pot (my sauce starter), suddenly I smell a slight burnt odor--and flames flare around the pot of water. I'm trying to turn off burners, call my husband, and get the pot off and get him to grab a lid to smother the flames. So I look at the new microwave rice/pasta cooker and determine that it won't be big enough, so we get the burner cleaned out and start over with the water. Well, as the beef and onions get done and the water almost reaches a boil... CRASH!! A bottle of So-Ju from the top of the fridge crashes across both pots. I scream, the husband is there before I've even finished screaming, his adrenaline flamed up so much that he doesn't notice that he's sprained his ankle jumping up to help me for a full 3-4 minutes. Had to dump the water, which now had bits of all kinds of things in it, and start over for the third time. And try to rescue as much of the beef and onions as I could.

Dinner was pretty damn good, actually. I'm a more-than-passable cook. But things just attack me, my whole life they have, and it seems like spending time in the kitchen with a lot of hot things and a lot of sharp things may just be tempting fate. Also giving people an excuse to make up stories about how I can't cook without burning down the kitchen.

2006-07-09T22:02:00.000-04:00

The problem with this is that some women "let themselves go" in terms of weight and makeup (in other words, don't live for their fucking looks) from the get-go. This, in other words, is the part I take exception to: "Second, he can't have fun with her even if she was willing, because she now has let herself turn into Kathy Bates." Very funny. Some of us are overweight, don't wear makeup, do wear sweats--today I'm wearing a T Shirt and Jar Jar Binks boxer shorts--and still get more action and have more solid and loving relationships than most Americans. I'd wager I will have more sex in the next 2 weeks than the average US resident will in the next 12 months. And yeah, I dote on my kids. Making marriage and sex work is more about having the same expectations than meeting some arbitrary standard of what a spouse should be for another.

2006-07-09T13:35:00.000-04:00

Richard Simmons on Who's Line
(AKA, why not to watch funny vids alone on your laptop in a room full of people)
(Warning: GAY AS ALL HELL in the literal sense. Duh.)

Useful tip for searching Google Video

Nice day for a drive?

Sigh

Things to hate about local TV news

Found this on Reddit, but the warning may be the best part. (note: If you find it on this blog, it just might be offensive. Don't go clickin' my links if you then need warnings about the content). (standard disclaimer, as a hippie liberal I don't agree with a lot of this shit, and find much of it downright offensive. So? If you can't read even what offends you sometimes, you're going to be a pathetic, underinformed individual)

You go, girls

Interesting, but makes assumptions that are not necessary to faith

Why we all need a daily fuck (I was musing this morning that if every adult in the world started the day with a good orgasm, the world would be a far more pleasant place)

2006-07-08T12:30:00.000-04:00

ROFL

NSF fucking W fer the love of mike but FUNNY (especially the bit at around 1:49) (folks, that ain't how polyamory works for most of us--most of us really only have a partner or a couple and don't fuck around--well, rarely, and by arrangement)

Goodie Bag for more

This ain't nice

This one took me a bit, but that dark angel background rawks

Some of today's links via WebZen

I am crazy dizzy, so... later!

2006-07-07T21:55:00.000-04:00

yeah.

Youch

bwahaha

Waxhoff? (via)

Too much Hoff

Well, everyone else has covered this, so why not?

heh...

2006-07-06T19:59:00.000-04:00

Your missile sucks

(Thank the gods Spirit is out of the RoK)

ewww

Yeah science

Happy 4th

2006-07-04T16:02:00.000-04:00

Read this

Spirit and I got married Sunday

The handfasting was lovely

Too many people for too long for me

Enjoy the fireworks

2006-06-29T02:20:00.000-04:00

A fascinating look at "other"-sex people, historically and biologically

via

Spirit's still sleeping, so good night, world

Journey safely home to me, adored one. A spell for you, and some maps on which to trace your journey for the spell--I know you will carry the malachite with you.

2006-06-29T01:48:00.000-04:00

Well, it's something...

I note:
"Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Martin said listing homosexuality as a mental disorder, although mistaken, only ruled it out as a physical disability for the purposes of separation or retirement from the military, and had no other practical effect."

Do mental/psychiatric illnesses not count as disabilities "for the purposes of separation or retirement for the military?" That's an issue in and of itself, especially in cases like battle-induced PTSD.

2006-06-27T21:04:00.000-04:00

I got a 95% (missed the INS one on a coin toss)

Hurry and check this out before the Scientologists' lawyers get hold of it

I still remember liking this stuff. Their taste tests before the release bear that idea up.

heh
(If you're not really geeky--don't bother)

oooooooooooh NSFW

ditto

Stuff

2006-06-27T14:17:00.000-04:00

We buy too much stuff. I go long periods without buying any stuff because I'm generally broke, but then I buy way too much stuff--Spirit will say "let's go shopping" and I don't have the will to say no after feeling broke for so long (this will change when our budgets are merged--we'll have a fun-shopping budget so we don't cut into expenses, but him being overseas has cut expenses for a while so we could have some fun). Today I was just going to get gas and groceries and Pet wanted to look for one specific item at the mall. Well, they didn't have it, but since we were at the mall, we had to go to the game store (one used game, $8 with tax). And Bath and Body Works (oh, man, they have my scent back in on clearance--well, shit, it's seasonal, if I don't they'll never have it again--2 bottles of perfume and some body wash and two chapsticks since we've both had chapped lips and will want them soft, ahem, soon--$45). AND Waldenbooks (replacement copies of books I know Spirit had sent straight to Alaska that I will want on the drive, and the A.N.Roquelaure-who's-really-Anne-Rice-so-what-is-up-with-the-major- religious-twist-of-hers-who-saw-that- coming-anyway Sleeping Beauty series 'cause Pet hasn't read them and I thought she needed to, and some Lindor truffles, and a book on Herb Magick, $75-ish) And then we still needed groceries. I did get a personal shopping day at Walden/Borders good for July, though. *rolls eyes*

I was ready to pass out from dizziness and fatigue by the time we were done at Food Lion, though. Good thing I gave away my shift.

Also, yuck.

2006-06-27T01:41:00.000-04:00

Ew ew ew ew EWWWWW

Red what?

2006-06-23T02:07:00.000-04:00

Why on earth is this an issue? What's with the square? If nominally Christian-leaning areas use a Cross and Moslems a Crescent, why isn't there a Red Star doing the same thing in Israel? And why a generic everyone-else symbol and not a Star of David?

This looks like it could be cool to surf, but YouTube is down tonight, and must be the format for the vids.

Don't eat that...

2006-06-22T15:39:00.000-04:00

Interesting tidbit du jour: Polar Bear's liver contains toxic-to-humans levels of Vitamin A and is not safe to ingest.

2006-06-21T03:31:00.000-04:00

Score one for big tobacco

Queer monkeys

2006-06-20T19:48:00.000-04:00

Gay animals and sexual selection

2006-06-20T14:40:00.000-04:00

OMG80sTHEYHAVEDERKOMMISSAR...
Err, just click it

Guh...

funny

different kind of ECM for you babe

I love the geeky things kids do

Another pic of the day page from NASA

Fun science stuff--Fantastical Fridays

Nice

I do not recall ever feeling so disturbed as this in my life. Perhaps our roomie would like one to care for. I must admit if this were real I'd consider it, but really, I don't want any more (even real) animals at this point in life--too much to think about if I want to take off somewhere for 2 days or 2 weeks. I'm almost having conniptions at trying to get my chihuahua cared for for one weekend to get married. (Yeah of course I'm going to be dealing with very large dogs when we move. I don't remember thinking my personal preferences were relevant to much of anything else in the last decade or so, either).

"Ten things I know about drugs"

Telecom fraud

This looks like it has a high potential for abuse (if you poke around online, you can see examples of other tobaccoless nicotine options being used by students to keep them up during exams etc). I'm all for low levels of drug "abuse," though--it's letting them run your life that's a problem.

Fish Oil for ADHD?

The Pentagon still thinks TEH GAY is a mental disorder? What do they think of men who love TEH LESBO?

"But to the man whose hand or arm she is holding, she is not "average." She is the whole world to him." Beautiful.