Hitting the sack early tonight... visiting ACIM tomorrow morning, 9 AM this go-round. After the meeting, I'll be able to get my groceries and tools if all goes well.

I may've linked to this before... playtarot - Playmobil toys meets the Rider-Waite Tarot deck.

Current blogshares - Total Portfolio: $347,742.36. Folder: 12 blogs.

Moreorless - Heroes & Killers of the 20th Century.

Scanning the New Hero system rules... I'm glad that they didn't incorporate the spirit rules from the old hero almanac. Terribly unbalancing stuff, and it was my biggest fear for the revision's updates.

Wacky Burqas. (in the conceptual art section) The hawaiian one is pretty spiffy.

Today's Eats

Points: 31.6 Adj: 0 Act: 2 Rem: 6.4
Bank: 10.0 Adj: 0
Bank Max: 10 Point: 5 Act: 4
Bank Method: Rolling 7 days
Vitamins: Yes

Breakfast: 10.0 points
4.8: Egg sandwich -morningstar
1.4: Bagels; egg
1.4: Bagels; egg
2.4: Peanut butter; smooth style 1 tbsp

Lunch: 7.4 points
0.6: Fruit juice bar; raspberry
1.4: Yogurt; fat free, blueberry 4.4 oz
5.4: Pizza rolls- 6

Dinner: 11.2 points
7: Mexican casserole
4.2: Corn; sweet; white; canned; whole kernel; drained solids-1 can
0: Soda; Low calorie; other than cola or pepper; w/aspartame
0: Soda; Low calorie; other than cola or pepper; w/aspartame

Snack: 3.0 points
1.0: Dove dark chocolate promise
1.0: Dove dark chocolate promise
1.0: Dove dark chocolate promise

A good midday. I have the chores that could be done inside done, Newt beside me purring as I type this, storms outside rumbling, classic Planet of the Apes playing in the background on AMC, and "Beneath" is coming up afterwards. (The Two best... you can really stop watching after that and be perfectly happy with the series.) There's a pretty good article about why it's a popular series, aside from having talking simians with machine guns or horseback. I really dig the score, too. I won't go into how Burton's remake could've put his movie-making skills to better use elsewhere.

Last night was the best SNL in a looong time... switched over after Mad TV was over to the Rerun from 5/10/03, the Robert Smigel TV funhouse nearly killed me, and they had an awesome musical guest (Sean Paul & Wayne Wonder). Counter to the usual vibe, it was a quite a bit funnier than what was on previous. Where it's usually good for a light laugh or giggle, there were parts that were just fall-down funny.

Elton John puts Lestat on Broadway is a true news item, though.


[ presented in the Iraqi language, with English subtitles ]

[ open on "Saddam & Osama" title card ]

Announcer: It's the Abu Dhabi Kids Network! State-run and gobs of fun.

Jingle:
"Saddam & Osama!
On the run from American imperialist pig-eaters.
Satan tries to catch them
But they are endowed with amazing transforming powers.
Glory be to Allah!
Saddam & Osama!"

[ dissolve to Saddam and Osama sharing soup in the desert with a nomad ]

Saddam Hussein: Ah.. this soup will sustain us.

Nomad: Anything to help Super-Titans of Jihad!

Osama bin Laden: Your people are loyal, Saddam.

Saddam Hussein: Yes. [ over flashback statue footage ] Like the time I turned into a statue, and had to get all of Baghdad to play along by hitting me with shoes!

Osama bin Laden: Yes! All the world was fooled!

[ cut to CIA Headquarters, where cowboy hat-clad CIA members type on computers ]

CIA Agent #1: It appears Hussein is 13 degrees northwest of Mosul.

CIA Agent #2: Excellent! Alert the general, as we fornicate.

[ the two CIA agents begin to make out ]

[ cut to the White House ]

President George W. Bush: [ in the image of a monkey ] Boo-hoo-hoo! If me don't capture Arab soon, me going to crap myself!

Dick Cheney: [ eating a whole, roasted pig ] All is well, sir. Soon, we will rename Iraq East Dakota.

President George W. Bush: Too many words. No understand.

Dick Cheney: I will alert Israeli Prime Minister Sharon. [ looks below desk ] Mr. Sharon, we've located them.

Prime Minister Sharon: [ rises from behind the desk, wearing only a large diaper ] Fantastic!

Dick Cheney: Who told you to stop?

Prime Minister Sharon: Yes, sir. [ drops back behind the desk ]

[ dissolve back to the desert, as a pigeon in a beret delivers a letter to Saddam ]

Saddam Hussein: Cracky! Good to see you, old friend!

Osama bin Laden: Why the long face, Saddam?

Saddam Hussein: It's a letter from my wives. How I miss them.

Osama bin Laden: I miss mine. But, look - there is no time for tears. [ points to arriving American tanks ]

[ dissolve to title card ]

Announcer: "Saddam & Osama" will return after these messages..

[ dissolve to commercials ]

Announcer: Next, on Abu Dhabi Kids..

[ show scenes from a Bat-Man cartoon ]

Announcer: Bat-Man faces not one.. but three treacherous villains as he battles..

[ show The Joker ]

The Jew..

..and also does battle with..

[ show The Riddler ]

..the other Jew..

As they join forces with..

[ show The Penguin ]

The little old Jew. Next on.. "Bat-Man".

[ cut to "Martyrs" title card ]

Announcer: Then, on "The Martyrs", Halabi has too much ice cream and is far too happy.

Halabi: Not again! How am I going to eat all this delicious ice cream..?

Voice of Allah: That's your problem, Halabi. But don't neglect your seventy virgins.

[ seventy copies of the Olson Twins suddenly surround Halabi ]

Olson Virgins: Please hurry, Halabi!!

Halabi: Allah, you spoil me..

[ cut to "Disney Favorites" card, with Information Minister Mohammed standing foreground ]

Announcer: Then, it's "Disney Favorites", hosted by the Information Minister Mohammed.

Information Minister Mohammed: The Queen has arrived and has beheaded the dwarves, I swear by God, she remains the fairest of them all. Snow White and the Prince have committed suicide, and God will roast their stomachs in Hell.

Announcer: On "Disney Favorites".

[ cut to intercut images of kids dancing with decal-designed rocks and Iraqis throwing the same rocks at American tanks ]

Jingle: Rocks! Rocks! Rocks!
They come with cool decals
and cool fluorescent colors.
Then you throw them at the soldiers.
Collect them all!
Rocks!

[ cut back to "Saddam & Osama" title card ]

Announcer: And now, back to "Saddam & Osama".

[ the American tanks move in fast ]

Saddam Hussein: It's go-time, Sammy!

[ Saddam & Osama grab and make their power chant ]

Saddam & Osama: Power, power!

[ Saddam morphs into a goat, as Osama morphs into a bag of pork rinds ]

American General: [ passing Osama/pork rinds in his tank ] Wait.. were those pork rinds? [ wags tongue and turns his tank around ] Infidel-icious!

Saddam Hussein: Osama, no!

Osama bin Laden: Uh-oh.. bad choice.

[ Saddam morphs into the General Lee car from "The Duke's Of Hazzard". Osama/pork rinds jumps inside ]

Saddam & Osama: Hee-haw!

[ they jump over the hills and escape ]

Osama bin Laden: You saved my holy butt.

Saddam Hussein: Can I have one pork rind?

Osama bin Laden: [ stern ] Sad-dam...

[ cut to title card ]

Announcer: "Saddam & Osama"!

[ credits roll, numerous names written in the Iraqi language except for one credit to Sean Penn as a writer ]

[ fade ]

She-Spies was also particularly well written and laid out, too. Not just jiggle TV... While Natasha Henstridge is a real negative, there are great asides and nonsequiturs...I like when they break with the show's "reality" at times, and highlighting DD's skills at operetta and kung fu. Nothing quite like seeing someone beat the daylights out of enemy agents while singing Gilbert and Sullivan's "I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major-General" Plus, this crew's Bosley equivalent is really well characterized.

I fired a yahoo torpedo at a nasty germ's page being generally mean. They made the mistake of being hosted by yahoo/geocities and breaking terms of service. I look forward to seeing if the spiteful little site is still online in 3 days.

Blogwise finally added me to their engine... it took a good 2 weeks, I think, but my default journal page is listed there now.

a year ago - Wreck of the Medusa, Feral, Muso, my trading card, LJ meet, taught Dave Heroclix, misc pix

2 years ago - yellow bellies

3 years ago - questions

8/23/03

Photo Friday Submission - "Broken"

Marcus Cole

An honest and chivalrous adventurer that pursues just causes, you would sacrifice much to help others.

I am a Ranger. We walk in the dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge and no-one may pass. We live for the One, we die for the One.

Marcus is a character in the Babylon 5 universe. You can read his profile at the Worlds of JMS.

Hmmm.... I'd buy that more except for that stunt he pulled at the end with the clone. I was a hair's breadth from getting Aragorn, or Samwise.

AdventureQuest is a lunch break sized RPG that you can play daily using your web browser. We are adding new things every week! Join us in shaping the direction of this campy yet addictive roleplaying game. Create an account and play!

Another fun little interactive flash-world. "arrrgh!"

1 year ago - moonlight movies, a li'l grumpy

2 years ago -vertiginous, steganography, word association poll

3 years ago - smelly BK, political mailings cost the same

I get a little nervous when I call my brother's place and he's not there. Sometimes, I'd like to tag him like a cougar on "Wild Kingdom" just so that I'm able to keep tabs on him. It's a pity that communications, while frequent, can be difficult to stay on top of. Hopefully, I'll hear from him early tonight, and that'll balm the concern.

A new website appeared on my geoURL... A tidemarker for the bridge nearby.

My review copy of the Hero system 5th Ed, and Champions came today... it's nice to have friends in the industry. Those'll make fun reading when I want to recapture the old players vibe.

Things that need tending soon - (Probably Sunday)

• Clean the Bathroom


• Clean the Kitchen


• Groceries - Including a House Scale & screwdriver


• Computer upgrade (I E - the sturdy screwdriver when you get Groceries)

Trivial but fun things on the To Do list

• See Medallion


• Stop John Stamos from completing his plans for world domination.

Newton is evolved by strange radiation, and turns on his master. Cat in the Hat Seuss font seems to work pretty well.



I'm using my old DeviantART account... we'll see how this works out.

Why is yawning contagious?
A: We don't know but we have guesses.

We yawn to stay together and synchronize our activities says Robert Provine, psychology professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, who's studied neural mechanisms of behavior in over 30 species. Yawning apparently triggers behavior transitions. We yawn when we wake up and need to get moving. We yawn next most often when we get ready to go to sleep.

A long time ago when we were primitive peoples facing constant dangers, perhaps contagious yawning was a useful tool to manage the different activity transitions through the day. The family woke up and started to yawn contagiously. Everyone was soon ready to forage or hunt together. Likewise, later in the day, one would yawn and soon the group was yawning and ready to nap. None was left up alert to wander off and face a saber-toothed tiger alone.

A few yawning facts:

• Humans yawn before they're born, even in the first trimester of prenatal development. Ultrasonic scanners catch fetuses yawning and hiccupping at 11 weeks.


• Children up to about age five, yawn but not contagiously. From 5 to 11 they become increasing susceptible to "catching" a yawn from others.


• Olympic athletes yawn on the starting line, students yawn before an exam, and musicians yawn before a concert begins. They yawn before a big activity change: the race, the test, the concert.


• Schizophrenics rarely yawn.


• Chimpanzees and apes yawn infectiously, just as we.


• Cats, fish, and birds yawn


• Myth: People yawn to take in more oxygen and the reason it's contagious is everyone in the stuffy room needs more oxygen. Provine proved this false in 1987 when he observed experiment subjects yawning even though breathing pure oxygen.

Hmmm... I got this link in the mail after seeing the Newton / Scotto Superhero / Villain pics I do on occasion. That green goblin... he is a little crazy.

Also a little crazy... Women in spacesuits in TV and film. I wonder if that's someone's big fetish.

Today's Eats -

Point Range: 31-36
Water: 8 Veg/Fruit: 3 Milk: 0
Points: 31.2 Adj: 0 Act: 0 Rem: 4.8
Bank: 10.0 Adj: 0
Bank Max: 10 Point: 5 Act: 4
Bank Method: Rolling 7 days
Vitamins: Yes

Breakfast: 6.5 points
1.4: Bagels; egg
4.8: Egg sandwich -morningstar
0.3: Egg; whole; hard-boiled

Lunch: 10.8 points
5.4: Pizza rolls- 6
5.4: Pizza rolls- 6

Dinner: 5.5 points
5.4: Pizza rolls- 6
0.1: Beans; snap; green; canned; no salt added; drained solids

Snack: 8.4 points
2.8: Cereals; QUAKER OAT CINNAMON LIFE
2.8: Cereals; QUAKER OAT CINNAMON LIFE
2.8: Cereals; QUAKER OAT CINNAMON LIFE

8/22/03
I received a lovely, sweet sound card in the mail yesterday, and when I went to open the case on big brain, I discovered that my dinky little phillips-head driver isn't up to opening up the pneumatically drilled in screws from last upgrade… sort of like having an Easter basket wrapped in titanium cellophane. Sometime this weekend I'll see what I can do about rectifying that situation. For now, it's just taunting me, though. I'll have to ask Sappho if I should expect any special songs and dances I need to do for this motherboard, too... she's dealt with a bunch of these systems.

Mid-90s expression I don't miss hearing... "Don't go there"

Wasting a little time between coding and writing some letters… always fun to putter a bit.

Some of us find old sofas by the side of the road and refurbish our apartments with them. The Disposal Services Agency in the United Kingdom is a lot like that except they sell the stuff they pick up. If you're in the market for an old warship or a helicopter, they want to hear from you.

Keywords that hit my website today via Google - "cheap baby raccoons on sale under 75 "

A year ago I was burning a copy of Runteldat for Dale. Now neither of us works there. He, curiously enough, is at Nordis... the place that ran afoul of me in February. I see him on AIM every now again, and he's working with Tuan over there. I'll have to make a point of pinging him soon and saying hi.

Time has not been too kind to Buck Rogers... Wilma still looks good, though.

(before pics)

Bah! Netscape.com blocks linking to LiveJournal? I can see my images from my homepage, but not on the livejournal.com proper addresses. I’m going to have to use some other remote hosting, like fotki.

phooey.

Super villain repost, from my deviant art account, let's see if this works.




Today's Eats

Point Range: 31-36
Points: 31.2 Adj: 0 Act: 2 Rem: 6.8
Bank: 10.0 Adj: 0
Bank Max: 10 Point: 5 Act: 4
Bank Method: Rolling 7 days
Vitamins: Yes

Breakfast: 8.3 points
2.8: Cereals; QUAKER OAT CINNAMON LIFE
2.8: Cereals; QUAKER OAT CINNAMON LIFE
0.3: Egg; whole; hard-boiled
0.3: Egg; whole; hard-boiled
2.1: Orange juice; chilled; includes from concentrate

Lunch: 5.5 points
4.0: Riblets morningstar
0.1: Beans; snap; green; canned; no salt added; drained solids
1.4: Bagels; egg

Dinner: 12.0 points (at Panera...yum!)
10.5: Sourdough bread bowl
1.5: Mesa Bean & Vegetable Soup

Snack: 5.4 points
0.3: Egg; whole; hard-boiled
2.1: Orange juice; chilled; includes from concentrate
1.0: Dove dark chocolate promise
1.0: Dove dark chocolate promise
1.0: Dove dark chocolate promise

In other news, I'm bummed... I just got this in the email today -
"Notice to PublixDirect customers: The PublixDirect online grocery service has ended. All ordering and delivery has been discontinued. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough volume to keep operating. We appreciate your business and loyalty. It has been our pleasure to serve you, and we hope that you will continue to shop with Publix in your local store."

Man... No more home-delivered goodies! That was such a great help. I'm going to have to look into what other options are there.

8/21/03
Well, I look forward to seeing what sort of response I get from the folks who quizzed me.

I just made a Halloween-ized version of my background page for the website and journal... just a few subtle differences. Maybe I'll go and do another variant for Christmas.

I found out that Pam does know about my site...that's kind of odd, but interesting in its own way. CRC stands out as the only regular hits from Mac browsers. I'm also curious how many hits on my site from Austin are Ray, how many are Juliabee, and how many are strangers. I really need to get that "world map" utility running so I can get a prettier picture of where my hits are coming from, sort of like the guest map.

How to draw hippos and rhinos.

Argh.. I'm not having much success with sucking the wallets of humans, but at least they bleed well. As of this writing, I'm one pint shy of 6000, or 4001 pints shy of my next level. Since my terrible series of being robbed, I've only got 156 coins to my name, which won't buy me any particular special abilities. (Including Thievery, if I can find the guild again)

My Blogshares are doing pretty well... the current portfolio has me at $299,640.58...and a lot of the shares I'm enjoying have been completely snapped up. (Including my own, though I'm loathe to print up new shares quite yet).

In response to an online poll, Lifesavers is eliminating the citrus flavors lime, orange, and lemon in its classic roll, and keeping pineapple and cherry. Wha? Who doesn't like orange? According to the linked article, "The change is the first since the original five-flavor combination rolled out in 1935."

a year ago - grove scandal, togas, tulip head, haiku

2 years ago - Harvard classics, imprecation, Child's Christmas in Wales, Love, great moment from Oz, Spoon

3 years ago - Put April on a bus for home, Gaming group with Josh Marquart and the Hunters, can you picture that

piggy piggy to stay in points. note to self, saner snacking.

Point Range: 31-36
Points: 33.2 Adj: 0 Act: 2 Rem: 4.8
Bank: 10.0 Adj: 0
Bank Max: 10 Point: 5 Act: 4
Bank Method: Rolling 7 days
Vitamins: Yes

Breakfast: 7.6 points
0.3: Egg; whole; hard-boiled
0.3: Egg; whole; hard-boiled
2.8: Cereals; REESE'S PUFFS
2.1: Orange juice; chilled; includes from concentrate
2.1: Orange juice; chilled; includes from concentrate

Lunch: 6.1 points
0.6: Fruit juice bar; grape
4.1: Veggie wings ;5
1.4: Peas sweet; 1 can; solids & liquids

Dinner: 6.0 points
0.1: Beans; snap; green; canned; no salt added; drained solids
5.3: Amy's Enchilada dinner
0.6: Fruit juice bar; raspberry

Snack: 13.5 points
4.5: Toaster Pastries; raspberry strudel
4.5: Toaster Pastries; raspberry strudel
4.5: Toaster Pastries; raspberry strudel