A lovely morning. I had divine dreams last night and was quite comfily (is that a word?) nestled under the covers, happy and in a nice niche. Woke about ten minutes before I set my alert to get me out of bed… and got an early start. it was warm enough to go out at dawn, I walked to the ampitheatre and back. The String Cheese Incident is coming to play there in a few months! That’s a concert I’d really enjoy hearing…I’ve dug most of the tracks on the website, too, if you’re into the Grateful Dead / Phish-style stuff. They’re a west-coast band.. I don’t know that they’ve ever journeyed to Florida before. They were doing shared venue with Tenacious D, but I don’t know if D’ll be making it to where I’m at… I hope so.. they’re a hoot, too. Who knows? Maybe I’ll catch it…it’s a Sunday night though. We’ll see.

The things that bring her to my mind…

Nothing would be better
Than to see you again;
To sail in a little boat;
To wait the plums that
Bloom in snow and frost;
Wander together
Beside the shallows
Of cold pools.

– Feng Tzu-Chen

As a parting note – Guinness confirms longest ear hair world record *shudder* Is there a nose-hair competition, too?

Nighty Night…

Peace and Sweet Dreams to you, dear live journal, I’ll see ya tomorrow.

D&D class/alignment test results

Yahoo Groups (formerly Yahoo Clubs) to go paid-only?

As you know, this eGroups has been free of charge since its inception. Yahoo is now considering charging for its e-lists and eGroups and/or drastically limiting the services it makes available to eGroup subscribers. What they are talking about is limiting the number of members, file storage space, photo storage space, and most other services unless you pay.

This will be devastating to a number of online communities who do not wish to charge fees for eGroup services, and do not wish to limit existing services such as archived messages, files, bookmarks, and the like.

I have already taken Yahoo’s survey, and I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to do the same, especially if you do not want services to be reduced or charges to be levied. If we do not let Yahoo hear our voices now, decisions by Yahoo will certainly be made without our input!

Therefore, please take a few minutes to complete this survey at
http://promo2.yahoo.com/sbin/Groups/survey.cgi

P.S. Please pass this along to any other Yahoo! Groups which you subscribe to. Thank you!

I caught an early bus that was running about 15 minutes late (it runs on the half hour, and I got there 15 minutes early, as is my habit) The bus driver had a palpable aura of evil around him…I very nearly didn’t board. My suspicians were confirms as he blitzed past other stops that had people waiting… not too horrid, actually… the next #10 would be along in 15, but it was gusting powerfully…. dust and grit and street stuff all in the air. note to self, get some hair ties! I was being buffeted about like Dorothy’s house. If I had to wait another quarter-hour.. who knows? Perhaps I’d land on some hapless woman in a pointy hat and shiny shoes, surrounded by little people with bad haircuts. (South beach, maybe?)

Highlights of the ride… a man that talked like a megaphone into his cell phone, using words like “dawg, yo” and “dannnnng, woman!” alternately. Fortunately, he got off the transport shortly after I got on.

I thought the AC was broken at first but things got cooler over time… the demonic driver for some reason turned it off before I got on, and allowed fumes of patorns and fuel to permeate in what was, to him probably a delightful imp’s nest. Fortunately, he reactivated it.. perhaps fearing that if we died that our torment would end. Mayhap he had a glimmer of kindness and warmth overcoming his pitted, dark aura. Though the atmosphere went to a more palatable temperature and quality, although the bus itself was a morass of filth and grit…possibly as a result of the aforementioned gale.

A nice thing about running early is that I got to transfer point early enought to take a quick trot to the library and grab some tax forms (I figure on getting that finished this week… I file electronically, but preferto check my work by hand.

While aboard the route 60 heading to work afterward, I struck up a conversation with a 40ish surf dude… he was going to his probation officer’s, and had partied hard about 15 hours previous… and was sweating out a urine test for alcohol. I don’t know how long booze stays in the system, if it’d been pot, he’d have been totally hosed. I managed to calm him down, though… I told him that alcohol leaves the system rapidly, and perhaps that the test wouldn’t find it… he was happy, and I was wassailed by a one-man chorus of “Duuuuude!” Afterwards, we went to more gentle topics, the coming cold front affecting the local rip tides and low grade curls. My brother would’ve been better at keeping on top of that conversation, but it’s impressive how much meteorology a surfer knows in regard to waves… it’s not just showing up at the beach, and hoping for a wave.

Scores of Bodies Strewn at Site of Crematory
not for the squeamish

Sakes!

Newt woke me this morning with chilly little swabs tapping my neck, asking to be let under the covers where Scotto, (the human space-heater and universal snuggle-pillow) sleeps. Of course, after a half hour, he wants to play. He leapt from my chest to the ground, grabbed a paper wad, and ran all around the house with it. Not wanting to play fetch, hejust wants to drag the toy all over the house as he runs. Doofus-Kitty. 54 degrees out! about 20 degrees cooler than when I hit the sack. Where’d that weather come from?

I’ll wait for the sun to come up, and bring a little heat before going for walkies… meantime, I can get back on the stick with some of the more local projects.

proxomitron looks to be a wonderful filtering tool. a lot of nice features for killing popups, banners, embedded music, geocities branding, reallowing right clicking on those pages that turn it off and a lot of useful tools for testing websites, too. (a big list of features is on the web page)… plus the logo is a pyramid with an eye in it. Very powerful looking program.

Freaky Vintage Card

Aiee!

Where did my weekend go?

Egads…

I’m really digging this Jupiter Icon. Who knew that he had such a wicked ‘fro?

They have a word for it Words for which there is no direct equivalent in English. (thanks, Marginalia!)

Here’s something I had no idea about: pink used to be the color for boys, while blue was for girls.

At one point pink was considered more of a boy’s color, as a watered-down red, which is a fierce color) and blue was more for girls. The associate of pink with bold, dramatic red clearly affected its use for boys. An American newspaper in 1914 advised mothers, “If you like the color note on the little one’s garments, use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention.” [The Sunday Sentinal, March 29, 1914.] A woman’s magazine in 1918 informed mothers, “There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink being a more decided and stronger color is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is pertier for the girl.” [Ladies Home Journal, June, 1918]

Yea, verily, Jupiter doth be amused.

posted this in regards to why writers write, in reply to this. This isn’t meant as a slam or anything, just a difference of opinion.

I write stories to be read… that much I agree with. I disagree with the rest of the conclusions there. The rest of the “ladder to fame and fortune” is pure hogwash from my point of view. I also don’t suffer from the demon haunting he mentioned. I’m not the best writer that ever lived. I think that I have some talent and skill, but there are quite a few more able. I write when the urge drives me, or when I want to polish that ability. Same goes for other things I do in my life, programming when a project is needed, or doing sample work when I want to see if I can hone my craft there.

Fame? no thanks! I *really* don’t want to be famous. I like my privacy… I couldn’t deal with people stopping me on the street and being weird around me because I’m a public figure. (Same reason I’d never go into politics). I don’t mind the idea of people enjoying my work, but I wouldn’t much enjoy doing any promotional circuits, talk shows, or deal with spooky fawning fans. Heck, there are freaky stalkers here on LJ that are fine examples of why that’s an unattractive option.

Money? Anyone that goes into writing for the money is kidding themselves… $.03 a word is hardly the big bucks. Both Stephen King and Isaac Asimov had to keep working as teachers and rely on a second income for a long while, until they hit it mega-big. I know I’ll never hit that level of notoriety. I make more money in a day or so of programming than in a year of shopping stories around.

When I write, it’s largely to express a feeling, entertain or educate. (Myself first, usually). Writing has sent me on some nifty research quests, and I’ve learned a lot just by gathering information for a story.. even if the story never fully came together.

Like my journal entry previous… that article came together as a recollection and as an experiment regarding linked pictures. I don’t plan on it ever being distributed to some magazine or rocking the world at its foundation.

Unconnected quiz answer

Why he never quite caught on with the Marvel readers of the day, I’ve never fully understood. Certainly, he wasn’t any more inherently implausible than, say, a man bitten by a radioactive spider, or an Asgardian deity spouting flowery, faux Shakespearean dialogue. Continue reading Attack of the 50-Ft.Tall Ant(Man), linking out the pictures to save space. →

Alphabetica Cyberia… hee… I know folks that believe the fluoride and argon ones to be real…from the fine folks at kuro5hin.

I didn’t go out to a movie tonight, as it was very rainy and a trifle chilly outside. Instead, I watched 5 deadly venoms from the comfort of home, with a sleepy-pie Newtie on my lap. Lots of weirdo fighting action, and secret messages hidden inside of pickles. I like the DVD player that came with my Tron DVD better than the one that came prepackaged on my laptop. I did, however take a brisk little walk around the apartment building, just to get some blood moving. Chop-socky movies always make me want to work out a bit…maybe go back to Tai Chi and Tae Kwon Do, if only to build up some good muscle back, and get a good workout. Had a few smirnoff ices, and am feeling pretty comfy, and am now settling in for some reading. 🙂

I think I’m going to hit a movie tonight…

Hey, a nifty quiz!

Where’s your corner of the Twilight Zone?

Take the Twilight Zone test!