Morning again, the dawn of a new day. Tuesday. Howdy, Journal!

Sammy’s father came by, and emptied the rest of number two. I’m now alone in this collection of apartments… this is the last populated cell of a formerly busy little hive. I’ve seen people come and go in all of the homes in miniature here. It must’ve had some effect on my dreams last night… I thought Frankie was outside my door, talking loudly to some visitors.. they were waiting for a ride, and I guess that they gave his old home address for a pickup. It was like three in the morning, and I dreamt that I called the police on them for trespassing and disturbing the peace. The recurring theme of Newt getting out then I opened the door occurred, too, but he was retrieved quickly.

feel free to elaborate in the comments!

Random Newt Pic! The rarely-captured “fierce-look.”

A naked, samurai sword-wielding martial arts expert screaming, “I’m God! I’m immortal” hacked his wife to death yesterday in a blood-soaked Bronx rampage, police said. Continue reading 6320 – Yuletide toe-warmer poll, creepy news, Cute Newt Pic, Medicare. →

Not on call tonight.. I’m alternating every other day this week, and will probably assign the full week to a tech next. I look forward to a full night’s rest (and a Friday/Sunday combo, free of work interruption.)

I had a polite talk with CS & Rhode Island about organization and documentation. This was the calm before the storm. CS didn’t seem to grasp the need, but I think he understands that his grasp isn’t as important as the desire of his bosses to have it. We will have things documented, and documented well, or I fear, a fee spot in the technician pool. Mohna, a remarkably tall Muslim girl looks like she might make a good phone person, too (a full-time student)… freeing my creative thought/solution time up even more. Kahuna will be back from Vegas tomorrow, and it smells a bit like SD is leaving.. not to mention that JC is training her replacement bean-counter so that she can have her baby#2 and be a full time stay-at-home momma.

I’m a little drowsy tonight… I got a lot accomplished today… FDLE quarterly reports are totally automated now, configuration of a few different machines went well, and apache server is behaving well. It’s nice to know that when I’m home, here and now, I don’t have any job-tethers. If I was of a mind to, I could just walk down the beach, and not worry that the phone is going to ring. I can take a long hot shower, and not concern myself with the possibility that I might have to leap out without finishing properly. Hopefully, I’ll be able to spend an hour or two with Danny… maybe go out for a bite and a gab.

Not so chilly out tonight as it has been, lately. Is winter over?

Skinny cow “coffee” ice cream sandwiches are bleh. Stick with chocolate, mint or strawberry. This is just a waste of good chocolate wafers.

Newt loves tiny wooden Christmas ornaments. He’s knocked every one off of the tiny fake tree, and is chasing a well-gnawed snowman around the floor.

Rough Guide to Asha Bhosle, I just like the sound clips. 🙂 That’s the voice I think of when I think of Bollywood.

John Lennon died on this day, December 8, 1980. A beautiful memorial to John Lennon can be found in the “Strawberry Fields” section of Central Park, in the shadow of his home in the Dakota building. The original Strawberry Field(s) in actually in the Liverpool area.

Annoyingly spelled words du jour:

• womyn
• magick
• boi
• l33t
• w00t

Which Reminds me… you can find the most recently entered LJ entries here!

See also in the – possible changes in how the friends list works. Again, brad shows that he’s not very good with social or communication skills, but it’s easy enough to get the picture. A lot of people don’t understand the function of what he said, and will get upset, even though it’s not a big deal. I’ve always disliked the term friends for folks I read on LJ, because it’s too emotionally charged a word for a lot of people. It’s the cause of a lot of lj drama. I do think the ideas for change seem reasonable, all told, but I won’t personally use many of them… I use filters now and again, for my essentials / comics page/ whatnot and that’s about it. I agree with what flying_blind says here. While I’m nosy, and would like to know who reads my journal… I know full well that any public entry can be syndicated or bookmarked, or whatnot without my knowledge, and I’m fine with that. (plus, if you want to get tricky, you can always hide a sitemeter link in each of your entries, to see where hits come from on the net… maybe brad can implement usage statistics sometime, and make it that much simpler?)

Watched the Repo Men Show on TLC last night was interesting.. It may be another “Reality” one that I enjoy, like Cops or Animal Precinct. I prefer the stuff to be in the field, rather than bottled on an island or in a household.

I think I’ll set up my VCR to record the next airing of the Ancient Egyptians shows. They’re showing the whole series in a 4-hour block on Sunday the 14th, starting at 3pm, and running through 7pm. Makes it nice and easy to fit on a single tape.

My Fave comic book of the moment

This Make a Snowflake thing is far too much fun. (the first one I made)

The Poo Chart, another Flash from the Scotto-lj past. A cartoon guide to healthy poops. I think it’s great as desktop wallpaper!

Never switch midgets on an unruly crowd. Continue reading #6317 Snowflakes, Poo, Midgets and Riots. →

Only appropriate that the Joker used the Royal Flush Gang on JL last night…They only were with Mr. J for a brief time in the comics, to my recollection, though he didn’t come up with Playing card motif, originally. Strange seeing Hawkgirl defibrillate someone with her mace… and she’d batter not be married to Katar, either. (If Hawkman should show up at this point, it’d be pretty messy.)

It got cool last night (well, for South Florida… dropped to the low 40s…. that’s about as cold as it gets in these parts.. it’s in the low 50s now.) I’m much more concerned about folks in the North. Newt enjoyed the top of the monitor and my body warmth, depending on if I was laying flat on not. That said, I think yesterday was my busiest day ever, call-wise. I really didn’t even get to watch much of the aforementioned JL episode, because of calls that came in.. the upside is that a healthy percentage of the folks reported missing were found within the hour of the reports’ issue. I don’t know if it’s the weather or the season, but I was dealing with one case or another pretty much from sundown to midnight, and got a call from a hysterical parent this morning at 9am…Non-police aren’t really even supposed to have access to the number she called on, so I have no idea how she got through.The best I could do was to talk calmly to her, reassure her, and give the name of some local agencies in her area that could be of more service. That said, I’m really looking forward to getting back into the technical side of things, and putting other people on call more frequently.

I feel good about tossing Newt’s old Kibble into the flowerbed outside… one of the neighborhood kitties is hanging out there new, having a nice little dinner at the “salad bar” and Newtie’s watching with great interest. Not even talking, just observing the gray and white cat as he has his snack. I’m glad to see it being put to use as more than just “eventual fertilizer”. Whatever was smelling foul yesterday has cleared up today, too. There was something *really smelly* outside. I don’t know what it was, but I get hit with a real reek when I go out front. I suspect it’s fallout from cleaning out one of the vacated tenants’ apartments.

Yet another Fort Lauderdale Beach Webcam. (update- it got bonked or otherwise moved, so now it’s pointing at the road, rather than the water.) There’s always these cams for South Florida scanning. (this one lets you pan and scan a bit.)

Jupiter and Thetis – foom23 pointed this out to me ages, ago. It’s pretty funny to me how similar the face is to my own. The sort of portrait Maxie Zeus might have commissioned for himself. I wonder whatever happened to foom?

Doc showed me these cards from AEG / Dork Tower… I’ve always liked the idea of getting whimsy/event cards as part of XP, like in Torg. I think that they could add a lot to any RPG, with a minimum of tweaking.

Random Name Generator... I like the obscurity settings! great for creating secret Identities, Aliases, or character names for tales.

Misc silly things to say when My Electric-guy in COH goes into combat. (His name is still in formative stages, too.. Something Silly Like Project AMP or the like, probably)

• “I bet this mega-hurts!”
• “Call me Thomas Dedison”
• “Socket to you!”
• “Lights out!”
• “Charge it!”
• “You’re grounded”
• “They Say Lightning never Strikes twice… So I’ll hit you a third time!”

*groan* I can’t remember any of the witty banter Spidey had with Electro. I still can’t believe they got the actor that played Larry Tate (David White) on Bewitched to be J. Jonah Jameson on the old Spider-man TV show.

I may rethink the COH guy.. perhaps a Shield-type healer-drainer would work better for me.

Downloading animated versions of Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music…I hear the art is weak, but the voicework is good.

a year ago – Got cookie bars, CDC/Promedmail (Zoonoses), Bigfoot links.

2 years ago – I got spooked by a phantom voice, prep for bear vs. man-armor, Mexican vanilla, KPMG sucks.

3 years ago – Globetrotters (Afro of holding), Myths of pearl harbor, Sigmund and the sea monster, chaos postcards, two sweet anonymous quotes.

“Good morning all; it’s another beautiful day. Your attention, please. Here are two announcements. Ice cream is now on sale for your enjoyment. The flavor of the day is strawberry. Here is a warning: there is a possibility of light, intermittent showers later in the day. Thank you for your attention.”

The rain this morning filled my head with dreams and thoughts of comfort… making for an on-and-off nap and relaxation morning, with just a lot of nice white noise, thoughts of my beloved and the bass of Newt-purrs.

Yesterday was Francesco’s last day of ownership on this place… Apparently he’s keeping Frankie on a tight leash at one of his other properties. Also, it looks like Sammy was sucking power from Frankie’s old apartment. As it stands now, I hope that I get a better caliber of Neighbors while I’m here (and when I relocate.) It’s my hope that the rent doesn’t jump too much while I shop. I have good hopes about the new LL.

I’m going to start putting CS on call more often now. I think it’s time to “share the wealth”, and make use of him as a resource. I think that he can start next week…Then he and I will alternate a bit… though I will still take the holidays, this go ’round. After New Years, it’s going to be according to a more balanced schedule, though. With luck, we’ll have another few technicians to take the phone work off of my hands for the most part. (I imagine I’ll have one week a month, though, just to keep in practice and on top of things… but my large focus will be on programming and management.)

Rik pointed this out to me… City of Heroes is about to go beta!

Mild Scotto peeve – The term “go on” meaning “please continue” is two words… it’s not “goon” A goon is a big mook, gorilla or thug. People that reply with “goon” after I’ve said something to them are insulting, not asking for more. I also have a poor tolerance for “netspeak”. I don’t mind “k” for “ok”, but “u” for “you” causes me to prejudge the person on the other end of the entry or conversation as poorly educated or borderline dimwit. (not always a fair call, I know, but that’s how my mind works.) That said, I don’t mind typo folks that much.

Great Plain-talk Resource Page on Yeast Infections. going to cross-post to menstrualhut

Fly Paper airplanes in 3D (use the arrow keys)

Random old west factoid – Wild Bill Hickok was shot while holding “black aces and eights.” This hand has come to be known as the “dead man’s hand.” The big trivia? The fifth card was the deuce of spades.

Ahh, sweet retrolounge, a compilation of old things. Among them: photographs, music (Vintage African music on vinyl!), toys, past technology, and advertising, including a collection of wonderful posters from France’s Terrot bicycle company.

A newly discovered 425 million-year-old fossil boasts a lurid claim to fame – it has the oldest penis on record.

The five millimeter long crustacean, discovered by UK and US researchers, has been named Colymbosathon ecplecticos – derived from the Greek for “astounding swimmer with a large penis”…

‘Trampled’ Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury Claims
Report: Woman Has Filed 16 Previous Claims, 9 At Wal-Mart Stores Continue reading #6315 comfort weather. →

Dang.. so many of the journals I read have had people in a posting frenzy… I may have to trim yet again, and delegate more people to the “check once a week” category.

I’ve been eating a *lot* of spinach lately. I feel that I should be squinting, or have anchor tattoos on my forearms.

I saw this article about probability distributions and task resolution comparisons between d20 and Champs… I include it here only so that Danny can read it.(It’ll bore all but the math/gamer-type). It boils down to the statement of – D20’s skill system is fundamentally open-ended, task-based, and linear. The Champions skill system has a closed range, is success-based, and is normal. The comments have some interesting game-views, too.

Met the new landlord guy, and he seems to be nice enough… hopefully he’ll be more on top of his game than the last one. I’m still looking for a place to own, rather than rent, though. The time’s come to invest a bit. Paying money into my ownership rather than to someone else is overdue.

Roar of the greasepaint, smell of the crowd…

trivia for the day: Autopsy means “see for yourself.”

Japan SAQ (Seldom Asked Questions).
Excerpt:

Q. What is the origin of the Japanese superstition which says that if you cut your nails at night, you will die young?
A. This superstition has two versions. One says that if you cut your nails at night, you will die young (Yoru ni tsume o kiru to hayaji ni suru) and another that you won’t be with your parents when they die (Yoru ni tsume o kiru to oya no shi ni me ni aenai), i.e. you will die before them. There are two reasons for these superstitions. One is that during the Edo period, cutting one’s nails at night was dangerous because of the lack of light. The second reason is that the Japanese word ‘Yotsume’ (cutting your nails at night) sounds like ‘Yo o tsumeru’ which means to cut short a life.

Crochet Dresses for Furbies.

April Winchell has some dandy multimedia, (Search for Seasonal midway down the page)

Extreme weather pictures.

regional dialect meme

Ah, wonderful! That’s what I was looking for! Ancient Egyptians on TLC thanks, egofood!

AIRDATES

The Battle of Megiddo – Sunday, Dec. 7 8 p.m. and midnight ET/PT

Tomb Robbers Sunday, Dec. 7 – 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET/PT

The Priests of Amun Monday, Dec. 8 – 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT

The Cult of the Apis Bull Monday, Dec. 8 – 9 p.m. and midnight ET/PT

Show Descriptions

Another Crazy-busy day and night… I guess it promotes solid sleep though. I wonder if it will continue to be this busy throughout the winter holidays?

Taking a page from sweetalyssm‘s journal, pet names for the kitty –

• Newton
• Noodle
• Nudist
• Nudie Bar
• Newton J Fuzzbutton
• Newtie-bear
• Orange Boy
• Fuzz-Face
• Stripey Boy
• Son
• Furburger
• Fluffy Monkey
• Turd Fergerson (if he makes a stinky poop)
• Pooper McDumpsalot – see above

Many more.. those are just off the top of my head. He seems to know I’m talking to or about him. 🙂

I’m going to have to get on the stick, and place my Amazon orders soon, if I want them to get to the destinations by Christmas. I’m fortunate that I can get a good amount of my shopping done without leaving the house… a pity that Danny doesn’t have a wish list, but I usually buy him local events rather than ranged gifts.

Gold Rush Games sent me a pre-release version of The Dragon’s Gate: San Angelo’s Chinatown sourcebook, on the condition that I review it (and mention that it is in fact a pre-release version, that I don’t distribute the file anywhere else.. standard legalisms.) More about San Angelo is at sacoh.com. It’s 128 pages, so it’ll take a day to digest, and another two to sniff out the pros and cons, I think.

Speaking of which, I picked up the pdf of Darwin’s World 2.0 for d20, and it looks like a lot of fun. (and it’s far better edited, readable and generally of use than the current Gamma World sounds) I wonder what a post-apocalyptic Chinatown would have as a blend of the two? I think the classic mix of Golden age or an old west game would be a lot more suitable.

Wrigley’s “Grapermelon” gum sounds nasty…and 7-11 supposedly has a slurpee of the same flavor. “Limafootstankbeans” seems as palatable.

Hmm… where is that Egyptian Special Dec 7? The closest thing I can find is Nubia: The Forgotten Kingdom (Which looks cool, but is on Wednesday, the 10th.) I imagine I can wait, but don’t want to miss if there’s something else nifty coming up too.

HTML color meme

Zow… it was crazy busy last night, but it still seemed to go by slow. Brother came by, but I didn’t get to really visit with him at all… I was doing phone work the whole time he was over, and it continued well after he left. I want to take some time to gab with him while I can.

Some good news.. Danny’s Wife was on the radio for a 10-minute interview on a Christian radio station.. got a chance to promote her wedding planner service. I hope it takes off and really flies… I’d be happy to see them do well. I hear Danny got to talk to Doug briefly on Sunday… I’m glad that Doug rang him up and they got to gibber, even for just a moment or two.

Blogshares closed…. ah well, I really hadn’t played in a while now.

Speaking of online daily games, the latest vampire game development – You are the vampire scottobear . You have drunk 17007 pints of blood. Your rank is Ruler of the Night – next rank at 25000 pints. You are sire to 173 other vampires, including: LdySaphyre (10278 pints), MissV (4768 pints), Nathanael (2673 pints), aatak (2667 pints), Morgoth (2448 pints), Silenciador (2023 pints), xerxes (1601 pints), night_flyer (1571 pints), gilbella (1555 pints), FreakJonn (1510 pints)

Mr. Picassohead

Dreams involved the scent of a baking pineapple cake (or some other sickly-sweet fragrance) and flight through a very thick cloudbank… I could feel the moisture of the fog on my skin. Lots of sensations, not many events, but pleasant, all the same.

Maps for everyone.
Scotland maps.
Great Britain old maps
Perry-Castañeda Library map collection.
Maps of the Roman Empire.
USA Civil War maps.
Maps of Liberia.

Researchers are trying to teach Segway people movers to move and think for themselves, with a special emphasis on military applications. CTV.ca has the story.

The hippies had another lovely baby girl… Haley Jordan Bohl was born on Saturday Night. Dave’s totally outnumbered by the X-chromosome now.. two daughters and Cathi will be filling the household with estrogenny goodness for the next little while. Mayah was good enough to go to bed and stay asleep while the birthing was taking place, and it seems that everything went off without a hitch. (Haley was born about two weeks early.)

Ah, I see… Neighbor in #2 (Sammy) didn’t move out… supposedly he was taken to jail for multiple instances of driving without a license. That doesn’t explain why his car is parked out here…I thought that they’d tow it, if they caught him on the road. I suspect that the “DWOL” is a fib, but the jailing is legit. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll be back in 30 days. Oh, and the landlord is just getting around to repairing ex-tenant/leech Frankie’s window from the other night. (The other night being the 16th of November)

Looks like The X-Files wasn’t so far off the mark from reality…

“The Zero Files are documented evidence kept deep in the archives of FBI field offices nationwide that records delusional fantasies, conspiracy theories, paranormal claims and other potential threats to society that were written down and sent to the federal investigative unit.”

“Almost anything can be a Zero File — the phrase simply refers to items received by the FBI that are “non-actionable,” and can include anything from cases handed off to local police to “attaboys” from other agencies.”

A couple of excerpts:

“Recently, before these terrorist acts, I made a usual request that you investigate the Necronomicon. I do not know if you took me seriously, as I realize you are still enslaved by the physical realm and refuse to open your mind to this spiritual war that is clearly discussed in Revelations, but in case you did, I wanted to add a little information.”

“Some files, however, are eerie in their seeming prescience or certainty… the anonymous caller offering impossible theories of a conspiracy involving the CIA who leaves a return phone number that connects to an internal CIA office number.”

The Dead Bug Funeral Kit comes with an Illustrated Buggy Book of Eulogies with Ribbon Bookmark, Casket, Grave Marker, White Clay Flower, Burial Scroll, and Pouch of Grass Seed.

The hippies had another lovely baby girl… Haley Jordan Bohl was born on Saturday Night. Dave’s totally outnumbered by the X-chromosome now.. two daughters and Cathi will be filling the household with estrogenny goodness for the next little while. Mayah was good enough to go to bed and stay asleep while the birthing was taking place, and it seems that everything went off without a hitch. (Haley was born about two weeks early.)

Ah, I see… Neighbor in #2 (Sammy) didn’t move out… supposedly he was taken to jail for multiple instances of driving without a license. That doesn’t explain why his car is parked out here…I thought that they’d tow it, if they caught him on the road. I suspect that the “DWOL” is a fib, but the jailing is legit. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll be back in 30 days. Oh, and the landlord is just getting around to repairing ex-tenant/leech Frankie’s window from the other night. (The other night being the 16th of November)

Looks like The X-Files wasn’t so far off the mark from reality…

“The Zero Files are documented evidence kept deep in the archives of FBI field offices nationwide that records delusional fantasies, conspiracy theories, paranormal claims and other potential threats to society that were written down and sent to the federal investigative unit.”

“Almost anything can be a Zero File — the phrase simply refers to items received by the FBI that are “non-actionable,” and can include anything from cases handed off to local police to “attaboys” from other agencies.”

A couple of excerpts:

“Recently, before these terrorist acts, I made a usual request that you investigate the Necronomicon. I do not know if you took me seriously, as I realize you are still enslaved by the physical realm and refuse to open your mind to this spiritual war that is clearly discussed in Revelations, but in case you did, I wanted to add a little information.”

“Some files, however, are eerie in their seeming prescience or certainty… the anonymous caller offering impossible theories of a conspiracy involving the CIA who leaves a return phone number that connects to an internal CIA office number.”

The Dead Bug Funeral Kit comes with an Illustrated Buggy Book of Eulogies with Ribbon Bookmark, Casket, Grave Marker, White Clay Flower, Burial Scroll, and Pouch of Grass Seed.

Holy cow.. looking through some old pictures from the end of ’99, top of 2000…. I *have* lost a lot of weight. I think I look better with the goatee rather than the full beard, too. Also found a pile of old sketches, very clearly influenced by Alex Toth. (though of course, his stuff is nostalgic and amazing, and mine is simply nostalgic..)

Also inside were some old palm sketches… Doc Firestone’s Gusano, and a really awful, yet accurate self-portrait. (drawn in early 2000, I think … before I knew I could export in black and white, rather than “pseudo-palm colors.. though maybe later, because I knew that I could go a little taller than the screen resolution on my face. )

Conflict at Walt Disney bursts wide open

Roy Disney resigned as vice-chairman of the Walt Disney entertainment group on Sunday and called for Michael Eisner, chairman and chief executive, to follow suit, bringing to a head a conflict that has been brewing for a decade.

“It is my sincere belief that it is you who should be leaving and not me,” he said in a bitter letter that criticized Mr Eisner’s performance and style on seven counts…

Roy Disney’s Full Resignation Letter to Micheal Eisner – Nicely said!

I added a teeny holly-icon to my blogroll for the moment (until I can work out a better one…maybe a candle, or candy-cane?)

Drag your mouse, make a snowflake.

If you’re on the lookout for wild, wacky Christmas music, head on over to Basic Hip’s Digital Oddio and quick. He’s got the Three Suns’ 1959 album A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas available for download, but only for the next few days. If you must do only one song, check out their weird “White Christmas” or the rockin’ “Russian Sleigh Song”.

1,000 Times Too Many Humans? Continue reading #6306 – Some seasonal goodness, and population issues →