Fairy tales don’t teach children that monsters exist. Children already know that monsters exist. Fairy tales teach children that monsters can be killed.

My favorite song by the country bears…. (And Tex Ritter) Probably one of the most mortifying and gross tunes to come out of the Disney catalog, however brief.

Blood on the saddle

There was blood on the saddle and blood all around,
and a great big puddle of blood on the ground.

A Cowboy lay in it all covered with gore,
and he never will ride any broncos no more.

Oh, pity the cowboy, all bloody and red,
for the bronco fell on him and bashed in his head.

There was blood on the saddle and blood all around,
and a great big puddle of blood on the ground.

I can’t even think about a rodeo without breaking into that song.

Big Grey Tom in the front of the little complex here seems to be moving on. All of his stuff is being packed up and taken away.

Disputed about 12 posts about the “oil companies that buy foreign oil” hoax.

ldy‘s coming to visit Florida! Huzzah!

LJ is being particularly sticky, making it difficult to reply to entries today. It doesn’t *seem* very robust or fast.

Current Read- Charles G. Finney’s “The Circus of Dr Lao“. Very short…easily consumed. I’ve been meaning to read it for ages after having seen the movie. (When was that? 4th grade? Earlier?) Wacky seeing Tony Randall as such a powerful character… Odd thing is, I seem to recall Randall in an interview stating that it wasn’t one of his fondest films. . I prefer Dr. Lao to Mr. Dark in Something Wicked This Way Comes, though I like Bradbury’s writing style more.

For tarpo, the Rotten Tomatoes review.

Man… 11 already? Until later, dear journal!

I will be struck down by a meteor!

How will you die? Take the Exotic Cause of Death Test

What’s less likely then being struck by lightning? That’s right, a meteor strike!
Just your luck!

Watched Streets of San Francisco, finally. I can wait another 30 years for the next episode now. 🙂 The one today aired about two months after my brother was born…well before my sweetheart was. The acting is so-so… and the story is typical Quinn Martin fare. It could easily be an episode of Cannon, Barnaby Jones, Mannix, Rockford Files, Columbo, Magnum PI or Ironside. It’s all the same plug and play, just with different personalities in the role. Streets of San Fran has more character in the scenery than the people in the roles. My real faves are Rockford files and Columbo.

for Personal ref: Jim Rockford’s Answering Machine Archive

Back from good ol’ laundry.

The is two years old! Holy moley!

Contemplating the purchase of a 1972 Cadillac hearse. My only real concerns are gas usage, the fact that I’ve not driven in an age and a half, and classic “used car” issues. (is there something very wrong with it, any hidden costs, etc)

I was up until about 6am just puttering and snuggling with newt, listening to the water fall from the sky. Still raining… more gently again.

Watched the Manchurian Candidate at about 3am.

is now at 909 members. (No dead journals)
is at 83 members (4 dead journals)
has 20 members.
current coloring book entry…mermaid stained glass.

Coca-Cola Slogans.
It cures headache and relieves exhaustion. It satisfies, revives, and sustains. It is the ideal beverage, which removes fatigue. It is the heart’s desire, around the corner from anywhere and as pure as sunlight. With a taste all its own, it is the Real Thing.

You taste its quality. Bright and bracing as sunshine, it gives a bright little life. Wave after wave, drink after drink, it is the Real Thing.

It adds life. It is always. It cannot be defeated, for it is the Real Thing.

Ok… it looks like The Ballad of Lemmiwinks has beat out the Chevy Tahoe commercial, via keywords.

Keywords lately

‘Ebola spell’ teachers stoned
“Congolese villagers have stoned and beaten to death four teachers accused of casting an evil spell to cause an outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease that has killed nearly 70 people, a local official said Friday.”

Girl, 14, surrenders in fetus theft case
“A 14-year-old Thai girl has been charged with robbery after confessing to police she helped steal fetuses from a hospital museum for use in black magic rituals, police said.”

A new sort of L.A. typecasting
“I have good news. If you dress funny, talk funny, have no friends, believe in ghosts and communicate with UFOs, science finally has a name for you. You’re a schizotypal.”

Mother Claims Genie Circumcised Baby
“A mother has claimed that a genie circumcised her 10-month-old son while she was cooking breakfast, the state news agency Antara reported Thursday.”

The Groovenians

I wanted to like it. All CGI… Soundtrack by the B-52s… an all-star cast of voice talent, including Paul Reubens, Dennis Hopper, RuPaul, and Debi Mazar.

Psychedleic-ish.

But boring. It’s a loser. It’s not because I was expecting more… I didn’t even see it coming until I tuned in.

I *like* retro-kitsch-meets-futureworld. This just doesn’t cut it.

I really like how Newt rushes to meet me at the door, and gives me a “welcome home” meow when my key turns in the lock. He really brightens my day.

Thrum-thrum-thrumming in the core of my being… Heavy bass lines turned up to 11? Is my sweetie moshing somewhere, and I feel it? it’s not a physical feeling more than a spiritual one.

This weekend is laundry weekend. If I get the gumption, it will be tomorrow, first thing, bright and early.

Saw spiders all over the place this morning, in the back yard especially.

I called nordis today, and Brian mentioned that he was just looking for my phone number to call me. We spoke, and he said that they’re reevaluating their finances, to see if I can be hired on. I’m going to call back on Tuesday with the hopes that they’ve gotten things in order and are interested in taking me on as an employee.

Meantime, I’m hooking up with a headhunter to seek out other gigs for me.

Highly entertained by the forced perspective images at Parking Spots. Perhaps I’ll contribute something like that… I wouldn’t mind applying the same technique to some of my other toys, too.

Today’s clothes in haiku

I’ve seen the following plot far too often in the last two weeks in stories / TV / etc:

There is a person who’s tired of living… so he hires a professional to off him, but the moment he’s done that, along comes a boyfriend/girlfriend, and he decides to renege on the deal. Suddenly the tables get turned. Somehow the client-victim manages to escape and get rid of his killer.

Attention Professional Killers… Snuff the romantic interest first. Sure, you’re doing a freebie, but it’ll save you all sorts of trouble in the long run.

Via the big cheese–

Fun with DDoS attacks.
LiveJournal’s been under attack for the past couple days… worst DDoS attack we’ve ever experienced (and there have been many).

Much stress. Little sleep. Lots of coffee. 27+ hours of downtime, for much of the net.

But…. we got some excellent help from a number of people (one in particular, whom I owe as a result many a beer) and we’re basically ignoring the attack now.

Also, the attack highlighted other bottlenecks, easily fixed once noticed, and the prolonged downtime gave me time to work on things that have been on my list for a while.

End result: things are faster & more efficient than ever, even though the attack continues.

Thank you, script kiddie. The site’s more robust as a result. Now, go get laid. Or— keep attacking and talking to your owned zombies while the FBI Cybercrimes group works with us tracing things back to you.

The last time in memory that it hit as hard was June 2001. Which resulted in a firewall and rate limiters. I’ll be interested in seeing the tech info on what was repaired.

Is it me, or does Brad’s icon make him look like he’s aged quite a bit? His older one strikes me as much younger.

Friday Five:

1. What is your most prized material possession? Well, under the law, Newt’s a possession, though I think of him as a little buddy. Very prized. Inanimate object? The bundle of letters from my sweetheart, a gold ring and silver dollar from my father Digitally, I have a lot of photos stored redundantly on the web/home/elsewhere that I’m happy to have. Hard to balance them out.

2. What item, that you currently own, have you had the longest? hmm… that gold ring. It has my (his) initials on it.

3. Are you a packrat? Pretty much. I go through major cleansings every time I move, though.

4. Do you prefer a spic-and-span clean house? Or is some clutter necessary to avoid the appearance of a museum? Well, there’s some clutter regardless. I like it to feel lived in, but not a museum or a dump.

5. Do the rooms in your house have a theme? Or is it a mixture of knick-knacks here and there? The only theme is “Stuff Scotto likes.” When I get a larger home, I’d like to have a nicely laid out library.

Extra long work day today… pesky Pablo didn’t get a 5-hour print job to me until 4:30. He’s fortunate I was still sticking around… I don’t see Kev or Island boy staying late for that trivial a task.

Hot shower, mighty and strong. I love to get times when nobody’s used any hot water in the complex for like 7 hours. Scaldy-good! I can feel layers of my tough, rhino-like exterior dropping off, leaving only the soft pink baby skin. Perfect pre-bed prep.

LJ still seems a little horked. I’ve posted info on my dj and blurty, just in case folks there don’t know about status.livejournal.org

I wonder if they’ve figured out the culprit yet?

for historical reasons

Well, I’m still at the old job, until the maybe-new job decides if there’s a place for me. I’m very fortunate that the old regime is as understanding as it is.

Still waiting on a callback from the maybe-new place. I left another voicemail there at about 4pm, with my phone number as a friendly reminder. I’ll leave ’em alone tomorrow, and get back on following them up on Friday.

Sappho’s off for vacation starting tomorrow, so things will be hopping there for the next week or two.

Semagic seems to be dead, so post-mcpost from the web it is.

From The status of LiveJournal:

I’m tired, despite going to bed early last night… probably stress. A little thick-skulled as a result.

Today’s a new day. Let’s see if it can be better than yesterday, hm?

I’d like to get a straight answer about the nordis gig. Supposedly, I’ll find out today what exactly the situation is over there. Yesterday, they wriggled a bit on the line… Perhaps the Ronnie meeting will clear things up. Until they do, I’ll renew my search elsewhere, just in case of disaster. As it stands now, I’m soured on the company, if nothing else.

I’ve still got a positive outlook (with a side of annoyed), despite the setback.

Ah well, back to the mill.

Until later, dear journal!

I called Nordis this afternoon to find out when they needed me to come in. (On Friday, He said to call monday to set up more particulars… when I asked when he wanted me to start, he mentioned that monday would be good, because of how shorthanded they are.)

I call monday, to arrange for Wednesday, maybe Thursday. He’s in meetings, so I leave two messages at opposite ends of the workday, including my work and home phone numbers. He never calls back.

I call today, and He’s in a meeting, and on speakephone, I tell him “Hey, it’s scott… just checking on what time you need me to come in.” He replies that he’s in a meeting, and that he’ll call me back. Ok. I call him back at 4 to let him know that I’m heading out, but would like to know when he’d like me to come in tomorrow to start work.

He says that they managed to keep Tuan, and that I probably won’t be needed. Um, What? I say.I told him that I’d already given my parting time to Kev. He says that we hadn’t settled on a starting time. I was so stunned, I neglected to mention to him that he wanted me on monday. He claims that he’s going into a meeting with Ronnie and that he will let me know the final decision later. I’m not holding my breath.

Fuck. Even if I *do* get the job now, I’m soured on the whole unprofessional level that it’s been handled. If I *don’t* get the job, I’ve blown a whole week of potential job searches into the toilet.

I’m skipping my beriatric appointment for tonight, because I just can’t afford to skip any hours. I’ll be back at FMM tomorrow.

Killer Japanese Seizure Robots. Warning, cheesy midi, and possibly actually seizure inducing.

Last day at my old job… I’m going to miss some of the folks there. Others, I’ll be glad to see fade into the mists of history. I plan on keeping in contact with a few… Sappho, Kev and Island Boy. I imagine I won’t see much of Pablo after I leave, though he’s a nice guy. I’m planning on getting together with Kev to celebrate my birthday and of vocation location this weekend.. Maybe Saturday?

Lore raises a question that I’m keen to know the answer to. Given that Salon has over 47 thousand subscribers–according to a Miami Herald article on its financial problems–is that circulation a success or a failure? Is it a refutation of the conventional wisdom that “people won’t pay for Web content” or support for it?

That’s a better circulation than my home town’s newspaper. More people subscribe to Salon than bought Batman #587. More people subscribe to Salon than buy a given issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Granted, these aren’t the sort of publications that make People magazine envious, but they’re all viable publications. So is Salon’s continued downward spiral due to not charging enough for subscriptions, or due to overspending?

I certainly don’t know how to make legitimate money off the Web. But at the same time, I can’t help but wonder if sites that are going down the drain ostensibly because of the resolute unwillingness of surfers to pay for content are suffering at least in part from acting like bigger publications than they are. I know I’ll never subscribe to a news or information source when I can find similar (or identical) content for free.

Sex position guide, using bendy-Barbie look-alikes. Probably not safe for work. I like how they mosaic’ed out the faces. #2/7 / 8/ 10 / 12/ 28/ 22/ 37/ please!