(via The National Building Museum Has Been Converted into a Giant Ball Pit | Mental Floss) Looks fun and quite unsanitary.
Tag Archives: washington dc
9681 – Tuesday
Rainy day this morning – took the raincoat rather than the overcoat. Slipped a bit in the mud at the station – kept balance, but my shoes and my back are paying the price.
Saw the "Truth Truck " at L’enfant Plaza (note – link can be easily considered offensive)
Reading the first book from the Nightside series BHK found for me off of bookmooch – . Fantasy Noir stuff… first 30 pages are entertaining so far. I got the fourth book at a B.I.G. booksale about a year ago, and hadn’t opened it yet.
Need to play munchkin, or one of our other games – nice to have a no tv night.
Feeling pretty sore – hitting the sack early. g’nite, dear journal.
1 year ago – drop.io (gimme something!), creaky, taxes, body/health issues, NPPR cookie monster interview, IE7 only sites bleah, writers block quiz answer
2 years ago – Pictures of Llamas!, Slugs, video game goodies for BHK and me, booksale, BHK invades my journal caveman-style
3 years ago – hanging out at murphy’s, dan plans, music sharing, quizzes, good friday, commander usa
4 years ago – work, club visit, poorhouse, Tomi visit, mai kai tiki torch night, figa, aliases, admiration meme (999 entries ago)
5 years ago – memory sparks, adp issues with new hire
6 years ago – jkg, stikfas, pictures
7 years ago – library cats, vending machine art, The Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs, & Body Language Cues, plants, middle earth poll, poop
8 years ago – touch of evil, dsl, love, sperm
9657 – Sunday –
Lazy day today, to make up for yesterday’s jaunt. We had a leisurely morning at home – woke up slowly and got ready to head out for the day.
After BHK got out of the shower, we took another nap… so walkies were out.
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Via DCist –
This morning the National Park Service announced it has revised the peak bloom dates for D.C.’s famed cherry blossoms, to April 1-4. They’ve also added on an overall "Blooming Period," from March 28-April 11, which nicely overlaps the dates of the National Cherry Blossom Festival (March 28-April 12).
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The Chesapeake Bay’s health isn’t looking so hot these days.
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Totday, we hung back – got up, showered, had a nibble, rested, opted out of boardwalking and watchmen
instead, we went with the in-laws to outback, shopped for groceries, and I was frightened by the evil bunny pigs.
1 year ago – bro out on bail, fuddruckers, atw easter basket, cell jammer, lunch with the boys, hoverlounger
2 years ago – haircut local color pic
3 year ago – time distortion, senior kitties, shleep, movie meme, acim worker overview
4 years ago – Calimocho, escort crazy man (with sound files), netflix slacking, LEACH
5 years ago – morning has broken, weak Spanish knowledge, Wondering about JTD, winged sandals, Kenya, free movies legit, robo-predators, word count, 2! 2! undead movies nearby
6 years ago – Bro pissing me off, haiku, bro meets porn stars.
7 years ago – pen refill dream, baby llamas
8 years ago – cool weather, my 1376th post, talked to ckirk, ornj, and Devil-troll ticks me off
9643 – Monday-
Still getting used to the time change – I’m a sleepy bear today.
Brought Donna some Irish Potato Candy for St. Patty’s Day – (Sort of like this ) – It went over well – Cinnamon sugar and coconut make a lovely combo and look like potatoes!
Love cube is at the car doctor, to check out his headlight, tires, and frame issues. Let’s see if insurance likes what the mechanic has to say.
via dcist – This looks like a fun project for history and photography buffs alike. Flickr user jasonepowell is taking old photos and finding the location at which they were shot and, as you can see, overlaying them for a whole new image. You can see the original photo he’s using in the Library of Congress’ Flickrstream.
1 year ago – time change, book sale, Aardvark, shamrock shake, chicken stalker, egg shopping
2 years ago – David and Gill visit, movies and feed.
3 years ago – New brain arrives, peel, crack sellin’, swing on a star
4 years ago – banana man, dindin with mom, hollow men, voted, did a good deed, renewed domain until 3/11/2008
5 years ago – cool snail mail, Best commentary on "the Passion", star trek on ice, Spalding Gray found, lj spam, SOP
6 years ago – Laundry w/bro, flaming justice, birds with arms, hulk dance
7 years ago – Who are you quiz, seven wonders, breakfast for dinner, Bfast poll
8 years ago – declaration of love, celeb pet names, payday, tmbg, yeti-scotto
9598 – thursday
Two pictures from this morning – L’enfant station in DC – halfway to work
Local Hotel who left water running, but it froze anyway.
My Life’s current settings –
Spectra-Analyzer (Monochrome / 4-Color / True-Color / Thermograph / X-Ray / Aura Vision )
MPAA Rating (G / PG / PG-13 / R / NC-17)
Kill switch (Off / On / Wanton Murderous Rage)
Weirdness Tank (Empty / Low / Half / High / Full)
Laugh-O-Matic (Serious / Satirical / Witty / Wacky / Insane)
Cliche Blender (Pulse / Blend / Puree / Oh, Ugh!)
Global Soundtrack Volume (off, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11!)
Personal Soundtrack Volume (off, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11!)
Batteries (Empty / Low / Half / High / Full)
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Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.
(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)
———————-
1. I didn’t own any jeans for over 20 years before I got married (Just khakis, and knee-shorts, etc). Now I own 3 pairs, and they’re my favorite weekend clothes to wear.
2.I can’t wear boots, ice skates, or any long-necked "slip your toe in" type of shoe, due to dropfoot and nerve damage on my left side.
3. Every time I see my wife or one of the kitties, I feel especially blessed.
4. I’m a limited vegetarian (I’ll eat eggs and dairy… and crustaceans. – Nothing with less than 5 legs or more than 1 foot.)
5. I think that it is usually pretty easy to be kind to others, and it surprises me when some people seem to go out of their way to be cruel or hostile to strangers.
6. I doubt the existence of the supernatural, but love the stories.
7. I suspect there is life elsewhere in the universe, but doubt that it has visited Earth in a constructed craft.
8. I turn 40 this weekend. I alternately feel about 14 and about 60. So I guess I’m averaging about 37.
9. I have been run over by a car. I was riding a scooter, and the car was doing at least twice my speed. I really don’t like being tailgated, and if I have my druthers, I would pull over to let them pass, or slow to a snail’s crawl so they would do minimal damage to my vehicle. .
10. I haven’t had a driver’s license for about 15 years. (I plan to get one sometime in February, if I can get my Florida Records)
11. When I was about 15 I had a Ferret named Freya (renamed from Mitzi when I got her) – who was poisoned by someone in the neighborhood. I would still like to know why – she never hurt anybody, was friendly and fun-loving.
12. I suffer from Mama-bear levels of defensiveness of my loved ones. DO NOT HURT THEM, or I will maul you.
13. I’ve had problems with my back since I was 16 – ruptured a disc at the library of all places, moving books. I may need surgery again to repair ongoing damage there.
14. I have kept an online journal and website for over 10 years. (about the last 8 years can be found at http://scottobear.livejour
15. I often overcompensate for being a big guy by being either too shy, or too friendly.
16. I love being able to peek in on the kitties remotely. ( http://pyecam.scottobear.c
17. I’m a sucker for social gaming – board games, tabletop rpgs, cards, the Wii:whatever brings friends to meet face to face and have fun. (I’m really bad at Chess, but love playing it)
18. I believe in love, and think it’s a greater motivator than fear, greed or pain. (and those things are amazing motivators)
19. I wish that I could help more people. I also wish that more people would try to help me, and each other, too.
20. I helped to write software that assists in the recovery of missing children. (Something like 400+ recoveries at last count)
21. If I were able, my phone would only accept incoming emergency calls. (I really don’t like to use the phone much)
22. I love movies that incorporate at least a few of the following (some are redundant, and there are often exceptions): giant monsters, monkeys, witty dialogue, martial arts, comedy, are not a remake, 3-d glasses, horror, action, cartoons/CGI, fleshed-out characters and a well written story.
23. I think some things *are* black and white, but most are shades of gray.
24. I would love to use the wind off of the Chesapeake Bay to power our house.
25. I mentally render anthropomorphic almost everything I see.
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1 year ago – bioshock, apples to apples online, went home early, re-animator 4, sweetened cheetos
2 years ago – Kat and GP get Ollie and Bella!, Kierkegaard, High speed net a no sir, BHK adjusts her name
3 years ago – james lipton papazao, cny, hobophobe, ice skating monkeys, housecleaning, compusa corporate & big brain, zombie astronaut, religion of comic book characters
4 years ago – slow Friday of work and Mel, frozen water spray, man urinates his way out of an avalanche
5 years ago – Dinner with old crew, song poems
6 years ago – Russ wedding, bro visit, Cane toad loot, Tom showers us with gifts, got a prezzie for Kev
7 years ago – Devil-newt, party hat smilies, photos of pompano travels, King retiring?
8 years ago – Font-fiddling, burpin’, VAGG launched, bored with a slow reading list
9375 – Monday
This morning’s Harvest – BHK plucked this beastie before I headed to work.
picture of giant tomato from the garden!
If you enlarge the photo, or look carefully, you’ll see Tsuro, Marriage material, Canasta Caliente, Rook, Kahuna, Balloon Cup, Catan Dice, umm.. Carcassone H&G, and nibs and nabs of other part of the game shelf. Some printer cartriges and screen wipes.
Looks like I’m going on a trip to Port of Baltimore either Thursday or Friday next week! I’ll be in the field that day from 9:30ish to 2:30ish, give or take.
That’s a good thing… my port knowledge could use a little visual update – my last trip through Port Everglades was years ago.
Polished off the Tim Powers fault lines stuff I’d been meaning to read again… I may have to get back to Fluke and polish it off this week!
Big salad and a side sammich for dinner tonight… those quick pickles are lasting a long time!
I missed a veggie hot dog eating contest?!?! I bet I’d have cleaned up. (via Mr T in DC )
Forgot to mention that we pre-ordered Monty Python Fluxx, Marian Fluxx, and Pink Treehouse at Aardvark‘s. Just doing our part to keep the Looneys in business!
Gentle night tonight – I got home, we unwound and hit the sack fairly early. Until Later, dear journal!
1 year ago – abandoned italian village, doodle of me with a pyramid nose by bhk, minisodes, coloring book, girls at tennis, quiz, kitty pic
2 years ago – 8484, monet, 12 monkeys, talking with danny, walkabout pictures, crypto trivia (useful for playing hangman!), netflix goodies, I get my yoga pack from BHK, hungarian wellness mud, bus stop, sunrise
3 years ago – shots, Danny and wee free men, glowing breast implants, saturn’s radio emissions, little 12-toes, cool flying star wars ships, Teele suicides
4 years ago -thoughts on journaling, $20 recovered, retro science book covers
5 years ago – bro, woolly panda, mood scents, anti-piracy vid, alphabet meme, bubba ho-tep, visible embryo, deaths, reunified my homepage
6 years ago -Peter Gabriel bald, change the flavor of your sexual secretions, abunch of broken picture links, worh1000 coolness – Persian elephant
7 years ago -chores, Tron 2.0, tick quote
8 years ago – got invited to an everway group, palindromes, food, translations
9362 – Friday
Drive-in date night! We arrived early – The place opens at 6:30, we got there at 6:50, after stopping off to fill the cooler with ice and getting fresh batteries for our radio. (You can listen on the car radio, but we’re going to spend most of our time on lawn chairs in front of the element, I think. For funzies while we wait, brought catan dice, rook, canasta caliente. Other Drive-in supplies: bug-off, pen for scoring the games, blankets to sit on / warm under come the cool of late night, tablecloth to keep things neat, a ton of throw pillows. We’ll see how much we need.
The back row of the lot is already nicely filled, but the front left is open, and likely the best remaining parking for a vehicle our size.
The playground under the screen is ample – folks playing bocce, riding the swing sets and slides – just having a good time. Our neighbors on the right are nice folks – The husband (whose name I’ve forgotten already…) has been coming to Bengies since he was a little boy. He’s 53, now.
The snack bar is in full swing – Heading there now. More of a review tomorrow, dear journal!
Today was a “Code Red” air quality day. What a Code Red forecast means: Children, the elderly and people with heart or respiratory ailments, emphysema, asthma or chronic bronchitis should reduce outdoor activities. Healthy people should limit strenuous outdoor work or exercise.
The upside of that is that the buses ran for free today – a response to get people to take mass transit rather than pollute the air more, especially during peak hours. they don’t seem to publicise that very well, as no more or fewer folks were on the roads or on my bus today than any other.
1 year ago – rusty thing, the soup, dan’s rocks, walking score, compleat strategist replies to criticism, tin foil hats fail (in comments)
2 years ago – morning breaks doodle, sleepy, heat of the moment, training a tech, sailboat doodle, stop motion space invaders, voice pdf files, deaths
3 years ago – bro court, auto-stitch of an alley no longer there, graffiti pics, harry potter, zombie game, bards tale ends, mimicked, Reverse Polish Notation, top40
4 years ago – manatee trip pictures, Miami travel shots
5 years ago – Aol gives up on netscape, random poster form the past, I get fan mail from desert butterfly, reading list retreat
6 years ago – princess sultanas circle, hug meme, joy machine, angry corn ghosts burn police cars, hydrogen fuel cars, got tested for diabetes (none here!),baseball bat poll, Bush & Women’s rights, spooky patent office logo
7 years ago – evil news, arriviste, clochard & myopic, gilligan’s lessons,contraception myths, Leisa’s 2 months pregnant, zeppelins, tuck in thoughts
8 years ago – xanadu, sleep study prep, name meaning
9351 – Tuesday
Okra has come in with the first zucchini – vile, slimy okra. We’ll see if BHK can win me over to this veggie, like she did with Zucchini.
John R Cambron (who lives in North Beach!) has an excellent track map showing the layout of all switches, yards and platforms in the Metrorail system. Now, he’s expanded that map based on the Metro 2030 vision to create a potential 2030 track layout. – via
In the first case to review the government’s secret evidence for holding a detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a federal appeals court found that accusations against a Muslim from western China held for more than six years were based on bare and unverifiable claims. The unclassified parts of the decision were released on Monday.
With some derision for the Bush administration’s arguments, a three-judge panel said the government contended that its accusations against the detainee should be accepted as true because they had been repeated in at least three secret documents.
The court compared that to the absurd declaration of a character in the Lewis Carroll poem “The Hunting of the Snark”: “I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.”
So, how many human rights advocates are going to boycott all of the sponsors of the 2008 Summer olympics in Beijing ?
Numerous human rights violations have taken place in China because of the Olympics, according to an Amnesty International report. In 2006, Beijing implemented a detention without trial scheme called “Re-education Through Labor” which targets people who have committed minor offenses and are forced to work long hours and can be detained for 4 years. Concerns over the games also include the potential for boycotts from pro-Tibetan organizations such as Students for a Free Tibet as well as from organizations such as Amnesty International upset with China’s involvement in the crisis in Darfur.
Biggest tricks for me to avoid would be be –
Johnson and Johnson – very big company – not sure if we could dodge every tendril. I can rattle off at least 5 of those items in our home right now.
GE – everywhere, also owns a ton of stuff – (including TiVo, Universal Studios, and USA network, home of Psych)
Coca-cola – everywhere, but avoidable if you take note of what you’re drinking, including water.
Visa – well, that’s my bank’s debit card, and almost every place on the planet takes it… so, unless I want to live and trade with cash-only businesses, that’s a deal breaker. Too big to defeat.
GE – everywhere, also owns a ton of stuff – (including TiVo, Universal Studios, and USA network, home of Psych)
Coca-cola – everywhere, but avoidable if you take note of what you’re drinking, including water.
Visa – well, that’s my bank’s debit card, and almost every place on the planet takes it… so, unless I want to live and trade with cash-only businesses, that’s a deal breaker. Too big to defeat.
Items of little to no difficulty –
McDonalds – not hard for me to miss out on – we only ever go for shamrock shakes or pumpkin at halloween. Easily avoided.
Samsung / Panasonic – easy peasy. I get 99% of my electronics from other sources, though our tv is a samsung right now.
VW? Awww… you guys let me down. Would I have to boycott playing punch-buggy?
Adidas – no problem missing out on them.
UPS – I do use them on occasion, but there are alternatives.
Snickers, Tsingtao, and Budwiser – I can do without all of those.
Kodak – plenty of other options there, too, but they’re in a lot of places. depending on the extremism, some might want to forego any book that used kodak photography or processes. Movies, etc.They are teamed with Motorola and Lexar, for that matter.
Samsung / Panasonic – easy peasy. I get 99% of my electronics from other sources, though our tv is a samsung right now.
VW? Awww… you guys let me down. Would I have to boycott playing punch-buggy?
Adidas – no problem missing out on them.
UPS – I do use them on occasion, but there are alternatives.
Snickers, Tsingtao, and Budwiser – I can do without all of those.
Kodak – plenty of other options there, too, but they’re in a lot of places. depending on the extremism, some might want to forego any book that used kodak photography or processes. Movies, etc.They are teamed with Motorola and Lexar, for that matter.
Who can say? I won’t be that extreme, but sometimes I feel that I should.
‘Zero’ chance lottery tickets stun some players – Through a request filed under the Freedom of Information Act, Fishwick’s firm was able to obtain records that showed the Virginia State Lottery sold $85 million in tickets for which no top prize was available.
1 year ago – hot brain, hot pixel, night of the comet, the frighteners, Louise and in-laws at supper, dinner pix, shag and klondike bar
2 years ago – nearly naked neighbors, gray day, mob supply pic, newt pics
3 years ago – talked to Arnie’s Sec, newt and graffiti pix, autostitch, wifi theft arrest, reality show premises, j-walk on podcasts, programmer joke, google maps goodies, flightgear, wifi hotspot backpack, my messy office, bear-knocking, sex pred info pages
4 years ago – combos/snausages , wisdom, serving sizes, ramen, Rockford Files, Planetarium pictures, weather, sock thief
5 years ago – call block, snapple, intelligence gathering, Batroc, flashback cartoon, addictive data
6 years ago – oz/floyd connection, pimps at sea, rss feeds start, cat dreams
7 years ago – cej returns, unpacking videos, 1992 tax info, the challenge, corn chowder, kubrick quiz
8 years ago – Rowlf sings, April actually kicks back a few bucks, pondering a new recorder
9313 – Tuesday
I still feel pretty-lousy, but went in to work – too much needs to be hands-on today – meetings, etc.
My shoulder muscles and ribs / stomach are all especially tender from the coughing. I’m being extra lazy with my entries until I feel more up to speed.
BHK made pizza tonight… I had two slices of green pepper and cheese. First real food eaten since Sunday. It was delicous, but I couldn’t consume more than that… or any pie for fear of retribution.
I can’t imagine a homemade blueberry pie lasting a week in my house. I must’ve been terribly sick, indeed.
Cut and paste links ahoy!
Three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame have gone to the dogs, so why can’t Cheeta the chimp get some love? The animal actor, whose credits include the 1967 comedy “Dr. Doolittle” and the “Tarzan” movies, is trying for the seventh time to get a sidewalk star and become the first monkey to get the honor. His handlers have launched an online petition to get supporters to urge the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to give him a star in 2009.
The 76-year-old chimp, who the Guinness World Records has called the oldest living, non-human primate, is retired and lives in Palm Springs. Cheeta also has a MySpace page. (see also – http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/GoCheeta/ )
John McCain wants to kill folks on dialysis.
This video – A Washington DC news crew goes down to Union Station to interview someone from Amtrak about people who have been stopped from taking pictures even though there’s no policy against it. As the Amtrak spokesperson is explaining that there is no policy against photography, a guard comes up and tries to stop them from filming, saying it is against the rules.
1 year ago – justice frozen in carbonite pic (taken at the courthouse where I was married… and across the street from where I worked)
2 years ago – chatting with tomi & tina, redd foxx fairly suxx, many mp3s, cat trees bear, the hoff sings, weather
3 years ago – sleepies, bro on upswing, free lunch, tropical storm Arlene, ice cream truck music, newt, bus stop and pics, Coprology, hurricane, I spy
4 years ago – hungry-boy, Shambhala, lawn chair boat, Alan Yu vs. the invisible shrinking psi-agents.
5 years ago – good ol’ days, There-stuff, mummy locator
6 years ago – wonder twins movie optioned, Baiso, Rose Red, Bunko Shenanigans
7 years ago – Uddercream, Eugene Mirman, evil news, lit-quiz, chachi and opium
8 years ago – bubble, simple
9278 – Wednesday – the letter o appears in this entry.
Everyone on the bus was wearing blue this morning. No reds, golds or oranges… blue, with black or white, in varying shades.
Except me. I had a pair of tan/brown pants, brown shoes, white shirt with a smattering of black, gray, and reddish brown stripes.
Half of me wondered if I got on the right vehicle; the other half wondered why I didn’t get the memo.
I don’t mind – I come home to a colorful crew with BHK at the helm.
It seems that Pye prefers Newtcam, and newt prefers to be on Pyecam. (Newt likes the little window ledge upstairs…Pye likes the bed upstairs. They both seem to duel over the office and living room windows.
DC is 5th in road rage. Ha… Miami is #1 ! Maybe that’s why I don’t so bent out of shape on the beltway. DC, see also re:FL. Me, I’m pleased as punch to be where I am.
Off to Arlington, VA (right near Ballston) for a NetForum Users Group meeting on Friday – pretty much all day long. I wonder if there’s anything BHK and I would like to do in that environment, after the meeting is over? I figure I’ll head home, unless we need to stop off at the Pentagon for something – which I doubt.
This weekend plans include (in varying degrees of probability, but all of them nifty):
Aardvark
Em’s ballet recital
Artomatic
Those that aren’t hit this weekend, will be hit in the future, to be sure.
The Comic Book Script Archive … interesting list of scripts from a ton of authors… From the Moore’s intro to the Killing Joke script: ‘I want you to feel as comfortable and unrestricted as possible during the several months of your bitterly brief mortal lifespan that you’ll spend working on this job, so just lay back and mellow out. Take your shoes and socks off. Fiddle around in between your toes. Nobody cares.’
How to find images on the internet, an extensive list of links and resources.
Semi-related – cool list of icons! I wonder how many I’ll see in use over the next couple of months?
FontStruct is an awesomely simple online font creation tool. Just draw on a grid with simple Photoshop-like tools, save, and download a TrueType version of the fonts you’ve just created. Hmm.. If only I had a graphics tablet, I could make a font of my handwriting, as messy as that might be.
1 year ago – I consume Tiger’s Blood shaved ice, am lauded for kind manner, see dried blood packaged for sale in the garden section, happy feet, jamesmichener’s Chesapeake, create a painting
2 years ago – mama’s day, alien saucer poll, godzilla, found communities
3 years ago – feeling better, writing, Danny in june, chocolate lucky charms, james randi, Rippy RIP – now Viggo, Thomas Szasz, Flickr goes Ajax, ex-boss nearly a million in tax debt, times tables, hairy feet, Belle & Sebastian mp3, v for vendetta bg, jesus vs greek gods
4 years ago – Stan/Satan, Wifi in office (has since moved), first new palm pics, coming moonlight movies, Stay Tuned, Rawwr, Downtown ft laud treasures.
5 years ago – Update Virus Defs, Rainmaker, Frankie Mooch Phone booth, there stuff and quests
6 years ago – Termite inspection, apt shopping – tenants rights, web page fiddling, fonts, Tman, Name a Terrier
7 years ago – ossify, evil news, tumor talk, veggie poll
9261 – Thursday – May Day!
Went to Supper at Mama Lucias with BHK and the in-laws… food was good and it was nice to sit around the table and make small talk. BHK and I split gnocci with marinara and eggplant parm.
No ghosts seen or dealt with last night, despite Walpurgisnacht.
New month – Things to do today – pay mortgage, check doctor’s appointments and meds, and finish making out my will. (no particular reason, dear journal, just that it’s out of date.)
Modular robot reassembles when kicked apart
One step closer to crawling hands and unstoppable robot zombies, I say. About time.
Nerdy thought of the moment.
Self-comparison to Owlbear: Scottobear
Frequency: UniqueNo. appearing: 1
Armor Class: 8 (7)
Move: 6″ (bad back/leg- if repaired, 12″)
Hit Dice: 2
% in lair:50%
Treasure type: K, W in lair
(if you know how to use a credit card or a checkbook)
No of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: By weapon type (usually 2-8, I think)
Special Attacks: Hug
Special Defenses:nil
Magic Resistance:Standard
Intelligence:Very
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Size: L (6’6″ tall, Broad)
Psionic Ability:Nil
Attack/Defense Modes:Nil
This intelligent, but docile creature will flee an attack if possible, but if cornered or if his home or family are threatened, will fight fiercely. His habitat is a cottage near the bay, with his mate and two cats. His hide is worth between 500 to 2000 gold pieces if sold to the right collector.
Both of us have hugs as special attacks.
She’s just bein’ Miley is stuck in my head… thanks, BHK!
I want to go with BHK to DC’s month long multi-media event, ARTOMATIC. (www.artomatic.org ). At last count, over 1000 artists are participating, and it’s totally free to attend – it looks fantastic. (Plus, Britishink will be there, doing tattoos, so we can give Cyn her b’day prezzie!)
Britishink will be be recreating a working Victorian Tattoo Parlour, complete with a display of the history of tattooing, machines, art, and tattoo related photography. If you want to be part of the art, they can accommodate you and tattoo you there. (Cyn’s portfolio is here and more stuff here – take a gander, she does keen stuff – our wedding present from her was a drawn (not inked on us) love knot that was gorgeous.)
Capitol Plaza I
1200 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
Metro: Red Line, New York Ave., M St exit
ARTOMATIC opens on Friday, May 9th. Days and hours are:
Wednesday: 5pm-10pm
Thursday: 5pm-10pm
Friday: Noon – 2am (yes, you read that correctly)
Saturday: Noon – 2am
Sunday: Noon – 10pm
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays
The last day is June 15th
Cute overload has tempted me too far. Must go see the baby elephant in baltimore.
Wikipedia has more to say about May Day than I might, this year. North Beach has a Maypole by the bay… I wonder when it’ll be danced beneath?
I think it’s neat that most maypoles are made of maple. I have no idea of the origin of the word maple, but somehow I doubt it’s due to the holiday.
Random factoid – “Mayday” is the internationally recognized voice radio signal for ships and people in serious trouble at sea. Made official in 1948, it is an anglicizing of the French m’aidez, “help me”.
1 year ago – May day thoughts, newt and pye sharing, my zombie eyes, chimney cleaners, Walpurgisnacht
2 years ago – charmed and dr who, bob ross, 20% , houses and kitties, tummy ache, lennon quote, i like monkeys, may day
3 years ago – family factoids, mail forwarding booboo, skipped air show, costcocremation urns, Classic Cheesy Comics, Minneapolis Beggars Guild?,Burrito Weapon
4 years ago – rough night on call, may day, Spanish channel family feud answers,budget assist, air and sea, Dan’s students put up a site, Newt-parrot,mum issue, memories, cam pics
5 years ago – There, mayday, top40 drop, ortho, on Workmans comp
6 years ago – free scoop, invaders, stuff meme
7 years ago – buck rogers, geography and climate, nightclub, trundle, lj-cut ponder, misc evil news, organ donor poll, wild party
9245 – Saturday
Extremely tentative plans for a little yard-sale review (sale-sailing?) after my shots today. Hopefully we’ll find just stuff that’s awesome… the whole town of North Beach is having a village-sized yard sale next weekend. Maybe I’ll put out my old computer monitor for some lucky strong-backed mule to cart off the property.
Potential other things post needle-stick are the Eastern Shore, Marine Museum and maybe General Tanuki’s.
Or Maybe something different! It got to 87 degrees yesterday.. we might have to find a place to play in the shade!
Evening update-
Saw a yard sale on the way to shots – Neighborhood cul-de-sac family collection on Limerick Lane. BHK got a spiffy cap for 50 cents – another Mao-meets surfer girl type cap. Not much else out there for us.
Got Stuck for allergies. Hardly a soul there, so it went quickly.
Skipped the Eastern shore – Decided to hit the Vegetable Garden in Rockville, by way of a long, meandering tour through DC. Flew through Chinatown and some of the more seedy parts of town en route.
From there, a bit of an extended shopping trip. Eyeballed some workout equipment, picked up some ram for my laptop at Micro Center, (checked out the EEE pc – cute, and maybe in a month, once the 900 model is out) – Bought the father in law a e-tuner keychain, bhk an ipod clock-radio dock alarm clock, and myself an evil universal remote keychan.
Continuing on – Dream Wizards for Balloon Cup and Gloom (and a ten in ten die – opaque d10 inside a transparent one. pretty nifty.)
Casual Male XL for a few pairs of work pants, some v-neck shirts, and a new pair of shoes.
Back home the short way, for supper of pb&j on rice cakes. (sideline – made hot dogs for in-laws and BHK last night – both dinners were dandy)
Watched some TV, and now, it’s time for bed. g’nite dear journal.
Hey, WotC have a bunch of classic D&D modules available for download – Including White plume mountain ! Probably the third commercial module I ever played after Keep on the Borderlands and Isle of Dread – certainly the first one I played that wasn’t included with a set of the game rules itself…
Wiki info on White Plume Mountain here.
Of the three, White Plume was the most fun.. I had characters that had a decent skill set and abilities, but it was still tricky – held a goodly dose of puzzles and challenges. All of the S-modules were fun, but I liked plume more than tomb of horrors, and Barrier Peaks. (Peaks was cool – great setting, but just too deadly for my lower level guys to deal with. It could be nicely reworked into something a bit more survivable and plotted, I think.)
If I had to pick my favorite low-level module, I’d have to go with Against the Cult of the Reptile God – I think the setting was a lot more fun than any of the other 1-3 level modules we played back in the day, and it was the first one I successfully ran for the library group as a DM. Sort of funny to see them listed as classic – I remember picking them up when they came out – still wrapped in plastic, most of them 3-hole punched at the factory.
Larry’s coming along nicely with the electric guitar. He’s got the body just about done… needs holes for the pickups in the back, and then some stain and coat next. This is the first time in a while that he’s taken time to work on it – it’s a beautiful bit of craftsmanship thus far, and I look forward to hearing how it sounds. There’s talk of him making me a bass after this one is finished, too. (Made from the maple that’s growing far to close to our house’s foundation… not to mention the branches that could take out the roof in a bad storm.
I wonder how his projects will be affected when they rent out the blue house? The workshop half of the two-car garage there… not sure how tenants would feel about him running power tools here and there. Of course, that also begs the question of where I’ll run off and hide to wrap Christmas presents, come next Yuletide season.
Ah well, no big fears either way. I expect he’ll continue to do projects for many, many years to come. This weekend, we’re tilling the garden – and hopefully planting my blueberry seedling. BHK has already potted the daisies and put them outside – I’m looking more forward to plants that produce food items, and the possibility of keeping a beehive.
1 year ago – falafel with the gang, adapting to a higher house-population, personality test results,
2 years ago – how to glue 2 things, sketch-it, mgum, moonies and sushi
3 years ago – on call techs, residence addresses, 45,800 scottobear entries [now 84,100], flickr letter gizmo, krypto cartoon, Tomi says hi, speech recog test, luxie_loo, pics from tv interview, monkey swat team, new Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod, new pope
4 years ago – using lappie (broken big brain), teleconference prep
5 years ago – got all 30 eggs, there folks, palm pictures and more doodles, bro n upswing, SQ/EQ, brain chart
6 years ago – Vampires around the world and how to snuff ’em, mushiness, good, simple food.
7 years ago – mix CD, flying capybara quote, missing girl
9243 – Thursdsay
Presents sent in the mail, when taxes were launched on Tuesday – Eryx’s Christmas Prezzie is only about 4 months late! Ah well, we got it sent out.. .and Danny’s treat will get to him shortly too. hopefully the loot will brighten their days.
Sending good thoughts to all friends in the dumps, too. If you’re not feeling so hot… cheery thoughts to you.
I’m tempted to get BHK and / or Chris Pink T-shirts that read “HYPERBOLE IS THE BEST THING EVER!”
BHK made tasty, tasty meatball-type substance in bbq sauce, with sides of garlic-y yum broccoli.
The Tiki Bar in Solomons Island will be opening this weekend for 2008. I guess pope traffic wasn’t enough! I guess we’ll stick to less congested realms… maybe we can hit the eastern shore and lurk around the marine museum after my shots on Saturday.
Maybe check out some local farmers markets? (now that it’s season.. thanks for the hint, DCist!)
I just remembered to look this up – Sarcastic vs Sardonic
sarcastic = a cutting or ironic remark
sardonic = scornful or mocking
Speaking of DCist – want to see the pope’s snappy red shoes ? ( I also dig the “We Love Our German Shepherd” sign.)
I didn’t realise that the rerelease of Tally Hall’s album has a few new tracks on it – I’ll have to see if I can chase down Mucka Blucka and Dream as MP3s, or snag ’em from Itunes.
[edit – THANK YOU for the drop of the music! :D]
1 year ago – palm doodle, power outage, VT info arrives to me late, blackout house-fun
2 year ago – dr who, secret wars, monday, sweet tomatoes, disney vault, keep cool pic
3 years ago – Homeless seen while on walkabout, mzk nearly shoots my eye out, Bo Rhap, Newt pics, mzk pic, robot doodle, lethal injections not painless?, tv interview
4 years ago – odd email, D’s bday/vanishment, manatee doodle, sammy’s sister syndicated, garlic, moon scarab, blu-ray dvd tech developing, froggie super pic
5 years ago – egg hunt stats
6 years ago – annoying day, doc trip, search terms
7 years ago – AJ’s Bday, Recording freakazoid, dsl, menstrualhut fan letter at mum.org
The Tiki Bar in Solomons Island will be opening this weekend for 2008. I guess pope traffic wasn’t enough! I guess we’ll stick to less congested realms… maybe we can hit the eastern shore and lurk around the marine museum after my shots on Saturday.
Maybe check out some local farmers markets? (now that it’s season.. thanks for the hint, DCist!)
I just remembered to look this up – Sarcastic vs Sardonic
sarcastic = a cutting or ironic remark
sardonic = scornful or mocking
Trees– Vandalised trees reoriented, creating new landscapes and giving the trees a new reality.
Speaking of DCist – want to see the pope’s snappy red shoes ? ( I also dig the “We Love Our German Shepherd” sign.)
I didn’t realise that the rerelease of Tally Hall’s album has a few new tracks on it – I’ll have to see if I can chase down Mucka Blucka and Dream as MP3s, or snag ’em from Itunes.
[edit – THANK YOU for the drop of the music! :D]
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Two 19th century rhino horns stolen from a South African museum could be deadly if sold as a popular aphrodisiac because they are drenched in poison, a museum official said on Monday.
The “priceless” horns were snatched from a display at the historic mammal gallery in Cape Town on Saturday evening, said Jatti Bredekamp, chief executive of Iziko Museums.
“Unknowingly, the thieves have exposed themselves to more than the danger of arrest and prosecution,” Bredekamp said in a statement.
“Before the mid-twentieth century, taxidermy mounts were prepared by being soaked in arsenic and preserved from insect infestation through regular applications of DDT, both highly toxic poisons that retain their toxicity over time,” he said.
Bredekamp said the horns were deliberately targeted in a carefully planned robbery, and might be destined for Asia, where ground rhino horns are a prized aphrodisiac.
“This could have unforeseen consequences,” he said.
Rhino populations have fallen dramatically over the last few decades as poaching decimated the animals across Africa.
Bredekamp said museums worldwide were being targeted by organized crime to help supply lucrative markets with a wide range of artifacts. After a previous robbery attempt, South African museum officials removed several other specimens of rhino horn from public display, he said.
1 year ago – palm doodle, power outage, VT info arrives to me late, blackout house-fun
2 year ago – dr who, secret wars, monday, sweet tomatoes, disney vault, keep cool pic
3 years ago – Homeless seen while on walkabout, mzk nearly shoots my eye out, Bo Rhap, Newt pics, mzk pic, robot doodle, lethal injections not painless?, tv interview
4 years ago – odd email, D’s bday/vanishment, manatee doodle, sammy’s sister syndicated, garlic, moon scarab, blu-ray dvd tech developing, froggie super pic
5 years ago – egg hunt stats
6 years ago – annoying day, doc trip, search terms
7 years ago – AJ’s Bday, Recording freakazoid, dsl, menstrualhut fan letter at mum.org
9241 – Wednesday
Got home, showed BHK where the PSP charger was, and we gamed for about a half hour… She played Luxor, while I just got to Black Mesa East in HL2. (For a 4 year old game, I’m digging it – I’ve never played it, so it’s new to me… the only distraction is the voicework… Lou Gossett Jr and Robert Guillome are very distinct.) I’ll miss the airboat portion of the game… I had a lot of fun tooling around the canals.
Crashed out right after supper last night – 9pm and zonk! out like a light. I don’t even really remember what was on tv… Oh, right, Samantha who. It’s a cute show, but I get the feeling that it’s already jumped the shark.
Dinner was tasty leftovers – Stuffed peppers and pizza.
Quite enjoying all the loot I’m getting at http://drop.io/scottobear ! Thanks, dear journal!
D’oh! I’m going to have to miss seeing Tally Hall tomorrow night… I’d rather catch them than the pope! I’m not braving that traffic, even if the Beatles were jamming with the Grateful Dead (including George, John, and Jerry)
Good ol’ Banana Man. I also dig Good Day.
Lawsuits stemming from a series of fatal bus accidents in 2007 have forced Metro to set aside $43 million for settlements in next year’s budget, the most ever. via the Examiner
1 year ago – random access, punch buggy theory, eats, garden progress, VT shooting, bro probation, organic / haunted stones, deer meat.
2 years ago – easter peeps, Franciscans, freeware, bald headed cocktail sauce, lj top40, easter lunch, bugs bunny toon, newtcam action pics, SL easter pics
3 years ago – oona tested, remembering D, walker tx ranger, CD biz, Bulk License-Plate Scanning by Helicopter, Amityville Horror
4 years ago – Cheeburger Cheeburger w/Dan, Ella Enchanted, got dreamt about, LH started / CS trimmed down, Coh Reset, weird email correspondence with a person that thought I was some sort of pantheist.
5 years ago – JKG Job desc, Honda cog movie, walkabout palm art – thin lines
6 years ago – cube test, Dangerous labs, threebrain, work stuff (network names)
7 years ago – pulchritude, leitmotif, objectives. (sakes, is lappie 7 years old!?! at least it’s got windows 2000 rather than Me(h) on it now)
9240- tuesday
http://drop.io/ is brilliant. I tested it, and it seems fun and stable.
Example – http://drop.io/scottobear
A drop is a ‘discrete’ chunk of space you can use to store and share anything (pictures, video, audio, docs, etc) privately, without accounts, personal registration, or an email addresses. Drops are not ‘searchable’ and not ‘networked’, they just exist floating in space, as points for exchange for individuals or groups.
Create as many as you want in as little as two clicks and set things like a password, whether others can add to the drop, and how long you want it to exist (you can renew later). Drops are a simple platform for sharing which are by default private, but can be flexibly used in a range of ways from sharing family photos and videos to collaborating on work documents.
Each drop has four primary input methods – the web, email, voice, and fax – and a few secondary ones like ‘widgets’.
Anything you input into a drop can then be retrieved on the web at the drop location
you can also:
A. email to create: Email/MMS new@drop.io to create drops on the fly, put in the subject line your desired drop name, attach the files you want dropped.
B. Download as zip: click download as zip, download the whole drop at once
C. Drop Logo Change: you can now customize your drop’s logo by clicking it
D. Mobile View: goto drop.io/yourdrop/m and it will format for your phone
E. Titling and text editing: just click on the text and edit
F. Subscription: get notices via email or RSS when your drop is updated
Attach media and email/MMS it in. scottobear@drop.io
Voicemail
Leave voice messages at this drop.
646-495-9201 x 45671
Conference call
The number below is your drop’s private conference call line. Please note, your call will not be recorded.
218-486-3891 x 247901499
To put a fax into this drop, sender must prepend this coversheet. Sometimes a fax can take up to 30 minutes to be received.
Current settings –
- Type: Basic (100 MB)
- Expires on: 1 year from last view
- Others can: View, Add Notes & Files
- Files: 2 files
Now that I’ve put this out there, I wonder how active it’ll become? Send me something, dear journal! I’ve got 100 megs just waiting. 🙂
Neil Armstrong was 38 when he walked on the moon. I’m 39. I can barely moonwalk. Just Sayin’.
Pictures of Newton, taken yesterday, while I un-kinked my back. This is how Newton looks when I first lay down… he climbs up on my chest, face to my face, and stretches his paws to my chin… usually just his right, but sometimes both.
Taken with the palmtop… sadly, it’s about impossible to get a good shot of Pyewacket, unless he’s under very bright light… he turns into a black smear with a pair of shiny yellow eyes. Newt’s black whiskers barely show, but his whites are pretty visible.
50 things I’ve done meme finally officially finishes with #50 – I…
50.’have run a live camera from my place (Newtcam ) for about 7 years now, most of it on 24/7… with only a little downtime due to power loss, internet issues, broken computer, etc. For the primary reason of looking in on Newton (and now, Pye, too) when I’m not at home. It does double duty as a security camera, as it collects photos of any motion and throws them to the net, both for people to see the most recent one, and an archive for me to sift through just for fun.. make animations or whatnot. The security side of things would be that someone breaking into the house would be caught on cam, and picture would be uploaded to the net – so even if the machine is gone, I still have some images stored offsite.
I like that so many people tune in to see what’s going on – Newtcam averages between two and five thousand hits a day, from all over the world.
I may do more of these, as they occur to me but at least I got my goal complete! I have no idea what #51 will be.
It’s been exceedingly hard to get out of bed the last week or two… this week especially. I feel so tired when the alarm goes off. I can’t even open my eyes properly until I’ve taken a hot-cold-luke shower. I think I’m going to have to start hitting the sack just a little bit earlier than my preset of 10/10:30, to see if that helps.
BHK made some of the best tofu/black rice stir fry last night… nom nom nom.
The Pope arrives today… that means even more traffic than usual for DC… it’ll likely brings it to Gridlock / Miami levels. Even though I’m not of that particular faith, I think it’d be interesting to see the man, but I suspect that I’ll be better off just heading on home.
1 year ago – breakfast with in-laws, Tina, taxes, soda pop lids
2 years ago – good saturday, dream, masamune, police thingum, spain’s easter, dr who
3 years ago – sleepy, mr t sings, music videos, flash gordon moment, sanjay patel, lobster vs sea hare, guy killed at my bus stop, orbital mind control lasers!
4 years ago – Ella Enchanted, army-men bowl, palm doodles
5 years ago – April Winchell’s media, pda burp, sleepy kitten song with some profanity
6 years ago – spam radio, falling dreams, walkies, fabric softener, story seed, NEWWWTON IS A GOOOOLEM
7 years ago – Easter, working on a shopping cart, my first 10 lj friends, family meal, walkies, css issue