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colubra
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So today's poking around on the intertubes, having killed season 2 of Dexter, revealed that oh yeah, Bowie's south-london residence was in a now-demolished building named Haddon Hall.

A little more poking around revealed a street address, which was plugged into Google Maps and...

...well, if Haddon Hall still stood, then their back garden? would abut onto the back garden of the house I'm staying in.

I find this an hysterically funny coincidence, for reasons which only people who grasp what a Bowie freak I am could understand. Because I didn't plan this, and if I could have I so would have.
jennlee2
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Back hurts, knees hurt, legs hurt, blisters on fingers... Too much gardening. The problem is I really didn't do all that much. I think I did it badly. I didn't watch my ergonomics. Going to work today is going to be a good thing in the aches and pain department. If I had another day off I'd feel like I have to keep working in the yard.

Part II: Damn mosquitos! They are fierce right now. I have bites on bites. And they're small little suckers - I couldn't even see them. They bit me right through some of my clothes even. And the bug spray wasn't even enough for them. Gah!

My latest obsession is watching old WWII movies and television programs. Some of my fav's have been on recently, probably with the memorial day and July 4 holidays - Hell in the Pacific, The Great Escape, Bridge on the River Kwai, 12 O'Clock High, etc.

So yesterday I was watching an episode of the TV series Twelve O'Clock High and I just had to laugh with how absurdly dramatic TV/Film producers think they have to be. War is pretty darned dramatic already, but they really feel the need to liven things up big time.

Scenario: Main character, an American General, is out walking in London in the middle of the night and there's an air raid. Must find shelter. Shelter is full. Main character (and a few random civilians) directed to a cellar nearby. Person who directs them there is hit in bombing so their whereabouts are basically unknown to the outside world.

So we've got four or five strangers sheltering from bombs. Dramatic? Sure. But not enough. As the bombs hit nearby, the main beam near the entrance threatens to collapse. Sure enough, it collapses with explosions. They're trapped!

Five strangers trapped in a bombing. Dramatic? Sure, but not enough. Turns out that not only are they trapped, but there's an unexploded bomb that has fallen into the cellar with them! Not only is there an unexploded bomb, but it is ticking! Not only is it ticking, about to explode at any minute, but it turns out one of the strangers in the cellar is a pregnant woman who goes into labor!

OK, breathe a minute. Strangers in an air raid. Trapped by a collapsed entrance. Ticking time bomb. Pregnant woman in labor. What else could there be? Naturally, the rafter immediately overhead the bomb is cracked and about to collapse. And as rescuers try to dig them out, they threaten to collapse the whole thing, and can't hear their cries to stop. And the bomb is starting to tick faster!

Naturally our hero (main character), is able to do the following:
Diffuse the bomb with mere miliseconds to spare
Give PPT (patented pet talks) to:
1. Pregnant woman so she has a will to survive
2. Other woman so she will help pregnant woman deliver her baby
3. Man who has fear of being buried, to get him to climb up a coal chute to alert rescuers
4. Coward so he'll help hold the bomb as it's being diffused.

Dramatic enough for you? Whew! What else could have happened? I guess the sub-plot where one of the random civilians was a German spy set on assassinating our General was just a tad too much to squeeze into 44 minutes of plot.
andrewducker
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Latest proposed government stupidity:
Banning writing they don't like.  In this case, extreme porn.

As someone who thought that American Psycho was a work of genius, I am not impressed.
perich
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You know you've been working too hard when you get more excited about the errands you'll run on your day off than the parties you'll attend. Which is how Friday started: running to the bank for quarters, starting a load of laundry, picking up fifty dollars in dry cleaning (one suit, three pants, two button shirts, three polo shirts), swapping a load of laundry, going to the library, whoops!, strike that, library's closed on the 3rd of July, mailed a package at the post office, got my laundry. Made a very light lunch.

Then I went to Joanna's annual Independence Day barbecue - a day early, but we all had the day off, or took it - just ahead of some rain clouds. They followed me all the way to Porter Square, no matter how fast I walked. I came in on a foursquare game that was just wrapping up and Joanna's roommate Matt stringing an impromptu tarp over the grill, lashed between the fire escape and one of the fences. Some of us hung out inside and drank, listening to Serpico talk about parties in Jersey, until the rain let up. I had a few hot dogs, Katie S's brother (never did catch his first name) confused me with Robert Parish ("CHIEEEF" he yelled, once or twice), Sylvia stole my camera and we ran out of peanut butter cups but hey, it's okay with me.

Ended up at 90s Night, as always. I picked Meghan O' up from the bar at ImprovBoston, having a beer and chatting up the night staff. The Harold show let out a little after 10:30, so I said hi to cast and audience. As such, we got to Allston later than I might have liked and ended up waiting in line. DJ Phatmike couldn't do anything for us - the cops were out in force for the long weekend, and headcount was tight - but the queue moved at a reasonable clip. I met Flannery's mythical husband Nate and her friend Martha, and I didn't miss "Flagpole Sitta," and I never have a bad time there anyway.

And that's just Friday. Did I mention the weather was gorgeous?

Original post

I'm a-hearin': U2

malinaldarose
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condog: A whimsical corruption of the word concur, substituting dog for cur as equivalent. [Robert Nares's Dlosary of the Works of English Authors, 1859]

(And this is exactly the sort of wordplay that I love.)

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madresal
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I have the day off from work, think I will go check this out ... the price is right! :) You should come join me.

Edible Audible Picnic: Experimental Sound Studio

Edible Audible Picnic is a better way to spend your lunch hour. This series features cutting edge rock bands, sound artists, audio documentaries, expert DJs, electronic musicians and more. This week Experimental Sound Studio, a Chicago nonprofit arts organization, presents audio art pieces by local, national, and international artists, specially remixed in Dolby 5.1 surround sound to take advantage of Pritzker Pavilion's state of the art sound system. Expect visceral and challenging explorations of hypnosis, wordplay, and disorientation. All events take place at Millenium Park on Mondays at noon. Free.
andrewducker
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[info]icanhaschzbrgr
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[info]overheardnyc
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Tourist kid to random guy: Do you know where St. Mark's is?
Random guy: You see that spinny cube?
Tourist kid: Yeah.
Random guy: And do you see that clump of punk rock Midwesterners?
Tourist kid: No.
Random guy: Well, you're gonna.

--Astor Place


Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-07-06
[info]overheardnyc
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Young girl: See, I was right! And you said I was stupid.
Young boy: No, I didn't. I said you had a problem, and that ain't changed.

--Central Park West

Headline by: Lusus Naturae

Runners-Up:
· "Fortunately, Most Young Girls Are Stupid, Otherwise Young Boys Wouldn't Ever Get Laid" - Young, Dumb, & Full Of ...
· "Testfiy, Brother, Testify!" - Jakal
· "The Education System Is the Problem, Stupidity Is the Outcome" - Teacher's Spouse
· "Yep, It's Infected" - benji


Click here to see the new Headline Contest


Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-07-06
[info]sinfestfeed
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artbroken
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The hour and a half I just spent in the dentist's chair hurt.

But not as much as the $400 bill I got at the end of it.

(And my dentist's statement "Oh, I don't have a relationship with them" when I mentioned my insurance company stung a bit too.)
[info]overheardnyc
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Aging yuppie: Wet dog food is a total crock!
Aging yuppiess: Yes, Kibbles are far superior.

--58th & 6th

Overheard by: Big Taugess


Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-07-06
revme
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  • 10:56:50: HAPPY X DAY
  • 11:49:41: Also, I celebrated the fourth by watching Suspiria with my parents! Yaaaaaay!
  • 14:08:00: just figured out the theme of MAYAEWK: The Interconnectedness Of All Flakes.
  • 17:10:38: @VoVat I have to admit it was kinda weird seeing her talk about the Stranger, since that's our local alt-weekly. Or, rather, the good one.

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

[info]kipcomicsfeed
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gfish
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Today I:

Informally surveyed five parks on foot for OpenStreetMap: tiring, but fun. Still need to add all my notes to the system.

Tried another gear mounting for the electro-mechanical sunglasses, which failed. But I was able to reuse one of my sheets of aluminum, so nothing was wasted except time. And I have an idea for getting better precision next time. And just having my drillpress in Vancouver is such a thrill.

Made rhubarb crumble. Came out much better than the pie I tried a few weeks ago, though the sugar and rhubarb juice still aren't combining perfectly during the baking.

Bought groceries, did laundry and watched a lot more Avatar.

Why can't all days be like this?
[info]overheardnyc
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Tacky girl #1: Why do I feel like every time I gain a friend, I lose a friend?
Tacky girl #2: (silence)
Tacky girl #1: It's like AIM buddy lists, like when you max, you know? You have to delete a friend to add a new one, you know? My friendships are all like that, you know?
Tacky girl #2: I don't think it works like that.
Tacky girl #1: Yeah, you're right.
(pause)
Tacky girl #2
: Well, if it was like that, who would decide?

Tacky girl #1: Umm...god?
Tacky girl #2: Well, maybe whoever's deciding is telling you to look at the friends you do have, and, like, see if they're worth it.
Tacky girl #1: Ohmigod! You are so good. How did you get so good?

--Metro-North


Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-07-06
waysofseeing
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There's something a bit startling about looking out at what normally is a peaceful, quiet bay and finding a cruise ship the size of a skyscraper moored in the middle of it.

Friday Harbor gets cruise ships, but small ones. This one is a monster, 650 feet long, the kind of cruise ship you see looming on Seattle's waterfront in the summer. It's far too big for the harbor. They've moored it in a nearby bay and are letting people off the boat by using odd lighters-cum-lifeboats that look a bit like oversized greenhouses with outboard motors.

The ship is called The World. It's a residential ship. You don't buy a ticket, you buy or rent a condominium aboard. (They have everything from small studio apartments to six room penthouses available.)

It has no fixed route. The ship goes wherever the managers and residents decide they want to go. You live aboard full time, disembark whenever you think they've arrived somewhere interesting, get back aboard and go somewhere else. They almost never stay anywhere more than a day or two.

They're going to spend the rest of the summer wandering up the inside passage to Alaska. Then they're off to Russia, Japan, Australia and God alone knows where else.

I met a couple of the ship's residents in town today. Well fed, prosperous, decadent. Proud. And very, very tan.

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I'm-a feelin': amazed
I'm a-hearin': Azam Ali, "Endless Dream"

andrewhime
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For any Shirt.Woot fans, it's Bag of Shirt day again. Always right around holidays, eh?

I'm a-hearin': The Polyphonic Spree - Section 12 (Hold Me Now)

[info]overheardnyc
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Disgusted girl: It smells like rats!
Guy: No, it's just shit you're smelling.

--St Mark's & Ave A

Overheard by: j


Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-07-06
xushi
[info]grammar_whores
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So, one of my friends is a 4th year (this is important) university student, and she sometimes gets me to look through her papers to check for errors. No matter how many times I've told her to give her papers a quick read through before she sends them to me, she still sends me crappy papers. Here's the latest gem from her - only one page since it makes my head hurt.

  • The principle will also bring in the students parents to speak with them
  • depends on the parent willingness
  • parent are good about this but there are a certain percentage who will ignore the problem.
  • however its program that has to be well planed in to the schedule
  • with larger class’s size and the program its self being so large in content it’s difficult to mange
  • that there is drug dealer who is a leader of the drug cartel
  • The school has a police lesion that comes and talks to the children

    Wow, grade two was not that difficult.

    I'm-a feelin': bitchy

  • rosefox
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    cmdrhobbes
    [info]cmdrhobbes
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    This weekend was pretty busy, relative to normal.

    Friday, my lovely wife and children went up to visit the breeders of our new puppy. They’re also selling their very well trained 2.5 year old Blue Merle male dog, if anyone wants such a thing (Their website). That evening, before they returned, I went to Friday night soccer with Tenzil. Saturday was the 4th of July, duh, wherein we go to Kennywood to celebrate the birthday of Tenzil’s first kid (oh, and something related to independence). This year was excellent because said kid has a cell phone, so we just sent our kids out with him to go on all the rides, while we adults did what we wanted. We checked in every so often, and everything was just fine.

    We (being GreenLion, Tenzil’s sister, and I) finally caved and did the SkyCoaster. What’s that, you ask? Well, it’s basically a free-fall ride. You are strapped into a big harness (each one individually, and then the three of us were linked together), then lifted 180 feet in the air. Then they count down 3-2-1-FLY! The person on the right (Tenzil’s sister, in this case) then pulls a ripcord, and we freefall for about 3 seconds, then swing back and forth several times, until they hold up a loop for us to snag, and then we get down, and go change our shorts. It was fun. I’m looking for the video that Tenzil took, but not finding it on Youtube. We got home at like 11PM, and put the kids to bed. I mean, they were already asleep, but we got them upstairs to bed.

    Today, I had to run to the store to get something RIGHT at opening time, deal with the end result of that, then Tenzil, GreenLion, MightyBob7, amfetterolf, chatty, wildpaletz, and monkat came over for gaming. We finished a HUGE battle that started last session, finished a fairly long story that is like 10 sessions old, and now we have no idea what’s going to happen next. I don’t think. After that, I had to boot people out of my house, because my lovely wife returned home from the pool, and we had to go next door to the 3 year old girl’s birthday party. They’re very nice people, and Serena and their little girl get along wonderfully.

    Now I have a headache, which implies either allergies, a cold, or a significant change in the weather. And of course, tomorrow, I have to get up like 2 hours earlier than usual to take Austin to C-MITES summer camp, where he learns his first programming language, ALICE…Don’t know anything about it, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy it.

    Blech.

    Originally posted at Phoenix Rising.

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    muckefuck
    [info]muckefuck
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    This would be a longer entry, but I was so sleepy tonight, the only way I keep myself awake long enough for the laundry to dry was to watch the entirety Dara Ó Briain Talks Funny on YouTube for something like the fifth time. Why, oh why, did I stay up until 2 a.m. last night? I would've had an extra hour of slumber, but the last I knew before I went to bed, we were meeting Diego and Uncle Betty for brunch at 10 this morning. At 9:35 I show myself to [info]monshu, showered, dressed, and ready to go and he tells me they've called and rescheduled for 11:30 a.m.

    It's a good thing I love him SO MUCH.

    I'm still not sure how it's possible to spend $100 on dim sum for four people and still clear every plate, but however it is we managed it. It helped, I suppose, that Betty was--in his own words--"a dim sum virgin", so we were plying him with everything from squid to sesame balls. (Hazing was mercifully limited to letting him be the first to serve himself from a plate of funn.) Come to think of it, that must be how: We gave the empty calories of steamed bao a miss and focussed instead on items like crispy skin pork and pea sprouts. Plus we stayed for two hours, doggedly holding onto the table until the mango pudding and jin deui appeared.

    By my current semi-hermit standards, this weekend was a social frenzy. Saturday was a BYOM BBQ at our lesbian friends' (raindrops be damned!). I stopped off home only long enough to check mail and change into Levis and leather for Bear Night. Your man from County Tyrone was there, but it was the end of a long evening before I chatted with him. To amuse myself until then, I hung out with [info]mikiedoggie, his downstate pal, a stoned Brewers fan down from Mil Town, a beefy cynical artist, and Mr Blue Eyes who was--if anything--even more high then during our last adventure together. Such a sweet man, such unhealthy judgment. Three days in the cooler might've cured some men of their partying; him it only taught to leave the junk at home.

    In any case, between all that and brunching like a proper homosexual (well, within a large epsilon, given that even low-carb dim sum is not really comme il faut), I'm feeling closer to fine on the whole gay-pals thing. It was gratifying to be recognised and missed by the Asians and Friends. Enough so that I will get off my plush duff and organise something to invite them over to before the summer is over?

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    rm
    [info]rm
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    Right, so just went to the 24-hour clinic, because I have a UTI and that was too unpleasant not to get drugs for RIGHT NOW.

    As per usual, there are a billion questions, including things about sexual orientation and how I know I have a UTI. These things are related, as women often get UTIs after penetrative sex, so the whole thing sort of came up in a context of "I've had these before, but not in ages because it happened more often when I was having it on with boys, but trust me, I know what this is and exactly how I got it" and also because the paperwork asked.

    I was wearing, for the record, a white t-shirt, black pants and a black jacket. And a push-up bra ( really only have tow type sof bras -- push-up bras and bras I use for binding. There is no neutral). Sure I have short hair, and when I'm at the doctor's office and not freaked out I'm pretty calm and in control and authoratative and when I don't feel well, my voice tends to pitch lower, but seriously folks, if you've met me, and while it's easy for me to read as masculine, it doesn't really happen without effort. At all.

    So imagine my "WTF?" when the doctor, very deliberated maked an x on the little line dividing the male and female boxes on my perscription form. Was it a 60+-year-old doctor trying to be cool about bisexuality and not quite getting it right? Was it bad hand-writing? (althugh his handwriting mostly didn't suck? Was it someone having a gender clue? Or was it more of the variety of the poeple at Citibank who call me "sir" even when I'm wearing lipstick and high heels.

    The world may never know.

    But now I'm home. And I have Cipro.
    rosefox
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    jawastew
    [info]books
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    The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz


    My review


    rating: 5 of 5 stars

    Oscar de León had style, class, and his pick of dates before he dumped one of his girlfriends and found the other with a mysterious escort. He was heartbroken, confused, and betrayed; he was seven years old. His weight ballooned and it was all downhill from there on out. Nevermind his brief popularity, Oscar soon fell into Fantasy and Science Fiction novels, Dungeons and Dragons, and comics--none of which went over smooth with the ladies. Instead of living la vida Dominicano, Oscar lives as an overweight outcast, dreaming of romantic scenarios with himself as the hero and the latest girl he sees as the helpless Princess in an imagined Fairy Tale. He isn’t too picky, having so much pent up (unused) admiration and devotion towards the opposite sex that his discerning organ of taste leaks on a regular basis.

    Read more... )

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    whytraven
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    As I sit and write tonight, a deliciously refreshing warm wind is sucking some of the heat out of the day. It’s been horribly hot all week, finally easing up for the Fourth of July. Our RV absorbs heat too well and thus it’s typically ten degrees warmer in here than outdoors (but only in summer).

    We have been having trouble with our fridge. It cycles maniacally between about 50 degrees and the low 40s. Sometimes, the two thermometers in there read different

    Read the rest of this entry »

    This was cross-posted from Raven's Range. You can comment here or there, but if you could bring yourself to comment there rather than here, that would be very nice. Here's the link to comment over there
    seanan_mcguire
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    Behold! For now I wear the human pants! Earlier this evening, I finished doing the redline edits on the physical manuscript of Late Eclipses, finished entering those edits into my manuscript copy, and finished processing the corrections in Vixy's gloriously detailed machete file. Then I kissed it goodnight, told it to wear its jacket, and shipped it off to The Agent once again. Ha.

    The current book stats:

    Pages, 400.
    Words, 106,830.
    Chapters, thirty-seven.
    Cans of DDP, beyond counting.

    So basically the book gained two chapters and lost a thousand words. It also gained a lot of awesome, which is good, because otherwise, it might have gained a date with a wood-chipper. I am very, very ready to be working on The Brightest Fell, aka, "Toby Daye, book five," aka, "Seanan, honey, can we please wait for Rosemary and Rue to come out before you finish the second set of three?" But dude, it's been waiting so patiently, and I've been neglecting it for so long. Book five needs love!

    In conclusion...

    ...DINO DANCE PARTY!

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    I'm-a feelin': ecstatic
    I'm a-hearin': Mainline, "Black Honey."

    [info]overheardnyc
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    Skinny tween: I hate it when people smush me in the subway.
    Fatty tween: Yeah, it's not like we take up that much space!
    Skinny tween: Why am I so tiny?
    Fatty tween: Why did god make us so tiny?

    --Union Square


    Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
    Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-07-05
    lcohen
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    the most interesting man in the world would not be taking time out from his busy schedule to shill for a beer.
    felisdemens
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    holyoutlaw
    [info]holyoutlaw
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    June, 2009
    yendi
    [info]yendi
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    If any of you love me, you'll buy me a jar of this.

    Or, you know, anything else with bacon in it (other than the nasty bacon mints that they sell at Archie McPhee).
    coffeefortwo
    [info]coffeefortwo
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    I'm so very tired.

    (Posted simultaneously to "Drilling Holes in the Wall.")

    I'm-a feelin': so very tired
    I'm a-hearin': Edie Falco drawing a sun

    m0usegrrl
    [info]m0usegrrl
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    AS PROMISED. Although I didn't take them when I went out into the desert, I was too busy trying to take pictures of the quail and scrub jays and rock chipmunks. XD PRETEND YOU SEE DESERT IN THE BACKGROUND instead of boring-arse subdivision.

    Now. Meet Napoleon MINIparte! )

    There will be more, I'm sure, as I slap stickers and such on it, but for now, this will serve as an introduction. ^____^

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    Current Location: Downtown Hell
    I'm-a feelin': squeeful

    [info]icanhaschzbrgr
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    funny pictures of cats with captions

    Why are you hollering? We just fed ourselves so you could sleep in!! Boy is that ingratitude for you!!!!

    u toldz me nawt 2 wake u up anymoar.

    Picture by: dunno source. Caption by: ChikinsR2smart via Advanced Lol Builder

    » Recaption This

    » See All Captions



    malinaldarose
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    Remember the chair I bought at a garage sale a few weeks ago? Wanna see it? Then click on through. )

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    evilpheemy
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    Most worlds in the Cosmos are collections of raw elemental material drawn together into a singular mass orbiting the Ætheric Vortex. These worlds are not normally hospitable to most life as is known throughout the cosmos. However, sometimes natives to the appropriate Elemental Realm thrive within these islands in the Æther.

    Nearly every system holds at least one world composed of a mélange of all four elemental realms. These worlds, perhaps specially crafted by the Gods for this very purpose, team with life of all types. It is here where mortal beings capable of thought and able to exert their will develop cultures and civilizations. And even though these life-giving worlds contain everything needed to sustain life, a healthy system of worlds in the Æther will have representatives of all Elemental realms travelling in orbits around the Vortex.

    Air
    Air worlds are cloudy masses of swirling, chaotic storms. In their orbits they boil and clash with themselves in an unending whirl of tempests. Save for the very winds which comprise them, Air Worlds have no real substance. Within their violent horizon, winds reach unthinkable speeds, ripping and tearing at themselves and anything caught within them. Yet, for all of their fury, there are eyes within these endless storms. Islands of calm and stability which can last for moments, or ages depending upon the whims of fate.

    Earth
    Earth worlds are giant rocks in the Æther. Like enormous mountains drifting in the Ætheric currents, Earth Worlds often hold fortunes in gems, jewels and precious metals. But they are barren places, without water, warmth or so much as a blanket of air, very little grows and thrives here on its own. Still, water, fuel, and air can be imported or conjured and colonies sustained on these rich worlds. Of all the Elemental Worlds, Earth worlds are the most common places for settlements.

    Fire
    Fire worlds blaze and boil casting light and heat throughout the Ætheric currents. So brilliant, Fire worlds are sometimes mistaken for Gods, and indeed often become homes for Deities of Suns, Fire, Light, and Life. Of all the worlds in the Cosmos, Fire worlds are the most visible, often blinding the residents of other worlds to all else, when their light fills the sky. Within their horizon, Fire worlds are a swirling, unbearable furnace of raw elemental heat. Inside Fire worlds heat and light become so intense that no shadow exists. Only those beings born of the Elemental Realm, or the greatest magic of Gods or Wizards can resist the all-consuming blaze.

    Water
    Water worlds are shimmering spheres of fluid suspended within the Æther and drifting in their timeless orbits. They are oceans without a floor, and sometimes enormous spherical seas held within a shell of ice. Water worlds can sometimes hold life of their own within their horizons. Sea creatures and merfolk can thrive within the eternal seas, unconstrained by land and never threatened by those bound to the surface. Yet, all is not calm or peaceful within the water worlds. Subsurface currents and storms roar beneath the surface, every bit as violent and destructive as the wrath of Sea Gods but silent and invisible until they pass through.

    Arcadian
    The Arcadian worlds combine all four elements in one planet. These worlds contain an almost endless variety of seas, mountains, winds, and fire, providing a self-contained world environment where living things can thrive without assistance. Almost unfathomably complex, most sages believe that Arcadian worlds must have been created by the Gods as a home for their children, or as a garden for themselves. Regardless of the origins of the Arcadian worlds, the fact remains that they exist in small numbers, and are the cradles of most living mortal cultures in the Cosmos.

    Moons
    Some worlds have elemental bodies in orbit around them. The Moons are locked to the Planet they revolve around, and in essence act like smaller versions of the orbiting worlds about the Ætheric Vortex. Moons are nearly always Elemental in nature, and almost never Arcadian bodies. Save for their smaller size, and consequentially lesser influence on the Cosmos, moons feature all of the same characteristics with worlds of the same element. However, moons do differ from their larger cousins in that they regularly pass through the Umbra of the world they orbit. These continuing brushes with the Shadow Realm make moons unique havens for denizens of the Shadow Realm, monsters or fugitive dreams escaping from their twilight home.

    The Ætheric currents also carry elemental fragments from the Vortex to the Verge. Known by a host of names reflecting their elemental origin (Comets, Meteors, Asteroids, etc…) these fragments drift through the Cosmos on the Æther. Rarely, these elemental fragments can find a stable orbit around the Vortex or a large world, creating enormous belts and rings of elemental material circling the world or the entire orbit. At times these fragments can fall into the Ætheric Realm through a storm, or the Shadow Realm as they pass through the Umbra, emerging days or ages later, changed by their time outside of the Material Realm. Even more rare are the fragments that escape the Ætheric currents entirely and drift past the Verge into the Astral Sea where they can remain for Eternity or pass between Material Realms, even drifting far into the deepest reaches of the Astral Sea to the Outer Realms themselves.

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    Current Location: The Guild Empire
    I'm-a feelin': creative

    [info]overheardnyc
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    Older woman: So where's Bangladesh?
    College girl, looking at MTA map: Oh, I think its uptown somewhere.

    --F Train

    Overheard by: Nehc


    Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
    Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-07-05
    zoethe
    [info]zoethe
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    Could we not have just one day? One?

    Ferrett's stepdad - a completely awesome, wonderful guy - was diagnosed a year and a half ago with ALS.

    They estimated he'd live for 3-5 years.

    Instead, in the course of about 15 months, he's been reduced to surviving on a breathing machine. And he's tired. He wants to turn off the machine. He wants to be gone in two days.

    I don't have words.

    I'm-a feelin': sad

    theferrett
    [info]theferrett
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    My stepfather, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, is entering his terminal phase. Before the end of July, he'll be gone. It may well be the next week.

    I've told my mother that I will fly out there to be with her, if she needs me. And that's really tough. Bruce is dying (you can see a summary of my history with him here), and there's a part of me that wants to run out and go take care of Mom right now. But on the other hand, I also know that she may want to just spend her last days alone with her husband, and me being there would be an intrusion that would take time and effort away from the man she loves.

    In other words, I want to help. But I don't want to make it about me.

    So I've told her: "If you need me, I will fly out there tomorrow. But you have to tell me. I'm not going to pressure you with a thousand requests." And that's really, really tough. I have to trust her that if she wants me there, she'll call. And I'll call her daily to check in on her, and see how things are doing, and see what the daily status report on Bruce is. I'll give her opportunities to ask for me there. Even so, it may well be that I don't see her until the funeral.

    She's crying on the phone. It's a long way away. I hope she's as okay as she can be, and I just wish I knew the best way to navigate her through this time. But like everything with family, it's all down to love and guesswork.
    whytraven
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    Exchange your skills for promotion

    Today’s task is to exchange my writing skills for a promotion on a higher-traffic blog. I know just the person, and will be approaching said person after I get this up and running. If it works out, I will be doing a guest post or interview on that person’s site in exchange for a link and a write-up. I’ll let you know.

    Read the rest of this entry »

    This was cross-posted from Raven's Range. You can comment here or there, but if you could bring yourself to comment there rather than here, that would be very nice. Here's the link to comment over there
    charliesbooks
    [info]books
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    Title: Celia Garth
    Author: Gwen Bristow
    Genre: Historical Fiction
    Pages: 406
    Rating: 10/10

    Published in the 1950s, Celia Garth is a book set in Charleston during the American Revolution. There, a talented dressmaker, Celia Garth, experiences the siege of Charleston and becomes apart of the rebel cause in ways you wouldn't imagine. She also finds love in unexpected places.

    I don't like to give away much of the plot, so I won't say more than that. Celia is a smart, witty and very likable heroine which is exactly what I like to read. From the first two pages I was hooked by her and Bristow's own voice that was passed through Celia. It is just a really fun book to read. To add to that, the story was great. I don't know a lot of the specifics of this time and place in history but everything felt right. I love when a great female heroine and good historical plot meet in such an enjoyable way that Bristow has given us.

    There's a lot of action and adventure, great supporting characters, and some romance. I loved this book so much (and just generally impressed with Bristow's work) that I jumped right into another one of hers called Jubilee Trail.

    Highly recommended.
    halfjack
    [info]roleplayers
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    We've been brainstorming advice to players and refs for the science-fiction game we're developing, and I thought I'd dump our current storm on you. Some of it is genre specific and some system specific, but there's some general material in there too. What's your advice to players of your favourite game?

    * as a player, accept the mechanics of a scenario as it is presented. the ref might be trying something, or looking to explore an aspect of the game. Let that happen and if necessary address it later.

    *life teaches us to be safe. That's good, and it allows our species to continue: look both ways before crossing, diversify your portfolio, etc. In a game, playing safe rarely helps. More than anything else in role-playing, be prepared to take risks with your character. Walk down the alley, make a break for it, take the shot. the more interesting story comes not from being stupid, but from being willing to lose something.

    * As a ref, recognize the differences between player strengths and character strengths. Some people play characters who are smarter than they are, or know more about weapons or science or tactics or whatever. That creates an imbalance that is easy to exploit: player limitations impede what the character can do. Work with the player to allow the strengths of their character to come through in a clean story.

    * on entering a system, describe the astronomy: the gross view from the slipknot

    * then the station, if it exists: vast solar sails? occasional puffs of r-mass? nothing? a thousand vessels? six? is the slipknot speckling with automated traffic?

    * on arrival planetside, the sky: PCs I imagine are always looking outwards, so what's in the sky here?

    * when an NPC is intended as a force for moving narrative, make sure they pick a PC and talk straight at them, making clear their interests and objectives. If the player likes the NPC, the player will adopt the NPC's motivations. Pleasant conversation is an avenue to making the NPC likeable.

    * if there's no conflict, find one: a motivated and focused NPC can make her needs known. If she becomes desperate, maybe she will act desperately. Compel a PC. If no PC has Aspects you can latch on to, maybe stop and talk about revising Aspects. It's okay to break out of the narrative and talk about the progress of the game mid-way.

    * before a session, as prep, find one Aspect on a PC with intent to compel it forcefully. Often you won't have to, but it's an ace up your sleeve.

    * start the session with at least one secret. Reveal it archly, even melodramatically, so players notice it. Players will seem stupid. They're not -- they just have different motivations and filter input by their interest -- but you might have to treat them as if they are. Subtle narrative doesn't always play.

    * when a player is not engaging the scenario, compel them. If you can't find a compel on them, maybe the scenario is the part that needs fixing. Find an Aspect and revise the "facts". Remember that until facts and secrets are revealed, they don't exist -- nothing is true until it's voiced at the table.

    * ask for declarations. If a player narrates a fact, they are more likely to be motivated by it. Remember as referee you get to "yes, but..." and "yes, and...".

    * as a player, if you're not engaged, find a away to be. Find something that's already going on and become enthusiastic about it. You might have to re-think your character. It's okay to ask for a pause to re-address Aspects and align them with the story.

    * alternatively, offer compels to the ref. If you have an Aspect that you want in play and play is moving slow or against your interests, get paid to pull it on track. If you can't find an Aspect you want compelled AND you're bored, then your Aspects are all wrong.

    * write Aspects about other characters and NPCs. This will make you more invested in their interests as well as your own, which increases your overall investment in the game -- the ref only has to hit one character's motivation button and the rest can cascade from it.

    * don't assume the ref knows what you are thinking.

    * if you imagine something about your surroundings that is cool, speak it. If you think it implies a change to the narrative, pay for it with a fate point. Then do something with it.

    * if you want a fight, and none seems forthcoming, ask for one. "This needs social combat now; I want to figure out who is sabotaging us with an investigation." Do this instead of speculating out of character -- characters need to find out and they need to act to do so. The mini-games are all about action.
    nimuejohn
    [info]filk
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    At the urging of multiple people who hinted in the nicest terms possible that making my songs easier to find would be A Good Idea, I am proud to announce the launch of NanSongs, the new home for [nearly] all my lyrics. 

    Like all new homes, there's not much furniture yet, so pull up a pillow, grab a slice of pizza and make yourself comfortable!

    I'm-a feelin': accomplished

    andrewhime
    [info]andrewhime
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    A new episode of the podcast is up and at 'em.

    The Plan: Get a famous listener to link to us. The most famous people I know are Peter Hughes and Marcus Striplin and Bret Egner. This plan is probably doomed to failure.

    Listeners called out: Ren, Donald, Jeremiah, Shae, mystery listener, mystery listener #2, Andrew Andrew Andrew, Scott, Audra, Darci, Leonardo DiCaprio.

    I'm a-hearin': Aphex Twin - Delphium

    lcohen
    [info]lcohen
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    i've been watching tennis as y'all will have gathered, so i've had the exciting chance to see more commercials than usual. i keep seeing one for a movie called "the orphan." i loathe this movie without seeing it just based on the commercials. it seems so anti-adoption. yes, yes, i know it's just entertainment and i'm judging it without seeing it, but i have a partner who was adopted so i've heard a lot about the issues adopted kids deal with.
    logically
    [info]books
    [info]logically
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    Title: Crossover
    Author: Joel Shepherd
    Format: MM
    Available Formats: TP
    Page Count: 455
    Genre: Sci-Fi
    Publisher: Pyr
    Pub. Date: May 26, 2009
    ISBN-13: 9781591027379



    According to Shepherd's website the cover illustration was done by Stephan Martiniere. Wowza. If not for Martiniere's beautiful, dynamic cover art, I'd never have picked up this novel.

    Crossover is the story of Cassandra Kresnov. Cassandra (called Sandy) is not a "real" person, that is to say...Sandy is not an organic creature. Rather, she was synthetically made to fight for the League in an interstellar war against the Federation. However, the League gave Sandy the too human characteristic of being able to think and feel. After the League betrays those closest to Sandy, she feels she has no choice but to leave and try to start a new life on Callay, amidst those who were once her enemy--and who would not even recognize her humanity if they knew what she was...

    ( View the rest of the review at Book Love Affair )

    I'm a-hearin': David Bowie - Dancing In The Street {with Mi | Powered by Last.fm

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