Michael: “I think you’re more of a landmine than a time bomb”

I’ve been having trouble waking up in the mornings.

My pattern, since I was in junior high, is to have my clock radio set to Morning Edition. I’ve never had to set the volume loud–usually my brain start listening to what’s being said, and that’ll wake me up.

Recently, this plan hasn’t been working as well as it used to. The radio goes off, I wake up, then I actually hear what is being said, and block it out, because I just don’t want to listen any more to news about death, explosions, terrorists attacks, or reductions in our civil rights. So I find myself for the first time since I was a teenager, falling back asleep.

Now it’s not like I’m going to be late for work–it just means that I have to skip exercising or have less time to exercise in the morning. But the whole thing is eerie. I’m a news junkie–I love the news. Say what you like about NPR, but I get a mix of state, national, and international news WITHOUT annoying commercials. (You want to know the real reason why I sometimes forget to listen to the WVU games? The awful, incredibly annoying commercials. I hate them.)

In college, being a townie, I hung out at the lair (Mountainlair, i.e. WVU Student Union) all the time. I was almost always there to see what we sometimes referred to as “The Bad News” or the lunchtime Pittsburgh news. It was amazing how they never ever had anything good to report. Just murders and fires and floods.

I’m beginning to feel that way about the news in general now. When I go to the BBC News website, I tend to check the Science & Nature and Technology news. I get daily news headlines in my e-mail. For the past several months the only ones I’ve regularly read have been the Charleston Gazette, since it gives me state news. I’m totally avoiding national and international news.

Is it just me? Or has the news really been this awful for the past couple years, and I’m only just now getting burned out? I mean, avoidance behavior is way up–I’m turning off the radio earlier and earlier to read (or recently, so we can watch a couple of episodes of Babylon 5.)

Is this feeling of dread and doom ever going to go away?

As we were getting ready for lunch today, I was thinking about food labels.

It seems to me that we would be far better off if, in addition to telling us how many calories per serving, we were also told the number of calories for the entire package.

For example, the guacamole I was eating says 45 calories per serving. However, far more useful is the information that I were to eat the entire container myself (assuming that Michael didn’t get a chip in when I wasn’t looking) I would have consumed 382.5 calories. Which, incidentally, made me feel a whole lot better. I mean, wouldn’t that be a great bit to add? “Even if you eat this entire container, you’d still be getting fewer calories than if you ate a Big Mac.”

Unfortunately, as Michael pointed out, if you are the entire container of guacamole AND the entire bag of tortilla chips AND the whole two liter of ginger ale, that would be more than 2000 calories, and you wouldn’t be able to eat anything else for the rest of the day.

This is really interesting. There were a several times that I wanted a “both” answer, but didn’t have one.

Also, technically, icing and frosting are two different things. Frosting is the thick stuff you spread on a cake, and between cake layers. Icing is the thin runny stuff that you pour over a pound cake or sweet roll that hardens. Just to be technical.

I’m assuming that alphabetical order is the reason Dixie comes before Yankee.

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Social Values Survey

We have diagnosed you as most likely being a member of the:
New Aquarians

You also show a similarity to the following tribe(s):
Security Seeking Ascetics
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Snark practice.

greek myth fell into the water and drowned
Actually, it’s not a myth. People actually do, in fact, fall into the water and drown. This is why swimming lessons are recommended for all children, starting at a young age.

why is there less female heroes
Because the word heroes is plural, not singular.

the garden of stubborn cats by italo calvino
“stubborn cats” is redundant.

ambulances of the 1940 s 50 s 60 s
Okay, that sounds kind of interesting, pictures of old ambulances–and maybe even fire trucks. Did you try google images?

how big is a fat half fabric
They’re fat quarters. And that would be a quarter yard.

how do i feel being a young naturalist
If I were actually a young naturalist, I’d probably feel pretty good about it.

result of adolf hitler s actions
Is this a trick question?

people stomping on bugs
As much as I dislike creatures with too many legs, looking for a website dedicated to bug stomping is kinda creepy.

html codes for resizing pictures
Don’t resize your images in HTML. Resize your images in a photo editor. If you resize them in HTML they’ll look terrible. What you’re probably looking for is how to make a thumbnail image that links to a larger image.

how not to dress
Please see almost every picture ever taken of me. See also: Go Fug Yourself

recipes leftover hamburgers
Boy are you in the wrong place. Unless you’re eating organic and/or local grown beef, I suggest you read Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation.

lions mane jellyfish funny facts
“The venom in the nematocysts of the Lion’s Mane is a powerful neurotoxin. If a human were to get stung enough, it could be fatal, provided sufficient poison had been absorbed by the body” That’s not really ha-ha funny though.

random things to talk about with your boyfriend
How about Lion’s Mane Jellyfish?

Just so you know what huge geeks we are, last night watching a Season 1 Babylon 5 episode, the following comment was made:

“Hey! It’s Weyoun!”

Happy Summer Solstice!

It is now allowed to be hot. All those hot days previous? Imaginary.

What Subversive Alternative Paradigm Are You?

I don’t know about subversive…
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Erin sent me the answers to the Latin quiz.
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Happy Birthday West Virginia!

So, we’ve finally settled down to watch Babylon 5. Michael had wanted this is the next TV series he got, and we’d been told by several people, “it’s even better than Deep Space Nine!

Well, we’re halfway through Season One, and I’m not seeing it.

Michael insists that he remember it as being better than this, and I’m having a hard time believing that so many different people were so deluded.

But really. Someone of these episodes are down there with Season 2 of Next Generation. I mean, the CGI is absolutely horrific. I’ve seen better graphics in video games. And some of the acting… (shudder) Though the characters I’m least impressed with apparently don’t come back in Season Two.

I have to admit that some things are improving as the season progresses. There is more of a sense of movement and time to the story–in the first few episodes I couldn’t tell how much time was passing and when people had moved from one place to another. But that has improved a bit as the series has progressed.

But still. There is no way this is better than Deep Space Nine, and I’m not even sure it’s better than Next Generation. (Though it has something in common with TNG–they’re both very easy to mock. Michael keeps referring to it as, “some bad CGI”. As in, “do you want to watch some bad CGI this evening?”)

So this had better get better, considering how much much these DVDs cost.

Happy World Sauntering Day!

Okay, I would really like to know what I missed on this, because aside from the WV State motto, most of the rest of these were guesses (educated guesses, but guesses never-the-less) because the only lauguages I took in school were French and Spanish.

The Latin Sayings Test:
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Courage of Falcons (2000) Holly Lisle

In all, this was an interesting series. Again, the pace was fast–very fast–and action packed. In fact, I found it to be a little too fast, and a little too action packed, which I didn’t think was possible.

Read More about Courage of Falcons

This is the best thing I’ve seen in my yard this year!
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Vengeance of Dragons The Secret Texts Book 2 (1999) Holly Lisle

Again, with the cliffhanger ending; the lack of conclusion of a story arc is my biggest problem with this book (or series actually). You have been warned. Don’t read this book without the third close at hand. Luckily, they’ve been out for awhile, so getting all three books should not be a problem.

Read More about Vengeance of Dragons

Happy Flag Day!

Rules for Flying the American Flag

• It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
• The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is displayed.
• When the flag is displayed in a manner other than by being flown from a staff, it should be displayed flat, whether indoors or out. When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag’s own right, that is, to the observer’s left. When displayed in a window it should be displayed in the same way, that is with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street. When festoons, rosettes or drapings are desired, bunting of blue, white and red should be used, but never the flag.
• When the flag is displayed on a car, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.
• When hung in a window, place the blue union in the upper left, as viewed from the street.
• Section 8k of the Flag Code states, “The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
• Is it okay to have a flag t-shirt with words written on it?
  No, the flag should never be worn and no, the flag should never have marks or words written upon it. Section 8d: “The flag should never be used as wearing apparel.” Section 8g: “The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.”

• Is it okay for an advertisement to use the flag?
  No. Section 8i reads, “The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever.”

The latest flower pr0n!

My cactus bloomed! Plus, lots of blooms on my dayl lilies and coreopsis.

Also, pictures from my brother’s birthday celebration.

Presidential approval ratings 2000-present, for various polls.

Forgot to post this a couple weeks ago when I first found it. The more I look at it, the more fascinating it becomes.

Diplomacy of Wolves (1998) Holly Lisle

Do not, I repeat do NOT start this book unless you already have the second book. If you finish this book without having the second book at hand, you’ll be sooorry! Talk about a cliff hanger ending! Jeesh.

Read More about Diplomacy of Wolves

Everything you ever wanted to say about Ann Coulter, in one simple paragraph:

Disclaimer: this should not be construed as a call to ban Coulter’s “work”, but merely an attempt to call bullshit on bullshit. Aside from being protected by the First Amendment, Ms. Coulter’s obvious derangement may make her eligible for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Since we signed up for Netflix we’ve been watching lots of movies–which is good, since I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. (The last time I regularly watched movies was, I think, high school.)

Of course, my taste in movies tends towards explosions and marshal arts. I’ll watch drama, but what I really want when I watch a movie is an escape from reality. Hence: science fiction, comic book, and heist movies. Plus movies where Brad Pitt gets the beat up. (Snatch, Fight Club, etc)

And I’d pretty much rather eat lint than watch a romantic comedy, and movies about high school are almost universally out, because in real life, the geeks and the unattractive girls never come out on top.

So here’s a list of the movies we watched recently, from most enjoyed to least enjoyed, which should tell you quite a bit about my tastes.
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I leave the amount of squealing I did when I saw these up to your imagination.

JavaScript Enigma Machine

JavaScript Bombe Machine

Another Enigma Machine

(via Making Light)

If you insist on having loud cell phone conversations in public spaces–particularly conversations where you are arguing unpleasantly with your mother/girlfriend/boyfriend/roommate–please be aware that any stupid things you say will become a running joke.

Especially if you say something particularly ridiculous, such as, “Fine! I’ll sell my twenty-seven inch TV!”

It was the way he kept repeating “twenty-seven inch TV” that did it.