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Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
9:30 p.m. - "Careless Detention"--Those Who Can't Say No to Drugs
Detainees drugged without medical reason--U.S. government violating its own rules in the process.
The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.
The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.
About one detainee:
"I can't be deported," he replied. "I have a wife I love very much." Besides, he told them, he was still appealing his immigration case. He shouldn't have to leave, he protested, until the judge had ruled. That day, he was returned to Alabama. But he said that immigration officers warned him, "We'll find a way to get you on a plane."
A few weeks later, the officers came back and again took him to a holding cell in Atlanta. He was, the medical log says, becoming "increasingly anxious and non-cooperative per flt. to Nigeria." At 1:30 p.m., the log says, "Dt taken down by four" guards.
Ade was being held down, he recalled, when he noticed a nurse "with a needle and a bottle with some kind of substance in it." He said he told the guards: "Okay, fine, fine. If it's going to be like this, don't inject me. I will go on my own free will."
Check out page 2 of the article to see which drugs were commonly used in this nifty cocktail and in what doses they were given. Hey, have I ever mentioned in this journal that one of my recurring childhood nightmares was the one where government officials came to my house, accused me of something-or-other, and injected me with drugs against my will? (Link via ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) supergee.)
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Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
10:52 p.m. - More Gratuitous Lyrics (who needs newspapers?)
Too tired for my own words tonight; have someone else's. Here are lyrics to the two songs that have been running through my head all day.
( Cut for your protection )
You know, it may be best for me to avoid TV news for a good, long while.
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Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
12:44 p.m. - Gratuitous Lyric Post
Because I've been in a serious Nik Kershaw mood lately, and because some discussions elsewhere on LJ have irresistibly brought to mind this song from his 1999 album 15 Minutes, you all get to have lyrics while I try to find a reason to write a real post. Enjoy!
Billy is a new man, he does the best he can to figure out what it's about, and what the hell he's meant to be
He does the right thing when expected, nuff respect, once in a while he likes a smoke and a joke, just as long as it's PC
And he thinks that he cries at the Movies
'Cos he's in touch with his feminine side
Sally wants a proud man
Sally wants a proud man
Sally wants a proud man
But she's taken all his pride
Billy is a new man, at least when she's around, a model father or if needed, he'll be mother for the day
He watches "Men Behaving Badly" though he'll gladly switch it off if she's offended, he'll pretend it wasn't funny anyway
He's got one face he keeps for his woman
And one for when he's out with the guys
Sally wants a true man
Sally wants a true man
Sally wants a true man
But he's living out a lie
Better go and find an analyst, or something,
time for sorting out his head
Better go and find a book to read about it,
just like his daddy never did
And he reads Marie Claire at the Doctors, just in case there is something he should know
Sally wants a free man
Sally wants a free man
Sally wants a free man
But she will not let him go
Billy is confused, he feels abusive and abused, he's got his one hand on an olive branch, the other on his crotch
He drives a sensible coupe, he thinks Oasis are OK, he drinks non alcoholic lager though he'd rather have a scotch
And he tries very hard to be happy, but there are a few little things in the way
Billy wants a good girl and a bad girl and blonde girl, and a brunette or a Bond girl and a house maid and a teas maid and a French maid yeah, a sex aid and a Goddess and a confidante, a wet nurse and an agony aunt, a lover, mother, baby sitter, a young girl with a pretty face and smart but not too smart to love an arsehole, yes, an arsehole, Billy wants to be an arsehole, singin'
Billy wants it all now
Billy wants it all now
Billy wants it all now
But he's too ashamed to say
And
Sally wants a Superman
Sally wants a Superman
Sally wants a Superman
She hasn't got a chance
--"Billy," Nik Kershaw
Current Mood: drowsy
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Monday, April 21st, 2008
4:19 a.m.
So, it's three in the morning and I'm awakened by bright light and loud, electric-type noises. Nothing terribly unusual for a night after thunderstorms, so I don't get anxious till I realize things have been popping a bit longer than usual. The explosions stop and I relax back into bed. Then another, and I can tell from the way the light glares on the side of the next-door neighbor's house that this explosion is very--how shall I put this?--local.
I'm not terribly fond of things exploding near the house, so I call the people you often call when things you're not terribly fond of happening insist on happening anyway. I go downstairs to greet the nice folks, and notice that the light at the bottom of the stairs which always shines isn't shining tonight. Hmm, I think, it's odd that that light is out when I was sure the lights in my room were on just now. I flick the switch for the light at the top of the stairs and it's working just fine. So I go downstairs without benefit of the light at the bottom, then see that the lights in the kitchen are also not working--though the refrigerators are. Put simply, maybe half the lights in the house are working and half not. The nice firemen tell me they didn't see any obvious problems with the lines or transformers in my neighborhood, so either (A) there's a non-obvious problem with a line or a transformer and I need to call the power company in the morning, or (B) something exploded right at our house. Lovely.
So, how's everything going out there, LiveJournal?
For what it's worth, my feet are cold because I went outside in the mud without putting shoes on, then rinsed my feet off at the sink without bothering to dry them. One housemate also heard the explosion and was willing to help me go down to the basement to figure out if there was anything obviously wrong down there (as far as we could see--which wasn't very far in the dim light of a flashlight--all the circuits in the circuit breaker were properly aligned). Another housemate who I'd have expected to be closest to the action says they noticed nothing, though they woke up easily enough when I knocked lightly on their door. If anybody else is here tonight, they're not answering to a knock, so we don't have enough clues to figure out the precise location of whatever happened. The electric company will be called sometime after the landlord is called, which will be in, oh, three or four hours from now.
I tell you again, I really dislike it when things explode near the house. Or in the house. Or wherever that was.
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: early birds
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Friday, April 18th, 2008
6:34 p.m. - PSA for those interested
[Edit: It's over. Please disregard the rest of this entry.]
haikujaguar has a Balance Card one-card draw going right now. Less than one hour left to request a card (ends at 7:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (US)).
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Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
5:07 p.m. - Today's readings
From johncwright, we have the SF to English dictionary (via nancylebov):
Droid: a droid is a robot. Not to be confused with android, which means an artificial person. Just to be clear on this point: the Vision is an android, whereas Machine-Man is a robot. Robotman, on the other hand, is a cyborg. Cyborg is also a cyborg, not to be confused with Deathlok, who is also a cyborg, but more badass. Wonder Man is not a cyborg, but an energy being shaped like a man, whereas Adam Warlock is an artificially created human, therefore an android, but he is not a warlock. Doctor Strange is, however, a warlock, but no longer a doctor, due to a crippling accident. Doctor Druid is not a doctor, but he is a druid, a member of a pagan nature religion, not to be confused with droid. As far as can be determined, there are no droid druids. Superman is a space alien, whereas Brainiac is a space alien robot. In his Fortress of Solitude, Superman often makes robot duplicates of himself, so these are robots of a space alien. Doctor Doom also makes robot duplicates of himself, which are manlike in shape, and therefore can be called andriods, but not droids. Syndrome made a battlerobot called an Omnidriod, but it was shaped like a rollerball with tentacles. There were no robots, droids, androids, or space aliens in Rollerball, but it starred James Cahn, and I think it is an underrated movie. James Cahn is not to be confused with Khan, or, as we fans like to call him KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN.
And haikujaguar reprints a paragraph about the Secret Thrust.
~~~~~
In other news, I woke up early this morning in an attempt to get to a doctor appointment, realized that it was impossible for my body to make it to the doctor's office in time, checked e-mail and chatted for a bit, then went back to sleep. Slept for three hours. I really ought to do that more often--I almost feel like a sapient life form now! Still haven't left the house, mind you, but I will any minute now.
Current Music: Nik Kershaw, "Yeah, Yeah"
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Sunday, April 13th, 2008
12:11 a.m.
Feeling somewhat more energetic & less headachy the last couple of days, which is a great relief. Still not terribly alert or thinking all that well, though (and why on Earth am I still awake, anyway?). Thursday was my best day--not only did I walk over tuna half miles, but I also looked for clothes in a couple of inexpensive stores, which is one of my least-favorite chores. Didn't find any good clothes, but I did find some Easter chocolates at Aldi, which helped to improve my mood.
Friday: Walked a bit less than tuna half miles, read a bit, and surely did something else though I can't recall what it might have been. Grocery shopping? Yes, there must have been grocery shopping, or else why would I have all this cheese?
Saturday: More than a mile total, less than two. Head's hurting more again. Eyes, which started hurting rather a lot yesterday, are hurting less today yet still pinker than usual (hooray for tree pollen). Finished reading a library book about the Nuremberg Trial. Received in the mail the second of two CDs I splurged on this month: Nik Kershaw's You've Got To Laugh. Compared to that other album that arrived this past week, it's got fewer rude words and more glottal stops. Any more intelligent analysis will have to wait till after I've gotten a decent night's sleep, and why am I still awake anyway? Good night, all!
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Thursday, April 10th, 2008
1:12 p.m. - Most excellent advice
Found while journal-hopping: Things I learned from British folk ballads by Jim Macdonald. Truly a must-read for everyone who might otherwise wander down to the wild rippling water or the greenwood side, or end up in a situation where the obvious rhyme is "maidenhead."
[Edited to change the link to the original post on Making Light, where there are some exceedingly helpful comments.]
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Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
11:26 p.m.
Words are very difficult to use this past week or two. Words are slippery little things. I try to find one and I find that another has slipped out from between my teeth when I wasn't aware, or maybe I'm surprised by a burst of nonsense that comes out in place of a word. Following others' words is difficult too, though easier than finding my own.
I'm tired of my brain hurting. It's not fun. Tried going for a walk this evening and came much too close to passing out. That's not fun either.
On the fun side, I gave in to the urge to splurge last week and ordered a couple of CDs, one of which arrived yesterday. The Kaviar Sessions by the late Kevin Gilbert's band Kaviar may be the album in my collection most deserving of a parental advisory sticker (heck, the CD cover itself deserves a sticker), but something about the song "Death Orgy 9000" is good for taking my mind off of things for a while.
Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day.
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Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
11:08 a.m. - ::whimper::
I think I'm going to have to change neurologists. It's not that there's anything wrong with my current neurologist. It's that the office is so painfully difficult to get to. Nobody likes it when I cancel several appointments in a row, but even on a good day, a bus ride that's more than an hour long each way is going to be exhausting--and on a day like today when I'm already feeling more than my fair share of both pain and dizziness, a bus ride just sounds like an exceptionally bad idea.
Problem is I don't know if there are any other neurologists who accept my flavor of Medicaid and are easier to get to. Argh. I'll go to at least one more appointment with this one (next week, since this week isn't working out) and discuss the situation. Hopefully there's a solution somewhere.
~~~~~
In other news, the TV show New Amsterdam hasn't really drawn me in as much as I thought it might, but Nikolaj Coster-Waldau still is pretty.
Current Mood: dizzy & achy
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Sunday, April 6th, 2008
9:40 p.m. - Question
I'm thinking about buying a new mattress (for a twin bed), but it's been a long time since I even looked at mattresses. Does anyone have any purchasing advice for me?
Note: Though I do have enough money at the moment to think about buying a mattress, I most emphatically do not have enough to money to consider buying an expensive mattress. So money-saving tips would be greatly appreciated.
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Saturday, April 5th, 2008
4:32 p.m. - Cookie Monster Searches Deep Within Himself
A lovely essay via ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) mind_hacks: COOKIE MONSTER SEARCHES DEEP WITHIN HIMSELF AND ASKS: IS ME REALLY MONSTER?
How can they be so callous? Me know there something wrong with me, but who in Sesame Street doesn't suffer from mental disease or psychological disorder? They don't call the vampire with math fetish monster, and me pretty sure he undead and drinks blood. No one calls Grover monster, despite frequent delusional episodes and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. And the obnoxious red Grover—oh, what his name?—Elmo! Yes, Elmo live all day in imaginary world and no one call him monster. No, they think he cute. And Big Bird! Don't get me started on Big Bird! He unnaturally gigantic talking canary! How is that not monster? Snuffleupagus not supposed to exist—woolly mammoths extinct. His very existence monstrous.
More seriously, and also via Mind Hacks, there's a story about Erick Turner, a professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University and a clinician at the Portland VA Medical Center, ...[who] published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine that revealed antidepressants are not as effective as we’ve been led to believe.
While I'm looking at Mind Hacks anyway, here's one that will come as no surprise to some of you: "Karelis, a professor at George Washington University, has a simpler but far more radical argument to make: traditional economics just doesn't apply to the poor. When we're poor, Karelis argues, our economic worldview is shaped by deprivation, and we see the world around us not in terms of goods to be consumed but as problems to be alleviated."
Sidewalk Psychiatry.
My head still hurts. Bah. Me want cookie.
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3:46 p.m. - Hummingwolf goes "Baa"
While I wait to find out if the drugs will chase this headache away in time for me to enjoy the lovely spring day, here is a fairly frivolous survey-type thing all the cool kids are doing which will show you just how out of the pop-cultural loop I've been.
Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows" ever. Below is the list and here be the rules.
1. Bold the shows of which you've watched every episode
2. Italic the shows of which you've seen at least one episode
2a. Star the shows you consider "the best" (Addition by tidesong)
3. Post your answers
50. Quantum Leap--Might've seen a fraction of an episode once? Not sure.
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine *--Best of the Treks, IMO.
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek--I'm reasonably sure I've seen every episode. It's not as if the reruns weren't on the air all through my childhood.
42. Only Fools and Horses--Never even heard of this one.
41. Band of Brothers--Nor this.
40. Life on Mars--Have I heard of this? The David Bowie song running through my head isn't helping.
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus--Watched parts of episodes.
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation--May have eventually watched every episode in reruns, but I did miss most of season 2 when it first aired.
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5--Watched seasons 2-4, but missed much of season 1 and all of season 5 (no cable).
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers--Not sure if I've seen this, but possibly.
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf ( Read more... )
Current Mood: headachy
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Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
5:37 p.m.
Living off the fat of the land? Arrest in theft of grease
By Mark Gomez
Mercury News
Article Launched: 04/03/2008 01:30:20 AM PDT
Apparently a double Whopper and large fries weren't enough for this man: He wanted more - used cooking oil, 300 gallons of it.
David Richardson, 49, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of stealing grease after police said he siphoned it from a storage tank at a Morgan Hill Burger King.
A Burger King manager called police because he didn't recognize the truck belonging to a man he saw siphoning the oil. When police stopped Richardson, his 5,000-gallon oil tank was half-full.
Police suspect the Illinois man, who worked for Restaurant Oils of America in Las Vegas, intended to recycle the oil at an Atascadero refinery for $1.35 a gallon. A full tank would have been worth $6,750.
"Our guess is it's a biodiesel fuel thing. It's like someone stealing copper wire," said Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing. "This might turn into something that starts to occur more frequently."
Edit: More detail in this article on MSNBC.
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Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
1:57 p.m. - "The Adventure of Many Lifetimes"
For thousands of years,
the human race has spread out across the Earth, scaling mountains and plying the oceans, planting crops and building highways, raising skyscrapers and atmospheric CO2 levels, and observing, with tremendous and unflagging enthusiasm, the Biblical injunction to be fruitful and multiply across our world's every last nook, cranny and subdivision.
An invitation.
Earth has issues, and it's time humanity got started on a Plan B. So, starting in 2014, Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be leading hundreds of users on one of the grandest adventures in human history: Project Virgle, the first permanent human colony on Mars.
Sign me up! I'm ready to go, even if the test for my Pioneering potential did have the gall to call me normal.
In other news, today's ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/newsinfo.gif) news post brings an old Nick Lowe song to mind, so your music video of the day is right here.
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Sunday, March 30th, 2008
3:03 p.m.
Some of you, if you ever go Google searching for your own username and you've been allowing bots to archive your LiveJournal entries, will have discovered that your posts can be autoblogged in some of the most fascinating places (my favorite was the blog for "post-card-sex," though "how to build a catapult" was a close second). Yesterday, however, I discovered a new thing: the bots are editing me. Now, I can't find a reconstruction of the whole of the rewrite of yesterday's entry because the ephemeral links invariably go to dodgy sites like the ones that try to convince you that they're Google results pages even though they're really not. Still, by doing a string of searches for phrases found in other results, I have reconstructed a part of the spam consciousness' efforts:
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I don't believe I've ever used the word "albescent" in my life. Maybe it's time to change that.
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Saturday, March 29th, 2008
8:00 p.m.
It isn't that I have nothing to say, but that I keep forgetting how to say it. Of course I do remember again, sometimes, but those times tend to be when I'm taking a shower or crossing a busy highway or doing something else equally inconvenient.
I'm desperately searching for context. Context for what? Well, the context for everything, really. It gets tiring sorting through isolated pieces and hoping a pattern will show itself when you haven't a clue how much of the puzzle you've got.
No, the above wasn't meant to be a cryptic reference to anything. For "the puzzle," you may substitute "the cosmos" or "the totality of existence" or some such abstraction which embraces all concreteness. I want to know it all, you see.
In more mundane news, I finally have a new pair of walking shoes! Since I needed new, non-holey shoes quickly and didn't feel like trying on a thousand pairs in a hundred stores in an attempt to find the single best pair, I went to the same local mall I went to when buying the last pair, checked the three cheapest stores-with-shoes for Nike, discovered that two of those stores had none in my size, waited in one discount store for the Suzanne Vega song to end (it was "Penitent"), and then went to try on all the likely pairs (all three of them) in the remaining store. So, my new shoes are running shoes in blue, silver, and white--bought on sale for exactly the same price as the last pair. Bought some white athletic socks as well and I'd like to know why, when equivalent shoes are exactly the same price in the men's and women's departments (I checked), socks on the women's side cost two to three times as much. Good thing my feet are a size which enables me to find things that fit on both sides of the store, eh? Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out the best way to lace up the new shoes so that they will neither slip off my feet nor dig into them. At least my knees don't start screaming after a ten-foot walk as they were doing with the poor, pathetic, worn-out old pair.
Plans for the coming week: Go look at the pretty trees.
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Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
5:21 p.m. - If this sort of thing interests you, then you'll probably be interested
The final episode (I believe) in the BBC series "Dalek, I Love You" may still be heard if you go to the BBC 7 Programme List and scroll down to the Ds. Never having listened to the programme myself, I have no idea whether listening to the last half-hour of it will do you any good or not, but there you go. You should be able to listen for up to a week past the original airdate.
A new follow-up series, "Dalek, I Love You Too," will begin Saturday evening, and you will presumably be able to listen to it in the same way.
As for me, I still need to listen to the latest "Just a Minute," which to the best of my knowledge has nothing to do with Daleks or Who.
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Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
11:16 p.m. - In Brief
Happy Day After St. Patty's Day, everyone!
Too tired for a real update, so you get summaries.
Saturday's fun: Going to a local Korean grocery with a couple of housemates. Asking people who work there about the different items in the refrigerator case was entertaining, though not always informative. Came home with two different kinds of junk food and a container of "fish with vegetables." What kind of fish? What kind of vegetables? Who cares, as long as it tastes good?
Monday: Didn't do much early in the day aside from listening to BBC radio online. Later in the afternoon, I went to the library for a quick look around, went to the grocery store and bought a jar of gooseberry jam (on sale, probably because it was from Ireland), and then went to relax with friends and watch Boondock Saints. Good company, tasty pizza, and a movie somewhat related to St. Pat's day? Works for me! Many thanks to Jason for the ride home, even if it was more of an adventure than planned. I don't think the sight of the Washington Monument directly ahead has ever made me laugh so loud before.
Today: Woke up late after strange dreams I'd rather forget, frankly. Since I'd gotten to bed so late, all day felt like it must be a weekend. (Are we quite sure this isn't a Saturday?) Anyway, did more laundry, tried to read a bit, napped, surfed to the YouTube posting of Barack Obama's morning speech, walked to the drug store, walked to the grocery store, bought a few things, came home, watched the fraction of the speech that had actually loaded, read a bit of a book, read a bit of LiveJournal, discovered that YouTube had decided that after all these hours it didn't want me to see more than 17 minutes of the speech, gave up on politics and looked for music videos instead.
I'm pretty sure there's other stuff to talk about, but I am much too tired to deal with it right now. I need more sleep in my life.
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: http://youtube.com/watch?v=J1QldxkZQF4
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Sunday, March 16th, 2008
12:21 a.m. - Our hero sits with head in hands and heart upon his sleeve
Since I was visiting the evil YouTube anyway and had lots & lots of time to kill (read: there were plenty of dishes for me to do while waiting for things to load on my poor, poor, pitiful dial-up connection), I decided it was time to look for the video to the very first song on the very first album I ever bought. So, for those of you who happen to be in the mood for some nifty synthpop (accompanied by '80s hair!), or if you're in the mood to find out what a hummingwolf listened to in the '80s, here you go: Dancing Girls.
And they dance for him inside his head...
Current Music: Nik Kershaw, "Dancing Girls"
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Saturday, March 15th, 2008
11:18 p.m. - Beware the Ides of March!
I realize this is a bit late in the day, but for those of you who can celebrate this way, why not watch Ides of March music videos? Try live versions of their classic song "L.A. Goodbye" or their big number 1 hit "Vehicle". As for me, I've got a CD I can listen to in a moment.
Alternatively, you could read a Shakespeare play, but this can be difficult to do when you're being sung to by a friendly stranger in a black sedan.
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Friday, March 14th, 2008
11:53 p.m. - Wah!
A housemate offered me a piece of pecan pie earlier and I didn't take any. And now I remember that it's Pi Day! How could I have gotten through Pi Day without any pie? Whatever is wrong with me?
I must go to bed now, and I must cry myself to sleep knowing that I have lost my chance to properly celebrate Pi Day. Woe!
Current Mood: woe!
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Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
10:23 p.m. - Hummingwolf Today
Now wearing: Blue jeans starting to fray at the bottoms; faded black blouse with diagonal row of buttons; year-old formerly orange, silver, and-white shoes with holes in them; reddish socks; crooked glasses; and, surprisingly, less boring underwear than usual (the panties have pink and purple flowers).
First major accomplishment today: Dragging myself out of the house. I so wanted to go back to bed.
Second major accomplishment: Picking up a prescription for the lowered dose of medication. This should not have been difficult, except the bottle of pills was missing and the folks at the pharmacy kept asking me if I was sure nobody had picked up the prescription already.
Third major accomplishment: Buying two pairs of jeans & two nightgowns at the Salvation Army. I really should have gotten more clothes, but I hate clothes shopping and I hope that taking the lower dose of the drug will mean I lose some of the mass I've gained in the last nine months, or at least the volume, so I'd prefer not to buy too much in the meantime. (And for those who might not know me very well: No, I'm not pregnant. Yes, I'm sure.)
Latest book purchase: The Portable Dorothy Parker, also from the Salvation Army store. Keep seeing her quoted everywhere, but I've never actually read an entire essay or story by her because the library doesn't have any.
Miles walked: At least two, probably more like three. Feels like it was a zillion.
Last meal eaten: A turkey & cheese sandwich I bought at the convenience store after coming home and discovering that there was no way to use the kitchen tonight. Also bought a package of "Chocolate Mix" Skittles which resemble chocolate as much as regular Skittles resemble fruit. Fortunately, I wasn't really in the mood for chocolate.
Found yesterday while searching for images of Adrian Paul: Awww.
Music of the day: Some classic 1980s prog-pop from Giraffe.
Utterly useless quiz result of the day:( I'm *what*? )
Somehow, I feel like I've betrayed my roots.
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Giraffe, "Waiting for the Rain"
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Monday, March 10th, 2008
10:13 p.m. - Deep and thoughtful "New Amsterdam" commentary
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau sure is pretty.
Current Mood: chipper
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Thursday, March 6th, 2008
10:51 p.m. - It's a setup for a heartbreak...
... but I just can't help myself. After only two episodes, and seriously against my better judgment, I feel myself getting sucked into a new fantasy-type TV series on FOX. This can only end badly.
On the plus side, the lead actor on New Amsterdam is definitely easy on the eyes. I intend to enjoy that aspect of the show as long as possible.
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Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
8:10 p.m. - it's reputed that the rotor thrust is not their fruit.
Saturday: After several days of lying around the house doing nothing of any consequence, I felt the need to get outside and do some wandering in the wondrously windy weather, so I walked a bit, hopped onto public transportation, and went to another suburb for a while. First, I made the mistake of eating some fairly mediocre food court Chinese food, which mistake was all the more silly considering that there were some decent ethnic restaurants within walking distance. But I made up for that bad idea by following it up with the good idea of wandering into a used bookstore, where I bought two books I knew I wanted to have around (I'd read them before) for nice, low prices. The good idea seemed less good when I realized that I, um, already owned a copy of one of the books in question and had it sitting happily here on the shelves in my room, but at least the price wasn't too bad.
Another good idea on Saturday: Going to a little Thai grocery and buying various foodstuffs. Got my fill of sesame-covered crispy anchovy snacks, and I now know that I never need to buy Ivy brand rosella juice again (too sweet). Came home very tired, but feeling somewhat accomplished.
Sunday: Sunshine! Felt considerably more energetic than I had Saturday, so instead of relying on bus or Metro, I stayed closer to home but did much more walking (nearly four miles). Checked out various places where new business spaces have sprung up, enjoying (if that's the word) that special new-building smell.
Monday: Beautiful, unseasonably warm weather. Was more tired than I had been on Sunday, but still got a couple miles of walking in. Fell down on the way home, though, managing to do a bit of rather unsightly damage to (of all things) my left thumb. Came home, set my groceries down, and had my landlord & a housemate oohing and aahing (or ewwing) over the delightful raw-hamburger look that so fascinates people. I wonder when the fingernail will grow back?
Tuesday: Got good news and bad news. Spent most of the day in bed, either sleeping or reading. Walked something like three miles and did some grocery shopping, though, and my timing was perfect--skies were dark grey and threatening while I was outside, but the local downpour began and ended while I was in the bakery section trying to decide if this would be a good day to buy a piece of chocolate cake (answer: yes). And now I leave you with this silly quiz result:
 | I am:Gregory Benford A master literary stylist who is also a working scientist. |
Which science fiction writer are you?
"The real Greg Benford once took this quiz, and it told him he was Arthur C. Clarke."
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Friday, February 29th, 2008
12:08 p.m. - Euphemize Me!
Poll #1146594 Euphemization Rock
Open to: All, results viewable to: AllSo, last night I found two versions of one phrase, one content-filtered and one not. Question for you: Would "Dissolution Liquidateers" be better as a band name or an album title? What kind of music do you expect from Dissolution Liquidateers? Are you with the band?
Current Mood: curious
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
1:40 p.m. - Followup to yesterday's post
Found an archived version of an old press release about John Kerry with some interesting language usage:
Kerry Worked With Law Enforcement Officials to Ban Military- Style buttault Weapons. John Kerry has strongly supported the current ban on machine guns and buttault weapons-including AK-47's and similar weapons used by persons in Afghanistan. Police organizations including IBPO strongly support extension of the current ban. (RC 375, S Amdt. 1152 to S Amdt. 1151 to S 1607, 11-17-93; Orange County Register, 3-2-04)
Kerry is a National Leader in Working to Ban "Cop person Bullets." John Kerry is a national leader in promoting sensible oversight of ammunition sales which have no sporting value yet risk the lives of police officers. Kerry has strongly supported measures to crack down on armor-piecing, "cop person" bullets. (S. 553, 4-10-97; S. 433, 2-16-95; RC 240, S Amdt. 3351 to S. 2312, 7-28-98; RC 116, S Amdt. 343 to S 254, 5-13-99)
As a County Prosecutor, Kerry Fought Crime and Put Away liquidateers and Mob Bosses. John Kerry was the first buttistant prosecutor of Middlelove County (one of the largest counties in the country) and won convictions in high profile liquidate, rape and mafia cases. Kerry led the prosecutor's office in a major modernization. "He launched initiatives that were innovative at the time: special units to prosecute white-collar and organized crime, programs to counsel rape victims and aid other crime victims and witnesses, and a system for fast-tracking priority cases to trial" and "is credited with reducing the backlog of cases." (Boston Globe, 6-18-03; Washington Post, 2-21-85)
( Original language in press release )
I find myself fascinated by which words were replaced here and which word was not.
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Monday, February 25th, 2008
9:01 p.m. - Bwah!
In the words of darth_spaceySay it with me, ladies and gentlemen...Content Filtering Does Not Work
Lunchtime doubly soThis goes double for retroactive content filtering in an attempt to sanitize your discussions for public consumption.
Oh, and I just found two more quick examples, which may conveniently be combined.
Edit: Oh dear. If you're up for reading an old article about sexual abuse in the Catholic church, see how many new words you can find here.
Current Mood: indescribable
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Sunday, February 24th, 2008
8:39 p.m. - the wind fanning the ash of a flickering thought
Summary of the last few days: Bleh.
Slightly longer summary: My body seems to be upset, but I can't tell if it's upset with me or upset with my medication. Left a message with the neurologist's voice mail, so hopefully I'll get some kind of clue tomorrow. As a result of the general oogieness, I barely managed to go anywhere until yesterday (when I had to return a library book).
Book finished today: Kit Whitfield's Benighted (entitled Bareback in the UK; retitled for US market because Yanks are more dirty-minded than Brits (who knew?)). This book wrecked me, people. Think prejudice, PTSD, and bureaucracy. Also people who would, if they lived in our world, be referred to as "werewolves," but in the book's alternate universe are known as "normal humans." The story's told from the point of view of one of the rare folks with a birth defect that makes them unable to transform when the full moon rises, an oppressed minority that still has a vital role to play in society--a role which gives them the opportunity to use all those glorious old techniques their predecessors came up with during the Inquisition. It's a very well-written book, stunning in some ways, but not the sort of thing you should read if you're in the mood for something light'n'fluffy.
Next book in the queue: There is no queue. Do any of you have something light'n'fluffy to recommend?
Way I woke myself up after the requisite afternoon nap: Finally listening to last Monday's Just a Minute, followed by the most recent News Quiz. Followed this up with a friendly conversation with a relative, which is always a nice touch.
Question of the evening: So, how are the rest of you doing?
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Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
10:23 p.m. - Whee!
Mere hours after downloading a relatively obscure song by the Passion Puppets (see previous post), I find a mashup site with a mashup featuring that very song. And then I find this Project Opus page with Passion Puppets songs I never heard before (along with two I have). I love the internet so very much tonight.
Current Music: Passion Puppets, "Run Little Child"
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7:56 p.m. - ¡Música!
I've been missing my old record collection lately. Been missing it rather a lot. There are far too many old songs in those LPs and EPs and 12-inchers and 7-inchers and even (can such things be?) 10-inchers that I just never, ever got in any kind of digital format; and since I don't have my records here, much less any way to play them even if I did have them, it's been far too long since I heard those songs. Today there were two songs in particular that kept trying to take over my brain and, since I was too tired to do anything actually useful, I decided to look for them online.
Well. Those of you who have ever suggested that I watch anything on YouTube will know that I never, ever watch YouTube. I Do Not Do YouTube. No matter how wonderful that video may be, the site is too dial-up unfriendly for me to bother, okay?
As a measure of how desperate I was to hear one of these tracks, I went to YouTube. If any of you can locate for me any version of this song in mp3 format, I would appreciate it (the version I knew was on the Common Bond album from 1971); in the meantime, if you have no aversion to YouTube, you may go watch a live performance of Ides of March, "L.A. Goodbye".
For the second song, it wasn't even necessary to brave the horrors of YouTube! Weirdly enough, a blog post out there features a SendSpace link that still works, making for a very happy hummingwolf. RetroMusicSnob has the Passion Puppets, "Like Dust". True fact: a British music magazine in the mid-'80s once said that the three best guitar groups in the UK at the time were U2, the Smiths, and the Passion Puppets--and the Passion Puppets were the best of the lot. Or maybe I made up that last part.
Now, if anyone can explain why out of all the songs I've ever known, it was these two that decided to gang up on me today, please tell me. I'm curious.
Current Music: The Passion Puppets, "Like Dust"
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7:33 p.m.
Am very tired. Please forgive language lapses this evening.
Yesterday began with unusually warm temperatures and a hasufin dropping by to take me grocery shopping for the homeless. After we'd bought eggs, hash browns, sausage, and such with some of my spare food stamps, we went off to meet his friend Sara and her two beautiful cats, then we three bipedal beings all went off to IHOP to eat more breakfast-like food which was undoubtedly bad for us.
After lunch, Hasufin abducted me and transported me across state lines for purposes of hanging out with lyssabard, tlttlotd, and stardansr. We spent a few hours being wonderfully lazy (most of us, at least), then, as the natives grew restless, we all went On the Border for Mexican food. Very tasty food in good company! After this, we ran to the car, most of us (everyone not called Hasufin, I believe) shivering a bit since the temperatures were considerably chillier than they had been in the morning. Since people had to go out and do things early this morning, the company broke up after dinner. It was overall quite a pleasant day.
Had a dental appointment today, which I was looking forward to about as much as you'd expect. As it turns out, when it comes to all the things I have any control over, everything was fine: no cavities, gums no worse than before. Unfortunately, since my bite has been a little bit off for many years now, that has put a certain amount of stress on some of my teeth and gums, which (says the dentist) means I need some work done on three of those teeth. Ouch. Can't say I'm terribly thrilled with that idea, but we'll see what can be done.
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