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Emotional zombie
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| | Tags: | animals, art, cats, delirium, economy, fish, fucking china, pets, science!, technology | | Current Music: | Mesh | | Subject: | Something Old, Something New; an Arbitrary Slice of Time | | Time: | 03:43 pm | | Current Mood: | anxious |
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Delirium went back to the vet to get stitches removed, and everything is supposed to be fine, now. It appears the surgery was pretty exten- sive, and she had more stitches inside her rectum, aside from the two that were visible on the outside. She seems fine.
On Sunday, zombiena and I traded 10 more mollies and the by-now-too-large-and-agressive golden Chinese Algae Eater (who ate no algae) to the store for $25 fishbucks.
Since the tank is still swamped with fry, we asked about fish that might eat them, since the betta is not doing his job.
We were introduced to the amazing world of the Rainbowfish. Using our hundred of fish- bucks, we got a few young Rainbowfish, at 17 and 18 dollars a piece. I have no idea what kind the potential female is, but it looks like we got a Kubutu (or Turquoise) Rainbowfish and a Bosemani Rainbowfish. The fishguy said that large ones can be around eight years old.
In addition, we got a creamsicle lyretail male molly, and some plants.
I'm still working with the new camera, and I'm about ready to return to my manual settings, versus the Aquarium pre-set. Also, I think I need to take pictures facing down- ward, instead of into the aquarium light.
One of the male Rainbowfish, and Blackie, the 14-inch pleco:

( Five more fish pictures... )
Officials in China are banning use of virtual money to buy real-world goods and services... to limit the impact of virtual money on the country's real financial system.
What a 2009 13-year-old makes of a Sony Walkman
Unusual nuclear explosions - with video!
Wondermark greeting cards
The evolution of house cats - ScientificAmerican article | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment  |
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Mmmm, tasty tasty, pasty Yellow Moong Daal.
With a big dollop of sour cream.
I tried to watch Australia. I watched over 50 minutes, knowing I still had over 100 to go. I quit. It sucked. It was like a Disney movie, full of cartoon and caricature and stereotype and bad CGI and bad acting and slow-mo video. I read that, later, they show Japanese troops invading the Australian mainland -- which, so far as I know, NEVER HAPPENED. Also, Magical Aboriginals.
Longitude is a little BBC historical info- drama miniseries about the development of the first marine timekeeper, used for deter- mining longitude. The whole series is really just a portrayal of how men's pettiness, small-mindedness, and ignorance keep great men from doing great work, and retard sci- entific and technological advancements. It also could be a testament to how obsession is the only thing that makes great men. If you like British period drama, science, nautical drama, and a slew of actors inclu- ding Jeremy Irons, Michael Gambon, Ian McNeice, Bill Nighy, Brian Cox, and cameos by Stephen Fry and Tim McInnery, you'll probably enjoy this informative and frus- trating programme. It's low on action, but big adherence to the book and to historical accuracy.
I thought I'd been all clever, and invented the lichenthrope -- half fungi, half funguy -- but Magic: the Gathering already beat me to it.
Japan's lunar satellite records its demise as it crashes into the Moon - YouTube video here.
Earth's biosphere: more like Medea than Gaia
'Cash for Clunkers' Bill Passes: Originally intended to get gas guzzlers off the road, it will mainly help automakers sell more pickups and SUVs
The hats of Ladies' Day at Royal Ascot
More than half of UKians can't locate heart on body diagram - This is obviously the result of the failed socialist health care system *ahem* | comments: 15 comments or Leave a comment  |
| | Tags: | angel, animals, bme, cats, dream, england, fetishware, food, madam mam's, obama, pad thai, pets, politcs, star trek, star wars | | Current Music: | Man Man | | Subject: | The Conner, Er, Worm | | Time: | 01:36 pm | | Current Mood: | full |
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|  Also, one of the cats, likely Dream, left a wriggling worm segment on the futon.
In watching Seasons 3 and 4 of Angel, I no- tice I have fallen into a habit of saying, "Connor, why you always gotta fuck stuff up?" It gets old. In fact, in Season 4, Gunn complains to the electro-girl that he's been spending time in a soap opera.
Again I say, if the characters in your story are annoyed, the audience probably is, too.
There is now a Madam Mam's Thai restaurant near my house. Very few things bring me this much happiness. My belly is bloated. My tooth hurts.
How did I miss nakedcat until now?! (Entirely sfw.)
Somalia: Libertarian paradise - (YouTube) thanks wretch
Star Trek and Star Wars corsets
The teenager claims she asked tattooist for THREE stars on her face and ended up with FIFTY-SIX
Gordon Brown vs Barack Obama at 10 Downing Street - (vid clip from Have I Got News for You)
The Vendor-Client relationship in real world situations - (vid) | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment  |
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 Delirium went under the knife Friday for emergency buttsurgery. It seems she had an infected/abscessed anal gland, and the infection had spread a bit into her anus. She has a couple of stitches on it, now. :(
Here she is, doped and revelling in her escape from the collar.
The vet said this sort of thing is ex- tremely painful, but, other than acting a little more friendly and needy this past week, zombiena and I had no idea anything was wrong with her. Only this morning, when we conducted the usual poo- check (she's really terrible about getting runny poo all over her feet and hindlegs), did zombiena notice that something was wrong.
Delirium had one of those soft collars a- round her neck, and is on sedatives for a few days. Friday afternoon, after she got home, she swung between sitting and staring into space, thrashing at the collar, and trying -- and often succeed- ing -- at licking her bum. The collar simply isn't large enough or impediment enough. :-/ Only zombiena sitting right next to her keeps her quiet. Delirium managed to wrestle free of the collar a- bout five seconds after I took this blurry picture of her (I accidentally had the camera on the Aquarium setting).
After that, we left the collar off her, since she's never been much of a bum-licker in the first place (much to my dismay), and she seems much calmer without the collar.
She didn't sleep much for the first 24 hours after she got home, but is resting now. Also, she hasn't had a bowel movement yet, and I kind of dread how that's going to go.
Delirium is going back to the vet on Monday for a checkup, and hopefully won't have to wear the collar past Wednesday. In the meantime, warm, wet gauze compresses are used to mop (and soothe) her occasionally bloody bum.
Leeloo and Dream have been a bit jealous of all the attention Delirium is getting.
The vet also told zombiena that, while dogs have this sort of problem frequently, he has seen its occurrence in cats more often in the last few years. I believe there was some implication that changes in cat foods may have something to do with it. He also said that, since it's a low-level enough problem, there's really no money for researching it.
( Blurry picture of a cat with a collar... ) | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment  |
| What are some Austin restaurants that are considered "upscale", and serve fish and/or vegetarian entrees?
Also: must be open at noon on a Saturday. That really limits options. | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment  |
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All week, zombiena and I had planned to net more mollies and take them to the fish store. Unfortunately, on Sunday, the day of the Great Nettening, a whole bunch more babies were born before we woke.
This is the full length of the tank, a very difficult shot for me. I'm also still playing with the camera settings. To far left, in the plant, is the betta, who has grown a bit, and may actually be eating a few of the fry. To far right, alongside the filter, is Blackie. Under the red ledge on the right, at the right of it, is the gold Chinese algae eater.

Anyway, we took 19 mollies to the store. We got $2.50 per fish, instead of the $2 we got four weeks ago -- because they're low on mollies; almost every molly they got from us last time was gone. One of the few remaining ones was Death Star II, and she was even HUGER than before! Seriously, I have never seen another molly that big.
( More fish, the final resting place of Sid, Mamakitty... ) Delirium and Leeloo have been on serious roach patrol the past couple of weeks. At least four roaches have been caught/killed by them. Here are all three cats, sleeping at zombiena's feet.
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| | Tags: | alcohol, america as a third world nation, beer, fascism, food, games, movies, our corporate masters, politics, sake, zealots, zombiena | | Current Music: | HMB - Great Industrial Love Affairs | | Subject: | Japanese America | | Time: | 11:38 am | | Current Mood: | hungry |
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Thursday night's dinner consisted of miso soup with loads of tofu, seaweed and mush- rooms, and a dish of broiled salmon glazed with a miso/brown sugar/soy sauce mixture. In future, I think edamame would go well with the salmon. For dessert, we had alien rice goo and mung bean cakes. We drank two Kirin Ichiban beers apiece and a whole bot- tle of Sho Chiku Bai Nigori unfiltered sake while playing Munchkin. zombiena won.
Please, someone slap me in the balls if I ever consider watching another Richard Kelly movie again. After twenty minutes of watching Southland Tales, enduring terrible acting, horrible dialogue, lame voiceover, and pre- tentious literary references, I stopped the movie right after the bit where Sarah Michelle Gellar's character says, “Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted." I "get" that it's supposed to be satire. But it's not good. It's fucking awful.
As zombiena said, if even the people at Cannes thought the movie was bad, it really must be.
A very well-expressed opinion about keeping Guantanamo prisoners on USAian soil
Hershey sues chocolatier because he named one of his truffles "Champagne Kiss" - thanks prolixe
Charles Stross on the terrible American railroad experience - with link to interesting Slate article on the historical reasons why it sucks
Approval For GOP Leaders Has Plummeted — Among Republicans - thanks jblaque
The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment  |
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May 7 marks the beginning of the Great Summer Bug Invasion.
Just after midnight on the 7th, I saw Leeloo chase down something small by the bed, and eat it.
I microwaved some breakfast, and after I had removed the food, a tiny spider slid down a strand of silk, apparently unphased by the radiation.
Delirium chased some tiny scuttling thing in the kitchen at lunchtime, and zombiena got it.
I was sitting on the toilet just after she left, and one of those creepy paper wasps flew into the bathroom. I flushed it.
Lastnight May 20, *something* kept scritch scritch scritching in the walls. I woke zombiena, and only then did the lazy cats notice the noise. I went onto the private patio to see if I could see anything on that side of the door, and I scared the hell out of Mamakitty, who was asleep in the patio next door. She climbed to the top of the wall and stared, unblinking, at me while raccoons shrieked in chittering, echoing bursts from somewhere in the dark beyond the brick walls. I turned to zombiena and said, "...It's like Hell..."
She agreed, then lubricated the fuck out of the scritching thing in the wall by spraying WD-40 into the crack. The noises stopped, and I haven't heard anything since.
I went to the dentist today for that filling. When he went to stick the hypodermic in my mouth, I licked my lips in preventative prep- aration, and he missed the hole in my head, and jabbed a hole in my lip. I bled a little. He didn't apologise. Also, he's talking crown for that tooth pain I've had the last eight months, and that'll cost me about a thousand dollars.
I've watched the first two episodes of True Blood, and I don't think I'll be watching more. It was pretty slow, lame, cliched, cheesey, and just plain bad. Half the time, I felt like I was watching a high school play. The terrible attempts at Louisiana accents really cinched it for me. Also, what the heck is the deal with that gap?
Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus trailer - starring Lorenzo Lamas and Debbie Gibson (thanks shanmonster)
A fantastic pre-review of the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie
7 Movies Based on a True Story (That Are Complete Bullshit)
Five thousand years of Apocalyptic predictions
Lord British sues NCsoft for its "mischaracterization" of his departure - Penny Arcade commentary here | comments: 20 comments or Leave a comment  |
| | Tags: | british comedy, daal, food, house, idiots, naan, pictures, politics, recipes, society, venture bros | | Current Music: | The Tallywood String Quartet - Tribute to The Cure | | Subject: | Flowerlentil | | Time: | 11:34 am | | Current Mood: | sleepy |
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This picture is for all of those on my Flist who like to post pictures of the flora around their homes. This is zombiena's horticultural patch by the front door.
Starting at left and going clockwise, we have Lemon Balm, Aloe vera, Gardenia, and, in the tiny pot, some sort of succulent. The green waxy leaves in the upper right corner are from the hedge of holly that came with the house.
Lastnight, newlodger made creamy yellow daal from this recipe I found a while back. We ate naan and weird desserts that zombiena got at MGM Foods, a place so filled with spices that she came home smelling of the far away Orient. (Also, they most emphatically do carry only Hindi music, and *not* Punjabi pop.)
Flu virus sparks 'social distancing' trend - which is, you know, how I've lived my *life*, except when I'm drunk
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney compared the GOP to Americans fighting the British during the Revolutionary War. "We are the party of the revolutionaries, they [Democrats] are the party of the monarchists," he told the overwhelmingly Republican crowd, saying the Republicans needed to "once again lead the American Revolution."
Doctor Who and The Curse of Fatal Death - Part 1 - (video) Rowan Atkinson as the Ninth Doctor, and Jonathan Pryce as the Master
A Very Venture Christmas - (video) Venture Bros. xmas episode
The Monarch makes two phone calls from prison - (audio) | comments: 23 comments or Leave a comment  |
| | Tags: | alcohol, arthropods, austin, biochemistry, dentist, food, mraustin, music, my personal afflictions, our corporate masters, wine | | Current Music: | Max Raabe & Palast Orchester - Von Kakteen und Gorillas | | Subject: | Tuna Tooth | | Time: | 12:04 am | | Current Mood: | sore |
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Went to see a new dentist. The operation is pretty cool in that they don't overbook, and they take their time, so, although new clients have to book appointments months in advance, the tiny lobby was empty when I got there. Which is good, because, you know, I didn't want swine flu. Not that I was safe from swine flu *talk*, mind you, but at least it's good to see more people engaging in panicked obsessive-compulsive cleansing of surfaces THE WAY I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED. I made sure to push my agenda further by suggesting that the desk staff clean the pens they share with clients, perhaps by dunking them in a jar of alcohol.
The dentist couldn't really tell why I am still having pain near where I got my fil- lings last year, and he kept saying scary things about fractures and crowns and root canals. However, he said that if the pain *has* lessened over the months -- and it has -- then I probably don't need him.
The bad news is, I have *another* tiny cavity. I'm really getting sick of this. The hygaenist tells me how good my gums are, how good my teeth are, how well I seem to be caring for my teeth...and then the dentist tells me I need some small fillings. I guess, compared to most USians, maybe I have great oral skillz. I'm ser- iously considering getting my teeth sealed like was done when I was a child.
So I'm spending my stimulus money on my teeth. Spend local!
Newlodger, after days of absence, re-appeared this morning with some flimsy and vague expla- nation just as I returned from the dentist. At night, newlodger lightly stir-fried broccoli, peppers, zuchini, and carrots in that red rooster Thai chili paste, mixed it with Seared Ginger- Sesame Tuna, and put it all beautifully over black rice. We drank a bigass bottle of L'Epayrie Vin Blanc de France Special Reserve (a pretty darned good table wine of under $10!), and some Shiraz afterwards. For dessert, we had oven- warmed peach & berry cobbler from the Soup Peddler with vanilla ice cream.
Tainted Love: big band style - (audio on YouTube) I am now a fan of Max Raabe. (thanks sterlingspider)
"At chilling temperatures, with no oxygen or sunlight, these newly found microbes have survived for the past 1.5 million years using an "iron-breathing" technique"
"After hemoglobin, hemocyanin is the second most commonly encountered blood pigment, and plenty of other arthropods (including lobsters, crabs of the nonhorseshoe variety, and assorted insects) and mollusks (among them snails and octopuses) have blue, copper-based blood." - thanks to a discussion with mraustin
Time Warner "educates" its Austin customers with service termination - and this guy just happens to be a vocal opponent of TimeWarner's plans
Superhero vigilantes on the rise - with fantastic video segment about Cincinnati's Shadowhare and his companions, the Allegiance of Heroes. And here is the World Superhero Registry shown in the video! | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment  |
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The molly population in the fishtank exploded while I wasn't paying attention. About a month and a half ago, zombiena and I took back the last 5 of the genetically inferior mollies -- the ones who had roundtails and small dorsal fins. We were left with all good fish, green or mostly black or pearl, and a lot of marbled mixings of those three colours, most with long dorsal sailfins, lyretails, and pretty, paddle- like pelvic fins.
We figured the tank was still far too full for any more breeding to occur, and we resolved to get rid of more and acquire some new male stock before summer, because the fish in the tank are lo unto the sixth generation.
I guess the removal of those five fish made the others think it was time to spawn again. Fourteen babies appeared last week, during a blackbeard algae bloom when the filter quietly stopped doing its job.
So along with cleaning the algae and the filter, zombiena and I caught ten of the oldest mollies on Saturday, and traded them to Aqua-tek for 20 fishbucks. I was sad to see them go, but they have done their jobs quite well. In fact, I think most of the females in that batch were pregnant *again*, and the males were fucking the females on the way to the store. Four males went, inclu- ding [My Namesake] III; Spike, the green male with the black spike of colour through his sail- fin; and the biggest black male I've ever seen, who had a really long sailfin and long lyretail. At least one female, Death Star II, was over six months old.
Our mollies dwarfed the others in the tanks at Aqua-tek. The fishguy at the store even had to ask us what kind of mollies the green females were. I'm not sure if it's because green mollies are rare, or if they were just so pale and big that he didn't know what they were.
We used 15 fishbucks to buy a pretty little purple half-moon betta. He is to be the Angel of Death (Azrael? Suriel? Samael?), devouring future generations of fry. We chose him because he is kind of small, in the hope that he won't eat the new 14, and yet will grow larger in his new 55-gallon home (4'x1.5'x1').
And so, we still have too many fish. Not inclu- ding the 15 mollies that were traded over the past couple of months, we still have the 14 babies and 38 larger mollies. That means there were *sixty-two* mollies in a 55-gallon tank be- fore Friday, with many of the females pregnant again.
One of the remaining green females is perfect, with a sailfin of her own, as well as the lyre- tail and big pectoral fins. A couple of pearl- coloured mollies are in the tank, too, the result of uncontrolled inbreeding between marbled and green mollies. :P
And lets not forget:
- Blackie, the 14 inch pleco who started all this
madness. He came all the way from some Aus- tralians (along with Sid, the gold pleco with scoliosis, RIP) and is something like 11 or 12 years old now.
- The two Chinese algae eaters. We got these two
guys when they were very tiny, and both quickly got much bigger. One turned dark, dark brown and spends most of its time in the black algae that covers the piece of driftwood in the tank. The other grew about twice as big as the brown one, and turned all gold. He's very brazen, and, coupled with his size, might have to go soon if he gets more aggressive. Assuming he can be caught.
- The two skunk loaches. They make clicking noises
that can be heard through the glass. They are mighty snailhunters.
- And the few remaining snails who have managed
to avoid the predations of the loaches.
Waaaaaaay too many fish!
Since taking the images in this post, zombiena has shown me the "aquarium" setting on the camera, so future images should look better. :P
In this image, you can see one of the pearl mollies at the centre. To right of centre, you can see the big black male. To his right, angling upward, is Spike. Behind them, affixed to the back wall, is Blackie. You can also see a couple of the plants which Blackie has since repeatedly uprooted to death.

( 10 more big images of the fishtank... ) | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment  |
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To be fair, I sit on agchat all day, so that really does take the place of Twittering. We were Tweeting before being a Twit was main- stream.
- Leviticus 26:29 (King James Version): "And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat."
- Singuhilarity, an epic space opera about a cosmic comedian at the centre of the galaxy, determined to make it big beyond the event horizon.
- I'm gonna start keeping women in a basement so I can be all Cronos like, and eat their foetuses and placentae for the stem cells. (How ridiculous is it that the culture of pre-emptive USAian incarceration has gotten so bad that I actually worry a bit about posting something like this on my blog?)
- The original Danish version of The Kingdom is now available via Netflix! I saw half of this very slow mini-series at university, and loved it. I have not seen the adaptation that Stephen King did.
- What's with all the commentators nowadays claiming that, since America hasn't experienced another terrorist attack in the past 8 years (despite having none for six years before 2001), it's proof that Bush administration policies have actually *saved* USAia from further terrorist attacks?
- And what's the new commentator push for Obama to be a President who makes tough decisions, and sticks to them no matter what? That sounds a lot like the Bush everyone hated.
- Sixty dead of avian swine flu in Mexico. And this is why I want poor people to have health care, so I don't have to breathe the stench of the pyre pits.
- Steel Panther is awesome butt metal. Death to All But Metal and Fat Girl (Thar She Blows) - (thanks
mraustin)
| comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment  |
| | Tags: | animals, arthropods, dance, doctor who, heroes, history, movies, parasites, reviews, warren ellis, zombies | | Current Music: | Clan of Xymox - Breaking Point | | Subject: | Joe Black Hero Who Duel | | Time: | 04:10 pm | | Current Mood: | hungry |
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Finally, at 930pm lastnight, the outside temp- erature dropped below 80/26.6 degrees. It's going to be a long, hot summer.
 G. I. Joe: Resolute, written by Warren Ellis, is now available via AdultSwim, YouTube, or Ellis's blog. It's got the one thing the old cartoons lacked: death.
I pretty much disliked Heroes Season 2, and really rolled my eyes through half of Heroes Season 3. In fact, I rolled my eyes at least four times during the Volume 3 finale of Season 3. However, Volume 4 of Season 3 has been pretty good so far. I am watching it with renewed interest.
I just finished Series 1 of the new Doctor Who programme. Christopher Eccleston was a really good Doctor. I will miss him. I used to watch the old Tom Baker shows with my family when I was a kid. I even read some of the novelisa- tions. My interest sort of waned with the next couple of Doctors, and with puberty and uni- versity. It's nice to feel pre-pubescent again, is what I think I'm saying. I was also intrigued to learn that Billie Piper then starred in the live-action teleblogella of Belle de Jour.
The Duellists(1977), directed by Ridley Scott, is a beautiful movie, but that's the only good thing I can say about it. The story is weak, with no explanation for the characters' actions. And while all the sup- porting cast use the requisite British or French accents of a period film, the two stars, Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, use their regular voices, totally jarring the viewer's supsension of disbelief. Keitel still sounds and moves pretty much like he's from Brooklyn, and Carradine seems like he's *trying*, but he is so very in the wrong film. *Both* actors seem like they've had no training in sword fighting or horse riding -- which is pretty surprising considering they're portraying French Hussars. (I read on IMDB that Scott was handed a list of four actors from which to choose his leads; I guess he picked the best two...)
Black Book (aka Zwartboek), by the director who brought us Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, and Starship Troopers, is a really good, really long fictional World War II movie that, for some reason, has received no acclaim. It's violent and sexy and full of gore and explosions and period music. It's on a lavish and epic scale, such that I caught myself a couple of times forgetting that it is subtitled, as it has such a Hollywood feel (and I think that's a portent of things to come, actually). Carice van Houten is amazingly talented and beautiful, and shines from the screen almost *too* much, occluding most of her costars. The period feel is fantastic, the almost technicolour look of the scenes is gorgeous, and the story is interesting enough, although I think some of the editing and pacing leaves a bit to be desired.
Sweden's got talent too! - (nsfAmericawork, but apparently sfSwedishchildren) Naked Crisp Bread Dance
Crabs 'feel and remember pain' suggests new study
100 blank Obama Action Figures sent to artists for re-interpretation
Zombie Animals and the Parasites that Control Them
Colour photos taken between 1939 and 1945 - thanks shanmonster | comments: 10 comments or Leave a comment  |
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Ten years ago, in Toronto, I did a website for a Thai restaurant where I was waiting tables for cash. The website has been re- done at least twice, and, while prettier, is much less effective in its purpose. (I remember one of the girls who worked there telling me a few years later how great it was to tell people to go online to look at the menu.)
Last week, I received an email from someone claiming 12 years industry experience, and asking me for a job.
I would find it hilarious if it didn't tell me how awful things are in the world right now, even in Canada.
A part of me thinks it would be amusing to have this guy come to Texas for an interview.
Wal-Mart is now running health clinics inside their stores.
At first, I thought that was a terrible idea, because it would put their other customers at risk of infection.
Then I realised...that's a *brilliant* strategy.
5000 people queue overnight for Section 8 housing in Fort Lauderdale, FL - (YouTUbe) thanks striver
1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India
Assassin's Creed in RealLife - YouTube (thanks shanmonster)
Moon - amazing solo dance by Yang LiPing - YouTube (thanks shanmonster)
FBI database links long-haul truckers, serial killings - of runaways and prostitutes | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment  |
| | Tags: | alcohol, chocolate, food, games, idiots, mighty boosh, movies, mraustin, our corporate masters, politics, texas, wine, wretch, zombiena | | Current Music: | Colony 5 | | Subject: | Viking Salmon and the Reader of The Dead | | Time: | 01:27 am | | Current Mood: | full |
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Had baked salmon atop a bed of apricot- ginger couscous, all topped with Fage yoghurt mixed with scallions. The side dish was pan-seared rainbow chard. It was all delicious. I think everyone had about 3 glasses of white wine. For dessert, we had chocolate pots de crème, from the Soup Peddler.
After, zombiena, newlodger, wretch, and I played Eketorp, a Viking-based resource- management-oriented game sort of like Carcassone, but with card-based combat. zombiena just barely beat me, because she is a hippy who likes grass.
The Reader is a very good, sometimes artsy, very slow, very awkward, and, ultimately de- pressing film. Kate Winslet continues her respectable trend of being naked in films, starting at 15 minutes in, and pretty much remaining nude for the next half hour. It's a bit sad to me that she's already playing "the older woman" roles -- I feel like I just saw her topless in Titanic only a hand- ful of years ago -- but I have to respect her for avoiding plastic surgery, even if her breasts led me to believe that the character in the story was going to reveal that she'd had and nursed children....Anyway, she's pretty fantastic as a stompy, controlling Fräulein, and she has a great accent. David Kross just makes me uncomfortable, but I think that was the aim. Ralph Fiennes has a pretty much brooding, throwaway part in the movie, but, who *wouldn't* want him to do audio- books, with that voice?
Can someone please tell me just why The Dead, by James Joyce, is listed on Wikipedia as being considered possibly the best short story in the English language? It kind of sucks. It even starts with a throwaway char- acter who becomes entirely irrelevant after the first few paragraphs.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants Rush Limbaugh to come live in Austin - First he wants to secede, now this. Why weren't all these dumbfuck Repuglicans protesting when CheneyBush were expanding Federal power?
Time Warner's Texas cap trials "rescheduled" due to protests, trials to continue in New York and North Carolina - while the “customer education process continues.”
The Mighty Boosh finally to start showing on American TV! - thanks jher
10 years later, the truth about the Columbine killers
Seventy-two Letters - a short story about golems, by Ted Chiang (thanks explodingbat) | comments: 13 comments or Leave a comment  |
| | Tags: | america as a third world nation, austin, books, gay, history, idiots, isp, movies, our corporate masters, serial killers, texas | | Current Music: | Danzig 6:66 Satan's Child | | Subject: | Plus ça change | | Time: | 12:17 pm | | Current Mood: | frustrated |
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I can smell the smoke of fires. I've read a rumour that it's from North Texas and Oklahoma, but isn't this the annual point where Mexico gets its revenge by setting fire to the borderlands?
I've finished Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, a book of over 700 pages that my father sent me a few years ago, that I've only recently felt I was strong enough to lift. It's really pretty consistently good, and gives lots of information about Texas from the Spanish ex- peditions and attempts at settling in the 1500s, to a light overview of the railway and political corruption of the early 1900s. In between, it covers the Texians' fights with Mexico and the Indians, Texas's role in the Civil War, and the exploits of the Texas Rangers.
One thing that has struck me repeatedly is the similarity between the political and corporate corruption of the mid-1800s and the events of today. Railroad interests that were unsustainable constantly received grants of land and money while the common people were taxed. The freedmen were used as political pawns to keep carpetbaggers in office, yet received nothing in return, and by the 1900s, they were "separate but equal", and had had the right to vote taken from them.
Apparently people don't learn.
One of the nastiest things I learned from the book was that the town and business leaders of Texas and Louisiana consciously downplayed and censored reports of the malaria in coastal lands in the hopes of getting more settlers, and thus more people to feed their coffers. Even worse, Texas wanted a constrant stream of settlers/im- migrants so much that they only allowed West Texas to be described as "less humid", instead of as "desert". Apparently thousands of people starved while trying to farm the land, but there were always more settlers behind them, ready to try, speculating that technological advancements in farming were only a few years away.
Milk was a really well done movie, and educational and interesting, but infuriating at the same time. Just 30 years ago, the religious right was doing all the same bigoted, hate-filled, un-American things that it still does today, and handfuls of people had to stand against their spiteful lies. Thirty years later, the same fight continues, with only small progress made. It's rather depressing. One tiny little tidbit in the Special Features of the DVD was one of the interviewees talking about how he'd designed the Rainbow flag.
Time Warner Cable: Please complain about our usage caps! - (to one newly created email address) More on the Time Warner data caps here.
According to APD, aggravated assaults in downtown Austin are up 20 percent from this time last year. It’s a slight improvement over last month which was nearly 28 percent higher than 2008.
Texas lawmaker Betty Brown says Asian-Americans should change their names so it's easier for other Americans to identify them
Houston, TX man shoots people shooting at him on the Interstate
A.P. sends cease-and-desist letter to A.P. affiliate for putting embeddable A.P. videos on website
"There are no ingredients in our e-cigs that can cause cancer. However, it is a pretty new product, so we are not 100 percent sure of the side effects at this point," Taieb said. "But we haven't heard of any negative side effects yet, but we are pretty sure they are safe." | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment  |
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Emotional zombie
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