![[icon]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/754317/402630) |
Emotional zombie
|
| | 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: | ![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/anxious.gif) anxious |
|
| 
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   |
|
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: | ![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/full.gif) full |
|
|
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 ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) 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 |
|
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 |
|
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.
 | | comments: 15 comments or Leave a comment |
| | 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: | ![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/hungry.gif) hungry |
|
|
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 ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) 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 |
|
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: | ![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/sleepy.gif) sleepy |
|
|
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: | ![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/sore.gif) sore |
|
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
|
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: | ![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/frustrated.gif) frustrated |
|
|
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 |
|
Emotional zombie
|
|
![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/exhausted.gif)
exhausted![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/tired.gif)
tired![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/aggravated.gif)
aggravated
![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/groggy.gif)
groggy![[mood icon]](http://www.fnord.org/~zombie/spuffy/drunk.gif)
drunk