DL's reading list
Ok, basic idea. I've got a friend who used to read fantasy, now reads mystery stuff, interested in suggestions for books. Current suggestions, probably in order of reading: 1)The entire Steven Brust Jhereg series. 2) The sequels to Dream Park, The Barsoom Project and California Voodoo Game. 3)The series by James Alan Gardner, starting with Expendable, currently ending with Trapped, not necessarily including Committment Hour. That should do for a start. Update: oh yeah, David Brin's Uplift series, not necessarily including Sundiver, plus at least The Practice Effect.
- posted by owlish @ 10/31/2004 10:58:00 AM 0 comments

 
Futbol!
I've spent probably 30 min looking for this thing. Originally from Lileks.
- posted by owlish @ 10/31/2004 09:26:00 AM 1 comments

 
More Gay Conservatives
Looks like Downtown Lad is starting an addiction, er, a blog. Could be interesting.
- posted by owlish @ 10/28/2004 08:56:00 PM 2 comments

 
Elf Sex
A way scholarly discussion of elven sex in Tolkien's world. Dang! No recorded gay elf sex. Bummer. Hat tip: llamaman.
- posted by owlish @ 10/28/2004 08:47:00 PM 2 comments

 
Hey, dark cabal
Memo: To: Dark Cabal working on the next evolution of humanity From: ME While you're working on the super-smart, super-strong, super-sexy human, don't forget to make it possible for human adults to grow new teeth. Sharks can do it, why can't we? Sure, teething's a pain, but so is life.
- posted by owlish @ 10/25/2004 04:35:00 PM 1 comments

 
Geek test
Anyway, John posted a geek test on TexasBestGrok. I forgot my actual numbers, but my adjusted score was 845, making me a level4 ubergeek. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. [I've had some problems posting this. Hopefully sorted out now.]
- posted by owlish @ 10/20/2004 02:33:00 PM 2 comments

 
Morrowind
So, knowing I would be in the tiny Texas town for more than a week, I bought Morrowind [RPG, PC]. Fun stuff. The temptation is to read a walkthrough, but I havn't yet. Anyone know anything about installing laminate flooring?
- posted by owlish @ 10/18/2004 08:15:00 PM 2 comments

 
At the Parents'
I hate dialup, I hate dialup, I hate dialup. Tried to post this on TexasBestGrok, but couldn't due to problems with screen size [don't ask]. So, here, commenting on his 80's Playlists: I thought of some others while driving to my parents, but now I'm not sure which playlist to add them to. Asia, maybe Don't CryJethro Tull, The Broadsword and the Beast Heresy, but it was in the 80's:Emerson, Lake, and Powell, Touch and Go [I think it's the name]
- posted by owlish @ 10/18/2004 08:06:00 PM 2 comments

 
Pop Culture
From TexasBestGrok, who won't say how many he scored, comes this 80's quiz. 2 problems for me: [1] I can never remember names (songs, actors, whatever, who cares?) [2] I never saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In spite of that, though, I think I can answer 3, I can visualize a couple of others even if I don't know the names, and I know the bonus question on 12. I don't know about 39. The first movie [not The Road Warrior] [which by the way was the first or second R rated movie I ever saw] I think said it was due to an oil collapse.
- posted by owlish @ 10/14/2004 07:45:00 AM 1 comments

 
Manhunt
So I taped the first episode of Manhunt [reviews here and here]. Watched it. It seems like the male model's version of Tough Enough, the MTV WWF get a contract with the WWF reality show from a couple of years back. The "we'll show you being a model isn't just fun and games" kind of thing. It worked somewhat on Tough Enough, because they were doing things you would actually do in the wrestling biz. Jumping out of a plane in underwear and having a photoshoot 5 minutes after being woken up at 2:30 AM are more problematic. And yeah, there's eye candy, but they're all twinks - young, thin, somewhat muscular but not too much, no body hair, no facial hair. Not my favorite. And the guy with "good eyes" - they're noticeable because they're set farther apart than normal.
- posted by owlish @ 10/14/2004 07:16:00 AM 0 comments

 
Bleh
I'ts been raining all afternoon and night. Bleh. I've got to go back to my parents' this weekend. I have no desire to do so. Bleh. Some of my friends may be moving within the next year, leaving me no really close friends in the area. Bleh. Watched maybe 3 minutes of the debate. Double bleh. On the other hand, I had a really tasty lunch. :)
- posted by owlish @ 10/13/2004 07:44:00 PM 4 comments

 
Death
Two headlines today on Houston Chronicle:

Former Astro Ken Caminiti dead at 41 of apparent heart attack

and

'Superman' star Christopher Reeve dies at 52

Reading both articles, I feel much sadder about Ken Caminiti. Christopher Reeve had a tragic accident while doing something he wanted to do. In spite of an injury that would have killed him in another time, and a disability that is about as complete as it gets, he was able to continue to live, work, and be a political advocate. The newspaper says "In the last week Reeve had developed a serious systemic infection from a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis." What it doesn't say is how it developed and how it got so serious. Ken Caminiti, on the other hand, seems to have had a significant substance abuse problem. He got out of prison last Tuesday. The smart money would be on he had been on a huge binge since then, with a heart attack likely from cocaine. There's got to be a better way.
- posted by owlish @ 10/11/2004 07:22:00 AM 1 comments

 
Friends and Family
Potomac Ponderings is in a quandry because she wants to tell her parents she's going to be on the radio, but doesn't want to tell them she blogs. Llamabutchers reports not wanting to tell family: "Long story short: it would cramp the humor (or attempts thereunto)." From my standpoint, there are 3 groups I have concerns about knowing I blog: family, some friends, and people I would come into professional contact with. I have been writing as if my family will eventually read all of this, following the ethical plan of never do anything you wouldn't want to be on the front page of the newspaper. They might be shocked, they might be offended at my use of 4 letter words, but they wouldn't be horrified [I hope]. Several old friends know that John has a blog, and they might end up finding me through him. Not a problem, although I haven't been trumpeting this blog either. A certain couple I know have significant concerns with any of their private information getting on the internet, so I have been careful not to talk about them and have specifically not mentioned this to them. With other people, in the future I can easily imagine people reading this would lead to complications. For example, I had come out to several people at work, but that didn't seem to be spreading as a rumor. Coming out as a Bush and War on Terror supporter might have been more problematic. With clients, it gets even messier. So. Basically, I'm trying to be a little bit open, which is sort of like being a little bit pregnant.
- posted by owlish @ 10/10/2004 06:27:00 PM 5 comments

 
Okay
Ever had one of those days, when your hair caught on fire and lasers shot from your eyes? Didn't think so. From A Small Victory.
- posted by owlish @ 10/10/2004 07:11:00 AM 2 comments

 
Films
Ok, one more - man, I like cable modems. Spittake inducing political film here, cool scifi fishing expedition here.
- posted by owlish @ 10/08/2004 05:17:00 PM 2 comments

 
War and Death
From Cowboy Blob, we have an essay from Silent Running and and essay from The Jawa Report. The Jawa Report makes the case for nuking Mecca proactively: Today we are told by Muslims that the true meaning of jihad is internal struggle. Unfortunately, the actions of too many Muslims shows that they believe jihad means armed struggle against the infidels. Destroying Mecca may have the long-term affect of convincing radical Muslims that Allah really doesn't want sharia law around the world. That all that stuff about killing the infidels in the Quran--that's all metaphor. Silent Running describes what he wants in order to avoid having a US city nuked:

4) I want a President who will outline what sort of victory we require, and what we will need to do to achieve it. And then I want him to do whatever is needed to achive it, and if anyone feels like sabotaging it in any way because it offends their delicate post-modernist sensibilities I want him to personally sign their execution warrants. Think I'm extreme? Take a look at how Abraham Lincoln tossed the constitution into the shredder for the duration of the Civil War and then tell me I'm extreme. He suspended free speech and had people who encouraged young men not to enlist shot, and he was right to do it.

This is not a game. We are not playing. The survival of human civilisation is at stake here. This isn't a war like all the others though. It will be fought militarily, economically, politically, culturally, ideologically and most important of all, religiously. A front in this war can be a jungle encampment in the southern Philippines, an airliner in the skies of Europe, a skyscraper in Sydney, a crowded market in Yemen, a synagogue in Haifa, a TV channel in Dubai, an internet chatroom in cyberspace...almost any setting in fact. The combatants are you and me.

From my standpoint, I don't think an American city being nuked would destroy human civilization. It would be bad. It would probably lead to retalitory strikes, the US economy being put on a war footing like we had for WWII, and police action the likes of which people who think their speech is being suppressed now can't imagine, but not the end of human civilization.

On the other hand, I think it would be possible for biologic agents and maybe chemical agents to lead to the end of human civilization. And I think the terrorists are fanatical enough to use them. And I think when it comes down to him or me, I choose me.

Alan Dean Foster has a trilogy of SciFi books titled The Damned. Especially in the first, A Call to Arms, homo sapiens saves a bunch of alien races because we are primitive enough that we can still fight. [more complicated than that, but it'll do for a blurb]. Hmm. Makes me want to write scifi describing a world in which the jihadiis win. Enough. Time to kick demon butt. Update: also see, of course, Deterence.
- posted by owlish @ 10/08/2004 03:55:00 PM 1 comments

 
Debate
Ok, Lileks was not just a debater, but considering he made second in state, he was a master debater. Funny how jokes that were amusing when you were in high school just seem stupid now.
- posted by owlish @ 10/08/2004 03:53:00 PM 2 comments

 
Crap
I stupidly erased a post. Crap.
- posted by owlish @ 10/08/2004 03:52:00 PM 1 comments

 
Music
JohnL discusses his musical imprinting here; Llamabutchers discusses his here. Ok, this gets messy. 1) What music my parents played in the house was usually done so for a specific reason. For example, Christmas music in December. Including the cringe inducing Chipmunks Christmas album. The only pop album I know they had was Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel. Hmm. Googled to make sure I had the name right. Lyrics here. WTF? Is it just me, or is the meaning of the song "If you're feeling bad, I'll have sex with you." 2) The music I have permanently stuck in memory is Suzuki Violin music my sister played. To this day when I hear Twinkle Twinkle little star I instantly hear sung :A A E E 1 1 3, ... These are the fingerings necessary to play it. 3) Fortunately, my parents abhor country and western music. 4) Some pop songs bring back specific memories: throwing a ball with Ken and Hit me with your Best Shot; Hotel California and an 8th grade dance; the soundtrack to Footloose. Nothing I can think of brings back much in the form of emotional memories. 5) After spending a fair amount of time learning classical music and going to concerts at various symphonies, most classical music for me induces [or at least aids] a meditative state. Basically, I zone out. This is not conducive to enjoying the music itself.
- posted by owlish @ 10/08/2004 03:01:00 PM 0 comments

 
Murderer
Via Musings, Boots & Sabers discusses a parole board hearing. Basically, the convicted murderer threw away her one day old infant, killing her. More details, including some that he thinks contradicts her claim that she was psychotic. Maybe, maybe not. My issues: 1) This kind of thing happens not infrequently. Yeah, it's bad but it's not unique. 2) If the infant was only one day old, did the mother deliver in a hospital? Did she know she was pregnant before she delivered? 3) While I want someone likely to be a serial killer either killed or locked away forever, I suspect this person is unlikely to do something like this again. This may not be the silliest example of someone in prison, but I don't think the punishment fits the crime.
- posted by owlish @ 10/08/2004 02:34:00 PM 1 comments

 
League of Mean Girls
Beautiful Atrocities has an exclusive! Your favorite bloggers are really clueless teenage girls! I knew there was something not quite right with Andrew Sullivan. Hattip:Llamabutchers.
- posted by owlish @ 10/08/2004 02:09:00 PM 0 comments

 
Air Force
So, a friend of mine will soon be a Lt. Colonel. Unfortunately, if he was working on Antimatter Weapons , he couldn't tell me. So, being an ignorant civilian, and trying to figure out what this actually means, I ran into ranks in a galaxy far, far away.
- posted by owlish @ 10/05/2004 01:26:00 PM 1 comments

 
Hastings
By the way, does the Hastings in the small [not tiny] Texas town get more gay themed magazines than the one in Galveston, or are they bought too quickly from the one in Galveston for me to see them? The world may never know.
- posted by owlish @ 10/05/2004 10:53:00 AM 1 comments

 
Cold Fury - his case for Bush
He has a fairly long post describing his current political thinking. Pretty damn similar to mine. Update: while we're at it, add this post from PrestoPundit.
- posted by owlish @ 10/05/2004 10:49:00 AM 0 comments

 
Thoughts
Random thoughts of the straight-acting gay man in a tiny Texas town: 1) Ok, this guy just told me not to rush off and have kids. I'm 37 years old, how old do I have to be? 2) This person just introduced herself as the mother of the lady my mother is trying to set me up on a date with. I am willing to bet any amount my mom hasn't tried that in at least a year. 3) People watching at a bar: ok, are the 2 40ish guys, not drinking Miller, one wearing a Tommy Hillfinger shirt a couple? What about the guy wearing a cutoff black shirt and earrings? Whee.
- posted by owlish @ 10/03/2004 08:15:00 AM 1 comments

 
Life
I'm hanging out at my parents' place-helped them last week, going to help them next week, but now they're going to Dallas to get my sister her car and to go to the symphony. So, slightly irritated because: 1) using dialup sucks 2) puttering around and I don't know what I want to do Time to go kill something in Fallout:Tactics.
- posted by owlish @ 10/02/2004 01:45:00 PM 1 comments

 
Debate
Watched it last night with my parents. Kerry was slicker, Bush made better points. Allah has the ultimate roundup.
- posted by owlish @ 10/01/2004 10:23:00 AM 4 comments