Owlish Mutterings
1/31/2005
 
Life
Going well, going poorly? No idea. Angry at random crap in the world. Angry at people wanting me to do things for them, that if they were living their lives differently I wouldn't have to do. Just bleh. This would be more ... something ... if I could get more specific, but I suspect it might be read by people involved one day. So, an anonymous blog that is cutting back on what he says in case it isn't anonymous. Makes sense, right? So anybody see the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica?

1/30/2005
 
Protein Wisdom
He's been on a roll recently, with Not The Boondocks and a long Shakespearean post on the Iraqi election and Oliver f'n Willis. And for Ted Kennedy, the completely tasteless song we sang in college: Oh, your mother is sick and your father is dead and your brother is dead and your brother is dead and your brother is dead and your wife is insane and your kid has no legs and your car doesn't float. It may need updating, but the sentiment remains the same.

 
Mardi Gras Saturday
So my friends came down just in time to see the tail end of the Z Krewe procession and get some beads. We saw pretty much the entire shows of Trish Murphy, Shark Attack, and Hamilton Loomis. Trish Murphy I guess would be described as alt country, and was pretty good. Shark Attack I would have to describe as deep East Texas Reggae. Unusual, interesting, but not something I would normally listen to. Hamilton Loomis was fun and had lots of energy, at one point getting a miniature guitar and walking into the crowd. Listened to Survivor for 1-2 songs and bailed. No energy whatsoever. Many margaritas were imbibed. Tasty food was eaten. The Houston Chronicle has a article about low sales. It looked to me like the crowd was fairly small, and I expected more stalls to be set up. Maybe more next week.

1/29/2005
 
Ok, I can clean up the apartment some or google and see who's posting on Galveston Mardi Gras. Guess which I picked? Riding with the Window Down has a short note here. Notes from 2003 on Lu's Brews here. Here?

1/28/2005
 
Take 4
7 Mary 3 just finished. Good concert, rocked the house. Crowd favorites clearly off the American Standard album; specifically Cumbersome, Water's Edge, and Devil Boy. They had some equipment trouble in the beginning - couple of strings broken - but settled into the groove after that. My favorite was probably the incredibly twisted version of Elanor Rigby. Band members older than the other bands [not surprising, they've been around longer]. All attractive. One chick got up on her boyfriend's shoulders, took off her coat, and flashed her breasts after getting some beads. No cop interfered. Expect some more of that tomorrow. 2 friends are supposedly coming down tomorrow. Big music fans, one's in a band that has been together for a while, but has had trouble keeping a lead singer. Should be fun. The question of course is should I come out as a blogger to them. They know I'm gay. They are in theory straight, although I don't think they're actively practicing their heterosexuality. Maybe they''ll get a chance tomorrow. I forgot to get crushed ice today, I'll have to get it tomorrow.

 
Liveblogging step 3
Oh yeah. Silverleaf dedicated a song to the guys in the american military. Specifically, a remake of "Stop, hey, what's that sound." Whatever the actual title is.

 
Livebloging, take 2
Silverleaf just finished [even though they could have played for 15 more minutes]. Liked em. I think the guy's a better singer than Faceplant's, but that could just be my preference for rock over hiphop. The tobacco, alcohol, firearm guys are out carding people who look like they're underage and drinking. Including the cute bassist. Unfortunately, I think he's straight, as he and another guy went off with two chicks and haven't been back. Somewhat cold, to the point my drink of choice is going to be hot [cocoa and kaluha, i think]. No rain though.Not a whole lot of people, easy to get up to the stage, not enough to lower inhibitions enough for the chicks to be flashing for beads. Ears still ringing.

 
Mardi Gras Galveston
Liveblogging the event. Faceplant just finished their set, Silverleaf is setting up, Seven Mary Three is on after them. Faceplant was decent, is from Houston, doin the 2 lead singers thing [or one lead and one boisterous, short backup]. I'm not sure what it is, but the guy playing bass is hot [#40]. Ears still ringing. When I say Jaeger you say Meister, Jaeger Meister Jaeger Meister. :) So, beer or margaritas? Beer.

1/27/2005
 
UNhelpful
The Diplomad has a post on the UN's press releases. Best line: "Between them the United States and Mexico have 12 aircraft carrier battlegroups." Basically, we do the work, they take the credit.

1/26/2005
 
Life
Ok, I've got 2 aunts, both divorced, both with children [my cousins] who are somewhat younger than me. The eldest of my cousins lives on the north side of Houston. This weekend both aunts and at least 2 other cousins are coming into town just to hang out, as far as I can tell. I wouldn't mind hanging out with them, but they picked the freakin first weekend of Mardi Gras to come down. Makes it unlikely I'll be able to or want to head up to the north side of Houston, which takes about 1 1/2 hours on a normal day and all bets are off that weekend. The second weekend is bigger, but traffic still sucks the first. Bleh. Maybe 10% of the weekends of the year at most I wouldn't be able to join them, and they pick this weekend. It may end up being awkward in other ways, it may end up fun. It's unlikely to end up in a drunken orgy. Oh well.

 
Personality test
So, puttering around I came across this test on Inside Allen's Mind. The results were interesting: Wackiness: 38/100 Rationality: 52/100 Constructiveness: 40/100 Leadership: 56/100 You are a SEDL--Sober Emotional Destructive Leader. This makes you a Dictator. You prefer to control situations, and lack of control makes you physically sick. [Don't get physically sick, but I can remember getting angry at work when things were out of my control, so maybe.] [That usually involved residents, not patients] You feel have responsibility for everyone's welfare, and that you will be blamed when things go wrong. [Yes]Things do go wrong, and you take it harder than you should. [Yes] You rely on the validation and support of others, but you have a secret distrust for people and distaste for their habits and weaknesses that make you keep your distance from them. This makes you very difficult to be with romantically. [Yes] Still, a level-headed peacemaker can keep you balanced. [Maybe] Despite your fierce temper and general hot-bloodedness, you have a soft spot for animals and a surprising passion for the arts. Sometimes you would almost rather live by your wits in the wilderness somewhere, if you could bring your books and your sketchbook. [Sketchbook, no. Laptop, yes.] You also have a strange, undeniable sexiness to you. [Dunno] You may go insane.[WTF?] Of the 81186 people who have taken this quiz since tracking began (8/17/2004), 5.4 % are this type.

 
Joe.My.God
Ok, finished reading his archives. Sounds like he was hit by a hacker a couple of months ago, which may be why there are some reposts. Thinking of the gestalt of his site, I think of the time I and some fellow med students went out looking for a hooker to get a self-proclaimed virgin laid. We ended up with 2, for 20$ apiece. They were escorted to the guy's room. He ended up showing them pictures of his family. One was white and quite pregnant, one was black. At the time I was a virgin as well, but not a self-proclaimed one. It was a wee bit awkward. Ok, so it isn't as literary as his discussion of non-smoking preferences of scat pigs. I've never been good at telling stories, and I think med school made my tendency to just get to the heart of the matter worse.

1/25/2005
 
Blog blog
I'm still not sure what I think about this story. Quick summary: Writer is the adult child of an alcoholic, stops talking to father after he just doesn't show up one Christmas. Father later goes into AA, [for umpteen millionth time], works steps, videotapes apology to writer, dies unexpectedly soon after, writer hasn't watched the vid. I'm reading his archives, and this is the second [at least] time he posted the story. The first time he got a couple of comments, the second time 26. I don't know if I believe what he's writing. If I believe him, I'm not sure what I would advise him, although if he doesn't feel he can handle watching the tape he might have a close friend watch it for him. Maybe. It would be rather personal and I'm not sure there's someone who could do it. With regard to me, it emphasizes that my life ain't that bad. I don't have dreams of being 10 years old and being chased by my father with a knife.

 
Prom Night
Ok, I thought they were joking on South Park with the "Who's the bigger whore?" bit. But no, truth is stranger than fiction. This prom dress doesn't do anything for me, but I can see how it might affect a crowd of straight male teenagers. I love the quote:" Other students expressed aesthetic concerns. "I don't think anyone would wear this to the prom. The dress looks kind of whore-ish," says junior Emma Herr." Hatt tip: Wizbang. [It turns out the Post may have photographed the model wearing the dress backwards. But who cares?}

1/24/2005
 
Blog blog blog blog
Interesting blog here. Interesting story here. I need to think about this for a while.

 
Nerds
Hmm, I'm not that much of a nerd. At least according to this:

I am nerdier than 65% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!

Hat tip: She


 
Geekiness
Damn. I knew I was a geek, but I didn't know it went this far:
Your Famous Blogger Twin is Wil Wheaton
You're a friendly, funny guy (or girl) next door With more than a touch of geekiness
Who's Your Famous Blogger Twin?
Hat tip: Llama Butchers Oh and by the way,
Your Penis Name is: Darth Vader
Get your own Penis Name

 
More Webcomics
Fimoculous made a huge list of lists here. The best Webcomics list looks interesting. Ballad is a horror comic, seems to be well drawn. Reman Mythology? A lot of these are subscription only, no thanks.

 
Ninja Gear
I read Instapundit's post about being nominated for an award from Wired. Looked at their list of influential bloggers, and my immediate thought was who the hell are these people. Ok, Wonkette I know [but don't bother with]. Fimoculous at least has a current post [and showed me that Amazon has some really cool looking ninja gear]. Although his list of the 26 blogs of the year is not one I would agree even remotely with, I'm going to visit some of them. The others I have no clue why they're on there.

1/23/2005
 
Worst Movies of all time
On A Perfectly Cromulent Blog, we have a link to the IMBD Bottom 100 movies. I've seen very few of these all the way through, which says something about just how bad they are. I think the complete list would include: Leonard Part 6, Battlefield Earth, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and Double Dragon. A few more I've probably seen half or more, usually on late night cable: Santa Claus Conquers the Maritans, Hercules in New York, Captain America, and Iron Eagle II.

 
Ribbon Campaigns
From Knowledge is Power, we have a listing of various ribbon campaigns, some serious, some not. The Purple Ribbon Campaign [Kindred awareness?] Green [Hemp for all] Plaid [Page Designers for Environmental Protection] Pale Brown [Defeat Chain Letters] And best of all, the Protest Everthing ribbon.

 
Death
The Anchoress writes eloquently about events after the death of her brother. Hat tip: Legacy Matters. I have not ever had such an intense emotional reaction. I don't know if I can.

1/22/2005
 
Life and Gaming
I'm an idiot. Did a google search in this window while writing this post. Anyway. The local game shop had a sort of mini-con Friday [2000-0800, 10-15 people showed, youngest I think was 14, oldest was either me or the shop owner, much Halo 2 and a Dragon Ball Z fighter was being played]. I ended up playing a game of Illuminati, which got silly, we tried to play Mordheim, which only sort of worked, [only 1 guy had played it before, it was late, and the printer only spewed out part of the rules before dying], although we may try it again, and I watched some people kill each other with Halo 2. It's been a while since I pulled an allnighter, but 3-4 cokes pulled me through. Fun, but, god, I've got little in common with these guys. I think. "Gay" seems to be the word of choice to describe the action in which you just got fragged. Weather's still really nice, although there's a cloudbank that could lead to some rain. Quite a few tourists. A gaggle of women won the use of one of my neighbor's apartment in a charity auction, and they're fairly loud. Not a significant problem for me, but it might be for the medical students.

1/21/2005
 
Men's Clothing
In my attempt to create an identity as a gay man, I have at times looked at various fashion mags / blogs / thingees. However, nothing prepared me for the horror involved in this picture. Captions given include: Be honest, does the belt buckle make we look wierd? Tad Terrific was crushed when the other superheroes just giggled at his new secret identity.

 
Essay
This essay, writen for a bunch of highschoolers, makes much more sense than lots of other speeches I've heard. [Hat Tip: Instapundit] Which brings to mind a couple of points. One of my problems is that essentially every dream I had around that time, I've decided is impossible. And I've known too many wealthy people to use the accumulation of wealth as my primary goal. So, I'm screwed. The other point is that for college prep schools, I had a significantly better education than nearly all of my peers in college [most of whom went to public schools], and I had enough AP credits that I could graduate in 3 1/2 years instead of 4, which none of my peers did.

 
Tsunami
The Diplomad points to this article by a guy on an aircraft carrier that is trying to help. UN and NGO officials' requests mean that they can do less for the actual victims. Not to mention the requirements of the affected country's government. Why are we paying big bucks for the UN again?

 
Carnival of Recipes
The Carnival is up, and today's theme is the alphabet. I keep thinking some of these recipes look good, and never make them. Easy Feta Chicken Bake looks simple enough, and tasty. Inside Allan's Mind there's this chicken recipe, but also a yummy crock pot beef curry. A chili concept [not really a recipe]. And finally Pepper steak with rice. Time to get cooking.

1/20/2005
 
Life
Beautiful weather today, clear, cool enough to keep from sweating but warm enough that some people were in shorts and a tshirt. Low waves so no one surfing. Read Lost and Found today, by Alan Dean Foster. Puttering around on Google, this description seems closest to how I would summarize it. Not bad, not amazing. It will be interesting to see how it turns into a trilogy. Sheesh, all of a sudden I can't spell.

 
Screaming Blue Death
And this week's drink is named Screaming Blue Death, AKA the remnants of the bar at the end of the term mixed together in a drink good enough that people wanted more. Screaming Blue Death [makes 5 cup blender full] 1 shot (1.5 oz) light rum 1 shot (1.5 oz) spiced rum 1 shot (1.5 oz) 151 rum 1 shot (1.5 oz) tequila 1 shot (1.5 oz) peach schnapps 2 shots (3 oz) blue curacao 6-8 oz pineapple juice fill with ice and blend Drink responsibly, don't drink and drive, do not allow beer goggles to influence your sexual tastes, don't blame me if you wake up Sunday morning in bed with three other people, none of which is your spouse.

 
Battlestar Galactica
Andrew Olmsted has a few questions about the new series: The idea of a machine race developing religion seems rather implausible to me; the Cylons don't need an origin myth: they already have one. That was one of my problems with the miniseries, and it doesn't appear to have gotten any better in the series: the Cylons seem to be decidedly irrational. ...The Cylons had to know they were on the verge of eliminating the last remnants of humans in their part of the galaxy after a week of chasing them, so why not just resume that until the humans break down? Obviously that would make for a lousy series, but it's the kind of question I think should be answered to maintain suspension of disbelief. Perhaps the creators have a longer-term plan that will explain all this, but right now the Cylons' motivations seem to be highly incongruent with their actions. An explanation would be: when Number Six is talking about God, I don't think she's talking about a Judeo-Christian omnipotent, omnipresent God; I think the Cylons have developed the equivalent of a hive mind. She gets instructions from God, she knows directly whether he's angry or happy. The other part is, I don't think the Cylon's main goal is the extermination of the human race. I think they want to find out what makes humans tick, and are doing it like a child disassembling a toaster

1/19/2005
 
Emergency Preparedness
Ran into this set of posts on The Laughing Wolf via Winds of Change. Reasonable information, not a lot of highly specific lists. If this place gets hit by a hurricane, I'm bugging out. In the case of man-made disasters, who knows. During the Gulf War I attended a lecture essentially on what to do as a health care worker in the event of a nuclear attack. What I remember was: [and I have no idea if my memory is correct, or if this info is current; take it with a large grain of salt] 1) the basic immediate problem is burns, not rads. Anyone with >60% body surface area burns is going to die [assuming the nations' burn units are completely overwhelmed]. Anyone 30-60% is likely to die, to the point that you shouldn't waste antibiotics on them. Someone with <30% BSA burns try to treat, mostly requiring large amounts of oral fluids. 2) the fluids you want should have sodium and potassium chloride [ie, gatorade or a mix of salt and light salt]. 3) radioactive iodine is a problem with certain types of bombs, but it's biologic halflife is short if you can get the person some non-radioactive iodine orally. After 9/11 my family made some basic plans, to get together at my parents' place. We haven't really mentioned it since then.

 
Crap
Lilek's points to a comic strip from The Boondocks that to me goes beyond offensive. Since I think the archive doesn't last forever, here's the fun part- the kid is watching a news report on President Bush, which has him telling a black congregation "On the one hand, Colin Powell supports affirmative action. On the other hand, Condolezza Rice was pushing for the death penalty for anyone who teaches a black person how to read." Give me a fuckin break. Get rid of this crap and publish PvP instead.

1/17/2005
 
Owlish Mutterings
Just in case anyone cares, the name of my blog is something that I took a while to think about. Owlish because I like owls and have several [non-living] in my apartment [pictures, pottery, a quilt a friend made, a tie-dye wall hanging I made, etc.] Mutterings because I envisioned this blog as being me sitting by myself off in a corner, muttering to myself, not caring if anyone was listening or not.

 
Feral Cities
An interesting scenario, aimed at the near future. An essay describing the Hindu/India version of US creationism science. A collection of timelines. The Bureau of Sasquach Affairs. Modern Drunkard magazine, with it's list of 40 Things Every Drunkard Should Do. All thanks to Gravity Lens. ' Who, me bored?

 
The Nerd Workout
And in the category of the completely insane, we have the complete Nerd Workout. Hat tip: Gravity Lens

1/16/2005
 
Carnival of Recipes
Sorry, the Carnival was posted on Friday over at One Happy Dog Speaks. Next weeks will be at Not Exactly Rocket Science. This Haitian Citrus soup looks interesting. A slightly more upscale version of cheese dip here. A meatless enchilada cassarole, with instructions on making your own red sauce. A yummy Fried Seafood Salad here [with blue cheese and raspberries, what could be better?] A chili cookoff recipe. [ie, HOT]. And a lot of desserts that would totally destroy any diet.

 
Battlestar Galactica
Saw the first two episodes, 33 and Water, tonight. Was planning on taping them Friday, but other stuff got in the way. Nice. Still fairly dark, but the mood seemed more tense than "Oh my God, they're going to kill us this minute." Now I want to go back and watch the miniseries again [and I saw it just last week]. Is it my imagination, or are the Cylons more interested in mindfucking the humans than exterminating them? Constant pressure - in 33, the crew was up for 5 days straight; in Water, they were almost out of water due to sabotage. Plus the mind games [literally] with Baltar and with the pilot stranded on Caprica. Fewer but at least one of the "save a few at the risk of losing everyone" decisions. And Will on Vodkapundit likes it.

 
I love you, You love me...
One of the greatest Barney take-offs of all time. From the Llama Butchers. Better than Animaniacs? Maybe. Different.

1/14/2005
 
Good vs Evil
A while back I mentioned a simplistic version of who's good and who's evil - a good person considers how his action will affect the group, an evil person considers how his action will affect only him. I've decided that thinking that way my problem at work was everyone who considered me to be in their "group" left, but I still considered everyone to be in my group. Makes things unbalanced. So, went to visit a friend this evening. We played with his kid for 30-45 min [1 year old], he got put to bed, then we talked some and played Magic the Gathering. His wife got back from a trip to the mall and immediately called us losers a couple of times, in a not particularly joking way. Thinking about it I feel like I should get mad, but my reaction is more "whatever." I'll accept the label "geek," and maybe "nerd" or "fag," but I'm not impressed with "loser" from someone with no job and few job skills. By the way, she apparently crushed my friend in Star Wars Trivial Pursuit recently. I think ... Hmm. Random thought - she's fairly strongly Christian, sings in the choir at the local yuppie Methodist church, couple of crosses around the house, large wooden board with theoretical Bible quote in kitchen. I wonder if she thinks homosexuality is a sin. She was somewhat more curt with me today than in the handful of other times I've met her, but she may be under some stress. Their kid is cute though. I made him laugh a lot playing with a ball. Man, he's got a lot of toys.

 
Comic Shop
So it's my destiny to open a comic shop. Who knew?

1/13/2005
 
Battlecloud Galactica
LlamaButchers hates the new Battlestar Galactica series. I posted this comment:
Sorry, I've got to agree with Bill. The new miniseries was different in tone than the old series, and to some extent it works. The viper pilots being idiots [or at least overconfident] led to their complete destruction, which seems different than overconfident political leaders being destroyed in the original. Balthazar seems more possible, more human, and in spite of what #6 says seems to care about people at least sometimes. Ok, so they don't have a cute robot dog. I'm still going to watch the series.
I have to wonder if the times are more serious, leading to a more serious show. A little girl gets blown to bits [all we see is a white screen indicating a nuke]. There's a strong military leader vs political leader tension which was present in the first but was quickly won by the military. There's a "dangers of technology" theme which could have been helped by showing ordinary people benefiting from high tech. The crowd of civilians around the vipers in the first show immediately after the bombing which ended in a hopeful everyone crowding into every ship they could find was changed to a violent confrontation ending in a lottery in which the few winners got to live and the losers presumably died. The President and the XO both had to make choices involving the sacrifice of some to avoid risking the many. And the President chose correctly - if she had waited longer everyone would have died. I like the more serious mood. The first show always bugged me, when they found humans on other planets why didn't they immediately evacuate them? On the other hand SciFi was showing some reruns this afternoon. What the heck was Galactica 1980 and how were vipers involved in WW2? Update: oops, the name is Baltar.

 
Order of the Stick
I had mentioned this webcomic a while ago, but hadn't been reading it recently. However, the dwarf riding a weiner dog is just cool. That's wacky, it went invisible. I was reminded of it when Tycho mentioned it in this paragraph:

I'm absolutely surrounded by Mikes pretty much all the time, they're closing in, and one of them asked me if I was familiar with The Order of the Stick. Me. Asked me if I knew about it. Motherfucker, my balls have twenty sides. Nothing escapes my gaze. Don't get in my face with your tabletop trivia unless you want to save for half.

(CW)TB

That's wacky, it went invisible. I must study this phenomenon further.

 
Random Quiz of the Day
And yet another quiz from LlamaButchers. Although I'm not so sure about the outcome. playboy
You are a Playboy. You perv.

What kind of Sixties Person are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

1/12/2005
 
Random Quiz of the Day
Which literature classic am I? Of course I am: Lord of the rings J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings. You are entertaining and imaginative, creating whole new worlds around yourself. Well loved, you have a whole league of imitators, none of which is quite as profound as you are. Stories and songs give a spark of joy in the middle of your eternal battle with the forces of evil. Which literature classic are you? brought to you by Quizilla What on Earth is Charles Baudelaire: The Flowers of Evil. I may have to go look for it. Hat Tip: Me the Mountaineer.

1/11/2005
 
Drink Recipe
Given Mardi Gras is coming soon, I thought I would share what I'll be drinking for at least part of the time. This is from college days, sitting around, wondering what to do. One guy wanted to make a drink with tequila, one with Wild Turkey. The Orangutan One shot Wild Turkey One shot tequila [not a place for your top shelf brand] Orange soda Put some ice into a tall glass, pour in the shots, fill with orange soda. Note: it doesn't taste as bad as it sounds. It does take getting used to, though.

 
David F'n Hasselhoff
As noted by Llama Butchers, The Sheila Variations has posted a truly overwhelming assortment of David Hasselhoff pictures. The range of pictures is, um... Indescribable. I'm not quite sure what it is. Knight Rider was a fun show [original incarnation at least; Team Knight Rider was an abomination] and maybe there are times when Hasselhoff looks pretty sexy wearing the black leather jacket. And some of the poses in the pictures could be pretty seductive. But he looks silly in all of them. Especially with the eagle sitting on his arm. And it gets worse. Leading to the horror that is David Hasselhoff Online.

 
Houston rodeo
Coming to town in March, and A Perfectly Cromulent Blog has all you need to know about the acts.

 
I'd like to build a petting zoo
Might I recommend this? Verbally not safe for work, do not imbibe liquids while viewing, do not view if illegal in your area. Hat tip: NakedVillany

 
Evil Pat Boone
I was wondering exactly why Protein Wisdom had accepted Pat Boone as his master. So I googled Pat Boone leather, thinking Protein Wisdom would probably be high in the rankings. Nope. This site is first, and I think it's a parody, but I'm not sure. The Onion A.V club interviewed Pat Boone about this issue. Then we have the comment in the second post: Why’d you have to cut off the pic just above Pat’s nipples? Cocktease. :}

 
Life
Looks like some people are more interested in Mardi Gras than I was expecting. We'll see how it turns out. Also, one person from my former place of work has lost 113 pounds. Impressive.

1/10/2005
 
Rather
The 200+ report on RatherGate has been released; various people are commenting on it. The Houston Chronicle's report is here. Again, what it does and doesn't say is interesting. What it does mention that I didn't know was that Mary Mapes was the producer on the first 60 Minutes segment on the Abu Ghraib prison. What it doesn't mention is anything about blogs at all.
Questions were quickly raised about the typed memos, with some document experts saying it appeared they contained a computer character inconsistent with typewriters at the time.
When it would be more accurate to say the documents are obviously fakes, to the point that even a group of blind howler monkeys wouldn't accept them as authentic.

 
Another Quiz
And with another Yip to Llama Butchers, we have:
You Are a Retrospective Soul
The most misunderstood of all the soul signs. Sometimes you even have difficulty seeing yourself as who you are. You are intense and desire perfection in every facet of your life. You're best described as extremely idealistic, hardworking, and a survivor. Great moments of insight and sensitivity come to you easily. But if you aren't careful, you'll ignore these moments and repeat past mistakes. For you, it is difficult to seperate the past from the present. You will suceed once you overcome the disappoinments in life. Souls you are most compatible with: Traveler Soul and Prophet Soul
What Kind of Soul Are You?

 
Quiz for the older crowd
This quiz claims it should be a breeze for anyone over 40. My score: 14 out of 20. Had a few guesses. I agree with Llama Butchers, 40 isn't quite old enough.

 
Lord of the Rings
Yips to Llama Butchers for this quiz. You are most like
Frodo Baggins, Son of Drogo
With many acquaitenances, Frodo is deeply attached to a few people, like Bilbo, Aragorn, Gandalf, and Sam. His high ethics come out in his treatment of Gollum and Saruman. Frodo has pity on Gollum and believes that change can occur.

You have a strong personal morality. You are committed to relationships and their growth. You tend to be an idealist, believing the best of the world around you. Time alone is important and solitary activities refresh you. You have a tendency to introspection. While providing compassion and being considerate, you may have the tendency of being soft-hearted or even "too emotional" You like keeping your options open. Closure is probably not one of your strong suits.

The Orcs display the evil side of this personality with their lengthy torture methods.

Traits: Empathic, benevolent, looking to the future. On the dark side you could be sadistic.

Not too far off.


 
Dreams
For some reason I've been having a lot of dreams, mostly odd, disjointed, difficult to remember the next day. I've also had another episode of what seems to be a recurring dream [4th or 5th time so far]. I've gone back to college, it's finals week, and there's a class I'm taking that I haven't been to a single class, nor read the text. Usually it's something math related, this time it was Spanish [probably my least favorite class in high school].

1/08/2005
 
Kid Rock
Right Thoughts has a post on the whole Kid Rock controversy. He does a good job of explaining why this is important, and explains what Kid Rock is about by explaining one of his songs. I would expand on one somewhat incidental point, though:
I hate to break it to conservatives, but the pimp culture was seen for a long time as a legitimate way to earn major money and get your ass out of the ghetto. It featured prominently in the burgeoning days of rap, and over time has come to take on a whole new meaning.
Specifically, a male kid living on the streets, homeless, no support, usually has two possible ways to make some money - dealing drugs [or working as a mule for a dealer] or selling his body. Being a pimp would be a significant step up.

 
Playing with the book meme thing, The Cheese Stands Alone mentions several other authors, only one of which do I instantly recognize [Larry Niven, of course, of which I know I have at least 4 books he has writen or co-authored without looking]. Others mentioned include Tom Maddox, Mick Farren, Philip Pullman, and Martha Grimes. Mick Farren has a weblog, and seems currently focused on a possible omen of a black hound. I've read at least the first book of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. It's been a while, and I have no firm memory.

1/07/2005
 
I'm pissed
Just random crap has been getting me steamed all day. First the torture stuff, then The Houston Press has an article on the Houston chapter of the Pink Pistols that makes them look like complete wackjobs [one member's reaction on hearing her dog bark at night is to react as if to an attack], then some random crap about "socially conservative" Republicans protesting Kid Rock playing at Bush's inauguration party. So, is it (1) my life sucks? (2) my friends and family suck? (3) I'm sticking to the diet enough for it to have psychological effects? Or (4) all of the above?

 
Life, Madri Gras, and the Tsunami
This afternoon, I was really pissed. My apartment complex is now within the cordoned off area for mardi gras this year, which I thought was going to be a good thing. Now I'm told I'll get 2 tickets per day for guests, and guests walking out of my apartment building will have to buy a ticket. This means that odds are I'll be able to get even fewer people to come to any sort of mardi gras party. Which sucks. Basically, I'm getting tired of local government trying to milk every penny out of these events, in order to pay for things I don't think they need, like a strong enough police presence that every other person is a cop. Then I read the Diplomad, and my life doesn't seem that bad. Basically, local governments don't have nearly the ability to waste money that the UN does.

 
Blogger
Does anyone know why I keep getting error messages from blogger, while it still posts my post? This thing is possessed.

 
The Carnival of Recipes #21 is posted on Physics Geek. I sent in my experiment with black-eyed peas and slow cookery, and it seems to have been well received. Yay. I still have lots of black-eyed peas left over, some as hoppin john and some just as peas. Other experiments may occur; recommendations are welcome.

 
Torture
Lots of posts on the topic on Instapundit. Ace of Spades seems to me to make the most sense. Those who are arguing that torture is useless seem clueless. It may be that there are interrogation techniques that are not torture [and I don't know if a useful operational definition of torture can be made that everyone will agree on] that work as well. I don't know. But it seems to me that if we deliver someone into another country's custody so that he can be interrogated in a particular way we're still morally responsible. It would be better to have a clear discussion on this before a city gets nuked or some other serious terrorist attack occurs rather than after.

 
Book Meme
Well, I saw this first on Llamabutchers, but TexasBestGrok beat me to the link. I have more books in common with him anyway. 1. Roger Zelazney 2. David Brin [He has started a blog here. Sort of.] 3. Dan Savage 4. Robert Heinlein 5. CS Lewis 6. JRR Tolkien 7. William Gibson 8. Larry Niven 9. Diane Duane 10. William Shakespeare Update: sorry, I screwed up and bolded the ones in common instead of the ones I added. Also, the meme from The Cheese Stands Alone is much more congruent: 1. J.K. Rowling 2. William Gibson 3. Neil Gaiman 4. David Brin 5. Roger Zelazny 6. JRR Tolkien 7. Stephen Brust 8. Dave Barry 9. Stephen King 10. William Shakespeare So, bold names are the added ones.

1/06/2005
 
WIKIPEDIA
Instapundit links to the article currently posted in WIKIPEDIA about his site. Copied completely here, since I bet it will change soon:

Instapundit is a U.S. political weblog produced by Glenn Reynolds, a wingnut law professor at the University of Tennessee. It is one of the most widely-read blogs in the world. Because he has inspired countless imitators, Reynolds is sometimes called the BlogFather.

The content on InstaPundit reflects the interests and biases of its editor. It is sometimes considered a War Blog because of its frequent sympathetic coverage of America's war on terrorism and war in Iraq. Other common topics are technology (such as nanotechnology and space exploration), individual liberty, domestic politics, the media, and the blogosphere as a social phenomenon.

Most of the content consists of links to other sites, often with brief comments. Reynolds often displays a libertarian slant which tends to favor free markets and to distrust bureaucratic action in both economic and personal affairs. Critics charge that the site has become increasingly partisan, with a tendency to provide positive coverage of Repuglicans and negative coverage of Demoncrats, although Reynolds supports such Democratic platforms as civil unions, abortion rights, and stem cell research.

Because of its popularity, an Instapundit link to another site can cause the traffic of that site to spike. Such an increase is often referred to as an "instalanche" (http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary_archives/002000.html), an Instapundit avalanche.

Reynolds runs Instapundit with less personal investment than most bloggers, and thus encourages readers to explore the blogosphere at depth — for both impartiality and a richer array of content.

Glenn is shown in the "I had an abortion" T-shirt.

I wonder if the problem with Wikipedia is that there is no history or accountability, at least to the casual user. There have been other times I've wondered what other people had posted on Wikipedia, that was then redone by someone else.


1/05/2005
 
Anagram generator
This is kind of cool.
A NINJA BY HRS VOL
A BANJO HRS VINYL
A SNARL BY JOHN VI
A SNARL BY JOHN IV
A SYLVAN JIB HORN
ANVILS JAR BY HON
NINJA VARY LBS OH
JAIL VAN BY HORNS
RASH NINJA BY VOL
RAH SLAV BOY JINN
NASH RYAN JIB VOL
BANJO RASH VINYL
JAB VARNISH ONLY
LIBRA NAVY JOHNS
LAVA RIBS JOHNNY
JAVA LBS HORNY IN
JAVA BLINN HORSY
ARAB JOHNS VINYL
A NAVYS BIRL JOHN

Or

HIRELINGS MUST TOW
HIRELINGS SMUT TWO
RELISHING TUM STOW
SLITHERING MUST OW
MIGHTIER OWLS STUN
MIGHTIER OWLS NUTS
MIGHTIER LUSTS NOW
TIGERISH LUST MOWN
ENGLISH I MUST TROW
ENGLISH SWIM TUTOR
ENGLISH SWIM TROUT
GERSHWIN LITMUS TO
HUNGERS LIMIT TOWS
GREMLINS SHOW I TUT
WRESTLING HO I MUST


Hat tip: Althouse.

 
What a Crock
After my New Years Day celebration I had a lot of leftover black-eyed peas, in the form of some hoppin john made somewhat like this recipe from Anywhere but Here's contribution to last week's carnival. Not my favorite food. So I puttered around, tried them in a corn tortilla like a burrito, and ended up making this, a sort of enchilada lasagna. Based on this recipe. Unless you too have leftover hoppin' john, you could use cooked pinto beans, refried beans, or just increase the amount of meat. What a Crock! Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef 1 packet taco seasoning about 3 cups hoppin' john [slightly less amount by volume than the cooked beef] 12 corn tortillas 2 cans rotel tomatos 2 cups grated cheddar cheese Brown beef, drain fat. Add taco seasoning, water as indicated on the packet. Mix for a couple of minutes, then add hoppin' john. Mix together. Lay 3 tortillas to cover the bottom of the crock pot. Add about 1/3 beef mixture, then 2/3 can tomatos, then 1/3 cheese. Repeat twice, cover with the last of the tortillas. Cook on low 3-4 hours. [the original recipe recommends 6-8 hours, which might have cooked the tortillas differently, but I wasn't going to wait that long]. Take off lid and turn to high to evaporate some of the water if it looks too soupy near the end of cooking. Serve with picante sauce, guacamole, and/or sour cream.

 
Orange Bowl
USC stomped Oklahoma. BoiFromTroy was there, has pictures. Congrats!

1/04/2005
 
Movies
Puttering around, found A Perfectly Comulent 's list of upcoming movies for the next six months. He thinks Electra could be good, the previews have been kinda cool, I'll probably catch a matinee. Scrolling down, a couple of others look cool,... holy cow, there's a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie coming out? Oh yeah. Don't Panic.

1/03/2005
 
A Wish for Fionavar
From this book, comes this song/poem: Thy table set with rarest wine, Choice meats, sweet ripened fruit And candlelight when we dine In Fiovarre. On we two the high stars will shine And the holy moon lend her light. If not here you will be mine In Fionvarre.

 
Star wars
I was looking for this penny arcade strip a while back. Now I've found it. Or it found me....

1/02/2005
 
ScrappleFace does it again

(2004-12-31) -- A new survey from the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society shows that relationships with family and friends may reduce both the quantity and quality of time spent surfing the internet.

Researchers say the new data show that Americans enjoy the internet less, and use it less frequently when burdened by "outdated relational protocols and so-called family responsibilities."

This man's got a twisted mind.


 
Life and PvP
You gotta wonder how much this is autobiographical. Yay Diet Coke with Lime and Diet Mountain Dew.

 
Life
The original plan was for my sister and 2 of her friends to come down to Galveston and play as part of an annual wake party for Townes Van Zandt, and then spend the night in my apartment. What ended up happening was that only my sister came down, I made dinner [something close to Hoppin John, green salad, and pork chops with some lemon pepper], she went over while I watched the end of the Rose Bowl, and then I went over [to The Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe] for about an hour. Not the sort of music I ever voluntarily listen to, but it wasn't too bad, and parts were good. My sister's violin music added quite a bit to the guitar playing singers, as long as she didn't overwhelm the song. Then a 4 piece acoustic band with a singer with a voice like he had just chain smoked 3 packs of camels came on, and I bailed. Chomps would have been going crazy. The liberal, long-haired, beards that had never been cut contingent was high. One joke: "When I was first going out with my wife, she told me she wanted to do it doggie-style, so I peed on her carpet and humped her leg. I didn't do it again after she rubbed my nose in it. Now we always do it doggie style, I beg and she rolls over and plays dead."

 
Chili
The Houston Chronicle has an article about one guy's quest for the perfect chili here. Sounds pretty good and pretty easy. Recipe copied here in case the article expires: Chronicle kitchen-tested recipe.

Freezes well. Can be thinned to use as enchilada gravy. Also good on tamales, or in an omelet with grated cheese.

• 2 large onions, chopped

• 3 garlic cloves

• Canola oil (just enough to coat pan)

• 2 pounds lean chili-grind beef

• 2 packets Williams Original Chili Seasoning

• 1 Wick Fowler's 2-Alarm Chili Kit (omit salt packet; reserve masa packet)

• 2 tablespoons ground cumin

• 2 tablespoons each: mild, medium and hot ground red chili powder

• 2 (28-ounce) cans Hunt's crushed tomatoes

• 1 small (6-ounce) can tomato paste

• 56 ounces water (use 2 tomato cans to measure)

Roughly chop onion or pulse briefly in food processor. Peel and mince garlic cloves.

Coat the bottom of a heavy, 6-quart (or larger) pot with canola oil. Sauté onion and garlic until translucent; do not burn.

Add beef, stirring to brown on all sides. Add Williams seasoning packets and Wick Fowler's seasonings, omitting salt packet and reserving masa packet. Stir in cumin and the three ground red chili powders, blending well. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and water, stirring to blend. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer with the lid on.

After 30 minutes, add warm water to the reserved masa packet to make a smooth paste; stir into chili and simmer at least an hour more. The longer it simmers, the better it gets.

Makes 6 or more servings.


1/01/2005
 
Life
Happy New Year! I'm waiting for my sister to come by, her cell phone isn't working and god knows when she'll get here. Black eyed peas cooking. Last night was kind of fun, sampled a few odd beers. It would be nice to have a few close friends that didn't randomly bring up MSM talking points -"Yeah, the tsunami was really bad. Bush missed a big oportunity to make a leadership speech." Ok, it wasn't quite that bad but almost.


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