badgerbag

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I said I would never do this again, but in fact I'll be piecing out another section of patio to be made up as a mosaic of concrete pieces. (Karen has already ID'd a bunch of the candidate components.) This time it's small; about 3 x 4 feet, over by the white Brugmansia and the raspberries; a section of dirt formerly holding plants, to be replaced by paving. I had a section of parkstrip saved for this, but the green paint the city put on it, when they declared it had to go, is too garish for us to reuse it as is. Either the paint goes, or the pieces go. I'm betting it's the pieces that leave; we have plenty of broken concrete around the yard. (Some of it may have come from the racetrack, torn down around 1905 when the area was sold off in lots as a land speculation.)

Meanwhile, while we were in Alaska, our faithful DirecTV satellite TV system developed problems. Something in the RF chain is cutting in and out. We get full signal strength on all of the 32 transponders, but after a few seconds we'll get short intermittent periods of No Signal. This shows as a greater or lesser breakup of the TV image. The dish, LNB, and coaxial line date from 1998, and would have to be replaced for HD; so I think it's time. (The problem could be in the RF section of the receiver, but this is an early Hughes TiVo machine from 2002. Same strategy.)

After my experimental analysis of the problem, I spent a couple of unhappy hours examining replacement alternatives. DirecTV -has- re-signed with TiVo, but their new receiver with TiVo won't be out until 2010. Currently they are only shipping receivers with their own DVR, generally considered inferior to TiVo. Further, their prices and offers to existing customers seem to, um, suck, and I'm not sure if I'll have to buy the new dish (and perhaps a switching matrix) separately. Hi, ho.

AT&T now offers TV via fiber optic lines to the home, with DVR; but no TiVo at all, as far as I can tell.

Confusing the issue even more is a joint marketing agreement announced in Feb. of this year, with AT&T reselling DirecTV service in a discounted package. I have heard nothing about this since, and it may have fizzled out; I have to call AT&T tomorrow for illumination.

I didn't actually want to be working on TV problems, as we're concentrating on getting things finished before our summer BBQ at the end of July -- send mail if you're going to be in the area on the 25th -- but reality often interferes with expectations.

In other news, Karen generated four huge loads of cut branches from rose mutabilis this afternoon. I call this monster variably (of course) mutatis or mutandis when I'm weeding underneath it, with an occasional retrograde to its proper name when it's in full bloom. We installed heavy cardboard under it this season, so the weeding has been much reduced. We still get some of the usual long strands of Bermuda grass.

I just spent much longer than I care to tell you googling to find regulations on household plumbing to see if its possible for toilet water to come out my shower when the pipes get blocked. Cause even though the plumber was here today, I just took a shower and ... it wasn't draining so good.

For the life of me, I can't find anything that says that's impossible, and trying to go through how *I* think pipes work, I don't see how it's impossible either, depending on where the blockage is.

You'd have to think it would be bad practice.

And that I'm having a stressful week and now it's starting to show round the edges.

( here's a strut. uh huh. )

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Dear Torchwood Writers:

( Very big spoiler for TW 3x04 )

I'm tired but happy from having puttered in the garden all day today. Didn't get in the car to go anywhere, hardly did any Master Gardener work other than some e-mails. What I did do:

• I finished redistributing all of our garden art. We used to have an old fence that I started adorning with sundry plaques, masks, etc., whatever caught my fancy. We now have a nice, new fence, put up last year, but we also like all of the collected stuff well enough to put it back onto the new fence, in addition to placing other bits of statuary around the garden. It's one of those tasks that I have to let my brain mull over for a while before I get out there and do it. If I get ambitious, I'll take a few pictures of some of our more whimsical objets d'art. One of my favorite bits, probably too subtle for most people to even notice, is a piece of broken mirror placed against the bottom of the fence, which makes it look like there's a ragged hole leading to the next yard.
• I cleaned and stored all of the garlic that I've had drying in the pergola. My gardening partner and I grew eight different varieties(!), and there are some distinct differences. Zemo and Music Pink did not bulb up well at all, for instance, probably because our winter isn't cold enough for them (softnecks do better here than hardnecks). I've got the bags sitting here in my office to make a few more notes about before putting them in storage. I can smell that there are a few dicey ones that didn't dry properly -- must pull them out asap.
• I cut back my Mutabilis rose. I know, it's not the right time, but it always seemed to be blooming whenever I thought of it. I haven't cut it back for a few years and while it was gorgeous in bloom, it was had taken over too much real estate. Plus there was a lot of dead growth in the middle. It's much smaller now and will probably have a lovely new flush of flowers in a month or so.
• I cut back my raspberries. I'm not entirely convinced I really have to cut the canes that just finished bearing, because several of them looked like they were happily sending out new growth. Still, it looks so nice to get those old, scraggy ones out of there and just have the fresh green shoots coming up. Besides, Mike is doing a little more patio work next to them, so getting them out of the way is good. But next year I'm going to experiment with encouraging regrowth on some of the old canes. I have a vague notion that I might be able to get more out of them by training them horizontally, like pegging rose canes.

Ingrédients :

400 g de chair de mangue
100 ml de lait demi-écremé
400 ml de crème liquide
50 g de sucre semoule
6 feuilles de gélatine
du beurre pour graisser les ramequins.

( Etapes : )

someone on the me boards is asking an interesting question. shepard finds imprisoned queen insect alien, her people thought extinct. player frees her or kills her (last time her race invaded galaxy, but this was thousand years ago, and cause of war unclear).

on boards, poster is asking whether you killed her or freed her... and how old you are.

i think it's cool to have been part of a game that raises questions like these.

fengi nails it:

My first reaction to the 2012 prophecy is that it's a crazy appropriation by privileged white "spiritualists" and: a) has an underlying attitude which can't accept an ancient culture's math and science skills without framing it in "magical primitive" crap; and b) despite living evidence, imposes simplistic and selective reading on a religion which, like most, ritually combines the symbolic, philosophical and literal in ways where intent and interpretation has shifted and evolved over centuries.

If you are giving any consideration to that nonsense, ask yourself:

"What critical infrastructure systems use the Mayan Calendar for date calculations?"

Good luck with that one.

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Yeah, still went to bed after midnight last night. I just can't look away from the Enterprise episodes. And Season 3 is nearly done. Wonder how long I will stick out before chasing down Season 4. The lovely catsparx has posted me some Cracktastic Classic Trek for distraction so I think I will move onto that for now. Also, I have a ton of DVDs sitting there to be watched. Though I'm not too good on finding the time and attention span for movies right now.

Anyway, we were up very early this morning - that's around 7/7.30am for you morning freaks - waiting for the plumber. He didn't arrive till 8am but I was at least dressed and sort of breakfasted and caught up on email. Even opened some of my paper mail too - I'm kinda crap at that. It becomes a problem when the paper mail is bills.

Plumber agreed with my assessment - drains overflowing and thus blocked. You know, I'm really not down with that - I have a dog who goes outside. And I have drains that overflow. It seems to me, in hygeine terms, these things should really not be allowed to mix. Anyway, assessment - clay pipes, they are porous, tree roots get in, it's going to be an ongoing problem. I told him I'd see him in 6 months.

Then Benji ran off down the street. Bloody dog. Though somewhat amusing now that he is wearing a red jacket and can actually be spotted off in the distance. Dog came back. Got disciplined and resent inside.

I ran some errands before heading into work. Came into work and have somehow overcatered for my day. I made two sandwiches to be toasted for lunch. I for some reason bought scones at the canteen and then discovered we had morning tea. Scones and lunch remain sitting on my desk. I really am not a morning person for a reason!

I've started moving Twelfth Planet Press news and updates back over to the the Twelfth Planet Press blog, and will do that more and more - twelfthplanet.

And now I am sitting here in some discomfort and wondering if I should be back at home, and why I was not warned against physical exercise? Was it implied? Course now it's bucketing down. And a tonne of work seems to have found its way to me. And my weekend is looking jam packed.

Ahhh must be Friday, eh?

United for Choice:nspiring informed decisions through education

United for Choice, Inc. is the organization representing a committed group of individuals focusing our efforts on the design and application for a Pro-Choice specialty license plate for Florida vehicles.

Currently, Floridians have about 100 different automobile license plate designs from which to choose, and each one purchased contributes to it’s specific cause. Nine years ago, the state of Florida approved the anti-choice plate, which as of February 2006, has more than 60,000 plates on the road has raised nearly $4,000,000 towards the anti-choice cause. Sales and renewals add about $70,000.00 every month. This money goes to so called “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” clinics that distort reality and hide the truth from women. They take advantage of an uncomfortable and emotional situation to impart their scientifically unfounded beliefs. The omission and skewing of information is a LIE and telling women that abortion causes cancer or that it can prevent a woman from getting pregnant in the future are just some of the strategies used by anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers that receive money from the anti-choice plate.

Pro-Choice motorists are currently denied the opportunity to express their views on a government issued, specialty license plate. The intent of our Pro-Choice License plate will be to fund agencies and organizations that provide information on all reproductive choices. Our plate will endow funds to empower women and men to take control of their reproductive lives. We will fund grants for comprehensive sex education, and give women better access to contraception. Florida has the 6th highest teen pregnancy rate and the 45th worst access to contraception, it is clear that we need more preventative measures in place in order to fully educate women and men about what “choice” can mean; Whether it is choosing to wear a condom, choosing to postpone sex, choosing not to become a parent until ready, or choosing to terminate a pregnancy.

Donate here if you are so inclined. Any Floridians on my list want to spread it around?

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Dear Daddy Kirk/McCoy Joanna/Savas (child Vulcan) Told entirely in subspace transmissions, total hilarity, slow evolution of relationship, and the latest chapter involves a completely LOL-inducing scene of intraship bartering!

Well now I am obsessed with having FFS done on my brow bone! I keep looking at the brow bone and I get so depressed seeing it. I don't think I have a huge brow bone(I probably do but don't notice it like others would), but more than I want. I really want to get rid of it someday(sooner than later), but I am so scared of the surgery and concerned with the costs. I know overseas is the place where many go, but I am afraid of traveling across the ocean. What surgeons would any of you recommend that have an exceptional track record, and are not over priced in the states?

Thanks :)

Hello, maggie is cranky as FUCK today, so she will now speak in third person and do a meme that wovenindelibly did where she puts down ten quotes from ten favourite TV couples ('couples' used loosely in some cases) and you have to guess the characters and the show:

( clearly, the only couples I love are either prim and talky, a strong woman and adoring guy, or one a bit mean and the other a bit waffy. )

I can't make any sense of what this new SoundExchange settlement actually means for DNA Lounge. Is someone going to come knocking on my door asking for an additional $25,000 per year because of our webcasts? Given that A) we are already paying ASCAP/SESAC/BMI for them, and B) the webcasts produce zero revenue. If you think you understand this crap, please explain it to me...

And Soon It Will Destroy You. To begin teaching the robot, the researchers stuck Einstein in front of a mirror and instructed the robot to "body babble" by contorting its face into random positions. A video camera connected to facial recognition software gave the robot feedback: When it made a movement that resembled a "real" expression, it received a reward signal.

If a person had a Mac Powerbook running Leopard and also had some avi files that wouldn't play audio, where would said person go for free versions of the necessary codecs to be able to hear and see (instead of just see) a certain British science fiction program that everyone on her reading list of fannish folk were talking about?

(This is where if I'd imported my icons, I'd use my help me Obi-Wan Dreamwidth list, you're my only hope icon.)

I am going to be very very glad when I cross that magic line of not feeling like a technical dolt every time I try to do something new on this platform.

I'm quite quite late with the Advance Uncorrected Proof (hereafter known as AUP) of Traitors' Gate contest due to moving house and having visitors at the same time. My apologies. Basically, everything online or that was not moving and visitors (or paddling) was derailed for several weeks.

So.

This contest was exceptionally difficult as I loved ALL the entries and found them very very interesting, heartfelt, and illuminating in the sense that it was fascinating to me to see what appealed to different people about different characters.

With the trenchant aid of two of my spawn, I settled on four finalists:

Yileen L
Carol B
Josh S
Christopher Z

The third spawn drew lots from a cup, and the winner is: Christopher Z.

I will try to send out thank you notes to all who participated before the next set of visitors arrives next week. I really appreciated those of you who wrote in; as a writer, I can often wonder what effect my narratives have on readers, and so through your answers I got a glimpse. But because I appreciated every entry so much, I found it agonizing to have to choose between them, honestly. It was like someone asking which one is my favorite child! (well, not quite, but I'm exaggerating for effect)

As an aside, I was alerted that two copies of the AUP of Traitors' Gate are up on eBay. Now, the AUP specifically is not for resale (or any sale). It's a publicity tool. I don't know if my publisher will request the AUPs get taken down, but what burns me in the case of Advance Proofs is that I requested more AUPs but the publisher had already run out. So I could have used those for more contests, or in the case of ties (see above), or for actual reviewers, etc, while meanwhile some schmoe is trying to make a profit over something they got for free and doubtless was not interested in. Feh.

Keep sending in those quotes!


TITLE: A Cinderella Story of Sorts
PERPETRATOR: Bubbles5147
SUE-O-METER: (awful)

FULL NAME: Aractesia "Essie" Malfoy
SPECIES: Squib
HAIR: "long and dark"
EYES: "deep violet"
MARKINGS: "snow-like skin", a "scarred, yet somewhat beautiful face".
POSSESSIONS: a Hogwarts Letter

ORIGIN: Draco and Astoria's daughter. She is not really Draco's child, though. Some "muggleborn" with violet eyes apparently is.
CONNECTIONS TO CANON: Draco's "daughter". After being abused by Draco she gets to go to Hogwarts, and falls in love with Hugo Weasley.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Lots of maturity.

NOTES: The Suethor has one of the longest profiles I've ever seen, and she proclaims to hate child abuse. If this is the case, I wonder why she glorifies it as a plot device?

( If your attic is so dusty, why don't you clean it? )

A job that would challenge me, increase my skills, and move me up a salary grade has been posted at my place of work the same week that Amazon dropped the price on the Kindle to $299 and Land's End is having an overstock sale that includes aqua sandals. Maybe I should play the lottery--or at the least finish up my resumé, eh?

Dear Protagonist Who It's Hard to Believe Once Didn't Want to Do Anything At All,

So first I send you off to summer camp, then I send you off to college, and now it seems you've found paying work and are ready to head out into the world. Wow. Time flies. One day you're a half-written incoherent rough draft, the next you're almost fully revised.

Only--maybe you have a little time left to hang out together before you move away? We can go shopping, get you some good work clothes, look at your prose and logic one more time. It'll be fun.

Yes, I know you're impatient to set out on your own, but can't you just humor your creator one more time? After all, we've been through a lot together.

Affectionately,

Me

P.S. Of course, it's not like we won't see each other again. After all, you'll be home for copyediting page proofs the holidays, right?

Obama daughter wears t-shirt, Freepers call her ghetto trash and assert that the peace symbol on the shirt is evidence of her influencing her father's national security decisions. Yes, I am aware that this is brain-breaking.

White residents of small town in Utah assert their right to steal, display and sometimes sell Pueblo Indian artifacts, ironically asserting their god-fearingness I coulda sworn the good lord said something about stealing...


Fox News' Kilmeade: We 'marry other species,' Finns 'pure'

Racist white fucks boot children from pool and refunded their money because and I quote 'change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club'

Because otherwise, surely I wouldn't have missed the fact that I won an ARC of Fire in Kidliterate's giveaway. Yay! I've only been lusting after this book now, for ... well, at least since penmage read it, which I think was around the same time I read Graceling, which must put it at months and months and months.

And if you aren't already reading kidliterate's most excellent reviews, why aren't you? We can't all use revisions as an excuse, now, can we? :-)

We'll find out the results of the biopsy on July 20th. (That is also my birthday.)

But. Don thinks his symptoms have more in common with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which his research indicates has links to Marfan's Syndrome. (I have not looked into this myself, so I have no idea. I didn't even read the wikipedia article that closely.)

There were two incidents of accessibility_fail at the hospital - the first was that the waiting room for ultrasounds is not wheelchair accessible, being too narrow and crowded with chairs to allow a wheelchair in it. Thus we had to wait in the hallway around the corner. The second was that Don wasn't allowed his wheelchair in the room with him. The second may not seem like a big deal, unless you consider that the wheelchair is how Don gets around. "Hi, we're just going to make sure you can't leave, and we're going to do this without talking to you about it or the implications first."

Anyway. Counting down and all that.

( + )

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In honor of Simone boogying in my lap right now to "Lady Marmalade" (and singing "ya ya," I kid you not), I invite you, my readers, to name for me the most inappopriate yet strangely baby-friendly songs you can think of.

"Special Place in Hell" for Grave Robbers
Four charged in elaborate off-the-books scheme

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says there's "a special place in hell" for those accused of digging up graves. His remarks echo those of the hundreds of family members that flocked to the historic Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip after investigators discovered that as many as 300 bodies had been dug up and dumped so the burial plots could be resold.

The office manager of the cemetery is being called the mastermind of the whole scheme. She allegedly worked with three gravediggers.

( Read more... )



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