Owlish Mutterings

Dive in Headfirst

LlamaButchers are trying to get out from under a certain anal sex obsessed pundit.

They need our help!

Babel Too

Or this:

Evening came yesterday to the bottom, 10 dead the word in Chinatown. Innocently, its only crime too was in the false place, with the forgery bad weather, statement of the people, which is false today with the kids, you declare itself that at the present time, they do not have anything to lose are to you buildings KINGDOM! Johnny used, after school in Kinoerscheinen to work. One received oneself to push, if it wishes a formation which it has a long manner. It is now outside on the road all the day to which the jump sells to the people who pay. A AK-47 for its business of the best friend the American manner received. Eastside meets of Westside downtown area. No don't times, the walls fall can to the bottom you believe him to come? RICHLY! Can't you intend it to name? The black man, included to again hold its chain in its hand. The brother of setting with died of brother for the profit of others, not of play, anybody gains. Acceptance, right in time. What did it arrive at the sublime dream? break it that all the niederwerfen, we place him high of still violently. Another KINGDOM? Eastside meets of Westside downtown area. Time, no line, the walls fall downwards. Can't you believe him to come? RICHLY! You cannot hear it next KINGDOM! Somebody cannot stop it here...??!!

Babel Indeed

1. Take the lyrics to a favorite song.
2. Go to Babelfish, translate the lyrics into German, then from German to French, and finally from French back into English.
3. Post the results verbatim.
4. Invite friends to guess the song based on the interesting new lyrics.

This is probably not the whole song, by the way.

_ it must fight not still, him time, something have make distort some this night the be drink which it sector alive become a ring of box, him time must be run, if it him see, its hand press it a woman be still right me hear its Scream, of hall which it can all same parlerelle me go, it go to the bottom surpamment with bed terrified me which it dead its hand roll up, be of return a woman have be again just ahead, however not thus which be however not considering so ahead him, not, I which indeed him this one Nurse, you slipped and drops some start to him in the passing, as it starts, to inflate it consider, it wish the truth, him in the sector of discussion with these hands Lookin are outside there precisely as gently right, as him still can considering him ahead, however not if which to have been, ahead never, but before I which is actually seen to him this bad, it a woman is not so still precisely to bring a name that you did not acquire, but you are not a child with one reheat have intended yourself "one injury to precisely only strike? Kickin ' your ass would not be a pleasure still, these are to him a time which even old Scheisse to precisely fight over another night which him those rifle seizes, it rather drinkable have, evening it still discovers this can considering it ahead, however not if which A is been, ahead, however not if, as fucking durable this one man of trains excursions thus quickly is, as it before I which is actually seen to him this bad which is yet just never it a woman

LlamaButchers vs Wonkette

Memorial Day

H/T: Right Wing News.

What did I do to observe the day? Not much, truthfully. Raining off and on, cool weather when it wasn't raining though. Made walking around the Strand pleasant.

The Risen Empire

The author has recently started a blog. I think I need a category in my sidebar for authors' blogs.

Media

Three now-common themes appeared in each controversy: (1) The misinformation erred predictably against the current American government. In CBS' case, anchorman Dan Rather impugned the president's past military service. The Newsweek article questioned the ethics and sense of the U.S. military. (2) These were not minor slips. The counterfeit documents Mr. Rather circulated undercut a sitting commander-in-chief in the midst of a national election. The fraud had the potential to alter the very governance of the United States. Newsweek's wrong information incited the Middle East's lunatic elements. Rioting and death followed, complicating the U.S. military effort. (3) Neither organization was markedly contrite when exposed. The culpable Mr. Rather refashioned himself as the maligned target of the blogosphere. Newsweek spokesmen whined that a vindictive administration was hounding their management. In response, the public assumed haughty news organizations were caught exhibiting the usual partiality -- and then on spec retreated to victim status when challenged.

Movies

So, movies I've seen in bold, movies I plan to see in italics.

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Spirited Away
4. Shaun of the Dead
5. Fantasia
6. The Phantom Tollbooth
7. Army of Darkness
8. Cemetery Man
9. Battle Royale
10. 12 Monkeys
11. Se7en
12. Fifth Element
13. True Romance
14. Suicide Kings
15. Leon
16. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
17. The Sting
18. River's Edge
19. Legend of Billie Jean
20. Star Wars
21. The Godfather
22. The Fly (original!)
23. Road Warrior
24. Aladdin
25. West Side Story
26. Airplane!
27. Slapshot
28. Apocalypse Now
29. Back to the Future
30. Winged Migration
31. Fog of War
32. Lost in LaMancha
33. Serpico
34. Akira
35. Guys and Dolls
36. Snoopy, Come Home
37. Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring
38. Bad News Bears
39. Interstate 60
40. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
41. Jaws
42. Boondock Saints
43. The Last Waltz
44. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
45. Super Troopers
46. Ghost Dog
47. Raising Arizona
48. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
49. Toy Story
50. A Christmas Story

1. Nightmare Before Christmas
2. Edward Scissorhands
3. Dog Day Afternoon
4. And Justice For All
5. Spider-Man 2
6. The Untouchables
7. Real Genius
8. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
9. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
10. Chocolat
11. Three Kings
12. Dawn of the Dead
13. From Dusk til Dawn
14. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
15. Prophecy
16. Nothing to Lose
17. The Last Boy Scout
18. Happy Gilmore
19. Ghostbusters
20. Sixteen Candles
21. The Longest Yard
22. Legends of the Fall
23. The Outsiders
24. Office Space
25. Napoleon Dynamite
26. Blazing Saddles
27. Young Frankenstein
28. The Muppet Movie
29. Quick Change
30. Dead Alive
31. Mallrats
32. Session 9
33. Heathers
34. My Life as a Dog
35. Clerks
36. X-Men
37. Princess Bride
38. The Sandlot
39. Breakfast Club
40. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
41. Boiler Room
42. The Hills Have Eyes
43. Evil Dead
44. Heavenly Creatures
45. Spartacus
46. Titus
47. Mary Poppins
48. The Omen
49. Smokey and the Bandit
50. Revenge of the Sith

• The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
• Lost Boys
• This is Spinal Tap
• Strange Brew
• South Park, Bigger, Longer and Uncut
• Dead Again
• The Ref
• Goonies
• Better off Dead
• Good Burger
• Starship Troopers
• Bladerunner
• Fast Times
• Say Anything
• Crowhaven Farm

Movie Meme

1) Total number of films I own on DVD/video:

24 DVDs, about 32 VHS. That counts various DVDs of anime which aren't movies.

2) The last film I bought:

I'm not completely sure, but I think it was the extended edition of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King I bought as a Christmas present.

3) The last film I watched:

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

4) Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me (in no particular order):
Animal House
The Lost Boys
Star Wars: A New Hope
The Princess Bride
Beauty and the Beast [Disney]

5) Tag 5 people and have them put this in their journal:

Nah.

Life

So, I've got a mix of being pissed at the weather [always useful] and pissed at myself for being a procrastinating wuss.

Fingerprints

Also from Geekpress.

Advertising

H/T: Geek Press.

God, I'm a nerd.

Carnival of recipes

Shrimp and Grits? My dad would love it.

Me, on the other hand - Chicken Breasts with portabella and blue cheese sounds tasty to me.

Hangin out

Shake your booty, everyone.

Update: now the damn "Piano Man." Crowd's loving it, though.

Movies

I went to see Revenge of the Sith this afternoon, [at a MOVIE MEGAPLEX] with two friends who rarely go to movie theatres. They were not impressed with the whole experience. About 10 minutes of video ads [at a volume louder than most rock concerts], 20 minutes of previews, an audience that didn't really detract from the experience but didn't add to it either. Oh, and of course they wanted to get to the theatre 20 minutes early to get a good seat.

With regard to the movie, she liked Episode 1 better, he liked Episode 2 better, I liked Episode 3. We all watched Episode 2 last night, she watched Episode 1 the night before.

Fanboy thoughts: (1) As cool as Yoda is in a lightsaber battle, it just doesn't fit. He's much smaller than a human, he usually hobbles around, and yet he can catch a full on strike [which takes strength and leverage]. He should be a badass in other ways. (2) Wookies get a tiny amount of time in RotS, compared to Ewoks in RotJ. And why are they fighting water battles on their jungle planet? (3) I just don't care about any of these characters. Blah blah, I want to be a Master, blah, illegal love, blah, I'm pregnant, blah, Jedi Masters get taken out like paraplegic gnats [and shouldn't some survive, so Vader can spend the next few years hunting them down and killing them?], blah, volcano fight. (4) The political crap is too complicated to be useful as a comment on present day politics. If President Bush = Dark Jedi Master, then he not only wanted a war and pushed for it, he was directly responsible for 9/11 and the creation of the Islamic "army." (5) If we're following the rules of the universe, people don't just die because they lose the will to live. I can accept the Dark Side having something to do with Padme's death, but it isn't telegraphed. Is the Emperor doing it long distance? Is Vader sucking out her life force, to heal himself as he crawls out of the lava? Or due to his previous force choke? (6) So, basically the morals of the movie are "Love is Evil" and " Don't Give a Whiney Angst-Ridden Teenager Ultimate Power." Yippee. How the fuck did Anakin Skywalker grow up, first as a slave on a desert planet that makes Arakis look like WaterWorld, then as a Jedi trainee where he would presumably see a large slice of life, and then suddenly come to the amazing conclusion that life isn't fair? If life were fair he would still be a slave, probably repairing droids and landspeeders. Instead, he's the right-hand-man to the most important person in a government spanning thousands of worlds, and doin' the dirty with the beautiful Senator and ex [Democratically elected] Queen. (7) Uncle Lars, watching the sunset. How heavy-handed with the visuals can you get?

So, on the positive side, it's a movie in a cool scifi universe, with amazing special effects. And ultimately I like the "Anankin turns to the Dark Side to save his beloved wife" concept. But, even when I [as TexasBestGrok puts it] check my cynical, 30-something ass at the door, I tend to think about what a great movie it could have been, rather than how much better it was than episode 1. Maybe that's because I went with 2 other cynical 30-somethings rather than an 8 year old, I don't know.

Tortilla Soup

Used the recipe, but: used pork loin instead of chicken [held up well, added it about halfway through the cooking]; no corn [will add it next time, unless I'm avoiding corn due to Adkin's]; no celery [fine]; didn't have cilantro or epazote on hand during cooking, so added some fresh cilantro on top of the soup at the end, which worked ok, but not great; figured out why the last batch didn't have enough heat - I didn't use any peppers from the can of chipolte peppers, so chopped up 3 peppers and used that and most of their seeds, which was a little too hot [not too hot for my friends, since they'll eat thai soup that hot, but hotter than any tortilla soup I've eaten in a restaurant].

Lightsaber

Your Lightsaber is Blue

Blue is often associated with depth and stability.
It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom,
confidence, and truth.


What Colored Lightsaber Would You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

Han Shot First

She's got a post asking about Star Wars, and the Han Shot First scene came up, so I answered this: [I watched the movie last week, and thought I have got to get me one of these shirts.]

The Han Shot First thing: there's a scene in the original movie that's involved, right after we're first introduced to Han Solo. He's leaving the bar, and runs into a bounty hunter, who will get paid for Han, dead or alive, preferably dead. The bounty hunter's got a blaster pointed, point blank, at Han. They sit back down, chat, the bounty hunter offers to forget he saw Han for a large enough bribe. Han doesn't have the money, is slowly preparing his blaster under the table. The bounty hunter says something like "I've been looking forward to this for a long time," Han counters "I bet you have," and shoots him. The Han goes to the barkeep, flips him a coin, and says "Sorry about the mess."

This scene establishes Han as a "does what he needs to do to save his own skin" guy.

With the release of the Special Edition, though, the scene was changed. In it, the bounty hunter fires, hits the wall to the side of Han's head, and only then does Han fire. Now, the bounty hunter was close enough that a blind quadraplegic couldn't have missed, and Han, knowing that this guy was going to kill him in the next few seconds, had a reason to fire.

So, yes, it's a small point, but it's a good example of Lucas' seeming mistakes/ overwhelming ego.

That's fookin Smurftabulous!

The hAcK3r one seems to change the coding of the webpage, I'm not sure if that's a bug or feature.

H/T: Rishon Rishon

Movies

Communication

Alien Loves Predator

And no, it isn't Aliens-Predator slash fiction. More or less work safe.

My Banjo is Wet

You are Kermit the Frog.
You are reliable, responsible and caring. And you
have a habit of waving your arms about
maniacally.

FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS:
"Hi ho!" "Yaaay!" and
"Sheesh!"
FAVORITE MOVIE:
"How Green Was My Mother"

LAST BOOK READ:
"Surfin' the Webfoot: A Frog's Guide to the
Internet"

HOBBIES:
Sitting in the swamp playing banjo.

QUOTE:
"Hmm, my banjo is wet."

What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Cold Fury

My animal nature

What Is Your Animal Personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

Photoshop

Book Meme

1. Total Number of Books I've Owned: My best estimate is that I currently own 700-750 books, without counting each one.

2. Last Book I Bought: The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy book. Hey, it was cheap.

3. Last Book I Read: Way of the Wolf, by E. E. Knight. Fun stuff to read while eating dinner.

4. Five Books That Mean A lot to Me:

1) The Bible. Yes, everyone is mentioning it. Yes, I don't believe it's the verbatim word of God. But, it has had a profound effect on my life and my civilization.
2) In The Moment, Harvey L. Rich, MD. A book written by a psychoanalyst, discussing his cases and a way to approach life. Big impact: when I first read it, I could barely get through a page without crying. Wouldn't affect everyone the same way, but it was helpful for me.
3) A book of poetry by Keats. Not so much because I love the poetry, but because the book itself has meaning for me. A gift from a long time ago.
4) The Kid, Dan Savage. If you have to ask why, I'm not going to tell you.
5) The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis. For a while I was reading one or another of these almost constantly. When I understood they were a metaphorical retelling of various bits of Christianity, it pissed me off, sort of like when your mother tries to get you to eat a vegetable you hate by hiding it in a casserole. But still, they were probably the first fantasy that I read [maybe LoTR or The Hobbit came before].

No books that I've read have had a huge philosophical impact on me. Classes in college, yes; specific books, no. I have a zillion SciFi books with varying levels of impact, but no one stands out.

5. Tag five people and have them do this on their blog.

It's late, let me sleep on this. If anyone reads this and wants to be tagged, comment.

Blogging

I've been doing a survey of mu.nu blogs, going down TexasBestGrok's list. It's interesting. A fair number [5-10%] exist but haven't really started, some on hiatus. A higher proportion than I was expecting tend to be more diaries than anything else.

And today was the first time I was reading a blog and unknowingly came upon a link to me. Kinda cool.

And I'm coming up on my first blogaversary. More cool.

Anyway, I think I need at least an owl picture or drawing as a symbol. I've looked around some, nothing has hit me yet. I could use the drawing I have for a planned owl tattoo, but since I didn't like it enough to get it inked, I don't know if I want it here either. Anyone got a way to scan a 5ftx5ft cloth panel? Hmm. Time to play with my digital camera, maybe go to the zoo.

The Keys to my Heart

How to Cure the Star Wars Blues

Chewbacca, radio psychologist? It could happen.

Your Inner Dragon?

A SILVER Dragon Lies Beneath!

Blogs

confabulation has blogrolled me, thanks!
As has Reflections in d minor - quite a cool blogroll, with some scifi links.
As has Monkeywatch.

And I've outed myself in signing The Online Coalition petition. Oh well. Anyone who knows me in real life, who knows I blog, can probably find this.

HotMuscleGeek

Food

So, chopped half an onion, and cooked it with some pepperoni, in the non-stick pot. Worked pretty well. Cooked till the onion was transparent but still a little crunchy. Added some water, noodles, flavor packet [in theory, roast beef flavor]. Cooked, ate as a soup type thing.

Worked fairly well, tasted pretty good, except... boiled pepperoni has the flavor and texture of cardboard.

Rails Across the Galaxy & Sanctuary

As the saying goes, rich bloggy goodness. 3 thoughts come immediately to mind:
1) Maybe my high school wasn't so dumb, insisting these spoiled rich kids go camping.

2) One of my favorite stories in Analog was Rails Across the Galaxy, printed as a serial, ending in the mid-September 1982 issue. Written by Andrew Offutt and Richard Lyon.

It deals with a first contact situation, present day Earth, with the aliens making the contact. The earthlings have something the aliens want; the earthlings don't know what to ask for it:

"But what then,?" Angel demanded, his arms writhing like a pair of cobras in heat. "What you are telling me is that although the Railroad has desperate need of your services, there is nothing you and your people need from us!" ... "We have a custom," I said mercifully. "When one is in need and cannot pay, one says ... Please." The Star Trader's hands became steady. "Other races have similar customs, Trader Quinan. It is absolute Railroad Policy that I may not practice such a custom; for if I did, your race would forever after have the right to say Please to the Railroad."

Now, on the other hand, I disagree with so-called security measures that call for me to give up my power, yet don't offer me any more security in exchange. Strip frisking grannies, confiscating fingernail clippers, and forcing a woman to drink her own breast milk do nothing to improve my safety. But the proper place to debate this is in Congress, not in the airport.

3) There was a short story I read a while back in a Dragon. In it, Merlin comforted a dying King Arthur, by telling him what the future would be like. He talked about the poorest children having more clothes than current kings, and he discussed vanilla ice cream, with vanilla and sugar being from places that were currently unreachable, on an undiscovered continent.

The highest technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Star Wars costumes

Studio Creations has a lot of info on how to make your own costume. Looks like making your own stormtrooper suit would take quite a bit of time, but maybe a tusken raider outfit isn't impossible.

Weight and Diets

For the past week I've been much more of a slug than usual, and not particularly focused on eating well, but I've lost 4 pounds. I don't get it.

So, maybe, I can get back into a diet. To avoid cheating, I'm going Adkins, walk at least 40 minutes a day, try to figure out some sort of weight training pattern I can keep going.

It's a strange world, mark 2

I don't think it's a joke, but who knows.

Hat tip: Northshore Politics, via Carnival of Comedy.

Update: No, it's not a joke. Homepage.

Fun quiz

H/T: View from the Pew

Carnival of recipes #40

Another chili recipe. I need to develop my own.

Panang Beef, a Thai recipe. Somewhat complicated, but not impossible, assuming you can find red thai curry paste.

Stuffed steak - round steak wrapped around stuffing, sounds good.

Brisket - easy, crockpot meat.

Chocolate dipped strawberries. Mmmm.

Star Wars

Being the martyr, I offered to babysit if his parents can't/won't do it.

So, I'd kind of like to go this weekend, partially because IT'S STAR WARS and partially because I've read so many reviews which are all over the map that I'd like to go and form my own opinion. If I knew I was going to babysit, I'd go ahead and go. Not knowing, I'm not sure I will want to see it twice [I've seen very few movies in theatres more than once. Disney's Beauty and the Beast is the last one that comes to mind].

Sullivan Pile-on

It's always fun to see something that pretty much directly mirrors my own thinking.

H/T: INDC

Script?

Which Indecipherable Script Are You?

brought to you by Quizilla

H/T: Pixy Misa.

Women in the Military

2. Alas, only one country that we have fought since 1941 has given more than lip service for the Geneva Convention, the forces of militant Islam would appear to have about as much use for traditional chivalry as Orky the Killer Whale has for a stair step machine, and it is abundantly clear that in this war, there is no front line, there is no safe area. When an enemy can take a clear shot at the Pentagon, and kill civil servants sitting quietly at their desk jobs— well, that should make it pretty clear that there is no rear in which to park the gear and the ladies’ auxiliary safely out of harms’ way… even of going back to the old way were still even possible.

It's a strange world

Man, life is cheap sometimes.

H/T: Fark

Things that make you go hmm

Lyrics 2

Lyrics

The Scotsman

Oh, a Scotsman clad in a kilt
left a bar one evenin' fair.
And one could tell by the way he walked
he'd drunk more than his share.
He fumbled 'round until he could
no longer keep his feet.
Then he stumbled off onto the grass
to sleep beside the street.

Ring-ding, diddle-iddle, la-di-oh!
Ring-dye, diddle-lye oh!
He stumbled off onto the grass
to sleep beside the street.

About that time two young
and lovely girls just happened by.
And one said to the other
with a twinkle in her eye.
"See yon sleepin' Scotsman
so strong and handsome built.
I wonder if it's true what
they don't wear beneath their kilt."

Ring-ding, diddle-iddle, la-di-oh!
Ring-dye, diddle-lye oh!
I wonder if it's true what
they don't wear beneath their kilt.

So, they crept up on that sleepin' Scotsman
quiet as they could be.
They lifted up his kilt
about an inch so they could see.
And there, behold, for them to view
beneath his Scottish skirt,
was nothing more than God
had graced him with upon his birth.

Ring-ding, diddle-iddle, la-di-oh!
Ring-dye, diddle-lye oh!
was nothing more than God
had graced him with upon his birth.

Well, they marveled for a moment
then one said, "We must be gone.
Let's leave a present for our friend
before we move along."
As a gift they left a blue silk ribbon
tied into a bow
around the bonney star Scot's
kilt did lift and show!

Ring-ding, diddle-iddle, la-di-oh!
Ring-dye, diddle-lye oh!
around the bonney star Scot's
kilt did lift and show!

Oh! The Scotsman woke to nature's call
and he stumbled towards the trees.
Behind a bush he lifts his kilt
and gawks at what he sees.
And in a startled voice he says
to what's before his eyes,
"Oh Laddy, don't know where ya been,
but I see ya won first prize!"

Ring-ding, diddle-iddle, la-di-oh!
Ring-dye, diddle-lye oh!
"Oh Laddy, don't know where ya been,
but I see ya won first prize!"

Star Wars

And in a true fanboy geeky kinda way, I'm identifying most of the aliens, and some of the robots.

For more fun, I recommend Three Dead Trolls' Vaders Employee Evaluation. Scroll down about halfway.

Blogs

In general I agree with what is said, but this bit is different:

Good blogging IS good writing. You don't just toss off a steaming pile of unfinished thought-crap, call it good, and wait for Lady Fortune to kick in your door toting buckets full of gold coins. Bloggers CARE about what they write, which is why they write it. Even on tiny posts, it's the blogger's best efforts that get published. They know it's not Hemmingway, but they do the best they can with what they have. Anyone who's struggled for half an hour tweaking a 3-line throwaway post knows what I'm talking about.

Especially when your most recent post was on Glenn Reynolds and Porn for Penguins.

Update: On the other hand, I could understand if Protein Wisdom takes that long to write.

3 Dead Trolls in a Baggie

Andrew Sullivan

Now, given the readership of this blog it's fairly unlikely I've sent him any hits at all, so who cares.

Glenn Reynolds, on the other hand, is a big deal.

See also INDC.

50 Foodie things

Things I've done:

13) Learn how to make a dry martini
18) Shuck an oyster
20) Wolf down a hotdog on Coney Island
29) Pod fresh peas
30) Queue for fish and chips
35) Grill a steak [although their version requires aged organic Guernsey beef, cooked with foie gras]
40) Bake a loaf of bread

Ok, my tastes are not into 2000$ bottles of wine.

Media, News, and Information

(1) Local news sucks. The only marginally useful information for me is the weather report. I don't care that a house burned down, that someone got into a fight, or that a local restaurant had some problems on its health inspection. And sports generally don't interest me, although watching a close game can be fun, so watching a summary of various sports is pointless. I don't watch local news unless I'm with someone else who is watching.
(2) The same kinds of problems apply to national news coverage, to a less extent. In general I prefer to get information through reading rather than being lectured to; I prefer reading a newspaper to watching TV to get info.
(3) Most of my friends are more liberal than I am, especially economically and politically. And, OK, they don't trust the media either. Basically, they're generation Xers. The post on Dean's World was primarily, though not exclusively, talking about baby boomers losing trust in the government and the military and reinvesting that trust in the institution that brought those institutions down, the media.
(4) The media errors that have had the greatest impact seem to have been anti-Republican, anti-current-government and anti-military. There was a short-lived meme that Senator Kerry had an affair [if I remember right] [maybe from Drudge?]; compare that to Rathergate and Newsweek. I'm ignoring Jeff Gannon; that whole affair is something different.
(5) Readership in newspapers is down; viewers of CBS, ABC, NBC news are down. That is probably evidence that everyone has less trust for the media, rather than just conservatives or just liberals.

Oh, and this Ace of Spades post? I agree.

Star Wars

Then there's a factsheet on the Endor Holocaust, explaining what would happen as the debris fragments from the second Death Star rained down on Endor. [H/T: Classical Values]

Then of course there's Darth Vader's blog.

And my Star Wars Personality:

Swineberries

He apparently wrote a Planescape novel in '95, not adhering to whatever absurd history existed soon after he wrote it.

It wasn't picked up, and is published on the web here.

Fun quote:

You have to hold the berry lightly in your fingertips, testing the weight and texture in the fruit. Then you lift it to your nose and smell its bouquet-a light, sugary fragrance, with a teasing hint of musk. Then, and only then, do you slip it between your teeth and bite down gently... whereupon, you discover the sodding berry tastes like pure rock salt.

Red and Blue States

Update: Guest bloggers, not a group blog.

The Press

Yes, that does seem to be the defining trait of today's "liberals"--they trust the press, they don't believe there's any bias in the press, and they share the working press corps' cheap and shallow cynicism about the government, the military, and everyone else.

I do not dispute the bias in the Media, I do not dispute that the media has been doing a crappy job, but I do not think that any of these things have to do with how liberal the media is. (I think some of the bias has to do with our own personal biases and) I think that they have to do with how lazy and or corrupt the media is. It is easier to talk about things that you agree with than it is to really question what is going on from an objective point of view.

Enterprise

He description of Worf and Troi's relationship is classic.

Bad romance: Worf and Troi? The big mean feral warrior and the ship’s shrink? I NEED TO MATE. IT IS MY TIME. Worf, I sense you are feeling stress. I HAVE MANIFESTED THE SWORD OF KAHLISS IN MY LOWER UNIFORM. I AM . . . CONFINED. Let’s have some tea and discuss this.

Political quiz

#15 Immigrants today strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents vs Immigrants today are a burden on our country because they take our jobs, housing and health care.

Anyone want to make a point about the difference between legal and illegal immigrants?

#20 Books that contain dangerous ideas should be banned from public school libraries vs Public school libraries should be allowed to carry any books they want.

What the heck is a dangerous idea? A murderous free-floating meme?

Hat tip: Diggers Realm, although I've seen it elsewhere.d

Pirates

My pirate name is:

Iron John Flint

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

More fun blogs

Looks like posting has been a little slow recently, but it's a cool blog. IT professional, has LARPed, likes ren fairs and The Food Network's Alton Brown.

Pointer from TexasBestGrok.

Weirdos

1) I've met some of my sister's gay friends, and while they're considerably more left wing than I am, they aren't "weird." Own a house, have retail jobs, not particularly flamboyant although significantly more interested in clothes and skin care products than I am. My sister may be in the category of too weird to function well in the "real world." although I'm not sure.
2) Weirdos in medicine: that would be a fun thesis subject. At least in academic medicine, the only really successful oddballs are the extremely obsessive, low socialization type in obscure disciplines. The ones who are able to diagnose diseases that no one else has ever seen. Those types are much more useful in a tertiary care center. By the way, I'm ignoring the stereotypical surgical god complex, since it seemed to be an artifact of some old training - the attendings I came in contact with who acted as if they walked on water were much more likely to be older than average.
3) Weirdos in psychiatry: yeah, ok, there are some whose interest in psychiatry is partially due to a desire for increased self-knowledge, me included. Anyone who gets through American med school has some ability to work in our real world; foreign grads vary greatly by country. Residents who have significant emotional problems will have problems in residency.
4) The other part is, anyone in medicine doesn't have time or energy to get too extreme, and they have to be able to interact with the state and federal government, which also limits things.

Music

The amusing thing: the Star Wars Christmas album, which I listened to at some point, and apparently downloaded at the same time, is classified Genre: Terror. :)

I'm a cow

I'm a cow.

Lightsabers

Thanks Suzi.

Conservative/Liberal

Dreams

What Your Dreams Mean...

Your dreams seem to show that you're a very well adjusted and happy person. Overall, you are very content in your life. You tend to be a very productive thinker. You have a very vivid imagination and a rich creative mind.

Geeking

Tax Reform

H/T: Instapundit.

Gay Gun-Nut Demographic

Rice '08 works for me.

Carnival of Recipes

Chicken enchiladas. Yum.

One of these days, I'm going to make Baked Alaska.

Geekery

A true geek translates him into various, more complicated RPGs. Here he is as a GURPs character [I think about 120 character points is reasonable].

ST 12 [20 points] [weekend athlete]
DX 11 [10]
IQ 15 [60] [genius-minus]
HT 7 [-20] [weak] [much lower than this and you're paralysed]

Appearance: attractive [5]
Wealth: comfortable [10]
Status: 1 [5]

Advantages: common sense [10]
language talent 2 [4]
musical ability 3 [3]
ally [ 100 points, 5; appears almost all the time x3, 15] [wife]

Disadvantages:
Bad sight, nearsighted, bought off during play, [0]
honesty [-10]
dependents [ 2 25 point dependents [and one 50 point dependent that doesn't count] [-24], loved ones x2, appears almost all the time x3] [let's limit this to -40 points, no wonder he doesn't go adventuring much]

72 points so far.

Skills:
Musical instrument: piano [2 pts, 14], electronic keyboard [2pts, 14], pipe organ [1,13 ], bass [1, 13]; singing [1, 7], writing [4, 16]; running [1, 5], skiing[1, 9], swimming [1, 11]; cooking [1, 15]; hobby: rock music [2,15], science fiction[1, 14]; languages: English [5, native language, 22], Latin [1, 17] German [2, 18]; hypnotism [1, 14]; computer operation/ TL 7 [1, 15], law [10, 18]; computer programming/7 [2, 14], history [1, 13], literature [1, 13], mathematics [1, 13], physics [1, 13], research[2, 15], theology [1, 13], carousing[1, 6], diplomacy[1, 13], fast-talk [2, 15]; driving (car) 7 [1]

52 points in skills instead of the planned 48. Cut out a few more, or add 4 points worth of quirks.

I'm back

So, I'm being anti-social this weekend, avoiding personal interaction that would lead to much babysitting. Tough. My temper's not the best right now, and I don't want to say some things I might regret later.

On the other hand, why in the world are there fireworks going off over the harbor?

Time Travelers Cash Only

Cool.

And yes, Instapundit can post a huge amount when you lack internet access for 4 days.

Stuff

Saw perhaps the most obnoxious family in America 2 days ago. 2 couples, husband and wife around mid 50s, husband and wife around mid 20s. Younger woman is pregnant, younger husband is black, all others white. We were in a Subway waiting for sandwiches. The older woman started making various comments. The most ridiculous was "You're a pig" when the guy ordered a footlong sandwich, and she kept making snorting noises for the rest of the time.

I don't know how much longer I can take this.

Blog

Carnival of recipes

A chili recipe for Real Men.

Refried bean soup?

Life

I read Timothy Zahn's The Green and the Gray a couple of days ago. Not a bad book, but not one of his better works either. There is something of an overriding theme of "If we can just talk things out, and understand each other, everything will be better." This applies both to the hero's marriage and to the conflict between the Greens and the Grays.

Sometimes communication is helpful, sometimes it isn't. The more I communicate my actual beliefs, sometimes more conflict arises.

On the other hand, growing up, my family's tendency was to have no conflict whatsoever. So I'm not sure all my instincts are useful or common. So, I've gotten into the habit of disagreeing with /bringing up with little things that bother me, but not the big things.

This isn't getting anywhere, let me give a concrete example. Their family was asked to bring about 4 dozen bite sized cookies for a party given on Saturday in celebration of Mother's day. Kids ages range from about 1-6, maybe a little older. Growing up, she has some fond memories of making cookies at home with her mother [I think], and so she at times makes homemade cookies. For the party she decided to make some fairly complicated cookies, requiring making the batter the night before, then making tiny balls, rolling them in sugar, and then putting a chocolate chip in the middle of each one. Now, she wanted a recipe in which her 3 year old son could contribute - he could put the chip down. And, it wouldn't have been so bad if we were making bigger cookies. But if I hadn't been there it would have been fairly late for them to finish the cookies, which would have just gotten the kid angry [ok, more angry]. [Is she specifically having projects around for me to do when I'm at their house? I don't think so, but maybe].

Hmm, I'm feeling taken for granted again. A recurring theme. bleh.

Crooked Cops

My college had a very good campus police force. A small number for the number of people on campus, all of them at least with masters in criminal justice.

A small number of dedicated people seems like a better idea than a large number of cops who were and still are gang members.

Hat tip: Right side of the rainbow.

Insanity and Historical Revisionism

Come on, we all believe "the single most critical moment in American political history" was Reagun taking solar panels off the White house, don't we? [underlining his].

Kitty Cannon

Hat tip :LlamaButchers[899 ft]

Star Wars

And if you're still in the mood, TexasBestGrok has a post of various Star Wars links, including the script.

Pete from A Perfectly Cromulent Blog has seen it, but his review isn't up yet. His comments:

That's kind of an extremist view. Parts ruled. Parts kind of sucked. I was wishing I had a fast forward button during the early Anakin-Padme scenes, but once Obi-Wan goes to Utapau to "arrest" General Grievous, it's essentially wall-wo-wall evil and lightsaber-fu, sprinkled with the requisite wooden dialogue and goofy made-for-videogame action sequences.

One Jar Jar scene, and he doesn't talk.

Blog

Why exactly he wanted to get a second flaming walenza is not clear.

Knights of the Old Republic

On the other hand, I'm now having dreams in which I'm walking into the/a villan's lair, which was a posh library [bookcases, leather bound volumes] that had been taken over by a jungle, with streams running everywhere. Looked kinda cool, though.

Homosexual Blog

On the other hand, a fair number of the results look like discussions on conservative blogs about homosexuality. Plus, there's a note on Duck Homosexual Necrophilia.

Spork Films

It goes on to suggest the 10 rules to a chick flick. As I don't really watch a lot of movies, and when I do, it's almost never a chick flick, I can't comment on the accuracy of his rules. However, I've seen a fair number of real life couples acting as if rule #6 were true:

6. Your boyfriend's friends only get in the way. The sooner you can destroy them, the better.

Runaway Bride

I'm a very traditional person. I believe the key to a good marriage is trust, honesty, and not faking your own disappearance.

So she disappears the day before the wedding and wakes up in another state penniless, tired, and with bad hair. Which reminds me, it's been ages since I've been to a good bachelor party.

Protein Wisdom

English

Update: And TexasBestGrok nails it. And have I mentioned lately how much I like spellcheckers?