Tuesday, January 13, 2009

When A Hard Drive Goes Between

Any Anne McCaffery fans out there will know exactly what that means.

It happened a few days ago, completely without warning. It didn't even have the courtesy to leave me a note explaining why it was going.

My neighbor, who is an IT kinda guy (knows more than me when it comes to computers, anyway) came over and formatted the disc and reinstalled all the software (except for that fershlugginer Panda AV program, to which I bid a here's-yer-hat-what's-yer-hurry kind of good riddance.

However, all my favorites are lost. And I had blogs on that list which I now have to rediscover all over again...if I can remember which ones I had on that list.

Ah, well. It's a little like having your house get flatened by a tornado, I guess. The up side of things is that you don't need to bother catching up on all the housework you've been putting off...

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Yule Greetings

The warrior knights of Scathach are celebrating the winter solstice this night.

One of the traditions is to give a "gift" to each person we meet, in the form of a wish for them.

Because I meet so few in person, my wish for each of you is simple: I wish for you that your life on earth be as enjoyable as you deserve it to be.

Biodh Se!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Happy Birthday, Spider!

For someone who just turned sixty, you don't get to lookin' much older, and your Lady sure don't age at all!

It was a great party -- lotsa good people, lots good food, lotsa good music (and ain't it always best when ya makes yer own?). Let's not wait another ten years to do it again, hm?

Scritches to Simba...

UPDATE: As Rev. Paperboy mentions in the comments, Spider and Jeanne are about to become grandparents. May, Jeanne says. I thought it was earlier, based on the sonogram being proudly displayed on the fridge door, but what do I know from photos? I can barely tell anyone's age by looking at the in-front-of-me real body!

Jeanne talks about the coming event in her post yesterday. Hit those two links in the post for some occular irrigation! Damn, but the man can write!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Knighthood

I has one. The investiture was Sunday night. Dubbed with a sword and everything.

"Sir Chimera." It'll take a bit of getting used to...

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Too Close Not To Recount

Whew! When Al Franken said he was gonna jump into the senatorial race for Minnesota, I bet a lot of people thought he was just taking his dog out for a walk to pee on Coleman's lawn.

Apparently not. The results-so-far, at least, are serious. There are less than 400 votes separating Franken and Coleman, and a recount is automatic. And here's what's really interesting:

Coleman is trying to convince Franken to waive his right to the recount. He's citing "too much cost" -- about $86,000.00 -- as an excuse.

Is he fucking serious? After the tab this election just ran up -- what, somewhere in the billions was it? -- he's "concerned" about a measly 86 grand? I thought it was Al Franken who was the comedian.

Psst...Norm...any fool can run for office. All you need for that is money and a PR machine. But if you want to make your living by making people laugh, you need to have talent.

Frank-en, Frank-en, Frank-en...

UPDATE (7:20 pm): And the gap is closing -- 232 votes and getting closer...

I Have A Proposition For You...

California Proposition 8 (and there were others, but this was the one I was keeping an eye on) -- putting a ban on gay marriages -- managed to pass only by a margin of about 52 to 48, although "civil unions" are allowed. And there are three lawsuits lined up to overturn it, so this was not the last word, by any stretch of anyone's vivid imagination!

Eight years ago, it passed by a margin of 61 to 39.

Opposition to equality in the right to marry (and call it marriage) is dying.

If we wait another four years, it will die from sheer exhaustion. Or...what say we run it up to Seattle and put it out of our misery?

Monday, November 03, 2008

President Obama

Jus' practising.

Champers on ice.

Noisemakers ready.

Fingers crossed.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

One Of The Finest Speeches Ever Made

And it was written for a movie character, dammit! I was watching it again last night (a few more times and I'll be able to quote the script in its entirety), and when Andy Shephard got in front of that crowd in the press room and started to talk, I just got all goose-pimply and shivery up and down my spine. That is how I want a political leader to sound!

A very pertinent excerpt:

"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.

"You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free".

"I've known Bob Rumson for years, and I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it!

"We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it."

Now, here's the trick: Go back and read it again, and wherever you see the name, "Bob Rumson," you just insert the name of your local anti-equality, anti-individual, anti-woman, anti-man, anti-autonomy, anti-CHOICE rabble rouser who wants to legislate your giving up your independence "for the good of all" he believes in.

And keep in mind that he doesn't care what you believe in. He is interested only in how he can turn your beliefs to his own advantage, all the while sneering at you and your beliefs. He will exploit what he perceives as the weakness in your belief that you have the right to live your own life the way you chooses, worship or not as you choose, and exercise your freedom the way you chooses. He will then turn it around to accuse you of hindering him in his pursuit of his freedom to shut down your freedom.

Because he truly is not interested in solving any problems. He just wants you to be afraid of shadows so he can come along with his flashlight and "show you the way." That is his road to becoming powerful. One of the "elite," at which he only pretends to sneer, when all the while he desperately wants to be one.

What he's hoping you won't notice (and people who are afraid notice very little outside their immediate fear) is that the beam of his little flashlight only shows what he's aiming at in that particular moment. It does not show the surroundings that are still in the shadows. It shows you the dog's teeth, but it does not show you the big leather collar, the steel-link leash, and the heavy post to which the dog is chained.

And it doesn't show you what the fear-monger is hiding behind his back -- a goad that he is using to prod the helpless animal into snarling and snapping his teeth, and a bolt cutter, which he will use to cut through the chains of the dog and loose him on you himself, if you don't submit to giving up your freedoms through his threats alone.

Beware the fear-monger. You need not fear what he says; you need to fear what he does not. Look beyond the beam of his flashlight and into the shadows for yourself.

"President Barack Obama" has an interesting ring to it.

NO to California Proposition 8.

And thank you, Aaron Sorkin, for some of the finest words ever written.