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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
| Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 | ||
|
ishtar79 |
1:22a | Talk about stunt casting My one observation about last night’s Mad Men: ( My one observation about last night’s Mad Men ) Current Mood:  amused |
| Monday, October 6th, 2008 | ||
|
yonmei |
9:20p | A thought for Nanowrimo I have had what may be an idea for Nanowrimo this year. Supposing that a native of the 21st century were cast back fifteen hundred years or so: what, in all seriousness (if one was not a Connecticut Yankee) would constitute your superiority over the time locals? Most modern education and training would be dependent on modern science and technology. A doctor trained in the 21st century who was landed back in the 6th would probably find most useful a basic knowledge of germ theory - not something you actually have to be a doctor to know. How many doctors could manufacture a general or a local anaesthetic from 6th century technology? How many people trained in modern surgery could operate when they had no anaesthetic to use on their patients? How much modern medicine is mostly about learning the modern pharmacology - and how many 21st-century doctors could recognise anything useful in 6th century materials? I know how to make bread in a gas or electric and have an idea of how to raise a wild yeast so that the bread rises. (I've never made sourdough leaven from scratch, but in principle I know how that works.) But most 6th century people didn't eat much bread because it required an oven to bake it in, and in any case I know enough to know that baking bread in a wood-fired oven was a skill in itself - given the properly made oven I'd probably be able to learn how, but I have no notion how I'd make one. I can make the most basic kind of bread quite well - mix ground wheat or buckwheat or oatmeal or corn, cook over an even heat on a flat griddle - but even that I've only made on a gas flame and a (relatively) modern cast iron griddle, which provides a steady heat and an even surface. Virtually everything else I know how to make is much more dependent on modern gadgets or supplies. Gardening? Well, given a modern iron spade and a supply of good earth and seeds from packets, I can grow things, sometimes. I'm literate, which would be a useful skill in the 6th century, assuming anyone could get over my being female: but although I could probably learn to understand Old English, I would need to learn all over again how to write it. And any other part of the world would be even worse. Being literate isn't much use if no one else can read what you can write. I could teach children how to read and write modern English, of course.... ...but the one skill I have which could potentially be worldchanging (and would certainly be an highly-employable skill) is arithmetic. It's not that I'm that good at arithmetic by 21st-century standards: but being able to use (what we call) the Arabic system of numerals to do calculations, at a time when the invention of zero was still being discussed philosophically in Hindustan, would give me an advantage - and knowing the techniques of calculation which either no one did yet or only a few mathematical scholars, would be an advantage that no one could beat until, well... either I taught other people or they learned from me. How fast would Arabic numerals catch on if one rather odd clerk was using them? It took two or three centuries for the system to filter into Europe via Arabia, and a couple of centuries before it got out of Hindustan. But everywhere it's gone, it's taken over eventually. How fast would it take over when it was just being used? Anyway. That's my thought. Hapless 21st-century-ist in 6th-century island, attempting to earn a living as a secular clerk... or possibly deciding to become a nun, atheist or not. Current Mood:  artistic |
|
yonmei |
9:39a | On back rubs Yesterday, while having tea and engaging in feminist abuse of the novel Charlie Stross was kind enough to give me, I noticed that ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} feorag had a sore neck. So I offered to see if I could rub it out for her: in fact, I offered three times, and she finally accepted, and I spent fifteen minutes or so trying to get that nasty knot in the muscle of her neck rubbed out (and am not sure how successful I was). This morning I read this post on unfogged, and I thought how much I hate people who repetitively offer a solution to my problems when I'm not sure I want to accept/that it's the right solution. How far is offering backrubs (or neckrubs) like offering advice? Current Mood: contemplative |
|
telesilla |
12:26a | five miles a day...in the snow...uphill...both ways So fooling around with the various articles on the USENET Star Trek newsgroups on FanLore has made me remember just how much work we put into the TrekSmut group, ASCEM (alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated) Once the group was added to USENET, it was set so that all the posts dumped into one mail address. The two mods, myself and Alexis, took turns going through that inbox once a day. Remember this was a USENET group with the word "erotica" in it. On average we'd have maybe 300-400 pieces of mail a day, out of which we'd cull maybe 40 messages that were not spam. Then, using Forte Agent (does anyone even remember that one? It was the only email software at the time that allowed you to post to a newsgroup.) we'd hand post each message to the newsgroup and cc it to anne in chicago, the owner of the mirror-list ASCEM(L). She'd then turn around and, using an ordinary CC list, mail each message out to all her subscribers. The whole process on my end (and on Alexis end when it was her day) usually took around two to three hours. And this was back when I was working; in fact, all three of us worked. I eventually had to step down as a mod because my job went kind of insane and I started working 10-12 hours a day and usually 5-6 hours on Saturday with the occasional Sunday thrown in. The ASCEM community was made up of a wonderful bunch of people and it was my baby and to this day I'm still proud of it, but damn, I don't miss the mindlessly boring work. |
| Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | ||
|
telesilla |
5:44p | FanLore.... I ended up poking around the FanLore wiki last night and it ended up being a very strange process. I've been in fandom since '95 and I feel like I have so much history locked up inside my head, particularly about the TrekSmut days when I was right in the thick of things. I'd dive right in but for three things: 1. I'm no good at writing articles in the wikipedia style. There's a degree detached neutrality needed and, as anyone who knows me will attest, I'm not so much with the detached neutrality. Also, someone would have to trail behind me editing out all my mistakes. *facepalms* 2. While time is beginning to heal some wounds, the fact remains that at various points in various fandoms, I've been either extremely wanky and/or gone through a mental meltdown. I was reading through some Establishment stuff last night and was surprised at how distant and silly the wank seems now, but at the same time, I was also digging through my memories of the TrekSmut newsgroup ascem(L) and some of it still has the power to sting. I'm much more stable now than I was then, but I still need to approach some memories with care. 3. It would EAT MY LIFE. But still, our history is important and I think that this project is important as well. I'm watching several pages and have done an edit here and there. I wish there were some way I could team up with someone who can write in the wikipedia style and work with them to get some of the stuff in my head into the wiki. |
|
yonmei |
10:27p | Disney is kidnapping Father Christmas! I keep seeing an ad boasting that Disney has kidnapped Father Christmas and intends to put him on display in Disneyland Paris from November. I find this very disturbing. Of course the ad makes it like this is voluntary - that Father Christmas is choosing to do this, but everyone knows Father Christmas doesn't leave the North Pole voluntarily any time before 1st December. (Well, Raymond Briggs figures he goes on holiday in August, and he could be right, but someone's got to feed the deer.) Current Mood: anxious |
|
evie |
11:37a | Photos, frugality experiments, and prepping for Blizzcon I had a short article in mind, responding to the falling dominos that are 1) the US housing market 2) the US stock market 3) the US economy. But the problem is this: when you don't get on it and get it written, time passes. And then it's old news and probably not very interesting. So. I haven't been able to get my ideas in a row. Darn it. Instead, here are a few random observations: Photos I love autumn. It's my favorite season. ( See? ) This is the view from my bedroom window, from a couple of days ago. I wanted to try out the Blackberry's camera. It's 2 megapixels, and not too bad. Frugality Experiments I've been completely engaged with my personal finances. Unfortunately that led me to This engagement has also led me to some new tools (mint.com!) and a re-do of my budget. My goal is to pay off all my debt except for the house by summer 2009, while also putting money into savings I want to have $10k in the bank by the end of 2009. I'm being very careful accounting for what I spend, and paying down what I owe, and doing a pretty good job keeping within budget. And what's really fun is I get to make use of my "poor skills". For example, I went to Costco to pick up a 10 lb bag of frozen chicken. I realized the cost was $2.49/lb and I wondered if I could do better with fresh chicken. They had whole chickens for 99 cents a pound. So I picked up two, brought them home, butchered them, froze the breasts and cooked the rest in water. I'll shred the meat, freeze it, and keep the broth for soup. :-) Even if I lose 50% to bones and waste, that's still only $1.50/lb. This kind of behavior works well for me. I'm a compulsive recycler, with habits built over the years. I've become a skilled calorie-counter (sparkpeople.com!) and the weight-loss program is going well as a result. I did actually live poor from 1978 until about 1998, and I remember how to do it. Next on my list: become a compulsive exerciser. I have a plan: it involves a recumbent stationary bike and a shelf for my computer keyboard and mouse. Check out this article about the [Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] http://theweightlifter.blogspot.com/2006/10/low-cal-6011-min-warbiking-3-months-41.html">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] I had a short article in mind, responding to the falling dominos that are 1) the US housing market 2) the US stock market 3) the US economy. But the problem is this: when you don't get on it and get it written, time passes. And then it's old news and probably not very interesting. So. I haven't been able to get my ideas in a row. Darn it. Instead, here are a few random observations: <b>Photos</b> I love autumn. It's my favorite season. <lj-cut text="See?"><img src="http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v344/197/9/1164975591/n1164975591_30167816_6373.jpg"></lj-cut> This is the view from my bedroom window, from a couple of days ago. I wanted to try out the Blackberry's camera. It's 2 megapixels, and not too bad. <b>Frugality Experiments</b> I've been completely engaged with my personal finances. Unfortunately that led me to <s>making a dumb choice and re-balancing my 401K, which meant I lost money selling stocks that had lost value. I should have held on to them and simply re-balanced my new purchases instead.</s> a learning experience. Fortunately I have a good 20 years before I get to retire anyway. This engagement has also led me to some new tools (mint.com!) and a re-do of my budget. My goal is to pay off all my debt except for the house by summer 2009, while also putting money into savings I want to have $10k in the bank by the end of 2009. I'm being very careful accounting for what I spend, and paying down what I owe, and doing a pretty good job keeping within budget. And what's really fun is I get to make use of my "poor skills". For example, I went to Costco to pick up a 10 lb bag of frozen chicken. I realized the cost was $2.49/lb and I wondered if I could do better with fresh chicken. They had whole chickens for 99 cents a pound. So I picked up two, brought them home, butchered them, froze the breasts and cooked the rest in water. I'll shred the meat, freeze it, and keep the broth for soup. :-) Even if I lose 50% to bones and waste, that's still only $1.50/lb. This kind of behavior works well for me. I'm a compulsive recycler, with habits built over the years. I've become a skilled calorie-counter (sparkpeople.com!) and the weight-loss program is going well as a result. I did actually live poor from 1978 until about 1998, and I remember how to do it. Next on my list: become a compulsive exerciser. I have a plan: it involves a recumbent stationary bike and a shelf for my computer keyboard and mouse. Check out this article about the <a href="<a href="http://theweightlifter.blogspot.com/2006/10/low-cal-6011-min-warbiking-3-months-41.html">http://theweightlifter.blogspot.com/2006/10/low-cal-6011-min-warbiking-3-months-41.html</a>">Warbiker</a>. Something like that. <b>Blizzcon</b> Speaking of World of Warcraft, I'm leaving for Blizzcon next week. :-D Looking forward to the trip, will be driving with my buddy Shaman. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to bring books to have autographed or not. In the spirit of frugality, I'm looking for ways to trim expenses. I'm giving myself one meal per day in a restaurant, and frankly the hotels are the most expensive part of the trip. At least gas isn't $4.50/gal. Yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. |
|
ishtar79 |
9:18p | |
| Saturday, October 4th, 2008 | ||
|
telesilla |
3:24a | FIC: As Near to Love (As Love Will Ever Be), (SGA RPS AU, Joe/Dylan Neal, NC-17) As Near to Love (As Love Will Ever Be) Author: telesillaFandom/Pairing: SGA RPS (Kept Boy AU), Joe Flanigan/Dylan Neal Rating: NC-17 Word Count: ~1450 Disclaimer: Not RL; didn't happen. If you think this has anything to do with the real actors involved, then you really need to put down the crack pipe. Warnings: sex between minors; Slavefic (inherent non-con) Summary: Dylan and Joe's first time. Notes: Not only is this set in poisontaster's Kept Boy universe, but it's also part of darkrose's Question of Compromise series and won't make a bit of sense if you haven't been reading that. Which, you know, you really should, and then go read Kept Boy too. My thanks to both Darkrose and Poisontaster for permission to play in their world, and additional thanks to Darkrose for looking this over. This takes place when Dylan is 14 and Joe is 13.( If it's all so normal, then why'd Joe disappear so quickly? ) |
| Friday, October 3rd, 2008 | ||
|
msilverstar |
11:42p | Another Supreme Court Ruling: Dred Scott I'm not sure where this meme came from, but it's been all over my flist and I love it. The best kind of protest, what we would have called, in my childhood, a Teach-In. I'm not going to repeat the rules, but here I go. I give you one of the worst rulings ever: Dred Scott (1857), which held that: Africans residing in America, whether free or slave, could not become United States citizens.That means that not just those born in Africa, but also their descendants who were born in the United States, were denied the same human rights as all other "races". It also held that the United States Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories, or free states to grant freedom to slaves who entered the states. So, state's rights were great, but not for Free States. Why? In an appeal to the strict constructionism much like that beloved of our right-wing-looney Supreme Court Justices (Scalia and his shadow, Thomas), the majority decided the drafters of the Constitution had viewed all African-Americans as: ...beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.That's disgusting. The ruling, IMNSHO, made the Civil War inevitable. The Slave States were were willing to revolt for the right of states to choose slavery over humanity. Dred Scott encouraged this, going so far pro-slavery as to make compromise impossible. That was back when the Republican Party had the moral high ground, they were the party of enfranchisement and liberty. Now, not so much. They want to dismantle the public school system so we can give vouchers for suburban private schools, they prosecute mostly African Americans for civil rights violations, they refused to raise the minimum wage for years... I can give details, if anyone is undecided, and is willing to listen to my version of the issues. But I have no interest in debating Republican True Believers, or libertarians, for that matter. Obama's a little conservative for me, but his take on ISSUES is pretty good. And that's honestly the only thing I care about. Current Mood: infuriated Current Music: sweet sweet rain, first of the season |
|
telesilla |
5:27p | |
|
yonmei |
2:05p | London, 28th-1st December I've booked a tiny hotel room in I briefly hoped I was going to be able to book an ultra-cheap room via the lastminute.com sale (they were boinging "1000 hotel rooms for £10!" all over their website) but I think they were all for dates in October (lastminute.com's 10th anniversary) and in any case, whenever I tried to book, their server crashed. Which is pretty much lastminute.com in a nutshell. But this will be fine. I thought I had booked a not-quite-so-ultra-cheap-but-still-prett Current Mood: weird |
| Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | ||
|
neotoma |
8:12p | Okay, this is just annoying... For some reason, I can't get Youtube to work anymore. It will load and play the first 2 seconds of a clip, but then it stalls, even though it indicates it is still loading. What could be causing this, and what do I need to do to fix it? Current Mood: annoyed |
|
yonmei |
12:02p | The difference between me and my brother My brother paid for my nephew to get a bike rack and to have it fitted on to his bike in Sheffield: and told him that if he had any "material need" he should contact his uncle and ask. (That's a quote. My brother rang me last night.) I sent him a list of his rights now he's 16, and an ostrich egg. Current Mood: amused |
| Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 | ||
| ngaio | 4:40p | Bras Oh joy, a post about my chest. I would like to state, for the record, that I do not look like either Barbie or Jordan. However, having been bra shopping today I am the 'proud' possessor of what must be the most ridiculous bra size ever, especially for someone who spent all her life until putting on masses of weight being regarded as flat chested. I am ( for those who wish to know ). Which I do not particularly believe. However it is true. Apparently my weight loss in the last few years has been from all over me *except* for my chest. What is also true is that it makes bra shopping a lesson in frustration and/or bankruptcy. Seriously. *Debenhams* couldn't supply what I wanted. I could have bought something which reminded me of the Playtex Cross Your Heart (look like you have pyramids strapped to your front) Bras, or I could lay out about 4 hours pay for something by Freya. While she was, to the best of my recollection, I got *a* bra from La Senza. It was the only one they had in my size in the entire shop, was not what I was looking for, and is quite the most ridiculous bra I have ever seen, reminding me greatly of a deckchair. (I'll post a picture some when.) I also went to Matalan but their principle with bras my size seems to be to try to hide your bosoms under your armpits which is pretty much the opposite of what I was after and looks absolutely terrible. So I've come home and after significant computer woes (why can I not start again from scratch?) I've resorted to that old standby of eBay which had I exactly what I wanted at around £10. I really don't understand why bras cost so much. I mean, the designs remain the same so you're not paying for developments and research, fabric is fabric until you get into things like silk etc, surely to God they shouldn't require a second mortgage!? I can buy a pair of jeans for cheaper than the average my size bra and they cover a heck of a lot more of me. Anyway, enough waffling, and aren't you sorry I've started posting again!? Current Mood: bouncy |
|
oconel |
8:48a | Movies and TV I have so many things to review... with spoilers, of course. Let's start with the latest ( X-files movie ) Then we have ( The line of beauty ) Then we have ( Supernatural ) And last but not least ( Criminal minds ) I haven't watched Heroes yet, but I've spoiled myself going to Sendhil Ramamurthy (Dr. Suresh) imdb and watching at the pictures, and I'm a bit freaked out by what I saw. I have three episodes to watch in a row which is always good. :) (Si queréis reíros un rato, sam_bluesky está repasando los episodios de Heroes desde la primera temporada) Current Mood:  productive |
| Monday, September 29th, 2008 | ||
|
cedara |
11:52p | |
|
cedara |
11:10p | Sarah Jane Adventures - 201+202 - The Last Sontaran ( Sarah Jane is my and Maria's girlcrush, really ) Sarah Jane Adventures always make me smile. Current Mood:  enthralled |
|
yonmei |
7:25p | The Sarah Palin Meme: Free People Read Freely In the US, it's Banned Books Week. This is the ALA's list for top 100 Banned/Challenged Books in 2000-2007. "Out of 3,869 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom does not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges. Research suggests that for each challenge reported there are as many as four or five which go unreported." And, in the US, the Republican nominee for Vice President is someone who actively tried to have books banned from her local public library: "While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla [1996–2002] she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day." - Letter About Palin Usual rules: If it's bold, I've read it. If it's italicised, I've read part of it. If it's underlined, I'd like to read it. If it's ( The ALA's 100 Most-Banned Books List 2000-2007 ) Current Mood: reading |
|
yonmei |
7:15p | You know, in all the things I ever read about the Resistance Connie ten Boom is the only person who conveyed to me the sheer embarrassment of it all. |
|
evie |
11:05a | |
|
yonmei |
8:48a | OTW: continues OTW finally did something that you don't have to have a livejournal account to get involved in! The fan history wiki they said they'd set up last year. In a swift pass through: the registration form is nice and clear, the use of "Gardener" is a little twee, I like the anti-bot arithmetic field, and the layout looks fine. Have not yet done anything other than register, but somehow I doubt I'll ever want to be a "Gardener" (the pretty fannish flowers! ooo!) Current Mood: amused |
| Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | ||
|
evie |
12:34p | Cooking and baking So yesterday was a food production day. Squid soup This started out as herring soup, using smoked herring (which adds quite a bit of flavor, even in small quantities). And I looked at my 4 quart pot full of vegetables and water and 4 ounces of smoked herring and though, hm. What can I add to increase the protein content? I'm low on beans, though I do have black beans I'm not convinced that's a good flavor combination (black beans and herring). And then I remembered that I had a couple of packages of commercially frozen kalamari that my neighbor gave me, oh, probably last year. I thawed it out and it seemed to be ok, didn't smell funny anyway, so I chopped it up and threw it in. And it was really good! Next time I want to try this with bonito and sqiud, or just plain old herring. ( Squid soup recipe under the cut ) Pumpkin Cheesecake We enjoyed soup for lunch and then I started on the pumpkin cheesecake. I'm really, really pleased with how the cheesecake itself turned out, but the crust was really too soggy. This cheesecake took a good hour and a half to bake, and was still a bit soft in the center while the top was browning. I took it out anyway, and it firmed up as it cooled but it's not as firm as the lemon cheesecake was. I put it down to the additional liquid in the pumpkin. ( Pumpkin cheesecake recipe under the cut ) Savory Zucchini Bread And while the cheesecake was in the oven, I started on a whole wheat bread with zucchini and herbs. I used the bread machine to mix the dough and did the rest by hand. Mmmm. tasty. They didn't rise a whole lot, which is probably because my yeast expired December 2007 and just isn't as effective as it needs to be. ( Bread recipe under the cut ) Low-Carb Bagels And finally, experimental bagels! I've been wanting to make parmesan bagels, because I want to cut expenses and so need to stop buying a parmesan bagel every afternoon at work. These are not really bagels, imho. They're not bad, but they're light and chewey, instead of dense and chewey. I'm going to continue experimenting and meanwhile I think I'll try a whole wheat bagel recipe next. I found that half the bagels turned out right, and half of them fell after puffing in the boiling water. I suspect this is because I turned down the heat during this process, because it was boiling over. I think the rolling boil worked the best. ( Low-carb bagels recipe under the cut ) Current Mood:  sleepy |
|
yonmei |
1:56p | Life on Mars, 1 I have this terrible feeling, given the news from the US, that we're all going to wake up on 5th November to discover that a combination of rigged elections, endemic racism, unthinking partisan voting, and of course sheer right-wing stupidity, has landed the rest of the world with a President and Vice President who are even worse than Bush/Cheney. When this terrible feeling comes over me, I have moments of sheer despair and depression and other D-words, as well as anger, aggravation, and other A-words: and feeling that the nearest safe place to watch McCain/Palin's world from will be the orbit of Mars. So: who wants to start a Mars colony with me? We'll probably be living in underground chambers but going out in vehicles of some kind... We'll be taking off before 20th January 2009. Respond to this post with the contributions (artistic, scientific, housekeeping, etc) that you'll make to our colony. (Future posts will consider how we should build the colony, what we should bring along from Earth, and other decisions like that.) Current Mood: tired |
| Saturday, September 27th, 2008 | ||
|
cedara |
7:43p | Tell me a story... Even though I should've known better, I spent most of the day reading fanfiction. You've probably done that yourself sometime. Now, I'm at the point that I'd love to get recommendations to stories I probably never heard about, forgotten to read, or never would've thought about to even have a look at. Could be gen, het, slash or whatever else. So without further ado... Tell me a story... When you see this, recommend a story to me or to your friendslist. Could be a 'classic', could be something you have just read, could be something you think everyone should've read at least once, but you're pretty sure neither me or your flist ever heard about that author. I'll start. A House/Wilson classic: A Modest Proposal P.S. I disabled comment screening in this entry, which hopefully works. Current Mood:  hopeful |
thoughtful
wtf