Home
Those Who Shall Be Spared [entries|archive|friends|userinfo]
Theron

[ userinfo | livejournal userinfo ]
[ archive | journal archive ]

[May. 22nd, 2008|04:29 pm]

amanofhats
"There are fourteen people outside this room."

"Fourteen, uh-huh."

"Fourteen people, all calling for your head."

"Yes, sir. Fourteen."

"Fourteen people, men and women, ready to tear your body limb...you listening, boy?"

"Yes, sir."

"Tell me what I'm saying."

"You said there are fourteen people outside. Fourteen people who want me dead."

"Limb from limb, boy. They want you torn limb from limb."

"Yes, sir."

"That's what you have to say? 'Yes, sir.' Do you know why they want you dead, boy."

"I know I made 'em mad, sir."

"Yes, yes, oh yes, mad indeed. MAD. Angry. Fire and vengeance from up high, boy. UP HIGH. You made a whole mess of people mad, boy, and they are counting on me to deliver you to them. And you, what do you expect from me?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Do you want to die, boy?"

"No, sir. No, I don't."

"Do you deserve to die, boy?"

"Sir, I..."

"Those fourteen people outside sure think so. They do. Won't hesitate a moment. Not one breath. Let me ask you a question, boy."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you believe in the High Holy Host, boy? Is Jesus the Living Christ in your heart?"

"Sir. Yes, sir."

"You have His love, do ya? In your heart? Is His love in your heart and in your soul, boy?"

"Yes, si--sir. Yes, sir."

"Oh, boy, no no. Don't cry now, boy. Jesus is in your heart. He's in your heart and in your blood."

"Ye-Yes, sir."

"And those people out there, boy, those people? They're going to send you to Him. Don't cry. This isn't a time to cry. This is a celebration. This isn't a death, boy. It's just the...embarcation of a journey."

"Yes, sir. Yes."

"There ya go, boy. Now I'm going to open this door and, after I have, I wash my hands of your crime--your crime--and of theirs as well."
LinkLeave a comment

What, you're his buddy now or something? [May. 22nd, 2008|03:42 pm]

thebitterguy
[Tags|, , ]
[Current Mood | confused]

There are weird things to be seen online among people who talk about comic book characters. Particularly those of us who enjoy the long underwear set.

The strangest thing is the way people refer to the characters. I, personally, refer to them by their codename. That's how the book sells, right? You don't read "Invincible Daniel Rand" or ""James Barnes". You buy Iron Fist and Captain America.

It just strikes me as... strange when I see someone refer to a character by their secret ID instead of as the character. It belies a certain belief of intimacy with the character that is really not possible. Seriously, if John Byrne poops himself when people call Superman "Supes", how do you think he feels when they call him "Clark" or "Kal"?

I really don't care. That was entirely hypothetical.

In any case, yeah, I'm sure I've slipped and referred to a charatcer by non-standard nomenclature on occasion (if I ever refer to Ambusy Bug as "Irwin", shoot me in the face, m'kay?), but as a habit, or an affectation, it just seems weird. And yes, weird compared to reading funnybooks about guys in long johns punching each other.
Link16 comments|Leave a comment

Schrödinger's Pizza [May. 22nd, 2008|12:53 pm]

arch_scrivener
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )
Link2 comments|Leave a comment

Up next - Lindsay Lohan BREATHES AIR! [May. 22nd, 2008|03:06 pm]

fossilapostle
So the new trend (or maybe it's old - if so, I don't really care) seems to be to snap a picture of a celebrity eating food, then give it a caption that says "BUSTED!"

Busted. Eating food.

Because celebrities aren't supposed to eat. Or, they're not supposed to eat anything other than wheat germ and bean sprouts. Or something.

You've reached a new low, humanity. I really didn't think you could.  So, congratulations, I guess.

You gonna publish pics of them on the toilet next?
Link3 comments|Leave a comment

Tweets for Today [May. 22nd, 2008|03:08 pm]

thebitterguy

  • 08:23 @newmania do you have the legendary or heroic map packs for h3? #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
LinkLeave a comment

Lotion -> Skin =/= Hose2 [May. 22nd, 2008|01:08 pm]

amanofhats
I can smell your (cat)
I just discovered that Brooke Smith, who plays Dr. Hahn on Grey's Anatomy played Catherine Martin, Buffalo Bill's captive, in Silence of the Lambs.

OH HOLY!
Link5 comments|Leave a comment

another step forward! [May. 22nd, 2008|12:44 pm]

elissa_carey
[Current Mood | ecstatic]
[Current Music |orbital, "babylon (and on)"]

Logged in to BORIS just to see if my financial aid had been credited to my account or not, and it has! WAHOO!

Now I don't have to worry about if/when it would be credited or not credited, thereby making me drop my classes, and so forth.

But best of all, I can take my receipt (once I've printed it up) with me to the Blinn campus tomorrow and get 1) my student ID card and 2) my vehicle registration! Whee!

This brings my Blinn to-do list tomorrow to this:

* Drop off Student Aid Data Form for Fall financial aid at the Financial Aid office
* Pick up Math course packet & Math software CDs/access codes from the campus bookstore
* See my fellow Freecycler and get the TI-83 graphing calculator from him (must remember to bring 4AAA batteries)
* Get my Student ID card
* Get my vehicle registration

Ooo, I'm getting so excited about this! I'm pumped and ready to get to work!
LinkLeave a comment

Apropos to... Everything [May. 22nd, 2008|01:39 pm]

seanpatfannon
The Beatles make me happy.
LinkLeave a comment

call to my cyclist friends [May. 22nd, 2008|01:04 pm]

yttrai
[Current Mood | calm]

I know tons of you out there cycle a lot, be it commuting, road, mountain, cyclocross, track, or other.

When researching recovery times for various minor injuries, what is your favourite source of information?  This is for minor things that don't require a doctor visit, but do keep you off the bike for a week or two.

Just curious.
Link1 comment|Leave a comment

[May. 22nd, 2008|10:04 am]

geekparents

[mumblestutter]
Hi, I lurk a lot but don't post often here. I just wanted to ask you guys if it makes me a bad mom that I'm GLAD my daughter, who is very in to clothes and hair and barbies, got glasses, because I think it makes her look more like a stylish nerd?

observe )
Link21 comments|Leave a comment

Army of, Too [May. 22nd, 2008|11:55 am]

amanofhats
Putting the tense in "potential"
I played through the Miami mission of Army of Two last night, on a proper difficulty, and thus not only got the achievement for that but another one for having killed 250 people using my SMG (my preferred weapon).

I'm celebrating murder. And now I'm uncomfortable with that.

I still can't pinpoint what exactly attracts me so much to this game. It's not like the world is short on shooters and I'm some big shooter fan who just can't get enough. "Shooters" are not a genre I get into, historically. It could be the soundtrack.

I really do like the soundtrack.

I'm looking forward to replaying the aircraft carrier mission. I'm on the hunt for all the intelligence cases (the one collectible in the game). Okay. I'm done. Enough talking about Army of Two. I should get to work.
LinkLeave a comment

[May. 22nd, 2008|11:25 am]

sabbysteg
A less-whiny post: Personal heroes.

I woke up thinking about this, because I caught a glimpse of the next book on my list to read after I finish re-reading Lie Down with Lions by Ken Follet. (Tangent: I read it in either high school or junior high, before I understood the implications of any of the things the CIA was doing in Afghanistan, or the culture there, or much about sex, but the thing I have never been able to forget was a really hot sex scene in the book, which I am trying to find and is the reason I am re-reading it, so I can show Robert, and also so I can post it here if it stands the test of time and I still find it hot. The interesting thing now, though, is that in re-reading it, I am finding the main plots more interesting since world events have brought me knowledge and interest in the topic.)

Anyway, the book I plan on reading after Lie Down With Lions is a book called I'm Proud of You wherein the author discusses his friendship with Fred Rogers, one of my personal heroes and someone I believe reached the highest peak on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: self-actualization.

So it got me to thinking: who are my personal heroes? I respect people who I feel have reached self-actualization, and people who have dedicated a lot to causes I support. I respect people who lived their lives with passion and fire. People with direction, people who lived up to their own code of ethics, and people who were authentic. People who care for others. People who spoke when others were afraid to speak. People who lived their lives exactly as they wanted to live them and didn't care when others criticized them or made fun of them. People who sacrificed for the people they loved.

It should be no surprise then that some of my heroes include my parents, Margaret Sanger, Steve Irwin, Fred Rogers, and Albert Ellis. I am constantly looking for more people to include in my list of heroes, but the thing I find difficult to do is to find people I admire as people as well as admire for their actions. I realize people are flawed, but an example: Mother Theresa did a lot of good, but was not a happy person. I don't want to admire people who weren't happy in what they were doing for others.

So. Who are your heroes? Do you have any people whose biographies I should look into that I might admire? What do you look for in a hero? Why are the people you admire your heroes? Tell me.
Link2 comments|Leave a comment

a year older, a year wiser. [May. 22nd, 2008|11:16 am]

elissa_carey
Hippo birdie two ewes
Hippo birdie two ewes
Hippo birdie deer [info]shendoah!
Hippo birdie two ewes!
Link1 comment|Leave a comment

Thrilling Tales of the Midnight Society [May. 22nd, 2008|12:13 pm]

xomec
[Tags|, ]
[Current Mood | busy]

Freedom in Flames )
Link1 comment|Leave a comment

Her Shining Moment [May. 22nd, 2008|10:13 am]

amanofhats
First of many, I'm sure
My daughter was tested for early enrollment this morning. It's a standardized examination where the kids have to sort shapes, draw an image, seriate various objects by size, sort same by color, count and recognize numbers, recite the alphabet, verbalize ideas, and other cognitive and expressive-type things.

She passed! Due to her age, she needed to be in the top 15% in 12 of the 18 categories. I'm so proud of and happy for my little girl.

She'll enter school at the end of summer. I have an almost-kindergartener!
Link8 comments|Leave a comment

52-degrees in late May [May. 22nd, 2008|08:57 am]

hot_pants
"What are your politics, son?"
"Social conservative, fiscally liberal"

Dennis on 30 Rock is ever internet nerd's political opposite.

The bottom line is, if you're fiscally conservative, you're socially conservative. Its such a strange thing, to me, that people can get a "pass" on being for gay marriage, or drug decriminalization when they're also all about gutting any hints of public infrastructure. Its kind of disgusting.

So, fuck you, internet.
Link2 comments|Leave a comment

WIL - comic #1 [May. 22nd, 2008|08:56 am]

newfern
[Tags|]
[Current Mood | creative]

You know how they say you learn more from your failures than your successes? Anyway...

comic strip 1 )
And I started a new site for the comic stuff so that it won't totally clutter my normal journaling. But it isn't working. At this point, I don't know if it is because of my host or the software I installed (wordpress + comicpress). But I do know that the host is why I cannot manually correct the issues I found that are causing the site to not work. Once that's all fixed up, I'll go "public" with the URL and stuff.

Bear with me a little longer. Then we'll be back to our regularly scheduled insecurities and randomnesses like:

"I am so glad our generation has produced the next Leslie Neilsen in Steve Carrell."
Link5 comments|Leave a comment

Washing of the Water [May. 22nd, 2008|09:36 am]

tracker7
Thursday, and a long weekend looming.  Much of said weekend will be spent in final preparation for Diecon.  I haven't had the chance to playtest the games, but I think they'll play out alright.  I'm going to take along a hardcopy of Earthbound, for backup.

Have been put in charge of a small initiative at work.  I look forward to the challenge, and to making this work out.

Also work-related - new co-worker, and it's someone known to me.  She produces and hosts a couple of quite terrific shows for our local NPR station, and her voice and musical selections were companions on the drive to and from Berea when Erin and I were together.  Anne's quite cool.
LinkLeave a comment

"Chasing Ray" interviews Delia! [May. 22nd, 2008|09:47 am]

ellen_kushner
Colleen Mondor's just posted a wonderful deep funny insightful interview with Delia - it's mostly about Changeling, worldbuilding, writing, and NYC, and almost as good as hearing Delia at a panel (if you're missing Wiscon, just sit in a cold room lit by fluorescent lights and read it aloud!) - and includes a link to her BookSlut rave review of Interfictions. Much love to Colleen!
Link1 comment|Leave a comment

A Long Day with the VA [May. 22nd, 2008|09:11 am]

seanpatfannon
It is apparent that the communication between various elements in the VA system is particularly awful. It is equally apparent that it's because they are processing so very many people at once, every day.

There are a lot of military veterans.

More to the point, there are a lot of military veterans who do not have access to any other insurance or health care that is worth a shit. There would be no other reason for them to endure the unmitigated horse feces that is the VA system.

(And, yes, my more conservatively-minded friends, if this is the model that a more universal health care system would be based on, I would be horrified. But I would still take it over the alternative... which is to say the nothing that we have now. At least my father can have this life-saving procedure without ruining the life of his wife and family afterwords. My contention, however, is that there can and should be a better way - not just for the vets, but for us all. The VA model should be an example of how not to set up comprehensive health care for U.S. citizens; it should not stand as an example that we should just give up on the idea.)

The local VA clinic physician cares about my father, which I truly appreciate. She did her best, of that I have no doubt. Unfortunately, she is not particularly well-trained on dealing with AAAs. She thought it was much worse that it actually was; yes, this is a "good" thing, but it still created trauma and miscommunication for all concerned. As well, she clearly knows very little about the actual hospital she deals with, and the two elements have very poor communication about the logistics of the care of their patients.

For example - my father was told he was to report to the Vascular Surgery Clinic in Pod C between 9-10 AM yesterday morning; it was urgent he be there by that time, in that place, so that they could quickly assess him. He was likely to be admitted for tests, observation, and eventual surgery. We planned accordingly; packed for the extended stay, and I put the word out for a cheap place to stay. Mom drained her bank account to help fund the trip with what little she had.

Only the Vascular Surgery Clinic isn't in Pod C; it's clear across the building. And the appointment wasn't for 9-10 AM; it was specifically for 11:20 AM. And, thanks to some apparently clerical errors (overheard from a stressed-out admittance tech), the place was almost triple-booked that day.

So we waited in the cramped, ugly little space, having nothing to eat and afraid for Dad to go to the bathroom in fear of missing the all-important call-in, until nearly 2:00 PM (Central; we'd left before sunrise EST).

And we waited all that time to discover that (a) the aneurysm isn't quite as bad as his physician thought (due to poor training on how to read aneurysms in the imaging used); (b) it's still bad enough that it could pop and kill him at any time, so it does need to be dealt with; (c) nothing was really going to happen that day, other that some more tests in another department; (d) the surgery is at least 5% likely to kill him, while the aneurysm is currently about 8% likely to kill him.

But the risk of the AAA killing him will go up rapidly over time, and the surgery risk can be minimized.

So, we go back next week. We head out sometime on Wednesday, get a cheap room somewhere in Nashville, and maybe grab a decent dinner, Dad and me. First thing Thursday morning, we run the gauntlet of tests and procedures, starting at 7:00 AM and going to late in the afternoon (with lots of waiting between). After that, Dad gets admitted and will stay in the hospital through the weekend, while they get his blood where they want it and test other factors.

Monday, June 2nd, he has a procedure called an "embolization," which apparently lays some kind of important groundwork for the eventual real surgery. Then he comes home and waits until said surgery is scheduled.

Which, apparently, we shouldn't expect to happen for another 2-3 weeks, at least. Assuming they can get all of his factors where they want them.

Because, yes, Dad's horrible health (dramatically impacted by his smoking*) is making this way more risky and difficult that it would otherwise be.

So the crisis continues, and will for some time. That thing could still pop at any moment while we are waiting, and there's no way around it - if it goes, he's gone. No emergency service can stop it. He'd have to be on a surgical table, cut open, within about 10 minutes to even have a chance.

And yet no hospital will admit him long term to watch and monitor. Not the VA, and not any other managed care program. No insurance will cover it. They refuse to waste money like that. Somebody's yacht might not get a new coat of paint. Men in my father's situation are told to go home, do nothing, try not to stress, and pray.

So there it is. Fun stuff.

I would appreciate it if the Universe would stop shitting on me and my family now...





* My Smoking Friends - You are a stubborn, pig-headed, addicted lot. You think this makes it OK, that you are rebels who won't be told what to do. "I love to smoke, and something's gonna kill me anyway. Might as well be this. Lettuce causes cancer, a bus might hit me, blah blah blah..."

Fine. I am just telling you, the one doctor said with no hyperbole and great sadness "We could just about do this today if it weren't for your father's smoking, and it would be no real big deal. Because of what he's done to himself, however, I don't like his chances at all. Never mind that the smoking very likely caused the aneurysm in the first place..."

Yes, other things are bad for us all, too. That does not make smoking a smart or reasonable choice; its impact on your daily health is a constant and very real negative. The science is irrefutable. The facts are there, no matter what your addiction tells you otherwise. I love you. Please quit. I absolutely promise you that you will regret not quitting later. My father does.
Link7 comments|Leave a comment

navigation
[ viewing | most recent entries ]
[ go | earlier ]