The Case Against Meat

Structure of Romantic and Sexual Relations

Dogs

My mother recently got a 10 month old yorkshire terrier. Abby (the dog) isn't a minitature, mind you. This dog is 10 pounds small, not the ridiculously fragile 2 - 3 pound kinds that kinda creeps me out.

I've always been fond of terriers, probably because my childhood dog was a mongrel terrier thing; there's something about that active minds, reasonable size and general attentiveness to the world that draws me in. Although Yorkies are technically toys (accoring to Wikipedia), they behave very much as terriers.

Abby definitely still behaves like a puppy, but doesn't have any of the yappiness commonly found in small dogs, she's small enough to be easily picked up when needed, but active enough to take care of herself. All in all, it's a good combination that I think would work well in the city.

Anyway, it makes me want one. With two cats, a small house and no yard, the time isn't right, but maybe in a few years.

Spam has evolved

The Nigerian prince spam is so frequent, it, and its derivatives no longer deserve mention. Today, however, I discovered something new and interesting in my gmail account's spam box:

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DUNE

I'm very fascinated by Frank Herbert's Dune books these days. I had to upgrade my old tattered bindingfree copy and upgrade to a shiny trade paperback.

One thing I noticed was the lack of humor in the series. Most of the greatest novelests find ways to infuse some humor into their stories about the human condition.

I mean this only as an observation and not as a criticism; the quality of the series speaks for itself.

I read the entire series about ten years ago and was hopelessly lost for most of it. I'm doing much better this time (All that reading I did in college HAS improved my comprehension!).

Leader Test

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Which Fucked Up Genius Composer are You?

Which fucked-up genius composer are you?

Tom Waits... charismatic story-teller with a penchant for freaky people and unusual settings. You thrive on the concept of the underdog coming out on top.
Take this quiz!








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TerraPass

I think I heard about this on NPR a few months ago, but it was recently linked to from The Bus Chick's blog.

It's an interesting idea. The idea of exchanging carbon pollution with environmentally friendly donations may be the wave of the future.

Since getting rid of my car earlier this year, I've been feeling very good about my impact on the atmosphere, but we have a long airplane ride tentatively scheduled for later in the year. This provides some balance, even though the emissions can't be directly removed, of course.

Which Science Fiction Writer Are You?

I am: Isaac Asimov One of the most prolific writers in history, on any imaginable subject. Cared little for art but created lasting and memorable tales.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Stuff Gone!

Nora and I took two loads of stuff to Goodwill today. Hooray for us! Hooray for Flexcar! Hooray for Goodwill! We may be having some windows replaced over the next couple of weeks, so we can't quite reorganize permanently. That day will come soon though, and that's great for two recovering pack rats.

Dylan vs Warhol

We saw a trailer for "Factory Girl," which appears to feature Hayden Christensen as a young Bob Dylan. I'm a huge Dylan fan, and a bit of an Andy Warhol fan, so to see the story of one versus the other is too delicious to pass. Yes, of course I'm concerned that Anakin will stink it up. However, I do believe that George Lucas is a terrible director of actual actors. That may explain Hayden's terrible performance as Anakin Skywalker. He may do alright under different circumstances.

Riding Metro

Nora and I were on the 48 this evening, coming home after spending the better part of the afternoon watching David Lynch's Inland Empire. We stopped at Mcclelan st and Rainier when the driver announced that we had to pause for a minute. With both doors open, we sat. And sat. We were only two stops from our own, and very much in walking distance, but I kept thinking we'd start any moment. We were probably there for five full minutes, which is a long time to stop a bus for no apparent reason.

Then, the number 7 passed us, and stopped. A police car parked in the turn lane in ahead and to our left (naturally).

A young black man in the back began making somewhat crazy sounds, "oh mamma, oh mamma...." and no fewer than three police officers boarded our bus. And they took the young black man into custody. He didn't resist, and they didn't use excessive force. They seemed to know him by name. They mentioned that he'd dropped 'dice' during the minor scuffle; Nora and I assumed that was a rock form of drug. Crack or Meth, or possibly heroin.

A few moments later, we continued on our way. As we thanked the driver, she mentioned how happy she was that her evening was almost over. I thought it was a fascinating adventure, but it's probably the sort of thing a driver can do without.

Mr. Deity

Go. Watch.

I'm not the only gamer

Mistress Matisse had her first RPGing experience recently. Yay! I believe the game she played is a World of Darkness game, like Mage: The Ascension.

Another addictive (but annoying quiz)

Orpheus 33% Extroversion, 100% Intuition, 72% Emotiveness, 71% Perceptiveness

You are an artist, an aesthete, a sensitive, and someone who has never really let go of that childlike innocence. To you, all of life has a sense of wonder in it, and the story of Orpheus was written about someone just like you. When the Argo passed the island of the Sirens, Orpheus played a song more beautiful than the Sirens to prevent the crew from becoming enticed. When his wife died, he ventured into the underworld to charm Hades but, in his naivete, he looked back becoming trapped there. You can capture your unique world view and relate it to others with the skill of a master storyteller. Your sensitivity and creativity make you a treasure to the human race, but your thin-skinned nature and innocence can cause you a lot of disenchantment and pain. What's doubly unfortunate is that, if you try to lose those traits, you never will, and everyone will be able to tell that you're putting up an artificial shell to prevent yourself from being hurt. Famous people like you: Hemingway, Shakespeare, Mr. Rogers, Melville, Nick Tosches Stay clear of: Icarus, Hermes, Atlas

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 19% on Extroversion You scored higher than 83% on Intuition You scored higher than 61% on Emotiveness You scored higher than 50% on Perceptiveness

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Gaming update

The guy who's been running the Mage: Ascension game I've been playing in is moving to Poland in March. Sigh. I was finally getting the hang of the system, and I've become very attached to my character ("Harvey Campbell"). He just improved one of his magic spheres, which is kinda difficult in this game.

Some of the other guys think they'll be able to find someone else to run the game, but finding a location is the other challenge. I could probably host once a month or so, but no more than that.

And so, our games now have a 'there's no tomorrow' feel. We're trying to wring every drip out of the remaining time, and our sessions are running longer. It's amazing to me how quickly 5 or 8 hours pass when a person is gaming.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Holy crap, this is the coolest thing I've seen all day. Maybe yesterday too!

2006

In summary:

March - At work we moved into a new building. This was an intense time in my professional life. The magnitude was very impressive, even though I'm still not pleased with the way the project came off.

May - I learned to ride a motorcycle on my 33rd birthday. I got my endorsement a couple days later.

June - I bought a motorcycle.

July - Nothing much happened during this month NOT - first one of my groomsmen threw the best bachelor party ever for me. There were two strippers. There was a poker tournament. There was streaking. There may or may not have been some ingestion of an illegal substance. Then, the next day, I puked in the restroom of a restaurant. Ahhhh, it doesn't get much better than that.

Nora and I threw the best wedding ever... then went on a fabulous honeymoon to Maui, then Kona.

August - at the tail end of my honeymoon, we attended my 15 year high school reunion. That too was amazing. A week after returning, I started a new job with the CPI department at Children's.

September - my Ford Escort died, and I decided to go carless for awhile. At least a year is my goal. It's a challenge, but it's going pretty well.

November - we had Indian food and beers at the Blue Moon Tavern for Thanksgiving.

December - we shared Christmas with my mother, her husband and her husband's family. I like those folks quite a lot.

Sex Ed

On the other side of that link is a very explict, but very cool, interesting and erotic documentary style short video featuring a male and female couple having sex.

If you're a person who is legally and morally permitted to view such things, by please do so. It's really good stuff.

NationStates

I discovered an online game using the Stumble add-on to Firefox. It's called Nation States and it allowed me to create a nation that you can see by following the above link. This is fun so far.