A light-weight entry tonight.

Did get to watch an amusing part in the late padded rugby game tonight - as one who watched the Canadian League as well as the American one, it was amusing to be for there to be a receiver for the missed field goal attempt. What was doubly amusing, although probably not so for the kicking team, was when the receiver returned the ball across the field, from eight yards deep in his own end zone, for a touchdown. There were probably a lot of people across the United States going “Can he do that? Can he field a missed field goal, and then return it?” Yes, and yes again. There are some things that you just chuckle at - most times we don’t see that rule exercised. But when it is, much like the misdirection of the fake kick or punt, the defenders should be ready for it.

Mass consumer culture is advertising breaking mass consumer culture, only to indulge in mass consumer culture. Or, McDonalds is trying to cash in on the music piracy fad. Would that this were a true sequence break rather than a cheap imitation of it.

Putting together two things that appear divergent, but really are much more intertwined than at first glance: out of the files of Every Woman is a Goddess, we present The Apron Book, for domestic Goddesses, and then Lillith's Erotic Potential, for those who want to make more of an impact in the bedroom.

The smallest, yet one of the most imporatnt (if not the most important) sutras of the Buddhists: The Heart Sutra. Probably a good example of both simplicity and elegance in scripture. Although also probably a good example of a very dense scripture that needs much unraveling to begin to be understood.

The U*CON Gaming convention starts this Friday, and in honor of that, I present paper polyhedral models. There’s mroe than just dice there, though. Enjoy the paper skills of all those polyhedra.

Are the pessimists wrong about the next generation? Idealistic pictures of the past combined with depressive views of the future might be contributing to an erroneous belief that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, I don’t know whether they think of things like global ecology when people think about whether the world will be better or worse off for the next set. The world will certainly be different, though, with new volcanic islands forming. Atlantis rises again, perhaps?

I, on the other hand, sink into sleep.

Five Things I'm proud of - #4

Having managed to actually write down the objects in question, it’s easier to craft an entry around them. The hard part is writing them down.

As 2dlife pointed out to me in discussing the last entry, the prompt isn’t about trying to impress other people with one’s accomplishments. The point is to be impressed with oneself. Which I may not have been clear with with the last entry - that’s why I said the small stuff counts, too - because it’s the things you’re proud of, not what everyone else is proud of you for. (That part will come soon, when we throw wide the doors and solicit the missing bits.)

Onward, then, to number four, which involves the people that I hang around with on regular, semi-regular, and occasional bases.

#4 - I know and am friends with a diverse range of people. This diversity enriches me and makes me a better person every day of my life.

I’m proud of the people that I interact with. I have people who are atheists, monotheists, polytheists, philosophers, preachers, deviants, subversives, the married, the engaged, those who have their eyes on someone, those who have several someones already, people graduated from university, working on it, those who never got there, and those still trying to get through the morass of public education. There are teachers, scientists, crafters, theologians, composers, deejays, authors, Canadians, Americans, English, Ozzies, NZs, Israelis, and more. With such a gigantically diverse group, the points of view and the evidence being brought to bear in their support is phenomenal. It’s no struggle to learn something new every day with this crowd. And usually, by the time it’s all done, it’s more than one thing that’s been added to my knowledge. Just today I got a pretty good lesson on the ins and outs of the sport of cricket (thanks, himi!). Not that I’ll ever likely see it, but now I know. It’ll show up in some trivia game somewhere down the line, like whether or not a field goal attempt can be returned if it stays in the field of play (in American Football).

So, I’m proud of all of you. You can pat yourselves on the back and be proud of who you are.

Another day in my life

I got sent into a timewarp today, linked to a Rescue Rangers fancomic "Of Mice And Mayhem", which was fantastic. It deals with more mature themes, but it probably wouldn’t warrant a rating above teen. It’s always interesting to see and speculate on what might have happened if our kids shows were permitted to move beyond their G-rated boundaries. I almost wonder whether those shows might have had a longer life simply by growing up with their generation.

Another reason to not be fond of Wal-Mart. It drives out competitors, and because it’s such a giant, and uncompromising on its practices, Wal-Mart drives its own suppliers out of business.

The morgues in Baghdad are full. The deaths are happening so fast that that morgues can’t hold them. That’s not the figure of Americans we’re talking about - that’s the Iraqis. It’d be an interesting statistic to keep track of. Maybe that would help the populace realize what a mistake was made by going in without proper support. Mr. V went about the District of Columbia serving Redress of Grievances papers, so perhaps we’ll get some responses? We’ll see. We are reminded that Democrats can be conservatives, too, and they may continue things on their present course, all the while proclaiming how different things are. Hold them to their actions. On that note, the Democrats are set to start with the subpoenas. So maybe we can finally learn the truth? (Or will they say we can’t handle it?)

Global warming might make ancient cities other than Atlantis disappear beneath the waves. Which will make Dr. Jones very unhappy. Along with all the archaeologists who did get their tenures.

Something for yarha to look after: Waltzing may help with avoiding a second heart attack and recover from the first one. There’s something you don’t see every day.

Protein folding mapped at atomic level. Perhaps this will help the World Community Grid project?

Last pairing for tonight tickles my musical self - a shirt that lets you wail air guitar... and actually sends the output through your speakers. This might have the unintended effect of getting people to stop with the air guitar. OR it might make them worse. Who knows? On that note (har, har), it’s true: You don't need to be able to play the drums, or the piano, to make music. (media file) Just good at splicing.

Five Things I'm proud of - #5

The last in this particular prompt of five - “Write five things about you that you’re proud of, without comparisons or qualifications.” The things that you’re proud of, not of what you think other people will be proud of you for. No ifs or buts.

This is the last one that I came up with for this list - and there’s elegance in its simplicity, and beauty in its expression.

#5 - I am a creative being.

That’s it. But in that, there’s a lot packed. There’s writing, there’s art, there’s the ability to pick up an idea and run with it to lots of places, some of which may actually be achievable. There’s grandiose schemes, ideas for fanfiction, for Subreality’s storyscape, bringing outside philosophies to bear on a world, checking someone else’s world for consistency and trying to make it bigger, fuller, and more interesting.

It combines well with the brains when it’s firing on all cylinders. It makes worlds, characters, ideas, and then files them away. It works out in a lot of ways. It can provide that one thing that someone needed to get going on their own creative project, even if nothing that was said actually gets put into the final project. I’ve said that it might be my lot in life to be an inspiration to others. If that’s really true, then I’ve got creativity and brains, and I should be proud of both of those, regardless as to whether they actually end up creating a “magnum opus” for me. It’ll help with programming when I get to my profession. It’ll help in other places, too, like when trying to come up with the most creatively lame insults possible. Or when I actually want to try and cut someone to ribbons with a tongue-lashing.

Creativity is something that flows in all our veins. It just needs to find the right place to be let out and put to use. Sometimes that means being whacked with a difficult-to-write prompt about yourself. Other times, the Trout of Truth. Either way, finding the right creative outlet makes your life better.

So, those are my five proud things - if you want, take on the prompt for yourself. Write five things about yourself that you’re proud of, with no qualifications or comparisons. Forget what everyone else thinks and write what you’re proud of. It shouldn’t be too hard, right? Remind me again in a month, or six months, or something, to do this again. It’ll force me to keep a positive look on my life.

And now, time to open up the floodgates. Here’s the continuing part of this meme - what did I miss? Tell me something that I should have written in this prompt and didn’t. Or tell me something that you’re proud of me for that I didn’t write into the prompt. I’ll take that and write an entry like this about it. I promise. If it takes me the rest of my life, dutifully writing something that I’m proud of every day from here to the day I die, well, there are worse ways of spending your time.