silveradept | Ye gods, you're all nuts. (The big catch-up post)

Yeah, so the Internet has been down since Friday last - I'm typing this at a public machine. Although, since I've been here, trying to catch up, I think the connection may have revitalized at home - that would be a good thing to come home to.

For most of the time, I was with

annaonthemoon for her visit. She's quite set on moving out to this town, and now I think I'm going to be exploited as a resource that can tell her where things are in relation to each other, what sort of commute she might be making, things like that. We'll give her as much help as we can on this front while we're still here.

Tomorrow is Towel Day! Don't forget (or panic!)

Although it's significantly late, wish

sporklord a very happy birthday! It sounds like it was, so that's good to know.

Saturday is the Play! concert in Rosemont, IL - if you're going, let me know so that I can try to meet you or hang out somewhere beforehand. Although I'm also trying to work out things like carpooling, so it may not really be possible to meet you unless we both get there early and schmooze while we wait for the orchestra halls and seating to open up. Maybe this time I'll get a good picture of what I look like when I look good.

Of course, since I've been gone for five days, you've been hard at work collecting the odd, the strange, and the infuriating. I note that

amenquohi has taken up the practice of linkwork, and I'm quite pleased with the results. Meaning that I'm propagating some of those links across my corner of the network. Maybe together, we can craft a whole new meme.

For those who sew, or make buttons, or know people who do, and are Linux fans, there is available open-source Tux Penguin designs. Right now, I think it's only plushies and buttons, but it's just cool to see that - wouldn't it be interesting for everyone to have their own Tux sitting on top of their monitors of their Linux boxes? The designs are GPL, so be sure to follow the licensing agreement.

The telecom whistleblower's testimony, un-cut. If the existence of these rooms is true, and the government continues to have people who accept $100,000 bribes, and then protest the FBI obtaining a search warrant to investigate the office and its documents for more evidence (although they may have a point, in that this is certainly fitting with the expansion of powers by the executive trend), and also hints strongly that reporters may be prosecuted for using classified sources, then, well, reality trumps any fiction I can think of. And that's kind of scary.

Although, the President got spurned by a Congresscritter who decided to vote on a bill rather than attend a fundraiser he planned.

Drive in lithuania has nearly double the fatal amount of alcohol in his system, pulled over for drunk driving. Guy should be dead, according to science, but can apparently still drive things, if a bit wobbly, and chats with the officers who pulled him over. Weird.

A grossly overweight dog is receiving treatment. Apparently, the owners fed it beer and donuts, things that would make anyone fat. I'm just hoping that these people learn a thing or two about care and feeding before they try to get another pet. If they have them, I wonder what their children are like.

Sex theme park to open in England. Well, everyone wants to be a better lover, right? Although I wonder how many people would go out there on a date? Well, we'd rather they went there than wait underneath someone's car to lick the driver's toes. Although, perhaps the most interesting sex-related thing is a question: Is the menstrual cycle going the way of the dodo? Are we getting closer to those sci-fi-worlds where nobody conceives or has menstruation because of a patch or pill... until they want to have it or have kids? Quite interesting... I wonder, if this comes to be, what the sex lives of kids and teens will be like?

Cheering is now prohibited at graduations. So please, hold your applause to the end of the post. (Also, hold the rotten eggs and tomatoes. I'd like a headstart before you start booing me.)

Websnark tells us The Super Secret All Powerful Method To Protect Our Children From The Dangers Of The Internet, namely, put the computer with Internet access in a publicly viewable place and enforce your right to do just that. It's not foolproof, probably, but it likely will cut down on the chance that a kid will access what you consider inappropriate or dangerous in your presence. In your presence, we note, still leaves a significant amount of wiggle room for the enterprising, aware, and determined child. At some point, you really do have to trust that your kids will be responsible and smart. Hopefully, by the time you really need to trust them like that, they won't let you down.

This just in. Apparently, according to people who are airing commercials (and if it's a commercial, we all know it must be true), CO2 is good for you. so don't worry about your pollutant-heavy Hummer or SUV. In fact, drive it around more! The plants will thank you. (The humans and animals, however, who need the 02 and a temperate planet, will kill you.)

Word of mouth used to be ad-free. Nowadays, that's not even true. The insidiousness of marketing grows and grows.

One experience with the difficulties of the financial world is that sometimes it's rather easy to get caught up in a maelstrom, just in the cause of recovering what was lost. I don't know about the veracity of the story, but I don't doubt that it's possible to have happened. Fictional or no, wondering what it would really take someone to take money from your bank account can also be a little scary.

Writing's not a safe pastime, either. Apparently, if you post stories that describe acts of crime, you might get a visit and pressure from the police to be fingerprinted and submit DNA to see whether or not you're writing from experience and that you'd solve one of their unsolved mysteries file. Question is, how much modding is the DNA going to take if the people there want a conviction on something? Regardless of how far-fetched the tie-ins are? This doesn't even count under the preventative maintenance idea.

Make your own juggling balls. then, all you have to do is learn how to juggle. Just don't try to learn while high. You might accidentally call the police to help with your hallucinations. Although without any hallucinogens, you might be able to make a lime sweet if you follow the directions just so.

Persia used to be such a happening place. And then, like Constantinople (which is a really cool name), something changed and things got duller. Perhaps the mentality behind the change in Persia also created things like Pensacola, a non-accredited, hyper-Christian university, where demerits are common, and the place feels like it's a legal version of the off-shores "behavior modification" facilities. The rules are probably strict enough that if I had ever thought about going there, being raised Catholic might have been enough to get me expelled. Suffice to say, such a place is not high on my interest list, and I hope that people who go there understand what they're getting into. It's a place that calls Bob Jones University liberal. Enjoy.

Last thing, which is really cool - Transition art. If you like Escher or Dali, these things will tickle your fancy. On a slightly more constructed end, we have alchemical and magical geometric shapes and patterns. Much more... symmetric. We happen to like the Eristic mandala better.

And thus, nearly five hours after sitting down to catch up on five days' worth of Livejournal, I'm finished. I'm going home to eat some dinner, check and see if the Internet has returned, and then go out umpiring for the night. Perhaps a second, smaller update, if I feel like it.