My Personal Response to the Death of a Terrorist

I started with disbelief that the task was finally done, then a small amount of relief.

Next was disgust that it hadn't been accomplished 9 years ago because we didn't have a leader 9 years ago who was willing to put the resources into play, and instead decided that oil profits and money for his buddies in Halliburton were more important than stopping terrorism. This whole thing should have been ended years ago. Instead we had to wait to get a president that isn't into war profiteering, then wait for him to clean up the mess of the war profiteer president before him. Yeah, I'm bitter. How many American lives were lost because Bush couldn't be bothered to actually help the American PEOPLE instead of American Corporations? The only thing better than the death of Bin Laden would be the death of Bin Laden and Bush and Cheney being tried for war crimes, war profiteering, and treason.

So I guess I'm mostly exasperated that this took so long, and that the reason it took so long is still walking around free and wrongly thinking he did a good job as president.

I did manage to get my mood lightened by visiting a few websites and seeing the jokes people made in reaction to the news. The people who want to see the long-form death certificate before believing it were mildly amusing. More so when you consider that President Obama's speech cut into Trump's stupid show. Heh. Another joke I found strangely satisfying was that all the other death reports of Bin Laden were just Harry and the gang taking care of the Horcruxes before they finally got the bad guy himself. Way to mash pop culture with current events.

But mostly, my reaction is just a small amount of relief, a lot of bitterness toward the useless leadership that took us to war in Iraq instead of finishing the job in Afghanistan, and a certainty that this isn't the end of the terrorism story at all.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Doctor Who: "The Lodger" - Not your normal Doctor Who. This is the second story in the row that hits the right notes, even though it had the potential to be a very embarrassing tale. There are a LOT of questions about the device in this one that are not answered, and Amy's moment at the very end was exactly what I was expecting to eventually happen. Folks should note the number of the Doctor's jersey.
• Doctor Who: "The Pandorica Opens" - Oh dear. That's a cliffhanger if I've ever seen one. Not at all what I was expecting inside the box, although by the description given I had a very good idea what was supposed to be inside. Poor Rory, but I find it very strange that if he was (SPOILER ALERT!)completely erased from history, that Amy still had both memories AND a picture of him. Perhaps because the place/time that River went to was at the center of all of it? And while I get the whole Roman Legion thing, I don't understand why Amy's interest in Pandora's Box would have any bearing on the situation.(END SPOILER) Note that the key date happens to be the day the final episode airs in the UK. No previews for next week on this one, either.
• Battlestar Galactica: "Collaborators" - So, if I understand this correctly, the president is Zarek, because he was Baltar's vice pres. And Zarek recognizes that Roslin will become president again, and must have clean hands, so he calls together "The Circle". Considering how close the group came to making a huge mistake with Gaeta, I can't agree with Zarek's efforts.
• Sapphire and Steel: "Assignment Three: The Creatures' Revenge" - A very freaky story, very atmospheric. It was let down a little in the final episode with the creature itself and the lousy cliff-hanger from episode five, but overall it was good. The appearance of Silver was neat, and I want to know his history with Sapphire. Speaking of, Sapphire's outfit was terrible.
• Dinner Impossible: "Judgment Day" - I really like that divorce court judge (Judge Lynn Toler). Not enough to actually watch the show, but she seems pretty cool and one tough customer. I like how Robert convinced her of the three pairings she was certain wouldn't work. And I liked the couples they got to help out, even though the one guy was an utter twit. In the end, he gave them a lot of good dishes, and one they could argue about.

---

This week's movie was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We didn't see it in the theater, so we watched it on DVD. Not bad. I've long since realized that I'm bound to be terribly unimpressed with the movies because they have to leave so much of the detail and the subplots out, so my expectations tend to be low. I thought the casting was pretty good, still love Luna. She's probably the character that most seems to have stepped out of the books. Ah well, a good way to spend an evening with the hubby.

---

Here are reviews of the Free Comic Book Day comics of 2010 that I got and read:

• Del Rey Showcase - This is a good sampler, with zombies and three other features that all give a strong showing of the stories. This definitely made me interested in a couple of the stories.
• Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom/Magnus, Robot Fighter - Two very nice previews that gave all the details a reader might want to know before jumping into a new book. Both of these were strong and compelling enough to gain readers.
• Weathercraft and Other Unusual Tales - Sorry, I don't "get" Jim Woodring's appeal, so this book was a complete turn-off for me. However, if this type of work appeals to you, I think this is a sufficient sampler.
• Worlds of Aspen 2010 - This is enough of a sampler that I feel like I understand more about this publisher than I did before I read it. Not my type of stuff, but good as a freebie.
• Yow! Drawn & Quarterly Presents...2010 - A nice set of classic comics that make you want to go out and get more of the same. Nancy and Tubby have strange dreams, and strange things happen in other comics. This one is fun.
• The Oni Press Free For All #1 - This book introduces you to three odd stories and their characters, and is both fun and incredibly strange. I don't know that I'm going to pick these up, but they are good. Another great sampler!
• Green Hornet #1 - This makes me almost tempted to pick this book up. If I were more of a Green Hornet fan, I'd be likely to be swayed by this. That makes yet another good sampler!

---

My library book this week was Spindrift by Allen Steele. A ship is sent to explore the source of an artificial signal outside the solar system. This is set in the same universe as the Coyote novels that I've previously read and enjoyed, but it's set sort of at the same time as those books, thanks to the whole space travel thing, and the end actually ties in with the ending of the third Coyote book. Again, as with the others, if you enjoyed them you will probably enjoy this one. Good characters, a focus on a small group, and a fairly compelling story. There isn't as much jumping around in this one, simply because the narrative is fairly straightforward. All in all an excellent book, and enough to get me to look for the next Allen Steele Coyote universe book.

---

Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist

Last Minute Links

More Harry Potter? Maybe an 8th book someday.

Google continues to become more evil by adding unwanted social networking without the ability to opt-out. If it continues, it's time to stop using Google.

You may remember Project Download, in which a gal who needed multiple surgeries was hoping to earn the money through an offer by a company called MegaUpload. Well, on her LJ community we first learned that MegaUpload refused to pay up... then, when all hope was lost, someone donated the money through Reality Charity, and now Erin will be able to get the surgeries she needs.

Smart child uses a mousetrap to catch a thief.

Mars has a 96% Chances of Nothing Happening.

Yikes. 'Tis the Season for brawling.

Starbucks actually helps other coffee shops. When they move into an area.

Most sought-after out-of-print books in America.

Catching Up Linkages

Happy Solstice.

You must watch the video Mark Evanier linked to, which has the BEST Christmas song ever.

I admit, I'm laughing at the poor dogs. Thanks for pointing this out, Gordondym.

LucasFilm Christmas Cards.

Cute Overload revisits Nora the Piano-Playing Cat.

Harry Potter and the Bickering Geneticists.

Captain Kirk mistletoe training video.

Nerd Trailers.

Oooh, hydrokinetic energy!

I have a strong desire to try this recipe, and freeze them as suggested by Aaron Williams.

And 400 years later, 2009 will be the Internation Year of Astronomy.

Medical Myths.

The Hajj has Free WiFi for the pilgrims. Awesome.

Can a virgin human give birth? Well, not a GUY human.

Starbucks' most expensive drink. I don't drink coffee, so this sounds truly disgusting to me.

Harry Potter plus South Park equals...

Bloggity reader Jack Pendarvis makes the NYTimes.

I'd like to point out some eBay auctions for ROM Spaceknight Paintings, the proceeds of which will be going to Bill Mantlo's medical care.

Paying it forward by paying for the car behind yours.

Pocky Marketing Ploy. Y'mean they have to actually MARKET Pocky? It doesn't just sell itself? No, I don't want the painting packages. I'll settle for the dark chocolate pocky, personally.

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #134. Cypher, Kryptonians, and The Champions.

Torchwood Season Two Trailer. Not for the kiddies.

Sunday Morning Thoughts

Just Read This. A truly amazing piece of writing by a former Seattle Times reporter about the Pike Place Market and the Great Depression. Just go read it.

Ken Jennings and the Daily Hello's. Hubby-Eric figured out what Jennings says in the rest of the article a long time ago. More proof that hubby-Eric needs to get on Jeopardy?

Boing Boing on the Wizard of Oz.

A MetaFilter poster by the name of forrest discovers connections.

Jack Chick takes on Harry Potter and even gets the facts wrong. Cool.

The math was wrong, but it doesn't change the facts.

If you bought a video from Google's download service... too bad. They are taking it back. This is yet another reason DRM sucks. You buy something, you expect to own it. Not to have it stolen from you by the company you bought it from. No one should trust any company that sells stuff with DRM on it.

An editorial about menu rules that I pretty much agree with.

Elvis was NOT racist.

Massive Linkdump, YAY!

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #114.

Bratz are the X-Men for girls. Thanks, Lea.

The mayor of San Diego is a complete jerk.

The Comics Reporter's Collective Memory of San Diego Comic Con 2007. Newsarama San Diego Linkages.

Dorothy has Demographics.

Scholastic Fairs Pick Up Amelia Rules! I used to buy TONS of books through Scholastic and such. My father never denied me books.

Jim Rugg draws Aquaman. Oh, and some other news, too. Check out Jim Rugg's LiveJournal. Scroll down to see the Aquaman images, or click the following links: The Plain JLA, Three Aquaman Images 2, Three Aquaman Images 1.

J K Rowling is a great storyteller, but sometimes her writing could use a bit of work. This is just one example of why some people like me (English grads) pull out hair even while we enjoy Harry Potter.

Coyotes and Google Maps.

Oh dear. Just watch the vid. Heh.

Ah! This article explains why I feel hungry after drinking chocolate milk or hot cocoa (both very rich in calories). Piece by piece we understand ourselves better.

Man, I really want The Popeye DVD Set. Although it's incredibly unlikely, maybe some rich person is slumming in my blog and will buy it for me from my Amazon Wishlist. I know, not gonna happen, but a girl can dream.

Every single piece of DRM invented has been cracked. Why keep wasting money on useless security devices instead of making products better and cheaper so people won't be tempted to pirate them.

Singing about Mathematics.

Yet Another Linkdump

Optimum copyright term is 14 years, according to calculations by an economist. I've always figured life of the author plus 20 years, or 20 years only if it's work-for-hire. But in any case, copyright terms are currently way too long.

Brit reject copyright extension.

Stormy Day on Lake Washington, from 1913.

Why on Earth did DC not use the solicitation image instead of the insulting image they ended up using? What idiot editor made that choice?

Whole Foods CEO is Internet Troll. That's almost enough to make me never set foot in Whole Foods again, but I already buy almost nothing there.

Computer Virus turns 25 Years old.

ATM reprogrammed to think $20 bills were $1 bills.

Boing Boing has an excellent post on things on TV that scared you as a kid. I long ago posted my childhood terror, The Giant Killer Lollipop.

A different look at blindness.

What is it?

Kids in the news, where are they now?

A hoax TV show about a competition for a donated kidney has resulted in a donor boom.

Judge awards almost $70,000 in Attorneys Fees to a woman wrongly sued by the RIAA scum.

Enigma Machines on eBay.

Death threats for teaching evolution. Are we living in the dark ages?

Speaking of, Evolution is Not Just a Theory.

People Playing Chess on Roller Coasters.

Mad Bun returns with an origin story. YAY!

I really want the full set of Unshelved books. And a LIBRARY Swat Team T-shirt.

Umbridge.

Otis Frampton rounds up reviews of Oddly Normal, including mine.

Real Thugs. Are they truly gone?

The Simpsons - and Art Spiegelman, Dan Clowes, and Alan Moore.

Unscrewed is now a Nonprofit.

Wal Mart flip flops cause nasty chemical burns (warning, graphic photo).

Switch Plates.

Pirates vs Ninjas Slide Show.

Massive Power Outage takes out part of the internet, via Boing Boing, MetaFilter, and Slashdot.

Plastic Bag Panic.

And for the in-laws: Mike Daisey's Pug.

Harry Potter

Done. As has been pointed out, despite being over 700 pages, it is a children's book. I finished in a bit under 7 hours of reading. I still find that impressive, even if other people don't.

Anyway I promised my sister a very very very short review. Either one or two words. So here is it:

Satisfying.

The other option was the same word with "not" in front of it. I won't say anything else unencrypted, so as not to spoil it for anyone else who might be intending to read the book. You may post spoilers in the comments, though I'd like it if you put them in rot13 first. Just a precaution. I don't know if anyone reads my comments in RSS and thus would be surprised by the sudden appearance of spoilers in them. (Note: if you are using Firefox, there's an addon that does rot13 and other cryptography automagically).

Speaking of, here's some of my spoilerish thoughts in rot13...

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
FCBVYREF FCBVYREF FCBVYREF

Ebjyvat unf n irel ernyvfgvp ivrj bs qrngu. Vg'f fbzrguvat gung whfg unccraf. Vg qbrfa'g znxr frafr, vg qbrfa'g freir n terngre checbfr zbfg bs gur gvzr. Vg whfg vf. Guvf qevirf zr penml nf na Ratyvfu znwbe, ohg nf n crefba, vg vf hapbzsbegnoyl gehr.

Gur qrnguf va guvf bar, fgnegvat jvgu Urqjvt, jrer ernyyl qvssvphyg gb gnxr.

V'z vzcerffrq jvgu ubj jryy gur inevbhf cvrprf bs fgbel svg gbtrgure. V guvax Ebjyvat fubhyq qb genqvgvbany zlfgrevrf arkg, orpnhfr fur unf n tbbq frafr bs ubj gb frg hc n pyhr jvgubhg qenjvat gbb zhpu nggragvba gb vg. Nsgre V ernq gur obbx, V jrag onpx vagb gur bgure obbxf gb svaq gur svefg zragvbaf bs frireny bs gur guvatf naq punenpgref fur vapyhqrq va guvf bar. V gubhtug fur qvq jryy.

Gur rcvybthr jnf vagrerfgvat. V jnag gb frr n snzvyl gerr bs gur Jrnfyrl snzvyl abj. V jnag gb frr jub nyy gurfr eryngvbaf ner. Naq jurer qvq Uneel svanyyl frggyr qbja? Gur Oynpx ubhfr? Fbzrjurer ryfr? Jung qbrf ur qb sbe n yvivat? Gurer ner fb znal hanafjrerq dhrfgvbaf. Naq lrg, vg fgvyy znantrq gb or n tbbq ernq. Gurer vf whfg fb zhpu zber jr pbhyq yrnea nobhg. V ubcr Ebjyvat qbrf n ovt obbx bs Uneel Cbggre yber, naq svyyf va whfg gubfr oynaxf.

Fancr ghearq bhg gb or rknpgyl jung V gubhtug ur jbhyq or, vs abg sbe rknpgyl gur ernfbaf V rkcrpgrq. Qhzoyrqber jnf n zhpu zber vagrerfgvat punenpgre bapr uvf synjf jrer erirnyrq. V fgebatyl qvfnterr jvgu crbcyr jub ungr gur Eba/Urezvbar guvat, nf vg jnf gryrtencurq sebz gur svefg obbx gung gubfr gjb jrer tbvat gb raq hc gbtrgure. V shyyl rkcrpgrq Untevq gb qvr. V gbgnyyl rkcrpgrq Arivyyr gb orpbzr n terng ureb, vs fyvtugyl bhgfubar ol Uneel nf hfhny, naq fb jnf abg qvfnccbvagrq gurer. V jbaqre vs ur zneevrq Yhan? V qbhog vg.

Raq Fcbvyref
End Spoilers

Harry Potter Day

I have my choice, either the audio CDs or the book... well, actually, I started on the book fairly quickly and I'm already ... a couple chapters in... yeah. I was waiting at the library doors when they opened this morning, and was first in line for Harry. There were big signs all over telling people to go to the circulation desk for reserved Harry Potter, not the self-help hold shelves.

I've been reading since then with a short break to help my Mom buy a camera (since my little sister was insensitive enough to go on vacation and take her own camera with her, so my Mom couldn't borrow it!). I think we got Mom a good one, right in line with my sister's and my own camera, so she already knows how to use it.

Anyway, I needed a quick break, so I thought I'd post a pic of Harry from the library, like I did when the last book came out. I'll note that I suffered for my reading last time, so I'm taking more breaks this time.

No Reading Blogs...

I'm not going to be reading blogs or news until after I finish that book, which I've confirmed is waiting for me at the library and I can retrieve it at 10am tomorrow morning. I'm going into full blackout mode. I may post, but I'm not reading. MetaFilter already posted one major spoiler in the title of a post, so I'm not taking any risks (as I'm one of those people who really hates spoilers).

I will also not be checking my comments, thus they will most likely not get passed through. True, most of my comments consist of spam, but you never know when someone (not my regular readers, of course, them's too smart) might try to spoil it for me via comments.

See you all on the other side.

Regarding Harry Potter...

...Even though I plan to read it as soon as I can get my mitts on a copy, I don't plan on posting anything that might be spoilerish for a decent period of time after the book is out. As readers, how long do you think should I avoid posting any spoilers of the seventh book (even with spoiler warnings and efforts to hide the text)? Keep in mind that this book is at least 600 pages, and by some reports over 700.

I'm thinking that once I read it, I'll start a discussion in the comments of one of the posts and keep all spoilers there. Again, what do you think of that idea?

My biggest hope is that this book is a fairly good read, like the others, and that the various dangling plot threads are resolved neatly.

Harry Potter and the Digital Pirates

Yup, the news is out on a dozen news organizations. Somebody allegedly has a copy of the book which they PHOTOGRAPHED and then posted to a bunch of different sites. It was not at all difficult to find a copy of these supposed photos of every single page of the book. It was even disappointingly easy.

Is it the genuine article? Looks real enough:

But looks can be deceiving. And even if it IS the real deal, the pages are EXTREMELY hard to read. I looked at the first few pages and the table of contents to check (curiosity killed the cat), but I have no desire to read the whole book in this format (satisfaction brought it back). Hubby-Eric has a copy on order, and I have a copy on hold at the library.

If you do seek out this copy, what you'll see is a lot of pictures of the pirate's hands and carpet, along with blurry and barely readable images of the book itself. Take my advice: wait for the real thing. It isn't going to take long.

Harry Potter Movie

Saw it. Enjoyed it. Probably my favorite of the movies so far, which isn't saying a lot because I really haven't liked the movies much so far. Umbridge was surprisingly perfect. The casting has always been excellent on the Harry Potter movies... the scripts and methods of adaptation have let me down.

I really hope I get the final book on the day of its release from the library (hubby-Eric ordered a copy from Canada, so it'll be a few days after the release date before that arrives). I also hope I like HP7 more than I liked the final episode of this last season of Doctor Who.

Lunks and Dimps

I gotta get this.

I've always liked Vikings (I married a nice Norwegian-named boy, even), so I gotta get this.

Waiting Room. I've often thought that a good way to build audiences for comic books would be to get comics into waiting rooms, where people would certainly like something other than a typical magazine to look at. If I were rich, I'd start a waiting room project in a test market, just to see if it really does help sales/readership. But then, I'm nutso like that.

Death Note inspires kids to write names in their own Notebooks. In Death Note, the hero/villian of the story writes names in a notebook and the people whose names he writes die. I could see how kids copying that would be disturbing.

Wil Wheaton in Dork Tower #36.

Breakfast of the Gods. A webcomic with a familiar cast.

I stopped reading B.C. when it stopped being funny many years ago, but I loved the strip as a kid. Rest in Peace, Johnny Hart.

Seattle Weekly on Ellison/Fantagraphics. *sigh*. I just want it to end.

Hrm. No Carl's Jr around here, but I want the card game. Hrm.

Virginia Hey has a new acting role. She retired when she came to the United States... but... go read her entry about it.

Hubby-Eric and I watched "Thank God You're Here" and I found the improv to be non-improv-y... and Wil Wheaton explains exactly what the problem was. Thank you, Wil, for putting it into words.

I love this, three Washington state towns on the top 10 list of towns that pre-ordered Harry Potter.

Figuring out why dogs vary in size. The genetic studies could help humans some day, too.

Stanford Copyright Renewal Database project makes it easier to discover if a book is under copyright. Go Check It Out!

Saturn is turning.

Sitemeter has gone spyware. A lot of folks use Sitemeter for counting hits on their websites... but apparently it's started doing more than just counting hits.

Don't Fly Without A Copy of Rule 240.

Don't Hotlink, follow Wil's advice and use ImgRed.com instead!

Laptop Battery Hack.

Cute Link: When out of tissues, a cat is fine too.

Off to the Con Lunkdimp

I doubt I'll be posting much this weekend, so here's a few links to get you through the short dry spell.

Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise"

Congrats to Michael Sensei for one year of blogging.

How the RIAA Decides Who To Sue.

The difference between a normal person and a scientist.

Rebecca on Popularity.

Is this religious persecution?

Falling debris wasn't space junk.

Vegas in Legoland.

I'll be back soon with con reports and ripples and more lunkdimps!

Note: any comments you post while I'm off conning will have to wait until I'm back and approve them. I'm still fighting off comment spam.

Random Thoughts

Couldn't get through all the links I wanted to post, so I'll finish tomorrow if I have the time...

Self-Link #1: Grassroots promotion of Aquaman.

Self-Link #2: It is time once again to remind you of our eBay auctions. If it has "KBTC" in the description, all proceeds are going to the local PBS station. If it doesn't, all proceeds are going to pay our bills.

Colleen Doran Sees Wicked then flaunts her stuff at the DC offices.

Heidi Meeley applies "The Customer Is Always Right" to the comic book industry.

Ten in Green. Remember the Alamo.

Pictures from Wondercon.

I got my monster, thanks to Adventures in Applied Math. Apparently, Tegan eats townsfolk and abducts geeks. Hrm.

Speaking of monsters... mmmmmmm Chocolate Dalek. It looks REALLY messy. Yum.

With March came a tiny bit of spare money, some of which went to Conlan Press to buy The Last Unicorn DVD.

FilkerTom on naked actors and stupid commentators.

If you haven't checked out Strange Maps yet, you really ought to. All kinds of neat stuff there, from Oz to the DCU and back again.

I don't really care much about this news item, except I do hope the press gets to ask the perp one single question: WHY?

After several days of not moving, the Leif Erikson statue finally was successfully removed to be renovated and moved to a slightly different location.

Hmmm, I think I'd actually watch this.

I Park Like An Idiot dot com, where you can get bumper stickers to put on the cars of people who can't park in between the lines. I don't think I'd have the nerve to actually apply one of these, but I am amused by the thought.

Reading Scriptures leads to Violence.

Don't use the words winter, games, or gold in Vancouver BC for the next few years. More from Boing Boing.

Oz and Ends tells us what a "baramin" is.

Junk science from the RIAA.

Duct Tape comes in handy.

We still don't understand ball lightning.

9-year-old Canadian Terrorist detained by the US.

Diebold may dump e-voting unit because it's tarnished their reputation. Well, duh. Creating easily hackable voting machines with no paper trail would tarnish any company's reputation.

Garrett wants us to remember what a jury REALLY is. As a juror, you have the right to judge both the criminal AND the law. It's called Jury Nullification, and judges don't want you to know about it.

You must know your rights! Because, once selected for jury duty, nobody will inform you of your power to judge both law and fact. In fact, the judge's instructions to the jury may be to the contrary. Another quote from US vs Dougherty (cited earlier): "The fact that there is widespread existence of the jury's prerogative, and approval of its existence as a necessary counter to case-hardened judges and arbitrary prosecutors, does not establish as an imperative that the jury must be informed by the judge of that power".

For St Patrick's Day: Oh Danny Boy, as performed by three of the best evah Muppet singers. Don't get yer hopes up.

Blurgh!

Garrett is joining the fight against leukemia. Consider a donation if you have any cash to spare.

Dorothy #7 is about to hit the stands. *WHAM*

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #91. Hubby-Eric wants to know when the book is coming out.

Brian Wood gets letters.

Jeff Parker continues to speak of the forbidden. What a brave, brave man.

This reviewer clearly has read the book.

The Seattle Times is excited about Pogo collections.

Hey, where's Oz? The DC Universe map is interesting... it contradicts the recent map in Aquaman (and probably pre-dates it by awhile, too).

Masi Oka and Stan Lee behind-the-scenes.

Paul says to go listen to song. I did, I laugh. Ha ha ha ha!

Twenty-Six Toes!

This guy is right out of Usagi Yojimbo.

How to Avoid Colloquial Writing. Just reverse all the instructions, and you have lessons on how to write blogs. Via Unqualified Offerings.

Comments about the food service on campus. I recall our dining hall up at Western had a very responsive staff, even when we made up foods to complain about.

A Total Lunar Eclipse is coming March 3rd! Sadly, I'm too far West to see it.

I want.

Can we trust an accounting firm to count the Academy Awards?

Great Headline of the Day: Naughty potty to blame for accident on I-5.

SETI@Home finds a stolen laptop.

On-ice beating may have saved hockey ref's life.

The History of Electronic Arts. Oh man, I loved those games. I'd love to play Standing Stones again.

All of my hunting through old comic books to find old Aquaman stories has given me an appreciation of Mutt and Jeff, so it's good to see that those tales are being reprinted. Couldn't happen to two nicer guys.

The Leaky Cauldron reports on hubby-Eric's friend Gili Bar-Hillel, the Hebrew translator of the Harry Potter books (and a big Oz fan).

Wanna go Skyfishing.

Ooooh pretty picture of a Russian rocket blowing up over Australia.

One way to prepare for a possible flu pandemic: store food and water.

Beware Young People. Be sure to follow the links, the Penny Arcade note from the stepmother of one of the murderers is absolutely heart-breaking.

Friday Thoughts

Bully makes a DC teaser image. I like it better than the official one, cuz Bully's includes Aquaman.

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #88.

I need to get myself a slanket. I'm always cold, and would love one of these suckers to keep me toasty.

The King County Library System ordered 400 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm 409 on the list. ARGH!!!!

You can now do site feeds by post labels/tags! This means that if someone was interested in only my Ripples Through Time posts, they could use this site feed and get only those posts, nothing else. Happily, it's system-wide. Check out this help topic to see how to set up a label-specific feed for any blogger site that 1) has an active feed already and 2) uses labels.

Now, if they just fix this bug, labels will be much more useful to me.

Speaking of Blogger and its new system... I still haven't had any posting problems. Feed issues, yes, but no posting problems.

I have started looking at layouts, the new templates for New Blogger, and I'm irritated. The code design is ugly and uncommented, and while there seems to be lots of room for personalization, Blogger's unhelpful help methods are downright useless. I thought that converting the least customized of my blogs, The Wonderful Blog of Oz, would be easy, but I keep hitting major roadblocks. New Blogger has no "recent posts" widget, and there is no description of how to edit an existing widget without using the useless tools Blogger provides. For some reason, the templates I've seen put the site feed link at the bottom of the page instead of in the sidebar, which makes no sense to me, and there's no way I can see to move the feed to the sidebar because it's integrated into their ugly/messy blog post widget.

Still, despite the lack of useful help pages on Blogger, I'm making some progress with the conversion attempt. Haloscan, for one, was easy to set up as there is a conversion wizard, and I was able to compare the before and after code to see what they did. That's led me to figure out some of the other pieces of the puzzle. By the time I try to convert Bloggity's template, I ought to be an expert in this crap.

Thursday Thoughts

Still drinking buckets of lemon ginger tea and trying to feel better. My head is stuffed up now, but not too badly. Just enough to keep me from exercising (I tried the exercise bike but nearly fell off because I was out of balance) and from getting enough done.

Bully appears to have had the best National Gorilla Suit Day, even meeting the Doctor and Rose and giant mutant Kitten Kong.

July 21st 2007. If I'm lucky, I'll be at the top of the library list and able to get it right away. The dates are between The Winkie Convention and San Diego Comic-Con, so if I make it to either or both of those I should be ok. Let's hope I get on the library list early enough. I want to read the book before our copy from Canada gets here.

Ok, the whole Boston lite-brite terrorism thing... I'd be more impressed if the things hadn't already been up around town for THREE WEEKS before anyone noticed one, wet pants, and called police. If they had been bombs, the whole town would've been levelled before anyone reacted. Sheesh. And I really don't think the guys who put the artwork up should be punished. The mayor and media who overreacted and caused gridlock and terror should be punished instead.

Meanwhile, in usually overreacting Seattle, the things showed up and provoked little response. Apparently there were even three of them in Bothell, where I live. Makes me wish I'd seen it. Kind of a surprise when Seattle shows more common sense than Boston...

We're a paranoid society, with our so-called leaders screaming about terror so much that a portion of the populace can't see anything unusual without wetting pants and calling police. The truth is you're more likely to die in a car accident caused by some idiot using his cell phone while driving to notify police of a suspicious box than you are to die in a real terrorist attack. In the meantime, this quote from the Associated Press article sums it all up:

"It's almost too easy to be a terrorist these days," said Jennifer Mason, 26. "You stick a box on a corner and you can shut down a city."

Linkity-Cough-Cough-Cough

It's National Gorilla Suit Day!

I haven't gone out because 1) I don't have a gorilla suit, and 2) I still have a nasty cold and don't want to get sicker.

I want. I mean I REALLY want. But it says on the store's website: "Sorry, this product is not available." AHHHHH!!!! It's only available in Europe!!!!! Ack!!!! UPDATE: as Jonathan Miller reports, this is in this month's Previews on page 468. I'm getting one.

Is This Gratuitous?

Scott Adams argues for an intelligent universe. Then he defends his position.

Daniel Radcliffe appears nude on stage. Parents of Harry Potter fans up in arms. End of the world coming. Via Colleen. See here for the full set of photos.

Maine Blogger Vindicated, corrupt state official who attacked him has been fired. Thanks to Garrett for the tip.

YouTube link: Powerpuff Girls Z Episode 1 part 1, Powerpuff Girls Z Episode 1 part 2, and Powerpuff Girls Z Episode 1 part 3. Via Mah Two Cents.