Liberties Fading

Interesting article on Salon: Ten Ways Americans have lost their freedom.

Sobering and more than a little bit scary.

And seems true as far as I can see.

Sweet, Sweet, Long Weekend

August winds to a close with a Friday, a payday, and a long weekend ahead (thank you Labor Day!).

Three days of sleeping in. Oh that's going to be glorious.

Now the goal is to track down someone with BBC America who has made a recording of the premiere of Season Seven of "Doctor Who".

Well, actually, that goal has been potentially-realized. So yay!

Here's hoping for a smooth, drama-free weekend.

B.S. by any other name

I love this Yahoo headline: FACT CHECK: Ryan takes factual shortcuts in speech

"Factual shortcuts". The new term for "lying through his ass". Nice. Thanks Yahoo!

Nax-tastic

Once upon a time, I had disposable income that I could throw into cool shiny tool things.

Yes, I was thinking something along the lines of "zombie apocalypse". Don't judge.

Anyway, as I mentioned in the past, I got my greedy little hands on a Crovel and jumped up-and-down in glee at the time.

Yes, I still have it and it's in my bag of stuff for when California's faults snap and I'm dealing with radioactive mutants (assuming I'm not one of them) or whatever weird crazy fantasy pops up before the commercial break.

Okay, I need to watch less TV. Moving on.

The folks at Gear Up Center have a new... um... thing. the Nax.

Per the site: "THE NAX combines the dynamic qualities of a kukri knife, machete, and hatchet in one single solid piece of precision forged, high carbon steel."

And it looks awfully purdy.

To say I want one is not adequately communicating the utter lust I feel for this thing right now.

It's way the hell outside of my budget, alas, but it's so shiny and ninja-esque.

Bet it would make short work of zombies and radioactive mutants right-quick!

I waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaants it!!!!!

A little of this...

Martial arts has officially started. Had a promotion ceremony last night. It was a bit of a hoot. Nice to see so many hard-working students get their next level in the style.

I promoted as well, but it was less of a big deal, all things considered. Not really a monumental or epic leap in the ranks. Felt anticlimactic on my end, but I wasn't really expecting to feel any different, so I'm not sure "anticlimactic" is the right word. Maybe "meh"?

I find my relationship with my martial arts club to be a funny one. I'm not a particularly athletic person by nature or inclination, nor am I a joiner of groups. So I find it difficult to "bond" with club-mates/classmates in the same manner that I have difficulty shooting the shit over sports events and the like.

Thus, I like the instruction parts of class, but am rarely inclined to participate in social aspects, tournaments, and all that fun stuff. I find such things awkward and weird.

Dunno. Guess it's not all that noteworthy, but I find it odd.

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The moon is full this fine morning. Its glowing eye was always just off to the side as I pedaled in to the office.

I love mornings and evenings with a full moon. Justifies the howling and all that.

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The long weekend can't get here fast enough.

Snippets of this and that

Had an encounter with a crazy person the other morning as I rode in. Some random guy in raggedy attire who was screaming at the voices in his head or whatever.

The big walking stick in his hand made me take notice of him (and decide on a one block detour to avoid interpersonal interactions).

Ah the joys of urban living.

It's always this one city, too. Every time I cross into the city limits, there's some crazy person out and about who seems to pose some kind of a threat. Good freakin' times.

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Episode three of Pond Life is up.

I will admit I laughed so hard that I cried.

And I now have a new catchphrase to mutter to random people.

I'll refrain today so as not to spoil things for people who haven't seen this clip yet.

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Back to martial arts soon. The break was nice, but I need the exercise.

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So apparently ABC has greenlighted a S.H.I.E.L.D. tv series helmed by Joss Whedon.

I'm more than a little bit excited by that prospect.

Skills

There's a few things I'm comfortable saying I can do:

1. Make my own pasta sauce.
2. Bake something from scratch (mainly cookies or brownies).
3. Fix my garbage disposal with a trusty screwdriver.
4. Swear creatively (see #3 above).

It never ends

The assholes are doing it again. I am, of course, referring to the copyright jackasses who want to censor the Internet. For details, hit the link.

And so it begins.

Pond Life has started at the BBC's site. Prepping for Saturday's premiere of Season Seven of the revived "Dr. Who". Whee!

Weekend Wind Down

Well, everything has settled down to a dull roar. People are home from hospitals early and life continues as before.

Thank goodness.

the f--ing hell?

I write this post acknowledging many a drink. And I've "earned" those drinks dealing with the cards life is tossing my way today.

... I'm going to show a teeny bit of self-restraint and avoid details. Suffice to say, someone I care about deeply is hospitalized. Heart attack. Okay, I'm not really avoiding details. Not much I can do at this point but hope things are not too terribly bad. At least as far as heart attacks go. 'Cause those generally suck a lot.

A friend of mine, on her anniversary no less, got hurt in a goddamn bike accident. A little freaked/upset about that. It's a tad overshadowed by the aforementioned heart attack thing. Still... fucking hell...

As Saturdays go, today's not going as well as I'd hoped. I'm more than a teeny bit tipsy, part of which is in celebration of an event. Part of which is dealing with stress.

Not the best weekend ever. Just saying.

Hell's bells.

S'truth

Richard had noticed that events were cowards: they didn't occur singly, but instead they would run in packs and leap out at him all at once. - "NeverWhere" by Neil Gaiman.

Ain't that the truth?

• R.I.P. Neil Armstrong. Thanks for the small step and for the giant leap.
• Happy Anniversary to a couple of dear friends. You know who you are.
• Careful plans of my own for today went south in a fairly horrible way and are giving me flashbacks to a fairly horrific day fifteen-ish years ago. Sounds like things aren't quite as bad as they were then, but it's still pretty disturbing. Hope that situation resolves favorably very, very fast.

What the hell did we do before cell phones?

Ah, life.

So very... shiny?

I'm not sure how to describe carbon-fiber. Shiny in the way it sucks light away? Light-absorby?

I'm generally only inclined to wear one kind of ring ever, but these tempt.

If I were only rich. *sigh*

Friday. I welcome you.

Some weeks feel as though the time-space continuum is conspiring to just mess with us mere mortals.

Why yes, I have been watching my library of old "Dr. Who" eps. Why do you ask?

Nevermind.

The weekend is upon us. August is nearly out the door.

I'm nearly done with "The Apocalypse Codex". I read that it's inspired by the old "Modesty Blaise" series (which I vaguely knew of and had to look up on Wikipedia to understand properly). Now that I get the homage bit, I'm impressed with Stross and his attention to fan-boy detail.

Props to you, Mr. Stross!

My apartment smells of chocolate chip cookies from last night's baking endeavor (part of a birthday gift). I nibbled on a casualty of the cookie pan. Damn. Good stuff. I almost regret giving them away.

(Pauses to check out the gut.)

Almost.

Back to martial arts next week. Whee!

I'm so tired.

More thoughts on the Klarus XT 11

So now I've had a couple of days to think more on that Klarus XT 11 flashlight I previously mentioned.

I still love it.

I find myself comparing it with other lights I own.

When compared with the Surefire Defender that I got... some time back, it's got a bit less-heft. The strike bezel is less-pronounced, but that's not a bad thing. That said, it's got more lighting options than the Defender. The Surefire has a more comfortable grip while the Klarus protects the activation buttons better. They both use the same kind of batteries.

When compared with the Maratac AA Tactical Flashlight, it's got a healthy amount more heft to it. The Maratac's got crenelations around the activation button to act as a strike bezel, which makes for an interesting choice. It's got fewer lighting features than the Klarus (and is considerably cheaper). The Maratac also takes an AA battery, unlike the Surefire or Klarus.

I'm not sure any of these "win" in a comparison. Each does what they're supposed to do. And, honestly, I don't really need all these uber-bright lights, but they're awfully handy given my work hours.

I didn't really come up with any conclusion here, did I?

I guess my conclusion is that I quite like the Klarus XT 11 still. I regret nothing.

Okay NOW it's Thursday

This time yesterday, I was convinced it was Thursday.

I didn't want to believe the evidence to the contrary.

I was completely submurged in that river in Egypt for a bit.

Now it is Thursday. I require Friday STAT!

So tired...

A solid point of view

A pretty solid take on Todd Akins and the Republican party.

Pardon my politics, but seriously. This party is fucked up.

Doom, Gloom, and other cheery things

Woke up. Thought it was Thursday. It's not. Am not happy with this development.

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Am desperately hoping I can finish at least one of two urgent-ish projects today. Am curious what the magic 8-ball would say on that topic.

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I'm about 3/4 done reading "The Apocalypse Codex" by Charles Stross. It's the latest in his "Laudry Files" series.

• It's brilliantly-written.
• It's a disturbingly-prescient view of the U.S., specifically fundamentalist religion in the U.S., through a Lovecraftian filter.

There's stuff in this that really fits in Todd Akins' world view.

I actually like this book better than Stross's last. This one is... not really "cheerier" but the pacing and narrative is less soul-sucking and driving me to find pictures of kittens online.

It's not a happy book, though. Some scenes truly sicken and fuel outrage, but I like feeling the rage. It's like an extra cup of coffee through a red haze of "HULK SMASH" in the brain.

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Based on his "little gaffe" and his responses to said "gaffe", I think Todd Akins is in the running for one of the most repelling and abhorrent human beings in American politics.

And that's some truly vile company he's got.

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So after seeing the Klarus XT11 flashlight on ThinkGeek (PUSHERS OF AWESOME!), I trolled the Internet a bit.

Found a deal that I couldn't pass up. Long story short, I got one. Much cheaper than listed on ThinkGeek. Don't ask.

It arrived yesterday.

I think I'm in love.

It's got a bit of heft to it. Nice, well-constructed light. Comes with batteries, which is a plus. Also comes with extra 'O' rings, a holster, a lanyard, and all that fun stuff.

It's got a removable strike bezel and clip on it and two buttons on the end. One turns it on, the other controls intensity. A combination of the buttons flips it from continual beam to a strobing effect that is truly seizure-inducing.

And this little bastard is BRIGHT! It defaults to the 600 lumen setting, which is just... yikes. Click the intensity button and it drops down to a "mere" 150 lumens (still pretty goddamn bright). Click again and it's a dim 10 lumens.

I like it so much that I actually think the ThinkGeek price would have been worth it. So I obviously am thrilled I got it for much less through sheer luck. Amazon has a pretty good price too (and the free shipping and all that).

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I don't need any more bags (sweet FSM do I not) but ThinkGeek is relentless. They just posted the Plan-B Evac Sling Pack.

It... does draw the eye. I may put this on my "lust list" (inspired by the words of Apocalypse Equipped, who would probably also find this pack appealing).

Penny in the air

io9 reports that the SyFy channel (best known for believing pro wrestling and craptacular reality TV constitute science fiction programming) is going to take a stab (by which I mean, possibly murder with extreme prejudice) at Terry Nation's "Blake's 7".

I've mentioned "Blake's 7" in prior posts. No sense re-inventing the wheel here. io9's take pretty much covers my thoughts on the matter. I wonder if SyFart is hoping for the next "Battlestar Galactica" with this property.

I swear, if they do the angel thing with "Blake's 7" there WILL BE HELL TO PAY! Irony understood and accepted.

Honestly, this should be a slam-dunk, even for the idiots at SyFy's executive level. You hardly need to tweak the characters in the least. Hell, the hammy style of the original series fits perfectly with the insanely-bad "monster of the week" offerings on SyFy.

Too bad I won't see it. I'm downgrading my cable and SyF*ck is the one casualty in my short list of channels that I might actually have once cared about.

Random my ass

Anyone who tells you that your name comes up in a jury duty notification pool randomly is utterly and completely full of shit.

There is NOTHING random about it.

And it's quite irritating.

Honoring the Gods of Paranoia

I am a bit of a pantheist. As a minister of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a person who respects (but avoids) the Great Olds Ones and the Elder Gods, and as a paranoid, I honor many deities.

Today I speak of the Gods of Paranoia. These are what fuel me to consider terrible options.

And here are my devotions:

Some time back, I took stock of my emergency supplies and worked out how to handle some kits. I found a site that supplies much of what I need and got a Delux Kit from Preparedness Deals, a company I've had good experiences with.

It's a nice kit. Has food, water, tools, first aid supplies, etc. Hit the link for the complete list.

And now it has an axe. Just in case of zombies.

... we call them Mondays

Some days just have that feel to them.

First it's the effort of waking up. They eyelids, you see. They refuse to cooperate.

Then it's the whole getting out the door. Pedaling the bike is more effort than it was just last week.

What the hell?

Fire up the email. Over-water the plant. The PC hiccups. One of my applications "disappears". After four tries I manage to kill the correct process (c'mon, it's not that hard!) and get everything running.

Some email sets me off. Some personal, some not. Breathe. Do not click Send on that reply you just crafted!

Breathe.

Think back to the weekend. How did that go again? Oh yes, there was drinks on Friday. That devolved pretty quickly. Laphroaig Project. Dangerous cocktail.

Saturday took a while. The quest began for a gift. Trekked out to the source of the gift.

Disaster! They are out! AIEEE! Wait. Calm yourself. You know the area. Go somewhere else. Success. Sweet success.

I'd elaborate, but this involves a birthday present. No need to ruin the surprise, such as it is.

Family time. Eat something wrong. The stomach is still unsettled.

That brings me to the morning. Hm. That little flashback didn't help.

Calmer now. Delete those ill-conceived email replies and think it through a bit.

Going to be a long day. Going to be a long week.

Cleaning up the act

As I've previously mentioned, ThinkGeek are pushers.

Pushers of awesome.

Some time back, I got a Laundry Pod from them (when they offered such in stock).

My goal was simple: I have martial arts uniforms that usually need washing more frequently than a trip to the laundry room (requiring quarters) or laundromat makes practical.

The laundry pod handles my problem, for the most part. It barely fits a full uniform (though, keep in mind, these things are pretty bulky).

It's pretty simple: it puts the clothes in the basket. It gets the hose (or whatever your water source is) to fill the pod. It... you know, I'm going to stop doing my Silence of the Lambs joke now. It's too creepy.

Anyway, you put your clothes in a basket not unlike a salad-spinner interior. You fill it halfway with water. You add some detergent. You spin it manually for a couple of minutes (nice little arm workout). You drain it (it's got a built-in draining mechanism). You fill it up with more water for rinse. You spin. You drain it. You put your clothes out on a line to dry. Easy peasy.

Best investment of 2012 so far.

In case of Zombies

ThinkGeek are a bunch of pushers.

Pushers of awesome, but pushers nonetheless.

I had mental hiccup in my budget planning (before an unanticipated and expensive bit of car maintenance) and thought "Hey! I can afford a couple of shiny things!"

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

So I got a Dead On Annihilator Superhammer and a M48 Kommando Ranger Hawk Axe

I have absolutely no use for an axe where I live. And this thing is kind of ridiculous. It looks too much like a weapon to be of much use camping or whatnot.

It's a neat novelty item. Has a nice weight and it's pretty damn sharp. If zombies attack, this puppy is going to be making zombieburgers nicely.

Otherwise, I expect it will collect dust in my pile of ill-considered purchases. I do like the compass it came with. Quite nice. I think I'll stuff both in my disaster kit that I hope I'll never have to use.

The Dead On Annhilator Superhammer, however. This thing is awesome!

Also useful against zombies, it has a great weight and looks like something out of a Mad Max movie. Hammer, nail-puller, bottle opener, and multiple other functions in a tool that looks like an internal organ for a Terminator. This purchase I do not regret even remotely.

John Dies at the End

I just finished "John Dies at the End" last night.

Finally. This is what happens when I limit my reading to lunch hour and pubs.

This story is sort of a "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" meets [insert alien invasion story here] meets "Reaper".

To say I loved it understates my feelings for the story. It was brilliant and deeply, deeply f*cked up.

Can't wait for the sequel.

Denial isn't just a river in Egypt

EDIT: Well... shit. I guess the embed isn't working. So try this.

Mmm... caffeine...

Red Bull may give people wings, but Black Blood of the Earth gives me warpspeed and/or time-space bending capabilities.

Yes, I restocked.

Life is good.

COFFEE!!!

According to the I Love Coffee.jp blog, which drew info from Dukin Donuts, the number one profession for coffee consumption is scientist/lab tech.

I find it personally-fascinating that paralegal isn't on the list at all.

Before making the incredibly-sane career move to writer, I worked in a not-quite-paralegal role for a few years. It was hell on earth, but that's another story for a never time. During that time, I consumed what would be considered an ungodly and ridiculously-unhealthy amount of coffee.

It helps that I had a side-job for Starbucks at the time.

That was good times.

And resulted in one episode of caffeine poisoning which was... unpleasant.

I may have been an extreme case, though. That would be a good description of my life as a whole, actually.

Bile inducing

A friend just logged-in to Facebook after a bit of a break.

And apparently got "upgraded" to Timeline.

She sent me a screenshot.

Pretty goddamn ugly. I'm surprised Gizmodo's people are all a-gush over this new layout. I think the UI people involved had a schizoid break.

I'm more thrilled than ever that I killed that account.

I can't see it from my house

According to Blogger's statistics thingie, in the last week this blog has had 114 pageviews from Russia.

What in the FSM's name is so interesting here that anyone in Russia would try to view this site 114 times?

Why would anyone view this 114 times?

Russia beat out the UK for views. I'm not exactly sure why anyone in the UK would view this blog, save that I refer to some British TV shows. At least we share a common language, though. Russia? I don't speak Russian. I'm honestly stumped as to what the fascination might be.

Good times, though.

Definition

Office Air Conditioning: when you want hot, stuffy air in the summertime and cold air blowing about in the wintertime.

No need to thank me. This is what I do.

Hobo with a Shotgun

Okay, not quite.

The other morning I'm riding in to work on my bike and pass some dive bar. They're closed (one would hope!) as it was early in the morning.

Strewn across the doorway was some shabby-looking fellow. I'd guess he was homeless.

I wouldn't normally take much note. I mean, someone sleeping in doorways is hardly unusual in that area.

A little glint of metal caught my eye as I was pedaling past.

Dude had a knife in his hand.

He was sleeping with one arm cradled under his head as a pillow and the other was by his side, holding a knife.

Wasn't a small knife, either. I could see it from about ten or twelve meters away in poor lighting.

Part of me feels for the guy. You have to be seriously afraid of things to be sleeping with a damn knife in your hand. And, of course, it sucks to be sleeping in the open, even in summer.

Part of me is, of course, a bit twitchy. Dude had a knife, after all. He was ready to slash and/or stab someone. There was no ambiguity there.

And part of me admires his motor and muscle control. I would expect I would drop the knife if I were asleep and in his position. I expect I might also roll over on to the knife and wind up with an involuntary piercing or somesuch.

I'm not really a fan of sleeping with sharp things near enough to cut me. Maybe that's just me.

Josstacular!

Oh HELL yeah!!!

Of Interest

Five reasons to play D&D

In the interests of full-disclosure, I don't play D&D and haven't in a few lifetimes.

I like more flexibility in my game backgrounds.

That said, I think these reasons fit pretty much any tabletop gaming.

Ninkasi would be proud

Apparently yesterday was International Beer Day.

Huh.

I was wondering why the local pub was so damn crowded when I dropped by for my dinner. I figured it was just one of those days.

Little did I know, I suppose.

Creaking back to life

Busy, busy weekend.

Some $400 later, my car is back to tip-top shape.

And my bank account bleeds in horrible pain.

Aside from some family matters, my weekend was otherwise dominated by the even that's been a goal for the last three months: my belt test in martial arts.

All said, it was strangely anticlimactic. I assume I passed, but the FSM only knows for sure. I find it hilarious in hindsight how stressed out I was going into it. I get the worst test anxiety, even over stuff that's not exactly earth-shattering.

Still, I'm glad it's done.

Now for a busy, busy work week. Whee.

Not a great start

It is not an auspicious start to the weekend when warning lights appear on the dashboard of my car.

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Feelin' a mite tense over this weekend. Got things to do that need doin' and I don't feel ready. Hate that.

Guess I wasn't imagining things

Apparently Facebook is still foisting Timeline on all their users, whether they want it or not.

It was exactly that kind of high-handed bullshit that convinced me that Facebook and I were no longer compatible.

For the most part, I have to say I didn't regret nuking my account.

I can't say Google+ has really filled the void. Google's own behavior has pretty much creeped me out sufficiently that I'm not really comfortable social neworking through them (yes, I realize the irony that I'm saying this as I'm using Blogger... owned by Google. I never claimed to be all that rational or smart.).

Such is life, I guess.

A few things

Season seven Doctor Who trailer.

Not too shabby. I'm not directly putting it up here out of deference to a few extremely spoiler-phobic friends.

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So, here's a little tip for folks out there who may know nothing about judo and similar tossing-people-about styles.

When you're thrown and the throw is kind of awkward, do your utmost not to land on your knee. Even on a mat, that's just not a good thing.

Especially if you already have knee problems.

How would I know? Well apparently my purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others...

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I've decided to start packing a lunch instead of dining at local eateries, at least some of the week. I figure that ought to save me a fair amount of cash.

It's an adjustment, though. Getting out of the office at lunch is a sanity thing for me. If I chow down on a sandwich I've brought, I'm unsure what to do with the hour I've got free. I can walk around the area, but where I work isn't exactly super-exciting.

I must ponder.

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I love when we have a full moon and it's clear enough to see it. Makes the morning commute more fun somehow.