Aww man

Paul Newman Dies, aged 83

This man was not only a great actor, but an excellent auto racer, and a humanitarian.

Guest has arrived

And is safely snoozing in her own sorta private room (as private as you can get with an open floor plan). Picked her up at the airport (her flight had been delayed, so ToA was 'estimated') and got back around midnight. Gave her the nickel tour, aka showing where essentials are, and to bed around 1am-ish.

Loki immediately walked up to her. "New Human?" *buff rub* "Mine now!". Keito keeps peeking in at her, "Stranger Danger!" style.

I'm still tired, but not bone weary

Throw rug kitty

All that is missing is him yawning at me.

Typical Fundamentalist Ignorance

know i did not come from a monkey! no way! and if we did how come there arent anymore humans producing baby monkeys that will become humans in the near future?

JesusFreak, Myspace graphics comments [Comments (24)] [2008-Sep-24]

My reply to above rant:

2008-Sep-24 09:31 PM

Again, ignorance reigns supreme. Theory Evolution never said humans come from monkeys. It states humans and apes have a common ancestor.

As for humans having monkeys, have you seen the Olsen twins baby pictures?

Awakened at 4:11am

And yet, he lives.

Who woulda thunk it?

Aikidomayland took some leave and helped clean up what was left to clean up. Wasn't much but you know, I am not going to complain. He did something to help. I did ask/suggest 'how about we try to keep it like this now". He agreed it would be a good idea.

The cats are having an odd time of it. We have re-arranged their known universe. It is rather funny watching them tear ass from one end of the house to the other, skidding on the stone floor, scrabbling trying to gain purchase, to dash off the other way.

BULLWINKLE KILLED! Suspect arrested!

Toys errr 'additional tools"

Macro light ring arrived, and it does work. However...(you had to know that was coming) it will line up perfectly when I use the adaptor right, but is slightly crooked (instead of straight up and down 12/6, more like 1/7) if I keep the safety filter on. Not the sellers fault. The gears are whirring in my head on how to have it tighten up to align correctly when using a safety filter. Thinking of lining the threads with a piece of plumbers tape. That would do it. I really don't want to use camera (either one of them) without a safety lens/filter on it.

Color filters came in, and are perfect. I know you can change the tint digitally, but that can cause pixel problems. Also, from doing astronomy, I know certain color filters will enhance specific things.

Must go re-arrange camera bag yet again. Oh the suffering. >:)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Weekend Viewing

SPOILER ALERT
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Supernatural, Season 4, Episode 1: Fan-fucking-tastic. When Dean crawled out of the coffin, into the sunlight, intact, no more 'sliced to ribbons, I had thought it was him being tortured with hope. Then as the episode went on, you see his resurrection is for real, but why was the mind blowing reason. Why is it that Dean can believe in devils, demons, wendigos, werewolves, vampires, all the evils that walk the Supernatural world, but when it comes to God or Angels, he balks? Really needs to think about both sides of the coin.

Stargate Atlantis Season 5 Episode 9: Was funny watching Rodney and Ronan doing the barnyard dance about the good doctor. It was funny, and entertaining. I would have preferred more about the other runner, but hey, not all SGA eps can be edge of your seat, I guess. They didn't kill him off, so maybe he will do a reappearance before the end of the series.

Note to self: invite guests quarterly

After I spent all last week cleaning the wide open area (panoramic pic) and the front lounge, scrubbed out the bathrooms and guest toilet, mopped the floors, only thing left is the dining area, and our bedroom, Aikidomayland has said "Don't do any cleaning, I'm I'm taking a few days off to clean before your friend arrives."

I am so proud of myself for self control.

I just kept taking the cords from sloppily stored external computer hardware (dvd drive, usb hub) winding them up, and putting them away neatly and said "Ok, I won't do a darned thing."

For MONTHS I have asked for assistance. Months. And got nowhere. Last time, it took me being in the hospital for him to help clean. (Ironically, it was doing housework that put me in the hospital 2 and a half years ago)

If I had known he would take days off from work to clean, I would have invited someone to come here every 3 months.

Today has been Monday, disguised as a Sunday

Loki got me up at Dark Thirty O'clock again. Cloudy and rainy, not great weather for archery, but it seems to have cleared up enough for archery.

On the way there, we got rear ended while we were at a stop sign. *insert crunching noises here* Luckily for us, we have a tow hitch. It just sustained a few scratches. The car that hit us, different story. The bumper on the passenger side was decidely droopy. Seems the driver of the car that hit us wasn't interested in calling cops or trading info, as he had been following too closely.

We arrived at the archery range, a bit delayed, but intact. We gear up and get to the shooting line.

My first shot, the nock on my arrow broke, causing a misfire which sent the arrow back towards me. Kinda put me off for the next 5 arrows, worrying if it would happen again. 2nd round, I was getting into the groove and then it suddenly stared raining. I don't mean drizzling, even just rain. I'm talking about monsoon type rain, soaked to the skin under 15 seconds. We managed to get most of our gear (with the exception of one of Aikidomayland's arrows) and headed home.

About 20 ft from the driveway, some idiot almost hit us head on because the silly boy, driving daddys' car, was on the wrong side of the road!

I think the universe is trying to tell us to stay home. We will heed that advise.

Meme

via Steph BG

Take a picture of yourself right now.
don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture.
post that picture with NO editing.
post these instructions with your picture.

Motown legend Whitfield dies at 67

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Norman Whitfield, who co-wrote a string of Motown classics including "War" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," has died. He was 67.

A spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center says Whitfield died there Tuesday. He suffered from complications of diabetes and had recently emerged from a coma, The Detroit Free Press reported.

Whitfield was a longtime Motown producer who during the 1960s and '70s injected rock and psychedelic touches into the label's soul music. Many of his biggest hits were co-written with Barrett Strong, with whom he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004.

The two won the Grammy in 1972 for best R&B song for the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Whitfield won another Grammy in 1976 for best original TV or motion picture score for "Car Wash."

The wide open area.

I know the pic is a grainy,but I did a quick and dirty panorama, and compressed, so some of my friends who are still on dial up won't get overloaded.

Using the scooter as a guage, you can the room is large. And those who have been here knows how messy it was. I have told Aikidomayland that if he can tell me what I threw away, I will agree we needed it. He admits he is a packrat, and one who tends to not keep up with the clutter and mess.

I am glad I got the breakfast bar and 'wine cellar' behind it cleared out. I have nary a clue as to why he was keeping so many empty boxes. Luckily recycling was picked up today.

Dance costumes on the left, and yes, that is my bedlah bra on the vase. My dress mannikin is already being used for a renaisance coat. Push scooter off to the dining area, and I have a very large dance practice area. Well, I do now... again.

Shameless Plug!

RedBubble is offering calendars to the public.. I have a few already made, but if you would prefer a custom made one (ie you pick and chose what photographs/images you want) I can do that without a problem.

Mango Madness

Reference was a photograph I had taken of acarton of mangoes at a local farmers market.

Once more, into the grunge

And yes, I got the usual "You didn't have to do that."

After 4 hrs of hard, dirty gritty work, the open area of the house is clean again. Or as Alan said "Wow, I can walk to from my room to the kitchen and not trip." to which I retorted "What was stopping you from doing some cleaning?"  No real answer back.

Aikidomayland likes the way it looks. Of course he was being a smart ass. Looked around, looked at me "Who are you, and where is my wife?"   Told him nothing was stopping him either, and reminded him the last time I did a "Spring cleaning" it landed me in the ER, and then the hospital for 10 days. And yes, I get a bit edgy about doing heavy duty housework since.

I do 'tidying up' all the time, but there is a difference between cleaning and tidying.  

On the plus side, I have been absolved from having to go to the gym tonight. 4.5 hrs of overhauling the house is deemed more than enough physical activity. THis is good because my back is spasming right. It's had enough for one day.  :)

Pink Floyd keyboardist Wright dies

Pink Floyd keyboardist Wright dies
LONDON, England (AP) -- Richard Wright, a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died Monday. He was 65. Pink Floyd's spokesman Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist, said Wright died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. He says the band member's family did not want to give more details about his death.

Balancing Act

A wattlebird hangs upside down in an effort to get nectar from a grevillea blossom.

Is there something as being too good with digital painting program?

I was asked if I had taken a public domain image off the net (nope) and digitally manipulated it to pass it off as something I made (again nope)

I had recorded a show about the Hubble telescope. I decided to re-create one of the recorded images in TB. I had started it out with the usual acrylics, airbrushes etc etc. I used a grid to make sure everything was lined up as it was supposed to be.

After a recent update with TwistedBrush, and a new tool added, I saw a great way to improve and enhance my artwork. I ported in the original digital painting, which I knew needed more work, and using it as my source, used the new tools (the whole assortment, basic, airbrush, textured, all I felt that made it look good) and worked it adding 4 layers of colors and textures, to make it pop.

Is there such a thing as being 'too good'?

LHC Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment Webcams

Large Hadron Collider webcams

John McCain's ads are LIES. Here's the video proof.

I don't think the McCain campaign machine would know the truth if it sat on their faces.

Photography Weather

It’s official, I’m nuts. I saw some weather heading my way. Grabbed my camera, checked battery status and dashed out of the house barefooted, down the driveway, startling my neighbors, to get a photograph of incoming storm front.

From behind the eyes

Running right down the back of my neck, this headache is trying to explode. I have been taking Nurofen+ more often, not because of back, but from migraine wannabes.

Pardon me while I try not to throw up.

For all those who think McCain 'supports our troops, I present:

• McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments.


• McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.


• McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.


• McCain voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd that called for an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq.


• McCain urged other Senate members to table a vote (which never passed) to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq related to a shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests.


• McCain voted against increasing the amount available for medical care for veterans by $650,000,000.
  

Send the troops out ill equipped, with useless protective gear? To hell with treating their medical needs afterward? With this kind of support, who needs enemies?

Sir Keito, the Bwave!

Cheeki, the cat that lives about 5 houses down the road, decided to invade our yard. Loki ran into the house, but Keito decided he would take matters into his own hands... err paws.

He chased her out and then took up station keeping behind the garbage bins, looking between them, to make sure she didn't come back.

We're all still here

So I guess the Large Hadron Collide experiment didn't suck the world into an artificially created black hole.

From "Fundies Say The Darnedest Things"

You could make up any preposterous claim you wanted, just let your imagination run completely wild and people would line up to believe your theory before they would even consider that God had anything to do with it.

Silvercord, RR [Comments (13)] [2008-Sep-09]

My Irony Meter imploded.

I wonder if they have to puke after all the spinning?

Leave it to GOP Pundits to put a spin on anything Obama says. The "lipstick on a pig" has nothing to do personally with Palin. It's about the entire McCain presidential campaign. My equivalent is "You can put frosting on dog poo, but that won't make it a birthday cake."

Morning surprise

Sometimes getting up early results in some of Natures’ most beautiful surprises.

Lumix DMC-FZ30
Focal Length 39mm
Exp 1/1300 sec at F/10
ISO-100

Anyone remember how Obama was raked over the coals by GOP & Pundits

For what the preacher of his church said?

Think they will do the same concerning Palin?

Palin now attends the Wasilla Bible Church. She was there on August 17, just days before entering the national spotlight. David Brickner, the founder of Jews for Jesus, was a speaker. He told congregants that terrorist attacks on Israel were God's "judgment" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity. Brickner said, "Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. When a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment -- you can't miss it."

This?

Speaking of the troops in Iraq, Palin says they were sent on "task that is from God" (Funny, I thought the Bush Administration, acting on what they knew was false put them there.)

Or maybe this?  

Pastor Ed Kalnin, the senior pastor of Palin's former Pentecostal church, has also come under fire for his comments. In 2004, he told church members if they voted for John Kerry for president, they wouldn't get into heaven. He told them, "I question your salvation."

I am sure that the silence from the GOP and Pundits will be deafening on the subject.

The P in POW ≠ President, And Hockey Mom ≠ Vice President

I love it. I asked gov't offices if I could have Public Domain photographs that I could copy and alter, and redistribute. I got em, and I got thanked for my support and interest.

GOP <i>finally</i> publicly called out for flat out lying

Rendell: ‘The Big Lie Strategy’

Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania just accused the campaign of Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin of flat-out “lying” about Senator Barack Obama’s plan on taxes.

The "Big Lie Strategy" is well known. Say a lie often enough, with enough media coverage and sooner or later people believe it, because you just know it has to be true if you are hearing it so much. Examples: WMDs in Iraq, Mobile Bio Labs, Iraq is a threat to the US! . (And the what is worrisome is the latest "Iran is a threat to the US!")

Loki as Pop Art. *snrk*

The Muse of Art is whispering in my ear again.

Digital Art: Moss covered Celtic spirals, carved into rock.

Beauty and color in odd places

Vertical macro view of a small section of crystal and glass light.

If you are really into a bargain

And live in Australia, I have to recommend Catch of the Day.

Not only are the bargains of good quality products, but if there is a problem they have no problem with exchanges or store credit when you return it, including the postage cost.

I am currently sipping (or swilling depending on your point of view) one of the best chardonnays I have had. Even aikidomayland, the afficinando, says this is an excellent vintage.

Of course, not every bargain on Catch Of the Day will strike your fancy, but I check it once a day to see what is offered. And I have no complaints whatsoever.

Kitty porn Star?

Loki, belly up, squirms happily in a sun warmed patch of sand.

Weather getting warmer means..

Cameras and I are getting reacquainted. Working on both indoor and outdoor macro photography.

Indoor Macro Photography: Keys, knobs and strings.

Outdoor Macro Photography: Fuzzy Purple bud of Lavender.

McCain on Palin's "Foreign Policy" experience

GIBSON
: Can you honestly say you feel confident having someone who hasn’t traveled outside the United States until last year, dealing with an insurgent Russia, with an Iran with nuclear ambitions, with an unstable Pakistan, not to mention the war on terror?

MCCAIN
: Sure. And one of the key elements of America’s national security requirements are energy. She understands the energy issues better than anybody I know in Washington, D.C., and she understands. Alaska is right next to Russia. She understands that.

Based on this mind numbling stupidity, I am more qualified to be VP, as I live in Australia (foreign to my birth country, USA) which is closer to Indonesia, Asia, etc than Palin is. Any US military person who has been outside the US has more Foreign Policy experience. I guess Polar Bears have the same amount of experience as they have been close to Russia for countless years. And what about Canada. How does Canada play into 'foreign policy', as it's closer , actually is on the US border to the north! *gasp* Americans living in the Great Lakes region have more 'foreign policy' experience than Palin, if I go by "Alaska is close to Russia' logic. Let's not forget the Texas border. I guess all those Texans have more 'foreign policy' experience as there is only a river between them and another country, rather than ice and ocean. so it's closer than Russia. And for the kicker, Obama lived abroad, which gives him more 'foreign policy' experience hand over fist than Palin.

GIBSON: But you criticized, for a long time, Sen. Obama based on his lack of experience. […] Jan. 6, I’m quoting you, “Sen. Obama does not have the national security experience and background to be president.”

MCCAIN: I said he didn’t have the judgment. (No, you said experience, and it's on video. You said it several times. )

GIBSON: Sarah Palin does? (Oh hell no)

MCCAIN: I said that he didn’t have the judgment. He doesn’t have the judgment. He didn’t have the judgment on Iraq. He still refuses to acknowledge that the surge has succeeded. Gov. Palin knows the surge has succeeded. She’s the commander of the Alaskan National Guard. He said that Iran was a tiny problem. He’s never visited south of our border. He has no experience on these issues.

Anyone with half a brain refused to acknowledge this 'surge' is working, because by the death and body toll that keeps running up, it's obvious it's not. GOP party line followers might parrot the rhetoric, but that doesn't make it true. Iran is a tiny problem that the GOP War Machine is trying to churn into being a huge problem. Keep kicking the wasp nest, sooner or later you will get stung.

The Commander of the Alaskan National Guard? Really? Like that means something? She is the titular head, and if there is a disaster, she says "Go there." Not what I would call 'military experience'

As for judgment, I am calling yours, Mr. McCain, into question. On many levels.

Coffee Break Out

Freshly brewed coffee amidst freshly roasted coffee beans.

I love a good gourmet coffee.

Lumix DMC-FZ30
Focal Length 7mm
Exp 1/250 sec at F/4
ISO-100

Hands please

Who else is sick of reading/hearing of anything that even remotely is labeled a scandal by the media has the word GATE tacked onto the end of it?

Anyone.... anyone?

To the silly Melville Ranger

When you stop me because you think I have broken the law riding my electric pedal assisted scooter on the cycle path, and I prove to you that my electric, pedal assisted scooter is street and bicycle path legal, calling the cops and having them look at the same proof you were given, and then telling you that "Yes, the elected pedal assisted scooter is street and bicycle path legal.", is no reason to get all snotty and glare at me. Go home knowing you learned something new.

My apologies for the long run on sentence.

I don't care

I don't care that Palin's daughter is pregnant. I don't care who the father is. It has no bearing on Palin's qualifications or lack thereof to be Veep.

Egads.

Palin thinks Pledge written by Founding Fathers
by JLFinch
Sun Aug 31, 2008 at 02:56:04 PM PDT

Good lord, this woman is a female George Bush.

Here is Palin's response to a candidate questionnaire for the Alaska 2006 gubernatorial race:

Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?
SP: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance

Ok.

First, the Pledge of Allegiance was not written by the Founding Fathers. It was written much later. Secondly, the words "under God" were not originally part of the Pledge. "Under God" was added even later.

Wikipedia on the Pledge of Allegiance:

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855-1931), a Baptist minister, a Christian Socialist, and the cousin of Socialist Utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850-1898).

Bellamy's original "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in the September 8th issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of America, conceived by James B. Upham.

Bellamy's original Pledge read, "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

...

In New York City on April 22, 1951, the Board of Directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend their recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of each of the meetings of the 800 Fourth Degree Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by addition of the words "under God" after the words "one nation." In the following two years, the idea spread throughout Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide. On August 21, 1952, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual meeting adopted a resolution urging that the change be made universal and copies of this resolution were sent to the President, the Vice President (as Presiding Officer of the Senate) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on September 24, 1952, adopted a similar resolution upon the recommendation of its President, Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart. Several State Fraternal Congresses acted likewise almost immediately thereafter. This campaign led to several official attempts to prompt Congress to adopt the Knights of Columbus’ policy for the entire nation. These attempts failed.

...

After the service concluded, Docherty had opportunity to converse with Eisenhower about the substance of the sermon. The President expressed his enthusiastic concurrence with Docherty’s view, and the very next day, Eisenhower had the wheels turning in Congress to incorporate Docherty’s suggestion into law. On February 8, 1954, Rep. Charles Oakman (R-Mich.), introduced a bill to that effect.

And just FYI on the timing of the Founding Fathers:

The signatories of the Declaration of Independence are often called "Founders," and the delegates of the Philadelphia Convention which prepared the Constitution are often called "Framers." According to Joseph J. Ellis, this concept emerged in the 1820s as the last survivors died out. George Washington was always the dominant figure. He was joined by John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and after that, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, George Mason, Samuel Adams, and others. Ellis says the "the founders," or "the fathers" comprised an aggregate of semi-sacred figures whose particular accomplishments and singular achievements were decidedly less important than their sheer presence as a powerful but faceless symbol of past greatness.

For the generation of national leaders coming of age in the 1820s and 1830s — men like Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun — "the founders" represented a heroic but anonymous abstraction whose long shadow fell across all followers and whose legendary accomplishments defied comparison. "We can win no laurels in a war for independence," Webster acknowledged in 1825. "Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are there places for us ... [as] the founders of states. Our fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation."

Stupid is as stupid does, Governor.

Ummm ow

The can of rug shampoo didn't do too much, so I used the Bissel on the lounge rug. Three jugs of shampoo mixture later, the carpet is a lot cleaner, and smells so good in there.

My back is spasming now. But hey, I had been asking for help for weeks. It's done now. Maybe later I will chase Loki around with the Dalek. heh

Someone might want to inform China's Gov't

Since the March 2008 outbreak of violence in Tibet, China has stepped up its campaign to vilify the Dalai Lama, blaming him for the unrest, which Beijing says was part of a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of China.

It's not the Dalai Lama that is causing the unrest. It's poverty, pollution, villages being destroyed for multi-billion dollar projects, people getting displaced with nothing more than the clothing on their backs. It's the gov't disappearing people, jailing or murdering anyone who dares to speak out.

Yes, The Dalai Lama did, back in 1959, try to free Tibet from the Chinese invasion and attempt of eradication. Who wouldn't? That area is called Tibet, and Himalaya. One would expect the Tibetans and Himalayans want the people trying to erase them to be gone.

Someone might want to inform China's Gov't

Since the March 2008 outbreak of violence in Tibet, China has stepped up its campaign to vilify the Dalai Lama, blaming him for the unrest, which Beijing says was part of a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of China.

It's not the Dalai Lama that is causing the unrest. It's poverty, pollution, villages being destroyed for multi-billion dollar projects, people getting displaced with nothing more than the clothing on their backs. It's the gov't disappearing people, jailing or murdering anyone who dares to speak out.

Yes, The Dalai Lama did, back in 1959, try to free Tibet from the Chinese invasion and attempt of eradication. Who wouldn't? That area is called Tibet, and Himalaya. One would expect the Tibetans and Himalayans want the people trying to erase them to be gone.

Archery Sunday

Let's see. Warmed up at the 30 meter target, and decided to give the 50 meter target a try. After dropping three just under the lower edge, but directly dead center, I started to get them consistently in the red and yellow (that's 10, 9, 8 and 7 point shots for those not familiar with archery scoring). My drawing arm is feeling it, but I am sure I will buff up enough to tackle 50 meters on a regular basis.

I sold my 'extra' hunnish bow. The reason I had an extra was aikidomayland's 1st hunnish bow, which my first one was part of the order, was tortioning out on the top limb, and we sent photographs to the man who custom made them. Grozer sent us two new bows. I now had two hunnish bows and only need one. So, sold the 'used' one at half price. The new owner is very thrilled, as he knows it's only been used about 12 times, total. aikidomayland will be measuring him out to make him some arrows.

Went to Foo Gwai. Pork bun sacrifice to akire-yta was accompanied with sips of tea. No Foo Gwai for a while, as they are closing for renovations. Will be closed for 3 weeks.
Came home and proceeded to zonk out. Yeesh, the last few short nights of sleep caught up with me. Still feeling like I could sleep another 8 hrs.