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06 November 2009 @ 10:17 pm
Nani? No NaNo.
05 November 2009 @ 10:25 pm
NaNo
Chugging right along. I'll have some making up to do this weekend. Saturday I'm teaching my second bookbinding class. Pamphlet and Chap book this time.
And a later class is going to be aimed at artists.
I have bought two or three watercolor journals and given them all away. I like hot press paper 140lb because I use a combination of pencil, stick and pan colors and the pencils don't work well on cold press, let's not even talk about rough. So I wound up making my own. I'm going to teach a class on making your own journal book.
05 November 2009 @ 04:26 pm
Shooting at Fort Hood Army Base
http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_p olitical/4543801.html
http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_p olitical/4544200.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/te xas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html
It's horrible.
Fort Hood is home to about 60,000 people. It is about the size of a city. It is the world's largest military base.
It happened in the solider readiness center which is the area where soliders get the last medical check-up before shipping out and coming in.
CNN is saying that ABC out of Waco (which is near Kileen) said the shooters named is major Malique Nadal Hassan.
There is 12 dead. 11 are victims. Of those 11 one was a civilian cop contracted as military police. One of those civilian MP's killed the shooter.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/1 1/05/reports-of-mass-shooting-at-fort-ho od/?hp
Update | 7:41 p.m. Given that Thursday’s shooting spree took place at a readiness center, where troops were about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, the subject will certainly turn to combat stress. A description of the work of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, where Major Nidal Hasan, the suspected gunman who was killed on Thursday at Fort Hood, says this:
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) addresses both the invisible and visible wounds of war through research, education and consultation. The invisible wounds of war include the mental health consequences of deployment. These can range from normal distress to the treatable mental disorders of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Warrior wounds can also involve health risks such as increased use of tobacco, alcohol and/or drugs that can result in violence to self, spouse and/or children.
Update | 7:22 p.m. Information about Dr. Nidal Hasan posted on a Virginia Board of Medicine Web site includes a note that he saw patients at Darnell Army Medical Center Monday through Friday.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/cont ent/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entr ies/2009/11/05/officials_shooting_suspec t_dis.html
Officials: Shooting suspect discussed suicide bombings, other threats online
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 07:30 PM
FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Federal law enforcement officials say the suspected Fort Hood, Texas, shooter had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.
One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.
“To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause,” said the Internet posting. “Scholars have paralled (sic) this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers.”
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/cont ent/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entr ies/2009/11/05/official_fort_hood_shooti ng_su.html
Official: Fort Hood shooting suspect not dead
By American-statesman staff | Thursday, November 5, 2009, 08:17 PM
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings, has not been killed and is in stable condition at a hospital, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said at a press conference at Fort Hood.
He is in custody at an undisclosed hospital, Cone said.
Three soldiers taken into custody after the shootings were released, he said. Investigators believe Hasan acted alone.
“Evidence does not suggest this was a terrorist event,” Cone said.
One of the first people to shoot Hasan was a civilian police officer who was shot but survived, said Cone, who added that earlier reports of a civilian officer dying were incorrect.
http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_p
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/te
It's horrible.
Fort Hood is home to about 60,000 people. It is about the size of a city. It is the world's largest military base.
It happened in the solider readiness center which is the area where soliders get the last medical check-up before shipping out and coming in.
CNN is saying that ABC out of Waco (which is near Kileen) said the shooters named is major Malique Nadal Hassan.
There is 12 dead. 11 are victims. Of those 11 one was a civilian cop contracted as military police. One of those civilian MP's killed the shooter.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/1
Update | 7:41 p.m. Given that Thursday’s shooting spree took place at a readiness center, where troops were about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, the subject will certainly turn to combat stress. A description of the work of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, where Major Nidal Hasan, the suspected gunman who was killed on Thursday at Fort Hood, says this:
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) addresses both the invisible and visible wounds of war through research, education and consultation. The invisible wounds of war include the mental health consequences of deployment. These can range from normal distress to the treatable mental disorders of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Warrior wounds can also involve health risks such as increased use of tobacco, alcohol and/or drugs that can result in violence to self, spouse and/or children.
Update | 7:22 p.m. Information about Dr. Nidal Hasan posted on a Virginia Board of Medicine Web site includes a note that he saw patients at Darnell Army Medical Center Monday through Friday.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/cont
Officials: Shooting suspect discussed suicide bombings, other threats online
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 07:30 PM
FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Federal law enforcement officials say the suspected Fort Hood, Texas, shooter had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.
One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.
“To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause,” said the Internet posting. “Scholars have paralled (sic) this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers.”
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/cont
Official: Fort Hood shooting suspect not dead
By American-statesman staff | Thursday, November 5, 2009, 08:17 PM
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings, has not been killed and is in stable condition at a hospital, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said at a press conference at Fort Hood.
He is in custody at an undisclosed hospital, Cone said.
Three soldiers taken into custody after the shootings were released, he said. Investigators believe Hasan acted alone.
“Evidence does not suggest this was a terrorist event,” Cone said.
One of the first people to shoot Hasan was a civilian police officer who was shot but survived, said Cone, who added that earlier reports of a civilian officer dying were incorrect.
05 November 2009 @ 10:05 am
ACTA will put you in Jail
Global treaty could throw file-sharers off Internet after ‘three strikes’ (November 05, 2009 - Raw Story - Daniel Tencer)
File-sharers could be jailed under proposed ACTA provisions
Leaked details of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated in secret by most of the world's largest economies suggest Internet file-sharers could be blocked from accessing the Internet if they are repeatedly accused of sharing copyrighted material, say media and digital-rights watchdogs.
And the worst-case scenario could see popular Web sites like YouTube and Flickr shut down because of a provision in the treaty that would force them to monitor everything uploaded to the site for copyright violations.
Internet law professor Michael Geist published details of "leaked" portions of the discussions on ACTA on his blog Tuesday, as a new round of ACTA negotiations began in Seoul, South Korea. The US, along with all the countries of the European Union as well as Japan, Canada, Australia and a handful of other countries, are involved in the negotiations.
"The provisions would pave the way for a globalized three-strikes and you're out system," Geist blogged Wednesday, referring to a proposal from copyright holders to have Internet service providers cut off service to anyone accused at least three times of illegally sharing copyrighted material.
"This means that your entire family could be denied [access] to the Internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel," blogged tech writer and digital-rights supporter Cory Doctorow.
Doctorow also noted that another provision being proposed for the treaty would mean "that ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability."
And, as Geist noted in a follow-up article on Wednesday, the proposed treaty could end up seeing file-sharers jailed for sharing copyrighted material, even if they had no financial gain from the transaction.
Geist wrote that the treaty, as currently proposed, would "extend criminal enforcement to both (1) cases of a commercial nature; and (2) cases involving significant willful copyright and trademark infringement even where there is no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain. In other words, non-commercial infringement could lead to criminal penalties."
"The US government appears to be pushing for Three Strikes to be part of the new global IP enforcement regime which ACTA is intended to create -– despite the fact that it has been categorically rejected by the European Parliament and by national policymakers in several ACTA negotiating countries, and has never been proposed by US legislators," writes Gwen Hinze at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
ACTA negotiations were being held entirely in secret until this past May, when the Wikileaks Web site released a 2007 draft proposal.
The Obama administration has resisted attempts to make the negotiations public, though it did make an exemption for a long list of senior executives at major corporations.
In June, the administration announced it would continue the ACTA negotiations started under the previous administration.
File-sharers could be jailed under proposed ACTA provisions
Leaked details of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated in secret by most of the world's largest economies suggest Internet file-sharers could be blocked from accessing the Internet if they are repeatedly accused of sharing copyrighted material, say media and digital-rights watchdogs.
And the worst-case scenario could see popular Web sites like YouTube and Flickr shut down because of a provision in the treaty that would force them to monitor everything uploaded to the site for copyright violations.
Internet law professor Michael Geist published details of "leaked" portions of the discussions on ACTA on his blog Tuesday, as a new round of ACTA negotiations began in Seoul, South Korea. The US, along with all the countries of the European Union as well as Japan, Canada, Australia and a handful of other countries, are involved in the negotiations.
"The provisions would pave the way for a globalized three-strikes and you're out system," Geist blogged Wednesday, referring to a proposal from copyright holders to have Internet service providers cut off service to anyone accused at least three times of illegally sharing copyrighted material.
"This means that your entire family could be denied [access] to the Internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel," blogged tech writer and digital-rights supporter Cory Doctorow.
Doctorow also noted that another provision being proposed for the treaty would mean "that ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability."
And, as Geist noted in a follow-up article on Wednesday, the proposed treaty could end up seeing file-sharers jailed for sharing copyrighted material, even if they had no financial gain from the transaction.
Geist wrote that the treaty, as currently proposed, would "extend criminal enforcement to both (1) cases of a commercial nature; and (2) cases involving significant willful copyright and trademark infringement even where there is no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain. In other words, non-commercial infringement could lead to criminal penalties."
"The US government appears to be pushing for Three Strikes to be part of the new global IP enforcement regime which ACTA is intended to create -– despite the fact that it has been categorically rejected by the European Parliament and by national policymakers in several ACTA negotiating countries, and has never been proposed by US legislators," writes Gwen Hinze at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
ACTA negotiations were being held entirely in secret until this past May, when the Wikileaks Web site released a 2007 draft proposal.
The Obama administration has resisted attempts to make the negotiations public, though it did make an exemption for a long list of senior executives at major corporations.
In June, the administration announced it would continue the ACTA negotiations started under the previous administration.
05 November 2009 @ 09:51 am
The ACTA Treay and how it will take away your internet and land your ass in jail!!
ACTA is being touted as an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. It's not. It's a vastly reaching copyright enforcement law that will be far more powerful, malicious, destructive than DMCA. This treaty is being designed in SECRET by members or people, whom we do not know their names because of "national security" as agents of our government and 40 other nations.
As a citizen of this nation YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY RIGHT TO EVEN LOOK AT THE WHAT THE TREATY IS PROPOSING! As a worker of any big company you do, but you have to sign a non-disclousre agreement in compesation of being able to read it.
Why? Because the Government, Bush and Obama, have deemed this as a National Security necessary secret.
Other Nations have sued or been given a look at the all powerful secrety treat that is still in the works. It's been in the works since 2007. But us? Oh no, we are given the National Security excuse and told that is all we need to know.
Now we know. Now we are pissed and now we are scared. Because now we know, through a leaked document, what this treaty is about to propose.
Have any of you EVER downloaded music, video, images, wrote fanfiction? Because now through ACTA if you have and if you have been given a take-down notice by the propose owners of the copyright material that you have SUPPOSEDLY violated, then after three times your ISP will be ordered by the GOVERNMENT to take away your homesteads internet service.
That's right, your internet service of your instead house/apartment, etc.
That means even if you yourself have NEVER downloaded ANYTHING at all and only use your computer as a means to surf the internt to check your e-mail but your kid or husband has then ALL OF YOU lose your internet.
This is also most likely going to be in addition of some fine for violation of copyright law and even possibly JAIL TIME!
Don't believe me? Think I'm just over reacting to things?
Then read what the experts are saying:
* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
* That the whole world must adopt US-style "notice-and-takedown" rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.
* Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/03/se cret-copyright-tre.html
( cut )
LINKS on what ACTA is:
Lawfont.com: ACTA: here we go again? (Australia)
Lawfont.com: Geist on ACTA (Australia)
Electronic Frontiers Australia (Australia)
InternetNZ alarmed by latest ACTA leaks (New Zealand)
ip-watch.org
WikiLeaks: ACTA search
Wiki Leaks: Talk:Classified US, Japan and EU ACTA trade agreement drafts, 2009
Wiki Leaks: Classified US, Japan and EU ACTA trade agreement drafts, 2009
Petition to Obama - keionline.org
The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together
ACTA Negotiations, Day Two: What's On Tap
ACTA Internet Chapter Leak Signals Far-Reaching Copyright Policy
Leaked ACTA Internet Provisions: Three Strikes and a Global DMCA
ISPs Soon Forced to Police Your Internet Behavior?
Secret Anti-Piracy Treaty Turns ISPs into Pirates
EU Breaks Deadlock in Debate Over Right to Internet Access (November 05, 2009 - PC World - Paul Meller, IDG News Service)
That is it. I've had it about these fucking companies influencing laws and governments and getting their fucking way. I've had it.
I'm emailing my congressman. I'm linking to these articles. they have got to know this isn't about piracy anymore this uninforcable and its trying to censor the internet!!
I'm going to write out a long e-mail to my local newspapers.
It is time that we stood up and told these fuckers, no more. Just because I do a little downloading here and there does not mean I am not entitled to my rights as a human being.
this law will make it to where the burden of proof lies on me that I didn't break the law. It is almost impossible to defend against this law. They could say I illegally downloaded music when maybe I just ripped a cd I bought to play music on my computer.
Or about webpages or youtube. They could say that all the film about the Iran Riots and Protests is copywrited and if I uploaded any of it that I'm a pirate.
This, this is fucking insane.
As a citizen of this nation YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY RIGHT TO EVEN LOOK AT THE WHAT THE TREATY IS PROPOSING! As a worker of any big company you do, but you have to sign a non-disclousre agreement in compesation of being able to read it.
Why? Because the Government, Bush and Obama, have deemed this as a National Security necessary secret.
Other Nations have sued or been given a look at the all powerful secrety treat that is still in the works. It's been in the works since 2007. But us? Oh no, we are given the National Security excuse and told that is all we need to know.
Now we know. Now we are pissed and now we are scared. Because now we know, through a leaked document, what this treaty is about to propose.
Have any of you EVER downloaded music, video, images, wrote fanfiction? Because now through ACTA if you have and if you have been given a take-down notice by the propose owners of the copyright material that you have SUPPOSEDLY violated, then after three times your ISP will be ordered by the GOVERNMENT to take away your homesteads internet service.
That's right, your internet service of your instead house/apartment, etc.
That means even if you yourself have NEVER downloaded ANYTHING at all and only use your computer as a means to surf the internt to check your e-mail but your kid or husband has then ALL OF YOU lose your internet.
This is also most likely going to be in addition of some fine for violation of copyright law and even possibly JAIL TIME!
Don't believe me? Think I'm just over reacting to things?
Then read what the experts are saying:
* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
* That the whole world must adopt US-style "notice-and-takedown" rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.
* Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/03/se
( cut )
LINKS on what ACTA is:
Lawfont.com: ACTA: here we go again? (Australia)
Lawfont.com: Geist on ACTA (Australia)
Electronic Frontiers Australia (Australia)
InternetNZ alarmed by latest ACTA leaks (New Zealand)
ip-watch.org
WikiLeaks: ACTA search
Wiki Leaks: Talk:Classified US, Japan and EU ACTA trade agreement drafts, 2009
Wiki Leaks: Classified US, Japan and EU ACTA trade agreement drafts, 2009
Petition to Obama - keionline.org
The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together
ACTA Negotiations, Day Two: What's On Tap
ACTA Internet Chapter Leak Signals Far-Reaching Copyright Policy
Leaked ACTA Internet Provisions: Three Strikes and a Global DMCA
ISPs Soon Forced to Police Your Internet Behavior?
Secret Anti-Piracy Treaty Turns ISPs into Pirates
EU Breaks Deadlock in Debate Over Right to Internet Access (November 05, 2009 - PC World - Paul Meller, IDG News Service)
That is it. I've had it about these fucking companies influencing laws and governments and getting their fucking way. I've had it.
I'm emailing my congressman. I'm linking to these articles. they have got to know this isn't about piracy anymore this uninforcable and its trying to censor the internet!!
I'm going to write out a long e-mail to my local newspapers.
It is time that we stood up and told these fuckers, no more. Just because I do a little downloading here and there does not mean I am not entitled to my rights as a human being.
this law will make it to where the burden of proof lies on me that I didn't break the law. It is almost impossible to defend against this law. They could say I illegally downloaded music when maybe I just ripped a cd I bought to play music on my computer.
Or about webpages or youtube. They could say that all the film about the Iran Riots and Protests is copywrited and if I uploaded any of it that I'm a pirate.
This, this is fucking insane.
04 November 2009 @ 07:57 pm
NaNo progress
04 November 2009 @ 04:15 am
The results
Well we all know how Main's Prop 1 went. 87% of it counted and it went to the YES. I call voter fraud and a recount. Nate said it would be NO by 70%. Something is wrong here.
Oh btw, Main passed the medical marijuna distributing bill. So they get their dope but no gay marriages.
Houston is most likely going to have a gay Mayor.
New York City elected two Asians to office, one citywide as comptroller and the other in Manhattan as councilwoman.
Boomberg wasted a lot of money to get his squeaked by win. Which is pissing off the Democrats because the Democratic Party didn't even campaign hard for their guy.
Washington is about to extend domestic partner benefits to same sex parters. In essence they are getting the separate but equal clause of 'gay marriage' not in name. Nate Silver is suggesting that maybe the GBLT should focus on this a compromise to get the benefits to same sex parterns. But we all know that once it gets passed (Nationwide) it will eventually get challenged in the Supreme Court because separate but equal is unconstitutional in all regards.
It seems that Austin passed it so that it is expanding COBRA+ to domestic partners. Since you know in 2006 Texas made the constitutional amendment where Gay Marriage and Civil Unions are not ALLOWED or RECOGNIZED.
And ALL 11 propositions passed in Texas.
Oh btw, Main passed the medical marijuna distributing bill. So they get their dope but no gay marriages.
Houston is most likely going to have a gay Mayor.
New York City elected two Asians to office, one citywide as comptroller and the other in Manhattan as councilwoman.
Boomberg wasted a lot of money to get his squeaked by win. Which is pissing off the Democrats because the Democratic Party didn't even campaign hard for their guy.
Washington is about to extend domestic partner benefits to same sex parters. In essence they are getting the separate but equal clause of 'gay marriage' not in name. Nate Silver is suggesting that maybe the GBLT should focus on this a compromise to get the benefits to same sex parterns. But we all know that once it gets passed (Nationwide) it will eventually get challenged in the Supreme Court because separate but equal is unconstitutional in all regards.
It seems that Austin passed it so that it is expanding COBRA+ to domestic partners. Since you know in 2006 Texas made the constitutional amendment where Gay Marriage and Civil Unions are not ALLOWED or RECOGNIZED.
And ALL 11 propositions passed in Texas.
03 November 2009 @ 04:21 pm
question
If an English speaking child of five or six was taken to Russia, spoke both Russian and English there after, with more Russian than English, would they have a Russian accent?
03 November 2009 @ 02:43 am
Highest in the world!!!
No wonder our system is so damn broken. they our robbing us blind.
U.S. Medical Prices Highest In the World
Posted by: Cathy Arnst on November 02
There is a set of charts flying around the policy blogosphere today that starkly illustrates why the U.S. devotes almost 18% of its gross domestic product to health care spending, while other wealthy nations spend no more than 10% or 11%: Because we pay far, far more per unit of care than any other country.
The 36-page document was put together in September by the International Federation of Health Plans, which represents 100 insurers in 31 countries. It consists of a number of charts that show the difference between what the U.S. pays for any number of medical services, and what other industrialized countries pay.
U.S. Medical Prices Highest In the World
Posted by: Cathy Arnst on November 02
There is a set of charts flying around the policy blogosphere today that starkly illustrates why the U.S. devotes almost 18% of its gross domestic product to health care spending, while other wealthy nations spend no more than 10% or 11%: Because we pay far, far more per unit of care than any other country.
The 36-page document was put together in September by the International Federation of Health Plans, which represents 100 insurers in 31 countries. It consists of a number of charts that show the difference between what the U.S. pays for any number of medical services, and what other industrialized countries pay.
03 November 2009 @ 01:22 am
Voting
Tomorrow is election day in some states. Some for Governors others for Mayors.
For us in Texas we have 11 Constitutional Amendments going up for vote.
The Burnt Orange Report has a great lowdown on what they are and what major newspapers are endorsing and their own endorsements.
Me, No on Prop 1-3, Yes on Prop 4-8, No on Prop 9-11.
I know a lot of people support Prop 9 (Open Beaches Act) and Prop 11 (Eminent Domain) but I'm against them. First, 9 is taking people's property away from them in cases of land eroison that cause public beaches to become private property. And 11 is just going to screw up the emminent domain laws more than what it is already is and will not FIX/REFORM them. Not to mention that Governor Goodhair (Perry) and Hutchinson and the Texas Tea Party LIKE it!
And seriously there are some amendments here that are ridiculous. Did Prop 5 and Prop 7 really have to exist? Seriously, couldn't we have made LAWS and not constitutional amendments? I know 7 is to add the National Guard to exempt that already has everyone else added...but couldn't we have just tossed the old amendment out and just made a new LAW that did the same thing?
What about Prop 5? A constitutional admendment to dictate how apprasial boards work in concert with each other?!
And Prop 10?! "Proposition 10 would ... allow members of governing boards of Texas emergency service districts to serve terms not to exceed four years." --League of Women Voters Guide
Austin Chronicle: YES. "But trivial, and this belongs in ordinary legislation, not the state constitution."
El Paso Times: YES. "This would provide more continuity and experience on the boards."
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: NO. "This is goofy. There's no good reason why board members of obscure districts in Harris County should have longer terms than members of the Texas House."
Houston Tea Party Patriots: No Endorsement.
Sen. Kirk Watson's "Watson Wire:" YES. It "would lengthen the term of emergency services district board members from two to four years."
*sighs* *shakes head*
Oh for god's sake why can't Texas do something logical for a change!!!
For us in Texas we have 11 Constitutional Amendments going up for vote.
The Burnt Orange Report has a great lowdown on what they are and what major newspapers are endorsing and their own endorsements.
Me, No on Prop 1-3, Yes on Prop 4-8, No on Prop 9-11.
I know a lot of people support Prop 9 (Open Beaches Act) and Prop 11 (Eminent Domain) but I'm against them. First, 9 is taking people's property away from them in cases of land eroison that cause public beaches to become private property. And 11 is just going to screw up the emminent domain laws more than what it is already is and will not FIX/REFORM them. Not to mention that Governor Goodhair (Perry) and Hutchinson and the Texas Tea Party LIKE it!
And seriously there are some amendments here that are ridiculous. Did Prop 5 and Prop 7 really have to exist? Seriously, couldn't we have made LAWS and not constitutional amendments? I know 7 is to add the National Guard to exempt that already has everyone else added...but couldn't we have just tossed the old amendment out and just made a new LAW that did the same thing?
What about Prop 5? A constitutional admendment to dictate how apprasial boards work in concert with each other?!
And Prop 10?! "Proposition 10 would ... allow members of governing boards of Texas emergency service districts to serve terms not to exceed four years." --League of Women Voters Guide
Austin Chronicle: YES. "But trivial, and this belongs in ordinary legislation, not the state constitution."
El Paso Times: YES. "This would provide more continuity and experience on the boards."
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: NO. "This is goofy. There's no good reason why board members of obscure districts in Harris County should have longer terms than members of the Texas House."
Houston Tea Party Patriots: No Endorsement.
Sen. Kirk Watson's "Watson Wire:" YES. It "would lengthen the term of emergency services district board members from two to four years."
*sighs* *shakes head*
Oh for god's sake why can't Texas do something logical for a change!!!
02 November 2009 @ 08:43 pm
WTFery
Paso Doble to Joan Jett/Hate Myself For Loving You? Not even.
Who the hell picks the damn music? What are they thinking? And how do I strangle them?
There are certain dances that should be danced to traditional music for a reason!!!
Just saying.
Who the hell picks the damn music? What are they thinking? And how do I strangle them?
There are certain dances that should be danced to traditional music for a reason!!!
Just saying.
02 November 2009 @ 06:16 pm
NaNo progress
01 November 2009 @ 11:25 am
Himself
I broke a glass cup while I was making breakfast. Not a big deal, in one way, as the cup was cheap. But, no one wears shoes in the house, so ... here I am, barefooted in the middle of a scattering of glass. Not so good. So I yell, "Honey, put your shoes on, I broke a cup." He doesn't even ask, just puts on his shoes, comes and gets me, carries me out of the glass and goes to take his shoes off again. Tole? A kiss, of course. *hugs him* My hero!
01 November 2009 @ 09:44 am
an absolutely beautiful music video (in Korean)
01 November 2009 @ 05:32 am
creeped out
There is something on my roof. I can hear it. It walked across my roof. A drops of something fell in from a leak but there is no rain, no water.
I heard it move from like directly over me across the room, over the kitchen towards anothing room.
It had been making noise for like thirty minutes. So I had enough and got my flashlight and got some shoes on and went outside. I was afraid that the dog would scare it away so I left the dog in the house. I went outside and you could HEAR it moving. It was like branches of a tree smacking across the roof but the wind was still and we cut back the branches.
I thought it might be racoons (as a couple times we hear the noise on the roof and then they appear in the damaged room) but they usually go to the damaged room and not across the whole roof. This was something new.
And it really freaked me out when I heard droplets of rain coming in or dripping as if a little block in the leak had cleared and it just comes in a line and then it drips the rest out. But there was NO RAIN in the sky. There was no DROPLETS either. I could hear it but I couldn't see it! To be fair there is a giant ass piece of plywood blocking me from seeing perfectly in that direction but - oh shit it started again. I moved around a bit of the plywood. still no leak. wtf?
It could be mist...or dew or something....but there is no evidence. Just the drip drip drip sound.
So after a while I went out to see what it was. I could hear it. But I couldn't see anything. It wasn't over the kitchen anymore. So I thought it was on the other room. So I looked around the pitch that I could see of the roof but there was nothing. Still that noise persisted. I should have seen something, right?
So I went to my car and got my big ass black metal cop flashlight - that damn dripping noise is still happening...only slower now. So I got my flashlight and I went around to look at the other side of the other room and still nothing. But still that noise persisted.
I was just about to get off the sidewalk in from of bend driveway (we have u driveway the first entrance is grass and the second is gravel).
Now I'm bit worried as I hear the noise and still can't see anything. What if it is a possum or something? I was trying to look in front me so I wouldn't step in any fire ant beds or snakes or mice.
I saw something in the corner of my eye. I thought it was a leaf in a spider web or something. I turned the flashlight and it was something flying. Okay maybe it's a moth or a butterfly. But it had glowy eyes from my flashlight. That means a bat right? It's a bat, right?
I continue on to look and I see nothing but I still hear that noise. As if something is pounding on the roof or stepping across it or...or scratching it. As if to get inside.
It's cold. 40 something in Texas is cold. I'm all alone in my pjs with two flashlights. Granted one of them could kill a person...or animal but still I'm alone with no real weapon and it's dark as pitch outside. After all it is 5:30 in the morning with the time change since daylight savings is over.
And the noise is starting to get to me and then there is that bat just hovering there in front of me (okay ten or so feet in front of me) just staring at me and it's the morning after Halloween. I freak and take off inside.
No more noise. Except for that damn dripping.
Got any ideas as to what it was?
I heard it move from like directly over me across the room, over the kitchen towards anothing room.
It had been making noise for like thirty minutes. So I had enough and got my flashlight and got some shoes on and went outside. I was afraid that the dog would scare it away so I left the dog in the house. I went outside and you could HEAR it moving. It was like branches of a tree smacking across the roof but the wind was still and we cut back the branches.
I thought it might be racoons (as a couple times we hear the noise on the roof and then they appear in the damaged room) but they usually go to the damaged room and not across the whole roof. This was something new.
And it really freaked me out when I heard droplets of rain coming in or dripping as if a little block in the leak had cleared and it just comes in a line and then it drips the rest out. But there was NO RAIN in the sky. There was no DROPLETS either. I could hear it but I couldn't see it! To be fair there is a giant ass piece of plywood blocking me from seeing perfectly in that direction but - oh shit it started again. I moved around a bit of the plywood. still no leak. wtf?
It could be mist...or dew or something....but there is no evidence. Just the drip drip drip sound.
So after a while I went out to see what it was. I could hear it. But I couldn't see anything. It wasn't over the kitchen anymore. So I thought it was on the other room. So I looked around the pitch that I could see of the roof but there was nothing. Still that noise persisted. I should have seen something, right?
So I went to my car and got my big ass black metal cop flashlight - that damn dripping noise is still happening...only slower now. So I got my flashlight and I went around to look at the other side of the other room and still nothing. But still that noise persisted.
I was just about to get off the sidewalk in from of bend driveway (we have u driveway the first entrance is grass and the second is gravel).
Now I'm bit worried as I hear the noise and still can't see anything. What if it is a possum or something? I was trying to look in front me so I wouldn't step in any fire ant beds or snakes or mice.
I saw something in the corner of my eye. I thought it was a leaf in a spider web or something. I turned the flashlight and it was something flying. Okay maybe it's a moth or a butterfly. But it had glowy eyes from my flashlight. That means a bat right? It's a bat, right?
I continue on to look and I see nothing but I still hear that noise. As if something is pounding on the roof or stepping across it or...or scratching it. As if to get inside.
It's cold. 40 something in Texas is cold. I'm all alone in my pjs with two flashlights. Granted one of them could kill a person...or animal but still I'm alone with no real weapon and it's dark as pitch outside. After all it is 5:30 in the morning with the time change since daylight savings is over.
And the noise is starting to get to me and then there is that bat just hovering there in front of me (okay ten or so feet in front of me) just staring at me and it's the morning after Halloween. I freak and take off inside.
No more noise. Except for that damn dripping.
Got any ideas as to what it was?
31 October 2009 @ 04:28 pm
Ick
Dear tin maker.
A #5 tin should not only hold a five pound bag of flour but keep it inside. A tight fitting lid is one which stays on. It should have to be pried off by main force. It should stay on even if the tin is picked up by the lid by an unsuspecting husband.
Flour on the floor instead of in the tin is not what is expected or desired. Asshats! Tight fitting traditional lid my fanny!!
No love, me! *blert*
*goes to help clean up flour*
A #5 tin should not only hold a five pound bag of flour but keep it inside. A tight fitting lid is one which stays on. It should have to be pried off by main force. It should stay on even if the tin is picked up by the lid by an unsuspecting husband.
Flour on the floor instead of in the tin is not what is expected or desired. Asshats! Tight fitting traditional lid my fanny!!
No love, me! *blert*
*goes to help clean up flour*
31 October 2009 @ 02:33 pm
*headdesk*
I friended my mom's cousin on Facebook and I called mom to get a check-up on grandpa. He's doing much better and they think they got all the cancer cells out just awaiting tests to see what type of cancer.
Computer is still making noise. I took the case off and sprayed canned air inside and cleaned most of it up. But it's still making that noise. It does sound better. I have two fans in there plus the ac cooling one. I'm thinking the middle fan is the one making the noise. I just hope this is easily fixable.
My school and work depend on my having access to a computer.
Does anyone know how to save your booksmarks to a portable drive? I copied my desktop, program files and my documents. But I don't know how to save my bookmarks. I have Chrome, IE, FireFox, Safari and Opera.
Now back to the cousin. I posted an update mentioning that I was frustrated/upset about my computer, grandpa, my step-dad being an ass. You know, typical venting stuff hoping that someone will send a virtual hug. Nothing happens, as usual.
But my mom's counsin blabbed about it to my mom and grandma. Cousin mentioned that I was upset. Mom was taken aback and didn't know what cousin was talking about. Cousin mentions that it most likely had to do, since I mentioned it, about grandpa's surgery. Grandma flipped her lid, "she better not have mentioned any of our names on that. I will stop that right now..blah blah blah." Cousin mentioned I didn't mention names. Still grandma upset.
Now I'm trying to figure out how to 'quiet' the cousin from reading my posts. I don't want to unfriend her because she's family and a blabber...but this is one of my conservative members of the family and other four I have on my friends list are quiet and don't say shit so I never expected for cousin to talk about my stuff.
Now I'm worried about all the stuff on my profile. I'm a flaming liberal and mom was laughing that if cousin kept talking about stuff (mom will talk to cousin about not sharing with grandma my posts and we will see if she keeps word and if not...unfriended she will be) that pretty soon I might get asked by grandma if I'm gay because I put a lot of articles and stuff for lgbt rights and stuff.
*sighs*
Not that I care if I'm asked. Which I'm not...at least I don't think so. It's just FAMILY DRAMA with the conservatives. Being liberal is being a minority in my family.
*listens to her computer grind up and down like a fan dying* *sighs*
Computer is still making noise. I took the case off and sprayed canned air inside and cleaned most of it up. But it's still making that noise. It does sound better. I have two fans in there plus the ac cooling one. I'm thinking the middle fan is the one making the noise. I just hope this is easily fixable.
My school and work depend on my having access to a computer.
Does anyone know how to save your booksmarks to a portable drive? I copied my desktop, program files and my documents. But I don't know how to save my bookmarks. I have Chrome, IE, FireFox, Safari and Opera.
Now back to the cousin. I posted an update mentioning that I was frustrated/upset about my computer, grandpa, my step-dad being an ass. You know, typical venting stuff hoping that someone will send a virtual hug. Nothing happens, as usual.
But my mom's counsin blabbed about it to my mom and grandma. Cousin mentioned that I was upset. Mom was taken aback and didn't know what cousin was talking about. Cousin mentions that it most likely had to do, since I mentioned it, about grandpa's surgery. Grandma flipped her lid, "she better not have mentioned any of our names on that. I will stop that right now..blah blah blah." Cousin mentioned I didn't mention names. Still grandma upset.
Now I'm trying to figure out how to 'quiet' the cousin from reading my posts. I don't want to unfriend her because she's family and a blabber...but this is one of my conservative members of the family and other four I have on my friends list are quiet and don't say shit so I never expected for cousin to talk about my stuff.
Now I'm worried about all the stuff on my profile. I'm a flaming liberal and mom was laughing that if cousin kept talking about stuff (mom will talk to cousin about not sharing with grandma my posts and we will see if she keeps word and if not...unfriended she will be) that pretty soon I might get asked by grandma if I'm gay because I put a lot of articles and stuff for lgbt rights and stuff.
*sighs*
Not that I care if I'm asked. Which I'm not...at least I don't think so. It's just FAMILY DRAMA with the conservatives. Being liberal is being a minority in my family.
*listens to her computer grind up and down like a fan dying* *sighs*
31 October 2009 @ 10:06 am
Jessica cat
Yay! She came prancing back, early this morning, with a mole in her mouth. She was all, "What!?" when we fussed her. Silly girl. But, we treated her and petted her. So Happy!!
31 October 2009 @ 09:56 am
Hard Sell
Title: Hard Sell
Rating: G
Parings: 1x2
Warnings: Fluff ahoy
Beta: none
Disclaimer: I do not own or hold any rights to [Gundam Wing]. Those rights belong to [Bandai, Sunrise, and the Sotsu Agency]. These fan fictions were written for fun, not profit. However, this story does belong to me. Please don’t snitch it.
Authors notes: In honor of all our troops, near and far, who are away from their family's on this holiday. We salute you.
( Read more... )
Rating: G
Parings: 1x2
Warnings: Fluff ahoy
Beta: none
Disclaimer: I do not own or hold any rights to [Gundam Wing]. Those rights belong to [Bandai, Sunrise, and the Sotsu Agency]. These fan fictions were written for fun, not profit. However, this story does belong to me. Please don’t snitch it.
Authors notes: In honor of all our troops, near and far, who are away from their family's on this holiday. We salute you.
( Read more... )
Current Mood:
drained
