http://www.sciencemadecool.com/2009/07/to-boldly-go-where-weve-already-been.html

Interesting AP story (via PhysOrg) about a "new plan" from NASA's Space Shuttle program manager to ditch the troubled Ares rocket and go with a vehicle based on existing Shuttle technology as the booster for a return to the Moon....

Marnanel makes a good observation about common metre, that it makes "even the best metaphors sound trite." Personally, I think that observation right there goes a long way toward explaining why -- even aside from the religious content -- most hymns (which are written in common metre, probably for ease of memorisation) are so painfully banal.

Or, as Tom Lehrer said (satirically, although he actually was telling the truth, whether he knew it or not): The reason most folk music is so atrocious is because it was written by the people. If professional songwriters had written it instead, the results might have been much different.

Current Location: at work really
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: argh

how hard would it be for me to blur/cover something in a video clip? i have imovie (not even sure how to import to it but i guess i could figure that out)... michael's computer is a pc, not sure if he has anything applicable on there.... if you have advice/instructions please assume i'm a complete moron and word them accordingly.

thelastgoodname asked "Who tops in heterosexual couples?" leading to some interesting discussions about what "top" and "bottom" mean. I'd love to hear what my flist and anyone else reading this thinks. Please fill in this poll and pass it on to anyone you think would do it.
( Read more... )

And please excuse typos. I thought I got them all before I submitted the poll, but clearly did not.

I still get a thrill whenever I hear the words "President Obama."

That's just a knee-jerk symbolic emotion thing, of course. I'll continue to criticize him.

But a big part of me is still proud that we did that.

[x-posted]

I found a couple of spoons today, so we baked!



Dumped a load of the usual into the bread machine on "Dough" cycle - a wholemeal poppyseed recipe, but with a shake of caster sugar and a handful or three of sultanas. I also added a couple of teaspoons of orange juice as an extra booster, as it was 80% wholemeal flour, which doesn't tend to rise quite so well.

Once the dough was done, the Lad came and helped. We punched down and kneaded the dough briefly on a floured board, then pressed the dough out into a rectangle. We spooned on melted butter (replace with Nuttelex or coconut oil for a vegan alternative), and sprinkled it generously with a mix of cinnamon and caster sugar. Then I rolled it up, cut it out, and set the spirals out into a greased baking pan.

We ladled a little excess melted butter onto the spirals, then covered with plastic wrap and placed into the oven just on the "light on" setting to rise for an hour. Then baked at 180 deg C for 25 minutes, and out!

Here they are, unglazed. I'll make a glaze of icing sugar, milk, and a little vanilla, once they're cool.

Enjoy!

( Read more... )

I'm also thinking of getting a netbook. I'm kind of torn right now.

I'm looking at ones without spinners - ssd only - and it would run ubuntu, probably the new remix.

Questions: the 10" netbooks have bigger screens and keyboards (92% vs 82%) than the 9", but the screen resolution is the same, 1024x600. I'm not sure that helps much. The exception I can find is the Dell Mini 10 with 1366x768 HD. I don't know what that would be like.

The Dell Mini 9 has, oddly, been discontinued, after only about eight months. But there are still some refurbs available. I could get the one with 2gb ram and 16gb ssd for $300. There's also the Asus eee 901, with 1gb ram and 20gb ssd for essentially the same price. The ram can be upgraded one more gig by throwing away the old stick and buying a bigger one.

The Dell Mini 10 is half again as expensive, but has the higher screen resolution and a bigger ssd drive. But there's no ram upgrade - the 1gb is soldered to the board and no slot. I don't know how much that would matter. I could wait for the promised 2gb version, but nobody seems to know when that will arrive.

The Asus eee 1000 is around $400, a 10"-er, 40gb ssd, which is big for this class, but resolution still at 1024x600. I guess that's what I'm leaning towards. Either that or the refurb mini 9.

There's also a 12" toshiba laptop, but that's a real laptop and I have a laptop. It's cheap, though more expensive than anything else here.

Help? This is your chance to geek out!

The Fourteenth Edition of the Down Under Feminists Carnival is up at Kiwi Stargazer. Many thanks to anjum, especially for putting up with my last-minute submissions!

It's a cracker of a carnival, with a focus on the body, media, victim blaming, pr0n wars, politics, disability, violence, racism, sexual violence, breastfeeding, food, literature, the colour pink, and more.


If you're a regular reader, or especially if you're featured in the carnival, please place a link to it. You're welcome to use the logo at top and to hotlink to it; please also make the logo link to the main Carnival page.

The fifteenth edition of the carnival, for June posts, is planned for the first week of July, 2009. It will be hosted by me here at Hoyden. Submissions to lauredhelhoyden at gmail dot com for those who can't access blogcarnival.

Themes for the 15th: Consider posting about NAIDOC Week and the intersection of indigenous rights and feminism; or the 26th July is National Stepfamily Awareness Day, if you have something to say about feminist step-parenting; or perhaps you could talk about the franchise in Enrol To Vote Week, the last week in July. All themes just optional prompts.

After that, we're gathering at Hexy's place, then Queen of Thorns is taking a turn, but from November, things are wide open. Who'd like to volunteer for a future carnival?

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so i think the discussion of wrestlers/psychologically-challenged psychologists kinda distracted from the main point of my last post a little.

now, let's think about this. we have someone who says:

When guys tell me that they're bisexual, it gives me serious pause. Some "bisexual" guys I have known were clearly bisexual for political reasons -- they liked the theory but it wasn't backed up by real sexual attraction. Other guys were clearly bisexual for the sake of working toward being exclusively gay. It's kind of funny... Their sexual attraction for women slowly devolved into a nice crush and then just platonic admiration.

I mean, I'm sure there are real bisexual men out there, no doubt about it, but they're a significant minority even within the lgbtq population.

okay. now, here in 2009, why would anybody -pretend- to be a bisexual man? i'm sure you noticed, but being a non-monosexual, cis man is basically being the Edsel of sexuality. what good do any of the non-monosexual descriptors get you? claiming to be bisexual/queer as cover for being gay isn't worth the trouble. there's quite a ways to go, but gay liberation has happened, see - and the people who still have it in for you for being gay are the real dead-enders who will STILL think you're perverted if you claim to be bisexual. your mileage may not vary. if you're a man, and you identify as anything other than straight, you're out of the closet, period. claiming to be bisexual/queer doesn't really get you that far with the girls, either. you hear lines like "i am jealous enough of other women, i'm not going to compete with all of humanity" and "i don't want to catch something", etc.

point being: it is much, much easier to be a monosexual cis man. faking it doesn't get you anything. why go to the work?

now, with that in mind, a coupla things. first: okay, i do pretty well in the dating department, and it is almost overwhelmingly with women. granted, it's a fairly specialized subset of women - basically, other queer types. why? because they Get It. hopefully, anyway. most of the time, they're more likely to be intrigued than shocked by things like me being a bottom, or being attracted to butch-looking types, etc. it's much easier to have sex with people when they don't define sex as one specific, potentially baby-making act that you, as a dude, are supposed to want all the time to the point where people are very suspicious of you if you don't but complain if you do. does nobody else see the problem here? so, whatever, i opt out and thankfully am attracted to women who are just delighted to stick it in themselves and every once in a while they actually do. A+ me. i don't do much with men, admittedly - but that doesn't mean i wouldn't. in fact, i'm sure i would more often if i ran into other men with my particular orientation. it'd be refreshing. as it is, the only person i know who comes close is chimericpisces and he picked up and moved to seattle. the pickings are pretty slim otherwise. have you -looked- at the m4m section of craigslist? it's the equivalent of your brain stepping in a very large piece of gum on a very hot day.

second: what, exactly, is wrong with being "bisexual for political reasons"? i'm hard-pressed to think of anyone who is, personally, or why anyone -would- be bisexual for political reasons - but is there something inferior about that choice? has the "born that way" argument for gay rights become such a freaking totem that anyone who isn't is a challenge somehow? and what happened to the lesbian-for-political-reasons women from the 1970s, anyhow? i'm pretty certain there's no modern equivalent to the furies collective, but maybe there should be. besides, we don't begrudge other people's choices that much. bisexual women who don't sleep with men, or cis men, or etc? no problem. as near as i can tell, the only people really invested in keeping score are straight people and Gold Stars.

i do think, for "political" reasons, that the term/identification bisexual has just about run its course. basically, if you've made it so far, you probably aren't that excited about the gender binary and so using a term that ACTUALLY re-ifies the gender binary probably isn't for you.

more: this is probably the height of ingratitude, as i'm kibitzing about the one comment that addressed the whole post and was complimentary besides, but what exactly is it to be an assimilationist? i mean, i'm pretty assimilationist. i don't have a funny haircut or a bunch of body mods or live in a squat and dumpster-dive with my collective of primary-through-hexenary partners. and i never could. in fact, i look painfully straight most of the time. every day, same outfit. work boots, cheap, straight-leg jeans, sleeveless undershirt, thermos, stubble. this is basically the official straight men's uniform - uneducated, no-potential model (other models include Chad and Guido.) i'd be delighted to be more visible - but i can't. it's just not to my taste to be a scruffy, unwashed scarecrow, dressing like a genderqueer sprite is impractical for work and likely to raise too many questions, and dressing the way i'd like (basically, rupert giles) is even -more- impractical and i can't afford the clothes or the drycleaning bill. so, it's a sticky spot. there aren't many answers, other than Clearly You Shoulda Finished College.

but i just can't let some things go unanswered. i know some people on my f-list have scoffed at the very existence of biphobia, but i've quoted a textbook example. and even if it's not about those greedy, can't-make-a-decision bisexuals, this idea:

Sorry, I know this isn't the pc thing to say, but I think judging the validity of a person's identity is necessary sometimes. There are a lot of people out there who are self-delusional, especially regarding their relationship to sex and gender politics. You can't trust everyone at their word.

can't be left unanswered.

...I'm twelve, but one can derive much amusement from Googling some of the band names Jello Biafra gives in his "Names for Bands" sketch, particularly "Republican Buttocks."

Current Location: at my desk
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: no

I find trying to pick a phone to be completely paralyzing. I have no idea what to do. I do a lot of research and then I get flummoxed and back off. I've been through this cycle about five times in the last year and a half. Still I have yet to pick a phone.

I gotta pick one now though because I need one, finally. Bah.

I feel that if I make the wrong choice I'll be saddled with an irritant for a year or two. I probably shouldn't care so much.

I think I may want that t-mobile wifi @home thing in case there's trouble with signal in the house or on campus; we aren't planning on getting a landline phone. (F_c already has a contract with them so it probably makes sense just to add me, and we've always liked them; otherwise I might go with verizon.) Also I just sort of think it's cool. But even then that leaves me about five phones and I can't pick among them.

The Nokia 6301 and 7510
The Samsung SGH t-339
and the Blackberry pearl flip or the boxy one.

Leaning toward the nokia 6301.

I could get those for about no money, basically. They're all kind of fine, I guess. I don't know what I might one day need or want!

The other possibility is that I really want to just go out and buy an unlocked moto v195s, which is supposed to be sturdy and good but really basic, and avoid fucking with long contracts to get a free phone.

http://xkcd.com/606/

Someone gave me a free samsung sph-a640 which was for the sprint carrier. I has no sim card but isn't in any sense, I think, 'unlocked'. I don't want to sign up with sprint. Can I use this phone? Do I have to, uh, break it out of prison, or whatever that is? I wonder if it's a good enough phone to bother.

I could get that new android phone from tmobile or something. I use google stuff a lot.

Yeah. I never posted this. I wrote most of it, and just had to add a few pictures and never got to it. But I've realized that if I keep trying to get completely caught up with everyone else before I post things myself, my LJ will fade to blankness, so here it is at last.

I left off as keswindhover was bravely shepherding M:TNG-1 and I to Stratford-on-Avon during a bank holiday. We had a great day in spite of the crowds and the touristy aspects because Stratford is just what I always hoped, only prettier. ( click for the pretty )

In addition to being a whiner who cries out that he's 'being treated like a murderer!'---no, I am not making that up----Scott Roeder is also distributing hate literature from behind bars.

Now, imagine, say, if this guy's name was Abdul Mohamed, what would happen at this point? Scott Roeder is spreading the 'message' of the Army of God, an organization on the FBI's terrorist watch list, as well as that of Paul Hill---who murdered Dr. John Barret and his escort James Britten----and Eric Robert Rudolph, whose bombs killed one person at the Atlanta Olympics, as well as at least person at an abortion clinic. The man who died at the latter attack, by the way, was pro-life, but he believed that women had the right to do what they wanted to with their bodies. He was an off-duty cop providing security for the women who sought help at that clinic. Maybe that's why it's so important that these mythical 'pro-lifers' who claim they're so pro-choice speak out. It takes one terrorist to kill and hurt; how many people does it take to stop one? We'll never know, because there's been no convincing, nationwide uprising against these assholes. Nobody stopped Paul Hill while he was spewing hate in front of abortion clinics and Planned Parenthoods. Whole communities egged on and supported Eric Robert Rudolph. Others are simply silent because they agree. The result is the death of people who help women. It's that simple.

Scott Roeder is a terrorist who hates women and their rights, and so are the people who help him and agree with him. Silence is assent. Silence helps only the bully, not the bullied, and neutrality is impossible when one side is evil. You cannot be neutral except where the sides are evenly-matched; that is why things like, say, 'equalism' instead of feminism are a dodge and an intellectual feint, because the field is not level, men and women do not have equality yet, and to help the unequal merely preserves the inequality.

On Thursday, I did some extensive work on the positioning of the rudder pedals on my kayak. I drilled some new holes in the boat, eliminated the extraneous rails, and moved the new pedal rails in order to reduce the way the rudder pedal wire guides have been gouging holes in my lower legs and to raise the pedals so that I can push better without pushing the rudder back and forth.

Today I went out to try to paddle the course of the Armond Basset Race, which takes place next weekend at the Genesee Waterways Center here in town. All I know for sure it that they say it’s “2 laps of 5 miles”, but Mike F says he thinks it’s 1.25 miles upstream in the river, 2.5 miles downstream, 2.5 miles upstream, 2.5 miles downstream, and then 1.25 miles upstream again. That makes sense, because it means that each boat passes the start/finish area 5 times, which would be good for any spectators – on the down side it means that we’re finishing upstream, and the stream is running pretty fast. So Mike and I tried to paddle it, but after 4 miles or so, my hips were really starting to hurt, so I gave up after 1 loop (5 miles). Maybe I went too fast trying to keep up with Mike (who is normally a much faster paddler than I am), but I think it’s mostly because of the new leg position. I’m really hoping that things are better by next Saturday.

I’m looking at my GPS track from today versus the Tupper Lake race, and my heart rate was much lower today. So I couldn’t have been working as hard. But man that current was strong – I was averaging 5.0 mph going up, and 7.4 mph going down.

Originally posted at Rants and Revelations

Tags: kayaking, rant

For someone who says he hates television I watch a lot of television shows. I watch them all on DVD or via download, though. I like television shows but I hate television - the ads, the way they blare loudly, the channel flipping that seems almost unavoidable when the ads come on, the likelihood of coming across ads, shows, and whole channels that I find not merely un-entertaining but offensive, demeaning, painful, nightmarish. I don't have the cable hooked up, although it's supposed to be active (I never checked to make sure) - it's cheaper to get basic cable and internet together than to get internet alone, which is just one of those things.

I keep clicking on the IE icon from force of habit but IE8 totally DOES NOT WORK! It hangs when I try to open new tabs so I can comment on LJ posts. I already installed Chrome to use for Blue's LJ but I keep forgetting to use it, and by the time I run into the comment tab hang thing I'm a few pages deep into my FL, and ARGH it makes me stabby.

I need a good stabby icon. The only ones I have are dreamy, melancholy or silly.

Or, at least proof that I do have most of a kitten's head, if you're some kind of pedantic pedant.

I wish more of these bbc shows came with subtitles. It's English, but, ah, I can't always understand it.