The Friday Five Makes Me Rich!

You have just won one million dollars:

Whoo-hoo! Where is it?

1. Who do you call first? Probably my mother. If nothing else, because I owe her money.

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself? A shitload of DVDs.

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else? Whaddaya mean, "someone else"? It's my mine, all mine! (Cure the Daffy Duck impression.) OK, no, seriously, I'd probably buy my mother a new computer. And send my sister a plane ticket so she could come out and visit me whenever she can actually get some time off work.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom? I'd probably donate some small amount of it to some worthy cause. Maybe public television. I believe it is my civic duty to support public television, even if I don't actually watch it any more.

5. Do you invest any? If so, how? Well, yeah, it'd be stupid not to. But I know zip about investments, so I'd consult a professional.

And Still More Quizzage (Because I Have to Keep Swapping Quizzes with Still Life With Woopecker)





what decade does your personality live in?


quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd


Well, I wasn't expecting that result. I think it was my internet addiction that did it.

Like The Old Joke Says, I Guess This Means I Can't Be Overdrawn.

I have checks! Yay! Now I can go on a spending spree pay my rent!

I've Never Been So Insulted in My Life!


'Normal' PLEASE VOTE!!!


What Type of Lunatic are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Interesting Result for a Person Who Can't Carry a Tune in a Bucket.


You are Music.
Fundamentally mathematical, you are the most
abstract art form. You get along well with
Poetry and Dance.


What form of art are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Annoying Things That Have Happened to Me Lately

To start with, I ran out of checks. I thought I had two boxes of checks, but, no, the second box was actually full of old check ledgers and not new checks at all, and I did not realize this until after I'd used the last check from the first box. So now I have no checks until the new ones come, which makes it kind of hard to pay my bills. I fear I'm gonna have to go down to the real estate agent's office and pay my rent in cash this month.

Then this morning I got into a fender-bender on the way home from work. Actually, there weren't even any bent fenders, really. Just a nice scrape of red paint left on my car. I was driving down the street, minding my own business, when this red pickup in front of me pulled over onto the shoulder. So I started going around it, you know... And then it turned right into me. Turns out the driver was looking to make a left, and for some reason thought her medium-sized pickup must have the turning radius of the Titanic or something. And then the guy who owned the truck spent 15 minutes pulling out all his papers from the glovebox, peering at them, and deciding they were the wrong papers, while I stood there in the bitter cold. Eventually he gave me some completely inadequate insurance information which I just took and left because I wanted to get the hell home and get to bed.

The driver insisted the whole thing was my fault. She might or might not be right. I'll leave that up to the insurance folks to determine. I don't think it's a huge big deal one way or another, since there was very little damage, but it'll be really annoying if my rates go up. And, damn it, why does stuff like this always happen when I'm on night shift? It makes it really difficult to deal with insurance agents and people, because they always want to get in touch with me during my sleep hours.

And, oh, yeah, when I finally got home, most of my pipes were frozen. Although they seem to have thawed out OK while I was asleep, so at least that's something. After all, it's not like I could write a check to pay a plumber...

Yes, I Know.

My blogging has been pathetic recently. I have absolutely no excuse for this.

*hangs head in shame*

*Whimper*

My wireless internet connection is down. I don't know how or why. I suspect the problem is on my ISPs end rather than on mine, but I'm far from sure about that. Anyway, I'm back on dialup for the moment, and it's horrible. There's a noticeable pause while a page is loading! It takes seconds for the pictures to show up! If I think I'm done whatever I'm doing online, get up and walk away, then suddenly remember something else I wanted to do, I've got to wait for the phone to dial! All over again!

If I don't get my broadband back soon, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to go into withdrawals! I'm going to go crazy! I am!

*wail* It's been two whole hours!

Seizing the Opportunity

The first pictures from the Opportunity Rover are up on NASA's Mars Rover website!

My Unconscious Keeps Muttering

1. Political:: Party
   
2. Concentration:: The game
   
3. Fish:: Go Fish
   
4. Lunacy:: Nuts
   
5. Red:: Blue
   
6. Imply:: Infer
   
7. Recognize:: That weird neural disease where you can't recognize people's faces
   
8. Sexist:: Pig
   
9. Commercial:: Break
   
10. Stricken:: White-faced
    

Stupidest Stupid Quiz Ever!


YOU ARE MARRIED TO A WoODCHUCK!!!


what's YOUR deepest secret?
brought to you by Quizilla

Apparently it's a gay woodchuck, even. But don't I look cute in that hat?

More Quizzage

My life has been rated:
See what your rating is!

Suitable for 12 years or older. Starting to get interesting now, with more adult-themed storylines, but we're still talking in mild doses. You may find more colourful language, some human flesh, and maybe even some violence. Nothing creepy though.

So, that'd be roughly equivalent to a US PG rating? Yeah, that probably sounds about right. Sigh. How very unexciting. Not that I want any creepy violence, but there's definitely a lot of unexploited potential for rating-increase in the "human flesh" department.

I have to say, I do rather like the idea that if my life were a movie, it'd have a British rating...

It's Great Literature! It's a Text Adventure! It's Both!

It's Hamlet, the text adventure. And there are not words for how cool it is.

The Friday Five Has Defeated Me.

This week's Friday Five asks you for your current favorite this, that, and the other thing. (Well, OK, those plus two more things, to make five. Obviously.)

I can't do it. I can't pick favorites. I don't understand how other people pick favorites. I suspect they don't, actually. I suspect that when they say "X is my current favorite Y," what they really mean is that, when they started making a mental list of good Ys, X is the first one that came to mind. Which maybe isn't a bad criterion for "favorite," but my own brain tends to throw up three or four Xs to start with, and then insist on listing half a dozen more before I've even finished typing the first one. And it's pretty much guaranteed that, even if I listed a hundred and ninety-three Ys, five minutes after I completed the list, I'd come up with seven more examples that I liked better than any of them.

So, uh, I'm boycotting this week. Yeah. Out of, uh, protest. Or something.

This Is CNN! Well, OK, Not Really.

Just in case you ever wondered (as I'm sure you all have at one time or another) what Maximum Verbosity would look like in the format of CNN's webpage, now you know! (You can do the same for your own webpage by substituting its URL for mine in the URL of the results.)

I don't know if this will look the same for everybody who clicks on it as it did for me, but I kind of hope it does, because the really amusing thing about it is that the headline over the picture actually fits just perfectly.

Here, Rover!

Apparently NASA got a ping out of the Spirit rover this morning, after a disturbing period of quiet, but still aren't getting any data back from it.

I know that I've mentioned to some of you that we've been running some tests at NRAO, where I work, to see if we can track both Mars spacecraft (part of a long-term plan to use the VLBA for tracking NASA stuff somewhere down the road). So, I just want to be perfectly clear: this was not my fault. I didn't lose the thing.

Proof That I Am the Most Boring Person on the Face of the Planet

I am currently reading a book about the history of bookshelves. And I'm enjoying it.

Still More Pointless Quizzage


Which Rock Chick Are You?

OK, I've never even heard of this woman. Or her band. And I find her cleavage highly disturbing. But apparently she's Welsh, which I guess counts for something...

Random Thought #1,092

Is it cold in here, or is it just me?

Well, Some of My Readers Will Find This Result Appropriate.


You are a PHOENIX in your soul and your
wings make a statement. Huge and born of flame,
they burn with light and power and rebirth.
Ashes fall from your wingtips. You are an
amazingly strong person. You survive, even
flourish in adversity and hardship. A firm
believer in the phrase, 'Whatever doesn't kill
you only makes you stronger,' you rarely fear
failure. You know that any mistake you make
will teach you more about yourself and allow
you to 'rise from the ashes' as a still greater
being. Because of this, you rarely make the
same mistake twice, and are not among the most
forgiving people. You're extremely powerful and
wise, and are capable of fierce pride, passion,
and anger. Perhaps you're this way because you
were forced to survive a rough childhood. Or
maybe you just have a strong grasp on reality
and know that life is tough and the world is
cruel, and it takes strength and independence
to survive it. And independence is your
strongest point - you may care for others, and
even depend on them...but when it comes right
down to it, the only one you need is yourself.
Thus you trust your own intuition, and rely on
a mind almost as brilliant as the fire of your
wings to guide you.You are eternal and because
you have a strong sense of who and what you
are, no one can control your heart or mind, or
even really influence your thinking. A symbol
of rebirth and renewal, you tend to be a very
spiritual person with a serious mind - never
acting immature and harboring a superior
disgust of those who do. Likewise, humanity's
stupidity and tendency to want others to solve
their problems for them frustrates you
endlessly. Though you can be stubborn,
outspoken, and haughty, I admire you greatly.


*~*~*Claim Your Wings - Pics and Long Answers*~*~*
brought to you by Quizilla

You Know, This Unconscious Mutterings Thing Is More Interesting If I Do It When I'm Half-Asleep.

1. Berry:: Boo Berry
   
2. Fiendish:: Plot
   
3. Bar:: Mitzvah
   
4. Frank:: N'Furter
   
5. Bend:: Break
   
6. Fanatic:: Act
   
7. Belch:: Burp
   
8. Flagrant:: Abuse
   
9. Burden:: Beast of
   
10. Flimsy:: Excuse
    

A Quotable Friday Five

Yeah, I know it's a day late. Sue me.

1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails? "'I'm not making sense, but that's because David Byrne told me to stop.' -- SnakeHairedGirl." SnakeHairedGirl is a blog I read very, very occasionally, but there was something about that line that really tickled me when I came across it, possibly just because I really like the Talking Heads. I think I've had it in my sig far too long now, though. I'm getting tired of it. I usually change sig lines once a month or so, but I haven't come up with anything good to replace it with yet.

2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be? I did. It was "Ad Astra."

3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say? Don't have any, and could probably never really justify the expense to myself. But, OK, if I was going to... "TARDIS" would be extremely cool, but there's enough Who fans out there that it's almost certainly taken. Back before I ever even got my first car, I used to think "FTL" (for "Faster Than Light," of course) would make a good vanity plate. It would have been particularly amusing back when I was driving an old clunker that was lucky it could make 75 on the highway, but, of course, I most certainly couldn't have justified the expense then. Currently I'm driving a Dodge Neon, and it has crossed my mind that it would be cute (in a deeply geeky sort of way) to have a plate that said something like "ATOMIC 10," (because Neon is element number 10 in the periodic table, you see). But I think that's too many letters. It'd have to be "ATOM 10" or "AT NO 10" or something, and those are rather less appealing.

4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say? Umm... I think I've gotten a couple of books with the date and who they were from written on the flyleaf. Does that count?

5. What would you like your epitaph to be? I don't want an epitaph. I'd rather be cremated and scattered around, thank you. But if I had to have one, I've often thought it ought to be "So Many Books, So Little Time."

Comment Problems?

OK, I know several people have complained that the commenting system here isn't remembering their name and other info, and I've seen that problem, myself. I mentioned the problem on enetation's user forum, and got the following response:

Hmm, interesting

We've got some cases where the 'logged in' redirection isn't happening possibly due to cookie problems and lost cookies.

None of the server side code has changed in the last 2 weeks and none of the web software has been altered. Very odd bug and given no changes, I'd have to say that it was browser based.

I'm not saying that the users have deleted their own cookies but it's possible that say an adaware package has deleted the cookies or possibly one of the recent automatic Microsoft IE upgrades that been the cause.

Now, I don't know if that's right or wrong. I do know that I'm using Netscape and not seeing the problem at the moment, and I can't now remember whether I ever saw the problem in Netscape at all, or just with IE (which I use at work). So, for people who happen to be leaving comments here, I wonder if you could tell me whether or not it seems to be remembering your info now (or does once you give it again, anyway), and, if not, which browser you're using. 'Cause I'm sort of mystified.

Not Exactly Search Request Thursday

For the past couple of days, I've been getting huge numbers of hits from various search engines, all for the same (rather bizarre) phrase.... Enough so that it's almost doubled my hits-per-day average. I think Fred Coppersmith over at Occasional Fish had the same thing happen to him a while back... Did you eventually come to the conclusion that it was some kind of weird spam technique, Fred?

Anyway, it's made my search logs a bit difficult to pick through, and it seems like a reasonably good excuse to discontinue the "Search Request Thursday" thing for a while, because, frankly, it was starting to feel more like work than fun, anyway, even if the results did usually give me a chuckle.

It may or may not make a reappearance. Stay tuned, I guess.

More Space Stuff (or, Passing the Blogging Buck)

My brief comments about Bush's proposed space initiative yesterday prompted a fair bit of, shall we say, rather impassioned response. I personally don't have much of anything cogent to say on the issue, but I thought that, for those who may be interested in the subject, I'd throw out some links to bloggers who do have cogent things to say. So..

Rand Simberg of Transterrestrial Musings always has intelligent things to say about space policy. His initial reaction to Bush's speech can be found here, but he's done a number of posts on the subject.

Jay Manifold of A Voyage to Arcturus offers his own initial reactions here, and talks about the media reactions here.

Chad Orzel of Uncertain Principles has some really good posts on the subject, here, here, and here.

And that's all I have to say on the subject for the moment...

Not Quite Exterminated

Hey, they found a missing Dalek episode! Cool!

Going Over Like a Lead Balloon

OK, I have to say it: I am getting sick and tired of Led Zeppelin. Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against Zeppelin. I'm not a huge fan, by any stretch, but, hey, I'll happily sing along with "Stairway to Heaven" when it comes on the radio, just like every other red-blooded rock fan. At some point, though, enough is enough. It seems like every single time I've gotten into the car in the last couple of weeks, no matter which of the various classic rock stations I listen to (well, I like classic rock!), they're playing Zep. Every damned time. Usually it's "Ramble On." I am getting so very, very sick of that song, not least of all because it's now taken up residence in my head, so that I can listen to it even when the radio's off, lucky me. What is it with that song? Is it suddenly considered "topical" now because of the Tolkien references? I could get behind that, actually, were it not for the fact that the Tolkien references in that song are, quite frankly, stupid. Aaargh!

Listen, DJ-type people, can we quit it with the Zep and play some Rush or something, already? I'm beggin' you here. Don't make me take a machete to my radio. Please?

Have I Really Grown This Cynical?

Ten years ago, Bush's announcement of a renewed government commitment to space (which includes a proposed human presence on the moon and the eventual possibility of manned exploration of Mars) would have had me shouting "Hallelujah!"s and "It's about time!"s and practically wetting my pants with joy as I gave in to the ecstatic fervor of a True Space Believer. But I look at this now, and, I have to admit, the first thought in my head is basically, "Great, something else to mismanage horribly in space."

Quick, somebody say something to help me get my True Believer fervor back. I miss it.

Another Stupid Quiz, Because I Dream About This Sort of Thing.


You're taffy!! You're a clever and kind person,
but you tend to hold grudges. You are not big
on dishing out forgiveness.


Which kind of candy are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Nah, I don't hold grudges. But I do like taffy.

World Not to End, After All.

Just got word from my asteroid-huntin' friend. It appears civilization is safe (or at least as safe as it ever is). The thing they found turns out to be tiny enough that it'll probably burn up in the atmosphere, or, at worst, put a hole in someone's car.

But, uh, if an asteroid plunges through your roof tomorrow, remember, you heard it here first!

Because I Cannot Resist the Chance, However Sick and Twisted, to Possibly Be First with a Major News Scoop.

I just got an e-mail from a friend whose wife's job is watching out for killer asteroids.

If the world ends tomorrow, you heard it here first.

Just sayin'.

Hmm.

I had a dream last night that I was taking a stupid internet quiz.

What do you think that means?

You Are Not A Beautiful And Unique Snowflake! But Go Ahead and Make One, Anyway.


Via Pop Culture Junk Mail, here's a site where you can make your own paper-and-scissors snowflake online. I dunno, when I was a kid, we had real paper and scissors, and that was good enough for us, dagnabbit! But there's something weirdly addictive about this little toy, anyway...

And Yet Another Quiz


"The Pilot"


Which Firefly character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Hmm, this was one of those quizzes where it's painfully obvious which answer went with which character, and I still managed to end up with a completely inappropriate result. Not that I have more in common with any of the rest of them, I guess...

By the way, I did finish watching the Firefly DVDs a little while ago, and am now mourning that show all over again. Sigh. Quality SF TV, we hardly knew ye...

You'd Think Most of This Stuff Would Be Obvious...

Inspired by the mediocre Buffy novel I'm reading, as well as the many, many other mediocre TV-tie in novels I've read in my life, I'd like to present:

MY GET-A-CLUE LIST FOR MEDIA-TIE-IN WRITERS:

I do not need long, boring chunks of exposition telling me who all these characters are and what their relationships and backstories and etc. are. I already know these things, because I am a fan of the show. If I were not a fan of the show, I would not be reading a book based on it.

Even if I weren't familiar with the show, it should not be necessary to explicitly tell me, e.g., that Xander is zany and Willow is perky. If you are doing your job as a writer, these things should be clear from their actions and dialog. "Show, don't tell" is a piece of writing advice that's garnered a lot of criticism from people who misinterpret what it actually means. But it's still good advice.

If you're going to create original characters, make them interesting people in their own right, not just plot devices. And that means actually making them interesting, not just, you know, saying that they're interesting.

Do not spell an established character's name wrong. Ever. There is no excuse for it, and if you do it you deserved to be soundly thwacked and to have your keyboard taken away from you for a period of not less than a year.

Also, do not use a minor character from the show and turn him into someone completely unrecognizable. This also merits thwacking and keyboard-deprivation. (Doing it to a major character merits disembowling.)

Don't get cute and meta unless you're really, really sure you can pull it off. If you have a character think something like, "Well, at least Event X provides amusing comic relief from the exciting drama of Event Y" (and they're not being ironic), you'd better be damned sure that X is funny and Y is exciting and dramatic, otherwise readers will roll their eyes and laugh at you.

If you need a character to do something for plot reasons and are having trouble justifying it as being in-character, for gods' sakes, either come up with a good reason to force the character's hand or change the plot. Do not invent an incredibly lame reason and then state it repeatedly over the course of a hundred pages, as if sheer repetition will make us accept it.

There are some plot ideas which have been used so often that there should now be a moratorium placed on them for the indefinite future. Identify these, and avoid them. For instance, "There has been no vampire activity around Sunnydale for weeks, making everyone nervous because it's Too Quiet(tm)" might have been an interesting idea the first time it was used. Maybe. It has, however, long since gotten annoying.

I'm sure I could come up with many, many other suggestions, but I think those will do to start with. Consider this a public service posting...

This Was Kind of a Fun One.


What Snack Food are You? (With Cool Pics!!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Mitchell:: Murray *blink* That's weird. I don't know anyone named Mitchell Murray. Who's Mitchell Murray?
   
2. Mercury:: Venus, Earth, Mars...
   
3. Cycle:: Year
   
4. Engagement:: Ring
   
5. Alternative:: Music
   
6. Gang:: Rules
   
7. Emotional:: Scene
   
8. Skinny:: Dipping
   
9. Hypochondriac:: I'm not gonna say the first thing that came to my mind, because it was an unflattering reference to a particular person, and I'm not in the mood to be mean.
   
10. Insecure:: Uncertain
    

All Right, I'll Do This Thing Instead.

Current clothes: Black sweats (somewhat faded). A t-shirt (also black) from Weird Al Yankovic's Poodle Hat tour. White socks.

Current mood: A little edgy. I've accomplished almost nothing useful or productive this week, and now I'm sitting here with the nagging feeling in the back of my head that there's sixteen things I should be doing, none of which I actually feel like doing. It's making me a little twitchy, I think.

Current music: Currently in the stereo is Who Is Doctor Who?, a collection of music "inspired" by the TV series. It's wonderfully, gloriously terrible in a way that only pure unadulterated cheese can possibly be. Currently in the boom box in the bathroom is The Very Best of Dr. Demento.

Current hair: I dunno. It's hair. I'm getting tired of this question.

Current annoyance: Having to work. Also, having to sleep.

Current thing: Finding new and creative ways to waste my entire life online.

Current desktop picture: This image of the dust clouds of Orion that I downloaded from NASA's website.

Current song in head: "Unwell" by Matchbox 20.

Current book: Obsidian Fate by Diana Gallagher, the last of the Buffy novels that Greta lent me. So far it's pretty underwhelming.

Current video in player: Don't think there's been anything in the VCR for a while, actually. Currently in the DVD player is the Farscape disc with "Nerve" and "The Hidden Memory." For some reason, I had a burning need to fact-check how many times Stark said he'd been in the Aurora Chair, and the episode transcript I looked at on the web didn't have the bit where he says it, since it was in one of the scenes that got trimmed out of the US broadcast version for time.

Current refreshment: Darjeeling tea.

Current worry: You know, I'm not feeling particularly worried by anything just at the moment.

Current thought: Hey, the song in my head changed while I wasn't looking...

Hey!

Why isn't there a new Friday Five?

Pointless Quiz #147




you're one l33t g33|< 5|-|33p! No one understands a word you're saying, but you don't care. Bespectacled geek by day, fearsome DND warrior by night! Geek power ;)

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

Well, naturally.

Search Request Thursday

Here's the latest batch:

superglue ass: May I just say: wince.

paycheck philip k. dick continuity problem: I haven't seen the movie, and honestly can't recall whether I've read the original short story or not, but I have to say, given that it is Philip K. Dick, it probably does have continuity problems. Dick, however, had a remarkable and utterly mysterious talent for somehow turning that from a bug into a feature.

Simpsons crossover fanfic to read: As opposed to Simpsons crossover fanfic to, what, burn for kindling?

new 2004 hair up dos: I am the wrong person to come to for hairstyle advice. I don't think my own hair has ever been in style.

return if the king pictures of legolas in a blue shirt -post -messages -board: Yes, if that king returns, Leggy will greet him looking snazzy in a blue shirt that will be the talk of the message boards.

"LARRY NIVEN" TIMELINE crichton stealing: I haven't seen or read Timeline, either. Anybody who has care to comment on whether it appears to have been stolen from Niven or not?

gurps bad ass merit: You know, if there isn't a "bad ass" merit in GURPS, there should be.

guest book of a carre four in usa year 2003: Let's see... 2003, carre the four... that's, uh...

laughing at shelob: Hmm, I didn't think she was laughable! Though, unlike most, my reaction was less "Aaaagh! Spider!" and more "Oooh, Spider!" I like spiders.

nazgul slash fanfiction: The really, really scary thing is, I swear I've encountered some...

clockwork nebari stoner: Because, dude, how can you not, like, totally groove on Crichton's, like, performance in that one? Dude?

peacekeeper spiff: Is that the Farscape version of Spaceman Spiff? Oooh, that sounds like a cool idea!

moving sims "to another drive": I think there ought to be a moving van in the game that comes and does that for you.

Nude pictures of Sam and Frodo: Because Legolas shouldn't get all the LotR nudie googles.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Don Murphy commentary Alan Moore insane: Haven't seen the movie, let alone listened to the commentary on it, but having read Moore's comics, I think I can safely offer up the opinion that, yes, he is insane. But in a good way.

paul goddard shoes: Man, now I'm really curious... What about his shoes?

porn movie blog: I'd think blogging about porn movies would get kind of boring after a while.

hitchhikers guide galaxy gurps: Is there a GURPS Hitchhiker's? I've never heard of it, but I can't say it'd surprise me.

What LotR Mary Sue cliche are you: Ooh, can I be the one involving Aragorn, Boromir, and a hot tub full of... Ahem. Never mind.

salt vampires of M-113: Salt vampire might be more accurate, really, since by the time "The Man Trap" took place, there was apparently only one of them left.

"portrait of the artist as a young man" "earth woman": I can make no comments about this book whatsoever, as I have been actively trying to block the memory of being forced to read it from my mind.

Buffy/Nick fiction: Nick who? Nick Knight? That would seem to reflect her usual taste in men. (Namely, the taste for men who don't reflect. Ha!)

geek goddess nude: I am a geek goddess! And to look upon me nude would surely strike you blind, foolish mortal!

decapitation execution pics: There's a pun on the word "head" to be made here, somehow, but it's eluding me.

Geek dying, sees Captain Kirk's life flash before his eyes: Actually, I don't think the piece in question ever once used the word "geek." Not that it wasn't implied.

Farscape sexiest Chiana: Well, she doesn't really get my vote for "sexiest Farscape character, but I admit to being biased on the subject.

phlox pregnant fanfic: Who knew he was that alien?

phlox breathing difficulties fanfic: So, he's pregnant and asthmatic? Poor guy!

Julius Caesar sales success: I don't think his success was really in the field of sales...

t'pol nude fakes desktop -seagull -mp3: You gotta wonder why this search appears to have been turning up unwanted seagulls.

Jimmy Buffett's birthday: If I remember his autobiography correctly, it's a really easy day to remember. It's the same as Isaac Newton's

weightlifting t-shirt slogans: See, if I were more with-it today, I'd come up with a really witty weightlifting t-shirt slogan here, but, uh, I'm not. Feel free to make up your own...

I'm Actually a Bit Disappointed That It's Not Higher.

54.76190476190476% of me is a huge nerd! How about you?

Red Planet

The Spirit rover has sent back its first color picture of Mars. According to the website, this is "the highest resolution picture ever taken of another planet."

Too Damned Cold

According to the thermometer at the bank, it was 16 degrees when I came in to work today.

I had to take a sponge bath this morning, because apparently the hot water pipe coming in to my bathtub froze. The hot water pipe.

I think my furnace is dying. The fan's started sputtering through three or four false starts most of the time before finally kicking in.

This is it. I am officially sick of winter. I live in New Mexico, for crying out loud! It's supposed to be a hot climate! Gaaah.

Space News

While there's still no word from the British Beagle mission, the first pictures from NASA's Spirit Rover are coming in. And, just in case you missed it in the Mars excitement, the Stardust probe, which encountered comet Wild 2 on Friday, is also worth getting excited about. (NASA's press release on it, in my opinion, makes for fairly interesting reading).

More Unconscious Mutterings

1. Vintage:: Old
   
2. Longing:: Yearning
   
3. Specimen:: Bottle
   
4. Mock:: "D'Argo, I mock all of us." (John Crichton's response to D'Argo asking if he's mocking him.)
   
5. Shit:: Storm
   
6. Friday:: Five
   
7. Cruel:: Intentions
   
8. Insufficient:: Data
   
9. Pessimistic:: Optimistic
   
10. Grin:: *evil grin*
    

I love my brain.

Looking Forward with the The Friday Five

What one thing are you most looking forward to . . .

1. ...today? Uh... Getting off of work. Not that I'm even at work yet, but, hey, look at me thinking ahead!

2. ...over the next week? Finally finishing up watching the Firefly DVDs, maybe. Except then I'll have no more Firefly, so maybe that isn't really something to look forward to, after all.

3. ...this year? The Farscape miniseries, assuming it does make its appearance this year.

4. ...over the next five years? Good books, hot baths, conversations with friends, and high-quality TV shows to get all fangirlish about. More of the same, in other words, except that there's been a noticeable lack on the high-quality TV front of late.

5. ...for the rest of your life? Seeing just where this new-fangled computer technology stuff eventually takes us.

This May Be a Glimpse of My Own Future...

Have I mentioned lately how much I love The Onion? Beause they've just reminded me:

Captain Kirk's Life Flashes Before Dying Trekkie's Eyes
MILFORD, CT--Moments before dying, car-accident victim and hardcore Star Trek fan Glenn Schaefer saw Captain James T. Kirk's life flash before his eyes. "It's all coming back to me," said Schaefer, bleeding profusely and fading from massive head trauma. "The Salt Vampires of M-113, assisting Spock through the Pon Farr, outmaneuvering Khan Singh in the Mutara Nebula, the dilithium mines of Rura Penthe. I'm even seeing portions of the animated series and the Lost Years novels." Before taking his final breath, Schaefer turned to attending medical personnel and said, "It was... fun."

Of Course! It Makes So Much Sense!

Via The Presurfer, it's a website that reveals the shocking connection between Calvin and Hobbes and Fight Club. I gotta tell ya, it pretty much convinces me. (Warning: contains major spoilers for the movie in question.)

Search Request Thursday

Looks like we reached 20,000 hits on the first day of the new year, which pleases me for absolutely no reason.

Anyway, here's the latest batch of wacky search requests:

science fiction porn movie: Yeah! Bring on the alien sex, baby!

science fiction castrate: Hmm, suddenly I don't like this porn movie so much any more.

"Back to the Future" "sex game": Is that from the Director's Cut or something?

pics lola bunny drawn naked: "I'm not naked, I'm just drawn that way!"

flooby tube: I don't know what that means, but it's kinds fun to say.

funniest new year's resolutions: Well, I've certainly seen New Year's resolutions that were laughable...

king elrond for the sims: I think it's "Lord Elrond," actually. Isn't it?

nemone nude: Nude anemones, now? What is this world coming to? Will no one think of the children?

five minute voyager sucks: Nah, the Five Minute Voyager site is cool. It's the show itself that sucks.

"blogger template" babylon 5: Because I'm not the only sci-fi geek blogger on the web!

Tamara's Toes: Hmm. Anything you want to tell us about your toes, Tamara?

ugly dog fish: Yeah, I think dogfish are pretty ugly.

"Lewis Carroll" "nabokov" "write" "connection" "hemingway": Yes, I believe the "connection" between those three "people" is in fact that they all "wrote."

child conception sex: Congratulations! You've figured out how it works!

First Stupid Quiz of the New Year!


True pop.


What kind of music are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

2003 Books

I seem to have done this for the past couple of years, which, in today's fast-paced society, I guess qualifies it as being a tradition. So, here we go: a list of the books I read in 2003. (I was going to make the titles into Amazon links so you could go see what they're about if you like, but I was too damned lazy. I'm sure you can go and use the search engine if you're curious.) Anyway, here's the list:

The Gatekeeper Trilogy, Book 2: Ghost Roads by Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder
The Gatekeeper Trilogy, Book 3: Sons of Entropy by Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder
O Jerusalem by Laurie R. King
The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time (In Two Lines or Less) edited by John M. Shanahan
To Visit the Queen by Diane Duane
The White Mountains by John Christopher
The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher
The Pool of Fire by John Christopher
Transmetropolitan: Spider's Thrash by Warren Ellis
Lamb by Christopher Moore
The Silent Strength of Stones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
The Cartoon History of the Universe III by Larry Gonick
Immortal Coil by Jeffrey Lang
Immodest Proposals by William Tenn
The Action Hero's Handbook by David Borgenicht & Joe Borgenicht
Parallel 59 by Natalie Dellaire & Stephan Cole
Fables: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham
Ciao, America! by Beppe Severgnini
Tricky Business by Dave Barry
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Sins of the Father by Christopher Golden
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
The End of Time by Julian Barbour
Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David
All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland
Farscape: The Illustrated Season 2 Companion by Paul Simpson & Ruth Thomas
Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth by C. Ware
World of Ptavvs by Larry Niven
The Shadows of Avalon by Paul Cornell
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Dig Tree by Sarah Murgatroyd
Demon Seed by Dean Koontz
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
The Big Book of Hell by Matt Groening
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
Lies Across America by James W. Loewen
The Fall of Yquatine by Nick Walters
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
Doomsday Deck by Diana G. Gallagher
From Hell by Alan Moore
Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling
Second Contact by Mike Resnick
The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution by C.P. Snow
Willard by Stephen Gilbert
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Time of the Twins by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
War of the Twins by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Test of the Twins by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Transmetropolitan: Dirge by Warren Ellis
Hellfire Nation by James A. Morone
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Cold Streets by P.N. Elrod
Coldheart by Trevor Bexendale
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
Bill, The Galactic Hero on The Planet of Bottled Brains by Harry Harrison & Robert Sheckley
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
Farscape: The Illustrated Season 3 Companion by Paul Simpson & Ruth Thomas
Night Shift by Stephen King
The Science of Superheroes by Lois Gresh & Robert Weinberg
The Space Age by Steve Lyons
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
The World of Caffeine by Bennet Alan Weinberg & Bonnie K. Bealer
Halloween Rain by Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
Pattern Recognition by Wiliam Gibson
Intuition: Its Powers and Perils by David G. Meyers
Lord Emsworth and Others by P.G. Wodehouse
Liberation by Alan Stevens & Fiona Moore
The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror Spine-Tingling Spooktacular by Matt Groening, et al.
Resurrecting Ravana by Ray Garton
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Realtime Interrupt by James P. Hogan
The Divine Comedies by Tom Holt
Bill Bryson's African Diary by Bill Bryson
Vulcan's Heart by Josepha Sherman & Susan Schartz
The Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff & Mark Johnson
Changing Planes by Ursual K. LeGuin
The Banquo Legacy by Andy Lane & Justin Richards
The Sandman Companion by Hy Bender
Red Thunder by John Varley
Transmetropolitan: The Cure by Warren Ellis

Which makes a grand total of 94 books. Which, coincidentally, is exactly what it was last year. Hmm, well, I may be reading less than I did in my youth, but at least I'm consistent about it...